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MOST EXCITING THING THAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY: Darren won a Teen Choice Award
THIS:
DARREN AND JOEY CHATTING WITH TOM FELTON. AS:FKJHSDF:KJSDFSDF I DIED. Also, need a gif from 2:34 to 2:39.
Before I get to spamming you guys with pictures, I shall spam you with LINKS to YouTube vids, instead of the actual vids! Doncha love me, Ron? Doncha WANT me RON?:
Adorable multi-part Tyler Brunsman interview.
TV Guide at Comic-con - just some Darren adorableness.
Darren guest voicing on Archer!
Raise Your Glass from the Glee 3D movie.
The Darren, Mark, Ashley live chat that I tried and failed to set my alarm for. I got up too late (at like 3 am, to be fair.) I was going to ask Ashley if she'd said hi to Darren for me. They talk about the big Glee Live tour kiss and troll a lot.
I'm not totally sure what this is a link to.
Darren interview - red carpet of TCAs.
The thing you need to know about the Teen Choice Awards is, go follow all of Team Starkids' Twitter accounts. SERIOUSLY. Also, Joey was Darren's +1 ♥
Interview with the Glee kids on the day of the premiere. I'm trying to think of who Lea reminds me of when she does that Rachel overwhelmed face from the trailer and it's not coming to me. I love this cast.
More interviews.
Ignore Rebecca Black. Chord hugging Darren top right 0:04; Chord hugging Chris, top left 0:33.
Darren tackle-hugging Kevin and being basically the most adorable thing that ever adorabled.
On Friday night I saw Captain America
...oh, so many thoughts.
The Good:
I love the way that they acknowledged the campiness of the comics, and the action style was very old school comic book-esque with poses and frames and such, but then they would undercut or lampoon or lampshade their own silliness. That was a really clever piece of filmmaking, because of all the superhero movies, this had the opportunity to be pretty silly and cartoony and they managed it really well.
GOOD MOVE casting Chris Evans. He embodies all the goodness of the Cap without overselling it. He's such a star, man.
The girl was just fabulous. She wasn't EVER the damsel. She was tough and fierce and she shot at him and she didn't back down and I really liked her.
The colour palette and period detail were gorgeous.
The Multicultural Moustache Brigade! I wanted more of them. Especially Neal McDonagh.
Hell, while I'm listing cast, Stanley Tucci, Tommy Lee Jones, Toby Jones.
DOMINIC COOPER, DO ME ON IT. HNNNGH. WHAT IS WITH THE STARK FAMILY THAT THEY ARE SO FUCKING ATTRACTIVE?
I just really had a lot of fun watching this. It was incredibly enjoyable - surprisingly funny, and adventurous and sweet and fun.
I liked the way that the arc had Cap fall on his ass early and then get back up. It was an interesting arc to watch, even though we knew how it would end.
The MUUUUSIC. Fucking brilliant.
The WTF:
STILL CAN'T GET USED TO HIS HEAD ON THAT TINY BODY. I honestly, sincerely think that is the best CG I have ever seen. It's, like, SEAMLESS, and you forget for a second and then there's a perspective shot and you're like WTF, TINY BODY. I DON'T UNDERSTAAAND.
The Bad:
Red Skull, Hydra, the Heil Hydra salute ("I throw my hands up in the air sometimes, singing he~il, heil Hydra!") Hugo Weaving overacting to the point of utter ridiculousness. The Red Skull make-up. The complete lack of consistency in the German accents (at one point Hugo Weaving ACTUALLY SAYS "wictory". I was like, who are you, Chekov?!) The fact that I felt absolutely no sense of actual urgency of fear at all in the entire film. It lets the movie down a lot, and I got bored in a lot of those scenes.
Having recently rewatched Iron Man, it remains the gold (iron?) standard of Marvel comic book movies and is yet to be topped in terms of quality. Iron Man has a modern world realism to it that Cap obviously can't match, but Cap could have gotten there in terms of quality if not for the stupidity of its bad guys, I think. Then again, that opening Afghanistan sequence is so good I don't know how anything can top it. I challenge you, Joss Whedon.
3.5 out of 5
On Saturday I watched Black Swan
Maybe it's because I knew so much going in, but I felt really disappointed by this movie. I feel like it's vastly overrated. Which isn't to say it isn't a good movie, I just wasn't as blown away by it as I expected to be. I didn't feel like it was all that new or fresh.
That said, it had mostly excellent performances (from WOMEN!), particularly from Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, and Winona Ryder as essentially shades of the same ballerina. All of the explorations of the different sides of that character or archetype, and of Nina's sexuality and repression, her relationship with her mother, that was all really engaging. I felt on edge and invested. I wanted to slap her mother. The day in the life of a ballerina stuff was also all really interesting, I always love that kind of thing and the repetitive and painful nature of chasing perfection was really cool. We know there's a connection between art and madness, and it's always interesting to see that portrayed in film.
Once Nina really started to break down I felt disconnected from the movie. I think it's something about when filmmakers try to portray what's going on from the character's point of view but it's different from what the world sees - ie. Nina growing the wings when she became the Black Swan. The final ballet, when I should have been wound tighter than a drum and it should have all come together, I didn't really feel. About fifteen minutes earlier, when Nina was visiting Beth in the hospital, I felt like my heart was going to break out of my chest it was beating so hard, but then I lost it. I think that might just be me, though.
3.5 out of 5
On Sunday I watched Source Code
I've missed your FACE, Jake Gyllenhaal. He's so gorgeous lovely wonderful fantastic. I also reeeeally love Michelle Monaghan, think the two of them have great chemistry, and genuinely loved all their moments together in this movie. Her character really was just The Girl, but I was surprised to find how genuinely I LIKED her. She was so...honest, and cute, and her reactions weren't pat and stupid as they so often can be in this kind of crazy alternate world movie. I also love my "time travel", which this essentially is - a little bit Donnie Darko, a little bit Groundhog Day, a lot cool.
I don't really know how to review this without giving away the ending, except to say that the end felt a bit too neat for me.
The problem with Source Code is that it feels unfinished. They set up a lot of ideas that don't go anywhere and could be more fleshed out - Jake's interactions with the other people on the train, for example, as he is supposed to get to know them. Vera Farmiga and Jeffrey Wright do great things with paper thin characters. I guess I just expect more from the guy who made Moon - although the main character IS well explored, and he did only have one character in Moon. LOL. It's a solid enough sci fi actioner, and it has its thinking cap on, but it comes in at only an hour and a half and for once it could actually be longer.
3 out of 5
Green Queen
THIS:
DARREN AND JOEY CHATTING WITH TOM FELTON. AS:FKJHSDF:KJSDFSDF I DIED. Also, need a gif from 2:34 to 2:39.
Before I get to spamming you guys with pictures, I shall spam you with LINKS to YouTube vids, instead of the actual vids! Doncha love me, Ron? Doncha WANT me RON?:
Adorable multi-part Tyler Brunsman interview.
TV Guide at Comic-con - just some Darren adorableness.
Darren guest voicing on Archer!
Raise Your Glass from the Glee 3D movie.
The Darren, Mark, Ashley live chat that I tried and failed to set my alarm for. I got up too late (at like 3 am, to be fair.) I was going to ask Ashley if she'd said hi to Darren for me. They talk about the big Glee Live tour kiss and troll a lot.
I'm not totally sure what this is a link to.
Darren interview - red carpet of TCAs.
The thing you need to know about the Teen Choice Awards is, go follow all of Team Starkids' Twitter accounts. SERIOUSLY. Also, Joey was Darren's +1 ♥
Interview with the Glee kids on the day of the premiere. I'm trying to think of who Lea reminds me of when she does that Rachel overwhelmed face from the trailer and it's not coming to me. I love this cast.
More interviews.
Ignore Rebecca Black. Chord hugging Darren top right 0:04; Chord hugging Chris, top left 0:33.
Darren tackle-hugging Kevin and being basically the most adorable thing that ever adorabled.
On Friday night I saw Captain America
...oh, so many thoughts.
The Good:
The WTF:
The Bad:
Having recently rewatched Iron Man, it remains the gold (iron?) standard of Marvel comic book movies and is yet to be topped in terms of quality. Iron Man has a modern world realism to it that Cap obviously can't match, but Cap could have gotten there in terms of quality if not for the stupidity of its bad guys, I think. Then again, that opening Afghanistan sequence is so good I don't know how anything can top it. I challenge you, Joss Whedon.
3.5 out of 5
On Saturday I watched Black Swan
Maybe it's because I knew so much going in, but I felt really disappointed by this movie. I feel like it's vastly overrated. Which isn't to say it isn't a good movie, I just wasn't as blown away by it as I expected to be. I didn't feel like it was all that new or fresh.
That said, it had mostly excellent performances (from WOMEN!), particularly from Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, and Winona Ryder as essentially shades of the same ballerina. All of the explorations of the different sides of that character or archetype, and of Nina's sexuality and repression, her relationship with her mother, that was all really engaging. I felt on edge and invested. I wanted to slap her mother. The day in the life of a ballerina stuff was also all really interesting, I always love that kind of thing and the repetitive and painful nature of chasing perfection was really cool. We know there's a connection between art and madness, and it's always interesting to see that portrayed in film.
Once Nina really started to break down I felt disconnected from the movie. I think it's something about when filmmakers try to portray what's going on from the character's point of view but it's different from what the world sees - ie. Nina growing the wings when she became the Black Swan. The final ballet, when I should have been wound tighter than a drum and it should have all come together, I didn't really feel. About fifteen minutes earlier, when Nina was visiting Beth in the hospital, I felt like my heart was going to break out of my chest it was beating so hard, but then I lost it. I think that might just be me, though.
3.5 out of 5
On Sunday I watched Source Code
I've missed your FACE, Jake Gyllenhaal. He's so gorgeous lovely wonderful fantastic. I also reeeeally love Michelle Monaghan, think the two of them have great chemistry, and genuinely loved all their moments together in this movie. Her character really was just The Girl, but I was surprised to find how genuinely I LIKED her. She was so...honest, and cute, and her reactions weren't pat and stupid as they so often can be in this kind of crazy alternate world movie. I also love my "time travel", which this essentially is - a little bit Donnie Darko, a little bit Groundhog Day, a lot cool.
I don't really know how to review this without giving away the ending, except to say that the end felt a bit too neat for me.
The problem with Source Code is that it feels unfinished. They set up a lot of ideas that don't go anywhere and could be more fleshed out - Jake's interactions with the other people on the train, for example, as he is supposed to get to know them. Vera Farmiga and Jeffrey Wright do great things with paper thin characters. I guess I just expect more from the guy who made Moon - although the main character IS well explored, and he did only have one character in Moon. LOL. It's a solid enough sci fi actioner, and it has its thinking cap on, but it comes in at only an hour and a half and for once it could actually be longer.
3 out of 5
Green Queen
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From:
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As for Source Code, I somehow hadn't heard that it was made by Duncan Jones when I saw it, so I just expected a generic action movie with pretty leads and was positively surprised that it was more clever and at least a little more character-driven than I would have thought. However, when I did see that it was Jones' work afterwards, I thought "well, then that could have been much better, too." Jake was really good, and I totally agree about Michelle, I have yet to see a movie where I don't love her. Her character type was so generic and forgettable, but she made it something more than it was.
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On the topic of Michelle Monaghan, I love her so much and she hasn't been in anything really good since Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (that I know of). She's always cst in these generic action movie girl roles and it infuriates me.
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That lounge video is such a tease. You can hear their voice without really hearing the conversation. If this was CSI, they'd strip away the surrounding noises.
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But I don't watch movies with quite the same critical edge that you do; I'm much easier to please, I think. ;)
(Oh, and I liked Source Code much better the first time I saw it than the second. I agree with you completely about that one - though I haven't seen Moon yet).
From:
no subject
I actually didn't feel that disturbed or shell-shocked by it, which made me not like it quite as much. Maybe I've seen too many movies or maybe I'm just scarred for life by Blue Velvet, I don't know, but it didn't really affect me as much, particularly not the climax. I liked the bit just before that better.
LOL is "I don't watch movies with quite the same critical edge that you do" just a nicer way of saying what my friends always say to me, which is essentially WHY DOES NOTHING PLEASE YOU? There's almost always something I don't like about a movie.
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