life is a single skip for joy

So on Friday I decided last minute to buy the Regal Cinemas best picture film festival pass. You pay $35 dollars and get admission to all of the best picture nominees plus a really good deal on a drink and popcorn. ($5.00 for a medium soda+popcorn which is normally like 12 bucks, which is crazy!)

I'm not really in it for the popcorn, I'm in it for the movies. I'd already previously seen Hidden Figures and La La Land. So far with the pass I've seen Arrival, Hacksaw Ridge, and Lion.

Here are my non-spoilery thoughts on all of them:

Arrival: I get the impression I'm supposed to have really strong emotions about this movie, but the thing is that I kind of didn't? I thought it was really gorgeous and wasn't by any means bored with it, but I really didn't feel anything. Maybe I need to re-watch it? I don't know! Definitely my least favorite of the 5 I've seen.

Hacksaw Ridge: I remember initially seeing the preview for this and thinking that it was going to be good, but I wasn't quite prepared for how good it would actually be. Definitely exceeded my expectations on this one. By a lot! The one thing I didn't like was how (in my opinion) over the top some of the early battle sequences were. I GET what they were doing, but I honestly felt like if I was an innocent person who wandered into the wrong theater right at that moment, I would not have been able to initially tell if I'd walked into a war movie or a ZOMBIE movie. So those small moments were a little much, but taken as a whole this was a great picture. The actor who played his father was truly amazing in this. I'm surprised he wasn't nominated for supporting actor. I also found it funny that all of the military jokes about Andrew Garfield's physique totally mirrored my own thoughts about him. Sorry Andrew!

Lion: Wow. I went into this knowing nothing about the film and only watching the preview shortly before going into the theater. I did love La La Land which I know is favored to win, but in my opinion this movie is the TRUE best picture. So wonderful. Expect waterworks. Plus, I really love Dev Patel (thank you, Newsroom) and he was really wonderful here. (Plus he looked pretty good without a shirt.) Not sure why he's not nominated for Leading Actor as he's clearly the lead character. I guess he SUBMITTED for supporting? Is that just a sneaky way to potentially secure a win, or is that a humility thing? I don't know!

La La Land: I really liked this a lot. Very fun to watch and I actually loved the ending. I keep hearing people who just dislike this movie based on the ending but I don't really understand that. I won't say anymore, even though this is not a movie about the ending or spoilers.

Hidden Figures: So inspiring. I love this story and I LOVE Octavia Spencer. I really liked the turn for Kirsten Dunst's character, which was nice and subtle. All of that said this is just not a best picture contender for me. Still a great movie that I would highly recommend, and is probably a good one for re-watching too. Oh and this is the first time I've seen Kevin Costner in anything in a long time. It was great to see him in this.

I'm seeing Fences tonight, Moonlight tomorrow, Manchester by the Sea on Thursday and I'm gonna try to squeeze in Hell or High Water at some point. (I actually have that DVD at home through the Netflix DVD service.) This will probably be the first year ever that I've seen all of the nominees. I say PROBABLY because I'm uncertain if I'll really be able to squeeze in a showing of Moonlight.

My cousins are in town with their SOs, and yesterday me and the boys (my cousin, and my other cousin's boyfriend) went to a movie. Their choice. They picked Fruitvale Station and it was something that had been on my radar, and a film I was definitely interested in, but I knew that I categorically should not see this film because I just knew that it would enrage me. If you don't know, the movie tells a true story, so knowing the background on that, I was not eager to put myself through that, emotionally, in a crowded theater. I was right.


But I did anyway, obviously. From the moment Oscar was shot, until the end, I was crying. After he was shot, and the officer started manhandling him and rolling him around, I had to talk myself out of leaving the theater twice. I just knew I was going to seriously lose it and I knew I didn't want to sit there and watch him die. So maybe twenty minutes? Or it felt like twenty minutes of tears streaming down my face. My cousin Brandon was sitting next to me, and he said that he had to keep himself from looking over at me or he would have lost it too. Then, afterward, myself and Jake had to both excuse ourselves to the restroom to cry some more regain our composure. It truly affected me that much.

I am glad I saw it, but it definitely left me wrecked.

Brandon (in the car on the way home): "I need to go watch some cartoons or something."
Me: "I should turn some music on, instead of making us sit here in our quiet sadness."
Jake: "I like the quiet sadness."
(I didn't turn the radio on.)

I have never experienced anything quite like it in terms of audience reaction. As the final events played out the mood in the theater was decidedly somber. Except for a few cries of disgust at the end when the fate of the police officer who shot Oscar was shown on screen, every moment of silence in the movie was met with complete silence in the theater. When it ended, we all just sort of quietly filed out, as if we were leaving a funeral. It was powerful, powerful stuff.


Of course, it brings up questions that I can't even begin to answer. I thought the movie did an amazing job and portraying Oscar as a deeply flawed, but worthy human being. It was clear from the very first scene, the very first lines, that Oscar was not going to be portrayed as a saint, which would have been a mistake. But they did make you feel for him and they did make you like him and root for him. He was a person and he did nothing to warrant a shot to the back while being held on the ground at point blank range. I couldn't help but think about Trayvon Martin, and how coincidentally timely the wide release of this movie is.

Old Movies
I've decided to start watching a bunch of old movies that I've never seen before because when else am I going to watch them? I started with North by Northwest, a random Abott and Costello (Cause I'd never seen one), and Singin' in the Rain (OMG, so good! Definitely my favorite so far), totally obscure thing called Dr. Renault's Secret, and I have a ton more on my Netflix queue, plus I've been going to the local library to raid their shelves. That's where I got Dr. Renault's Secret. This week I picked up Shop Around the Corner, And Then There Were None, and All the President's Men, which is a little more modern than most of the stuff I've been watching so far, but it still fits! I am really enjoying myself. I kind of love old movies, which I sort of already knew, but I never went out of my way to watch all the old classics (and the not-so-classics). Anybody got a favorite old movie I should definitely put on my list?

Etc.
Speaking of movies. I really wanna head to the theater to see Frankenweenie. There are several others that I want to see too, Looper being one of them. I need to do that this week or something. Except I am broke and probably can't afford to.

New Shows
I have not watched any of the new shows except The New Normal cause mom wanted to watch it. (Meh.) I really really want to watch Nashville though even though I feel like for some reason I shouldn't want to? I can't help it, it looks good and I love Connie Britton. Someone tell me which new shows are or are not worth checking out. Visual persuasion is welcome.

Returning Shows
I kind of suck because I have been going to bed between 8 and 9:30 on weeknights (and sometimes on weekends, too) and so watching prime time TV has become somewhat of a challenge for me. But so far I've seen:

- Revenge: Just the first episode back, but I loved it. Mildly-spoilery reaction is that I'm tickled pink that Nolan is moving in with Em. The end.
- Parenthood: Everything. This show is perfect in ways that most people just don't know because they don't watch. And that's a shame. I don't think I'll be missing any eps of this one. Also? Ray Romano is awesome, and that's a sentence I never ever thought I would utter... or type. Perfect show is perfect.
- Grey's Anatomy: Alex and Arizona. Is that the shipper goggles talking? Yes. But still. THE ANGST.
- Haven: I missed the 2nd episode back, but last Friday's ep slayed me. Duke. He will always and forever be my favorite.
- Switched at Birth: I've missed a few episodes, but can I just say that this line (paraphrase?): "Regina's not a friend. She's family." Just blew me away. John and Kathryn used to refer to Regina as "That woman!" This is so much better.
- Hart of Dixie: Lemon Breeland ♥! She was great in this ep. I feel kinda vindicated for liking her so much last season. I loved that line "That seems like a mindless domestic task. Right up my alley!" Dripping with sarcasm. Good for her. Also, her working at the Rammer Jammer gives me all kinds of Wade/Lemon vibes, which, truth be told was and is a closet ship of mine. I could definitely be into it.

Do I really have to wait until Christmas for this?
Until I saw the promo I was kind of "meh" on the whole idea of this movie. But last weekend when I saw it in the theaters it pretty much brought me to tears right then and there. Not to mention reminding me how much I enjoy the music from this show. Can it be Christmas now?


"They'll never love you as much as they love each other."
( spoilers for both books and the movie )

Geez, you guys. Why is this place so slow this week? I mean, it's been slow for a while but this is even worse. I know I'm not being helpful by driving everyone away with my constant fangirling over The Killing, but c'mon. Don't fail me now.

Here are a few things happening in my brain right now:

→ Vids. Vids. Vids. I told gigglemonster that I've got The Vids: Meaning, I have all the vid bunnies, but no actual vidding is ever accomplished. If someone walks past me whistling a tune, I am like "Oh! That would make a great vid for x, y or z fandom! *dreamy sigh*" I vid in my head and it is amazing, people. (All that being said, I have a The Killing, Generation Kill, and possibly a Shameless vid in the works.)



→ GENERATION KILL: Why had I not watched this before now? It was glorious and I love everyone. (Well, not everyone, Trombley.) I fully give slybrunette responsibility for this. And also, as I said on Tumblr (or somewhere) I think my ship goggles are broken. (Kaput!) Because of course I am going to totally latch onto Brad/Walt like some kind of weirdo who digs "mothering/care-taking" ships. (Who? ME? Holder/Linden, Stefan/Caroline, and speaking of shipping the wrong thing in war fandoms, Chuckler/Leckie, etc.) It's just not right. (Or fair.) Especially in a fandom that has a shit-ton of fic. It's like they're purposefully taunting me. At least slybrunette has said she'll try to write them for me. I might die of happiness. (Also, the fact that I am capable of finding Askars attractive is a complete shock to me. Just FYI. That is not a thing I was remotely interested in at all before now. No matter how many times True Blood showed us his ass.)



→ SHAMELESS: I'm catching up and I'm so glad. I missed the Gallaghers. (Except for Frank, of course.) And the Jacksons and the Fisher-Balls. Etc. I love this family so much that I will essentially take them any way that I can get them. Despite the gross Frank-drama in the first few episodes, and the fact that getting episodes is a pain in the ass sometimes, I pretty much love this show as if it were my own child. True story.

→ I think I promised to write some reactions to the deluge of season finales that happened. I... kind of never did that. I really should, but the further away from them I get the more detached I feel. I am sure there are one or two shows I haven't finished yet, so I'll come back to talk about those whenever I am done. But for now I think I'll just say that most of the finales this year (for me) were underwhelming. Finales usually fall into one of two categories. You've got "Really? That's it?" And then there's "Oh my god! Why isn't next season here right now!?!" There's no middle ground.

→ Right now I am mostly just looking forward to summer shows like Haven and the good parts of So You Think You Can Dance. (Auditions this year have been kinda meh - always my least favorite part of the show and they feel like they're taking forever this year.) And I really want to watch that Daniel Gillies pilot, even if it is potentially bad, just because Daniel Gillies could pretty much get me to do anything.

→ Speaking of things I'm going to be (potentially) watching later, I recently got access to HBOgo and I am like a kid in candy store. Seriously? BEST. After Generation Kill, I think I'll end up watching Game of Thrones, despite my better judgement. In fact, I may have already started on that front. Basically so far the only people who are not total creeps are the Starks. (I am not sure that is the reaction the producers intended.) And I also want to finally watch Six Feet Under, which I've always wanted to do. I was given season 1 on DVD and I have been avoiding watching it because I'm secretly afraid that I will love it so much and then I won't have any of the other seasons available. Problem solved!

→ I saw Snow White and the Huntsman and it was pretty much the best. I have been jonesing to see it ever since the trailers because that bit with the huntsman from the original Disney animation was, for me, literally the most interesting part of that movie. (Seriously? That thing is a snooze-fest. I always had a mini-panic attack any time one of the kids wanted to watch it. Please God, anything else!) I mean, he stalks her through the woods, raises the knife above her head, and then he just can't do it. And Neil reminded me this week about the deer heart that he brought to the queen instead. I was really interested to see that little side-plot explored in film. Plus, it just looked awesome? And it was. I mean, I'm sure there was room for improvement but I loved it a lot and generally that's my criteria for What Makes Something Good. My favorite thing about it was definitely the ambiguous love story. And the major, major OT3 vibes I got. (But I'm a weirdo, what do I know?)

→ Speaking of, why isn't Savages in my eyeballs right now? Same for Lola Versus. Dear Universe: GIVE IT ME.

→ I'm feeling really unproductive in the world of fic right now. Meaning there is so much fic that I want to write but I haven't had a chance to. I considered doing a fic meme but then there's always the guilt associated with the fact that I only end up writing a couple of the prompts that people took the time to leave. It's not fair to you guys. I have a lot of plans, always, but we'll see how that pans out. I definitely want this summer to be majorly productive. This is, by no means, a call for prompts, but if anyone wants to let me know what kind of pairings/fandoms they want to see me writing over the summer, I'll see what I can do!

→ In conclusion: Joel Kinnaman

gigglemonster emailed me this because she knows me too well:

Potential offensiveness (and badness) aside, it's practically tailor made for me. Definitely seeing it.

Posted via LiveJournal app for iPhone.

I feel like, if Tyler and Jeremy had a love child, he would be Rafael Cardoso:

He was in this lovely little film that not enough people watched, by the way.

→ Is anybody else having issues with Firefox? I just upgraded to the newest version after holding out at 3.9 (I think it was 3.9) for the majority of the year. I haven't even had a chance to play with the new version really (I literally just updated it before making this post.) But I have been annoyed with all of the other updates I tried (and then abandoned) this year. We used to be so tight, but I feel like Firefox has had an identity crisis this year and it's almost time for us to just break up. (Our relationship is starting to resemble an abusive one.)

→ I am kind of POed at The Vampire Diaries right now. ( because BLANK and BLANK )

→ Watched and loved Attack the Block, for those of you playing along at home.

→ I don't know if I'm going to do cards this year. I'm feeling kind of scatterbrained lately and it's already later than I usually ask for sign ups. Some people have asked for exchanges and I'll do them, but I'm not entirely sure I'll be able to pull myself together to send a bunch of stuff out. I can barely keep up with stuff that's going on as it is. (And I still have fic to read, and holiday fic to get a head start on!) I'll probably make the decision by next week, no later.

→ Speaking of Christmas, I have started my shopping. So far I've purchased a kickass Lightsaber for a 4 year old girl who loves Darth Vader, a power rangers watch for one of my nephews, and a real legit FiOS remote control (from eBay) for a 1 year old with an irrepressible addiction to all electronics with buttons. (His parents will thank me.)

→ Finished Mindy Kaling's book this week. It was adorable and funny. I think it wasn't as good as Bossypants for me, although in some ways it was slightly better (if that makes sense). Definitely check it out if you have the slightest interest in it. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

→ Everyone who hasn't needs to watch Shameless. Just saying. I sort of secretly revised my new shameless vid: fumbling through the gray and I'm burying this "announcement" in the middle of this post because this is something that I rarely (if ever) do. I just sneakily went in and replaced the source files. (Except on Tumblr which, as usual, hates me and won't let me edit the post at all - not even the tags!) This may be a dishonest and underhanded thing to do, but I had posted it in a sleep-deprived state at 5 in the morning and I just needed it to be more perfect, you know? [Guffaw.] Anyway, for those who care and who actually read this post, there is a new version up now.

→ I recently changed my ringtone from You Can Call Me Al, back to Twisted Nerve (the whistle from Kill Bill) which I have used for, literally, years. I can't really decided if this was a good move or not. I am kind of missing the Paul Simon.

→ I have 19 movies to watch before the end of the year to meet my standard goal of "100 new movies every year." Anybody have any suggestions for what to watch to fill in those last 19 slots? There are a couple of documentaries I've been planning on watching, but other than that and new stuff coming out in theaters I'm not sure. I may just end up binging on old noirs on Netflix streaming, if all else fails. ( what i've watched this year so far )

→ Just watched Another Earth. Gorgeous. And it made me cry several times. Loved Brit Marling, and William Mapother was pretty fantastic in it. I enjoy indie dramas because you get the chance to see people in roles they wouldn't necessarily be in. I like seeing the actors get to work with unique and thought-provoking material. With exceptions, this is not what movies are generally about - and it really isn't for everyone. The script was fantastic and broke my heart on several occasions. I appreciated that it did feel like something was actually happening in addition to all of the pathos. The movie Rabbit Hole had similar plot elements to this, right up to the idea of alternate universes and alternate selves. I enjoyed both. God, I miss being a movie nerd.

So, the cosmonaut. He's the first man ever to go into space, right? The Russians beat the Americans. So he goes up in this big space ship, but the only habitable part of it's very small. So the cosmonaut's in there, and he's got this portal window, and he's looking out of it, and he sees the curvature of the earth. For the first time. The first man to ever look at the planet he's from. And he's lost in that moment. And all of a sudden, this strange ticking begins coming out of the dashboard. He rips out the control panel, right? Takes out his tools, trying to find this sound -- trying to stop this sound. But he can't find it. He can't stop it. It keeps going. A few hours into this, it begins to feel like torture. A few days go by with this sound and he knows that this small sound will break him. He'll lose his mind. What's he going to do? He's up in space. Alone. In a space closet! He's got twenty-five days left to go with this sound. So the cosmonaut decides: the only way to save his sanity is to fall in love with this sound. So he closes his eyes and he goes into his imagination, and then he opens them. He doesn't hear a ticking anymore. He hears music. And he spends the remainder of his time sailing through space in total bliss and peace.

→ I have not actually had much to say lately. People (lovely lovely amazing people) wrote me fic and everything and I've just been off in la la land. Lurking and reading books and making shameless vids.

→ Misfits is back. (Yay!) Lost Girl is back. (Not even interested in watching this based on reviews I've read.) And I'm still behind on a lot of TV from last week. Fail boat.

→ I am reading Mindy Kaling's book, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) and so far I'm enjoying her tone but I'm barely into it so I can't say much more than that.

→ I love you and I miss you!