Yes/No?

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is supposedly going to be two films. As long as they film them simultaneously and release them relatively simultaneously, this doesn't seem like a bad idea to me...

the movies of 2008.

The only exception I'm leaving out on purpose is The Young Victoria. Ya'll should know by now that I am not the biggest fan of Miss Blunt.

So, in no particular order, the movies of 2008 I am at least sort of interested in seeing. (they're 2008 for now. They may change.)

City of Ember - Bill Murray, I shall follow you to the ends of the earth!
Cloverfield - I'll admit I'm totally intrigued, if only to just friggin' see the monster.
Be Kind Rewind - Michel Gondry was responsible for a lot of Eternal Sunshine's success (making Kaufman change that ending made it a masterpiece), and the trailer is just fantastic. My only problem? Ew, January.
Synecdoche, New York - On the subject of Kaufman, he's undoubtedly a great screenwriter, but always a little...I don't know. Cold? (except Eternal Sunshine, and even there the original ending is so cruel it's ridiculous.) Even if this is the same, though, it's got a great cast.
The Other Boleyn Girl - Okay, everything about this seems to hint that it's not a very good movie. And the move from fall 2007 to the beginning of 2008 really doesn't bode well. But despite all that... Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman in a bitchfight? My ass is in that seat.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - I kind of hate this title. But still. Indy. And today, I saw the first picture of C. Blah as the villain, and my first thought was "since when is Mia Wallace an Indiana Jones villain?" This is an extremely good thought, we can all agree.
Righteous Kill - De Niro! Pacino! Okay, so the two of them have been kind of...uneven recently, and the supporting cast is...um... (50 Cent? Wahlberg The Lesser?) but who am I kidding, De Niro! Pacino!
Choke - My second-favorite Palahniuk book (Invisible Monsters is my favorite). Fight Club was pretty great...it'll be interesting to see what they do with this one.
The Incredible Hulk - Ang's version was quite bad. Let's see if Ed can help make this any better.
Get Smart - I don't like Anne, sure, but oh my God I love Steve, and the trailers are amazing. One of my top 5 most anticipated.
Wall-E - Pixar = genius
The Dark Knight - Fucking duh. An easy #1 most anticipated for me, and, oh, you know. THE WORLD.
The International - I've never liked a Tykwer movie all that much but... Cliiiive.
Trailer Trash - I loved Grindhouse.
Where the Wild Things Are - The stills I've seen look so cool.
The Time Traveler's Wife - Rachel McAdams is a good actress but needs to do a little more to live up to her hype. Maybe this'll be it?
James Bond 22 - Casino Royale is great and I think we can all agree Daniel Craig is indeed a really good James Bond. Marc Forster is...not the greatest director on the planet, but we shall see.
The Changeling - Say what you must, I usually like Clint Eastwood's movies a great deal, especially lately...
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - My second-favorite book in the series, so yay. The last movie was pretty great, so I'm quite psyched about this.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Fincher can be awesome (like in Zodiac). (very) Early buzz about this is great.
Australia - BAZ LUHRMANN.
Bruno: Delicious Journeys Through America... - Okay, this is probably a 2009 release, but whatever. I loooved Borat and Baron Cohen is a genius (I'm not using that term lightly here). Hopefully this'll be just as hilarious and subversive.
The Fighter - Probably 2009. But Aronofsky...and the plot...and the cast... oh I so hope it's a masterpiece.
Frost/Nixon - Great play. Please prove yourself, Ron Howard, so I can stop feeling bad for liking you.
Revolutionary Road - Yeah, I can't believe it took me this long to get here, either. Kate. Leo. Together. Again. With Sam Mendes. AIEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (#2 most anticipated of the year.)
The Reader - Ralph + Nicole? That's pretty awesome...
Blindness - Interesting plot and Meirelles is a fantastic director. I can't wait to see what he does with Julianne.
Doubt - Incredible play, incredible cast.
The Argentine - If anyone can make anything as normally dull as a biopic interesting, it's crazy ol' Soderbergh.
Elegy - I wanna see if Penelope Cruz can act in English in a project that is actually probably good...no probably not.
Mamma Mia! - This will probably suck, really hard, but it's going to be awesome and hilarious to see Meryl Streep singing ABBA.
Appaloosa - So, Viggo Mortensen is awesome, and so is Ed Harris.
Leatherheads - Good Night, and Good Luck. was just great and this looks utterly charming.
Margaret - This has been delayed like five years, right? So it's gotta be at least...okay, right? I loved You Can Count on Me...
The Women - The 1939 movie is great and I like the play. This cast is... ... ... ... ... interesting, right?
He's Just Not That Into You - Well, everyone in the world is in it. Jennifer Connelly might crack a joke! Watch out everyone!
My Blueberry Nights - The reviews were... not ecstatic, but I still think it looks gorgeous.
Funny Games - I wanna see what Haneke can do with this.
Savage Grace - Maybe this is Julianne's comeback year. I've heard great things about her performance here.
Sex and the City - omigod please don't suck please please please
The Countess - It looks fascinating, and everyone said Julie Delpy was a good director for 2 Days in Paris, right? I didn't see it, but I want to.
State of Play - greatest cast ever yes/yes?
Middle of Nowhere - I just like the synopsis.
The Brothers Bloom - Amazing synopsis. Girlcrush Rachel Weisz. Yay!
The Informers - I kind of hate the cast...but American Psycho was a Bret Easton Ellis and I still consider Christian Bale's performance there to be one of the best of the 2000s. Maybe this will yield an almost-as-good performance...

Whew.

cuz apparently I can't talk about anything besides Harry Potter

I know this ain't exactly an original thought, but my God, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson really are like the worst actors ever (at least in the Harry Potter films), aren't they? And Daniel Radcliffe ain't a prize either (though he shocked me at how good he was in the fifth one)...

I know you care intensely.

My winners for the honorary You Can Count on Me Award for the Movie with the Most Unfortunate Title.

2000: Well... You Can Count on Me. This title doesn't belong to a genius character study/family drama. It belongs to a Lifetime drama (though I'll admit, the way they use it in the film is brilliant. If there's one thing I hate, it's movies that make a point of having their characters say the frickin' title, something which bothers me every time I see Walk the Line. Yes, I know it's a song of his, do they really have to have poor Reese have some line that's IIRC "You better walk the line, John!!!" That was a long aside...). I read some blog entry once where the writer was moaning about how Spielberg had named his film Munich (this was obviously old) and how that was so boring and how Spielberg sucks (as I always say when people whine about Spielberg: oh, I'm so sorry that he's got more money and Oscars and respect and talent than you.). The writer then said something like, "what happened to the daring and fantastic film titles, such as You Can Count on Me?" and I was like "oh honey. No." And thus, the inspiration for this, uh, wonderful award was born.
2001: In the Bedroom. This...is a porno. Or crazy/beautiful, which is just awkward.
2002: Igby Goes Down. This...is also a porno. Or Morvern Callar, which makes me think "ooh, my cousin had that once. It hurts to pee for weeks."
2003: Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World: I Think This Title Needs to be Longer
2004: Bad Education. This...is also also a porno.
2005: The Constant Gardener (pulling an upset victory against the perhaps more obvious candidate, The Squid and the Whale). That ain't a title for a political thriller, I'll tell you that.
2006: The Pursuit of Happyness. Yes, I know it's on purpose. But I'm an English minor (which is a scary thought when you look back at my "writing" on this thing). IT BOTHERS ME.
2007: I would say Ratatouille, were it not for that preview that taught you how to pronounce it. Brilliant. Instead, I'll have to go with Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, because it's unfortunate to have to share a title with the worst book in history. Oh wait.

"Look...at...me..."

Severus Snape says

"Bitch please."

notable British/Irish/etc actors NOT in Harry Potter

with a great deal of help from IMDb, presented without bias (IE "yay" or "boo"):
natasha richardson
julian sands
helen mirren
judi dench
emily watson
clive owen
ian mckellen
anthony hopkins
liam neeson
hugh grant (i believe he was supposed to be in it as gilderoy lockhart, but had to drop out)
kristin scott thomas
sean connery (and all the other bonds)
elizabeth taylor (though she doesn't really do films any more)
rachel weisz
kate winslet
sean bean
christopher lee
samantha morton
jude law
daniel day-lewis
michael caine
jeremy irons
ewan mcgregor
emily blunt
gerard butler
christian bale
jeremy northam
albert finney
jennifer saunders
peter o'toole
brenda blethyn
ben kingsley
jonathan rhys-myers
jonathan rhys-davies
sacha baron cohen
tilda swinton
keira knightley
orlando bloom
sienna miller
bill nighy
cillian murphy
elizabeth hurley
vanessa redgrave
lynn redgrave

Snape and other Harry Potter thoughts

RIP, honey.

I guess he won't win Best Supporting Actor cuz he's in the book for like 5 minutes, but still. He's awesome. As for Deathly Hallows? Besides the fact that JK felt the need to kill off all the remaining characters, and some of her deaths just seemed horrible and senseless (Tonks? Lupin? Fred? Dobby? HEDWIG?!?!?! Why did you have to kill the owl?), I felt it was a satisfying and actually pretty darn good ending to the series. Yes, some parts were very fanfiction-y, and the epilogue was pretty cheesy, but I appreciated it.

That Harry Potter leak?

Real. I mean, the NY Times just reviewed the actual book and...yeah, it all matches up.

Knowing this, and without even having read it but knowing what happens, I can say: ALAN RICKMAN FOR BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR '10 IN Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. JULIE WATERS FOR BEST DELIVERY OF A LINE '10 in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

*sound of $10 million British in security flushing down the toilet*

The supposed Harry Potter leak.

I don't know what to think. I know that before today all the publishers were like "ha ha ha look online all you want but they're all fakes" and now they're like "OMG COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT!!!!! PLEASE DON'T SPOIL IT FOR EVERYONE ELSE!!!!!!!!!" I do know this: if it's fake, it wasn't done by anyone other than the publishing company. Nobody else has that kind of time on their hands (and I don't want to hear "waah! it's not that hard/time-consuming!" Yeah, it is.). So either it's real (I haven't read it yet, but I know generally what happens in the leak), or the publishing company purposefully put it out as a hoax, to which I say, if it's true, well done publishing company!

Since it's unofficial Harry Potter week

woohoo here we go!!!

Ranking the books:

Goblet of Fire
Half-Blood Prince
Prisoner of Azkaban


Sorcerer's Stone
Chamber of Secrets
every other book ever written







































































Order of the Phoenix (AKA Harry Potter and the Stuck Caps Lock Key)


Ranking the movies:

Order of the Phoenix
Prisoner of Azkaban


Goblet of Fire



Chamber of Secrets
Sorcerer's Stone

And on that note...

this is seriously the worst cover ever, wtf is going on?

I totally know how Harry Potter will end.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione go out for dinner at a diner before the final battle with Voldemort. Ginny walks in to the diner. The last lines of the novel are "DON'T STOP ---"

...or that's definitely not how it will end. But, you know.

Last night, something shocked me.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix? REALLY GOOD movie. I consider that book to be the worst in the series by MILES (it's horrible), so I was shocked. It is too dark. I mean this in both the scenes they choose to show (death, death, death, doom, destruction, blah), and the actual cinematography/lighting (there's sunlight in the wizarding world too); remember, at heart, these are kids' books, but this is really the only complaint I have (that, and Voldy was kind of unintentionally funny...if you've seen the movie you know what I mean). They made extremely wise decisions of what to cut out (there was like one scene of Harry being obnoxious, not 300 pages of him talking in all capitals), and while the final battle was just boring in the book, it was totally thrilling here. The special effects are pretty damn amazing too.
OH MY GOD, THE ACTING! Daniel Radcliffe isn't going to get nominated for a Pulpy or anything like that, but he actually gives a good, non-laugh-worthy performance. Emma Watson, for the most part, isn't acting with her eyebrows. Rupert Grint isn't mumbling all the time. It's amazing. Obviously, Imelda Staunton is incredible (and incredibly scary) and is currently #2 in my Pulpy lineup in Best Supporting Actress for the year, and Helena Bonham-Carter is just fricking awesome (I can't believe I just said that either; I can only hope she's half as good with about 3 million times the screentime in Sweeney Todd). I'm so psyched for Book 7 now. The best summer blockbuster yet, Ratatouille excluded. B+