Add one more to the "what's making me happy" list

Alan Rickman is going to play the Caterpillar in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland.

I love love love love Alan Rickman. I have ever since that Robin Hood movie with Kevin Costner. (BTW, the entire movie and cast was fantastic EXCEPT for Costner.)

Roger Ebert gets it.

I like a movie reviewer who can admit that sometimes you don't need a thought provoking story. Sometimes you don't need character development. Sometimes you just need fun.

From his 1999 review of The Mummy, which he quoted in today's review of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor:

There is hardly a thing I can say in its favor, except that I was cheered by nearly every minute of it. I cannot argue for the script, the direction, the acting or even the mummy, but I can say that I was not bored and sometimes I was unreasonably pleased.

Yay trailer!

Half Blood Prince trailer.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is the first Harry Potter movie since everyone and their mum has seen a naked Daniel Radcliffe, right?

Things I've thought about lately...

Last night it struck me that if I could think of a catchy, beautiful fully instrumental theme from a movie, it was John Williams 9 out of 10 times. The Harry Potter theme was stuck in my head, and I confirmed with Brent that it was John Williams. Then I thought about Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, etc., and they all these amazingly beautiful and catchy songs.

The ones I'm thinking of specifically: "Hedwig's Theme" from Harry Potter (Williams scored the first three movies, this theme is now used in all of them.) Pretty much anything from Star Wars, but specifically "The Imperial March" and "Princess Leia's Theme" (I threw in an extra special video for "The Imperial March, btw.) Also, the main theme from Indiana Jones and "Welcome to Jurassic Park."

Two side factoids: I could completely ruin "Duel of the Fates" from Episode 1 for you, but I won't. And every ringtone I've ever had with the exception of Personal Jesus (Depeche Mode version) has been a John Williams song.

Last night, Brent was being surveyed by some government thing, so I needed to get out of the house. I drove down the street to Borders, and grabbed one of the Stephanie Meyer books that they are heavily promoting right now. I didn't want to like it. I dislike reading books that are heavily hyped (I didn't start reading Harry Potter until just before the fifth book came out,) and to be quite honest, I was nervous about the author. I didn't want another Tracy Hickman level... thing. But, I had an hour to kill, so I grabbed the first book, Twilight. And damned if it didn't catch my interest.

Previous to reading the book (which I finished last night,) I had read something about the author, in which she said something along the lines of writing enjoyable, intense romances without the sex. I don't have anything against sex scenes in book as a general rule, but I can see her point. I don't mind them on principle, but I have read quite a few books where I thought "Oh, for crying out loud, not another one,"--here I'm thinking you, Laurell K. Hamilton, or where I've thought "But... but... you didn't need that sex scene, it doesn't fit in with the rest of the book!"--here I'm thinking of Jim Butcher.

/tangent I wanted to like the Harry Dresden novels. I just couldn't get past the main character. I guess when I read popular, for entertainment novels, I really need to stick to ones where the main character is female. Or, doesn't evaluate the breasts of every single woman he ever meets. / end tangent

Anyway, Twilight was a quick ( I finished in maybe three hours) and enjoyable read. It helped that both main locations of the book were places I've lived before--Phoenix, Arizona, and the Olympic Peninsula. It also does romance between a century old vampire and high school girl WAY better than seasons one through three of Buffy. So, evidently I have another young adult series to read. I promise my reading tastes will grow up one day. I'm currently reading a Japanese novel about sheep.

The Many Faces of Gary Oldman

I saw a picture from the premier of The Dark Knight, and was once again astonished by Gary Oldman's looks. A) He always looks different, and B) he always looks fantastic, unless he's not supposed to. He's been in some shit movies, but he's always something to look at. Unless you don't recognize him. Which I didn't, in Batman Begins, until the credits were rolling. The man has also been in some highly nerdy movies: Batman, Harry Potter, Lost in Space, Fifth Element, Dracula, etc.

(If you were wondering, my favorite Gary Oldman is the tortured reverend in The Scarlett Letter. Crappy movie, so watching him was about the only thing to do.)

At the Dark Knight premier, 2008:
As Sirius Black, 2004:

In Air Force One, 1997:As Rev. Dimmesdale, 1995:
As Dracula, 1992:

2008 Movie Review, pt. 1

Movies I've seen in 2008:

Forgetting Sarah Marshall: While not as good as other movies made by the same people (Knocked Up, etc.) this was a pretty cute movie that doubled as an advertisement for Hawaii. The musical the main character is writing is brilliant, too. It helped that I already really liked all four of the main actors. Jason Segel is great in How I Met Your Mother (even though I haven't seen it in a few years--no cable/antenna for me!) and he's just as good in this movie. I already liked Kristen Bell and Mila Kunis from their respective TV shows too (Veronica Mars, That 70's Show.) However, the biggest draw for me was Russell Brand. The man is fantastically funny. In the movie, he basically plays a slight variation on himself, but it works. Check out this to see Russell Brand in all his hilarious glory. (Side note: British TV interests me so much more than American TV.)

Iron Man: Best superhero movie I can remember seeing, hands down. It was engaging, and, to quote the popular nerd phrase, it really is amazing they got Tony Stark to play himself. I wasn't sure how much I would like the movie, since my biggest exposure to the franchise before this was the Marvel Superheroes board game (which is actually one of my favorite games.) But the movie did a great job introducing the franchise. Also, I need to congratulate the movie on having a cutesy robot with a personality that didn't feel overdone and stupid. Plus, the movie came with The Dude. The movie also had the best ending line and music ever.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: I liked it. A lot. And I think a lot of people who talk about how it was a huge letdown built their expectations up too high and are misremembering the intent of the original trilogy. That's not to say there were no flaws--there were. The cast was overinflated. As much as I like the guy, John Hurt's role could have been cut completely and his plot points given to Marion. The gophers were silly and obviously part of George Lucas' love with all things CGI. And the ending was too long. But, I enjoyed the hell out of the movie. Harrison Ford wasn't too old to be in the movie, and they did a good job letting him be his age without making a huge deal out of it. Karen Allen has held up AMAZINGLY well. Cate Blanchett was a decent villian, not as good as Beloch or Mola Ram, but decent. Shia LaBeouf was good, and had some of the best parts in the movie. It was good 50's pulp.

So, that's it. The only three movies I've seen in theaters this year. Possibilities for part 2: Hellboy II: The Golden Army, The Dark Knight, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, *maybe* Quantam of Solace.

(SIDE NOTE: I JUST SAW THEY ARE RE-RELEASING NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS IN THEATERS!! OMG, I might be able to get it on DVD now!!)