Disney’s Into The Woods is Packed with Star Power

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anna kendrick, chris pine, disney, emily blunt, entertainment, fairy tales, film, grimm brothers, into the woods, johnny depp, meryl streep, Movie, movie clip, movie trailer, singapore cinema, trailer, witch

DISNEY’S INTO THE WOODS

With big name veterans like Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady) and Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean) in the picture, accompanied by their younger but no less solid hollywood counterparts Emily Blunt (Salmon Fishing in the Yemen), Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air, Pitch Perfect) and Chris Pine (Star Trek), it looks like Disney has only one plan for its upcoming film Into The Woods  – A BIG FAIRY TALE OF A HIT – and i’m sure hoping it will be after viewing its visually wonderful tease of a trailer.

(Photo: Into The Woods Facebook)

From the director of Chicago and the producer of Wicked comes a fairy tale fantasy film based on the tony award winning broadway musical Into The Woods. The film’s plot is a scrumptious mash of various Brother Grimm fairy tales intertwined into a modern retelling of the beloved stories most of us grew up listening to. Taking characters from classic favourites like Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk and Rapunzel, the film follows the story of a Baker and his wife (Emily Blunt) who have been cursed childless by a witch (Meryl Streep), and together they must embark on a fantastical journey into the woods to find a solution to break the curse.

(Photo: Into The Woods Facebook)

Besides enticing with its somewhat dark yet alluring visuals of the mysterious woods, the movie’s trailer clearly banks heavily on its star studded cast, casting the spotlight on each of its main actors and offering audiences a glimpse into each prominent character in the story. Anna Kendrick plays Cinderella and Chris Pine her Prince, while the Big Bad Wolf is of course played by none other than the ever eccentric Johnny Depp! If you are not yet drooling after the introduction of such a star studded cast, I don’t know what will!

If you don’t already know, Into The Woods is going to be a musical adaptation of the broadway hit, and I am excited to see what Anna Kendrick can bring to the floor given how she blew me away in Pitch Perfect. With regards to Meryl Streep’s last role in the singing department (Mamma Mia), I remember reactions weren’t that thrilled although I personally thought she didn’t do a bad a job (the same can’t be said for her co-actor in the show Pierce Brosnan). Given the versatility of her acting prowess and the fun angles she has to play around with her devious character, I wouldn’t worry about the singing at all. But for those who’d like a reminder of her musical abilities, I’ve added a Mamma Mia clip of her singing in the film at the end of this post.

Coming to theatres this Christmas season, fans can look forward to seeing their favourite fairy tale fantasies come to life on the big screen on Christmas Day 2014. Into The Woods has a release date scheduled for 25 December so mark your calendars everyone, I know I will;)

 

EXTRAS

Meryl Streep – Mamma Mia 

 

My First Encounter with Into The Woods

I first watched a performance of Into The Woods in Singapore, it was a local stage production. I fell in love with the story partly because it was done in a fun witty satire version, but alas it was also a performance I’d never forget for a sad reason. Into The Woods was the swan song of one of my fave performers in the local arts and theatre scene – Emma Yong. She was 1/3 of the famous local trio The Dim Sum Dollies and she passed away at the tender age of 36. Local theatre will never be the same again without her, at least for me:( Thank you Emma for all the joy you brought me through your entertaining performances.

Behind the Scenes of Dream Academy’s Into The Woods

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

X-Men: Days of Future Past South East Asian Premiere Live Feed

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entertainment, fan bing bing, hugh jackman, jennifer lawrence, Movie, mystic, premiere, singapore, spiderman, teaser, xmen

The X-Men: Days of Future Past (DOFP) South East Asian Premiere taking place in Singapore is currently ongoing at Shaw House Urban Plaza. Stars from the movie present tonight are Hugh Jackman, Fan BingBing and Peter Dinklage. Catch the Live Action happening at Shaw below!

 

 

The latest installment of the X-Men franchise opens in cinemas island wide on 22 May🙂 For those who missed The Amazing Spider-man, here’s the X-Men DOFP teaser clip seen at the end of the spider-man movie, showing Jennifer Lawrence as Mystic kicking some real butt.

FUN FILM FACT

And for those wondering why a Sony movie like Spider-Man is showing a teaser of an X-Men movie under FOX, check out why here! For those marvel fan dreamers out there, sorry but it seems that we won’t be seeing any Spidey and X-Men team up anytime soon.

 

The Frozen “Let it Go” Cover for Disney and Pixar Fans

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ahmir, covers, disney, frozen, let it go, pixar, soundtrack

Ever since it hit theaters late last year, Frozen has been a hit with many, resulting in millions of fans around the world singing along to its hit soundtrack and inspiring gazillions of covers to pop up all over the digital scape. A few of my favorites so far are the Africanized Tribal Cover and also a more recent one by AHMIR; you can find their music videos below. Fast forward to March 2014, covers of the hit song Let It GO are still coming in strong! The latest is sure to be a treat for animation fans, with the talented singer, Brian Hull, covering the whole song as different beloved Disney and Pixar characters.

 

Africanized Tribal Cover

AHMIR Cover

New Godzilla Trailer #2 Looks Drama Worthy and Promising

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godzilla, Movie, trailers

First Full Glimpse into The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – International Trailer Debuts

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film, marvel, Movie, spider-man, spider-man 2, spidey, the amazing spider-man 2, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 International, trailer

My fave superhero of all time finally decides to swing by and provide an update on his life. 

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 International Trailer debuted today and the teasing snippets of Rhino and The Green Goblin atop of an electrifying Electro just look so tantalizing. No doubt any fanboy/girl will agree with me.

With so many familiar characters looking to come aboard, the world of Spider-Man just got kicked up to a whole new level of excitement. This upcoming installment seems to focus on the question marks of Peter’s past, and the truth behind his parents’ disappearance. Great secrets look to be uncovered, but the thrill is, all signs seem to be pointing back towards Oscorp…oh what will poor Peter do.

Once again, it looks like I will be catching The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in 3D just as I did the first. Just watching the opening scene of the trailer gifted me with such an exhilarating feel of Spidey’s experience in the air. As with the first installment, the movement and swings that Spidey takes across the cityscape is choreographed and captured so seamlessly and gracefully, like a beautiful dance set atop a rollercoaster ride – enchanting yet adrenaline gripping. This is one aspect of the reboot that I love so much as I feel that none of the other Spider-Man movies have managed to capture that essence of Spidey as wonderfully as The Amazing Spider-Man series has. Highlighting such a unique and personal trait of Spidey with amazing web swing and air acrobatic sequences, just makes the movie that much more intimate and endearing. Though I wasn’t wowed away by the first film of the rebbot, I was definitely excited with all the familiarity of the characters and storyline. I hope the sequel can deliver a more aloof and awkward/shy Peter Parker though, Tobey Maguire did way better in that department than Andrew Garfield.

 

EXTRAS

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Movie Site

The Amazing Spider-Man Facebook

Jean-Claude Van Damme Teams with Volvo to Pull Off Epic Split

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ad, advertisement, car, jean claude van damme, split, volvo

This is just genius. Volvo gets it right and BAM! It really hits home with its message and impact! I couldn’t stop watching it, it has this weird captivating element to it :p

When I first saw the volvo post on my youtube feed with Jean-Claude’s face, I didn’t even give a bother. But then it kept popping up on the top of my feed and that got me intrigued. I clicked on it and was hooked, I never imagined how great a pairing Volvo and Jean-Claude could be… those massively strong thighs…and those huge ass trucks… the true beauty of engineering perfection capture in one epic split ❤

Trailer Radar – Enough Said

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comedy, enough said, entertainment, film, funny, james gandolfini, julia louis-dreyfus, Movie, relationship, romance, toni collette, trailer

This looks like a light hearted pleasure of a film. Going by what the trailer has given me, Enough Said looks like a fun romantic movie that brings laughter to the plate – exactly my cup of tea:)

The story touches on the life of a divorced single parent masseuse, Eva, who meets a like-minded guy, Albert, at a party. The two start to hit it off and romance blossoms. Meanwhile, Eva has a new massage client who seems almost ‘perfect’, except that she keeps raging on about the crummy qualities of her ex-husband. One day, client receives a call from the ex-husband during her massage session and Eva realizes that the guy she is currently dating is the ex-husband she has been listening to her client bitch about. Hilarity ensues as Eva decides to stay on and find out the truth about her client’s ex while continuing her relationship with Albert. Besides the laughter, Enough Said looks like it has a pretty charming material for its story, so I am really excited to catch this one. Plus, Gandolfini looks like one cute giant teddy bear here, what’s not to like;]

Enough Said stars the late James Gandolfini, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Toni Collette. This is one of Gandolfini’s two final films before his death on June 19 from a heart attack.  Enough Said is scheduled for a September 20 release date in the US. I hope it comes to Singapore soon.

World War Z More than just a Bloodfest

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brad pitt, entertainment, horror, Movie, movie review, suspense, thrill, trailer, world war z, zombies

CAST: Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, Daniella Kertesz, Matthew Fox

DIRECTOR: Marc Forster

RUNNING TIME: 116 minutes

THE STORY:

Former UN employee Gerry (Brad Pitt) must race against time to find out the cause and solution to the current zombie pandemic that is consuming the world. By the minute, the infection is spreading and the infected are rising like wildfire. As the clock ticks by, Gerry’s wife and kids await his safe return and the end to this nightmare.

MY RANT:

Associating Word War Z with Zombies and then rubbing it off as a shallow bloodfest is going to cost you. For one, World War Z is a surprisingly entertaining thrill while offering audiences a story that is also diverse in tone. Secondly, there’s the famous eye candy – Brad Pitt. The actor still retains much of his pretty boy flair complete with shoulder length locks and an ever charming charisma. The fact that he is up against the crazy violent undead and gets bloodied and battered gives him extra brownie points too!

Right from the beginning, the film dives straight into the action with big scale chaos and mayhem in the streets. The excitement is contagious and gripping with the rage-crazy infected coming at the humans with such speed and ferocity. The body count is massive and the spread of the infected occurs at such an escalating pace that everyone watching is constantly kept on the alert. With the mood set and the pace laid down, the film then transitions into a more intimate and steady tone as the investigative portion of the plot kicks in.

As the plot progresses, the film shifts radically between fast paced gripping moments to slower, quieter intimate thrills; moving back and forth between scenes involving mass carnage to slower, calmer ones that explore detail and environment. By the time the film nears its end, the tone would have shifted from action overload to a slower paced suspense. I loved the pacing and the varied tone of the story as I thought it brought diverse levels of elements and feel to the overall flavour of the film, thus making it somewhat more interesting and less one dimensional as how most zombie horror movies are. With a good mix of fast frenzied action and ample amounts of serious dialogue sequences, World War Z manages to avoid being just a mindless action thrill.

But ultimately, not every bit of the movie was perfect. There were parts in the story that were questionable – take Brad Pitt’s character’s injury for example. (Spoiler) Also, some people were disappointed with the film’s open ended finish that left questions lingering and the threat still prevalent; although personally I did find it a realistic close to the story. There has been buzz regarding a possible sequel in the future, if so then the ending might seem more satisfactory to the masses than it does now. But on a whole, those parts did not compromise the film too much and can be overlooked given the nature of the film, it is after all just a zombie horror movie.

In a few words, although World War Z is not the most original storyline, neither is it a mindless act of gore and the undead. Those going in and expecting an A-class zombie act with strong depth or a mindless blood eating massacre zombie film might need to revise their expectations. For little old me, it certainly fits comfortably as an entertaining popcorn movie that delivers a nice level of intensity and suspense, combined with a solid delivery from the leading cast.

Official Trailer

Airplane attack clip

New The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Comic Con Teaser Trailer

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catching fire, comic con, entertainment, film, jennifer lawrence, josh hutcherson, katniss everdeen, movies, peeta mellark, san diego, the hunger games, trailer

At the current ongoing comic con event taking place in San Diego, a new teaser trailer of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire was revealed! Check out the two and a half minute trailer here at Yahoo Movies! 

In the trailer, viewers get a glimpse of the sparks that fuel the rise of an impending rebellion, as well as the faces of some of the new tributes appearing in this second installment of The Hunger Games. Everything looks as exciting as it should be with the glamour and awe of the blazing costumes and the tributes packing a punch in the training room. To date, the story seems to be following the direction of the book quite nicely as glimpsed from the trailer. Hence, as a fan I am definitely liking the looks of Catching Fire so far:)

Update 22 July – The trailer is up on youtube so I’ve shared it here so you can watch it directly:) 

Celebrating the Countdown: 3 More Days to More Minion Madness!

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animation, cartoon, celebrations, clip, cute, despicable me, despicable me 2, film, funny, minions, Movie, trailer

The whole city is going minion crazy right now! While there are still 3 more days to go till the sequel’s official release in cinemas, a variety of events revolving around the film’s iconic minion characters has already sent many on the island into a pre-movie frenzy! Think Cathay’s giant six metre tall Minion figure, Shaw’s Life-Sized Minion meet-and-greet sessions over the weekend, Golden Village’s current Minion Popcorn Combo and last but not least… the buzz over an upcoming Mcdonalds Happy Meal Minion theme toys.

Looking at the status quo, it certainly seems hard to resist the allure of these cute little yellow minions. So stop putting up a fight and join in the celebrations if you have yet to be boweld over by these hugely popular minions:)

Golden Village’s popcorn combo includes a regular popcorn and a minion cup that comes with different character figurines. The minions were so popular that when I arrived in the afternoon for my movie session at GV Marina, they were all sold out for the day. Only managed to get the Gru figurine for my drink, but Gru’s pretty awesome too in my book;]

Cathay’s 2 storey tall Minion Figure outside the entrance of its mall.