Snow White and the Huntsman

was fucking awesome. 

I have been looking forward to this movie for a while, but I was seriously doubting my ability to stay awake.  The Chinese food we had for dinner did not help at all.  But me and the hubs watched the first installment of Hatfields & McCoys on the History Channel to pass the time, and it woke me up pretty well. 

I cannot resist a Kevin Costner western.  A Kevin Costner anything, really.

 At 11pm, I hopped in our car and jammed to Florence + the Machine's "Breath of Life" from the SWATH soundtrack all the way to Columbia.  The theater smelled.  Like old people and popcorn.  It was not a pleasant "Granny's baking cookies" old people smell either. 

But then the movie started and I forgot all about the funky smell and being tired.

Visually, this movie is pretty awesome.  It is an epic fantasy with quite a bit of very well done CGI, incredible costumes, these odd and awesome obsidian soldiers, and most of the cast was very easy on the eyes.  It also stars Ian McShane as one of the dwarfs so it had a leg up on most other movies auditorily too.  Spell check is saying that I spelled auditorily wrong....but Dictionary.com says that I'm spelling it right.  Hmmm.

It also has a nice twist on the love story aspect that I appreciated, but I'm pretty sure is going to cause purists to groan.  

This is has been one of the only Snow White movies that I could appreciate at all (the other being Once Upon A Time's version on ABC).  I absolutely hated the Disney version.  This version is going to be a staple in my household.  I can't wait to watch it again. 

And can I just say, Charlize Theron is a goddess.  Seriously.  And chick knows how to bring the crazy.  

Also, for your listening pleasure:

Deadwood

Television Without Pity is my absolutely FAVORITE place to go catch up on shows that I watch regularly but I missed an episode, don't watch anymore and just want to find out what happened in a particular storyline, or just want to relive.  They have delightfully snarky recappers, and I can't tell you how many times I've laughed until I've cried over their interpretation of the events on some of my favorite shows. 

Recently, I found out that they have been recapping "Game of Thrones", which is an HBO series that recently aired its Season 1 finale.  It's really good, and has stuck very closely to the books that it is adapted from (I'm on Book 3 of this series right now, and it is excellent!).  Peter Dinklage STEALS the show with his portrayal of Tyrion Lannister.  If you have HBO, and you haven't yet, you should check this show out. 

And pray that HBO doesn't pull a Deadwood on it. 

You see, while I was reading recaps of Game of Thrones, I also found TWoP's old recaps of Deadwood.  Pretty soon, I was furious all over again at the cancellation of this fucking amazing show after only 3 short seasons, and right before the climax of an extremely pivotal storyline.

Deadwood might have been the best television show I've ever seen.  And I watch a lot of the boob tube, folks.  The writing, the acting, the cinematography, the minimal soundtrack......it was all superb.  But oh my god.....the acting.  Ian McShane, Paula Malcolmson, Timothy Olyphant, Molly Parker, Robin Weigert....hell, every single cast member brought everything they had to to every single episode.  The end results were mesmerizing.  

A lot of people had qualms about the foul language, but it was the language of the time that the show was set in.  And once you immersed yourself in the vernacular, you really got the amazing flow and poetry of it all.  Deadwood helped me improve my vocabulary at least once a show.....and I'm not just talking about how to slip a well-placed "cocksucker" into my daily conversations. (Although that did come in pretty handy too.) 

HBO couldn't have made a bigger mistake by pulling this show.  And for what??  Shows like Entourage?  Not to mention Hung?  Or In Treatment?  It's baffling.   

I'm not sure if you can tell or not, but I really miss Deadwood.  And despite its untimely demise, you should check it out.  

Case 39 and The Other Guys

So Ian McShane made me watch a scary movie called Case 39.  Well, he didn't "make" me, per se, but he co-starred in the movie and thus my attention was required.  Turns out, the movie wasn't all that scary...but it was what my husband called, "a decent thriller" right before he started lamenting the lack of really scary horror.

Apparently, this rather grotesque fella was the apex of the horror genre, and it's been an ever-declining crapfest since.

 

Either way.  I liked the movie.  And not just because it featured Ian McShane and Ian McShane's amazing voice.  It also had Bradley Cooper (who dies a truly horrific death, btw) and a really adorably creepy Jodelle Ferland. 

It's the eyes....the adorably creepy eyes.

Renee Zellweger plays the social worker turned foster mother who gets terrorized and tormented and, (although they don't show it) I'm sure, ultimately imprisoned.  (Because she really has a lot of explaining to do at the end of this movie).

 I'm glad I sucked up my chickenshittedness (haha!  New word of the day!) and watched it.  It was much better than the craptastic comedy "The Other Guys".

I am seriously disappointed in Mark Wahlberg.  What the fuck was he thinking???  I expect half (ok, most) of Will Ferrell's movies to suck...but when I saw that it had Mark Walhberg in it, I held a lot of hope that this would be one of the few good ones.  

Wrong!

The only good part about this movie was when Samuel L. Jackson's character told Will Ferrell's character that if he wanted to hear him talk, he would shove his arm up (Will Ferrell's) ass and work his mouth like a puppet.  I plan on working that awesomeness into a word fight as soon as I possibly can.  

Shhhh....I'm listening to Ian McShane's voice rumbling in my head.

The Super Bowl commercials kinda sucked this year.

My favorite part of the whole thing was when they showed the new convertible Camaro that is coming out this spring.

I wants it.  I needs it.  My Precious.

My second favorite.  My brief flash of the the next movie that will get obscene amounts of my money....because I plan on retreating to the theater as often as possible to spend 2 hours in heaven with two of my biggest celebrity crushes - Ian McShane and Johnny Depp - in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

*excuse me...my hubs just informed me that I was drooling again.*

My third favorite part of the Super Bowl.....eh.  I got so distracted by the sound of Ian McShane's voice, I kinda forgot to pay attention to the rest of it.  Sorry. 

*I don't care if anyone else likes this....I'm linking it simply so I can come back and listen to it as much as I want without having to track it down every time.*






Seriously.  Watch Deadwood.  Something about the way that man says "fuck" makes you just want to.