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green_queen Oct. 25th, 2008 11:44 pm)
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ladyminya made a post about internet censorship in Australia that Australians should check out. Worrying stuff.nothing_to_say saw I Sell the Dead! There's non-spoilery reactions, and you have to scroll for the spoilers, with plenty of warning.Titles for the first 6 episodes of season 5 of Lost.
Mark Sheppard posted briefly about Leverage (with Christian Kane) and Dollhouse, which he will start shooting on Wednesday.
There's a few animations from that Jensen scene over at Supernatural TV. Also, new season 4 promo pics, and Kripke & co apparently don't think Dean's a dick. Good to know.
It's almost enough to make me excited about comic books: Seth Green wants to direct 'Freshmen' adaptation (I have a signed copy of the first one) and ALFONSO FUCKING CUARON has first right of refusal on 'Umbrella Academy'. I COULD DIE.
Icons: here, here, here (what IS 'The Fall'?!), here (THE SCENE!), by my favourite icon-maker.
Where the Wild Things Are finally has a release date. For next year. I want to SEE it!
Linking this because of the movie I watched tonight: Synecdoche, New York is the best film of 2008, apparently.
Okay, reviews of the four movies I saw over the last two days.
Burn After Reading
This movie is crazy. Not the craziest movie I've seen in the last two days, but crazy nonetheless. Fortunately, it is also brilliant, most notably Brad Pitt and the two scenes featuring JK Simmons as the head of the CIA, in which the CIA struggle to make sense of what's going on in the movie and suddenly everything is brought into sharp comic relief. The rest of the time we're watching the characters whose plight is so funny when we don't have to live it with them. The suspense and humour of the movie is built really cleverly, starting out with physical comedy chuckles and meaningless interactions and building to a climax that is both tense and side-splittingly funny. I like that the characters couldn't act without consequence - in the hands of less confident directors, I imagine that everything would have worked out okay for the protagonists, but the Coens refuse to let their characters get away with that.
Brad Pitt is fantastic. Really. His role is comedy gold because it's just over-the-top of a recognisable person that most people know. John Malkovich oozes a kind of menace that works well, while George Clooney bumbles amiably. Frances McDormand is the movie's lynchpin, and her emotions work to keep you in the reality of the movie, even when it gets ridiculous.
4 out of 5
Taken
Clearly, the people who rated this at IMDb were on crack. I really only saw it for my wife, and she actually got a really decent role, which is good for her. The action in this movie is also mostly top-notch, but that's about as far as I'll go in praise of the movie. It is oversimplified, but not to the point where it's pure self-aware action fun, like some other movies that I love. No, this movie has a Message about sex slavery - and then treats every woman in the movie as a passive object for the men to use as they will. Maggie's character, Liam Neeson's daughter, and her friend are (obviously) kidnapped and sold into slavery. I'm not saying they SHOULD have fought back, what with being drugged up and herded like cattle, but if there had been a single other strong female character - maybe one female government agent, or a female spy, or even a female bloody sex slaver - it would've made up for it. Every single person with any power in the movie is male. Liam Neeson's character even shoots another man's wife (in the arm) in order to get the guy to do what he wants. Famke Janssen's role could've been strong and interesting if she weren't a) perpetually wrong and b) therefore appearing as a cold, stuck-up bitch rather than a tough, rounded character. The sexism wasn't the film's only downfall, either - I know action movies have to stretch credulity, but it was well beyond breaking point in this one. I saw this at film group and half the room laughed at some moments that were just ridiculous.
Maggie was pretty, though. This movie also started a run of three movies with unexpected Supernatural stars in them: Katie Cassidy, who plays Ruby on Supernatural, was Maggie's best friend.
2 out of 5
Graduation
I was rather pleasantly surprised by Graduation, although I am deeply sick of indie-style teen movies with love triangles in which the other option is clearly better than the one the girl's chosen. Graduation is actually a pretty solid heist flick that actually has a few unpredictable moments, particularly the ending. Chris gets an excellent role as the narrator, opener and closer of the movie, as well as one of the most interesting characters. Shannon Lucio (from The OC) is good, too, as the lead girl. Have I mentioned that Chris looks really good yet? Because that hair suits him. So does the role. Yummy. It's also not totally unbelievable as a crime movie, although it's a little too sweet and rose-tinted, given what these kids get up to. Still, much better than I expected, and a fun way to pass a couple of hours.
Unexpected Supernatural person: Aimee Garcia, who played Nancy the virgin secretary in 'Jus in Bello'. Oh, and, bizarrely, unexpected Huey Lewis.
3 out of 5
Adaptation
Adaptation also surprised me, but unfortunately I was unpleasantly surprised. I love Being John Malkovich and I was really looking forward to Adaptation, but I found it lacking. The CONCEPT was terrific, and there were chunks of the movie I really enjoyed, but I feel like in the end it was kind of clumsily put together. It's a total intentional mindfuck (and Charlie Kaufman is neurotic in the extreme, and far cuter than Nicolas Cage plays him) but at some point everything got so insane that I stopped caring. For me, that's pretty much the worst thing that can happen in a movie - if I'm not connecting with the characters I don't care what happens. I loved the first half of the movie, mixing reality with fiction to a point that you're not quite sure where the line is, with terrific (and not overly confusing) time jumps and jump-cut techniques that actually enhanced the movie, which is unusual these days. The ending is so completely insane and out-there, and so self-referential, that it ended up not just distancing me but throwing me out of the movie all together. Chris Cooper was good, though.
Unexpected Supernatural actor: Jim Beaver! Who plays BOBBY!
3 out of 5
SO MUCH GUH ON JUST ONE SHOW.
I don't wanna be a clue!
Green Queen
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And on that note, I also can't wait for Let the Right One In - another film getting a LOT of praise.
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DUDE, THEY SHOT BRAD PITT IN THE FACE! O____O I saw Burn after reading yesterday, and I DID NOT SEE THAT COMING O____O He was HILARIOUS in that part, too. I haven't laughed so many times during a movie in quite some time.
ALFONSO FUCKING CUARON has first right of refusal on 'Umbrella Academy'.
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I have discovered that Burn After Reading is one of those movies that is hilarious in retrospect as well - things that made you chuckle when you first saw it make you laugh when you remember them later. Like his face just before he gets shot. Or his dance moves!
I KNOW. Also, I wish people would stop judging the comic book just because they don't like Gerard. Umbrella Academy is really cool in its own right.
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