In My Mailbox (129)

I received six cards and one private swap this week. First I got this mailbox from Sevastopol, Ukraine.

Sent: december 18th 2013
Received: january 1st 2014
Distance: 2,170 km (1,348 miles)
Travel Time: 14 days

I think this postcard is my favorite of all time! I love this card from Berlin, Germany!

Sent: december 21st 2013
Received: january 2nd 2014
Distance: 529 km (329 miles)
Travel Time: 12 days

But this is also a favorite, the running little elephant. Adorable! It came from Ochsenfurt, Germany.

Sent: december 1st 2013
Received: january 2nd 2014
Distance: 335 km (208 miles)
Travel Time: 32 days

An adorable puppy is always a hit with me. It's from Prague, Czech Republic.

Sent: december 29th 2013
Received: january 2nd 2014
Distance: 642 km (399 miles)
Travel Time: 4 days

Another favorite of mine came from London, Great Brittain. I adore this fox postcard!

Sent: december 30th 2013
Received: january 3rd 2014
Distance: 425 km (264 miles)
Travel Time: 4 days

This card came from Pinerolo, Italy.

Sent: december 17th 2013
Received: january 3rd 2014
Distance: 707 km (439 miles)
Travel Time: 17 days

And a private swap from my friend in Gdansk, Poland. It's from their local zoo.

Thanks Sveta, Malis, Bine, Jane, Jay, Anna and Patricia for your amazing and wonderful cards this week!

100 Movie Challenge 2014 - # 4: To Rome with Love

Director: Woody Allen
Genre: Comedy/ Romance
Runtime: 89 minutes
Year: 2012
Starring: Woody Allen, Jesse Eisenberg, Ellen Page, Alec Baldwin, Penélope Cruz, Roberto Benigni, Greta Gerwich, Alison Pil, Judy Davis, Alessandro Tiberi, Alessandra Mastronardi, Flavio Parenti

Description: The intertwining stories of a worker who wakes up to find himself a celebrity (Roberto Benigni), an architect (Alec Baldwin) who takes a trip back to the street he lived on as a student, a young couple (Alessandro Tiberi, Alessandra Mastronardi ) on their honeymoon, and a frustrated opera director (Woody Allen) who has a talent for discovering talented singers.

Review: For director Woody Allen it has become the recipe: pick a famous city, choose a couple of interesting characters, add some storylines to it and finish it off with some witty comedy. Where he’s taken on Barcelona (“Vicky Cristina Barcelon”), London (“You Will Mee a Tall Dark Stranger”) and Paris (“Midnight in Paris”), he chose Rome for his décor this time.
I always like movies with multiple storylines, but it’s a bit too much here, even for Woody Allen. It’s very hard to make four completely different stories, which absolutely no relation, interesting. Which make some of the storylines feel a bit incomplete. For instance the story op Leopoldo, an average citizen who becomes a celebrity all of a sudden. It’s a good concept but doesn’t have the humor it should have. None of these stories are above average and the characters are all superficial and easily replaceable.
“To Rome with Love” does have some interesting moments, like the story of Jerry who discover that Giancarlo is a fantastic opera singer. But it also appears that he can only sing this well in the shower. This storyline is funny at times. The music that was used for the film is very characteristic and makes you think you’re in Rome. But the city of Rome isn’t used the way Allen did with Paris in one of my favorites “Midnight in Paris”, which was a hit. Is “To Rome with Love” a miss? Not completely, but it’s definitely not one of his best movies.

Rating: 2,5/ 5

Movie Moments: "Beauty & the Beast"

As a kid, I was obsessed with this movie. I was never a girlie girl, but this movie made me want to be Belle. That was just a phase, but I still love this movie. It’s my favorite Disney animated feature. Here are the best moments.

Moment # 1: Bonjour
We meet Belle and het boring town. She’s walking to the library and all the villagers start singing “Bonjour”.

Moment # 2: Maurice enters the castle
Maurice is off to the inventors convention and decides to take a shortcut. He and horse Phillipe get lost and the horse gets scared and runs off. Because Maurice is hunted by wolves now, he flees to a castle and enters it. He meets Lumiére and Cogsworth, a talking candlestick and clock, who are really nice to him. So are the other servants, but then the master of the house enters: Beast. He isn’t so charmed about him visiting and throws him in the tower as his prisoner.

Moment # 3: Belle frees her dad
Phillipe shows Belle where her dad went and she also finds the castle. When she finds Maurice, she also meets the Beast. They make an agreement: Maurice goes free, but Belle has to stay forever. Belle accepts.

Moment # 4: Gaston
If he wasn’s arrogant enough, everyone I the bar starts singing how great Gaston is.

Moment # 5: Be our guest
Belle didn’t want to have dinner with Beast, but she is hungry. She sneaks out of her room. The servants make her feel right at home and give her a wonderful dinner.

Moment # 6: Beast saves Belle
After Beast catches Belle in the westwing, she runs away. Wolves are trying to attack her, but Beast saves her. Because one of the wolves bit Beast, Belle has to take him back to the castle where she patches him up.

Moment # 7: The library
Beast wants to do something for Belle. He shows her his library and gives it to her.

Moment # 8: The dance
Beast and Belle have dinner and dance, while Mrs. Potts sings.

Moment # 9: The fight
When Gaston finds out the Beast is real, he and all the villagers attack the castle. But the servants are not going to let that happen.

Moment # 10: The spell is lifted
Beast is injured and the rose has almost lost all its petals. When Belle tells Beast she loves him, the spell is lifted and everyone is human again. Belle and Beast live happily ever after.

Favorite Moment: Moment # 1: Bonjour

100 Movie Challenge 2014 - # 3: Star Trek Into Darkness

Director: J.J. Abrams
Genre: Actie/ Science Fiction/ Avontuur
Runtime: 132 minutes
Year: 2013
Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, Karl Urban, Bendict Cumberbatch, Alice Eve, Anton Yelchin, John Cho, Bruce Greenwood, Peter Weller

Description: When the crew of the Enterprise is called back home, they find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization has detonated the fleet and everything it stands for, leaving our world in a state of crisis. With a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one-man weapon of mass destruction. As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew.

Review: You can easily trust J.J. Abrams with a good action movie, because he did a great job on the reboot of “Star Trek”. Now, four years later, you wouldn’t expect it to reach that same level of surprise. Well, think again!
“Star Trek Into Darkness” contains some of the same ingredients we saw in the first, some action sequences are very similar. But with the humor, action and excitement it keeps your attention at all times.
Most humor comes from the interaction between Kirk and Spock. This is a strong and solid base for this franchise. Especially Zachary Quinto’s timing and dry humor is fabulous, he’s a great Spock. But the movie shouldn’t be called “Star Trek Into Darkness” if there wasn’t a dark side to this film. That comes from the character John Harrison, who is out for revenge. My problem with the first film was the villain, but that’s exactly the strongest point of the second installment. And we have Benedict Cumberbatch to thank. He is a fantastic actor and is probably one of the most convincing villains of 2013. His voice alone makes you shiver, Cumberbatch can make anything sound sinister. He gives his character extra depth, which makes him unpredictable. I’m also glad to see Simon Pegg in a bigger role, but the two female characters played by Alice Eve and Zoe Saldana are underused.
“Star Trek Into Darkness” is a true action fest, even if you’re not a Trekkie.

Rating: 4/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2014 - # 2: The Master

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 137 minutes
Year: 2012
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymout Hoffman, Amy Adams, Laura Dern

Description: Returning from Navy service in World War II, Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix) drifts through a series of breakdowns. Finally he stumbles upon a cult which engages in exercises to clear emotions and he becomes deeply involved with them.

Review: Freddie Quell is a former marine who has to return to society. He’s an alcoholic, has a temper and is sexually frustrated. He can’t keep a job and it’s all going downhill for him. Then he meets the leader of ‘The Cause’, Lancaster Dodd, who they call ‘The Master’. Dodd takes Freddie under his wing and tries to get him on the right path again.
It’s a very heavy theme, but director Paul Thomas Anderson knows his way around such themes. “The Master” is mostly about the bond between Freddie and Dodd, which give us a lot of confronting conversations between them. That’s the goal of ‘The Cause’, a psychological movement that uses unconventional methods to make people give traumatic experiences a place.
This movie is pretty intense, mostly because of the performances of Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix. Both take each other to another level of acting, each with his own style. The Academy Award nomination for both actors is fully deserved. With that I think that the actors were better than the movie itself. We don’t get to know ‘The Cause’ enough to understand them completely and towards the end of the film it’s very repetitive. And because of the slow pace this isn’t a movie for just anyone. But the camerawork and the supporting music is beautiful.
“The Master” has, besides the two phenomenal performances, enough to offer.

Rating: 3,5/ 5

Top 5 Thursday: Movies from 2000

Another year of movies, this time 2000. Here are the best movies from that year in my opinion.

5. Return to Me
Maybe just a guilty pleasure, but I always liked this romantic comedy. I think especially Minnie Driver’s character warms your heart.

4. Cast Away
Tom Hanks’ performance is phenomenal, as always… When you just read the synopsis you think how can a man who’s been stranded on a deserted island with a volleyball called Wilson be interesting. Well, Mr. Hanks does it!

3. Memento
The way the story is told is so original. At first you don’t know what the hell is going on, but eventually all the pieces of the puzzle fall into place.

2. American Psycho
A total mindfuck in the end. Did he actually kill all those people? Patrick Bateman is so self-obsessed, that I actually have to dislike him. But he is so cynical, that he’s one of the best created movie characters.

1. High Fidelity
This is actually in my top five of all-time favorites. John Cusack is one of my weaknesses whom I think is underappreciated. My brother doesn’t get his appeal like I do, but I just love this guy. Especially in “High Fidelity”, where he makes lists of everything, just like moi!

They Almost Made the Top 5: Shanghai Noon, X-Men, Billy Elliot, Snatch, Chocolat, O Brother, Where Art Thou and Memento

100 Movie Challenge 2014 - # 1: Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters

Director: Tommy Wirkola
Genre: Action/ Fantasy/ Adventure/ Horror
Runtime: 88 minutes
Year: 2013
Starring: Jeremy Renner, Gemma Arterton, Famke Janssen, Peter Stormare, Pihla Viitala, Thomas Mann

Description: Hansel and Gretel are left alone in the woods by their father and captured by a dark witch in a candy house. However they kill the witch and escape from the spot. Years later, the orphans (Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton) have become famous witch hunters. When eleven children go missing in a small village, the Mayor summons Hansel and Gretel to rescue them, and they save the red haired Mina (Pihla Viitala) from the local sheriff (Peter Stormare) that wants to burn her accusing Mina of witchcraft. Soon they discover that the Blood Moon will approach in three days and the powerful dark witch Muriel (Famke Janssen) is the responsible for the abduction of children. She intends to use the children together with a secret ingredient in a Sabbath to make the coven of witches protected against the fire.

Review: Who doesn’t know the classic tale of Hansel and Gretel, where two kids wander of in the woods and find a house of candy? It’s actually one of my favorite fairytales and I always like fairytale retellings. Director Tommy Wirkola decided to tell this old story with a twist.
The story starts out the way we know it, but the kids Hansel and Gretel grow up to be heroes, witch hunters. And they’re pretty good at it.
Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton are believable as a brother and sister and have the “it’s us against the world” mentality. When I looked at the style of the film, the clothing, it made me think of the movie “Van Helsing” (2004): leather and steampunk like weapons. A lot of humor is used to give the characters some dimension, but besides Hansel and Gretel they are all pretty one dimensional. The visuals are pretty good and it’s a perfect popcorn movie. Was it a good movie? Well, no, but it was highly entertaining.

Rating: 3/ 5