Sundry Sunday :: wherein I play a few rounds of performer’s bingo.

Remember this?

The rules are simple: rack up at least five squares looking at one actor’s resume.  This is just a sample board, I may rearrange it in the future to make the squares consecutive for future rounds, I may change the squares, but here are three rounds for starters.

Red: Kelly Macdonald, as previously mentioned.  I’m sure there are other things that could count, but for now, the five.

• Misc. cult classic: Trainspotting as Diane.  I haven’t seen it, but I hear it’s a cult classic.
• (non-Deadwood) HBO series: Boardwalk Empire as Margaret Schroeder.
• Disney (etc.) animated film: Brave as Merida.
• Award winning film: No Country For Old Men as Carla Jean Moss.
• Harry Potter: Deathly Hallows, Part 2 as Helena Ravenclaw.

Yellow: Emma Thompson, who has been in a lot of things and some happened to be consecutive, so go with it even if it’s more than five and she could check off more boxes also.

• Disney (etc.) animated film: Brave as Elinor.
• Award winning film: There are a ton of them. Here.
• Harry Potter: Prisoner of Azkaban onward as Sibyl Trelawney.
• Jane Austen types: Sense and Sensibility, which she wrote as well as played Elinor Dashwood in.
• Comedies that don’t suck: Love Actually as Karen.
• Shakespeare: Much Ado About Nothing as Beatrice.

Green: Ciarán Hinds, who is also in many other things, of course.

• (non-Deadwood) HBO series: Rome, as Julius Caesar.
• Misc. comic book project: apparently he’s to be a form of Satan in Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.  Which will probably not be good, but still, comic book project.
• Musical film: The Phantom of the Opera as Firmin.
• Award winning film: Again, here.
• Harry Potter: Deathly Hallows, Part 2 as Aberforth Dumbledore.

–your fangirl heroine.

Sundry Sunday :: my urban dictionary: performer’s bingo

Def.: When one actor or actress has racked up at least five of what I consider epic career points.

Usage: Kelly Macdonald has been in a cult classic film that has been judged “the best Scottish film of all time,” i.e. Trainspotting, an Oscar-winning film by the Coen brothers, i.e. No Country For Old Men, an HBO Sunday night drama series for which she has received personal award nominations, i.e. Boardwalk Empire, an installment of Harry Potter, and an animated cartoon in which she voices an awesome princess, i.e. Brave; she has thusly achieved a performer’s bingo.

–your fangirl heroine.

Superlative Sunday :: the 2012 Oscars and how I felt about them

I… am still on the fence about this last year in movies, honestly.  That 2011 was the year I started hyperactively blogging everything I saw (and thus seeing a lot) has helped me realize that 2011 was not a year where I actually cared about a lot of movies.  (I suppose extending that into things I’ve seen so far this year, as that’s the Oscar Year.)  I mean, the only three movies I bought were comic-based/book-based/hyperstylized action drama fantasy insanities (Sucker Punch, X-Men: First Class, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2) and the only other one I gave a damn about was Hugo (I really should buy that, too).  If we’re counting this year, too, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.  Lots of feelings.  I’m looking at my post from last year’s Oscars, and not a single movie that I discussed gave me ambivalent feelings.  Feelings of “it’s good, but not great” or “I knew it was good, I just… didn’t care.”  That was the overwhelming consensus this year, I’m afraid.

The Artist (Best Picture, Actor in a Leading Role [Jean Dujardin], Directing, Costume Design, Music [Original Score])
I just.  I might be unsophisticated and lame, but while I recognized this as a good movie, yes, and Dujardin’s performance was good, and the costumes were good (I do like that era), and the music was good (it had to be, to carry a film), it just… didn’t stay with me.  I think I expect too much from movies.  I expect them to make my heart hurt (whether from sad or from extreme happy).  I expect them to, I don’t know, make me feel something.  Something.  Other than “oh, well, okay.”

Beginners (Actor in a Supporting Role [Christopher Plummer])
I have mentioned my feelings about this movie briefly, yes.  I have acknowledged how I approve of Christopher Plummer’s winning ALL the awards for his performance.  I will take this moment to say that: this movie actually made me feel something.  I gave a damn about the characters (all of them) and I loved that, while happy and sometimes whimsical, in a milder Amelie kind of way, it wasn’t perfect.  The ending wasn’t a happy ending.  I have nowhere else to say that, and realize that I never did, but since a lot of the reason that things otherwise nominated (The Descendants, for example) seem to be, at least in part, because they have that “real life story with an imperfect but not terrible ending” — this had that.  And I liked them, all of them, a lot more. 

The Descendants (Writing [Adapted Screenplay])
I saw another blogger, Deadline‘s much more important Nikki Finke, saying this: “while I’m at it, the Academy has its head up its ass for not nominating the final Harry Potter movie.”  I get behind this as a fangirl, because I have been one since I was eleven and they were eleven, it’s just a part of who I am, but I also get behind this in a more technical way.  I had many issues with the adaptations of the Harry Potter books into movies back in the day, when I was younger and I’d read the books more recently.  But not because they were bad movies.  Because I was nitpicky and I wanted more of my favorite details.  I’ve been on a rewatch spree lately, though, and I can honestly say that it doesn’t matter to me anymore.  Are there things I still want (Tonks [Natalie Tena] and Lupin [David Thewlis])?  Are there things I still think were a waste of time (the copious gratuitous nature shots in Prisoner of Azkaban)?  Yes.  Are they still very solid, very good movies that stay true to the spirit of things?  Yes.  And was the adaptation of Deathly Hallows perfect and wonderful, even with details missing because they’d been missing before and continuity and time?  Yes.

Oh, and I guess that The Descendants was a passable choice, even if I would have given this one to something else (Hugo, probably, just because I wanted it to win everything).  I haven’t read the book, and never will, but it didn’t suck.  It was good, I suppose.  So.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Film Editing)
I don’t really know how to judge this category, but since I really did like this movie a lot, I’m good with this.  They didn’t even have a score nod (I guess since The Social Network got one and won it last year, it would have been too much) but I would have wanted that, too.  (Note to self: buy this album now.)  And I knew Rooney Mara wouldn’t win.  I didn’t expect her to.  I’m just happy she got nominated.  But I still got to stare at her a few times, so I won’t complain.  Nope.

The Help (Actress in a Supporting Role [Octavia Spencer])
Okay.  Sure.

Hugo (Art Direction, Cinematography, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Visual Effects)
As has already been made abundantly clear: this was my Best Picture choice.  Out of immense affection for it, out of a feeling that it was a completely solid film.  It actually made me feel things.  It did the “love letter to cinema” thing that seemed to be the point of this year’s ceremony (and is always good).  It had a really good story.  It had really good characters.  It had beautiful everything-it-won-for, yes, but I wanted it to win so much more.  And I feel like people didn’t know what to make of it.  People thought it was just a kids’ movie, maybe, or they thought it was too weird, or it was too techie-something.  (Which is funny, considering that some movies that have been just techie have gotten buzz as being Great Films for that very reason.)  But it wasn’t.  It was a movie about kids, but it was a movie about adults too.  It was a movie about kids that weren’t too stupid or too, too precocious (I mean, they were precocious, but not in the painful way).  It was a movie that was strange, but strange is good.  It was a movie that had a lot of visual effects and hyperrealism, but this assisted the story.  It was a book that was, in part, about a filmmaker’s robot, for crying out loud.  Of course there were going to be special effects.  It took place in a world that wasn’t quite our own, stylistically, but it was never distracting.  It was beautiful.  It was a fairy tale for grown-ups that happened to have children and robots in it, but it was brilliant.

The Iron Lady (Actress in a Leading Role [Meryl Streep], Makeup)
I have not seen this.  But really.  From what I can see, the makeup had very good street makeup, very good age makeup, very good fake teeth for Meryl Streep.  But again that is not the same as transforming people into convincing-looking goblins or something.  Or, barring that, transforming Glenn Close and Janet Teers into semi-convincing pseudomen.

Midnight in Paris (Writing [Original Screenplay])
I don’t know what I would have actually done in this category.  I can’t, with honesty, do the thing that a lot of people have and say “oh, Bridesmaids,” because I… have unresolved feelings about that movie.  But I do appreciate that it was women being funny for a while, and that was good.  I didn’t see two of the nominees.  (I’d never even heard of Margin Call.)  But I don’t really know if this sits well with me, either.  Woody Allen can write Woody Allen, I feel like.  Here, he had the one “complex, artistic” male protagonist, and a cast of shallow supporting characters.  All of the women (and most of the men) may as well have been paper dolls.  It wasn’t exactly predictable, from the beginning, but once it got going I could see through it.  It was very pretty, but it wasn’t… again, I didn’t feel anything.

The Muppets (Music [Original Song])
In short, YES.

Thank you, Academy, for not giving any of these awards to War Horse or Moneyball, which were, again, serviceable films, but not the best in any of their categories.  No thanks for not putting on a great show (other bloggers discuss this much better than I could, so I won’t).

–your fangirl heroine.

Superlative Sunday :: the 2012 SAG Awards and how I feel about them

I will discuss the winners that I can, but I will put the list of films I haven’t yet and do need to see first this time.

The Help
The Artist
maybe Moneyball, maybe
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
The Descendents
My Week With Marilyn
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (hopefully soon)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Given, like the Golden Globe, to Christopher Plummer in Beginners.  Hurrah, I say.  I vote for him in the Oscars, both because I haven’t seen the other movies yet and because I don’t think I’ll care much about most of them.

Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture
Given to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2.  Hurrah, I say.  I’d have been good with X-Men: First Class too, so that was a good 40% chance.  (Sadly, I’ve seen all the movies in this category, but I fail at seeing the more “legitimate” ones I guess.)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
Surprise surprise, they gave it to Kate Winslet.  Well, okay.  I love her, even if I hated Mildred Pierce, and hopefully this is the last time I have to reiterate that fact.

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
Given to Steve Buscemi in Boardwalk Empire.  Thank the lord, because he deserves the hell out of it.

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
Given to Jessica Lange in American Horror Story.  Thank the lord, because the other four shows are about politics and lawyers, and I don’t care.  Although this does make me ponder the strangeness of them not having a supporting category for television.  Because her role was definitely more supporting.  Very, very well-performed, but supporting.

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
Given to Boardwalk Empire.  And rightly so, they are brilliant every one of them.  Even if it’s kind of more a case of Steve Buscemi closely followed by Michael Pitt and Kelly Macdonald followed by a few fairly important characters followed by everyone else, and, say, Game of Thrones is a bunch of stories getting equal time and play and I’d have been all right with them winning too, but hey.

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
Given to Modern Family.  Which I don’t watch.  Which didn’t surprise me.  Which made me sad, because I wanted The Big Bang Theory to win so so hard.  I’ve fallen in love with them lately.

Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series
Given to Game of Thrones.  At least they get this one.

–your fangirl heroine.

Spectacular Summaries Saturday :: top 10 gifts 2011 gave me

Unlike last year, where I was just getting started, all of these have been previously mentioned.  Some in the round-ups earlier this week.  So I’m linking to everything.  I’d originally started this blog as an experiment, a 365 blog, post something every day, but it’s become enough a part of me that I think it’s just… going to have to become a 730 blog, or something like that.  You’re stuck with me, world.

10. Sucker Punch
As evidenced by last night’s tl;dr.  I severely, severely adore this movie in all of its wtf-ery and stylized awesome. I love Jon Hamm’s random appearances.  I love Emily Browning’s giant eyes all over the place.  I love Jena Malone (well, that’s an always, but still).  I love that I arbitrarily decided that I was Amber (Jamie Chung), emotionally, at the film’s beginning, and by the end she’d racked up more of my “I’m this in fiction” B’s.  I love the killer soundtrack.  I love the steampunk Prussian zombie soldiers and the giant fighting bunny robot.  Etcetera, etcetera.

9. Portlandia
I’m not biased ’cause it’s, regionally speaking, one of “my places.”  I’m not biased because as much as I love the city, I also love making fun of it.  I just love this damn show.  It’s so ridiculous and yet so true and perfect and hilarious.  And I can’t wait for the next season (so soon!) because it will be just more amazing.

8. The King Is Dead, the Decemberists
I don’t know if I really have words for how deeply I love this damn album.

7. True Blood season 4
As if it weren’t obvious that this would be on here.  Especially given the almost-solid week of True Blood posts there.  I started the show before I read the books, so my loyalties did just sort of follow the show a bit more strongly; most of the changes that were made were made for good, in my opinion, and I enjoy most of them.  Some of them (Eric [Alexander Skarsgard] and Pam’s [Kristin Bauer van Straten] vampire breakup) make me cry inside, but some of them (Jessica [Deborah Ann Woll] existing) make me really happy.  It’s a give and take, but even though it’s gotten to the point where the only thing the books and show have in common are the character’s names and (usually) species, I enjoy it.

6. my first Comicon
I know that Comicons happen every year, in multiple locations and at multiple times, but 2011 marks my first time braving those waters.  I thought it would be scary and intimidating.  It wound up being the most friendly, amazing, perfect day of ever.  So there’s that.

5. Game of Thrones
If I haven’t also made this abundantly clear, I think Game of Thrones is brilliant.  I know the books date as far back as 1996, but I didn’t know about them.  And because of the show, I picked up the book, and the book is brilliant too.  But — I just fell in love with the show.  It’s a world of epic fantasy, and apparently one that’s very pseudo-period accurate, which is good.  It’s a world of epic characters. Of men who kick ass (oh Jon [Kit Hrrington], rest in peace Ned [Sean Bean]) and women who kick just as much ass (among them Daenerys [Emilia Clarke] and Arya [Maisie Williams]; in her own evil way, Cersei [Lena Headey] has kicked some ass in a way, too).  It’s a world of epic epic.  I say again, BABY DRAGONS.  April 2012, baby.

4. The Civil Wars
Not just their album Barton Hollow.  Them as a whole.  They were introduced to me, and I’ve since been given so many live recordings and found so many single songs and listened to everything obsessively.  They’re too beautiful.

3. Dollhouse comics
The ends of anything in the Whedonverse have made my heart ache, and keep on doing so every time I rewatch.  (Which is admittedly a lot.)  But the end of Dollhouse hurt in a special way, because it’s the only one I’ve experienced in real time.  So the also real time arrival of Dollhouse comics in my life was very, very welcome.  I feel like if I was characterizing my July-to-November time, saying “that time that I was waiting with baited breath for the next Dollhouse comic” wouldn’t be an exaggeration.  They’re brilliant comics, in basically every way, and I adore them.  Did they help answer questions about the overarching continuity of the series?  Not really.  But they answered a lot of little character questions, especially about Alpha and the actuals.  And I do love the actuals.  It didn’t close up the hole in my heart, but it was a very satisfying bandaid.

2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2
Part 1 was before, and I loved it dearly, but again I point out that Part 2 actually made me cry.  It’s a chapter of my life closing, but like the Comicon chapter opened this year, this one closed this year, so it’s noteworthy.  Also noteworthy, because I finally pulled a proper Ravenclaw outfit out of thin air for this last premiere like a boss.

1. The Valley, Eisley
And my first time seeing these kids in concert, that too.  I just can’t think of a way to express how brilliant I find them, I really can’t.  Theirs are really the only music videos I watch, with the exception of the one to “Remains” of course, and that too is lovely.  I just.  They’re so perfect and amazing and weird and different and not quite like anyone else.

–your fangirl heroine.

Film Friday :: 2011 in film (4 opinions, 2 predictable favorites, 3 adorable [pairs of] people, 3 awesome cameos, 2 kickass people)

Opinions
4. Christina Hendricks’ talents were wasted in Drive.
I still… don’t really know how I felt about this movie.  Apparently, the processing process is still in effect.  But I do know that my baby could have been given a lot more to do.  She is so capable of so so much.

3. Ian McShane’s talents were wasted in Pirates.
I mean, he was the best thing in the movie, by a long shot, but they still didn’t know what to do with him and his awesome.  Yeah.

2. I’m still a cynical bitch about romantic comedies.
Even the ones that I can logically say that I liked more than the rest, I don’t feel compelled to ever see again.  Crazy, Stupid, Love.: it was cute, and until the end, it didn’t suck, but just… no.  Once was enough.

1. Haters of Sucker Punch to the left.
I mean, I get why people don’t groove on it.  Like I get why people don’t groove on Repo or something.  But… see, the thing is, I actually don’t think it’s just some fetishy fanboy wet dream.  Yes, they’re young women kicking people’s asses. Yes, they’re doing so in a lot of tight, short clothing.  No, Lisa Schwartzbaum of Entertainment Weekly, they are not “psycho sluts.”  In the first reality, yes, it’s a mental hospital.  But that doesn’t automatically mean psycho.  They don’t really go around killing people for fun, they’re just setting themselves free.  And save the deleted scene between the High Roller (Jon Hamm) and Babydoll (Emily Browning), you don’t see any of them actually partaking in sexual behavior except dancing and that time that Rocket (Jena Malone) almost gets raped and Amber (Jamie Chung) sitting on that guy’s lap.  So, uhm… sluts?  How?  It’s not bad to partake in sexual behavior, far from, but it’s not really cool to judge someone in that fashion, or judge a movie in that fashion.  It’s a chicks-kicking-ass movie, and it’s stylized, and it’s weird, and… yeah, I get why it’s not for everyone.  But I have developed a strange protectiveness over it.

Predictable favorites
2. Hugo
Gorramit, this movie was adorable.  I do tend to like love letters to filmmaking, and I love period pieces, and it was stylistic, and there was a steampunk robot and Chloe Moretz.  A recipe for win.

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2
There was never any question about if I’d like this movie or not.  I mean, there are things I still wish were there, but… it made me cry.  Nothing makes me cry.  That’s magic in and of itself. 

Adorable (pairs of) people
3. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Anna Kendrick (50/50)
Predictable, maybe (especially because I like both of them: Anna Kendrick is one of the only forgivable things about Twilight, Joseph Gord0n-Levitt is unquestionably endearing).  But true.

2. Amy Adams (The Muppets)
Again, true.

1. Kat Dennings (Thor)
Yeah, I get it.  Darcy was a brat, a little.  But she was just a damn precious brat.  With precious glasses.  And honestly, her reactions to all of the superhero stuff seemed silly because that’s not how a lot of people in movies act, but it’s how a lot of real people would probably act. 

Awesome cameos
3. Jon Hamm (Sucker Punch)
Because if you watch the deleted scene with the High Roller, it’s… kind of completely different than how it seemed in the theatrical release.  Baby’s just like… “oh okay, I guess I’ll have this intimate time with you now,” and it’s consensual, and it’s good.  It makes sense why the doctor then says that when he was lobotomizing her, it’s almost like she wanted him to do it.  And Jon Hamm is just… all kinds of good.

2. Jim Parsons (The Muppets)
Spoiler alert, finally.  I don’t think there could have been a better humanized nerdy Muppet man than Jim Parsons.

1. Nathan Fillion (Super)
Nathan Fillion anywhere would have been brilliant, but Nathan Fillion in a terrible wig and a cheap-ass super-suit?  In what just may have been the most effed-up movie of the year?  Priceless.

Kickass people
2. Matthew Lewis (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2)
Neville my darling.  My badass darling.  Coming into his own, being so heroic and amazing.

1. Hayley Atwell (Captain America)
Peggy Carter my darling.  Being so efficient, so adorable, kicking ass and taking names and everything.  She is perfection.

So yeah.  Brief synopses and one giant, giant, 24% of the overall post word-wise tl;dr.

–your fangirl heroine.

Superlative Sunday :: the 2012 People’s Choice Awards nominations

Like a good fangeek, I went to cast my votes for the People’s Choice Awards nominees when they were selecting them.  I wanted to make sure there would be some nominees I cared about.  I just… couldn’t care about so many of the prospective nominees.  I was, predictably, all gung ho for the cable television drama nominees, but I skipped most of the network drama and comedy nominees; film was a similar case.  And for music, as evidenced by my various statistics in weeks past, I just voted for Adele whenever I could and skipped everything else.

So, here’s a list of the official nominees I actually care about.

CATEGORIES I CANNOT JUDGE: Favorite Drama Movie, Favorite Comedic Movie Actor, Favorite Animated Movie Voice, Favorite Network TV Drama, Favorite TV Drama Actress, Favorite TV Competition Show, Favorite Daytime TV Host, Favorite Late Night TV Host, Favorite TV Celebreality Star, Favorite Male Artist, Favorite Pop Artist, Favorite Hip-Hop Artist, Favorite R&B Artist, Favorite Band, Favorite Country Artist, Favorite Tour Headliner.

Favorite Movie:
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2

Favorite Movie Actor:
I have enjoyed films that feature all of them (Daniel Radcliffe, Hugh Jackman, Johnny Depp, Robert Pattinson [because he was in Goblet of Fire], and Ryan Reynolds) but I would not give any of them this vote.  Nope.

Favorite Movie Actress:
Please Emma Stone forever.  The more I think about her and see her in things, the more I love her.

Favorite Movie Icon:
There is no definition of “icon,” is there?  Morgan Freeman is a badass narrator, though, so I guess I vote him?

Favorite Action Movie:
Here, I am torn.  Part of me wants to vote Deathly Hallows always, but part of me wants to vote X-Men: First Class, because it is wonderful and brilliant.

Favorite Action Movie Star:
The title of the category doesn’t specify “male,” but apparently you have to be a male to be nominated.  It’s 40% of the same actors in the Favorite Movie Actor category, and the others don’t even warrant mentioning.

Favorite Comedy Movie:
By Emma Stone+Liza Lapira best friends default, I vote Crazy, Stupid, Love.  I guess.

Favorite Comedic Movie Actress:
Again, Emma Stone for everything.  (Though I think it’s funny to call Natalie Portman a “comedic” movie actress based on one or two films.)

Favorite Movie Star Under 25:
It’s kinda just Chloe Moretz vs. everyone from Harry Potter, and as much as I love everyone from Harry Potter, Chloe Moretz is a baby badass and I adore her.

Favorite Ensemble Movie Cast:
Same problem as in Favorite Action Movie.

Favorite Movie Superhero:
Why does Mystique count as a hero if Magneto doesn’t?  They both try to do hero things, then go “bad” by the end.  I vote for James McAvoy instead.  (ALL THE X-MEN.)

Favorite Book Adaptation:
Harry Potter.  Again.  Always.

Favorite TV Drama Actor:
Nathan Fillion can have every vote, right?  (Even if I’m not up to current on Castle yet.)

Favorite Network TV Comedy:
I’ve only seen a few episodes of The Big Bang Theory, but I’ll give it my vote.

Favorite TV Comedy Actor:
Jim Parsons and Neil Patrick Harris get my votes on principle.

Favorite TV Comedy Actress:
I don’t watch 30 Rock, but I loved Tina Fey on SNL, so, again, on principle.

Favorite Cable TV Comedy:
Weeds, please.

Favorite TV Crime Drama:
Castle.  Always and forever.

Favorite Sci-Fi/Fantasy Show:
True Blood and The Walking Dead are both really more “horror,” but they both get votes from my heart.  (A little more for True Blood.)

Favorite TV Guest Star:
I will allow this one win for Glee, just for Kristin Chenoweth’s street cred.

Favorite New TV Drama:
Pan Am for the clothes, Ringer for the camp.

Favorite New TV Comedy:
2 Broke Girls for the snarky Kat Dennings, New Girl for the nerdtastic Zooey Deschanel.

Favorite Female Artist, Favorite Song of the Year, Favorite Album of the Year, Favorite Music Video:
Some combination of Adele, “Rolling in the Deep,” and 21.  (And I haven’t even seen the video.)

–your fangirl heroine.

Spectacular Summaries Saturday :: the summer movie round-up

For my purposes, summer at the movies begins mid-May and ends… last week.  That’s about the timeframe for hauling out “summer” movies (I say that in quotations because some don’t fit and some are trying to hard to fit in what makes a successful summer blockbuster).  I’m categorizing and therefore judging.  Bolded titles in every category have won the category.

The contenders (summer movies I saw)
Thor
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Bridesmaids
The Hangover, Part II
X-Men: First Class
Super 8
Green Lantern
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2
Captain America
Cowboys & Aliens
Our Idiot Brother
Fright Night

Superhero movies!
Thor
X-Men: First Class
Green Lantern
Captain America
This one would have been close if X-Men hadn’t been out.  Thor and Captain America both have the bonus of leading up to The Avengers, which I am geeking for like a boss, and they were both pretty good.  Thor had glassesy Kat Dennings and direction by Kenneth Branagh, Captain America had badass red-lipstick-and-pencil-skirty Hayley Atwell and the killing of supernatural Nazis.  But X-Men was set in the 1960s, starred a crap ton of attractive people that I have infatuations with to varying degrees (James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Rose Byrne, Nicholas Hoult…), featured a whole load of fun moral gray areas, was badass, was directed by Matthew Vaughn… clear winner.

Sequels!
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
The Hangover, Part II
X-Men: First Class (ish)
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
I say ish for X-Men because it’s sort of a prequel, but it still wins.  The other three were very of their franchise.  Pirates was a lot like the first three Pirates movies, except it had the advantages of being minus Orlando Bloom and plus Ian McShane.  The Hangover was exactly like the first Hangover, except it was in Bangkok instead of Vegas.  Transformers was a lot like the first two Transformers movies, except it had the advantages of being minus Megan Fox and plus Alan Tudyk.  X-Men wins in my opinion because it tried to do something different with itself.  You could argue that’s easy, given the prequel nature, but Wolverine was a prequel and it was still pretty similar.  (Not in a bad way necessarily, I am a giant fan of the franchise [probably another reason this was a given] but it was.)

Comedies!
Bridesmaids
The Hangover, Part II
Our Idiot Brother
This is a tricky category, because every one of these movies sort of made me want to slap some bitches a few times.  But Our Idiot Brother only made me want to slap the characters; the actors and writers were mostly imaginary slap-free.  Bridesmaids and The Hangover made me want to slap the characters and the writers both; the former because I am just so freakishly sick of women movies being hailed as great stories of sisterhood or whatever when really they’re doing nothing but buying dresses and bitching each other out, the latter because it was, as mentioned, exactly the same as its predecessor.  They were all occasionally funny, but I laughed the most and the hardest at Our Idiot Brother.

Action!
Thor
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
X-Men: First Class
Green Lantern
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Captain America
Cowboys & Aliens
Well, I’m giving every award ever to X-Men, so I decided I should mix this one up a little.  All superhero movies, regardless of how little action they actually have, are often categorized as action movies; all of these had some pretty epic fight scenes, but again with the mixing it up.  And Cowboys & Aliens had gunfights, alien fights, AND space explosions.  The others can’t say that.  So most diverse action!  Harry Potter ties in, because of epic magic battles.  And just my need to give it some win out of intense love.

And now begins the chosen from everything awards.

Sexiest cast: X-Men, obviously.  You have McAvoy for the cocky intelligent pretty-boy thing, Fassbender for the smoldering vengeful brilliant antihero thing, Hoult for the a-freaking-dorable nerdboy thing, Byrne for the brainy brunette thing, Jennifer Lawrence for the cute blonde/sexy mutant thing, January Jones for the ice queen thing, Zoe Kravitz for the exotic thing, the other X-boys for their own things… there’s something for everyone.

Girlcrush created: Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter in Captain America.  I appreciated her in Pillars of the Earth, but I legitimately crushed on her here.  Kickass British vintage women win always.

Girlcrush intensified: Kat Dennings as Darcy in Thor, of course.  If that wasn’t evidenced by my repeated mentions of her in her glasses, she’s also the funniest thing in the movie.  Way more interesting than Natalie Portman’s Jane, too.

Girlcrush allowing me to forgive your character: Zooey Deschanel as Nat in Our Idiot Brother.  She messed up her relationship with the also-adorable Cindy (Rashida Jones) all over the place, but damned if I don’t still sort of love her.

Mancrush created: Nicholas Hoult as Hank/Beast in X-Men.  More at the beginning of the movie, because I have a harder time being attracted to him after he’s an accidental jerk to Raven (Lawrence).  But when he’s all 😀 SCIENCEGEEKING! and sweatervesty and glassesy, oh yeah.

Mancrush intensified: Michael Fassbender as Erik/Magneto in X-Men.  I sorta had a thing for him since Basterds, but damn can that man wear a suit!  Also, I find his ability to speak so many languages massively sexy.  And though it’s not the easiest to deal with in real life, I find moral grayness more interesting than black or white in fiction.

Mancrush allowing me to forgive your character: Anton Yelchin as Charlie in Fright Night, at the beginning of the movie mostly.  He manned up and geeked out as it went on, but he was sort of lame and trying to be cool at the start.

Epic bromance: Charles (McAvoy) and Erik (Fassbender) in X-Men.  This one is pretty straightforward.

Fail bromance: Stu (Ed Helms), Phil (Bradley Cooper), Alan (Zach Galifinakis), and Doug (Justin Bartha) in The Hangover, Part II.  Fail because they repeated the exact same mistakes they made last time, fail because they behaved completely like people do not behave ever, fail because they weren’t really that amiable towards each other, and fail because they left Justin Bartha out of a lot of screen time.

Epic ladybromance: …for what it’s worth, Megan (Melissa McCarthy) towards anyone in Bridesmaids.  She was the only one of the women who was actually good at being a friend, really.

Fail ladybromance: Annie (Kristin Wiig), Lillian (Maya Rudolph), Helen (Rose Byrne), and… well, all the rest of them in Bridesmaids.  They were all just awful friends towards each other, which I’ve already ranted on plenty.

Epic romance: Moira (Rose Byrne) and Charles (McAvoy) in X-Men.  Not that we saw any of it except for that one kiss, but I was so very into it.  Also Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) in Harry Potter, because they finally kissed and they’re finally together and aw.

Epic fail romance: Nat (Deschanel) and Cindy (Jones) in Our Idiot Brother.  Epic fail meaning they were so cute, and then failing just had to go and happen.

Fail romance: Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) and Angelina (Penelope Cruz) in Pirates.  Annie (Wiig) and Ted (Jon Hamm) in Bridesmaids.  Sam (Shia LaBeouf) and Carly (Rosie Huntington-Whitely) in Transformers.  Need I go on?

Most wasted performer: Ian McShane as Blackbeard in Pirates.  He did everything he could, bless his heart, but he still didn’t have enough to work with.  Not for his brilliance.

Most intense emotional reaction: the entirety of Harry Potter.  Because of everyone who died, because of the story, because of the battling, because now it’s over and I’m sad.  Because it was just perfect.

Best diversion from canon: Neville (Matthew Lewis) and Luna (Evanna Lynch) in Harry Potter, because it’s obvious, we all know that they should have been together and they so totally had the feelings.

Eager anticipation incited: thanks to Captain America, for The Avengers, of course.

–your fangirl heroine.

Spoiler Alert Saturday :: my thoughts on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2

I cannot do this coherently; I’m honestly still pretty emotional about it.  I, like many of my generation, grew up with Harry and his friends.  Well, I didn’t start reading the books till I was eleven, but they’re eleven in the first, so it still feels like a lot.  I don’t disregard latecomers, better late than never.  And it’s possible the deep connection could kick in no matter how long it’s been.  But I acknowledge that while the books are not perfect and the movies (especially the earlier ones) are not perfect and there are flaws and things I’d have liked to see and all of that, well.  These stories have been a part of me as I grew into myself.  I, also like many, have that connection that can never die completely, but knowing it’s really truly over is still a low blow.

So, in true me fashion, bullet points.

• I did attend the midnight premiere, of course.  I’ve been to two others, Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince, but I’ve never dressed up before.  Thanks to my father’s Potter-themed fantasy football league and my having been a “mascot” for it, I now have the goods.  I have a gray pleated skirt (ordered offline from a uniform supplier) and black hose and shoes (like I wear with, oh, y’know, everything) and a white button-down and a blue and yellow (bookstyle) tie (I am in Ravenclaw, I always have been; even before I knew Harry Potter I attended a themed birthday party and was sorted into Ravenclaw then) and I made myself a yellow and blue giant hairbow (I was sort of like Ravenclaw Hello Kitty) and even though the sweatervest I ordered offline didn’t show in time I pulled one of my massive stash of cardigans out, this one gray, and it did the job.  My friend I was with went as Luna, with tie matching mine and button-downs and cardigans and hose as appropriate, plus a wacky scarf and giant heart-shaped glasses.  The others in our group were Hermione and Ginny, and they had the requisite ties as well.  They don’t actually sell Ravenclaw ties in stores, so ours were JC Penney’s finds, really; and because I prefer the bookverseing, yellow and not silver.  Though I have the scarf from the theme park and it’s gray.  But, it’s not winter, so that wasn’t necessary.  And it’s a heavy-duty scarf.  I figure this would be my last chance to indulge in the epic of dressing for Harry Potter, I might as well take it.  Also, when I see it again (I know I will) I intend to at least wear the hairbow.  I made it, I might as well.
• There are many things I understand could not be featured in the movies deeply.  They usually weren’t even that prominent in the books, but I’m the kind of person who latches onto not-as-prominent characters and romances and storylines and holds on for dear sweet life.  Things like the adorable that is Bill (Domnhall Gleeson) and Fleur (Clemence Poesy).  Sure, all we’ve ever really seen of their romance is their wedding and then their being at the cottage.  But their love is true and I therefore adore it so much.  And it’s said, largely on these interwebs, that Bill really brought out something great in Fleur.  I didn’t hate her when we were first introduced to her, but I didn’t like her either.  She seemed sort of shallow.  But she loves Bill, even scarred, even werewolf-y, and she’s totally turning into an awesome protector-y Order babe in his company.  And even the glimpses.  I LOVE.
• You know who else I love more than I can really say?  Luna (Evanna Lynch).  She’s one of the only characters I’ve always felt was cast perfectly, and she has never, ever disappointed me.  The fact that she manages to maintain an attitude that’s at least open to positivity or something like it amongst everything, well.  I just adore her way of being.
• AND SPEAKING OF LUNA I do not care what J.K. said, Luna and Neville (Matthew Lewis) are made for each other.  Besides, as one of my professors pointed out, what the author says about their work after the fact may carry some weight, but it is not necessarily as true or “canon” as what is actually written in the book itself.  Once it’s been published, it’s been let go into the world.  And in the world, someone had the brilliant idea to make Neville want to finally declare that he’s “mad for [Luna]” and then there’s cute awkward looking that goes on at the end.  And cute awkward looking.  That look.  That look means yeah, we’ll wait a respectable amount of time, then this is going to happen.  I know that look.  It’s one that makes me wicked happy.
• AND SPEAKING OF NEVILLE I am so proud of that boy.  I mean, I was when I read Deathly Hallows, but seeing it just made me giddy.  He grew up into such a badass.  Also, his speech pre-Harry being ha ha surprise not dead was one of the things that got me teary.
• Yes, I actually cried.  Anyone who knows me knows how significant this is.  I can have very serious emotional feelings about things, and often I do.  I actually get more emotionally attached to a lot of my fictional loves than I do to real life acquaintances at times, for whatever that’s sociopathically (?) worth.  But usually, even if my breath gets all choked up and my chest starts to heave like I’m hyperventilating and I’m wibbling, my eyes just… don’t produce tears at fiction.  I do cry in real life sometimes.  I’m not that deranged.  But this… this is the second time since my childhood reading Little Women and Anne of Green Gables and other books where beloved characters died (the first being 2008 during “The Song of Purple Summer” during my fourth time seeing Spring Awakening [they’d just posted the Broadway closing notice that week, a few days ago really]) that I have cried real, legitimate tears.  I think I cried for this for the same reasons I cried that once during Spring.  It’s a chapter of my life closing.  And though I can go back in my heart, it’ll never be quite the same as having it there fresh and new for me.  Or something overwrought like that.
• I cried for Fred (James Phelps).  I cried for Tonks (Natalia Tena) and Lupin (David Thewlis) like a baby.  I cried, as mentioned, at Neville’s speech.  But the thing that got me absolutely hardest, which is ridiculous as in any other story I might acknowledge the deus ex machina of a bunch of ghosts giving a very sentimental and touching pep talk as potentially silly, was when Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) was in the forest and Lupin and Sirius (Gary Oldman) and his parents (Adrian Rawlins and Geraldine Somerville) were all there in ghost form to talk to him before he went to Voldemort.
  Harry: You’ll stay with me?
  Lily: Always.
  Sirius: Until the end.
  I think it was really then that it hit me.  This was the end.  And they (and we) were there with him, out of love, out of devotion, out of tenderness, out of caring, out of — so so much.  And it was beautiful.  Not at all cheesy.
• Let’s take a moment to talk about Tonks and Lupin, too.  I have a strange devotion to their love, both because I think it is wonderful (that Tonks is seriously In Love with him, no matter what) and because back before the sixth had even come out and their love hadn’t even been revealed, my friend and I idly commented out of nowhere that Tonks and Lupin should hook up.  AND WE WERE RIGHT.  This is one of the many reasons that I have been told I am a teensy bit psychic about things that aren’t really that relevant to the grand scheme of life.  But even though we did not see them a lot in the movie, and the only mention of their progeny little Teddy was when ghost!Lupin told Harry that it was all right his and Tonks’ son would grow up knowing that his parents had died for something right, I was indignant when Entertainment Weekly‘s special Potter bullseye was all “We feel like we should care about Tonks and Lupin but we just don’t.”  Sure, if you’ve never read the books maybe.  But how can you not love their love?  You do have a soul, right?  The moment of them grabbing for each other’s hands might be one of my favorite images from the film.  And yeah, they did make me cry like a baby when they were dead.  (I remember when I read the book, turning the page and seeing “Tonks and Lupin’s bodies lay side by side” or whatever the exact quote was did definitely knock the wind out of me.  Their death is downright Jossian.)
• Supporting character supporting characters supporting characters.  Lavender (Jessie Cave) has grown up some, hasn’t she?  Cho (Katie Leung) is less of a whiny bitch, isn’t she?  Seamus (Devon Murray) still likes to explode things, doesn’t he?  And thank you for mentioning it McGonagall (Maggie Smith) that was a brilliant callback to something that once just seemed like a cute gimmick.
• Ginny (Bonnie Wright) Ginny Ginny.  I have such a weird relationship with movie!Ginny, as she is… well, she was better when she was younger, I think.  She hasn’t grown enough into that Strong Badass Lady Warrior Ginny I loved from the books.  And her chemistry with Harry is weird at times.  But, but, but, their Kiss of Desperate I Need To Kiss You Before We Possibly Die love actually… wasn’t strained.  Which I was glad of.
• There was no rioting in the streets.  This is what I proclaimed would happen did they not include possibly the greatest line in Potter history, Mrs. Weasley’s famed exclamation to Bellatrix.  “NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!”  And when Bellatrix (Helena Bonham Carter) stepped up to try and kill Ginny, Molly (Julie Walters) was there in a heartbeat.  And she said it.  And they battled like bosses.  Molly really is an epic witch.  Hers is the kind of devoted yet not self-abandoning parenting I love so dearly, and that line is the greatest, and my friend and I were at least somewhat responsible for starting the round of applause after it, so hurrah.
• Can we just take a minute to appreciate the epic that was Kelly Macdonald as Helena Ravenclaw?  I love Kelly Macdonald, I have since No Country for Old Men, and sure we didn’t get all the in-depth backstory, but her Helena was perfection.  She went from docile to eloquently pissed (and, the Whedongeek notes, slightly scary veiny) in moments and she was great.  And she was beautiful in the costume.  I do wish there would have been more time for explanations of the past, here or with Aberforth (Ciaran Hinds OMFG JULIUS CAESAR FROM ROME WAS DUMBLEDORE’S BROTHER HOW MUCH WIN IS THAT) or in plenty of other places, but I understand why there weren’t.
• McGonagall’s activating the stone soldiers made me so happy.  She was so happy about getting to finally use that spell, giddy and all, and that was awesome.  Giddy McGonagall is made of win.
• The Malfoys were perfect.  Absolutely.  I still don’t understand Narcissa’s (Helen McCrory) weird skunk ‘do.  But their ending was beautiful.  That clear sense of “we are just not going to be a part of this anymore kthnxbai” was the exact right ending for them.
• Also, the Room of Requirement.  Steampunk much?
• Explosions and cracking magical barricades are… well, bad, violence is bad.  But they’re kinda pretty.
• Bellatrix my psycho bitch goddess so much epic and loooove.  I hate her, I hate her, I really do, but I love her at the same time.  She’s just so evil and so deranged and it’s hard not to like someone who does magic battles in a corset.
• Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) is still a creeper.  And that hug to Draco (Tom Felton).  SKEEEEEEEETCH.
• Okay, finally to the trio.  First off, I just have to very shallowly observe that when in the Bellatrix dress, Hermione (Emma Watson) had epic cleavage.  Twisted observation, I know.  But it needed to be said.
• You have finally resolved the sexual tension Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione thank youuu~  Their kiss was one of the most perfect kisses I’ve seen in a long time.  It was just such a relief and such a welcome moment and really sort of “I’ve always regretted… never being with you” in the best of ways.  Harry and Ginny may not have super great chemistry, but these two… man alive.  The little look that Hermione gave Harry when she and Ron entered the Great Hall holding hands was pure brilliance.  It was like “Don’t you dare tease” and “I know isn’t it great?” and “Took him long enough” and “I am so so happy” all rolled into one.
• Harry was pretty epic too.
• Oh yeah, and epilogue.  I was sort of ready to laugh all over the place, which, yeah, I did a little (everyone else laughed at “Albus Severus” too so it was okay) but it was actually really sweet.  All the children were cute, but I especially thought little Rosie (Helena Barlow) was adorable.  She looked so much like her parents.  Harry also seems to be a really, really great dad.  And Ron’s dad hair!  And Ginny’s mom hair!  Definitely not as ridiculous as I expected.

–your fangirl heroine.

Things in Print Thursday :: tonight, my childhood finally dies.

It’s the big night.  Deathly Hallows Part 2 is out tonight.  I’m putting up this mostly-placeholder early, as I’m going midnighing like a bamf (I have my whole Ravenclaw outfit set up, ’cause anyone as whimsical/analytical freaky/neurotic wacky/geeky as I am has to be in Ravenclaw).  I wish all of you doing the same the best of luck and love.

— your fangirl heroine.