What happened to See-Moan, Sansa?

Sheesh

I still haven’t seen Hunger Games and I have no intention whatsoever of seeing it in the future, but I’ll give it this: It does a great job of letting me know which of my facebook friends are creeps.

Sansa, howso? I do not understand.

I saw The Artist tonight.

It was adorable and classy. It really felt like I was watching an old movie.

The plot was nothing new, but it was delivered in such a way it didn’t feel cliched.

Also, the dog is the most precious thing in the world.

@sansa- yeah, it’s been all over Tumblr. Sometimes I really lose faith in humanity, you know?

Jennifer Lawrence is a sort of celebrity crush of mine. She’s so refreshingly outspoken, you know?

I watched this Korean movie called Harmony. It was incredibly melodramatic but I cried my eyes out anyway. That is the way of things.

That’s why some people have interpreted them as an allegory for the current state of American politics—the whole idea of bending the laws (by allowing a vigilante like Batman) for the safety of others, as well as whether or not it’s acceptable to infringe on others’ freedoms (by Batman in general, but also things like the Bat-magic-seeing-through-walls-device in TDK. I think that might be stretching things a bit far, but I don’t think it would be inaccurate to say Nolan deliberately chose to play up the terrorism angle because that’s such a huge part of the public consciousness right now. Or at least the American consciousness.

bq. I don’t think it would be inaccurate to say Nolan deliberately chose to play up the terrorism angle because that’s such a huge part of the public consciousness right now. Or at least the American consciousness.

I think they're as close as we get to real world super villains. Another weird thing about Nolan's villains is how they're crafted. The "minor" villains--Scarecrow, Falcone, Maroni, Two-Face, and Catwoman--are onscreen very nearly how they are in the comics. But for the big three--Ra's, Joker, and Bane--they're intact in terms of character, motivation, and action, but their origins are skewed in favor of more plausible alternatives. Not sure if there's a reason for that.

Well, to be fair, you couldn’t have either Ra’s or the Joker’s comic book origins in Nolan’s movies, unless he wants to bring in the supernatural. With Ra’s comes in all the stuff about the Lazarus Pits and the functional immortality thing, and the Joker’s dunked-in-chemical thing isn’t particularly plausible. By contrast, Two-Face, Carmine Falcone, Maroni, Scarecrow, the whole lot, they’ve never been too closely linked to the supernatural. Which brings up a whole separate question of why Batman’s main villains have that element to them while his minor ones don’t, but I don’t have any theories on that one!

On Bane and Catwoman, I don’t really want to comment on them until I see the movie. So long as they keep Bane’s intelligence, though, I’ll be happy.

To add to the “the movies are about terrorism” idea, by the way, I’ve just been thinking it through more, and I think another important (and related) theme is that of fear. What do we do when we are afraid? Do we let it conquer us or do we overcome it? The fear gas in Begins was pretty overt about fear, obviously, but the Joker was about it too, especially about how far he could push people when they were frightened. Time will tell if Bane is about it too, although what we’ve already seen/heard does seem to imply that he’s trying to take over or destroy Gotham, which would undoubtedly involve quite a bit of fear!

The “how they got here” is rarely as compelling as the “what do they do now that they’re here?”

Could not agree more. Even in Begins, a lot of it really was “how did Batman get started”, but at least there was some action and interesting things, not just Bruce staring longingly at his parents’ graves for hours or something. He never explains how you get from young Bruce to Bruce-who-wants-to-kill-Joe-Chill to Bruce-in-China, only hints at it. So many superhero-related things screw this up. Nobody wants to see Batman failing at being Batman or Spider-man failing at being Spider-man! We want to see them being awesome! This idea that we have to rehash the story over and over again… eeeenh. Very annoying. Go look at some great epics of history. Did the Iliad explain how everybody grew up and learned how to fight and sailed to Troy? No, it’s like “we’re going to go fight the Trojans!” and then suddenly they’re off fighting the Trojans. Homer just assumed his audience already knew the backstory, or at least were intelligent enough to figure it out. Did Beowulf start with Beowulf learning which end of a sword is the pointy one? No, it starts with Beowulf showing up and asserting his awesomeness.

And that’s why Smallville sucks.

Wait, what?

The “how they got here” is rarely as compelling as the “what do they do now that they’re here?”

Definitely. It can be likened to how I feel about some books; I’ve reread their beginnings many times and then dropped the book, making me not want to reread the book further because I’ve read the start so much. Then with superheroes, the only way they’re ever featured in non-comic book situations is in their origin stories and so we get sick of it.

If you can appreciate good fight sequences then check out this scene from the film The Protector. Impressive is an understatement.

Saw Hunger Games on Tuesday. Some movie/book spoilers:

I’m currently watching Breaking Dawn: Part 1 for the first time.

I’m kind of at a loss for words. I was incredibly bored for the first three-quarters, and then suddenly there’s this scene with all the wolves looking their corniest, having this super dramatic mind-argument, and I lost it.

I’m with my friend who got super offended the first couple of times I criticized aspects of the movie though, so in the interest of not being a bitch, I had to laugh myself to death inside.

Tangential rant: I hate movies made to compete for Oscars. Worthless rubbish.

I picked up Gran Torino at a thrift store.

Wow.

Pretty interesting plot. Also! Bruce Willis! :D Also! Also! Joseph Gordon-Levitt. :D

And, uh, Piper Perabo. BOOOOOO. >:(

I saw Wrath of the Titans today. It was fun. Not brilliant, but a lot of fun.

The 1973 version of Jesus Christ Superstar.

what the HELL did I just watch.

So Israel in 4 BC had no mass communication but it had planes?

Ok then.

Karamazov : The whole presentation is actually a metaplay. The actors are all aware that they are playing a roll, but at the same time the roles are played sincerely. They know they’re in the modern age and that they are not the characters they are playing, but they’re immersing themselves in role-play and historical fantasy and all the rest of it. It’s so much easier to watch when you think of it like that. It’s a flash mob with cameras.

I mean, I GOT that but I just thought it was really weird. It’s like….the cast of Hair puts on JCS.

However, I LOVED Judas. He was amazing. and Jesus was pretty good, too.

Also, didn’t you LOVE the fat shirtless bling-draped white-guy-afro Herod? OMG.

DO NOT WANT
DO NOT WANT.
DO NOT WANT.

Y’know? This movie was the reason I hated the show at first.

I watched 127 hours. D:

Which was great, really, but something’s bothering me about the ending. I don’t know what it is, but I find something irritating about it. Too happy, maybe? And I’m not talking about the shots they showed afterwards of the real Aron, that was nice.

at the ending:

Karamazova, you should check out the 2001 version, it’s seriously cool. Judas wears a black leather jacket and is basically the James Dean of the group, and Simon wears a tank top and fingerless leather gloves, and the entire setup is a dystopian future including guns, bombs and graffiti.

My internet buddy and I are probably watching that tonight, so I’ll keep you posted on what I think.

Awesome!

Noooo it can’t have! I love that movie!

Okay really though, what didn’t you care for? (Actually, maybe I should see it again. I think it’s been about a year and I keep getting more and more critical as time goes by.)

seriously I wish I could meld these two movies into one because where one fails the other is awesome.

That’s me with a few of the different Les Mis versions.

I liked Pradon’s singing, I thought it had a really authentic humanity to it (in contrast to Jesus’ otherworldly castrato sound), and the ragged edges made the emotional scenes that much more intense and gripping. I didn’t notice him struggling top reach the high notes, possibly because I’m not too good at hearing the high notes.

GOOD LORD THE EYESEX.

:D That’s my favourite bit! As an atheist and blasphemer, I like to think of Jesus and Judas as best childhood friends, Scrubs guy-love style, until Jesus started going all weird and heretical. I like the way JC Superstar portrays Judas as a realist-patriot, sort of “yes, that’s all very well, but the Romans are going to kill us”, in comparison to Simon’s blind zealotry and Jesus’ hippy-love heresy.

Inconclusion, I would like to draw your attention to Youtube, where you might be able to find the 1992 version of JC Superstar wherein “John Farnham”:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AC6cC4IP8hQ plays the role of Jesus. The singing is great, and so, so Aussie. It has more of that heavy metal rock opera feel to it, too.

That’s me with a few of the different Les Mis versions.

I hear you with that.

I’m so nit-picky about my cast recordings.

I liked Pradon’s singing, I thought it had a really authentic humanity to it (in contrast to Jesus’ otherworldly castrato sound), and the ragged edges made the emotional scenes that much more intense and gripping. I didn’t notice him struggling top reach the high notes, possibly because I’m not too good at hearing the high notes.

He was certainly emotional (he got more of an emotional reaction from me than Carl Anderson, even though I thought Anderson sang much better).

:D That’s my favourite bit! As an atheist and blasphemer, I like to think of Jesus and Judas as best childhood friends, Scrubs guy-love style, until Jesus started going all weird and heretical. I like the way JC Superstar portrays Judas as a realist-patriot, sort of “yes, that’s all very well, but the Romans are going to kill us”, in comparison to Simon’s blind zealotry and Jesus’ hippy-love heresy.

Yeah, it is a really interesting look at Jesus, and even as a…..Christian…ish…person. I feel like the 2001 version is a lot more bitter than the ’73 version.
I’ve heard a lot of good things about the Broadway revival, but my parents would kill me if I went.

This is so much unlike anything else ALW wrote. Honestly, I wish he would have written something else with bite. I’d say it’s the best music he’s ever written.

:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AC6cC4IP8hQ p

That was awesome. I ought to see more of that.

EDIT:
I just watched Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

It was boring.
And uninspired.
And shallow.
and annoying as hell.

Which version did you see? Some of the songs are not so good, but there’s one actor (as Joseph) who is very good indeed. David someone?

Donny Osmond?

He was a good singer, but I just didn’t like the music much over all. There really wan’t much too it. And it’s now stuck in my head.

I LOOK HANDSOME I LOOK SMART
I AM A WALKING WORK OF ART

Jeff Wayne’s War Of The Worlds. Go forth and listen. Now.

Well, it’s hard to judge from the 30 second clips on Amazon, but it seems pretty cool and I shall look further into it.

I believe the Inspector is referring to the free snippets of music one can get.

BOURNE MOVIES YEAH

I’m remembering why I love these movies all over again. They’re just so gloriously awesome. And Matt Damon being in them doesn’t hurt. At all.

Finally saw The Artist. That dog was pretty cute and there was some stylistic coolness here and there, but other than that, there wasn’t really anything to it. Don’t understand all the rave reviews.

It was a nice way to spend an evening and I enjoyed it, it’s just not as amazing as I thought it would be.

The Cabin in the Woods.

Holy shit.

I spent the entire movie having all my preconceptions smashed to beautiful smithereens. I frigging love Joss Whedon, man.

Meh. If I have to.

WANT WANT WANT WANT WANT

ASSEMBLE!

Oh please let there be shirtless scenes for Thor and Captain America. I beg this of you, Joss Whedon.

Oh please let there be shirtless scenes for Thor and Captain America. I beg this of you, Joss Whedon.

SECONDED. PLEASE, PRETTY PLEASE.

SHUT UP YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND

I wanted to see The Avengers, but I assumed nobody would want to go with me.

Turns out everyone does. Up to and including my super-girly friend and my mom.

(Although I suspect the super-girly friend is only going for the potential shirtless scenes. Me, I’m there for explosions and badassery.)

Soup, my friend, if Chris Hemsworth and Chris Evans were shirtless in New Moon, I would definitely watch it.

I’ll call my agent.

Waitwhat

_Way_ too much Avengers around here. Time for a change of scenery.

"The Dark Knight Rises - Trailer 3":http://batman-news.com/2012/04/30/the-dark-knight-rises-trailer-3-officially-online-in-hd/

Attempt #2

I watched Hanna. It was so annoying.

I rather liked it. But I can see your point. I didn’t like the family she met so much, but I did like her exploration of humanity when she has basically been raised to be a heartless killer.

B-b-but AVENGERS.

Please oh please oh please let it work out for me to see it Sunday morning…

I may see it in a few weeks when the theaters aren’t crowded.

I’d say The Avengers was pretty cool all around. There was cool stuff and cool people and funny banter and sweet special effects, but mostly I’m just in love with Jeremy Renner.

Just got back from The Avengers myself, and it was awesome. There were only two down sides: 1) I had to wait for a later showing (the line for tickets was huge when I got there the first time) and 2) the woman sitting behind me would not shut up for about 90% of the movie. I guess this means I’ll just have to see it again.

HOLY MOTHER OF FUCKEDY FUCK FUCK GOD THAT WAS AMAZING. SWEET BABY POTATO JESUS ON A CRACKER!

HIDDEN FOR SPOILERS. GO SEE THE MOVIE NOW. NOW, I SAY!

I guess this means I’ll just have to see it again

CAN I COME WITH. NO SERIOUSLY. I NEED TO SEE THIS AGAIN. NOW. I AM ALREADY TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHERE I CAN FIT IN ANOTHER SHOWING. DAMN YOU, WORK SCHEDULE.

Was finally able to find the time to see _Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol_ a couple weeks back. I'm not much of a Cruise fan, nor a fan of the M:I series (haven't seen the first, which looks fairly good, or the second, which looks stupid; the third, which I have seen, was mediocre with some good points), and I'm still in awe of what I saw.

If there are any deficiencies to be found, they're in the script, which Brad Bird didn't write. Felt as though every actor involved pulled his and her own weight, and Giacchino's score is immensely enjoyable. But what I like best is how Bird put the whole thing together, firstly by wringing every drop of humor from the script--none of which felt forced, thanks to the immensely funny to Simon Pegg. Second, the technical acumen on screen at any given moment blew me away. This goes beyond the sheer awesomesauce Burj Khalifa climbing sequence. The composition of the shots, the editing, the staging of the set pieces, and the look, feel, and apparent plausibility of the technology at the team's disposal are worth the cost of multiple IMAX tickets. Just wish I'd been able to see it in IMAX.

A fun, well-assembled flick. I could almost hear Bird cackling off-camera at any point in the movie. Seriously have to doff my cap to him.