LOL!

Fanart by phobs_heh

The Expendables 2

Went to see The Expendables 2 together with the twins. I haven't seen the first movie yet but since these movies are stand-alone, it didn't matter. It was funny and bloody and I liked the friendship between the guys. I liked the first half of the movie better than the second and some of the jokes were a bit too tongue in the cheek for my liking, but overall, I wasn't disappointed. It was also the first time in a long while that I actually cried in the cinema...

( Spoilers! )

Regarding characters, I liked Liam Hemsworth's Billy best. It's strange, but seeing him perform with these much older actors... I have to say, he's a much, MUCH better actor than most of them - and a truly gorgeous man, pictures don't do him justice! Acting wise, Schwarzenegger, though funny, was the most wooden one, I think. Van Damme really enjoyed playing the bad guy, you could see it. And Nan Yu's Maggie was one kick-ass lady! It was also the first movie with Jason Statham that I've seen - and gosh, gosh, gosh, I think I'm starting to understand his appeal. He kicked MAJOR ass, wielding a knife like nobody's business! I liked his fight scenes best.

Overall, I would give it 6/10. Not something I would have to necessarily own on DVD but I left the cinema satisfied, not feeling like I wasted my money/time. And the huge action sequence at the beginning was amazing on the big screen. Some parts were just too gimmicky for my liking.

XMFC fanart

keire_ke decided to work on a fusion between XMFC and the animated show called The Moomins and painted a wonderful, simply beautiful picture of moomin!Charles:


Larger version here.

If you like it, go and tell her so, encourage her to draw more. This picture is one of the sweetest things I've ever seen!

Of movies

Listened the audio commentary on Brick. Very informative. One of the best audio commentaries I've listened to. The director, Rian Johnson, invited various guests from the cast and crew and talked to them about how he used to be obsessed with Dashiell Hammett when he wrote the script, how it took him 7 years to get funding for it and in the end he had to borrow money from family and friends, how it cost them only $450k to make it, how they filmed it in his old high school and the students there became the extras and/or joined the crew, how they were like gypsies, always on the move because they usually got thrown out of where they were filming and they didn't even have money for a sound stage, how Joseph Gordon-Levitt became a part of the creative process and how JGL wore his own shoes during the whole movie because he didn't like to wear new things...

One of the best things about the movie, the thing that sets the perfect atmosphere, is the music, written by Nathan Johnson, Rian Johnson's cousin. You can listen to the composition here: link. I'm smitten with it, especially with the beginning. What a haunting melody.

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Today at the cinema, we saw several trailers...

Resident Evil: Retribution - we may go and see it if nothing else will be on in 14 days. I liked the special effects.
Looper - \o/\o/\o/
Savages - might be interesting to see it for the main threesome, an actual working threesome. Though not in the cinema. Maybe on DVD.
Hit & Run - AVOID! AVOID! AVOID! The tasteless jokes about a male-on-male rape in the trailer turned my stomach! AVOID LIKE A PLAGUE!

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I also bought several DVDs for 3-4 bucks each:

The Brothers Bloom with Mark Ruffalo, Adrien Brody and Rachel Weisz, directed by Rian Johnson (Brick, Looper)
Alien Agent with Mark Dacascos (who's a god, BTW!)
Bad Boys with Martin Lawrence and Will Smith
Legally Blonde with Reese Witherspoon, one of my favorite romantic comedies!

I paid only 13 bucks for all of them together! How awesome is that?