OUTSIDE HOLLYWOOD EP.9 - 87th Academy Awards

 Hello there puny humans,
once again, my buddy from B.A.'s Screentest and I got together to record another podcast. This time (because we had to do it) we tackled The Oscars. Who won? Who deserved it? Who didn't? And how did Neil Patrick Harris do? Find out in part one:

In part two we're giving you some speed reviews for the nominated films this year, and because there never is a podcast without it we will also talk comicbook-movie news: Spidey in the MCU!

I hope you enjoy the first episode of 2015!

Sincerely,
Your Cinemartian

Movie Newsflash: SPIDER-MAN JOINS THE AVENGERS!!!

 Hello there puny humans,
it's been wishful thinking, then a rumour, and now it's official: Marvel Studios and Sony are teaming up to put Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe!
It's crazy! Release dates are being pushed around and new plans are made, but so far we just know that they try to get the web slinger right there next to Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk and Captain America. Sony will keep control over the character, but has made a deal with Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige, that he will be involved in future decision of the product. Thus, Spidey will probably appear in a MCU film next, and only then will there be a new Sony produced stand-alone movie. Of course this big reveal brings a lot new questions as well:

Will he appear in 'Captain America: Civil War'? Well, I don't know. Peter Parker is featured prominently in the original Civil War comic book story, but production for that movie has already begun and it is not sure if he still fits into the film version Marvel has created.
Will Andrew Garfield still be playing Spider-Man? Nothing is said about casting so far, but there is a big chance that they will recast. Especially, because the Sony movies don't work with the story lines of 'The Avengers' and all the other films. So it's probably farewell, Andrew. It was a short but fun ride. [UPDATE: It is now officially confirmed that Garfield will no longer be Spidey]
How will they tie everything together? That's probably what tons of executive and creative people are trying to figure out since the news broke yesterday. Maybe he will pop in in a post credit scene, or they slightly change his origin and he just gains his powers during one of the upcoming MCU films, or he is just suddenly there.

Whatever will happen, these are huge news. It's the first time that studios are joining properties and so it is very exciting to hear that my favourite superhero is playing in the big league now. However, there are still tons of concerns about wether they will be able to do it just right. So far, Kevin Feige has done a phenomenal job handling all these different characters and I really trust his judgement, but he has quite a challenge ahead of him. Hopefully, this will be the last reboot our friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man ever needs!

If you want more information on the matter, check out my friend B.A.'s article about it!

Sincerely,
Your Cinemartian

OSCARS 2015 - Nominations & Reaction

 Hello there puny humans,
yesterday the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences revealed their nominees for this year's Oscars. Admittedly, I didn't get to see alot of the films they nominated yet, but I think I've been spending enough time enjoying movie news to at least know most of them. As usual there were some well deserved recognitions and some huge disappointments too. But without further ado, I want to present to you the different categories and candidates (of course with some commentary on my part): 



Makeup and Hairstyling
Foxcatcher 
The Grand Budapest Hotel 
Guardians of the Galaxy

Comment: Guardians had some very cool make-up, but it was still pretty Star Trek-ish. Foxcatcher on the other hand gave us something we haven't seen before: An ugly Channing Tatum!

Production Design
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
Into The Woods
Mr. Turner

Comment: Period-pieces like Mr. Turner almost get an instant nomination in this category. However I think that this one ist between The Grand Budapest Hotel and Into The Woods. The latter looked very cool in the trailer and the former just stands out through cleverness and attention for details. 

Best Score
Alexandre Desplat, (The Grand Budapest Hotel)
Alexandre Desplat, (The Imitation Game)
Hans Zimmer, (Interstellar)
Gary Yershon, (Mr. Turner)
Jóhann Jóhannsson, (The Theory Of Everything)

Comment: Well, statisticly, Alexandre Desplat has the biggest chance to take this one home. But it's nice to see Hans Zimmer up there for his amazing organ sound on Interstellar. 

Best Original Song 
"Everything Is Awesome" from The Lego Movie
"Glory" from Selma
"Grateful" from Beyond The Lights
"I'm Not Gonna Miss You" from Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me
"Lost Stars" from Begin Again

Comment: The Lego Movie, yay! A fun nomination. Also seeing "Lost Stars" from Begin Again getting some attention makes me very happy. The movie itself was alright, but Adam Levine's version of the main song really stuck with me and I listened to it over and over again. But a very important nomination is missing: Billy Boyd's "The Last Goodbye" from The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies truely arose strong emotions in millions of Middle-earth and cinema fans, and was a far superior song to the pop-tune "Grateful"! A real shame! Personally, I think the Award just might go to Glen Campbell, as it is said to be the last release of the musician suffering from Alzheimer's disease.  

Animated Feature
Big Hero 6
Boxtrolls
How To Train Your Dragon 2
Song Of The Sea
The Tale Of Princess Kaguya

Comment: No Lego Movie?! That's really too bad. Interesting too see a less traditional animated feature like Song Of The Sea on the list. And it's always nice to have a Japanese film like The Tale Of Princess Kaguya in the mix. 

Film Editing
American Sniper
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Whiplash

Comment: Not too sure about this one as I haven't seen all the flicks on there. The Grand Budapest had some very great editing, but it was typically Wes Anderson and nothing ground-breaking, so maybe this one goes to a film that got snubbed somewhere else. 

Best Cinematography
Birdman, (Emmanuel Lubezki)
The Grand Budapest Hotel, (Robert Yeoman)
Ida, (Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lenczewski)
Mr. Turner, (Dick Pope)
Unbroken, (Roger Deakins)

Comment: I really am missing Interstellar and Nightcrawler on this list. Both beautiful films that achieved a lot of story-telling and created an amazing atmosphere just through their camera work. Might not matter however, because Birdman is a hot candidate with its the-whole-film-looks-like-a-single-shot style. 

Visual Effects
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes
Guardians Of The Galaxy
Interstellar
X-Men: Days Of Future Past

Comment: It can almost be considered a cinematic tragedy that two visually breath-taking films like Interstellar and Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes have to compete against each other. Both of these movies had better effects than a lot of the winners of past years, but if I had to put my money on it, I'd give the award to Interstellar. Simply because a scientific paper was released based on its animation of a black hole. 

Adapted Screenplay
American Sniper
The Imitation Game
Inherent Vice
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash

Comment:  Here we go. I haven't seen any of these films yet. But maybe the Academy gives it to Inherent Vice, as it is the only big nomination it got. I'm really not sure though. 

Original Screenplay
Boyhood
Birdman
Foxcatcher
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Nightcrawler

Comment: A tough one! But I think if we focused on the "originality" then The Grand Budapest Hotel needs to take this one home. It is such a complex but yet simple story, with awesome characters and hilariously clever ideas. Birdman, however, is praised for its philosophical undertones, and Nightcrawler had some great social commentary. We'll see... 

Supporting Actress
Patricia Arquette, (Boyhood)
Laura Dern, (Wild)
Emma Stone, (Birdman)
Meryl Streep, (Into The Woods)
Keira Knightley, (The Imitation Game)

Comment: Well, I guess no one is surprised to find Meryl Streep's name on the list. In her thirty-seven year career, the legendary actress has been nominated 19 times for an Academy Award of which she won three. She holds the record of most-Oscar-nominated actress of all time, as well as the record for most Golden Globe Awards with 8 wins out of an unbelievable 29 nominations. She's always a good pick, but a woman who's missing here in my opinion is Carrie Coon, who played a small but very memorable part in Gone Girl. Actresses have been nominated for much less. 

Supporting Actor
Robert Duvall, (The Judge)
Ethan Hawke, (Boyhood)
Edward Norton, (Birdman)
Mark Ruffalo, (Foxcatcher)
JK Simmons, (Whiplash)

Comment: The Judge really tried hard to be an Oscar-contender, but best supporting actor is its only nomination. A derserved one nonetheless, but JK Simmons' performance in Whiplash has gotten a lot of love from critics and he is defineítely the frontrunner in this race. The hopes of seeing Andy Serkis up there were always utopian. No big surprise he didn't get a spot. 

Best Actress
Marion Cotillard, (Two Days, One Night)
Felicity Jones, (The Theory Of Everything)
Julianne Moore, (Still Alice)
Rosamund Pike, (Gone Girl)
Reese Witherspoon, (Wild)

Comment: I really hope this one goes to Rosamund Pike, who did an exceptional job portraying "Amazing Amy" in the riveting thriller Gone Girl. Her competition is not to be underestimated however: Felicity Jones gave a strong performance in The Theory of Everything, Cotillard and Witherspoon have both won before, and Julianne Moore is with five nomination not quite Streep-Level, but definitively an Oscar-darling. 

Best Actor
Steve Carell, Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper, American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton, Birdman
Eddie Redmayne, The Theory Of Everything

Comment: In the last couple of years it was always pretty clear which actor would take home the gold, so it is refreshing to see that the race is a bit more open this time. Keaton and Redmayne both received a Best Actor Golden Globe this year (remember the Globes distinguish between "Drama" and "Comedy or Musical"), but the other gentlemen on this list all gave fantastic performances too. Yet there is an actor who showed incredible acting talent this year and most certainly should be on this list: Jake Gyllenhaal. I'm extremely disappointed that he got snubbed and it was a real WTF?!-moment when I saw he did. A feeling that I had quite often with the Academy in the past and it always makes me lose faith in their judgement a little more.

Best Director
Alejandro G. Iñárritu, (Birdman)
Richard Linklater, (Boyhood)
Bennett Miller, (Foxcatcher)
Wes Anderson, (The Grand Budapest Hotel)
Morten Tyldum, (The Imitation Game)

Comment: Somehow the Academy must not like Christopher Nolan. Despite the fact that he is the only director ever to have six of his films in IMDB's list of top 100 movies of all time, he has so far never been nominated for an Oscar in the category Best Director. So once again Interstellar is left out, but I have to admit that the contenders presented are all very strong as well. Boyhood might be somewhat of a frontrunner, but The Grand Budapest Hotel and Birdman are very close behind.

Best Picture
American Sniper
Birdman
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory Of Everything
Whiplash

Comment: Now this is the point where I am straight-up angry. All the other categories have only five nomination slots and so when I don't find my personal favorite on there but the rest of the picks is good, I can at least tell myself that it must have been a close or tough call. But in 2010, the Best Picture category was extended to ten films per year. So to see only eigh films on this list and none of my Top 3 films of 2014 is almost an insult to me. Irrespective of wether they could possibly win or not, films like Interstellar and Nightcrawler most definitely deserve the respect of a nomination for their artistic value and ambition alone. A big let down and something that makes me less excited for the upcoming event.

So these are my thoughts on the nominations for the 87th Academy Awards. Obviously, I left out a few categories that didn't really need commenting, except maybe for Interstellar being up for Best Sound Mixing eventhough people complained about the dialogue being overshadowed by the loud noises of the spacecraft. A point of critique that I don't share, and apparently neither does the Academy. You will find the full list of Nominees over here. Despite a few significant poor choices, I am still looking forward to Hollywood's biggest event on February 22nd. Especially because Neil Patrick Harris is hosting. What did you think of the nominations? Feel free to comment below!

Your Cinemartian

OUTSIDE HOLLYWOOD EP.8 - Review of the Year

 Hello there puny humans,
the year 2014 is over and of course my buddy from B.A.'s Screentest and I had to talk about that. What were our favorite performances? Our favorite scenes? Our favorite films? Hear us review the year and its best moments:

In the second part we discuss the "Sony incident", The Hobbit, Fury and of course, as always, we give you quick overview over the upcoming movies and recommend some older films that you might not know yet:

So I hope you'll enjoy this and have as much fun reminiscing about the year as we had.

Your Cinemartian

OUTSIDE HOLLYWOOD EP.7 - Marketing, Trailers, Suicide Squad and more...

 Hello there puny humans,
it's Episode VII of our movie podcast and my buddy from B.A.'s Screentest  and I got so excited about that, that we've kinda stretched ou usual length of 30 minutes per part. In the first of these two, we are talking about trailers: What makes a good trailer? How should or shouldn't a film be marketed? What did we think of the Jurrassic World, Terminator, and Star Wars Trailers? All in an interesting 40 minutes:

In the second part we talk in depth about the "Suicide Squad" casting news, as well as our recent reviews and films you should watch:

Hopefully you will find this episode interesting and have as much fun as we do. To me, the part where Björn leaves the room was a new experience for me.

Your Cinemartian

OUTSIDE HOLLYWOOD EP.6 - TV Shows, Nightcrawler, and more

 Hello there puny humans,
another fortnight has passed, so that means another Podcast is out! This time my buddy Björn from B.A.'s Screentest and I decided to talk about TV. Why do we have this "golden age of television"? What are some good shows? Which ones do we personally like?

Again we split this into two parts and in this one we give our thoughts on "Nightcrawler", as well as special casting news for Bond 24 and Captain America: Civil War and much more!

I hope you'll enjoy it and maybe start to watch some series that you might not have heard of before!

Your Cinemartian

THANK YOU FOR 2,000 HITS!!!

 Hello there puny humans,
or rather AMAZING humans! About a week ago, this blog has reached two-thousand pageviews, which in my opinion definetly needs some celebration. Hitting that mark after only 198 days means that there is an average of ten people that visit this website daily, which is really much more than I would have imagined. Like lots of my projects, this started as a fun little experiment, and seeing that it is so well received is a fantastic feeling!
Granted, some clicks come from myself as I spell-check and make sure everything new works properly, and there also is some weird russian server I got fifty visitors from... it looks kinda dubious. However, every now and then people tell me things like "Yeah, I always read your blog." or "That was a good film, I'd be interested to read your opinion on it." which means a whole lot to me. Knowing that people value my opinion, makes me feel valued as person, and writing these reviews has now become part of my everyday life.
It's tons of fun to watch movies, and since I run this blog I haven't only been going to the theaters more often, but I've been looking at the films more closely. Exploring a film in such a depth, helps me learn more about filmmaking itself as I try to find out why exactly I liked or disliked something. This is awesome and enhances every movie going experience.
So thank you for all your support and for giving me the chance to do this! You are the best! So here's a tiny little something I made for you:

Further, I wanna put some new things on this site: Currently I am working on a "Fun Stuff" and a "T-Shows" segment and I might write a few articles other than reviews. Hopefully you keep being interested, so I can keep talking about movies! So let's see what the next 2,000 views will bring...

With Graditude,
Your Cinemartian!

GOTHAM - Series Premiere Review

 Title: Gotham
Premiere: 22nd September 2014
Episode Length: ca. 50 min
Creator: Bruno Heller
Starring: Ben McKenzie, Donal Logue, Jada Pinkett Smith, Robin Taylor, David Mazouz, Camren Bicondova, Cory Michael Smith, John Doman

Review:

Joel Schumacher killed the Batman franchise in 1997 with lame one-liners, goofy sets and the infamous bat-nipples. Eight years later, Christopher Nolan managed to revive the caped crusader, going back to the darker, more serious tone that made this superhero without superpowers so special. The Dark Knight might be more popular than ever before and we already know that Ben Affleck will be the next actor to put on the mask.
In the meantime, "The Mentalist" creator Bruno Heller brings us a brand new TV Series set in this masked manhunter's comic book universe, but.... without the Batman himself?!
Yes, "Gotham" might evolve around the world's greatest detective, but in this particular case that would be Jim Gordon. It is his origin story, and it starts with his biggest case yet: The murder of the Wayne Family! As we follow his path, we explore this sinister city with all its inhabitants, including but not limited to low life criminals, gang leaders, mobster, dirty cops and a few good ones as well.
The series started off very strong on Monday night. Its characters and their relationship with each other were cleverly constructed, and quite interesting and fun to watch. Among other things this is probably due to the show's perfect casting, and especially Robin Taylor shines in his role as Oswald Cobblepot. Also, when it comes to scale, this show really has the ambition to be able to compete with the movies.
This is where it has some minor problems though: the great strength of television is that it has the possibility to take its time with character development, and with a setting like Gotham I would have wished to see it go more of a neo-noir route, putting an even bigger focus on Gordon and exploring his personality even through the quiet moments when he is alone. Even more filming at night would have strengthend the atmosphere as well. This premiere felt just a little bit overcrowded and story wise they could have easily ended with a cliff-hanger about half way through. Also, the introduction of well-known Batman characters like the Riddler, or the Penguin was a little on the nose and i wish they would have trusted the audience enough to figure out who these people are by themselves.
But now I am nit-picking, because firstly, a perfect pilot is rare, and secondly, this one was already great. "Gotham" has a cool concept, seems extremely promising and shouldn't be missed by comic-book fans. If it calms down just a little bit with its story-telling, it might become a truely excellent TV experience!

For Fans Of:
Arrow (2012 - TV series)
Batman Begins (2005)
Batman: Year One (2011)
Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013 - TV series)

Click Here To Watch Trailer!

New Podcast: OUTSIDE HOLLYWOOD

 Hello there puny humans,
my good friend B.A. came to me with the idea of making a podcast, and well, here it is: Outside Hollywood!
We picked "Godzilla" as our first topic to talk about, and later went on to discuss the latest Star Wars casting news and other stuff. This project is a little experiment and though we basically did it for fun, we'll be trying to improve it with every new episode. (Especially in the sound quality and taking notes department). We are planning to release an Episode every fortnight!

Movie Newsflash: FIRST GLIMPSE AT BEN AFFLECK'S BATMAN & NEW COMIC BOOK TV-SHOWS

 Hello there puny humans,
the 21st Century is a great time for comic book- and film fans, and hardly a week goes by without any news about costumed heroes on the big or small screen. So let me sum up the most recent ones:

Firstly, (and this made me very happy) ABC announced that they renewed Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. for a second season. The show evolves around Agent Coulson and his Team of Shield-Agents solving mysteries and weird cases, and ties in heavily with the Marvel Cinematic Universe (including guest appearances of Nick Fury, Maria Hill & Lady Sif). And if that wasn't enough, they also announced that there is going to be a new mini-series about the adventures of Agent Carter, whom you might remember as Captain America's love interest from his first movie. She was also featured in a Marvel One-Shot, that appeared  on the Iron Man 3 BluRay Edition, and was pretty much the kick-start for this series. Even though she is an "Agent of Shield" herself, the show will most likely have a different tone than the first one, as it will be set just after World War II, with an old-school (and hopefully Indiana Jones like) vibe.

But where there's a Marvel announcement, a DC-Comics one won't be far, and they too announced two new TV-Shows: One of those is Constantine, and yes, that is the same demon-chasing Constantine as in the 2005 Keanu Reeves movie of the same name. Both are based on the Hellblazer Comics and the first look promises, that the TV-Show will be much more faithful to the source material. The other show DC is putting out there is a show called Gotham, a show about the Dark Kight's famous hometown. However, the show will take place before Bruce Wayne became the Caped Crusader and rather focus on a young Jim Gordon. New to Gotham, he will have to face the town's biggest criminals, including younger versions of the Penguin, Riddler, Catwoman and others.

Speaking of Batman, there was another big reveal yesterday, concerning Man Of Steel 2 aka. Batman vs. Superman. After casting Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor and Jeremy Irons as Alfred back in January (before this beauty of a blog existed), Zack Snyder now twittered a first picture of Ben Affleck in his costume with the Batmobile behind him:

I shot this with my @Leica_Camera M Monochrom. #Batman #Batmobile #Gotham http://t.co/WPHKLxgBLM pic.twitter.com/p5DEf6fLzJ
— ZackSnyder (@ZackSnyder) 13. Mai 2014

Seeing the new suit, i can imagine that it was inspired by Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns Comics, that showed us a grumpier, grittier and older Batman, which could be pretty cool  for this movie too. I personally think it looks bad-ass (or should i say bat-ass?) and it just makes me more excited for the team up. Hopefully, it will be the Batman vs. Superman movie we deserve AND the one we need right now! So fingers crossed that Batfleck learned from his Daredevil days....and maybe George Clooney gave him some advise warnings too...

Sincerely,
Your Cinemartian!

PS.: I know I've been lazy, but my X-Men, and Godzilla Review will be up in less than two weeks!

Movie Newsflash: "STAR WARS: EPISODE VII" CAST IS OUT!!!

 Hello there puny humans,
I am so very happy to announce that yesterday the cast for J.J. Abrahams' "Star Wars: Episode VII" was revealed! So let's not beat around the bush and get you updated:

Harrison Ford (Han Solo), Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia), Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca), Anthony Daniels (C3PO) and  Kenny Baker (R2D2) will all reprise their roles from the previous films, and eventhough we don't know how much they will appear in the new trilogy (and knowing that most of them are probably not in the best age for grand-scale action sequences), it is awesome to see them back to bring some nostalgic feelings.
On the list of "newbies", the biggest name probably is the master of performance capture himself: Andy Serkis. Considering his best known roles are Gollum, King Kong, and Caeser from the Planet Of The Apes-Franchise, there is a high chance he might be playing a half animated character once more, especially in a fictional universe that is so rich in alien species.
Next on the List is Oscar Isaac, who has shown us his diversity on screen with different roles like a low status criminal in Drive, an arrogant King in Robin Hood and most recently (and most notably) a struggling folk-singer in Inside Llewyn Davis.
He is joined by Max von Sydow, probably best known by todays audience for being the "old wise and/or sophisticated supporting character" in films such as Minority Report, Robin Hood, Shutter Island and Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close. Domhnall Gleeson (an Inidie-actor with his only mainstream role to date being the one of Bill Weasley in the Harry Potter Franchise) & Adam Driver (portraying Adam Slacker on the HBO-Series Girls) are in on it as well, the latter even already known to play a villain.
Another not-so-present-in-the-audience's-mind actor that was cast is 22-year-old Brit John Boyega (Attack The Block and the upcoming 24 season). Given that his name is mentioned at the beginning of the casting list, I dare to speculate that he might be our new main protagonist, which would make him the first black lead character in a Star Wars movie (Mace Windu must be proud). However, something that has been typical for both, the prequels and the original trilogy, is a single but strong female lead. As the only female on the list of new cast members, I assume TV-Actress Daisy Ridley to be the one to take over that part and we should all wish her the best of luck, because Princesses Leia & Amidala... well... those are some big-ass shoes to fill.

Nevertheless, I am excited to see so many of lesser known faces in the cast, as I think this new trilogy needs some fresh wind to sell the new characters, and having Andy Serkis in the mix can never be a bad thing either. The introduction of the story-line on the other hand will most likely benefit from the presence of our beloved "Star Wars veterans".
Well, now there's nothing left for me to do than to check out a few of these actors' works to see what I am in for... oh, and of course to tell all those lesser-versed movie goers: "No, that green little Yoda guy won't be in this film... watch the original trilogy please!"

May the Force be with you,
Your Cinemartian

P.S.: I really don't know why they didn't wait the six days till May the Fourth to announce this....

New Movie Blog

Hello there puny humans,
since my movie review facebook posts have been getting quite some likes, i will start my own movie review blog now :) Put your trust in me and I'll be your friendly neighborhood critic! My reviews will be awesome, not to say: not of this world!
Your Cinemartian

PS.:  I love you... nah just kidding. I put my Captain America 2 Review in here! It can be seen below!