Grab those Easter baskets, fill them with delicious, chocolatey (or candy) goodness, and sit back on the couch in front of your screens! Easter is just two weeks away, and even if you do not celebrate the holiday, you can still check out these movies and TV specials featuring lots of adorable and hilarious bunnies.
Down the Rabbit Hole We Go
Hop (2011)
Peter Rabbit (2018)
Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)
The Classics
Here Comes Peter Cottontail (1971)
It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown (1974) *TV Episode Special
Bonus Watch Suggestions
The Easter Parade (1971)
The Ten Commandments (1956)
Looney Toons: Bugs Bunny’s Easter Special (1977) *TV Episode Special
Watch options: available to watch on Netflix, Apple TV, Amazon Prime, Disney+, DVD or Blu-ray, on-demand, or rent.
Whiplash (2014) is a psychological thriller that dives deep into the music world and seeing what it takes to make it in the music business as well as revealing that world’s darkest and most abusive moments. The main character Andrew has all the ambition and dedication towards achieving his lifelong dream and is willing to do whatever it takes to get there, even if it means being a personal punching bag to his teacher Fletcher.
The film explores three main themes that often occur in real life situations but are not often seen on the big screen: the life of an aspiring (and struggling) musician; mental and physical health; and personal sacrifice.
The Film’s Themes
The life of an aspiring musician is not an easy nor linear path, however in film, the lesser seen gritty underbelly of instrumental music is not often portrayed. I have had heard stories from friends who were in band and orchestra before about the grueling process and hours spent practicing, including hearing a few stories where the teacher/instructor would throw music stands at their students if they began playing out of tune or misbehaving. In Whiplash (2014), Andrew frequently faces abuse from Fletcher but enables because he believes that his methods will lead him to success.
Since Andrew meeting Fletcher, his own mental and physical health has often been in jeopardy. At one point, the film does address the cruelness of Fletcher’s teaching methods, but Andrew remains adamant that Fletcher can help him be a better musician. For instance, following the falling out between Andrew and Fletcher, Andrew and his father meets with another parent whose goal is to get Fletcher fired from the music school due to his past/present abusive behaviours towards his students. She informs Andrew of past incidents where some of Fletcher’s ex-students went into deep depressions and “had their sanity whipped clean from this earth”. Fletcher wants his students to succeed, however, his methods are cruel, unorthodox, and rarely affective. Except when it comes to Andrew, so he continues to him in the same ways. Andrew’s dedication and obsession for becoming the greatest drummer of his time leads him down destructive path that both rewards and harms him, physically and emotionally.
The film also discusses personal sacrifice. You can’t have everything you want all at once, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy having what you already have even if you think you’ll just lose it in the end. However, this wasn’t something Andrew realized until he lost the most important person in his life, his girlfriend Nicole. When Andrew breaks up with Nicole, he does it because he believes she’ll get in his way of his dream. Instead of letting her down easy, he acts like a jerk and dumps her without explaining why. Later in the film (after months have passed since the breakup), Andrew realizes that he made a mistake and wants her back. However, when he calls her, she turns him down.
That End Scene
The most shocking scene in the entire film was the ending scene where Andrew (and the audience) discover that Fletcher set him up to fail in front of thousands of people, including some major recording companies and music critics. However, Andrew does what any performer would and does do best when in the spotlight: he improvises. Andrew performs the longest drum solo ever seen (or at least, the longest one I have ever seen). Even though he had set him up to fail, the camera pans to Fletcher and tracks his movements to the stage where he decides to help and encourage Andrew to keep playing.
Andrew’s journey to rising success is a long and painful one, but in the end, creates an incredible and powerful ending with a twist and a drum solo that’ll rock your world.
If you haven’t already, now is the time to revisit your favourite movie series — or discover new ones you haven’t seen before. And if you can’t think of any films, I’m here to give you EIGHT series that you can marathon — as well as the number of hours it will take you to watch them all. Since these are all quite long lists, I will be linking the Rotten Tomatoes collections to make linking much easier for me. So, you’re interested in watching any of these films — just click the links and you’ll find every one!
To me, this is one of the obvious ones. Although, there are a couple ways that you can watch these films. There is release date order — and timeline order. If you have never seen a Star Wars film in your life — I would suggest watching in release date order (option A). However, you also have the option of watching them chronologically (option B). Which would be when each film takes place over the timeline of all Star Wars films.
Option A.) RELEASE DATE ORDER
Option B.) CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER
Episode 4: A New Hope
Episode 1: The Phantom Menace
Episode 5: Empire Strikes Back
Episode 2: Attack of the Clones
Episode 6: Return of the Jedi
Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith
Episdoe 1: The Phantom Menace
Solo: A Star Wars Story
Episode 2: Attack of the Clones
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith
Episode 4: A New Hope
Episode 7: The Force Awakens
Episode 5: Empire Strikes Back
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Episode 6: Return of the Jedi
Episode 8: The Last Jedi
Episode 7: The Force Awakens
Solo: A Star Wars Story
Episode 8: The Last Jedi
Episode 9: The Rise of Skywalker
Episode 9:The Rise of Skywalker
I’ve chosen to not include the many animated TV shows, because that would just further complicate things (this article places each show in the chronologic order). However, if you’re watching on Disney+ I would suggest adding in the live action show The Mandalorian (in option A it would go between Solo and Ep.9, and option B between Ep. 6 and 7). It’s not necessarily essential to the overlying plot of Star Wars, but the show is so good (and that’s not just because of Baby Yoda!)
To me, the first series that comes to mind when I think movie marathon isLord of the Rings. Similarly to Star Wars — you also have a couple viewing order options:
Option A.) RELEASE ORDER
Option B.) CHRONOLOGIC ORDER
Option C.) SHORT CUT
LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring
The Two Towers
The Desolation of Smaug
The Two Towers
Return of the King
The Battle of the Five Armies
Return of the King
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
The Fellowship of the Ring
The Desolation of Smaug
The Two Towers
he Battle of the Five Armies
Return of the King
Having seen all three painfully long Hobbit movies in theatres, I don’t think they’re necessary viewing. They’re nowhere near as good and impressive as the LOTR, but they do provide context to the story as a whole so if you don’t mind the extra 9 hours— watch them.
Thankfully the rest of the movies on this list don’t have complicated viewing orders — so you would just watch the following series in release date order!
Another series that comes to my mind almost instantly when I think of marathoning is Harry Potter. And one of my favourite things about watching them one after the other is that way in which you not only watch the story develop — but the actors grow! It’s also cool because the movies were being filmed as the books were coming out — so no one really knew the fate of their characters!
A personal favourite of mine — but definitely not one that many people think about. The Hunger Games is (i think) one of the very few successful YA book adaptations, especially with the second movie Catching Fire (which is one of the best book-to-movie adaptations I’ve ever seen). The Hunger Games are very close to my heart so I find it very difficult to not just ramble on and on about them, so just watch them.
Now, the Twilight movies are nowhere near as good as the other movies I’ve mentioned in this list. However, they are extremely entertaining. And so, I still decided to include them on this list (and they also have the best soundtracks ever, so listen to those afterwards!)
Now I will admit that this is less of a marathon and more of a double feature. If you have only seen Blade Runner 2049 I would highly suggest watching the original one and then follow up with the sequel. And if you’ve only ever seen the original — watch 2049, the only thing you’ll be disappointed about is the fact that you didn’t see it in theatres!
7.) MCU / X-MEN (50hrs 3mins or 24hrs 26mins OR 74hrs 29mins)
So, I kinda lied when I said that none of the other series on this list would have complicated viewing orders — but I wanted to save the biggest marathon for last. Yes, every single movie in the MCU. I’m sure there are many people who did this before Endgame came out last year. However, if you weren’t one of those people — now’s your time! Similarly to my first few picks on this list, you have a 2 options for watching these films.
Option A.) RELEASE DATE ORDER
Option B.) CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER
Iron Man
Captain America: The First Avenger
The Incredible Hulk
Captain Marvel
Iron Man 2
Iron Man
Thor
Iron Man 2
Captain America: The First Avenger
The Incredible Hulk
The Avengers
Thor
Iron Man 3
The Avengers
Thor: The Dark World
Iron Man 3
Captain America: The Winter Solider
Thor: The Dark World
Guardians of the Galaxy
Captain America: The Winter Solider
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Guardians of the Galaxy
Ant-Man
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2
Captain America: Civil War
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Doctor Strange
Ant-Man
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2
Captain America: Civil War
Spider-Man: Homecoming
Spider-Man: Homecoming
Thor: Ragnarok
Doctor Strange
Black Panther
Black Panther
Avengers: Infinity War
Thor: Ragnarok
Ant-Man & The Wasp
Avengers: Infinity War
Captain Marvel
Ant-Man And The Wasp
Avengers: Endgame
Avengers: Endgame
Spider-Man: Far From Home
Spider-Man: Far From Home
Image from Marvel’s The Avengers
CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER
X-Men: First Class
X-Men: Days of Future Past
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
X-Men: Apocalypse
X-Men: Dark Phoenix
X-Men
X2: X-Men United
X-men: The Last Stand
The Wolverine
Deadpool
Deadpool 2
Logan
However, if you want to spice things up — you can add the X-men films onto your marathon. They aren’t part of the MCU, and don’t coincide with any of the events in those films — but this is the order in which you can watch those:
However! These films are not simple either! There are some alternate timelines in these films and thus different viewing orders because certain movies aren’t included in each timeline. if you want to know more, and perhaps watch the films accordingly, I would suggest reading this article (because I don’t have the time to explain the different timelines because it is confusing).
And lastly, as you might’ve noticed, I didn’t include the many Marvel TV shows that have happened on various networks (Netflix, Hulu, FX). I didn’t include them because it’s somewhat unclear if they are all canon or not — so, if you want to watch those too, I’d suggest reading this article as it places them all in the MCU timeline.
So there we have it! Plenty of movies to keep you occupied throughout the rest of this quarantine! Some of these are nice and simple marathons, and some will take DAYS, so prepare yourself! and stock up on snacks while you can.
Self-isolation might be hard for some, but it is necessary. I myself am someone who actually prefers to stay in, but I will admit that i’m starting to get a little bit of cabin fever (sorry, not a good time to make jokes about fevers). However, one of the many ways I am keeping myself entertained is by reading a lot of books and watching a lot of movies. Because sometimes you just want to completely block out the real world and get lost in a fictional one that is much brighter and better than the one we are living in right now. And so, this is the first instalment in *drum roll*….. Self-Isolation Recommendations! I tried way too hard to try and think of a title that rhymed, but this the best I could do (if you say it fast it kinda rhymes).
I have to admit, one of the things that hit me the hardest this past week was the closing of movie theatres. For me, one of the many ways that I try to escape from the real world is to sit in a dark (often cold) theatre and fully immerse myself in a film. However, I will admit that the closing of theatres does make a lot of sense. Seeing as they are also riddled with germs and who knows what else. But, because of these theatre closures and general fear because of the impacted economy, a lot of movie release dates are getting pushed back (ie: No Time To Die,Mulan etc.). OR, they are being released to streaming and VOD early. And while it is sad that a lot of these films weren’t able to get the full run in theatres that they might’ve deserved — it’s nice to have some new content to watch while we are all stuck at home.
The Invisible Man was just released in theatres on February 28th. It performed quite well in the box office and received rave reviews — especially highlighting Elizabeth Moss’ performance. This film is a modern retelling of the classic H.G Wells story of the same name, where a woman’s ex-boyfriend “dies” and he proceeds to become invisible and terrorize her everyday life. I would exercise caution when watching this as we all might start to go slightly crazy from being cooped up at home for so long, and I don’t think police want us to start calling them and telling them there’s an invisible man in our living room.
Emma — which is a movie I quite like the title of — is an adaptation of the classic Jane Austen novel. Released in theatres on March 5th, it follows Emma Woodhouse described quite simply as “handsome, clever, and rich.” And while she is all of those, one of her favourite things to do is to meddle with her friends and family’s love lives and do some matchmaking. In a way Emma is the reversed Bachelor, whereas she picks who each of her friends should marry. And if you decide to watch this film, might I suggest you start a Jane Austen film marathon — she does do a very good job of making just a simple touch of the hand extremely sensual *insert Pride and Prejudice Mr.Darcy hand flex* — which might be exactly what some people need in these trying times of zero human contact.
Now, a film which is quite different than Emma is The Hunt. While this film was released on March 11th, it actually has an interesting back story because it was originally meant to come out on September 27th, 2019. The film was hit with extreme backlash because of it’s subject matter — seeing as it is about people who hunt literal human beings. Though it was announced that the film’s released date would be pushed back indefinitely because its original release date was close to the horrible Dayton and El Paso mass shooting which happened in early August. However, finally being released in March the producers said no changes were made to the cut of the film and it is the exact same thing that would’ve been released in October. This is yet another film that I would exercise caution when watching because if we are stuck isolating for much longer and we start to run out of food — this is not what I want people to first think of!
And now, finally, one for the kids. Disney and Pixar’s latest collaboration is Onward, a tale of two brothers who try and bring their late father back from the dead using what little magic they have. This film was initially released in theatres on March 5th, however it’s now available to rent online and will be on Disney+ on April 3rd. This film also stars the voices off Chris Pratt and Tom Holland, so it seems that Disney either has a limited number of actors willing to work for them — or they make Marvel actors do at least one other movie with them.
a still from the animated film Onward
So there we have it! 4 movies that are (relatively) new and super easy to watch at home! I will be honest right now and say I haven’t watched any of them, but I can’t wait to! So sit back, (try and) relax, and enjoy the show(s)!
With Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker coming to dvd, digital download, and Disney+ this week, I decided to finally post the review I wrote for the movie 3 months ago. I never posted it because I felt very frustrated by the movie, but alas… here are my feelings.
The time has finally come, the final instalment in the Star Wars sequel trilogy and (apparently) the last film in the Skywalker saga has been released and i am here to talk about it. I myself am a big fan of the Star Wars films, and have been thoroughly enjoying the sequel trilogy since it’s debut with The Force Awakens back in 2015. Written and directed by J.J Abrams TFA was able to bring old and new fans of the Star Wars movies together, enjoying the return of old characters and introductions of those who were new. That was then followed by the second movie: The Last Jedi written and directed by Rian Johnson. This movie was met with both extremely positive and very negative reviews back in 2017, pretty much dividing the Star Wars fandom by those who either loved or hated The Last Jedi. I myself was indifferent to The Last Jedi, and most certainly didn’t feel the extreme love or hate that others did. Though i was very excited to see what J.J Abrams would then do when he ultimately returned to write (alongside Chris Terrio) and direct the final film in this trilogy.
The Rise of Skywalker picks up about a year after the end of the last film. With Rey training with Leia, Finn and Poe flying with BB-8 to gain first order secrets, and Kylo Ren seeking out the rumoured now-alive Palpatine. Though as the movie begins to gain way, it feels as though all character and story development from the last film has been ignored. Ultimately sending the story downhill.
Rise Tico, played by the wonderful actress Kelly Marie Tran, has been almost completely pushed to the side lines. Almost never leaving the rebel base or saying more lines than i can count with one hand. She actually had a pretty major role in The Last Jedi – having saved as well as kissed one of the main characters (Finn), she also said a line that could pretty much encapsulate the entire franchise: “that’s how we’ll win. not fighting what we hate. saving what we love” Yet in this film she has a screen time of 1min 16 seconds, and her interactions with Finn (wherever they are) feel as though they are between co-workers, rather than romantic interests.
Rose Tico in The Rise of Skywalker (Lucasfilm)
While I can admit that there are certain moments where i felt a sense of nostalgia and excitement as a Star Wars fan, i couldn’t help but immediately be caught off guard by them as well. As much as i loved having Billy Dee Williams back as Lando Calrissian and seeing him command the Millenium Falcon again — it felt forced. There was no real reason he was there, other than to please fans and make us feel nostalgic. But there was also no explanation as to how or why he was where he was. How had the resistance never come into contact with him before now? does he know about Han? We witness Leia training Rey, because as we know from TLJ, Luke is now one with the force. Although, if Leia is strong enough with the force to train Rey, why did she not train her son herself rather than send him off to Luke? And why did we not know more about Leia’s force abilities until now? Then, with the return of Palpatine, there is no explanation as to how he survived, or how such powerful force users such as Luke Skywalker (or even Kylo Ren for that matter) never sensed him until now. While it was cool, it would’ve been cooler and made more sense had it been introduced sooner or been established well and properly. This makes it quite obvious that there were no prior plans to have Palpatine return, and thus makes the entire trilogy feel like each writer/director was blindly moving the plot forwards with no clear idea of how it would ultimately end.
Poe, BB-8, Chewie, and Lando in The Millenium Falcon (Lucasfilm)
Instead of nicely concluding the saga, it felt as though Abrams and Chris Terrio (co-writer), tried to write the screenplay by piecing together all of the different fan theories and predictions they could find on the internet, resulting in a weird mish-mash of fan-service and retconning. While I have no problem with catering to fans now and then, it only works when the plot lines actually make sense and line up with one another. In this instance it felt like the writers wanted to please each different group of people watching. Their attempt to fix the divide that The Last Jedi made only resulted in many more upset and frustrated fans. I would much rather the plot make sense and be not what i wanted, instead of it be a weird mess full of plot holes and questions left unanswered.
All in all i found The Rise of Skywalker to bring me joy at parts but then completely take it away. Like giving a baby a piece of candy, but only letting them have one bite. Each time i thought it was getting better it ended up getting worse. Adam Driver as the interesting and complex Kylo Ren/Ben Solo is what ultimately saves this movie for me, playing one of the best Star Wars characters we’ve seen. Although this ending (and his to be specific) left me unsatisfied and frustrated, and as a Star Wars fan — i think it’s safe to say the original trilogy is the best and only trilogy.
