An Autumnal Sunshine Blogger Award

Cecilia at Craft, Coffee, and Cake has tagged me with a Sunshine Blogger Award!  Thank you, Cecilia!

Rules:

1. Display the award’s official logo somewhere on your blog. 
2. Thank the person who nominated you. (Thank you again, Liz.) 
3. Provide a link to your nominator’s blog. 
4. Answer your nominator’s questions. 
5. Nominate up to 11 bloggers. 
6. Ask your nominees 11 questions. 
7. Notify your nominees by commenting on at least one of their blog post

Cecilia's Questions:

1. If you had to live out the events in a book as the main character, which book would you choose? 

I'd like to be Miss Mary Russell in The Beekeeper's Apprentice for a run through the book, and get to be mentored and befriended by Sherlock Holmes.

2. Favourite weird combination of flavours that everyone else hates? 

Hmm.  I don't make them often, but I do enjoy peanut butter and onion sandwiches.

3. Whom are your favourite actor and actress? 

John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara!  How lucky I am -- they made five movies together!

4. If you had all the money in the world to buy an outfit for a ball, what would you wear? (The sky's the limit for this one - you can wear any dress, shoes, bag, hairstyle you like!) 

I'd wear anything from White Christmas that would look nice on me -- probably any of Rosemary Clooney's outfits.  These are two of my favorites:

5. Quote from a film that makes you smile/laugh? 

So many!  Basically every single line from Support Your Local Sheriff (1969), which we quote alllll the time.  "I don't really have much to say about old Millard, as he only arrove amongst us a few days ago and was promptly struck down by whatever deadly disease it was that struck him down" tends to be a big favorite, oddly enough.

6. Social situation from a book/film to which you completely relate? 

Again, so many!  How to choose one?  Maybe, let's go with the exchange in The Avengers (2012) where Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is confused by Nick Fury's (Samuel L. Jackson) casual mention of "flying monkeys," and Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) is all pleased with himself for understanding the reference.  I have been all three of those characters in various situations like that, at different times.

7. Most inspiring quote from a non-religious book? 

I mean, choosing just one is almost impossible.  I do find this line from The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery to be very inspiring, though:

She brushed the old years and habits and inhibitions away from her like dead leaves. She would not be littered with them.

(From my Instagram)

8. What personal quality do you think, if everyone possessed it, would make the biggest difference to the world? 

Cheerfulness.

9. You have to have one antagonist from a novel tag along with you for the next six months. Who would it be? 

Oh my.  How about Severus Snape from the Harry Potter books?  He's a dear favorite of mine, but Harry certainly considers him an antagonist in every single book.  And, odd as this might seem, I don't think I would mind having him living in my house for half a year.  If he got sarcastic about my cooking, I would get sarcastic back.  If he ridiculed my coffee, I'd have an excuse to buy an espresso machine and teach him how to use it.  I'd introduce him to chocolate-chip pancakes and peppermint mocha and sitting outside on the swing reading a book.  Maybe I'd even manage to make him smile once or twice.

10. Can you speak another language? If so, which one? If not, which one would you like to learn? 

I can speak a little bit of German.

11. Would you rather be an amazing homemaker and housekeeper, or be able to write beautiful poetry?

I can write poetry already, and I enjoy doing homemaker things like cooking and baking and arranging nice flowers for the dining room table and switching out some decorations with the seasons... so I pick some kind of magical spell that will turn me into a better housekeeper!  Because I am not good at keeping my house clean and tidy like I ought to be.

Now, it's my turn :-D

My Questions:

1. Thanksgiving or Halloween?

2. Candy apples or caramel apples?

3. Hot apple cider or cold apple cider?

4. Walnuts or almonds?

5. Pecan pie or pumpkin pie?

6. Caramel corn or Chex mix?

7. Bonfire or a fire in a fireplace?

8. Hiking or camping?

9. Canoeing or kayaking?

10. Sweaters or hoodies?

11. Gloves or mittens?

I Nominate:

Anyone who wants to answer these!  I haven't had much time for blogging lately, as you might have noticed, so I'm not going to pick anyone for this.  If it looks fun to you, consider yourself tagged!

The Thirty Songs Tag -- Part One

McKayla tagged me with the Thirty Songs Tag at her blog Tales of a Triple Threat.  Thanks, McKayla!  I love music, so this is definitely geared to me :-)  McKayla answered all the questions with songs from musicals, and I thought putting a twist on it like that was a really fun idea, so I'm going to answer with all songs from movie scores!

However, thirty songs is a LOT of songs, so I'm splitting this post in half.  I'll have the second part up soon! 

I'm linking to all these songs on YouTube.  I'm also working on putting together a playlist with all 30 of my answers, so I'll provide a link to that when I finish the tag off in a day or two!

1. Your Favorite Song? 

My favorite track on the soundtrack for my favorite movie ever, The Man from Snowy River (1982), is "Jim Brings in the Brumbies" by Bruce Rowland.  Listen here.  It has wonderful energy and makes me so bouncy and happy.

Random thing about that soundtrack -- I took a copy along to the birth centers with me when I was in labor with all three kids, along with a lot of other music.  Though I did listen to other music while in labor, that's the album that was on when I gave birth all three times.

2. Your Least-Favorite Song?

The huffing-and-puffing songs in Daniel Pemberton's score for King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017).  They make me start to hyperventilate when I'm listening to the CD, though I'm okay with them when watching the movie.  They're cool, except for the huffing and puffing.  Listen to one of them here.  I really like the montage in the movie that this goes with, I just have to skip the track on the CD.

3. A Song That Makes You Happy? 

I cannot listen to "Take You Down" from the Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015) score by Daniel Pemberton without being completely bouncy and happy.  I am grinning right now, just thinking about it.  It's from the coolest part of the movie, and it's such a good song, especially around 1:19 when it really gets going.  Listen here.

4. A Song That Makes You Sad? 

Sarah MacLachlan's song "When She Loved Me" from Randy Newman's score for Toy Story 2 (1999) makes me cry.  You can listen to it here, but I'm not going to.

5. A Song That Makes You Feel Guilty?

Not quite sure what this is supposed to mean?  Like, a guilty pleasure, a song I think I shouldn't like?  Or a song that reminds me of something I've done wrong?  I'm going with the former, a song that I kind of like against my better taste.  I really like Daniel Pemberton's score for King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017) even though it's very weird.  Especially "The Devil and the Huntsman," which is so bizarre, yet gets under my skin and fascinates me.  Listen here.

6. A Song That You Often Get Stuck in Your Head? 

It's mostly songs with repetitive lyrics that get stuck in my head, like "Guinevere" from the 1967 movie version of the musical Camelot by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe.  Listen here.

Note:  I attach a lot of memories to music.  It's one reason I gravitate toward soundtracks for movies I like, not just soundtracks in general -- listening to the music from a movie that I like and know pretty well will call images from that movie to my mind, and I love that.  I also associate songs very strongly with times or places when I listened to them a lot.

So these three "reminds you of" questions were kind of tough for me, in that I had to narrow it down to one for each of them!  And I have scads of songs that remind me of a person, place, or event.  But I have done my best.

7. A Song That Reminds You of Someone? 

"Clancy's Theme" by Bruce Rowland from The Man from Snowy River (1982) reminds me of my mom because she likes Clancy (Jack Thompson) best from that movie.  She always perked up when we came to the bit in the film when he hums this little tune.  Listen here.

8. A Song That Reminds You of Someplace? 

The whole soundtrack for Anastasia (1997) reminds me of college because my roommates and I would listen to it a LOT, but the song "Journey to the Past" reminds me particularly of my friend Kelly V., who invited me home with her for Thanksgiving one year, and that's when I first saw Anastasia.  It was my freshman year of college, and I was pretty homesick, and that song made me really miss my family.  So the soundtrack mostly reminds me of college, but that one song reminds me of a somewhat melancholy Thanksgiving at a friend's grandparents' house.  Listen here.

9. A Song That Reminds You of a Certain Event? 

Maybe this isn't an event, exactly, but three tracks from Patrick Doyle's score for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) always make me think of writing the Combat! fanfiction story "Ashes, Ashes."  That's because I listened to those three tracks a LOT while writing it.  A LOT, I tell you.  In fact, when I rewatched the movie a few years later, and I was like, "Why do I keep having Dana Andrews and Vic Morrow pop into my brain?"  Took me a while to realize it was the music triggering me remembering writing that story, which I had Dana Andrews "guest star" in, and which heavily featured Vic Morrow's character from Combat!.  The most powerful track for reminding me of writing that story is the one called "Voldemort" because I wrote the big fight scene at the end while listening to very little else.  Listen here.

10. A Song You Know All the Words to? 

Um, I know all the words to hundreds of songs.  Hundreds and hundreds.  Not even kidding.  I love to memorize lyrics, and I'm very fond of "patter songs," with their super-complicated lyrics and snappy tempo.  I really love to sing both Hugh Jackman and Zac Efron's parts for "The Other Side" from The Greatest Showman (2017) score by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, which definitely has a patter-song vibe.  Listen here.

11. A Song You Could Dance to? 

I love to dance to the songs from That Thing You Do! (1996), written by Howard Shore, especially the title song, "That Thing You Do."  Listen here.

12. A Song That Makes You Fall Asleep? 

I don't like music that makes me fall asleep.  I can't even think of any movie soundtracks that I own that make me sleepy.  Just not my jam.  Instead, I will answer "Machine Gun Lullaby," a song I adore from Ennio Morricone's score for The Untouchables (1987).  Listen here.

13. A Song From Your Favorite Band? 

Instead of band, let's say film composer.  My favorite film composer is Elmer Bernstein, and I particularly love his theme song for The Sons of Katie Elder (1965).  Listen here.

14. A Song From A Band You Hate? 

Not sure I actually hate any specific film composers, but I really didn't care for the music by Martin Phipps for the 2007 BBC adaptation of Persuasion.  Listen here to the main theme, which is a pretty good example of all the music.  It's so aimless.  Drives me nuts.  I really don't like music that doesn't go anywhere.

15. A Song Nobody Would Expect You to Love? 

People don't expect me to like Metal or Rock, so the fact that I like the soundtrack for The Scorpion King (2002) would probably shock a lot of folks.  Listen here to "I Stand Alone" by Godsmack, which I very much dig.

Tune back in for the rest of my answers later this week!

"Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald" (2018) -- Initial Thoughts

You may recall that I really loved Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016).  In fact, I named it my #1 favorite new-to-me film of that year (though now I love Rogue One better, but that's neither here nor there).

So yes, my hopes were high.  Manageably high, I thought, but high.  With Jude Law coming aboard as Dumbledore and the promise of a lot more Johnny Depp, plus reunited with four characters I've grown to love after watching the first movie many times, what could go wrong?

Um, so things did go wrong.  I'm not saying I hated it, and in fact, I want to go see it again.  I'm going to read the screenplay as soon as I finish the book I'm currently on.  BUT.  This movie has problems.  Mainly, the picture above is the problem.  How many people are in that photo?  Sixteen?  Yeah, sixteen.  How many of those were in the first movie?  Six.

SIX.

Ten new characters.  Well, really nine, because we already know and love Dumbledore from the Harry Potter books.  But still.  NINE NEW CHARACTERS, people.  Nine out of sixteen.  That's way too many new people for me to have to invest in, while still keeping me invested in the four (fine, five, counting Dumbledore) I already loved.  It's just not going to happen. 

And it didn't.  I couldn't emotionally invest in the film because I never had time to.

(SPOILAGE FROM HERE ON OUT, both minor and major.  YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.) 

The new characters who were actually interesting, namely Nagini (Claudia Kim) and Theseus Scamander (Callum Turner), got almost no screen time until the end, when I was suddenly told to care about their sadness?  And the new character who got lots of backstory, namely Leta Lestrange (Zoe Kravitz), I never cared about because the writing was there, but the acting just wasn't.  Everyone else in this film was doing everything they could with their limited screen time, and she had all kinds of time to be interesting, but never was.

As for Jacob (Dan Fogler), he still stole every scene he came anywhere near.  But he was barely part of the film.  His "I always wanted to GO here!" was basically my favorite moment in the whole thing.  Queenie (Alison Sudol) got sidelined to the point where her character arc didn't make sense -- she's afraid she's going mad, and afraid of losing Jacob?  Those are two FASCINATING things to dig into, and... we never dug.  She just got moved from point A to point B and we never delved into why and how and all the juicy emotions we should be dealing with there.  Plus, in the first film, Queenie was this beautiful, surprising blend of flibbertigibbit and street-savvy.  Where did that go???

Newt (Eddie Redmayne) fared little better.  He's got some pretty juicy emotions to deal with himself, like how does he feel about the girl he loved in school getting engaged to his brother?  And then sacrificing herself for them both?  Redmayne shows us a lot just through good acting, but we should have had time to see him process this.  Instead it's bop from one action piece to the next and one plot moment to the next with no time for the characters or us to process anything. 

Poor Tina (Katherine Waterston) was barely in this movie.  I'm very angry about this.  Tina's a super-cool, fresh, unique female character, and she was handed a "play the jealous female" storyline and left there.  I hate this.  I wanted to see Tina being quirky and curious and passionate like she was in the first movie, and instead, she's almost ignored.

There were very few fantastic beasts, especially compared to the first movie.  And the titular crimes of Grindelwald were what exactly?  He kills a bunch of wizards at the end.  He has his henchmen kill some people so he can steal their house.  He uses polyjuice potion to switch places with his guard, and his guard's tongue got cut out/mutilated in the process.  He throws a little monster thing off a flying coach for being too needy.  Those aren't the kinds of crimes that get you a movie title, usually.  I guess you could add lying and manipulating to them, but still.  He wasn't all that much of a Big Bad, just Johnny Depp creeping it up whenever he managed to get a moment of screentime.

So.  Um.  Yeah.  It's not that I disliked this movie, honest.  It's just that it very much frustrated and disapointed me with its lack of focus, bloated cast, and lack of emotional content.  Rowling can do better; these filmmakers can do better; doggone it, live up to your potential, people!

AMA Answers #2: Elanor, Maddy, and Claire

Time for the second set of AMA answers!  Once again, there's a short vlog at the end of this post in which I answer one question from each of these participants.

And again, if you haven't had a chance to ask me questions on my AMA post, I'm accepting questions until the end of the week.

Elanor

What is something that is considered a luxury, but you don’t think you could live without?

A camera.  I mean, obviously I could live without it, but I would be really miserable without a camera to record the big and little and medium-sized moments of life.  I haven't been without a working camera of my own since I was 8 years old.

What is something you do the "old-fashioned" way?

I do a lot of things the old-fashioned way, I think.  I like to bake things from scratch when I have the time.  I crochet and knit.  I sometimes sew.  I write thank-you notes.  I give birth with the assistance of midwives and no pain-relieving drugs.  My bicycle has only one speed.  Do any of those count?

What fictional place would you want to live in?

I'd love to live in Mitford, the fictional town created by Jan Karon.  It's based on a real town: Blowing Rock, North Carolina.  Which happens to be where I spent my honeymoon.

Do you have any hobbies you enjoy? If so, what are they?

I'm definitely a hobbyist.  I crochet, I knit, I sew, I bake, I dabble in photography.  I collect things.  I blog.  I garden.  I learn songs with complicated lyrics and try to sing them really fast.

What is you favorite old (like b&w old) movie?

I can't decide if I'm going to take this to mean the oldest movie I call a favorite, or my favorite black-and-white movie.  Because they've been making color movies since the 1930s.  I'll answer this in the vlog at the end of this post.

Just because I'm curious: Did you like Fantastic Beasts better than Harry Potter? Why/why not?

I am not sure, to be honest.  I love so many of the characters and the world-building in Harry Potter.  I doubt I will ever love a character in Fantastic Beasts like I love Sirius Black.  But I like the more mature story-telling that she's got going on in Beasts.  I'm excited to see where the next movie goes.

Maddy

If you could have written any novel, which one would it have been and why?

Intriguing question!  Um, well, hmmm.  I... am not really sure!  I don't think I've ever read a novel and thought, "Wow, I wish I'd written that."  I mean, maybe I have, and I just don't remember doing that.  I know there are books that I've read and thought, "Well, I could have done a better job writing that."  Not a lot, but a few.

Okay, here's one, but it's not a novel.  I wish I'd written John Gielgud Directs Richard Burton in "Hamlet" instead of Richard L. Sterne because that would mean that I had gotten to experience being in the theater every day while they rehearsed, getting to bask in the presence of two actors I very much admire as they delved deeply into my favorite play.  That would have been amazing.

What are some of your favorite classic era films?

I'll answer this in the vlog at the bottom of the post :-)

Which is your personal favorite post that you have written here over the years?

I kind of answered this question yesterday, so today I'll say my post about the "realization and revelation" that helped me understand what makes me like and dislike stories.


Claire

You are at Elizabeth Chambers' Bird Bakery. What do you order? (And more importantly, which Armie Hammer movie do you watch afterwards? ;-)) I grew up right by Bird Bakery and have been missing it dearly lately, hence the question. :-)

I... I... I have no idea!  Bird Bakery is on my bucket list of places I want to visit one day.  I would order something chocolatey.  Unless, you know, Armie Hammer was there.  Then I'd just cower in the corner and try to keep breathing.

And then after, I'd either watch The Lone Ranger (2013) or The Man from UNCLE (2015), or possibly both.  Because I adore both of them.

What classic novel have you been putting off reading?

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy.  Cowboy read it in college, but I haven't.  Yet.

What movie has taken you by surprise and become an unexpected favorite?

Slow West (2015).  I mean, I knew it was a western, and that it had Michael Fassbender in it, but I was unprepared for the way it would creep into my brain and heart.

What is your favorite Rufus Sewell film/role?

Film would be A Knight's Tale (2001), which I have loved since I saw it in the theaters.  I had a poster of Heath Ledger from it on my dorm room wall for the rest of college.  But my favorite role of his is Autolycus in Hercules (2014).  Man, he just kills it in that film.

What is your favorite Christmastime recipe?

Answer is in the vlog below!

What's on the top of your "dream vacation" list?

Alaska.  Also New Zealand and all the LOTR film stuff there -- that's a close second.

You have just been put in charge of creating a new adaptation of Persuasion. Who do you cast?

Ioan Gruffudd as Captain Frederick Wentworth and Louise Brealy as Anne Elliot.  I really want this to happen, so if anybody knows any Hollywood producers, put a bug in their ear about it, okay?  Thanks!

What is your favorite television show episode of all time?

"The Walking Wounded" from Combat!, which I blogged about here.

What's the best movie you've seen so far this year?

I would say Logan (2017).  It's not necessarily my favorite movie of the ones I've seen this year, but it is probably just the all-around best.

THE VLOG

That's all for now!  More answers in a day or two :-)

My Ten Favorite New-To-Me Movies I Saw in 2016

Time for my annual list of the ten movies I saw for the first time over the past year and liked the best!  Astonishingly enough, they do not all star Alan Ladd :-o  But almost half of them do.  As always, I've linked titles to my posts if I've written about that film.  If you want to check out my lists like this from the past two years, the 2015 list is here, and the 2014 list is here.  Remember, this is me ranking them by how much I love them, not by what movie is "best."

1.  Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)

Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) and his three new friends try to save a troubled teen from a bad guy who is manipulating him.  Also, they're wizards.  It's astonishingly good.

2.  Rogue One (2016)

A bunch of Rebels learn that the Death Star has a flaw, so a team of volunteers head off to find the plans that will help the Rebel Alliance exploit that flaw and destroy the Death Star.  I was not expecting this movie to be so very, very good.

3.  Risen (2016)

A Roman tribune (Joseph Fiennes) is tasked with unraveling the mystery about some Jewish guy named Jesus whose body had mysteriously disappeared from his tomb.  It's the story of the Resurrection told like a detective story, and it's one of the best bits of writing I have seen in a long time.

4.  Branded (1950)

An outlaw (Alan Ladd) gets a birthmark tattooed on his shoulder and uses it to convince a wealthy family he's their long-lost son.  But then he has a change of heart and decides to go find their real son in Mexico.

5.  Captain America:  Civil War (2016)

Captain America (Chris Evans) and Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.) square off over the question of whether or not powered people should be controlled by the government.  All our pals have to pick sides.  I really need to write up a proper review of this, because I went from hating it after my first viewing to liking it after my second, to absolutely loving it after my third, and that's not a normal trajectory for my feelings toward movies, so you know it's something interesting and special.

6.  Whispering Smith (1948)

Railroad detective Luke "Whispering" Smith (Alan Ladd) comes to realize that his erstwhile best friend (Robert Preston) is involved in a series of train robberies.  This is the movie that made me fall in love with Alan Ladd back in February.

7.  The Blue Dahlia (1946)

Three Navy bomber crewmen return home, where one of them (Alan Ladd) discovers his wife (Doris Dowling) in the arms of a sinister nightclub owner (Howard da Silva).  Wifey dear dies, husband gets pegged for the murder, so he goes on the lam while trying to find the real killer.  It's the only original script Raymond Chandler wrote, and it's a beautiful bit of film noir.  My new blog header is from it.

8.  The Great Gatsby (1949)

Nick Carraway (Macdonald Carey) gets enlisted by his wealthy neighbor, Jay Gatsby (Alan Ladd), to help win back the woman (Betty Field) he loved long ago.  Ladd and Carey are excellent, as is Howard da Silva, but the rest of the cast ranges from mediocre to miscast.  Still, Ladd was basically born to play Gatsby.

9.  Donovan's Reef (1963)

Two friends (John Wayne and Lee Marvin) spend lots of time on their Pacific island home brawling (with each other and other people), drinking, and grappling with issues like bigotry, greed, and hypocrisy.  It's both funnier and deeper than I expected.  A wacky buddy comedy set at Christmas, but also a bit more than that.

10.  Ant-Man (2015)

An ex-thief (Paul Rudd) helps a scientist (Michael Douglas) and his daughter (Evangaline Lilly) stop a bad guy (Corey Stoll) from using amazing shrinking technology to do bad things.  It's quirky and fun, and amuses me greatly.

Happy New Year!  What movies did you see this past year that you really loved?

My Winter To-Do List 2016

Here are the things I want to do this winter, so before the end of February, I guess.

~ Finish reading Song of the Ean by Emily Nordberg

~ Read Letters from Father Christmas by J. R. R. Tolkien

~ Reread A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

~ Read three more books from my TBR shelves

~ Read three books from the library

~ Start blogging about my favorite adult coloring books

(Source)

~ Figure out what book challenge I'm setting myself for 2017

~ Start blogging about how 2017 is the 500th anniversary of the start of the Protestant Reformation

~ Finish sewing my black-and-white skirt in time to wear it for Christmas

~ Knit myself a scarf like Newt Scamander's

I get sorted into Hufflepuff most of the time myself.

~ Finish the baby blanket I'm making for my best friend from college

~ Finish a rough draft of my western Little Red Riding Hood retelling, "Cloaked"

~ Watch two Christmas movies

~ Watch 3 movies from my TBW shelves

~ Print, frame, and hang family photos in our foyer finally

~ Make "Porter Cake" from An Unexpected Cookbook by Chris-Rachael Oseland

There, I think that's a nice mix of goals for all the creative aspects of my life, don't you?

"Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" -- Initial Thoughts

I've decided that instead of always waiting to blog about a movie until I've seen it at least twice and can review it properly, I will sometimes write up an "initial thoughts" post that is not a review, but more of a reaction.  Then later, when I've seen it again and can write up a more orderly and thought-out review, I will.  I started thinking of doing this when I saw Dr. Strange (2016) a couple weeks ago, but didn't quite decide to do it until today.

Today, I HAVE to post my thoughts on Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016).  I can't not.  And these are scattered, unfocused thoughts, fairly spoilage-free.  Just me sharing my exuberance :-)

First, I don't know about you, but I am now firmly convinced that J. K. Rowling is going to go down in history as one of the most creative minds of all time.  Her imagination is like Newt Scamander's suitcase -- it is far bigger inside than you would ever expect, and much cooler than you could dream.  I stand in awe.

Second, wow.  Yeah, just... wow.  That's basically what I was thinking through vast sections of this movie:  wow wow wow.

Third, Newt Scamander is my hero.  I'm serious.  The guy is shy and awkward and uncomfortable around people, wizardly and no-maj/muggle alike, but that doesn't stop him from standing up to people around him in defense of any creature or person he believes needs his help.  He sees the world with kind and gentle eyes, and I want to hug him.

Fourth, I want to be friends with three of the other characters in this too.  Which means, yeah, I pretty much loved it.  Cannot wait to go see it again; hoping to find a 3D showing this time.  I went right to the bookstore from the theater and bought the screenplay AND the soundtrack,  Have already listened to the latter, and will dig into the former this evening.

Right.  So, that's about all I have to say at the moment.  I laughed, I cried.  It moved me, Bob.  I'm so excited they are making LOTS MORE!!!

"Risen" (2016) -- Initial Thoughts

I saw this on Saturday, and the more I contemplate it, the more I like it.  In fact, if this is playing anywhere near you, and you're at all inclined to see it, I urge you to do so, because I think we need to tell Hollywood that this is the kind of Biblical movie we need.

I usually go into Biblical movies wondering, "Okay, how are they going to screw this up?"  My expectations are low, and my skepticism is high.  Because the Bible is the one thing I'm a purist about, and it's rare that a mainstream movie gets things right.

Also, lately "Biblical" movies like Noah (2014) and Exodus:  Gods and Kings (2014) have been so screwed up -- filmmakers seem to be trying to make Bible stories "more interesting" in recent years.  And they choose the oddest stories to "improve" too, because come on, Noah and Moses?  Two deeply fascinating people already.  There's plenty of factual material to work with -- you don't need to add stuff.  But filmmakers haven't seen things that way.

So, to be honest, I went into this thinking, "Why do we need another movie about Jesus told from a Roman soldier's point of view?  We already have The Robe.  This has been done already."

I was so wrong.

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It opens with a Roman tribune, Clavius (Joseph Fiennes), skillfully directing his soldiers as they put down an insurrection.  He returns to his barracks in Jerusalem and doesn't even get a chance to wash the blood from his hands and face before Pilate (Peter Firth) summons him to go break the legs of this Jewish dude and a couple thieves Pilate has crucified so they die quickly.

Clavius does as he's told, because he's a good and obedient soldier.  He's ambitious and plans to climb the army ranks until he's important enough to live in Rome.  He takes care ensuring the crucified men die, then that their bodies are dealt with.  But in the morning, Pilate summons him again.  The Jewish religious leaders are worried because the dead dude, Yeshua (Cliff Curtis), foretold he would die and then rise again on the third day.  They don't want his followers stealing his body, claiming a resurrection, and stirring up all kinds of trouble.  Pilate doesn't want that either because Caesar himself is coming on a little inspection tour in a couple of weeks, and the last thing Pilate needs is another riot.  So he sends Clavius to make sure the body is still in the tomb, seal it up, and set a guard.

Clavius does as he's told, once again.

And we all know what comes next.  Sunday morning, no body.  Tomb empty, seals broken, ropes burst, guards freaked out, and definitely no body.

This is where it gets REALLY GOOD.  Clavius gets tasked with finding out what happened here, so it becomes a kind of un-murder mystery for a bit.  He interviews witnesses.  He hunts down the disciples and questions them.  And nothing makes sense with what he knows about the natural order of things.  People who should be afraid aren't.  People who should be mourning are joyful.  A person whose dead body Clavius saw taken off a cross (and Clavius, being a seasoned veteran, knows a dead body when he sees one) is alive.

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Yup, Clavius encounters Jesus, or Yeshua as they call him here, which was his Hebrew name.  And he starts to wonder.  You can see him struggle to wrap his head around how this could be.  He starts hanging out with the disciples, hungry to see Yeshua again.  Trying to make sense of all this.

At this point, the movie slows down a bit and switches from un-murder mystery to some serious character exploration.  If you were hoping for swords-and-sandals action, you might be disappointed.  If you wanted to see a serious exploration of what happens when an unbeliever is confronted with the truth about Jesus, you won't be disappointed at all.  Especially since Joseph Fiennes does such an amazing job of conveying this character's doubts, worries, fears, questions, and the beginning flickerings of faith, often wordlessly.  It's a beautiful performance.

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Tom Felton is also well cast as Clavius' underling, Lucius.  I'm so used to him playing Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter movies, and that association worked well in this case because I kept expecting him to turn against Clavius, work against him, be all devious.

I have only two minor quibbles with this movie.  The first is not unexpected:  there's never any mention of WHY Jesus came to earth.  They do affirm that he is God incarnate, and that his resurrection means those who believe in him will have eternal life.  But there's no mention of mankind's sinfulness, no discussion of the forgiveness of sins.  I was a little disappointed, but considering that this is a movie and not a sermon, I can overlook it.  Would have been nice to have had that, but I'm okay with it not being there.

My other quibble is the way they portrayed Jesus' ascension.  Instead of him rising up into the air "until a cloud hid him from sight" like it says in Acts 1:9, he just disappeared in a big ball of light.  And angels didn't come and ask why they were standing around staring up into the sky.  So I guess they were going more for what it says in Mark 16:19, just that he was "taken up into heaven," and less about "ascending," but it did work okay.  Like I said, minor quibbles.

Is this movie family-friendly?  The first 5 minutes or so, where Clavius is putting down the insurrection, does have a good bit of violence.  Lots of slashing and stabbing, very little blood shown.  It's mostly implied violence.  There's also the breaking of the crucified thieves' legs and them yelling and shrieking and then dying -- it's not something for little kids.  I'd say thirteen and above, depending on the teen.  There's nothing really gory like in The Passion of the Christ (2004), but parts are a little intense.  Also, they talk about Mary Magdalene having been a woman of the street, and that lots of soldiers know who she is.  There's some drinking.  I won't take my kids to this, but I'll probably buy a copy on DVD and watch it with them when they're older.

This is my 6th movie watched and reviewed for the Period Drama Challenge.  There aren't a lot of pictures available online yet, but here are a few I've found that show some of the costumes and sets.  I was very impressed by this film's production values -- the costumes, props, sets, and scenery are fantastic!

Here's Pilate, with Clavius in the background:

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Caiaphas (Stephen Greif) and another member of the Sanhedrin (I assume):

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Clavius and some of the disciples:

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Clavius and Lucius in their armor:

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Their red capes were especially nice, but I can't find any good pictures of them.  This one shows Clavius' a little:

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You can find more photos here on the official website.

Bottom line?  I recommend this whole-heartedly.  Go see it in the theater, if you can.

"Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" (2007)

I am not fond of this story, movie or book.  Spoiler alert:  my beloved Sirius Black dies.  Also, everything starts getting really grim and serious.  Voldemort is back, but most of the wizarding world refuses to accept the truth, and that both angers and frustrates me.  Throw in Delores Umbridge as a child-torturing usurper, and I'm pretty unhappy through the entire thing.  But at least the book has lots and lots of Sirius in it.  The movie shunts him off into a corner.

In fact, there are very few things I enjoy about this movie.  Harry's emotional connection to Sirius is all but sidelined, we spend most of the time fleeing from Important Plot Point to Important Plot Point, and by the time Sirius falls through that mysterious curtain, I'm both tired and detached, which leaves me kind of numb to a scene that left me crying in public when I read the book, tears rolling down my face in the break room at work.

Edit:  I see I reviewed this when it first came out too, and whaddaya know, I made a lot of the same complaints the first time too.

Ultimate Harry Potter Tag

I stole this from You, Me, and a Cup of Tea :-)  And I'm not sorry!  If you want to do it too, go right ahead.

Favorite Book --  Prisoner of Azkaban.  I thought the first two books were good, but not great.  When I got to the end of this one, though, I loved it suddenly and irrevocably, and I've read the last few chapters of it over and over and over.

Least Favorite Book -- Sorceror's Stone.  It has to spend so much time explaining the world that the story itself is awfully slight.

Favorite Movie -- Goblet of Fire.  It's so streamlined, so direct, and yet loses nothing truly important from the book.  The first three movies rambled and lurched from one adventure to the other, but this one soared.  (Could have used more Sirius Black, but they all could...)

Least Favorite Movie -- Chamber of Secrets.  Too many giant spiders.  "Why couldn't it be 'follow the butterflies'?"

Favorite Quote 

 (It's theologically off-kilter, but I like it anyway.)

Favorite Weasley -- Ron

Favorite Female Character -- Hermione Granger

Favorite Villain -- Lucius Malfoy

Favorite Male Character -- Sirius Black

Favorite Professor -- Severus Snape

Is there any character you felt differently about in the movies vs. the books -- I like Dumbledore better in the books.  He's gentler.

Is there a movie you prefer instead of the book -- No.

The top thing (person or event) which wasn't included in the movies that annoyed you the most -- um... there wasn't nearly enough Sirius Black in movies 4 and 5.

If you could remake any of the Potter movies, which would it be -- None of them?  Unless you mean go back in time and fix them, in which case... let's make all the giant spiders implied instead of shown, shall we?

Which house were you actually sorted into on Pottermore (or other online sorting quiz?) -- I tend to come up Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw.

Which class would be your favorite -- History of Magic.

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Which spell do you think would be the most useful to learn -- Accio.

Which character do you think at Hogwarts you'd instantly become best friends with -- Hermione.  Finally someone who understands the importance of doing all the homework!

If you could own one of the three hallows which would it be -- the Invisibility Cloak

Is there any aspect of the books you'd want to change -- I would shorten all that wandering around at the beginning of Deathly Hallows.

Favorite marauder -- Padfoot, obviously.

If you could bring one character back to life who would it be -- Sirius Black or Fred Weasley.  I cried very hard over both.

Hallows or Horcruxes -- Hallows, of course.  Much more useful.  Not to mention not possessed by an evil wizard and all that.

June, 2015 -- The Good Parts Version

Here's this month's collection of cool stuff I felt like sharing :-)  Enjoy!

Videos

This first was shared with me by Hannah.  It's exquisite.  Richard Armitage reading the first proposal scene from the North and South novel, accompanied by video from the miniseries' version of the scene.  A thousand thanks, Hannah!

This is wildly different, and wildly awesome:

I'm not fond of the guy's voice, but I love how they tweaked the lyrics.  And the last line cracks me up endlessly!  My thanks to Cowboy for finding that one.  (Warning: does involve the phrase "knocked up" and some kinda scary Star Wars images.)

And finally, the late, magnificent Christopher Lee singing my favorite song, "Mack the Knife."  Well, actually, he's singing it in the original German, so it's called "Die Moritat von Mackie Messer," or "Moritat" for short.

DKoren sent me that cuz she knew I'd heart it :-)  Vielen Dank!

Blogs

I MUST share this wonderful, comprehensive post about The Andy Griffith Show on the Silver Scene blog.  (Yes, I realize the post was published in May, but I got kinda behind in my blog reading again, you see, so didn't read it until June.)  I've been a fan of TAGS almost all my life, and whether you know the show well, are just getting into it, or are simply curious about it, that post is a must-read.

And if you're at all interested in how Christianity is portrayed in our culture today, and what that portrayal says about our culture, please read this thought-provoking post on Sister, Daughter, Mother, Wife.

Not actually a blog, but if you love the Sherlock Holmes canon, check out all these awesome charts about various collections of canon data, like how many cases the main characters appear in, what kinds of clients appear the most, what kinds of crimes he investigates the most, etc.  And then there's this lovely floor plan of his flat:

Pinterest Fun

I can't believe I didn't pick up on this myself.

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I want a shirt just like this, only I want it to say "write" instead of "read," because that is truer of me.

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And then, there's this bit of wonderful MCU-HP mashing up.  Look!  My 3 favorite MCU characters in my favorite HP house!!!  (I do really like Falcon too, but I need to get to know him better before I call him a favorite.)

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That's all, folks!  More next month.