I liked her in Whip It. My problem with her on SNL is that she pretty much plays the same character with the same 2 or 3 characters with the same facial expressions and the same voice, no matter who she is playing.

We saw The Artist last night; well, my niece saw 3/4 of it because she is constitutionally incapable of staying awake during a silent movie at 10 PM. Not her fault!

Anyway, if I were to summarize the film, I would say that it's what would happen if Singing in the Rain met A Star is Born, with a little bit of Going Down to Rio at the end.

I did enjoy it a great deal, and Uggo the dog is clearly the star of the entire thing, although the two leads were both very good indeed. I did spend a fair amount of time going HITG!

I hope to get out to Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy this morning. I feel like crap, so I don't know, but I have an hour. I'm quite psyched.

"Fierce creatures" made m laugh much harder than "Fish called Wanda". Though Fish is funny and has one of my all time favorite lines.

Otto West: Apes don't read philosophy.
Wanda: Yes they do, Otto. They just don't understand it.

I applied the Princess Bride test to some current coworkers and was greatly heartened that at least two of them agreed that it is the most quotable film in history.

Has anyone seen Young Adult? The press I've read on it makes it seem annoying, even if it's in an attempt for annoyance gender parity. Charlize Theron's assertions that mentally healthy adults don't wear Hello Kitty certainly didn't help. Henceforth I will root against her in the Snow White movie.

Oh, who am I kidding? She's way more gorgeous than Kristen Stewart could dream of.

I just got back from seeing Tintin, and I will second what Hec said here:

It doesn't have the verve or rawness or strangeness or originality or odd dramatic beats or curious narrative choices that will stick with me. It was well made. Serviceable.

There were a few glorious moments (read: any time Thomson and Thompson were on-screen--gotta love Frost and Pegg) and some breathtaking visuals, but overall the movie just felt like one damned thing after another. It was entertaining while it lasted, but there was little that stuck to the ribs.

Just watched Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and I can't decide if my next step is buying the book, seeing it again, or just waiting for the DVD. It is definitely a work that rewards attention, both plotwise and with regards to the performances, with which I have absolutely no complaint. I've never really seen Mark Strong in anything, and he was a knockout. Everyone else was just as good as you'd expect, and Gary Oldman was a beautiful Le Carre style badass.

I really really liked it, but I know I'm not finished with it. It is complicated and subtle and the heavy lifting is up to you (I couldn't work out any way the flashbacks were being signalled, for instance, other than you realising this couldn't be taking place during the main timeline-was there some visual or audio cue I was missing, or was it really all in the narrative?).

Maybe the book first. I read my mother's copy, back in the day.

ita,

there is also the british miniseries which is like 15 hours.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy isn't playing at any of our local theaters. I hope it becomes popular enough to get a wider release.