green_queen | (no subject) (Reply)

I'm back.

You KNOW I've missed a million awesome things while I've been away, so if there's anything you think I should know about, TELL ME ABOUT IT!!! I missed you guys. I know I have to go through

mata090680's journal for all her pics, she did an awesome LotR at the Oscars spam here.

I had a pretty good Christmas. Lots of avoiding talking about you-know-what and trying to be nice to my father, but some presents and good times with family. A couple of movies with the cousins. Lots of Scarface the game and Crazy Taxi and food and alcohol. I enjoyed myself. Also, a bunch of people are in town for New Year's, including a friend from Melbourne,

tuatha_de and The Boy. I saw him today. I have been hanging out with

melissajane14 for a day and a half and she's staying here tomorrow too. SHE GAVE ME MY WIFE IN A BIKINI!!!!!

I DID IT! 100 movies I've never seen before in 2006.

The day before yesterday (I know I've been slack, sorry) I saw Mission: Impossible 3

I was sort of half wanted to see this and was half dreading it, but in the end my reaction was largely an underwhelmed one. It wasn't terrible, but it was pretty standard action fare and it couldn't match up to anything like Casino Royale or the Bourne movies. Tom Cruise just doesn't engage me any more. The stunts were pretty cool and there was some fun stuff in it, but I didn't care about him. Michelle Monaghan had a much better role than I thought, though - she could really make it as an action chick, and she didn't have to sex it up or play victim at all, which appealed to me. JJ threw in a couple of Lost references (and a Greg Grunberg cameo that made me squee) and I could watch JRM yelling in Italian for days. PSH makes a great scenery-chewing villain. I think I've pretty much covered the good points of the film now.

6 out of 10

Then last night I went to see my hundredth movie, Marie Antoinette

Okay, some elements of this movie were unusual and it maybe didn't work as well as it could have, but for it to get booed? Honestly, it was nowhere NEAR that bad. The film seems to be trying to create a dissociative feeling by mixing the modern world with the period in which the film is set, which worked for it and against it in some ways. Oddly, you can see the boom mike in a number of scenes, which makes me feel that it wasn't completely unintentional. You can also see sneakers and various other modern accoutrements at different points in the film, which deconstruct the suspension of disbelief people tend to employ when watching a movie. Sofia Coppola seems intent on reminding you constantly that you're watching a movie, in order to enhance the odd, dreamlike state that Kirsten Dunst's Marie Antoinette flits through the movie in.

In other words, it was a different kind of film, and I had to adjust my mindset in order to let myself get carried away by it. Once I did that, though, I found it a really interesting sensory experience. The sound is really good, but the visuals are absolutely stunning - the palaces, the dresses, the beautiful women and pretty boys. It's kind of like a feast for the eyes. Coppola doesn't concern herself much with words or plot, choosing to let the visuals tell the story instead, which I very much enjoyed. For all that, though, the movie kind of seems like an excuse to tell the story of disenfranchised youth that Coppola wants to tell against a pretty backdrop, and I'm just not sure Marie Antoinette was the right person at the right time for that. Basically, don't go into this thinking it's a historical costume drama/biopic. There are some interesting moments from MA's life that were represented well, and the day-to-day realities of the palace are intriguing for a while, but she dispenses with those kinds of examinations of palace life pretty quickly. The actors were good enough, but Jason Schwartzmann as King Louis was...bizarre, and some other choices were similarly off-the-wall, which worked against her sometimes. Nobody speaks in the same accent, the kids speak in French, it's hard to get used to.

I could write about this film all day, though, which means it's thought-provoking. I admire Coppola for her risk-taking.

8 out of 10.

You can read all my reviews for the year under this tag.

VOTE FOR MY FAVOURITE DIRECTOR here. If you don't know who my favourite director is, you are not paying close enough attention to my journal!

LOL Big Dick, Little Dick and Tiny Dick Casablancas.

The song 'Good Day Sunshine' is possessed and I'm removing it from my car. Every time it plays something bad happens.

The other Captain Jack, aka John Barrowman, got gay married.

Check out

mellafe's awesome new faces of 2006 spam.

Are you on the list? Heroes trailer for the next part of the season.

hp_fridayfive

1. What was your first reaction to the announcement of the title Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows?
Pretty much instant OMG YAY NEW TITLE. It was like half an hour before I could process anything beyond THIS IS THE LAST HARRY POTTER TITLE EVER. Then I liked it because I'd already read theories on it.

2. In your opinion, what could this title mean?
It's a typo of gallows. They're going to hang Harry.
(Everybody else has already claimed the good theories.)

3. Would you rather see Book 7 released sometime in the summer of 2007, or would you like to stretch this last one out as long as possible?
I don't mind suspense myself, but I'm always terrified something bad will happen and we won't get the seventh book unless she releases it soon.

4. You can ask JK Rowling one yes or no question regarding Book 7. What do you ask her?
Does Ron die?

5. If you had to guess, do you think Harry will survive the final book? Why or why not?
I think he will, because otherwise we'll have to shift out of his point of view or do a weird post-death narrative that won't work. That would be strange.

In 2007,

green_queen resolves to...

Cut down on my boytouching.
Ask my boss for a 1967 chevy impala.
Volunteer to spend time with gina torres.
Find a new music.
Learn to play the piz.
Get back in contact with some old gay cowboys.

Okay, I don't want to cut down on boytouching, but OMG IMPALA! And I am suddenly curious as to how one would play the Piz.