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?

Zoe’s Gangster Movie Trivia: The Godfather Trilogy

Several vinyl hijackers known as the Popcorn Snobs are running this blog for the next 20 days with ‘The Taking of April A-Z’ as their theme. *For those who have yet to watch The Godfather films but plan to do so, please bear in mind that today’s post may contain spoilers*

Ladies and gentleman, It’s Zoe…your social cinema ally and the time has come to highlight some of America’s most iconic gangster movies! If you’ve visited before, then you probably know Nicole is a member of The Large Association of Movie Blogs (The Lamb).

This month, the LAMB community will be discussing The Godfather film series, which was crowned their “Movie of the Month: Franchise Special” for April 2016. Championed by Nick Rehak of French Toast Sunday, The Godfather, The Godfather Part II and The Godfather Part III beat out 10 other franchises including The Dark Knight trilogy, Star Trek: (The Original Series), the Toy Story trilogy, Harry Potter and the Bourne series.

While reports of screen legend Marlon Brando stuffing his cheeks with cotton when he auditioned for the role of Don Corleone -- to give him the “face of a bulldog: mean looking, but warm underneath” – are likely familiar to true film fanatics, I’d like to share some movie trivia I bet you didn’t know about The Godfather trilogy.

• Actor Alex Rocco, who plays casino mobster Moe Greene in The Godfather, is noted saying that if you look closely, you can see his right eye twitch a little before he is shot.* Rocco was nervous while filming that scene, as special effects crew rigged his glasses with two tubes hidden in the frames and taped them to his body under the table. One tube had fake blood while the other contained a BB pellet connected to an air pump. The BB was fired away from the eye, using compressed air, shattering his glasses from the inside and causing the fake blood to flow. 

The British Film Institute published rare production photos from The Godfather Trilogy, including this one where crew members film a street assassination stunt, with actor John Cazale as Fredo Corleone.

• In 1975, The Godfather: Part II became the first sequel ever in the history of film to win an Oscar for Best Picture. It remained the only sequel to ever do so until The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King won an Oscar for Best Picture in 2004. 

• The scene in The Godfather: Part III where Calo, one of Michaels bodyguards, kills Don Lucchesi was originally filmed to show Calo snapping Lucchesi’s neck. Director Francis Ford Coppola wanted the murder to be bloodier, so he changed it to the shocking and violent death scene that exists in the film now – Calo stabbing Lucchesi in the neck with his own glasses. The gory nature of this movie prompted the MPAA to give The Godfather: Part III an NC-17 rating, so Coppola ended up re-editing this scene to give the film a better chance at scoring an R-rating for its theatrical release.

There you have it! Three bits of trivia from The Godfather trilogy. Make sure to check out the next blog post where Kesha teaches you how to survive a horror movie.

Which film in The Godfather trilogy do YOU like best?

*Further reading: The Annotated Godfather: The Complete Screenplay by Jenny M. Jones 

Will You Vote for the BOURNE Movies?

Every month, the Large Association of Movie Blogs (LAMBS) -- of which I am a member -- release a poll to determine which film we will collectively watch, review and discuss during the following month. We're doing a "Franchise Special" in April and I've placed the Bourne series of action thrillers in the running to be considered for Movie of the Month. 

Vote BOURNE for April 's Movie of the Month!This franchise includes The Bourne Identity (2002), The Bourne Supremacy (2004), The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) -- all starring Matt Damon as black ops assassin Jason Bourne, and The Bourne Legacy (2012) with Jeremy Renner as agent Aaron Cross alongside Edward Norton as colonel Eric Bryer. 

There is some fierce competition among the 11 film franchises being championed for April but if the series of films that brought Jason Bourne into our lives has taught us anything, it's that one person can encounter very difficult missions and still manage to succeed – even when up against an army of many. If you're reading this, YOU are the one who can help me make sure that movie fans honor the Bourne films in all their glory.  

An episode of the LAMBcast – a movie podcast on iTunes, hosted by Jay at Life vs. Film, will also be dedicated to the winning movie franchise. So right now I'm asking for you to VOTE for the Bourne series over at The Lamb website (Go Here for our April Movie of the Month Poll).  

Can I count on YOUR vote for the April Movie of the Month poll? 

What are YOUR thoughts on the movie trailer for the 5^th Bourne installment, hitting theaters this summer?