Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011) / the return of the Bromance

 

directed by Guy Richie / starring Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Noomi Rapace, Jared Harris, Stephen Fry

I loved the first Sherlock Holmes so much. I actually went to see it in cinema three times. That was the first time I'd seen a film in cinema three times since Revenge of the Sith, by the way, and it hasn't happened again since. I started to look forward to the next Holmes adventure right after the wonderful ending of the first film, quite obviously promising for more. Then at some point I got tired of waiting and allowed myself to restrain my enormous enthusiasm towards the upcoming sequel. In other words, I didn't care too much about the franchise anymore. Not even the trailer could arouse my interest very much. It looked a bit lame and predictable and uninventive. Like the sequel would just rely on the jokes and ideas and success of the first film.

And it kind of did, to a certain lenght, of course. But it wasn't a bad thing at all, they did it well, actully! The old gags were continued and the distinct slo-mo action sequences were there again, but there was some clever reinvention going on, which made it surprisingly fresh, and hardly repetitive at all. Oh, and boy, did the Bromance bloom.

In case someone (like me, it turns out) has forgotten that Robert Downey Jr. is the sexiest man alive, let me just point this out: Robert Downey Jr. is, indeed, the sexiest man alive. Oh, mama. No one plays that absurdly cocky yet indeniably lovable type of character better than him. Can't wait for Avengers and the next Iron Man. Boy, oh boy. There might be a sex overload.

Scandinavia's pride Noomi Rapace was a real joy! Yes, I've decided to take pride on her, too, I won't let Sweden take all the credit. Because I'm sick of Sweden winning all the time. Also, since this fall (or autumn or whatever, I don't know what English I should use now that I'm back home) Sweden often functioned as a substitute for curing homesickness, I now kind of look at Scandinavia as a whole, so calling Rapace "our girl" would be more than appropriate. Let her conquer the world and bring fame to her home country, Scandinavia! Ahem.

Jared Harris was great, really great! There's something oddly gentle about his eyes, yet they can turn ice-cold and deliver a deadly stare. I love villains that aren't obviously evil (though I do love some obviously evil villains, too), and who destroy the world without losing that indifferent, almost friendly poker face. Really great job, you Mad Man!

Like in the first film, I again enjoyed the brilliant music, the cool end credits, the cinematography of the action scenes (even in the scene in the forrest when it ALMOST (?) went over-the-top), the fun supporting characters and the wonderful and hilarious chemistry between Law and Downey Jr.

In summary, I'd say that Game of Shadows was a very good sequel. The ending was excellent. Unpredictable. The end came too soon. Or was it really that? The end? If not, I sure am ready for more, so bring it.
 

"What do you see?"

"Everything."

The first and last time I saw Goodfellas

21:29 Since there is three days left in the year 2011, and three films yet to be watched in my New Year Resolution project, I thought now might be a good time to get busy. The film of October was Goodfellas, so here we go. I don't think it is a very good scenario to begin watching a movie feeling certain that you will hate it, but I'm kind of getting used to this by now. I even came up with an appropriate title already: The first and probably the last time I saw Goodfellas. Now that's the spirit. Let's get crackin'. I hope this is now a very long movie.

21:34 ... No such luck. Two hours and nineteen minutes. What a surprise. Well, if I'm a really good girl I'll be done by midnight and all this will be only a bad memory.

21:38 Oh it's set in New York! Hopefully the whole movie is about them prancing around Central Park. Isn't that what mob bosses do? Or gangsters, or whatever these people are.

21:41 Oh, this is one of these lovely and violent movies! Hurray!

22:11 I'm not buying that the stupid thug from Home Alone is a badass mobster. And I'm a bit bored. But at least this is no Godfather. No Central Park yet, boo!

22:37 There's too much testosterone in the movie. Blah. Violence is so freaking nice and masculine, yeah, hurray, keep hitting each other, that's fun.

23:16 Oh, yay, only 45 minutes left. Time is flying, while I'm facebooking, cutting my nails and plugging my eyebrows. Watching movies like this makes me productive.

23:29 These guys say 'fuck' way too much. I mean, I like when people say 'fuck', like they do in In Bruges. But come one.

23:34 Ah, thank you! Thank you for shooting that guy, he annoyed me so much.

00:08 Oh well. There's no need to change the title. Though I might drop the 'probably'. I don't know why I keep making myself watch these movies I know I'm not going to like. Mob bosses and violence and cursing and idiotic, stubborn men. Not my cup of tea. Except if it takes place in Bruges.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1 (2011) / unsurprisingly unsurprising

I went to Atlanta and Washington DC for my Thanksgiving break, and finally had a chance to go to movies again. I hadn't seen a movie in a theatre for more than two months, which is a personal record I don't wish to break again any time soon. There is a threatre in Emporia, but you need a car to get there, so basically it's out of my reach. Now that I again had cinemas within my reach, (and time, too, unlike on our fall break trip to California), me and my travelling companion went to movies not once, not twice, but three times in eight days. And I still feel it wasn't enough. I was supposed to put my thoughts together about each three films, but so it happens, I managed to do so only on Twilight. Which is so twisted. I actually liked My Week with Marilyn and J.Edgar a lot, but for some unfair reason writing about them is too much right now.

We weren't even supposed to go see Twilight. We were supposed to go see J. Edgar, but there wasn't a showing at the right time, and we wanted to go see something anyway, and what do you know, Breaking Dawn was just starting in ten minutes. I had seen the previous ones in cinemas, but I'd planned on not seeing the last ones. Oh well. At least it wasn't in 3D. Part of the Twilight cinema experience has always been the people around you, laughing at wrong places, and making mocking "whoo" sounds whenever Jacob takes his shirt off. And I must say, the company was perfect, once again. Of course you have to feel a little sorry for those few who actually come to see the film seriously.

I don't have much to say about the film itself. I once wrote a huge monster post about Eclipse, concentrating on the phenomenon that Twilight is, and I still feel pretty much the same way. You just cannot make a great movie when the source material is what it is. We know it's crap, but still, let the girls have their fun. And so on. I'm still 100% Team Jacob. Even Kristen Stewart (whom I just can't help but find annoying) is much more natural in those few Bella/Jacob scenes. That relationship is just so wonderfully close to normal among all the freakish and awkward Bella/Edward stuff. Anna Kendrick was again my biggest source of joy, even though her and Bella's (human) group of friends got hardly any screen time at all. The sex scene was kind of lame, and all the pregnancy stuff plain disgusting. I mean, yes, it's very nice that they actually made Bella look like an absolutely horrible corpse, but all the blood and the breaking bones just made me want to look away. Again, yes, it's just the source material, but ugh, I'd rather have watched more of that lame sex than a skeleton Bella drinking blood.

So yeah. Nothing surprising here. I knew what to expect so watching all the awkward dialogue wasn't too painful. At least now I've seen it and don't have to worry about it ever again. But I have to go see last final movie, too, just to see how they adapt the most horrible ending of the most horrible book in the world to the screen. Can't say I'm looking forward to it.


"Jacob has an idea."
"It's more of a snide remark!"

Sucks to be a Kennedy / The Kennedys (2011)

I didn't know JFK was assasinated in Dallas. That is, until I went to Dallas and found myself standing in the very spot where it happened. They say travelling broadens the mind, but it also helps you catch up on your history. I know now that John F. Kennedy was killed in downtown Dallas, on Elm Street, on November 22, 1963, and that Lee Harvey Oswald fired three shots from the sixth floor window of the Book Depository. And that was all without cheating. I hope I got my facts right.

 I had heard of the miniseries before, and was kind of interested in watching it, but didn't make it my priority until I knew I would be going to Washington DC soon. I thought I would get the more out of the visit the more I knew about the history of the place. And luckily in this day and age we don't have to read books to learn history, we can just watch a movie or a miniseries and be just as wise! Oh, wonderful world. So, I watched the eight-part series before and after the trip, and yes, they indeed complemented each other quite nicely. I just get a huge kick out of watching a movie or something and seeing a place where I've personally been. (At times I so wished there'd been someone watching with me, because I wanted to act smart! Like when Jackie visits Jack's grave in the Arlington Cemetary (assuming that the scene was actually shot on location), they use only certain camera angles to hide the tomb stone on JFK's left, saying Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis (okay, that I had to cheat).)

I enjoyed the series (and not only for the joy of feeling smart and well-travelled). Sometimes the politics talk might have been a bit too much for me, but I just let it go over my head, waiting for the next scene looking at the family dynamics and relationships. I'm sure the series is not 100% truthful in portraying the members of the Kennedy family, but I trust it to have given more than a clue about what was going on inside the white walls of the President's house. It was quite entertaining, and interesting, the script was quite excellent, and the camerawork and visual side very pleasing to the eye, too. I liked the use of old, actual recordings, mixed with new material.

I first had some serious problems with Greg Kinnear as JFK. Just because I kept associating him with Little Miss Sunshine, and as much as I love that movie it doesn't do much good in taking someone seriously as a president. I got over it soon, however, because Kinnear did quite a solid job, and his presence is totally transformed from the horrible father who tells his 10-year-old daughter not to be a loser. Also, Katie Holmes was a very pleasant surprise! I don't usually enjoy her work too much, and she often lacks depth, but as Jackie she is vulnerable yet strong, and it works beautifully. She had my sympathies.

The one who stole the whole show to me, however, was Barry Pepper's Bobby. For me, Pepper has always stolen the show, in whatever small roles I've seen him in, from The Green Mile to Saving Provate Ryan and Flags of Our Fathers. There's just something so real and authentic and sincere about him. He better get some awards for this role, he's been underrated for too long. He made it official: Bobby is my favorite Kennedy! I don't know why, but I always found Bobby's fate more tragic than Jack's. And I don't know if it's the truth or the portrayal or just me, but Bobby definitely turned out to be the hero of The Kennedys, and series left me with a pretty deep admiration and respect for Robert Kennedy. And Barry Pepper. You can't give any awards to Bobby anymore, so give some to Barry! He made me cry, damn it. Not that that's too unusual.

The villain of the story, for me, was definitely the father, Joe Kennedy. (Along with Marilyn Monroe, just because she was portrayed so poorly. Maybe it's unfair for the actress, Charlotte Sullivan, but after forgetting what the real Marilyn Monroe actually looks like when watching Michelle Williams in the said role, poor Ms. Sullivan's Monroe was kind of a sorry attempt.) Sure, I felt sorry for him at times, but that tyrannical, unhealthy obsession he had about making his son, any son, President, made me loathe him, and frankly point the finger straight at him when we start talking about blame.

"You’re going to be President. Because you’re a Kennedy. And Kennedys never come in second."

The Hunger Games, official trailer, finally!

Oh, how we've been waiting for this one! All I was hoping for it was Peeta and goosebumps, and I got both. And more! I love the look of it, I think they got it absolutely right, both District 12 and The Capitol, and what we see of the Arena. Brilliant! And it's full of little details I love, like Peeta's hair in the reaping scene, and the train that speeds through the woods, and Effie's ridiculous outfit. This is going to be great. This is definitely on the top of my Most Anticipated Films of 2012. Or actually, on the top of my Most Anticipated Anythings of 2012. I have a feeling it'll blow my mind.

Watch it here, too.

Blade Runner: a report

15:15 My ability to concentrate has been so poor recently that I'm quite positive I won't be able sit these two hours through without a break or two. The interesting part is, how many hours/days/months will these breaks last?

Anyway. On with the New Year resolution! I'm behind, but attempting to catch up. The film of September was Blade Runner, so here we go. I'm watching the theatrical cut, because that's on Netflix. Don't know if it differs from the other cuts. I'm just hoping that Harrison Ford will be enough to keep me interested, because I just checked and apparently he's in this one. And I know this is science fiction, so I am not nearly as certain that I will hate what I'll see as I was last month. Yay?

15:20 No snacks. Damn! Will have to do without. Let's get to it, then!

16:14 I'm in danger of falling asleep, but it's not necessarily the film's fault. The film's okay. I'm just a bit disorientated, as recently I've developed a freaky need for afternoon naps, which I never had before. I had to check out the film plot summary on IMDb to get my head around what's going on. I think I've got it now. On with the show!

17:45 I unvolunteeringly took a nap. Hope this is not becoming a habit.

18:33 Well, I did it! And it only took three hours and one nap! Quite a great performance of myself, I must say.

The film, then. Again, not my kind of film, but I didn't loathe it. The idea was very clever and fascinating, but I wasn't that much into the way they told the story. The film didn't keep a hold of me, and it wasn't just because I was so sleepy. Though that didn't do much good, either. And what was that 'epic' final battle all about? Blade RUNNER indeed; Harrison just kept running and running like a whimpy little boy. No no no. I like him badass and cocky.

This is a pathetic little post, but let's just look at it as a report. Another overrated classic down, two more to go and then I'm again on schedule!

Three months of A Clockwork Orange

 August 28

10:10 I just realized that August is almost over, so I better get on with the New Year resolution project. Surprisingly I found A Clockwork Orange on Netflix, hurrah. I'd really have so many other things to do, school-related, mostly, but I think I can afford one morning... It's a good cause, really.

10:18 I am more than a bit concerned about how I will react to Clockwork. I don't really like violence, or too violent movies. This might be a bit too controversial for me. I'm hoping to prove myself wrong so I could seem like a cool stud or something, but we'll see.

10:23 So, I have my brownies. I have my socks and a hoodie and a blanket. Yes, it might be a hundred degreed outside, but thanks to the AC, it's a freaking Siperia inside. I will do my best to get something out of the next two hours. Here we go. Play.

10:25 I suddenly want some milk with my brownies. Otherwise, that's one creepy opening.

10:29 No. Stop the violence.

10:37 Oh for god's sake, if it's going to be just this for two hours, I'd rather do some school work...

10:57 I hope this is going somewhere. There has to be some point, right?

11:11 I think I'll have a break. It might be going somewhere, after all, but still, enough for now.

October 27

20:18 Hehe. That's what we call a break. Oh well. I waded through 44 minutes last time, let's see how long it will take this time before I'll get enough of the violence. First, can't do this without popcorn.

20:23 I have no recollection whatsoever of what's happening in this movie. I just remember the mindless violence. Oh, popcorn's ready! I put too much salt in them. Oh well. Let's go. It'll only hurt a while. And I'm not talking about the salt.

21:14 I'm doing quite well, am I not? Need to have a little break anyway. I'm still not loving it. Or in it, so to speak. 2/3 done, one more third to go...

November 2

21:29 I'm determined to finish this bitch, today! There's only about half and hour to go, so I will succeed, just wait and see! I don't have any popcorn. Boo hoo.

21:39 Aw, violence. Lovely.

22:12 Thank god, now it's over. That wasn't so bad! Only took me three months!

I did not like this movie. I didn't get what the point was. I just know that there was a lot of pointless violence and other disgusting stuff, and I didn't get the point. You know, narrow mind and all that. Anyway, the important thing is, now it's over and done with and I never have to see it again. Over and out.

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) - heroes are made in America

directed by Joe Johnson / starring Chris Evans, Hayley Atwell, Hugo Weawing, Stanley Tucci, Dominic Cooper

 I realized I need to catch up on my superhero movies. I also realized it's been a month since I updated this blog. So here you go!

Ever since I saw the first trailer for The Avengers (and it looks good, by the way, even to the eyes of a Marvel amateur like me (and it's not just RDJ that makes it look good, I swear (though it's a contibutor))), I've felt the intrigue I once held for superheros start creeping back. (Spider-Man used to be The Thing for me. My wardrobe still suffers from the consequences of that phase...) There is something about them, isn't there? The men and, well, mostly men, that somehow are given a great power, and a great responsibility with it. And the thing is that the most important power they have is not their psysical strength, or their freaky, supernatural traits; it's the power of their mind, and their heart, the power they'd had all along; the power that makes them transform into superheros, instead of supervillains. This is expecially central in the case of Captain America, and one of the reasons I liked the story so much.

Steve Rogers is a skinny young man, with everything from asthma to heart problems staining his medical records. But he is brave and humble and righteous, and oh, isn't he patriotic. World War II is alluring noble wannabe-heros to go to Europe to "serve their country", and Steve keeps trying to join the army, to do his duty, but no one wants to sent a skinny little boy like him to die in the shores of France. Then Steve gets his chance: he volunteers to be a subject in a top-secret experiment, which turns him into the ultimate supersoldier. Thus, oh say can you see, Captain America is born.

I'm not comfortable around patriotism. It is possibly the aspect about this country that feels the most alien to me. It also makes me a bit angry. "Serving their country", and so on, don't even let me get started on that. But I decided not to let it bother me too much. It it vital to the story that Captain America loves America, so I just went with it. I even found the stars-and-stripes costume pretty cool.

Here's something else I found pretty cool. Chris Evans as a skinny little boy. It was weird, at first, but once you realized it actually looked realistic, and not like Chris Evans's head had been attached to another man's body, it was pretty cool. Thank you, technology. I liked how Captain America was first used as a propaganda machine, and how ridiculous that was. I liked Chris Evans. He usually plays the cocky guy, but he did humble really well, too. I liked Hayley Atwell as the tough chick love interest. Hugo Weaving always makes a good villain. Stanley Tucci is pure awesomeness. And I don't at all mind looking at Dominic Cooper. I'm totally buying that he's related to one Robert Downey Jr.

I also liked how Steve Rogers remained Steve Rogers even after he became Captain America. He never really goes through any kind of mental transformation; the main character of the movie doesn't really learn anything, or develop into something better during the film. This would usually bother me, a lot, but actually it's one of the coolest things about Captain America: there is no need for Steve Rogers to develop or change, because he had the goods all along. The skinny Steve in the beginning would have done the same things Captain America did in the end. It was just the matter of getting the right tools. He might have turned into a superhero, but he was still awkward around ladies. I suppose there might be a sequel with him exploring his darker side, too, á la Spider-Man 3 (haha, yes, I kind of liked that movie), and that would actually be really interesting.

Speaking of sequels. I want one! Or two. You can't end a movie like that and not make a sequel. Or two. 'Cause I loved the ending! I loved the ending and loved the beginning. Wasn't so thrilled of all of what what in the middle, but that can blaimed on me being a stereotypical girl. Too much action makes me bored. I need some dialogue and relationships to keep me interested. Haha. It's true, unfortunately. I'm a girl. Guilty as charged. Anyway. I'll probably get my sequel(s) at some point, but before that, I'll get The Avengers. And I bet that will be a lot of fun. And a lot of not-at-all-bad-looking men to look at. Why, oh why are women intrigued by superhero movies, I wonder? (It's not just that, though. Seriously. (Really!))

(I love the posters of this movie. Kind of old-fashioned, but still modern and sleek.)

"Arrogance is not a uniquely American trait, but you do it better than most."

The Lion King in 3D

I remember when I went to see The Lion King in 1994. Or, strike that, I remember when I came back home from the cinema and me and my sister started explaining mom the plot of the movie. So I guess I liked it! I don't remember if Lion King was my first cinema experience, but it is the first one I have memories of. Now I got new Lion King cinema memories!

The Diamond Edition will be released next month, and to mark that occasion the well-loved and adored Disney classic of classics was also rereleased in theatres. To begin with it was supposed to run only for two weeks, but as it has been ruling the heck out of box office, Walt Disney Studios will give it at least another week. I'm not surprised. They should rerelease all the 90s classics in theatres, because seriously, who wouldn't love them? (If you don't, don't you tell me; I like my bubble.)

 I'm not a huge 3D fan - in fact, I'm very anti-3D. But oh boy, did Lion King look awesome with that third dimension! The movie is like made for 3D, seriously! The technology suited LK much better than most of those films I've seen that really were made to be released in 3D in the first place. For example, look at the opening scene, Circle of Life, imagine it in 3D, and you'll know what I mean. I got some serious goosebumps and wasn't too far from tearing up.

 The Lion King is now officially included in my Top 3 of Disney classics, along with The Beauty and the Beast and Pocahontas. I almost feel another Disney phase coming on, but (un)fortunately I don't have the DVDs here, and Netflix doesn't have any of the classics. But well, I just purchased tickets to see Lion King the musical in Las Vegas in a few weeks, so that will do. I know that will be holy-sh*t awesome. (Aren't I courteous for cleaning up my language in a Disney-labeled post...)

"Hakuna Matata. It means 'no worries'."

First glimpse of the Hunger Games movie

Okay, so. I sat throught the whole MTV Video Music Awards. Which would've been okay if that didn't mean watching as much commercials as actual awards material. I know this country has a lot of stuff to advertise, but come ON! Couldn't you even show more than those same four commercials playing in a loop? Geez. So after sitting through all those freaking commercial breaks, I expected to see a bit more than a 10-second teaser trailer. I thought they would show an actual clip! You still can't really tell by that teaser if the movie will be "the right kind".

Still, I very much liked those few rare seconds. They could've included Peeta at least via voiceover (I'm assuming that was Gale, right...?), but oh well. What I'm most glad about was that Jennifer looks quite young as she doesn't seem to be wearing too much make-up! Thumbs up for that.

So, yeah, thanks for this, but seriously... more please. That didn't satisfy anything or anyone.

For better quality click here.

Glee: The 3D Concert Movie (2011) - because experiencing it once is not enough

How freaking lucky it was that this movie happened to open less than a week after I arrived to the US? And as it only runs for two weeks, I easily could've missed it. But I didn't! It didn't play in my city, but we happened to make a little trip to Wichita, where it did play. (I expected film tickets to be cheaper here, but they really weren't; 13 dollars for a 3D showing, so not much difference to Finland's prices.)

Glee: The 3D Concert Movie is a sort of a documentary concentrating on the tour the cast of Glee did this spring and summer. We see most of the performances, get a glance of what happened on backstage and hear from the fans. More than once I almost began to sing along, or applaude after a number, because it was easy to forget that you were in a movie theatre, and not actually there, looking at the concert live. After it was over, I left the theatre humming Raise Your Glass and found myself smiling stupidly for the rest of the day.

All of the live performances were shown, except for Dog Days Are Over. Oh and Single Ladies! Nooo! It was the only thing I was left missing. Luckily I could go to YouTube right now and see several versions of it there. Yeah, I'm actually going, just a moment... Back now! Let's get on with it.

There were so many awesome things about seeing the live performances again. 1) Hearing Glee music is always awesome. 2) Hearing Glee music with a superb sound reproduction system is even more so. 3) In the concert you couldn't really concentrate on the little details happening on stage. Now you could see the little wrinkles around Lea Michele's eyes when she reaches for a high note in Firework, and Kevin McHale and Mark Salling goofing around during a group number. 4) Although the concert on screen wasn't the same one I saw, it took me back to that night in June and the memories were sweet. 5) YouTube videos are great, but a huge canvas and 3D glasses are even better. A huge, three-dimensional Heather Morris doing I'm A Slave 4 U made me quite happy. Hehe.

There wasn't enough behind-the-scenes material. Though I doubt nothing would be enough for me, as those people are just so lovable and adorable and funny and I could look at and listen to them for hours and hours and hours. The biggest surprise was that the blond Warbler with the cool haircut can actually talk! And other Warblers, as well! They were funny, too.

I also wanted so much more Chris. All he said was 'Thank you for loving me'. Though I think that pretty much sums it all up. That's all that wonderful man needs to say.

In between the numbers and behind-the-scenes materirial there various clips of fans declaring their love for Glee and naming their favourite characters and other things in the show. With some we looked a little deeper. Three young people described how Glee has affected their lives and improved them, or pretty much saved them. It was the good old American sentimentality, constructed in the familiar dramatized way, but still, I did find the stories quite inspirational and moving. This country is making even more of a wuss, haha.

Say what you want and call me what you wish, but I firmly stand behind my opinion that Glee is a real life-saver. Maybe it was mostly love for money that made this movie happen, but I think it's also love for something true and real and human. Glee rocks, period, and if any TV series was ever even to come close to saving the world, it would no doubt be Glee.

I'm off to see America, the wonderful United States of America

 Hehe, can't get enough of these Wizard of Oz references. But hell, it's not like I'm leaving to live in Kansas every day, so I will definitely milk everything out of this situation. So I'm leaving for Helsinki early tomorrow morning, and then it's Chicago, Kansas City and Emporia. I'm flying back on 19th of December. So, I'll see you guys on Christmas!

...Not really, though. Sure, I hopefully don't have much time to watch movies and write about them, but I think you'll hear from me every now and then, anyway. And, if you find yourself missing me so much you can hardly bear it, you can always go check out my new blog, Somewhere Over The Rainbow (told you I'm a sucker for WoO references... I'm afraid they don't end in the blog title), where I will (hopefully) actively report the latest turns of my adventure.

Bye then, for now. Pitäkää Suomi pystyssä! ^^

(And just because it's now stuck on my head, and it'd be only fair if it was stuck on yours, too...)

The Boy With The Bread, come to life

I'm getting steadily more and more excited about next March and The Hunger Games film. I will positively piss myself when the first teaser trailer comes along. Which could be relatively soon, actually, maybe even within a month, as they've already filmed all the stuff in the arena and District 12, and are currently in the Capitol. Holy cow. Merely the thought gives me goosebumps.

I know this Entertainment Weekly article with the exclusive pictures of the Hunger Games cast and the set came out ages/weeks ago, but only now I happened to stumble across an online version of the text (as I said a couple of hours ago when posting to my other blog, anything to keep me from having to pack). It's a nice read, building around an interview of Josh Hutcherson, playing my beloved Peeta in the film version.

I never really doubted his ability to bring Peeta to life in a way that appeals to me. There are actors that I immediately like, and those I don't (and yeah, those I'm first undetermined about and sometimes grow to like). With Hutcherson it was love at first sight, so to speak. When they annouced the casting, there was an instant YES. I saw Peeta in there somewhere. Josh has just the right kind of innocent charm and warmth in him. And now that he has that gorgeous blond hair, he even looks the part. I have a feeling he will be a perfect Peeta, for me, at least.

-- he seems like the rare young guy whom the spotlight will not singe. "I know it's going to be a big change, but I think if you go about it in the right way, you can still have your privacy," he says. "You got to just keep on trucking and make sure you're always being true to yourself." He laughs and gives the table a happy bang of his fist. "Which is so funny because - God bless America! - that's exactly what Peeta would say."

That's right. That's my Peeta.

Who would you be?

After a few week's break I though I'd accept the Movie Monday challenge again. Which film character would I like to be? Which fictional universe would I like to live in?

The first idea to pop into my head was very random and weird. And not nearly ambitious enough. I mean, come on, I have the whole universe on my hands; worlds and galaxies full of awesome and exciting milieus and fierce and admirable character executing daring and earth-shattering deeds. No way I'm going with something as lame as my first idea.

So, I naturally thought about Jedis. They're super über cool and can jump incredibly high and have most awesome weapons ever. But the thing is, their lives tend to end way too soon for my taste, or maybe they turn (almost) irrevocably evil just because that happens to be written in the stars or something. Too much drama for me, thank you very much.

Then I thought how wonderful it would be to be a part of the Weasley family and go to Hogwarts and learn magic and fight the Dark Forces. Only if I was a Weasley, it would be illegal for me to marry Ronald. Darn. Strike that.

'Oh but I've always wanted to live in a musical', I thought next. So how about High School Musical then? Bursting into song and dance in the middle of lunch, that would be the greatest thing ever. Maybe I'd get an amazing singing voice on the side, too? Honestly, though, that much positivity and smiling and happy endings and sugary clichees would make my teeth fall out in a day. So no. I decided to rule out every other Disney option too, because I'm always tempted to answer these challenges with Disney, and that's not very normal. (Oh wait! Does this mean I don't get to go with Pocahontas then? Damn!)

What else could it be, then? Superheroes? Other heroes? Dazzling and noble princesses? Revolutionaries who change the world? Mysterious loners or adventurous explorers from strange and exotic worlds or historic eras before ours? Nah. As nothing seemed to satisfy me, I thought 'Screw this', and concluded that I'm very boring, and thus don't long for galaxy-bending adventures or spine-chilling dangers. Not even in fun challenges that are meant for stretching your imagination and dreaming big. No, I guess in the end, real life with a spice is enough for me.

So I went with my first idea. Random and weird isn't necessarily bad.

Easy A is quite a surprising movie, as it's been stuck somewhere on the back of my head since I saw it some months ago. Comedies rarely do that for me. Thus it also happened to pop into my head when thinking about this challenge. I don't necessarily long to live in an American high school for the rest of my life, but the world of Easy A has pros too, and I will now concentrate on them.

Mainly, it's the insane wittiness that pretty much every person seems to possess. I'd love that. You'd just talk to people and say most genius things just like that. Imagine someone was messing with you, and you'd come up with the most awesome retort ever, but instead of proudly reciting the dialogue to everyone you know for the rest of the year, you wouldn't give another thought for your awesomeness, because those fantastic lines just keep pouring from your mouth all day, every day.

Also, as I would be Emma Stone's character Olive in this scenario, I would get a red hair (without having to be a Weasley and thus off Ronald's 'To Marry' list), and I wouldn't mind that. Nor the fact that she's inceribly and refreshingly mature, smart and self-confident for a protagonist of a high school comedy. I could use some of that. Also she has Stanley Tucci as a father. And Stanley Tucci would be a part of the deal, of course. Suck on that, wizards and Jedis, I have a Stanley Tucci father!

And maybe if I lived in the Easy A universe, someone would make funny montages of my boring weekends and actually make them look really cool and awesome, like this...



And for that, ladies and gentelmen, I will thus sacrifice the opportunity to jump unnaturally high, to be considered normal when breaking into a song when queueing at the supermarket, to keep saving the world on daily basis with awesome superpowers, and even to live in the Shire and spend the rest of my life eating and drinking and partying and daydreaming under fabulous trees and owning adorable feet and a terrific hair.

...Oh wait. I hadn't thought about the opportunity of being a Hobbit until now. Can I still change my mind about this and rewrite the whole post?

Citizen Kane and a slight improvement

 

15:52 I decided to watch Citizen Kane. With Space Odyssey it helped to keep 'a watching diary', so let's see if it helps me here, too. I'm not mentally as well prepared as I was last time, but let's hope for the best. I did write a very hopeful title for the post: 'Citizen Kane and a leap back to success'. I'm referring to the last two months of total FAILS in my little New Year resolution project.

15:58 Decided to watch a trailer first to get a clue of what to expect. It was a very fun trailer, though it didn't give me much of a clue. So let's get started. I'm starving, but there's nothing edible in this house. Oh well. I'll see you in a half an hour, when I'm hopefully fully absorbed in the world of Citizen Kane.

16:03 Well, I checked my Facebook page first. Get on with it, woman...

16:06 My knees are cold. That's weird.

16:07 Rosebud. Okay, yes, I've heard about that. Luckily I don't remember what it's all about. I don't know if I can actually shut up for a half an hour, but I'll do my best.

16:39 Did it! Now I need to go hunt down some food. But really, I'm quite enjoying myself.

16:55 Unfortunately I need to have a break to go and pick up my mum. Will be back in business in about an hour.

20:16 ... Or three. My nephew came to a visit and I kept him company by the sandbox making boat-shaped cakes. On with the show.

21:10 Nephew still here. He came and asked me to come and run with him in the backyard, so I did, until I got tired (didn't take long). Despite the distraction, I'm finding the movie pretty interesting.

21:57 Well, wasn't that confusing. I guess I'm a bit dumb.

22:01 Oh, I wasn't, after all. Only a bit blind for not recognizing an object. You know.

Well, a wrap-up. This sounds really pathetic, but before today, my closest interaction with Orson Wells was that Zac Efron movie. I guess it was about time to change that. Once again I saw that the film was very well made, it had some fascinating ideas and a killer cast, but it was missing that something that makes me tick. Well, I'm just a silly young girl watching one of the 'greatest' films ever made, I wouldn't understand. Haha. But yeah. I did like the trailer. And even though I wasn't blown away by what I saw, I wasn't totally bored, either, and didn't start cutting my toenails or anything, so I knew what was happening in the story all the time. It's just not my kind of a film, I guess.

So, I'll strike the 'leap back to success', even though I don't consider this a FAIL. Instead I'll call this post 'Citizen Kane and a slight improvement'.

Oh and HA! Stayed on schedule after all. Today is only the last of  July...

London memories

It's now been over a month since me and my friend came back from our gleeful weekend trip to London. For me, it was a kind of reunion with the city I've been growing fonder and fonder of over the years, and which I hadn't visitited in whole two years. Here are a few photos and words about the trip. I will seriously keep it short this time. (And give you a link to another post, which I definitely did not keep short.)

*

Day 1, Friday. Our dear friend Ryanair brought us to the Stansted airport, almost on schedule this time! Hurray! The day was traditionally grey and rainy and our bus trip to centre London took so long (thanks to the traffic) that after getting to our hotel near the Waterloo station, we barely had energy to go out for dinner. Luckily there was a nice Egyptian style restaurant right across the street, so we didn't get very wet while running there through the rain. The waitress was so nice, and I remembered why I like English people so much, and the customer service. Fake politeness rocks! Haha. Afterwards we stopped by in a little corner shop, where I bought some of my British favourites: the lovely orange chocolate, Galaxy chocolate and chamomille tea.

Day 2, Saturday. My friend, although visiting London for the first time, wasn't interested in sightseeing, which I truly appreciated. I've acted as the tourist guide more than enough times already, leading my companions to see Big Ben and the Buckingham Palace and so on... This was a nice change. First we went to Camden, a huge market area which I just love. I bought a cute black-and-white dress with tiny cats in it (see the picture down below for the pattern), which has become one of my favourite pieces of clothing. Then I looked for and found all of my old favourite shops, and bought stupid funny postcards as always (one has a little dude in it, who says, "Let's go to Ikea", and another dude, laying on a couch, says, "Fuck Ikea", and I just can't get over how hilarious it is) and a traditional Star Wars t-shirt, which was not as stupid funny as usually, but pretty cool anyway. (I should propably take a picture of all the things I bought, but I'm too lazy to bother right now.)

Then we went for a walk in St. James Park, aka the bird park, which is my favourite park in London. At least it was before. My friend has an insane bird phobia, and it was pretty contagious. We draw some amused looks as we both ducked and scremed when a pidgeon flew over or something. Then we went to Starbucks and I got my Strawberry and Cream Frappuccino, which didn't taste as delicious as usually though. We drank our drinks sitting below the statue of Eros in Piccadilly Circus. Then, um... Right, more shopping! This time on Oxford Street. I didn't buy anything there. There's just too many people for my taste.

On a side-street of Oxford St. there is a really nice champagne bar called Amuse Bouche, where we went to enjoy some yummy and not even insanely expensive champagne cocktails. Before getting back to the hotel we went for another drink in a bar called The Fire Station, near the Waterloo Station. It was nice, though we were a bit disappointed for the lack of firemen and a pole.

Day 3, Sunday.

Yihaa! Sunday! The concert day! If I haven't made it clear enough, the purpose of our trip was the Glee Live concert we had tickets for (well, we DID have them, in the end...). The concert was in the evening, and to set ourselves into the right mood, we decided to go to the Imperial War Museum (pretty much next to our hotel), and see the Holocaust exhibition. Haha. Good thinking, girls... I'd been to the exhibition once before, but the effect wasn't at all disminished. We walked out of the Museum with quite long faces and our thoughts pretty far away from the awesome fact that we would see the Glee cast live in just some short hours.

Luckily, the remedy was near. It was an awesome, sunny day, so we went to buy ice cream and sat down on the pretty lawn area next to the Museum. Then we lay down in the sun and listened to some Glee music from my MP3 player and watched the airplanes fly over us in the cloudless, blue sky. And there was the right mood again. We stayed there for quite a while, until finally made our way to the O2. Below is a 15-second taste of what we experienced there, but to read the whole story do click here. And no worries, there's no more of my lousy, shaky video clips.

Day 4, Monday.

After the concert, we were supposed to go to the hotel, get our things and walk to Victoria Station where we'd take the bus to the airport. Our flight would leave at 7 am, you see. Well... We thought, 'Oh we don't have to leave just yet, let's take an hour-long nap'. After the hour-long nap, 'Another hour won't hurt, we'll still make it'. And then, 'Aw, let's sleep some more and take a cap, screw saving money'. So that's what we did. And well, after all that money we'd already spent, a dozen pounds more didn't hurt too much.

A Very Potter Musical

In the middle of your Post-Potter depression? Feeling empty? Feeling like a part of you just died and left a gaping hole in you? Looking for something to refill the hole? I might just have the cure!

A Very Potter Musical is a fan-made parody of the world of Harry, made by a group of students (including one Darren Criss, who later would move on to bigger circles and rock the Glee universe as every teenager's dream, Blaine (edit// and who even later might do what all respectable Harry Potters do and star in Broadway's How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying after Dan Radcliffe retires from the show. Love the symbolism!)) in the University of Michigan in 2009. It's seriously funny as hell and the songs are not just catchy but seriously good, too, and it's just seriously fantastic and totally awesome and it makes you want to quote it in every single situation you get into in a daily basis.

I'm not sure if enough people (meaning absolutely everyone!) know about this, so if you haven't seen this master piece before, now's the freaking time.

And it doesn't matter if you've seen it already. One more time is never too much!

(If you ask me: What about after I've watched A Very Potter Musical? How do I fill that hole? Well, let me tell you. With A Very Potter Sequel, of course!)

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"That's the thing about Hogwarts. No matter how long you're away from it, there's always a way back." 

Ah, less than three.

Never Let Me Go (2010) - no more smiling today

directed by Mark Romanek / starring Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield, Keira Knightley

Ruth, Tommy and Kathy grown up in an idyllic boarding school in the English country side. They are not normal children, however, and this they learn from a teacher, who simply feels too sorry for them to keep them in the sweet ignorance. And thus they are forced to adjust to the truth, and try and live the rest of their lives as well as they can.

Never Let Me Go is not a very cheerful movie. Actually, it's quite depressing. It never really rubs it in your face, but in fact it's quite cruel and ruthless and hopeless. All of that is almost hidden under the beautiful music, young love, the lingering shots of the English country side, the gentle voices of the actors and the subtle ways of handling all that cruelness and hopelessness. But yeah, I know I won't be smiling for the rest of the day. It's just so unfairly sad to watch young, beautiful people turn into wrecks as their lives are thrown to waste beyond their own control.

 The reason I first got interested in this film was its splendid cast; the cream of Britain's young talent is at work. Mulligan is inevitably on her way to winning at least a lap-full of Oscars, Garfield is only the most disarmingly adorable thing ever, who manages to melt anyone's heart with that humanity and innocence he conveys through his every role, and even though not everyone likes Keira, I do, and I thought she did really well, too.

There have been numerous films surrounding this topic, but never before has it been looked at from such an emotional and humane point of view. It's always just so sci-fi. In Never Let Me Go all that has been stripped down to the minimum, which allows us to see the real tragedy behind the sci-fi. I also think it was very clever to set the film in the past, instead of future, as usually. It doesn't feel so alien and far-fetched, but actually very real and relatable.

What the heck, I'm not rambling. Or writing unrelated, stupid things just because they pop into my head. That's all I have to say, really. Weird! I bet it's because I cut 25 centimetres off of my hair today. I feel like Samson, when that bitch Delilah cut his hair and he lost all of his powers.

"None of you will go to America. None of you will work in supermarkets. None of you will do anything, except live the life that has already been set out for you."

May the odds be ever in your favor... and may March 2012 arrive soon

Just when you thought there is nothing more to look forward to now that the Potter series is finished... Think again!

 The first poster for the upcoming, highly anticipated Hunger Games movie has just been released. And it's not just any poster, it's a motion poster! Never heard of one of those before, but now I have, and it's pretty awesome in its simplicity.

CLICK HERE for the chills of the day.

Ariel, that stupid teenage brat

I love Disney (news?), but last summer, after weeks of watching only Disney animations, I learned that the love isn't totally unconditional. The Little Mermaid made me want to reach through that TV screen, grab Ariel's skinny little shoulders and shake some sense to that silly, idiotic teenage princess. You can read my sentiments here. I don't no if my reaction would've been the same, had Mermaid been a childhood favourite of mine, but anyway, it's almost refreshing to passionately loathe a Disney film, for its twisted values and non-existent character development.

Some time ago I got into a debate about The Little Mermaid and Ariel, and, not surprisinly, found myself quite alone with my opinion. Today my opponent linked me the following video (very nice and selfless of him, as this gives me the advantage in the future debates, hahaha), and lo and behold! I'm not the only one after all. I pretty much agree with all the anti-Ariel arguments. Plus the video is funny, and doesn't take the matter too seriously, as it shoudn't (we're talking about a kid's movie, after all). I encourage you to watch it even if you don't share the hatred. I know critique towards your childhood idols feels basically like a sacrilege. But be brave and watch it anyway! Haha. (Easy for me to say. Good luck talking me into watching or reading or listening to one bad word about Belle...)

... And if someone now wants to stage an intervention for me, no reason to bother, I don't know the lyrics to Part of Your World, anyway. (Just two lines. Which are stuck on my head right now. Ugh.)

Sherlock makes a kaboom boom boom comeback

I hugely enjoyed the first Sherlock Holmes, and have been looking forward to this sequal for ages. Admitted, recently I've kind of forgotten to look forward to it, but was altogether glad to find that the first trailer has come out.

Not sure what to think about it, though. There was a lot of kaboom boom boom. Too much, even, I hope there's something else too in the actual movie... Noomi Rapace is a huge plus, great to see her make her big break in a huge Hollywood film! The brilliant chemistry of RDJ and Jude Law made the first film such a joy, and I can only hope the charm is still there in the sequel.

I'm not blown away by the trailer, nor am I feeling as super excited as I expected myself to, but still, the movie should be good solid entertainment, if not anything else. I clearly need to start re-warming up my love for RDJ, though...

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (2011) - goodbye, childhood

 
directed by David Yates / starring Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Ralph Fiennes, Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, Michel Gambon, Helena Bonham Carter

SPOILER ALLERT! for those two people on Earth who haven't read the books yet. (Also, I might advise you to read this post only after you've seen the movie, because I go into details you might not want to know yet.)

I remember when I went to see Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone ten years ago. I had just won a huge box of delicious chocolates on a lottery of some sort, and I ate them before and after. When we got back from the cinema, I was just about to tell my little brother what troll bogey had looked like (yes, that was important at the time), when I hit my toe on a closet door or something and it hurt so much I couldn't say anything in a while. I guess I liked the movie. My age has always been fortunately fitting when it comes to the Harry Potter experience: I read the first book when I was around eleven myself, and grew up simutaniously with Harry (and Dan Radcliffe; we're the same age!) as the books and later movies kept coming. So I didn't watch the first movies as critically as I would now, and only later realised how lousy they are. At the same time, very early I learned not to expect too much of a Harry Potter movie. They should always be judged by they own special standars. And the standards are never too strict, because come on, it's Harry Potter, it'll always be awesome anyway.

Oops, I'm rambling. Point was, it's been a decade since the first movie and that seems so impossible. Moving on, to the topic. I was looking forward to this final movie more than any other before. I knew it would be good; part one was excellent, but failed to give me the sense satisfaction, because, obviously, the story was cut in the middle and no circles were closed. So, what I needed from this film was first and foremost that satisfaction, and closure. So that I could, with reasonably high spirits, accept that there will be no more Harry Potter after this, and move on to look forward to other things. And as sad and wistful and wonderfully nostalgic it was to say goodbye to those characters and to that world (again; I think I've gone through this once before, some years ago...), I guess I'm feeling quite happy and satisfied and I got most of my circles closed. I didn't even cry much!

I've still got something to bitch about, naturally. Most of the bitch-worthy things are quite stupid and unnecessary complaints about why my favourite bits from the book didn't make it to the movie - properly or at all. I often frown at people who geek out and keep bitching about little, pointless details from the book that didn't match with the movie. A movie based on a book is always an interpretation, a version, it's not supposed to be a slaveish duplication. But hey, guilty as charged! I guess I paid more attention on the missing details than usually because I'd just been reading the book all day. (I was in quite a hurry to finish it; I had a good 400 pages to wade through before midnight, they had only just escaped from the Ministry. But I made it!)

Now, let us bitch, shall we! No Percy comeback! Sure, they never set up the story in the previous movies, so they couldn't do it of course, but I love those bits in the book. Fred's death was dealt with far too hastily! I mean, come on, it's Fred freaking Weasley, his death is the saddest death in all the books, I wanted to savour that horrible moment for a bit longer. The brilliant (at least in the book it is) first kiss of Ron and Hermione was so anti-climactic! That was one of the moments I was looking most forward to, and it was gone like that! What is more, no awesome reaction from Harry, none at all. Blah! And not enough Dumbledore! I love how in the book he begins to feel like a vilain at certain point and how Harry is all miserable and angry about it.

Then two of my biggest complaints, which almost ruined the whole thing for me, because they left such a, um, dubious taste in my mouth. The final battle between Harry and Voldemort was just too much! They had tried too hard to make it look climactic and visully interesting and grand, and it took a lot away from the emotional aspect of the scene. Less would've been more... The book had it right; Harry was calm and certain that he would beat Voldemort and made his opponent frustrated by knowing things he didn't. There was no need for running (and flying... sigh) around and hysterical screaming.

Finally... the damn epilogue. I'm one of the people who like the epilogue in the book, I think it's fitting and necessary and sweet. In the film, I wanted to buy it but I didn't. Damn. Where's the CGI when we need it? The 'grown-up' characters looked like teenagers wearing their parents' clothes and too much make-up to get into a club without asked to show their ID. This it what we call FAIL. It was half-comical and half-disturbing and it preveted me from cherishing those precious final moments. (And no "Don't let it worry you. It's me. I'm extremely famous." Boohoo!)

Now, enough bitching. Because I liked most of the stuff, anyway! Here's something I especially liked: Shirtless Rupert Grint (we need more of that in this world!). Gringotts and the dragon and the goblins. Luna ("Harry Potter! You listen to me right now!"), awesome as always. Filch, reporting that students are out of bed, and sweeping the floor after the battle. Neville, for being a total bad-ass and for that amazingly touching speech. Long gone are the days of the whimpy little boy who kept losing his toad. Aw! McGonagall, who I grew to respect and love even more than before on this latest reading round. She just rocks! I loved her reference to Seamus's frequently scorched eyebrows, and that one very uncharacteristic but altogether hilarious line ("I always wanted to use that spell").

Furthermore, I liked the added scene where Harry confronts Snape in front of the whole school. Didn't expect that! The whole Snape storyline was actually handled really, really well, I have no complaints here! Also I loved the clips from all the previous film in the Pensieve. Aww. Wee Daniel. Can't get enough of him and the contrast to the present day version. I always enjoy the bits with the Malfoys, because I'm a big fan, and (more or less) secretly always wanted them to leave the Dark Side and become kick-ass heroes. I love that in the end they kind of turn good, or at least less bad, and that the film remembered to show that as well.

Hermione as Bellatrix/Helena Bonham Carter channelling Emma Watson was brilliant! I love me some Helena! Finally, I found it funny and fitting how they dismissed Ron's sudden ability to speak Parsel tonque with a joke ("Harry talks in his sleep, did you know?"); it always was a bit ridiculous.

I have no complaints about the actors. The main threesome did a solid, good job: Emma Watson seems to have given up her eyebrow acting for good, I couldn't help loving Rupert Grint even if he really tried to suck, and Dan really impressed me a few times. Like after he learns he has to die, that look was amazing. Go Daniel!

The grand battle of Hogwarts was of course the highlight of the film, as that was what took most of its running time. It was epic, yes, but maybe just Helm's deep epic, not Pelennor Fields epic. Anyway, I had lots of goosebumps and the book's rousing mood was there; I love how they all unite to fight a mutual cause. Though I wanted to see the house elfs and Trelawney throwing her crystal balls around. And Peeves! I don't get it why there is no Peeves in the movies!

By the way. I'm a bit disappointed that people weren't dressed up for the occasion! It was a midnight sneak preview after all! I saw only a couple of cloaks and one Gruffindor scarf. Where were all those wonderfully weird and daring people I so much love??

That's that then. I don't feel quite as empty as I expected myself to. I guess I know that the Boy Who Lived still lives on and can always be revisited. This is the end of another era, one that I've been living since before I had my first pimples, one I've grown up with and always enjoyed no matter my age. But I don't think it makes much sense to feel too crushed about its end, because this era really never ends, I'm sure.

Goodbye, childhood. I'll be seeing you.

 "You'll stay with me?"
"Always."

It all ends... tonight

 

Click below to join me on a trip down the most magical memory lane ever.

P.S. It's a long one.

Gone but not forgotten

It's Movie Monday again! This week's challenge is to name a person who thrilled and inpired you in life, and died way before their time. My choice wasn't difficult at all.

River Phoenix, during his ridiculously short life, made so many great and inspiring things, and not only movies, of which he was and is most famous for. He had great, respectable values, and a wonderfully humble and down-to-earth outlook on life. He was a beautiful, special, talented person. Or so I'd like and choose to believe.

River Phoenix died in 1993, at the age of 23, due to the insanity that Hollywood was for a young, beautiful, desired, succesful, talented person like he was. What a freaking terrible waste...

(My theory is he never took a bad picture in his life. Here's something to prove my point...)

I've previously written about River a lot. (Too much, even, if only it was possible to write too much about someone like River Phoenix. (It's not.))

Catching up!

I'm not dead! I'm just extremely preoccupied with everything else but watching movies and blogging. The combination of the most awesome summer job in the world, not so awesome summer studies and the fact that a month from now I'll be in Emporia, Kansas, has kept me quite busy. Anyway, here's something I've been up to:

I'm watching Roswell! Haha, this is weird. I gave in to the odd need that was sparked by Paul and borrowed the first season from a friend. Yeah, I've only seen two episodes so far, and yeah, I haven't been addicted or blown away in any way (I must be too old, after all), but it's still kind of fun. The best thing is that I don't find the protagonist annoying at all, like I was sure I would! First time for everything!

Also, I watched the first season of Sherlock, which is a modern day adaption of the ever so awesome and captivating British detective. And I loved it and I want more, more, more, now please! Team Benedict Cumberbatch/Martin Freeman works so flawlessly, and their cooperation is almost more entertaining to watch than Team RDJ/Jude Law's! Almost. I'm still being loyal, so far. Anyway, series two is to be aired this autumn, so yay!

My New Year Resolution is going through a rough time. I'm half way through, but it's not looking too good. I did watch Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid last month, and yeah, I did like it, kind of, but just fell into the old habbit of cutting my toenails while watching and sharing my attention with several other activities. Which is never good. So I haven't been able to write a post about it, and I've declared June another big FAIL, like May and 8 ½ was. Shame on me, shame on me. This month I should watch Citizen Kane, and I'm only hoping there won't be a third FAIL in a row. Because that would be just pathetic.

Posts about London and the Glee Live are still in their initial stages, but I'm being hopeful. Maybe after tomorrow's exam I'll have break before starting the final assignment of the summer: an essay of eighteen pages. Whoo, can't wait!

And last but not least... The Deathly Hallows pt. 2 is coming, and it's coming fast! I'm in a hurry to finish the book before Wednesday 00:07 am. The end is so near it's almost here! Boohoo! Or hurray! Or whatever. Both, I suppose.