Happy week 8 everyone! Unfortunatley it's been a bleak week, blogging wise at least. The weekend was very very calm and the week as well... I do have a few movie recommendations though. Movies I hadn't seen yet until this week.
In the afternoon I made my way to Chelsea. There is a Cineworld cinema and I'm thinking of signing up for one of their Unlimited cards. As there are only a few Cineworld cinemas in London (and Chelsea is the 'easiest' to get to in a weekend) I wanted to see if the journey would be worth go see a movie. Unfortunately the weather was crap and one of my coat's sleeves was soaked, so I wasn't really up for it to make a day out of it... After that journey and seeing the cinema's movie selection, I'm a bit in two minds. I'll have to have a few more sleeps over it before I'll make a decision.
Anyway, as I was walking from the cinema to the bus stop, I passed this window display. I have forgotten what the shop was called, but it does look awesome, isn't it? x) They had all this little Star Wars figurines and this massive, almost life size, of Han Solo frozen in 'carbon dioxide'. I had a little peak inside the shop, but it all looked very expensive. Too expensive to even go inside, so I just kept it to window gazing.
Sunday was spent entirely indoors. I didn't leave the house ones. Oooh the glory of spending an entire day in your pj's, drinking tea non stop and just enjoying the fact that you don't have any obligations. *sigh*.
Sundays...
As for the rest of the week, nothing exciting happend. Oh, wait, it did. Thursday evening I joined a trial class in combat training in Hammersmith. It went really well and all the people were just so lovely and inviting. I might go again next week!^^ I'm not going to go into detail just yet, as I'm not 100% certain it is something I'll be doing for a long time. We'll see how the next class goes.
During the week I saw quite a few new movies. I would definitely recommend all of them, regardless of some of the reviews I've read on the interwebs...
Salmon fishing in the Yemen (2011) I'm adding this movie to my list of all time favourite movie in the category: 'not so well known movies' next to Elizabeth Town, Tamara Drew, Stuck in Love, Man Up and Morning Glory.
Jumper (2008) I read a lot of negative comments about this film and I think I went in with low expectation and I was pleasantly surprised :) I definitely wouldn't mind a sequel. So many unanswered questions.
Shattered Glass (2003) Anyone who says Hayden Christensen can't act, obviously hasn't seen this movie. I've seen an interview with Stephen Glass and oh my, Christensen did an excellent job portraying this pathological liar.
V for Vendetta (2005) I know I saw this movie last Friday, but it such a magnificent movie!! Definitely also added on my list of favourite movie. Can't really describe the category x)
And that is it for this week's post. I know it is nothing spectaculary, but it concerns movies, so I'm happy ^^
As you might know, or not know, I am a huge Pride and Prejudice fan. I'd say Jane Austen, but P&P is actually the only book I've ever read written by her. The rest I've only seen in movie/mini series adaptations... Anyway, huge Pride and Prejudice fan. I mean, Lizzy is amazing. Head strong, witty, confident, out spoken,... She wouldn't even consider marrying a man just for financial comfort. Had she lived in the 1930's she mostlikely would have been a suffragette. If she'd lived today, she would undoubtably have signed the HeForShe campaign and have proudly said she is a feminist. That is, if she was a real of course. Unfortunately, she still is, to this day, a creation of a remarkable writer who lived in the Regency Era: Jane Austen.
The book has been made into countless adaptations, most famously are the BBC mini series from 1995 starring none other than Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth. The last film adaptation was in 2005 with Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen. The story has inspired numourous other stories. Think about Bridget Jones, Lost in Austen, Bride and Prejudice, Me & Mr Darcy, Mr Darcy's Diary, The Jane Austen book club (ish), Death comes to Pemberly,... and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies of course.
Seth Grahame-Smith wrote P+P+Z back in 2009 and yes, I read the book :) Although I didn't always agreed with the violence, I really enjoyed reading the book. It just works. It was obvious to me that Grahame-Smith never intended to improve Jane Austen's master piece. He never wanted to make fun of it or ridicule it. He respected the story in all its glory and simply added the undead to it. He made it work. It's a truth universally acknowledged... - Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (book 'review')
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
** SPOILERS AHEAD**
2016 Director: Burr Steers Cast: Lily James, Sam Riley, Matt Smith, Douglas Booth, Jack Huston, Charles Dance, Lena Headey, Sally Phillips,Bella Heathcote, Suki Waterhouse,... Lenght: 1h 47min Genre: Romance, horror, action
8/10
The story is set in Regency England. For the last 70 years or so the country has been infected by the undead as a result of the plague. If you could not fight and defend yourself, you were doomed to join the unmentionables. That is why mr Bennet has taken his girls to China to have them trained in combat. In result, the 5 sisters Bennet are locally famous, not only for their beauty, but for their deadly warrior skills as well. On a random day at the beginning of autumn, mrs Bennet walks into the living room and says: 'mr Bennet, have you heard!? Netherfield Park is let at last!'
Oooh, that glorious beginning. (Although they did alter the phrase: "Netherfield Park is let at last" a bit.) It is just the promise of an amazing story.
For anyone of you who's not familiar with the story, a little recap: Elizabeth Bennet is the second of 5 daughters. Their mother's sole purpose in life is to see them marry well and settle in life. Something Lizzy does not agree with. A neighbouring estate is let to a mr Bingley. He is accompanied by his two sisters and his dearest friend mr Darcy. Upon meeting the Bennet family, mr Darcy makes a proud impression and Lizzy is determined to loath him for all eternity. Or has she?
The major difference perhaps is the fact that the girls are not knitting or embroiding cushions, they are cleaning their swords and guns. Weirdly enough, it feels organic. As if Jane Austen has always written it like that. Unlike the original story, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies provides many laugh/gigglemoments. Just like I hoped it would do. They've approached the story just like they would have if they were filming P&P straight. They take themselves serious and that is what makes it work. I'm so happy it didn't look like a parody. The characters, especially the Bennet sisters, are super strong. Whilst Lizzy was already an opinionated young woman, it's been magnified 10times. I mean, the women save the mens asses! But rather portraying them as stronger the men, they are considered to be equals. A good match for each other. As it should be.
You can definitely feel the modern touch within this film. First of all, Lizzy wears trousers at one point in the movie. Secondly, the script has been updated. The classic lines are still there (phieuw), but also a lot of new words. Lizzy calls Darcy a 'prick'. Insufferable, yes. Prick, no. And as I've mentioned earlier, the iconic phrase: "Netherfield Park is let at last" has been amended as well, which I think is a shame. Ah well. Final tiny little bit that disappointed me a bit: we don't get to see the infamous Darcy-Lizzy dance at the Netherfield ball. Why!? Fingers crossed for a DVD extra ;)
Story wise *SPOILER* they do deviate from the "original" Grahame-Smith story which is very very close to the original one. I'm not going to go into details, but at one point in the movie I had a clear: "What the fuck? This is not what's supposed to happen?!"-moment. Thebig story line is still very much the same, but the script writters took some liberties on this one. Events were left out or moved to a different time in the movie. Lines were switch from left to right. Scenes were added. Once I got over that though, I trully enjoyed it. It was actually quite nice to be surprised :)
I'd like to take my hat off for the casting director on this film. Not only is it packed with big names such as Charles Dance and Lena Headey, but the total pictures just fits. I've read that Lily Collins was offered the roll of Lizzy or that Nathalie Portman was originally going to play her. No doubt that both ladies would have done a tremendous job, but I just can't picture anyone else besides Lily James playing this roll next to Sam Riley, Matt Smith, Bella Heathcote,... My opinion about Lily might not be as objective as it should be as I simply love her. She can hardly do anything wrong in my eyes. She fights in a freaking corset! Lena Headey as Lady Catherine de Bourgh is not your first actress that comes to mind thinking about the roll, but hey, it works. Mr Darcy, aaah mr Darcy *swoon*. My first reaction to Sam Riley being cast as the most eligable bachelor in P&P was: eeeuh... okey. I know the man can't help it, but his voice doesn't really work in his favor. But as mr Darcy... Aaaaah.... *swoon*. Which makes me think: is mr Darcy the one character who makes everyone look good? Matt Smith as parson Collins is gold and has the best one liners: "Gallantry is not dead", "Another scone, dear?", "This is an antique." You can tell he's having a blast. Mrs Bennet in my head is a very loud person, which Sally Phillips' interpretation is not. She does however portrayes her slightly 'filfthy'. Quite funny to watch x) Douglas Booth's Bingley and Bella Heathcote's Jane are a match made in heaven :) As for the younger sisters, Bingley's two sisters and even Denny, they hardly have any lines, which I think is a great shame. I'm actually confused to why they've casted Denny at all. Ah well. I am absolutely not a zombie fan what so ever. You'll never see me watch the Walking Dead or anything else that had characters in it that eats brains. Yuk. Unless it is very clearly a comedy, like the World's End. And I'm not going to deny it, the beheadings are very gory and at times I did close my eyes. I just don't have the stomach for it. But, the fact that the movie is telling one of my favorite stories made it all less worse. I wouldn't mind watching it again and the DVD will definitely be added to my collection. If I can make it through a zombie apocalypse movie and actually love it, anyone can. As per usual, the trailer, some clips and a few interviews for your enjoyment ;)
Trailer
Clips
Interviews
That is if for my 'review' on P+P+Z :)
Has anyone else seen it? I need to talk about it! x)
Another week has come and gone and my two year anniversary of living in London is coming pretty close now as well. Mind blowing. But, before we get to that, life happens as well. Last weekend I had a visitor from Belgium who had never been in London before, so obviously all the basics had to be touched. We also saw Deadpool and a bit of Chinese New Year in Chinatown and then it was time for him to go. On Wednesday evening I went to Vue cinema at Leicester square to see Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Oh that movie x)
So Friday evening I met up with my visitor at Oxford Circus, the easiest place to meet up with people in my opinion. We then had a bite at Home Slice, a delicious pizzaria not too far from the office. And that was it for Friday really. I was knackered so I wanted to go to bed as soon as possible.
Saturday I really wanted to go to the Breakfast Club. My visitor wanted to have a full English breakfast and what better place than the BC? Unfortunately we overslept so we were pretty late anyway. Depending on how late we'd arrive at the BC, I was actually willing to stand in line. But luck wasn't on our site as the circle line was suspended due to improvement work. Tower Hill was the furthest we could go. Slight change of plans then :)
After a quick breakfast at the Costa near the Tower of London, we walked over the Tower Bridge and then West on the South bank. Had a little stop on Borough Market andn then walked to the Millenium Bridge. From there we walked to the Big Ben and London Eye, Trafalgar square, Buckingham Palace and eventually South Kensington to go to the Natural History Museum and the Science museum.
This photo wasn't taken on Saturday 13h Feb '16, but on 29th Nov '14.
We did a lot of walking on Saturday so thank heavens there was little walking involved on Sunday. We had breakfast at a Wetherspoons (cheap, wouldn't recommend it though) near Vue Grant's in Croydon as we were going to see Deadpool in the afternoon. Never have I ever experienced a sold out theatre on a Sunday afternoon oO The movie was excellent so obviously I had to write a post about it ;) Oh, I so pity the dude who pressures her into prom sex... - Deadpool
After the movie, we made our way to Chinatown as Chinese New Year was celebrated with the usual gigantic feast at Trafalgar square and Chinatown. We got there around 5pm, so we missed the biggest part of the festivities, but we still got to experience the glorious sea of people... Anyway, from Leicester square we walked to London St Pancras as my visitor was to leave at 7pm. Compared to the day before, walking from Leicester sqaure to St Pancras was peanuts.
The rest of the week was pretty normal. We had a couple very beautiful mornings. Unfortunately taking a picture on a moving vehicle is very difficult, but you can definitely see the Leadenhall Building, 20 Fenchurch Street, the tip of the Gherkin and the Shard in the background. Whenever I sit on the upperdeck of the bus, I see this lovely view (when not too misty) in the morning on my way to work. It's not the Big Ben, but it's pretty neat I think ^^
Wednesday evening after work I went to see Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. It was a bit in the spur of the moment as I originally wanted to go see the movie this weekend in Croydon, but of course, Grant's is not showing the movie -.- The £4 extra to go see a movie in the West End was well spent on the movie I have to say. I LOVED IT. A post will undoubtedly follow this one tomorrow to expaned my opinion a bit ^^ I wouln't mind seeing it a second time, to be honest... x)
And that is it for this week's blog post! P+P+Z was by far the most exciting part of the week. It's been a long time coming, well, ish. 6 months :) So to be able to finally see it. Just like Deadpool really :)
Anyone else who has seen P+P+Z or any other movies?
And so here it is. The long anticipated Deadpool movie. Roughly 11 years in the making and now, February 2016, it's finally available for us to enjoy. I went to see it openings weekend. Just like everybody else. I've never seen a movie theather so packed on a Sunday afternoon! Every single seat was taken. Which leads to a smashing box office result. (I do wonder: do they think about the ever increasing price of cinema tickets?)
Anyhow, just like every other movie, I have an opinion :)
Deadpool
** SPOILERS AHEAD**
2016 Director: Tim Miller Cast: Ryan Reynold, Ed Skrein, T.J. Miller, Morena Baccarin,... Lenght: 1h 48min Genre: Comedy, adventure, action
R-rated
Quick introduction for anyone who has been living under a rock the past two years.
Wade Wilson is a, euh, rather bad ass guy. Not a superhero, but rather an asshole who beats bigger assholes. At one point, when everything seems to go smoothly for Wade, he's diagnosed with cancer. The aggressive kind, spread to his lungs, liver, prostate and brain. You know, the things you can live without. A rather mysterious, stereotype guy in a suit meets Wade and offers him a 'cure', which Wade eventually takes him up upon. First mistake. That is when he leaves Wade behind and becomes Deadpool. Captain Deadpool. No, no no no, just Deadpool. Yeah.
The basic storyline of a classic superhero movie (or mutant movie, as that is what Wade acutally is, a mutant) is very obviously here: good guy is in search of bad guy, but the motives are a bit different here. The bad guy, Ajax, is in fact Deadpool's creator, but also the douch bag who has deformed Wade's body to look like an avocado who had sex with an older avocado. Deadpool desperately wants his old handsome self back to get his girl back and he believes Ajax is the one guy who can help him. Not the regular motive of a superhero or mutant, hein?
Our main character gets some help fromtwo X-men: Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead. I know, I know, there are more X-men, we all know that, and so does Deadpool x) Yet we only see those two. Colossus really wants to convince Deadpool to become an X-men. Can you imagine Deadpool in the next X-men movie? x) Oh snap, he already did! Back in '09 in X-men origins: Wolverine.
The action is fast and slow at the same time. Multiple sexual references are made throughout the movie and the word 'fuck' is mentioned without any bleeping. It's R-rated for a reason and god I love it that they allow it here in the UK x) It wouldn't be Deadpool without the vulgar talk. Truly refreshing after Captain America ;) Although I was a bit scared regarding the blood: it's gory at times, but not so gory you can't watch it. If I can deal with it, anyone can.
Scriptis just bri-li-ant and the same goes for soundtrack and score. Nothing to comment on. Editing is quite interesting though. You meet Deadpool in the middle of the movie and then tells you his 'origin story' throughout the film with flashbacks. Very clever :) Oh and the opening scene really sets the tone for the rest of the film ;)
One tiny thing I do have to mention and which is a pity I think, is that they used all the jokes in the trailers and promotional stunts leading up to the release of the film. It's cool that you can almost tick off everything you see in a trailer (nothing is more anyone than expecting to see a scene from the trailer to discover they've cut it in the movie), but I didn't hear any new jokes, which I think would have made the film even better than it already is. That being said, that is the only issue I have. It's still super funny. Don't you worry ;)
Deadpool is Ryan Reynolds and Ryan Reynolds is Deadpool. I think we can leave the Green Lantern officially behind us. Ed Skrein is definitely someone I'm going to keep an eye on for future movies and I think we can expect cool stuff from Brianna Hildebrand as well.
20th Century Fox is the studio who's releasing the movie. Deapool stands now next to the X-men franchise and the Fantastic Four franchise, but is widely different from any of the mentioned. The biggest difference with this Marvel movie is: Deadpool freaking knows he is in a 'superhero' movie. He breaks the 4th wall! He makes references to the fact that James McAvoy and Patrick Stewart play the same roll but at different stages of the character's life. He also makes fun of 20th Century Fox for 'not having enough money to make another X-men movie' x) And, best of all in my opinion, he doesn't take himself too seriously. While I'm a huge fan of the MCU and I think there are many many funny moments in every single one of them, none of them are as I-just-don't-give-a-shit laid back as Deadpool. The guy uses his sense of humor to deal with difficult situations. He might look like a testicle with teeth, but that is even more reason to just not give a damn fuck.
And this is where I'll leave you :)
Oh, and make sure you don't leave the theatre before the end of the end credits, if you know what I mean ;)
As per usual: clips, trailer and interviews below.
Trailer
Clip
Interview
I have to say, from a marketing point of view, they did a tremendous job ^^ And he's also raising awareness...
Who else contributed to the record smashing box office numbers? ^^
What the actual hell? Where did week 6 go to? It seems to have disappeared so quickly! Must have been 'cause it's been quite busy. Well, the start of the week was not, but the last few days most definitely were!
So, as you might remember from last week's blog post, I'd moved temporarly to Apsley, Hertfordshire. One of my colleagues had to go to our L.A. office for nearly two weeks and we'd agreed that I would stay at her apartment for that periode of time. My main task was to keep her plant alive and of course make sure that everything was okay at the apartment. If you don't know, I'm still living in a house with about 7 other people. Eventhough it is very quiet at the moment (the loud people have been evicted) it's still not an ideal situation, unfortunately. So being able to stay over in an apartment all to myself is basically the dream. The past few weeks have been how I'd imagined my life would have been after I graduated nearly two years ago. Probably not as big or as beautiful, but at least a place to myself. I garantuee that I made the most of my week and a half stay :) Especially during the weekend...
I didn't leave the house on Saturday! Instead, I watched the Long Way Down, the sequel on the Long Way Round. It's a 10 episode series with each episode being 1hour. If I could get my drivers license A in 2016, that'd be pretty darn cool, if I may say so myself ^^
Sunday morning was a bit more productive. I actually left the apartment and made an hour long walk along side the canal. Isn't it just stunning?
Room with a view
The best days are the days when you have mud on your shoes
Besides that little morning walk, I also started watching the documentary Making a Murderer. Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ. Absolutely mind blowing! If you haven't heard about the documentary, it is the story about Steve Avery, lived in Manitowoc county, USA, and how he is being accussed of murder. I say 'accused' as Steve keeps telling us that he is innocent. Interesting fact here is: Steve was wrongfuly accused of rape in 1985. He served 18 years in prison before being released in 2003 thanks to a retest of a DNA sample which proved his innocence. He then demanded a sum of money from the county to make up for his lost years. 2 years later, Steve was arrested again for the murder on a young woman. His entire trial is just appalling. If you can, definitly check it out.
On Sunday I had also a record breaking Skype call with none other than Molly. 5hours. 5HOURS ^^
Then, besides watching Making a Murderer, my aunt and two cousins came to London on Wednesday and Thursday so of course we had to meet up to have some dinner. It was a new experience, but I really enjoyed it :) It was fun meeting them in London. When I got 'home' I had to start packing my bag and cleaning the apartment, as I had to leave Apsley Thursday morning :'(
Friday evening another friend came over for the weekend, but more on that in next week's blog post. It's been very busy lately. Can't wait for next weekend though. Nothing but cinema trips planned!
Has anyone else seen Making a Murderer? I need to talk about it!x)
