a wolf angel is not a good angel

This weekend I watched ‘Enchanted’. There are a lot of very reasonable criticisms to be made of this film, none of which I am likely to make, because I really liked it. If you have seen it and would like to be critical, fine, but (1) it’s not a parody or a satire, so don’t complain about how it didn’t parody earlier Disney movies in this scene or that and (2) it’s a fairy tale which, for the purposes of the show, had to have some kind of happily ever after. I loved the 2-d animation, I loved the homages to older Disney shows, I loved the huge song and dance numbers (and am only slightly annoyed that they took out one with the actor who had played Elphaba: don’t hire Broadway people for musicals and then cut their songs), I thought it was sweet and cute, and if they do add in the missing musical number, I will likely end up buying the dvd then.

Also my cat is missing again (since either Sat or Sun, I do not remember), and I’m feeling slightly neurotic about it, because she hasn’t returned even in bad weather. (As a general rule she doesn’t, but I feel that she should.)

Tonight’s Heroes ended with “only 3 episodes left” which is true only if they’re planning on wrapping the season up this month, strike or no strike. Not that it seems all that hopeful, the no strike possibility, but I keep imagining that maybe the studios will come to their senses.

There is not, as it happens, a street called “Saint-Jaque” in Montreal. Nor is the intersection between St-Laurent and St-Jacques a four way intersection. Nor is that where Notre Dame is in any case.

But hurray, an episode partially set in Montreal. I am not entirely sure how I missed hearing about that before.

I watched Ratatouille the other night and I just don’t get the universal acclaim being heaped on it. I mean, it’s not a bad movie. It’s a cute, fun movie. It has incredible, incredible animation — seriously beautiful from beginning to end. But that’s it. The story is meh, the accents made me want to tear my ears out, and it’s ultimately forgettable, nothing like their much better movies (Toy Story, Finding Nemo). Their next movie is again about a boy (robot, this time), and this marks the end of my giving them money for their movies.

The short at the beginning of the movie is great, though. (Looking it up, they’ve apparently decided that the entirely sexless aliens are both male. Sigh.)

I was watching The Princess Bride with my father today, the duel scene between Westley and Inigo Montoya. (Does Mandy Patinkin ever get asked to repeat that line anymore? Is he sick of it?) I marvelled at the background with the totally non-moving clouds. Then my father — who has seen this movie before, and more than once — asks me if I notice anything odd about the scene.

Well, the clouds aren’t moving.

No, he says, they’re both fighting left-handed. Isn’t that odd? Do you know what percentage of people are left-handed?

His face when Inigo and then Westley both admitted to not really being left-handed was priceless.

Did anyone else watch the ending of the Sopranos?

On reflection, I am in the group of people who really liked it.

First of all: fun. Really. Of course you can’t follow the plot. Why is Will double-crossing Jack who is double-crossing Barbossa who is double-crossing Elizabeth? I don’t remember. But it doesn’t really matter, you’re not supposed to be able to follow who you can or cannot trust at any time. If you assume everyone has a few hidden agendas you’d be pretty much on. If you decide just to ignore plotting, that would not really change the movie for you.

So let’s dispense with the idea of plot. You don’t see these movies for plot. You see them for amusing dialogue, maybe (yes, other than the irritating repetition of some lines). You see them for fun fight scenes (yes). You see them for stupid jokes that don’t depend on farts (yes — I particularly liked the pieces-of-eight one). You see them so you can listen to Geoffrey Rush say Arrr a lot (yes).

As usual, there’s a scene after the credits that you should, maybe, watch. For maybe, see after the jump.

Here be spoilers.

(more…)

Tonight I saw Pirates of the Caribbean 3. A proper response tomorrow, but a few thoughts:

• it’s LONG. Nearly 3 hours long. Be prepared.
• the irritating political commentary in the beginning of the movie is over quickly and, as you might suspect, is never mentioned again because it’s irrelevant.
• they keep reusing the same damn lines. The more subtle things are cleverer, funnier, and not so fucking annoying.
• I do not actually feel sorry for people wearing short sleeves and light cotton when they’re covered in ice. Get a jacket.
• they dumped out everything that was dull, so expect scenes where you wonder who is conning and who being conned, followed by fight or cgi scenes, repeated. This works well.
• Johnny Depp is hotter than John Malkovitch. A lot.

Overall, worth seeing, whether or not you saw #2.

As it turns out, we were sitting beside some band who I suppose I should have heard of, but no. I could tell they were important when they talked about the Ritz and the limos and stuff, and then my friend heard their account number, 00025falloutboy. Apparently that’s why they looked familiar to him. When I got back to the seat and he told me that, I looked blank. But they’re polite, don’t talk in movies, and oddly grateful that we didn’t give their seats away before the show started.

1. Ship / Suspect / Myth / Mind Game / Hungarian - The Usual Suspects (eb)
2. Anti Smoking / Shot In The Butt / Football Stadium / Sister Sister Relationship / Shot With Arrow - 10 Things I Hate About You
3. Deus Ex Machina / Court / Falsely Accused / Murder / On The Road - My Cousin Vinny (orthoclase)
4. Overhead Camera Shot / Gang Warfare / Lover / Based On Musical / Knife Fight - West Side Story (Q. Pheevr)
5. Self Sacrifice / Whimsical / Witch / Romance / Magical - The Little Mermaid
6. Culture Clash / Son / Paranoid / Family Relationships / Search - Blast from the Past
7. Steampunk / No Opening Credits / Throat Slitting / British Empire / Pirates - Pirates of the Caribbean (orthoclase)
8. Group Mind / B Movie / Lesbian Slur / Swimming Pool / Family Dinner - Slither
9. Coastal Village / Funeral / French / Cannabis / Drug Dealing - Saving Grace (Jane Dark)
10. Frog / Ruby / Boat / Toad / Slug - Flushed Away (orthoclase)

Bonus: Absurdism / Mugging / Black Comedy / Magician / Luggage - Songs from the Second Floor

I recommend 9 and the Bonus, especially.

Several of these show different keywords now than they did when I first looked them up. I am curious how many musicals I could ID based just on the keywords.

10 movies that I have enjoyed, as defined by the imdb plot keywords. I got rid of the really super obvious ones, but there are a few gimmes here.

1. Ship / Suspect / Myth / Mind Game / Hungarian
2. Anti Smoking / Shot In The Butt / Football Stadium / Sister Sister Relationship / Shot With Arrow
3. Deus Ex Machina / Court / Falsely Accused / Murder / On The Road
4. Overhead Camera Shot / Gang Warfare / Lover / Based On Musical / Knife Fight
5. Self Sacrifice / Whimsical / Witch / Romance / Magical
6. Culture Clash / Son / Paranoid / Family Relationships / Search
7. Steampunk / No Opening Credits / Throat Slitting / British Empire / Pirates
8. Group Mind / B Movie / Lesbian Slur / Swimming Pool / Family Dinner
9. Coastal Village / Funeral / French / Cannabis / Drug Dealing
10. Frog / Ruby / Boat / Toad / Slug

Bonus: Absurdism / Mugging / Black Comedy / Magician / Luggage

(I loved the bonus movie.)

I considered doing it with tv shows, but Heroes gets “Save the cheerleader”, ER gets “medical drama” and “Chicago Illinois”, and I thought I’d quit wasting my time. (Oddly, BtVS does not get anything like “vampire” or “horror” but stuff like “true love” and “student principal relationship”.)