April 2017| most anticipated movies

April is going to be a poor month for new movie releases.

6 April 2017
Name: Power Rangers
Cast:  Elizabeth Banks, Bryan Cranston, Becky G.
Time: 124m
Genres: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Country: Canada, USA
Language: English

High school outcasts stumble upon an old alien ship, where they acquire superpowers and are dubbed the Power Rangers. Learning that an old enemy of the previous generation has returned to exact vegenance, the group must harness their powers and use them to work together and save the world.

Name: The Fifth Ship
Cast:  Vanessa Szamuhelova, Matus Bacisin, Katarina Kamencova
Time: 90m
Genres:  Drama, Family
Country:  Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary
Language: Czech, Slovak

The story of a child's adventure. It's a story of children who feel safer in the streets than at home, about children seeking out sturdy lifeboats that cross between the world of fantasy and the harsh reality of life. Jarka is one of these children. Ten years-old, and living with a mother who is not yet ready to be a Mum, Jarka spends most of her time alone. Pushed by her desire for love and to form a fully functional family, she finds herself substituting a "mother" to two babies.

27 April 2017
Name: The Salesman
Cast: Taraneh Alidoosti, Shahab Hosseini, Babak Karimi
Time: 125m
Genres:  Drama, Thriller
Country: Iran, France
Language: Persian, English

Forced to leave their collapsing house, Ranaa and Emad, an Iranian couple who happen to be performers rehearsing for Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman" rent a new apartment from one of their fellow performers. Unaware of the fact that the previous tenant had been a woman of ill repute having many clients, they settle down. By a nasty turn of events one of the clients pays a visit to the apartment one night while Ranaa is alone at home taking a bath and the aftermath turns the peaceful life of the couple upside down.

March 2017| most anticipated movies

I am a little behind the schedule but still I need to post this list to keep an eye on the recent releases.

2 March 2017

Name: Logan
Cast: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Dafne Keen
Time: 137m
Genres: Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Language: English, Spanish

In the near future, a weary Logan cares for an ailing Professor X in a hide out on the Mexican border. But Logan's attempts to hide from the world and his legacy are up-ended when a young mutant arrives, being pursued by dark forces.

9 March 2017

Name: Kong: Skull Island
Cast:  Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, Brie Larson
Time: 118m
Genres: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Country: USA,Vietnam
Language: English

It's 1971, a team of explorers with a company of soldiers are following myth ,legend to the island where creatures both prehistoric and monstrous are supposed to live. Skull Island, the very island of lore and legend. The creatures they soon come across make the soldiers and explorers running for their lives. Will they survive to tell their story?

16 March 2017

Name: Beauty and the Beast
Cast: Dan Stevens, Emma Watson, Luke Evans
Time: 129m
Genres: Family, Fantasy, Musical
Country: USA
Language: English

Disney's animated classic takes on a new form, with a widened mythology and an all-star cast. A young prince, imprisoned in the form of a beast, can be freed only by true love. What may be his only opportunity arrives when he meets Belle, the only human girl to ever visit the castle since it was enchanted.

23 March 2017

Name: Løvekvinnen
Cast:  Lara Braukmann, Sara Braukmann
Time: 126m
Genres: Drama
Country: Norway
Language: Norwegian

The title means "The Lion Woman" in English, a book by Norwegian writer Erik Fosnes Hansen. Film and book describe the early years in the life of Eva, a girl born with an illness which makes hairs grow over large parts of one's body. Eva is examined by doctors in humiliating ways, and bullied in school. In her teens, Eva travels in a theater group together with other folk who suffer from rare diseases.

30 March

Name: Ghost in the Shell
Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Michael Pitt, Juliette Binoche
Time: 120m
Genres: Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Language: English

Based on the internationally acclaimed sci-fi manga series, "Ghost in the Shell" follows the Major, a special ops, one-of-a-kind human cyborg hybrid, who leads the elite task force Section 9. Devoted to stopping the most dangerous criminals and extremists, Section 9 is faced with an enemy whose singular goal is to wipe out Hanka Robotic's advancements in cyber technology.

February 2017| most anticipated movies

16 February 2017
Name: Silence 
Cast: Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver, Liam Neeson
Time: 181 min
Genres: Drama, History
Country: USA, Taiwan, Mexico
Language: English,  Japanese, Latin

The story of two Catholic missionaries (Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver) who face the ultimate test of faith when they travel to Japan in search of their missing mentor (Liam Neeson) - at a time when Catholicism was outlawed and their presence forbidden.

Name:  T2 Trainspotting
Cast: Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller
Time: 117 min
Genres: Drama
Country: UK
Language: English

A continuation of the Trainspotting saga reuniting the original characters.

Name: A Cure for Wellness 
Cast: Dane DeHaan, Jason Isaacs, Mia Goth
Time: 146 min
Genres: Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA, Germany
Language: English

An ambitious young executive is sent to retrieve his company's CEO from an idyllic but mysterious "wellness center" at a remote location in the Swiss Alps. He soon suspects that the spa's miraculous treatments are not what they seem. When he begins to unravel its terrifying secrets, his sanity is tested, as he finds himself diagnosed with the same curious illness that keeps all the guests here longing for the cure.

23 February 2017

Name: John Wick: Chapter 2
Cast:  Ruby Rose, Keanu Reeves, Bridget Moynahan  
Genres: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Language: English 

The continuing adventures of former hitman, John Wick. After returning to the criminal underworld to repay a debt, John Wick discovers that a large bounty has been put on his life.

Name:  A Street Cat Named Bob
Cast:  Luke Treadaway, Bob the Cat, Ruta Gedmintas
Time: 103 min
Genres: Biography, Comedy, Drama
Country: UK
Language: English

Based on the international best selling book. The true feel good story of how James Bowen, a busker and recovering drug addict, had his life transformed when he met a stray ginger cat.

Name:  Bába z ledu aka Ice Mother
Cast:  Václav Neuzil, Alena Mihulová, Petra Spalková
Time: 106 min
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: Czech Republic, Slovakia, France
Language: Czech

After her husband's death, Hana lives on alone in the family villa. Her two sons visit her with their families, but these visits frequently end in quarrels. When Hana meets Brona, a hardy fellow, inured to winter swimming, a new world opens before her. Brona's team-mates absorb her into their team and Hana gradually learns to overcome her fear of icy water. Her relation with Brona grows into love.

January 31, Top Ten Tuesday, All about the visuals

       Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. Visit their blog for more details on how to participate. Each week they will post a new Top Ten list on specific topic.

Topic: All about the visuals: Top Ten Favorite Graphic Novels/Comics or Top Ten Favorite Picture Books

       I am not keen on graphic novels and comics, so I've decided to look into movies. The main criteria is: the graphics or work of camera should be unique, outstanding and memorable.

1. Tron: Legacy (2010)

TRON: Legacy turned out to be a very stylish movie. There is not much of a plot, but a simple sci-fi thrill ride, in terms of action, visuals, and unpretentious fun.

2. Sucker Punch (2011)

 "Sucker Punch" is an epic action fantasy that takes us into the vivid imagination of a young girl whose dream world provides the ultimate escape from her darker reality. The hyper stylized visuals are spectacular and a total delight, but unfortunately they are not enough to make up for an empty plot. Even with all that the film is spectacular.

3. Ying Xiong (Hero) (2002)

 There is nothing as poetic in its simplicity as Hero. It is an incredibly beautiful adaptation of ancient Chinese legend. In the film tells one story from three perspectives and each perspective has a different color and each color has a particular sense in it.

4. What Dreams May Come (1998)

This movie takes you on an amazing journey through heaven and hell. Strong dramatic acting by Robin Williams and stunning visuals for the time make this movie an unforgettable experience. A truly beautiful and imaginative film conveys a very dreamy and colorful world through its spectacular cinematography.

5. Life Of Pi (2012)

 "Life of Pi" isn't just a visual effects movie stuck at sea. There's a compelling story here as well. It is so good to see the result of proper usage of 3D technology and visual effects that make a film unforgettably gorgeous to look at.

6. Sin City (2005)

Sin City is a gloriously stylized world unlike anything you could see before. The visionary quality of the cinematography (black and white with occasional color accents) and the computer-generated effects are without question stunning. Eccentricity is the main theme of the movie.

7. Russian Ark (2002)

 Shot in a single take. The first three attempts were not good, but the fourth was successful. It can sound like a joke: to shoot a movie in one shot, but the footage speaks for itself: brilliantly costumed characters fill the screen, the camera smoothly moves along the rooms of the Hermitage.

8. Lawrence of Arabia of Arabia (1962)

Masterpiece of filmmaking, shot in the 70s, is a superlative cinematic look at the desert. The imagery here is absolutely breathtaking. The wide screen format captures the vast emptiness of the desert.

9. Lord of the Rings (2001-2003)

This movie is full of eye-popping special effects, and featuring a pitch-perfect cast and fabulous nature footage. Each part has its visual theme: 1 - scenery and picturesque view of the lands; 2 - spectacular battle actions; 3 - all of the above combined with multiplied visual effects and intensity.

10. Avatar (2009)

 This is not a movie; this is a one whole visual effect that has a story in it. Incredibly colorful and diverse world is reviled on the screen that makes us hold breath from excitement.

Movie: The Great Wall

Name: The Great Wall
Year: 2016
Director: Yimou Zhang
Cast: Matt Damon, Pedro Pascal, Willem Dafoe
Genres: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Rating: PG-13
Time: 103 m

Outline of the movie: A mystery (the myth as they put it) centered on the construction of the Great Wall of China.

Not a masterpiece for sure, but yet really enjoyable.

        First of all, this movie does a lot of things right. The costume designs are impressive; the set designs are very convincing, the story worked out well. As a constant film goer I was really impressed with this film. It was entertaining.

         I was not expecting too much from the movie from the start; I did not check the reviews and ratings beforehand and now I really do not understand all the criticism about it.

         The story is about a legend. And it was wonderful to just sit back and let someone tell a really good and captivating story. And they told it beautifully! What I liked the most is a great number of beautiful people. It was a pure delight. The nature shots and battles – everything seems to be balanced and not too overloaded: a little of romance, none of the tear-shedding.  So at this point, I did not care anymore about plot holes or historical inaccuracies, because I came to cinema to see a fantasy, a Chinese legend with monsters and heroes. And there it all was: a war story, filled with elements of the old Chinese culture, surrounded by exceptional warriors, beautiful landscapes and bloodthirsty monsters. 

        The only minus I can point out is that due to the multiple plot twists, the audience never has enough time to get emotionally invested in the characters. Nevertheless, it is not a bad movie. I was entertaining and spectacular.

Rating: 

    5/5   

January 2017| most anticipated movies

It does not seem that so many new movies are coming out in January. Well it means more time for books.

12 January 
Name: Passengers
Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Pratt, Michael Sheen
Time: 116 min
Genres: Adventure, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Language: English

The spaceship, Starship Avalon, in its 120-year voyage to a distant colony planet known as the "Homestead Colony" and transporting 5,259 people has a malfunction in two of its sleep chambers. As a result two hibernation pods open prematurely and the two people that awoke, Jim Preston (Chris Pratt) and Aurora Dunn (Jennifer Lawrence), are stranded on the spaceship, still 90 years from their destination. 

Name: Live by Night 

Cast: Zoe Saldana, Ben Affleck, Chris Sullivan

Time: 128 min

Genres: Crime, Drama 

Country: USA

Language: English

Boston, 1926. The '20s are roaring. Liquor is flowing, bullets are flying, and one man sets out to make his mark on the world. Joe Coughlin, the youngest son of a prominent Boston police captain, has long since turned his back on his strict and proper upbringing. Now having graduated from a childhood of petty theft to a career in the pay of the city's most fearsome mobsters, Joe enjoys the spoils, thrills, and notoriety of being an outlaw. But life on the dark side carries a heavy price. Beyond money and power, even the threat of prison, one fate seems most likely for men like Joe: an early death. But until that day, he and his friends are determined to live life to the hilt. 

19 January
 Name: Monster Trucks
Cast: Jane Levy, Lucas Till, Rob Lowe
Time: 104 min
Genres: Animation, Action, Adventure
Country: USA
Language: English

Looking for any way to get away from the life and town he was born into, Tripp (Lucas Till), a high school senior, builds a Monster Truck from bits and pieces of scrapped cars. After an accident at a nearby oil-drilling site displaces a strange and subterranean creature with a taste and a talent for speed, Tripp may have just found the key to getting out of town and a most unlikely friend. 

26 January
Name: Resident Evil: The Final Chapter
Cast:  Milla Jovovich, Ruby Rose, Ali Larter
Time: 106 min
Genres: Action, Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Germany, Australia, Canada, France
Language: English

Picking up immediately after the events in Resident Evil: Retribution, Alice (Milla Jovovich) is the only survivor of what was meant to be humanity's final stand against the undead. Now, she must return to where the nightmare began - The Hive in Raccoon City, where the Umbrella Corporation is gathering its forces for a final strike against the only remaining survivors of the apocalypse. 

November 2016 Wrap Up

Read books:
read: 2 / listen: 2 / pages: 353/ hours listened: 34h52m
1. Bryan Talbot The Tale of One Bas Rat p.117
2. Jo Nesbø The Snowman 15h32m
3. Jo Nesbø The Leopard 19h22m
4. Ali Smith Hotel World p.236 - My review

Movie watched:
1. Arrival (2016)
2. Fantastic Beasts and where to Find Them (2016) 

Theater visited: 
none

Sport watched:
none

T5W December 14, Series That Got Worse with Each Book/Season

This weekly book meme officiated in November 2013. Every week there is a new topic and your list of 5 nominates will be based off this topic. For further information check out the Goodreads Page.

The theme this week is: Series That Got Worse with Each Book/Season

I guess this is inevitable to every long TV or book series. Since i do not read much of book series as i do like the first book, I do not contunue with the series my list is TV series mainly.

Due south (1994–1999)

      An upright Royal Canadian Mounted Police constable Fraser and the American police detective Ray Vecchio are working together to make the streets of Chicago safer. Those are two different characters in looks and behavior. Mountie Fraser opens doors and helps old ladies cross streets. He always goes the extra mile for everyone he knows. He might be claimed cartoonish, but this shows the unlimited possibilities for goodness. How it changes people and help them. Ray is on the other hand is cynical and self-centered person who know best that helping others is not always a grateful thing. So different and still so effective together this team accompanied by a deaf wolf is solving little and big crimes in Chicago.

       I must confess this is my favorite TV series and I believe it to be the greatest, since it has so much good relieved in people relationships, but eventually it was going a little down to 4th season. Though I still consider that the show should never be canceled, it is difficult to imagine how they would exploit Fraser's character further on. 

Sliders (1995–2000)

        Another my favorite TV series from 90s. 

        A boy genius Quinn Mallory, while working on an anti-gravity machine, accidentally creates a portal to a parallel universe. Eventually, his friend, a teacher and an unwilling participant accidentally get stuck traveling (sliding) among parallel earths in alternate dimensions, trying to survive and to find their way back home.

         Surely it was not much realistic show, but it was so fascinating to see alternatives to the existing present. Sliding into a new and unknown world was exciting and the fantasy was really wild at the beginning. The cast was wonderful and I enjoyed a terrific chemistry between them. Sadly, as the show went on the scripts were losing in quality and actors started to leave the show. By the end of the show, only one actor was left from the original cast. They do replace the actors, but could not recapture the magic of their relationships. It was a disappointing end to what began as a fascinating show.

 

Good wife (2009–2016)

       Alicia Florrick is the wife of a former state's attorney for Cook County. He has been imprisoned after a sex and corruption scandal. Alicia must deal with the public humiliation and financial crisis. She must provide for her two children. After years of being a housewife and mother, she returns to work as a litigator at the law firm Stern, Lockhart & Gardner. She must now prove herself in the courtroom. This is really a good show and I enjoyed it so much. The talented cast and not predictable plot together with great script made a show worth watching. It is all good, but really... How much longer a person can have an upper hand in everything they try? Sounds like a superman reality, so at the end of the show I was really tired of the main heroine and her supremacy in everything. 

Grimm (2011 - )

 Nothing prepares a Portland detective Nick Burkhardt for the strange visions he begins seeing: seemingly regular people momentarily transforming into hideous monsters. A visit from his only living relative reveals the truth. Nick has inherited the ability to see supernatural creatures, and as a "Grimm," he is tasked with keeping the balance between mankind and the mythological. A reformed "Big Bad Wolf" becomes his ally and confidant.  

       This is also the great way to revive the fairy tales and make correlations with the real world. Magical creatures are among us, but they are not always as nice as the fairy tale tells us. I really enjoyed the fantasy of the movie and unpredictability of this or that character, but eventually without much development of the Nick story, the series starts to get boring and not exciting.

 Once Upon a Time  (2011 - )

      I really loved this show and I think I enjoy it more than original story. But I must confess that I truly enjoyed only 1st season. Stories are getting old and characters are not so fresh and enchanting any more. I don’t enjoy them anymore. Say Rumpelstiltskin has been going from bad to good, from morally unstable to definitely bad since the first episode and it is not catching anymore. I believe I was done with the show amid 3rd season, and not think I will be back to it.