So, last night we watched the Alastair Sim Christmas Carol on DVD. The print it was pulled from was in pretty terrible condition, or at least the effect elements of the print were. There were points where the Ghost of Christmas past was only visible at all because the edges of the crop around his effect element had darkened, and you were seeing less him moving and more a placeholder for where he was supposed to be. The primary element wasn't in great shape either, but workable enough. I'm glad they found a print and transfered it to DVD when they did, or it might have been lost forever.

Alastair Sim! What a wonderful face! So expressive! So gloomy, bitter and nasty at the beginning and in flashbacks. So wonderfully happy and playful at the end. That entire film rests on Sim's magnificent face and the performance he gives with it, and boy howdy does he deliver like few if any other actors to play Ebeneezer.

I love the Sim Carol! His face when he says to the housekeeper, "I haven't lost my senses, I've come to them," is wonderful--sad at how far gone he had been to be thought insane when he behaved like a real person, happy to have been brought to his senses, enlightened at what it means to be a real person.

I'd missed this. Interesting article with Cuaron talking about Harry Potter This is from the Chron on 12/24/06.

He'd like to direct the seventh movie.

He'd like to direct the seventh movie.

I think a lot of people would like to see that happen.

Depending on how the new guy does with Order of the Phoenix.

I think a lot of people would like to see that happen.

::raises hand::

Depending on how the new guy does with Order of the Phoenix.

He ain't gonna be better than Cuaron. No freakin' way.

It's like Dances With Wolves but with Vikings!

How sweet is that?

I wasn't happy with Cuaron's werewolf but other than that it's my favorite HP flick. And Y Tu Mama Tambien is one of my all time favorites, cheesy voice over & all.

I couldn't get through Angels and Demons. Gave up on the whole franchise.

Lost in Translation left me wondering when the movie was going to start.

Virgin Suicides meant something to me. I don't think I could watch it again.

I loved Hair until the end. Hated the pointless death.

I have Dog Soldiers on the shelf but never watched it. Maybe I will, now I know who did it.

I adore The (original) Wicker Man. I saw the long version, but the one I have on tape is, unfortunately, the short version. Is the long version running about anywhere?

I like that the policeman was so out of touch with nature that he was a 40-year-old virgin, and yet he was the sympathetic character.

It's like Dances With Wolves but with Vikings!

Don't see how Pathfinder is like Dances with Wolves. Except maybe that everyone I like dies? Pathfinder is doing a good job showing how fucking scary the Vikings were, though. To the people they stomped on, they looked like devils, and acted like them too. I'll probably see that one curled up on the couch with a drink and a stuffed animal, waiting for an awful ending. I'm delicate.

If you boil Dances With Wolves down to "white man lives with Native Americans, comes to their defense when his people attack them later" you can map Pathfinder onto it pretty simply.

The IMDB trivia page points out that Vikings didn't wear the horned helmets in the movies--did the Thirteenth Warrior Vikings have more realistic garb? I thought they were scary enough too, although we got to see their side of the story as well.