ANT-MAN

Paul Rudd, one of my favourite comedy male actor from "The Object of My Affection" from yesteryears, played the lead Scott Lang in this new Marvel comic movie Ant-Man. He has always played a non-leading actor role and this movie should be a big break for him to be more than just a second fiddle.

The other main cast includes Michael Douglas as Dr Hank Pym, Evageline Lilly as Pym's daughter Hope Van Dyne and Corey Stoll as Darren Cross. Dr Pym, a leading scientist from S.H.I.E.L.D. resigned in 1989 from the corporation when he found out that they were replicating his shrinking technology in the form of an Ant-Man suit, which he believed would cause mayhem if it fell into the wrong hands. When Darren, a former protege of Dr Pym's, invited him to a preview of his yet to be perfected new technological product the yellow jacket in the present day, a mortified Dr Pym decided to take the next step to prevent the completion of the yellow jacket.

Pym spied on a criminal Scott for some time, tested him and decided he was the best candidate to wear his Ant-Man suit. Scott, who was recently released from prison and was trying to make ends meet so that he can provide child support to his wife in order to secure visitation rights to see his daughter, was finally convinced to help Pym for the sake of his daughter. Hope, who was dating Darren and was also spying on him for Pym, joined in to train Scott to be ready to don the shrinking suit and lead the legion of ants to fight alongside him.

The movie was light-hearted; there were many comedic moments and was action-packed enough to entertain the audience. It gave new meaning to the name Anthony or Antony. There was also mention of Tony Stark and a brief cameo of Sam Wilson or the Falcon, when the Ant-Man attempted to borrow, or steal, a device from the Avenger's headquarters.

As with all other Marvel comic movies, the audience is rewarded if they stay back until after the post-credits. In this movie, there are 2 easter egg segments where they were treated to a preview of the upcoming movies; one on the female wasp and the other on Steve Roger's Captain America and Bucky Barnes' Winter Soldier.

Scott in the Ant-Man suit

the evil Yellow Jacket

Dr Pym explaining to Scott

a bewildered Scott when he learnt his successful break-in was a setup

Hope

an injured Scott

THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES

The last of "The Hobbit" series, this movie directed by Peter Jackson stars Martin Freeman as Bilbo the Hobbit, Ian McKellen as Gandalf the Grey, Richard Armitage as King Thorin Oakenshield, Luke Evans as Bard the Bowman, Cate Blanchett as Galadriel the royal elf, Christopher Lee as Saruman the White, Orlando Bloom as Legolas Greenleaf, Evangeline Lilly as Tauriel, Dean O' Gorman as Fili, Aidan Turner as Kili and many others.

It took off where it ended last December with Smaug the dragon which was awoken from his slumber and wreaked havoc on Laketown. Bard, who eventually killed Smaug with the black arrow, led the survivors to the Lonely Mountain, as news of the death of Smaug spread to the rest of Middle Earth. Meanwhile at Dol Guldur, an imprisoned Gandalf was rescued by Galadriel, which brought on a brief battle between Sauron aided by his Ringwraiths and Galadriel, Elrond and Saruman. A corrupted Galadriel managed to cast Sauron and the Ringwraiths from the fortress before collapsing.

Back at Erebor, tension mounted among Thorin and his dwarves as he was afflicted by Smaug's dragon sickness to find the Arkenstone. He ended up distrusting Bilbo and his dwarves and refused Bard's negotiation for peace. A battle was ensuing between Thorin and his dwarves, Thranduil and his army of Elves and Bard and the townsfolk before two other armies comprising Thorin's cousin Dain who led another dwarf army and Azog the defiler and his Orc army all converged together to fight the titular battle. The dwarf brothers Fili and Kili were unfortunately killed by Azog's son and Orc chieftain Bolg during battle. Legolas slayed Bolg to rescue a grieving Tauriel who had a relationship with Kili just as Azog and Thorin killed each other, but not before Thorin mended his relationship with Bilbo before his death.

Peace was restored after the Orc army was defeated and Bilbo, still in possession of the ring, left the dwarves to return home and Legolas took Thranduil's advice and departed in search of the Dunedain Ranger. The movie ended with a 111 years old Bilbo sixty years later, who was reminiscing his past adventures in his abode, receiving a visit from his old friend Gandalf. That marked the start of the other movie series "The Lord of the Rings" that preceded "The Hobbit".

I read that some audiences were disappointed with this movie but I wasn't. I did find it kind of entertaining, I must admit.

Smaug destroying Laketown

the menacing Smaug

Galadriel after rescuing Gandalf

Gandalf and Bard the Bowman

Bard face-to-face with the Elven army

the ensuing battle of the dwarfs, elves and Laketown's folks

Kili

the dwarf contingent

Bilbo and Thorin

Legolas and Tauriel

Azog, leader of the Orcs

THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG

The story continues where it left off a year ago in the "An Unexpected Journey". Directed by Peter Jackson, the ending to the trilogy should be shown by end of 2014 to complete J.R.R. Tolkien's novel on the adventures of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins as a prelude to "The Lord of the Rings" novels.

Starring Ian McKellen as the white wizard Gandalf, Martin Freeman as Bilbo, Richard Armitage as the dwarf King Thorin, Orlando Bloom as the Woodland elf Prince Legolas, Evangeline Lilly as the female Woodland elf warrior Tauriel, Luke Evans as Bard the Bowman, Aidan Turner as the dwarf Kili and so on, this is one movie not to be missed if you caught the first installment and crave some a continuation of adventures through the enchanted forests.

There is also the English-speaking dragon Smaug which seemed kind of strange and out of place to me. Well, the story is long so I won't attempt to write about it. One thing to note though was Tauriel's character and the budding romance between her and the elf Kili were never in the books and were created in this story to introduce a female character to the male dominated story.

Bilbo

Thorin

Bard and Legolas

Tauriel

King of wood elves Thranduil

Kili

Smaug the fire breathing dragon