L'Illusioniste

Animation, when done well, is my favorite form of film entertainment. I love that there are no real limits -- a castles can fly, a candlestick can talk, and pandas can cook noodles! A few years ago, I saw the Triplets of Belleville trailer in a movie theater and was intrigued -- I wound up loving it. Completely original storyline and great music, as well as ingenious animation. When I heard that Sylvain Chomet had made another animated film, I was eager to see the new work, l'Illusioniste. 

I admit, my expectations were enormous. I so enjoyed Triplets and Chomet's short film in Paris, Je t'aime, that I just knew that The Illusionist would be great.

And it was. Thoroughly detailed, thoughtful story, wonderful animation. The story was quite simple, of a traveling magician who develops a relationship with a young girl. The nature of the relationship remains fairly ambivalent, teetering between that of love interest and father/daughter, but I'll let you decide for yourself. True to his signature, there is almost no dialog in the film, and it instead asks its viewers to pay attention to context and emotions to determine the plot. A film that uses a mix of French and English when there are spoken words remains very easy to decipher.

My one complaint with the film was its pacing -- the plot was a little too focused on the passage of the days, and therefore, it seemed to drag, even at a sparse 84 minutes. The nature of the tale is to be quiet and splendid, but the pacing would bore even the most patient of cinephiles. 

All in all, I'd like to see it again (not in the theater) to digest further. And a film like this certainly merits a second viewing.

Victor/Victoria

As most of you know, the enormously brilliant Blake Edwards recently passed away. On the day I found out, I was thinking of all of the wonderful films that he’s made, including one of my absolute favorites, Breakfast at Tiffany’s. I believe that the film for which he is most famous is The Pink Panther, but he also did a number of other, although less well-known films, such as Switch and Micki and Maude.


Strangely enough, when I learned of his passing, the immediate film that came to mind was Victor/Victoria, which I haven’t seen in years. If you haven’t seen it, RENT IT NOW!

I won’t give away plot points except to say that it’s Julie Andrews as a woman posing as a male female impersonator. And Robert Preston completely steals the show. I’ll just leave you with this slice of gold!

Happy New Year!

You probably knew that I was going to post something for New Years. Heh.

I'm actually not terribly fond of New Years. I re-evaluate, add up all of the things that I didn't do again this year...worry about the fast passage of time. And when I don't accomplish things, I feel that I'm sadly just placeholding and marking time. But I have resolved to change all of that. And that is that. I've decided, most importantly, that this is the year that I stop worrying so much (I seriously can't just stop!), and enjoy the time that I have here, marking time or whatever it is.

What have I been up to?

I spent Christmas and the week thereafter in Baltimore. It was such a breath of fresh air that I desperately needed. Seeing old friends, feeling the chill in the air, and just remembering were absolutely necessary. Lots of dinners and talking with friends that I miss so dearly, and a revelation on Christmas night from an old, old friend. I had some realizations that I can't share at the moment, but I will say that big things are on the horizon. Sorry to be mysterious, but I'm still processing everything.

Oh, and I'm a dotcom now! My website, gwenwalls.com, is now in progress. Any generous web designers out there that would be willing to help? ;)

I said farewell to 2010 with wine and Julia Child's beef bourguignon, and for the first time since I was a child, I was asleep before midnight. I guess that I am getting old. :) I started the new year right this morning by taking a long walk with some neighbors, conquering one of the toughest hills in San Diego. Not exactly hardcore hiking, but challenging enough to make me feel okay about the previous night's food and libations.



Saw this movie this afternoon. Not as strong as some of Aronofsky's other works, such as The Wrestler and Requiem for a Dream, but very good in it's own right. Loved the costumes and overall feeling, and it was interesting just seeing the obsessive nature of the ballet world. Recommended, but be warned --- some very graphic adult scenes!

Here's to good fortunes and smiles for 2011!

A Weekend of Firth

I did not do it on purpose, but I happened to rent two recent movies starring Colin Firth this weekend. I’ve been meaning to write about this for some time, but I kept allowing life to interfere with my blogging. ;)

As many of you probably know, I’ve had a crush on Colin Firth since Pride and – nay, since he played older Colin in the Hallmark version of The Secret Garden.

And of course, I just happened to rent his two movies from 2009 – Dorian Gray and A Single Man – on the same weekend. Not intentionally, of course, but I had checked out A Single Man from the library, and lo and behold, Netflix delivered Dorian Gray into my hot little hands (not the man, the movie).

Steve said that he wanted no part of ASM because it “looked depressing,” so I watched it by myself. I had no idea what it was about, just that it was an Oscar-nominated performance. After a few minutes, I was completely hooked into the story. Loss and grief, portrayed against the backdrop of an incredible taboo of a time of fear and paranoia. Basically, Colin Firth loses his long-term partner to a car crash, and it is his story of how he sees the world differently with the absence of his partner weighing on his every action. It is set during the Cuban missile crisis, and the political temperature plays heavily into the story. Colin Firth was brilliant, as was Julianne Moore as his best friend.

The next evening, we watched Dorian Gray, which is one of my favorite books, being as most know, a huge devotee of Oscar Wilde. The movie deviated from the book in several ways: to begin, I felt that Ben Barnes, cute as he may be, was seriously miscast as Dorian. For one thing, Dorian is blonde in the book. His acting was good enough, and don’t shoot me for this, but I kind of felt that physically, Robert Pattinson would have been a more suitable actor, based on looks alone.

There’s also a pretty hokey love story included, and in that respect, I felt that Ben Barnes was wonderful. He was very good at the romantic, sweet side of Dorian, not so much the vile, arrogant side. But back to Firth!

It was strange to go from seeing Colin Firth playing the bereaved professor in ASM to Henry, purveyor of carnal delights to Dorian Gray. It was interesting, the turn his character made when Dorian fell in love with Henry’s grown daughter.

All in all, A Single Man A++

Dorian Gray B-

Harry Potter!

So, as most of you know, I am a huge fan of Harry Potter. In fact, I've been anticipating this movie all year, nay, years. Since the final book was released in 2007. Remember that? And I dressed up as Tonks and threw an impromptu release party?

Yeah, that.

It's time to get those pumpkin pasties in the oven, because it's time for the last chapters!

I saw the movie on Sunday and loved it, like, didn't want it to end. The movie was a very good balance of the story presented in the book, mixed with the need to show the important, plot development elements. So, we never get to meet Aunt Muriel, we never see most of the journey through the woods, and we never really find out about all of the Tonks/Lupin drama.

But still, amazing movie! And now my brain will be even more stuck on Harry Potter trivia. I can't stop it when my brain does this...I just have to go with it until it stops naturally.

What did you guys think? Any HP fans out there?

Star Trek

So I finally saw Star Trek this weekend. Now, I'm not a Trekkie by any means; in fact, my favorite sci-fi series is Babylon 5. The characters are well-developed, and the plot is cohesive and builds on itself. The histories of the characters are never compromised. However, I do love the original Star Trek and like the Next Generation. The other spin-off series, eh. I just never got into them at all.

I was skeptical about the new movie, I admit. I just couldn't see someone else playing Captain Kirk or any of the other iconical characters, and indeed the actors were still somehow not really those characters in the same way that Takei and Shatner were Sulu and Kirk, respectively. I couldn't get past the fact that Zachary Quinto was merely playing Spock, not that he _was_ Spock, like Leonard Nimoy.

However, the acting was good, the special effects great, and the plotline was not too hokey. I admit, I squee'd a bit when Scotty and Bones said their famous lines, and seeing the costumes was great. I was thankful that they mostly retained the feel of the original series.

Adventureland

I've kind of decided to use this blog as more of a review springboard than anything else. I might have some random, funny thoughts that merit posting, but most of those will be left to Twittering.

I also really want to get my Weirdos blog launched, sure to satisfy all of your weirdo cravings!!!!

Anyways, I saw the movie, Adventureland, last night, which I thought would be funny in the way that I enjoy --- you know, things that an 11-year-old boy finds hilarious. Yeah, that's me and my sense of humor.

It was pretty funny, but the plot was pretty lame, and the movie itself just kind of limped along from bland situation to bland situation. The basis of the movie is this: Lame guy graduates university in Philly. Somehow, through 4 years of college in a major city, this guy has retained his junior high innocence and has not grown in the least jaded. Oh, and he's a lit major to boot. OK, I believe that one.

He gets dumped in the first scene, because he's, you know, such a nice guy, and of course, girls only go for boys that are mean to them, right?

Cut to, his parents have financial problems, blah, blah, blah, he has to like, get a job and pay for grad school himself! Oh noes!

So, he gets a job at the local park, where he meets some SO WACKY characters, and falls in love with a girl who is cool. I mean, she wears a HUSKER DU t-shirt and everything. In 4 years of uni, he never met one of these girls?

Hilarity ensues, he gets the girl, he loses the girl, girl forgives him, he forgives her, screen goes black.

It sounds like I really hated this film, but it was easy and, for the most part, fun. The only real funny scenes were the ones involving Bill Hader, who played the park owner, with some funny one-liners by Martin Starr, who had far too little to do in this film.

I also felt that the main character was clearly a part written for Michael Cera, as the actor that played James certainly did his best impression of Michael Cera's characters in Juno and Superbad.

All in all, I'd say this one is a rental at best, and only for fans of Superbad and other movies from the Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared alumni.

He's Just Not That Into You

I really wanted to see something easy. It was one of those nights that I really couldn’t handle something as meaty as The Reader or Milk (though I do still want to see both of those). I really wanted to see a movie, just to get out of the house, and so we agreed to see this one.

I expected triteness; I expected to roll my eyes a lot. And indeed I did. But this movie delivers big on exactly what it should be: easy and fun. An ensemble cast with lots of plotlines will always draw me in, and this script was so effortless that it allowed me to just sit back and be entertained. Sure, there was some food for thought regarding relationships and how we all manage the dating pool, but I left the theater feeling satisfied with this movie.

Life-changing? No
Remarkable? Well, no.
Entertaining? Absolutely.

The Wrestler

So among my weekend activities, I finally saw The Wrestler last night, and I was not disappointed. This film was most certainly not something that gives anyone a warm fuzzy, not for a second even; you're continually swathed in this dismal world of a washed up guy who is still clawing for glory.

The acting was great, and seriously, I hope that Mickey Rourke wins the Oscar. There, I said it. I have always thought he was a good actor, even though he's kind of a cartoon at this point. And his face does look like it's melting. I guess there's just a soft spot in my heart for people that love their pets, and he thanked his dogs in his Golden Globes speech.

A Tale of Two Vampires

I saw two vampire flicks in the last few days, Twilight, and Let the Right One in. Twilight was so bad that I won't even link to it. LTROI was very good, and very well-produced. I almost felt that it was a response to Twilight, like in a film class where they show you a movie that does everything wrong, then a similar movie that does everything right.

Sherrybaby

So admidst the cafuffle of the big thesis defense, festivities, and such, I managed to watch a movie this weekend. All at once, not broken into three or more parts. (I love Netflix Instant Watch!)

Being a fan of most of Maggie Gyllenhaal's work, I really wanted to watch Sherrybaby. Oh my. What an incredible delivery.

The basic story is the struggles faced by someone with too many things going against them. Fresh out of prison for theft and illegal drug use, Sherry wants desperately to get her life on track and to forge a true relationship with her young daughter. However, it seems that trouble follows her, and her life begins to spiral into its former cave of drugs and men.

The acting was incredible in this film, but the content answers my question of why this film did not receive more attention. The scenes are a little too raunchy and real at times. However, I think that the story was very well told. Highly recommended.

Holiday weekend bust

I began an exciting new job this week. It's very close to home, and the work is challenging and interesting. The downside to this flurry of busyness was the crash at the end. I planned to go to visit my sister in Virginia this weekend, but it was not to be.

I've been ill all weekend, with the cold of the season, relapsing on Saturday and missing another social engagement. This has been my friend.
The sickly green Hulk-colored formula really does work better than the cherry flavor, but my! The taste is horrid.

I've spent the weekend watching the Anne of Green Gables series, except for that ridiculous WWI-set. I find it comforting, except that I was convinced that I had scarlet fever during the Gilbert scene towards the end.

Did she really wear that?

It's finally time for my review of, you guessed it, the SATC movie.

I'll attempt to make it as spoiler-free as possible, for those of you that might read this and be concerned about surprises.

And I must say, there are none. If you're a fan of the show, you probably know exactly what will happen, but come on, do we really watch this show for originality in plotlines? Nope. We watched it because of the great dialogue, the bond between the main characters (although I have my doubts about four women being that close into their 30s, let alone their 40s, but it's as fictional as the neverending closets and designer everything that goes along with this movie). And really, I don't watch it for a reality check.

I sound like I'm complaining, but I loved it. It's like a trip to the amusement park for me. It's colorful, engaging, and easy. I love it despite the total consumerism of the whole thing. I loved the movie, although if you saw the movie, you will join me in my questioning of how they plan on making a trilogy of these movies? I felt that the whole thing was tied up in a neat little bow. Where else is there to go?

However, I asked myself that same question when I saw the ads for the movie 6 months ago, thinking, "they ended the show so neat and clean, what else is there to do with these characters?" But real life never ends happily ever after, so I guess there are always more roadblocks and conflicts to invent for the characters.

Juno

I really, really wanted to hate this movie, particularly after Diablo Cody won an Oscar for Best Screenplay. I measure the winners of Oscars as more of the 'darlings' and those flowers that get picked not from a barren wasteland, but simply a flower in a field of flowers---the winners that aren't special or particularly insightful with their productions; they were just conveniently picked. Don't get me wrong, I sometimes agree with the results, but often I think sadly of the brilliant films and voices that go quietly unnoticed by Hollywood's money-driven machine.

Anyways, as much as I really wanted to abhor this movie, I wound up not loving it, but liking it. I hated the stupid fake slang and some of the ~snappy~ dialogue as much as most of my peers have, but getting past that, the story was great, and the characters fairly heroic and likable. Jennifer Garner is incredible. I've always seen her play someone confident and strong, and to see her as this guarded yuppie so desperate for something was refreshing, and frankly, breathtaking.

Ellen Page was a bit overhyped as Juno, delivering her lines with a bit too much umph for a scared, pregnant teenager. I felt she was just too "whatever" about the whole thing. I mean, she was 16! And pregnant!

J. K. Simmons was funny and endearing as Juno's father, as was Alison Janney as her stepmother. Michael Cera was just downright adorable. Like AH-DOR-ABLE. The dorky gold and maroon track uniform was the perfect touch to making his character both real, vulnerable, and ultimately charming.

Duran Duran

I haven't updated for a few days because lo and behold, I'm sick again. I think that the travel this weekend to see my family weakened my system and made me susceptible to another cold/sore throat.

However, illness did not deter me from seeing one of my favorite bands on Tuesday night!

I've seen Duran Duran once before, and I was excited to go again. Their music just never gets old for me. It also helps that John Taylor is my ultimate crush (since I was maybe...7?). I have a strong draw towards Simon as well. His voice is amazing, and that he never misses a note throughout a 2-hour set is incredible. I admire how their sound has evolved while still maintaining the elements that made them great.

And Sex and the City comes out tonight! Will Carrie marry Mr. Big? I can't wait to find out!

Movie quotes giveaway back on!

I've been very busy for the past few weeks, and have been remiss in posting the movie quotes for the pendant giveaways. As before, you must respond to this post with the movie that the quote is taken from, plus the name of the character who spoke the line.

This week is an easy one.

"Hey! Careful, man, there's a beverage here! "

Paris, Je t'aime

I haven't done a movie review for awhile, and recently, I saw a very good one worth sharing with my readers. Paris Je T'aime is a wonderful compilation of films by award-winning international directors and writers.

I love collections of short films, and this one didn't disappoint. If you don't like the current storyline, just wait! It will be over momentarily, and you will see something entirely new!

However, most of these stories were engaging, and I found myself almost tearing at the screen in delight as each tale unfolded. Some were more complete stories, but some were more scenes of a life.

Best thing I've seen in quite some time!

Finished!

So I finished my last final yesterday. I celebrated with a nap, as I was so tired from all of the concentration, my brain overloaded and required sleep.


However, despite busyness with finals, I managed to have a nice weekend full of delicious food. On Friday, we had a wonderful dinner at Nichi Bei Kai followed by Iron Man, which was an awesome movie! Much better than I expected.


Saturday we went to the Waverly Farmer's Market and bought bread, raw milk, real butter, asparagus, and pasteries. So much yumminess. I think that this will become a regular outing. Then, we headed to Free Comic Day to collect some free stuff and check out some comics!

The rest of the weekend was spent working on my finals, but as a reward, Stephen made me a wonderful dinner using some of the items we purchased on Saturday, and I made homemade lassis! So delicious!



Traditionally, these are made with mangos, but I'm going to experiment and try making them with blueberries and raspberries.

Movie quotes giveaway!

Edition 2: Remember, you must identify the movie and the character who spoke the line. Win a free pendant from my shop!!!

"The man of my dreams has almost faded now. The one I have created in my mind. "

Movie quote giveaway!

I'm going to start a new game:

Each week, I will post a quote from a movie that I like. The first person to comment with the correct answer to the movie it came from and the character that spoke the line will win a free pendant from my shop!

OK, let's get the ball rolling:

"A lot of people enjoy being dead. But they are not dead, really. They're just backing away from life."