There are a lot of things worth discussing and squeeing about with regards to last night's Doctor Who premiere. But one thing I especially geeked out over was the return of the nanogenes, calling back to Moffat's first DW episode "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances."

I cannot WAIT for next week! Arthur Weasley! Filch! Lestrade looking like some Indiana Jones knockoff! And dinosaurs on a spaceship!!!

Posted via LiveJournal app for iPhone.

After leaving work today, I went to see Bridesmaids, which I thought was pretty danged incredible, honestly. People who have been clamoring for a female-driven Superbad or Hangover-type raunchy comedy will get their wish with this one. Raunch aside, it's just really well written and well acted, with believable female characters in fairly believable (for the movies) situations. I don't know why this is apparently so difficult, but I'm glad at least one movie managed to crack the magic code.

Beyond that, though, somehow Kristen Wiig (who actually co-wrote this as well as starring in it) has seen into my soul and written a main character who shares a lot of my issues. MAN, could I ever relate to the friends-growing-apart thing and the feeling upstaged by a new friend thing. Oh, and the "OMG this is the last time I'll ever..." thing. Oh, and DEFINITELY the "help me, I'm poor" thing. ;-) Great performances all around, particularly Wiig and Melissa McCarthy (who steals every moment she is in). This movie proves that guys aren't the only ones who can do bodily function humor. And I suddenly have a nostalgic need to listen to Wilson Phillips (my small but spirited audience this morning was actually singing along at the end).

And this evening, about a year after seeing a pirated copy of the full version online, I fulfilled my vow to see A Serbian Film legitimately in an actual theater. It looked for a while as if the only theater near me playing it was in Brooklyn (and not just Brooklyn - Bay Ridge Ave., which is about as far south as you can be in Brooklyn without being on Coney Island); I very likely would have chickened out if Cinema Village on 12th hadn't finally put their one showtime up. I'm not sure why they waited so long - perhaps they were afraid of attracting the attention of the law? (If that sounds far-fetched, the director of the Sitges Film Festival recently had criminal charges brought against him for screening the uncut version of the film. Yes, really. Don't ask me the charge - it's Red Pill territory.) This was, I'm almost certain, the version that was edited for the BBFC with nearly five minutes cut from it. It was heavily edited, anyhow, and if you know the plot of the film you can probably guess the two scenes that got the most cut out of them. Srdjan Spasojevic is a gifted enough filmmaker that he can still make it work fairly well, but though it's still pretty intense it feels neutered and incomplete with that much gone. Still, I'm pretty amazed any version of this film even saw the inside of an American theater in the first place.

There were a couple of interesting conversations going on after the movie, mostly consisting of people who had seen a pirated copy of the uncut version telling their neighbors what was missing and urging them to look up the real version. :P There were about twenty people in the audience tonight, and I was grateful to see that I was not the only woman among them.

Posted via LiveJournal app for iPhone.

I was in the neighborhood and was just going to pop by and look at ticket prices, and it didn't even occur to me there would be to-do-ings outside the front door this afternoon.

Dan will pop up from the orchestra in roughly 45 minutes to a crowd that can make or break the buzz for this show.

May the press and the VIPs be as dazzled as audiences already have been.

Posted via LiveJournal app for iPhone.

Fantastic lineup this year. Very ... Mandom. Going off radar again for a while, so it will be a while before I have more to say. Here's the list. As always, bold titles are premieres.

1. True Grit (2010) - Jeff Bridges out-Cogburns John Wayne, but teen actress Steinfeld steals the show.
2. Le Samourai (1967) - Excellent understated French movie about a hit man.
3. On the Town (1949) - New York, New York ... It's a wonderful town!
SNEAK PEEK: About 40 minutes of Cowboys and Aliens, with special guests.
SNEAK PEEK: About 8 minutes of Gore Verbinski's Rango.
4. Santa Fe Trail (1940) - Lessons in romance and racial sensitivity with Errol Flynn and our 40th President.
5. The Fighter (2010) - And the Oscar goes to ... Christian Bale.
6. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) - Charles Laughton is the effing man!
7. Chimes at Midnight (Falstaff) (1965) - Fantastic Shakespeare adaptation by Orson Welles.
8. Richard Pryor Live in Concert (1979) - First stand-up comedy movie at any BNAT. Ah, political incorrectness.
9. The Green Hornet - Totally awesome, hilarious, and it just works.
10. [ETA: SECRET FILM.] Intro by special guests.
11. Drive Angry 3D - Nic Cage totally defines Mandom. Intro by special guests.
12. Tron Legacy - An out-of-BNAT experience. Video intro from director.

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

I sincerely apologize if I have made anyone believe that their opinions and feelings are invalid. I have a very, VERY bad habit of deciding that just because something pops into my head that it should be instantly shared with as many people as possible. Shared and, if possible, assimilated to. What a fantastic betrayal of everything we ORX hold dear. ;)

I have been deliberately avoiding most of the conversation about the HP films in recent weeks for this very reason. My opinions and feelings on that topic are all too well known and it is impudent of me to try and force them on other people.

This is a big reason why I've been doing the "talk amongst yourselves" posts, which I plan to continue through release day. I hoped to invite people to talk about whatever the day's picture reminds them of, without any commentary or guidance from me other than the picture itself. And now that I've explained it, I feel I've kind of ruined it, but I want to be sure no one's afraid to comment for fear of me waving my movie pom poms in their face. At the risk of uttering famous last words, my days of doing that are hopefully at an end.

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

I just saw the ONTD post about the DH1 soundtrack and the little mention David Yates makes about offering Part 2 to Desplat, but I have a little more info. One of the bnatters saw that same blurb and put out feelers for confirmation. According to Desplat's agent, he's definitely composing the score for Part 2.

I looked and looked for the post that supposedly confirmed Williams a few months back, but I can't find that it was ever officially confirmed by WB.

Anyway, I offer no opinions, just a clearer confirmation.

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

While all the Twihards are lining up to see their silly movie, I am sitting in line for free tickets to The Winter's Tale at Central Park's Delacorte Theater. I got here at 5:30am and am the fifth person in line. Woot!

According to the cute security guy, I will have to be even more diligent to score tickets to The Merchant of Venice (with Al Pacino). I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. For now, I've read Harold Blooms essay on WT and have just begun reading the play itself.

Good day so far, despite the fact that it's freezing in June for some reason.

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

According to a Tweet from Warwick Davis, today is officially the last day of shooting ever for the Harry Potter films. Of course, it's far from "the end of all things" for the main actors, who'll have press junkets and other assorted duties over the next year. And some of them will even be in Orlando next week for a sneak peek at the theme park.

But for most of the cast and crew who have worked on these films for ten years, this is it.

It hasn't quite been ten years for me as far as HP goes. Just short of nine. I picked up the first book on 4th of July weekend in 2001, which will put my decade-versary just days before the final film comes out. I suppose I can has a super-sad then. :(

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Decided on a whim to try the lottery for Next to Normal and WON! $25 front row seats (which were actually a bit too close, but hey).

Great musical, VERY emotional. I'm not sure how Alice Ripley does that night after night. The regular guy who plays the dad was out, but the understudy was sensational.

Ah, theater - I've missed you.

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

I'm in Austin! Had a great time at the BNAT pre-party last night, which took place at the awesome Highball. Everything starts an hour early this year, so I'm pretty much on my way right now, with a quick stop for breakfast.

Harry posted the fake list last night and one of the titles is Farewell Uncle Tom - which, if you remember my BNAT 9 writeup, means the real movie in this slot is going to melt our faces clean off, like the Nazis at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

And without further ado, I'm off. See you on the flip side with my traditional reports!

Posted via LiveJournal.app.