Human nature, I guess?

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE!!!! THE RED BAND FOR CHOKE IS BACK UP!!!!! GO SEE IT NOOOOOOOOWWWW!!! (also - Clark Gregg on casting).

Stayed home sick Thursday. Felt sorry for myself. *cough cough* (Okay, actually I was achy and had a sore throat, but there are no sound effects there). Also having family crises right and left. Fantastico. I was going to get myself a laptop this week, but I've decided to just save up to move. Yes, it stresses me out not to have a laptop and I really want to be able to organize all my photos from traveling. And my itunes. But I think I need to move first. Why can't I just win the lotto? It would solve so many of my problems.

Very excitingly, on Friday I got over to the library, where they have a First Folio on display in the rare books room - preeeetty. They also had several early quartos, including a Midsummer's Nights Dream from 1600. It was a very cool display.

Let's see. Saw Hellboy 2, Mama Mia. I didn't enjoy Hellboy all that much. I might have like it more if I saw it before the Dark Knight. Or had seen the first one, maybe. The visuals were very cool though. Mama Mia... gah. My mom wanted to go see it together, and I thought it would be kinda sparkly and fun. If nothing else, it would have a bit of Dominic Cooper. Here's what I got. We now know what would happen if Meryl Streep filmed an entire movie drunk. (And yes, that is Dominic Cooper in the pink spangly jumpsuit). Oh - and THIS. Why yes, those are men in tight swim trunks, snorkels, and flippers doing the stupidest choreography you have ever seen in your life.

Currently watching Top Gear (love) and the Great Raid (Joseph Fiennes does tortured so well). (BTW - did you know you can check out the Top Gear star leaderboard at wikipedia? Here you go.) (Also, one more reason to love Top Gear: their theme song is my song!)

Saw the Doctor Who Finale last night. I don't think I liked it. Spoiler sweep: [While it was exciting to get the whole crew together, I don't think they knew what to do with everyone once they were there. The jumpy editing between the two doctors made it feel like the acting was a bit off. As if David didn't really know how to play the two. I did really enjoy a lot of the plot and the middle bit with Donna. But here were my two biggest problems:

Donna - I was so upset by her ending. She had changed her life, she had done amazing things, and it was all taken away. Killing her would have been kinder.

Rose came back. ROSE. CAME. BACK. That's huge. That's massive - and I never felt that they really gave that reunion the attention it deserved. And I can't decide about the ending. I might have liked it more if it had been given more weight. I think because they still had to get onto Donna, it felt rushed. I just... I don't know. It wasn't him, you know? She had broken down the walls of the universe to get back to him and then got put back in the other world with almost him and no TARDIS. How exactly is that supposed to work? And why couldn't the doctor (the actual doctor) have just said I love you already? What was with that?

Oh - and last thing. I love Doomsday in part for how incredibly, desperately sad it is. But this episode it just so depressing. Tell me the end of David staring at the TARDIS didn't just depress you half to death.]
io9: Doctor Who Finale made us miss last year's Tinkerbell Jesus

Also saw the Robin Hood Finale. [OMG WTF They KILLED MARION?!? Not that she wasn't asking for it, but Jesus.] Also; Richard Armitage on Bits and Bobs. Oh my god he was in Cats.

I also saw the new Move On ad on tv for the first time. It made me laugh.

LOVE THIS: the 2008 Box Office graph. Ooooh.... pretty....

The Rain of Madness site is awesome. If nothing else, check out the biography on Kirk Lazarus' site.

Comic Con came and went obviously. Some highlights (because I sure as hell can't deal with the backlog); The Wolverine trailer bootleg, Comic Con in 3 minutes, the Spirit art school poster, visionaries panel = pure gold, more comic-con wrap up, Shirley! Shirley shirley shirley shirley, Dharma initiative steals the show at LOST panel, Heroes panel. OH! Can I mention that NATHAN is in the previews for next season?? Way to completely lose there Heroes. Just when it looks like you might strap on a pair and try to emulate some of the good aspects of LOST, you go and wimp out and refuse to kill anyone. And speaking of people coming back in S3. Also, Tim Kring makes puppies commit adultery.

For those about to Watchmen Includes a link to an annotation site, and an interview with Alan Moore. All-encompassing hype started 20 years ago. Watchmen posters. Love. There are watchmen interviews here (if you scroll over to Sundance 2008 you can see a vid on Choke, too). Also there is some shaky, partial comic con footage here. I will say Rorschach looks awesome. New Empire covers and pics. How dark will Watchmen be?

What does the HP6 trailer mean? I like it overall, but I will say that the tone in the scene between Dumbledore and Tom struck me as off. Also: hi res HBP stills, in case you are like me and are going "what? Ron was in the teaser?" And Beedle the Bard to be published in Dec. (Fictional books we'd like to read) And THIS WINS.

The world's funniest race call. ARRRRR!!

Will W be stupid or serious?

The Brothers Bloom trailer, Pride and Glory trailer, What Just Happened trailer, Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist trailer, Up teaser an octogenarian prank show, Princess and the frog trailer. I like the princess and the frog. The lightning bug worries me. It is also making me want to see The Rescuers.

So apparently there's a monster in NY?

Zombie Haiku

Terminator: Salvation poster, Doubt poster, My Bloody Valentine 3D poster. Are you my mummy?

The Dark Knight erects giant pile of flammable currency, Johnny Depp and PSH as Bat-villains? Where could Batman go next? Angie as Catwoman?


Captain Hammer's super powers, Stars banter at Dr Horrible panel


Keira Knightley's breasts officially unmarketable

Near impossible task of marketing Hamlet 2

Nottingham film pushed back for Sherwood foliage I am not looking forward to this film at all. I mention it only so that I can also mention that I have been to Sherwood Forest. It's true.

Bay changing script for Shia's mangled hand? Worth it for the image of Bay continuing to work through setbacks.

New Oz photo. Mmmmmm....

Oh nooooes! Horrible news! Colin Firth joins the Picture of Dorian Grey.

14 franchises that need to stop. Including the Land Before Time; the definition of sequels being a DO NOT WANT.

August a cursed movie month

GI Joe vs. the Thing. Uhhh....

Also - Cleolinda has a discussion of Breaking Dawn up over at her place. I have yet to read it, but I'm looking forward to it.

The world is a mess and I just need to rule it

OH MY GOD. SOO much has happened in the last week and my internet keeps going out for a couple of days at a time, so I'm going to miss a ton of stuff.


First off, I was doing some yard work last Sunday and found two snakes in the yard, which was exciting. Then, on Monday, I found out I came in 5TH - YEAH THAT'S RIGHT 5TH - in the Box Office Challenge, which was suuper exciting. Plus, Choke came out with a red band trailer, but the dating thing didn't work for me and then they took it down (ALONG WITH YOUTUBE! I don't get that. Why on earth would free advertising for your film be a bad thing? Why would you discourage fans from watching and sharing your trailer?)

[Update: I finally, FINALLY found a working trailer via a google video search and it is awesome and apparently too raunchy for the interwebs. It is also hysterical. I CANT WAIT]

Then the Watchmen trailer came out - EEEEE (it did seem to break the internets briefly, I had a difficult time finding the trailer for about an hour, and then finally I saw the apple version (and then today I saw it on a big, pretty IMAX screen, but more on that later)). OH MY GOD!! So good! Billy Crudup as Jon Osterman? Brilliant (I love, love, love him - he's easily one of the best actors around. I met him after an insanely brilliant performance of his on broadway and sort of lost the ability to speak English. True story.) It looks very accurate to the panels (I got that leap of glee that I had when shots in Sin City mirrored the comics so exactly.) In fact, about a day after hitting the web, people had already posted side by side comparisons. whee. Oh - I also don't mind the use of the Smashing Pumpkins' song. I think it fits well and the use of the same song does not mean the movies will be in any way equivilent.


I believe there was also a Twilight trailer, but I couldn't care less. I briefly thought it could be funny and sparkly and campy, but all signs point to zombie-awful.


Today, I caught the 10am IMAX showing of Batman. I'm having a hard time digesting the entire thing. There was just so very much there. I think I may have to go watch it again just to grasp it all. Although, and I said this when I walked out, the ecard about 'devastatingly bleak'? That's fairly accurate. It is dark. It is so sad. It is epic and gorgeous and there is so much to digest and process. It's musings on the nature of justice and good and... I just can't even write articulately about it at the moment. This not your oversimplified good vs. evil storyline. It is complex and the writing is handled extremely well (Well, maybe Gary Oldman's last speech was a leetle bombastic) but otherwise, there were just so many fine scenes. Batman and the Joker, Alfred describing what Batman needs to be for Gotham, the Joker and Dent, Bruce and Dent discussing heroism... the list goes on. There are so many fine moments. A lot of the tone is similar to the Dark Knight Returns, though of course the plot is different. But there is the question of people emulating batman, rather than being simply inspired by him. There are the themes of enduring an impossibly difficult mandate, the precarious link to the police, and the fact that Batman has always been the darkest superhero, the most criminal.


The direction is excellent. The action scenes are well done, the character scenes are well done, the entire affair is so well plotted that the MASSIVE amount of plot in the two and a half hours just zips along.


The cinematography is astounding. If you can see it in IMAX; GO. I cannot remember the last time I was so blown away by a shot (well, many shots). I have seen many films with great cinematography, but this elvates the form to a whole new plane. I know I posted this before, but this bears repeating.

Finally, the acting is stupendous. From every member of the cast. From Christian Bale down to Nestor Carbonell to the extras who get a few lines (the two on the ferries merit special mention). I am sorry that Christian Bale isn't getting much attention because, obviously, the whole thing falls apart without him. The fact that he gets Batman, he gets Bruce Wayne, he swings from menacing and scary to love-sick and unsure of himself; I simply cannot imagine anyone else pulling it off. Before Sam, Christian was my favorite actor all through high school, and I continue to think he is one of the best around. (While I understand it, the fact that he wasn't nominated for Rescue Dawn was criminal.) He pulls off an incredibly complex, difficult character with his usual assurance. He doesn't have the glib sarcasm of Tony Stark to fall back on; he's a man dressed up as a bat and he makes it both natural and really scary.


The Joker is astounding. I don't know what to say. He crackles on screen. He's psychotic and funny and terrifying and so natural. There is never a moment when the character slips. It is amazing that the two roles Heath Ledger will be best remembered for, this and Brokeback Mountain, are so wildly different. In the one, he was taciturn and closed off, in this, he is wildly exuberant and chaotic. It is astoundingly impressive.


Everyone else is superb. The actors are such high caliber and I think working together they all upped their game even further.


I've also had fun during this week with Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog, although I watched act 3 today after Batman and it made me sad. (Spoiler sweep: What is with women dying for guys to pine over? I thought Dr. Horrible was going to be this bit of internet fun to counteract the darkness of Batman and... no. I'll have to go see Mama Mia sometime this week.) Snap judgement from EW (I thought Act I was the best). Also it did super, super well.


Blurg. I can hardly digest it all. Maybe I'll have more coherent thoughts about Batman later. I also recommend checking out Cleolinda's thoughts. She thinks good thoughts.


Oh! And yay for 3 seconds of Cillian Murphy! AND FOR CHRISTIAN BALE ON THE RED MOTORCYCLE.


Speaking of the Dark Knight, the Dark Knight grabs the biggest weekend opening ever. I'm sure it'll have the biggest first week, too. BTW - in this week's box office game, I was only off on the total of the Dark Knight by a couple hundred thousand. I rock. Snarky batman e-cards at someecards.com Oh, and Heath's FHM interview. More on the box office. Note the figures have since been revised and anyway it just baaarely missed 200 mil for global (I left a comment to that effect).


Speaking of Watchmen, EW's exclusive first look. Q&A with Alan Moore. Patrick Wilson Says ‘Watchmen’ Ending Remains The Same.



And because nothing should ever be held too sacred; Dark Knight Cameos, Christian Bale, To the Owl-Copter!!

Uh. I don't know how to describe this.

22 best comic book films

The Emmys were announced! Who got snubbed? (Plus, all time 50 biggest emmy snubs) At least Flight of the Conchords got some Emmy lovin, if not best comedic actors... (they're up for writing, too) Emmys: EW critics react and Tin Man, Battlestar Galactica Get Emmy Nods. I still really want to see Tin Man

Comic Con sneak preview Featuring the Spirit, Star Trek (which I don't so much care about, but how much does Zacahry Quinto win the spock look-a-like award?), Terminator Salvation (hello pretty), League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Max Payne, the Day the Earth Stood Still, Rocknrolla and... what is this Unborn thing? Why is crazy Gary Oldman screaming? Man, I wish I were going to Comic Con. Check out io9's annotated schedule here.


Justin Theroux to write Iron Man 2. Hmmm... Dedication has yet to reach the top of my queue, so I'll reserve judgement.


CSI news!!! William Petersen leaving! CSI's season of change! We can has more Greg now?


Bits and Bobs vol 3. I love it. A gathering place for Anglophile pop culture junkies. I love it so much.


Join my slow movie movement... eventually. It's so true. I had meant to get around to Forgetting Sarah Marshall... oops. And I want to see the Fall, which bizarrely is still out here. I need to get on that.


Neil Gaiman Celebrates ‘Sandman’ Anniversary With New Comic And More.


I forget if I posted this, so: New Trailer for 'The Spirit'


‘The Dark Knight’ Debate: Who Should Be The Villain In ‘Batman 3′? Can't this wait? No, wait... Scarecrow! Bring back Cillian!


Finally! 'Wicked' to Get a Movie Makeover.


The 'Terminator Salvation' Teaser


Ponyo on the Cliff Japanese trailer


This made me laugh: 'Daily Show' Tackles Bizarre Trend of Middle-Aged Women Enjoying Sex [Cougars].


The fifty worst sex scenes of all time. AHHH.


Annotated Picks for Comic-Con [Comic-con 2008]


Christian protests may leave 'The Golden Compass' as one of a kind Aww... that's too bad. I enjoyed the first one. I think I would've liked it even more had they not watered down the faith aspect. Also - it did a ton of money at the box office, you'd think that would engender a sequel.
Frog Bites Disney. Seriously?

Harvey Weinstein explains why he dumps movies Wibba? No Houdini flick?



Underrated music movies

Enough LaBouef HAhahaha

Page to Screen: Nick & Nora's Infinite Playlist

New Jibjab vid

"You know, I've seen a lot of 'behind the scenes' photographs over the years, but these latest from Crank 2: High Voltage win the "what the heck is going on here?" award, hands down."



Update: It's taken me a couple of days to put this all together, and in that time; Did Batman assault his mother and sister? And already Phanatic wins for best comment, ever; "Of course he didn't. Aaron Eckhart did, Christian Bale's just taking the rap. "

Whoops-a-daisy

Wow... I hadn't even realized I had abandoned these links in an old unpublished post. Here ya go...


Dr Horrible's sing-a-long blog trailer! Whee!!


Rapturous Rolling Stone review of the Dark Knight


Actor's strike could affect Comic Con WHAT?!? And stars choose sides as strike descends. I'm going to have to start reading Nikki Finke again daily, aren't I?


Snyder cutting Watchmen It won't be the book, but every interview I read makes me so excited for this.


The top 5 special effects in Bollywood's time travel movie Oh My God the robot dance. When was the last time you saw something that crazyamazing in an American film?