From way back, because Jilli was not here to say it: empire dresses are not flattering to most round people.

Heh. Yes, you beat me to it.

See above, re: me avoiding them like the plague.

Although, I'm not even sure they are flattering to slender women with a B or C cup.

I object to the de-nerding of the character (also to Emma's dislike for the character in the original and the subsequent (though I won't fully blame it on that) re-writing of the character).

I never knew she disliked Hermione! Still, it seems to me like it would be easier to get another 12-year-old actress than to rewrite to the whims of one. If Hermione is being systemically de-nerdified, rather than just having that element excised through standard movie magic, it's on the producers.

I think Emma Watson is plenty pretty, but she hardly strikes me as head-and-shoulders above every other girl her age in the world.

Also, this. She's nice-looking, and definitely blossoming, but she's not unbelievably gorgeous. (And why do I feel mean saying that about a teenage actress?)

when my friend worked backstage at a celebrity fashion show for Newman's charity, Damon not only had absolutely no temperament, butwhen he heard as he was leaving that they were selling all the clothes worn that day on ebay, asked "would this help?" and peeled off his own cashmere sweater and donated it. He went home in a t-shirt on a crisp November day.

It sounds like he's a good guy, Robin. That's a nice story.

NYT on sucky movies: [link]

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 23 - With the last of the summer blockbusters fading from the multiplex, Hollywood's box office slump has hardened into a reality that is setting the movie industry on edge. The drop in ticket sales from last summer to this summer, the most important moviegoing season, is projected to be 9 percent by Labor Day, and the drop in attendance is expected to be even deeper, 11.5 percent, according to Exhibitor Relations, which tracks the box office.

Multiples theories for the decline abound: a failure of studio marketing, the rising price of gas, the lure of alternate entertainment, even the prevalence of commercials and pesky cellphones inside once-sacrosanct theaters. But many movie executives and industry experts are beginning to conclude that something more fundamental is at work: Too many Hollywood movies these days, they say, just are not good enough.

What is that? Research from the Institute of "No...Duh."?

Cellphone use doesn't keep me from going into the theatres. It keeps some of the other theater customers from coming back out afterwards.

Cellphone use doesn't keep me from going into the theatres. It keeps some of the other theater customers from coming back out afterwards.

Sort of like a roach motel, then?

I picked up the new rerelease of Witness on DVD last night--it doesn't have a commentary (I don't think any of Weir's films do), but it does have a good making of documentary done specifically for this DVD. It includes interviews with Weir, Harrison Ford, Kelly McGillis (who looks nothing like she used to), Lukas Haas, and Viggo Mortensen, but no Danny Glover. I'd forgotten how much this film made Harrison Ford a Dramatic Actor, versus just the Action Star he was at the time.

Man, I envy you your Murrican TCM. But I'm happy to see so much Powell & Pressburger love on this thread.

Obscure factlet of the day: Andrew Macdonald (producer of Trainspotting, Shallow Grave, etc.) and his brother Kevin (documentarist and Oscar winner for One Day in September) are the grandsons of Emeric Pressburger. My dad taught them at school. One day, they showed up at our door asking to watch "The Battle of the River Plate" on TV because their grandad had made it and they hadn't seen it yet.

That's a great factlet and I shall steal it and show it off.