More perfection

I know, it's so cliche of me to like Jake Gyllenhaal. And yet...how can I say no? Mm mm good.

Maybe tomorrow I'll actually post something of substance. Then again, remember the #1 rule of blogging: Never be afraid to bore 'em. (Though if you're bored by that hotness up above I truly pity you)

Oh and happy birthday to the original badass, Clint Eastwood. He ain't too shabby of a director either (Mystic River is on TV somewhere tonight and it is a masterpiece. Seriously)

because all my posts are about hot boys.

Adrian Grenier is perfect.

god bless this movie.

"i don't want to leave."
"so don't. stay here with me. we'll start a jazz band."

haha!

Pirates 3 wasn't able to beat Spidey 3's record. I thought it would, but I'm so thrilled it didn't. Let me reiterate: haha!

People...

Yes, Michelle Pfeiffer is quite attractive.

No, she's not that great of an actress.

Dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun...

...that's supposed to be the Darth Vader movies. Because several of the movie channels keep showing the Star Wars movies in chronological order (as in, from Episode I to Episode VI), and I've had the chance to observe two things. a) The leap in quality of the movie overall from Episode III to Episode IV is hilarious. b) While I think it was horrible of George Lucas to re-release the old movies with new special effects, the old special effects are indeed laughably bad.

Sorry I haven't posted anything of substance in a while, I guess. Life is busy. But I saw Shrek the Third and...loved it? Why am I liking all these summer movies that are getting such shitty reviews? I do hope they stop because I've thought every Shrek movie was very very good and the chances of them making a good fourth one seem extremely slim.

Happy birthday to one of my favorites!!

I love this picture so much I have it saved on my computer...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY IAN MCKELLEN!! I adore you, your talent, and your bravery. Oh, and you were freaking robbed back in 1998. It's okay though, because I know you know you rocked.

So some movie opens today, or something.

I think it involves Pirates? And some guy named John, I think.

I am ohhhhh so interested in seeing it... (/sarcasm)

I wish I was a costume designer.

i really really do. specifically, for my version of the visit that i was talking about a whole mess'o'months back.

Paul Rudd was soooo cute in Clueless!

Sigh......

I visit the boy in July. I visit the boy in July. Oy!

Do the Right Thing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNXsRJgOTmk

GENIUS. It's on right now. Yay!!

I am the proud new owner of this t-shirt.

http://threadless.com/product/844/Spoilt

Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
Planet of the Apes
The Usual Suspects (is on TV right now. LOVE)
The Wicker Man
The Crying Game
Dynasty
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Sixth Sense
Fight Club
300 (still haven't seen it)
The Matrix
Citizen Kane
The Others
Psycho
"To Serve Mankind"
A Beautiful Mind
The Village
Donnie Darko

SO obnoxious. I kind of want to walk around a Blockbuster with this t-shirt on. LOVE IT.

Meryl Streep

is God. This is one of my favorite pictures too.

1978 - Best Supporting Actress: The Deer Hunter
1979 - Best Supporting Actress: Kramer vs. Kramer *
1981 - Best Actress: The French Lieutenant's Woman *
1982 - Best Actress: Sophie's Choice *
1983 - Best Actress: Silkwood *
1985 - Best Actress: Out of Africa
1985 - Best Actress: Plenty
1987 - Best Actress: Ironweed
1988 - Best Actress: A Cry in the Dark
1990 - Best Actress: Postcards from the Edge
1995 - Best Actress: The Bridges of Madison County
2002 - Best Supporting Actress: Adaptation.
2003 - Best Supporting Actress: Angels in America *
2006 - Best Actress: The Devil Wears Prada *

ugh

The past like, three days have been horrendously busy - and sometimes just horrendous (and sometimes amazing, but yeah). Sorry about the lack of posts, I guess.

...I am a sophomore in college. Why oh why do I feel like my life is turning into The Graduate?

If you hate this movie, you're probably a Nazi.

Seriously.

I see how you could hate Pulp Fiction. It's got lots of cursing and blood and it's really stylized. I see how you could hate Lost in Translation. It's a little too much like real life, in that people actually have pauses in between when they talk and stuff. It's slow, too. I see how you could hate Magnolia. Like Pulp Fiction, it's incredibly stylized and long. I see how you could hate Moulin Rouge!. That movie is batshit insane. I see how you could hate Raging Bull. It's violent and hard to watch. I see how you can hate Manhattan. You...okay there's no real reason why you should ever hate Manhattan. But still.

Why the hell, though, would you EVER hate The Shawshank Redemption? Do you hate HOPE? Do you hate HUMANITY? Do you hate MORGAN FREEMAN? Only assholes hate Morgan Freeman. The Shawshank Redemption is not my favorite movie ever, but it is up there, and it is, in many ways, a perfect movie. It's just impossible to hate it.

UNLESS YOU'RE A NAZI! Or a person nobody likes.

ooh look a review

So, yeah, Spider-Man 3. I was expecting it to be horrendous, it really wasn't. I mean, it's nowhere near the greatness of the first two, but it's not bad. The critics are right, though: it is overplotted. Sandman could have been totally removed and the Venom story, which is far more interesting, expanded. That's the movie's main problem (that, and I hate how they felt the need to "rewrite" the first one, you know what I'm talking about if you saw this movie)... I was kind of like "um, so why is the Sandman here other than to show off the amazing special effects?" I also felt like Gwen Stacy could have been removed but at least I saw her purpose. Speaking of which: Bryce Dallas Howard is horrible. The makeup/hair department washes her out and then her performance is so bland, it makes Kristen Dunst's look fantastic (though it's the best she's been in a Spider-Man movie yet). Bryce, you can act! I saw it in The Village! C'mon!

I don't feel like the movie lost its heart or that the script was particularly bad. I mean, the Spider-Man series has always been kinda wacky. Nobody said anything with the whole Hal Sparks cameo in Spider-Man 2 but you put "Saturday Night Fever" in your movie and suddenly you're a freak. This is Sam Raimi we're talking about, people. Yeah, the script does have some really wonky lines, but Spider-Man always has. I don't know, I'm a bad reviewer and it's kind of shaken my faith in my taste in movies that I thought this was, well, not great, but far from horrible. It's good enough. During summer movie season, I'll take what I can get. And, let's face it. It's going to be better than Pirates of the Carribbean 3: At Series' End, Thank God. B/B- (Spider-Man is a highish B+, Spider-Man 2 is an A- or maybe even an A)

She's the Man

Yes, I actually watched it all the way through. And that's a picture of the best part for you.

So yeah, it is pretty bad. The script is actually not that horrific; it's got some funny lines ("I've got to go...shave" and "That girl will do great things" or whatever that line was stand out as being extremely funny...), even if it's no Mean Girls or Clueless (anyone who says Heathers gets shot). I think a lot of the fault is with its star, Amanda Bynes. She makes her character is both one-dimensional and horrifically annoying. It's hard to give "Razzies" when you're me and simply don't watch that much crap (then again, I've seen Date Movie.), but based on what I've seen, I'd certainly nominate Bynes for one and probably have her win. Now, at least, I understand why people say the talentless Anne Hathaway is one of the most talented actresses of her generation. I mean, compared to Amanda Bynes (at least, based on what I've seen in this movie), she is.

Oh and Channing Tatum is HOOOOOTTT. I mean, he sucks in this movie too, but he's not quite Razzie-worthy (Bynes way overdoes it; he is just kinda...there) and he takes his shirt off. Really, that's probably all I can ask for. Oh, She's the Man the movie? Errr... C-? Sure, let's go with that.

Oh, and mentioning Mean Girls above reminded me of its genius. That's all.

Ed Wood

So I saw this movie for the first time in a while, and it allowed me to confirm, even as a Burton and Depp hater: AWESOME. Plus! Bill Murray is in it! I forgot that!

However, I still maintain that Martin Landau, though fantastic, did not deserve his Oscar over Samuel L. Jackson.

Empty Chairs at Empty Tables.

There's a grief that can't be spoken.
There's a pain goes on and on.
Empty chairs at empty tables,
Now my friend is dead and gone.
...
From the table in the corner
She could see a world reborn
And she rose with her voice ringing
And I can hear her now.
The very words that she had sung
Became her last communion
On the lonely barricade
At dawn.
Oh my friend, my friend forgive me
That I live, and you are gone
There's a grief that can't be spoken
There's a pain goes on and on.
Phantom faces at the window
Phantom shadows at the door
Empty chairs at empty tables
Where my friend will sit no more
Oh my friend, my friend don't ask me
What your sacrifice was for.
Empty chairs at empty tables...


Rest in peace, Dominique.

happy birthday to people, and other notes

First: Cate Blanchett. As if you couldn't tell from this blog... Cate and I have kind of a tumultuous relationship. Sometimes, I think she's crap. Sometimes, I think she's a genius. I do think that her Oscar nominations tend to come from the films in which she is the least impressive (The Aviator, Notes on a Scandal), and that she's in too many goddamn movies, but it's hard to deny a body of work that includes Elizabeth, Oscar and Lucinda, Coffee and Cigarettes, The Good German, Heaven, and Veronica Guerin. Happy birthday, Cate!

But, more importantly, happy birthday to Sofia Coppola. The woman certainly can't act worth a damn, but it's okay because she makes up for it in her directorial skills. She's directed two total masterpieces, one of which is only my favorite film of all time.

...oh, and George Lucas. Yeah. The original three Star Wars sure are great, aren't they? I shan't talk about the most recent three.

Mystic River is on TV. I haven't seen this movie in over a year, so I forgot: daaaamn, it's good. It's an extremely smart and respectable drama, and Eastwood uses ambiguity really well. 2003 really was nowhere near horrendous like everyone seems to think; I'd love to give this film Best Picture in that year, but it's got to compete with two titles even more superior to it: Lost in Translation (my aforementioned favorite film) and Kill Bill, Vol. 1's gonzo insanity. If you're including TV movies, it has to deal with the second-greatest film of the entire 1990-2006 period, Angels in America.

home for the summer

...all I've managed to do so far was watch ten minutes of The Break-Up and hate it because they basically insinuated all men in a capella groups are gay. Grr!

how much is this movie going to suck?

the correct answer: SO much. these posters are gross. seriously, look at the john travolta, christopher walken, and michelle pfeiffer ones. they look so weirdly...photoshopped or something. at any rate, it's gonna suuuuck. suck suck suck.

(watch it be awesome...)

At the late night double feature picture show...

I WANNA GO! oh oh OHHH!

Planet Terror: B+
Death Proof: A-
Grindhouse: A-, and the biggest blast I've had at the movies in a long, long time

from IMDb...

George Lucas has joined the major newspaper critics in their negative appraisal of Spider-Man 3. In an interview with FoxNews.com's Roger Friedman, Lucas said, "It's a silly movie. ... There just isn't much there. Once you take it all apart, there's not much story, is there?" Over the weekend, Spider-Man 3 surged ahead of Lucas's Star Wars episode Revenge of the Sith to take the record for the biggest weekend box-office record. Star Wars was also criticized as being "silly," Lucas noted. "But it wasn't."


Uh...yeah. Spider-Man 3's problem is that it has TOO MUCH story. But more importantly, No matter how bad Spider-Man 3 may be, none of the most recent three Star Wars movies are fit to kiss its ass. And great defense of Star Wars there, Lucas (no, he doesn't go on to elaborate).

Oscar winners from the '90s and beyond...

ouch

...who don't make my acting lineups for that year in their respective categories. Sometimes, it's because it was a fantastic year in that category and while they may have been incredible, I just don't have room for them (Mirren '06). Sometimes, it's cuz they blew hard (Connelly '01). Of course, to further procrastinate, I've included handy-dandy notes.

Best Actor
1992: Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman (horrendous. I love the Pach, but this is one of the worst Oscar wins ever. Ugh. What a joke. I like to pretend this is for his superb work in Glengarry Glen Ross the same year...shh, let me pretend)
1993: Tom Hanks in Philadelphia (I adore this performance but it is a very crowded year)
1998: Roberto Benigni in Life is Beautiful (almost ruined the film. Another horrendous win)
2002: Adrien Brody in The Pianist (not offensive like Pacino or Benigni, but not great either. Probably the worst in his category, and so far below Cage, Day-Lewis, and Nicholson that it's not even funny.)
2005: Philip Seymour Hoffman in Capote (fantastic but no room in a crowded year)

Best Actress
1994: Jessica Lange in Blue Sky (a joke, and an awful win)
1995: Susan Sarandon in Dead Man Walking (I will admit to not being as big a fan of this performance as others. I do like it, however, but I have no room for it. '95 rocks in terms of actresses)
1997: Helen Hunt in As Good as It Gets (I do not find this the "worst Best Actress win ever" like it was recently voted. In fact, it's quite a great comedic performance. But 1997 is very crowded, and at least eight others TOWER over her)
2000: Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich (Quite good, just misses my lineup)
2001: Halle Berry in Monster's Ball (Not "an abortion" like some have called it, but least of the nominees. Nowhere near my lineup.)
2002: Nicole Kidman in The Hours (great and just misses my lineup, but probably the least great of her works in that fantastic 01-04 period of hers)
2004: Hilary Swank in Million Dollar Baby (great, but the year is incredibly high in quality and she isn't really anywhere near my lineup)
2006: Helen Mirren in The Queen (amazing in an UNBELIEVABLE year)

Best Supporting Actor
1991: Jack Palance in City Slickers (or, I dunno. I might nominate him. This year, in this category, is EMPTY.)
1992: Gene Hackman in Unforgiven (only if I count the Glengarry boys as individual units instead of tying them all for first...at any rate, great performance)
1993: Tommy Lee Jones in The Fugitive (yeah I don't know what they were thinking there)
1996: Cuba Gooding Jr. in Jerry Maguire (ditto?)
1997: Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting (not bad. Not anywhere near my lineup.)
1998: James Coburn in Affliction (see above...but slightly closer to my lineup)
1999: Michael Caine in The Cider House Rules (not bad, but well below his other nominees. However, I adore his speech from this year!)
2001: Jim Broadbent in Iris (I love him, and he makes it for Moulin Rouge!)
2005: George Clooney in Syriana (good, but not quite Oscar-worthy)
2006: Alan Arkin in Little Miss Sunshine (just...wha? He was only like the third-best male supporting role in his own movie.)

Best Supporting Actress
1996: Juliette Binoche in The English Patient (great, and I have McDormand in Supporting because I'm weird like that...Binoche is my #6 so if I ever put McDormand in lead she'll be on the list. Great performance)
1997: Kim Basinger in L.A. Confidential (great...but there were five greater)
1999: Angelina Jolie in Girl Interrupted (not very good)
2000: Marcia Gay Harden in Pollock (NONE of the nominees this year would make my lineup. Harden comes closest, I think. Pretty good.)
2001: Jennifer Connelly in A Beautiful Mind (sucked. big. time.)
2004: Cate Blanchett in The Aviator (not more than mediocre, in a year very weak in this category she comes nowhere near it for me)

that's all?

the best performances in films by...

(thanks IMDb for the idea!)

Woody Allen - Diane Keaton in Annie Hall (1977)
Pedro Almodovar - Penelope Cruz in Volver (2006)
Robert Altman - Tim Robbins in The Player (1992)
Alejandro Amenabar - Nicole Kidman in The Others (2001)
P.T. Anderson - Tom Cruise in Magnolia (1999)
Tim Burton - Martin Landau in Ed Wood (1994) (still doesn't deserve that Oscar!)
James Cameron - Sigourney Weaver in Aliens (1986)
Jane Campion - Holly Hunter in The Piano (1993)
Frances Ford Coppola - Al Pacino in The Godfather Part II (1974)
Alfonso Cuaron - Clive Owen in Children of Men (2006)
Milos Forman - Jack Nicholson in One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
Stephen Frears - Glenn Close in Dangerous Liasions (1988)
Christopher Guest - Catherine O'Hara in For Your Consideration (2006)
Alfred Hitchcock - Anthony Perkins in Psycho (1960)
Ron Howard - Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind (2001)
Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu - Adriana Barazza in Babel (2006)
Peter Jackson - Kate Winslet in Heavenly Creatures (1994)
Elia Kazan - Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
Stanley Kubrick - Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Ang Lee - Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Mike Leigh - Imelda Staunton in Vera Drake (2004)
Richard Linklater - Julie Delpy in Before Sunset (2004)
Sidney Lumet - Al Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
David Lynch - Naomi Watts in Mulholland Dr. (2001)
Terrence Malick - Sissy Spacek in Badlands (1973)
Michael Mann - Russell Crowe in The Insider (1999)
Mike Nichols - Elizabeth Taylor in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
Alexander Payne - Paul Giamatti in Sideways (2004)
Sydney Pollack - Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie (1982)
Rob Reiner - Kathy Bates in Misery (1990)
Martin Scorsese - Robert DeNiro in Raging Bull (1980)
Ridley Scott - Russell Crowe in Gladiator (2000)
M. Night Shamaylan - Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense (1999)
Steven Spielberg - Ralph Fiennes in Schindler's List (1993)
Quentin Tarantino - Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction (1994)
Gus van Sant - Nicole Kidman in To Die For (1995)
Peter Weir - Harrison Ford in Witness (1985)

Yeah, I know, I missed lots of directors...I'll have to go in and edit later...

happy birthday cloons!

so. hawt.

okay so i'm a little late...it's finals week :(

I love the boyf.

This post is in honor of him, because yup, I love the boyf...even though he doesn't know about this blog (I know, I know. Our relationship sounds oh so very healthy. But I'd rather have it be online people only...you know? Whatever).

Oh, and I did indeed see Spider-Man 3 today!!! Woot!!! Details/a review to come!!

and as long as we're talking about Hostel: Part II...

I started using the term "torture porn" on my own, before I read it on anyone's site. Thank you.

Also, "Pro-keback," but that really never caught on, probably because everyone whose blog I read is a Pro-keback... :(

Hostel: Part II

This looks so fucking disgusting. (I certainly didn't want a picture of this on my blog...)

Why the hell do people see this shit?

also really cute

and another reason I really really really want to see Spider-Man 3. C'mon!

Have I ever mentioned that I secretly love In Good Company, because I shamelessly (...) do.

ARGH.

I can't see Spider-Man 3 tomorrow!! So upset. :( And yes, the only movie from 2007 that I have seen is still Epic Movie. Jesus Christ, where do people find the time to see like 3 movies a day?

sooo very lovely...

Look at his eyes! That is some intense greenness right there. Mmm.

(Sorry, it's 1:40 AM and I'm still working on a paper and the boy is elsewhere for a few days. :( )

INCREDIBLE

Click me! HARDER! FASTER!

Winona, you're forgiven for Heathers.

oh eww

So like you couldn't tell, I'm looking at the MTV Movie Award nominations. Clearly, they're not really meant to be the Oscars. But look at the nominees for Best Performance...

Beyonce, Dreamgirls
Gerard Butler, 300
Johnny Depp, Pirates of the Carribbean: Whatever
Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
Keira Knightley, Pirates of the Carribbean: Whatever
Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness

Plus, two nominations for Emily Blunt, in Best Breakthrough and Best Comedic Perfomrance (Borat better win that shit). TWO! GROSS!

You gotta love Little Miss Sunshine

Any movie that can be nominated for both the Best Picture Oscar (among the company of The Departed, The Queen, Babel, and Letters from Iwo Jima) and the Best Picture MTV Movie Award (among the company of 300, Pirates of the Carribbean: Whatever the Long-Ass Title Was, Borat, and Blades of Glory) is okay by me.