TOMORROWLAND

This Walt Disney movie seemed to be made for kids. Naturally, George Clooney is the lead Frank Walker and together with Britt Robertson as Casey Newton, they travelled to lala-land, I mean Tomorrowland, so that she can change the course of the world before humanity destroyed the earth.

I most certainly am not a fan of George, but Casey was relatively likable.

Casey in Tomorrowland

a young George Clooney

an adult and older Frank

Casey has the ability to change the world

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER

I waited 2 years for this Captain America sequel to be out. Starring Chris Evans (as Steve Rogers aka Captain America), Scarlett Johansson (as Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow), Samuel Jackson (as Nick Fury), Robert Redford (as Alexander Pierce), Sebastian Stan (as Bucky Barnes aka Winter Soldier), Anthony Mackie (as Sam Wilson aka Falcon), Frank Grillo (as Brock Rumlow), Cobie Smulders etc, this much anticipated 9th movie of the Marvel Comics cinematic universe was just alright for me.

What is interesting about the Avenger Marvel movies is that they all had embedded plots and characters that hinted at future movies and at the end of the movies, there were easter eggs that provided a glimpse of the movies to come.

In the movie, there was a conspiracy that sought to eliminate Nick Fury to bring down the espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D.. Everything eventually led back to HYDRA, a terrorist organization, with its many secret agents such as Alexander Pierce, Brock Rumlow, and Winter Soldier, who was Steve Roger's buddy from his distant past. Who was Captain America supposed to trust when the agency he so trusted and worked with seemed to turn their back on him?

Stan Lee, as usual made a brief cameo as a security guard who lamented that he would lose his job when the Captain America suit in the museum he was guarding was stolen. Brock Rumlow, played by Frank Grillo whom I remembered from the TV series "The Gates", was carried away on a stretcher near the end of the movie. He was slated to play Crossbones, another villain, in the future movie.

Now back to the easter eggs. I saw only the first and left the cinema without knowing there was a second. In the first, it was intriguing to find the scepter that belonged to Loki from the Thor movies on display and the appearance of two new characters, imprisoned behind glass chambers. After some googling, it was revealed that they are Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, children of Magneto from the X-Men series. Well, the audience would have to wait for at least another year to be able to catch it on the screen. In the second segment that I missed, it was apparently about Bucky who found his way to the Captain America museum and saw a video or was it a photo of him and Steve Rogers together and memories of his past came flooding back.

Meanwhile, I can only look forward to the "Amazing Spider Man 2" and "X-Men: Days of Future Past" coming up soon.

In the real world, I don't think there are any superheroes. Otherwise, the plane MH370 and its passengers wouldn't have disappeared without a trace.

Captain America and Black Widow

Captain and Nicky Fury

Captain America and Falcon

Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes

the Winter Soldier

the evil Alexander Pierce and Captain America

Brock Rumlow who would be Crossbones in future sequels

Brock Rumlow

THE GREY

Today's weather - sunny

In real life, Liam Neeson's wife Natasha Richardson passed away in 2009. Starring Liam Neeson, Frank Grillo from the TV series "The Gates", Dermot Mulroney, Dallas Roberts etc, this movie tells the story of a team of workers, who completed their work at an oil drilling facility in Alaska and was on the plane home when it crashed in a blizzard.


Only seven men survived the plane crash and they had to team up together to try to find help, whilst trying to escape from a pack of wolves which were hunting them down. Led by Liam's character John, who was suffering from recurring haunting visions of his wife, they tried to fight tooth and nail against the big menacing beasts which were hot on their trails. Regardless of how intelligent humans are, they were no match for nature's creation in their home ground. Slowly but surely, they were decimated one by one and unknown to the rest of mankind, they poignantly perished horribly in a still and tranquil landscape of conifers and snow with the alpha male seeking a showdown with John in the final scene.


It is definitely not a movie for everyone and I don't think it did well at the box-office.