Movies

I dislike embedding video direct into posts because of the performance-degrading effects it can have, but I have to because Ho-cow-wtf-hells-yes-awesomtacular-nerdgasm!!1! they've released a sequel! RvD2 is out, and it kicks even more ass than its predecessor:

Click here to view.

If anyone missed the original short then they've been missing out.

Also, if you're running IE 7 but and an older (or no) version of Flash, you're probably still missing out on the embedded clip. But I guess that means you don't watch internet videos anyway, you luddite. Upgrade.

Edit: I removed the embedded video for load-time reasons.

I don't want to say anything much about the movie because I don't want to lessen anyone's experience of it, but it's a wonderful film. It's beautifully executed, engrossing, moving, unique. I'm very glad I saw it. Now you go.

No, seriously, now. This thing needs to make money, because it deserves to, and so that other original, interesting movies get produced with mainstream-level support.

Jill and I saw Children of Men (obliquely Sci-Fi, but her choice) a couple days ago, and I did enjoy it. I could break it down and criticize it for various things, to be sure, but I'm not really in the mood to spend that sort of effort on it at the moment. What I will do it toss out a question I've seen in lots of the nerdier spots on the web since shortly after the movie came out: Does Children of Men have a peculiar resemblance to Half Life 2?

Personally, while I definitely was reminded at times of the game while watching the movie, I think that, had the chronology of experience been reversed, I would have felt the corresponding thing, and obviously neither piece of art was the first to break ground on a dystopian, statist future. In fact, the differences between the two are not at all insignificant, particularly regarding the plot and the mechanism by which such a horrifically bleak future is reached; but in the overall aesthetic and tone of each the similarities are probably testimony to the steadfast vision of the creative teams behind them, as well as the rich body of preceding work informing them both.

Regardless, the internet is nothing if not the premiere home for time-wasting debate, and as such, there are viewpoints to be found siding with both pro and con.

Anyone with even a spot of affection for classic Hollywood studio system cinema who hasn't seen The Lady Eve owes themselves, and the movie, a viewing. It excels at all the virtues of the films of that era: high romance; quick, clever dialog; epic scenery; a complex, redoubling plot; larger than life characters portrayed by skilled actors; high wit and slapstick humor (including a particularly funny scene involving a horse) interspersed; and a sophisticated sexuality displayed sometimes overtly and at others through subtle (and not so subtle) innuendo or visual metaphor.

Jean: Why should I marry anybody that looked like that? When I marry, it's gonna be somebody I've never seen before. I mean I won't know what he looks like or where he'll come from or what he'll be. I want him to sort of - take me by surprise.
Charles: Like a burglar.
Jean: That's right. And the night will be heavy with perfume. And I'll hear a step behind me and somebody breathing heavily, and then...[She moans and sighs softly as she stretches back on the chaise] You'd better go to bed, Hopsie. I think I can sleep peacefully now.
Charles: I wish I could say the same.

It stars Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda, and is directed by Preston Sturges. Very good stuff.