"Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N." (1951) -- Initial Thoughts

Guess who I found at the library this week? Gregory Peck as Captain Horatio Hornblower!!! I just watched it this morning, and oh boy, is it a good one! It's going on my Christmas list straight away.

I've been wanting to see this movie ever since I first heard about it when I was introduced to the character ten years ago. One of my mom's friends loaned her three of the A&E Hornblower movies starring Ioan Gruffudd and told her about the old Gregory Peck version as well. Of course, I instantly fell madly in love with both Ioan Gruffudd and the character of Horatio Hornblower as soon as I watched the A&E movies. Although I regret to admit I haven't read any of the books by C. S. Forester, I'm hoping maybe this library will have them.

Anyway, great swashbuckling tale! Gregory Peck makes a wonderful Hornblower, as one might expect. And you know, he even almost looks a little like an older version of Ioan Gruffudd, so it all works very nicely. This movie is based on what I believe was the first HH book written, while the A&E series begins with the beginning of HH's career as a midshipman, which Forester seems to have written about later. This involves his affair with Lady Barbara Wellesley, played adeptly by Virginia Mayo. Of course, it also involves several naval battles and lots of fun sailorly stuff.

And now I'm totally in the mood for more Hornblowerful adventures, so I think as soon as Dano takes his next nap, I'm going to put in "The Duel." This is turning out to be a rather nice Monday after all!

Act III of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is up. It's incredibly Joss-ful. My comments are below, written in invisible ink so you won't get spoiled by them.

Um, wow. That took a sudden turn for the ultra-serious, huh? I totally did not see Penny getting killed, though I guess I should have, since this is Joss Whedon we're talking about. A show where a main character does not die is not a Joss Whedon show. Or something like that.

Dr. Horrible had a lot of thematic similarities to other Joss shows, don't you think? Dr. Horrible is like an older version of The Trio from season six of Buffy. Penny reminded me a lot of Anne Steele from season two of Angel, all helping the homeless and something of an angel herself, but somewhat willing to do whatever it takes to further her cause. The good guys aren't necessarily all that good, and the bad guys aren't pure evil. And, of course, a good character dies. How often hasn't that happened, huh? Hmm. Jenny. Angel. Buffy. Tara. Spike. Doyle. Fred. Cordelia. Okay, okay, on Firefly no one died, but Wash died in the movie follow-up, Serenity.

Anyway, I dug it, though no songs in part three are running manically through my head. But I've only watched it once, so that could change. Now I need to find time before it all disappears to watch all three acts in a row.

Act Two of "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" is now up!

I'd write more, but I'm going to go watch it again.

Duuuuuude! Joss Whedon has created a brand new art form! Okay, not exactly, but sort of. He's created an online episodic supervillain musical called "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog," and it's available for free until July 20, so you have to go check it out RIGHT NOW! Actually, only part one is available right this moment, with part 2 coming online tomorrow, and part three on Saturday. But you have to go watch part one right now because it is full of Jossful hilarity. Funny lines, silly songs, and oh, did I mention Nathan Fillion?!?!?!?! Yes. Nathan Fillion.

Mmmmm. Nathan Fillion. Here, have a random picture of him just because. It's not him as Captain Hammer, but it's a fun picture anyway.

I think I'm gonna go watch about 9 eps of Firefly. Okay, maybe 2. As many as Dano's naps will allow, let's put it that way.

Many thanks to DKoren for pointing me to this site!

(Oh, and yes, that's Doogie Howser in the title role. Just FYI, in case you ever watched that show. I didn't, but you might have.)

It seems the library has run out of musicals that I haven't seen before. I'm sure the whole library system has more that I could get through interlibrary loan, but for now, I'm going to sum up what I've seen over the last five months. I watched fourteen musicals, and here they are in order of how I liked them, from best to worst:

Jumbo
The Pirate
Royal Wedding
Yankee Doodle Dandy
Band Wagon
Easter Parade
Bells Are Ringing
Lullaby of Broadway
Love Me or Leave Me
Meet Me in Las Vegas
Gypsy
The Stars and Stripes Forever
42nd Street
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

Actually "The Pirate" and "Royal Wedding" are kind of tied for second place -- I totally dug both of them.

It's been a fun five months, that's for sure. Hmm, should I see if the library has a lot of some other genre that I haven't seen and start reporting on them?

"Get Smart" (2008) -- Initial Thoughts

I went to see Get Smart yesterday. I laughed, I cried, it moved me, Bob.

Okay, the movie didn't actually make me cry. The trailer for Dark Knight did. When it ended, I realized I had both hands forming a triangle over my mouth and nose. That's usually what I do when I see something horrifying or shocking or scary. So yeah -- not at all sure I'll be going to see that. It might be just too doggone soon.

But anyway, Get Smart was really fun! I was hoping hoping hoping it wouldn't be lame or stupid or reduced to juvenile humor, because I love the original show. And I was not disappointed! It was a good mix of slapstick, one-liners, and gags, with just a little inanity thrown in. And they included so much of the original show, from the Cone of Silence to "Missed it by this much!" to Hymie to Siegfried to the old "explain what someone just did" trick. Dug it.

Plus, Dwayne Johnson! Though, can you believe this? He never appeared even so much as sleeveless! It's like he's starting to be taken seriously as an actor and not just a big, muscly guy. He has a good sense of comic timing, so this worked really well for him. And he looked better in suits than he did in The Rundown. Either they were tailored better, or he's been streamlining himself. Don't highlight the rest of this paragraph if you don't want to be spoiled: Of course, he turned out to be a mole, and I must admit I suspected that a while before it was revealed. Mostly because he turned evil in Doom, but also because he was being just a little too slick the whole time. But that's okay, he made a fun villain too.

And hey, has anyone else noticed how much Dalip Singh looks like Richard Kiel? I was convinced they must be related or something, but they're not.

Sadly, I must give Get Smart three Warheads. It got a little draggy a couple of times, enough for me to think, "Hmm, how about some more sour and tasty candy?" But I still really enjoyed it.

What I decidedly did NOT enjoy was this old woman sitting next to me. She was in her late 60s/early 70s, and there with her husband. When they first sat down, I thought maybe they would be really fun to be near, because they probably remember the original show and would laugh at all the references to it like I would. Plus, they were kind of a cute couple. He put his hand on her knee, and they were sharing a bag of popcorn and whispering. But then the movie started. And every single time something slightly implausible or unbelievable or don't-try-this-at-home-ish happened, this woman said, "Yeah, right." Out loud. Every time. And believe me, that got very old, very fast. Finally, about two-thirds of the way through, I waited for her to say it again, and when she did, I leaned over and whispered, "I'm sorry, ma'am, but you are really annoying to sit next to during this movie." And then I moved over one seat and sat next to two teen girls who were thoroughly enjoying the movie the way I was.

I did. I'm not making this up. I really did.

After the movie, before the girls left, I turned to them and said, "I just want you to know that you have great theater manners, and were much more fun to sit next to than an old lady who said, 'Yeah, right,' every time something happened." They giggled and said, "Thanks!" and left.

What is it with these Nutmeggers and their deplorable theater manners? First the evil mother who wouldn't take her child out of a movie that was scaring him, and now this hag! Yuck! It's a good thing I have neither the time nor the money to go see as many movies as I watched back in Ruralsburg, or I might end up punching people out or "accidentally" spilling slushies on them or something. Yeesh.

Happy Birthday, America!