Friday, January 31, 2014

5 Things That Made Me Happy This Week



5.) Jesse Eisenburg Cast as Lex Luthor in Batman vs. Superman: I'm sure plenty of people will be incensed by this news, but I'm a big fan of Eisenburg's style. I love him in both Adventureland and Zombieland, and ardently admired his skill at playing an insecure, yet cocky smartass with the ability to command a room in The Social Network (so much so that I was almost rooting for him to best my beloved Colin Firth for Best Actor). I think he has the capability to play a great villain, but obviously his looks and other aspects of his demeanor will make this a Lex we haven't seen before. I'm excited to see how that turns out. This is the first piece of casting news about the Man of Steel sequel that actually makes me look forward to seeing it.




4.) The Academy Awards do not air until March 2nd: Technically this is pretty close to the regular Oscar schedule - it's usually the last Sunday of February. But with the Golden Globes, Grammys and Screen Actor's Guild awards already behind us (as well as the Directors and Producers Guilds and Critic's Choice) it felt like awards season was moving at warp speed. These developments do make for a tediously long awards season, but on the other hand, I still have an entire month to catch up on nominees and makes lists about Oscar snubs, and that just tickles me pink.




3.) The Fault in Our Stars trailer arrived this week, promising tears for all: I have never read the John Green book on which the film is based, but fans cannot stop telling everyone that it will rip your heart out - I look forward to the challenge. It stars Shailene Woodley, who is so fresh and beautiful I think I'd follow her anywhere. May even need to read this book (Green's "Looking to Alaska" is also fervently recommended).





2.) Sherlock episode "The Sign of Three" was so, so good: The long awaited marriage of John Watson to Mary Morton was everything we hoped it would be and more, except for a really solid mystery. But that doesn't bother me much when you have Sherlock giving by turns the most awful/awesome best man toast in history, John and Sherlock actually hugging!, Sherlock folding napkins in a style he learned on youtube, a stag night where a very drunk Watson and Sherlock try to solve a case smashed, and a heartbreaking violin solo/last scene. This episode punched me in the feels. I'm going to start my second re-watch now.



1.) Hot Fuzz has delightful nods to Baz Luhrman's William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet: Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg must have a direct line to my adolescence because not only does the Amateur Dramatic Society in this film perform Romeo and Juliet via Baz Luhrman's insane production (complete with knight and angel costumes in the final death scene, and energetic musical number "Lovefool" to close the show) but later Dire Straits classic song "Romeo and Juliet" (which I know best from its appearances in Can't Hardly Wait and Empire Records) was playing in a car radio when the cops find the bodies of the decapitated actors from the play. (If any of this doesn't make sense, just go rent Hot Fuzz - well worth it.)  These nods aren't exactly subtle so I can't take any credit, but they did produce a very satisfying guffaw.



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