A Candle in Sunshine

Director of The Hobbit announced!

noreply@blogger.com (A Candle in Sunshine) — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 20:11:00 +0000

Liz and Valerie were concerned when it was announced, way back in the day, that Peter Jackson would not be directing New Line's upcoming adaptation of The Hobbit. After all, Pete had brought about the awesomeness that was Lord of the Rings, so who could possibly follow in his hobbit-sized footsteps to direct the prequel? Who could be better for the job?

Well, the celestial sphere has smiled on Liz and Valerie, for today the announcement of the new director was made:

Guillermo Del Toro.

He is, perhaps, the only person that could in fact be better for the job, and for that the world should be grateful. At least the part of the world that cares about such things.

You are not Andy Lau

noreply@blogger.com (A Candle in Sunshine) — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 15:57:00 +0000

Best article today. Check out the video of Andy Lau defending a fan from his own security guards.

Heath Ledger is dead

noreply@blogger.com (A Candle in Sunshine) — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 22:11:00 +0000

Why mince words? He was found with pills. He was 28 years old.

Valerie remembers him best, ironically, from Ten Things I Hate About You. Thankfully, he finished filming The Dark Knight so they don't have to pull a Brandon Lee on him.

He was a brilliant actor with a bright past and a brighter future. This is extremely sad, especially for his little girl. Wake up, people: suicide is not the answer, whatever the question might be.

Rodents of unusual size? I don't believe they exist.

noreply@blogger.com (A Candle in Sunshine) — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 20:02:00 +0000

Oh, but they do. At least, scientists in Uruguay believe they have found the fossilized skull of a huge rodent. By huge, they're thinking about the size of a bull, with big front teeth like a beaver. The kind folks at the BBC have all your ROUS needs covered.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Strike Back?

noreply@blogger.com (A Candle in Sunshine) — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 15:53:00 +0000

News flash: the final Harry Potter book will likely be made into two films rather than just one, according to "a source" who must not be named. There is simply too much happening in the 784 pages of the book to be contained in one movie, says the mystery person. Valerie thinks that maybe if all of the camping scenes were cut out, the movie wouldn't need to be so long, but she is probably in the minority.

The Worst Pies in London

noreply@blogger.com (A Candle in Sunshine) — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 16:05:00 +0000

Before the Christmas shenanigans began and Liz went away for a while, she and Valerie cruised into their local theater for a quick shave from Johnny Depp. They are delighted to report that Sweeney Todd is a most excellent film, mainly if you love Tim Burton movies as much as they do. Be warned that this is not a movie for children or people who are squeamish about blood; it is easily the darkest film that Burton has ever done.

Speaking of dark, the color palette for this movie, as you may have deduced from the trailers, is mostly black and pale with the initially occasional, and then increasingly frequent, spatterings of red. It isn't really a black and white movie, but everything is so muted that it sometimes feels that way. Which is just fine, because London as Tim Burton pictures it is a dark and smoky place where the sun rarely filters down through the thick clouds. As Todd puts it:

There's a hole in the world like a great black pit
and the vermin of the world inhabit it
and its morals aren't worth what a pin can spit
and it goes by the name of London.

Creepy. Much like the performances, which some purists complain are much less funny than they tend to be in the Broadway musical. There are certainly some moments in which uneasy laughter escapes one's mouth because of how absurdly terrible something is, but overall Burton plays this straight. There is one particular scene that could have been lifted out of Edward Scissorhands or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and it's the one that elicited the most laughs despite a complete lack of dead bodies because it was clearly meant to be funny. Otherwise, the characters are loonies and while you're rooting for Todd, a part of you feels bad about it because, well, he's murdering perfect strangers for no real reason besides misanthropy.

Johnny Depp was wearing slightly more eye makeup than Jack Sparrow in this one, while Helena Bonham Carter was slightly less crazy than Bellatrix Lestrange. Alan Rickman is getting old, to Liz and Valerie's dismay, but he is still excellent in this role and his duets with Depp are beautifully cringe-inducing. Sacha Baron Cohen provided the requisite comic relief for the brief time he was on-screen, sashaying around in a distasteful velvet one-piece and a cape like he was the King of Italy.

It was somehow refreshing that few of the actors were really good singers. It gave the movie a sense of realism that most musicals lack by their very nature, being populated by amazing voices as they usually are. Few people can sing well, so to have a bunch of really good singers wandering around singing their heads off tends to make the whole suspension of disbelief thing that much tougher. But this movie was populated by normal people who happened to mostly sing rather than speaking, and you weren't sitting there focusing on their voices and whether they were hitting the tough notes and all the other stuff you usually worry about when watching a musical.

If you like Tim Burton's work, you will like this movie. If you don't like Tim Burton's work, you probably will not like this movie, unless you are really excited by the prospect of watching Johnny Depp slit a lot of throats. For the love of aftershave, do not take children to see this, or Liz will be happy to take them into custody and raise them as her own.

Yet another trailer

noreply@blogger.com (A Candle in Sunshine) — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 18:35:00 +0000

Valerie just ran across the new, extended trailer for WALL-E, the upcoming film from Pixar. It is enough to encourage one to overcome one's deep mistrust for robots and possibly want to give them big hugs instead.

Trailers galore

noreply@blogger.com (A Candle in Sunshine) — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 17:39:00 +0000

Liz and Valerie just had the pleasure of watching two trailers for movies that are very important to them: The Dark Knight and My Name Is Bruce.

Initially, there was some concern over the casting of Heath Ledger as the iconic Joker. He's too pretty. He's made some bad films (cough A Knight's Tale cough). But he played a gay cowboy in an Ang Lee film, so Liz and Valerie held out hope. And they were not disappointed. The makeup manages to be true to the comics while also being reasonably realistic--you've got all the right colors, but they're less kid-scaring clown and more knife-wielding psychopath. In particular, the extra-wide mouth is reminiscent of Ichi the Killer without, thankfully, being quite so graphic. Unlike the Tim Burton incarnation, which relied solely on makeup, there is also obvious scar tissue obscuring the pretty boy features that might have rendered this character less believable.

And of course, what's the Joker without an insane cackle? Ledger manages a laugh that is, to put it mildly, the kind that would encourage you to cross the street to avoid the person emitting such a sound. Hopefully, it won't be overused in the film, as it certainly has the potential to wander from wild, gleeful menace to annoying titter if the director isn't careful. Liz and Valerie are tres excited.

Just as exciting, but in a totally different way, is the trailer for Bruce Campbell's upcoming film. Like its predecessor The Three Amigos, this movie is about an actor who gets hired by a town to take care of a problem he has often dealt with--in movies. Only, of course, this problem is actually real. Hilarious hijinks ensue. Liz and Valerie are confident that while this may not be an Oscar-worthy performance, it will be everything that Bruce Campbell fans know and love. It also stars Sam Raimi's bro, Ted Raimi, who Valerie always loved best as (god help her) Joxer the Mighty from Xena. She still remembers his theme song.

My Name Is Bruce has already been screened at a couple of places Liz and Valerie are far away from, but The Dark Knight won't be swooping into theaters until next year. Until then, another Evil Dead marathon may be in order.

Sad News du Jour

noreply@blogger.com (A Candle in Sunshine) — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 19:28:00 +0000

Valerie was deeply troubled to learn that the inimitable Terry Pratchett, who accompanied her in a literary sense during her voyage to Ireland and who has since taken over almost two shelves in one of her five bookcases, has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's.

This news actually broke yesterday, and Valerie found out fairly quickly, but she has been rather upset over the whole thing and thus had difficulty putting insightful words together about it. He isn't dead, of course, which is a wonderful consolation that Valerie didn't have in the case of the late Douglas Adams, who did, in fact, die rather suddenly. Ditto for Kurt Vonnegut, although in his defense he was getting on in years.

Obviously Valerie doesn't know the man, but she knows his books. She likes to think that he is the kind of guy that you could sit with at a pub for hours, talking about how funny the world can be, the kind of guy that gets along with most people because he is kind and earnest and witty without being cruel.

Instead of getting all morbid, which is the kind of thing best left to the privacy of one's head sometimes, Valerie would like to share a few of her favorite Pratchett quotes:

"Getting an education was a bit like [getting] a communicable sexual disease. It made you unsuitable for a lot of jobs and then you had the urge to pass it on."

"Worlds of belief, she thought. Just like oysters. A little piece of shit gets in and then a pearl grows around it."

"Sometimes it's better to light a flamethrower than curse the darkness."

"Just because someone's a member of an ethnic minority doesn't mean they're not a nasty small-minded little jerk."

"For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks."

"It wasn't blood in general he couldn't stand the sight of, it was just his blood in particular that was so upsetting."

"In fact, no gods anywhere play chess. They prefer simple, vicious games, where you Do Not Achieve Transcendence but Go Straight to Oblivion; a key to the understanding of all religion is that a god's idea of amusement is Snakes and Ladders with greased rungs."

"A good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read."

"Any wizard bright enough to survive for five minutes was also bright enough to realise that if there was any power in demonology, then it lay with the demons. Using it for your own purposes would be like trying to beat mice to death with a rattlesnake."

"Five exclamation marks, the sure sign of an insane mind."

"The only way housework could be done in this place was with a shovel or, for preference, a match."

"Gravity is a habit that is hard to shake off."

"The trouble with being a god is that you've got no one to pray to."

"There are hardly any excesses of the most crazed psychopath that cannot easily be duplicated by a normal kindly family man who just comes in to work every day and has a job to do."

"In the Beginning there was nothing, which exploded."

"Well, basically there are two sorts of opera,' said Nanny, who also had the true witch's ability to be confidently expert on the basis of no experience whatsoever. 'There's your heavy opera, where basically people sing foreign and it goes like "Oh oh oh, I am dyin', oh, I am dyin', oh, oh, oh, that's what I'm doin'", and there's your light opera, where they sing in foreign and it basically goes "Beer! Beer! Beer! Beer! I like to drink lots of beer!", although sometimes they drink champagne instead. That's basically all of opera, reely."

"Real children don't go hoppity-skip unless they are on drugs."

"The truth may be out there, but lies are inside your head."

For more quotes, check out the Pratchett Quote File.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year

noreply@blogger.com (A Candle in Sunshine) — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 15:52:00 +0000

The competition was fierce--actually, this word won pretty easily, why exaggerate. Thousands of people voted, which just goes to show that there are in fact thousands of logophiles out there who have either played Counterstrike or heard about it from someone who did and adopted this word for their own purposes.

Drumroll please... the Merriam-Webster Word of the Year for 2007 is:

w00t (interjection)
expressing joy (it could be after a triumph, or for no reason at all); similar in use to the word "yay"
w00t! I won the contest!

Previous words of the year include "truthiness," "integrity," and "blog." Liz and Valerie wonder if this might say something about the concerns of the thousands of logophiles who voted for these words. Thankfully, this year they appear to be confident that they owned the other team.

News du Jour

noreply@blogger.com (A Candle in Sunshine) — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 22:44:00 +0000

This actually occurred back in March, reported in the Houston Chronicle, but is still so funny that it bears repeating for those who missed it:

A man accused of leaving an El Lago restaurant without paying his tab was arrested a short time later on a trespassing charge by the Lakeview Police Department.

According to a police report, an employee at Gabacho's Mexican Restaurant in the 4400 block of NASA Parkway called police to report the theft.

When officers responded, they learned that the man was seen walking toward a vacant building on the other side of the road after leaving the restaurant.

Police checked the area and found an open door in the back of the building. An officer went inside and called out, "Marco."

The man's name was not Marco, detective Tim Dohr said. Instead, "the officer was trying to inject some humor into the situation."

Police found the suspect after he responded, "Polo."

Back again, as enchanting as ever

noreply@blogger.com (A Candle in Sunshine) — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 15:16:00 +0000

Ah, the hiatus. A magical period in which some things take precedence over others. Liz and Valerie have had many things on their respective plates, and will continue to figuratively overeat for what seems like the rest of their lives. Even so, updates will be made; they may simply be more sporadic than one might like.

Today, Liz and Valerie want to talk about the new(ish) movie Enchanted, which they had the pleasure of seeing this weekend. Amy Adams plays the main character, Giselle, your typical fairy tale heroine on the cusp of marrying Prince Charming, aka Prince Edward, aka James Marsden. Unfortunately, Giselle is shoved into a magic fountain and ends up in New York City, wearing a voluminous wedding dress that makes navigating the busy sidewalks something of a challenge. She meets up with Patrick Dempsey, whose daughter convinces him to take in the overwhelmed princess-to-be, and hijinks ensue.

When Liz and Valerie first heard of this movie, they were not impressed. It sounded, well, extremely stupid. The whole "cartoon in the real world" thing has been done before, and never in a terribly satisfying way. Well, your humble narrators are pleased to report that Enchanted is actually very funny. As in Liz and Valerie were laughing a bit too loudly at certain parts, probably eliciting strange looks from other audience members. Luckily, most other people were laughing, too, so it probably wasn't too noticeable.

There is nothing cinematically innovative to report, but that's fine, because this isn't a movie looking to break new ground or win an Oscar for camera work. This movie is at its best when it pokes fun at all the clichés in the Disney arsenal, from absurdly short courtships ("What's a date?") to improbable musical numbers ("Oh, you know this song, too? I don't know this song...") to talking animal companions. And yet, at the same time, it manages to be everything people like about a Disney movie without feeling forced or contrived.

Some critics have found the performances of the cartoon characters (i.e. Giselle and Prince Edward) to be a bit over the top, but Liz and Valerie think they are perfect for what the film is trying to accomplish. There is one scene in particular that underscores Giselle's character arc, but in the interest of avoiding spoilers it will not be discussed. The only spoiling thing that can be said is that the grand finale, the climax, the coup d'etat, is rather anticlimactic given all that preceded it. It's almost like the writers realized the movie was going to be too long and chopped off its ankles.

Liz and Valerie heartily recommend this movie, to adults and children and even to jaded tweens and teenagers, provided they can loosen their grips on the angst that plagues their daily existences. It may be funniest to adults, who will better understand all the references and jabs than their younger counterparts. But like Giselle, the movie manages to maintain its innocence even as the threads of experience can be seen weaving their way into the fabric of the film.

It's getting Hot in here

noreply@blogger.com (A Candle in Sunshine) — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 17:47:00 +0000

Liz and Valerie made it to the last show (12:50am) of Hot Fuzz on Friday night, aka Saturday morning, hopped up on Krispy Kreme doughnuts and ready for gun fights and car chases. They were not disappointed.

Those who complain that this movie is not as good as Shaun of the Dead have, perhaps, more affection for zombies than cops. In the same way that SotD was a parody of and homage to horror films while itself being a good one, Hot Fuzz is a good action film at the same time that it parodies and homages just about every action film ever made. The allusions fly faster and thicker than bullets, yet they don't feel forced or out of place as can be the case with parodies (see Scary Movie et al.)

It doesn't make a lot of sense to say things like "the cinematography was great" because that's not really the point. Better to say that the cinematography was typical action movie fodder, getting the job done in a way that makes the audience focus on what's going on rather than how it's being framed. The same goes for the sound, although the music was occasionally a bit more interesting than the usual fare.

It's the acting, dialogue and wacky moments that really make this movie awesome. The dynamic duo from SotD were great, Bill Nighy made an appearance, and the various townspeople who populate the idyllic town where the story takes place are each interesting in their own way. But Timothy Dalton was the best in show here, playing a devilish but charming grocery-store owner who keeps popping up to say suspicious things and then waltz off innocently. As in SotD, there is hardly a wasted line in the film, and the puns elicit laughs even when you're groaning on the inside.

Will you still like this movie even if you don't get all the inside jokes? Absolutely. Valerie only got a few of them, and she still laughed her head off all the way through (maybe she forgot to take her pills that day, or maybe it was the Krispy Kreme sugar rush). Anyone who likes comedies, detective flicks or action films should appreciate this movie. Don't be like Valerie's friend Dave, who neglected to see SotD on the big screen and has regretted it every since. Go see this movie now.

A Moment of Silence

noreply@blogger.com (A Candle in Sunshine) — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 13:57:00 +0000

Valerie was devastated to hear that the inimitable Kurt Vonnegut died yesterday at age 84. She still remembers when her uncle gave her several enormous boxes of books that he didn't have room for anymore, and among those boxes was a vast selection by Vonnegut.

Like the methodical person she is, she started reading his work chronologically, with Player Piano. This was right about the time that she was really getting into science fiction and dystopic writing and satire, the likes of Voltaire and Orwell, movies like Fahrenheit 451 and Soylent Green. Thanks to her uncle, she also dabbled in things like Dune and Foundation, but she was always partial to "soft" science fiction, which focused more on people than science.

Cat's Cradle; God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater; Slaughterhouse-Five; Bluebeard... Kurt Vonnegut didn't write a lot of novels, and Valerie didn't read them all, but she treasured the ones she did. And who can forget short stories like "Harrison Bergeron" and "Welcome to the Monkey House"? She once got the opportunity to see him read, but things got in the way, as they are wont to do. Now she'll never get to see him, and it breaks her heart. But the good thing about authors is you can always hang out with them by picking up one of their books, and thanks to her uncle, Valerie can do that anytime.

God bless you, Mr. Vonnegut.

Missing Reel

noreply@blogger.com (A Candle in Sunshine) — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 15:49:00 +0000

Liz and Valerie headed out with Pam on Saturday night to catch the double-feature spectacle that is Grindhouse. Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino team up to make two almost-feature-length homages to the cheesy, ultra-violent B movies of an era predating Liz and Valerie. The films included fake trailers for equally ridiculous films that one suspects, in an alternate universe, might actually have been made.

Planet Terror is the first flick, in which Robert Rodriguez concocts a zombie-creating chemical that is naturally loosed on an unsuspecting Texas town. Many things happen, and most of them involve guns, knives and fire. Rose McGowan and Freddy Rodriguez star, along with many of the Rodriguez/Tarantino regulars. Liz liked this one best, and fans of From Dusk Till Dawn will almost certainly enjoy the outrageous explosions and gory special effects. Sure, the plot isn't perfect, but if you came for the plot then you're kind of missing the point.

Tarantino's contribution is Death Proof, ostensibly about a bunch of girls who like to hear themselves talk. A creepy-looking Kurt Russell, sporting a wicked facial scar, is possibly stalking them. Also featuring Zoe Bell, stuntwoman extraordinaire, and Rosario Dawson, last seen by Valerie in Clerks II and Sin City. If you can handle French films and the talkier portions of Tarantino movies, you should enjoy this flick. Valerie especially loved the last 20 minutes or so, which are worth the price of admission in her opinion.

A word of caution: the violence is extremely graphic and the camera rarely looks away from it. In fact, the camera is usually staring right at it in close up. If you're squeamish, stay home and rent The Princess Bride or something. But if you love the usual Rodriguez/Tarantino fare, you've come to the right place and you probably won't leave disappointed.

Don't feed the river-monsters

noreply@blogger.com (A Candle in Sunshine) — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 17:21:00 +0000

Due to some kind of magical phenomenon possibly involving the sheer force of Liz's will, South Korean horror film Gwoemul, aka The Host, made it as far south as Fort Lauderdale last weekend for two whole days. The closest it had come to Miami before this was Atlanta, so naturally Liz had to stop editing movies for a few hours to go see it.

To say that this movie is about a mutant fish monster that eats people is to say that Pan's Labyrinth is about a girl who sees fairies. The Host is about a quirky family and how they react to the loss of one of their own; the style is similar to Little Miss Sunshine, with its multiple character arcs and oddball antics, but of course it's a whole other genre so the pacing and suspense are structured like a typical monster flick. Even so, the film's surprises are actually, well, surprising, unlike the canned scares that have unfortunately become the norm.

It also delves into social commentary, poking fun at American interference in global affairs. One could almost call it a direct criticism of the war in Iraq; Americans barge in and cause a problem, fail to take responsibility, make things worse and don't listen to anyone who tries to reason with them. Of course, the degree to which you see this underlying message probably depends on your opinion of the war.

Liz and Valerie give this movie seven tentacles up. If you're lucky enough to be in or near a city where it's playing, you should definitely check it out.

If Liz and Valerie's opinions aren't enough to make you seek this out, keep in mind that they are not alone. The Host won 4 of the 10 Asian Film Awards this year, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Song Kang-ho. The whole world is full of love for The Host. Liz would love to see a creature-feature win Best Picture at the Academy Awards, but she's not holding her breath.

Turtle Power!

noreply@blogger.com (A Candle in Sunshine) — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 17:06:00 +0000

Liz and Valerie, at the prompting of friends, caught a late show of the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. Unlike the TV show and previous films, this one was computer-generated instead of hand-drawn or live action. Voice talents include the late, great Mako as Splinter (Valerie still gets teary-eyed thinking about him), Sarah Michelle Gellar as April O'Neil, Zhang Ziyi as the head of the Foot Clan (aka Foot Soldiers, a parody-tastic title), Patrick Stewart, Laurence Fishburne, et al.

This is certainly not an intellectually challenging movie, nor is it terribly well written. Everything moves so quickly that character development is fairly limited, and the action at the end is over so fast that it takes some time for any emotional impact to sink in. But hey, if you're watching this movie, you probably know who the characters are and what they're like, so it's fun to see where they ended up after the last time you saw them; it's kind of like catching up with old pals. ("Mikey! Dude! How's it hangin', bro?")

Liz and Valerie had a good time, and the general consensus was that it could have been much, much worse. Like maybe if Michael Bay had done it... But hey, Transformers could be good, right? Right?

600 very sexy legs

noreply@blogger.com (A Candle in Sunshine) — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 20:37:00 +0000

On opening night, Liz and Valerie had the pleasure of seeing Frank Miller's 300 brought to the big screen by director Zack Snyder and crew. While the effects were amazing, the colors fabulous, the action bloody and the costumes delightfully spare, Valerie feels it is most important to comment on the vast, incredible muscular spectacle that this film presented. It is the first time she can remember thinking of a movie star as having sexy legs--arms yes, chest certainly, but not legs. This is not a body part that one's libido reacts to, as a general rule.

The film had its problems, but for those who complain about things like overly dramatic dialogue and unrealistic violence, Liz and Valerie can only assume that they accidentally wandered into the wrong theater while looking for, say, Amazing Grace. This movie is not supposed to be realistic or subtle; it is supposed to be approximately two hours of hot, mostly-naked men running around with swords, killing bad guys and spouting the occasional heroic line before getting back to the death-dealing. If you're looking for a brainy experience, go watch PBS.*

That said, history buffs should note that according to the historian Heroditus, King Leonidas did indeed tell the Persian army, when asked to lay down his weapons, to "Come and get them." Also, the Liz-adored David Wenham, in his speech at the end, paraphrased the well-known epigram of Simonides: "Stranger, bear this message to the Spartans, that we lie here obedient to their laws." Valerie still remembers this phrase in Greek, because it is so awesome.

After the movie, Valerie wanted to rush home and play some World of Warcraft--rawr! Liz, on the other hand, wanted to have some Spartan babies. This is proof that they are not, in fact, the same person, despite what some people may think.

*Please note, Valerie dearly loves PBS and listens to NPR regularly, so this statement is not meant to impugn PBS in particular or brainy activities in general.

Ahhh...the French

noreply@blogger.com (A Candle in Sunshine) — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 19:18:00 +0000

For the past five years, the Miami International Film Festival has paid tribute to some pretty awesome directors. This year the tribute was for the wonderful Luc Besson. Liz was lucky enough to be able to go to the tribute last night at the beautiful Gusman theatre in Downtown Miami. The film screened was Angel-A, a beautiful story shot in black & white. Luc was there and he talked to the audience about his beginnings and about the personal nature of this film. It’s a story about finding your inner beauty and accepting who you are. Liz learned some other interesting things about Luc, like how French critics really hate him, but French audiences love him. He’s never received a tribute in his native France, which is silly because he totally rocks. Liz is still super excited about getting to see Luc in person (though she didn’t get to touch him, which is probably better – no restraining orders). So, now’s the time to go and rewatch your favorite Luc Besson film. Liz and Valerie are torn between Leon and The Fifth Element. Liz watches Nikita on a regular basis, so no need to view that right now. If you haven’t seen Arthur and the Invisibles (Arthur and the Minimoys if you’re not in America), you should check it out. Liz is off to see another film at the MIFF tonight that stars Gabriel Byrne. Good thing he’s not in town. Valerie really doesn’t want to have pay Liz’s bail.

News du Jour

noreply@blogger.com (A Candle in Sunshine) — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 15:23:00 +0000

Sadly, Liz has discovered that the writers of The Departed have purchased the rights to remake another Andrew Lau film. The "lucky" winner of that prize goes to Confessions of Pain, a fairly new flick starring Tony Leung and Takeshi Kaneshiro that is currently winning awards all over the place. Apparently, Hollywood has pumped the remake wells dry here in the US, so the only option is to go abroad seeking idea-rich lands to conquer. No, Liz and Valerie are not bitter, they are merely mildly unhappy with the status quo. Move along, nothing to see here.

Hearing-impaired Japanese preview audiences are complaining that, somewhat ironically, the Japanese portion of Babel, which features a hearing-impaired character, isn't subtitled like the rest of the film. Consequently, they are having trouble understanding what's going on. The distribution company claims it will try to fix this problem prior to the film's release in Japan.

Lame: King of Kung Fu, the title of the new Jackie Chan/Jet Li movie based on Journey to the West, which is a much better title. Cool: Yuen Wo-Ping is on as action choreographer.

News du Jour

noreply@blogger.com (A Candle in Sunshine) — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 19:43:00 +0000

The Wachowski brothers (The Matrix, V for Vendetta) plan to start shooting a live-action version of Speed Racer in June. For those who loved the anime, this may be a good or bad thing. For those who didn't love the anime, this may be a good or bad thing. Liz and Valerie are wondering who will play the chimp.

In other news, Hellboy 2: The Golden Army should begin filming in May. Although Guillermo Del Toro didn't win the much-deserved Oscar for Best Foreign Film, Liz and Valerie know that he's amazing and will continue to make extremely awesome movies for them to enjoy.

As of now, Tom Cruise might star in Zack Snyder's adaptation of Alan Moore's masterpiece Watchmen. He would allegedly be Ozymandias. Pray to whatever god you believe in that this does not come to pass. If Zack needs help coming up with other actors who are infinitely better suited to the role, Liz and Valerie are happy to oblige.

This is news to Valerie, if not to everyone else, but apparently there are plans to make Paradise Lost into a big-budget movie. Yes, the one that Milton wrote. Yes, the one about Lucifer and the fall of man. Under consideration for the role of Lucifer are Daniel Craig and Heath Ledger, who are both hot and blond and thus excellent choices. Now it only remains to be seen whether this will ever make it out of production hell, pun most certainly intended.

The Force is strong with this one's wallet

noreply@blogger.com (A Candle in Sunshine) — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 19:14:00 +0000

Someone with a lot of spare cash and love for Star Wars has paid 54,000 pounds, approximately $103,000, for the brown robe that Sir Alec Guinness wore in the aforementioned film. Liz and Valerie assume that the lightsaber gashes were repaired after Darth Vader went slash-happy, because the cloak has allegedly been used in other productions, including The Mummy.

Apparently, no one realized where the cloak had come from until recently, when George Lucas' army of mutant ninjas attempted to retrieve the valuable paraphernalia from the warehouse in which it was stored. Luckily, only two guards were killed in the fracas, and the cloak is now in the possession of some happy auction-goer. He should watch his back; Liz and Valerie hear that those ninjas are tenacious.

Where in the world are Liz and Valerie?

noreply@blogger.com (A Candle in Sunshine) — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 19:07:00 +0000

It has been nearly a month since the last update, loyal Candle readers. Liz and Valerie have been working long, hard hours at their respective jobs, and they will likely continue to do so for some time to come. Such is the life of the young and hungry, who have to fulfill important bodily requirements like fried chicken and Netflix.

But take heart, for things will not be so forever. Put down the remote. Don't click over to YouTube to watch Handbanana again, because that is sick. Just keep hitting Refresh and it will all work out.

Holy Bat News!

noreply@blogger.com (A Candle in Sunshine) — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 15:39:00 +0000

One casting confirmation and one casting slightly-more-than-rumor for the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight Returns: Aaron Eckhart will be playing Harvey Dent, aka Twoface, and Maggie Gyllenhaal will allegedly play Rachel Dawes, Batman's "girlfriend" from the last film.

Liz and Valerie are excited about both of these choices. Although Katie Holmes didn't do a bad job in the last film, Maggie is totally awesome and will hopefully bring some much-needed depth to an otherwise one-dimensional role. Liz and Valerie especially loved her in Stranger Than Fiction, where she played an adorably rebellious baker. Things are looking up for this movie so far.

300 Allegedly Awesome

noreply@blogger.com (A Candle in Sunshine) — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 15:22:00 +0000

Liz and Valerie eagerly await their opportunity to enjoy the surreal blood-fest that is Frank Miller's 300. In fact, they have been waiting for a very long time. They totally have faith in Zack Snyder, and of course the amazing source material doesn't hurt any.

A review came out today from Variety, and it's pretty good. Keep in mind that Variety is not the kind of publication to hand out praise, especially not to "a steroid-fueled fever dream about self-realization through extreme violence," so this is exciting stuff.