I have discovered that movie is much better with the sound off. Beautiful art direction and costumes.

IMO "the sound off" is only really necessary for the Jim Carrey scenes. "Picture off" works even better.

eta: Inevitable Jim Carrey Hateration cross-post.

Also holding your thumb in front of Jim Carrey helps.

If he'd just dialed it down about three notches, it would have been perfect.

That movie is total eye candy. So much to look at and so gorgeously, lovingly detailed.

Having never read the books, how many does the movie cover? The first? The first three?

And, I didn't mind Jim Carrey. He's hit and miss for me. SOmetimes I like him, sometimes he doesn't register, sometimes I want him to die a horrible death by being eaten by a talking ass.

And I ain't talking about Francis, either.

It covers the first three books.

He's hit and miss for me.

I just wish he could stop making every character all about him, and his ad libbing and faces and blah blah. The Count was over the top as it was.

I loved Jude Law's narration.

just wish he could stop making every character all about him, and his ad libbing and faces and blah blah.

Based on The Truman Show and Eternal Sunshine, I have to lay part of the blame on the directors who don't reign him in -- it's clearly possible for him to give a good performance, but most of the directors he works with are too willing to let him run rampant.

it's clearly possible for him to give a good performance, but most of the directors he works with are too willing to let him run rampant

That's true. I remember a really early TV movie he did -- Doing Time on Maple Drive I think it was called -- and he was brilliant. I think most comedians who can call up that much manic energy and emotion can go the other way, too -- I think Robin Williams has given some decent dramatic performances, for instance. (Patch Adams aside, of course.)

Based on The Truman Show and Eternal Sunshine, I have to lay part of the blame on the directors who don't reign him in

Didn't the Eternal Sunshine director talk specifically somewhere (the DVD maybe, or an interview?) about spending a lot of time just wearing Carrey out and not actually doing any takes on film until he was too exhausted to be tooth-grindingly big?

Didn't the Eternal Sunshine director talk specifically somewhere (the DVD maybe, or an interview?) about spending a lot of time just wearing Carrey out and not actually doing any takes on film until he was too exhausted to be tooth-grindingly big?

Heh -- I was just about to post that, actually. (The interview is funny as hell, because it's both Carrey and Gondry talking about making the film, and how exhausting it was, and it's just blazingly obvious to anyone watching that this was done on purpose by Gondry to tone Carrey's performance down.)

Gondry is brilliant. Also, Joss is so right about "Legend of 1900".

(He maintains that I read too much into these things; I maintain that movies don't just happen by accident).

Go team you!

P.-C., I'll believe the Wolverine movie when I see it with my own popcorn!

Sail, yeah, I keep my expectations for fantasy/scifi/action movies low, so I'm usually entertained well enough by Pretty! and Big! and Boom!

Kalshane, re Jean getting out of the plane:

on re-watch the first scene where Jean is making all the TVs and such freak out made me realize that it was her powers that were screwing up the electronics in the Blackbird, which is why she had to get out of it.

Thank you! Now it makes sense! I should've realized that. So why the heck didn't Xavier Know-It-All just say that when he was (non)explaining it to Logan? Ah, never mind.

X3 tomorrow, I plan.

Excellent and long interview of Whedon by Bendis. Every time I see Bendis' name, I think Bender. For a while I wasn't convinced he was real.