Screen Hotties

OK, to kick off the new year, I'm adding a new type of post to my blog - HOTTIES! 

I hope you all would enjoy it as much as I enjoyed putting this together.

I'd try to stick to a predictable format so you all can more or less know what to expect from each of my rants. So, I'm starting off with Screen Hotties (so in the future, I may move on to Sports Hotties, Corporate Hotties,...well, you get the picture.) 

I'd also try to make it a little interesting by having these posts in 2 or more sections:

Retro Hotties (Male & Female)

Retro doesn’t mean the people in my list are old, just that I first came to be aware of them before the year 2000. 

Contemporary Hotties (Male & Female)

Similarly, Contemporary basically means that I came to be aware of these celebs from the year 2000 and onward.

Over-rated Hotties (Male & Female)

This is of course a very subjective matter and as everyone’s entitled to their own opinion, so I’m entitled to mine. I just think that these celebs are hot but not as hot as people seem to think or claim.

Contemporary Hotties:

Male: Chris Evans

As a comic geek (c'mon, if you're reading this blog you should already know that I'm a huge comic geek right?). So when the Fantastic Four movie came out in 2005, I had to watch it. That's when I first came across Chris. Again, as a geek, it's no surprise I'd be there for Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer* (2007). 

Of course, he acted in many more movies but as a comic geek, these were the ones that stuck in my mind:

- The Losers (2010) with another hottie - Zoe Saldana & Idris "Heimdall" Elba (why I included The Losers here is because it is also based on a comic book under the Vertigo label. Yupz.)

- Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

- The Avengers (2012)

*Since I was a wee kid, up until today, Silver Surfer is one of my ALL-TIME favourite heroes (along with a few others like Beta Ray Bill, ROM and a few more...)

And as if you didn't already know this, he's going to reprise his role as the Sentinel of Liberty in the following 2 movies:

- Captain America: The Winter Soldier (aka Captain America 2)

- The Avengers: Age of Ultron (aka Avengers 2)Female: Cobie Smulders

Not having watched a single episode of How I Met Your Mother, I didn't know that she wasn't new to the entertainment industry. I first took notice of her when I first saw her in The Avengers (2012). And boy, did she blow me away! I just thought she's very pretty.

Of course, her fans can now get more of Cobie from the Avengers movie spin-off TV Series - Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

She will soon be appearing in the 2 upcoming movies that I'm geekily awaiting with bated breadth.
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier (aka Captain America 2)
- The Avengers: Age of Ultron (aka Avengers 2)Retro Hotties:
Male: Jim Caviezel

The first time I ever took notice of him was in Frequency (2000) with Dennis Quaid (I remember this movie to be quite good. Will watch again soon and hopefully, I will do a Retro Review of it), followed by movies such as Angel Eyes (2001) with fellow hottie Jennifer Lopez and The Count of Monte Cristo (2002) with Guy "Momento" Pearce (which I actually quite enjoyed).

Despite having good acting chops, somehow, he didn't quite make it to the Mega-Star status as how Brad Pitt or Johnny Depp have done.

The biggest one for Jim I believe was Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ (2004). He then acted in movies like Unknown (2006) with Barry Pepper & Greg Kinnear and Outlander (2008) with Ron "Hellboy" Perlman, but they didn't make any waves at the box-office.

I don't watch this TV Series but I'm glad to note that he's back in action in the highly acclaimed & currently still running Person of Interest.Female: Madeleine Stowe

I first came to notice this beauty from the some of the more notable movies from the 1990s, namely:

- The Last of the Mohicans (1992) with Award-winning Daniel Day Lewis

- Unlawful Entry (1992) with the oft-under-appreciated Kurt Russell & "Always the villain" Ray Liotta

- The cult-classic - Twelve Monkeys (1995) with Bruce "John McLane" Willis

Well, for me, this hottie kind of fell off the spotlight in the early 2000s after The General's Daughter (1999). Thankfully, she's currently back in the limelight again with the TV series that's fast gaining popularity - Revenge.Over-rated Hotties:

Male: Leonardo DiCaprio

OK, I knew what I was getting into when I decided to do this section because no matter what, my choices would anger the fans of the hottie I choose for this category. So,...with a heavy heart & gritted teeth, I do this for all of you...

Leonardo DiCaprio. Extremely talented actor and a multiple award winner. And I even admit that while he was much younger, I'd agree that he was quite a hottie. However, despite that, I'll have to say that the years have not been very kind to dear ol' Leo.

Of course, many of us first came to know about him from the mega movie: 

- Titanic (1997) with Kate Winslet

and more recently, the twisted and mind-boggling movies like:

- Inception (2010) with Joseph "Robin(??)" Gordon-Levitt 

- Shutter Island (2010) with Mark "Hulk" Ruffalo

and of course, the latest one that everyone's talking about:

- Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

Female: Kirsten Dunst

I first came to see her when she was very young, in movies like Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994) & Jumanji (1995), altho' back then I had no idea who she was.

But I guess she would "best" be remembered for her role in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man Trilogy (2002, 2004, 2007) with Tobey Maguire. I really hated (Yup, HATED...) the way she portrayed Mary Jane Watson despite all the praises everyone was heaping on the Spider-Man movies. 

Anyway, many profess her beauty but I strongly disagree. I guess I can say she can look pretty provided she doesn't show her teeth because they just look really horrible. 

I recently saw her in Upside Down (2012) with Jim Sturgess.

Movie Review (Not) - Captain America 2 : The Winter Soldier (Teaser Images 2)

Some more photos of this highly anticipated sequel of the Avengers Leader - some are officially released while some are from filming. I've said it before and I'll say it again - the Winter Soldier looks pretty good!

Cap and his trusty bike. I think there are only 2 major Marvel characters who uses a bike, the other being Old Man Logan - the Wolverine.

More pictures of the titular character - the Winter Soldier. Very nice!Click here for more pictures from the Captain America 2 movie 

Movie Review - The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Movie Title

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Year

2013

Genre

Adventure, Comedy, Drama

This is a reboot of the 1947 movie (! Yup, there was a 1947 version of this movie!) which was from an original short story with the same name from 1939. Wow - so much history in this movie.
Walter Mitty (Ben Stiller) is someone whom most would call a timid guy who leads a rather un-eventful life. So he compensates by literally zoning-out regularly and that’s where he lives out his most outrageous fantasies. The movie starts with Walter registering himself into a dating site just to get to know a female colleague that he fancies but is too timid to approach personally, Cheryl Melhoff (Kristen Wiig).

 And this is where the audiences get their fun as we can’t really predict what he’s gonna think himself into and we can’t wait for his next spacing-out episode because they all are totally unrelated and really fun to watch.

 Walter Mitty and the rest of his colleagues working in the LIFE Magazine office being told of the inevitable news that the printed version of LIFE Magazine will come to an end in a couple of months and their focus should be on producing the best cover ever for LIFE’s final issue. 

 Walter is the manager for the Negative Asset Dept (for film & photography) and coincidentally, the LIFE office receives a roll of negatives from a world renowned reclusive photographer Sean O'Connell (Sean Penn), who happens to be Walter’s close and trusted friend. And in O'Connell's message, he told Walter and the LIFE Magazine management that the picture #25 from the roll was the picture that defined what life or LIFE Magazine was all about. 

However, the picture #25 was somehow removed from the rest of the roll of negatives! So the rest of the movie was basically his personal quest to track down Sean O'Connell, wherever in the world he may be, as he's always travelling to capture the next picture, and to ask O'Connell about what happened to picture #25 and how to locate it!

There are certain parts of the movie where it reminded me or at least made me think about one of my all-time favourite movies – Forrest Gump. This was especially so when Walter was skate-boarding across Iceland. 

Acting
I admit that although I'm not a real fan of Sean Penn or Shirley Maclaine (who plays Walter's mum - Edna Mitty), but these two turned in really fantastic performances here despite having very little screen time. I'll have to say this about Madonna's ex-hubby, he's a real ugly "kid" but credit where it's due, whenever I see him in ANY role, he delivers in spades! (kinda like Edward Norton, but of course, Ed's much better looking than Sean but both are outstanding actors.)
I also thought the cinematography was very well done, capturing the beautiful panoramic vistas of the Greenland & Iceland landscapes.

Overall

Ben Stiller really looked good in this movie. I say this because Ben normally has this look about him that's not quite normal but difficult to put a finger on it. 

Yes, most of the experiences Walter goes thru' are just too fantastic to be taken seriously but then again, that's exactly what movies out to provide, a fun outlet for audiences to live out fantasies, however fantastic they may be, thru' the characters such as Walter.

I find it very relatable because in Walter, we have someone who is as ordinary as anyone can ever be and he's doing some really extraordinary stuff. It's very uplifting because it gives hope to us all

The curiousity factor from viewers trying to see what new fantasy Walter will find himself in and also what picture #25 is are enough reason to keep me hooked right to the end! I also thought the pacing was very good as there were no dull moments where I was thinking "I need some popcorn" or "I should go to the loo now".

I can't say for others but it gave me a good feeling walking out of the cinema and I would recommend this movie to anyone as it's not a typical movie but also not so strange and inaccessible as say Being John Malkovich.

Rating: 7/10