Punched in the Face - Preview of Sucker Punch

I can not exactly remember when I heard of Zack Snyder’s latest creation. All I know is that it excited me beyond anything…and as more information comes about the film which debuts in March, I can not stop grinning.

The story goes a little something like this:

What's in a Name?

A lot.
A name sets the tone. It can tell people what to expect. It can excite, cause interest, and much more.

The name for this blog has been a stand-in till I thought of something better. And I think I have.

I shall now be known as The Cinema Diva.

It makes me think of old Hollywood glam and sparkles and crown motifs. I absolutely love it! It sounds rather girly, but girly should have been my birth name. I've got a photoshoot idea for the banner I hope to create for this blog. Can't wait till I finally get to take the pictures.

Innocent Until Proven Guilty - Salt Review

“The spy’s name is Salt”
“My name is Salt.”
“Then you are a Russian Spy”

Releasing on July 23rd, Angelina Jolie’s latest action movie, Salt, is about a woman accused of being a Russian spy within the CIA. What unfolds after an intense opening scene is a cat-and-mouse game that keeps the audience guessing about the outcome. Jolie is not new to the action game as she has done plenty of those in her career. Salt is a typical movie, unremarkable and not very memorable. It toys with it’s audience - which is good and bad.
It is good because it keeps you on your toes, having you guessing and then revealing something completely different. It is bad because, well, some of the time your guesses are correct. Things start becoming predictable and that is never a good thing.
The role of Evelyn Salt was originally written for a male actor - Tom Cruise. He bailed out of the project after feeling Edwin Salt was too close to Ethan Hunt, the protagonist for Cruise’s best series Mission Impossible.
That’s cool.
There are a lot of gender swapping stories in the history of film when parts designed for males were changed to be female.
What is not cool is that it does not seem anything was changed, but the gender. It did not seem as if any of the dialogue, action, or emotions were being transferred to a female role. Why does it matter? Because I would have liked to have seen this role transformed to fit Jolie and not Jolie try and fit this role. She did not fail at this task, but I do not think it was all too well. Maybe it was my pre-known knowledge the part was originally written for a male that caused me to feel this way, but I do.
Jolie herself has reported in saying she thinks the gender swapping improved the story (in an Entertainment Weekly from April 2010) and that it makes it “more emotionally complex and physically meaner” and that “female action heroes can be just as badass as their male counterparts.” I think Jolie has proved this in many other ways - in many of her other films - but just not Salt.
With that aside, the movie was still enjoyable. There were scenes that wretched at the heart - like the opening - and they certainly did not hold back on the violence that Evelyn Salt went through. There was some shoddy camerawork a lot of times in the film causing some of the action to be difficult to follow as the camera shook.
The ending left much to be desired from the film. I wish there was a more conclusive ending because, with what we were given, there were many questions left that had not fully been answered making it quite difficult to feel very satisfied. Cliffhangers are good, but only when done well.
Salt was a decent film. Just don’t expect it to live up to Angelina Jolie’s prior performances.

Amazing New Series: Avatar The Legend of Korra

There has been speculation that a new Avatar series would be happening.

Speculate no more.

It was just announced that Avatar: The Legend of Korra is now a go and we can expect to see it sometime next year. This is a blast of fresh air after the incredibly failure of a live action movie, The Last Airbender. Now, fans can rejoice that we have a new series to look forward too.

Here's what we know about Avatar: The Legend of Korra so far:

Beyond the Gate - The End of Fullmetal Alchemist

Watching the first episode of Fullmetal Alchemist in highschool was - for sake of sounding overly cheesy - a brillant and amazing expierence. I was pulled into its wondrous world of alchemy with rules and loved all the characters. The tragic tale and adventure of brothers Alphonse and Edward Elric moved me.

Now, it's over.

The original 2003 series ended at 52 episodes {and also a movie) while the recent 2009 series ended at 64. The manga is also over.

It's over.

Edward and Alphonse Adventure is over.

Excuse me, I think I need a tissue.



Fullmetal Alchemist was a wonderful, well-rounded anime series - a series any anime fan should love to watch. Regardless of whether you watched and became a die hard fan, casually watched, or did not watch at all (<- wait, WHY!?), Fullmetal Alchemist is the stuff of animated dreams. For starters, Alchemy has rules. Therefore, the series was already realistically grounded even though alchemy itself is not realistic. Alchemists are not superheros who have a weakness, they are extrodinary humans bound by rules that have dire consequences. Of course there is a way to bend these rules, but, even then, choose to bend those rules can be downright evil.

There is also the wonderful cast of characters in the series. We have are main two characters, Edward and Al, who have lost parts (or all) of their bodies trying to bend those alchemic rules. There is also several other characters that stand out in the series including Roy Mustang, Winry Rockbell, Major Armstrong, and the villians, Homunculi, named after the seven deadly sins.

I certainly can not forget the amazing animation that both series have. Of course Brotherhood, the recent 2009 series, is "better" in terms of animation because it's newer, but both animated series offer brilliant sequences - especially any scene using alchemy.

The musical score throughout the series is captivating. I personally loved all the openings and endings.

The 2003 follows a path of its own while the 2009 follows the manga very closely. After having seen the 2009 series in completion, i simply love it more. The twists and turns, the brilliant animation, the fighting scenes, the subplots, the complexity. Its a better series. That does not mean the 2003 series was not brilliant in its own way! It's just that the 2009 series has cemented Fullmetal Alchemist to be one of the favorites!

First Solid Movie of the SUMMER - Inception

*spoiler free!*

Sitting here in the food court, I wonder if I'm dreaming. Are all these people projections of my mind? If I tip this chair over will I jolt awake? Or am I took heavily sedated and it won't work?

Was that entire movie a dream?

Inception clearly blew my mind. The concept of the movie was remarkably fascinating. Dreams are intimate thoughts our mind conjures up. Interfering with dreams seems very invasive and that is just one of the themes this multi-layered movie presents.

The acting was superb. The most surprising performance coming from Ellen Page, or Juno as you probably know her by. She holds her own amongst people that have been at this acting game far longer then she - and she does it well.

Visuals and the musical score accompanied the story and action expertly. I would not expect less from the likes of Christopher Nolan, the director who has done such films like The Dark Knight, The Prestige, and Memento.

After such a lackluster summer of movies, Inception has redeemed my faith in the industry. Not all movies have to be remakes or sequels to be absolutely brilliant.

to show or not to show

I wrote an entry about how they were not going to show Bella's very graphic birth scene in the newest installment of the movie, Breaking Dawn. Now, apparently, the screenwriter is saying that she would like to show it - just less graphic of course.

This is one of those things I guess we just have to wait and see...

H.O.T.D bites into Summer Anime

Highschool of the Dead recently released and boy is it thrilling.

It's plotline is simple: (taken from WIKI) The world is over taken with a very deadly disease that turns humans into zombies. In Japan, several students of Fujimi High School, and the school nurse, band together to survive the present apocalypse. The story follows Takashi Komuro, one of the students who survived in the initial outbreak.

So, what makes this so different from other zombie shows?
Well...nothing really.

Movie Preview - Inception

I'll try not to talk about Inception too much, but I'm very excited for the movie:

http://movies.ign.com/articles/110/1103912p1.html

IGN just wrote an amazing, pretty spoiler-free review about the movie. They went as far to call it "Nolan's masterpiece". I'm a sucker for movies that have multiple layers or probably confuse the heck out of people - took me 3 times to get Prestige and now it's my favorite movie ever. However, I do not think a standard movie audience wants to be confused while watching a movie. Inception, however, seems to have this beautiful and amazing dream sequences that will hopefully hold someone's attention - that and the main story line. There seems to be sub-plots weaved throughout which always makes me happy.

I'm definitely excited.

Summer slump

As the summer treads onward and movies are being released steadily, I find myself worrying about the movie industry. while I've found enjoyment and solace in sitting in a theatre week after week, no movie released this summer has really been incredible.

Mostly, this summer has been stacked with sequeals. This probably contributes to the high numbers, but, as a movie fan, I really want something that will WOW me.

Inception might do that.

I love Nolan. Two of his movies make my top 5 list (The Prestige is my absolute favorite movie and I love The Dark Knight). This probably makes me automatically love Inception, but others need to love it too.

The movie seems genius to me and I hope I'm not dissapointed. I love the concept, captivating ads, and awesome trailer. Surely, this movie will save this summer from the movie slump.

It has too.

July 4 update!

Happy Independence Day!

I have quite the few articles coming up. Tomorrow I will review The Twilight Saga Eclipse and also the weekend box office numbers.

Very soon I'll do a preview on the new Nolan film, Inception! Leading up to the release of Salt, I will taking a look at some female action stars and analyzing their roles.

All of this will happen...if I make it happen. =/

Please spread the word about this blog if you like it. I'm going to try and post more often if I get 10 followers by August!