Heh. Matilda's summary of The Last Unicorn got forwarded to Beagle himself, who said:

Wow! I think that child should have a regular book-reviewing gig at the N.Y. Times. I'd pick her over Michiko Kakutani like a shot, every time.

Awesome!

Movies watched today:

Gamer: It took half the movie to start making any semblance of sense, but once the plot actually became clear, it wasn't that bad. But it wasn't that good either.

Daybreakers: A pretty cool take on vampires. The movie is not the action-packed thrill ride promised by the trailers, but it's not boring, either.

The Orphanage: Very well done ghost story. Creepy, chilling, mesmerizing. Highly recommended.

Oh, and Rikki Tikki Tavi was a really good cartoon adaptation. That was also done by Chuck Jones, right?

Yes, it was indeed Chuck Jones.

i09 summarizes a bunch of gushing reviews of Inception:

We round up Inception's early reviews. Does it live up to the hype?

I saw "The Orphanage" a couple of weeks ago, PC, and quite liked it.

This weekend, I went on a big Masterpiece Theatre kick. I watched "The Buccaneers" "Wives and Daughters" and "Vanity Fair."

Oh, and "Easy Virtue." Jessica Biel was ok. She is very pretty, but she needs to be more sarcastic for Coward.

Aw, I loved The Buccaneers. Really young Carla Gugino! And the guy who plays her husband, whose name I can never remember! Really well done, if maybe not precisely what Wharton intended.

I can't remember what The Orphanage is -- I keep going right to The Orphan, and nothing beats that for good horror movie crack.

Yeah, I heard that one was bizarre.

The Orphanage is a Spanish horror movie produced by Guillermo del Toro, which makes sense since it has a Devil's Backbone vibe to it. A woman who grew up in an orphanage returns there to open up a school for special needs children, and her son meets some imaginary friends. I'll bet you can guess who these imaginary friends really are! Soon the only way to save her son is to figure out how to deal with these pesky ghosts. It's really well done.

It was well done; I watched it late, late at night, during an insomnia bout, and there were a few moments that made me jump.

Really young Carla Gugino

She is so pretty! I misread the date as 2005 instead of 1995, and spent the first 2 episodes amazed that she was so young looking, and playing a 17 yo!

I wish House of Mirth, and The Orphan were on Netflix streaming.

there were a few moments that made me jump.

The window crashing down was what got me. Eeee. But one thing I loved about the movie was that the camera constantly teased you with the possibility of a jump-scare that never came. It just made you very creeped out and worried for Laura.

I wish House of Mirth, and The Orphan were on Netflix streaming.

The Orphanage is, which is how I watched it last night. Hurrah.

Heh. There's a whole thread at Entertainment Weekly's site about the crypoints in Toy Story 3.

It was interesting to me that they focused not on the whole scene of Andy giving his toys to Bonnie, but the moment where Andy flinches when Bonnie tries to grab Woody.