Spy

Melissa McCarthy is at it again with another hilarious movie. Spy is a movie about Susan Cooper, a CIA agent who only works behind a desk and dreams about working in the field. When her partner Bradley Fine, played by Jude Law, suddenly disappears its Susan’s job to go undercover and find out why. Like all spy movies, is comes down to Susan Cooper to save the world from the evil villain Rayna Boyanov, played by Rose Byrne. If you are looking for a comedic James Bond movie, this is the perfect fit for you!

>Behind the Scenes/ Interesting Facts

• The role of Rayna was actually supposed to be a 19 year old girl. They had to change the role once they casted Rose Byrne to play the part.
• Melissa McCarthy did a lot of her own stunts once the director noticed she was pretty good at them.
  • “Running, jumping, falling. I’ve cracked my head, I have cuts and bruises. At the end of the day I look like I fell down an elevator shaft. But I wear those wounds and thrown discs with a bit of pride!”
• The writing of the film began in 2010, but it was known as “Susan Cooper” at the time.
• McCarthy and director Paul Feig are neighbors in real life. She heard about the role of Susan Cooper over dinner and simply asked for a copy of the script to read.
• The film was inspired by the re-boot of the James Bond series, especially Casino Royal which was made in 2006.

Bonus Features

• For more interesting facts about Spy, check out my Bonus Features pager here.

Hunger Games: Mocking Jay Pt.2

It’s the end of the series, and boy what a mind blowing movie. The Hunger Games: Mocking Jay pt. 2 is definitely the best compared to the previous three movies. Katniss Everdeen, played by Jennifer Lawrence, is back at it again. But instead of going into an annual hunger games, she has to defeat President Snow in order to stop madness and keep civilization among the districts. With the world about to break out in a war,she still hasn’t decided who will win her heart; Gale of Peta? But, to be honest, how could you not see it was Peta all along? This movie has an amazing cast including Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, and many more!

>More about the people who played your favorite characters…

• Jennifer Lawrence
• She made only $500,000 form the first movie. Due to the success of the film, her salary got raised to 10 million for Catching Fire. And by the last movie she was making over 25 million.
• For the last movie she didn’t dye her hair considering how damaged it got from dying for the previous three movies.
• She took yoga, running, rock climbing, combat, and archery classes to prepare for this role.
• She was born in Kentucky, which resembles district 12 in the movie.
• She almost didn’t take the part as Katniss because she know her life would change forever due to how popular the series was.

• Josh Hutcherson
• He is also originally from Kentucky, just like Jennifer.
• One thing he hated was that he had to bleach his hair blonde for the series.
• His favorite part about Peta was how loyal and genuine he was. His least favorite thing about Peta was how long it took him to confess his feelings towards Katniss. I mean they had to be a verge of death before he said it!
• The most physical challenge to him was the scene where they were down in the sewers.
  • “Working in water all day, and doing the stunts we had to do just gets you really bogged down.”
• The most emotional and challenging scene for him was when he was strapped down to the bed, due to being he mentally unstable, and had to yell and get frustrated at Lawrence’s character.

Behind the Scenes/ Interesting Facts

• Jodie Foster was up for the role as President Alma Coin, but it was offered to Julianne Moore first. She took the role because her kids loved the books so much.
• The film was shot in Atlanta, GA, France, and Germany.
• The iconic three-fingered salute in the movies actually originated from Thailand. Protesters used it to symbolize resistance. It was later removed by the military.
• In the final scene, Katniss’ children are portrayed by Jennifer Lawrence’s nephews.
• Mocking Jay Part 1 and 2 were shot back-to-back.

>Bonus Features

• For more interesting facts about The Hunger Games: Mocking Jay Pt.2 check out my bonus features page here.

 

 

Zootopia

Zootopia is 2016’s best animated feature so far. Walt Disney Animated Studios, who brought you Frozen, is at it again to bring a warmhearted movie that stars animals! What better combination?! Officer Judy Hopps, played by Ginnifer Goodwin, has to solve a case in two days about 14 missing animals. Along the way she gets paired up with a sly fox named Nick Wilde, played by Jason Bateman. Even though these two are on the opposite sides of the food chain, they make the most daring duo. I saw this movie over spring break, and surprisingly this movie can relate to a lot of what is going on in society today. But don’t let that stop you from seeing it! Overall it’s a hilarious and a very cute movie!

> More about the people who played your favorite characters…

• Ginnifer Goodwin (Judy Hopps)
• She was surprised to see how timely and relatable the movie is.
• She loves how her character and other characters have no sexuality to them. She wants children to look at the characters and think how awesome, and heroic they are.
• Her favorite scene is the Godfather scene.
• The few times that she got to work with Jason Bateman, she thought was a waste of time because they couldn’t get anything done due to the fact that she would laugh at Bateman’s comedic acting.
• If there were to be a sequel, she would want the positions of Judy and Nick to switch.

o   “I would want Nick to try and convince Judy that the world is worth fighting for”.

• Jason Batmen (Nick Wilde)
• He said he related to his character a lot, because like Nick, they both have nice personalities but covers it with a lot of snarky comments.
• The most difficult part about recoding a studio for Bateman was that he had to end his lines and talk to no one.
• The soul reason why he did this movie was for his two daughters.
• He would meet in a recording studio every few months for two to three hours. No wonder it took a long time to develop this film!

> Behind the Scenes/ Interesting Facts

• In several countries, its premiere made record-breaking office boxes.
• In May 2013, Jason Bateman’s casting was leaked to the press before anything else was known about the film.
• There were many researchers set up in Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Kenya. They studied the different walks of animals and the color of their fur/skin.
• This was Walt Disney Animation’s longest film, making it 108 minutes. With one exception being the famous 1940’s Fantasia.

> Bonus Features

• For more interesting facts about Zootopia, click my Bonus Features page here.

The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

Based in the 1960’s, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is already a classic by the looks of it. When CIA agent Napoleon Solo, gets paired up with KGB agent, Illya Kuryakin, during the height of the Cold War, things will get a little tricky. Throughout the movie they get caught saving and helping a German women, Gaby, who eventually becomes their sidekick. This movie is full of action, class, and of course romance. With an attractive cast including Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer, Alicia Vikander, and Hugh Grant, this movie is a sure knockout!

>Behind the Scenes/Interesting Facts

• The movie actually started out as a series on NBC in the late 1960’s. A lot of the footage couldn’t air on television because it was considered too sexy.
• Tom Cruise, Matt Damon, John Hamm, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bradley Cooper, Chris Pine, and George Clooney are just a few names that were options to play Solo. Henry Cavill auditioned to play Illya until he was offered the part to play Solo.
• The costumes and the set pieces are authentic. A lot of the pieces were bought at vintage shops or bought from collectors.
• The movie was in development for over 20 years!
• Hugh Grant performed all of his scenes in three weeks, talk about a hardworking man!
• There is a scene where Henry Cavill takes the table cloth right out underneath dishes. He actually went through training on how to do that trick. I thought that was such a slick move when I saw this movie.

>Bonus Features

• For more action packed facts about The Man from U.N.C.L.E. check out my bonus features page here.

 

 

Sisters

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are back at it again with a hilarious movie called Sisters. This dynamic duo made a movie about two sisters, who throw a last high school party for their classmates. But the kicker is, they are on there mid 40’s.  I recently watched this movie this weekend during the UC’s movie night. I could not stop laughing! Majority of the movies cast included current and past Saturday Night Live cast members like Maya Rodolph, Bobby Moynihn, Kate McKinnon, and many more!

>Behind the Scenes/Interesting Facts

• Jason Moore directed this movie. He known for his direction for the 2012 film, Pitch Perfect.
• Tina Fey produced Sisters, while Poehler was one of the executive producers for the movie.
• Outside of SNL, Fey and Poehler have co-stared in six movies together. Some include Mean Girls, Baby Mama, and Man of the Year.
• The movie was based on one of SNL’s writer’s (Paula Pell) “coming of age” diaries. A lot of the scenes were inspired by her every day life as a highschooler, and her family.
• Ironically, since the movie is based on huge party goers, Tine Fey and Amy Poehler were NOT the “living on the edge” type in high school.
• Fey and Poehler first met in an improve group in Chicago.
• Originally Amy was supposed to play Kate (the partier), but Tina thought she would play the back half of crazy better, which was Maura (the responsible one).
• The first cut of the movie was 3 1/2ours long, but the director cut it down to 2 hours. The outtakes will be on the DVD.

>Bonus Features

• For more fun things about Sisters, click on my Bonus Features page here.

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Marvel has brought back the dynamic team which we all know as the Avengers! This action packed movie, is crazy good (and it is not just because Chris Hemsworth and Chris Evans are both in it)! With making 1.405 billion dollars in the box office, it comes to show how popular Marvel has really become over the past decade. This movie also comes with an amazing cast like Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johanson, Robert Downey Jr., and much more!

> More about the people who played your favorite characters…

• Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man)
• Working with Marvel, Downey has and is currently making a totally of SIX movies! This includes all the 3 Iron Man’s, The Avengers, The Avengers: Age of Ultron, and is currently waiting for Captain America: Civil War movie to come out in May.
• Supposedly there are two to three movies he will be working with for Marvel before he calls it quits. Even though there have been numerous rumors saying that the upcoming Captain America movie was his last.
• He made around 50 million dollars for his role in the movie.

• Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow)
• While shooting, she found out she was pregnant.
  • The crew hired three stunt doubles to do her intense stunts, and only shot her from the rib cage and up.
• The stunt doubles looked so similar to her that even the cast got confused on which one was actually her.
• She did not like the pairing of Black Widow and the Hulk.
  • “I didn’t really understand or expect the connection that these two make with one another. [It] seemed very unlikely to me when I first read the script. I met with Joss and I was like, “Why are you putting these two together?”

• Chris Evans (Captain America)
• Robert Downey Jr. was the one who convinced him to take the role of Captain America while auditioning for the first movie in 2011.
• Captain America fans call him “Dorito” because when Evans wears his suit, the top half of his body resembles a certain cheesy snack.
• Evans and Johansson have co-stared in six movies together, including four Marvel movies, The Perfect Score, and The Nanny Diaries.

>Behind the Scenes/ Interesting Facts

• James Spader was the first and only actor that was considered to play Ultron.
• The Walt Disney Company’s visual effects company, created a new motion capture system called “Muse”. This allows an actor’s movements from separate takes, to be combined into one performance.
• Ultron is to be considered a dark version of Pinocchio, since both are inanimate objects that come to life.
• Hugh Jackman said in an interview that he wants Wolverine to co-star in the Avengers sequel. But between the contracts between the Fox and Marvel networks that forbid this, it probably will not happen.
• Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who plays Quick Silver, was thought to be too bulky and muscular to look like a runner. He was asked to lose some muscle mass in order to play his character.

>Bonus Features

• For more fun clips and everything on Marvel, click on my Bonus Features page right here.