Perth Movie Lovers Win Preview Tickets to Trishna

Calling Perth movie lovers

WIN one of ten Admit 2 passes to attend the preview of

        Trishna  (Rating TBC)       

6.45pm Wednesday 2nd May at Carousel Shopping Centre Cannington

To enter Tweet the following  

#Perth #Win tickets 2 preview of #Trishna @ 6.45pm 2nd May Hoyts Carousel-Follow @myshoppinglisto and RT. Further deets http://j.mp/IVvsWD

Competiton closes 12pm Monday 30th April, 2012 

Winners will be notified on Twitter by 5pm 30th April, 2012
and advised details of attending on the night.

Trishna (Rating TBC)

Opens at Australian Cinemas May 10       

Based on the novel 'Tess of the D'ubervilles' by Thomas Hardy

           From acclaimed director Michael Winterbottom (GENOVA, A MIGHTY HEART) comes a modern day re-telling of Thomas Hardy's classic novel "Tess of the d’Ubervilles". Starring SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE’S Freida Pinto, TRISHNA is a beautifully shot tale of love and tragedy set across modern day rural Rajasthan and the thriving metropolis of Mumbai.

           Trishna (Freida Pinto) lives a poor, sheltered life until one day she meets the wealthy young Jay (Riz Ahmed), who has come back to India to work in his father's hotel business. Being the sole provider for her family since her father’s accident, Trishna agrees to leave Rajasthan to work for Jay, and gradually they fall in love. Despite their feelings for each other, their relationship must remain a secret due to the conflicting pressures of a traditional society.

          After a dramatic event separates the two, Jay tracks Trishna down and offers her a more liberated life full of possibility in Mumbai. As time passes, the relationship begins to transform and Jay’s true character emerges. Trishna soon finds herself torn between her family, a life of new freedom and the reality of her troubled relationship.

Hoyts Carousel Shopping Centre is located at

Westfield Carousel
1382 Albany Hwy
Cannington WA 6107

Competiton closes Monday 30th April, 12pm

Winners will be notified on Twitter by 5pm and advised details of attending on the night.

 

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MARVEL’s THE AVENGERS BIGGEST MARVEL OPENING DAY EVER

Read a Marvel's The Avengers Review


Are you Australian?  Skip over to www.myshoppinglist.com.au 
We give away FREE movie tickets every week.  

Outside Australia?  Still check it out.  Its a very useful site to save time and money with grocery shopping.

DISNEY STUDIOS AUSTRALIA’S #1 OPENING DAY IN HISTORY

 

                26 April 2012 (Sydney, AUSTRALIA): Marvel’s The Avengershas smashed the Australian box office on its opening day of release with a record breaking AUD$6 million (USD$6.2million). The stunning opening makes The Avengers the biggest Marvel Studios opening day ever – 233% ahead of Iron Man 2 (AUD$1.8 million) and represents the number one Disney Studios opening day, ahead of The Chronicles of Narnia Lion, Witch and Wardrobe(AUD$3.5 million).

               The one day figure easily surpasses the combined individual opening days box office of each Marvel superhero film Australian opening (Iron Man  2 - $1.813 million, Thor- $1.3 million, Captain America - $0.86 million and The Incredible Hulk - $0.37 million for a total of $4.357 million).

               The opening puts the film at the number two position of all time openings behind Harry Potter Deathly Part 2 (AUD$7 million).

               “The most anticipated blockbuster for the year Marvel’s The Avengers has really lit up the box office with this stunning opening – Disney and Marvel’s biggest yet in Australia. The Avengers is testament to fabulous storytelling combined with a blockbuster cast and world-renowned director - this superhero epic is a must-see for all Australian fans and film lovers!,” said John Cracknell, senior vice president & managing director The Walt Disney Company, Australia.

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Battleship ★ ★

Its a hit and miss film 

Release Dates
Australia 12th April, 2012 UK 11th April, 2012 USA 18th May, 2012

Other Countries Release Dates

Hollywood is casting its net everywhere for film ideas these days.  Decades ago film studios only had books and imagination to draw upon when creating science fiction invasions of our planet. The 1951 film ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’, on our low tech black and white TV, without computer-animation technology, created a frightening vision of an alien invasion with only a lone alien and his robot.
           When the peaceful intergalactic emissary, Klaatu (Michael Rennie), is shot, his robot Gort vaporizes the surrounding weaponry.  The image of the robot’s glowing eye slot scanning a New York park was truly creepy.

Nowadays, moviemakers can pull ideas from not just books but TV shows, video games and, of course lately, board games and toys and execute them with breathtaking realism.  With the 'Transformers' franchise proving such a big hit, it makes perfect sense for Hasbro to pull out from the cupboard all its games and check their viability as a film.

The idea of creating a film from the unimaginative game of Battleship is intriguing.  How they insert the square coding calls into the film is actually clever.  And whilst clearly not aiming for a storyline they certainly hit a few marks with the action. 

Alex Hopper (Taylor Kitsch) is always in trouble, much to the consternation of his big brother and naval officer, Stone Hopper (Alexander Skarsgård).  When Alex meets physiotherapist Samantha (Brooklyn Decker) he again ends up in strife by breaking into a min-mart in attempt to get her a snack .  Well young love does cause you to do stupid things.  The only answer according to his brother is to enlist in the Navy.

By the time he has moved up the navy ranks, he and Samantha want to marry but first he must ask the permission of her Father, Admiral Shane (Liam Neeson).  This permission asking is going to occur whilst on naval exercises off Hawaii.  Go figure on the timing.  But two things go wrong, Alex is in trouble again and Aliens pick that moment to invade the Earth.

The rest of the film is a version of ‘Transformer’s defending the Earth, except this time it is the U.S. and Japanese Navy, and Samantha and double amputee, Lieutenant Colonel Mick Canales (Gregory Gadson), attempting to stop the aliens from signaling back to their home planet with directions to Earth for the rest of the invasion team.  Why they didn’t travel together is never explained.

We get a good look at the aliens, clad in Iron Man type spacesuits, as they chase Alex’s personnel—which includes superstar Rhianna in her first film role—around their ship.  The spaceships and aliens then play a battleship game of hit and miss in quite spectacular and watery action scenes. 

Director, Peter Berg, who is better known for his acting roles in ‘Friday Night Lights’, ‘Prime Suspect’ and ‘Chicago Hope’, is clearly a big fan of the Michael Bay whirly destructive robots theme.  He has tremendous fun with these scenes and, I must say, watching a Destroyer destroyed by a big metal whirring wheel thing was quite a treat. As harsh-critic-aged-nine pointed out, the ship went down the same as the Titanic.  So, for future reference, when steering a ship avoid icebergs and metal wheels with lots of sharp gears and orange flames.

If you want a thoughtful film with wonderful acting and a plausible plot, do not target this movie. It misses practically every time the actors open their mouths.  But if you want action, aliens and fun CGI destruction sequences, with no thinking in between, then ‘Battleship’ scores a direct hit.  I rate it a D2.  'D' for dumb script but dazzling effects and 2 for the actual star rating and quantity of credible scenes.  

P.S.  The Day the Earth Stood Still

Alien invasions films would be nothing today without all the whizz bang computer stuff but no matter what they throw at the screen, it can't compare to the dread I felt in the pit of my stomach when I saw that glowing eye slot of Robot Gort.  Keep in mind, I was probably seven at the time. Just for fun, here is the trailer for 'The Day the Earth Stood Still'. 

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Marvel's The Avengers ★ ★ ★ ★★

Superheroes made to rule us 

Release Dates
Australia 25th April, 2012 UK 26th April, 2012 USA 4th May, 2012

Other Countries Release Dates

 UPDATE TO THIS REVIEW 14/5/2012

            Having just seen Marvel's The Avengers for a second time with the kids on the weekend, I am updating my rating from 4 1/2 to 5 stars. This film really hits the mark in its aim and for that it deserves a perfect score.
            When I attended the preview, despite receiving fabulous Avengers 3D glasses and a free popcorn and drink, (thankyou gorgeous Disney people), I felt it lagged in a few spots.  On second viewing though, I thought, ''What the heck was I thinking? This is the best fun you can have at the movies.'' 
             If you get a chance see it a second time, see it in 2D.  I haven't seen the 2D version but my fellow reviewers assure me it is better in 2D thanks to different editing and sharper images.
             The snarky reviewers ages eleven and nine also loved it. In fact, tough critic aged eleven said it was the best film he had ever seen. To put this in perspective he has, so far in 2012, seen thirty-two films on screen. 
             One thing for sure, when it comes to Marvel's The Avengers, once is not enough.

THE ORIGINAL REVIEW

      
             Picture our recent Easter and birthday, extended family dinners.  The conversation, instead of the usual sports scores, has altered to movie totalling.  “Have you seen ‘Captain America’?  ‘Thor’?  Can I borrow your ‘Iron Man’ DVD?    Do I need to see ‘The Hulk’?  I need to prepare.”

One unconscientious relative had not seen any of the Marvel Super-hero films.  So, over the past two weeks they greeted us with exclamations of, “We’ve seen ‘Captain America’ now.  It’s ‘Thor’ tomorrow.”  Young and old already purchased their tickets too.  They are not waiting more than a week to see this one.

Well, we’ve all waited a long four years since that torturously tempting Nick Fury cameo at the end of ‘Iron Man’.  The delicious taunts, that there may be an ‘Avengers’ film, continued a few months later in ‘The Incredible Hulk’.  By the time the ‘Captain America’ and ‘Thor’ films released we knew it for fact.  ‘The Avengers’ was coming and all sign posts pointed to something very special.

The idea for ‘The Avengers’ first surfaced during the production of ‘Iron Man’ when producer Kevin Feige had a notion that S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement Logistics Division) could be part of both ‘Iron Man’ and ‘The Incredible Hulk’.

Says Feige, “We started looking at the list of characters in the Marvel Universe that hadn’t been taken by other studios: Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America, Thor, Hawkeye and Black Widow, and I thought, isn’t that interesting; all of these characters happen to form one of the most popular comic book series—‘The Avengers’.

“When the idea of a Nick Fury cameo started coming up, we called Sam Jackson, and he thought it was a cool idea,” continues Feige.  “It was his enthusiasm about it that led us to shoot that end credit scene and what he says to Tony Stark in the scene, ‘You’re part of a bigger universe, you just don’t know it yet.’  The line was also Marvel telling that to the audience as well.”

But it all came together when Joss Whedon (Director and screenplay) was assigned the task of bringing these huge franchises together.  “Joss Whedon came in and was very interested,” recalls Kevin Feige.  “I have known Joss since 2001 and I told him that one of the most important things with ‘The Avengers’ is it needs to stand alone and you need to structure it in a way so that people can watch the film without having seen any of the other Marvel films and get the story start to finish.”

Says Whedon, “Iron Man, Hulk, Thor and Captain America don’t seem like they could co-exist and ultimately that is what intrigued me and made me go, ‘This can be done and this should be done.’  These people don’t belong together and wouldn’t get along, and as soon as that dynamic came into focus, I realized that I actually had something to say about these people.”

And say it he does in 142 minutes of action, laughs, and incredible special effects that will please the most anti-popcorn blockbuster patrons.  It is non-stop ride from an early scene at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters when Thor’s brother, Loki (Tom Hiddleston), arrives through a portal created by the mysterious Tesseract power source upon which S.H.I.E.L.D. has been experimenting.  Loki, with his serious ego problems, has decided he’s going to subjugate Earth by bringing a huge army through an enlarged portal using the Tesseract.  Apparently, humans were “made to be ruled.”

Loki sets off to orchestrate his master plan after turning Hawkeye (JEREMY RENNER) and a couple of key S.H.I.E.L.D employees into his mindless minions using his groovy, long, walking stick-like weapon.  Meanwhile, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), with the help of Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg), sets about assembling the superheroes we have come to know and love to create ‘The Avengers’.  

But Steve Rogers /Captain America (Chris Evans) is only just coming to terms with the fact he has been asleep for seventy years and isn’t keen.  Thor (Chris Hemsworth) has returned to Asgard a hero, having redeemed himself on Earth.  Dr Banner/The Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) is not excited either to return from his isolated, safer life in India.  Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) is busy working on his own green power project.  And didn’t S.H.I.E.L.D reject him from the programme anyway?  

It seems Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), the world’s greatest spy, is the only one taking all of this seriously.  She seriously wants to rescue her ally, Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) from being super-evil thanks to Loki.  His skills, as the world’s greatest archer, would sure come in handy during an invasion.

But these guys all have super-egos and in the case of Banner, super alter egos.  “We’re not a team.  We’re a time bomb,” quips Banner.  And, of course, Tony Stark freely admits that he doesn’t play well with others.  The real fun is watching these irreverent super-heroes come together.  Not only is the action intense, but the one-liners erupt from each character with such speed, you find yourself laughing and knuckle clutching almost simultaneously.

The true skill of Whedon’s script and direction is the extension of each character’s story from their own previous films without interfering with the pace.  Add to that, convincing, WOW special effects seamlessly choreographed with little navel gazing— and when there is NG, as Thor discovers, you get it slapped out of you quick smart—and you have an unrivalled theatrical blast.

Do you need to see the other films before ‘The Avengers’?  No, but I must warn you, that once you’ve enjoyed this film, you will want to see all the previous films and this one again.  So, you will be busier than a hiveful of Superheroes for the following few weeks.  Loki was right.  We film-going mortals were made to be ruled, at least temporarily, by ‘The Avengers’.

Read Fun Facts on Marvel's 'The Avengers'... Click here

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Marvel's The Avengers Fun Facts

I thought you would love some of these fun facts about The Avengers and the making of this blockbuster movie.  We're almost there.  The wait will soon be over. Enjoy

 

·     “Marvel’s The Avengers” is based on the Marvel comic created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. The first “Avengers” comic was published in September 1963 and the lineup consisted of Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Ant-Man and Wasp. Captain America joined the team in Issue #4, after being revived from being trapped in a block of ice. This film brings together Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) when they are called to duty by S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson).

·         Production on “Marvel’s The Avengers” commenced on April 25, 2011, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where the production shot onstage at Albuquerque Studios and various locations in and around the city until Thursday, July 28^th. Other filming locations included Wilmington, Ohio; Worthington, Pennsylvania; Cleveland, Ohio and New York City. The shoot lasted a total of 93 shooting days on 1^st unit and 47 shooting days on 2^nd unit.

·         The huge, impressive Helicarrier Bridge set was built on a soundstage in Albuquerque. This iconic home base for the peacekeeping organization S.H.I.E.L.D., whose director is Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), resembles an aircraft carrier, but it’s no ordinary carrier—it can actually fly. The filmmakers wanted to embrace that key element of The Avengers history and give the fans a real thrill when it takes to the air. To achieve the exterior of the Helicarrier, the filmmakers shot on a runway at the Albuquerque International Sunport. 

·         Another classic Marvel vehicle, the Quinjet, is also making an appearance in the movie. The Quinjet is essentially the jump jet that The Avengers use to go to and from the Helicarrier and to go into battles. The Quinjet design fits in with the Helicarrier—the same technology that allows the Helicarrier to work has been incorporated into the Quinjet. But at the same time the silhouette of the Quinjet, the cockpit, the engines on the back and the weaponry make it feel as though it could actually exist today.

·         In the very first issue of the comic book “The Avengers,” almost 50 years ago, it was Loki, Thor’s brother, who was causing the trouble that brought all the Avengers together for the first time to defeat him. In the making of the movie, Marvel stayed true to that setup. Loki, played by Tom Hiddleston, is a much stronger villain on Earth than he is in his own world of Asgard and wreaks havoc in “Marvel’s The Avengers.”

·         Chris Hemsworth (Thor) felt that being on location was like summer camp, where no one really knows each other but everyone hangs out together and has a great time. However, Hemsworth did know Tom Hiddleston (Loki) from “Thor” and developed a great relationship with him on that film that carried over to “Marvel’s The Avengers.”

·         To play expert archer Hawkeye, Jeremy Renner received training from Olympic archers on how to use a bow properly. He learned the basics of archery as well as the proper positions, but one of the most difficult tasks Renner had to master was the consistency he had to employ in drawing back the bow, which is difficult to do when drawing back fast.

·         Scarlett Johansson was more than happy to reprise her role as Black Widow in “Marvel’s The Avengers.” The talented actress says she is a huge fan of the character and is happy that fans liked her as Black Widow, a role she originated in “Iron Man 2.” In “Marvel’s The Avengers,” during her scenes with another highly skilled S.H.I.E.L.D. operative, Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), the audience will be let in on some of their backstory and get a glimpse of their longtime working relationship.

·         When the cast and crew of “ Marvel’s The Avengers” flew from Albuquerque to Wilmington, Ohio, they didn’t have to go far to reach their new shooting location. The production’s charter flight landed right next to the film set at Clinton County Airpark, a massive complex complete with a 9,000-foot runway and a one million square foot, state-of-the-art shipping facility that would double in the film for parts of the interior of the iconic Helicarrier.

·         The famous battle cry in the comic book, “Avengers Assemble!” is a call to arms for members of the team to fight “the foes no single superhero can withstand.” During production, Chris Evans (Captain America) borrowed the famous command to gather up his fellow cast members when he sent out text messages to them to come together for a night on the town in Albuquerque after a long, hard week of work on the production. 

·         Shooting in Central Park is never easy, but what about when you put the entire cast of the film at Bethesda Fountain on Labor Day weekend? The cast, crew and filmmakers got to find out firsthand as thousands of onlookers gathered to see something that held the attention of even the most hardened New Yorker—the entire cast of “Marvel’s The Avengers” in costume, including Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Loki (Tom Hiddleston) in their Asgardian finery. For the actors in the film it would be the first time they were all on set together in over a month and also the last time they would be shooting together. For director Joss Whedon the challenge was to keep his cast focused. “It was like a circus crossed with a class reunion,” laughs the director. “Paparazzi and fans were everywhere and the cast was so happy to see each other, talk and catch up because they enjoyed hanging out together.”

·         The film’s second unit shot a chase sequence in Worthington, Pennsylvania, at Creekside Mushroom LTD, the former home to World Famous Moonlight® brand Mushrooms. Creekside was the world’s largest mushroom-growing facility and the only underground mushroom farm in the United States. For the production, shooting at the facility meant gaining access to the 150 miles of tunnels 300 feet below the ground. Without power, prepping the tunnels for the chase sequences that involved Loki (Tom Hiddleston), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Agent Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) took months—but it all paid off with spectacular results.

·         With so many fight sequences in the film, many of the actors, including Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Scarlett Johansson and Jeremy Renner, participated in extensive fight training with the stunt team. Cast members trained with fight choreographer Jonathan Eusebio. Renaming the gym the “Stunt Dojo,” Eusebio and his team trained the cast in different fighting styles, including medieval fighting techniques, Wushu, Kung Fu and Kali. 

·         For three weeks, the production shut down East 9^th Street in Downtown Cleveland to prep and shoot one of the larger action sequences. It was the talk of the town for months and attracted thousands of curious onlookers, who watched the street transform from empty buildings to a bustling New York City street complete with subway stop and popular storefronts with facades. The production design was so convincing that rumors circulated about new stores opening on the street.

·         Another challenge for the production design team was transforming Cleveland’s historic Public Square into an exterior location that would double for Stuttgart, Germany. The production changed words on the facades of the buildings to German and added a ”biergarten” to the square. Local workers in the area loved the changes and hoped the upgrades to the square (new flowers, plants, picnic tables and lampposts) would stay in place after filming was completed.

·         Despite being a secure location that only cast and crew members could access, one fan’s persistence caught the eye of “The Avengers” cast and crew at the Airpark set in Wilmington, Ohio, when she made a big poster-board sign welcoming the cast to the city and requesting that the actors autograph a T-shirt that was in a bag. The sign was such a hit with the company that they passed it to the set. Filmmakers were able to contact the fan and she was given a tour of the set, an “Avengers” crew hat, a meet and greet with director Joss Whedon and, of course, the cast’s autographs on the T-shirt she had placed by the sign. It truly was a day to remember for one lifelong Marvel fan. 

·         Born and raised in the United Kingdom, Tom Hiddleston was not exposed to American sports, but that all changed during production as he was able to watch a Cleveland Browns preseason football game on the sidelines, attend a Cleveland Indians game, throw out the first pitch, and be courtside at the US Open to watch several matches.

·         In shooting one of the bigger action sequences in the film, director Joss Whedon enlisted the help of 25 members of the Ohio-based 391st Military Police Battalion to be part of the scene in which New York City is being attacked by unknown forces. The troops were brought in to add a layer of authenticity and give the combat scenes realism. And realism is exactly what the MPs delivered with their 50-caliber machine guns and Mark-19s. The film crew was blown away by their firepower and teamwork and Whedon was also impressed and appreciative as he posed for pictures with the Battalion after the scene was completed.

·         For special effects to pull off the destruction of a New York City street, special effects supervisor Dan Sudick involved precision pyrotechnics and well-timed car gags so that the production’s stunt people could safely maneuver through the explosions and flipping cars. To pull off the large pyrotechnic event, Sudick and his team rigged 28 explosions, which went off in a wave fashion down the street to simulate an air attack. The sequence also included setting up 14 cars down the middle of the street, which included ‘cannon cars,’ ‘flipper cars,’ ‘pyro’ cars as well as a big semi truck that exploded. Sudick and his team pulled off the impressive sequence without a hitch and even though it was shot on East 9^th Street in downtown Cleveland, it still made the cover of the New York Post with the headline: “Save us, Thor!”

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Marvel's The Avengers - Black Widow Interrogation

First film clip released from Marvel's The Avengers

 

It’s just another day at the office here…

Look what just arrived in my inbox and minutes later, here it is just for you.  My husband commented, what more could a man want as he watched this clip.  I could be offended but I have to agree.  Bring on April 25 - well actually April 19 for me with the media preview. I know, I know, I have a great job.

Marvel Studios presents “Marvel’s The Avengers”—the Super Hero team up of a lifetime, featuring iconic Marvel Super Heroes Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Widow. When an unexpected enemy emerges that threatens global safety and security, Nick Fury, Director of the international peacekeeping agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D., finds himself in need of a team to pull the world back from the brink of disaster. Spanning the globe, a daring recruitment effort begins.

Starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner and Tom Hiddleston, with Stellan Skarsgård and Samuel L. Jackson, and written and directed by Joss Whedon, “Marvel’s The Avengers” is based on the ever-popular Marvel comic book series “The Avengers,” first published in 1963 and a comics institution ever since.

Prepare yourself for an exciting event movie, packed with action and spectacular special effects, when “Marvel’s The Avengers” assemble April 25.

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