Marni Sees...The Lego Movie

I had been looking forward to this movie for a long time, while I don’t still play with Lego, it was definitely a big part of my childhood. I know this movie was meant to really appeal to kids, but I went with a group of people ranging from 19-30 years old and we were laughing the loudest out of anyone in the cinema, so if you’re thinking you might be too old for this movie, think again!

The movie sees Emmet (Chris Pratt), a construction worker, become an accidental hero who must work with Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks), the wise leader of the master builders, Vetruvius (Morgan Freeman), and the likes of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman to stop President Business (Will Ferrell) from acting out his plan to stop any kind of creativity by gluing everything perfectly into place.  We’re talking no building without an instruction manual – gasp! 

The animation is great, it’s made to look like it’s stop-motion but it’s completely CGI, and perfectly mimics the way Lego move in real life (there’s a funny jumping jacks gag in the beginning that shows this really well).  As I mentioned, it’s hilarious and definitely not just for kids. You’ll be hard pressed to find a minute where you aren’t laughing. It's really got the full package - action, comedy, a little romance, and a musical number!

I’m not going to be cynical like a few others and say it’s just a ninety-minute commercial for Lego, it’s genuinely a great animated film that pokes fun at itself and the ending definitely resonated with a few of those bigger ‘kids’ (the dads!) in the audience.  In the words of the film's theme song, everything is awesome and people of all ages will enjoy it, though the younger ones might not quite understand the humour all the time, it’ll keep you entertained and leave you wanting to play with your old Lego sets. The only really disappointing thing about this movie is the fact that it was animated here, but we had to wait for ages before it came out here!

4/5

Superfan Has No Idea He's Going to Meet Emma Watson

Joven from Smosh is one of Emma Watson's biggest fans, and when the team has the chance to interview her for Noah, they tell him he's going to interview Logan Lerman, when in reality they're interviewing Emma.  The look on his face when she walks in a kisses his cheek is priceless. It's actually a very charming video and she's so sweet about the whole thing!

Movies I'm Excited To See In April

I haven't been to the movies in a little while, which is quite odd for me, but in the next few weeks there are a lot of movies to be excited about.

The Lego Movie - April 3rd

I am so excited for this one, it's coming out this Thursday and has been receiving great press. There are so many big names in this movie including Morgan Freeman, Jonah Hill, Elizabeth Banks, Will Ferrell and Channing Tatum.

Chris Pratt voices unlikely hero Emmett who finds himself having to save the world from Ferrell's villain, President Business. Characters from Star Wars, Harry Potter, as well as super heroes like Batman and Superman all make an appearance to come together and save their world from President Business.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier - April 3rd

Big weekend coming with Captain America: The Winter Soldier also being released. Chris Evans is back as Steve Rogers and stars alongside Scarlett Johannson, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Redford and Sebastian Stan.

After the events of The Avengers, Steve is living a "quiet" life in Washington D.C., but that of course doesn't last long before he's faced with a new threat, the Winter Soldier. Apparently the film is an excellent sequel to Captain America: The First Avenger and is also one of the darkest stories from Marvel.

Divergent - April 10th

I've been meaning to read this book since 2012 and have only just started, at least it'll be fresh in my mind when I see the movie! Shailene Woodley has been everywhere lately, she stars as Tris in Divergent and she'll also appear in The Fault In Our Stars (another book I need to read) and was recently in The Spectacular Now (not sure if this ever got a theatrical release in Australia, but I saw it in the US and it's worth a watch). The movie also stars Theo James, Kate Winslet, Zoe Kravitz and Miles Teller (who's also been everywhere lately!).

Divergent is another dystopian flick like The Hunger Games (though I've heard it doesn't quite reach that level of greatness) where the world is divided into factions based on virtues like bravery and selflessness. Those who don't fit in are known as divergent and threaten the system, Tris learns she's divergent and finds out there's a plot to destroy them. She has to find out why before it's too late.

I've seen mixed reviews, but lets hope it tides us over until Mockingjay Part 1 is released in November!

Trending This Week...

Here are a few videos and articles I've been loving this week, if you're bored, you should definitely check them out!

1. Jimmy Kimmel Asks Kids "Do You Know Any Naughty Words?"

2. Dad Turns Videos Of His Toddler Into Insanely Cool Action Movies

3. 63 Magical Disney Facts You Should Know

And let's just throw in a little JLaw, because, why not?

4. 35 Ways In Which Jennifer Lawrence Is Just Like Us

Marni Sees...Ride Along

 

If you’re looking for a movie that gets you thinking and has a deep meaning behind it, then Ride Along isn’t the movie for you. If, however, you’re after a couple of hours of laughs, no thinking required, you’re set!

Ride Along stars Kevin Hart and Ice Cube as Ben and James. Ben is a high school security guard who loves playing shoot-em-up style video games and hopes to make it into the Police Academy so he can finally feel worthy of his girlfriend, Angela, and in turn ask her to marry him. Angela’s big brother, James, who happens to be a police officer, disapproves of Ben and makes it no secret. James decides to take Ben on a ride along with him to see what he’s made of. Making sure he gets all the annoying cases for the day, James hopes to turn Ben off joining the academy. It works at first, until Ben realises James is working on a much bigger case, tracking down crime kingpin Omar, who happens to have never been sighted by anyone…ever.  It doesn’t take long for Ben to start sniffing around and the boys end up with more than the joyride they bargained for.  

Kevin Hart is his signature fast talking and over the top idiot (not a far cry from his Think Like A Man character), and Ice Cube, well he doesn’t go too far out of his comfort zone either falling back on scary/funny persona (pretty much exactly his Captain Dickson character in 21 Jump Street).

I went to a screening attended by Kevin and he had the cinema in stitches before the movie even started, so it definitely can’t be said that the guy isn’t funny.  He even did a huge group selfie with everyone, similar to that of Ellen’s Oscar’s selfie…OK it was nothing like that, but he tried!  The movie isn’t completely terrible in terms of action/comedies, it’s a predictable film that probably should have quit while it was ahead rather than tacking on more and more “action” scenes. Having said that, Universal have already got a sequel on the way, so they certainly believe in the franchise’s ability to make money. You won’t be disappointed by this movie if we’re going by the reactions of the audience at my screening who laughed hysterically for most of the film. If you liked 21 Jump Street, then this movie should tide you over until 22 Jump Street is released.

2.5/5

 Check out the trailer if you haven't seen it already:

Marni Does...Kirribilli Markets

Yesterday, my sister and I decided to soak up the winter sun by walking down to the Kirribilli Markets near the Milsons Point train station.  I took my brand new Canon 700D with me and took a few photos while I was down there.  I don't have any fancy editing software to go with the fancy camera (my computer desperately needs an update) but I did try to make some of the colours pop a bit more.

Five Year Engagement Review

Check out my Five Year Engagement Review at Movies.Com.Au

The Avengers Review

This is a quick Avengers review! The Avengers, if you’ve been stuck under a rock for the past few years, is the coming together of the main characters in the films Iron Man 2, Captain America, Thor, and The Incredible Hulk.  The film stars Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johannson and Jeremy Renner and is directed by Joss Whedon.  In a nutshell, this movie is about Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, the Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye coming together to form the Avengers team in order to defeat Loki from destroying the world with the help of his alien friends.

I would definitely recommend watching the earlier movies before watching this one, especially Thor considering Loki is Thor’s evil brother and gives the backstory into why Loki would be doing this, and the movie doesn’t have time to waste on filling you in, so be prepared!

Joss Whedon, who also wrote the script, has done such a great job in making sure no one character overshadowed another, and they all got pretty much equal screen time which I thought would be a tough task. 

I just wanted to break down certain parts of the film because it is such a huge movie…

·      Best actor/character: As much as I love Robert Downey Jr, I’m going to go with Mark Ruffalo on this one, he replaced Edward Norton as the Hulk and I’ve got to say he did really well at being the gentle scientist and then the crazy Hulk.  When he was the Hulk, he was hilarious, it wasn’t stuff that he said obviously because most of it is just “ARRRGGHHH” but just little things he did and how he did them.  It’s also very cool that he was able to play the Hulk as in the actual green man, because Lou Ferrigno, who has been playing the Hulk for years and years, usually does that.

·      Most boring character: I’ve got to put it out there, I really do not like Thor, he is just so boring (and I actually fell asleep during Thor) and it sucks that if you really want the whole picture you have to watch Thor. He may as well talk like this “I Thor, I strong. Save world now.”

·      Best line: Probably Captain America, when he’s giving all these orders to the Avengers and then he just goes, “and Hulk…smash!” which the audience loved.

·      Worst line: I don’t know if it was the delivery or something, but I didn’t like the part after Iron Man says, “I’m bringing the party to you!” And Black Widow says, “I don’t see how that’s a party…”

·      Most heroic: While they’re all obviously super heroic, I think Iron Man really saves the day and you see him completely risk his life to save everyone else, which is very different from Tony Stark’s selfish character.  

It was probably a little bit too long, but fans of the other movies will definitely enjoy this one, and although I hated seeing New York get destroyed in the final scenes, I’m going to give the movie 4.5/5