Whine and moan: the new sensation

So everyone on the internet has been raving about this show Quarterlife, which is basically a place for “artists, thinkers and do-ers” to post their video blogs. Okay, to put it simply, it’s quarterlife.com and people post their video diaries for the internet community to gawk at. It’s art! It’s art! Waa waa waa. And the site has a show that revolves around the site, if that makes sense. Basically the show is about 6 friends who are going through the twentysomething crisis of not knowing what do with yourself. It’s a predicament that plagues twentysomethings everywhere: you’re in a rut; you thought you’d be brilliant and successful at age 23 but you’re interning for a company that you don’t believe in, and your boss is a crazy bitch, and you have a nonexistential love life (or a love life that’s comprised of a series of meaningless hook-ups that only serve to fulfill that instant gratification drive your Id is screaming at you to fulfill). Waa waa waa, bitch and moan. It’s easily relatable. And who spends the most time on the internet griping about their inadequacies and insecurities but the twentysomethings? With the steady rising of blogs as media of expression, it’s only understandable and inevitable that the next step, video blogging (as in the case of lonelygirl15, which turned out to be a complete hoax. Ha ha, you got punk’d!) would start to gain popularity.

Anyhoo, so I know one face on that cast, and it’s Scott Michael Foster, who plays Cappie in one of my favorite shows, ABC’s Greek (which returns this March! Woohoo!). He’s pretty much the same character on this show, only more melodramatic and less charismatic. I’ll admit, the show is pretty addictive. 15 minutes of pure, unadulterated narcissism from characters who think they’re supposed to be interesting. The storylines are pretty blah. Our protagonist, the annoyingly tortured soul Dylan, is programmed to meet the twentysomething ideal of representative to the demographic. Basically, Dylan is supposed to be the epitome of the twentysomething artist: painfully introverted (yet shamelessly blogging about what she thinks of everyone else’s life), insecure, tactless and unsure of herself. Yet here’s the kicker: her endearing qualities are supposed to be that she’s unaware of how gorgeous she is (as seen in one episode where conventionally prettier character Lisa tells Dylan she’s got sexuality, to which I rolled my eyes for the umpteenth time).

Okay, the show is inventive, sure. There’s nothing like it elsewhere. Let’s give it points for originality. However, the fact that each character is in love with another character within this little circle is reminiscent of, oh, a little show called Dawson’s Creek, and it’s annoying. Everyone’s in love with everyone else, there are all these melodramatic love quadrangles and declarations of sex. The humor of the show is somewhat interesting and there have been some fun scenes to watch. However, it seems like the show is in love with itself. The characters are in love with themselves. The main character Dylan’s room is carefully designed to appropriately reflect what an artist’s room looks like: unkempt, littered with posters from unknown, unsigned bands and vintage paraphernalia. Insert product placement of the Apple laptop she uses to masterfully craft her self-obsessed snippets. It’s too Juno. By this I mean that the concept is there, but the delivery is just a bit too-cool-for-school. All these “the bourgeoisie exists to blah blah blah consumerism”. Please. It’s that Chuck Klosterman quality that makes this show a bit tiresome.

Which is not to say that the show is not without merit. It’s definitely something new and fresh. Heck, it’s very timely, what with the whole Barack Obama thing and the buzz about how the internet is such a revolution these days. And video diaries aren’t necessarily new ideas, but the way it’s being used in the show is interesting. But really, I shouldn’t talk, right? I mean, a blog has pretty much the exact same degree of narcissism that quarterlife has. It’s all me, me, me after all.

Ah well. Maybe I am just a twentysomething going through the motions of the seemingly inescapable rut that is my quarter life. In which case, maybe a video blog is the answer. It’s art! It’s art!

Oh, shut up.

Oh the tragedy of unrequited love

I knew there was a reason why I wanted to see Becoming Jane. Okay, so I wanted to see it because I have a giant crush on James McAvoy (I know, I know, I pine for him way too much on this site, but whatever), but I didn’t expect it to be such a good movie. I’m usually a snob when it comes to Jane Austen films. Either it’s perfect, or it’s utter crap [MTV's adaptation of Wuthering Heights was a travesty, and the lovely Katherine Heigl was in it. Oh, the shame!] I thought it was going to be another one of those ridiculous Jane Austen films that was all star quality and no substance. God knows the most recent remake of Pride and Prejudice with Keira Knightley was all about Knightley being an It girl at the time than it being an Austen film. A real Austen movie? The BBC’s Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth. The BBC version and the Joe Wright adaptation cannot be compared. Look at it this way: Maybe it’s just me, but if you had to pick between reading the classic or buying the Cliff’s notes, which would you go for?

Anyway, so Becoming Jane was a pleasant surprise. Anne Hathaway was pretty convincing as Jane Austen. I know she was an English major in college, and usually actresses who are English majors tend to exhibit that in the roles they choose. Take for example, Julia Stiles. English major at Columbia, and a complete Shakespeare fangirl. She’s done O (for Othello), 10 Things I Hate About You (which is an adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew) and Hamlet with another English major, Ethan Hawke. We get it, Julia Stiles, you’re ga-ga over Shakespeare. Please stop. Apparently, Miss Stiles has indeed moved on. Except, she now plans to star in yet another classic book adaptation, Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar. Pfft.

Anne Hathaway is more of a general classics fangirl. I mean, to begin with, her real name probably isn’t Anne Hathaway. We know that Shakespeare’s wife was named Anne Hathaway, so being the fangirl she was, probably wanted to go with that stage name. She’s done Nicholas Nickleby, based on the Dickens novel. She and Julia Stiles kind of have the same range. They’ve both done the silly romantic comedies and chick flicks and have graduated to more serious roles. The main difference? Hathaway’s breast-baring extravaganza in Brokeback Mountain. Not quite sure about that career move, but I’m sure that was eventful for Jake Gyllenhaal.

Anyway, so Becoming Jane. My favorite new movie. I had waited forever to rent it on Neftlix, and I was so pleased when I finally got it. It doesn’t have the sweeping dramatic atmosphere that Joe Wright put into the recent Pride and Prejudice with Knightley, but this movie’s strength is in its lead characters. Hathaway and McAvoy have really good chemistry on screen, and the intensity was just leaping off the TV. McAvoy in particular demonstrated a wide range of emotions in this film. He played Tom LeFroy, Jane Austen’s real love of her life, and the said inspiration for Pride and Prejudice’s insufferable Mr. Darcy. Tom LeFroy is an interesting character to play, because you have a combination of a boy who just wants to have fun, squander his Uncle’s money on merrymaking and gallivanting with the ladies, and on the other hand you have a man who’s trying to live up to his Uncle’s expectations at the same time, and displaying his education and snobbishness to those he deems below his stature.

I’ve always thought I was an Elizabeth Bennett. When I read Pride and Prejudice, her character just seemed like it was written for me. A lot of women are the same as Ms. Bennett, and they will not settle for anything less than their standards, yet they are absolutely intrigued by those who would spurn their affections. Jane Austen had a lot of suitors, but she would not settle with any of them because she wasn’t attracted at all. And here comes this guy who’s completely obnoxious to her, and you find her immediately drawn to him. It’s the bad boy thing. To inject a bit of Lost into this post, a lot of women are more attracted to Sawyer than to Jack. Jack’s everything you need, but Sawyer’s who you want. In some ways, Tom LeFroy is both to Jane. He is her equal in mind and spirit, and she’s fascinated by how opposite from the ideal he is, yet how drawn she is to him. And McAvoy pulls this role off effortlessly. His acting is just so precise and so complete, that as an Elizabeth Bennett or a Jane Austen, you can’t help but feel like he is the character.

The overall story is excellent. Just watching the banter between Hathaway and McAvoy on screen is fun to watch, especially when McAvoy flashes that devilish grin of his and you’re immediately smitten. What cinched it for me as the best movie ever at the moment? The scene between him and Hathaway, when they meet for the first time after breaking up (LeFroy’s Uncle did not permit him to marry Austen, and they split). LeFroy is now engaged, and Austen is heartbroken (she had hoped that something would change). He comes to see her and she is just indignant. This is a scene that I keep replaying over and over in my head because it’s so powerful. I can’t describe the scene completely here so you’ll just have to watch it for yourself.

Anyway, I keep thinking about this movie over and over so I am just going to have to get it on DVD. It’s so worth it. To those of you who like your happy endings, this probably isn’t your movie. But if you’re like me, and you’re a cynic on the surface and a hopeless romantic at heart, you’ll enjoy this. There’s just nothing more heart-wrenching yet endearing to watch than the tragedies of unrequited love. Austen thought she could write about real life, but her real life was too painful to pen, so she opted for the alternative: happy endings galore for her characters. It’s such a sad life, and yet she’s given us so much wit and wisdom in her works that you can’t help but be thankful that she had that experience. Otherwise she probably would have written something like freakin’ Confessions of a Shopaholic or some shit had she ended up happily ever after with Tom LeFroy.

Okay, I have to put a period on this post, otherwise I’ll keep writing. Although I love writing about adaptations of my favorite books because they’re usually ones you really relate to and feel passionately about and you’ll always have fresh ideas that pop into your mind that you feel is interesting in regards to the perspective presented in the film. Anyhoo, I’m going to go doodle “I heart James McAvoy” now.

Oscar glory

So tonight the Academy Awards were handed out. Hosted by Jon Stewart, who was so-so, in some parts completely un-funny (especially that crack about Harrison Ford being an auto dealership. Sorry, Jon, that was kind of painful to hear), in parts awesome (”And I thought it was just superdelegates”, after a montage of how the Academy votes). Largely due to the hasty preparations and absence of those brilliant minds behind the pens, the Oscars seemed a bit lackluster. Jon Stewart’s hosting lines were so-so, the presenters’ lines an 8-year-old could write, and not a whole lot of great speeches by the winners. Hell, there weren’t even very many awesome red carpet dresses!

The winners were pretty predictable, except maybe for Marion Cotillard (best actress for La Vie en Rose) and Tilda Swinton for supporting actress in Michael Clayton. Julie Christie was expected to win Best Actress, and I know a lot of people were looking at Cate Blanchett or Amy Ryan getting the Supporting Actress. But I’m glad Tilda Swinton won, because she gave a pretty cool speech. And she looked absolutely shocked as well. Plus, Cate Blanchett’s won a ton of stuff anyway. Everyone else was pretty much expected to win. Javier Bardem, of course, got supporting actor, and Daniel Day-Lewis took the Best Actor. Best Picture, obviously, went to the Coen Brothers’ No Country for Old Men, and the duo also earned Best Director. It was also a victory for the “small” films. I say “small” because they’re supposed to be independent, but then they go on to make a crapload of money and international fame, so I’m not exactly sure that small would be an operative word to use. Diablo Cody won Best Original Screenplay for Juno, and Best Original Song “Falling Slowly” from Once’s Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova (who was probably the only one who delivered a great speech, and she was cut off by the annoying, cheesy exit music so Jon Stewart had to get her back on stage later to give her speech). Marion Cotillard probably gave the most shocked reaction among the recipients. She was so shocked she was utterly speechles, shaking, and went on to fill in the rest of her speech with “thank you life, thank you love”, which I guess, is supposed to be really deep and heavy in France.

The highlights of the show include the performance by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova for “Falling Slowly”. Once is such an awesome little movie. I was so happy they won. James McAvoy and Josh Brolin were the best presenters. James McAvoy’s accent, his devilish grin, oh hell, James McAvoy’s everything was to die for. Yes, sorry, I had to inject some fangirl flavor in here. You gotta admit, the guy is cute and talented.

Moving on to the screw-ups: Colin Farrell is such an ass. He slipped on something wet while on the way to the podium and he just had to announce it to the entire crowd that “that could be iffy, someone should take care of that”. Arrogant much? He probably meant nothing of it, probably just didn’t want any of the pregnant actresses slipping and miscarrying or whatever, but he came off as a bit condescending. The in memoriam tributes were also lame. Not even a mention of Brad Renfro. The guy was talented! You mention all these executives and stunt men, but you don’t mention Brad Renfro? I thought that was a silly mistake they made. They are usually pretty thorough, but I guess due to the hastiness of the preparations they just miss things. Although of course they didn’t miss Heath Ledger, who got like, a 2 second flash of his face on the screen. Nice. Way to pay tribute.

As for the fashions…I didn’t see any dresses that jumped out at me. I did notice some particularly horrible ones. Like Diablo Cody’s hideous leopard print, and Miley Cyrus’ red number, which made her look ten years older. Johnny Depp looked particularly spiffy in his tux, and a dress I adored was Cameron Diaz’s. She always looks fabulous, so that’s pretty much a given. Calista Flockhart’s dress was interesting, except she’s still rail thin so it was a bit weird on her. Oh, and Jennifer Garner. Thank God for those who know who to dress all the time. She looked amazing in this black number. Katherine Heigl looked great in this red dress that I’m assuming was probably a nightmare to put on. I’m not too crazy about her hair, though.

And you know, I actually liked Jennifer Hudson’s white outfit this year. She looked awful last year with her absurd little golden vest, but this year she did well. Nicole Kidman looked very matronly with her giant diamond necklace against the black. Kelly Preston’s I loved.

Anyway, that’s enough of the dresses. At least no one came out wearing a swan. Poor Bjork. At least you made a mark in history.

Overall it was a decent show. It seemed obviously put together at the last minute, but hey, whatever you can get, right? I was disappointed that Emile Hirsch didn’t even get nominated for Into the Wild. He delivered an excellent performance in that movie. And it’s a shame that Hal Holbrook had to be in the same category as Javier Bardem. Otherwise, he would have totally deserved the Oscar.

So ends the 80th Annual Academy Awards. We had some pretty brilliant films this year and they are lucky that the writers’ strike ended when it did, otherwise we would have had all these brilliant films and no recognition.

So you thought X-Men was dead, and other stories

Sorry to disappoint. It’s back, and with a certain steel-clawed superhero star. Yep, X-Men Origins: Wolverine is now officially in the works. Scheduled for release in 2009, the film has Hugh Jackman reprising his role as Wolverine, and will explore more about his background. I hope this time around they will try to inject some thought into this one before releasing it, because I was so disappointed (okay, maybe downright furious is the right expression) with X-Men 3: The Last Stand. After X3 was released, there was some speculation about spin-offs, which at the time, no one had commented on, really. A few months later there were rumblings of a possible Wolverine and Magneto spin-off. The Magneto spin-off sounds interesting. I’m not sure Sir Ian McKellen would be willing to reprise the role, though. Don’t get me wrong, that’s a movie I will see if he decides to do it, but as of now, no word as to that.

Rumors are circulating as to which mutants will be appearing in the new X-Men movie. Friday Night Lights star Taylor Kitsch is rumored to be starring as Gambit (one of my favorite X-Men, I might add). I personally thought Josh Holloway would have been perfect for the role, but since Lost is heating up and I’m sure he’s focused on that, I guess Kitsch will have to do. He looks the part, so that’s already working to his favor.

In other news, the new Indy movie trailer has been released (I saw it while watching The Spiderwick Chronicles). It looks good; wasn’t as explosive as I had expected, but still good. Called Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the film will also star Cate Blanchett (I swear, this woman is amazing. She’s like, the next Nicole Kidman! Wait, Nicole Kidman’s still acting…) and Shia LaBeouf (who we’re hoping won’t get into another drunken Walgreens act that could shatter his unjaded appeal). You can view the trailer here:

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1808404510/trailer

In other, other news, the new Bond movie has a title: Quantum of Solace. Fancy, but the plot is yet to be revealed.

Ooh, Mama’s Mad

Today Hillary Clinton held a conference in Ohio in which she passionately and furiously denounced the Obama campaign for sending out mailers with false information about her health care plan. Apparently the mailers say that under Clinton’s campaign, people will be forced to purchase healthcare even if they cannot afford it. She then goes on a tirade about the indecency of Obama and how he “says one thing in his speeches and turns around and does another”. She accuses him of Karl Rove politics, a very below-the-belt comment.

Watching Hillary Clinton publicly scold Barack Obama creeped me out. That lady is freakin’ scary, man. It was like a high school principal scolding a delinquent child. She was so mad, her voice gradually rose and you could almost see her nostrils flaring. I think the only thing missing was smoke wafting from her ears. The woman was downright livid. She has every right to be, considering her most passionate platform has always been health care. She’s faltered when asked about the Iraq war and immigration. Health care was Hillary’s baby, so when the upstart Obama put forth accusations that her plan was not what she had been telling the American public, she was just livid.

I really don’t know what to think at this point. I mean, this whole thing isn’t enough to sway a vote, that’s for sure. However, it does kind of diminish the winning streak that Obama has been on since his victories with Wisconsin and the Democratic delegation abroad. Although the Clinton campaign did pick an opportune moment to do this whole thing. Right when the Ohio and Texas primaries are up ahead, they choose to do this. It could be viewed as a last grasping chance at trying to pull Obama down from his 11 straight win streak.

Anyhoo, we do know Mama is mad as hell, though. The woman is scaaaary.

Great, baby, great

So Ben Affleck’s directorial debut Gone Baby Gone starred none other than his bro, the equally talented and captivating Casey Affleck. I have always thought that Casey had a lot of potential. In Good Will Hunting he was funny as one of Will Hunting’s crass friends, and in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, he showed he could step out from under big brother Ben’s shadow.

I thought Gone Baby Gone was well-made. Think Mystic River meets Zodiac meets Alpha Dog. Let me just applaud Ben for delivering an honest-to-goodness, simple yet masterfully crafted film about characters and the society they live in. It was a haunting portrait of a gang-dominated neighborhood in Boston, where the women are single, knocked up and drugged up, and the guys are tough-talking, jersey-wearing, gun-toting bullies. Oh, and once and again a little girl or boy goes missing, believed to be a victim of child molestation or some other grotesque crime. The story revolves around the disappearance of a 8 or 9-year old girl that leads to an investigation that becomes an obsession for a young P.I. (played by Casey Affleck) and his girlfriend/assistant (played by the always-breathtaking Michelle Monaghan [Mission: Impossible III]. It’s an intricate web of deceit and mystery, and the film takes you on some really bizarre, unconventional places that make you think and question yourself. In the end of the film, I started to think about what I would have done if I were in Patrick Kenzie’s shoes and I was obsessed with returning this little girl to her drugged up mother. It’s an interesting premise, with well-written characters and clever lines (although sometimes I found it hard to understand the lines, what with the Boston accent). The film also starred Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris (who shines in this film), and Amy Ryan (who also delivers an exceptional performance, for which I believe she won a SAG award for).

The cinematography of the film was interesting. A lot of grays and blues, and like I mentioned, a Mystic River feel, even in its score. The writing was all right. We know Ben Affleck can write (see: Good Will Hunting), but can he direct? Definitely. I can see this guy going a long way with directing. I’m surprised if he doesn’t go out and do something with Matt Damon in the future, since these guys make such a great pair. Best of all I loved the directorial choices. There is a scene in which Casey Affleck’s character, Patrick Kenzie, storms into a dilapidated house, gun raised and scared shitless of what he might find. The shot is eerie and suspenseful of Kenzie in a dark bathroom, peering over the bathtub, and then in a glimmer of a couple of seconds, a hint of a little boy’s pale head flashes in the bottom right corner of the camera and disappears. That little instant, that subtle hinting, was enough to make me squeeze my eyes shut and wince. It was a full 5 seconds, maybe, but that shot was so simple, yet so heavy with atmosphere and emotion. Ben Affleck could have decided to go along with slasher films and have the victim splayed across the room for all to see, gore and all. But contrary to popular belief, the scariest thing in the world to see is just a hint of a little boy’s limp, pale, frail body and that’s enough to make tough-talking Patrick Kenzie hurl (literally).

Overall, a good film to see. A breath of fresh air from the cheesy movies Ben Affleck has been getting himself into, and I love that he’s taken on a serious, thought-provoking drama that scores in both intensity and character performance. It’s a must-see!

Holy guacamole!

At first, this episode of Lost seemed fairly tame than the previous ones. Until the ending, when I almost fell off my seat with that revelation. Okay, here’s what we know or may safely assume:

1. Some time before the Kate and Jack rendezvous at LAX as seen in Through the Looking Glass (part 2), Kate was arrested and charged with the crimes she did before the crash: arson, larceny, and of course first degree murder. She’s now pretty famous and rich, and everyone knows her face because of the publicity from the crash.

2. Jack testified in Kate’s trial and lied about the crash. Apparently the Oceanic Six are under some kind of code of silence about the crash. It seems that they are telling the story that only 8 people survived the crash. Why? Did they get money for their silence, is that why they are all rich and successful and famous? During the trial, there is no sign of Sawyer, so we can safely assume that he is dead and is not part of the Oceanic Six. Sad, but hey, it frees up some space on my speculation list.

3. When Kate is released from custody and is now a free woman, she and Jack meet again and he tells her that he still loves her (well, he doesn’t tell her, but he implied it). Kate asks him to come over to her house, and he refuses. She says, “I understand that you don’t want to see the baby, but when you’re ready, you can come over.” At first, I thought that Jack refused to see the baby because it was Kate and Sawyer’s. But then I thought, that’s kind of silly, because he could just look past that if he really loved her.

4. The clever writers have struck again! Putting Kate and Sawyer together and alluding that Kate might indeed be pregnant (the part where they showed Kate and Claire talking about the joys of motherhood was cute, too, writers) was sneaky. I actually believed that she was just lying to Sawyer when she said she wasn’t pregnant. As it turns out, she was telling the truth, BUT she took Claire’s baby, Erin (or Aaron)! SHOCKER! That ending is completely GENIUS! This means that Claire did not survive, and she probably asked Kate to take Aaron (or Erin) with her (or Kate took him because Claire was dead and she didn’t want to leave the baby behind). This totally explains why Jack would not want to see the baby. It brings bad memories of Claire dying, and maybe, if he already learned that Claire was actually his half-sister, this could magnify the pain. Or, something totally far-fetched, Kate forcefully takes the baby from Claire. This last one is a pretty long shot, but I thought I’d throw it out there.

5. Now, this totally makes it easier to dissect that first flash forward in Through the Looking Glass part 2 when Jack and Kate meet. When she says, “I better go. He’ll be wondering where I am.” I thought she meant Sawyer, but she might actually have meant the baby, Aaron. And as for who’s in the coffin, it could be Claire. Maybe Kate didn’t want to go see her because it was too painful for her to see the mother of the child she’s now raising. But, it seemed in Kate’s tone that she was more angry than sad, so I have doubts about this theory.

6. Now, what about the whole exchange between Miles and Ben? What was that about? So basically, Miles isn’t really invested in the people he’s supposed to be working for. Looks like he’s willing to swing the other way for 3.2 million dollars. Now, we know Ben has a lot of cash and connections (as seen in the secret room Locke discovered in Ben’s house at the Barracks) so he might just be able to make that deal with Miles.

7. I have new theories about who the Oceanic Six are: we know it’s definitely Kate, Sayid, Hurley and Jack. We know Ben has gotten off the island and is now Sayid’s boss, giving him orders as to who to kill. I thought Ben could have just assumed the identity of someone else on Oceanic 815 and pretended to have been one of the survivors. But since Ben knows how to get off the island, he could just have easily gone after the fact when the survivors were “rescued”. So assuming that Ben isn’t part of the Oceanic Six, who are the other two? Initially I thought one of the survivors was Juliet, but it doesn’t seem like it now. I know Claire definitely isn’t one of the six. Hey, maybe it’s Sun and Jin. After all, there was a scene showing them picking places to live in. But then again, that scene could have designed to only make it more sentimental if they never got off the island. We know that Michael and Walt will be returning to the show soon. Did they really get off the island or were they just locked up somewhere? If they did get off the island, then both of them could make up the missing 2 of the 6.

Ah, well. I guess I’ll have to wait until next week for more answers! Let’s hope the podcasts help shed some light on these new questions.

Hollywood is saved, thanks to…

So the WGA strike has officially ended (well, it ended like, over a week ago, but I usually lag behind with news, so you must forgive me), meaning Hollywood now has the green light to churn out films that have been on the waiting list since the strike began. Apart from being able to look forward to once-pending movies, here are a couple of cool films that will be hitting theaters soon:

The Other Boleyn Girl

I have not read the Philippa Greggory book, but I think it’s safe to say this one looks like an interesting one. Starring the deliciously dashing Eric Bana as Henry Tudor (Henry VIII), Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman as the Boleyn sisters Mary and Anne, the film is basically this giant love triangle between the three stars. Now, we know how this goes: to those of you who’ve taken European history, or have seen the numerous movies about the gallivanting of England’s most notorious playboy, you know the story. Anne Boleyn gets her head lopped off. Tragic, yes, but that’s the history of England for you.

I’ll admit the only reason I want to see this film is because Natalie Portman is in it (I have a violent dislike for Scarlett Johansson, so this means I will have to go through the torturous experience of watching her pull off an English accent against Portman, who I have no qualms about her being able to pull it off effortlessly). Eric Bana is a plus, too. Looks to be an interesting movie. And besides, what better way for two sisters to bond than sleeping with the same man, right? The Other Boleyn Girl hits theaters February 29.

Charlie Bartlett

I heard someone say that this movie’s title character is like the Ferris Bueller of 2008, which is enough to get most of us to see this movie. Charlie Bartlett is basically a story about this kid who gets kicked out of a private school and ends up at a public school where he starts helping kids with their problems. Not very exciting? It will be, once you see the trailer. The film also stars Robert Downey Jr., so this spices things up as well. It definitely looked like a fun movie to go see. Charlie Bartlett opens this weekend, on the 22nd.

CJ7

God has answered my prayers and delivered a new Stephen Chow movie. To those of you who don’t know Stephen Chow, you have been missing out. Shaolin Soccer, Kung Fu Hustle…this guy is a maestro at renewing kung fu for this day and age. He is so much fun to watch and it’s amazing how he is able to juggle producing, directing and starring in his films. A talent indeed! If you guys haven’t seen Kung Fu Hustle, you must! It’s one of the most enjoyable films you’ll see. One of the things that catches my attention about a film and makes me want to see it over and over again is if it is able to detach me from my current situation or headspace and take me to a completely different place. This is why I love fantasy films like The Lord of the Rings (although let’s admit I’m biased because it’s my favorite book) and surrealist, over-the-top films like Shoot ‘Em Up and Sin City because they take you away from real life. It’s not to say that I dislike films about real people. I enjoy them, as long as they have interesting characters that help you forget about your woes. I think that’s one of the joys of film–how it can just let you forget for an hour and a half that your life is shitty. Anyway, back to Stephen Chow. His films are exactly that. They are such a departure from the here and now that you just can’t help but have a great time when you’re watching them. He’s always over-the-top and his comedy is almost like a slapstick, Chaplin-type humor that, paired with kung fu, makes for a perfect combination.

Now, on to his upcoming film CJ7, I am so excited to see this. Basically the premise is this poor father who brings this magical orb home for his son and they both find out that it’s some kind of alien species. Knowing Chow, he will find a way to blow this completely out of the roof. Unfortunately it will be in limited release in March, but if we’re lucky we get to see it. See the trailer for the film here: http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809765392/trailer

Blindness

While this movie isn’t scheduled for release anytime soon (tentatively it’s set for August ‘08), I’m already excited. Based on the excellent book by Jose Saramago, it’s a story about a town whose residents suddenly go blind except for one woman (played by Julianne Moore). The film will also star Mark Ruffalo, Gael Garcia Bernal and Danny Glover. This movie is directed by Fernardo Meirelles, who is best known for his work in The Constant Gardener.

The Children of Huang Shi

Starring Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Chow Yun-Fat, Radha Mitchell and Michelle Yeoh, The Children of Huang Shi is a film based on true events about a British journalist who leads 60 Chinese orphaned children on the Silk Road and across the Gobi Desert, fleeing from the Japanese invasion. The film is slated for release in May ‘08.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Not slated for release until the end of the year, the film stars Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett (seriously, how many times can they work together?) and is directed by David Fincher [Fight Club]. Based on an F. Scott Fitzgerald story, it’s about a man who ages backwards and finds himself in some trouble when he falls in love with a woman and has to struggle with growing oppositely in age from her.

Give this kid an Oscar already

Freddie Highmore is so talented, it scares me. Put him in a room with Dakota Fanning, have them go head to head in a dramatic role competition, and I would bet all my money on Highmore.

I felt obliged to take my kid sisters to see a movie this weekend, so I took them to see The Spiderwick Chronicles. I hadn’t seen any of the trailers for the movie, but all I knew was that Freddie Highmore [Finding Neverland, Charlie & the Chocolate Factory] was in it, and it was going to be directed by Mark Waters [Mean Girls, Freaky Friday]. Since I was a fan of Highmore, I thought, hey it can’t be that bad. Since I liked Waters’ work, I thought it would be interesting to see his take on a fantasy film directed at the 8-13 age group. I didn’t particularly want to see the film, but as an older sister, you understand that these things take precedence over say, taking a nap after a long day at work. I thought maybe I could just take them and then take that nap in the theater. Ah, but I was taken by surprise.

The movie was interesting in many ways. I had never read the series (I’m kind of a snob when it comes to reading fantasy novels; I’m a Tolkien/Lewis elitist) and don’t really intend to, but I knew I would much rather take the kids to see a fantasy flick than have them bum around at home watching Hannah Montana reruns. The premise, I felt, was well translated onto the big screen. Basically, a family moves into this run-down house that was inherited by the mother (played by Weeds‘ Mary Louise Parker), and they start experiencing weird things. Very The Messengers, right? Actually, more The Messengers than Eragon. There’s more to this story, however. By weird things I mean goblins, trolls, and griffins. Oh yeah, and an arsenal of tomato sauce and honey to combat the evils. Sounds like my kind of movie.

Basically, twins Jared and Simon (both played by Freddie Highmore convincingly) and their older sister Mallory stumble upon a book that details the world of magical creatures–an item that the world of magical creatures’ tyrant (some giant green monster whose name I cannot for the life of me come up with, and I’m too lazy to google it) wants for himself so he can destroy the creatures in the book one by one. The film’s pace is what makes it so entertaining. There is never a dull moment (hence, the reason why I was unable to take my nap) and the acting was very well done. Highmore takes the cake in terms of performance, of course, playing twins who have completely opposite personalities. It was interesting to see him do away with his English accent as well, and the entire time I was watching him, I almost forgot he was British. He is such a tremendous actor, that I can see him having a long, healthy career, with a possible appearance by a certain Oscar in the future, if he picks his roles carefully. He reminds me of Haley Joel Osment [The Sixth Sense], if only he hadn’t gone all Macaulay Culkin on us and let the fame go to his head.

Another thing I loved in the movie besides the acting was the intensity. Mark Waters, bravo. Who knew he could pull off an action-packed fantasy adventure? You would think it would be a departure from what he is normally so good at: social quirks, dysfunctional families, and the angst of youth. But in fact, he was able to inject what he was good at into this movie, by showcasing character and depth as well. It’s not just a fantasy movie, but it’s a fantasy movie involving characters who have interesting backgrounds that shape the way they are. In this film, the family is suffering from a recent parental separation and Jared (the angry twin) is taking out all his frustrations on his mother (and the rear bumper of her car, at one point). He tearfully begs his dad to come back, and when he learns that he is living with another woman, allows his tough-guy exterior to melt away, revealing a very vulnerable and confused kid. Highmore’s portrayal of a troubled kid is amazing. I almost wanted to cry every time his character cried. Although I would have liked more character from his portrayal of his twin, Simon, I thought he pulled these characters off beautifully. Of course, with Mark Waters’ direction as well. And not only were the characters well portrayed, but the action was great too. A lot of adult action, actually, that I totally did not expected and was pleasantly surprised to see. In one scene, Jared and Mallory are running down an underground tunnel and they are being chased by this giant green troll who is just plowing through that tunnel. At the end of the tunnel they come to a ladder and Mallory climbs up hurriedly, with Jared not far behind. Normally, the norm is to have the troll crash behind Jared as he successfully but narrowly escapes through the ladder. But no, the troll freakin’ snatches the kid up with so much force I thought he would pass out. He then drags him down the tunnel. Could have been a scene off of Cloverfield.

Overall, this movie I would recommend for the family. There are strong issues like divorce and teenage rebellion, and the fantasy is actually somewhat darker than blah kiddie films like Bridge to Terabithia, but I thought it worked for the film. I got some really good feedback from my sisters, and I could see they visibly enjoyed the film. I give The Spiderwick Chronicles a 2 thumbs up.

Putting pieces together

Here are a couple more things we know about Lost:

1. In Not in Portland, when Ben is having his surgery, Danny [a.k.a. Pickett] tells Jason that “Shephard wasn’t even on Jacob’s list”. What list? When Michael was instructed by the others to bring 4 people on a list provided by Bea Klugh [the woman who Mikhail shot at the Flame Station], if this is the list that Danny was referring to, then why was Jack on the list in the first place? If this wasn’t the original list, then could it be that Juliet conspired with Bea to get Jack because he could operate on Ben? But then I don’t get why Ben wouldn’t give it the go ahead; he wants to live like everybody else. Why would it need to be under wraps? And why was Ben angry at Juliet for showing Jack his X-rays?

2. Aldo, the Other who is standing guard where Karl is being held, is reading A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking.

And after last night’s episode:

We now know that Sayid is one of the Oceanic Six. This is huge, because that rules out Claire being one of the Oceanic Six. My new list is Kate, Jack, Hurley, Sayid, Sawyer and Ben. Sayid has gone on a killing spree after getting off the island. It seems he is working as an assassin (a homage to Alias perhaps?), killing off important men. My guess is the list he has is of the head honchos who orchestrated the whole thing to begin with–probably Widmore Industries. On that note, I have a theory that Mr. Scary, the man who claimed to work for Oceanic and who visited Hurley at Santa Rosa, employed Naomi and gang to extract Ben because he was a liability to the goals of the company. Naomi might have been secretly contacted by Penny to find Desmond, hence the reason she had picture with her. Another idea is that she was tasked to kill Desmond by Charles Widmore himself, and she kept it under wraps from the rest of the gang because they didn’t have experience with killing, and they would only get in the way.

Sidenote: When the hatch imploded after Locke stopped pushing the buttons, a freighter with  a Portuguese-speaking crew located the island on their radar and they phoned Penny. Naomi was also speaking Portuguese to Mikhail when she crashed on the island. And the photo of Penny and Desmond was in a Portuguese book.

On to Daniel Faraday and his gadgetry. He has discovered that there are time differences between their freighter and the island. He stressed to Frank (the pilot) to maintain the same bearing they had getting into the island. This is another clue as to the whole “lost time” thing. This is probably why he was brought on board in the first place. As a physicist he can interpret this data and maybe attribute it to the long-believed theory of wormholes.

Naomi’s bracelet: It could be like a tracking device or something that members of a certain agency wear. The inscription on it said: “N. I will always be with you. -R.G.” Who is R.G.? And why did Elsa, the woman Sayid was trying to trick, have the same bracelet? Could she be working for the same guy that Naomi was working for? I don’t know anyone who has the initials RG, so I’m stumped for now.

As for that awesome cliffhanger, I actually had a feeling it would be Ben. At first I thought it might be Jack, but I figured, if it was someone we already knew was part of the Oceanic Six, then they would have just revealed it without bothering to cover up the voice. Now, Sayid mentioned back on the island that he would never trust anything that Ben said. Looked like he trusted him now, so it can therefore be followed that Ben does have someone on Naomi’s boat.

Why is Sayid killing all these men for Ben? Perhaps they want retribution. They want to stop it from being perpetuated again. Ben said it was good that they knew they were being hunted down. Why? Now, we know that the Oceanic Six have been given a huge sum of money to keep quiet. Who gave them this money? Widmore Industries?

Anyway, this is all for now. This episode felt like something off of Alias, which isn’t surprising, as most of the Lost writers were on Alias as well. The next episode promises more Kate and Sawyer action, more doubts spring up as to what the four new arrivals’ intentions are (although we do know, after what Miles said, that they intend on killing the survivors).

For Narnia and the North! (part II)

So, Prince Caspian is fast approaching. I’m almost wishing that summer was here.

During last year’s Comic-Con, I practically ran all the way to Hall H just to make sure I got into the Disney panel. I knew Prince Caspian was going to be previewed, and I was eager for some dish. And let’s just say my convention center marathon paid off. Two words: Ben Barnes.

Okay, so it wasn’t a good picture, but he was being interviewed on location, and it was hard to get a good one! But even from that crappy picture, you agree he’s cute. Anyway, all the more reason to see this movie, right? But to all you Lewis lovers, you won’t be disappointed. This time around, director Andrew Adamson is taking Narnia into a completely different direction. Sure, there’s still all the cute talking animals and the equally adorable Pevensie children, but more importantly, there’s more kickass action. Judging from the trailer, it’s definitely a darker, more intense Narnia, and rightly so. Prince Caspian was one of my favorites among the Chronicles, and I think the choice to take it into a darker direction was brilliant. It’s like the Potter films; your audience ages along with your characters (in this case, as with classics like The Lord of the Rings, the audience is WAY older than the usual demographic).

I’m really excited to see the Pevensie children back in action. William Moseley [Peter Pevensie] especially, because he impressed me so much in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. And of course, Liam Neeson returns to voice Aslan, friendly neighborhood lion.

So it’s going to be an intense ride, and I’m definitely going to find out if there is going to be a possible Comic-Con 2008 appearance by the cast, because if so, I am so there! If it means I have to run across the convention center again, I’ll do it. It’s only a matter of finding comfortable shoes. And trying to keep from knocking people over, of course. But I am so excited! When I first saw the trailer, it gave me shudders because it looked so good.

Edmund is all grown up (see picture below), and even Lucy, who looked so cute and little in Wardrobe is all grown up now. It’s the exact same feeling when the Potter kids returned for Chamber of Secrets.

The beauty of these fantasy films is the amount of detail and effort that the special effects, costume, props and make-up departments put into the visual aspect of the film. The allure of the Lord of the Rings films was the believability of the world that Tolkien created. Illustrators Alan Lee and John Howe were brought on board the film just to recreate their visions of what Tolkien masterfully crafted. It’s the same way with Caspian. When Andrew Adamson talked about the production process at the Con, he mentioned how tedious the filming was and how they wanted to be true to the spirit of the story without compromising the exciting movie-going experience. In Wardrobe, I heard that the producers tried to make the film as bloodless as possible, because the book’s demographic was younger. In this film, however, I hope that they continue to make it appealing to the younger audience, but without compromising the intensity and realism of the battle scenes. Judging from the picture above of Edmund fighting, it looks like they’re going all out with this. Understandably it will be a GP film, or even a PG13 film like LoTR was, but I’m sure it will still have that same charm that drew people to see it.

If you’d like to view the awesome trailer, you can watch it here: http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809244324/trailer