Hellboy II: my favorite parts were probably the
Troll Market,
because that is one of my FAVORITE fantasy tropes, and the
puppet sequence for when the professor is reading Young Hellboy the bedtime story.
I agree that Hellboy II is a better movie than the first one, and I say that as someone who was delighted with the first Hellboy movie.
One of the trailers we saw with Hellboy II was for Quarentine, which I hadn't heard of before. It looks like all sorts of zombie-riffic fun. (Watch it not be about zombies, and boy will I be miffed.)
saw The Happening. "huh." is about all i can muster. definitely not going in my favorite Shyamalan movies.
I guess I'll be the odd man out, but I didn't like The Golden Army as much as Hellboy. It's more beautifully filmed, but I don't think the story is nearly as good. And I want to lay a curse on
whoever cast Seth McFarlane as the voice actor for Johann Krauss
.
That said,
The Angel of Death was worth my $8
.
great use of Barry Manilow.
Wrod.
Death
was very cool. Hubby said it reminded him very much of "Pan's Labyrinth," and when I pointed out the directors were the same, Hubby said, "That makes sense."
I found it fascinating how no one was truly the bad guy, in terms of "so and so must die to save the day." The line "If you don't command you must obey" was very telling.
Not at all. I haven't read the comic either (but I plan to). And the movie is completely comprehensible to someone who hasn't seen the first one, really.
Excellent. I might go see it in a matinee tomorrow.
I think part of the attraction is that the main character is such a huge MarySue that every teen girl who reads the books thinks that she is Just! Like! Bella! Plus swooningly gorgeous vampire who is tormented by his attraction to you Bella, yet loves you Bella SO MUCH that he doesn't eat you. Her.
Honestly, the books are poorly written, and I'm very confused as to why they're so successful. There are FAR better YA vampire novels out there.
I agree with Jilli pretty much down this line. Both of the main leads are incredibly insipid, but easy to insert into fantasy life. Really, it appeals to the same people that really bad fanfic does, only the audience is much larger because YA Fantasy Is Societally OK Now (thanks Harry!). I disliked the first book enough that I'm surprised I read the second, where at least they inserted a character that didn't glow, so I stayed on. And by then I was hooked to the bad.
The treatment of Meyer as the next JKR is understandable by the booksellers (the third book in the series is the one that knocked HP7 off the top of the Best Seller list) and by some fans who never get past the surface, but it drives me crazy. JKR has some writing issues, but at the very least her main characters have some dimension to them. And she's able to go 10 paragraphs without describing the hotness of Harry. Boringly.
...despite all this, I will definitely be reading the last book. Some types of crack are just too addictive/disastrous/freeing to give up. (To be fair, I also read 10+ books in the Gossip Girl series, so I may be extra-susceptible to this sort of trap.)
In other news, I want to see Wall*E and Hellboy II and I keep not having time to go to movies. Uggh.
Speaking of teen girls, we went with our niece to see Kitt Kittridge; American Girl. I really liked it! Very old-fashioned story-telling, but it had a believably smart and intrepid lead and the supporting characters were very well written and acted. Lots of fun, and if you know any kids, or would like a sweet, fun afternoon at the movies, go see it!
I've heard nothing but good things about Kitt Kittridge. Yesterday six girls and their dolls all came to see it.
I just went to see Iron Man, and even though it is not brand new it seems that most people didn't know about the extra scene after the credits because they left before it aired. I forget that everyone isn't us.
