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"The Losers" looks eff-in' awesome!
I've just watched the trailer three times in a row, and it just gets more squee-inducing with each watch. It gives almost a sense of a live-action anime in the combination of sheer kick-ass awesome and humor... which I guess is close, since it's apparently a comics adaptation. Chris Evans' character is *clearly* made for me to fangirl over. :)
I wish I was more skilled at maneuvering in the world of comics. I'm intrigued enough to want to check out the source material, but I'm not looking forward to the quagmire of confusion I always end up in when I go hunting for something like this.
Naked Boys Singing is headed for movie-dom.
http://broadwayworld.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=14603
I am very much in favor.
And in other news, I just watched the teaser for the next Fantastic Four movie. I didn't see the first movie due to being a bit of a Jessica Alba non-fan. Wasn't expecting to see the second movie for the same reason. But that trailer made my Torch-Lovin' little heart go *squee*.
^_^
http://broadwayworld.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=14603
I am very much in favor.
And in other news, I just watched the teaser for the next Fantastic Four movie. I didn't see the first movie due to being a bit of a Jessica Alba non-fan. Wasn't expecting to see the second movie for the same reason. But that trailer made my Torch-Lovin' little heart go *squee*.
^_^
Tags:
Theater: YAY! Avenue Q proves itself to be the irreverent-little-show-that-could. It scored (no pun intended) all three production-side musical Tony's: Best Book, Best Score, and Best Overall Musical. My other favorite, Assassins, also took home some big awards, with wins for Best Revival, Best Director, and Best Featured Actor. I've been thinking about trekking over to Chicago this Labor Day to see Michael Cerveris and Audra McDonald in Sunday in the Park with George...and they BOTH won Tony's last night, so now I really do have to. :)
Reading: Recently finished an older book (Door Into Fire by Diane Duane) that I read once when it was a little too old for me, so I didn't really remember much about it. It turned out to be pretty good. Now I gotta hunt up the other volumes, which I think are probably going to be out of print. :P Currently reading another book that I similarly didn't-quite-get as a kid: Jo Clayton's Changer's Moon. Too early yet to know if I'll enjoy it.
Anime: Continuing to catch up with Full Metal Panic, Descendants of Darkness, Fruits Basket, and Weiss Kreuz...I'm enjoying all these series very much, although Descendants and Weiss go quite over-the-top with their bad guys. (The eye-candy makes up for it, though.) I also am very intrigued by Gasaraki. Volume 1 didn't get into things deep enough to be sure, but the political maneuvering going on in the series is very different and surprisingly "real world" for a mecha-show. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to mech-fans, even just based on one volume. Finally, I'm drop-dead OBSESSED with Wolf's Rain airing on Cartoon Network. What a fantastic, fantastic, fantastic series. Nice, steady story development and a mix of characters that keeps me interested in everyone - not just the wolves.
Movies: Oh, forgot that I also went to see ...Azakaban on opening night. Some people have no brains when it comes to bringing children to the theater (If 9-year-old Billy *must* see the movie, find a sitter for 3-year-old Janie, for cryin' out loud!!). Besides those sorts of problems, I loved the movie. The kids have grown into their rolls so nicely, and this adaptation felt so much more *REAL*...the script allowed them to talk and interact like KIDS (entering teen-dom) which, combined with the chemistry they've developed, gave the movie a good core. The Harry/Lupin and Harry/Sirius chemistry were great, too. Looking forward to seeing those two actors again. I hope they find a time-freezing machine to allow them to use Daniel Radcliffe through Order of the Phoenix...he's come a long way since the first movie, and handles Harry's more mature moments in this movie really well.
Saw the movie with my mom and dad tonight. I knew I was in trouble when my dad leaned over and asked what the "bowling ball" was when Pippin finds the palantir. My mom kept making "WTF?!?" noises during the early scenes with Faramir in Osgiliath. She saw TTT just recently, extended edition and everything, but she didn't seem to understand what/where Osgiliath was and why they kept cutting to it. It's really been kinda depressing having these movies be big enough for them to want to see. Here's something that is *SO* important to me and *SO* iconic of one of my major loves in life (fantasy lit) and although they put forth the effort to see it, there's still no common ground, nothing I can share with them and make them "get it." Mom's first words as the credits rolled: "That last twenty minutes was such a waste." I almost cried.
It was interesting, though, in hearing their reactions as people who didn't know how it all turned out. My mom started to get angry during Gandalf's death-speech, thinking it meant that Pippin was going to die, and overall they were a little more tense about their fave characters' fates...so that was kinda cool. I just wish their favorites were based on a better understanding of the characters and their world instead of a kneejerk reaction to the funny bits. :(
At least that's done with, and I got one more viewing in for the movie's first week. I didn't think I would be able to go see it again until after the holiday, and I came out of the theater as eager to see it again as I've ever been, so it can't be a total downer of an evening. :)
It was interesting, though, in hearing their reactions as people who didn't know how it all turned out. My mom started to get angry during Gandalf's death-speech, thinking it meant that Pippin was going to die, and overall they were a little more tense about their fave characters' fates...so that was kinda cool. I just wish their favorites were based on a better understanding of the characters and their world instead of a kneejerk reaction to the funny bits. :(
At least that's done with, and I got one more viewing in for the movie's first week. I didn't think I would be able to go see it again until after the holiday, and I came out of the theater as eager to see it again as I've ever been, so it can't be a total downer of an evening. :)
Okey-dokey. Second viewing, slightly different perspective coming out of it. I sat quite far back in the theater this time, as it seems necessary with these movies if you don't want periodic waves of "Whoa! Too much going on! My eyes!" I cried a lot more this time, and was much more involved in the action. Not sure if it was the seating arrangements, knowing what was coming next, or just my mood. Who cares. I just know I need to see it a few dozen more times.
First, the things I liked first time through: Eowyn & Theoden still rock my world. In just three scenes together, they capture so much affection and familial love. I really like how Eowyn's desire for battle is never mentioned around Theoden or Eomer. It's clear in their attitudes (especially the conversation where Theoden tells her she's to rule Rohan in his stead) that the men are aware of her desire and have probably been over it before, but Eowyn has clearly lost that fight many times before (last time on the road to Helm's Deep), so she doesn't even bother to try. Theoden's death may be my favorite scene in the whole movie.
Pippin & Gandalf stuff still rocks. I was even more awed by Billy Boyd this time through. Even with the maturation that Pippin goes through in this movie, his childlike quality still shines through, especially in that conversation with Gandalf about death.
Cried a lot more over the Frodo/Sam stuff than I did the first time. I think the first time through I was spending too much time psychoanalyzing the situation. This time, the emotions were able to kick me in the gut. I still don't think Sean Astin or any of the other actors will get any Oscar noms (and the Golden Globe noms seem to support this)...the ensemble-ness and uniform greatness of the cast will work against them. How do you single out just one performance, when such a comparatively small amount of screen-time is given to everyone? It sucks, but I gave up many years ago on hoping that the "mainstream" would ever grant TRULY equal respect to the fantasy genre.
Re-examing the "Minuses":
Merry still needs more screen-time. I'd like at least a scene in Edoras after Pippin leaves. We don't really get a feel for how Merry copes with being left alone, but it clearly affects him, by his line to Pippin after Pelennor Fields. Something showing Eowyn first taking him under her wing would definitely be in order. The Faramir/Denethor stuff is also blatantly missing some important scenes.
Aragorn: I didn't mention this last time, but Viggo rocks my world. If there's a movie coolness scale, Viggo is like...Indiana Jones cool. He inhabits the character so completely, he IS the king. We do get more focus on Aragorn as a person this time around, and he gives us some lovely little moments that aren't really easy to describe but really round out the character: a little smile here, a hesitation there. Words can't describe how much I enjoyed just watching him move around on screen. HOWEVER, I still think his role in the movie is missing something. My main gripe is that the army of the dead arrives so late in the battle. By the time they arrive, the Rohirrim have already taken out many oliphaunts, the Witch King is dead. The day may not be won, but there have been some small victories. And then, Aragorn arrives and the camera zooms out and we get a wide shot of the dead basically sweeping up the rest of the enemies. To have the thing won so easily in the end sort of cheapens the sacrifices and efforts made by the Rohirrim and Gondorians, to me. I think I'd be happier if there'd been some greater cost to obtaining the army. It'd improve Aragorn's position in the movie by having him face some struggle to achieve his ends, and it'd make the army saving the day seem like less of a cop out.
To sum up: Loved the movie, but I want MORE MORE MORE of some areas. Actually, while I'm asking, heck, gimme MORE MORE MORE of everything! Here's hoping the extended edition really is more than an hour longer. I'll eat up every second of it.
First, the things I liked first time through: Eowyn & Theoden still rock my world. In just three scenes together, they capture so much affection and familial love. I really like how Eowyn's desire for battle is never mentioned around Theoden or Eomer. It's clear in their attitudes (especially the conversation where Theoden tells her she's to rule Rohan in his stead) that the men are aware of her desire and have probably been over it before, but Eowyn has clearly lost that fight many times before (last time on the road to Helm's Deep), so she doesn't even bother to try. Theoden's death may be my favorite scene in the whole movie.
Pippin & Gandalf stuff still rocks. I was even more awed by Billy Boyd this time through. Even with the maturation that Pippin goes through in this movie, his childlike quality still shines through, especially in that conversation with Gandalf about death.
Cried a lot more over the Frodo/Sam stuff than I did the first time. I think the first time through I was spending too much time psychoanalyzing the situation. This time, the emotions were able to kick me in the gut. I still don't think Sean Astin or any of the other actors will get any Oscar noms (and the Golden Globe noms seem to support this)...the ensemble-ness and uniform greatness of the cast will work against them. How do you single out just one performance, when such a comparatively small amount of screen-time is given to everyone? It sucks, but I gave up many years ago on hoping that the "mainstream" would ever grant TRULY equal respect to the fantasy genre.
Re-examing the "Minuses":
Merry still needs more screen-time. I'd like at least a scene in Edoras after Pippin leaves. We don't really get a feel for how Merry copes with being left alone, but it clearly affects him, by his line to Pippin after Pelennor Fields. Something showing Eowyn first taking him under her wing would definitely be in order. The Faramir/Denethor stuff is also blatantly missing some important scenes.
Aragorn: I didn't mention this last time, but Viggo rocks my world. If there's a movie coolness scale, Viggo is like...Indiana Jones cool. He inhabits the character so completely, he IS the king. We do get more focus on Aragorn as a person this time around, and he gives us some lovely little moments that aren't really easy to describe but really round out the character: a little smile here, a hesitation there. Words can't describe how much I enjoyed just watching him move around on screen. HOWEVER, I still think his role in the movie is missing something. My main gripe is that the army of the dead arrives so late in the battle. By the time they arrive, the Rohirrim have already taken out many oliphaunts, the Witch King is dead. The day may not be won, but there have been some small victories. And then, Aragorn arrives and the camera zooms out and we get a wide shot of the dead basically sweeping up the rest of the enemies. To have the thing won so easily in the end sort of cheapens the sacrifices and efforts made by the Rohirrim and Gondorians, to me. I think I'd be happier if there'd been some greater cost to obtaining the army. It'd improve Aragorn's position in the movie by having him face some struggle to achieve his ends, and it'd make the army saving the day seem like less of a cop out.
To sum up: Loved the movie, but I want MORE MORE MORE of some areas. Actually, while I'm asking, heck, gimme MORE MORE MORE of everything! Here's hoping the extended edition really is more than an hour longer. I'll eat up every second of it.
Well. It's Wednesday Morning 2:30 AM (Close to being a Simon & Garfunkle song, but no cigar). I've been up since 6:30 AM Tuesday. I need to be up again in three and a half hours, but I want to get this down, so sleep will have to wait.
Arrived at the theater for Trilogy Tuesday at 9:00 AM. Waited in line until roughly noon, managed pretty good seats for my people, and then sat back and enjoyed the ride...with a couple mini-meals in between. I'm now home and have a lovely collectable film-strip frame to prove I was there. :)
Background, first: I never fully read the LOTR books before the movies. I had tried to read them when I was quite young, got through most of Fellowship, the first half of Two Towers, then skimmed the rest. Going into the first movie two years ago, I had a few very specific memories and several more vague ones. Since then, I've opted to wait before rereading the books until after the related movie, so with regards to ROTK, I'm in no position to judge Peter Jackson's faithfulness to the books. I may have liked some scene that's a complete bastardization of a well-loved character for all I know. :)
Anyway, things that are stuck in my mind right now:
Fellowship: Wow, it's great to see Boromir again. I haven't rewatched FOTR in a long time, and I'd forgotten just how many moments there were where Sean Bean just kicks my ass with how much I adore him. "Gondor has no king. Gondor needs no king." "There is an evil there that does not sleep." "They have a cave troll." I especially love how my understanding of the character was informed by having seen the big Extended TTT Boromir/Faramir/Denethor scene. I heart FOTR muchly...I could probably watch it 100 times in a row and still enjoy most of the scenes, so this film went pretty quickly for me. Before I knew it, we were bidding adieu to Boromir and splitting up the Fellowship all over again. :(
TTT: After a free lunch (followed by a paid-for lunch because the free one was good for about three bites) we settled back in for TTT. I was a bit worried about this one. The first time I watched TTT extended, I fell asleep for a while around the Arwen flashback stuff. Because of that, and because I'd seen it more recently, and because the day was wearing on, I was afraid TTT wouldn't keep my interest. Didn't happen at all. I DID start to feel the length by the time they got to Helm's Deep, but I never felt eager for the end of the movie. (Well, a few times when it occurred to me that when that one was over it would be time for ROTK...but that wasn't TTT's fault. :) ) Despite Peter Jackson's commentary track about pacing differently for theater vs. DVD, I think the extended version worked quite well in the theater.
ROTK: Well...that was emotionally draining. I'll just do a Pluses/Minuses list.
Pluses:
- Frodo & Sam - per my note above about not having done more than skim the books, most of their emotional journey came as a complete surprise. I knew about the basic plot points (Shelob, Gollum, Mt. Doom, the Grey Havens, etc.) but not the ups-and-downs of their relationship between those points. Great stuff and the actors are wonderful, of course. Although I'm not sure there's enough of it in the movie to net Sean Astin an Oscar nom as some have wished.
- Pippin & Gandalf - Going into the movies 2 years ago, there was only one character I remembered clearly - Pippin. So, to make me happy, the series just had to "do" Pippin right. I was pleased with the character in FOTR, lukewarm in TTT (Pip & Merry don't really do much in this one, despite a fair amount of screentime in the extended). ROTK was important in my overall goal of good Pippin stuff, and it succeeded richly. I'm a happy camper.
- Eowyn & Theoden - This relationship pops to mind as the next one that really is well realized. The people I was with spent a lot of time during the TTT viewing making fun of Eowyn's being moony-eyed over Aragorn in every scene. She does a fair bit of that early on here, but Eowyn's story gets much stronger once Aragorn isn't in the picture anymore and her focus shifts to the upcoming battle and Theoden's expectations of her.
- Closing the Circle - I loved that this movie made liberal use of references to the previous films. Really obvious things like small flashbacks to Lothlorien or Boromir's death, to smaller things like Theoden echoing his "I know you" from TTT to Eowyn. I especially liked that there were several shots in the final battle that were visually similar to the prologue of FOTR...a shot of Legolas with his hair blowing like that blond elf some people thought WAS Legolas and Aragorn looking very much like Isildur in a few spots. Especially in the marathon setting, these sorts of tie-backs to past events really completed the sense of closure.
Minuses:
Merry - Way too little screentime! I liked what little we see of his relationship with Eowyn, but I want more in the extended ROTK!
Faramir/Denethor - Felt like they were relying a lot on the relationship as revealed in the big Extended TTT scene to explain the father/son relationship here. Even knowing that stuff, their situation felt quite rushed. When Gandalf tells Faramir that his father will realize how much he loves him before the end, and when Denethor finally does have his eleventh-hour change of heart, I didn't buy any of it because Denethor was such an unrelenting bastard the rest of the time. Again, hoping to see more in the extended release. (Rumors were already circulating during the day that the extended ROTK would have at least an hour of added stuff.)
Aragorn - I was surprised how little active role he played in regaining his own kingship. I adore him. He rocks. But it seemed like Viggo had less useful screen-time here than in TTT.
Pacing - Not a negative exactly, but I'm sure I'll find some pacing issues on later viewings. Any movie with this many threads will always have some periods where you think they haven't gotten back to Plot C yet, or should spend less time on Plot A, etc.
I'll stop there. That's all the bases I wanted to hit. Not particularly well-organized, but oh well. Definitely a day to remember.
Arrived at the theater for Trilogy Tuesday at 9:00 AM. Waited in line until roughly noon, managed pretty good seats for my people, and then sat back and enjoyed the ride...with a couple mini-meals in between. I'm now home and have a lovely collectable film-strip frame to prove I was there. :)
Background, first: I never fully read the LOTR books before the movies. I had tried to read them when I was quite young, got through most of Fellowship, the first half of Two Towers, then skimmed the rest. Going into the first movie two years ago, I had a few very specific memories and several more vague ones. Since then, I've opted to wait before rereading the books until after the related movie, so with regards to ROTK, I'm in no position to judge Peter Jackson's faithfulness to the books. I may have liked some scene that's a complete bastardization of a well-loved character for all I know. :)
Anyway, things that are stuck in my mind right now:
Fellowship: Wow, it's great to see Boromir again. I haven't rewatched FOTR in a long time, and I'd forgotten just how many moments there were where Sean Bean just kicks my ass with how much I adore him. "Gondor has no king. Gondor needs no king." "There is an evil there that does not sleep." "They have a cave troll." I especially love how my understanding of the character was informed by having seen the big Extended TTT Boromir/Faramir/Denethor scene. I heart FOTR muchly...I could probably watch it 100 times in a row and still enjoy most of the scenes, so this film went pretty quickly for me. Before I knew it, we were bidding adieu to Boromir and splitting up the Fellowship all over again. :(
TTT: After a free lunch (followed by a paid-for lunch because the free one was good for about three bites) we settled back in for TTT. I was a bit worried about this one. The first time I watched TTT extended, I fell asleep for a while around the Arwen flashback stuff. Because of that, and because I'd seen it more recently, and because the day was wearing on, I was afraid TTT wouldn't keep my interest. Didn't happen at all. I DID start to feel the length by the time they got to Helm's Deep, but I never felt eager for the end of the movie. (Well, a few times when it occurred to me that when that one was over it would be time for ROTK...but that wasn't TTT's fault. :) ) Despite Peter Jackson's commentary track about pacing differently for theater vs. DVD, I think the extended version worked quite well in the theater.
ROTK: Well...that was emotionally draining. I'll just do a Pluses/Minuses list.
Pluses:
- Frodo & Sam - per my note above about not having done more than skim the books, most of their emotional journey came as a complete surprise. I knew about the basic plot points (Shelob, Gollum, Mt. Doom, the Grey Havens, etc.) but not the ups-and-downs of their relationship between those points. Great stuff and the actors are wonderful, of course. Although I'm not sure there's enough of it in the movie to net Sean Astin an Oscar nom as some have wished.
- Pippin & Gandalf - Going into the movies 2 years ago, there was only one character I remembered clearly - Pippin. So, to make me happy, the series just had to "do" Pippin right. I was pleased with the character in FOTR, lukewarm in TTT (Pip & Merry don't really do much in this one, despite a fair amount of screentime in the extended). ROTK was important in my overall goal of good Pippin stuff, and it succeeded richly. I'm a happy camper.
- Eowyn & Theoden - This relationship pops to mind as the next one that really is well realized. The people I was with spent a lot of time during the TTT viewing making fun of Eowyn's being moony-eyed over Aragorn in every scene. She does a fair bit of that early on here, but Eowyn's story gets much stronger once Aragorn isn't in the picture anymore and her focus shifts to the upcoming battle and Theoden's expectations of her.
- Closing the Circle - I loved that this movie made liberal use of references to the previous films. Really obvious things like small flashbacks to Lothlorien or Boromir's death, to smaller things like Theoden echoing his "I know you" from TTT to Eowyn. I especially liked that there were several shots in the final battle that were visually similar to the prologue of FOTR...a shot of Legolas with his hair blowing like that blond elf some people thought WAS Legolas and Aragorn looking very much like Isildur in a few spots. Especially in the marathon setting, these sorts of tie-backs to past events really completed the sense of closure.
Minuses:
Merry - Way too little screentime! I liked what little we see of his relationship with Eowyn, but I want more in the extended ROTK!
Faramir/Denethor - Felt like they were relying a lot on the relationship as revealed in the big Extended TTT scene to explain the father/son relationship here. Even knowing that stuff, their situation felt quite rushed. When Gandalf tells Faramir that his father will realize how much he loves him before the end, and when Denethor finally does have his eleventh-hour change of heart, I didn't buy any of it because Denethor was such an unrelenting bastard the rest of the time. Again, hoping to see more in the extended release. (Rumors were already circulating during the day that the extended ROTK would have at least an hour of added stuff.)
Aragorn - I was surprised how little active role he played in regaining his own kingship. I adore him. He rocks. But it seemed like Viggo had less useful screen-time here than in TTT.
Pacing - Not a negative exactly, but I'm sure I'll find some pacing issues on later viewings. Any movie with this many threads will always have some periods where you think they haven't gotten back to Plot C yet, or should spend less time on Plot A, etc.
I'll stop there. That's all the bases I wanted to hit. Not particularly well-organized, but oh well. Definitely a day to remember.