Of This and Other Worlds

I was going to write a review of the movie I saw last night (in 3D, which was rather irritating as I had to fit the 3D glasses over my regular glasses and the distance between the lenses and my eyes was a bit too far, thus rendering me slightly seasick throughout) but then I found that teenybuffalo had already written a thoughtful and lovely review with which I entirely agree, and which you can find here.

teenybuffalo also makes some smart points about Tintin's character, which is really not the blank slate that some claim -- he's just unrelentingly heroic and unflaggingly loyal, which is frequently mistaken for lack of personality by those who prefer morally ambiguous and/or tortured characters. However, I happen to quite like characters who are doggedly committed to doing the right thing if it kills them, so it never occurred to me to see Tintin as bland. Especially since he is, at times, quite wickedly clever and flat-out hilarious. ("...since I've just been bitten by this mad dog!")

One thing I also want to mention since I haven't seen it in any other reviews: I did not at any time feel that these characters fell into the Uncanny Valley, which was a pleasant surprise after the trailer (which did give me such worries). I was particularly watching the characters' eyes to decide if they looked "dead" or not, and I was thoroughly impressed by the light and expression in everyone's eyes. Also, the level of detail is phenomenal. You can see the fine hairs on Tintin's forearms and the texture of Haddock's skin. And Sakharine's hair is fab. :)

Upshot: I want more movies, please.

I have been known to rant about my dislike of certain aspects of the LotR movies (to wit: THE ENDLESS FIGHT SCENES PLEASE OH PLEASE MAKE THEM STOP WILL THEY NEVER STOP), but that being said, I am still unreasonably excited about the prospect of a cinematic version of The Hobbit, especially one starring Martin Freeman as Bilbo, the prospect of which causes me to squee at ear-piercing volume, if only in my head.

And then I saw that they've also cast Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield, and can only conclude that Christmas has come two months early this year.

Now all we need is Benedict Cumberbatch as the voice of Smaug (well, he said he wanted to play the role, and he and Freeman are buds, so why not?) and my triumph will be complete.

That is, at least until I see the movie and come out ranting about the ENDLESS FIGHT SCENES PLEASE OH PLEASE MAKE THEM STOP WILL THEY NEVER STOP, but I am an optimist.

There is going to be an Airman movie.

Oh YEAH. Best news since the Larklight movie. Assuming the movies are good, of course -- if they are terrible I will be baying for someone's blood.

Also, Laini Taylor is in the process of designing the perfect imaginary writing cabin. Go help her with your suggestions for making it even more fabulously peaceful and inspiring than it is already! Sigh... I wish I was there right now.

Overall I enjoyed it, but I'm not itching to run out and see it again. IMO this movie suffered from two of the same problems that made me dislike the Jackson LotR films:

( Spoilers )

On the plus side, however -- and there were quite a few plusses I didn't even expect:

( More Spoilers )

I'd say three out of five stars. Would have been much better if the fighting had been cut back and more time given to humor and character development. It's hard to care that much about people you've barely got to know, especially when some of them are behaving like the aforementioned utter prats.

ETA: If you have seen and reviewed this film in your LJ, can you drop me a link in Comments? I know I had to skip at least two or three reviews on my f-list for fear of spoiling or prejudicing myself...

I fail at holidays, so I have no timely New Year's post full of resolutions and thoughtful looks back at the year that was, or anything of that sort. I did, however, finish revising Chapter Eight of Knife (although it feels like a bit of a cheat, since I am splitting the original much-too-long chapter into two, so technically I'm only half finished). And that makes me happy, because it means I am still on schedule to get this puppy -- er, faery -- finished and back on my editor's desk by the end of February.

Meanwhile, I have been reading the last four Artemis Fowl books at a frightening pace, which is funny because I really didn't care at all for the premise or the execution when I read the first book, but I did develop a teeny tiny nagging litcrush on Artemis (shut up) and eventually I broke down and decided to find out what happened to him. And now I may kind of ship Artemis/Holly, in a deranged May-December way (yeah, yeah, I know, SHUT UP).

We also watched Amazing Grace on the weekend. Good film, that, and Ioan Gruffydd puts in a highly commendable performance. It even had extra bonus coolness in the form of Nicholas Farrell and Ciaran Hinds, although I was embarrassed to discover during the credits that I was incapable of telling Albert Finney and Michael Gambon apart. (At one point I actually wondered if Gambon were playing both Newton and Fox, but dismissed that as being too stupid.)

Apart from that... there isn't a whole lot else to say. Except that I do have one New Year's resolution after all: I have decided not to harsh anyone else's squee. If you think that you can therefore deduce my opinion of certain recent books, TV shows and/or movies by what I have not posted about them, you may be onto something. (Unless you were thinking about this season of House, which I have in fact been enjoying very much, so there.)

Man, I am boring these days. I apologize to all of you who were expecting actual content.

*skulks away*

Just for some perspective here, I'm not really a big fan of the HP movies. I don't have anything against them, and I've taken the time to see every one in the theatre so far... but I just don't get all excited about them, or normally feel any great desire to watch them more than once.

However, I've just come back from seeing OotP, the movie adaptation of my least favorite book in the series, and...

...I loved it.

No, really. I think it's the best movie yet. In fact --

*glances around nervously, whispers behind hand*

I think it's actually better than the book.

*runs away from lynch mob*

I just found out something about the Narnia film I hadn't realized before:

( Ware spoilers )

I can't believe I didn't notice that, but now that miladygrey has pointed it out, I'm totally blown away. It's just another of those clever but subtle little touches that makes the movie extra-nifty, in my view.

Anyway, I am not likely to be online for the next little while, so in case I don't get to say it before the date, a very merry Christmas to all who are celebrating it.

Roger Ebert's review of the Narnia film has some delicious turns of phrase. I laughed out loud at least twice. Anyway, he really liked it, and although I don't always agree with Ebert, I suspect I'll enjoy the film too.

I finally worked up the courage to a) ask my parents to babysit both boys and the baby for more than two hours and b) be away from the baby for a feeding. Apparently little Paul took the bottle of expressed milk I'd left for him just fine, and went off to sleep with very little fuss. *is hugely relieved*

So... now I've seen The Movie at last! But really, what can be said about it that hasn't been said already?

( A somewhat hasty (hoom, hoom) review )

Off to pump (meh, but this is what happens when you miss a feeding) and then to bed.

Thanks to Cheryl for pointing me to this trailer for the new Pride and Prejudice:

Is it September 16th yet?

With apologies to most of my friendslist, I've never been a Colin Firth fan, or at least I've never understood what was supposed to be so attractive about him, as Darcy or otherwise. Matthew MacFadyen, on the other hand? I've never seen the guy in anything before (or if I have, I didn't notice him enough to recall the name), but after this trailer, I am sold. Besides, Donald Sutherland as Mr. Bennet! And Judi Dench as Lady Catherine!

I think Mr. Collins is a bit too good-looking, though.

ETA: Oh, so MacFadyen is from Spooks/MI-5, is he? He looks a lot more baby-faced with short hair. But I've heard good things about the show so I'm going to assume he can act.