Tumblr now got the Cat Boop o Meter but almost 12 years ago, Les Mis already had one.

**Shots of the Movie**

Frances Ha (2012)

Director: Noah Baumbach Cinematographer: Sam Levy

His stint as Enjolras in Les Mis 2012 movie sparks my love to Aaron Tveit and rediscovery to musical theatre. 😊 That was 2019.

Moonrise Kingdom, 2012

Men in Black 3 (2012)

Film review #535

Director: Barry Sonnenfeld

SYNOPSIS: Agents J and K are investigating an alien incident when they discover one of K’s old enemies, Boris, has escaped from his prison on the moon. J wakes up one morning to find out that K is gone, apparently having forty years ago. It seems Boris has travelled back in time and killed K, so J must also travel back in time to 1969 to prevent K’s death and stop Boris...

THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Men in Black 3 is a 2012 sci-fi film and the third in the Men in Black franchise, loosely based on the comics of the same name. The film opens up with a ruthless criminal, Boris (if that is his real name) escaping from his prison on the moon. He heads to earth to take his revenge on the agent who put him there: Agent K. To do so, he travels back in time to kill Agent K, so that his existence for the last 40 years is wiped out. Agent J must himself travel back to 1969 to stop Boris from accomplishing his plan, and save his partner. Bringing in time travel as the core mechanic, the plot has the potential to get very confusing very fast; but the film keeps it mostly simple, so everything stays together well: that’s not to say that there’s no questions surrounding some of the effects of time travel, because there is, but they don’t distract too much from the plot. The enemy this time is Boris, an alien who was imprisoned on the moon because he is such a menace. His whole plot again isn’t too important, and mostly serves as a catalyst to the main element of the film and the previous ones, which is the relationship between agents J and K. On this point, the film again gives us a solid and in-depth exploration of their characters and interactions, and while some of it is re-treading ground from the first two films, there is enough that is new and refreshing to make it worthwhile to sit through. The plot goes at a decent enough pace, and holds back enough mystery and suspense to make a decent payoff at the end, and enough energy along the way to sustain your attention until you get there. The film does gloss over many of the events of the first two films, and there’s some incongruities there, but on the other hand, it also makes this film easily a standalone feature, while still being an extension of what went before. Given the ten-year gap between this film and the previous one, it makes sense that the film can stand on it’s own, as some of it’s viewers will not have watched the first two, or simply forgot the particulars.

While the first film had a rather conventional relationship between J being the rookie, and K being the veteran agent; the second reversed this relationship by having J re-recruit K, which turned J into the veteran, but this reversal didn’t really work for a number of reasons (which I laid out in my review of the film). Men in Black 3 uses the time travel element to again reconfigure their relationship. J and K are essentially equals, but K still refuses to open up about his life. When J travels back in time to 1969, his relationship with young K is a bit more dynamic: J is the veteran, but he’s also a “fish out of water” in 1969, and K is the junior agent, but knows how everything works in that time, so neither of them are the rookie, but neither are they both the vets, so they’re on equal, but even footing, which gives their characters something new and interesting to explore throughout the film. Josh Brolin as young K does a really great job here: he captures Tommy Lee Jones’ K  very well, while also putting enough of a spin on it to make it his own. Will Smith is still able to do what he does best getting into slapstick and humourous antics, but his maturity also lets him have some emotional moments too. The supporting characters and villain fill their roles well enough, but they’re nothing too special, but again, the series has always hinged on J and K’s relationship first, and alien invasions and agency bureaucracy second.

The film does a good job brining the 60′s Men in Black to life, with plenty of fun weapon and vehicle designs, and some creative aliens too. While the pop culture references in Men in Black II aged the film and didn’t really work, the time travel element gives the film more free reign to bring 60′s culture to life without aging the film itself. The ending of the film, which isn’t too hard to work out what’s going to happen when it gets underway, is nevertheless emotional and gripping, and feels like a good pay-off. I felt like maybe the film ends a bit too abruptly after though, as it generates all of these emotions, and never works through them to any degree, and so just leaves them hanging in the mind of the viewer with no outlet for them, but I think that others could easily be more satisfied with the ending, and so that point is probably more a matter of opinion than a critique of the film. Overall, Men in Black 3 is definitely an improvement over it’s predecessor, although Men in Black II lowered the bar a fair amount. It’s not a perfect film and still struggles with story outside of it’s core characters, but the film offers a fresh angle on exploring the relationship between the two main characters, while also still being fun and entertaining. Predictable in some parts, but still offers up enough fun and heart to be worth a watch for fans of the franchise, and tight enough to watch as a standalone film if you’ve never seen any of the others.

movie review!-2012(2009)

!SPOILERS BELOW THE CUT!

I RREPEAT, MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW THE CUT!!!!

I loved this film. The plot, the CGI, the characters, I loved them so much that I hated it because I'm now terrified that the government's hiding the end of the world from us and the ground's suddenly gonna collapse.

I feel so bad for Tamara and Sasha(where's my happy ending fanfiction) because first off he thought he'd die saving everyone else, and he looked so happy when he survived and then he died literally 2 seconds later and there was no crying over him body because he got OBLITERATED in the fire and it's like we know how sad he was that he had to die. Back to Tamara, she died saving Lilly and Ceasar(the dog) and it's like so sad because she did nothing wrong and she was crying for help the whole time and she just wanted to live and we didn't get to see her die we just saw her final cries for help.

Second off Gordon's death, I didn't like him too much but he provided some comic relief and got better throughout the film, and when he died, Jackson's reaction was so desensitised like the more you see of something, the less you react to it and it was so damned sad because he was just completing his character arc and it ended with death.

Thirdly, Yuri's death. A word of advice, don't get a sugar daddy, it's not worth it. He was so mean and so insensitive and I think his death was well earned and the fact he died to save his son was honestly a good end to his character arc

Overall, I think the idea was honestly great, the characters were great, the acting was great, the plot was great, it terrified me but it was great, if you enjoy dying earth, or sci-fi, then I think you'll love this film!

I've always loved the movie (and the book) The Perks of Being a Wallflower because who doesn't right? And it occured to me tonight when pondering about the movie that I really have felt like Charlie this year in my journey entering into college life and the social aspect, although I am an extrovert. I've been in a crowd where I felt not peer pressure, but some form of expectation to do a variety of things, in which I did, and also felt incredibly alone despite being surrounded by people. However, I think it's truly beautiful that this story and visual representation of this frequent occurance in school life for many students (even though they are in high school) can be so relatable and that the incredible cinematographer works to make you truly feel how Charlie feels. Cinema is truly a wonder

We can only hope there are men like Adrian in the world.

my poor attempt at a meme but everyone agrees right?

// Roland Emmerich Disaster Films //

KATHRYN NEWTON + horror films (so far)

Helter Skelter (2012) Dir. Mika Ninagawa

Aaron Taylor-Johnson in Savages (2012)

Cloud Atlas (2012)

Film review #580

Directors: Lana Wachowski, Tom Tykwer, Lily Wachowski

SYNOPSIS: The interconnected lives of strangers intersect across multiple lives over the course of 500 years...

THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Cloud Atlas is a 2012 sci-fi epic film based on the novel of the same name. It's difficult to give a summary of the plot because the film centres on six different settings over the course of five hundred years, with different stories in each time. The characters in each era are played by the same actors throughout, which hints at the idea of reincarnation, perhaps symbolised by a birthmark that many of the characters have, but this is left up to interpretation: in fact, a lot of this film is left up to interpretation. I imagine multiple viewings will reveal new things and connections which are easily missed the first time. While this can be a positive, I think the film thematically needed something more to bring things together. The film ends with a somewhat weak message that doesn't feel like much of a payoff after sitting through nearly three hours. While it is a long runtime, I don't think there's any lulls in the film thanks to the constant switching between the different characters and stories, but it's difficult to say what you're supposed to take away from it all.

The host of different characters and time spans obviously provides plenty of variety in the film: some have stronger stories than others, and some are very predictable. The film is definitely helped by having some top acting talent, such as Tom Hanks and Halle Berry, and the massive budget this film had (one of the most expensive independent films of all time) allows for lots of different on-location shots, so at least in that respect you can get the "epic" sense of the film. This film seems to have a polarising response from people, ranging from it being a really good film, to it being one of the worst, and it is easy to see the reasons for both perspectives. The film has plenty of ambition and variety, and meanders through its different stories in such a way that they are all balanced well throughout the long runtime. However, the editing may also leave viewers feeling like they are wandering aimlessly around with no real purpose. The things which are supposed to tie the film together: the strange birthmark across generations that suggest some form of reincarnation, the writings of a philosopher oft-quoted, and such, don't really provide any overarching themes to bring things together. If this is a film that is meant to be viewed multiple times, then that is a problem, as I do not feel like this would be worth a re-watch for me. There's plenty of ambition and a lot of skill in editing this all together, but the things which are supposed to tie it all together just don't have the required impact.