Over the holidays I watched Disney's Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. The message in both that I got was: Fairies, no matter how well-intentioned, are disempowering and princes are pretty much useless ( Read more... )

So, we saw Desolation of Smaug last night. I can certainly see why there are mixed reactions. I don't want to do any spoilers so I won't give details but will share my son Matt's summation: half WOW, half outraged declaration of "Jackson is writing his own fan fiction!" I have to agree. But the cast? WOW! Smaug? WOW!!!! As many others have said: ( Read more... )

Am I the only person who likes the 2006 remake of "The Wicker Man" with Nic Cage? It's not great film. Far from it. But I've seen it several times, and like it every time. But I also used to stay up to 2 am in college watching old black and white B SF and horror movies like "The Head That Would Not Die", "The Deadly Mantis", and "The Crawling Eye ( Read more... )

Two of the best films I've seen lately are The Artist and The Woman in Black ( Read more... )

Finally watched "Up" on DVD. I always love Pixar's work, but this was the most touching, dramatic one they've done so far. Can't say enough good about it. The opening and closing action made me cry. I can't think of what else to say, but "Squirrel ( Read more... )

It's dangerous to have "on demand" movies through Time Warner Cable when I'm sick. Watched several yesterday, but the only one I really remember is a Finnish horror film "direct from the festival circuit". Set in the late 16th century, it's about two brothers who commit a terrible sin and have to deal with the psycological and supernatural ( Read more... )

That's the topic of my panel at the upcoming (no pun intended) Yaoicon on Saturday (I found out two days ago--yikes!). Rather a broad topic, so I'm going to narrow it down to salacious Greek myths as they parallel yaoi culture, and 20th-21st cent. books and movies. I've started my list, but could use more ( Read more... )