amyth, I may take you up on that.

I saw Almodovar's Law of Desire tonight. Very trippy - the characters all seem to be extremely excitable and overreact to everything, which combined with the ultra-vivid visual palette gives an impression not unlike a tragic version of The Muppet Show. But it was interesting, and I'll always be grateful for Almodovar giving Antonio Banderas his start.

I saw The King's Speech on Saturday, and totally agree with everyone who loved it, especially Anne W., who pointed out how thoroughly entertaining HBC was as Elizabeth the eventual Queen Mum. I just loved her line deliveries, as well as showing how completely devoted she and Bertie were.

Firth was incredible as Bertie. His attempts to give a speech are just painful to watch (I actually averted my eyes at times, I felt so horrible for the man), and his deprecating humor adds tons to his character.

I wasn't expecting to see all the various Big Names In British Acting appearing in the film, also (Jacobi, Gambon, Ehle, Claire Bloom, and a completely unrecognizable to me Anthony Andrews!).

Definitely a film I'll be picking up on dvd.

Just saw Jennifer's Body. Oh yeah, I liked it.

I think it's the movie that he will watch over and over, like I do with Beetlejuice.

I don't know if I have just one movie I watch over and over. I watched Love Actually three times last month like I do every Christmas since it came out but that's only like 15 times. I probably watched Excalibur more than 15 times in 1985.

A Knight's Tale might be the one I've seen the most. When I hear the DVD menu music I flash back to the numerous times I woke up in the recliner listening to that music. I have also been known to put it on as background while I'm cooking. Hmm, maybe that is my The Movie.

Trivia tidbit about Jennifer Ehle, Kathy, her dad was Dean of the NC School of the Arts in the town in NC where I lived, and he and Jennifer's mom, Rosemary Harris, lived there. I used to run into her often in Borders and around town. Tiny woman--shorter than me! My timing must have been bad, though. I never ran into Jennifer.

I'm not sure if any of you had read the biography of George Lucas' ex-wife - and her purported role in making the good Lucas films great, but it is fascinating.

[link]

DH and I watched the original True Grit last night, which I'd never seen before. Has anyone here read the original novel? I wasn't expecting so much of the dialogue in the Coen bros version to be in the original, and I'm wondering how much of it's lifted verbatim from the book.

Aside from the stylistic differences, I was also struck by just how much lens & lighting technology has changed to allow for actual night shoots as opposed to the absurdly unconvincing day-for-night scenes in the original. It makes such a huge difference to the atmosphere of the whole story.

and I'm wondering how much of it's lifted verbatim from the book.

From what I've read in interviews, a lot. They're both really fans of the book.

I was also struck by just how much lens & lighting technology has changed

I'd like to find a concise history of these changes. It really affects movie history but I don't know where I can look up something like, "And then Kodak brought a new high grain, black and white, high contrast film to the market and Film Noir happened."

Timeline of Technical Filming Innovations please.

So sad to see the Black Swan disappointment. I am dying to see it, but trying to lower my expectations. Also want to see True Grit and Despicable Me. I was excited to finally see The Kids are Alright, but like most of the lesbians I know, I didn't like it at all.

RIP Pete Postlethwaite.

He was one fine actor.