Trailerwatch: The Hunger Games – Catching Fire

This year will see some highly anticipated follow ups to successful movies. And the next ‘Hunger Games’ movie is pretty high on that anticipation-list (at least mine). Last night the first teaser trailer (though thankfully longer than just 30 seconds) has been unveiled at the MTV Movie Awards and boy does it deliver:

 

The freshly crowned Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence seems to bring charm to Katniss that I personally missed from the books while Donald Sutherland is just awesome at being mean. This looks so amazing – I can hardly wait. But we have to since the movie won’t be released until November 22nd 2013.

Review: Margin Call

While in University, studying Business Studies my least favorite subjects were the ones related to Finance. Not because I couldn’t handle the math (I actually really enjoy Math) but because I found it so utterly mind numbing and boring way beyond regular boringness. I eventually graduated with a major in Marketing – the route with the least amount of Finance Courses….but funnily enough my first proper job was to advertise a Finance Site. And even today anything related to the Industry holds a strange fascination with me – not the least because I barely get what it is all about. But what I do get is that some very few people get an enormous amount of money for simply shifting others people money around.

When the last financial crisis started a lot of close friends were directly affected – especially the ones who were working at Lehman Brothers. Over the past 3 years it became clear that the reason Lehman Brothers crashed and so many more banks all the sudden needed money from the state was because they bought shares based on mortgages that again were based on fairytale house prices. In order to explain how all this started – go watch “Margin Call”. This amazing little movie not only manages to somehow explain what went wrong but also how recklessly those people in the top floors went about this whole business.

It is quite telling that at each level the boss tells his team members that he actually doesn’t have a clue what they are doing and needs proper explanation. The film starts with Eric Dale (Stanley Tucci) getting the boot but his team members Seth (Penn Badgley) and Peter (Zachary Quinto) stay on lead by a very nervous Will (Paul Bettany). Eric was working on something big but is not allowed to finish it so he hands the USB Stick to Peter who quickly puts the puzzle together realizing that something really bad is about to happen – in short the company holds shares that are worthless but that they bought for more than what the whole company is worth. Within one night this problem gets elevated first to Wills Boss Sam (Kevin Spacey) who quickly hands it up to Jared (Simon Baker) who in return argues with the math genies in the company (a totally unconvincing Demi Moore) who finally hand the problem to the head of the firm: John Tuld played by the ever amazing Jeremy Irons. And with each step up the people in charge know less and less about what the company actually does in its core.

Since most scenes take place in board rooms the whole movie feels more like a play than a film. The class and talent of the actors on display elevates this to additional hights – maybe apart from Demi Moore. But even TV-Starlet Penn Badgley who already gave a great performance in Easy A can held himself well against acting royalty like Jeremy Irons, Paul Bettany and (in my opinion) Stanley Tucci.

What makes this movie a real thriller is the easiness with what those seemingly nice people lead others knowingly into devastation just to get a decent deal out of it – and that this easiness is so true in real life. After seeing this movie it got me really thinking about the world we live in and it wasn’t a pretty thought. And by the looks of what is happening now, it doesn’t seem to me anybody has learned anything out of what happened in 2008.

So if you are interested in finding out what happened to our financial markets and why they are in the state they are in or if you simply want to see Class-A acting on-screen with a compelling story go watch “Margin Call”!

Here’s to hoping we somehow make it out of this mess!

 

Actors that make any movie watchable

Watching a lot of movies there are a handful of actors that simply stand out. Not because they are so good-looking or great leads but because they seem to make a difference to the movie without much trying. They don’t play the roles that are in every scene but the ones that make a scene stand out. These actors are somehow capable of bringing every character they are giving with such force to the screen that even if the movie is pretty bad (Burlesque anyone) the actors stand out (Stanley Tucci). And it is always like meeting an old friend when they show up unexpectedly in a movie: Like when Oliver Platt suddenly showed up in “X-Men: First Class” – it was one of the highlights of the movie for me. Or when you are watching a movie and are reminded just what great actors are out there that really should be Superstars like the Tom’s (Hanks & Cruise) or like Harrison Ford but for some inexplicable reasons simply aren’t: Ed Harris for example who I recently admired in “The Way Back”.

Or there is Stanley Tucci who for me is reason alone to watch a movie! I am not a big fan of Meryl Streep (I know, Blasphemy) though I agree she is a good actress but since she worked so often recently with him, I simply had to watch her movies. And I really tried finding a movie he doesn’t make watchable – there isn’t. I even sat bravely through “Bourlesque” just to smile at him.

It goes even better with Paul Giamatti: if he is in a movie, the movie is good! I first saw him properly in “Sideways” and ever since he never disappointed in a role. A friend recently gave me “American Splendour” which I am really looking forward to watch. On the female side Julianne Moore is simply one of the most stunning women I have ever seen and she somehow manages to become prettier with every year (usually at that age only men turn more handsome) and her roles become meatier. For me the roles she portrays come across as very sincere but in a good way – you believe her, no matter what her role is going through (ok maybe not the Walkyrie-Thing in The Big Lebowski). Another woman I adore and always love watching is Kate Winslet. She seems to not give a damn about what people make of her and even with green / blue / pink her (Eternal Sunshine of a spotless mind) she still rules the screen.

Finally there are even directors I make sure to follow into the cinema. Here Joe Wright is the leading example. Even though he did make the new “Pride & Prejudice” – which might have been ok had I not been such a fan of the BBC Version – he exceeded in his following works. He directed “Atonement” which I find one of the best movies based on a book I have ever seen. And I recently saw “Hannah” which again was astonishing and very entertaining. So I am very much looking forward to his next project.

I am sure everybody has their different reasons for watching movies but seeing any of those people for me is always worth the price or the effort of finding the movie showing somewhere. They are like the extra bill you find in a pocket of your favourite jeans – a very welcome surprise!

Review: Captain America

Captain America

 

With Chris Evans being one of my most favourite actors this movie never stood a fair chance – I would have liked it no matter what. But even without my biased mind I still find it a pretty good movie: so much fun and so much humour and so much taking the mickey it was great to see that not every comic book movie takes itself so serious! And Chris Evans IS Captain America.

When I was young I didn’t read much comics but I watched some Spiderman or Superman on telly. Captain America had some presence but I was never really aware of him and I don’t think he got that much screen time in German television – which makes sense seeing that he is the blueprint of an US-American hero and anybody who hasn’t spent some time in the USA won’t get their patriotism. But it is real and it’s there and it is all in this movie!

Captain America starts as scrawny little Steve Rogers who has the heart of a lion but the body of a wimp so he is not allowed to fight in Europe. It’s 1942 and the US has all their advertisement offices working overtime in order to promote the war and war bonds. Steve is chosen to partake in a secret experiment that is supposed to create an army of super heroes but due to some unforeseen circumstances they get stuck with only one. And because one doesn’t make a whole army, Steve is sacked and has to make a living out of his appearance. He becomes the mascot of the war but when his best friend is gone missing in action he ignores good advice and fights the bad boys to rescue his buddy. Meanwhile the baddy Johann Schmidt (awesome mean Hugo Weaving) is building a weapon of mass destruction which our hero has to fight. There are obstacles to overcome, tough critics to be won over and hearts to be won but of course our hero is of course successful.

So even after all those comic book movies we’ve seen in the past couple of months this is something fresh! The film doesn’t shy away from making its hero look pretty ridiculous – I had a little flash back to the very old Batman TV Show with it’s “Puff” , “Pow” and “Bang!” It also gives the woman a meatier role than just looking pretty. And the actors are all in on the fun – especially Stanley Tucci who I still have to catch in a role where he isn’t simply amazing. He brings some quietness and heart to the film. The only problem was once again the German accent – Hugo Weaving seemed to forget it while leading his troops into the final war. Just speak your regular accent (ok maybe no Australian Slang) but don’t try at something that just doesn’t work well.

As a verdict: if you want a ride back to the past where heroes were glorious and TV nearly none existent – watch “Captain America”!

Review: Easy A

For the past couple of years there haven’t been any good High School Comedies. Yes there were High School Comedies but you can’t really call American Pie (even though the first one was kind of hilarious if you like this kind of humour) a good movie. One where the actors are convincing, the story is a hidden gem tackling issues that really matter to the teenager told in a way that appeal to teens and their parents alike. One where the parents are real people and not just some comical characters the writer would have liked his parents to be. In short – there are no John Hughes Movies out there anymore. To be fair John Hughes usually had a little bit too much unrealistic romance in their but what made his movies so different to what we are currently seeing in cinemas is that he actually understood teenagers. There were few exceptions in the last couple of years mostly adaptations of old classics from Shakespeare or Jane Austen: Clueless, 10 things I hate about you, Romeo + Juliet – but the youngest of those 3 are more than 10 years old! But finally someone in Hollywood had the sense to write something witty and funny and intelligent that would appeal to young and old alike. And the producers were wise enough to cast quality actors in every single role rather than just pretty faces. And surprise – it turns out you have a great movie that is also successful at the box office (maybe I should sell that simple formula to Hollywood…sounds like a winner to me!). The movie I am talking about is of course “Easy A”. It boasts the names of Patricia Clarkson, Stanley Tucci (who never ever fails – he even made Burlesque watchable), Phoebe – I mean Lisa Kudrow, Thomas Haden Church, Malcolm McDowell and of course the new shining light Emma Stone. Apologies if I sound overly excited about this movie but it was just so good I actually watched it twice on the same day. The story is (again) a retelling of an old and successful story – “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Through a white lie in order to shut up her overzealous friend our heroine Olive (Emma Stone) is turned into the high school tramp – a word that provokes the cutest family discussion I have ever seen – even though she has never done as much as kiss a boy. But because she is a nice girl she helps out a friend who gets harassed because of his homosexuality so they pretend to have sex. Word gets around quickly that Olive helps out guys in need and all that is needed to provide are gift cards. And it quickly turns into this old discussion of why boys can screw around and being studs while girls doing the same are labelled as hookers and skanks. Except the movie never goes into stereotypes and lets it’s lead handle the issue with class and integrity but also shows how at first she actually likes all the attention she is getting for her new-found “fame” though ends up being annoyed that everybody just sees her for that. Of course there is a cute guy that sees beyond that and is different to everybody else (come on it is a high school comedy after all!) but that doesn’t matter because what matters are the bits in between. It is such a delight to watch the actors play off each other clearly having a lot of fun and simply enjoying themselves on the set. And even if you are already a bit sick of seeing Emma Stone all over the place – she is worth it! So even if you missed this movie in the cinema – I think I am about 1 year late with this review – I urge you to get it on DVD! Simply a great entertainment!