Whoah, April’s been a freakishly busy month thanks to MSPIFF! Check out the banner below to check out our reviews from the Minneapolis/St Paul Film Festival, I have this image widget on my blog sidebar for easy access as well. I’ll have my MSPIFF recap next week as well as my and Josh’s picks top three movie picks.
Posts You Might’ve Missed
MSPIFF 2015 Film Spotlight: The Center
Interview with filmmaker Charlie Griak & lead actor Matt Cici
The Longest Ride interview with cast member
Scott Eastwood & Britt Robertson
Wordless Wednesday:
the unrequited love of The Age of Innocence
BLOGATHON:
20 Perfect Cinematic Moments – A Fistful of Moments
Thursday Movie Picks #42: Father-Daughter Movies
April Blind Spot Pick:
New-to-me Movies (non-MSPIFF related):
Avengers: The Age of Ultron
Not Another Happy Ending (2013)
Thérèse (2012)
Documentary – The Rise & Fall of Versailles: Louis XV
I think if I were to sum up the month of April, you could say it’s basically a split between MSPIFF and my new obsession Stanley Weber.
Yes I’m officially afflicted by the #StanleyWeber bug. Watched #NotAnotherHappyEnding a dozen times in just under 2 weeks!! #madcrush
— FlixChatter (@FlixChatter) April 21, 2015
Needless to say, there’s barely time for any other rewatches 😛
TV Series:
Netflix’s Daredevil (season 1)
BORGIA: Faith & Fear (season 1)
Movie of the Month
I’m excluding MSPIFF films here as I’m going to do a separate recap. So this was an easy choice, Ex Machina is simply an excellent sci-fi… well, an excellent film in general.
Avengers: Age of Ultron was the last film I saw in April, and though there are some fun moments like the attempt to lift Mjölnir scene, overall it’s pretty forgettable. I don’t know when I’ll have time to review this movie but let’s just say I agree with Kenneth Turan I heard on NPR’s Morning Edition this morning: “Age of Ultron is made for the ‘instant gratification’ culture… It disappears without a trace as soon as it’s consumed.” Yep, that pretty much sums up my sentiment.
…
What I look forward to in May
It’ll be a fun weekend at Mpls Comic-Con starting tomorrow! Full programming all day Saturday, these are some of the panels I’ll definitely take part in:
11:30-12:15 – WETA workshop: character creation through prosthetics, hair & make up
2:00-2:45 – No “bones” about it: Karl Urban
4:00–4:45 – The truth is out there: Gillian Anderson
My hubby and I got tickets to attend this quickly sold-out lecture at Walker Art Center with Christopher Nolan! I sure hope there’ll be a Q&A segment at the end!
In celebration of 25 years of Walker Dialogues, the Walker presents acclaimed filmmaker Christopher Nolan, one of the most innovative directors working today, in discussion with Variety chief film critic Scott Foundas. The lecture is followed by a nine-film retrospective May 7–24, 2015.
FLIXCHATTER FILM BLOG 
Ex Machina!
Woo hoo!
P.S. I was replying to your comment when I accidentally made a post instead! 😛
Yikes! 🙂
Laurence Anyways
Right, saw that on your recap post.
Since I watched mostly TV shows this past month, I think I only saw one new movie, which was Age of Ultron. And I strongly disagree with you and Mr. Turan, I thought it’s a perfect summer movie and it’s way better than the first movie. That’s the one I thought was forgettable. I plan to see it again a couple of more times, at the IMAX next week and then a new theater in Plymouth after that.
I totally forgot about Nolan interview and couldn’t buy the ticket. Hope it’s a good one and you’ll enjoy his talk about films.
Oh it’s not that I didn’t enjoy it, it just didn’t stick with me. Not something I’m eager to watch again anytime soon, but there were some fun moments. If you wanna do a short review of it for early next week i’ll post it with mine.
Sure, actually I’m going to write it now since I’m still here in San Francisco. I’ll email it to you when I’m done.
Hope you had fun in SF! Just saw your email, thanks for the review!
Wow! You have a great May ahead of you. Color me JEALOUS!!!!
I’m super excited for the Nolan lecture!! Thanks to my pal Ted for letting me about it, I actually became a member at the Walker art museum so I could buy the ticket ahead of the general public, it’s worth it for Nolan!
Yeah, Ultron was so forgettable. i didn’t even have desire to review it so my review of it will be very short. Favorite movie seen in April? Hm…I actually had fun during Mortdecai, heaven help me ^^
Hi Margaret! I wasn’t gonna do a review of it but since Ted gave me his review and he loved it, I might just write a brief one to counter it, ahah. I mean I didn’t hate it, but it’s nothing special. If I were to give it a 3/5 I’d be quite generous.
I might check out Mortdecai, the trailer actually made me laugh.
Has to be Furious 7 for me. Loved it and it lived up to my high expectations!
Yeah, I had fun w/ that too!
My favorite was a probably Bringing Up Baby (1938)
Hope you enjoy the Christopher Nolan lecture!
I’m jealous of others seeing Ex Machina, it doesn’t look like it will get a cinema release in my area. Bummer. At least i don’t have long to wait, out on dvd in June.
Hi Chris! I actually saw Bringing Up Baby and despite some fun moments, it didn’t gel w/ me. Baby was very cute though.
Yeah I’m really looking forward to Nolan’s lecture and even just being in the same room w/ him!
Bummer that Ex Machina isn’t showing in your area, I really thought it’s already released all over Europe.
Very cool! So jealous at you for attending Nolan’s lecture! Really looking forward to Ex Machina. Also watching Ultron in a couple of days. My favorite April movie was A Most Violent Year.
Hi Fernando! I can’t believe Nolan’s actually coming to my city, yeah I was fortunate I could get tickets. Oh man, if you love Oscar Isaac, you’ll LOVE Ex Machina. I look forward to A Most Violent Year as I love him and Chastain.
He doesn’t disappoint and neither does she! Plus, they look great in the film. Can’t wait for Ex Machina!
I really enjoyed Age of Ultron. Also managed to catch John Wick, which pleasantly surprised me. And I watched T2 in prep for Genysis.
Adam.
Hi Adam! I’ll check out your review of Age of Ultron. I thought it was ok, not as fun as the first one. I do love John Wick and got to meet Lance Reddick who played the hotel concierge at his weekend’s comic con in Minneapolis!
Really? That’s cool! I thought he was great in Lost, one of the more mysterious, underrated characters. Quite similar to his John Wick counterpart, actually.
Oh I didn’t know Lance was in Lost? I just posted my Comic con recap, I made the mistake of thinking he was in HEROES! Thankfully he was gracious about it.
He plays a cryptic intermediary between the island and the islanders. One of the more compelling minor characters. Haha, I’ll check your recap out!
Hey Ruth!
I am BEYOND jealous you snagged tickets for the Nolan conversation. Tickets were lightspeed gone by the time I heard about this; to say I was heartbroken is a wee bit of a understatement, but report back with a FULL and DETAILED report on the proceedings, and I’m a happy camper. 😉
How are you liking Wizard World? I got a Friday only pass, work prevented me from hitting up Saturday/Sunday. Dealer’s Room was a wee bit underwhelming, but standing mere feet away from Sylvester McCoy and Kevin Sorbo was a real ‘holy amazeballs!’ moment. Saw Kevin Smith later that night at the State Theater. One hell of an awesome Friday. Hope you’re having a great con!
Hey there Andy! That’s a bummer that you couldn’t see the Nolan lecture but yeah I’ll definitely be blogging about it so expect a full, detailed report! 😀
I’m just about to post my recap of Wizard World. I ended up only going on Saturday but that was the best day anyway, I was able to get into all three panels that I wanted, plus an extra one w/ Michael Rooker towards the end. Hope you’ll check it out!
Cool that you made it to the Kevin Smith event, I don’t really watch any of his movies so can’t say I’m a fan. So are you still blogging man?
Didn’t see anything at the cinema and only a few films on Netflix. Been watching House of Cards. Onto series 2, just finished watching the first series.
Hi Alex, Netflix seems like a good sub for cinema isn’t it? I’ve only watched a few episodes but I could see it’s quite addictive. Have you seen Daredevil yet? That’s worth bingeing on!
I’ve heard very good things. Have you seen Arrow?
I watched a couple of episodes but despite Stephen Amell’s hunkiness, I just couldn’t get into it. I do love The Flash though, which I think is the superior show from CW.
Oh good grief, you have no idea how yellow with envy I am that you get to attend a discussion with Christopher Nolan! That sounds awesome. 😛
This was a really busy month for me, too. I personally cranked up the volume of reviews I’ve pushed out so it was def a case of ‘more of the same’ but on a higher rate of turn-out (needless to say a lot of the reviews were hastily made! Haha)
And I’m glad you selected what you did for the movie of the month. ‘Ex Machina’ was a total blast. And I got your email, I am about to respond here in a bit. Keep an eye out! 🙂
Hi Tom! I almost couldn’t believe that Nolan’s actually coming to town. Thanks to my friend Ted who told me about this event, I immediately became a member of the museum so I could get tickets right away.
I actually wrote several dvd reviews last month I haven’t posted yet, perfect for days when I needed a break. Ex Machina was excellent wasn’t it? It was an easy choice for me this month.
So glad Ex Machina is your movie of the month. I loved it too! 🙂 Enjoy that Nolan lecture!
Hi Josh! Glad we share a favorite, it’s just amazing what Garland accomplished w/ a modest budget.
I finally saw The Imitation Game in April and that was definitely my favourite.
That was a good film! Saw that at the local film fest, that was definitely one of my faves.