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Regarding the above clip - how did I not know about phenomenon? Fabulosity at its best. I would like to point out that I like Single Ladies but pretty much despise If I Were a Boy, which is sexist, nar
I've been cleaning. I have a lot of crap. I took most of my posters down because my room still looked like a teenage girl's room and I'm trying to move into an adult living space...with FRAMED posters! I could do with more photo frames that go on the walls, too.
Question for people who design their space brilliantly a la![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
indilime: how does one put up a huge poster properly? Like, do you mount it, or frame it, or what?
I saw the 'Milk' trailer tonight at the movies. I want to see that movie yesterday.
There's this ad on Facebook that's like 'meet singles in your area!' with a picture of a random guy. I'm pretty sure that I've seen both James Franco and Van Hansis in there. Which, a) not in my area at all and b) what are they trying to tell me?!
Okay, link fans, here's your fix.
New HBP images of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and Slughorn (the WWW picture is the first thing I've liked about HBP in a long time.)
Cool new 'Lost' promo.
'Dr. Horrible' on AFI's 'Moments of Significance' list and a viral web videos of 2008 list which completely dismisses what it really is, basically.
'Serenity' merch: someone's a Jayne fan.
Gorgeous Katharine Hepburn picspam, with quotes.
I love, love, love these icons but there's none in a fandom I want :(
A couple of days ago I saw Slumdog Millionaire
This movie is so good. Probably the best fiction movie I've seen all year, and at this point my favourite for awards season. It's so amazingly, incredibly vibrant and kinetic. The editor should get an award - it was fast-paced without being all handheld confusion, so that you could really see what was happening as it moved. The music is terrific, and the performances are nearly all good. The three major characters - the main character and 'Who Wants To Be a Millionaire' contestant Jamal, his brother Salim, and the girl of his dreams Latika - are portrayed at three different ages (and the casting actually took into consideration physical resemblance, unlike a movie reviewed later on in this entry) and I think each age had one standout performance. The character arc of the brother brings the movie a bittersweet tragic arc that perfectly counters Jamal's sensitive-hero arc. They live in a really harsh world, but there is beauty and joy to find in every situation they find themselves in. The movie is comic, violent and romantic, as well as engrossing. Shooting on location through Mumbai also made you feel like you were in the action, and the framing device of a police interrogation/game show worked much better than I thought it would. Each vignette about how he knew the answers to the questions was interesting enough to make you forget about the time jumps, except for the time jump between the middle and oldest years - I couldn't help wondering how Jamal got on alone during those years. The policeman works out to be a surprisingly interesting character, considering the fact that he started out by torturing Jamal. You come to find out just how violent his world is. I wanted to punch the TV host in the face, so I suppose he did his job pretty well. I have to say, though, the questions were pretty easy - I knew the answers to most of them.
I love that this movie is getting the attention it's getting considering that it was made in India with a mostly native cast, and partly in another language. This is international filmmaking at its best, and even though the director is brilliant Brit Danny Boyle, the attention it's getting can only be good for the already excellent Indian film industry. The core of the story is universal, but its intricacies are cultural, and hopefully people will learn something.
Unfortunately the love interest, Latika, was not given much of a personality, which made Jamal's overwhelming love for her a bit difficult to swallow. She was pretty, granted, but not much else, and she didn't have a lot of agency - she pretty much had to rely on men to do for her. Apart from this feminist rant, though, top-notch movie - and one that ends with a DANCE NUMBER. Any movie that ends with a Bollywood-style dance number is OK by me.
4.5 out of 5
Speaking of Bollywood...
Last night I saw Smokin' Aces
Well hello there, Chris Pine. So this whole movie is basically just a shit-hot cast shooting, stabbing and otherwise killing the crap out of each other and with a last-hour twist that is confusing and superfluous, yes? That being said, the action was really good. I loved the set-up of having Ben Affleck and the other guys there for exposition just to get gunned down almost straight away, and I'm interested in the fact that they were trying to make a prequel about the Tremor brothers - they were the most engaging assassins, which is odd considering that they're neo-Nazi shitheads, and mostly down to Chris Pine, who...let me put it this way, I'm REALLY looking forward to Star Trek now. The image I'm going to take away from this movie is the Tremor brothers mowing down Ben & crew, and then Chris Pine forgiving himself via the corpse of Ben Affleck. And his KILLER BLUE EYES, wow. Ryan Reynolds held his own as the moral centre of a morally messy movie. I don't know what accent Andy Garcia was doing. Nestor Carbonell killing Matthew Fox was weirdly sexy. The shoot-outs were good, especially the one involving the Tremor brothers, but I thought Jeremy Piven overacted his guts out. The opening scenes were better than the closing ones.
Hello, two random Australians who are trying to make it big in the States, and hello the first of my Taraji P. Henson movie double.
3 out of 5
And tonight I went withtuatha_de, melissajane14 and Melissa's roommate Laurin to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
I was totally enamoured of this film until Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett were the same age, and then I suffered from a severe case of third act disappointment. It is a stunning movie, and I commented afterwards that you could close your eyes through the whole thing and it would still be amazing - I swear most of the actors were cast for their voices rather than their appearance (because nobody who was related to each other resembled each other in the slightest, and the actors chosen to play younger versions of Brad and Cate looked nothing like them either.) It is gorgeous and thoughtful without getting boring. The performances are good in this part of the movie, too. I thought Taraji P. Henson was a treat as Benjamin's adoptive mother, although the stuff about his biological family was dropped a bit fast, as was his adoptive mother's other child, who barely existed. Benjamin going off to sea and to war was great too, and Brad and Tilda Swinton's relationship was fun to watch. The set piece of the submarine attack was amazing.
The whole early part of the film, watching Benjamin go through childhood in an old man's body, was beautifully realised and completely captivating. Benjamin is so charming through this part of the movie, and Cate is made to work as Daisy, who felt to me like a fully realised character. For some reason, though, Benjamin kind of lost his personality as he got younger. I mean, he had his moments when he was James Dean-ing it up with the leather jacket and motorbike (hello, nurse), but the backpacking through India was superfluous - he'd done that when he was mentally young. It felt like the movie just lost interest in him through his twenties and kind of picked back up briefly when he was an old man with dementia in a child's body. I would have preferred if it had ended with the shot of an old Daisy walking along holding hands with a toddler-sized Benjamin, because it was a bittersweet and lovely image and we wouldn't have had to deal with the weird Katrina stuff or the very flimsy ending - they didn't seem to know what to do with themselves once Benjamin died. Or when Daisy got pregnant (also, how does Julia Ormond resemble either Brad or Cate?!), which was when they really lost interest in Benjamin - I couldn't figure out how old Benjamin was in terms of his mental years or his physical years at most points in the movie, because of how they would not age for certain periods and then suddenly age like 30 years as soon as there was a montage, but surely he couldn't been a father for about 20-odd years before he actually became a child, by which point she'd be taking care of herself? And he'd still have the life experiences to guide his daughter, even if he looked young?
I'm torn on the number of stars this movie deserves, because it is a lovely rumination on old age but not so much on youth, and it just fell apart at the end. I wish it had been better. I'm probably giving it about half a star more than it deserved, but I did really enjoy the first two-thirds.
One last point: the flashbacks for the old man who got hit by lightning seven times never stopped being funny.
4 out of 5
Shiny, ten-inch battery operated toy guaranteed to take Bo Peep to infinity and beyond
Green Queen
I've been cleaning. I have a lot of crap. I took most of my posters down because my room still looked like a teenage girl's room and I'm trying to move into an adult living space...with FRAMED posters! I could do with more photo frames that go on the walls, too.
Question for people who design their space brilliantly a la
indilime: how does one put up a huge poster properly? Like, do you mount it, or frame it, or what?I saw the 'Milk' trailer tonight at the movies. I want to see that movie yesterday.
There's this ad on Facebook that's like 'meet singles in your area!' with a picture of a random guy. I'm pretty sure that I've seen both James Franco and Van Hansis in there. Which, a) not in my area at all and b) what are they trying to tell me?!
Okay, link fans, here's your fix.
New HBP images of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and Slughorn (the WWW picture is the first thing I've liked about HBP in a long time.)
Cool new 'Lost' promo.
'Dr. Horrible' on AFI's 'Moments of Significance' list and a viral web videos of 2008 list which completely dismisses what it really is, basically.
'Serenity' merch: someone's a Jayne fan.
Gorgeous Katharine Hepburn picspam, with quotes.
I love, love, love these icons but there's none in a fandom I want :(
A couple of days ago I saw Slumdog Millionaire
This movie is so good. Probably the best fiction movie I've seen all year, and at this point my favourite for awards season. It's so amazingly, incredibly vibrant and kinetic. The editor should get an award - it was fast-paced without being all handheld confusion, so that you could really see what was happening as it moved. The music is terrific, and the performances are nearly all good. The three major characters - the main character and 'Who Wants To Be a Millionaire' contestant Jamal, his brother Salim, and the girl of his dreams Latika - are portrayed at three different ages (and the casting actually took into consideration physical resemblance, unlike a movie reviewed later on in this entry) and I think each age had one standout performance. The character arc of the brother brings the movie a bittersweet tragic arc that perfectly counters Jamal's sensitive-hero arc. They live in a really harsh world, but there is beauty and joy to find in every situation they find themselves in. The movie is comic, violent and romantic, as well as engrossing. Shooting on location through Mumbai also made you feel like you were in the action, and the framing device of a police interrogation/game show worked much better than I thought it would. Each vignette about how he knew the answers to the questions was interesting enough to make you forget about the time jumps, except for the time jump between the middle and oldest years - I couldn't help wondering how Jamal got on alone during those years. The policeman works out to be a surprisingly interesting character, considering the fact that he started out by torturing Jamal. You come to find out just how violent his world is. I wanted to punch the TV host in the face, so I suppose he did his job pretty well. I have to say, though, the questions were pretty easy - I knew the answers to most of them.
I love that this movie is getting the attention it's getting considering that it was made in India with a mostly native cast, and partly in another language. This is international filmmaking at its best, and even though the director is brilliant Brit Danny Boyle, the attention it's getting can only be good for the already excellent Indian film industry. The core of the story is universal, but its intricacies are cultural, and hopefully people will learn something.
Unfortunately the love interest, Latika, was not given much of a personality, which made Jamal's overwhelming love for her a bit difficult to swallow. She was pretty, granted, but not much else, and she didn't have a lot of agency - she pretty much had to rely on men to do for her. Apart from this feminist rant, though, top-notch movie - and one that ends with a DANCE NUMBER. Any movie that ends with a Bollywood-style dance number is OK by me.
4.5 out of 5
Speaking of Bollywood...
Last night I saw Smokin' Aces
Well hello there, Chris Pine. So this whole movie is basically just a shit-hot cast shooting, stabbing and otherwise killing the crap out of each other and with a last-hour twist that is confusing and superfluous, yes? That being said, the action was really good. I loved the set-up of having Ben Affleck and the other guys there for exposition just to get gunned down almost straight away, and I'm interested in the fact that they were trying to make a prequel about the Tremor brothers - they were the most engaging assassins, which is odd considering that they're neo-Nazi shitheads, and mostly down to Chris Pine, who...let me put it this way, I'm REALLY looking forward to Star Trek now. The image I'm going to take away from this movie is the Tremor brothers mowing down Ben & crew, and then Chris Pine forgiving himself via the corpse of Ben Affleck. And his KILLER BLUE EYES, wow. Ryan Reynolds held his own as the moral centre of a morally messy movie. I don't know what accent Andy Garcia was doing. Nestor Carbonell killing Matthew Fox was weirdly sexy. The shoot-outs were good, especially the one involving the Tremor brothers, but I thought Jeremy Piven overacted his guts out. The opening scenes were better than the closing ones.
Hello, two random Australians who are trying to make it big in the States, and hello the first of my Taraji P. Henson movie double.
3 out of 5
And tonight I went with
tuatha_de, melissajane14 and Melissa's roommate Laurin to see The Curious Case of Benjamin ButtonI was totally enamoured of this film until Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett were the same age, and then I suffered from a severe case of third act disappointment. It is a stunning movie, and I commented afterwards that you could close your eyes through the whole thing and it would still be amazing - I swear most of the actors were cast for their voices rather than their appearance (because nobody who was related to each other resembled each other in the slightest, and the actors chosen to play younger versions of Brad and Cate looked nothing like them either.) It is gorgeous and thoughtful without getting boring. The performances are good in this part of the movie, too. I thought Taraji P. Henson was a treat as Benjamin's adoptive mother, although the stuff about his biological family was dropped a bit fast, as was his adoptive mother's other child, who barely existed. Benjamin going off to sea and to war was great too, and Brad and Tilda Swinton's relationship was fun to watch. The set piece of the submarine attack was amazing.
The whole early part of the film, watching Benjamin go through childhood in an old man's body, was beautifully realised and completely captivating. Benjamin is so charming through this part of the movie, and Cate is made to work as Daisy, who felt to me like a fully realised character. For some reason, though, Benjamin kind of lost his personality as he got younger. I mean, he had his moments when he was James Dean-ing it up with the leather jacket and motorbike (hello, nurse), but the backpacking through India was superfluous - he'd done that when he was mentally young. It felt like the movie just lost interest in him through his twenties and kind of picked back up briefly when he was an old man with dementia in a child's body. I would have preferred if it had ended with the shot of an old Daisy walking along holding hands with a toddler-sized Benjamin, because it was a bittersweet and lovely image and we wouldn't have had to deal with the weird Katrina stuff or the very flimsy ending - they didn't seem to know what to do with themselves once Benjamin died. Or when Daisy got pregnant (also, how does Julia Ormond resemble either Brad or Cate?!), which was when they really lost interest in Benjamin - I couldn't figure out how old Benjamin was in terms of his mental years or his physical years at most points in the movie, because of how they would not age for certain periods and then suddenly age like 30 years as soon as there was a montage, but surely he couldn't been a father for about 20-odd years before he actually became a child, by which point she'd be taking care of herself? And he'd still have the life experiences to guide his daughter, even if he looked young?
I'm torn on the number of stars this movie deserves, because it is a lovely rumination on old age but not so much on youth, and it just fell apart at the end. I wish it had been better. I'm probably giving it about half a star more than it deserved, but I did really enjoy the first two-thirds.
One last point: the flashbacks for the old man who got hit by lightning seven times never stopped being funny.
4 out of 5
Shiny, ten-inch battery operated toy guaranteed to take Bo Peep to infinity and beyond
Green Queen
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Sadly, there is no Ikea in Canberra, but there's one in Sydney - I might have to check it out when I make the trip next. Thank you!
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I think my top 3 this year are Slumdog Millionaire, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, and Wall-E. I'm not sure how to round out the top 5 though. Dr. Horrible, maybe and... I don't know.
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I thought Smokin' Aces was okay, pretty much a huge Lost cast party [what, Richard, Keamy, Lapidus, and Jack all in the same movie!]
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I noticed that! It was pretty much an awesome cast in general.
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I want to see Slumdog Millionaire and Benjamin Button! but they're not even out yet here, everything I want to see is released in January...
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And yes, the guy getting hit by lightning really didn't stop being funny. I told my sister after those first 3 in a row, "I hope we see more of them later!" even though I thought it might get old - but it SO DIDN'T.
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or you can frame them in skinny poster frames, big ornate frames.. anything you like that matches your style! :) there's no 'wrong' way.
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That Toy Story analysis is quite fantastic.
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Haha, that's hilarious. Is it like an ad officially by facebook? Because there's that thing where facebook says they're allowed to use your picture anywhere for advertisement. And I know Van has a facebook. Still. Funny. :P
And I've been trying so hard to not look at new HBP photos. Because I feel like I need to be excited about something when the movie finally comes out. Though I expect the entire movie would be leaked by then anyway. *is still frustrated about the push back*
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I'm not really excited for HBP anymore, I think it looks like it's going to suck, so I was happy to see at least one picture I liked.
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