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Jan 5, 2011

The State of the Cabins (1/5/11)

Things to Click On
* Jason Bellamy's Bests of 2010 post is phenomenal - the best post I've read this year! Full of creative awards for the last year in film. You'll never think of How to Train Your Dragon the same way again, either. (The Cooler)

* Speaking of Jasons, Mr. Soto's latest "Jason Made a Video" is a must watch for the opening minute alone. Yeah, it's an inside joke, but goddamn is it a good one. (Invasion of the B Movies)

* It's been around for a few weeks, but the new game over at Hoping for Something to Hope For is, as you might have guessed, right up my alley. Here's the third one.

* James lets you in on his Top 20 Discoveries of 2010. Love the idea of this post. (Cinema Sights)

* Univarn has been on a tear lately. Just check out anything from the past two weeks or so (I had to skip the film reviews as I've not yet seen the flicks, but the editorials and poster wrap-up have all been terrific). (A Life in Equinox)

Movies watched for the first time (non-theatrically) since last week time:
* About a Boy
You know how, just because someone has a British accent, they seem smarter and more refined than their North American counterpart? Can the same be said for films?

I swear, were About a Boy made with, say, John Cusack in the lead, it would have come off a lot worse than it did. (This might have already happened...did anyone actually see Martian Child?) I, too, was pretty smitten with About a Boy, but I just had this nagging feeling that it was more familiar and cliched than it actually was. Asshole, Peter Pan-y bachelor learns to love someone besides himself, earning a family and a sense of purpose along the way. Haven't we seen this a million times? Was the writing really that much more superior so as to make it stand out from the crowd?


Sadly, I don't know if I have the answers to those questions, and I'm going to do my best to not care. I was charmed by Hugh Grant - ironically, perhaps liking him more in this asshole role than in any prior role of his. Anything's better than watching this suave, good-looking guy stumble and stammer his way through another character, right? I've been somewhat of a basket case over the last two and a half months, so I wasn't surprised that the super-happy ending got to me, either. Yes, it got dusty in there.

A winning film, with a hilarious intro. Who else could threaten to 'shag' their goddaughter and come away smelling of roses?

P.S. - I completely forgot that the Boy was the one that grew up to be Colin Firth's love interest in A Single Man. Jarring, really. He really did look strange in About a Boy - Mrs. Fletch even thought they'd done something to his eyebrows to make him look like a Vulcan.

Fletch's Film Rating:
Expectation:
"It's in the hole!"
Reality:
"It's in the hole!"
LAMBScore:
Large Association of Movie Blogs

Music I'm currently obsessed with:
* Nothing in particular. Picked up the latest from The Black Keys, Royksopp, Kanye West and Vampire Weekend...now it's time to take them all in.

Book I'm currently reading:
* Notice a trend here?

Usually, I don't like to read consecutive books from the same author, as it feels better to mix it up. Too much of the same thing starts to blend all together into one giant book. Yet, I guess a desire to continue reading something light took me from the second in the Camel Club series by David Baldacci, The Collectors, to the third one, Stone Cold. Ironically, similar to the second and third books in the Millenium trilogy, The Collectors and Stone Cold do blend together. There's a new story and villain here, but a large portion of Collectors was left on a cliffhanger that's sure to be resolved in Stone. And I'm enjoying this third book probably even more so than the prior two. I think there's a fourth (and maybe even a fifth) novel in the series...I just might take them all on in a row.


16 people have chosen wisely: on "The State of the Cabins (1/5/11)"

Anonymous said...

Martian Child is terrible. Don't watch it.


That is all.

p.s. Thanks for the plug.

Nick said...

Jason's new video is hilarious, I agree. That opening minute made me laugh so much. Granted, less than 5 people probably got the joke completely, but still.

And I loved About A Boy! I just saw it for the first time about a month or two ago myself.

David Bishop said...

Thanks for the plug for my little game. This week's hard one is still up for grabs.

Univarn said...

Thanks for the link and compliment Fletch, I appreciate it sincerely!

Oh, and your About a Boy 'P.S' = epic, had me in tears I was laughing so hard. For some reason I never put the two together like that.

Alex said...

That still of Hugh Grant is basically exactly how I feel about babies. He's just like "How does this work? Why am I holding this thing? What if it poops?"

Ahh, I'd be the worst mom ever.

Fletch said...

James - Don't worry...I had no plans to. And you're welcome.

David - My earlier guess and your confirmation of what was depicted sadly did not help me. Oh well. And as someone else pointed out earlier, where be the latest?

Univarn - Good work deserves praise, and I really think you've been on fire lately.

I obviously saw A Single Man first. I remember in my research after seeing that that kid was from About a Boy, but since I hadn't seen the latter, I never really knew how he looked in it. Suffice it to say, he's aged well.

Alex - You will never be asked to hold Alex. :D

You're young...opinions on such matters can change...

Nick said...

Yeah, Alex. I'm almost 25, but I'd like a baby super bad... unfortunately, I'll probably end up becoming a 40-year-old virgin before I ever get a girl knocked up.

(See what I did there? Come on... that was funny, people. Tee hee.)

Fletch said...

Wow - even got Funny People in there.

Aiden R. said...

About A Boy justified Hugh Grant's existence. What a great movie.

Nick said...

Dylan: Hell yeah I did :P .

The Film Cynics said...

Did you see I transcribed the lyrics to Santa's Super Sleigh? At last it becomes clear why I burned a couple hours doing that...

http://www.thefilmcynics.com/blog/?p=5732

Fletch said...

Aiden - no love for that music one w/ Drew Barrymore? Or Nine Months? Or...shit, I can't even pretend.

Steve - Awesome. That verse about Mum and Dad and who he might love more is creepy...

The Film Cynics said...

Isn't it unsettling? A great way to fill out the picture of what Will's childhood was like.

Jason Soto said...

Thanks for the shout out! I didn't know if anybody but Nick would get it, or even how Nick would respond. Glad it went over well!
-Jason

PS: I think I pointed out a hint on who that anonymous person is with the spelling of favourite. Damn British people!

Fletch said...

Jason - But they could have spelled it that way just to throw us off...

Kaiderman said...

It's not the accents... Boy is just a good flick. Well written and the actors are great. Grant definately wins you over too.