Full 'Deathly Hallows' Trailer!

Okay, so, of course I devoured all of the Harry Potters books and I've seen the movies and very much want to go to the theme park, but I admit that since the book series ended and I have had some frustrations with changes in the last couple of movies and there are so many other things like the Twilight craziness that seem to be taking over the Harry Potter thunder, that I haven't been dying for the new movies. I mean, of course I wanted to see them and have the series concluded, but it was kind of a meh feeling. Until, dun dun duh!... I just watched this full trailer for the new Deathly Hallows movie coming out November 19th and was biting my lip and holding my breath the entire time! Gah! I forgot how great they are and now I want to go back and read them all again! It's like coming home to old friends, like my Amelia's, and those are the best kinds of stories ;)

'Eclipse' Trailer

Here is the trailer for the 3rd movie in the Twilight series, Eclipse. I enjoyed the books, and I haven't hated the movies like a lot of people (maybe because I just liked the books and wasn't obsessed with them). I think the books and the movies have both been entertaining, and though I'm not absolutely dying to see this, I of course will. In this one the part of the villain 'Victoria' is now played by Bryce Dallas Howard. As much as its awkward to see a character you have known as one actor change ('Rachel' in the Dark Knight, anyone?) I think Bryce is so phenomenal and I am excited to see what she does with the part :

Release Date: June 30, 2010

'Tron Legacy' Trailer

There is finally a full trailer up for the sequel to the 1982 Disney Sci-Fi classic Tron, this one called, Tron Legacy. If you watch the original now, though the idea/story is great, the Graphics look pretty cheesy. I can't wait to see how this new one will looks with what Graphics have become today. From the preview below, 'pretty sweet' is what its looking like:

Release Date: December 17, 2010

"Alice in Wonderland" Movie Review

So I went to Alice and Wonderland last weekend with my BFF Kirst (Mom, remind me what BFF stands for? I forget. Te he, inside joke ;) As some of you may know from a blog of mine several months ago, I had been looking forward to this movie for a while.

Before I went I had been reading some not-so-friendly reviews, so I had taken my expectations down a notch (Reading reviews can be good or bad. In this case it was good, but in some cases, like for me, with Avatar, it can be bad. I truly did like Avatar, but I didn't believe it to be the masterpiece that all of the hype had me expecting it to be). So with the reviews and just knowing that it would be Tim Burton insanity, I went into it very braced for over-the-top craziness. Other than a couple of silly bits at the end that I could have done without, I liked it. Didn't love it, but really quite liked it.

It was colorful and magical and though at first I questioned the choice of the Alice actress, I adored her by the end. (Mia Wasikowska- genius at accents- I completely thought she was actually Polish because of a movie I saw her in, she is British in Alice, but she is actually Australian. Gotta love those Aussies.) I think her normalcy was a necessary contrast to the other outrageous characters. The show was completely stolen by the fabulous feels-like-they-actually-become-the-character acting styles of Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter though. I always adore the quirky and the whimsical and this story definitely delivered both. It also had some sweet messages and had some moments of nonsense that are at the same time moments of insightful clarity, reminiscent of Big Fish. This is the glory that is Tim Burton- he finds the beauty in the bizarre.

These last few days, in hindsight, I have found myself thinking of very funny lines and beautiful colorful scenes and realized that I like the movie even more than I originally thought. I mentioned that to Kirsten and she has been feeling the same way. There is just so much going on in the movie that I think it is, at times, too overwhelming for its own good, and you miss some of the sweetness and magic and subtle brilliance because it becomes a bit of a blur. I would like to go to it again and I think I would be able to catch more of the witty humor, the clever and thoughtful dialogue and the lovely themes about cultivating the imagination and of having faith in yourself. There is a quote from the Lewis Carol book itself that reflects this a bit-

'Everything has a moral, if only you can find it.'

So, even though it didn't absolutely blow me away the first time I saw it, in my book it is definitely the mark of a good movie that it has me thinking and smiling about the wonder of it all several days later. So, if you like fantasy and fairy tales, quirky out-of-this-world characters, off the wall hilarity, or have ever just wished that you yourself might escape reality and stumble down a rabbit hole into a world of adventure... you will like this movie. I'll go with you.

'Have I gone mad?'

'I'm afraid so. You're entirely bonkers. But I'll tell you a secret: all the best people are.'

Piranhas. Almost as Funny as Zombies. Almost.

I don't know why I am such a sucker for campy, gory movies! I just think they are so ridiculous that they make me laugh when a normal person would cringe. I am a huge fan of Whitney Matheson who writes Pop Candy and likes a lot of the things I like (aka, LOST) and keeps me amused and up-to-date on geeky pop culture happenings. This is one of the things she wrote about today:

Last night I went to see Youth in Revolt (very good). Outside of the movie itself, the biggest ruckus in the theater came during a trailer for Piranha 3-D, a campy horror flick opening in April. When the trailer started, I think a lot of folks assumed it was fake -- how else to explain Christopher Lloyd, Elizabeth Shue, Jerry O'Connell, Ving Rhames, Eli Roth and other familiar faces in a flick about man-eating fish? But yes, Piranha is real, and it's really in 3-D. (Director Alexandre Aja also helmed The Hills Have Eyes.) Sadly, the trailer hasn't been posted online yet, so all we have are leaked versions and set footage. If Piranha 3-D is anything like the 1978 film Piranha, though, we're in for a treat. Directed by Joe Dante (Gremlins, The 'Burbs), the '70s cult classic parodied Jaws and included bits of dialogue like this:

Resort worker: "But the piranhas ..."
Boss: "What about the (expletive) piranhas?!"
Resort worker: "They're eating the guests, sir."

Check out the original trailer:



Ummm, yeah, I feel like I am going to get a total kick out of the Piranha 3-D coming, but I also may have to see if I can track down this original. Ha!

This Just In!

Oh my gosh, this makes me so happy- ha! A few months ago I posted about the novel Pride & Prejudice & Zombies. I heard a while ago that there was talk of adapting it into a movie for 2011, but I just read this article that states that Natalie Portman will be playing Elizabeth Bennet in the movie version. Ha! She is just right. I hope its true. Natalie is such a fabulous actress anyway, and I think she will be the perfect amount of taking it seriously yet understanding that its amusing to pull it off. I particularly find this casting ideal because of the physical similarities between herself and Keira Knightley who played Elizabeth in the most recent film version of Pride & Prejudice. Trivia: back before Pirates of the Caribbean and before anyone knew who she was, Kiera was in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace playing the small role of the decoy for Princess Amidala. The real Amidala being played by, of course, Natalie Portman. It's just too perfect.

LDS Twilight

Wow. I can't really think of a more appropriate word for this. There wasn't an option to embed the video straight to my blog, but you HAVE to check this out:

Twilight Years

Horror Classics

With my love of vintage, and possibly the reason for my love of vintage, is my absolute adoration of old vintage movies. Vintage being Golden Hollywood stuff. From the cheesy, sing-songy, synchronized swimming romances of Esther Williams to the dark and somewhat misogynistic James Cagney mob thrillers, I love them all. Included in this wide range of vintage movie options, and particularly at this time of the year, I absolutely love old horror classics. Certainly some of them like Creature from the Black Lagoon and Invasion of the Body Snatchers, albeit entertaining to watch, walk a fine line between Classic and B Movie. What makes them classic is that they were the first and B horror movies are ripoffs of these. Then there are the very original German inspirations for the Hollywood horror classics such as the silent movies The Cat and the Canary and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari that are ridiculously creepy to this day, even though they still seem a little silly just because they are sooooo old. To us now, characters like Dracula and Frankenstein, The Wolf Man and The Mummy, are staple horror characters that we have known about since we were small and are mostly just overdone costume options. (though when I use the genre Horror I am being broad- these ones would probably more specifically be classified as Creature Features)

These days horror movies come out all the time, but what would it have been like to have gone to the theater in 1931 and seen Frankenstein brought to life for the first time, when having special effects at all was a ground-breaking art for movies and horror was a completely new and revolutionary movie genre? My Anniversary Edition of Frankenstein has a fantastic documentary about the origin of the horror movie and it is fascinating to hear some of the people talk about how honestly shocked and horrified they were when they saw Frankenstein and Dracula the first time, even though no one would really be scared of those version now (except for very small children (see my random Sharlie the Lake Monster story) and people named Jessica Jane Doxey Plowman (love you girl! ;)) The movie industry has come incredibly far in the last eighty years concerning special effects, but you have to respect the old horrors for being the first of their kind and for the effects they were able to accomplish with oddly-colored lighting and shadows and music without the graphics of today. For being released in 1933, I will forever be impressed by the smooth effects in the scene in The Invisible Man when he finally sort of goes crazy and unwraps the cloth from around his head as he rants and cackles wickedly and we finally see the nothingness beneath...

I know its cheesy, but try to think of it from the perspective of the time it was made. I always try to do that with old movies, and it makes the experience so much richer.

Even today we don't see a lot of original horror figures- certainly if you want to call Freddy Kruger and Michael Meyer modern classic horror figures that is your prerogative, but they lack the mythology and the pathos for their former humanity that the real classics have. What we mainly see are retellings of the staples. So, as All Hallows Eve approaches, I would like to declare my respect and appreciation for the Hollywood horror classics. Without them, the 31st of October would not be what it is today.

In parting, as we learn from The Wolf Man:

Even a man who is pure in heart
And says his prayers by night
May become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms...
And the Autumn Moon is bright!

Happy Halloween ...

Just A Charming Autumn Weekend...

Haha, I love how that poster is the first thing you see after the whole 'charming' thing. I crack myself up. Know what else cracks me up? Horror movies. It's hard to find people to go with me because most people I know get freaked out and hate them, but I like that cringy feeling of mystery in the theater and I like the creepy anticipation of what's lurking around the corner, but mostly I tend to just get a kick out of how hokey and predictable they are. I don't like the Satanic ones or the teen slashers that are more unnecessary nudity than mystery, but I do love a good thrill. I particularly enjoyed Shawn of the Dead, the British spoof on zombie movies. So funny, though I do have the edited version ;) Well, this past Friday night my friend Adam and I went to the new movie Zombieland, another horror spoof. I don't go to a ton of Rated R movies, but I don't really mind when its for violence, like action or war movies, or in Zombieland's case, for "horror violence/gore." I'm not squeemish. On top of being funny and gory, I was happily surprised to find that the movie actually had some tender moments and endearing characters. Also, there is an amazing cameo in the film that I did NOT see coming! I seriously laughed my head off in this movie. Adam is jumpier than I am, and so there were a couple of times that he was crouching a little in his seat, along with the majority of the audience, and I was just guffawing away. I think he thought I was a little nuts for not being horrified like a normal person. Maybe he's right, but I just can't be scared of zombies. I mean, I am sure that there are some scary zombie movies, but the traditional zombie, you know, with the goofy limpy walk and making unintelligible shrieking noises and with their negative IQ's... I just can't find it in me to be afraid of those dummies. So, if you have sense of humor for the outrageous and bizarre, are cynical and slightly desensitized and find amusement in the silly undead like I do (zombies are the new vampire), then you will like this movie. If, on the other hand, your soul is far more pure than mine, I would still suggest finding an edited version of this to watch in the future.

On Saturday, (beautiful, clear, seventy degrees Saturday, perhaps the last of its kind for the year, grumble grumble) it was the final day for the downtown Farmers Market that comes every summer. I met my friend Kirsten and, as usually ensues when Kirst and I get together and there are fresh wares to be purchased, much eating ensued:

Yummy tamales!

This was our favorite store- the woman takes these vintage book covers and puts in blank pages and makes them notebooks/journals...

She also makes these sweet light switch covers. I would have gotten one but the light switches in my apartment aren't the traditional shape.

Fresh fruit pies...

...We could NOT resist getting one. Look how cute and small! It was like a Cup Pie from Pushing Daisies!

I bought some fresh noodles that I made into a stir fry for lunch on Sunday- yum, yum, yum, deliciouso!

Kirst buying some fresh basil (bets on how long it stays alive? J/K Kirst... sort of ;)

Mmmm, cherry honey from a tube.

Then we shopped around at The Gateway for a bit trying to find Kirst a good Winter coat. Sadly no luck- it may still be a tad early for that.

Audrey Hepburnesque coat that I loved (but didn't buy, sigh)

Trunk set that I loved (but again, didn't buy. Prolonged sigh)

We loved these! I bought a couple of the napkin sets and Kirst and I both bought the mug that says, "Funny... I don't recall asking for your opinion." Ha!

Sunday was another gorgeous sunny day, so I went walking and enjoyed the Fall colors and the leaves blowing across the streets. Later that day I went and saw my cousin Heather who should be having baby cub Jack today or tomorrow! She is sooooo ready to have the kid, and I am so ready to meet him!

Movie Mania!

So brother Bug was in town this weekend and what we like to do when we get together is go to movies. He really came down because we have tickets to The Scarlet Pimpernel musical at Hale for tonight and we figured he may as well make a weekend of it. We've had a theater movie marathon a couple of times before, depending on having a free day when we happen to see each other and depending on there being several movies out at the same time that we are interested in seeing. Our previous full day movie-going goals had never before been as lofty as they were this weekend... and they may never be again.

On Friday night we drove down to Provo because Bug has been staying at our brother Logan and his new wife Sara's house down there. I will henceforth be referring to them as 'Logra,' to save time, whether they like it or not. (I rather think they do not, but I like it and I think it sounds like a name from Thundercats or something, which makes it extra cool). So we met up with Logra in Provo and grilled burgers and then went to the GI Joe movie. Yeah, we all went into it assuming the absolute worst, and decided to just have a sense of humor about it. We had to go though, for sentimental reasons, because as kids we were HUGE into the cartoon and had a bunch of the action figures and would role play on the trampoline. The movie was, well, it wasn't Batman & Robin level of unbearable or anything, but it was pretty bad. Not only was there hokey CGI and action sequences, but even worse, it was full of hokey dialogue. It was almost so bad it was good though- I haven't laughed that hard in a movie for a while. After the first few minutes of goofy dialogue and awkwardness, we were pretty much gone ;) They set it up for a sequel and part of me almost hopes for it, just to see what other silliness will ensue. After the movie we went back to Logra's and had a slumber party. We watched Condorman. Oh. My. Classic ;)

For Saturday Bug and I started out with great aspirations to hit four (and if we could handle it, get really crazy and try for five) movies. We had a whole schedule planned out. We left Logra's at about 9:15am aiming to hit a 10:10am movie in Jordan, which should have gotten us there in plenty of time, but because of stormy weather and, surprise, surprise, road construction, we didn't get to the Jordan exit until 10:30am. Original plan aborted. So, we quickly reworked our plans, thinking we could still work it all in, just on a tighter schedule, and we headed to Century 16 to see an 11:25am showing of (500) Days of Summer. Twenty-five minutes into the movie, I kid you not, a telephone pole right outside the theater split in half and the power went out. We all stood in a long line and received coupons good to come back whenever. Plan foiled again.

Things went smoother after this. We headed up to the Gateway for a double feature, starting with a 1:40pm viewing of The Time Traveler's Wife, a trailer that I posted when I raved about the book that the movie is based on: I read the book fairly recently, which isn't usually a good idea right before you go to a movie, but I thought they did a beautiful job and did the story justice. Everything that was in the movie pretty much really does happen in the book as well, they just had to cut a lot out because the book is pretty long. There is just so much more in the novel that I would still very much recommend reading it. The movie was very good though- very emotional. I totally bawled, and when I wasn't, I felt on the verge. Some sad tears, some sweet tears, some frustrated tears. I hope this isn't talking you out of it ;) Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana are both so great.

After that we went straight into a 3:45pm viewing of Julie & Julia, the movie that jumps back and forth between the true stories of famous chef Julia Childs (played by Meryl Streep) and Julie Powell (played by Amy Adams), the bored woman who decided to cook all of the recipes in Childs' book Mastering the Art of French Cooking, blogged about it, became hugely popular, and got a book deal- Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen: I had heard good things about this movie before I went to it, from reviews and friends alike, and I wasn't disappointed. It was charmingly filmed and Meryl Streep was amazing and very funny.

After watching all of that beautiful food it was a good thing that it was time for dinner! We went to Mimi's Cafe, which I love. Everything there is good and is artistically prepared and they have the best spinach and artichoke dip ever- its really cheesy and has sun dried tomatoes in it. Mmmmmm.

Then, at long last, we went back to Century 16 to use our coupons and made our second, and much more successful, attempt to see (500) Days of Summer starring Zooey Deschanel & Joseph Gordon Levitt: First of all, it had an awesome soundtrack which Zooey sings a song on and that is a little reminiscent of the soundtrack from last summer's Indie darling Juno. As I said, I have been waiting for this movie for a while and went into it knowing that it wasn't going to be a traditional RomCom like a Sleepless in Seattle or Runaway Bride or How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days happily-ever-after kind of a movie. I'm so okay with that. I didn't love it as much as I wanted too- a little too much crassness, but I did really like it a lot. I love the unconventional perspective of a romance and they did some very creative things filming-wise.

After this we technically would have had time to go to one more, but it had been a pretty long day. The other one we wanted to go to is called Paper Heart, which is only playing at the artsy Broadway Cinemas downtown. This is another movie, like (500) Days of Summer, that Bug and I wanted to go and see at Sundance last February but couldn't work it in. It's sort of a half documentary/half fictional movie starring real-life couple comedians Michael Cera and Charlyne Yi: The story is basically Yi, who doesn't believe in love, going around and interviewing people about what they think about love, and falling for Cera in the process. The story is very simple, but looks very funny and very adorable.

Well, my next crazy movie adventure will be Sundance if Bug comes up for that again. Always a good time ;)

An Ode to Zooey Deschanel

Though this is technically a post about music along with a movie review, it is also an ode to Zooey Deschanel in general. She's just so dang cool. You have probably heard her sing before as she has done it in more than one of the movies she has been in (Elf, Yes Man...) but you may not know that she has an album out and tours around and loves singing even more than acting. She made the album with M. Ward, a great singer/songwriter on his own, though his part in this album is mainly producing and co-writing a couple of the songs with Deschanel. As far as singing is concerned you really only hear him doing background on a few of them.

When I bought the album I had no idea what the sound would be- I wasn't really familiar with Ward at that point and all I know was that I loved Zooey's deep, smooth tone and subtle vibrato when I had heard her sing in movies. I should have known better than to expect some trendy, pop type of album when Zooey is an edgy, Indie movie princess. The style is really sort of 50s and is even recorded in a way to make it sound like a vintage recording. You can read more about the inspirations for the music and the recording method here. Its like Patsy Kline/The Ronettes fused together in an Indie Rock way. Listen to a couple of songs and you will understand what I mean. At first I was a little taken aback, but it has really, really grown on me:

I Thought I Saw Your Face Today

I Was Made For You

Why Do You Let Me Stay Here

There are plenty of other reasons I love Zooey as well. For instance, her big sister is actress Emily Deschanel from the Fox television drama Bones, who I also love, and they live together in real life. I am really close to my big sister and we lived together for a while in college and so sisters make me happy:

They are both great actresses. Zooey has the best deadpan comedic timing, and she just can't seem to help being ridiculously adorable and likable in every role. Zooey even, musicals being dear to my heart, was in a TV Disney movie of Once Upon a Mattress a few years ago with Matthew Morrison (more on him in the Fall when Glee starts up on Fox, oh yes):

Also, I love her wardrobe style:

She is the closest thing to a real life Chuck from my beloved Pushing Daisies who's wardrobe is my dream:

I think Zooey would be really fun to hear live- along with her own music she does some fun cover songs:

Dream a Little Dream of Me

Hello Dolly

She's even completely adorable in a Cotton commercial for goodness sake:

July 17th a movie called (500) Days of Summer came out starring Zooey and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (who was in that music video with her above). I have been looking forward to this since last February when I couldn't get tickets to it at Sundance and it received so much acclaim. The preview itself clearly states that it isn't going to be your typical love story, so I am going to go into it not expecting them to ride off into the sunset. I am finally going this weekend- I was waiting for brother Bug to come to town to go with me.

So, Zooey, thanks for being funky and charming and unique and exactly what I would suppose somebody named Zooey to be.

Trailer for (500) Days of Summer

The Time Traveler's Wife

I loved the novel The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. If you haven't read it you may have at least heard of it as it was a Best Seller and received quite a bit of acclaim when it was first published in 2003. It's hard to really narrow down the intricate story into a brief synopsis, but here is one I really like from Publisher's Weekly:

Henry De Tamble is a Chicago librarian with "Chrono Displacement" disorder; at random times, he suddenly disappears without warning and finds himself in the past or future, usually at a time or place of importance in his life. This leads to some wonderful paradoxes. From his point of view, he first met his wife, Clare, when he was 28 and she was 20. She ran up to him exclaiming that she'd known him all her life. He, however, had never seen her before. But when he reaches his 40s, already married to Clare, he suddenly finds himself time travelling to Clare's childhood and meeting her as a 6-year-old. The book alternates between Henry and Clare's points of view, and so does the narration. In the Clare narration it expresses the longing of the one always left behind, the frustrations of their unusual lifestyle, and above all, her overriding love for Henry. In the Henry perspective it evokes the fear of a man who never knows where or when he'll turn up, and his gratitude at having Clare, whose love is his anchor.

The style of Traveller is very cleverly written un-chronologically and the reader has to piece the story together. On top of that, it is also just beautifully written and the whole story is shadowed by an overwhelming and tender sense of mystery and the idea that love is ... more, than even time can control. It is a classic, What Came First, the Chicken or the Egg situation- how can Henry and Clare's initial meeting be explained when it happened in two different times? Destiny? Certainly there are some sappy moments, as with any story involving romance, but I definitely wouldn't define the book as sappy on the whole. It's bittersweet, timeless and haunting, while at the same time being very real and gritty and complicated. It's not just for the ladies ;)

A movie version of The Time Traveller's Wife is coming out in theaters August 14th and I am very excited about it. I am thrilled by the actors chosen to play the parts of Henry and Clare- Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams. the book is rather long so I am anticipating that they will have to cut quite a bit out, and I hope that doesn't effect how thought-provoking and intimate the material is. I am very interested to see if it follows the jumpy, non-chronological storytelling style of the novel and I am eager to see this sweeping, poignant romance brought to life.

Dancing in My Heart, Sigh

Dance, Definition One: To move one's feet or body, or both, rhythmically in a pattern of steps, esp. to the accompaniment of music

Dance, Definition Two: Hayley's biggest fear

Okay, probably not the biggest, but its definitely up there. The thought of having to do it makes my eyes bulge and I have avoided it as best as I could my entire life. I love dance- I respect it and admire it and truly wish that I was good at it. Believe me, I own both of the box sets of the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movies and you don't watch those for the plot, you watch them for the dancing-

And I have a mad no-longer-living-actor crush on the amazing Gene Kelly-

I constantly have some tune or another on my mind and find myself head bobbing and foot tapping and I am an avid player of drums on my steering wheel and feel inclined to dance often. When it comes to having to do it while other people could potentially see me, however, it's not happening. The minute I feel like someone might see me or I get asked to join in on dancing, whatever rhythm I may somewhere posses, 'vanishes like a fart in the wind.' (Excuse the crassness, but it is a quote from an Academy award nominated movie, after all, which would have won if not for Forrest Gump coming out the same year. But I digress ... ;) Though dancing is something that I cannot (and will not) do, I love watching it. I love going to recitals and ballets and I LOVE the show So You Think You Can Dance. It is seriously ridiculous how talented these kids are. (Yes, I feel old enough now to refer to them as 'kids.' Sad.)

I will be coming back to SYTYCD later, but as for me, I think I had better just let the wonderful Jane Monheit and Michael Buble' take the floor and explain how I feel-

80's Toy-Based Movie Concepts

I am in love with this list from Entertainment Weekly. Particularly the Taglines and the Dream Casts. Haha!

http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20246950_20263257_20286948,00.html

There are, of course, a few they have left out. As I said in my previous blog I would like to see a Thundercats movie. (Does it count as a movie based off a toy if the toy was based off a cartoon? They have Strawberry Shortcake and Care Bears on their list, so I guess so) We already had a Masters of the Universe movie (with a young Courtney Cox) though I wouldn't be opposed to a remake. I would also very much like to see a live-action Teddy Ruxpin movie- you better believe I had the talking Teddy and Grubby toys. ;)

A Geek Am I

Pretty much I'm a big geek. I blame it all on the brilliant abundance of cartoons that I grew up with in the early 80s. Partly because now all of those cartoons are being made into live action movies and I already know the characters and feel sentimental about them, and partly because even though in the early 80s girls were starting to emerge as a bit more than just the traditional damsel in distress roles, the boys still got to fight the best battles and be the most brave, so I grew up a MAJOR tomboy. I loved the new Star Trek movie and I'm excited for the G. I. Joe movie coming out except that its Stephen Sommers who directed the first two Mummy movies and Van Helsing which were fun, but cartoony where I would have liked to see G. I. Joe taken a little more seriously like with the new Batman movies...



...oh, and I love comic book movies, although, don't even get me started on the discrepancies in characters and time lines in the new Wolverine movie or the disastrous plot changes to the Phoenix storyline in X-Men: The Last Stand .... whoa. See. Geek. I have all of the movies that I want to see on my Facebook calendar- I wish I could find an app. to stick that calendar on my blog... Basically what I'm trying to say is that I'm excited for the Transformers sequel that came out today, okay? Anybody want to go to it with me? Also, I hope that my future children that are girls are cool with action figures, cause I do NOT relate to Barbie. Wait, is there a Pirate Barbie? How about a Ninja Barbie? Hmmm.

All we need now is a movie like this awesome fan made trailer ;)

The Brothers Bloom

I actually first saw a preview for this movie about a year ago and have been waiting for it. It was supposed to come out in November, and then in January, and it kept getting pushed back for some reason. It finally came out two weeks ago but is only playing (here, at least) at the artsy Broadway Center Theatre downtown. If you haven't heard of it you can check out the trailer here. I loved it. I'd see it again. It's a screwball comedy conman movie and the script is so great with a creative plot and sharp dialogue. Really, until the last five minutes of the film, its hard to be sure what aspects of the story are part of a con and what is real. The characters are unique and lovable and it stars Rachel Weisz, Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo, who are all brilliant. It is also extremely funny- full of quirky, clever and sometimes very random humor. There is so much attention to detail with each scene and each character. It was filmed on beautiful sets and in beautiful locations (Berlin, Montenegro, Greece, Prague, St. Petersburg...) that give it a very classic movie feel though it is a contemporary story. The wonderfully eccentric apparel plays to this as well, with things like capes and bowler hats...

...and my oh my, am I ever a sucker for a man in a vest.

Also, I don't know what it is about Adrien Brody, big schnoz and all. He just has such a great build and looks good in anything. I envy the costume designers who get to dress him ;) I remember thinking the same thing when I saw King Kong, so maybe he just looks great in old-fashioned styles of clothing. (He's in the picture below on the left- Mmmm, don't mind if I do.)

There's no such thing as an unwritten life, just a badly-written one.

'One Person's Craziness is Another Person's Reality' - Tim Burton

A Tim Burton exhibit is going to open at the prestigious Modern Art Museum in New York City. No, really, it’s true. Tim Burton next to the likes of Picasso and Monet. I am planning on going to the Big Apple for a few days in October and I am bummed I am going to miss this- it doesn’t open until November and I am sure that the display will be an odd combination of classy and kooky and definitely worth seeing.

It would be curious to see images like this:

Next to images like this:

Although, in the dementia of some of Burton’s art there is a certain symmetry with a beloved one-eared painter:

I am also excited about this: Burton directing a live action movie of Alice in Wonderland. Much as I cringe at putting the words hate and Disney in the same sentence, I sort of hate the Disney cartoon version of this story. Burton’s way of putting the heart and humor into tales that are dark and, well, weird, will be perfect for it though. He is so perfect for this movie that I am almost surprised that he hasn’t already done it.

http://www.cinematical.com/2009/03/12/first-look-tim-burtons-alice-in-wonderland/

http://infdaily.fusebox.com/2008/09/our-first-look-at-tim-burtons-alice-in-wonderland.html