Avengers: Age of Ultron

My Rating: 5 Stars

1st Watch

OMG I loved this movie. I’m not a movie critic though, so I have the (seemingly) unique ability to move past the clunky and iffy scenes and still enjoy what’s in front of me.

I watched the movie in IMAX 3D, and while it was really great, I would have been just as happy if I had only stuck to normal 2D. Something that really upset me and made me feel like I had wasted my money, is the fact that if I just even slightly tilted my head, I got that 3D multicolour shimmer on the screen… Call me crazy, but I didn’t expect that from Imax 3D.

Anyway, on to the movie. I’m going to try and do this from the beginning and as much as I can remember, but honestly, there was just so much happening that I’m 100% sure I missed quite a bit.

BE WARNED — THERE ARE SPOILERS!!!

So it started out all-out action, and everyone is together again. It kind of had me feeling like I had missed out on a prologue, but I got over it quickly. I would have liked to see how it happened that they were all together again, but instead you’re just dropped slap bang in the middle of an epic battle with Hulk all hulked out and Iron Man (who blew up all his suits in IM3, but okay he’s a genius millionaire so I guess he built another one, as well as a legion of suits as a guard or something, idk) flying around being witty. That’s one (of the many) thing this movie had going for it… it was funny!

Anyway, so then we get to after the battle and we find out BW sings a lullaby (?) to Hulk and this brings back Bruce… yeah, weird. Definitely more of those “I missed the prologue” vibes, but acceptable. I mean, it’s not like it flows immediately from the previous movie I guess. Lots of time between Winter Soldier and Ultron.

Anyway, then we get to an after party and BW is flirting with Bruce. At first I thought she was just fucking with him, because I honest to God never saw that one coming, but then it turns out she really does have the hots for him. WTF? Thinking back on the first Avengers movie, yeah okay maybe, but honestly it felt kind of forced and awkward. BW is one of my fave avengers, and although I’ve read a lot of complaints from the fandom that she was made out to look like a love-sick schoolgirl, I think it’s great that she can be the bad ass that she is and still have room in her heart for love… I just wished it was with the Cap… Also Bruce helped Stark create Ultron, and he’s got the whole mad scientist vibe… which is fine I guess, but I just really don’t think he’s Nat’s type… I would have shipped her with Iron Man before considering Bruce…

Anyway, so now we have Ultron on the loose and everyone is freaking out and Stark is up for arrest, and so now Clint says he’s taking them all to a safe house and bam, we’re hit with the next WTF moment when he takes them to a farmhouse where we’re introduced to his wife and kids… WHERE THE FUCK DID THAT EVEN COME FROM?!?!?!? Right there I saw the fandom lose it’s shit, and again, it felt so utterly ooc for Hawkeye… like we know him as this bad ass agent who kicks ass and takes names, but now we’re expected to believe he’s been secretly going home to a wife and kids all the time? That just did not make sense at all, but okay, I’ll roll with it. He deserves happiness after all, so good for him… but a hint might have been nice, y’know?

All this time, Captain America is being really awesome and cool and Bucky isn’t even mentioned. Like not once do we even get a hint of continuity from Winter Soldier. I mean I walked away from Winter Soldier with the feeling that Bucky was Cap’s priority no.1, but here we have him casually cutting wood with Stark (delighting the Stony shippers, I’m sure (now that I think back on it… there were a lot of Stony moments…)). Oh, and Tony admits that Cap’s in charge… queue “I missed the prologue” feeling. Anyway, over that too. The story line was compelling enough to keep me rolling past these issues.

Okay, so that’s pretty much it for the irritating little niggles I felt during the movie. After that it’s just all kinds of awesome and I was literally bouncing on my seat (sorry to the people behind me) and squealing very unladylikely… Vision, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch and Ultron were fucking awesome characters and I loved what James Spader did with Ultron!

I liked the ending, where we get the groundwork for the next movies laid out, and we get a glimpse of the new Avengers team (lead by romanogers). Then I almost pissed myself with excitement when Cap started saying the thing… and then I felt really played and betrayed when it cut off before he could finish!!! I just want him to say it… is that too much to ask? Just once!!! (And again no mention of Bucky, but nevermind, we’re over that…)

Conclusion?

I laughed, I squealed, I was shocked, I cried, I was thoroughly and completely entertained, and I’m planning on going back… as soon as possible!

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

My Rating: 5 Stars

I have a lot of feeling about this book, and it’s difficult for me to look at it without getting a heavy feeling in my chest… but here goes…

I don’t feel like I can really review this book without giving any spoilers away, because it’s difficult to explain why I feel so strongly about the book without telling you what happened to make me feel that way.

Basically it’s about two women who are years apart and end up married to the same man. It’s about the hardships these women have to endure not only under the rule of whichever government or group currently has control of their city, but also under their husband, who is a huge dick. It’s about survival and friendship and hope.

This book did me the honor of showing me a country that I’ve never been to. It painted a picture of a world and a place that I can see clearly in my head and I think Khaled Hosseini is a master for being able to do that. I learned a lot about the history and the culture of this place that I can walk away from this experience with knowledge that I didn’t have before. It shows you another side of the story that you hear in the media, and I love that.

I’m going to leave it at that, because I really am struggling to put the words together to review this book, but I’ve waited almost a month to put a review on my blog and I’m no better off than I was when I first finished it, so I’ll sign off with my original review on Goodreads:

16 April 2015 – “I can’t talk about this book right now… I feel like a rug has been ripped out from under my feet and I’m lying on my back staring up at a blank ceiling pondering my insignificance in life. This is one of those books that completely changes your outlook on something, and I’m kind of wishing that I had stayed in my little bubble of ignorance, because I don’t know what to do with my feelings and knowledge about Afghanistan and what’s going on there…”

P.S. I despise all kinds of conflict. When anyone around me is upset or fighting I have anxiety attacks. I don’t deal well when it comes to conflict. I’m not making excuses, but that’s basically why I knew absolutely nothing about what’s happening in the middle-east. I didn’t even know where the fucking middle-east was until I googled it after reading this book. I knew there was a war somewhere, but I had no idea what it was about or where exactly it was or anything else. I had a vague notion that America was having a war with Iraq because they wanted the country’s oil, but I’m not so sure if that’s even half true… besides the point though.