Hey guys, check out my amazing-brained sister tinuviellen's annual ANNUAL ACADEMY AWARDS PREDICTIONS POST. She is a wunderkind and is always right on many categories, but she also breaks down the tensions and politics within each category helpfully - so you know when to groan, when to ooh and ahh, and when to be surprised!

Aw, that felt good. This is the kind of post I used to write on here all the time - "musings: I have them!" - but when I get any time these days, I feel like I owe it to my siblings not to make them carry the full weight of the sibling blog. So I posted it on there - but LJ, at heart this is for you:

What 'Let It Go' Is - And What It Isn't(My ( Read more... )

Check it out:

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You're all well-read people. Can you think of any examples of what one might call "literary novelization"? I've been reading a lot of adaptation theory and it's often mentioned that novelization - the writing of a book based on a film - gets little scholarly attention. Since intellectual types tend to say "the book is better," this is interesting, ( Read more... )

First it was American S&S, now this. Apparently there's a Bollywood modernization of Emma from 2010 called Aisha. Anyone seen it? I don't want spoilers if you have, but I'd like to know if it's worth interlibrary loaning. I mean, probably it is just for the novelty, to see how they've transported the story to "the upper class society of Delhi" ( ( Read more... )

Working on our September movie preview for Relatively Entertaining, I read a summary of and watched the trailer for the upcoming Bachelorette - and if that sounds barely distinguishable from Bridesmaids to you, that's obviously the point.

Though this is not really my type of movie, I was pleased to see a comedy helmed by three women, especially ( Read more... )

For an assignment, I'm trolling Youtube for early silent versions of A Christmas Carol. This one claims to be the earliest, from 1901. Only half of it (about 3 1/2 minutes) is said to survive, so I could easily tell you to go watch it, but I'll cut straight to the point instead - how awesome is the set decoration?

This is the Cratchits' house:

( Read more... )

Knowing that I often teach about gender and film, a friend of mine posted this video on my facebook wall. It's a really clear, well-done explanation and application of something I'd never heard of before but obviously should have - the Bechdel Test. It's well worth watching this video, but in brief, this is a test for movies that asks: does the ( Read more... )

Two links about The Smurfs that I found really entertaining:

‘Should I See The Smurfs?’ Flow-Chart

You Can Actually Watch Neil Patrick Harris’ Soul Being Eaten in The Smurfs

Gadzooks, it just sounds awful. And believe it or not, though I watched the cartoon as a kid, I'd forgotten the "la la la la la la" theme song. It was better that way...

Disclaimer: I have never seen or read the end of Gone With the Wind and I don't know what happens (except the final line, of course). So please don't spoil me, and don't judge too harshly if my claims are ridiculous in light of the full narrative ( Read more... )