This, that, and the Turkish delight

[cleolinda]

New Narnia Heroine Addict icons. As a Sagittarian, I'm a teensy bit obsessed with archers, so... sorry about that. But there are Lucy icons in there as well.

The official Narnia movie site has some fun 360-degree walkthroughs and games. You get to play Tumnus's flute and try to save Edmund and read excerpts from the book, all in the search for "tokens" (which will unlock bookmarks and wallpapers and blah blah I'm not sure all what, but pretty pictures whee!). Also, one of the tokens? Unlocked a recipe for Turkish Delight. I have to say, the movie succeeded in making it look less nasty than I've heard. If you are in the mood for something that looks like Turkish Delight but doesn't taste "like soap," you might try Fruit Jewels over at Swiss Colony, which basically sells gifty-basket food. I think it's the same principle as TD, only with fruit. This is an innovation whose time has come.

(Or... you can buy real Turkish Delight here.)

(Also, Skandar Keynes [Edmund] is apparently the great-great-great grandson of Charles Darwin. Both anne_jumps and I think this is hilarious.)

(Also, more on Tilda Swinton, who is... well, "rebel" doesn't quite cover it. If you want to look into more of her work, start with Orlando [omgsogood] and The Deep End. You've probably seen her in Constantine, Vanilla Sky, or possibly The Beach and not realized it.)

You know, I have to say, I think we've had a really great year for movies. I mean, even the summer movies were better than usual, or at least Batman Begins certainly was. Either last year or the year before I tried to make a top ten list, and realized that not only could I not come up with a top ten I'd seen, I couldn't even come up with an any ten I'd seen--I bottomed out at nine. This was mostly a function of my not getting out much; now that the Lovely Emily is back in town, we tore it up this year. Assuming I do go see King Kong next Wednesday and the earth isn't destroyed by the mighty hand of Xenu first, here's what I've seen this year:

Phantom of the Opera
The Jacket
Sin City (2x)
Star Wars
Batman Begins
War of the Worlds
Fantastic Four
Mad Hot Ballroom
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2x)
Look at Me
Junebug
The 40 Year Old Virgin
The Constant Gardener
The Brothers Grimm
Elizabethtown
Proof
Harry Potter (3x)
Pride and Prejudice
The Chronicles of Narnia: LW&W

and then King Kong next week. That's right: twenty movies. *flexes* I'm not going to try to do any kind of recreational ranking until after Christmas, though.  

Speaking of Kong, reader Isaac emailed me the other night and said he and his wife were going to a preview, and would I like him to report back afterwards? I'm never one to turn down a movie report, so here's part of what he said:

Cleo,

I need to get this out of my system:

OMGTHEBESTESTMOVIEEVERSSQUEEEE!!

It's hard to find a place to begin except to say that it is highly recommended that you see the original movie if you don't know it particularly well so that it's fresh in your mind when you see this version.

First and foremost Peter Jackson raises the stakes left right and center:

The acting is phenomenal
The setting is lush and breathtakingly realized
The action is relentless with only enough breathing space to allow the relationship between beauty and beast to flourish.
The camera work is...hard for me to describe as a layman.  Suffice to say it's good enough that you don't spend a lot of time going, "wow that was a really great shot."  Everything is in the service of the story. The whole movie is unbelievably faithful to the original, but raises the stakes overall.

It's brilliant and breathtaking and nothing I could write here could do it justice.  There is wonderful character development, some great comic moments, moving drama, dynamite action sequences, and plot twists like you would not believe.

I didn't read the rest because, as he warned me, it was something of a blow-by-blow full-length spoiler, and I feel like I know so much about this one--it being a remake and all--that if there really are twists and surprises, I'd like to save them for the theater. I have, however, suggested that he send the spoiler on to The Movie Spoiler, which would either be glad to have it or will have one already, so those of you who are kicking me for not sharing it, you'll have access to one either way.


More linkspam:

RIP Richard Pryor.

Damon and Barroso Expecting -- And Married Too.

Photographer Hits Back at Aniston. AKA "Hello, I am an asshat."

'King Kong' sixth most expensive Hollywood film. (Note, if you will, that the top three most expensive involved large water sets. I maintain that water sets, particularly water battle sets, are the leading cause of runaway expenses in filmmaking.)

Katrina Deaths Lead to Real-Life 'CSI'.

Trailer for Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette with Kirsten Dunst. It's set to the music of... New Order. ("Age of Consent." I actually feel like there is nothing wrong with this trailer that could not have been fixed by using "Regret" instead. I'm kind of a famous queens buff, and after reading Antonia Fraser's MA bio, I feel like Dunst is actually pretty good casting. Jason Schwartzman doesn't seem... hapless enough, but I guess we'll see. Norma Shearer's Marie Antoinette is pure romantic fantasy-fluff [and yet... not entirely without basis], but that movie's Louis is really, really good, going by what I've read of him.)

Pictures from the set of Lost taken earlier this week.

Satirical blog comment picked up as news.

Barbra Streisand cancels newspaper subscription. Why is this news?

Pat the Bunny for the 21st century. I think the article's work-safe, but the concept certainly isn't.

barrelgoddess: "Ack, some disturbing news that relates to the Sony rootkit thing. Since you've been posting stuff about/following this, I thought I'd let you know. Apparently, they've been caught in another DRM snafu."

Comments

[rhapsody.livejournal.com]

I could never understand why Edmund would betray his siblings for Turkish Delight of all things.
Cake? I understand.
Cookies? Sure.
Chocolate? WHERE?
But Turkish Delight? Not happening.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'd sell my sister down the river for some Lindt PDQ.

[etherealshores.livejournal.com]

Archers are teh awesome. I'm obsessed with them myself, so I've snagged a bunch.

I'm in total agreement on what a good year in films this was - the Oscar race should be incredible to watch. I'm following it with interest.

I've only seen GOF twice. I'm a bad person...*le sigh*

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Actually, I just got an email to the effect that Brokeback Mountain won the LA Film Critics Top Prize. Everything I'm hearing says that BM is far and away the best movie, just in terms of sheer quality. But I can't figure out what the political climate of the Academy is right now--so exasperated with the Bush administration that they'd give BM the Oscar just to spite conservatives and to hell with the fallout afterwards, or still so cowed (or conservative itself; the Academy is largely older people) that it would rather go with a crowd-pleaser. I'm still kind of shocked that Million Dollar Baby won last year, just because they don't usually go with a movie that bleak. I can think of a dozen good movies that could get the feel-good/lightweight slot this year, the way Four Weddings and a Funeral or Sense and Sensibility or Chocolat did--Pride and Prejudice, Narnia, any number of things.

[kvschwartz.livejournal.com]

I clicked "'King Kong' sixth most expensive Hollywood film" and got an article on Richard Pryor.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Fixed! They changed the article at that URL, fnarr.

[callmesyd.livejournal.com]

SO MANY PRETTY SUSAN ICONS SQUEEEE *cuddles them all*

I'm a total archer whore, too. I'm not a Saggitarius, though, so I have no idea what my excuse is.

So, so, so happy to hear that Kong is as good as it looks. Now I can definitely go give the giant monkey my money. :D

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

I've given up on following the Sony debacle any further. It's just expanded and broadened to the point that I try to keep up on Boing Boing (http://www.boingboing.net/) and I don't let music CDs made after 2001 anywhere near my computer.

And despite Edmund's hunger for it, "Turkish Delight" just never sounded appetizing to me. I could never hear it without thinking of Airplane! ("Joey, have you ever been to a Turkish prison?") The connotation just will not go away. It still sounds like prison slang for an act of reprehensible perversion of the like you don't see outside its own LJ community.

[miss-alchemist.livejournal.com]

Just had to say, your icon rocks

[anne-jumps.livejournal.com]

Must have archer icons....

[princessstarr.livejournal.com]

Just got back from Narnia...SO GOOD. Gaaah. There was a damn good reason why I read that book throughout fifth grade (and on), and I'm happy about that.

(Honestly? I thought Turkish Delight was like, candied turkey slices. Seriously.)

And big ol' RIP to Richard Pryor.

[edda.livejournal.com]

Tilda Swinton should play Cate Blanchett's sister in a comedy just like Kyra Sedgewick did for Julia Roberts in Something to Talk About. And she should definitely show her alleged third nipple.

Re the movies w/water sets being more expensive thing, I read somewhere (it's been a while, can't recall specifics) that the shortest and most expensive screenplay direction possible is "The fleets meet."

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

I friended you-- I've been meaning to for 100 years plus or minus.

[scornedsaint.livejournal.com]

You may have already seen this, but this pic from GFY (http://gofugyourself.typepad.com/go_fug_yourself/2005/12/the_lion_the_wi.html) of Tilda Swinton is... interesting. "Rebel" indeed.

(It's a pretty outfit, but just a wee too similar to her costumes)

And I am all about the Marie Antoinette trailer. Anything with Sofia Coppola and Kirsten Dunst is very awesome.

[chocotaku.livejournal.com]

Your Narnia experience may have been cool, but here in Austin at the Alamo Drafthouse, moviegoers had to first walk through an actual wardrobe with coats and such and walk through a small fake snow covered forest past a lamppost to get to your seat. Then you could order whatever is on the menu, INCLUDING turkish delight. Remember to visit austin sometime and check out our drafthouse theatre chains! A movie nut like you would love it. XD

[callmesyd.livejournal.com]

!!!

Well, crap, if I didn't have reasons to want to live in Austin already. *NERD*

[barrelgoddess.livejournal.com]

One thing I forgot to mention when I posted that link is that "snafu" is a great word. Can't explain it, but it is. And Sony is stupid, but we all knew that. XD

I'll also throw out a recommendation to see Corpse Bride whenever/however you can, that was an adorable little film.

[drpeprfan.livejournal.com]

Did you know that snafu stands for "situation normal: all f****ed up"? I find that hilarious.

I second your Corpse Bride recommendation, I saw it twice in the theaters, I loved it, and Danny Elfman wrote some great songs for it.

One movie to see

[thebitterguy]

Just a heads up, but Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang is a great little flick that I'd recommend, if you have the chance.

[vampirepig13.livejournal.com]

Y'know, I've found Turkish Delight in my neighborhood Giant Eagle (New Kensington, PA) in the foreign foods section.

[brightest-blue.livejournal.com]

Fabulous! I had to snag a few archers- being one myself- and Lucy of course, my one true heroine!

biographies

[ter369.livejournal.com]

I think Lady Antonia is a great popular-biographer, but I'm leery on her writing about historical figures where original documents are in languages other than English or one in which she's proficient. I tried to ferret out if Fraser worked directly with MA's private writings in German, which would tell me right away if the bio had anything new to offer.

I enjoyed Ariana Stassinopoulos' bio of Maria Callas because she speaks the primary languages involved for research, and because -- I hate to say it, but -- it was the only one about her written by a woman.

I've been utterly put-off of American produced films on European subjects, after the wretched Man in The Iron Mask, though that example might derive more from the horrendous non-performance by John Malkovich.

Re: biographies

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

See, what I want to know is if Coppola is actually using pop songs on the soundtrack, kind of like a more avant-garde version of A Knight's Tale. I'm not sure she could hack a serious MA biopic, but something kind of pomo might actually work for her.

Rules for icons?

[darkrosetiger.livejournal.com]

Cleo? What are your rules for gacking icons? I'm thinking I need me some Tilda/White Witch icons badly. I so internet heart her.

Re: Rules for icons?

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Oh, mine are totally take/do what you want. I mean, most of them are just cropped images anyway; if it's actually got text on it, you know, throw me a credit on the user's icons page or something. Customize 'em, have fun. : )

[build-me-a-star.livejournal.com]

Dude, Turkish Delight is actually really good. Don't slam it if you haven't tried it!

[foresthouse.livejournal.com]

Richard Pryor's gone? *sniff* I am sad.

[narnian-dreamer.livejournal.com]

I've had Turkish Delights before. They're actually pretty good. They come in several varieties, and the kind popular in England, that Edmund would have had, are flavored with rosewater, which does make them taste strange, but I think it's a good kind of strange. I like it a lot.

They're kind of like jelly candies covered in powdered sugar.

My professor said that one reason why he may have used Turkish Delight is that it was a traditional Boxing Day gift in Victorian England, and thus establishes a master/servant relationship between the queen and Edmund before any deal is made.

Or maybe Lewis just really liked Turkish Delight.

[fadagaski.livejournal.com]

I had to go trawling through IMDb to find out that Tilda Swinton is NOT the Borg Queen from Star Trek: First Contact. How can such distinctive features be so similar on two women?

[enid-keaner.livejournal.com]

The fact that you said you've seen 20 movies in the year makes me feel like I've spent way too much cash at the cinema...I've seen like 20 since September.....and I have so many more I need to see...I feel sorta bad about that....that's the bad part of going to college in NYC...lots of movies.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Well, you probably get tons more movies than we do, if you're in NYC. Although we're not even getting out to see all the movies we want to as it is.

[cimness.livejournal.com]

>Satirical blog comment picked up as news.

there's more about that at the imdb homepage. i saw it when i clicked your link for jennifer aniston. absolutely hilarious!

"Controversial film director Mel Gibson has been attacked by a leading Holocaust expert after announcing plans to produce a film about the terrible genocide. The Lethal Weapon star, who caused outrage from critics who claimed his movie The Passion Of The Christ contained elements of anti-Semitism, will centre the story on Dutch Jew Flory Van Beek, whose non-Jewish boyfriend hid her from the Nazis."

that's just the beginning of it. i'd feel sorry for mel, almost, since he didn't do it. but, you know, not so much.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

See, the thing is, that whole IMDB thing is true. The problem is that the "satirical" part (who was it, Gawker, Defamer? I can't even remember my own link now) was that they said "Con Artist Pictures" instead of "Icon Pictures" and things like that--they wilfully got the details wrong. The gist of the news--Gibson does Holocaust miniseries--is true.

[zrath.livejournal.com]

Saaaaay, this Turkish Delight stuff sure looks a lot like loukoum!!
I wonder if it tastes the same...

Tilda Swinton.
I saw her in "Constantine".
I wasn't sure it was a "her" when I first saw her in that.
She was somewhat androgynous and definitely angel-like.
The guy who played the Devil was also pretty good.
Good casting choices.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

It's exactly the same as loukoum--that's just the English name for it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_delight

Finally!

[ironclad1609.livejournal.com]

I am so sick of people saying this was a bad year at the movies.
I found this years summer was outstanding and I didn't come out of the theatre disappointed even once.

You should have watched "Crash", though. Other than that you saw the most important ones ;)

Oh and I loved Tilda Swintons wings in Constantine...I am sure she'll be great as "Witch"...(won't see it before Xmas)

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

Cleo, have you noticed the carvings on the wardrobe (http://outnow.ch/Media/Img/2005/ChroniclesOfNarnia1/artwork.1/01.jpg?w=1400&h=1034&full=1&print=1)? They seem to have built in some references to The Magician's Nephew already. On the lower left panel is a carving of Fledge, and in the middle panel you can see the Tree (appropriately, considering what the wardrobe is made of). Aslan, of course, is in the top left and right panels.

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

...and I just noticed the two rings and the apple, in the top left and right panels, next to the Aslan carvings.