Reese and Kesha’s Movie Linkup

Vinyl hijackers called the Popcorn Snobs catching up on their theme, ‘The Taking of April A-Z,’ as they run this blog for the next 15 (or so) days.

Happy Humpday everyone, it’s Reese and Kesha! We’re here together to show some linky love for a few blog posts from our crew that need support in the form of comments and/or sharing on social media. If you do one good deed today, we ask that it be sharing any or all of these posts with someone who you think might be interested in reading them.

Kesha’s view from the director’s chair of Kenneth Branagh who helmed Thor, for Letter K.

Brandon’s Letter I blog post about Inheriting Digital Movie Collections.

Kesha’s Letter H bit on surviving horror movies.

Let's Link it up!

Kesha’s Wishes You Knew about ‘Thor’ Director Kenneth Branagh’s Killer Scenery

Vinyl hijackers called the Popcorn Snobs are playing catch-up on their theme, ‘The Taking of April A-Z,’ as they run this blog for the next 16 (or so) days.

Hi everyone, it’s Kesha and I’m returning today to share what happens when you put yourself in the director’s chair of Kenneth Branagh. You first find out that you don’t have to be a comic book fan or even a superhero movie lover to appreciate how badass Asgard -- the home of the the Nordic Gods in his fantasy adventure flick Thor -- looks on screen. It is futuristic but also has a classic vibe to it, as if it’s been there for many, many years.

You also learn that this modern-meets-classical style look is what Branagh intended early on while he was pitching Marvel executives to get the job on this film; an opportunity for which he used photos of work by architects Frank Lloyd Wright and Santiago Calatrava, as visual references.

You begin to see how Asgard was influenced by a combination of ancient civilizations, geometric shapes and modern architecture, as is the Bifrost bridge. Scandinavian wall art and the Beijing Olympic Stadium were among the sources that Kenneth Branagh pulled inspiration from to design this fantasy world.

You also understand why the visual effects team worked on Thor for 15 months to create Asgardian buildings, dynamic camera angles and related parts of the film’s establishing shots, which were 3D matte paintings. 

Did YOU know Kenneth Branagh was the main reason that many of the actors who star in Thor, including Natalie Portman and Idris Elba, chose to be involved with this film?

Reese Hits the Jackpot with ‘James Bond’ and ‘Jurassic Park’

Vinyl hijackers known as the Popcorn Snobs are running this blog for the next 17 (or so) days with ‘The Taking of April A-Z’ as their theme.

Hello, it’s Reese again and I’m convinced that the world is obsessed with secret service agents and dinosaurs. It’s the only logical thing that explains how James Bond, a series of British spy films, can have something in common with Jurassic Park, a Sci-Fi adventure franchise. You take your significant other to see the former and bring the kids to the latter, so there’s no mingling of these two audiences.

James Bond and Jurassic Park are separate in every way…..except for the fact that they are among the highest grossing films in the world.

Having 25 titles currently under its belt, the James Bond series is also said to be the longest running film franchise in history. Yet, Jurassic Park’s record-breaking release in 1993 helped it become the highest grossing film of all time -- until Titanic (1997) surpassed it in revenue, years later. Then, there’s the matter of Skyfall (2012) becoming the first James Bond flick to earn $1 billion at the box office. The feat makes Skyfall the highest grossing title in this franchise while Jurassic World currently sits pretty as the second top earner among all four films in the Jurassic Park series.

Now I understand the correlation between the two franchises: They hit the Jackpot.

I still think the fat wallets these two films took in are all the more telling of the world’s obsession with dinosaurs and secret service agents!

How many James Bond flicks have YOU watched?

Also, be sure to read yesterday’s post where Brandon offers some insight on whether loved ones can inherit your digital movie collection!