Shmee.Me

June 25, 2014June 25, 2014

Shmee Picks Dr. Strange!

It has been awhile since I have cast a movie, so I decided to help Marvel out by picking Dr. Strange. According to people in the know, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hardy, and Jared Leto are the front runners for this film, and they are good choices, but I thought I would give them some more options! Here they are in reverse order:

5: Jon Hamm

Jon Hamm is fit, and he is funny. Have him grow out his hair a little bit, and he would look the part. He has never done anything action oriented, but Dr. Strange really only needs to be able to concentrate well. I tried to make Hamm Batman at one point, but Dr. Strange is still a good role for him.

4: Aidan Gillen

Aidan Gillen makes my skin crawl, but that is because he is such a talented actor, and he brings to life the slimy Littlefinger on Game of Thrones so perfectly. As you can see above he looks great in a beard, and I think that he that he would fit in well with the rest of the Avengers.

3: Joe Manganiello

If Jon Hamm is fit, Joe Manganiello makes him look like a weakling. This guy was made to be an action hero, and he looks like Dr. Strange to boot! This is the perfect role for this guy now that True Blood is over.

2: Viggo Mortensen

Viggo was made to play strange dudes, so why not play a dude with “Strange” in the title? It is time Viggo came back to the mainstream, and there is nothing more mainstream than the Avengers. If anyone can bring magic to the Marvel Movie Universe it is Viggo Mortensen!

1: Kit Harington

I know it is another Game of Throne actor, and he is a little young, but I think he would be a perfect fit for the movie version of Dr. Strange. For one, he is young, so they could lock him in for a few quite a few movies, and he is how Zoolander says “So hot right now”! Since he is already on a fantasy show, why not have him bring fantasy to the Marvel Movie Universe?

There are my top five picks. Who would you like to see play the Master Magician?

June 23, 2014June 23, 2014

Shmee Travels To The Days Of Future Past!

So it took a month, but I was finally able to watch the movie I was most excited for this year: X-Men: Days of Future Past! It is the return of Bryan Singer as not only the writer and producer, but as the director as well, and it is official, he should be the only one allowed to make these movies. X-Men: Days of Future Past was fantastic. It fixed all the problems created by X-Men: The Last Stand, and it opened up exciting new possibilities for the future.

Due to the time travel aspect of the film, it takes place a few years after The Wolverine, and a few years after X-Men: First Class. The X-Men of the future are battling super Sentinels that can adapt to the mutants powers to kill them, so the only course of action is to have Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page) send someone’s mind in to the past to try and stop this from happening. They decide the only mutant that could survive this is Wolverine (Hugh Jackman).

The writing in the movie is great. They manage to tell a time travel story that does not confuse anyone, and while they are at it clean up all the messes that Brett Ratner caused with X-Men: The Last Stand. The character interactions are believable and gripping, and they all seem to make decisions that appear logical. They also manage to explain everything with boring everyone to death.

Most of the actors have played their parts before, so it should be no surprise that they are wonderful, especially Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. He is the heart and soul of this franchise now. I was very happy with new comer Evan Peters as Quicksilver as well. He is only in this movie for a short time, but he steals the show. I hope he turns up in the next film.

Bryan Singer directs this movie perfectly. He films the action in exciting ways that lets the mutants’ powers take center stage, meanwhile keeping it all in focus letting you take it all in. Quicksilver’s super-speed “fight” scene is particularly incredible. It was one of the most fun superhero action sequences I have seen in a long time.

I love X2, but Days of Future Past may have just become my favorite X-Men movie, and it is close to the top of my favorite superhero movies of all time. This movie proves that only Bryan Singer should be allowed to produce this franchise from now on, so I hope he is able to sort out his legal troubles because I am pumped-up for the next movie X-Men: Apocalypse!

April 14, 2014April 14, 2014

Marvel Kicks Off Summer With The Winter Soldier!

It is looking like Marvel’s bet to start summer in early spring is paying off. Captain America: The Winter Soldier is the sequel to 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger, and this movie is better in just about every possible way. Future Marvel movies will have to work very hard if they are going to be better than this film.

The story picks up sometime after the Avengers movie, and S.H.I.E.L.D is now a respected world counter terrorist agency. Its most famous member is Captain America, AKA Steve Rodgers (Chris Evans), but just as things seem to be going well for the agency, enemies from within and without will threaten its very existence.

There was a lot of talk before this movie came out that it was more of a 70’s spy movie than an action movie, and I wouldn’t go that far. Captain America 2 is still about beating up bad guys, but they definitely use the spy genre’s tropes to their benefit. Captain America 2 also takes on a much darker tone, not Dark Knight dark, but still much more serious than the other Marvel movies, and it is like a breath of fresh air.

While I love the witty banter and silly jokes in the other movies, it was nice to have one of the movies take itself seriously, and to deal with current issues. That is not to say there aren’t good one liners and a couple of laughs in this film, because there are, but this film has important things deal with: like the USA now being a surveillance state. Not to mention Marvel Film Universe changing events.

The cast continues to be wonderful: Chis Evan, Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson, and Colby Smulders (who I was underwhelmed with before) all bring this movie to life beautifully. They really know their characters well at this point, and now they can make their Marvel counterparts feel like real living people despite the fact they are larger than life superheroes. There isn’t a weak link as far as acting goes in this film.

The only problem I have with this movie is the title. You would think that with The Winter Soldier’s name being in the title, that it would be all about him, but this is a S.H.I.E.L.D movie. It really should be Captain America and The Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D (Oh yeah it has The Winter Soldier in it too!) or something. Still that is a very minor quibble, and it has nothing to do with the quality of the film. It just threw my expectations for a loop a bit.

This was a big movie for Marvel because it sets up the next group of films as we head for next big Avengers flick, and so it took on a different tone and style then before. Marvel has had amazing success with this universe of films, and if they can keep pumping out movies like this, they will continue to do so. You should see Captain America: The Winter Soldier. It is fantastic.

March 24, 2014March 24, 2014

Shmee Captures The Muppets Most Wanted!

I am a huge Muppets fan, so obviously I went to see the new film Muppets Most Wanted over the weekend, and while it was good, I couldn’t help feel a little disappointed. It had all the songs and celebrity cameos that I could want, but it seemed that it was lacking the love that Jason Segel brought to the table.

The movie starts directly after the first movie with the Muppets realizing that the cameras are still on, so that the studio must want a sequel. They then go directly in to the funniest song of the show about how they are making a sequel. It that contains the unfortunately true joke that sequels are sometimes are not as good as the first movie. For their next movie they decide that they are off on a world tour, but the world’s most dangerous frog Constantine is going to use it as a cover for his heists.

Whoever wrote this movie must have just thought that the Muppets are just about music and cameos because this movie is loaded with both, and they are both used quite well. The problem is that the pacing of this movie is off. The movie will feel like it is flying along with songs and jokes one minute, and then it comes to screeching halt the next. They just couldn’t quite make the movie engaging when they were telling the actual story.

The main human characters, Tina Fey, Ricky Gervais, and Ty Burrell, all know how to ham it up, and they were fun to watch. I was quite pleased that this movie was indeed all about the Muppets, so that it was a “Muppet” movie, and not just a movie that seemed to have some Muppets in it. I just think that they needed someone around that knew how a Muppet story should work.

This movie was fine, and it is not the worst Muppet movie that has been made. It is just a shame that they couldn’t keep the movie from dragging in places. I just have to hope that enough people will watch this movie, so that Disney will want to put the Muppets on screen again.

March 21, 2014July 7, 2015

I Cast Jem and The Holograms!

I was going to review another comic book today, but yesterday The Hollywood Reporter dropped the bomb that a Jem and The Holograms movie was being fast tracked with Jon M. Chu (G.I Joe: Retaliation) to direct. Well what could I do but to cast this movie for them, so they can get right to work! I have little cousins that need to see this work of art! This was the hardest movie I have cast due to the fact I know of almost no actors in the right age group for this, but here it goes:

Rio Pacheco:

At first I was thinking James Franco because he is up for anything, but he is a little old for this flick, so I went with family! Dave Franco. The kid can act, and much like his brother, he is in all sorts of random ~~crap~~ movies.

Aja Leith:

I had no idea on this one, and searching for “Young Talented Asian Actresses” is not something that anyone should try. Unless you like feeling like a creep and getting viruses. To each their own I suppose, so I went with the only one I could think of: Brenda Song. She has done good work on movies like The Social Network, and it would be good to get her away from Dads.

Carmen ‘Raya’ Alonso:

I was in a similar situation as with Aja, so again I went with someone I know, and why not have a Disney Channel reunion movie while we are at it. I went with superstar Selena Gomez. Boom! This movie just made a billion dollars. Seriously I am the best casting director ever!

Shana Elmsford:

This choice was surprisingly easy. I was just watching an interview about the new movie Divergent, and it was with the charming Zoë Kravitz. She can sing, and she can act! Man I am good at my fake job.

Kimber Benton:

So we need someone young and spunky that we can believe is a song writer? I am going to go with Elle Fanning. Put her in a red wig and we are good to go.

Jem – Jerrica Benton:

Well Elle kind of gave this one away, but if you are going to have sisters in the movie, and you have two talented sisters anyway, why not use them? Dakota Fanning. The Fanning sisters, and Selena Gomez?! Man. Best movie, EVER!

I am never going to cast a little girls’ movie ever again. I was way out of depth, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do. I hope you enjoyed my choices.