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Chadwick Boseman's Speech at SAG-AFTRA awards Technically, he's not a DC man, but he went to Howard University, so we claim him. As we say in the south: he done good.

I saw Black Panther opening night in 4D. Not knowing what 4D was, I got a bit of a shock when I had a mist of water during the waterfall scenes (but my skin was well-hydrated). The movie thrilled me. Maybe living in DC makes the experience different. I know that the house was packed, and I only saw about four other white people in the audience which meant the audience -- which any actor can tell you is a different animal from night to night -- had an underlying heartbeat, a sense of both "ah" and awe that I've rarely experienced at a film.

If nothing else, this movie should win the Oscars for Production Design and Costume Design (the two sound awards it's up for deserve to go to A Quiet Place.). I'd love to see it win Best Picture, but the competition is stiff. I also think it's a crime that not one of the actors is up for an award. Letitia Wright and Danai Gurira -- Shuri and Okoye, respectively -- deserved supporting actress nominations. I'd have loved to see Andy Serkis nominated for supporting actor, if only because he is so rarely cast without motion capture that this is the one time he might win. And Michael B. Jordan was robbed by not being nominated for Killmonger.

When the stories of the art of this era are written, Comic Book movies will inevitably be included. At the moment, I can think of only a handful that might be remembered as films in their own right, not just as part of the wider culture: Unbreakable, The Dark Knight, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Wonder Woman, and Black Panther. (Iron Man is arguable, too, since, in many ways, it got the wider phenomenon of the MCU started.)

This was my movie of the year.

On Friday, I went to see a double feature of The Killers (no, we didn't see it twice. There was the 1946 version with Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner and the 1964 version with John Cassavetes and Angie Dickinson) along with Neotoma. It was part of the AFI's yearly Film Noir festival, and while there, it occurred to me that I can only think of two Noir movies set in DC: Advise and Consent and The Day the Earth Stood Still. Some argument can be made for Fail Safe, which scared me more than any horror film did when I was a kid, and Seven Days in May -- hello, Burt Lancaster, again -- but to me, there's a sense of movement in Noir and both of those are fairly static, especially Fail Safe.

My friend Elle took me to see La Traviata on Sunday. It was a really good production.

My campaign for ANC isn't going as well as I'd like, but it's mostly my own fault.

I have my Yuletide assignment, and I'm a bit puzzled. I'm so used to matching on one of my first three offers, it was a bit of shock to match on my tenth.

First of all -- if you haven't seen it in the theater and it's still playing near you, go see it. The scene in Paris alone is worth the price of admission.

I'll be honest. I'm not entirely sure what I expected from the film. I know that the three adults I've met who'd seen it would only say some variation on "it's a head trip" with no spoilers. Now that I've seen it, I completely agree. I can't give away spoilers because I think it will reduce the impact of the movie.

So. This is Brad Bird's first live action movie. It's well directed and cast. He's also one of the screen writers with Damon Lindelof.

The young actors are all excellent, particularly Raffey Cassidy who's only 12 (probably 11 when it was being filmed) and is still able to carry a good portion of the action -- both in terms of plot and kicking ass -- on her shoulders.

The effects, since many of the gadgets are supposed to be prototypes from home inventors, are very imaginative. Plus, that scene in Paris. *sigh*

I cried at the end. I see too many people talking about "the millenials" as self-centered. (One report on the Charleston shooting suggested that it was at least partially because the shooter was a millenial and trying to be "unique" which is a hallmark of the generation. Working in employment services, I can show you that the millenial generation is the only age group who's hiring level has not increased in the last two years. We may be in a burgeoning economic recovery, but not for them.) I see them, in general, interested in ideas, in learning new things -- whether it's programming, knitting, or both -- and, in my city at least, working locally to make things better for themselves and their younger siblings. This movie sees this generation in the same way, but what I found thrilling and touching was that people my age and older were also seen as part of Tomorrowland's ethos.

The NTLive Frankenstein is being reshown on Halloween. I already have tickets for me, a work friend, and her teenaged daughter (Friend says I'm the daughter's real mother, she just carried her, because daughter and I have such similar outlooks.) I'm doing a happy dance in my seat.

I don't know which actor is playing which role and I really, really wish they were showing both versions.

She was 89. Her obituary in The Guardian is here.

I can't even begin to tell you how much her movies meant to me and she has long been Sis' favorite actress -- she went to see her in Woman of the Year when it was on tour.

When I trained as a singer, this was the first song I worked on. Rumor had it that Andy Williams (who was then 16) recorded the song, but it was later confirmed that his version wasn't used: it was Bacall singing.

I've been thinking some more about the fictional characters on whom I've had crushes. Phileas Fogg and Sherlock Holmes vied with D'Artagnan and Donny Osmond in my pre-teen fantasy life.

There's one very interesting one to me, though, partially because it's an adult "crush" and partially because the character was neither a real person nor particularly literary and that's Daniel Jackson of Stargate and its later iteration, Stargate SG-1. He even, eventually, made it to the Pegasus Galaxy.

I saw the original movie on its opening weekend with my sister down in Orlando, FL. Sis didn't enjoy the film as much as I did. For her, it was more a "two hours off the tour" movie than a cool mix of old serial sci-fi and archaeology by way of Caesar's Palace. (Seriously, some of those costumes would make Liberace go "It's a little much, don't you think?")

Not only did I come out of the theater with a smile on my face, I'd fallen for Daniel Jackson. He exchanged gifts with the natives, in his case a 5th Avenue candy bar that he'd had in his pack. Unlike the TV series (most of the time), there was a real effort to make the linguistic side of his knowledge important, and, as someone who's been known to translate languages I don't know, I found that thrilling. He taught the natives how to read the inscriptions around them. He died. He resurrected and figured out another way to destroy Ra without destroying the people. And he opened the Stargate because he was able to make a connection no one else had. It's one of the very rare portrayals of a particular type of genius -- non-mathematical, non-hard science, deeply intuitive -- that, other than the instance on his allergies, didn't make the "geek" selfish, a coward, or completely out of touch with the rest of humanity.

But the real cherry on top of this lovely banana split is that I really, really cannot stand James Spader as an actor. There is not a single other role I like him in. I usually find him wooden and detached. And yet, I fell in love with Daniel Jackson.

SG-1 had been on for over four years when I saw my first episode (a season 4 episode in repeats prepatory to season 6 being shown). The first one I saw (Window of Opportunity) wasn't that great, but SciFi (before it became SyFy) was showing the series in four hour blocks, and the next one (Watergate) wasn't much better. The evening ended with The First Ones, an episode highlighting Daniel Jackson's linguistic ability ("Now, don't say 'ka' till you've tried it."), his anthropological background, and even a bit of archaeology at the very beginning. And I remembered sitting in a theater near Disney in Orlando that was packed to the gills with a smile on my face.

Look, I don't know why I'm looking forward to the next Hunger Games movie, but I am.

If anyone in DC would like to see it with me on opening weekend (preferably opening night) at the Regal Gallery Place, let me know. It'll have to wait until after work (i.e., the movie has to start after 6:00 pm), but I want to be there.

Also, Lorde's version of Everybody Wants to Rule the World from the soundtrack is being sneak-peeked in various places. It's very stark, nearly suicidal sounding, which makes it a good match with the lyrics. I still prefer the original, but hers is definitely a different and fascinating take on the song.

I just came back from seeing Inception.

It hit 103F (39C) with a high enough humidity that the "real feel" was over 110F. The movie theater didn't have air conditioning.

I also had an eye appointment today.

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eanja and I went to see Hero earlier today.

In our current political climate, I consider this to be a subversive movie. This has come from two lines.
( The big stuff )

( The artistic stuff )

( Diving in at the shallow end )

Current Mood: enthralled

I've been told by the ever-generous

eanja, that today is "recommend a movie" day.

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Entries tagged with film

Black Panther

just an update

Review: Tomorrowland

OMG! Frankenstein!

RIP: Lauren Bacall

Fictional Crushes

Catching Fire

Heat

"Hero" and Subversion

Recommend a Movie day

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May 2025

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