Blather, rinse, repeat

I saw Looper on Friday and I'm only getting around to writing about it now. As some of you know, this is a movie I've been waiting for for years. I'm a weak person and I did a bad, naughty thing when I downloaded the script when it leaked a few years ago. I couldn't help it. It was like someone put a pint of Ben & Jerry's in front of me and said, "But don't touch this." It's just not going to happen. The day I read it, I couldn't put it down. And then I went back and read it again.

I'm not going to necessarily get into the timey wimey time travel parts of it in this post, because I'm actually gonna do that in a HitRECord video. (Well, maybe I'll get a LITTLE into it.) But, this post will have SPOILERS, so if you don't want LOOPER SPOILERS, then don't read this post full of LOOPER SPOILERS.

Okay, first, because I have to get it away, yes, of course there were some problems and issues with the script. Nothing is perfect. And I am a big believer in thinking critically about things that I love the most. Especially about things I love the most.

So yeah, the first thing Imma talk about here is the role of women in the movie. I might not even be going into it as much if Rian Johnson hadn't made a snarky comment about the Bechdel test on Twitter. I know that the test isn't always a great litmus for good representation of women in media (because some really good, pro-female works don't even pass it,) but at least take it seriously when someone brings it up. :/ I love Rian Johnson and he is currently my favorite director, so I always get eye-rolly when people I really respect have those human failings.

Anyway, the biggest problem with this script was that, like Brick, the women characters skirted the whole "whore/madonna" trope. Either they are whores who aren't emotionally available for the main character (JGL in both cases,) or they are his savior. Well, not so much with the "savior" in Brick. But definitely in this movie. One woman is literally a prostitute who breaks his heart, the other is a typical, virtuous wife who saves his soul. Old Joe actually even says this. Moreso, she has absolutely no lines at all. She's just there for him and nothing else.

FORTUNATELY, the movie is saved by Sara, who's tough as hell, has her own agenda, and could take or leave Joe. She decides on "take." Which is great, because it's her decision. She's the one who initiates the affair, basically just because she feels like it. He doesn't change her and turn her into "wife material," nor does she change him. They don't fall in love. She keeps her own agenda, which is looking out for her son. Young Joe does change, but it's not for her. His sacrifice is more meaningful than that.

I mean let's face it, it's a movie by a dude, about a dude, with some women in the story. That's just the way these things are. Movies centered on women are usually called "chick flicks" and movies centered on men are just called "movies." I'm not saying that it should stay that way, or that we shouldn't try to have a more even set of films – WE TOTALLY SHOULD. Movie writers should write movies with women characters doing all the normal (or abnormal) things, and have it just be a damn movie. But that is rare, and in the mean time, we have movies about dudes. They can still be good movies. And this was beyond good.

And by the way, Emily Blunt was fantastic.

Just because I knew I was going to love the movie way in advance, doesn't mean I didn't find new things to appreciate. So much of the movie was just how I pictured it. Of course, Joe looked different, wince he was in Bruce Willis makeup, but I got used to that quickly enough. After the first two minutes, it didn't seem so much like "JGL being Bruce Willis" rather than just two guys playing the same character.

There are a few things that Rian does in all of his films, one of which is the whole Tormented Hero thing. He even hung a lampshade on that in The Brothers Bloom. Which, I mean, I LOVE. That is actually my biggest fangirl button; I've said that so many times. Rian Johnson just has a sensibility about characters that really melds with my own. He knows how to write heroes that I pretty much have to enjoy.

And in both of his movies that feature Joe as the lead, he's definitely got this thing for breaking him up into tiny, bite-sized, heartbroken little Joe-bits and then throwing him into bed with The Bad Girl. I wonder why that is. Also, using Noah Segan as the Buttmonkey.

Props, by the way, to Noah Segan. His character Kid Blue had to go from being badass, to ridiculous, to pathetic, to sympathetic, sometimes all in one scene. Talk about whiplash. One second you loved him, the next he was the bad guy. One second he's awesome, the next second he's stupidly hilarious, the next second you feel profoundly sorry for him. Well played. That must have been hard.

Bruce Willis was Bruce Willis, which is to say, really badass, obviously. I saw him in some interviews and he seems really softspoken and nice.

Lemme talk for a second about the major difference between the (ILL-GOTTEN) script* and the movie.

( SPOILERS )

Okay, aside from that. The scene with Seth, oh my god. That was creepy as hell in the script, but in the movie, it turned into HIGH OCTANE NIGHTMARE FUEL, wtf. I almost couldn't look, it was so horrifying. Extremely effective, just subtle enough that you didn't have to see everything. Any more would have been overkill. Oh man, body horror.

So there's a lot of Timey-wimey mindscrewing in this movie, but, for as much as I love the concept of time travel and could discuss it all day, (and have,) that's really not what the film is about. It's really just about making a huge sacrifice in order to break a cycle of destruction. I know there are some people who are taking a cynical standpoint and saying "I still think nothing changed," but to me that's pointless. To me, it's not that kind of nihilistic movie. It means something. That was the whole idea of it, I think: to do something with meaning. Otherwise, why bother?

Oh, and Joe was perfect for the role, since, duh, it was written for him. Still, there would have been ways to screw this role up, but he just gets better and better. It was hard to realize that I was even watching him, and that's not really because the makeup, either.

So, problems aside, not only was this my favorite movie of the year, but I think it's actually my favorite movie. I think it knocked The Usual Suspects out of its top spot, goddamnit. Which pisses me off, because that movie has been there for years.

On a side note, I knew there was going to be a HitRECord collab to put stuff on the Looper DVD when it came out. I got crazy excited and did a crapload of stuff about Time Travel. Because I mean, what a huge concept, time travel, there's so much you could say about it. And it's a time travel movie. How tremendous! But, no. They made the collab about LOOPS. Man, STFU and get out my face, both of you. I'm just full of piss and vinegar over that, I mean really, "loops," wtf even. >_< Now I have to do all new stuff and I don't feel like it. Dang.

But anyway, it's a great movie, and people, if you haven't seen it, do. You won't be sorry.



*Don't ask me for it. It was years ago, and now Rian is going to release the licensed version to the public soon. So if you want it, you'll get it soon enough. :D

Two nights ago, I finally got to see Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. I was looking forward to seeing it not only because my husband Tom Hardy was in it, but because it looked really intriguing. So after a long day of work, I got my ice cream and headed all the way down to the damn Island 16 (because that's the only movie theater that plays movies with British people in them.)

First I'll say this. At the end of the movie, the guy behind me stood up and said, "I have no idea what just happened."

Okay, I get that. There were times during the film that I was going, "Wait, what was that guy's other name again? And who was Project Witchcraft?" There was a lot to keep track of, and once in a while I found that certain scenes were confusing because I couldn't tell if they were flashbacks or not – and I think that's where it got a little muddled. You see a character die in the beginning, and then there's a flashback, and then there are more scenes with ( possible spoilers ) So, that threw me for a while.

Aside from that, there wasn't too much to get really confused about. It was a straightforward story told in a roundabout way. Which I can really enjoy, because I like movies that don't hand-hold me and explain every little thing. (Inception No, really, Inception. And it boggles me when people say that Inception was confusing. Seriously? We were handed an audience surrogate who had little purpose other than to tell us what was going on. There are movies I can totally love while acknowledging their flaws.)

ANYway. So yeah, it was confusing in some parts, but when I walked out of the theater I was like, "OH! Okay, I got it." It legitimately made more sense to me later on.

( SPOILERS, DO NOT READ – SERIOUSLY, IT WILL SPOIL THE THING YOU MAY FIND JOY IN FIGURING OUT BY YOURSELF. )

This might totally be my favorite performance from Gary Oldman, maybe apart from my old favorite, R&G Are Dead. (Although looking back, DANG, I forgot all the other movies that he was in. Completely forgot that he was Sid Vicious!) He was so subtle and understated in this, which I tend to like in movies. I like a really understated performance when it's done well, simply because it is so hard to do well. You risk doing too little and putting your audience to sleep, so it can be a really fine line. But he played it all very quiet and really deep and I totally loved every moment of it. (Except for a few times in the beginning where I was like, "Why do I care that he just bought new glasses? Come on, cut this film back like ten minutes, it won't kill you.")

So I had three favorite parts, and one was the very last scene (I wanted to cheer!) and the other was Ricky Tarr (my husband Tom Hardy) when he was telling his story to Smiley (that's Gary Oldman.) It seems so effortless with him. I say it over and over again and it never changes: this is when I really really love an actor. When they're so fearless that they just go ahead and tell the story, and it doesn't even feel like acting at all. You need honest to god tears? Easy enough, because their story is sad right now and they have nothing to be self conscious about. I don't think I could ever do that.

And on that same note, my third favorite part belonged to Benedict Cumberbatch because it was heartbreaking. (He did his scene so beautifully. I'm totally going to start watching Sherlock, I think. Plus, I loved him in Stuart, A Life Backwards. [OMG, that was him in Atonement, too! I forgot about that! Eww!]) The parts that stuck with me the most were those emotional ones, because the emotion was so—okay, not to belabor the point—understated in the rest of the film.

I definitely want to see it again and watch for all the little things I missed the first time around. There are some movies (usually ones that have you guessing at the end) that are better the second time around, because you can appreciate the things you're supposed to be looking for. Then you watch it with someone who's seeing it for the first time and you say, "Oh, that part right there! Pay special attention to that!" which is extremely annoying, but which I do anyway.

I also like it when films have a really quiet score, and there's not a ton of music blasting out at you to make a point. There are times during certain films where I'm so aware of the fact that there's no incidental music, and I really like that because it seems to make even more of a statement than the music would have done.

I guess my only complaint was that the film itself was dark, visually, I mean. Although that might have been just me, because there were a lot of people in the theater and I had to sit really close to the screen, and found myself trying to make certain things out that I couldn't quite see. So let's chalk that one up to me being way too close to the huge screen.

Also Mark Strong is awesome, let's not forget that. He's that actor that you see in tons of different films and you're always like, "Hey, it's that guy I saw in that other film!" He was in Rock N' Rolla, that's always the first one that comes to mind for me.

Also, Tom Hardy's thighs. That's all I'm gonna say about that.

Yup, so it was awesome, and I recommend seeing it, although don't feel bad if you get a little tangled up along the way; lots of smart people did. ^_^

Now to catch up on everything else.

I never caught the stupid cat that killed my birds. It stayed trapped in the aviary, with a trap set for it with some food as bait. For three days, it didn't take the bait. The day of Bai Si, it somehow pushed the aviary door outwards and escaped. I still want to catch it because I still have birds in the yard. So I still have the trap, and I'm gonna set it somewhere under the bushes.

The day that it happened, I went into the aviary to take the birds' bodies out and bury them. The entire time, the cat was hissing and growling at me. I couldn't leave them in there. I buried them just outside of the aviary and put up a bird feeder at the site. That day, all three of the released birds came back to the aviary and just stood there, looking at the cat. Birds are amazing, aren't they?

Also, I got a goldfish. I was never going to get one, because they can grow to 8 inches and you can't put any other fish in the tank (goldfishes make a lot of waste,) but then I thought, you know, I see all these people keeping these really hardy goldfish, and they're so pretty and cute and they live forever. So I got a tiny little calico one and I named him The Doctor. Now, by my Mom's suggestion, the tank is called The TARDIS. Which is so hilarious.

Speaking of Dr. Who, last night I watched the tenth episode of the third season, Blink. This is, I guess, the most famous Dr. Who episode, and with good reason. It's terrifying. I legitimately had nightmares all night, about the Weeping Angels. Seriously, the entire night. Which is awesome; it's been so long since I've seen something fantastic enough to give my nightmares. This inspired me to try to do a Weeping Angel costume for Halloween. Don't know if that's going to work out or not, but I'm going to try.

Speaking of watching awesome things, I saw Warrior the other night. It was only playing in Southampton, and only for a week, so I had to run out and grab it.

Now first, the things I didn't like. Let me just get this out of the way. I hate the role of women in most American martial arts movies. All they do (in most of them) is first: try to hold the man back. "I don't want you to fight! Wah!" And then they relent, and alternately hide their eyes and cheer. That honestly sums up the characterization of all women in most American martial arts films, and this one was no exception. That really, really irks me. I'd rather, in that case, if they left women out entirely, if they're just going to delegate us to the sidelines like that.

Secondly, the ending left me unsatisfied. ( SPOILERS )

So, aside from those things, it was a really intense ride. I really liked the grappling too, because a lot of that is stuff we do in class as well. Grappling and anti-grappling, actually. They did a lot of the same exact take-downs and joint-locking that we learn. In fact, the one major arm lock that Brendan keeps doing is the one we always review in class.

Do I need to say how awesome Tom Hardy is? He's terrifying. He's actually got very few lines in this film, but he doesn't need a lot. He's just one of those actors that you can't stop watching because he's so unafraid. He doesn't care what he looks like, what you think of his character, if he's being judged. That's the best kind of acting. He just goes in and does his job, and it's 100% convincing. You forget you're watching Tom Hardy. He really is a forger.

His eyes are amazing. I'm not talking about "Oh he's so hot, he's got these big grey eyes" or anything like that. I'm talking about that thing that he does in every single movie when he's playing a scene that's any kind of cold, or distant, or angry. He's so menacing and predatory when he does that, and it gives me a shiver. I'd hate to be looked at in such a way.

Anyway, I realize its theater run is probably already over, but if you missed it, do catch it on DVD when it comes out. The performances were awesome.

All right, now I guess it's time to straighten the house a bit, clean the fish tanks (the TARDIS, I mean,) and dick around on the internet for the rest of the day.

I have a long history with Harry Potter. It began when my cousin, now 22, brought over the first book and insisted I at least read the first few pages. He said that his teacher had been reading it to them in class and he liked it so much he had started reading it on his own. I kind of didn't feel like it at first, but I figured I'd indulge him and give it a whirl. As it turned out, within the hour I was shooing him away from me so I could continue reading, and asking him if I might borrow the book to finish overnight.

From there, he got our Gran involved in reading it, and then my Mom. My Gran fell totally in love with the series. She had to have each book the day it came out, and all the extras too. Books about Harry Potter, a Harry Xmas tree ornament, and Hermione bookends. Harry Potter stuff was always a safe bet with her when it came to giving gifts. The only problem she had was with the last book, which she insisted that I read first, because if Hagrid or any of the three kids died, she didn't want to read those parts. She liked Hagrid because he was kind to animals.

We used to go and see all of the movies in the theater together until it came to a point where Gran wasn't well enough to go to the cinema anymore.

Then, my best friend the Glassworker watched the first movie. She could never get into the books, but she found the films entertaining. We started watching all of them. When 4 came out, we saw that in the theater, and then every one since then. With Deathly Hallows pt. 2, we had to complete the cycle. I'm happy that I've seen all of the movies at the actual theater.

What we did yesterday was, Glassworker came over for breakfast and we cooked some pancakes, her Mom's recipe. They do pancakes differently in Germany, apparently, and they were really delish. Then we re-watched Deahtly Hallows pt. 1 over breakfast. We did a little recap and I explained (as I always have,) the stuff from the books that the movie left out. Like Dumbledore's relationship with Grindelwald, his past, etc.

Later, we met up at the big huge cinema (not the tiny one we usually go to) to watch the end. I had semi-humorously warned her that I was going to cry through the whole thing, from the opening logo with the music, until the credits. When she came in holding out a packet of Kleenex I was like, "Haha, smartass. Like I'm really going to be sobbing my eyes out." But I took them anyway.

We got our ice cream ($6 for three scoops, people, WHAT THE HELL, this is why I usually sneak a pint into the theater,) and cookies and our tickets and went into the crowded theater. Some damn lady was wearing enough perfume to choke out the entire crowd. The guy behind us got into a small argument with his girlfriend over whether or not there would be another Harry Potter movie. He insisted there would be. "But there aren't any more books," she told him. This seemed to surprise him.

The music didn't play over the logo in the beginning. In fact if I remember correctly, the logo was just the WB one and not the usual Harry Potter one, with the lightning shape. And it actually picked up directly where the last one left off. I guess that makes sense; it's not a new movie, it's just the halfway point of a whole.

One flaw I can see in every single Harry Potter film is that they all assume readership. You're supposed to just know who these characters all are, what their history is, etc. I can see where they would confuse someone who hasn't read the books. My Dad had never read them either, and I remember Mom, Gran, the kids and I sitting around the table and filling in the blanks after watching the movies with Dad.

Okay like, for example, Tonks' and Remus's kid (and I'm sorry man, but I am still not on board with David Thewliss as Lupin, it has never worked for me.) If you read the book, there was time for them to have gotten married and her to have been pregnant and have a kid and get back into action etc. and this was addressed. In the movie, it went from the first scene of them moving Harry out of the Dursely's and Tonks going, "Oh Harry, wait till we tell you..." and getting cut off by Mad-Eye before she could finish what she was saying. And by the end of part 2 all of a sudden it's like, Oh, Tonks's and Remus's kid, OMG! When did this even have time to happen? Why, if they're going to bring it up later, would they have her be cut off by Mad-Eye? It's possible that I missed some further mention of it in the movie, but I saw the thing twice and I never once heard reference to it. That bugged me a bit.

The only other flaw that I saw—that Glassworker and I both saw—was that you could tell that some scenes were so obviously meant to be rendered in 3D. And I'm sorry, but 3D sucks. It looks like crap, it gives me a headache, it's too dark to see any goddamn thing, and it's pointless. I know that stuff is not coming out at my face, for petesake. Why do we need to pretend that it is? 3D is ugly. (After the movie this led to a conversation in the parking lot that I initiated with, "But what if porn was in 3D?" which I followed up with a series of head movements and expressions that had us both doubled up laughing for a good while.) ANYway. I've seen good 3D once in a while, like when it's a novelty and the idea of the movie is to be in 3D. Disney used to have some really awesome ones. But this trend of putting every movie in 3D is just plain stupid. And it's a total waste if you're watching it normally.

I have to say, I think those were the only flaws I can think of. This was by far my favorite film out of all of them. I still have a soft spot for Prisoner of Azkaban, but this one just blew everything out of the water. It wasn't just because it was filmed so gorgeously—though it was—but it mostly had to do with the way the level of acting was scaled up. Everyone was so effing good, so fantastic.

I stopped scoffing at the proffered Kleenex when they got to Snape's backstory. And of course, what leads up to his backstory. I mean, I knew what was coming, and I was sitting there with my knees up to my chest and my hands over my mouth. In the book, I remember it was very intense and jaw-dropping. But the way it was filmed was subtler than in the book and much, much sadder. Still, I was pretty good with that whole scene. Then they got into the backstory and I was, like, fighting tears because I didn't want to be the only fool in the theater crying. Then I thought, "What the hell? Isn't that why we go to the movies?" and all of a sudden I was reaching for the tissues.

This is really because of how Alan Rickman handled it. I've seen him in tons of films and he's always been one of the best actors. When I was in college, he was my all-time favorite. To me, there was no one better than him and I saw all of his movies. I always found him really satisfying as Snape – dark, gloomy, but with enough snark and swag and camp that he was actually sort of funny sometimes. Or entertaining. You could tell how much fun he was having, but it didn't take anything away from his portrayal.

But then in this one, he just let loose; he played Snape with such abandon, vulnerability, and depth that I think that's what finally got to me. It wasn't even the situation itself, because we've dealt with that already: Lily Potter has been dead since before the books began and we've actually witnessed her death from different perspectives. But Snape's perspective, and Alan Rickman's portrayal of it gave it a weight it never had before, and maybe didn't even have in the book. I mean, it was sad in the book; it was tragic and you could get on board with that. But seeing it the way he did it was just something else. I don't know of any other way to put it.

The final battle was so epic, the way it was filmed. It was epic in the book so they couldn't have gotten away with anything less, but the film brought out how devastating and dark and tragic it was. What really stood out was that even with the whole big "Magic! Fighting! Death! Destruction! ARMIES!" aspect, you still felt each individual loss on a personal level. I think that must be very hard to pull off. Well this entire movie, the entire franchise is a feat to pull off; I can't even imagine what must go into something this huge. But that's the thing, and that's always been the thing with Rowling and the Harry Potter world: the creation of this immense reality, and the focus on small, personal details. Yes, huge epic battle and the clashing of magic and crumbling of towers and such, but OMG, that one kid! And so it has gone with the entire world that Rowling created. You know?

So there you go, that is my final ever Harry Potter film reviewal entry. I think I might feel more emotional about closing out this tradition than I did about the ending of the movie, if we're being honest. ^_^

Yes, many ridiculous things.

I brought Haku for his re-check today. What was meant to be a half-hour visit turned into three hours as the vet decided it would be better to wrap his leg in a bandage. "Bandage" turned out to be full cast. This cast has taken about 30 points of Haku's IQ.

Chaos recently ensued (about 30 minutes ago) during feeding time at the zoo, when I had Haku's meds in one bowl and Sano's in another, and Haku jumped up like a maniac before I got the bowls down (he's not supposed to get up on his own) and then Sano came barreling toward him. I made a dive to grab Haku before he hit the floor, put both bowls down (in the wrong places-my fault,) Sano stuffed his head into Haku's bowl and ate Haku's meds. This includes Phenobarb and Cephalexin.

So, panicking, I called the vet again and they reassured me that Sano might only be mildly sedated at this point (Haku's on a relatively low dose of PB.) But the Cephalexin is a little more complicated, as it is on the list of drugs known to induce bouts of ITP in dogs who, well, have ITP. Which Sano does.

Umm, so there's that.

In less doggy news, it's snowing bitches and hos today and I'm already sick of it. I always say that I love winter, but I am beginning to rethink.

Umm, I can't stop making videos for hitrecord. I've always loved making videos but this is turning into an addiction.

Oh! In movie news, I watched Bronson last night. I'd been putting off watching it for fear that Tom Hardy in all his naked and frightening glory would somehow manage to punch me through the computer screen while I was watching. This was a very naked movie and it left my computer screen dripping in testosterone and blood and other fluids. Tom Hardy was amusing and terrifying and huge and intimidating and yes, hot. Also I would listen to him recite the phone book and it would sound like porn. But aside from that. It was the kind of film that moved slowly, that really took its time, but then all of a sudden it would come out and slap you in the face unexpectedly (except after a while you started to expect to get slapped.) There were two parts that made me go D: D: D: D: and I nearly covered my eyes. (One part was the guy in the mental hospital, OMG. I could not even. And the second part was the very end. I do not get squeamish, okay, but THIS, THIS.) I have to say that the supporting cast was also really awesome, playing with such restraint around his character which was just RRRAAWWWRRRR. Like seriously, he felt like a bomb that you just knew was going to go off every few scenes.

So that was Bronson.

Okay, so here's the other thing that's on my mind today: all these dead animals. I can't help but wish I could have a look at those birds. While I was out today, waiting to pick up Haku, I kept going over it in my head. I don't really like any of the reasons I'm hearing for all the dead birds, all at once like that. One report (with the five thousand grackles) says that they were startled up and night blind. I just can't fathom how that would mean that so many of them would die at once like that. I know grackles flock by the thousands, but still.

And it's been grackles, red-wing blackbirds, starlings, jackdaws and doves, AFAIK. Okay, so grackles do flock in ridiculous numbers, starlings less so, but not really doves and jackdaws. A few hundred, maybe.

Then I thought, well maybe they flock in greater numbers out in open fields. But if that was the case, what did they fly into?

Then the scientists were saying that blood clots had shown the force of trauma. How I wish I could take a look. Force of trauma is so clear in birds because their air-sacs break. So unless they were dead for a long enough time for them to deflate, those air-sacs would be easy to spot. Or if the trauma was so forceful and so big that it just whacked the entire bird out of the sky. I can't imagine that happening.

So I can't decide if, in my mind, it really was trauma or something chemical, the blood clots. There are some air-borne pollutants that can cause clots to form – bacterial ones, I think. But again: thousands, all at once? All in the same spot when they dropped out of the sky? IDGI. I know trauma can and does cause clots like that and all. I'd just dearly love to take a look at those bodies.

Then you have to consider the fish and crabs too, all within a few days of each other. I realize that mass deaths occur pretty frequently, but when you lump them all together like this, one kind of has to take a step back and look at the forest, you know? I think it would be foolish not to.

It's almost like a big sound wave or something knocked them out of the sky. I don't know. Imagine? Like they all flew into some invisible wall.

Still awaiting info on the fish, penguins and crabs though. I cop to being a little freaked. I'm fond of my planet and, well, birds are kinda my friends. Especially the grackles and starlings, you know? They're like the unpopular underdogs of the bird world, no one ever wants to rehab them and I just think they're fabulous beasts.

Anyway. That's what's on my mind today.

As is tradition, I went to see Harry Potter with Wonderful Glassworker bestie last night. I used to go with Gran, Mom, Dad, and the kids, but I always saw it a second time with Glassworker. We got there ridiculously early with ice cream already melting.

It's kinda hard to point out the flaws of the movie just for the fact that I enjoyed it so much, I kinda don't even want to think about the problematic parts. But there were a few.

The biggest problem I think with the entire movie series is that it assumes readership. If you haven't read the books, some of the scenes are going to seem dumb or are going to just plain not make sense. Like, when they find the sword at the bottom of the lake, hello. I know that was explained in the book (I can't even remember how, anymore,) but in the movie it was just like, "Yeah, it was just there, all right?"

Flaw #2, it was draggy in places. The book was, too. I remember thinking of it as "Harry Potter and the Camping Trip of Doom" and I know that skitty_kitty has always called it "Harry Potter and the Great Outdoors." I had hoped that the movie would actually cut that back a little, but it did no such thing.

The movie really, really took its time. In a way that wasn't too bad though, because it was so pretty, like all the HP movies are. Kinda like a feast for your eyeballs. The outdoors was lovely to look at, desolate, and pretty much a character its-own-self.

Flaw #3, I missed a lot of my old favorite characters who weren't in it enough. I felt like this in the book, too, I remember. Rowling gave us like fifty thousand new, last minute characters to keep track of, and we heard very little from the likes of Neville, the Hogwarts teachers, Hagrid, blah blah. I realize she couldn't fit them all in, but I'm a big fan of re-using old characters for new purposes instead of inventing tons of new ones. And that goes way back even to Order of the Phoenix and stuff. Like, there were all these characters that, although cool, never really went anywhere or, in my experience, added much to the story. Tonks seemed like an add-on, and almost everyone at the Ministry of Magic, for chrissakes.

Flaw #4, I've never really been convinced that Daniel Radcliffe is the perfect Harry Potter, because he sometimes seems sort of stiff to me, or forced or something? But, it's the end of the series and he's pretty much iconic at this point so there's no point in complaining, I guess.

Not really a flaw, but oddly, a few scenes got what I thought was inappropriate laughter out of the audience and I wasn't even sure why. The entire scene with Bathilda Bagshot had a handful of people—not just one isolated group, but all around the theater—giggling. And I actually found her super creepy and wasn't sure what I was missing that was so funny.

THAT SAID, this was the best looking thing I've seen on the big screen all year. Yeah yeah, Tom Hardy in Inception, okay let's just let that one slide. Aside from him. ;D

Oh my god, this film was so gorgeous. It was lush, dark, dripping with atmosphere, and except for the stupid upwards-floating snow (hey what's up, soap bubbles,) the effects were, of course, spot on. I mean, they had to be, it's the last Harry Potter.

But let me get to the part I've been dying to talk about since I walked out of the theater. The fable of the Three Brothers. I can hardly find the words to express how gorgeous that part was. I don't know, maybe I was super emotional or had some hormones going crazy in my head, but I had effing tears in my eyes during the Three Brothers part, just because it was so perfect. The animation was just exquisite, a combination of clean, beautifully rendered effects and ancient shadow puppetry. Oh my god, I hardly expected that in a Harry Potter film, it was effing beautiful. Okay, so I get emotional when a movie is really good, because—it's hard to explain—I get overly happy and joyful when I realize that people are still making awesome films. I cry at the end of The Usual Suspects, just because it's so freaking good. Anyway, I sat there in the theater getting all teary-eyed because this one part of the film was worth the price of admission, maybe two admissions.

On the way back, I talked about that part with Glassworker and she agreed that the Three Brothers fable part was brilliant because Harry Potter itself is kind of like a fable, and so they had to animate that section as more of a fable to set it apart from the magic world of HP, which we accept as reality in its own world. She wondered aloud why it was always three, three this and three that and wouldn't it be nice if someone did a four, or a five? But on that I disagreed, because it is a fable (within a fiction) and Rowling really knows her idioms (I think she was an English teacher?) and so, of course it's going to be a three. That's standard.

I loved the inclusion of Nick Cave, holy crap. Did that ever come as a surprise! A few people giggled at the dancing, and I think in that scene, the movie couldn't make up its mind if it was supposed to be silly, or awkward, or sweet, or desperate, or some combination thereof, and instead it was just kind of a jumble and that, too, I lay at Daniel Radcliffe's door because he is kinda clunky here and there. Wasn't sure what to do with him.

His best scene was the beginning, with the Polyjuice Potions. He totally made me LOL during that, good for him.

SPOILERS. Because I realize there are people out there who haven't read the books.

I was so much more upset when ( SPOILER ) died than I was when ( SPOILER ) did. I seem to remember feeling that way in the book, too. I was like, Seriously, he gets the biggest death scene out of freaking everyone? ( SPOILER ) On the other hand, I get it, because JK Rowling is always about ( SPOILER )

Most of the acting was pretty spot on. Luna is still my favorite, I guess after Hermione. Emma, by the way, has come such a long way. The dude who played Luna's dad was ridiculously creepy, Bill Nighy is always "HEY IT'S THAT GUY" when I see him. He'll somehow always be Davy Jones to me, but he's just so weird that he's kinda captivating. Umm, what's-her-name, Helena Bonham Carter, you know, often I really, really like her. But as Bellatrix she kinda goes on crazy overdrive to the point where she's chewing the scenery. She's all kinds of Evil Is Hammy and I cannot feel intimidated by her character because she comes across as kind of goofy in this series. I actually liked her a lot better in the previous movie because she had the best entrance pretty much ever.

In this movie, that honor goes to Snape. He rocked his entrance, to the point where it was sort of hot.

Umm, and you know what? This is by no stretch of anyone's imagination a children's or middle-grade series, whatsoever. That was clear in the books too, but abundantly clear on the big screen.

Anyway, I would absolutely watch the movie again in the theater (it would have to be in the theater,) just to see the Three Brothers / three Deathly Hallows part again. I don't think it would be as effective on the television. I mean, it would still be pretty and all, but there are some films that really need to be seen on that huge screen looming over you, and this is one of them.


ADDENDUM: I need to point out that I love, love, love JK Rowling, I realize that she is not perfect because no writer is, I'm in no place to judge because she's really brilliant. The scope of this series is amazing. Not only that, but she seems like a really awesome sort of person, she worked ridiculously hard for what she has, and she's totally inspiring as a writer and as a person. So yeah. ^_^

The thing about getting actor crushes is that, aside from the fun part of hunting down every single obscure film and squeeing when one turns up, sometimes you get introduced to fantastic movies.



This one's in nine parts. It's by turns adorable and terrible, funny and broken and awful and you'll probably cry like a bitch and hide your eyes for some parts. Unlike Mysterious Skin, I think I could actually watch this again, because it wasn't really graphic, or at least didn't have these protracted graphic scenes. But still hard to watch.

And I know I get all crazy over actor crushes but seriously, this guy can go from Handsome Bob to Heathcliff to Stuart (in this movie) to Mr. Eames in Inception etc. and he's so effortless about it. I am impressed.

Finally, last night I watched Brick - and I'm linking to the TVTropes site instead of to IMDB because I think the tropes are more important. In fact maybe the most important, because the movie played with them a lot. Brick is truly a noir film, only with high school kids* in it. And the high school is Any American High. It looked like my school, your school, that school in the midwest, the one in NY... But still a noir film.

I thought of The Maltese Falcon a few times (I think they even mentioned it?) Though stylistically it reminded me of Blue Velvet. I kept trying to think of what the movie looked like, and it only came to me today. Blue Velvet.

Also a bit of River's Edge, a movie which horrified me as a young teen.

Anyway it was FRIGGING BRILLIANT.

This movie horrified me and delighted me, by turns. And even the "horrifying" parts were understated. There wasn't a lot of gore, blood and guts and things like that. I loved the dialog (which some people hated,) and I loved the soundtrack. Loved the quiet way it was filmed. And I guess it goes without saying that the acting was superb.

There were some honestly funny moments scattered throughout too. But they were the kind of funny where you're wondering, "Oh my god, is it okay if I laugh at that?" Like when the hero trips his pursuer, who then goes flying head-first into a metal pole with a reverberating "BONGGGG". And any scene in which The Big Bad's MOM was hanging around, serving various criminals apple juice and cereal. And then when one character threatens another with a ceramic rooster from said Mom's dining room table, I did LOL IRL.

This movie also has one of the best scrapping fight scenes ever, just because it's entirely unexpected. The hero (Gordon-Levitt**, or OH WOW, that kid* is Arthur the Point Man from Inception!), a scrawny little runt, picks a fight with the massive jock, and and then kicks his ass, roundly.

Of course, more fight scenes follow, which don't go as well. And as Tvtropes points out, this movie lacks any Hollywood healing, so of course it keeps getting worse and worse. And after all these movies I've seen lately, by about an hour into the film I was feeling like, "Okay, ENOUGH, I'm sick of watching all these people smack this kid* around!" I am all for fictional violence (depending on the context) and it usually doesn't bother me, (I write enough of it,) and fighting, blood, icky stuff, teeth flying out of heads, and that sort of thing don't really make me squeamish. But I dunno, maybe it still has to do with watching Mysterious Skin. After a while I was a little sick of it. Stop beating up on that kid* already.

And then there were a few really sad parts too. Obviously the movie is about murder and such, so the premise itself (high school* sleuths and criminals, students getting killed here and there totally without irony or humor,) was really harsh. But those were really the understated parts. Then there'd come a scene or two that would be really heartbreaking.

And in the next second The Funny would resurface.

I actually might need to own this film.







*When I say THAT KID I mean, HE IS 29 NOW, or 30 or something. And in the movie, 25 or 26, so yeah.


And Lukas Haas (who was also in Inception) was like, what 28 in this film? So yeah.



















**JGL is so gonna play Leander when they make movies out of my book, YEAH for sure! This will happen of course after I win the lottery and train with Jackie Chan and have some Ewan McGregor Magical Babies and, and...

I've been watching movies in my time off school (along with slowly feeding the tail-end of Qualia into our fun critique group, among other things,) and it's time to make some comments on those films. Keep in mind that most of them have actors from Inception in them. I really wanted to see Inception again, and while I usually go to the movies by myself, this time I waited on this friend and that friend, and no one else felt like seeing it. Now that it's probably too late (it's not playing locally anymore,) I've just been watching the movies that the actors did before it.

It's not that I fell in love with Inception or anything, 'cause I didn't. It was nifty. But I've seriously seen better movies and I don't really get all the hype. What I really loved what the cast. (And the costumes. Uhh yeah. :D )

First I watched Batman Begins to have another peek at Cillian Murphy. Yup, he's always pretty. I first saw him in 28 Days Later, and then in Red Eye. He's a pretty good creeper. But I like him better as the nice guy. Batman Begins was all right, I guess. Sorta. It didn't do much for me. Maybe I'm just not a Batman fan. Not a huge fan of what's-his-head either, the guy who plays him, the one who DOES NOT. HAVE. THROAT CANCER. (Still hilarious.) Umm but Cillian Murphy was creepy.

Then, on the recommendation of some kind folks, I watched Mysterious Skin. This is a story about two boys who were raped as children, one of them repeatedly, and how it affects them as teens and young adults. One kid forgets it all, and believes he was abducted by aliens. The first kid looks at it as his sexual awakening, and later becomes a homosexual hustler, an emotional black hole. Umm, OMG, that kid is Arthur, the Point Man. And, I don't really have a lot of coherent thoughts about the movie. It was totally stunning, I mean subjectively a fantastic movie. The acting was incredible (except for Jeffrey Licon who just didn't ring true to me, and seemed very self-conscious the entire time,) and the whole thing was just, wow, brilliantly done. It was a great movie that I never want to see again in my entire life. Like seriously, never ever. I watched portions of it from between my fingers which I kept over my eyes for many scenes. And I couldn't sleep that night either. Yeah, it was really, really horrifying.

And a few days before that, I watched The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo or rather, Män Som Hatar Kvinnor or, "Men Who Hate Women." The real one, I mean, obviously not the stupid American version that they're only starting work on now. :/

Mysterious Skin and Dragon Tattoo – two very different movies, both with really explicit rape scenes that were almost impossible to watch, at least without flinching.

I found that I felt moral outrage over Lisbeth, and anger – but Lisbeth gets her revenge in the most hardcore way. I sort of cheered during the revenge scene (though it was so much "better" in the book.) You get to see Lisbeth kick ass in return.

In Mysterious Skin there's an equally unflinching rape scene, but the pain never gets resolved and just ends in more destruction. It was just pathetic and heartbreaking. Seriously, will never watch this movie again.

Which is in no way to say it was a bad movie, or an unnecessary one. Obviously rape culture is rampant, it's actually the norm. People think it's hilarious, just a joke. This goes for men and women, both as victims, as perpetrators and as tacit approvers. I would dare anyone to watch this movie and think it was funny, or "hot," but on the other hand, I already know (just looking around the internet) that this mindset exists. The person who recommended the film to me told me that all over various LJ communities, people have made .gifs of the movie's most violent scenes because they were "hot." So, yeah. While I think difficult movies like this are necessary, I also don't believe that they change many people's views, in the end. I remember thinking the same thing of American History X, back when that one came out. If you hate the mindset, then you don't need to be schooled. If you think the mindset is okay, a movie isn't going to change you. Unfortunately.

Back to Dragon Tattoo, I wonder how the American version will treat Lisbeth's story? I'm almost afraid to find out.

Last night, My Wonderful Glassworker Friend came over. We had pizza, ice cream, and watched Shutter Island. My first observation on typing that is how unfortunate it is that the "U" and the "I" are right next to each other on the keyboard, seriously. Okay, but anyway, yeah, so what a mindscrew!

First lemme get this out of the way: I fought really hard, for a really long time, to not like Leonardo DiCaprio. I really tried, after Titanic, to make him a huge DNW. But then he was good in Catch Me If You Can, and The Departed, and Inception. During those films I kind of grudgingly gave him the ole, "Well, he was good in this, but he still did Titanic." Now I have to admit that he's been pretty consistently good since The Big T – at least in everything I've seen him in. Oh well. I remember that I loved him when he was a kid, because he did such a great job in The Basketball Diaries, which, oh look, another totally hideous yet honest look at the loss of innocence.

So, I guess I like him. Lately he seems to play older men. So hard to believe he's two years younger than I am. O_O

Oh, so Shutter Island! Well sure, we spent maybe about 9% of the time making Inception jokes (some similar concepts there, I guess you could say,) but it was a totally different kind of mindscrew, at the end of the day. And now for SPOILERS.
( SPOILERS! )

I guess that's my take on it. But I was intrigued about the parts they didn't clear up ("the law of 4") so I got the book on my Kindle. (Seriously, why put that part in the movie and leave it dangling there?)

Movies, movies. Then two nights ago, SB, Jo-chan and my uncle came by and we all watched ADVENT CHILDREN. Unfortunately, it was not Advent Children Complete (which I have on my computer but didn't have time to lug the whole thing up,) but Advent Children in any form makes me happy. I was happy to later learn that we watched it on Cloud Strife's birthday. WEE. I am that much of a poodle.

Mostly though, it was good to have company.

Umm, so that's movies so far, and tonight I'm watching Brick. OMG, that kid is Arthur the Point Man. :)

Onward and downward.

Today on Twitter, my favorite agent-turned-editor (YAY for her, BOO for me, 'cause I never got to send her my query letter that I wrote specifically for her!) posted this: F--- Me, Ray Bradbury! NOT SAFE FOR WORK / CHILDREN. But hilarious! I love SF as much as the next geek and all, but damn. :)

Then after that, my fave aunt posted The Most Beautiful Song Ever. I have no idea WTF he is saying, but I laughed through the whole stupid thing. My aunt commented, rightly, that he sounds like the greased up deaf guy from Family Guy. Haha, OMG.

So those are my many movies and two videos for today.

The rest of my vaca? Mmmm, editing, watching more movies, working out, trying to finish up some Kung Fu videos... Yeah, heaven, right?

Oh, one more thing.
( Tired of this style yet? Or this ginger? )

Sucks, I guess, because it's the only style I know how to draw / paint, and the only character that really inspires me to put pen to tablet. :D

Okay, now I'm off to make DINNER.

It was nifty! I liked it in the same way I liked The Matrix when that first came out. I really love these mind / belief / reality themes. Of course I was totally into the idea that reality is timeless in dreams, because you believe it to be so.

In some aspects it reminded me also of Waking Life, especially the way both movies went into the universals of "how to know you're dreaming." I must admit that it was creepier in Waking Life. (Try turning the light on or off in your dream; you never can.)

Of course, I really dig the cool-looking reality-bending scenes, like the weightless fight in the dream-hotel. Yeah, that was pretty cool. (However, I do remember one reviewer saying of Inception, "WOW! I mean this movie has a ZERO GRAVITY FIGHT, where and when have you ever seen anything like that?!" Well, I saw it in The Matrix. It was pretty awesome in Inception too, though. Maybe even my favorite part.)

You know what I noticed about this, what was unexpected? The fact that it wasn't cynical. I went into it knowing that it was going to be one of those reality-challengers, and those often turn out to have some sort of irony which, while turning expectations of plot upside-down also have a tendency to turn expectations of character on their heads, too. You expect someone to really be a bitch, or a character that the story has asked you to sympathize with or enjoy, to flip a switch. I guess I expected some sort of surprising poisonous characterization. But really it was just sort of a romp through dreams, and the romantic aspects of the film were presented sincerely.

I really liked the cast. I don't think there was anyone in there I didn't enjoy. I know it's in vogue to hate on Cillian Murphy (I think?) but he appeals to me, and not just 'cause he went full frontal in 28 Days Later (that film scared the christ out of me.) I think he's cute and sympathetic. I kinda felt sorry for him, getting mindscrewed like that.

I really enjoyed Joseph Gordon-Levitt, with his little sly smile that never seemed to waver through the whole film. Tom Hardy was lots of fun and he looked like he had lots of fun, and I love that. (ALSO HOT) (Plus, were they gay? I kept thinking that.) I liked Dileep Rao too, and through the film I kept wondering where I'd seen him before. (Drag Me To Hell.) Ellen Page (as audience surrogate, pretty much) is just awesome in pretty much everything she does, so. I really just liked everyone; they all did a great job.

Now for the questions.

( SPOILERS. )

However, when the screen went black, I totally went "OH COME ON."

( And ) Lord of Light is like that, too.


Another question: What did Mal bury (keep in the vault) that she didn't want anyone to know? If I knew it last night during or after the movie, I've already forgotten it. Or, was it ( spoiler ) that she buried? I can't remember.

Here's one irritating thing having nothing to do with the film. This dillhole was sitting behind us, with his girlfriend or whatever, and he obviously wasn't getting even the simplest aspects of the film. I know this because whenever something did occur to him, he would turn to her under the pretense of whispering, and in a stage voice tell everyone else what he thought was going on. "AHA! THAT'S THE SAME GUY AS IN THE BEGINNING. I KNEW THAT." "YOU KNOW WHY HE KEEPS COUGHING, RIGHT?" "OH! DON'T YOU GET IT? THE REASON THE VAN IS FALLING REALLY SLOW IS BECAUSE IT'S THE FIRST DREAM."

I turned back a few times and shot him a look that I hope said, "THE REASON YOU ARE STILL TALKING IS BECAUSE IT'S ILLEGAL FOR ME TO PUNCH YOU IN THE FACE."

This guy honestly thought he was one step ahead of the rest of the audience, and was so proud of himself whenever he figured out the most obvious thing.

I do like movies that flip a switch in the viewer and leave you wondering, and I love movies that can outwit me. (The Usual Suspects, Shallow Grave, Fight Club, The Prestige. I'm not going to mention Sixth Sense because M Night Shyamalan has become irredeemable since then, and that takes away from any of his former glory. Seriously, I loathe a writer who thinks that they're outclassing their audience with their cleverness and originality, when really they're just being a chump.)

I'm not sure if Inception really outwitted anyone (aside from the guy behind me) but it was a really fun ride with lots of cool ideas and good effects which weren't overdone or anything like that. I'd probably see it again because a second viewing would be like a second layer. It was nifty. I'd sure recommend it.