Back from seeing The Golden Compass which I liked a lot. Emmett liked it too. The main problem was that it was too short. It crammed too much action in and didn't really let the story or characters breathe.

ita, I think you should see it. You'll love the bear fight (which provoked an audible "Whoa!" in the audience) and the Witches.

I haven't read the books, though I know the main plot point at the end which didn't happen. The ending did feel truncated.

The acting and design and effects were spectacular though. The London they imagine is based on Christopher Wren's plans for rebuilding London after the fire.

Emmett tends to watch movies referring to actors by the role he knows them best in. So for him the role call was: James Bond, Saruman, Gandalf and Virgil (from Tombstone).

I read an interview where they said something about moving the main thing from the end to the beginning of the next movie or something.

If there is a next movie. It didn't do so well this weekend....

I feel like religious conservatives were staying away because of the author and fans of the book were staying away because the movie didn't stay true to the material.

Turns out that (James Cameron's) Avatar art I linked to earlier was spurious. There's a letter from Cameron on AICN with more information about the film.

I saw Juno last night and have mixed feelings. It was great to see a complex, smart and self-directed teenage girl on film and the actress who plays her (Ellen Page) is AMAZING. The dialogue is very self-consciously clever at all times, even at the expense of character, so that bugged mightily. Still, well worth seeing, and I felt a lot of Whedon influence so Buffistas should enjoy it.

the actress who plays her (Ellen Page) is AMAZING

Have you seen Hard Candy ? She's amazing in that too. And then I watched her brief scenes as Kitty Pryde in X-Men 3 last night, and though she doesn't have a lot to work with, she plays a distinct character from her other two.

I felt a lot of Whedon influence so Buffistas should enjoy it

Did you see my post earlier? Ellen Page practically quoted Joss's Equality Now speech. I don't know whether she'd seen it and it was intentional, or they just think the same way.

The dialogue is very self-consciously clever at all times, even at the expense of character, so that bugged mightily.

I almost didn't make it past the first 20 minutes because the dialogue was so stilted and "hip." But I thought the movie improved vastly after the scene where she tells her parents she's pregnant, and I ended up liking it quite a lot.

It's early days because the foreign box office hasn't reported in officially yet, but I think it's doubtful The Golden Compass will get a sequel. Personally I'd blame the studio for that one - it would have done fine if it didn't have a $180m production budget. Seriously - that's insane - I watched the film and really liked it (I've not read the books), but they really didn't need to spend that much on the thing.

Jessica--I had the same reaction. The non-dialogue scenes, like when Vanessa talks to the baby at the mall and it kicks or Juno cries in her pulled over van got me the most.