The red band trailer for F. Gary Gray’s biography of rap group N.W.A., Straight Outta Compton (2015) has landed.
Focused on the emergence of the group (ranked number 83 by Rolling Stone, on their list of the ‘100 Greatest Artists of All Time.’), fans of N.W.A’s music will be very happy indeed if the highly anticipated trailer is anything to go by.
Thankfully, due to involvement from founding members, Dr. Dre and Ice Cube, original N.W.A music will be featured and performed.
As someone ever curious about routes to success / greatness, in any field and in the face of adversity, I’m ready for this film right now.
I remember absolutely nothing about the original Mad Max films. I’m not even sure that I’ve ever properly watched one. However, after seeing the teaser trailer for the 2015 version (Mad Max, Fury Road), it looks to be a fantastic spectacle.
Teaser Trailer >
All that’s left for me to do is get in the mood for another apocalyptic tale. Somehow I think Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron and Nicholas Hoult will manage to convince me. After all, what’s more intriguing than portrayals of ‘mad’ by talented Actors? Yes, that’s right. Nothing.
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 SnowWhite 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.
For quite some time now, my youngest brother, (knowing how much I love movies) recommended that I should watch director Pierre Morel and co-writers Luc Besson plus Robert Mark Kamen’s Taken (2008).
Unfortunately, for a while, I kept disappointing him each time he checked to see whether I’d finally seen it.
I could never give him a definite viewing date because I have to be in the right mood to watch a specific movie. Also, one thing he did insist on was that all I needed to know before watching the film is the name of its star, Liam Neeson and that it’s a good movie. I accepted this restriction and I’m so glad I did because Taken is a great action movie. The kind that will have you so very engrossed as the story unfolds, and at a pace that leaves nothing more to be desired.
I honestly could not recommend this movie more. If you’ve already seen it, then you know precisely what I’m talking about. But if you’re yet to experience it, I suggest choosing to know as little as possible before pressing the play button. Trust me when I say that doing this will only enhance your experience of the film.
Taken also stars Maggie Grace and Famke Janssen among others.
The Movie My Life 