firecat

First things first: Benedict Cumberbatch alert! He plays Smiley's protegé in the movie. So now he has played the super-detective (in the BBC Sherlock) and the sidekick, with equal aplomb.

I got very confused while watching this movie, even though I've read the John le Carré book it's based on. It has been a long time since I read the book, but I was sitting there thinking "I'm just not cut out for watching twisty movies any more." (It didn't help that I watched it in the theaters with no subtitles, and I've lost what little facility I had with hearing softly spoken dialogue, especially in non-American accents.)

So for me the movie was as if someone had taken the book, cut it up into scenes, put the scenes in a hat, and picked out a few of them at random to film them. They were beautifully, lovingly filmed. So it was actually as if the book were cut into scenes and then haikus were written out of the scenes, and then the haikus were filmed.

Afterward, I saw Roger Ebert's review, and he said, "the screenplay...is not a model of clarity. I confess I was confused some of the time and lost at other times....perhaps...I don't have a mind suitable for espionage." So if he couldn't follow the story either, then I guess I don't have to feel bad. I might re-read the books and then re-watch the movie to see if it makes more sense.

It was nice to see Oldman play someone other than a sociopath. Although I have to say he went as far as he could toward making Smiley sociopath-like.

( tiny spoiler. also, possible spoilers in comments )

Some of the media I read/saw/listened to/downloaded/purchased in 2011. Sadly, not in any kind of order. If you've consumed any of these, I'd love to know what you thought. If you want to know more of my opinions about any of these, just ask.

( Paper Books and eBooks )

( Audio Books )

( DVDs/Movies/TV )

( Music )

I found a theater that offered it with rear window captioning so the OH could see it with me. Now I don't have to go to Wiscon prepared to clap my hands over my ears every five minutes to avoid spoilers.

Watching the movie made me happy. I was entertained.

( spoilery goodness )

The OH and I went to the Cartoon Art Museum of San Francisco. We've been meaning to visit it for years but they finally lured us over with an exhibit of Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo art. We've been following Usagi Yojimbo, of which there are now 22 volumes, since the mid 1990s, so there wasn't a lot there we hadn't seen on the printed page. But it was great to see the pencils and full-size inked story pages and covers. A couple of full-size color pages were especially beautiful.

The museum also had an exhibit of The Watchman, co-created and illustrated by Dave Gibbons, which was recently made into a movie. Out of dozens of pencils, thumbnails, inked pages, and props from the movie, there was this one piece of cover art that included the unfamiliar name Alan Moore. Wonder who the heck he is.

Back home, we watched Hidden Blade directed by Yôji Yamada, about samurai in a small village in the mid-19th century who were unhappy about having to learn how to handle guns and cannons. Afterward we had a friendly argument about whether the protagonist Katagiri was Neutral Good or Chaotic Good. ( spoilers )

In which I make comments about
American Hardcore
Amelie
Ghost of the Shell 2: Innocence
Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
Cars by Pixar
Dark City
with a special guest appearance by Bram Stoker's Dracula

( spoilers )

The OH loves Fred Astaire movies and I generally find them irritating in one way or another, except for the dancing. But tonight's movie, Roberta, was an exception. It had great songs, several strong women characters, and even a couple of charming, non-buffoonish fat characters. It had some great geeky dialogue. It even qualifies under the Bechdel Rule.

The leading man was played by Randolph Scott, who I gather usually played in Westerns, but he was especially cute and charming in this movie - he had an open face that most of the romantic leads of the era didn't have, and a great "gee, you're swell!" gaze.

Even the OH had never heard of the movie before (it came in his Fred & Ginger collection). There are a lot of rave reviews on IMDB. We were speculating why it never became as popular as other Fred & Ginger movies. Maybe because ( spoilers )

Via surelars, below is a list of all the films nominated for a Best Picture Academy Award since 1970 (with the winning picture at the top of the list for each year, with the exception of 2006). Bold the ones you've seen.

As surelars said: Some of these I'm not sure if I've seen or not. When I doubt I left it as "not seen".

I'm thinking there are some good movies on this list, a surprising number of bad movies, and there are many good movies not on this list.

1970 (43rd)
Patton
Airport
Five Easy Pieces
Love Story
MASH
( Read more... )

The OH and I just saw Serenity, so those of you who were carefully avoiding talking about Serenity around me for fear I would bitch about spoilers may relax now. :-)

Saw it today with my folks.
( spoiler free but opinionated comments (ETA: but other people's comments contain spoilers) )

If you posted about HPatGoF in your journal, I'd love it if you were to comment here with a link to your post(s). I skipped them all because I'm a stickler about avoiding spoilers, and I'd like to read them now, but don't want to go dig for them. :-)