I forgot how awesome Blake Edwards' Honorary Oscar acceptance was.

Is there an app that can excise Jim Carrey from that clip?

How Gary Ross got the Hunger Games directing gig over Sam Mendes, etc.

The Thing-inspired Xmas card: [link]

I've never seen The Thing, so I don't get it, but people who have seem to be digging this.

They called The Thing a "Space Carrot" since it was a plant-based life form. So that card is very funny!

So, having seen TRON: Legacy a second time......

Still a lot of fun. Characters look a little thinner(I didn't realize how much of a cipher Sam is the first time around). Still think Quorra could use some more agency. Picked up on some thematic stuff and character parallels I missed the first time around.

Still have no idea where the bitterly angry reviews are coming from.

I saw The Fighter tonight, Mark Wahlberg's labor of love about two boxing brothers from Lowell, MA. I can't say I really enjoyed it, because it's a boxing movie, and I spent 50% of the boxing scenes with my hands over my eyes. And there's a lot of boxing.

That said, it's an excellent recreation of a run-down New England mill town in the early 90s, and the working class and poor folks who were damaged by the crack epidemic. It's got class issues and seriously fucked-up family dynamics, and three killer acting jobs at its center:

Melissa Leo as Alice, who is astonishing in the role of the brassy, hard-bitten mother of nine.

Amy Adams as the girlfriend of one of the brothers: she is totally believable as a college dropout who tends bar and parties too hard.

Christian Bale, as the older brother who got some early fame for knocking Sugar Ray Leonard down in the late 70s. Bale is disturbingly good in the role, playing a pretty loathsome character.

Anyway: great acting, good writing (despite a couple of cliche'd training montages), great production design down to the hair and the music. I just didn't enjoy it as much as I would like to because I really don't like actively unpleasant family dynamics: that's the shit I can get at home if I want. Also, boxing.

Oh, I saw True Grit on Wednesday.

I liked it. It will not be my favorite Coen bros movie, because there can be only one Miller's Crossing, but it is most enjoyable, and I can see where people who don't usually like them might like this more. For instance, I don't think they've ever gotten me to tear up before. And that's totally down to Hailee Steinfeld, who is so calm throughout that when she finally got upset (about 10 minutes after she should have) I was seriously mmmphing. Bridges (and, y'know, the writing and direction) certainly helped, but my god. The part with the horse was rough.

Also, Josh Brolin really impressed me, partly because it's sort of the opposite of his role in No Country For Old Men.

I look forward to seeing again. It is not jaw-dropping awesomeness but it is an old-school Good Movie. Which is sort of unusual now.

Interview with Natalia Tena - who plays Tonks in the Harry Potter films, will be in Game of Thrones and is also a musician.

True Grit was wonderful! The things that were the same were deliciously familiar and those that got changed were awesome. Only once did I find myself wishing the new film was more similar to the older one.

Saw four movies yesterday for our Xmas Movie day. One was True Grit, which I LOVED. An old-fashioned film, but beautifully written, shot and acted. Not a wasted frame. Also saw Tron, which was okay 3D fun. Black Swan I hated with a profoundly deep passion. Jess totally nailed it with her comment on the shallowness. Pretentious and shallow is a combination guaranteed to infuriate me. Love & Other Drugs had some lovely moments but didn't really hold together as a movie.