I Suddenly Remembered My Charlemagne

So, Zootopia was amazing. I though, based on the preview, that it was going to be "Uptight girl meets laid back guy and Learns A Thing", but OH MY GOD was it something else entirely. Just, wonderful. The message never overwhelmed the writing either, which was also stunning. I was so impressed.

And funny as all get out. Both Steph and I laughed a lot. I really recommend going.

Yes. That one.

The thing I really (genuinely; all my love for Jupiter Ascending is genuine) love about That Line is that it is brilliant.

"I love dogs. I’ve always loved dogs."

It is totally ridiculous, of course, and without context it does sound sort of dumb, but in context it is GREAT, and, with only the vaguest of spoilers, ( I shall tell you why ).

This movie. My heart.

It's Tuesday! The day I go see The Hobbit!

I love it so much. I've almost worked out the geography of the final battle without breaking, like, geography. "The North" is very big, after all, and you have to go around the Mountain to get to Ravenhill (which is on the west side of the Front Gate), so...yes. Except it all falls apart when the Moria orcs come out of the EAST, but whatever: almost got it.

ANYWAY. I remain completely verklempt about the whole thing. I think I spotted Benedict Cumberbatch in the Lake-town scene. I for sure found Katie Jackson, who appears to be Unnamed Lady's daughter, which is great. RICHARD ARMITAGE'S FACE, MY HEART. ALSO DEAN O'GORMAN.

I do wish there had been about three more seconds of camera on Martin Freeman when Thorin tries to kill Bilbo. But that is, in the grand scheme of things, a small quibble, and you can hear a sort of panicked breathing the whole time, so that's a nice touch.

Thranduil, I can't even. ALSO: BARD. AND THE CHILDREN.

And Elrond.

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Faith and I went to see three movies in theatre, and re-watched the first two HOBBIT movies at home. All were a lot of fun. Since one of the movie we saw was THE HOBBIT, I won't go over it again, but we ALSO saw BIG HERO SIX and MOCKINGJAY I, so that was good times.

I though BH6 did really well in terms of fusing Japanese and American culture. It was very pretty, from a visual standpoint, and the characters were clearly not all white either, which was handy. Probably my favourite Stan Lee cameo (in the actual movie, not in the extra, which was just...well, this is a kids' movie!).

As a bonus, FEAST was also pretty good.

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BUT LET ME TELL YOU MY FEELINGS ABOUT MOCKINGJAY PART I.

( Spoilers! )

Does Part II come out in six months, or 12 (I mean, six/12 months form the release of Part I. I realize that I am quite behind!).

Seriously. Even though I didn't seen most of these, and some of them I couldn't even identify! I watched this, and thought "man, this would be the greatest movie ever!" and then I realized it already kind of was.

New Clip from City of Bones

It's just. so. beautiful. And it's only really Lena Hedley! And the Russian dude from Pacific Rim! And Zipacna, because it was filmed in Canada, so obviously the Start To Cylon ratio has to be very small!

Oh, and I like the kids more than I thought I did. It's nice seeing them in a whole scene instead of just random lines. You get a better impression.

BUT SERIOUSLY. CAN WE TALK SOME MORE ABOUT GIRLS WHO KEEP THEIR HEADS DURING FIGHT SCENES? And, like, USE EVERYTHING INCLUDING THE KITCHEN SINK?

*breathes into a paper bag*

Related: Did I share those pictures of Aidan Turner as Luke? Because, um, well: it's the beard.

More pics of the Circle

No one is going to go see this with me.

I am, very slowly, going through Festivids. The HAVEN vid was excellent, but I would like to mostly talk about DEVIL'S TATTOO, which is for TRUE GRIT.

I really love TRUE GRIT. I had no idea what it was about before I saw it, except I knew that it was weird that Hailee Steinfeld* was nominated for Best Supporting Actress when she was in every scene in the movie, and also the POV character AND the narrator. Oh, and that there was a snake.

But that was it.

I saw TRUE GRIT on the plane when I was coming home from Jordan. I was very tired, but I was pretty sure I loved it. I watched it again, and also read the book (and, um, every fanfic I could get my hands on. As you do), and yes: I love it.

Mostly, though, I love Mattie Ross. And this video? This video is why. She is small. She is a girl. She knows what she is doing is not precisely moral. She is going to do it anyway. She will find, or insist upon, help, as she needs it. And she will pay the price.




*UGH, she's also playing Petra in the movie adaptation of Ender's Game which looks to have SUCH AN AMAZING CAST (except for the part where they're all too old, of course) and I have ALL THE CONFLICTED FEELINGS about it.

I have no idea what's going to happen in this movie*. But, OMG, I hope Pepper gets her suit!



*And for Pete's sake, don't tell me!

I AM SO EXCITED FOR THIS MOVIE.



*marks June 1 in calendar*

I've finished my first pass through this year's festivids, which basically means I've watched all the vids for fandoms I'm familiar with, and have made up a list of the ones I love and why I love them. Hopefully, in poking around other people's rec lists, I'll get some "new" stuff too!

First up is Jailbreak, a brilliantly edited Star Wars vid detailing the criminal tendencies of our favourite rebels. This vid is basically the opposite of the Mary Poppins one I squeed about yesterday (short clips and quick cuts), but the editing is similarly flawless, and we all know how I feel about explosions in time with the music. I completely failed to mention this in my comment on the vid, but the ESB portion of the edit is just AMAZING for about a hundred reasons (several of which are kissing). Also, there's a wonderfully executed musical joke at the beginning. I absolutely adore this vid.

Next we have Eye of the Tiger, for A Knight's Tale. To quote the festividder, "A Knight's Tale is both 20 years too late and nearly 700 years too early to be a 1980s sports movie. That doesn't stop it from trying." This vid is tone perfect for the movie...and absolutely adorable on all fronts.

a message for you manages to capture everything that made me cry during Big Fish and reduce me to tears is less than two minutes. The music selection is very Elfman-esque, which only makes it better, and the clips served as a perfect sample, reminding me of how beautifully shot the movie was.

I still haven't watched much Eureka, but I'm pretty sure (Fargo) For the First Time captures the spirit of the show. ;)

Festivids: Because where else are you going to get a fanvid for The Great Mouse Detective?

Emily/Nolan(/Destruction) kind of snuck up on me...just like Revenge did. Besides, what's a vidding challenge without Ke$ha? Blow is fast and reckless and a little bit uncomfortable, just like the show.

And, last but certainly not least, the vid for Mulan. Ain't No Other Man takes all of my favourite Mulan moments and sets them to a song with about ten different meanings. Plus, timed lightning! And you know how I feel about that. Mostly, though, I got the impression that the vidder likes Mulan for exactly the same reasons I do, and made the vid I would love to make, which is always awesome to find randomly. ;)

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Oh, and if you like Star Wars, I really recommend Star Wars Uncut, before it gets pulled down. Basically, it's A New Hope as remade by fans in 15 second increments. It sounds a bit hokey, but the end result is a shot by shot reproduction of the movie, using a wide variety of media, as made by people who really love Star Wars. My favourite parts are the people who sing along with the sound track, and the sheer number of times Leia is played by a little girl. ;)

I'm kind of willing to love Jennifer Lawrence solely based on the part where she volunteers...



EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!