An open letter to James Cameron

Sir,

I had the pleasure of viewing your latest film, Avatar, this past weekend. While I was content to wait for Avatar to be released on DVD, The Scotsman was desperate to see it and I figured what the hell. I have to tell you James: I liked the movie a great deal. I had assumed the film was going to be an empty vehicle for special effects and CGI, but the story – while predictable at points – had quite a lot of substance and gravitas that I was not expecting. Bravo.

And while I'm giving out kudos, allow me to talk about those special effects and CGI: Nothing short of visually stunning. I'm so glad I got to see it on a big screen to fully enjoy the visual buffet you severed up. Amazing and spectacular.

But.

You spent millions and millions of dollars on this film. You have revolutionized the way motion capture is used and logged thousands of hours in post-production. You fully imagined a fictional world that still felt grounded and textured enough to be believable. All of this... and the best typeface you could come up with for the subtitles is Papyrus?

Seriously? FUCKING PAPYRUS.

James allow me to explain to you something that one of the 732 designers working on this movie did not: Papyrus is overused. It is the Comic Sans of the decade. Seriously. That font was over before it began. It's used by every hack wannabe designer who wants to make something look "antique," or "ancient," or in your case, "native." It's like dressing your movie up in a stunning ball gown and then accessorizing with leg warmers. Do you know how many thousands of expressive and interesting fonts and typefaces are available to you? Like what about Centaur? Or, Caslon Antique? How about LTD Pabst or Celestia? Try Fable or Galahad. Libra could look nice, or Serena. All of these typefaces are a steal at under $100. Considering your budget, you couldn't shell out $75 for something that didn't come included in your system fonts. And let's pretend you didn't have room in your budget for a new typeface: There bajillions free on the internet. In short using something as common and overused as Papyrus smacks of laziness and cheapened the whole movie for me. Every time it appeared on screen I wanted to throw popcorn at it.

Please take a typography class,

8K

Obligitory Oscar Post!

Remember how last year I, like, cleaned up all over the place taking Oscar pools for all they were worth? This year I didn't do so hot. I think I got 13 right in my predictions, while Gary got a whopping 17 correct, much to his delight. He kept shoving his ballot in my face and making self-satisfied "Hmmmmm" noises. Bastard.

Anyway.



So, Hugh Jackman. He's not my boyfriend Jon Stewart by any means, but he was fine. I wasn't overly wowed by him, but on the same hand I didn't think he was horrible either. He got the job done, basically. I did really enjoy his opening number though.



A confession about Anne Hathaway: I kind of like her. I didn't see Rachel Getting Married, but I heard from Stephanie that she knocked it out of the park in that role. And considering how crazy her personal life was in the past year, I think she's handled it all really well and is pretty classy. I really dug her doing the number with Jackman.



Debbie loved that Jackman "brought Broadway to Hollywood," as she put it, but I hated this number. It seemed really out of place, choppy, and contained far too much Zac Efron. Actually, the entire Oscar telecast featured too much Zac Efron. I just didn't get this bit or how it related given that there were only two musical movies this year (Mama Mia and High School Musical 3), neither of which were nominated for anything.



Generally I'm not a Ben Stiller fan. But this was hilarious. Come on. And Natalie Portman, I love you, but please eat a sandwich or twelve.

When it came to presenting the acting awards, I was torn about how the did them this year. On one hand, it was sweet to see past winners singling out the nominees and giving them each personal kudos. However, I thought some people got better speeches than others. And, I really missed seeing clips of their work. And it also went on forever.



YAY! I am, across the board, a huge Kate Winslet fan. I think she is just so rad. Aside from being ridiculously talented and gorgeous, she also comes across as incredibly clever, sincere, and normal. I sort of want to be Kate Winslet. I'm glad she finally got her Oscar and I loved her speech, especially when she had her Dad whistle to her and then she elatedly waved to him. She's fantastic.



Oh, I am so glad Slumdog Millionaire won. I saw it this past Monday with Kelly and just loved it. Months and months ago, before it was on anyone's radar, the Doc saw a screening of it and then told me it would win. I was skeptical because I hadn't even heard of it. Even Brisket was like, nope, we're not even going to screen it here at the KOP theater, it's too indie for anyone to care about. But WOW. How great to be wrong, and how awesome for an Indian film, half done in Hindi for crying out loud, to win. I'm so pleased.

All in all, I enjoyed this year's Oscar's. Deb's Annual Oscar party helped get me out of this "winter of discontent" attitude I've been in for the past week and a half, but next year I think I would like to be more low-key with my Oscar plans -- some wine, popcorn and a few catty friends. Who's in?

ETA: I also agree with everything said by Joe here.

The Dark Knight

Everything everyone is saying is true. It was awesome. Go see it.

Side note: Man, Batman fandom is just as bad as Harry Potter fandom, if not worse. I saw so many people dressed up last night -- at least three Batmans, six Jokers, two Harvey Dents, one Rachel Dawes and one Robin in my theater alone. Lord knows what the people in the other screening and IMAX looked like.

Johnny 5 is still alive

Dear Hollywood:

YOU HAVE OFFICIALLY RUN OUT OF IDEAS. STOP IT.

Way to ruin one of my favorite childhood movies,

Kate

Eleven Minutes...of AWESOME

Kelly and I went to the film festival on Saturday and saw this film, which was great. It's showing again tonight, if you want to check it out.

Also, we were thisclose to Jay McCarroll (he brushed up against my shoulder!) and totally could have talked to him, only Kelly and I were ill prepared and were dressed in jeans and hoodies and neither of us had the good sense to bring a pen or a camera. Nor did we have anything particularly interesting to say to him ("OMG! You're Jay McCarroll! You design awesome things!"), and would have sounded like noobs.

There was an after party at the Fels Planetarium where Jay would be showing his line, which Kelly and I really wanted to go to, but sadly we were bound by the SEPTA schedule and had to catch the last R5. Bugger.

It's that time again...

The Philadelphia Film Festival!

Who wants to go see some movies with me?

Oscar 2008 - Big money, no whammies, STOP!

Nothing clears up a foul mood like the Oscars. Well, if you're me anyway.

I went to Debbie and Brian's Annual Oscar Gala. And let me tell you, no one does Oscar quite like Debbie. Everyone comes dressed up as either a character from one of the movies or dressed for the "red carpet." Debbie has an entire room decked out with an Oscar trivia quiz. The living room is set up to resemble a theater and the names of stars are taped to the back of the chairs, just like the Oscars (I spent the better part of the evening in Cate Blanchet's seat and then switched to Tilda Swinton's seat).

And then, of course, there are the predictions. People. I ROCKED OUT.

They way it works at Debbie's is that you make your predictions and then as the awards are announced you have chances to win prizes for the category. And I completely housed everyone with 16 correct predictions.

Here's what I got right:

Original Screenplay - Juno
Costume Design - Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Film Editing - The Bourne Ultimatum
Art Direction - Sweeney Todd
Animated Feature - Ratatouille
Short Film (Live Action) - Le Mozart Des Pickpockets
Sound Editing - The Bourne Ultimatum
Original Score - Atonement
Make Up - La Vie En Rose
Visual Effects - The Golden Compass
Original Song - "Falling Slowly" from Once
Supporting Actor - Javier Bardem No Country for Old Men
Supporting Actress - Tilda Swinton Michael Clayton
Leading Actor - Daniel Day-Lewis There Will Be Blood
Directing - The Coen Brothers No Country for Old Men
Best Picture - No Country for Old Men

Not bad, no? Gary was so annoyed with me. Since this was my first Oscar Gala at Debbie's, he was used to winning all the time. He kept getting frustrated with me and calling me a "slut nugget" every time I raised my hand to announce that I had correctly picked the category.

But, I was wrong for a lot of them too.

Here's what I missed:

Documentary Feature - Taxi to the Dark Side (I hadn't seen any of the nominees, but predicted No End in Sight because I had read awesome reviews for it.)
Documentary Short - Freeheld (I chose La Corona, a complete guess on my part)
Foreign Language Film - The Counterfeiters (Another random guess on my part, I chose Katyn)
Sound Mixing - The Bourne Ultimatum (There was some science to this one -- I was pretty positive that Ultimatum would take the Sound Editing prize, so I figured the Academy would throw a bone to Transformers with Sound Mixing)
Screenplay Adapted - No Country For Old Men (I went for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly since I'd heard wonderful things about both the movie and the book, and since I'd also heard that No Country For Old Men is almost word for word from the book.)
Cinematography - There Will Be Blood (Again, I went for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly)
Short Flim (Animated) - Peter & the Wolf (I went for Madame Tutli-Putli, which from the short clips I saw, stylistically, it looked amazing.)

And finally, the one I was most happy to lose:



Leading Actress - Marion Cotillard in La Vie En Rose

People. She was fantastic in La Vie En Rose. FANTASTIC. But I put my money on Julie Christie since the Academy is a sentimental lot and statistically Foreign Language films don't win in major categories. I am so glad I was wrong. She totally deserved that Oscar.

Other wins and moments I was pleased with:



Javier Bardem, being basically awesome.



Daniel Day-Lewis being the most eloquent mofo on the planet. Now there's a man who knows how to make an acceptance speech.



YES, YES, YES! I am so glad that Once won in this category. If some schlock from Enchanted had won for Original Song then I would have had to have gone to the Academy and had a THROW DOWN. Once is such a sweet, gentle, thoughtful movie. I loved it. And I'm not going to lie to you. It reduced me to a pile of tears and hormones, it was so wonderful.

And then Glen Hansard's sweet and sincere speech in that lovely Irish brogue. "Tanks, Tanks! Make art!" LOVE HIM. But even better:



My boyfriend Jon Stewart being a classy bitch and bringing back Marketa Irglova so she could have her moment. I hate HATE when the Oscar people cut speeches off, especially when there are multiple people winning. It's not fair that one person gets to have their moment and others are shafted. It's the Oscars. It's supposed to be long and you're supposed to hear people thank their Mom.

Anyway, I won some awesome prizes. I made out like a bandit! For my category wins I got: Michael Clayton on DVD, a copy of the book Atonement, A Bob Dylan biopic/concert on DVD, a set of swirly straws ("I drink your milkshake"), and some Pirates of the Caribbean stickers.

And then, since I got the most correct I also won the grand prize: Two different box sets of past Best Picture winners. How Green Was My Valley, The Apartment, Marty, to name a few.

As of this post, I'm still waiting on my office pool. Last tally I was tied for first. I love this Oscar Pool/prediction thing! I'm doing it every year from now on!

Fantasy British Acting Mafia

When you watch as much British television and as many British movies as I do, you begin to notice things. You begin to see patterns and links between actors. Like, "Hey it's that guy! You know, the one that was in that other movie with Bill Nighy!" A sort of six degrees of separation for British actors. Stephanie calls this The British Acting Mafia.

To give an example(Doctor Who of course, since it's what I've been watching obsessively): David Tennant, the current Doctor, starred in Secret Smile with Kate Ashfield, who was the lead chick in Shaun of the Dead. She starred in Shaun of the Dead with Jessica Hynes (who, incidentally, guest starred on two episodes of Doctor Who). Jessica Hynes was in Bob & Rose with Lesley Sharp. Lesley Sharp gave a tour de force performance in The Second Coming with Christopher Eccleston, who ALSO PLAYED THE DOCTOR in Doctor Who! TA-DA. See? British Acting Mafia! And I'm only skimming the surface here*.

Anyway. Because I'm a dork and was thinking about how much Stephanie and I squee whenever we recognize someone and make these links, I developed a game. Instead of fantasy football or baseball or whatever, with its statistics and trading and all the nonsense that I just don't get, Fantasy British Acting Mafia. Here's how it works. Think of your favorite British actors. Imagine them in an awesome roll. When it comes true, you win!

The first installation of Fantasy British Acting Mafia we have one of the coolest things ever. I am so bummed that it's sold out/I don't have a Sugar Daddy/I can't just up and go to England.

Chiwetel Ejiofor and Ewan McGregor in Othello. Whoever cast that, you get a medal. That's going to rock.

*Ok, I could also mention that Kate Ashfield was in The Best Man with Richard Coyle, who you know from Coupling, who was also in -- get this -- Othello with Christopher Eccleston. I KNOW. I could go on all day like this.

DONE and DONE, bitches

OK, so the conference is over. I managed to come out unscathed. Everything got done in time, with the exception of the Blooper reel, which was technically done on time, but I was unable to burn it to DVD since the server had a complete mental break down on me and told me it would take me eleventy thousand hours. Which it didn't. WHATEVER, SERVER.

Anyway.

The response seems to be good, although I am skeptical in my thinking and believe that people are just being polite. The videos aren't as HA-HA funny this year, it's much more of an awkward funny (We did a spoof of The Office, so a lot of the jokes had a bit of a bitter twinge to them). Regardless, I apparently got an ovation at the conference (which I wasn't able to see since I was fighting with the DVD burner, SCREW YOU SERVER) and a bouquet of lovely tea roses was brought to me.

So, I think I am deserving of a night chilling out before I haul ass on my midterm, which OMG, is due in SIX DAYS.

If I make it through this next week, I'll be golden.

OOOOOOOOOOTP!

I think I need more coffee. I am very tired.

I may or may not have seen Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix last night. At midnight. On IMAX. Where the last 20 minutes were in 3-D. While wearing a team shirt made for me by Stephanie.

I have fully embraced that I am a raging dork.

Initial Thoughts (with spoilers, natch)

I liked it. The 3-D stuff at the end was so flippin cool, most especially the climactic duel between Dumbledore and Voldemort. It was so totally worth the $16 ticket. But I'm always disappointed on what the directors/writers cut out or change. In the book Harry is an annoying, frustrated, pissy little punk. While reading you understand why he is all these things, and you sympathize, but you also want to climb in the book, twist him by the ear and yank him off his huffy bike. The movie sort of glosses over this a bit. Like, you see maybe 2 scenes of him being pissy and then he's normal Harry again.

I hated the woman who played Mrs. Figg. She was flat and monotoned. I wished I could have seen more from the Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes storyline (although the Fred and George attack on Umbridge did not disappoint). Imelda Staunton did an awesome job as Umbridge, you hate her hard core the entire time, just as you should. The movie did a really good job of showing the bond between Harry and Sirius, your heart just breaks at the end. As always, big ups to my boy Alan Rickman who I adore as Snape (oh god, I can't wait to see what he does with the role in Half-Blood Prince). Michael Gambon needs to delve a bit deeper as Dumbledore.

Overall it's good fun. My favorite movie is still Prisioner of Azkaban, which I think really captures both the storyline and the essence of the book the best. Roger Ebert pans OOTP a bit, and I sort of know where he's coming from. The movie is missing something, it's hard to put your finger on what exactly. My guess is that because the book is so huge the movie has a lot to slog through, in this case it may feel as if the exposition fairy is laying it all out for you in the script and lines, instead of showing it and letting the camera do the work, especially if you haven't read the books. Still, I enjoyed it. It's worth seeing it in the theater, and the IMAX experience is worth it too for that neato 3-D.

Now, just 10 more days until Deathly Hallows!