Dear All Canadians !?

The Conservative government is seeking legislation that would allow the state to take funds from personal and individual bank accounts without permission in times of "financial crisis." Where would this money go? It would be turned into capital and likely used to bailout businesses. This is a fundamental attack on civil and economic liberty. Please sign the petition to oppose this bill. This has nothing to do with liberal vs. conservative. This is about freedom.

idolaqq

Film Review: Iron Man 3

Being a huge fan of Stan Lee, Marvel, and anything related to superheros I was so excited to see this film. And, I would say that it more or less lived up to my expectations.



I liked that the story focused more on Tony Stark than it did on the Iron Man. This may have disappointed a lot of the action fans, but I think it added more substance to the character. It was really nice to see Stark deal with real problems like being in love with someone else, having anxiety issues, and accept his humanity.



The villain in this plot was also a fascinating character, and [SPOILER ALERT] I was so glad to see that the bad guy was not some middle eastern radical islamist like we always hear about. The truth is that there are a lot of villains who hide behind the image of another winner. The story kind of reminded me of Big Brother from 1984, or even Pius Thicknesse from the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book. [END SPOILER ALERT]



Robert Downey Jr.'s performance was phenomenal, and I think it actually made the audience believe that the role of Tony Stark was meant for him. I also enjoyed Gwyneth's portrayal of Pepper but, to be honest, compared to Downey, she can easily be shadowed and overlooked.



Like I said, there is not as much action in this film as there was in the prequels but it did the Marvel legacy justice. It was a movie with a real story instead of a series of explosions and gunshots.



Some of the things I didn't like was the cheap dialogue/humor. I get that the movie should match the character, but they tried too hard to make it funny when it could have happened on its own and looked effortless. The prequel films, for instance, were not meant to be funny but still were. Here, the humor just felt forced.



All in all, an excellent film.

Film Review: The Great Gatsby

It was over-the-top, the music did not match the time (at all), and it deviated from the initial story, but it wasn't bad for a 2013 film about Fitzgerald's Jazz Age. Actually, it was precisely what I expected it to be.

There is no better Gatsby than Robert Redford, but DiCaprio did a job worthy of a silver medal. Mulligan was a convincing Daisy but the audience hardly got a taste of her talent because most of her big scenes were drowned out by her male counterparts. I would normally be upset, but this is exactly what Fitzgerald was going for so I'll refrain from criticizing that. Mulligan's Daisy had much less of the allure and dazzle than Fitzgerald's Daisy, who is probably impossible to bring into reality by anyone except perhaps Marilyn Monroe. To me she would be the perfect Daisy to Redford's Gatsby.

Maguire was... I'm not sure what to make of his Carraway. On one hand, it was a different interpretation of what I expected in the novel and it worked, but on the other hand, he did little to separate his persona from the Peter Parker days. I pictured Carraway to be a less flashy, shy, but also intelligent and Maguire certainly did that, but at the same time, the wisdom Carraway held in the books was absent in these films. Is it because the films were emphasizing the visuals too much to understand the substance of the story? I'm not sure. I will say that I'm not disappointed.

In addition, Jason Clarke, though playing a small role as Wilson, did a fantastic job at portraying Wilson's grief.

The film was very visual, and I'm glad that the director took a that angle with telling the story because, first, it was reflective of the time period in which the film was made, and second, it gave Fitzgerald a little more credit because someone is making a big deal about his story. As I mentioned before, I think that some of the intrinsic value of the book was lost with the film... The main symbols were kept, the biggest of them are the green light and the eyes of TJ Eckleburg.

The film is certainly worth a watch, and you might enjoy it, but I Fitzgerald would be disappointed to see his work in this state.

Nazzy

Film Review: After Earth

The reviews for this film were awful. Most critics thought After Earth was a waste of time and energy. I understand why they didn't like it, but to be honest, I did not think it was that bad.

Yes, there were two characters in the story, very little action than what the trailer suggested, and a cop-out storyline of us careless humans destroying the planet (an idea that has been done to death, I know.)

That being said, I sort of liked the film because the two characters are worth knowing; it wasn't so bad trying to understand the relationship between parent and child in stressing times.
Also, the film did not need that much action, I was content with knowing more about this planet that my species destroyed and what was going to happen next. And as for the cop-out storyline, I have no legitimate defence except that all ideas have been done before to some extent.

It is obvious that Will Smith used this film as a sales pitch for showing off his son's talent. With any other character, this would have been a problem, but I think this role was absolutely perfect for Jaden. It hits home; the kid is not talented enough to do his job but he does it anyway, he is often compared to his famous father, and feels less significant in his presence. He questions his own accomplishments especially so because of his parentage. The role hits home and Jaden wrapped it up quite well.

I would say that it's definitely not worth spending money on in theaters, but if it's on Netflix and you're sick of binging on TV shows, give this film a try. If anything, you can laugh at how bad you think it is.