Lawrence of Arabia Review.

Thoughts: Lawrence of Arabia is based on the true story of T. E. Lawrence. It is considered by many to be the greatest epic of all-time, while it is not my number one favorite epic, it is one of the best epics I have seen. I have recently started an interest in Epics, because I actually enjoy long movies if they are interesting, unlike some. Lawrence of Arabia's landscape shots are amazing, the time it must have taken to make those scenes is astonishing, and the hundreds of extras during the battle scenes is an amazing feat for its time. Ultimately the movie is about T. E. Lawrence's journey in Arabia. The character goes through a large transition throughout the film and is portrayed brilliantly by Peter O'Tool. Also Lawrence of Arabia won the Oscar for Best Picture and it was well deserving of the award. My main complaint with Lawrence of Arabia is that the pace can suffer at times with some parts of the film starts to drag.


Directed by: David Lean
Genre: Epic, War, Adventure, Drama,
Release Date: 10 December 1962 (1962-12-10)
Running Time: 216 minutes
MMPA rating: PG


The Good: Peter O'Toole's performance was amazing, Stunning cinematography, Fascinating character transition,

The Bad:




Plot: The following plot summery is copied from Wikipedia.com.
In 1935, T. E. Lawrence (Peter O'Toole) is killed in a motorcycle accident. At his memorial service at St Paul's Cathedral, reporters try to gain insights into this remarkable, enigmatic man from those who knew him, with little success.
During the First World War, Lawrence is a misfit British Army lieutenant stationed in Cairo, notable only for his insolence and knowledge of the Bedouin. Over the objections of General Murray (Donald Wolfit), he is sent by Mr. Dryden (Claude Rains) of the Arab Bureau to assess the prospects of Prince Faisal (Alec Guinness) in his revolt against the Turks.
On the journey, his Bedouin guide is killed by Sherif Ali (Omar Sharif) for drinking from a well without permission. Lawrence later meets Colonel Brighton (Anthony Quayle), who orders him to keep quiet, make his assessment of Faisal's camp, and leave. Lawrence promptly ignores Brighton's commands when he meets Faisal. His knowledge and outspokenness pique the prince's interest.
Brighton advises Faisal to retreat after a major defeat, but Lawrence proposes a daring surprise attack on Aqaba which, if successful, would provide a port from which the British could offload much-needed supplies. While strongly fortified against a naval assault, the town is lightly defended on the landward side. He convinces Faisal to provide fifty men, led by a sceptical Sherif Ali. Two teenage orphans, Daud (John Dimech) and Farraj (Michel Ray), attach themselves to Lawrence as his servants.
They cross the Nefud Desert, considered impassable even by the Bedouins, travelling day and night on the last stage to reach water. Gasim (I. S. Johar) succumbs to fatigue and falls off his camel unnoticed during the night. The rest make it to an oasis, but Lawrence turns back for the lost man, risking his own life and winning over Sherif Ali after saving Gasim. Watch the movie to see what happens next.



Plot: 9.2/10- The plot follows T. E. Lawrence though his campaign in Arabia, Lawrence's character goes through many trials and tribulations on his journey as he tries to win over the Arabs to help fight the Truks. Although the plot was good, the pacing dragged in parts of the movie.

Action: 6.5/10- There is not much action compared to its run time, but the battle sequences that are in it are impressive for its time.

Acting: 9.2/10- Peter O'Tool's performance is one of the best I have seen, and should have won the Oscar for Best Actor. Also the other cast members including Alec Guinness (Obi-Wan) and Omar Sharif was also top notch.

Special effects: N/A-

Soundtrack: 8.6/10- The soundtrack matches the epic feel of the movie well.

Comedy: 4.5/10- A few humorous lines were in the movie.

Would I Watch This Again: Due to its length and slow pace, I will not watch it again for a while but I will probably watch it again at some point.

Overall: 9.1/10- Despite some times slow pace, Lawrence of Arabia is a masterpiece of film making that was ahead of it time.
Closing comments: This is a must see movie for any "film buff" and epic movie fan.
Recommended for: Epic fans, War fans, Adventure fans, Drama fans,


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SHIELD TV Series and Avengers Deleted Scene!.

Breaking new! The long awaited Joss Whedon TV series was finally confirmed as S.H.I.E.L.D. ABC has ordered a pilot from Joss Whedon, who will write and direct the series with his brother. This is very surprising  considering the probable high budget that a S.H.I.E.L.D. series would cost. Also it is said that it will be autonomous from the movies. *Avengers Spoiler!* After Agent Coulson's probable death it would seem unlikely that he would be in the series, however he is voicing his character in the Ultimate Spider-Man TV series, therefore doing a TV series is not out of the question. 

*Avengers Spoiler in Video*

Wow! The Captain America Deleted Scene was finally released! This is an amazing scene, I hope some thing like it is used in the Captain America sequel. Also it includes a Stan Lee cameo and that blond lady who appeared later in the film. I will have add more commentary on this scene later. I really wish this was in the movie, although there would be a lot of Captain America.

 

Tomorrow I will post the Lawrence of Arabia review but if you have not read The Hunger Games Review. Please click on the link.

 

 

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The Hunger Games Review.

Thank you everyone who voted on yesterday's post and the vertic was, The Hunger Games and Lawrence of Arabia. However, the other movie reviews will be posted at a later time, most likely next week.

Thoughts: One of the most hyped movies of the year, The Hunger Games. It is based on the popular novel of the same, which I have not read. I was skeptical about the movie but I did have somewhat high expectations for the movie.

The Hunger Games started slowly, which I expected before watching it, and took an hour before the movie actually got going. Although it did not seem to explain quite enough to the audience as it should have, for example: the sponsors. The visual style and costumes of "The Capital" was very weird, hard to look at and laughably ridiculous, at times during the movie. Despite probably being in the book, the film maker should have toned it down.

The main character Katniss Everdeen, played by Jennifer Lawrence, was likable and overall a good heroine.

The Hunger Games is often cited as having strong thematic subtext and social commentary, which it did have, but it was not as strong as was said. Also some criticize the book and movie for being overly violent because basically kids (although many of the actors are older than the characters they play) were killing each other and the "brutality" of the content. Since this is entirely fictional, I do not see the problem unless the sight of blood bothers you. The movie does have some surprising amount of blood for a PG-13 movie, which is good. However, due to the extreme use of shaky cam during the action scene, it cuts always before much real violence is actually shown but it also makes the action scenes hard to follow and poorly executed.

Also there were parts of the movie that were very good and I was thinking "if the character did (insert idea) this could become great." but never continued getting better. At times the characters made very dumb choices, which can become very annoying and some of the movie is overly dramatic. I know that the characters are teenagers, but they are not dumb characters. The romance in the movie was not done well, mostly because Josh Hutcherson as Peeta did not give a very good performance to match Jennifer Lawrence's great performance.

The question that is often asked is The Hunger Games the next Harry Potter? In some ways it is, in that the first movie made a ton of money because of the popularity of the book and the hype not necessarily the quality of the movie. However, I doubt that the series will reach the heights of Harry Potter, since the characters are not as interesting and I saw more potential in Harry Potter, which it did live up to in the later movies.


Directed by: Gray Ross
Genre:Sci-Fi, Action Thriller,
Release Date:  March 23, 2012
Running Time: 142 minutes
MMPA rating: PG-13


The Good: Good concept, Great performance by Jennifer Lawrence,

The Bad: Slow first half, Extreme over use of shaky cam, Anticlimactic ending,




Plot: The following plot summary is copied from Wikipedia.com.
The nation of Panem, formed from a post-apocalyptic North America, consists of a wealthy Capitol and twelve poorer surrounding districts. As a punishment for a previous rebellion against the Capitol by the districts, one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 from each district are selected by an annual lottery (known as the "Reaping") to participate in the Hunger Games. The participants (or "tributes") of the Hunger Games must fight to the death in an arena controlled by the Capitol until only one remains alive; the victor is rewarded with fame and wealth. Katniss Everdeen, a 16-year-old girl from District 12, volunteers for the 74th Annual Hunger Games, to take the place of her younger sister Primrose, who was selected by the lottery. Peeta Mellark, a baker's son who once gave Katniss bread when her family was starving, was also selected.
Katniss and Peeta are taken to the Capitol, where their drunken mentor, former Games victor Haymitch Abernathy, instructs them to watch and learn the talents of the other tributes, especially the "Careers", who have been trained from birth to compete in the Games. During a pre-Games interview with TV personality Caesar Flickerman, Peeta unexpectedly reveals his love for Katniss. She is initially outraged, believing it to be a ploy to gain audience support, as "sponsors" may provide in-Games gifts of food, medicine, and tools.
Watch the movie to see what happens next.



Plot: 7.5/10- The concept of battling to the end similar to the Roman Gladiators in history, like one of my favorite movies Gladiator. However, the pacing was very slow in the first half and the parts in the "Capital" really dragged. The second have was much better but it still could have been. Also the aspects I noted in the "Thoughts" section of the review.

Action: 7.5/10- Although, there is some action the movie, it could have been executed so much better. There is a surprising amount of violence for a PG-13, however I wish could have showed a little more of the deaths on-screen and just tone down the violence slightly if they wanted to keep the PG-13 rating.

Acting: 7.7/10- Jennifer Lawrence performance in the lead role was great. I already liked her in X-Men: First Class and she did not disappoint in The Hunger Games. By far the weakest actor in the movie was Josh Hutcherson, while he was not bad; his did standout as being the weakest of the cast. Woody Harrelson was good and the other cast members were average at best.

Special effects: 7.6/10- Some of the effects looked very good, and fire is one of the hardest CGI effects but some of the fire effects still looked unrealistic. Also the CGI creature was obviously fake, yet it was could have been a little better.

Soundtrack: 7.7/10- During some scenes there were no music, which made an unnecessary tone to the movie. However, there are a few very good tracks that remind me of The Lord of the Rings music.

Comedy: 6.0/10- There were occasional humor, mostly from Woody Harrelson's character Haymitch.

Would I Watch This Again: Maybe sometime before watching the next installments of the franchise.

Overall: 7.3/10- Overall The Hunger Games is a good mostly well made movie, that had the potential to be great but never came close to meeting the hype.

Closing comments: Fans of the book would probably enjoy the movie much more, however if you have not read the book the movie is sometimes lacking.

Recommended for: Sci-Fi fans, Thriller fans,

The Hunger Games had a lot of potential but never live up to it.

Note: You have previously read my friend's guest review of the movie from a fan's prospective, which you can click here to read.


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Reader's Choice Post.

Today you are going to vote on which of the following reviews you want me to post Wedsday and Thusday. Below is a list of possible movie reviews that I could post. Please vote on which two you want me to post.



The Hunger Games

Batman: Under the Red Hood

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

Bullitt

Red Tails

Lethal Weapon

Lawrence of Arabia

There are the chocies, please vote in the comment section below.

Also since Sunday's Trivia has not been answered, below are the questions so you can try and guess.

What was the first movie to win the Oscar for Best Picture?

Name the movie and character that this quote is from.

"I am your father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate."

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Star Wars vs. Star Trek Celebrity Picks

Here is an awesome video asking celebrities which is their favorite, Star Wars or Star Trek including some of my favorite actors like: Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Chris Evens (Captain America), Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor (Obi-Wan), Clark Gregg (Agent Coulson) and many more. Obviously Star Wars won easily in the voting. Below is my commentary on some of the celebrities' answers.

 Tom Hiddleston

Hiddleston, who played Loki in The Avengers movie, answered Star Wars! I like him even more as an actor now, plus he is just a really cool guy. His favorite Star Wars movie is the same as mine for basically the same reasons.

Chris Evens 

 

"Star Wars, it's not even a question."

Ewan McGregor and Liam Neeson

 Who would have guessed their answers, I am sure it had nothing to do with both playing major roles in the Star Wars prequels.

Steven Spielberg

 Because Spielberg is friends with both Abrams and George Lucas he could not decide without offending one of them but the way he said was funny.

 Liam Hemsworth

It is funny that he starts to change his answer after he remembers that his brother, Chris Hemsworth, played a brief role in the recent Star Trek movie.

Chris Pine

 His part at 1:43 in the video is hilarious because he played Captain Kirk in the recent J. J. Abrams and he really could not decide between Star Wars and Star Trek.

 

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Trivia Sunday and Clone Wars Season 5 Trailer.

Because of the new Star Wars Detours trailer being released yesterday, I had to delay Saturday's trivia answers and questions to today.

Last week's trivia winners are billyBobjoe at Waltz Through the Forest Solace Utara at Prophets of the Force

Answer 1: How many theatrically released movies has The Joker made an appearance and name them?

The Joker appeared in Batman (1966), Batman (1989), Batman Mask of the Phantasm, and The Dark Knight.

Answer 2: The quote "I cannot jump the distance, you'll have to toss me.", was from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

Congratulations billyBobjoe and Solace Utara for answering correctly.

 

Here are today's trivia questions.

 

 

What was the first movie to win the Oscar for Best Picture?

 

 

 Name the movie and character that this quote is from.

"I am your father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate."

 

 

Aalya Rain at Fangirl & Farmgirl requested that I post the new extended trailer for Season 5 of The Clone Wars. Hopefully this is the she wanted me to post. Also note that this has not been offically released and was recorded from the crowd during SWCVI. If this video is removed from YouTube please inform me in the comments.

 

 

 

 

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Star Wars Detours Trailer and Clips.

  

Star Wars Detours is a comedy TV series by the creators of the popular Robot Chicken. I have been dreading this for a while because a Star Wars comedy series is really unnecessary when The Clone Wars darker tone is delivering excellent stories. However, this trailer actually looks kind of funny. I like how it is joking about everyone hating Jar Jar and Han Solo with an Indiana Jones hat. Although I still think this is a bad idea, it could actually be humorous. Also did anyone else that Leia's boyfriend was wearing Marty McFly clothes from Back to the Future.

 

What do you think of this series? Please sound off in the comments.

Note: Due to this breaking news, Trivia Saturday will be moved to tomorrow.

 

 

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What if George Lucas Wrote Lord of the Rings?

I came across this website were it takes The Lord of the Rings and writes it in the style of other famous people as a parody. For example: What if George Lucas wrote The Lord of the Rings, below is an excert from the website.

"Did you ever wonder who your father was, Frodo?"

"Uncle Bilbo was my father, Obi Gan Dalf."

"Your Uncle is a fine man, but he is not your father. Your father was a fine warrior and a great captain, strong in the Force. He was called Sarumann the Wise, and he was a good friend."

"Was? Is he dead?"

"He is no more. It is your destiny to avenge his death, young Baggins."



Because this combines my two favorite fandoms, I had to post this. In reality, if George Lucas directed The Lord of the Rings it probably would have not turned out very well because he is not the best at adapting source material.

Click here to check out the website with more Lord of the Rings parodies. 

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Avengers Deleted Scene!

With The Avengers Blu-Ray/DVD being released soon, Marvel has released a deleted scene from The Avengers. This scene takes place right after Bruce/Hulk lands in the warehouse and the security guard talks to him. Although probably would have not worked well in the actual movie, the reference to Ant-Man/Giant Man is with the line "Are you a big guy that gets all little, or a little guy that sometimes blows up large." is great since he did not make into the movie. The Blu-Ray will feature around 35-40 minutes of deleted scenes, but I wish Disney would just released the original three hour Joss Whedon cut of the film. Also I have already pre-ordered the Blu-Ray/DVD combo from Amazon a few weeks ago. Below are the pre-order prices for the Blu-Rays and DVD, most of these the price will go up to around $40 to $35 after they are released most likely.

Marvel's The Avengers (Four-Disc Combo: Blu-ray 3D/Blu-ray/DVD + Digital Copy + Digital Music Download): $29.96

Marvel's The Avengers (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo in Blu-ray Packaging): $24.96: This is the one I have pre-ordered.

Marvel's The Avengers DVD: $19.96

 

 

 

 



 

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One Does Not Simply....

Thank you everyone for the positive response to yesterday's post, so here is a post of Boromir's "One Does Not Simply...".

Listen to Boromir's wisdom.

Should have listened to Boromir.

So very true, you must watch The Avengers.

 

Now read this again and see if you notice something.

Which was your favorite of these memes?

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