Category Archives: Family

Adventure, Family, No Spoiler Reviews, Thriller

MALEFICENT (2014): Definitely Not Your Typical Disney Evil Queen

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Maleficent (2014)
Maleficent (2014)

Paragraph 5 (Spoiler Alert)

Angelina Jolie’s portrayal of Maleficent has been criticised for not being evil enough. I think people of this opinion have missed the point of the film entirely.

Not to say that the movie is perfect because the pace did leave me wanting. Nevertheless,  it’s clear to me that for audiences to buy into the story, Jolie definitely couldn’t look for inspiration for her character from the likes of pre-existing Queens of pure evil. A perfect example being ‘Queen Revenna’ of Snow White And The Huntsman (2012) – wonderfully played by Charlize Theron.

No, no, no. Jolie would have to study characters far more complex. I imagine that she must have because Maleficent is absolutely unlike the traditional evil queen, and that doesn’t make for a lesser film, but a different one.

Besides my issues with the pace, there is one aspect of the story that  I found particularly hard to accept…

…now, I may be overthinking things since I’m not the film’s key demographic. But… with Maleficent being not just a fairy with powers, and instead ’the strongest of the fairies’, I expected that she would have the means to regenerate her wings. And if she couldn’t do this, I imagined she would at least use her magic to locate the wings – once she’d used the same special powers to learn that her wings had not been completely destroyed. Am I alone in this?

I have no regrets at all about watching the film. The difference was refreshing. Plus, I LOVE Angelina Jolie! She could lead me almost anywhere. Probably.

Happy Film Loving,

G

Source: JustWatch
Adventure, Comedy, Family, Fantasy, No Spoiler Reviews

SETH ROGEN’S This Is The End (2013). Funny? YES!

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This is The End (2013), Seth Rogen, James Franco
This is The End (2013), Seth Rogen, James Franco

I learned today that two close friends of mine do not find Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s This Is The End (2013) funny. After getting over the initial shock and coming to terms with it, I made an effort to understand by running through the possible reasonable explanations:

  1. They haven’t watched or enjoyed Pineapple Express (2008), Superbad (2007) Knocked Up (2007) or other great comedies by Rogen and Goldberg.
  2. They must not have been in the right frame of mind to properly appreciate the movie’s greatness. I mean, I do believe that you have to be ‘in the mood‘ for certain films (comedy, drama, action, horror, etc.) to get the best out of them.
  3. They were too tired to pay due attention.

Following my analysis, none of the above explanations were correct. I was therefore left with the only possible answer. Something is very wrong with both of my friends. As such, attempting to make further sense of the situation is a fool’s errand.

I wonder, what do you think? Did you find This Is The End funny or am I mistaken? I know deep down that I’m not, of course. But it’s generally nice to ask.

Happy Film Loving,

G

Source: JustWatch