A Superhero the Size of An Insect

As I'm sure you've heard, le 12th movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe premiered this weekend. Yes, that would be...

Let's just say, Ant-Man is an extremely amusing ride, and most definitely not your usual superhero movie.  And, for the most part, its completely un-self-righteous style works well... I mean, the critics are practically drooling over the movie for it's inventiveness and ability to sell a guy who shrinks down to the size of an ant.  However, it didn't make me want to go back for more.  Let's break down the reasons for why I didn't come away from Ant-Man gushing about how awesome it was (and gushing is the norm for me when it comes to Marvel movies, in case you didn't know.)

Minor, vague spoiler-y stuff ahead, just to give you a heads up. Nothing movie-ruining, I promise. ;)

Con 1: Lack of conflict/suspense. When I put up that spoiler-warning, I was wondering why I felt like I didn't need it.  Well, here's the thing -- Ant-Man has no really significant drama that compels the viewer.  There're no times when you're truly wondering, "What's going to happen?" (Except once, when something really crazy bad happens to Scott). But mostly, Scott Lang (aka Ant-Man) saves the day by saving his reputation as a father and successfully infiltrating Pym Technologies and then defeating Darren Cross (aka Yellow Jacket), with a lot of laughter along the way. This all makes for a lot of fun, but is truly not memorable. Whether this is a problem or not may just be dictated personal preference -- but I, for one, prefer movies that inspire me and leave me awestruck. Empty entertainment doesn't suit me very well.

Con 2: In the words of Steve Rogers...

Besides [most likely] being the heaviest and hardest cuss-laden of all the MCU movies, the language featured only serves, many times, as a device for humor -- and, in the process, cheapens those laughs. See, not only was it hardly necessary to throw in those s or d words, but they drug our characters down to such low levels of respect for themselves and others that I almost felt bad rooting for them. That's the thing: curses are cheap, inexcusable alternatives to actual, intellectual thought. Call me what you like. but that's the truth and I stand by it.

Con 3: Paul Rudd. I feel absolutely terrible saying this. I promise it's nothing personal, Paul, I promise. It's gotta be said though: Basically, I don't think our Ant-Man has a confident enough personality to frontline his own movie. He felt, to me, a bit underwhelming. So often he played like a secondary character to Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, or even Michael Pena's characters, and this left me unconvinced Paul was the right guy for the job as a superhero. The "star power" that we've all seen in Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson... even the newest member of our MCU cast, Tom Holland shows it in his dubsmash videos -- well, I just didn't see that star-power in Scott Lang, and the movie suffered for it.

WELL. Now that I've so cruelly picked apart this little movie, allow me to show you the positives of it; the aspects of it which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Pro 1: The shrink-y grow-y fight sequences. Just uber cool, and nothing like anything we've ever seen before. Plus, all the hilarity that goes with. Dog-sized ants are super scary, as is train-sized Thomas the Tank Engine. Also... *coughcoughcough*you who have seen the movie know that particular scene I'm talking about with that particular awesome avenging person*coughcough*

Pro 2: The soundtrack. It's just a blast, particularly the "Ant-Man" theme...

LOVING the theme from Ant-Man by @CBeckOfficial. Just the right mix of fun and cool. Cannot wait to hear the rest. https://t.co/fWN3qXP45w

— Beth P. (@AnElvenPrincess) July 13, 2015

If you look at the one retweet... Yes, that would be the writer of Ant-Man's soundtrack who retweeted me. I thought that was a little bit awesome... :D

Pro 3: The ants. Who would've thought that ants could be a highlight of a movie??? Not me. But they were. The different kinds were so cool to see, using all their special abilities to help Ant-Man. Also, rest in peace, Antony. We loved you. Next time I find a winged carpenter ant I will name him after you. *sniff.*

Bonus Pro: SpiderMan reference. "We've got ones that jump, we've got ones that swing, we've got ones that climb up walls..." If that ain't SpiderMan, I don't know what is. #yesssss

WATCH OUT FOR BIG IMPORTANT SPOILERS BELOW ABOUT END CREDIT SCENES.

I chose the poster above for a very good reason, and you who have seen the movie and stayed for that post-credits scene understand why.

OH but first, EVANGELINE LILLY IS GOING TO BE THE WASP I CANNOT EVEN. I am so excited for that. Next cosplay maybe...??? Hehehehe.

And now... THE SCENEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. I have watched and rewatched it a bajillion times now and I'm still reeling... BUCKY IS HERE THEY FOUND HIM THEY FOUND DEAR BUCKY AND HIS ARM IS STUCK IN SOME WEIRD MACHINE AND HE LOOKS SO HELPLESS AND DESPONDENT JUST LIKE BEFORE HE WAS BRAINWASHED IN WINTER SOLDIER AND DOES HE MOUTH HELP OR IS IT JUST MY IMAGINATION AND STEVE AND FALCON ARE THERE AND THE SUPERHERO REGISTRATION ACT MUST HAVE BEEN PUT INTO EFFECT A WEEK AGO BECAUSE "ACCORDS" OR WHATEVER AND SAM KNOWS A GUY BUT HOW ON EARTH COULD ANT-MAN HELP ANYTHING AND AND AND I JUST NEED TO GIVE BUCKY A HUG BECAUSE LOOK AT HIM THE POOR DEAR AND HE'S BAAAACCCCKKKKK WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

Needless to say, it will take me all 10 months until Civil War to get over this.

Avengers: Age of Ultron + A Call for Cosplayers!

ATTENTION: Important announcement for all my cosplaying followers!!!

I'm going to put together a blog post that will feature Avengers: Age of Ultron cosplays MADE/WORN BY YOU!

Send submissions to adventuresofanelvenprincess@gmail.com , including one picture of you/your group's cosplays, just to keep things simple (if you want to make a collage, that's totally cool!). Include whatever names you want to credit for le cosplayers and picture. If you want, and I totally encourage this, add a little paragraph with information on the costumes and experience! :)

Make sure you email your submission by Thursday, May 28th, as they will be posted midnight on Friday, May 29th.

I look forward to seeing and sharing your costumes!!! :)

Now, back to your regular programming. ;)

Today, it is time for my very last post concerning Age of Ultron. Basically, I had two last pictures I just had to share with you guys, and I figured I could share some of my fangirl-y thoughts on the movie to go with. ;D Oh, and also, this will be a no spoiler post, so if you haven't seen the movie yet, feel free to proceed. ;)

EXCITE

But before the photoshoot and the movie, I had to get ready... and I filmed the whole thing, sped it up and condensed it into 2.5 minutes, and now present to you a little behind-the-scenes look at what happened before I stepped in front of the camera. ;D

As for the movie experience, we went to the very first showing available at our favorite semi-local cinema: Thursday, April 30th, at 7:00pm in 2D, in case you wondered. ;) The whole theater was packed out, as you would expect, and it was such a great crowd. Everyone laughed so hard at the funny parts, there was definitely some audible sniffling at "THAT ONE PART," and almost everyone stayed for the mid-credits scene (literally only a family with kids left), and there were still quiet a few people who stayed with us for the non-existent post credits scene (hey, we had to make sure Joss Whedon wasn't lying! ;D)

And the movie... oh gosh I don't even know where to begin. The three new characters, Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff, Quicksilver/Pietro Maximoff, and the Vision were all amazing, and I loved each one so much. There were so many absolutely hilarious lines and quips and antics, which were just perfect.

Okay basically Avengers: Age of Ultron (besides some choice language) is really, really awesome and I love it and it so totally lived up to the hype and it better make a ton of money or I will be upset because it deserves at least 1.5 billion. ^_^

Oh! And one final picture: us three with the paid cosplayers at the theater. That Iron Man was totally legit, and the guy dressed as Winter Soldier Captain America and I totally got a pic together (tho I'm not sure where that disappeared to.. :P). ;D

Okay okay, now, what did you guys think of the movie???????

Cinderella Premiere (Dress-up Included!)

Soooooo last Saturday, a few friends and sisters and I went to see Disney's new live action remake of Cinderella.

And we dressed up.

And it was awesome.

(both the movie and dressing up. :D)

The idea to dress up for seeing le movie was first conceived when Amber (in the gorgeous pink dress) found said dress at one of our local thrift stores... and I immediately jumped on the bandwagon (because you KNOW I'd never say no to costumes). It was the perfect occasion, I realized, to wear the gorgeous green gown which I had thrifted a year ago and never had an opportunity to wear. Cinderella premiere = perfect opportunity. :D

I promise I'm not immature okay maybe a little; I just have a huge thing for dressing up and movies and so cosplay works pretty well for me. ;D

It was so great - Amber in pink, me in green... we made the perfect evil stepsisters: Anastasia and Drizella, respectively. xD

So, my younger sister and her friend also decided they wanted to get in on the dress-up action, and, with the addition of my older sister and Emily (who both refused to dress up, because they're just not cool enough, apparently ;D), we had a perfect little group to go see Cinderella!!!

Yes, I am well aware that we didn't go on the ACTUAL premiere night -- schedules, schedules, schedules! But dressing up Saturday night was still plenty fun, and all the stares and compliments and waves from little girls were well worth it. ;) Plus, the movie!!! Can I just say... such. cuteness. Loved it to pieces. AnElvenPrincess trivia (BAHAHHA I'm terrible): Cinderella was my favorite Disney princess growing up.

(Now a days I prefer Belle, but that's a different story... one that will be told March 17, 2017... mhmmm Beauty and the Beast is the next Disney princess story to get a live action remake, peeps!!! Aaaand I'm already totes excited for it. Did I mention that Luke Evans (Bard the Bowman to us Hobbit geeks) is playing Gaston?? Yes, yes he is. I'm cracking up at that. It's gonna be great. xD)

One little glitch in our plans occurred, when we attempted to buy our tickets for the 5:30 showing, and were greeted with "Sorry, it's sold out." O_O SO, we instead bought tickets for a 6:30 showing. A bit bothersome, but this turn of events ended up being for the best (doesn't everything? That's God for ya - hah! ;D): we decided to walk around the mall to pass the time.

Note: Walking around a mall in costume is always a good idea. ALWAYS.

Plus, we found some Cinderella posters to pose with. ;)

Danielle (my younger sis) described my attempt at posing like Cinderella as "surfing on a pizza."

Definitely accurate.

Welp, I hope you liked le pics and hearing about my latest costume exploits! ;D Oh, and I must apologize for my not-very-regular posting habits of late... I've had so many cool things to write about, but not enough motivation or time or skills to write about them. For instance... revamped Captain America cosplay for AoU is in the works, with new fabric and new design and everything. And I MUST tell you about it because it's making me so excited. So, that's coming. I promise. Soon, my friends. Soon. ;)

Until laaaaater. *wink*

P.S. ...I'm not very good at endings... ;D

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

Well, the Battle of the Five Armies premiere was last night, and now the final Middle-earth chapter is complete.

It started with joy and ended in tears (and maybe a little laughter over Kili and Tauriel).

We set off from home, after a little hobbit feast that featured lembas bread, Smaug's gold, elven arrow fruit skewers, and BotFA-themed sugar cookies, homemade by my older sister Crystal and I that afternoon -- she was the baker and assistant-designer, and I was the designer and decorator. ;)

Sting, hobbit door, the Lonely Mountain, the One Ring, the eye of Sauron, and (my favorite) Smaug [the adorable]. ;D

One picture before we head off, in all our costumed glory. A ranger, elf of Rivendel, Arwen, battle Tauriel, a hobbit girl, movie Tauriel, and Gandalf the grey/white. ;)

We decided to stop by Walmart to get pics, be stared at, and kill some time. xD

Elves are very picky about their yogurt.

Gandalf wanders the aisles of wally world...

I explain, Amber dances, Crystal laughs...

"Cuties." (See what we did there? ;))

Gandalf and the elves show off their 3D-glasses swag.

But we elves can be very serious, too. ;)

Me and my 2 older sisters. ;) Funny thing as well: it features the costumes that I made for the 3 Hobbit films. Alissa, with much coaxing, donned my first Tauriel costume, Crystal wears Arwen's blood red dress, and, of course, I'm wearing my "battle Tauriel" design. ;)

And after a bit more goofing off, we were able to go get our seats in the theater, sit through 30 minutes of trailers (*eye roll*), and then watch the final Middle-earth movie of our time.

I'll just be honest -- I *sobbed* through the last 45 minutes; and you know a movie is good if it can make you cry that hard.

SPOILERS ahead, so if you haven't seen the movie yet, you'll want to skip the next 2 paragraphs...

While the beginning and middle and the "big battle" were wonderful and exciting and straight up awesome, the end is what really stands out. It was so beautiful and heartbreaking and everything it should have been. Peter Jackson did this final chapter of Middle-earth justice.

I felt Thorin and Kili's pain as they watched their brother and nephew brutally murdered before their very eyes. I cried with Tauriel as Kili lay dead in her arms. My heart hurt with Bilbo as Thorin spoke with him for the final time. I wept as Bilbo said farewell to the dwarves at the doors of Erebor. And when he journeyed back home to Bag-end, and as he began to "pick up the threads of an old life," I could feel the heaviness the adventure had laid on our dear Bilbo's heart.

And then "The Last Goodbye" played, and that was when I realized: it's over. We went "there and back again" with so many wonderful characters, and now it is time to bid Middle-earth a very fond farewell -- but really, it will always live on.

~          ~          ~

"To these memories I will hold.

With your blessing I will go,

To turn at last to paths that lead home.

And though where the road then takes me,

I cannot tell.

We came all this way,

But now comes the day

To bid you farewell."

Music Spotlight: "Wonders"

Time for a music spotlight, featuring... The Piano Guys' new album, Wonders!

The Piano Guys are just awesome.  In case you haven't heard of them before, the perfect description comes from their Facebook page:

"What do you get when you mix up a marketing genius that does video, a studio engineer that writes music, a pianist that had a successful solo career, and a cellist that does pretty much everything? The Piano Guys: a miraculous meeting of “guys” with the same intrinsic purpose – to make a positive impact in the lives of people all over the world through music videos."

I found them over on YouTube about 2 years ago, from their (gorgeous) Lord of the Rings arrangement.  After that, I was in love! ;)

About the music on their latest album... it's even better than their past two albums!  There's two songs featuring vocals, while the rest are instrumental -- making it perfect study music.

So, there's my brief rundown of The Piano Guys and Wonders!  Let meh know in le comments what your favorite song(s) are off the album, and if you had heard of these musicians before! :)

Here's my favorites...

3 - Ants Marching / Ode to Joy

4 - Fathers' Eyes

7 - Batman Evolution

8 - Don't You Worry Child (feat. Shweta Subram)

11 - Because of You

Music Spotlight: 5 Happy {Christian} Songs

A few days ago I was going through my (rather extensive) "Christian" playlist on Spotify, and re-discovered a bunch of songs that I love that never fail to make me happy. So, I figured I would share some of those with y'all!

So here's my top 5 happiness-inducing Christian songs. ;)

Francesca Battistelli - Write Your Story

The Afters - Every Good Thing

Jamie Grace - Hold Me

Plumb - One Drop

Jason Gray - Remind Me Who I Am

The Sleeping Beauty Retelling: "Maleficent"

You've probably heard of the Disney retelling of Sleeping Beauty, Maleficent. Welp, last Friday, the day it came out, a group of friends and I went to see it just for fun!

(I'll keep my thoughts here spoiler-free, in case you haven't seen it yet. ;) )

Firstly, it was a great movie. I really enjoyed it. The plot was intriguing and a great twist on the Sleeping Beauty storyline, while still staying true in the main respects to the original.

It had a nice balance of drama, action, and humor -- though, I must admit, from the trailers I was expecting it to be much darker than it actually was. The levity of it took me a bit by surprise; but, I mean, I shouldn't have expected it to be LOTR-esque, considering it is only rated PG...

Which leads me to my last point: it was 100% free of anything "bad," except for some non-gory violence, of course.

Now, as for the characters...

I loved Maleficent. She had a really great depth to her character, and I adore how Disney twisted her past to explain her actions. And Angelina Jolie portrayed her magnificently (heh). ;)

Aurora was plain ditsy. I'm sorry. xD Ok, she had a few good moments, but in general... yeah. She got on my nerves. ;D

Prince Philip... I won't say much but... after the movie, another girl from the group, Emily, and I both said he reminded us of "One Direction."  No joke. xD

Maleficent's crow, whose name in the movie is Diaval, was awesome. He was one of my favorite characters, if not my favorite. I won't say anything else, because -- spoilers, duh. ;)

King Stefan -- I can't say anything. You'll have to just see the movie. Too many spoilers there... xD

Oh, and "the three good fairies" were extremely silly, odd, even annoying at times... but not too awful, and it makes sense in regard to the story, so I can forgive that. ;)

All in all, great movie. I will definitely want to own it on DVD when it comes out. It's not, like, a must-see, but it's still a great movie that I can definitely recommend. :D

So if you've seen it, tell me whatcha thought of it... favorite character, any thing you didn't like, thoughts on the retold story, etc. Oh, and whether you really liked Diaval as well...? ;D

Music Spotlight: "Shatter Me"

And here is my second "Music Spotlight" post, featuring Lindsey Stirling's second instrumental dubstep violin album, which released April 29th:

After stumbling across Lindsey's insanely awesome music videos on YouTube, I became completely obsessed with her music. In case you've never heard of her, she is awesome. ;) And her new album is just as good (if not better) than the first!

I just adore the up-beat...ness (don't laugh at me) of her music -- it totally makes you want to get up and show off your dancing skillz. Or, if you're me, your non-existent dancing skillz. ;D

Actually, my piece for my Spring piano recital this semester was actually an arrangement of a song from her self-titled first album, called "Electric Daisy Violin." I posted a video of my performance in this blog post, if you'd care to hear it. ;)

Anyway...

Like I said, Lindsey also makes seriously awesome music videos. She's done all the songs from her first album, and two from her second so far. This is the playlist of all le videos. Like I said, they are seriously awesome. Go watch. ;D

In the meantime, here is the music video for the title song "Shatter Me":

While her debut album was only instrumental music, this time around she collaborated with singers to make two songs with lyrics. I definitely think it was a good idea. ;)

And voila! That is a rundown of Lindsey Stirling's new CD. Super awesome, and I highly recommend. If you've listened to it, let me know in the comments which tracks are your favorite!

A couple of my favs...

3 - V-Pop

4 - Shatter Me (feat Lzzy Hale)

5 - Heist

8 - Take Flight

9 - Ascendance

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

MIND = BLOWN. You do not want to miss this movie, ya'll.

At the theater... Black Widow-esque, of course. ;)

First, about the movie-going experience... it ended up just me and my dad going to see Winter Soldier on Friday (yesterday), which was much fun. He's my "superhero movie buddy" because no one else in my family particularly likes those kind of movies. I generally have to force them to watch them.. ;D

But anyway, about the actual movie...

So, afterwards, I was literally shaking. Literally. It was that intense. In a good way of course! I just couldn't take it all in. During the movie, my emotions were all over the place. Shock, tears, laughter, and much armrest-gripping took place in those two hours. ;D

I won't spoil anything for those of you who haven't seen it yet -- I'll just say that this movie is a roller coaster ride from start to finish. You're constantly being shocked by plot twists and turns, wondering who is trustworthy, and sitting on the edge of your seat because of the insane action sequences -- which are, IMHO the best I've ever witnessed on screen.

Oh, and of course I stayed until the very end. Because every true Marvel fan knows it a no-no to leave before then!! And yes, there are TWO scenes -- one mid-credits, one post, just so you know... so don't leave early. ;)

So, like I said. GO SEE THE WINTER SOLDIER. And if you already have -- what'd you think??? :D

Music Spotlight: "Winter Soldier" Soundtrack

I love music (as I'm sure most of us do;), so I've decided to start doing "Music Spotlight" posts, where I share with ya'll some of my favorite albums. And today's post is the first of them! :D

Anyway, for my first Music Spotlight I wanted to share my new go-to movie soundtrack, which was just released April 1st:

I love movie soundtracks, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier's didn't let me down! It is now the latest on my long list of favorites. ;)

I love the "epic" feel of the music, and the few more somber pieces as well. Henry Jackman, the composer, I think did a really great job on it. A few other Marvel movie soundtracks had, to me, the problem of being a bit bland, (i.e., The Avengers and the first Thor), but Winter Soldier isn't bland at all, and is, in fact, really enjoyable to listen to. ;)

One thing that struck me while listening to the soundtrack for the first time, was the use of harsh, electronic sounds in some of the music. (Especially notable in #6, "The Winter Soldier.") It provides an interesting contrast to the otherwise orchestral instrumentals -- and while I'm not too big a fan of it, I think it does sound rather cool. ;)

So, all around, Captain America: The Winter Soldier's soundtrack is a marvelously exciting album that has immediately become a favorite of mine. And I am quite excited to see how the music fits with the movie... :D

If you've listened to it yet, let me know in the comments which tracks are your favorite!

A couple of my own favs:

1 - Lemurian Star

7 - Fallen

9 - Taking a Stand

15 - Into the Fray

17 - End of the Line

The Desolation of Smaug Midnight Premiere

THE NIGHT OF DECEMBER 12TH, 2013.

IT HAPPENED.

THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG.

In Walmart. xD

These are some pictures from the night at the theater, WHICH WAS SO MUCH FUN. :D :D :D There were quite a few other people dressed up, and the feeling of comradery was just great.

And the movie... STINKING AMAZING!!!!! SMAUG BEORN THRANDUIL TAURIEL LEGOLAS BARD LAKETOWN EREBOR MIRKWOOD DWARVES IN BARRELS EPIC FIGHTING TAURIEL/KILI/LOL AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH just everything pretty much. ^_^ So epic and awesome and AMAZING. :D :D :D I actually got to see it again yesterday!! EVEN BETTER the second time around!!! Ahhhhh just...wow. AND I CAN'T BELIEVE WE HAVE TO WAIT A YEAR NOW FOR THE FINAL MOVIE OMG!!!! O_O

SOOOOOOO peeps...what about you guys? Have you seen it yet??? Midnight premiere? Dressed up? Thoughts on the movie? Tell me in le comments! :)

Frozen!

Hey all!!

Soooooo I just got back from seeing the new Disney movie that just came out today - Frozen!! First of all, I loved it. It made me laugh, tear up, gasp, and shriek. True story. ;D

Second of all... mkay, you know how I'm kind of obsessed with cosplay? Well, such as it is, I of course had to dress up - in some way or another. ;)

Well, ever since I saw Elsa's, the Snow Queen's dress, (which, btw, is gorgeoussss) I wanted to make it and cosplay her. Buuuut because I'm a little tied up right now with Tauriel's cosplay (WHICH, btw, I will have a post up concerning that SOON!), I wasn't able to make her dress in time for the release. But I'm still planning on cosplaying her sometime! I'm not sure what for, or when, but some time soon I will. :D

However, in the meantime, I decided to do an Elsa-inspired look. Almost a "modern version" of her costume.

So without further ado, here is my Elsa inspired outfit from Disney's Frozen! :D

And yes, I had way too much fun editing that. ;D

P.S. - Thank you so much to everyone who commented on my last post, especially for your thoughts concerning the bracers!! It helped alot. :D As for right now, I think I'm just going to leave them plain. I'll be making a post soon about all that. :)