Harry Potter London Premiere - my thoughts

I was incredibly happy to tune into the Harry Potter live premiere. These books and movies have been apart of my life since I was 12, which is nearly 12 years ago (I turn 24 in August). I have been to countless midnight book releases, midnight movie showings, collected the books in both paperback and hardcover, have harry potter figures, lots of HP tshirts, cosplayed from the books, wrote HP fanfic, shipped characters that shouldnt have been shipped, followed every step Dan, Emma, and Rupert have taken in their careers, collected all the movies on DVD, visited Wizarding World of Harry Potter…

ETC ETC ETC

I’m not trying to make it seem like i’m the BIGGEST Harry Potter fan (as there is a video on youtube of the biggest fan that begs to differ), I am just trying to show how this series has been in my life and I love it. The books and its wonderful author have been an inspiration in my own writing and I aspire to create something as worthwhile as this. Because its not really about all the money that has been made, but about the passion the series ignites in its fans. The appreciate they all have for the series. The love. ~by ButerflySamurai

“Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home” - JK Rowling London Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 premiere

Three "Hobbit" production images

Finally, there is proof that The Hobbit is happening.

Entertainment Weekly published three photos of Peter Jackson's upcoming prequel to The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The issue of EW releases tomorrow, June 24, and I will surely be picking it up.

Although we have to wait over a year for the movie, with a release date of December 12, 2012 - I am more excited about this movie then I was of the epic length LOTR trilogy. The Hobbit was a book shoved down my throat in both high school and on my journey as a English major in college.

More about the fantasy epic can be found here

AN UPDATE

I love movies. There is just sheer joy when I sit down in a darkened theater, bucket of popcorn balanced on my lap. Preview trailers start rolling and I immediately sit in awe watching the moving pictures on the screen.

With saying that, I love writing about movies. Love sharing my opinions on them. Love reliving what I watched through the words I weave.

However lately I have been feeling detached from movies which is evident in the fact that the last movie I wrote about was nearly two months ago. I have seen a few movies since then, but my race to get to the theaters to watch this movies before others is always met with disdain.

Summer movies are all about getting to the movies and seeing them first. With so many franchise movies, sequels, and what I affectionately called "Geek Flicks", many movie goers are attending these movies at midnight showings or are even lucky enough to find advance showings (i.e. Super 8 had many "secret screenings" prior to the movie). What good is my "review" if its very late after the fact?

I have seen Thor, Xmen First Class, Jumping the Broom, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, and Super 8 - all summer movies. I have yet to write about any of them as I saw them far after their release date. Typically a week. Many people rush off to midnight showings of these movies which I am sure will happen again this week as Green Lantern opens.

Getting to advance or midnight showings for me is difficult. These theaters are very far from me, distance wise.

I feel like I'm failing as a journalist in every aspect - gaming, movies, or otherwise. I feel like my career can not go any further without the proper ways of getting my writing out there.

Those ways, however, are not known to me.

As i go forth and attempt to gain readership and publication, I hope to start updating my blog more or atleast trying to create a website to showcase my writing. Somewhere - someplace - someone is going to want to publish my work. Someone is going to want to help me share my love.

Adapt or Die - Hanna is a sleeper hit *no spoilers*

“I just missed your heart.”


Hanna was a pretty excellent movie.

Ok, review done.

Seriously though, Hanna was a sleeper hit. Going in with no expectations, I was completely immersed in the film. The plot moved along well enough to keep me interested - not laying all it’s cards on the table and revealing things throughout the entire film. For those that think story does not matter in a movie, this movie completely debunks that statement. The story was simple enough to understand, but the way it was told was like slowly pouring water into a glass. Only when it was full did the movie end. Even after the credits start rolling, you wonder more about what the story would have to offer. That was perhaps one of my gripes with the film, the fact it ended on a climatic scene, but the arrival to the scene was amazing. It’s just like they always say - “it’s the journey, not the destination.”

Hanna, played by a great Saoirse Ronan, grew up in the wilds with her ex-CIA father, played by an incredibly hot Eric Bana, and was trained to be an expert assassin/badass. The antagonist is a stunning Cate Blanchett, who is as ruthless in her mission.

Imagery played an important role in the movie as well. Scenery and settings had as much personality as the people on the screen. From the snowy landscape of the Artic Circle to the deserts of Morocco to an abandoned theme park in Germany, all the areas of the movie were beautiful with a lasting appeal on me. I immensely loved the haunting abandoned amusement park with its deconstructed rides, paint fading away from years of deterioration and surrounded by unkempt lawns.

This movie was not all about brilliant story and amazing settings. Although action was sparse, the fights and action sequences were very well done. There was no defying logic and death defying stunts used in this movie. It was just straight-forward, very realistic fighting that would probably be done by these agents in real life. It definitely grounded the movie into the real world instead of taking the audience out of it.

No good movie is without a few problems however. With Hanna it was mostly technical problems having nothing to do with the actually story itself. Some of the camera techniques used were unnecessary and disorienting. Every time Hanna was being chased, they decided to do a weird camera technique that did not work well and took me out of the movie - whether it be a spinning or shaky cam technique.

Hanna is certainly worth checking out if you like more story-driven films. Amidst all the sequels and adaptations, this is a shining gem.

cowardly fools

One of the things I personally think is wrong with the anime/cosplay community is that they always want to hide behind an anonymous tag to get their point across to someone.

The above picture is a screencap from my formspring. This only bothers me because this person is probably on my friends list on Facebook. What. The. Fuck. You can be on my Facebook, on my FRIEND'S LIST nonetheless, and have to hide behind a grayface to say what you need to say to me? That's what angers me, not what was said.

I complain because people like THIS exist a dime a dozen in this hobby and make it difficult for us casual people to even remotely continue to enjoy it when they're incessantly trolling or bitching at others when they need to worry about their own damn selves. Until they pulling money out of their damn pocket to buy my wigs, fabric, and other things then they just need to shut the fuck up. Until they're paying for my hotel and travel expenses then they need to shut the fuck up. Until they stop hiding behind being anonymous on the fucking internet then they need to shut the fuck up.

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Swords, Sorcery, and Sex - Camelot comes to Starz

Whoa.

I was not expecting to come home, plop down in front of the TV and watch Camelot tonight. Although I had interest in the series, I had completely forgot that the new Starz series premiered tonight. Lucky for me, the television was on Starz and a crawling scroll informed me that - indeed - Camelot was going to be on tonight.

Lucky, lucky me.

Highly impressed with the show, Camelot is certainly a show that I will continue watching during it's duration. And already contemplating buying a season boxset in the future. Dish Network has generously given their customers a free year of Starz so we ditched HBO in lieu of Starz...and I couldn't be happier even with the looming fourth season of True Blood (which I may or may not watch. Last season bored me.)





Taken from the Starz Website:

"In the wake of King Uther’s sudden death, chaos threatens to engulf Britain. When the sorcerer Merlin has visions of a dark future, he installs the young and impetuous Arthur, Uther’s unknown son and heir, who has been raised from birth as a commoner. But Arthur’s cold and ambitious half sister Morgan will fight him to the bitter end, summoning unnatural forces to claim the crown in this epic battle for control. These are dark times indeed for the new king, with Guinevere being the only shining light in Arthur’s harsh world. Faced with profound moral decisions, and the challenge of uniting a kingdom broken by war and steeped in deception, Arthur will be tested beyond imagination. Forget
everything you think you know…this is the story of Camelot that
has never been told before."


Incredibly stunning, the world that they inhabit is beautiful. It was filmed primarily in Ireland with bright green scenery and brilliant waterfalls.

I knew very little about the cast prior to watching the premier. It was certainly time to do a little digging after watching their amazing performances. (VERY AMAZING. I was blown away!) King Arthur is played by Jamie Campbell Bower who has appeared in such films as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and The Twilight Sage: New Moon. Whether you a Twilighter or a Potterhead, the franchises are huge enough for everyone to know it. Although Bower had minor roles in the two wildly popular YA book adaptions, he will be returning in all the final films for the series'.



Staring opposite of him as his step sister, Eva Green plays Morgan. Ruthless. Ambitious. Morgan is certainly a force to be reckoned with. Green has appeared and starred in such films as The Golden Compass, Casino Royale and Kingdom of Heaven.



As the CEO of Starz Chris Albrecht said "The story of Arthur isn't history, it's mythology, and Camelot isn't a place but an idea of hope that has resonated at different times throughout history." This ten-episode series - with hopefully more seasons to follow - is a creative re-imagining of the tale, taking it and realistically redefining it expertly. I am looking forward to seeing more of this very adult, very dark, and very real tale.

Sucker Punch Animated Shorts - Move Over Animatrix...or not!

Instead of linking all three of these my Facebook page (and continuously spamming everyone that has friended me over there), I compiled all three animated shorts into this blog entry. Now I can talk about them as well as drool over them.

Three animated shorts have popped up today to accompany Sucker Punch, which releases tomorrow March the 25th.

While the source where I found the shorts recommends them for viewing after the movie, I could not help but to view them prior. I, of course, am ready for my Sucker Punch fix despite all the grueling and horrible reviews floating around about it. After waiting on a movie for a year or so, I will watch everything pertaining to it and defend it in anyway possible.

After watching the three shorts, I don't think viewing the movie first is absolutely necessary. If you've seen the trailer a couple of times (or a couple hundred like myself) then each of these shorts adds to familiar elements that are in the trailers. They do not spoil anything about the plot - or lack thereof according to reviewers - about the movie. If anything, they just try to add on to the portions of the movie and may enhance the viewing of it, considering these little back stories will not be in the feature length film.







Each short takes place in a different level of Baby Doll's mind - ala Inception, but probably not as good. Having not seen the movie as of yet, I am unsure if the level of her imagination (minus the Brothel of course) is the correct order the videos are in, but I managed to put them in the order other sources have them in.

Animatrix is one of my favorite things on this planet! It was such a successful addition to the Matrix trilogy and is better to me then one of the movies in the trilogy. Animatrix utilized different directors and art forms for the majority of its animation which is something these Sucker Punch shorts did not do, but I really enjoyed this shorts. I think they all evoked the same emotion from me and were more similar then they are different, which does not put it on the level of the Animatrix as an animated accompaniment to a film. I found them enjoyable nonetheless.