Rainbow with Egg Underneath and an Elephant
My opinions on the high and low arts.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Guyalice's Year-End Film Picks
But anyways, 2010 in review:
Film: The King's Speech
Runners-up: Toy Story 3, Inception, True Grit, Black Swan, The Social Network
Director: Christopher Nolan- Inception
Runner-up: Darren Arranofsky- Black Swan
Actor: Colin Firth- The King's Speech
Runner-up: None
Actress: Natalie Portman- Black Swan
Runner-up: Hailee Steinfeld- True Grit
Supporting Actor: Geoffrey Rush- The King's Speech
Runners-up: Andrew Garfield & Armie Hammer- The Social Network, Tom Hardy- Inception, Matt Damon- True Grit, Chris Evans- Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Kevin Kline- The Extra Man
Supporting Actress: Rooney Mara- The Social Network
Runners-up: Helena Bonham-Carter- The King's Speech, Mila Kunis- Black Swan
Animated Film: Toy Story 3
Runner-up: How to Train Your Dragon
Best Documentary: Babies
Runner-up: Exit Through the Gift Shop [Note: This is a hoax, so it really shouldn't count]
Best Short: I'm Here
Runner-up: Day & Night
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Sometimes, the greatest movie is the one in your mind...
I went to True Grit with Mom, and one of the preceding trailers started with the Houston contacting Apollo 11 on the moon just before a period of radio silence. Cut off from earth, the astronauts explore and then come across... AN ALIEN SPACESHIP.
Me: (to Mom) Holy crap, is this going to be Neil Armstrong fighting aliens!?? That is the coolest thing I have ever heard of! It'll be Apollo 11 crew being all badass and how they saved earth but there was a government cover-up! And they can get the astronauts to star as themselves in bookends! This is going to be the most amazing movie ever!!
Trailer Titles: FROM DIRECTOR MICHAEL BAY
Me: (Crushing disappointment) Aw, piss!
Then a goddamned robot shows up.
Me: (to Mom) Aw, man, it's Transformers.
Trailer Titles: TRANSFORMERS
Me: >:(
Trailer Titles: THE DARK OF THE MOON
Me: I hate you, Michael Bay.
Friday, December 03, 2010
Best part of Waking Sleeping Beauty, or: Who's that mopey guy?
It's also very revealing about lyricist Howard Ashman's contributions to the movies he worked on. It may just be the directors and interviewees fondness for him affecting their memories, but it really seems as though he was the key auteur behind Little Mermaid and Beauty & the Beast. The segment of the documentary focusing on his death from AIDS before the release of Beauty & the Beast is incredibly moving.
However, the greatest part of the film features archived video of somebody going around the studios and taping the animators goofing about (the guy behind the camera turns out to be John Lasseter). Then they come across this one guy all alone in his office working at his desk. He looks at the camera unamused, like he's spent the last two night in his office, hasn't had his coffee yet, and really wants the camera out of his face. Like that creepy, unsociable kid at college who's spent the last twelve hours on World of Warcraft and really just wants you to leave him alone.
It's Tim Burton.
P.S. If you watch the trailer in the link, you might think that Beauty & the Beast won Best Film at the Oscars. While it was nominated and won in several other categories, it lost... to The Silence of the Lambs.
Mwahahahaha.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
It's Storytime! (featuring Baum's Ozma of Oz)
Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin:
In an instant Dorothy was hugging the huge Lion joyfully.
"I'm so glad to see you again!" she cried.
"I am also glad to see you, Dorothy," said the Lion. "We've had some fine adventures together, haven't we?"
"Yes, indeed," she replied. "How are you?"
"As cowardly as ever," the beast answered in a meek voice. "Every little thing scares me and makes my heart beat fast. But let me introduce to you a new friend of mine, the Hungry Tiger."
"Oh! Are you hungry?" she asked, turning to the other beast, who was just then yawning so widely that he displayed two rows of terrible teeth and a mouth big enough to startle anyone.
"Dreadfully hungry," answered the Tiger, snapping his jaws together with a fierce click.
"Then why don't you eat something?" she asked.
"It's no use," said the Tiger sadly. "I've tried that, but I always get hungry again."
"Why, it is the same with me," said Dorothy. "Yet I keep on eating."
"But you eat harmless things, so it doesn't matter," replied the Tiger. "For my part, I'm a savage beast, and have an appetite for all sorts of poor little living creatures, from a chipmunk to fat babies."
"How dreadful!" said Dorothy.
"Isn't it, though?" returned the Hungry Tiger, licking his lips with his long red tongue. "Fat babies! Don't they sound delicious? But I've never eaten any, because my conscience tells me it is wrong. If I had no conscience I would probably eat the babies and then get hungry again, which would mean that I had sacrificed the poor babies for nothing. No, hungry I was born, and hungry I shall die. But I'll not have any cruel deeds on my conscience to be sorry for."
"I think you are a very good tiger," said Dorothy, patting the huge head of the beast.
"In that you are mistaken," was the reply. "I am a good beast, perhaps, but a disgracefully bad tiger. For it is the nature of tigers to be cruel and ferocious, and in refusing to eat harmless living creatures I am acting as no good tiger has ever before acted. That is why I left the forest and joined my friend the Cowardly Lion."
"But the Lion is not really cowardly," said Dorothy. "I have seen him act as bravely as can be."
"All a mistake, my dear," protested the Lion gravely. "To others I may have seemed brave, at times, but I have never been in any danger that I was not afraid."
"Nor I," said Dorothy, truthfully. "But I must go and set free Billina, and then I will see you again."
Friday, August 27, 2010
Sam can't have any cupcakes!
Dog-Sam is Stains the cupcake-deprived Hypno-Dog!
Sunday, August 01, 2010
July Re-cap: Super-short mini reviews
- Rose Daughter by Robin McKinley- A book I started in college but quit 3/4 of the way through because I found it too similar to McKinley's other Beauty and the Beast adaptation, Beauty, only longer and boring. Now it's been enough time between reading both of them, and this go around I found this enrapturing, quite slow and meandering, but a wonderful, rich novel.
- The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman- Listened to an excellent full-cast audio at work. I never read the third book in the trilogy so I decided I should revisit the first two. First read this one when I was 12 and it was mind-blowing. It more than holds up.
- Castle in the Air by Diana Wynn Jones- The Arabian Nights-flavored sequel to Howl's Moving Castle is a delight, very funny and full of whimsy. More reason why Jones is becoming one of my favorite authors.
- White Cat by Holly Black- I normally don't care for Holly Black's YA novels, as her female heroines are normally too mopey and unidentifiable, and they tend to have this pissed-off tone about them. Maybe it's a fluke, or maybe because the protagonist for this one is a boy, but I did like this, and I like the Curse Workers world she's created much more than her hard-assed Faerie world.
- The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party by M.T. Anderson- Brilliant and often heart-wrenching story about a slave in a scientists commune in Revolution-Era Boston.
- Shit My Dad Says by Justin Halpern- Considering that it's based on Twitter feed, there's not much you can expect from this book, but it's actually a great memoir centering on Halpern's relationship with his ultra-crass father. It also becomes unexpectedly touching, as while his dad may be blunt, he does love the hell out of his family.
- Inception- Where's my spin-off with Arthur and Eames being ass-holes to each other??!!
- Hamlet- BBC/Royal Shakespeare Company production starring David Tennant, with Patrick Stewart as Claudius and the King's Ghost. As awesome as it sounds.
- The Fantastic Mr. Fox- Re-watched, still delightful. I love Wes Anderson's non sequiturs, though I'm sure most of the best random moments were ad-libbed.
- God of Cookery- <3 Stephen Chow. Best part: Roundhouse kicking that school girl in the face.
- That Hamilton Woman- The British Gone With the Wind with Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier. Apparently Churchill considered it his favorite movie.
- Black Dynamite- "Your knowledge of scientific biological transmogrification is only outmatched by your zest for kung-fu treachery!"
- Dinner for Schmucks- Whatever you're expecting from it, you're gonna get it. Am I the only person in the world who things that the French film this is a remake of is over-rated and pretty mean-spirited?
- Starman- The closest thing John Carpenter has ever done to a romance film? Of course, it's a romance involving Jeff Bridges as an alien.
- Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs- Was really not expecting to like this, but my first-impression of non-Pixar CG animated films tends to be wrong.
- Les Miserable (1998, Bille August, dir.)- Not very good, but I've been obsessed with Liam Neeson and Claire Danes lately.
Comics
- Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour by Bryan Lee O'Malley- Awesome ending to one of my all-time favorite series. Surprisingly, it has a bit of an easier pace than it's manic predecessors, but it's still all the way boss. Can't wait for the movie.
- Fractured Fables, edited by Jim Valentino- not the best fairy tale-themed comic anthology out there, but the hits are pretty fantastic and the art's fantastic. Includes contributions from Jill Thompson (cute murderous sausages!), Terry Moore (disappointing and a little mean spirited), Bryan Talbot (a cool twist on Red Riding Hood).
- Secret Iditities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology, edited by Jeff Yang, Parry Shen, Keith Chow, & Jerry Ma- A really neat collection of comics that explores Asian Americans in comics and in historical and contemporary social constructs. My personal favorite is Gene Yang and Scottie Young's take on a Kato-like chauffeur who is the real muscles and brains behind a crime fighting duo.
- The Marvelous Land of Oz by Eric Shanower & Scottie Young- I'm not the biggest Oz fan, but I really dig Scottie Young's artwork. I'm also glad that this can expose more people to how messed up the gender-bending ending is!
- Pulse by Brian Michael Bendis, et al.- Got all three volumes on the cheap. Love, love Jessica Jones.
- Okimono Kimono by Mokona- Pretty random little book by one of the women who make up CLAMP. All about Mokona's love for kimono, with designs and tips on wearing them.
- Avatar: The Last Airbender- Finished the entire series and, hoo boy, I can call myself a fan.
- True Blood- This show is out-trashing itself and I'M LOVING IT! (It's funny though that I'm looking forward to a Sam sub-plot while getting annoyed by Jason's storyline; normally it's the other way around.)
- Black Adder III- As wonderful as can be expected from a classic and much-loved BBC series, but I think most American audiences will be shocked to see Hugh Laurie as the ultra-foppish Prince Regent.
- Firefly- Why do I have a feeling that once I'm done with this show I'm going to be ultra-disappointed that they canceled it after only 14 episodes? I mean, I know that it happened over five years ago, but it doesn't mean that I can't still be glummed-out about it.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
"You're waiting for a train; a train that will take you far away..."
There are so many things this movie gets right, I can only see it becoming one of the Great Movies, one that collectively sticks with us, becoming a part of our cultural make-up and that we always return to. It's a cerebral action movie that's brainy but not pretentious. One aspect of it that many seem to overlook is that it's premise is essentially a reverse heist-picture, where the group has to break in and leave something of great value. It's also a perfect example of using visuals to help enhance the story, not to over-compensate for a shoddy script. The characters are not completely fleshed out, but the actors are so compelling that their subtle character traits and flaws speak volumes. Di Caprio, Ellen Page, Ken Watanabe, and Cillian Murphy are as excellent as one can expect from them, but Joseph Gordan-Levitt, Tom Hardy, and Marion Cotillard are the ones whose performances you remember.
It's a complex storyline, and it's ambiguous (oh, that brilliant final scene!), but not in a purposefully frustrating way a la David Lynch. I'm really excited about all of the theories that are emerging around this film. Many of them are going to be crack-pot ideas, but I've already heard some pretty cool ones: it's all a dream, all of it, from the very beginning, and Mal was right all along; or that it's all a metaphor for film making, Christopher Nolan's 8 1/2.
That said, the film can be left as it is on the surface, and really whether it's an excellent summer blockbuster or an art film, it succeeds as both. Unless something else trumps this, I'm going to call it the quintessential movie of 2010.