Dead Space

I had seen the trailer for Pandorum only once, and back then it struck me as very similar to Dead Space, the Electronic Arts game I was playing a few months ago. It combined horror and sci-fi, and I found myself irresistibly attracted to such a proposition.

Pandorum, starring Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster, unveils its mysteries slowly and keeps the tension and the suspense building from beginning to end. By the time you get to the final scene you think you know some things, but I doubt you will be right about all of them. (I sure wasn't.) The movie kept me guessing the whole time, and even though the first and third acts are vastly superior to its weaker and more unoriginal second one, it still was a fun time at the movies. And did I mention that Antje Traue looks crazy hot as the badass Nadia? Just one more reason to go open this box.

Epic

FlashForward is a new ABC sow whose first episode aired last Thursday. Actually, this show is the only one this new TV season that looks interesting, at least to me, and I was therefore interested in checking it out. You can watch it on ABC.com to judge for yourselves, but I thought it was great.

The premise of the show, which is based on a book by Robert J. Sawyer is really neat: the whole world blacks out at the same time for two minutes and seventeen seconds, and during that time they all experience a flashforward where they see themselves six months from then. The things some characters see in their future are good, but in some other cases, well… not so much.

Does this sound interesting? I thought this first episode was very well written, and I was glued to my screen for the forty-three minutes it lasted. I am interested in the characters, what they have seen, and how they are either going to fight to get there or to prevent it from happening. So check it out, because I think you will like it!

Perfect Bodies

I had wanted to see Surrogates since I first saw the trailer a few months ago. The movie, directed by Jonathan Mostow, is based on a comic book published by Top Shelf that I have never read, and that, judging from the artwork, I never will. The movie, however, was a different matter altogether, because it looked great, even though it was written by the same people who inflicted Terminator 3, Catwoman and Terminator Salvation upon us. That made me a little bit nervous, but I was willing to take my chances.

Bruce Willis and Rhada Mitchell star as FBI agents in this futuristic tale in which humans interact with each other through surrogates. It is like using Facebook and texting but taken to the Nth power. People stay home all day long and send their surrogates to work. But it's not just that. These people barely ever unplug and leave their control stations. When they want to go out, they do so through their surrogates. When they want to make out, they do so through their machines. When they go shopping, it is their robots they send. There is no human contact anymore, and everyone can be whoever they want to be, look the way they want to look (ie, perfect skin, perfect boobs, perfect hair), and act the way they want to act. There's barely any crime anymore, and everyone is happy. Or are they?

If this sounds unsettlingly familiar is because it is. This is the Internet taken to the extreme, the current communications technology amped up to its ridiculous maximum, and our humanity dehumanized to the fullest. Is this where we're headed?

Social commentary aside, Surrogates is a crime story. Somebody is killing people through their surrogates, something that should be impossible but that it is happening all the same. Agents Greer (Willis) and Peters (Mitchell) get involved in this investigation in which nothing and (especially) nobody is what they seem, and their struggles and adventures kept me interested from beginning to end.

I enjoyed the movie very much, and I certainly recommend it to everyone. And if you have read the comic book, let us know how faithful an adaptation the film was!

Nachezno

Mi querido coblogueador Nash, el Azote de Falsas Beldades, el Enemigo de los Orondos Mofletes, el General Alicantino, señaló el otro día lo mucho que le gustaba mi dibujo (bastante tontorrón, en mi opinión) de mí mismo vestido de Spider-Man, y dijo que podía hacer uno de él vestido de Lobezno. Y tal y como sucedió con su sugerencia para la fenomenal serie Amores estúpidos entre vampiros y tías tontas (que a ver si continúo), su sugerencia encendió el muchas veces adormecido fuego de mi imaginación, y me puse manos a la obra. Cincuenta minutos después de abrir la libreta y coger el lápiz, Nachezno había nacido para vivir, a buen seguro, incontables aventuras en las hiperactivas imaginaciones de los lectores de este vuestro blog. (Hay que ver que pendante que puedo llegar a ser.) Prolijidad verbal a un lado, ahí queda el dibujo de este dudoso superhéroe. Espero que os guste!

Leia: Episode II

El otro día os enseñé un dibujillo de la princesa Leia que hice en clase con mis niñas en quince minutos. Si recordáis, os dije que quería rehacerlo para que quedara mejor, y el resultado lo podéis ver acompañando estas líneas. Este dibujo lo hice en cuarenta minutos más o menos, y hasta tuve tiempo (y energía) para incluir a R2-D2, ese entrañable droide bajito y rechoncho. En fin: espero que os guste!

It's Raining Ham

Looks like I saved the best movie for last. I went to see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs last Sunday, the day after going to see Jennifer's Body, which I saw the day after seeing The Informant! Fortunately, each movie turned out to be better than the previous one.

CWACOM is, like the title would lead you to believe, a delirious adventure packed with impossible events, surreal turns, and all the whimsy and mad creativity you could imagine. At the same time, the script also includes all the inescapable beats, such as a hard-to-please dad, an oddball main character (Flint, voiced by Bill Hader), an unexpected (by him) romantic interest (Sam, voiced by Anna Faris), and my all-time favorite: the determination to chase your dreams. I don't know how much of this is featured in the children's book the film is based on, but seeing the book is 32 pages long, I have a feeling a lot of it came from the screenwriters' imagination.

The movie is laugh-out-loud funny but it also packs lots of dry humor and hilarious comments the different characters just deadpan. ("Lets rock this car back and forth," states a member of an angry mob before proceeding to, well, rock said car back and forth like any self-respecting mob tends to do.) And said characters are voiced by a veritable army of unexpectedly familiar faces: Benjamin Bratt, James Caan, Andy Samberg, Lauren Graham, and Neil Patrick Harris, in addition to the aforementioned Bill Hader and Anna Faris. Plus the two actors that caught me completely unaware: Bruce Campbell, and the one and only Mr. T!

The character design was cool, with big heads and spaghetti-thin bodies and limbs, the animation was great, and the attention to detail was out of this world. The universe of CWACOM is vividly colorful and delightfully rendered, and those ice-cream-covered houses looked really yummy.

All in all, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs was a pleasant surprise, and if you want to spend a good time at the movies, do not hesitate and check it out.

Cartoony Leia

This was the other picture I drew last Friday with my girls. Like the first one, it took me about fifteen minutes, and it only looks mildly creepy. Somehow, we got talking about Princess Leia, and I thought I'd give it a try. She didn't turn out exactly cute, so maybe I'll redo it with more time and more curves. Now that sounds like a good idea...

Megan's Body

Why did I go see Jennifer's Body? Well, Megan Fox is unbelievably hot, and this was obviously a vehicle (a non-transforming one) for her to showcase her acting and, well… her incredibly amazing looks. Also, the movie was written by Academy award winner Diablo Cody, and it looked a lot more interesting than Juno, which I've never seen. And third, the premise was actually fun: Megan Fox as a high school girl with a penchant for eating boys? What's there not to like?

As for the movie itself, well, I think I got what I was expecting and nothing else. Megan Fox is, as it's already been established, stunningly beautiful, and the story was fun but nothing to write home about. There are several good ideas, and they are neatly displayed and well developed. The "sacrifice" scene is both scary and hilarious thanks to the cavalier attitude of the knife-wielding baddie. And the snapshots alongside the end credits are very inspired too.

The dialogue is crisp and witty, but sometimes it tries too hard to be hip and sounds fake instead. Yet, for the most part, it is an accurate depiction of how high school girls talk. (Believe me, I know.)

All in all, you pretty much know what you're going to get if you want to go see Jennifer's Body, and in that sense the movie is honest and it doesn't try to fool anybody. So go check it out: even if you don't want to admit it, you know you want to.

Spider Me

Cartooning Club is back this year, and I was sitting with my girls doodling for thirty minutes, and this is one of the two pictures I drew last Friday. One of the girls had drawn a Spider-Man claiming it was me, so I decided to draw myself as the famous wall-crawler. Since I was pressed for time, I cranked it out in about fifteen minutes, so don't be too harsh when you judge it. Enjoy!

Skip This Movie!

I. Reasons why you should not see The Informant!:

1. It isn't funny. At all. Which is weird, since that's what the preview leads you to believe. But this, my friends, is not -repeat, not a comedy.

2. The characters aren't compelling. As it happens, they aren't even likeable. The closest I came to liking anybody was the two FBI agents, and they were still kind of scumbaggish.

3. It is too long. Even though it is only 1h 48 minutes long, it felt twice that long. That was probably because…

4. The pace is too slow, and the movie is very repetitive. The premise of the film keeps being played time and again and again and again ad nauseam.

5. And last but not least, the movie is plain boring. Really, really boring.

II. Reasons why you should see The Informant!:
Hmmm… Because Matt Damon is a good actor? Because every other movie at your local multiplex is sold out? Because you couldn't make it on time to see Whiteout? Hey, that one sounds familiar...

Megan Fox Unleashed

Please read this article by Entertain-
ment Weekly's Missy Schwartz about all the crazy stuff superhot Megan Fox has said in recent interviews. If nothing else, you will laugh out loud! I'm pasting here Ms. Fox's priceless quotes:

“God, I really wish I could go loose on this one. He’s like Napoleon and he wants to create this insane, infamous mad-man reputation. He wants to be like Hitler on his sets, and he is. So he’s a nightmare to work for but when you get him away from set, and he’s not in director mode, I kind of really enjoy his personality because he’s so awkward, so hopelessly awkward. He has no social skills at all. And it’s endearing to watch him. He’s vulnerable and fragile in real life and then on set he’s a tyrant. Shia and I almost die when we make a Transformers movie. He has you do some really insane things that insurance would never let you do.”

“I think that I’m so psychotic and so mentally ill that if I could tap into that I could do something really interesting.” — Entertainment Weekly, June 2009

“I think people are born bisexual and the make subconscious choices based on the pressures of society. I have no question in my mind about being bisexual. But I’m also a hypocrite: I would never date a girl who is bisexual, because that means they also sleep with men, and men are so dirty that I’d never sleep with a girl who had slept with a man.” — Esquire, June 2009

“I don’t want to have to be like a Scarlett Johansson, who I have nothing against, but I don’t want to have to go on talk shows and pull out every single SAT word I’ve every learned to prove, like, ‘Take me seriously, I am intelligent, I can speak.’ I don’t want to have to do that. I resent having to prove that I’m not a retard, but I do. And part of it is my own fault.” — Esquire, June 2009

“I am pretty sure I am a doppelganger for Alan Alda. I’m a tranny. I’m a man. I’m so painfully insecure. I’m on the verge of vomiting now. I am so horrified that I am here, and embarrassed. I’m scared.” — on the red carpet at the 2009 Golden Globes

“I didn’t get along with Lindsay Lohan on Confessions Of A Teenage Drama Queen, but you have to consider that we were 16-year-old girls. I haven’t seen Lindsay since then, but I imagine she’s grown and become a different person. I know I have. From what I’ve experienced, women aren’t good friends to one another. When guys want to hang out with you because your personality is badass, women immediately hate you.” — Maxim, July 2007

“I need to behave in a way that will cause people to take me seriously.” — Entertainment Tonight, June 2009

I hope you enjoyed it!

Inverse Evolution!

It looks like Slayers Evolution-R, the latest Slayers season, is over in Japan. Evolution-R was the follow up to last year's Revolution, which was the long-awaited fourth season of the terrific anime. I hesitate to say they're two different seasons, because each one is only thirteen episodes, and the almost identical titles make me think they're just one season that was split in two. In any case, I can't wait for the twenty-six episodes to be released in the States. I read somewhere they were planning on putting them out next year, so hopefully we won't have to wait much longer. In the meantime, check out the intro, sung, as usual, by the great Megumi Hayashibara. Enjoy!

Está que arde

A lo mejor es que soy un ignorante, pero debo confesar que la foto que acompaña esta entrada me ha dejado boquiabierto. En la foto en cuestión podéis apreciar la mitad del reparto de Glee, una nueva serie de la Fox que es mitad comedia, mitad musical, y probablemente todo fracaso. De todas formas, lo importante no son los humanos, sino el cartel que se puede ver detrás de la morena. Por si acaso estáis leyendo esto antes de hacer click en la foto para verla más grande, dejad que os diga lo que pone: "Por orden del Depto. de fuego, extrictamente prohibido el paso…". Y ojalá pudiera leer el resto, porque esta primera parte no tiene desperdicio. ¿El Departamento de fuego? ¿Quién es esta gente? Que yo sepa, el Fire Department es como se llama en inglés a los bomberos, pero a lo mejor estos fogosos individuos nada tienen que ver con ellos. Tal vez se trate de un club tan exclusivo que la entrada está "extrictamente" restringida a los más selectos candidatos. O quizá sean tan radicales, prendiendo fuego a todo lo que pillan, que directamente pasan de usar eses y utilizan las equis, que son más eXXXtremas. O, remota como es, cabe la posibilidad de que quien ha escrito esto sea un mentecato que no sabe hacer la O con un canuto. A lo mejor va y le sale otra X.

… Con amor

Hace un par de días os enseñé el dibujo casi terminado de la Viuda negra, y os prometí enseñaros el resultado final cuando lo tuviera. Bien, ese momento ha llegado, y aquí al lado podéis ver cómo quedó. La verdad es que, si de mí hubiera dependido, no habría coloreado o entintado el dibujo, pero el dibujo tenía que ser "a todo color". No sé si esto podría calificarse de ilustración a todo color, pero es indudable que es una ilustración, y que hay color por todas partes, así que espero que sirva, hehehe. Enjoy!

Leaner is Meaner

I liked Brotherhood of the Wolf, but the movie would greatly benefit from some judicious editing. Clocking in at two-and-a-half hours, BOTW is a perfect example of decompressed storytelling, and you could definitely trim it down to about an hour and forty five minutes without losing any flavor at all. Granted, the DVD I got from Netflix is the director's cut, so maybe the theatrical release was shorter, but the movie I saw was simply too long, and there really was no reason for it.

Other than that, BOTW was entertaining (especially the second half), and I particularly enjoyed the costumes, especially the clothes the two heroes (Samuel Le Bihan and Mark Dacascos) are wearing when we first meet them. Also, I really liked Monica Bellucci's gowns, particularly the black one she combines with a white wig, and the one she wears on her last scene in the movie. But I'll let Nash tell us all about her, since he is a big fan!

Desde Rusia…

Un amigo me pidió que le hiciera un dibujo de un personaje de Marvel, y dado que tenía completa libertad para elegir, se me ocurrió dibujar a la Viuda negra, personaje que nunca había dibujado y que nunca me había llamado la atención especialmente hasta que se anunció que iba a aparecer en la segunda película de Iron Man, y que iba a ser interpretado por Scarlett Johansson. Después de decidir cómo quería hacer el dibujo, me puse manos a la obra, pero una vez hube terminado la figura principal me di cuenta de que no me gustaba, y volví a empezar de nuevo. Como podéis apreciar en la imagen que acompaña estas líneas, se me ocurrió utilizar la catedral de San Basilio en la Plaza roja de Moscú como fondo dado que la Viuda negra es rusa. Además, la citada catedral me parece fantástica visualmente, y tenía ganas de ponerla en algún dibujo. Como también podéis apreciar, el dibujo aún no está terminado, pues me falta entintar tanto la figura principal como el fondo, lo que supongo me llevará una hora u hora y media. Espero que os guste, y en un par de días podréis ver el resultado final!

Stitchpunk

I went to see 9 last Friday, and it turned out to be 79 minutes of goodness. Directed by Shane Acker and produced by Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov, 9 is based on a short film by Acker that I have never seen but that I hope is included on the DVD, because I am sure going to get it when it comes out.

Even though the story is not exactly original, it is presented in a fresh new way, with stunning visuals, exciting ideas, and boundless energy, and it all comes together with a cool soundtrack and solid voice acting by Elijah Wood, Jennifer Connelly, Martin Landau, Crispin Glover, John C. Reilly, and Christopher Plummer. I liked all the different characters, with their different personalities and individualized designs. I liked 7's helmet and shield, 8's blades (made with scissors and nails), 6's fingers, and 3 and 4's special eyes. And, needless to say, the burlap heroe's nemeses were awesome in a very creepy way. That snake that ensnared its prey by putting on a puppet show? Amazing stuff! And what about the flying creature? True greatness. 9 is eye-candy at its best, but it is also a fun story and a terrific ride I recommend everyone. How could you not like this movie?

Vampiros y tontas 03

Nuestra tira cómica original está causando tanto furor a ambos lados del Atlántico que el mismísimo Robert Pattinson se ha ofrecido a aparecer como estrella invitada en la tercera entrega de este nuevo clásico del arte secuencial.
Dibujar al amigo Bob me costó unos diez minutos, y además pude aprovechar para practicar mis habilidades caricaturescas, que siempre necesitan mejorar. (Y de las "interesantes" páginas a las que la búsqueda de fotografías de referencia me llevó mejor ni hablamos.)
De todas formas, ahí queda el dibujillo para que lo juzguéis con vuestra apreciada honestidad. Isn't he adorable? Enjoy!

Relentless

I have a feeling my winning streak with my Netflix rentals has to end at some point, but I hope that bleak moment is still lots of DVDs in the future. The latest movie I got from them, Taken, blew me away, it really did.

Taken, starring Liam Neeson, was an early surprise hit this year, and it went on to gross more than $120 million domestically. In this lean, 93-minute film, Neeson plays a former government agent he describes as a "preventer". It is obvious by his description and his friends he was some kind of secret agent who retired so he could spend more time with his daughter. Too bad his wife divorced him and kept custody of the girl.

At any rate, when the daughter (played by Lost's Maggie Grace) turns seventeen, she goes on what she claims is a trip to Paris with her best friend (Katie Cassidy). Then they are kidnapped by an Albanian gang that deals in drugs and prostitution, and it's time for Daddy to do what he does best and try to save his daughter.

I know the plot doesn't sound particularly original or interesting, and I guess that's why I didn't go to see it when it was playing in theaters last January. However, I found the movie terribly compelling, the pace relentless, and Neeson's performance memorable. I was so rooting for him to find the next clue and kill the next baddie, I was on the edge of my seat from the very beginning until the last scene fades to black. Now this was an action movie with action that doesn't overpower or bore the audience. The film was well written, well acted, and knew not to overstay its welcome. Taken is only ninety-three minutes long, and it's been edited to its bare bones: no scene is superfluous, nothing else could be cut to speed things up or achieve a more focused, unified effect. This is a movie that delivers the goods, and I wish I had seen it on the big screen. Check it out, dear readers, because I think you'll enjoy it.

Innsmouth

I was reading Neil Gaiman's Smoke and Mirrors, a collection of short stories by the author, when I came across one of his two tales set in the H.P. Lovecraft universe. Gaiman talks about toad people in the story, and given the setting and my imagination, I imagined them sort of like this. When I decided to draw one of them, I thought I needed this "old engraving" style as I think it's the style of mine that fits the topic the best. I like the end result, but drawing all those stupid lines with my technical pens took way too much time. I knew this drawing session was going to go on for a long time, which is why I left the original pencils as unfinished as I could tolerate. After that, I grabbed the pens and got to work on my silly picture. It's a good thing I was listening to a selection of my favorite SModcast episodes to keep me even more entertained!

Vampiros y tontas 02

Aquí tenéis otra entrega de la tan celebrada como inesperada serie Amores estúpidos entre vampiros y tías tontas. Creo que la tira habla por sí sola, así que no tengo mucho que decir. Como la anterior, la dibujé en un momento, y, al igual que su predecesora, la obra destila un sutil y fino sarcasmo que atrapa al espectador en la compleja dicotomía del ser que… Chorradas aparte, ahí tenéis el dibujito. Enjoy!

Naked All Over Europe

I watched both She's the Man and EuroTrip within a week of each other, and it's kid of weird how both movies are very much alike while at the same time being completely different. I wanted to watch EuroTrip because I'm a big Michelle Trachtenberg fan, and I had been told the movie was hilarious. So I rented it and proceeded to be entertained for about an hour and a half.

After being dumped by his hot girlfriend (Smallville's Kristin Kreuk) on graduation day, Scott (Scott Mechlowicz) is talked into going to Berlin to meet his incredibly hot German penpal Mieke (Jessica Boehrs). For a series of reasons, both Scott and his best friend and traveling companion (Jacob Pitts) end up in Paris, where they team up with two classmates who were planning on backpacking across Europe (Travis Wester and Michelle Trachtenberg). From there, the four of them will try to make it to Berlin so that Scott can meet Mieke, but pretty much everything that could go wrong goes wrong.

Just like She's the Man, EuroTrip is funny, it has a cool soundtrack (especially that hilarious Lustra song Scotty Doesn't Know, sung in the movie by a Matt Damon like you've never seen before), and it also features Vinnie Jones in a small role related to soccer (what are the chances?). But unlike She's the Man, there's lots of nudity and profanity in this Trip, especially if you get the unrated DVD like I did. Plus, hardcore Christians might find a particular set of "adventures" toward the end in rather poor taste. (If you ask me, the Vatican's never been this much fun before, but what do I know.)

Just like She's the Man, the cast is likeable, and while EuroTrip won't redefine the genre either (something I don't think it tries to do anyway), I laughed out loud throughout the whole movie. Plus, it features one of the most bizarre scenes I have ever watched: the mime robot fight scene. Sounds ludicrous? Just wait until you watch it!

Amanda Bynes Rules

I like Amanda Bynes because I think she's really funny. I watched a handful of episodes of her show What I Like About You, and her facial expressions and physical comedy cracked me up. Therefore, I decided to give She's the Man a try.

In this modern take on William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, we find Viola (Bynes) impersonating her twin brother Sebastian (James Kirk) so that she can enter the soccer team to play against her former boyfriend, who was spectacularly unsupportive when the girls soccer team was disbanded due to budgetary reasons. You can imagine the rest: Fiona's issues with trying to act like a boy living in a dorm, the cute girl (Laura Ramsey) who likes her because she thinks she is a guy, the guy (Channing Tatum) who likes both the aforementioned cutie and the actual Viola, whom he knows as his roommate's sister, and Sebastian's psycho girlfriend (Alex Breckenridge) who stalks Fiona thinking she is her boyfriend Sebastian. Confused much?

She's the Man was a lot of fun to watch, and Amanda Bynes was great. The movie, as it's usually the case with movies about people in drag, demands certain suspension of disbelief, but it is extremely cute and funny. Plus, the soundtrack is pretty cool too, and the priceless Vinnie Jones has a small role as the soccer coach. So, while She's the Man will certainly not redefine the genre, it is a very enjoyable silly little movie that will entertain you for about 105 minutes. Sounds like a good deal to me.

Vampiros y tontas

Nash, con peor sintaxis y ortografía, dijo:

"El otro día entré en una librería y tenían como 4 sagas de vampiros en plan Crepúsculo: amores estúpidos entre vampiros y tías tontas. Es como cuando se pusieron de moda las tramas religioso-políticas, por culpa de Ángeles y demonios. Lamentable."

A estos perceptivos comentarios, Fel respondió:

"HAHAHAHA! Deberías patentarlo! O, mejor aún, alguien (tal vez yo) debería transformarlo en una tira cómica semanal, o algo por el estilo. Hmmm... interesante idea…"

Varios minutos después de este intercambio, la tira cómica que acompaña esta entrada estaba terminada. Enjoy!

Really?

I know I shouldn't get angry about things of little or no con-
sequence, but people never cease to aggravate me.
On the left you can see the cover for the DVD set of the second season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, probably the best season of the show. If you've seen the series, you know that Buffy and Angel have a romantic-yet-impossible-to-fulfill relationship, and that's really all that's relevant to this post.
On the right, we have the cover of a book I've never read. It's called Frostbite, it's written by Richelle Mead, and it so happens to be the second volume of the Vampire Academy series. You don't need me to tell you that the book, published in 2008, came out way after Buffy's season two hit the stores in 2002. So, whoever designed the book cover, I have something to tell you: good job! And next time you rip off somebody else's work, try to be a little less obvious.

A Movie I Love

I really don't know why I like The Butterfly Effect so much. Or maybe I do. Let's see… There's time-traveling, time-continuum paradoxes, compelling characters, and a poor guy so in love with the girl of his dreams he keeps changing history to ensure she has the best possible life. Only, it doesn't quite happen like that the first time. Or the second time. Or the third time.

I watched this movie about five years ago, and I had such fond memories of it that I bought it on DVD when I recently found it on sale. I immediately watched it again, and I liked it even more than I remembered. Time traveling aside, I think the reason why this movie speaks to me is because Evan (Ashton Kutcher) tries so hard to make things right for everyone. He is so in love with Kayleigh (Amy Smart) he will do anything to give her the life he thinks she deserves, and the consequences for him, for her, and for their small circle of friends and family tend to be catastrophic.

I know this is a small, unpretentious movie, but I find it tremendously powerful and incredibly compelling. I was glued to the couch as I watched it, and it is one of those movies I could watch once a month and immensely enjoy every time. Therefore, if you still haven't seen it, I urge you to rent it despite any misgivings you might have about the main character. If you aren't moved by it or find it preposterous, then come back and call me weird, and I'll try to figure out what's wrong with you.

One Can't Help Growing Older

I can't believe it's taken me so long to post the trailer for Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. As you well know, I am a big fan of all things Alice, so it only made sense I linked the video. I mean, we even have an Alice label, come on! At any rate, the images look great, and I hope this movie will be all sorts of awesome. Go Alice!

I [heart] Amy Adams

The only reason I wanted to watch Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is because I love Amy Adams. I went to the movies to see Sunshine Cleaning because she was the main character, and I would even consider renting Enchanted (or even "better" Cruel Intentions 2) just to see her in action. Following the same reasoning, I just had to watch MPLFAD, with the added bonus that this one actually looked good. (As opposed to, say, Cruel Intentions 2, but I guess everyone needs to start somewhere.)

The movie stars Frances McDormand as Miss Pettigrew, a poor woman who lives in the train station because she has no food, no house, no clothes, no nothing. For a variety of reasons, she ends up working as the social secretary of the unlikely named Delysia Lafosse (Amy Adams), and hilarity ensues from there. Basically, MPLFAD is an old-fashioned screwball comedy (it even takes place in the thirties) in which Delysia has to juggle three different lovers who want her for different reasons while she tries to make up her mind and choose one of them. This is complicated, because she also wants them all for different reasons: one plays the piano with her (she's a singer), the other one owns the club she sings at, and the third one is putting together a musical and is looking for his star. As you can imagine, poor Delysia is having such a hard time dealing with this situation, so it's a good thing Miss Pettigrew shows up one morning. During that day, as you have probably predicted by now, both women will learn valuable lessons from each other, and you will be amused and entertained for an hour and a half.

I watched the movie with a smile on my face, but I never really burst out laughing. The movie is cute and sweet, and both McDormand and Adams do a great job, but it isn't a must see. If what I've said sounds interesting, you'll probably like the movie. If this review didn't speak to you, then the movie won't, either. But Amy Adams is great!

Y van tres

Tres años tres son los años que llevamos de posteo diario consecutivo en este vuestro blog. Desde el día 2 de septiembre de 2006 no hemos dejado de publicar sesudos comentarios día sí y día también, en lo que es evidentemente una preferencia por la cantidad en vez de la calidad. ¿Hasta cuándo aguantaremos este frenético ritmo? ¿Tres años más? Es posible...

Marvel absorbida!

Como lo oís, queridos! La editorial de comics más importante de Estados Unidos acaba de ser absorbida no por Galactus sino por una compañía infinitamente más acaudalada. Y dicha compañía no es ni más ni menos que Disney, el imperio ratonil más ubicuo de la galaxia. No sé qué os parecerá a vosotros, pero yo me he quedado de piedra. Marvel lleva varios años como líder de la industria, controlando aproximadamente el treinta por ciento del mercado. A diferencia de su más directa competidora, DC Comics, que controla más o menos el veinte por ciento del mercado, Marvel seguía siendo una entidad independiente, pues DC es parte de Time Warner, lo que la convierte en tan solo una pequeña parte del gigante multimedia. Sin embargo, ahora Marvel ha pasado a ser exactamente lo mismo, y me pregunto qué cambios acarreará esta transformación. Obviamente, supongo que a partir de ahora habrá una cierta interacción entre los personajes de ambas compañías (o tal vez debería decir "entre las distintas divisiones de la misma compañía") que se centrará probablemente en videojuegos, parques de atracciones, y tal vez alguna serie de animación. Lo que más me preocupa es cómo la compra de Marvel va a afectar a los comics que publica. Está claro que la mayor parte de los comics de Marvel son apropiados para adolescentes, y son sólo un puñado de títulos los que están destinados a un público adulto. Y llamadme paranoico, pero no creo que Disney esté dispuesta a que una división de su compañía publique material que no sea apto para todos los públicos o que contenga personajes tan violentos como Lobezno o El Castigador. ¿Y qué pasará con los comics de la editorial francesa Soleil que Marvel había empezado a publicar? Todos sabemos cómo se las gasta el comic europeo, y si mis temores se prueban fundados, Disney jamás de los jamases publicaría algo como Sky Doll, que Marvel publicó aquí el año pasado como parte del acuerdo con Soleil. O a lo mejor me equivoco, quién sabe. ¿Qué pensáis vosotros?