Thoughts

1) First of all, congrats to everyone nominated for The Lammys! You guys rock :D


2) Cannes Film Festival got over this week. I was watching some show in which this Indian chick got to go and interview people like Wes Anderson and Edward Norton. Gah I hate her!! I want to talk to Ed Norton :( Anyways the Palme d'Or went to Michael Haneke's Amour. Haneke's previous film The White Ribbon was also a Palme d'Or winner. I didn't like that one much, but The Piano Teacher which one the Grand Prix back in 2001 has become a recent favourite of mine. I am very much looking forward to seeing Amour. This year the Grand Prix went to Reality. Mads Mikkelsen won Best Actor for his performance in Jagten (The Hunt) and Best Actress went to Cristina Flutur & Cosmina Stratan for their performances in Beyond the Hills. I must admit I haven't heard of many of the other films that won other prizes. The Caméra d'Or or Best First Feature Film did go to Beasts of the Southern Wild, which had also won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance and which many of the critics are already calling one of the best films of the year so far. I am looking forward to seeing as many of these films as I can.


3) The Television BAFTAs took place this week as well. Benedict Cumberbatch lost again! I smell a Sherlock-hating rat with a pip-squeaky voice. What the hell people! Still, the best part of the show was when he, along with my soulmate and the current Doctor Who- Matt Smith, presented the Special Award to Steven Moffat, the headwriter for both their shows. The quirky sexy duo were just perfect. Also, Andrew Scott won the Best Supporting Actor for his chillingly brilliant performance of Jim Moriarty, which was awesome! Last year, this award was won by the fantastic Martin Freeman, who plays Doctor Watson and had been nominated again this year. So basically everyone has won except Cumberbatch. Curses! Also regarding season 3 of Sherlock, this is what Moffat had to say- "We’re trying to schedule everything around everything. Obviously, Sherlock Holmes is off battling Captain Kirk, and Dr Watson is helping Gandalf, and I’m in the TARDIS." Lovely bloke.


4) Oh Game of Thrones watchers- how bloody awesome was Blackwater?!! Peter Dinklage and Lena Headey are like my favourite TV actors at present. Also you must read this- A-Z of Game of Thrones. Go to J!!


5) Pictures- Bling Ring is on! Just from this one picture, it looks very different from what we have come to expect from Sofia Coppola. True she focuses on the bored privileged people a lot, but there is something very beautiful about that. This just looks, to borrow a word from Ferris Bueller's Day Off, very snooty. Also I am starting to get the feeling that Emma Watson may be the lead, though a huge part of me thinks otherwise. This poster for Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises hits the note in every single way. It's my favourite so far, and it is exactly what I would expect from Catwoman. I hope Anne Hathaway does justice to the role. Also, my most anticipated film of the year, Django Unchained, has released some new gorgeous shots and increased my anticipation even more. A teaser is coming out soon- YESSSS!!


6) Trailers- The aforementioned Amour's subtitled trailer is out. It has Isabelle Huppert in it, which is enough to make me want to watch the film. Abraham Lincoln:Vampire Hunter has a third trailer out. Theoretically, I like the idea of this film. However, now having watched Dark Shadows and seeing how writer Seth Grahame-Smith adapts movie scripts, I'm a bit scared. Still, the comments below the video are pretty hilarious. There is apparently some Tom Felton movie coming out called The Apparition. It also has Twilight's Ashley Greene and Captain America's Sebastian Stan. Yeah I don't really care, but I am a Harry Potter loyalist so I am obliged to post about it, despite Felton's hairstyle in this movie. The biggest teaser of this week is of Tom Hooper's adaptation of the musical Les Misérables. It honestly does nothing for someone like me, who is ignorant of the source material and who isn't brought to tears by the idea of a period musical, except of course for the high profile cast and Anne Hathaway's lovely singing (just give her the Oscar already!). For me personally, Hugh Jackman singing would have been a bigger draw. Still, I will wait for the trailer and hope that it changes my mind. 


7) Finally, this week I decided to go for some someecards humour for us film nerds-

Genius.

Ciao.

The Critical Eye VS Eye Candy

How Do You Rate A Film Like This Means War? (sung to the tune of "How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?")

               Ever since I had heard about this film on my regular IMDb rounds, I was really pumped to see a film in which Chris Pine and Tom Hardy fight over Reese Witherspoon. Partly because it sounded fun and the fact that these are good actors that I usually like, but mostly because I am one of those neanderthal women who gets a real kick out of watching two hot guys fight. Especially over a girl. Seriously. I mean I am uncontrollable during the goofy fight scene between Colin Firth and Hugh Grant in Bridget Jones's Diary. I hoot and cheer and well, act crazy, so you can imagine me during the trailer when Pine and Hardy, who are definitely the more badass opponents in every way, fighting with guns and tables and what not.


                And today, I watched the movie. Let me tell you that my cheeks are paining right now due to all the smiling I did throughout the movie. And I smiled a lot, and really big smiles too. I enjoyed every stupid element in it, just because they were being done by two unbelievably gorgeous men. And they were gorgeous! Especially Chris Pine with his sparkly blue eyes... okay I'm digressing. Anyways, all that was fine until I sat down to rate it. This is the thing- I don't know how. How can I think about a film like this in the same way I think about other films, since my brain was pretty much the last organ I was using while watching it. I was using even my facial muscles more, you know.


                So here's my question- should one always watch a film with a critical eye, or can we occasionally sit back and let the raging hormones and all that do the work and just enjoy all the eye candy? 

Look at that swag (can't believe I just wrote that).

Thoughts

1) Look at the banner people! Granted it's pre-2011, but so much joys.

2) So one of my most anticipated movies of this year, Alfonso Cuarón's space epic Gravity has been pushed back to 2013. Gahh. It sounds so mindblowingly amazing. Already I have an ever-growing list of films that I must watch next year- Sofia Coppola's Bling Ring, Daniel Radcliffe-starrer Kill Your Darlings, the sequel to Star Trek, the very strange sounding Pacific Rim by Guillermo Del Toro, some other 100 sequels.

3) Joel Edgerton has dropped out of double feature The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby and has been replaced the James "BLUEEE-EYES" McAvoy. Yaay. I mean I will pay good money to watch just one movie with McAvoy and Jessica Chastain, and these are two different movies- His and Hers, which in itself sound very intriguing. Edgerton frightens me a little bit, and I absolutely adore McAvoy, so I'm very happy with this casting choice.

4) Speaking of happy casting choices, Cate Blanchett and Mia Wasikowska will star in the movie adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's The Price of Salt, which will be called Carol. It is a romantic story, about an up-and-comer, played by Wasikowska, who falls for a middle-aged housewife, played by Blanchett, in New York in the 1950s, who then set out across the United States with a private investigator in their trail. I read somewhere this will almost be like Brokeback Mountain for lesbians since it's a great emotional story. The two Aussie actresses are absolutely lovely and I am very excited for this project. Also it will be co-written and directed by John Crowley, who made the brilliant yet underrated Boy A.

5) Trailers and Teasers and Clips, Oh My - Hyde Park on Hudson which has Bill Murray playing FDR. It can be a charming movie, but the trailer is all over the place. Love the cast- especially Murray and Laura Linney. Magic Mike's second trailer is much more about objectifying men than custom furniture, as it should be. It does look interesting, but gahh Channing Tatum. The Watch which looks insane. Like a wannabe Edgar Wright movie, but I do think that the people in it are all right. Won't Back Down which isn't a sequel to Never Back Down. In fact it stars Oscar nominees Viola Davis and Maggie Gyllenhaal. The trailer is awful, but the film might just be good-ish. Now on to Cannes- Holy Motors which everyone seems to love because of its craziness has an equally mundane yet captivating trailer. The Paperboy, which everyone hates because Nicole Kidman looked so wonderfully trashy, like seen in the clip. Killing Them Softly which has some totally random clip not even with Brad Pitt, but people seem to really like this film. The new Bond film Skyfall has a cracker of a teaser out. It looks absolutely incredible and cool, and I'm properly excited for this film now. It's just how a teaser should be made, and the same goes for P.T. Anderson's The Master (and with that all the film nerds died and went to heaven). This too looks awesome and weird and Joaquin Phoenix is back on his A-game. Finally, my king of trailers, one that I have seen about 30 times already- Baz Luhrmann's gorgeous and wonderfully OTT adaptation of The Great Gatsby. I love how it looks, and we can already see the many details from the beloved novel like the gigantic bespectacled eyes that have literally been haunting me, the beautiful shirts scene, the swimming pool etc. I love how pretty Leo looks, and Mulligan too (still not Daisy, sorry). I loved how sexy Jordan was in the book, and newcomer Elizabeth Debicki nails it. Joel Edgerton looks totally repulsive, how Tom was. Also Amitabh Bachchan, who is one of the biggest Bollywood stars, makes his Hollywood debut in this. The only thing lacking in the trailer was Tobey Maguire, and I hope they don't reduce his role because I love Nick as I love all narrators. All of this, perfectly complimented by that controversial Jay Z- Kanye West track in the opening and then the amazing Jack White cover of "Love is Blindness" later on. LOVE IT!!

6) Someone buy me this. Please.

7) Finally, I'm sorry I have nothing so I'm going to leave you with this-

Bye. Keep twirling :D

10 Best Actors of All Time- Relay Race

Phew! This relay race, started by Nostra at My Film Reviews has been going around for a while now- more than two months. And it's finally here, thanks to the lovely Ruth at "...let's be splendid about this...". This is the idea-

"I've created a list of what I think are the best actors. At the end I, just like in a real relay race, hand over the baton to another blogger who will write his own post. The blogger will have to remove one actor (that is an obligation) and add his own choice and describe why he/she did this. At the end the blogger chooses another blogger to do the same. We will end up with a list (not ranked in order) which represents a common agreement of the best actors."

First, the race so far-

• My Film Reviews
• The Focused Filmographer
• Front Room Cinema
• I Love That Film
• Flixchatter
• All Eyes On Screen
• Time Well Spent
• The Warning Sign
• moviesandsongs365
• And So it Begins...
• Cinematic Corner
• And Buckle's Film Emporium
• Duke and the Movies
• Southern Vision
• Defiant Success
• Cinematic Paradox
• Encore Entertainment
• Okinawa Assault
• Amiresque
• Flickers
• Aziza's Picks
• "...lets be splendid about this..."

The Actors

Humphrey Bogart

Robert De Niro

Marlon Brando

Daniel Day Lewis

Jack Nicholson

Paul Newman

Ralph Fiennes

James Stewart

Gary Oldman

Now who I was going to pick was easy. The real difficult task was who to cut from this prestigious (I think I can say that) list. I chose-

Jeff Bridges

For the simple reason that I couldn't possibly cut anyone else from the list. Bridges is a wonderful actor and has done a variety of roles in many genres. My favourite performance of his is *obviously* as the Dude in The Big Lebowski. But I feel least guilty about this choice, so I am going to go with it. Sorry Dave!

Now my choice. Drum roll please, maybe a few bagpipes too-

Johnny Depp

Let me tell you a little anecdote first. In my final year of school, my batch was given a graduation party for the first time. With the hat and the gown and everything. Each and every student from my batch received a personalised citation from the school that talked about their personality, talents, activities, etc. My citation talked about how I was an "ardent fan of Johnny Depp" among other things. This is my legacy in the most important institution of my life so far. And I love it!

I wrote a tribute for him on his birthday a couple of years back. My first Depp film was Edward Scissorhands and I was truly amazed by this weird creature. I don't think I even considered him as an actual person who is pretending to be someone else- I most certainly did not know who Johnny Depp was back then. I was just in awe. It was much later, when I saw the first Pirates of the Caribbean film on DVD, that the bug finally bit me. I mean Captain Jack Sparrow is like a tour de force- there is no one like him, and as I started watching more of Depp's filmography, I came to realise that no one else could have possibly played him.

Johnny Depp has the uncanny ability to blend into his roles, which are more often than not, quite crazy. But he makes them believable. He has a star quality, but he still isn't quite the star. His work in everything- Benny and Joon, Ed Wood, Donnie Brasco, Fear and Loathing Las Vegas, Sleepy Hollow, Blow, Secret Window, Finding Neverland, Sweeney Todd, Public Enemies- it is all quite splendid. Even today, when his career choices seem to have gone awry, he can play an animated cowboy lizard in an Oscar-winning film and make people weep with laughter in a four minute scene. Johnny Depp lives acting in many ways, and I seriously think that his best is yet to come.

For this reason and many more, Johnny Depp is my one and only pick for this fantastic list of great actors. I hope he stays there for a while :)

I now pass on the figurative battalion to SDG of U, Me and Films. 

Thoughts

          Ahoy there mateys! No it's not Talk Like A Pirate Day, I'm just being weird. I recently found out that Wednesday is called Hump Day. That sounds very R-Rated. I know I'm not one to speak as I, very innocently I might add, indirectly sort of dropped the c-bomb in the last weekly thoughts post to describe a character from Game of Thrones :P Now I don't use that word in real life, it was just a reference to how another character described him, and the poster was from Tumblr. I do use the f-bomb, but that is because it's a great word. I'm going to try and make this post as kid-friendly as possible, just for the fun of it.


1) So Kurt Russell and Sacha Baron Cohen also dropped out of Django Unchained, following JGL's exit. What is wrong with these people?! I would put my life on hold just to be the garbage thrower on this set. You get to be around Quentin Tarantino and see a true genius at work. Gah. If anyone else leaves, I am going to start sending hate mails. Obviously that doesn't mean actual mail; I'm just going to think about it really hard and send negative vibes to them, like how I've been sending to the Academy ever since Tom Hooper won Best Director and doubly so since they completely and criminally ignored Harry Potter.


2) Something the Academy did do right was give Aaron Sorkin that Oscar for The Social Network. Now he is going to adapt Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs. They couldn't have chosen a more perfect person. This is the proper Steve Jobs film, and not the Ashton Kutcher hippie one. Now on to the casting of the legendary Apple creator- I really can't think of anyone. Noah Wyle played his younger version in the made-for-television film Pirates of Silicon Valley, which I haven't seen, but he seems like a very good choice. But seriously, my mind is blank for this. It will be interesting to see who they choose. Jesse Eisenberg was inspired casting for Mark Zuckerberg, so let's hope they strike gold again.


3) David Yates won't be directing Your Voice in My Head. So weird. I was almost getting somewhat excited for this (it still sounds too weepy). The biggest reason for that was the inclusion of Stanley Tucci as the main male lead, opposite Emma Watson. Tucci needs his big role, so I hope he stays and they get a good director.


4) Clark Gregg, who played the uhmazing Agent Phil Caulson in the Avengers movies, is set to star in the next Jason Reitman film Labor Day. Yaay! I'm a huge Reitman fan and love all his films to bits. Gregg will be joining Kate Winslet (!) and Josh Brolin. The plot revolves around how Winslet's character and her son pick-up a drifter, played by Brolin, on Labor Day, who then turns out to be an escaped convict. Reitman's films are great dramedies, with unique characters, so it will be interesting to see what he does here.


5) The Lammys are going on in full swing. I have already nominated people. My favourite part though are all the excellent banners which can be seen here. I only just realised that my Weekly Thoughts are a regular feature since they happen every week more or less, and were eligible for Best Running Feature. Ah well, there's always a next time.


6) Trailers galore- The Gangster Squad, which despite its amazing cast and premise, looks a bit fishy to me, I don't know why. But yaay for the Gos doing "sexy time" with the Stone. What does look great is Argo which is Ben Affleck's next directorial effort. I love the whole idea of it... it looks funny and serious and engaging. There is the four-minute preview of The Amazing Spiderman which has a clip at the start and the rest is the trailer from earlier. I am not liking the look, or the sound, of this film at all. I hate the unnecessary loud rock music. One of the many reasons why The Avengers worked so well was because it didn't blow up the ears of its audience. Poor Andrew Garfield- at least he has his Tony nomination. There's Maniac's teaser trailer, in which Elijah Wood, with his big blue eyes, plays some kind of a creepy serial killer. It looks quite interesting, I'll give it that. The king of the trailers this week is not of a film, but of the one and only, fang-tastic True Blood Season 5! Woohoo! Eric Northman is back y'all, in period costume too.


7) All of my tv shows have ended or are ending. Curses! This is why I didn't used to watch so much tv- now I don't know what to do. All the season finales were great- The Vampire Diaries (yes I watch that, don't be alarmed) has the best season finale ever. Damon Salvatore rocks my boat! New Girl was as adorable as ever- especially loved the part when Zooey Deschanel tries to be the roadrunner. And then we have Parks and Recreation, where I cried when Leslie's dream finally came true. The only show that can make me laugh and cry effectively. Also Leslie Knope is a great role model, and I think the only one I have that my parents will approve of. Otherwise there are people like April Ludgate, Samantha Jones from Sex and the City, Mavis Gary from Young Adult, almost all of Allison Janney's characters, and Wednesday Addams of course. Game of Thrones has three more episodes left... it's getting very exciting. I didn't know the guy who played Theon was Lily Allen's brother! He's so ugly though, as are most of them. It's not a very good-looking cast, but quite a striking one. Once this gets over, I'll have to wait for True Blood. I love the new poster, as I love all of its posters. My favourite was the "cup of Joe" one- so witty and disturbing, just like the show. Also Doctor Who has a minisode out next week. It's those script-to-screen ones which are bound to terrible as they're written by kids, but yaay- Matt Smith! Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill have officially finished their tenure as the Doctor's companions and will be be sorely missed. Tears everywhere.


8) Finally, I love this-

Bye.

"I'm not finished."

           After doing the The Film Experience's "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" last year with one-half of my two most favourite movies of all time, Moulin Rouge!, I had expected to partake in many more of these this year. Alas it wasn't to be, but with a lot of difficulty I've managed to do one such post for another of my most favourite movies, another romantic one- Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands.

         It is a very interesting looking film. I thought about several aspects of it which I like. One of the funniest things about the film, because it is a very hilarious film too, is the gossiping housewives. This time around, I actually noticed how Burton showcases their hair, since that will become a bit of a centerpiece of the film later on. If you enlarge the picture, you'll see how Helen, played by Conchatta Ferrell (the second housewife) still has a roller in her hair in the last shot.

          The most ferocious housewife of them all of course is Joyce, played splendidly by Kathy Baker. When I was taking screencaps of the film for this post, I felt oddly compelled to take some of her big, witchy, sharper-than-scissors nails.

          Also the scissors- I love how almost always the scissors are shown before Edward himself. It is a sad albeit incredulous reminder of what life must be for a man like him.

          Look at this gem of a shot where both are shown together- wonder which one is more deadlier...

         But now, after this rather long intro, let me get to my favourite shot. It was a little difficult to choose because my personal favourite part of the film is when Kim, played by the lovely Winona Ryder, asks Edward to hold her, and he says that he can't; it is a painfully beautiful scene that unfortunately cannot be captured in a screencap... you have to see Johnny Depp's amazing acting to truly feel it. But then, Kim makes him embrace her, and there is a little flashback to when the Inventor, played by Vincent Price, is finally going to give him real hands.

            It is this part that makes you realize how much he wants to be with Kim. He yearns for her, for her touch and beauty and love, as much as he yearns to have hands and be normal. And somewhere inside he's afraid it won't be just like how he never was able to get the normal hands. This is the true tragedy of Edward Scissorhands, the one and only.

The Ultimate Sofia Coppola List

         
           It's Sofia Coppola's 41st birthday today. She is one of my most favourite directors, and definitely my favourite female director. Her films have this wonderfully romantic and lost aspect to them that make them endlessly dreamy. I just love it. The girls and women depicted in her films are exactly like that too, which is why I've always believed that no female can look prettier than in a Sofia Coppola movie.

            I was going to do a mini-reviews post on her films, but have now decided to do a sort of list with all of her directorial work, including short films, advertisements and music videos. This also makes it more interesting since a list with only the movies becomes redundant with a Favourite 100 Movies List like mine. I couldn't find her first short film Bed, Bath and Beyond anywhere. Also the music videos to "City Girl" by Kevin Shields and "Playground Love" by Air are basically just clips from the movies they were in- Lost in Translation and The Virgin Suicides respectively. The latter does include singing pieces of chewing gum, but yeah, I'm not considering that.

11) Shine by Walt Mink

This was all the way back in 1993. The video quality isn't very good, but one can see the theme of rich, bored, beautiful people that will be unique to her films later on. It was edited by her ex-husband Spike Jonze, who was apparently the basis for the Giovanni Ribisi's highly annoying character in Lost in Translation.

10) This Here Giraffe by The Flaming Lips

I'm not that well-acquainted with the music of The Flaming Lips, but I like the idea of these monochrome-clad rockstars visiting the zoo on a nice sunny day. Also the bed looks like it belongs to a very young girl. Also it has Leslie Hayman, who plays the Therese Lisbon in The Virgin Suicides- arguably the sister with the smallest role.

9) City of Light fragrance by Christian Dior, starring Natalie Portman

This has a kind of Audrey Hepburn-ish aura about it. Miss Portman looks gorgeous and I think Alden Ehrenreich is adorable, but still, the whole product ends up being a little bland.

8) Marni for H&M starring Imogene Poots

It is set in the beautiful Marrakesh, Morocco. I love the colours in this ad. Imogene Poots looks lovely.

7) Lick the Star

To explain this, I will use a set of quotes from another of Sofia's films- "What are you doing here, honey? You're not even old enough to know how bad life gets. - Obviously doctor, you've never been a thirteen year-old girl." While I've never experienced the "clique" system of an American high school, there are things even I find relatable in this short film. Also, I love the badassery of the lead character when we first see her. The second part is here.

6) I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself by the White Stripes

I'm not a Kate Moss fan, but even I can't deny the pure sexiness she exudes here. However it's not perverse... I think it's kind of sad. With the title of the song and how it is sung, it really feels like a lost soul trying to figure out her life in a most free sort of way. I really love it.

5) Somewhere

Many say this is the film that all of her other films were leading up to. As a star-child herself, Sofia's first-hand experience with all the loneliness and pointlessness that a Hollywood celebrity and their children face is an obvious basis for this film. It is a critical look at such a life, but her films ultimately look so gorgeous that it takes a while to get to that. Still, the malaise that her films are known for is most pronounced in this. I love Stephen Dorff and Elle Fanning in it.

4) Lost in Translation

This is the most celebrated of all her films yet, and rightly so. I don't think the meeting of two kindred spirits has never been shown more beautifully than in this film. The performances by both the leads is excellent, though just the little subtleties in everything that Bill Murray does leave me speechless. He should have won that Oscar. Scarlett Johannson's Charlotte is the character most of us connect with the best. Also that inaudible whisper... sigh.

3) Miss Dior Chérie fragrance by Christian Dior, starring Maryna Linchuck

This is my most favourite commercial ever. I want to live in it, for real. It's so pretty and girly! I love the liveliness in it, and everything the enchanting Maryna Linchuck does.

2) The Virgin Suicides

Ugh the Lisbon sisters and their eternal mystery that will never cease to baffle and entice the narrators or us. It's a very ambiguous, dreamy film, but there is a certain magic to it. I wish I could make something like this. I also wish Sofia revisits this kind of a film, one that has a certain amount of enigma and cheekiness to it.

1) Marie Antoinette

My very unique opinion, but I can't help it. With all the grandeur and the anachronistic pop tunes and American accents and everything that is oh so pretty, I absolutely adore this film. Kirsten Dunst embodies the lavishness and the confusion of the young and doomed monarch. People say it is too shallow- it can be, but only because it was expected of someone like the titular character. Also one of my most favourite endings ever. I think every director does one film like this- plain ambitious and well, selfish in a way. This is Sofia Coppola's and I love every minute of it.

So there you have it. I hope you enjoyed it. 
Also, A Very Happy Birthday to Sofia Coppola. 
Can't wait for Bling Ring!

The Extraterrestrial Blogathon

Sam Fragoso at Duke & The Movies has come up with an excellent blogathon, whose premise is-

"Extraterrestrial forces land on Earth. Unknowing of our planet and society, you can pick five films from the history of cinema that represent humanity. What titles would you choose and why?"

I thought a lot about this. Listed and crossed out many a celebrated title. I was originally going for a much more rounded approach, but then I decided to go the Doctor Who way, because I do hope the aliens are as awesome as David Tennant and Matt Smith make them out to be. When I meet them, I would like to show them what for me represents the best of humanity. Here's hoping that they don't turn out to be Daleks and facehuggers.

Honourable Mentions: Citizen Kane, Juno, The Great Escape, My Dinner with Andre and all the Lord of the Rings movies (how I wish it was just one big film).

My five films:

Pan's Labyrinth (Dir: Guillermo Del Toro)

A bit of the light and dark in humans. In most certainly the bleakest times that our species have ever faced, the pure imagination of a young girl and the courage of a few independent people flourish. It shows our ability to create fantastical places in our mind, the beauty of childhood, and the ultimate good that comes to all those who are brave and kind.

Ratatouille (Dir: Brad Bird)

Because hellooo, human food is amazing! I have always thought this Pixar masterpiece is the simplest and most ambitious of the lot. A rat who wants to cook. We as a species can come up with a concept like that- weird but just to show our undying ability to believe in dreams. Yes some of us can be haughty and egotistical, but simple things can tap into us and make us happy and forget all that.

Moulin Rouge! (Dir: Baz Luhrmann)

To show how art defines us. We as a species love stories and music and theatre... "All the world's a stage" and all that. Also since the aliens are landing now, what better way to introduce them to the many things that are part of our culture- from pop tunes to musicals (even Bollywood!) to our eternal fixation with the story of doomed love. Romanticising things, including tragedy, is part of our psyche, and it's never been more eccentric and ecstatic than this.

2001: A Space Odyssey (Dir: Stanley Kubrick)

For our ambition and curiosity and daring. I have only seen this once properly, but I don't think any film will ever aspire to broaden our ideas of well, everything, like this one has. I still don't know what it is about exactly and I'm pretty sure I never will, but I can understand, and so will the aliens, that this shows the zeal of humans to question things- of our origin and our future, of our true nature and what it may become, and a whole mixed bag of other stupendous stuff. It's just epic.

The Breakfast Club (Dir: John Hughes)

The undauntable spirit of youth. This was the first film I thought of for this blogathon, and to explain, I'll use a rather long quote from one of my most favourite books (educating the aliens even more) 'When adults say, "Teenagers think they are invincible" with that sly, stupid smile on their faces, they don't know how right they are. We need never be hopeless, because we can never be irreparably broken. We think that we are invincible because we are. We cannot be born, and we cannot die. Like all energy, we can only change shapes and sizes and manifestations. They forget that when they get old. They get scared of losing and failing. But that part of us greater than the sum of our parts cannot begin and cannot end, and so it cannot fail.'

Just that, and how the future really is the future. Also this film is about however different our personalities and backgrounds are, we're all made of the same stuff inside.

When I told my friend about this whole concept and my choice of films, she sort of reprimanded me on being so positive. I really am not; in fact I'm quite the pessimist in most cases. But when it comes to films, they are the one truly great and wonderful medium, at least for me, that bring out the best in things. I mean even the worst of scenarios and settings and characters are shown beautifully, so the lighter side of things look so much more brighter. It makes me endlessly joyous. Therefore I would obviously like to show the aliens just that- the best, of the best. Then we just have to hope and pray that we don't get exterminated.

Thoughts about the Lammys

Due to some really stupid coincidence, this is the second time when the Lammys are here and I am without my computer. This was the reason why I had no idea what was happening last year and couldn't take part in anything. I'm marginally better off this year (with a friend's laptop). Still I wasn't very sure if my blog is good enough for the many categories, simply because I don't blog much, and review even less.

However, I've decided to put a sock in my self-deprecation and rally for my blog, Being Norma Jeane, in three Lammy categories.

Best Blog- 'Cuz why the hell not? You know the whole "How ever it is, it is MINE and I lurve it" concept. 

Funniest Writer- Oh um... A hamburger and a french fry walk into a bar. The bartender says, "I'm sorry we don't serve food here." 

Is that what they want?? I think I can be really unintentionally funny sometimes, and intentionally unfunny other times. Please vote for the former :)

Best Design- Okay so it's off a Blogger template as computer code scares the bejeezus out of me, but I really like the way it looks. I like the colours and the pictures of my favourite things on the sidebar and the rotating banners and the music. If you like it too, please vote.

So there you have it. Have fun voting!

"I'm sorry Ken but you can't kill a kid and expect to get away with it."

*SPOILER ALERT FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T SEEN IN BRUGES YET*

As everyone should know by now, In Bruges is one of my most favourite films. Among the three main characters, I usually love Colin Farrell's Ray the most. But this scene for me is all about the one and only Ralph Fiennes. I mean yes his character Harry Waters is most famous for the magnificent insult "You are an inanimate fucking object!" But in this scene we see how the vicious hitman first starts to fight for his survival, but then when it is evident that for that to happen he will have to kill his friend Ken, this reluctance seeps into his eyes. But he knows he has to do it, and so does Ken, played by the wonderful Brendan Gleeson. Their unspoken acceptance and sadness of this action, I feel even more so for Harry, makes it a very poignant scene. He has to stick to his principles, but he realises at what cost. 

That's what so amazing about this film and the characters- giving such apparently bad men a heart. Ray and Ken have the whole film to establish that. Harry has a few seconds, but we know how he feels. Bravo, Mr. Fiennes!

This has been a Ralph Fiennes appreciation post.

Thoughts

          I had a dream about writing this post. Isn't that super creepy? And super sad? I should be dreaming about buildings tumbling over and Matt Smith and Loki and shite. Blogging's taking over my life, AND I DON'T EVEN BLOG MUCH!! Anyways, here are my thoughts.

1) So District 9's Sharlto Copley is the man on everybody's mind right now. He is going to be the villain in the American remake of Oldboy and also star alongside Angelina Jolie in Maleficient. Now Ji-tae Yu as Woo-jin has become one of my most favourite villains ever. I love them diabolical like that. So he has big shoes to fill. But he seems like a very interesting choice. Josh Brolin of course will be the protagonist, called Joe Douchette in this version, directed by Spike Lee. In Maleficient, he'll be King Stefan who I'm guessing will be Sleeping Beauty's father. If he is the one who battles, per se, Jolie's Maleficient, it will be a much smarter option than giving such duties to some "teenage" actor who will definitely be overshadowed in every way. Having said that, I'm still rooting for Logan Lerman to get this part.

2) DJANGO UNCHAINED!!! These pictures were released at some point last week and OHMIGOD, I cannot wait!! Leo will be playing a man called Calvin Candie (another magnificent name by QT). He's holding a hammer. Looking at just the recent cinematic usage of hammers, we have Dae-su in Oldboy and the Driver in Drive. There will be beautiful ultraviolence my friends :D Also Jamie Foxx and Christoph Waltz as Django and Dr. King Schutlz(!!) respectively, look pretty cool. I love the look and the costumes. I'm guessing and hoping that the film will be a serious awards contender.

3) Speaking of Leo, I had started watching Romeo + Juliet last night (which I will finish after posting this), and his introduction as Romeo has to be one of the best character intros ever. Accompanied by, what is in my opinion the sexiest Radiohead song ever, "Talk Show Host", the beautiful and broody Leo speaks in old Shakespearean terms, and oh what bliss! I think, well no I'm pretty sure that whatever age I may be, I will still fall in love with him then and there. My most favourite intro of all time is of course Josh Hartnett as Trip Fontaine in The Virgin Suicides, with Heart's "Magic Man" playing in the background. Only Juliet had Romeo, but all girls have had a Trip Fontaine at some point in their lives. And they always will, making him timeless and magical.

4) Trailers- Remember the time when there was only one trailer per film? Me too, because that was TWO YEARS AGO. Gah. I refuse to watch any and all featurettes. Including those of the much anticipated Prometheus, which has another trailer out. It gives us a little more clues to what we are to expect and also a look into Charlize Theron's character. I'm already pumped about it, so the trailer is a tad unnecessary for me. Next we have Beasts of the Southern Wild, which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance this year. It looks absolutely beautiful, and in a way reminds me of Pan's Labyrinth because they're both about children escaping the problems of their surroundings by creating and entering magical realms of their own. Next we have the "sort-of sequel to Knocked Up" This is 40. As much as I love the cast, especially Paul Rudd, I really don't want to watch it. I think there are some secret life-lessons involved, most probably about forty-year-olds, but I will start worrying about them in spite of not being even twenty yet. Then there is the really weird trailer of 2 Days in New York, which follows the idea of 2 Days in Paris, both made by the wonderful Julie Delpy. It just looks like a clip, but I liked the first film, so I'll watch it. The forgotten superhero movie of the summer, The Amazing Spiderman has another and slightly painful trailer out. I will watch this because of Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone and maybe the humour, but poor Spidey. Then we have the slightly crazy A Fantastic Fear of Everything starring Simon Pegg. All I can say is, get Nick Frost and all will be made right :) Lastly, the king of the trailers is obviously The Dark Knight Rises. It just looks bloody incredible and I want to watch it right now and I love destruction of planes and bridges and so much JGL and Catwoman is awesome and Bane is scary and GAHHHH! MIND FRIGGIN' BLOWN!!!

5) Poster-wise, everyone needs to see and worship and somehow send me a copy of Charlize Theron's Snow White and the Huntsmen poster. Just look at it!!!!! Marvelous.

6) Finally, I started Game of Thrones last week and am now up to date with it. For those of you who follow me on Twitter, you will know of my overwhelming and kind of irrational hatred towards one character in particular-

Off with your head, Joffrey!!!

Bronn knows best. Bye.