My Week in Movies, 2015 Week 50

Posted on December 14, 2015 by jaycluitt

All I can think about right now is Star Wars. I’ve been trying not to get my hopes up for The Force Awakens, but it’s now just three days away, so I’m getting more than a little excited. Today I picked up my pre-booked tickets in an effort to avoid queues come Thursday evening (I was tempted with the one-minute-past-midnight showings, but they didn’t have assigned seating and I don’t want to have to queue up for hours and fight for a decent view for the sake of a few hours), and now the day is almost upon us. That’s the next Lambcast episode as well, and if there’s one thing I’m looking forward to more than finally seeing the film is discussing it with some other like-minded nerds, that’s where the real fun will begin.

Oh, and speaking of Star Wars, to celebrate the release of The Force Awakens the guys over at Simplistic Reviews have created some re-enactments of how some scenes from Star Wars maybe should have played out, and I participated by recording some suitably degrading intros and outros for each show. They’re all hilarious (especially my bits) and you can find links on their site here, or at the bottom of this very page. Anyway, here’s what I watched this week: Continue reading →

My Week in Movies, 2015 Week 49

Posted on December 8, 2015 by jaycluitt

I’m feeling overwhelmed, run-down, depleted and frantic, so it must mean we’re nearing Christmas. As such I don’t have time for this introductory nonsense this week, plus I haven’t got much to say, so let’s get straight into the movies. Here’s what I watched this week: Continue reading →

Katniss Sniddlegrass and the Cauldron of Mockingjays

Posted on December 5, 2015 by jaycluitt

Spoilers, spoilers, spoilers everywhere!

Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) lives in the world of Panem, and land rife with civil unrest. 74 years ago Panem, which is split into twelve working-class districts and one wealthy capitalist Capitol, was host to an uprising, during which the unruly numbered districts were defeated by the Capitol’s military powers, and during which District 13 was destroyed. As penance for this act, every year the Capitol holds an annual Hunger Games, for which a boy and girl aged 12 to 18 from each district are randomly selected, trained, presented to the public and thrown into a specially made arena to fight it out to the death, until only one player survives. Katniss lives in District 12, and the when her younger sister Primrose (Willow Shields) is picked in her first draw, Katniss volunteers in her stead. Her male counterpart is Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), a baker who only tangentially knows Katniss. Katniss asks her friend Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth) to look after her sister and emotionally frail mother (Paula Malcomson).

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Inside Out, or Why I Should Never Have Kids

Posted on December 3, 2015 by jaycluitt

Riley (Kaitlyn Dias) is an 11 year old girl living in Minnesota with her parents (Diane Lane and Kyle MacLachlan). She is a normal girl who enjoys hockey, spending time with her friends and having fun with her family. All that changes when they move to San Francisco, and Riley finds herself having to deal with some unfamiliar emotions and situations. Most of this plays out in her head, where Riley is operated by her five core emotions, Joy (Amy Poehler), Anger (Lewis Black), Disgust (Mindy Kaling), Fear (Bill Hader) and Sadness (Phyllis Smith). However, when Joy tries to prevent Sadness from interfering with Riley’s memories, the two find themselves lost in Riley’s long term memory, leaving Anger, Disgust and Fear at the helm.
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