Watched The Dark Knight last night (warning for a definite PG-13 rating and seriously dark stuff). I'll probably post more detailed thoughts in the DC thread at some point, but I will say this: I feel kinda conflicted about it. One the one hand, I liked that it brought up more moral/philosophical questions than Batman Begins did. On the other hand, I don't see the appeal of the Joker. I mean, I did kinda like the fact that he's pretty unpredictable, at least compared to most villains I've come across, but besides that, the character rubs me the wrong way. I know he's supposed to, but I dislike him so much that I felt as though I'd be good to not watch the movie again... until maybe 10-15 minutes later, when I decided that I liked the movie so long as the Joker wasn't on screen. (Props to the music guy though for putting in that super-high-tension noise whenever the Joker got particularly... creepy? nasty? threatening? all of the above? I felt my heart beat faster and my muscles tense up whenever I heard it.)

Ach Get Smart would be cool, though or all the adult content.

Saw Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children last night. I love it. I wish there was more.
Also saw the second Transformers. I don't recommend them at all. The content makes them not worth watching even though they are AWESOME otherwise.

We just finished going through Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye again, and now we've been watching some Dick Van Dyke Show episodes.

Beauty and the Beast. I ended up liking it much much more than I was anticipating. I would say too, that it is my favorite live action remake Disney has done. I mean, I saw it Friday and I am still so excited about it and I really want to see it again! 😀 This is just a sum up and opinion, so no spoilers - though I am sure most here have already seen the animated version and already know the ending. 😛

Absolutely beautiful, the sets, costumes, just every detail. And although I found Emma Watson somewhat miscast (the first go round at least - maybe I will change my mind when I watch it again), it didn't ruin the film. Dan Stevens does a commendable job with the Beast, especially considering everything he had to wear and do in order for his character to be animated. Also, "Evermore" is a beautiful song and he delivers it with such emotion. My favorite parts of the film were all the scenes with Gaston and LeFou and they were far from my faves in the animated version. Both Gad and Evans play off each other perfectly and capture their respective characters (and improve upon them, I may add). Gaston's character changes make him into much better villain, in my opinion. LeFou too, benefited from changes, so now he is no longer a fool but a witty compatriot, and he even has some character growth. I could really go on and on about what I liked about Evans and Gad... Ahem. Anyway, I quite enjoyed Ewan McGregor and Ian Mckellen as Lumiere and Cogsworth, respectively. Emma Thompson also makes for a very good Mrs Potts. There were several changes made to some plot points, some more noticeable than others, and I think most worked (especially where plot holes and inconsistencies were filled in or explained) but there were a few I am still uncertain about.

I'm gonna see Beaty and the Beast tonight. Been counting down to today since last week.

Watched The Dark Knight Rises and will post my thoughts in the DC thread at some point. I think The Dark Knight is my favourite of the three because, despite the Joker, 'cause the storytelling, character development, and moral/philosophic question-asking were better than in the other two. But in The Dark Knight Rises' defence, I absolutely love the secondary character of John Blake. He was the best part of the whole movie, in my opinion. 😀

Ach. The newer Star Trek trilogy s FABULOUS. I have seen the first two so far. I LOVE THEM ALREADY.

Watched Beauty and the Beast last night. I liked some of the changes, additions, character expansions, and explanations they put in, but definitely still prefer the original. Some little things I want to point out (warning for SPOILERS below):

- Luke Evans has some serious pipes! Whoa. I was concerned that I'd miss the original Gaston's powerful baritone, but there were only a couple lines in which I did. The rest of the time, I was too focused on his skill to bother worrying about his being a tenor.
- On that note, I massively missed the old narrator. The new one did nothing for me. Also, I didn't think that narrating the exchange between the prince and the enchantress was necessary. It worked in the original because there was no visual action, but it felt weird here. To me, anyway. 🙂
- I was worried that "Be Our Guest" would be too bloated. Some of the colourful lighting, I think, was a bit over-the-top, but besides that, it was a really good sequence!
- Maurice has more gravitas than the original and he makes a few choices as a character. I greatly appreciated that.
- The callback to the original fairytale with the rose Maurice picks and the "invisible servants" was something I reeeeeeally liked!
- I was already in love with "Evermore" and, despite what one reviewer said about replacing the Beast's roar of agony with a musical number, "Evermore" showed the more sensitive side of the Beast and his willingness to lose it all so that Belle could return to her father.
- The "Gaston" sequence was a riot in all the good ways. This was one spot in which the movie seriously upped the ante from the cartoon.
- I got mixed messages from Gaston and from the servants. Gaston first: Early on, he was all about how he'd been "missing something" since his time in the war, something he thinks marriage to Belle could fulfill. And he also points out that he finds attractive the fact that she doesn't make a fool of herself to win his affection. And then not even that long after saying those things, he's all "the ones who play hard to get are the sweetest prey" and "I'm gonna show her that she will have no other option but marrying me". Makes me wonder if the war did something to his mental faculties, but then Belle says that they could never make each other happy and "no one could change that much", which indicates to me that he was a jerk to begin with. So. Still trying to reconcile it in my mind.
On to the servants. On the one hand, they're kind to Belle and are devoted to the Beast. On the other, they try to physically stop her from leaving and seem more concerned about getting themselves human again than they are concerned about the Beast. Maybe I'm reading it wrong and/or they're a way to marry both sides of it, but that was the impression I got.
- The defence of the castle scored points in my book. My disappointment there revolves around the fact that only a few servants were involved -- I mean really, where's everybody else?
- For some reason, I found the budding romance between Belle and Beast more believable in the original. I haven't figured out why....
- Chip would be a fabulous skateboarder, just putting that out there. He's almost never seen apart from a saucer, but it's clearly not part of him. He uses it to move around and some of the stunts he pulls are really quite impressive.
- They changed little things about Belle to be more "modern". She's not the same Belle that I've loved since my childhood. Not that the new one is bad or disappointing, just different and less to my personal liking.
- I liked Le Fou's line in "The Mob Song". Won't say much more than that. 🙂

And that's where I'll end my thoughts even though I totally have more, heh-heh.

So I finally watched a Korean movie (like, an actual Korean movie, not just a Korean-dubbed American movie).
It........was not rated. It would have been R if it was rated, though, for violence. (Because of that I won't mention the name.) I enjoyed it, though. It was pretty historically accurate, as far as I know. So that was cool.

Did you understand the film? (I ask 'cause the only other language I've studied for any length was Spanish and I definitely only picked up bits and pieces in films I watched dubbed.)

Just finished The Dark Knight Rises again. Because so far, it seems like Christopher Nolan movies require two viewings to properly appreciate.

It had English subtitles (thankfully!), which was good because whenever there wasn't fighting going on, it was all dialogue that was pretty crucial to the storyline. Otherwise, I only understood a dozen or so lines (looking at the subtitles and going, "Ohhhh...of course!") because the movie was based off events that happened centuries ago, so they all were using archaic grammar.

Ah, alright. At least you were able to catch on to some of it! 😀

I watched BatB again, a week ago, so that makes it three times I have seen it. It is definitely my fave of the live action remakes and I like a couple songs better and of course, Gaston.

Also watched Sense and Sensibility with Kate Winslet, Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman (I am convinced he would have made a fantastic Puddleglum).

That's the "Sense and Sensibility" I've seen. (Haha, he would be a good Puddleglum, wouldn't he?)

So aside from finally seeing "Princess Bride", my family also watched a movie about the crusades. Because of one scene and also because of the overall violence, I won't mention the title, but it was interesting and really gave some insight into the motives on both sides.

The Princess Bride is a classic and one of the best movies ever.

Also Alan Rickmen would make a terrible Puddleglum.

Because he's dead.

RIP.

Though I do like that S&S. It is a good movie. S&S was one of the harder Austen books for me to get through but I liked the movie. I feel the same way about Mansfield park which I still haven't managed to make it through the whole book, Fanny is just too good of a person to be interesting at all for the duration of a book.

In hindsight an alive Alan Rickmen would have been a good Puddleglum, though I'm in favor of Peter Capaldi. Puddleglum must be played by a Doctor.

I saw The Case for Christ on Tuesday and quite liked it. It has a slower pace that most of the things I watch, but considering that it's about an investigative journalist, you don't really want it to go too fast. (I've seen one other movie about an investigative journalist and it felt that way too, though that movie involved danger and conspiracy theories and stuff, so it was a little bit like a thriller sometimes.) Anyway. I really liked that Case for Christ does not have the issues that God's Not Dead does in its portrayal of Christians or non-believers. Everybody is flawed, everybody is sympathetic, everybody struggles. Another big plus was production quality: apart from a couple distracting camera hiccups, the cinematography was good stuff and I absolutely love the lighting. I'm no lighting buff, but I can definitely appreciate excellent lighting when I see it.