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 PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER

I too watched this coming-of-age movie about 2 weeks back but I was too lazy to post about it.

The 3 main leads are Logan Lerman, whom I remember from "Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief", the household known Emma Watson, from the Harry Potter movies, and Erza Miller, who is an unknown to me.

This is a movie where Emma Watson tried very hard to get out of the shadow of Hermione to play a different role Sam to remind the audience that she is not only capable of being in the Harry Potter movies but can be a character actress to take on larger and more serious roles.

Logan, on the other hand, played the main character Charlie effortlessly and brilliantly to portray a nervous and self-conscious teenager with a mysterious past. There was no semblance of the confident and sociable half-god half-human Percy Jackson at all.

The movie explored the relationships between the three characters and their close-knit friends and how they dealt with the angst and tribulations of growing up, amidst grappling with teenage love, homosexuality, child molestation, suicidal issues. However, despite all the hardships and suffering they went through, the message was clear that they still had youth on their side. Such is the consolation of being a youth in these days.

So did I enjoy the movie? Well, it wasn't the kind that would seriously appeal to me though and that's my answer.

SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN

Today's weather - sunny

This movie was made for a mature audience compared to the recent one "Mirror Mirror" starring Julia Roberts and gave a different take on the same fairy tale. It was darker and more entertaining, by my standards.


This newer version stars Charlize Theron as Queen Ravenna, Kristen Stewart as Snow White, Chris Hemsworth as Eric the widowed Huntsman and Sam Claflin as Prince William. The movie drew flak in the US for getting normal height actors to portray the seven dwarfs and used CGI effects to superimpose their heads onto real life dwarf actors.


I know I am biased but I absolutely adore Charlize in her role as the cold, icy and evil queen who was driven to desperation by the circumstances surrounding her life. She was as excellent and splendid as I expected her to be and her name Ravenna was supposedly chosen to draw a parallel between her and the crows that gave her form. On the other hand, I felt Kristen was miscast as the pure, innocent and yet strong-minded Snow White. She definitely looked older than her character and at times, I thought she channeled Bella from the "Twilight" movie series with the same limited sad and longing expression. I think some other actress would have been more suitable than her to play Snow White. There was no breakthrough for Chris though and he was in his usual form. At certain angles, his entire face and facial hair reminded me of a half-man and half-ape. I would definitely suggest that he plays the role of an ape or ape-man in movies such as "Planet of the Apes". Sam played second fiddle as the Prince who surprisingly, wasn't the one who revived Snow White from death. In fact, unbeknownst to all, Eric was the one who broke the spell when he kissed Snow White on her death bed. From the Huntsman who was sent to hunt her down and kill her, he ended up protecting her until the very end.


The mystical dark forest and the sanctuary, where fairies live, were interesting and provided a stark contrast between the two. The latter was beautiful and was every bit like an enchanted forest with magical creatures and plants. Like the characters Snow White, Eric and the seven dwarfs, I was completely immersed in the fairy land until the magical white stag was suddenly shot by an arrow from the pursuing army and burst the bubble.


Finally, the ending showed Snow White being crowned as the Queen and with her were all her loyal subjects including Prince William, but she appeared distracted and looked around until her gaze fell on Eric. Only then did she finally relax and manage a smile. From this, it was evident that even Snow White could not resist Thor, I mean the widowed Huntsman. It is poignant because despite her power, she would not be able to get together with Eric given their different social status. The movie ended on that note, presumably to give viewers the room to decide for themselves how they want it to end. 

MAN ON A LEDGE

 Today's weather - sunny

After watching "Avatar", who doesn't know Sam Worthington? His latest movie "Man on a Ledge", stars Elizabeth Banks, Jamie Bell and Ed Harris etc.

Driven to desperation, a former police officer and now innocent fugitive Nick Cassidy on the run from the law decided to pick a crowded traffic junction in New York City to attempt suicide by jumping off a tall building. But things were not as simple as it seemed and cops were also involved in the crime.


The truth was, Nick didn't want to die. He staged this suicide attempt to draw media attention to his act, in a bid to clear his name, while his brother and girlfriend were across the street in a jewellery vault stealing a $40 million diamond, for the first time, from the businessman who framed him for stealing the diamond and landed him in jail for a crime he didn't commit. Well, the premise is if the diamond was reported as stolen, then he couldn't go to jail for stealing something that was supposedly missing.


It is not the blockbuster kind of movie and didn't pack in the crowds although I feel it is passable. At least I got to watch the trailer for the upcoming "Avengers" movie starring Captain America, Thor, Incredible Hulk, Iron Man and so on.