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Movies of february
13. Mesopotamia
Nicely suggestive, and I like that we never find out what is actually happening on the surface.
14. Azazel
This a very lovely series - Fandorin is simply so adorable. He's sort of like Sherlock's Sherlock, except not a psychopath (sorry, sociopath). Instead, he's this brilliant, naive, bouncing youth, investigating an odd suicide and accidentally revealing a global conspiracy, and it's fun. Except of course, that the whole series is pretty much one blow after another to the poor guy - people murdered in front of him, the awesome mentor betraying him, as does the pretty courtesan and the nice old woman, and then the bomb - and there's Fandorin in disguises, silly fake awesome disguises (and there's one with a deerstalker, and I know it's probably a Sherlock Holmes tribute, but he looks just like Doktor van Helsingør from Elsinore, I swear) and there's Fandorin being miserable and having the hiccups after he nearly got drowned and Hippolyt saved him and him telling him to just kill him and oh. Why is fandom not all over this?
15. Valhalla Rising
Okay, so one-eyed, mute psycho fighter teams up with bunch of Christian vikings, they all accidentally go to Vinland, and the ones who doesn't kill each other, get killed by Skraylings. Meh. You'd think that would have been somewhat more - awesome - wouldn't you?
16. Turkish Gambit
More Fandorin - it got a budget upgrade (which definitely suits it) and a new Fandorin actor (who is quite good, once you've adjusted, because you just managed to fall in love with the first one. Actually, this one would probably appeal to people who liked Sharpe and Hornblower - late 19th century war between Russia and Turkey, but it's easy to forget that it's not set somewhat earlier - well, until all the reporter's go rushing off to the telegraph or the steam-car drives past, but still. Fandorin is less young and adorable in this, but then, they kind of broke him in Azazel, so - and as for the heroine, well, she kind of annoys me, being not particularly clever and unable to make up her mind about Fandorin or anything, but I'll say this for her, she's definitely an active and brave girl, even if not always particularly bright - though I'm glad their kind-of-sort-of-not-quite-flirting never got further than that.
17. The State Counsellor
And - another Fandorin actor. Mind you, this time it makes sense, as the tale is set twentysome years after TG - in a snowcovered gaslight Moscow, where Fandorin is investiganting terrorists while dealing with intrigue among the government officials - and looking very dapper in his nice top hat. Mind you, I get why it was this and TG that got the big treatment - they very action-packed, very screen friendly - but I'd kind of have loved to see Leviathan - which is a more Agatha Christie-style mystery aboard a luxury steam ship, but still. Anyway, I would have loved to see a lot more of Masa. I mean, come on - loyal former-yakuza manservant, rolling his eyes at the gai-jins and investing his boss to share his bath with him? I repeat, how are the fangirls not all over these series?
18. The People vs. Larry Flynt
Well, it's always educational to learn that you can find somebody fighting for something you yourself believe in to be completely and utterly impossibly to like even a little bit.
19. Dødens Triumf
Some things disappoint you - like sitting down to watch the infamous ballet and learning that the naked parts are two times, very brief scenes, and yes, there is a dangling cock, but it's all covered in red paint, and seriously, this was the big deal? I mean, nice ballet, nice music, but honestly...
20. House season 6.
Oh House :-)
21. The Tourist
Weee, Johnny Depp! How I missed you! And maybe this is never going to win any Oscars, but it's a nice, clever little movie, schemes within schemes, and even though Paul Bettany's character managed to piss me off be not wanting to try to help the innocent guy getting chased over Venetian roofs by armed men, then in the end I felt kind of sorry for him - Depp and Jolie's characters should totally kidnap him for a bit of vacation or something, because he looks so lost.
22. Religulous
This movie has two major flaws - a) despite calling itself a comedy, it's just not funny and b) complete and utter lack of originality - seriously, heard it all before. Boring.
23. Chuck season 1.
You know, fun as Chuck himself is - and it's always a pleasure watching him going through panic and out on the other (hypercompetent) side - then I find myself liking Casey best. He's got a fine growl, does Mr. Baldwin. Anyone else think he'd make a fine Iron Klaus if From Eroica with Love ever got turned into anything movie-like in the west? Or maybe he could play a Barrayaran officer if they ever make the Vorkosigan saga. Actually, Iron Klaus would probably fit perfect into Barrayar - ImpSec officer, complete with Alphabet (G, of course, being a hermaphrodity, the offspring of some Vor lordling who had an unusually embarassing/epic love story on Beta Colony) - and Dorian would probably be Betan, though I suppose House Eroica would fit as a minor Jacksonian house, specializing in art theft (stricktly old Earth) - at least James would be Jacksonian, anyway...
24. Amazing Grace
I might possibly mainly have watched this because of Benedict Cumberbatch - who makes a very pretty prime minister - but that doesn't stop it from being interesting and sad and hey, did the anti-slave-trade people just get the law passed that wound up being a major point of disagreement between Denmark and Britain, eventually playing a part in leading to those unpleasant happenings in 1807???
25. Fahrenheit 451
Am I the only one wondering how it can be, that reading is completely and utterly unacceptable, and yet, people can read? I mean, it's not like it something you're born with - how come apparently random people are in danger from these paper bundles full of nonsensical squiggles and pictures? How come they seem to make sense to random people living in a society that has abolished reading and writing? Did I miss the secret underground schools or something?
26. Miss Austen Regrets
It's interesting comparing this movie to Becoming Jane - book-ends of the life story of Austen - and how completely different they are.
Nicely suggestive, and I like that we never find out what is actually happening on the surface.
14. Azazel
This a very lovely series - Fandorin is simply so adorable. He's sort of like Sherlock's Sherlock, except not a psychopath (sorry, sociopath). Instead, he's this brilliant, naive, bouncing youth, investigating an odd suicide and accidentally revealing a global conspiracy, and it's fun. Except of course, that the whole series is pretty much one blow after another to the poor guy - people murdered in front of him, the awesome mentor betraying him, as does the pretty courtesan and the nice old woman, and then the bomb - and there's Fandorin in disguises, silly fake awesome disguises (and there's one with a deerstalker, and I know it's probably a Sherlock Holmes tribute, but he looks just like Doktor van Helsingør from Elsinore, I swear) and there's Fandorin being miserable and having the hiccups after he nearly got drowned and Hippolyt saved him and him telling him to just kill him and oh. Why is fandom not all over this?
15. Valhalla Rising
Okay, so one-eyed, mute psycho fighter teams up with bunch of Christian vikings, they all accidentally go to Vinland, and the ones who doesn't kill each other, get killed by Skraylings. Meh. You'd think that would have been somewhat more - awesome - wouldn't you?
16. Turkish Gambit
More Fandorin - it got a budget upgrade (which definitely suits it) and a new Fandorin actor (who is quite good, once you've adjusted, because you just managed to fall in love with the first one. Actually, this one would probably appeal to people who liked Sharpe and Hornblower - late 19th century war between Russia and Turkey, but it's easy to forget that it's not set somewhat earlier - well, until all the reporter's go rushing off to the telegraph or the steam-car drives past, but still. Fandorin is less young and adorable in this, but then, they kind of broke him in Azazel, so - and as for the heroine, well, she kind of annoys me, being not particularly clever and unable to make up her mind about Fandorin or anything, but I'll say this for her, she's definitely an active and brave girl, even if not always particularly bright - though I'm glad their kind-of-sort-of-not-quite-flirting never got further than that.
17. The State Counsellor
And - another Fandorin actor. Mind you, this time it makes sense, as the tale is set twentysome years after TG - in a snowcovered gaslight Moscow, where Fandorin is investiganting terrorists while dealing with intrigue among the government officials - and looking very dapper in his nice top hat. Mind you, I get why it was this and TG that got the big treatment - they very action-packed, very screen friendly - but I'd kind of have loved to see Leviathan - which is a more Agatha Christie-style mystery aboard a luxury steam ship, but still. Anyway, I would have loved to see a lot more of Masa. I mean, come on - loyal former-yakuza manservant, rolling his eyes at the gai-jins and investing his boss to share his bath with him? I repeat, how are the fangirls not all over these series?
18. The People vs. Larry Flynt
Well, it's always educational to learn that you can find somebody fighting for something you yourself believe in to be completely and utterly impossibly to like even a little bit.
19. Dødens Triumf
Some things disappoint you - like sitting down to watch the infamous ballet and learning that the naked parts are two times, very brief scenes, and yes, there is a dangling cock, but it's all covered in red paint, and seriously, this was the big deal? I mean, nice ballet, nice music, but honestly...
20. House season 6.
Oh House :-)
21. The Tourist
Weee, Johnny Depp! How I missed you! And maybe this is never going to win any Oscars, but it's a nice, clever little movie, schemes within schemes, and even though Paul Bettany's character managed to piss me off be not wanting to try to help the innocent guy getting chased over Venetian roofs by armed men, then in the end I felt kind of sorry for him - Depp and Jolie's characters should totally kidnap him for a bit of vacation or something, because he looks so lost.
22. Religulous
This movie has two major flaws - a) despite calling itself a comedy, it's just not funny and b) complete and utter lack of originality - seriously, heard it all before. Boring.
23. Chuck season 1.
You know, fun as Chuck himself is - and it's always a pleasure watching him going through panic and out on the other (hypercompetent) side - then I find myself liking Casey best. He's got a fine growl, does Mr. Baldwin. Anyone else think he'd make a fine Iron Klaus if From Eroica with Love ever got turned into anything movie-like in the west? Or maybe he could play a Barrayaran officer if they ever make the Vorkosigan saga. Actually, Iron Klaus would probably fit perfect into Barrayar - ImpSec officer, complete with Alphabet (G, of course, being a hermaphrodity, the offspring of some Vor lordling who had an unusually embarassing/epic love story on Beta Colony) - and Dorian would probably be Betan, though I suppose House Eroica would fit as a minor Jacksonian house, specializing in art theft (stricktly old Earth) - at least James would be Jacksonian, anyway...
24. Amazing Grace
I might possibly mainly have watched this because of Benedict Cumberbatch - who makes a very pretty prime minister - but that doesn't stop it from being interesting and sad and hey, did the anti-slave-trade people just get the law passed that wound up being a major point of disagreement between Denmark and Britain, eventually playing a part in leading to those unpleasant happenings in 1807???
25. Fahrenheit 451
Am I the only one wondering how it can be, that reading is completely and utterly unacceptable, and yet, people can read? I mean, it's not like it something you're born with - how come apparently random people are in danger from these paper bundles full of nonsensical squiggles and pictures? How come they seem to make sense to random people living in a society that has abolished reading and writing? Did I miss the secret underground schools or something?
26. Miss Austen Regrets
It's interesting comparing this movie to Becoming Jane - book-ends of the life story of Austen - and how completely different they are.