Tea and Dragons

I just watched Sands of Oblivion, which is one of the worst movies I've ever seen, and I've seen the theatrical version of Highlander II.  *headshake*  Just...wow.  It cribs from the recent Mummy films in a huge way, including reusing at least one prop, and they manage to get through the entire thing without, IIRC, using the name Anubis despite two archeologists and the huge jackal-headed thing chasing them around.  It is appallingly bad. 

The reason it ended up on my list in the first place was because it has Morena Baccarin and Adam Baldwin.  But even they can't save this thing.  Their characters are married, but if you're expecting a liplock, forget it.  I'm no archeologist but I could see the mistakes, and the haircut on the sheriff is...well, I've never seen anything quite like that.  The survivalist has his moments if you can get through the first few minutes of him, but how many shots of someone changing gear on a dune buggy does one film need? 

If you do choose to watch it (for laughs, I hope, or possibly Ms. Baccarin's legs) bear in mind that there are several deaths worthy of a blatant B-grade horror film.  Obviously fake, but it can still be alarming to see someone decapitated by a bucket loader even if you know it's coming. 

I hadn’t seen Forrest Gump in years--for instance, I’d totally forgotten about the running bit.  It holds up well.  I want to shake Jenny for most of the film, though, what a twit. 

The funniest bits for me are, of course, Lt. Dan’s line about being an astronaut, and one of Jenny’s boyfriends having the name Wesley, even if they didn’t spell it the same. 

It’s weird--normally a movie narrated throughout would drive me up the wall, but this one works.  I am always tempted to buy the soundtrack--the music is beautiful--but it is seriously earwormy. 

P.S.--never, ever read the book.  Ever. 

I am too old to have seen Fame for the first time.  Though I did like the lunch and ending numbers.  And it was a hoot to spot the paranoid from L&O:SVU with that much hair.  

Just watched Fantastic Planet again.  It always creeps me out a bit, but it’s a fascinating movie and I’m willing to bet it’s not like anything else you’ve seen before.  The animation is a bit primitive, but then it’s not a new movie.  I recommend it, but I don’t want to spoil it aside from saying it’s definitely sci-fi. 

Please note, however, that it’s in French, and the captioning is enough to make me want to find whoever did it and hit them several times with a fresh fish.

I watched Emma Thompson's Sense and Sensibility today; I've seen it before, but not recently.  I hadn't so much as forgotten that Hugh Laurie was in it as that he simply wasn't on my radar at the time. 

It's been so long since I read the book that I don't know how accurate the movie is, but aside from completely failing to show any attraction in Marianne to Colonel Brandon, it's fun.  Though I did keep thinking that Elinor and Colonel Brandon would be a better match. 

It's sobering to reflect, though, that for women of that class there was nothing but marriage.  It's their defining thought.  I don't know enough history to know if the same was true for the other classes, but it gives me a nasty feeling.  I know I'm very lucky to live in this time, and place, where for me marriage never became more than a "maybe someday, if the opportunity arises".  It was never a necessity.  

Of course, the idea of being married to someone I do not love, or to someone who does not love me, is one of my personal nightmares.  But that's rather beside the point. 

I have now seen the trailer for the upcoming Voyage of the Dawn Treader film.  And they ain't getting my money.  I'm considering writing a plaintive letter to Douglas Gresham to ask him why he's permitted another travesty. 

( Cut for the spoilerphobic. )
Addendum: As a Christian, I have no problem with the allegory inherent in the Chronicles.  I know some people do, and that's fine.  But I would like to note that Lewis did not write the first book as a Christian allegory.  As he said himself, the motif of the sacrificed-and-resurrected god is found in many places, including the Norse mythos that he loved his entire life.  He didn't even intend The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to be an allegory, it just came out that way.  The rest of the series was consciously written as such, but not the first book.  *shrug*  

Spoilers within! 

( So click at your own discretion. )

I took a nap this afternoon and experienced a dream that was--I'd love to say unholy, but it just doesn't fit--an amalgam of an idea that came to me after seeing Dealers for the first time in years, and Charlie Bartlett, one of whose commentaries I watched before the nap.  Dealers is just as much fun as it was before, with Paul McGann to luxuriate in and some terrific moments, and it was doubly fun to see Paul Guilfoyle playing a high-powered investment bank executive even if he wasn't the one who got to snorgle Rebecca De Mornay.  Don't watch it with kids, though.  Come to think of it, Charlie Bartlett has an R rating, which doesn't make sense to me. 

I also just finished watching Only You, which is dumbass and predictable and stalkerish, but the shoe-salesman moments made me howl.  The dresses were impossible and the scenery delightful, and the line about the "beauties of Pittsburgh" is a classic, I'll admit.  I love long weekends. 

Possible spoilers herein.  Read at your own risk. 

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A Curious Life: The Pursuit of Superhappiness:

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Seven Truths About Becoming a Celebrity Assistant - DivineCaroline:   Possibly useful for fic! 

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That's an hour and a half I'll never get back. That was awful.