I watched Tár today and there’s no denying Blanchett’s deserved march to yet another Oscar win. She’s just so profoundly moving in her acting, so undeniably brilliant in every minute twitch, sniff, or sigh. In every choice, she makes her facial expressions. I cannot express enough how wonderful it is to watch Blanchett at her best in a movie because it truly is outstanding. That being said, Tár is a dreary movie in its inception.
Its grey cinematography is depressing, appropriately so in the context of the film, the scenes sometimes drag on for far too long, and by the end of the movie, I felt like the story could’ve been forty minutes shorter. Not to mention the fact that there is no music besides the music presented whenever she’s composing.
Despite my personal boredom with the movie, I believe it definitely deserves its six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. While it is a movie that felt, at times, lengthy there were moments that will stick with me in this film thanks to Blanchett’s incredible performance which is the obvious driving force of this film.
I’ll give it 4 out of 5 stars and 88 out of 100.
I thank you for reading and I hope you have a fantastic day.
I like to watch at least one movie every day. Some that I’ve seen literally dozens of times and others that I’ve never seen before. Today was one of those days where I sat back and turned on two films that were brand new to me: one being The Aviator, a Martin Scorsese movie about Howard Hughes and Real Steel, a random 2011 flick starring Hugh Jackman about boxing and robots.
The Aviator was the first movie I watched and I was less than impressed. The two hour and fifty minute film has its moments of intrigue but when it concluded I found myself wondering why every Scorsese movie I have ever watched leaves me feeling empty inside. Don’t get me wrong.
The film’s cast of recognizable faces keeps the movie afloat, specifically Cate Blanchett who plays a shockingly believable Katherine Hepburn and offers the most interesting of the film’s content. Leonardo Dicaprio, who plays Howard Hughes, also manages to keep me along for the ride as he mentally becomes more and more unstable until by the end, you can’t help feeling sorry for him. And yet, even with the brilliant performances of these two actors, the movie only seems to get more boring and more confusing.
I tried to really enjoy this film but after a while it just became exhausting. Scorsese has a style and unfortunately, I’m not a fan.
Thor: Ragnarok brought out some amazing exclusive photos for Entertainment Weekly about a month ago and ever since I have been waiting for some footage of this new installment into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Well, the teaser trailer has finally arrived and it has made even more excited about this new Thor. Take a look.
Thor’s Hammer Situation
From what I’ve gleaned from the exclusive photos of the new Thor movie he no longer possessed his hammer which was a great new twist. The question I was left with however was how did he not have his hammer? Now I figured it was stolen from him and he would eventually reclaim it sometime through the movie. Nope, that’s not what was going to happen. Instead, the villain of this film named Hela who is being played by the exceptional Cate Blanchett, literally made his hammer explode! That’s a way to start the first twenty or so seconds of the trailer. That one moment completely changes the entire outlook of this movie because what is Thor going to do without his hammer? It’s how he summons lightning, it’s how he flies, without that hammer he’s basically a regular guy in space. He’s got some work to do if he’s going to try to defeat this incredibly powerful villain.
The Action in the Trailer
Okay, there was a lot of stuff going on in this trailer. There was Hela supposedly laying waste to Asgard which isn’t good. There was a spaceship flying towards some sort of colorful rift in the sky at one point in the trailer. There were soldiers firing alien guns, Asgardians fighting Hela, all in all, there was a lot of mayhem in a short amount of time. The action sequences in this film are going to be superb and very enjoyable to watch, that is for certain. And to think at some point in this movie Doctor Strange will be joining the fray! I am ecstatic!! This is already shaping up to be the best Marvel movie of the year.
The Characters
One thing that makes a great movie is the characters and it looks like Thor: Ragnarok is sticking to that important rule. There was Valkyrie played by Tessa Thompson who looks fantastic. I love that they didn’t show her character too much in the teaser so it can be a surprise for maybe later trailers or the movie. And the black leather outfit she’s wearing makes her stand out and gives her toughness that I’m really liking.
Jeff Goldblum’s character, The Grandmaster, looked a lot more ridiculous in pictures than in the teaser trailer which is a relief. Of course, it’s nice to see The Hulk again after so many years of him being absent in the MCU. I can’t wait to see what happened to him. And then there was also Loki who looks shifty as ever. I don’t know if he’s the bad or good guy. I think he’ll probably be both because that’s just how he is. And Hela looks frighteningly incredible. I can’t wait to see just how much of a threat she’s going to be. And considering how powerful she seems will she die in this movie or will they just contain her and put her back where she came from? I guess I’ll find out in November.
The Overall Summary of this Teaser Trailer
I have only one word that embodies the essence of this entire new teaser trailer…EPIC! The musical choice was perfect. It gave it a Guardians of the Galaxy vibe but it wasn’t too light of a song choice. I loved the humor at the end of the trailer. It literally made me laugh out loud. The plot looks very interesting and I am excited! I am so happy to see that Marvel saved their best movie of the year for last. And like I said earlier in the post, even Doctor Strange is going to be in it! This movie is definitely on my must-see list for the year.
I thank you for reading and I hope you have a beautiful day.
One of my favorite actresses, if not my favorite actresses of all time is Cate Blanchett. Every role that I’ve seen her play she manages to transform into a new character and really hones in the idea that she is the most captivating person in the scene. Whether she’s playing an elven queen or a Marvel villain Cate Blanchett manages to steal the show and I absolutely love her.
That’s why, for this week’s A Movie Ranking, I’m featuring Cate Blanchett as the star of this topic. Enjoy!
11. Ocean’s 8
It’s a shame because I was SO excited for the prospect of an all-female Ocean’s movie and it turned out to be crap. I honestly couldn’t even finish it, it was that bad! But Cate Blanchett was great in the film, as always. She was basically the Brad Pitt of the film as she portrayed this super cool female crook who always had the best style in the room. I liked her character but I didn’t like the movie. Continue reading A Movie Ranking: Cate Blanchett→
Yesterday I wrote the first post in a five-part series featuring why The Lord of the Rings is amazing. In that post, I shared my fascination with the awe-inspiring locations Peter Jackson sought to bring this epic story to life. But it isn’t just the beautiful lands captured onscreen that have managed to make these films astronomically magnificent but also the incredible cast as well.
Think about some of the best movies ever made. Take films like Die Hard or the original Star Wars films for example. Each of these movies took relative unknowns and boosted them to icon status instantly. Bruce Willis will always be known as the tough, gun-toting, wise-cracking guy for the incredible job he did to bring that type of character to life in Die Hard. Could another actor have done the same?
Star Wars took a cast of unknowns–Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, etc–and boosted them to Hollywood royalty overnight as they starred in a film (A New Hope) that still awes children and adults to this day.
The Lord of the Rings is another one of these types of movies. On that note, let’s look at this sprawling cast who brought each and every character to life in a way rarely seen in film or television.
I’ve seen all of the Ocean’s films and they are fantastic heist films. So when it was announced that there was going to be another Oceans film but this time with an all-female cast I was definitely a little skeptical but excited at the same time. Then the star-studded cast was announced and I got totally excited. This movie has some of my favorite actresses in Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, and Sandra Bullock and while I’m not exactly familiar with everyone else except for Mindy Kaling and Rihanna I was still just as excited to see these actors bring a new era to the Oceans series.
One of my favorite things about the Oceans films is the cinematography and the music. Director Steven Soderbergh had a unique eye that made those previous three movies so cool to watch. And then composer, David Holmes, brought a jazzy feel to the films that was utterly perfect. They, to me, were the heart and soul of the series and the reason why they were so enjoyable.
Ocean’s 8 doesn’t have this director and composer which is a slight bummer. So can this new director in Gary Ross and composer in Daniel Pemberton retain that classic Oceans style while providing something fresh and new? I honestly hope so.
All in all, I’m counting down the days until I’ll be able to see it and I hope it’s just as great as it looks. I thank you for reading and I hope you have a splendid day.
Annlyel Online 