and the second was pure magic, a real classic that I hadn't seen before

One of the three things I remember Joss citing as an immediate inspiration for Firefly: Stage Coach, Hill Street Blues, and a late sixties western by Robert Aldrich with Burt Lancaster called Ulzana's Raid.

Weighing in late on the Oscar Movie Contenders Discussion. I've seen Frost/Nixon, Doubt, and Benjamin Button. I also saw the stage version of each of the first two.

I think I liked Doubt the best as a movie, which kind of surprised me: I was very worried, because I feel strongly (like Jessica mentioned) that it works incredibly well as a stage show. But it also works as a movie. And Meryl Streep continues to blow my mind on a regular basis.

I quite enjoyed Frost/Nixon - it has some cheesy moments in its translation to screen, but it's still a good story with fantastic acting - and was somewhat disappointed by Benjamin Button. Since we're comparing to Big Fish, I have to say that I actually prefer the latter, both for its surrealistic and lighthearted imagery and its message. I often felt that Button was rambling a bit, getting lost in its own points. Which isn't to say it was a bad film - I liked it a lot, actually - it just didn't blow my mind as much as I was rather hoping.

I'm sad to report that the last movie I saw was Bedtime Stories, with Emmett, after our ice-skating plans fell through due to an hourlong wait at the rink. Two mercies, though: (a) it did earn me points with Emmett, and (b) it really wasn't as bad as the reviews. Adam Sandler was much less grating and miserable than I'd expected, Guy Pearce less miscast, Courteney Cox (why is she no longer using Arquette?) less brittle and unsympathetic, and Keri Russell even more luminous and adorable.

None of which adds up to a ringing endorsement, and I'd certainly rather be discussing Doubt or Stagecoach, but if you've got a small Adam Sandler fan and an afternoon that needs filling, it turned out to be way better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.

I haven't seen Doubt or Frost/Nixon or Milk or Benjamin Button.

It's interesting that here people are comparing Benjamin Button to Big Fish - elsewhere I've seen it compared to Forrest Gump. (I haven't seen Forrest Gump either, but I have seen and love Big Fish .)

I like movies but I rarely get to see them. I think that the last one I saw was that horrible Four Christmases movie.

I really don't see where the Big Fish comparison comes in as far as tone goes. Having a similar structure of an ailing parent and a child hearing/telling stories of the past is about as far as I'd take that comparison. The Forrest Gump seems more apt, in that it follows the random events that make up a persons life, with a peculiar twist. But still, in tone, very different. More quiet and simple. Not fantastical and wacky and technicolor, and also not . . . really boring? Absurd? Annoying? I'm not sure how I really feel about a movie (Gump) that has been lampooned so much.

The one thing that I'd wish we'd seen is Ben, as an old man in a little boy's body, actually have more scenes and dialogue. I suppose finding several boys to pull off wisened age could be harder than making Cate Blanchett look 15 while she did pirouettes. It'll be interesting to see if there were more scenes near the end that were cut because of less than solid performances .

Also, Julia Ormond is forever gorgeous.

It's interesting that here people are comparing Benjamin Button to Big Fish - elsewhere I've seen it compared to Forrest Gump.

Same writer. I can see the similarities a bit.

Juliebird, I was interesting in seeing more of that too.

I rewatched Little Miss Sunshine last night. The moment when Olive flings her top hat to the audience still prompts an involuntary bark of laughter from me two years after first seeing it.

It finally made me get off my ass and order the movie poster to go on the long stretch of unadorned brick wall in my living room. (In a happy coincidence, the poster exactly matches the "Afterglow" art print I already have hanging on one wall.)

I saw Milk last night -- so many good performances! So much exciting facial hair!

I cried and cried, of course, but the tone of the ending was awfully anvillicious and overly sentimental -- did we really need to flash back to the scene where Harvey tells Scott that he'll never make it to age 50? Especially when that conversation was already reprised at Harvey's 48th birthday bash?

Up until that point, though, I really loved it. It was surprising to me, although it shouldn't have been, to see the real divide in the Castro between the conservative Catholic residents and the gay community. I guess I've always lived in a world where the Castro is a gay mecca, and for that matter, in a world where San Francisco had already elected Harvey Milk to city supervisor. It was strange to be reminded of a time when that wasn't the case.

Just finished the Tropic Thunder commentary. Oh my goodness, what a fucking hoot! Ben Stiller was decent and semi-serious and informative, Jack Black was mildly annoying and not as funny as he thought he was, and Rober Downey Jr. was a fucking genius. In a commentary. I'd heard he'd done it in character, but I didn't realize that he'd done it in *three* characters (counting his own). But not only that, while improving in character with an accent(s), he was hilarious, insightful, generous and really really good at knowing when to goof, and when to stfu and enjoy a scene while pointing out that everyone else should as well.

I think my fave Jack Black bit was pointing out that when between takes at one point, RDJ went to take a leak, and, still miked, he stayed in character.

The commentary is by far more funny than the movie itself, which I enjoyed quite a bit.

Yeah, I've watched the Tropic Thunder commentary twice now. I can't decide if it's better than some of the commentaries on the US release of Spaced but it is without a doubt the best feature film commentary I've ever heard.