I get excited about kids killing kids!!!

(Okay, so the title of this post is clearly not true.  But after writing the post, I realized some/all of my favorite books are really about kids killing kids (Ender's Game, The Hunger Games, the Harry Potter books). But you can't blame me for these books being so epic!)

SALKSFS EXCITEDMENT 

That was actually the first draft of this post.  I thought I'd let some of you enjoy or at least try to imagine how excited I was when I sat down to write this.

Anyway, The Hunger Games premieres this weekend and actually I'm sure there will be throngs of people at the midnight showings tonight.  But after my midnight premiere experience of the last Harry Potter movie, I think I'll sit that one out and let the young'ns have their fun.

Despite the less-than-enthusiastic NYTimes review, which actually confirms a lot of my own concerns after seeing the preview (that Jennifer Lawrence wasn't skinny enough for the character - she's supposed to be close to starvation, that Haymitch was too "pretty/clean," that the movie would be "cleaned up/made too PG" compared to the content of the book, etc.) I'm pretty excited to see a film version.

And despite everything else they didn't keep "true to form" (albeit based on my own reading and imagination), how PERFECT/SPOT-ON was the casting of Josh Hutcherson as Peeta the baker's son?  Seriously, A+++ for that one, Debra Zane.

AND OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG, so this is kindof completely unrelated but as I was reading that article I linked to (about Debra Zane) I clicked on some of the actor/actress names because I didn't know who they were, like Hailee Steinfeld.  And even though it doesn't look like she ended up in The Hunger Games SHE'S SLOTTED AS PETRA ARKANIAN FROM ENDER'S GAME!!! OMG OMGOMG OMG OMG OMG!!!!!  One of my actual favorite books of ALL TIME!!!  It's GONNA BE A MOVIE!!! AAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!! : AAF#R#RIFSD:KGJNB:SDLF:RGUIO:RGBVF:GR:GR:HOGWER~~~~~~~~~@@@!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My life is awesome.  They better get it right.  (I approve of their casting much more than I do the casting of The Hunger Games' characters based on IMDB.com - although I never pictured Major Anderson as a woman, I guess they never used pronouns for him/her).  (AAAAAAAAAND I just finished reading Ender's Shadow, the Bean parallax to Ender's Game, had to keep myself from sobbing on the bus for that one).

Movie Monday: Lightning round!

Apparently my recent putdown of The Fast and the Furious franchise touched a nerve.  A friend and secret reader gchatted me to discuss his strong disagreement. A general discussion about movies we'd seen followed and then he suggested that I do 1 sentence (or otherwise brief) movie reviews.  Let me know if you like them!

1. The Fast and the Furious: Paul Walker and Vin Diesel are both good and bad guys ...sigh... Paul Walker and Vin Diesel ...oh, right, and there may have been some cars and stolen electronics. Also, there was a Hispanic-y lady who could definitely beat me up just by looking at me.

2. There Will Be Blood: First, it should've been called "There Will Be Oil." Second, bloodiest movie about milkshakes ever (okay, so maybe the title is pretty apt). Third, the mute-by-choice brother from Little Miss Sunshine is the creepiest and then the most desperate preacher I've ever seen. Lessons learned? Oil makes people:

• Deaf
• Greedy
• Crazy
• Use bowling pins as murder weapons
• Lie

3. Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole: Kidnapped owlet resists brainwashing and ... maybe this one would do better as its own list.
Things I never knew about owls that I learned from this movie:

• Owls have gizzards that are like human "guts" and they react weirdly to metal so that you can make it their kryptonite
• Owls don't know how to fly for kindof a long time
• Owl battles are terrifying and awesome (especially when they have armor and talon-swords)
• A Tyto is not a type of owl, just where he lives
• And this last one is not specific to owls, but PLEASE PLEASE try to love your kids in equal measures - favoritism or even relating more to one than another leads to CRAZY sibling hatred and future sociopaths.

4. Fantastic Mr. Fox: (I have no idea what this movie was about even after watching it). Movie shot in sepia-tones (seriously EVERYTHING was in shades of brown) about fox having midlife crisis and putting his whole community in danger to feel like a hero.

5. Iron Man: BEST. MOVIE. EVARRR. Everything about my memory of watching this movie makes me SO SO happy. =D

The Hunger Games. And my cultural education.

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So, I previously wrote about how tempted I was to just continue reading The Hunger Games (rather than go to bed).

I don't think I mentioned this the first time around, but I cried OPENLY, on the bus, on my morning commute, within the first 25 pages.  It's. That. Good.  (Sister love, it'll get me every time.  BUT NOT My Sister's Keeper - UGH.  Stupid girls who told me this was a must-read, I will get you back someday!)

Not only that, but I've been watching the movie trailer on repeat for a few weeks now.  I cry EVERY. TIME. I watch the trailer.  (Despite the fact that there are several GLARING incongruities from the book apparent in it... SIGH).

Just now I watched it, and through wiping away my tears I clicked on one of those "Related" links on the side.  It said the FIRST *10* minutes of the movie was leaked!!!  I WAS SO EXCITED!!!  Then this weird 80s looking dude starts dancing, and I go, "Is this an ad???"

My sister stared at me and then started laughing.  She goes, "You've been Rickrolled!"  I had NO IDEA what rickrolling was.  That made her laugh more.  ""Is this an ad???"" she mimicked me!!!  As we have come to discuss time and again, I have NO cultural IQ.  This is old news.  And yet it amuses her to no end whenever a display of my pathetic lack of pop culture knowledge rears its silly self.

Nonetheless, I can't WAIT to see this movie.  I'm also terrified of how they're going to depict certain scenes.  (In the end, I didn't go see The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, mostly because I didn't think I could handle the uber-messed up s*x scenes.) 

The Hunger Games is supposed to be "young adult" fiction - but seriously the things that happen in there are MESSED. UP.  Especially freaking out about the "last" kill portion of the Games. 

Anyways, added a new little countdown widget - because I. CANNOT. WAAAAAAIT.  It's Gonna Be FAAAAAAABULOUS!!!!  (Read the last two sentences in an Oprah voice!!!)

Real Steel: Not really a movie review.

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Actually, I don't think the first "movie review" I did a few days ago was a true review either.  Nonetheless/slash/moving on...

I thought the trailer for Real Steel looked super cheesy.  The premise of the movie (based on a trailer I saw before another movie) was that Hugh Jackson and a little boy were somehow involved in huge robot boxing in the future.  I imagined the intellectual level necessary to to enjoy this movie would've been around the level necessary to enjoy any of "The Fast and The Furious" sequels.  (I did really enjoy the first one, but the quality of the movies just went laughably downhill from there).

Anyhow, I unwittingly and completely unexpectedly stumbled into watching Real Steel (probably about 30 or so minutes in) this past Sunday.  And I found it to be surprisingly heart-warming with a better than expected (good) story line.  I laughed (because it was funny not because I was laughing AT it).  I cried a bit, too.  I found bits that were so adorable and likable.  All not feelings I expected to get from this movie.  Maybe I should give Hugh Jackman a little more credit in choosing his roles.

I guess it just goes to show, sometimes you can't judge a movie by its trailer. =T

The Social Network: A movie review!

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 As an early Christmas present to myself, I started subscribing to Netflix after my fall semester finals last year (December 2010).  Since then I've watched a lot more movies than I would've alone.  As much as I like movies, I've seen an unusually small number of them.  I've just never had the impetus to watch movies alone.  It's the rare case that I want to watch a movie so badly I'll illegally download it, much less watch it by myself. 

Anyway, my point is, since signing up for Netflix I've watched a lot more movies than I usually would have.  Both streaming and via their DVD service.  A few months ago I watched The Social Network.  Unlike the majority (it seems) of people who've told me they didn't really like it or Zuckerberg's character, I disagree.

I guess a lot of people don't really like Zuckerberg because he comes across so binary, so black and white.  Something is either a fact or it's not.  Something either matters or it doesn't.  (And I know this is a probable dramatization of his character, but a college friend who went to high school with Zuckerberg says it's pretty true to life).  Anyway, I didn't dislike Zuckerberg.  I rather got him.  


I'm not afraid to say that in some ways I'm kindof like Zuckerberg.  I can be annoyingly practical.  When you tell me something, I ask, "So?"  This drives my parents (and at least one ex-boyfriend) up the wall.  But my inquiry was Why are you telling me this?  Why should this information matter to me?  There's a lot of information in the world and I don't want anything unnecessary.  I don't think I'm nearly as extreme as how they portray Zuckerberg, however.  I like to think I have some more social sense and acumen and thus, maintain better relationships with the people I care about in my life.  (I mean, since I'm clearly not a genius in the way he is, I've gotta compensate somehow, no?).

There are other traits I could discuss, and clearly this wasn't just a movie about Zuckerberg's somewhat autistic/Asberger's-ish/sociopathish-ness, but for me, this is what struck me the most about the movie.  The fact that he was so misunderstood for just being himself.  He's not a bad guy - at least the way the movie showed it, he never intended to screw over Eduardo Saverin and the way I see it, too, he really never intended it.  Given the pitfalls of seeing everything as merely black and white it's a good thing I'm loyal to a fault!