Apparently today’s Paul Rudd‘s birthday! Can you believe it this guy is 51 years old!! He doesn’t look a day over 30. Like Keanu Reeves, there must be a secret fountain of youth these guys ought to tell us!
I was reading a bit about Paul Rudd, as I don’t really know much about him. Here are a few interesting facts about the New Jersey-born actor.
His parents were born in the United Kingdom, his father from Edgware and his mother from Surbiton, both in London.
When he was ten, Rudd’s family moved to Lenexa, Kansas. His family also spent three years living in Anaheim, California, because of his father’s occupation as a historical tour guide.
Rudd spent three months studying Jacobean drama at the British American Drama Academy based in Oxford, U.K.
He made his acting debut in 1992 with NBC’s drama series Sisters – (first time I saw Rudd was in Clueless)
In 2003, Rudd married Julie Yaeger and the couple has two children: a son, Jack Sullivan, and a daughter, Darby.
Rudd reveals fans still ask him about his Clueless days more than any other role.
Rudd’s definitely one of my favorite actors in the MCU. He’s just so perfect and fun to watch as Ant-Man. I enjoyed both films, though my favorite scenes of Ant-Man is actually in Captain America: Civil War…
… especially this one when he first meeting–and geeking out over–Steve Rogers 😀 I literally always rewind THAT scene more than anything else in that movie!
I know you know lots of super people… so thinks for thanking of me…
… … and that epic and hilarious airport battle scene w/ giant Ant-Man!!
I can’t believe it’s been three years since Ant-Man came out. Perhaps because we saw the character in Captain America: Civil War, it felt like I had just seen him recently. This movie actually takes place following the aftermath of Captain America 3, which explains why Ant-Man isn’t fighting with his fellow Avengers in Infinity War.
The immensely likable Paul Rudd returns as Scott Lang and here he grapples with the consequences of being a superhero and a dad. I love the opening sequence of Scott playing with his adorable daughter Cassie (Abby Ryder Fortson) at his well-equipped home as he’s in house arrest (due to his involvement with the Avengers). He’s only days away of being a free man when suddenly he’s dragged back into his life as Ant-Man and re-team with Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lily) and Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas).
I’m not going to mention what the urgent new mission is, but those who saw the first film could probably guess what it is. Speaking of which, Michelle Pfeiffer shows up as a prominent character and she’s always lovely to watch. I wish the film would just focus more on that storyline, instead of overcrowding it with multiple plots. In fact, one of the main plots involving a ghost named Ava (Hannah John-Kamen) who can phase through objects is so boring and the serious tone feels off compared to the rest of the movie. Thankfully, for the most part Peyton Reed succeeded in creating yet another fun-filled Marvel adventure, thanks to the fantastic cast.
I love that this time Ant-Man sort of play second banana to The Wasp in many ways, especially during the action scenes. Hope is such a take-charge woman-with-a-mission character that she’s a natural born leader, while Scott is always one step behind. The dynamic works well and makes for some hilarious moments. Rudd is such comedic gold, even just him doing ordinary things around the house is funny! I truly can’t imagine anyone else in the role (another spot-on casting that Marvel Studios have done, just like Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man). The supporting cast are a hoot just like the original. I gotta say Randall Park as an FBI agent & Lang’s parole officer and Michael Peña (with his mad rapping style) as one of Lang’s bff/business partners are especially hilarious.
The quantum realm ‘science’ of the shrinking and expanding of the characters is never clear to me but what I love is that this movie knows that full well and uses it to its advantage. “So you just put quantum in front of everything?” Scott Lang quipped at one point during the discussion w/ Hank Pym’s former assistant played by Laurence Fishburne (ahah so now we’ve got Samuel L. Jackson‘s arch rival joining Marvel too, awesome!) I think the movie’s low point is the villains, what’s with Walton Goggins playing yet another lame villain after seeing him in the Tomb Raider reboot. He plays a low-level blue-collar criminal who wants to steal Pym’s technology to sell it on the black market. He’s once again outsmarted by a woman here as his character is absolutely idiotic. That said, and even with the plots and subplots piling up, this movie still moves along at a breezy pace with dynamic action scenes. I don’t normally care for 3D but this time I didn’t mind as it actually looks good.
I thoroughly enjoyed all the action scenes, especially the main chase scene through San Francisco, showcasing some of its landmarks. All of the shrinking and expanding scenes are hilarious and a joy to watch, especially when big Ant-Man rides a pick-up truck like a kiddy scooter! Oh and I’ll never be able to stop giggling every time I hear the name Antonio Banderas now 😛
I gotta hand it to Marvel Studio honcho Kevin Feige, under his leadership the Studio really thrives in creating a plethora of movies that have its own individual style yet ties in as a whole to the Avengers’ story. Like Thor: Ragnarok, this movie is mostly a comedy but more family-friendly instead of the more sardonic style of Taika Waititi’s humor.
The Ant-Man may be tiny but this sequel sure is a huge dose of fun! I don’t even mind watching it again on the big screen. Definitely check this out if you enjoyed the first one, but even if you hadn’t seen the original, I think you’d still enjoy it. Oh and Marvel fans, you want to stay for the mid-credit scene 😉
So have you seen Ant-Man and The Wasp? Well, what did you think?
So apparently Clueless just hit its 20th anniversary this month, as suddenly there are a plethora of references on from the movie all over social media. In fact, my hubby was perplexed by some of them as he hadn’t seen it before. So we thought, why not watch the movie Friday night since it’s on Netflix streaming. To be honest, neither my hubby and I are into high school movies. I mean, of course I enjoyed John Hughes movies when I was actually still in high school, and occasionally there are good ones from the genre, like Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. But I wouldn’t go out of my way to seek them out. I can’t remember when I saw Clueless, but it must’ve been at least a decade ago. My memory of it is a bit hazy so it felt like seeing the movie for the first time.
So what’s the verdict?
Well, for one thing he didn’t hate it. He said it actually didn’t make him cringe as he had feared, and overall it was enjoyable. I mean, for one thing the movie is hysterical! The movie obviously didn’t take itself seriously and made fun of the characters’ own preposterousness but yet it’s not mean-spirited that it’d leave a sour taste in your mouth. Cher’s driving test scene alone is a hoot… …but her BFF is an even worse driver, which made for one of the funniest scenes in the movie! When my hubby and I discussed it afterwards, we were wondering about, because neither of us went to high school in the US, was whether teenagers actually spoke like that back in the 90s as they seem to still have that same speaking style now. The constant use of the word ‘like’ is practically like ‘as if’ and ‘whatever’ in the film, and even those are probably not entirely absent from teens’ vocabularies now as the movie still resonates to this day.
A Cultural Touchstone
I read this Vanity Fairarticle on the oral history of Clueless. Apparently the movie was a surprise hit back in 1995. The movie opened at No. 1 the weekend of its release on July 19, and went on to earn $56 mil in the US/Canada (a figure that the movie data-tracking site Box Office Mojo equates to $105.7 million in contemporary, inflated dollars). Not bad considering the budget was only $12 – $13 million. The movie definitely was a ‘cultural touchstone’, as EW pointed out in this article pondering what it’d be like if the movie’d been made today. Surely the age of selfies, social media and celebrity worship of today isn’t all that different from 20 years ago, and maybe that’s why the movie still resonates to this day. There are lots of gems in this movie that understandably become part of pop culture to this day. Ok so I’m not fond of Cher’s outfits but clearly it was a hit for teens as they raid the local malls for plaid skirts and knee-high socks. I went to an all-girl Catholic school and those were our uniform so I’d never ever want to wear those combo nor would I consider those fashionable. But the movie is so darn quotable with tons of hilarious lingo that will forever be associated with this movie.
Source: Vanity Fair
Talk about great casting!
I can’t imagine anyone else but Alicia Silverstone as Cher Horowitz, though the VF article did mention they were thinking of Reese Witherspoon at some point. Alicia’s goofy facial expressions alone is a hoot to watch, she has one of those expressive faces that you can’t take your eyes off. It was a no-holds-barred performance that to this day it’s impossible to separate Alicia from her breakout character. Cher was an inherently ridiculous and obviously flawed character but there’s something so sincere and straightforward about her, that she didn’t care what people think. It’s quite refreshing and amusing, that you quickly stop judging her and just accept her for who she is. I guess it’s the same thing that happens to Cher herself in how she comes to terms with the people in her life.
The supporting cast was equally fun to watch, and they’re pretty racially diverse which is pretty progressive for the time. The fact that the non-white characters, are in the same social class as the white, blond, rich protagonist would be considered progressive even by today’s standards. Dionne (Stacey Dash) and her boyfriend Murray (Donald Faison) are both black, but both are equally as popular as Cher in school and there are also some Asian American girls in Cher’s social circle. It’s sad that Brittany Murphy is no longer with us, her portrayal of Tai is just as entertaining and iconic.
And of course there’s Paul Rudd as Cher’s stepbrother Josh. The VF article talked about how he almost didn’t get to play Josh as he took another role (Halloween movie) and had his head shaved. Thankfully it ended up being a long journey to cast that particular role and casting director Marcia Ross said ‘he never went out of consciousness.’
It’s funny too that the same month this movie turns 20 years old, the 46-year-old Paul Rudd is a bonafide superhero himself with Ant-Man, and he still hasn’t aged a day!! Need proof? Just take this Vulture quiz and see if you can guess how old he is from certain photos. If they made this movie today, Rudd could still totally play Josh!
Why the movie was sort of ahead of its time… and culturally-relevant to this day
As Jane Austen’s work still resonates even two hundred years later, it’s not surprising that writer/director Amy Heckerling was inspired by Emma, the novel she read as a teenager. The plot/characters/themes and values are all based on Austen’s novel, as Emma too was clueless about her own feelings and the business of match-making. But like the Austen heroine, deep down she’s a good person and her heart was in the right place. I love stories where the protagonist actually evolves throughout the course of the film. In her own cute and endearing way, Cher had some growing up lessons and disappointments just like the rest of us, she just had better more expensive clothes to go through them in. For how beautiful and privileged she is, Cher is surprisingly relatable. I mean who hasn’t fawned over a guy and make a complete fool of herself? I thought it was interesting that they made Cher a virgin, which was rare then and still rare now amongst teens. The movie touched upon serious issues about chastity/abstinence but they didn’t make her someone who’s holier-than-thou kind of character. It’s just another thing that made Cher unique, so the issue wasn’t done in a preachy way. You’d think that this movie is all style and no substance, but that’s actually no the case. As this Grantland article points out, despite the fact that the protagonist and her friends are all rich, “…the movie’s messages are anti-capitalist: Money can’t buy you love, and caring about other people is cool.” Thanks partly to Josh, Cher realized her own ignorance and prejudices and genuinely made an effort to make a difference by volunteering and donating her stuff. She didn’t just think differently, but she actually took action and do something about it. And she does it all by still being herself, which in and of itself is quite inspiring. There’s also the genuinely heartfelt father/daughter relationship throughout the movie. Dan Hedaya is perfect as the workaholic dad who’s tough but yet loving. Heck, raising a girl like Cher as a single dad can’t be easy but somehow they made it through, and there’s a sweet moment towards the end that show they have a pretty good relationship. It’s also another proof that Cher isn’t a heartless creature as she actually takes care of her own dad. Buzzfeedcalls Clueless the best movie of all times and they sure made a compelling argument with all those hilarious gifs. I wouldn’t go that far, but I wouldn’t argue its special place in our pop culture and that it’d probably be iconic even a decade from now. Glad I saw this again. Certainly a movie worth revisiting and if you haven’t seen this yet, well, give it a shot. You’d be surprised how much you’d enjoy it!
Have you seen Clueless? What do you think of this movie?
Boy it’s quite a sweltering Summer weekend, I practically lived in my shorts & rompers these days. I love it when you found stuff in one of your old wallets, it’s like getting an unexpected gift. Apparently I left two gold AMC tickets in there, so we ended up going to the movies after all.
I also had time to spare to watch the remaining two episodes of Downton AbbeySeason 3, and caught the first episode of season 4. My hope is that I’ll be done with season 5 by year’s end, which I think is feasible. I might blog about it later in the year, as I’m getting ready for the final season of the series in 2016!
In any case, here are quick thoughts of the two films I watched this weekend:
ANT-MAN
We went to the 2D showing as that’s the only time that worked for us and honestly I hate wearing those heavy 3D glasses. I wasn’t really anticipating this movie at all, frankly I’m feeling a bit superhero fatigue. So it’s nice to see that Ant-Man turns out to be more of a heist flick, as Ted’s mentioned in his review, instead of a full-blown superhero movie. The scale is also much smaller than other Marvel movies, which proved to be quite refreshing.
I had a lot of fun with it. Just like Chris Pratt was perfect as the lead of The Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel hit another casting home run once again with Paul Rudd. He’s just so effortlessly likable and we immediately want to root for this down-on-his-luck con-man. The movie is definitely lighthearted and fun, but not devoid of heart either with a familial theme running through the veins of the main characters. Director Peyton Reed is known mostly for comedies (Yes Man, The Break Up) so I guess he’s the perfect man for the job here.
Michael Peña is the movie’s scene stealer, which is not a surprise to me as I’ve always liked him in various supporting roles throughout his career. Interesting that people say he’s the comedic breakout here as I think he’s always got great comic timing, he’s just so under-utilized in Hollywood. I also love Evangeline Lilly’s role and her character Hope actually has a decent arc in the story. Funny that she has a similar hairstyle as the lead female character in Jurassic World, but thankfully her bad-assery didn’t feel forced in this one. I actually enjoyed this movie more than The Avengers: Age of Ultron, which again proved that sometimes bigger [scale] doesn’t mean better.
CARTEL LAND
I always love documentaries that take you to a world that’s rarely explored, and few are as immersive as this one. Filmmaker Matthew Heineman got an unprecedented access, on-the-ground look at the journeys of two modern-day vigilante groups and their shared enemy – the murderous Mexican drug cartels.
It’s rated R for a reason as the film is pretty intense and show some really brutal scenes of what the drug lords do to people who wronged them. There are also some crazy shoot-outs that made me wonder just how in the world the filmmaker manage NOT to get shot! It’s also astounding that Heineman got access to film a meth lab, which was shown in the beginning and end of the film. It’s an unsettling scene to be sure, as the filmmaker was surrounded by heavy-armed men cooking meth at night in the desert. One of the workers interviewed said they’re so poor that they had no choice but to do this line of work and that they’ll continue cooking meth “as long as God allows it.”
The two main characters in the film came from opposite backgrounds. In the the Mexican state of Michoacán, we have a charismatic physician Dr. Jose Mireles (who looks like a latin version of Omar Sharif) who leads the Autodefensas, one of the vigilante organizations aiming to restore order to Mexican communities. They felt they couldn’t rely on the government to protect them, so they had to take matters into their own hands.
On the other side of the border in Arizona’s Altar Valley, also known as Cocaine Alley, Army veteran Tim Voley felt the same way about the US government. He felt that the authorities/border patrols didn’t do enough to keep Mexico’s drug wars from seeping across American border. Even though Mireles and Voley never met, they definitely share the same vision and brought their own brand of justice.
What’s interesting is how initially the film portrayed them as a big hero, but as the film progressed, we saw that they’re flawed human beings like the rest of us. The Autodefensas themselves turn out to be as morally corrupt as the organizations they fight against. For one thing, vigilantism isn’t a black and white matter. I highly recommend this if you’re looking for a really gripping documentary that at times felt all too visceral and horrifyingly-real.
Heineman won Best Director and Special Jury Award for Cinematography at Sundance this year. Both awards are well-deserved as the director practically risked his life making this and the result is one of the most gripping doc I’ve ever seen. Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow also served as one of the executive producers for the film and I could see her making a film version of this topic.
So that’s my weekend roundup. What did you see this weekend, anything good?
Marvel has been dominating the box office with their superhero flicks for almost a decade now and it’s inevitable that they’re going to bring out some of the lesser-known superheroes to the big screen. Even though it’s not well known to non comic book readers, Ant-Man movie has apparently been in development for many years. For anyone who’s been following the movie business, you’ve probably read the development dramas of this movie, from director Edgar Wright leaving the project to script changes and so on.
Personally I didn’t know anything about Ant-Man, the idea of a superhero the size of an ant just sounds too silly to me and didn’t really care about the movie version. Fortunately, the movie was very entertaining and I don’t mind seeing it again.
After being released from prison, Scott Lang (perfectly-cast Paul Rudd) is trying to go straight because he wants to spend more time with his daughter. Lang was sent to prison because he tried to do the right thing, but in life doing the right thing doesn’t mean you’re going to be appreciated. He met up with is buddy Luis (Michael Peña) who tells him that he’d found a new gig that will make them a lot of money. Lang declined the offer because he wants to find an honest job but because he’s an ex-con no one will hire him. So after couldn’t find a steady job, Lang finally agreed to listen to Luis’ gig. According to Luis’ sources, there’s a house that belongs to a retired old man who’d stashed away some valuable items in his safe. All Lang has to do is break in and take whatever is in the safe and they’ll be rich.
Unfortunately when Lang got into the safe, all he could find was a weird looking suit, which he took. The suit and the house belongs to a man named Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), Pym has been following Lang for years because of his skills as a thief. He and his daughter Hope (Evangeline Lilly) are trying to break into a highly secured building and they need Lang’s help. Unlike other Marvel’s superhero flicks, the scope of this film was quite small and the whole plot is actually a heist rather than a full-blown superhero story we’re use to seeing. We still get to see the usual hero learning to control his new power and so on. But the tone of this film was definitely on humor and lighter side and I’m glad they went that route.
All the performances by the actors were great, I mentioned that Rudd was perfectly cast and he truly embody this character. He’s charming, quick witted and you want to see him succeed. Instead of the usual hero whose motivation to save the world was because he lost something important to him, here Lang is just a guy who wants to do the right thing and see his daughter. Douglas was also great as Pym, he has the same amount of screen time as Rudd, I didn’t want to talk too much about his character because I don’t want to ruin the story for anyone who wants to see this film.
Lilly played the tough female lead and I thought she did a good job; I’m so glad the filmmakers didn’t make her into another damsel in distress type. Of course in this kind of movie, there’s always going to be the token minority/comic relief character and here I thought Michael Peña was very funny. Some of the jokes didn’t work but most of them had the audience laughing. The villain in the film is played by Corey Stoll, even though they tried to give him some motivations as to why he’s evil, he’s still a one dimensional bad guy.
This is still a Marvel comic book film so they need to show us some big action sequences and director Peyton Reed delivered on that end. I was surprised because his background is mostly in comedy but I thought he did a great job of staging the cool and kind of inventive action sequences. If you’re on the fence about seeing this film in 3D, I highly you seek it out in that format. Once Lang became the Ant-Man, the film showed some really eye-popping 3D effects.
I didn’t really have any expectations for this film and I’m glad I saw it because it’s very entertaining and a lot of fun. In fact, I think this maybe the only comic book film from Marvel that the whole family can enjoy. Color me impressed.
So have you seen Ant Man? Well, what did you think?
Well it was a rather packed weekend starting with the a TCFF Insider Series event on Friday night. It was the perfect venue for early September as a touch of Autumn filled the air as we gathered poolside at the University Club in St Paul on top of Ramsey hill, whilst sipping cocktail & munching delicious hors d’oeuvres.
We watched a compilation of 12 trailers of some indies/docs/features films that’ll be showing at the film fest in mid October. One of the features are already on my most-anticipated Fall movies list, yay! I can’t tell you yet which films are playing as details are still being finalized, but let’s just say I’m super excited!
Well I only got to see two movies this weekend. Somehow my hubby and I have been in the mood for French comedies lately. Last week we saw The French Minister, well this weekend we saw…
The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec (2010)
I’m not always a fan of Luc Besson movies but this one turns out to be entertaining. It’s got a bit of Indiana Jones/The Mummy but with a female heroine instead. But this movie is more of a zany fantasy-comedy with some laugh-out-loud moments involving mummies being brought back to life. Louis Bourgoin as the protagonist is fun to watch. She reminds me a bit of Katherine Heigl with dark hair but with more spunk and likable presence. Mathieu Amalric (who I remember as the villain in Quantum of Solace) has a small role but entirely unrecognizable here under heavy *ugly* makeup.
The movie is loosely based on a French comic of the same name that takes place in in 1910s Paris which features some gorgeous scenery of the city of Light. Some of the movie’s more fun and fantastical part involves a large Pterosaurs that hatched when a Professor uses a telepathic technique. The CGI looks pretty good and definitely enhances the fantasy element of the story. I was quite surprised however, that the reason for all those adventures Adèle went through turns out to be quite a heart-wrenching, albeit there were some creepy moments involving Adèle’s sister. Besson made some hilarious *historical* reference as to the origin of the pyramid in front of the Louvre, though the cliffhanger involving a doomed ocean liner is rather odd.
Overall I enjoyed it, I think if you like the two action-adventure movies I mentioned above, you might enjoy this one too.
Sunday night is usually reserved for some Toby Stephens watching and this time I chose this TV Movie of …
The Great Gatsby (2000 TV Movie)
I’ve seen this movie three times so far and I enjoyed it every single time. Sure it didn’t have the lavish style of Baz Luhrmann’s version nor its budget to depict the lavish, over-the-top parties in Gatsby’s house, but it certainly didn’t put me to sleep like the 1974 version with Robert Redford. I wish this adaptation had captured the manic energy of the roaring 20s though, even the music was a bit melodramatic. But the two performances, Toby as Jay Gatsby and Paul Rudd as Nick Carraway, won me over. In fact, just like in the 2013 movie, there’s more chemistry between Jay & Nick than Jay and Daisy.
Toby made for a charming & suave Gatsby, with that signature smirk of his and looking dapper in those tailored suits, but what I like about his performance was how emotional and real it was. The way he looked at Mira Sorvino’s Daisy made you believe he truly was infatuated with her, that he was besotted beyond reason. I’ve grown to like Rudd’s performance here as well as the story’s most relatable character. I’ve seen him mostly in comedies but he certainly had dramatic chops and he makes for a compelling and sympathetic narrator of the story. What’s more important than the visual style and costumes, which this adaptation lacked due to budget constraints, it does capture the tragic story of Gatsby and like Nick, I certainly was on Gatsby’s side.
Since I bought the dvd, it came with a great biography of its author F. Scott Fitzgerald, who undoubtedly has lived an intriguing life that rivals his most famous literary hero.
Well, that’s my weekend roundup folks. So what did you see, anything good?
So apparently Clueless just hit its 20th anniversary this month, as suddenly there are a plethora of references on from the movie all over social media. In fact, my hubby was perplexed by some of them as he hadn’t seen it before. So we thought, why not watch the movie Friday night since it’s on Netflix streaming. To be honest, neither my hubby and I are into high school movies. I mean, of course I enjoyed John Hughes movies when I was actually still in high school, and occasionally there are good ones from the genre, like 
…but her BFF is an even worse driver, which made for one of the funniest scenes in the movie! 
When my hubby and I discussed it afterwards, we were wondering about, because neither of us went to high school in the US, was whether teenagers actually spoke like that back in the 90s as they seem to still have that same speaking style now. The constant use of the word ‘like’ is practically like ‘as if’ and ‘whatever’ in the film, and even those are probably not entirely absent from teens’ vocabularies now as the movie still resonates to this day.
But the movie is so darn quotable with tons of hilarious lingo that will forever be associated with this movie.
I thought it was interesting that they made Cher a virgin, which was rare then and still rare now amongst teens. The movie touched upon serious issues about chastity/abstinence but they didn’t make her someone who’s holier-than-thou kind of character. It’s just another thing that made Cher unique, so the issue wasn’t done in a preachy way. 
You’d think that this movie is all style and no substance, but that’s actually no the case. As this 
There’s also the genuinely heartfelt father/daughter relationship throughout the movie. Dan Hedaya is perfect as the workaholic dad who’s tough but yet loving. Heck, raising a girl like Cher as a single dad can’t be easy but somehow they made it through, and there’s a sweet moment towards the end that show they have a pretty good relationship. It’s also another proof that Cher isn’t a heartless creature as she actually takes care of her own dad. 
