Vampires here, vampires there, vampires everywhere

[alexandral]

Angel, season 3: I have re-started my "Angel" watching. And I immediately remembered why I stopped watching it in the first place. I don't know how everyone liked this but for me the storyline of Angel and Darla having a baby is a bit of no sense. (I am on the episode 3.10 "Dad" at the moment). How did that manage to happen? How did two vampires manage to conceive a human baby? And Why? Why the baby stuff that works so exceptionally well for me in RL doesn't really work that well in TV shows?

And now Angel is running away from everyone AGAIN.I am going to watch through this show as I am very intent on finishing "Angel" but! I hope this is going to be resolved somehow well.

30 days of Night: I remember nutmeg3 mentioned this film to me a while ago. And YAY! I have watched it! And it didn't disappoint! In the fictional world full of fictional vampires that are in bulk converting into the Tortured Misunderstood Hero Club it is so great to see an old-fashioned Evil to the Core Blood Thirsty vampire. Besides, a well-made visually film is always a half of the win with me. Add to it a decent attempt at the character building in the form of rather hunky Sheriff (by Josh Hartnett) and his rather cool estranged wife (Melissa George) and you get something that made me quite happy! Especially as the film is dipped and rolled in most wonderful and clean snow.



But still, the best thing about this film are the vampires, particular their leader played by Danny Huston. Not an anti-hero as such, but rather a horror-hero, a being truly evil but at the same time possessing personality and power and entirely stealing all the scenes he is in. It is probably the first time I see someone devoid ENTIRELY of any good qualities who doesn't come across as a caricature.


I am Legend : I enjoyed this whilst I watched and it had one of the best movie dogs. I want that doggy to be my doggy. I liked the way the vampire beings were made, especially dogs and rats. I liked the rest of CGI less as it was quite obvious in some parts that everything is just an animated picture, not reality. But wasn't this film just "28 days later" with a nuance? This nuance being Bob Marley – singing Will Smith as the Big American Hero?



And to end on a random note, some pictures of Bae Yong Joon. Swimming. Butterfly Stroke. Have I told you that I am mad about swimming? I do breaststroke myself but I always found butterfly style to be very appealing. I always wonder why I usually look so quite ugly in a swimming hat and some people look hot?

Comments

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Oh my.

GUH.

These pics are turning me into a slobbering fangirl :)

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

You are partly responsible for this - I saved the pictures when I was looking for some caps for "The Legend" icons on soompi. I saved the pictures but completely forgotten them and only remembered after I saw your picspam. :P

I am seriously in a bad state of obsession.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Heee, I am ready to obssess right next to you. I am rewatching Legend with filmi_girl :)

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Lucky you! I don't have anyone to watch it with, apart from Mr.Alexander who was persuaded to watch some bits. But I sent "The Legend" to some of my LJ friends. :D

I am re-watching "Time of Dog and Wolf" while I am waiting for other things. LJK should make another angsty drama very soon.

[endlessdeep.livejournal.com]

Angel, season 3: I have re-started my "Angel" watching. And I immediately remembered why I stopped watching it in the first place. I don't know how everyone liked this but for me the storyline of Angel and Darla having a baby is a bit of no sense. (I am on the episode 3.10 "Dad" at the moment). How did that manage to happen? How did two vampires manage to conceive a human baby? And Why?

Ugh, I know. Why?

Why the baby stuff that works so exceptionally well for me in RL doesn't really work that well in TV shows?

Hee. I love the way you put this. I feel the same way. Babies in real life are nice, babies on TV shows, not so much.

And now Angel is running away from everyone AGAIN.I am going to watch through this show as I am very intent on finishing "Angel" but! I hope this is going to be resolved somehow well.

Go ahead and finish. I did. We kind of have the same taste, so I have a feeling you might feel the same way I did about seasons 3 and 4. I won't say anymore.

Oh, I have to put 30 Days of Night on my Netflix list, now. This sounds really good. Done.

I'm doing Gerry this weekend. Movies.

I am waiting to see I am Legend when it comes out on DVD. :)

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Go ahead and finish. I did. We kind of have the same taste, so I have a feeling you might feel the same way I did about seasons 3 and 4. I won't say anymore.

Oh, it feels like there is not much to look forward to. :D I hope there will be some good developments for Wesley (I remember queenofthorns saying how much she liked Wesley in "Angel").

Oh, I have to put 30 Days of Night on my Netflix list, now. This sounds really good. Done.

I think this will help your research. :D The film is quite original (as much original as it gets with this theme) and has some intersting "vampire" moments . I remember one interesting detail : vampires in the film seem to be happy with cold and snow.

"I am Legend" is good enough movie, as in DVD-rainy-day one.

[queenofthorns.livejournal.com]

Well, they never really explained how vampires can even have sex, but I basically put all the weirdness of Angel's having a baby down to his having saved Darla during the Trials (in season 2) and TPTB owing him a life but not being able to give him Darla's. In short, it's some sort of bizarre miraculous *handwave* thing.

BUT that baby leads directly to the completely awesome and wonderful Wesley story that I *heart* more than anything else (and some of the most amazing episodes of ATS are upcoming for you towards the end of this season.)

(Also, I know endlessdeep really hates Season 4, but I really love it - I think it's dark, arc-driven, and occasionally extremely disturbing, but because it's kind of a showcase for Wesley, my favorite character of all of Joss Whedon's creations, I'll overlook the very few things I don't care for.)

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Well, they never really explained how vampires can even have sex, but I basically put all the weirdness of Angel's having a baby down to his having saved Darla during the Trials (in season 2) and TPTB owing him a life but not being able to give him Darla's. In short, it's some sort of bizarre miraculous *handwave* thing.

Oh, I understood this in theory but it just seems to be quite far-fetched and contrived..

BUT that baby leads directly to the completely awesome and wonderful Wesley story that I *heart* more than anything else (and some of the most amazing episodes of ATS are upcoming for you towards the end of this season.)

This is what I was saying to endlessdeep right before I saw your comment - I remember you saying how you like Wesley. I really started warming up to Wesley (as in "he is hot and quite heroic" :D) after the Pylea story and I am looking forward to more. I am a bit out of sorts with Angel at the moment as he is leaving everyone again and they were so sad the first time round.. I hope this will not last.

[earlgrayhot.livejournal.com]

Although those are nice shots ... I still think Michael Phelps has the most beautiful butterfly.


And here's a link to a bunch of pics (http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=michael+phelps+butterfly&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2)

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

WOW! Fantastic!!!!!! This style is just so much of power-display and almost real flying at the same time. Michael Phelps is great. Yep - you can't argue with the world champion. :D

[earlgrayhot.livejournal.com]

It's such an amazing stroke when done right ... I can only do a 25 and am completely exhausted afterwards LOL

Michael is an amazing swimmer all around but for as beautiful as his Fly is ... his freestyle, although very fast, is the ugliest thing!

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I can only make 5 butterfly strokes in a row, may be. :D

Freestyle is my least favourite style, I guess. Which one is your favourite style?

[earlgrayhot.livejournal.com]

I love swimming freestyle and to watch it's usually breast although I really don't like Brendan Hanson ... but when Michael's swimming it's fly! I've got a bit of a crush on Aaron Piersol ... so backstroke makes it into the mix too LOL I guess I'm an indecisive sort LOL

Freestyle is my least favourite style

To swim or watch?

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I don't mind swimming freestyle but to watch it is may be least favourite (but I like it too). I haven't seen a swimmer that looks unattractive, swimming does very good things to male anatomy. :D

[earlgrayhot.livejournal.com]

swimming does very good things to male anatomy

:drool sure does!
Isn't all that great for the girls ... those shoulders get huge :(

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I know! - though now the standards of female beauty are shifting and tall/athletic is quite popular.

[trailer-spot.livejournal.com]

Man, you and your vampires! ;)

Saw 'I am Legend' myself about a week ago. I don't disagree with your statement that it was in many aspects similar to '28 Days later'. But I still enjoyed watching a deserted New York just as much as I enjoyed seeing deserted London.
And I was pretty satisfied with the ending. Considering that it was a big budget Hollywood movie I really liked their ending and the way it was shown. It could've been much worse (I know that sounds a bit strange but I don't think it's fair to watch a Hollywood blockbuster and to expect something completely extraordinary.
More in my next movie diary entry (though not much).

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Oh, I did like "I am Legend". It was a well-made film , it had Bob Marley's music and I like a good ending as any other person. I think you summed it all - it is a big budget Hollywood film and it has all the makings of it. The minus for me was that for a big-budget film CGI of greenery and buildings was a bit poor. During fast-moving scenes this defect bothered me. It was as if the creators spend more of their CGI effort on vampires and less on scenery.

LJ is not sending me e-mail notifications again. :(

[trailer-spot.livejournal.com]

Did you watch the movie at home or at the theatre?

I also have some notification delays since yesterday. some are on time, some are delayed.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Did you watch the movie at home or at the theatre?

At home. May be it was the copy?

[trailer-spot.livejournal.com]

That's exactly what I would suggest since I had no problems with the CGI. The only thing that I thought looked a bit strange were the "vampires" and I assume they made them intentionally look that way.

It's really strange sometimes. In my experience things sometimes can look flawless on the big theatre screen and at home on the small TV things look fake even though I would instinctively say that it shouldn't be a problem at home since the resolution at home is much smaller than in the theatre so it should be harder to spot "mistakes". Maybe things are optimised to look good on big screens. Or a lot of information gets lost when things get encoded for the TV.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

** nods in agreement ** I find I enjoy CGI films more on the big screen. Like "Pirates of Caribbean" - watching the latest installment in the theatre was so much better than to watch the first two at home.

I liked the "vampires" - considering they wre wholly animated! In "30 days of Night" they are still played by "human" actors. :D

[trailer-spot.livejournal.com]

The "vampires" reminded me at times of the robots from 'I, Robot', not at least because of Will Smith :D. Not so much their look but their movement, especially when there were many of them.

I'm afraid '30 Days of Night' is nothing for me, too bloody. Maybe in a year or so when it's on TV but I'm not even sure about that. :)

I saw the 2nd and 3rd Pirates movie recently at home on my TV. Maybe it would've also been more enjoyable at the theatre but I have to say, that when I saw them here, I was really glad I didn't pay for them. I was quite disappointed. The story seemed very forced and really just too much.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

The "vampires" reminded me at times of the robots from 'I, Robot', not at least because of Will Smith :D. Not so much their look but their movement, especially when there were many of them.

Hee! now you nailed it - I had a feeling of deja vu too.

I'm afraid '30 Days of Night' is nothing for me, too bloody. Maybe in a year or so when it's on TV but I'm not even sure about that. :)

I was wondering what will you think when you you watch it. For me it was a child's movie after "Sweeney Todd" and I think it was done splendidly so I thought about you.. :D

"Pirates .." never did much for me too but I was surprised that I quite enjoyed the third one in the cinema theaters (we went with my friend and her son).

[trailer-spot.livejournal.com]

I'm still surprised by your strong reaction towards 'Sweeney Todd'. I know you like visually interesting movies just like I do and I know that you usually have less of a problem with blood and gore than I do, plus Johnny Depp. If you would've asked me beforehand I clearly would've guessed that you would like the movie at least somewhat. Too bad nobody told you about the singing and the cakes. ;D
(And please don't get me wrong, of course it's perfectly okay that you didn't like the movie.)

This link is doing the rounds, maybe you've already seen it. I'm unable to confirm if the list is based on real, available facts, but maybe you would like to know about the status of various TV series (http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry/TVGuide-Editors-Blog/Ausiello-Report/Wga-Strike-Favorite/800032698) (even if you probably won't like what you will read about "Life").

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I know - I am rather surprised myself. I am trying to rationalize it. May be my dislike happened because I had a head-ache which turned into a migraine from all the strange and not quite melodic music on that day. And yes - the pie thing was totally OTT for me. Some things are just affecting us more than others. :D

Thank you for the link! To be honest, I wasn't expecting anything different. But at least, it will return!!!!

[asolitaryraven.livejournal.com]

I fell asleep during the first 15 minutes of 30 days of night, but only because I was really tired. I didn't give it another try so far, because others said it isn't so good anyway, but I might give it another try. You were right about the Covenant being a great movie, so I trust your taste. =)

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Oh my! You are strong ! I found this filim quite scary. I must warn you - "30 days of Night" is very different to "Covenant" (which is totally unique in it's collection of pretty :D)

[miss-dian.livejournal.com]

WHOA. Why did I not see these pics before? I completely missed it. OMG. I can't do butterfly for the life of me. No wonder BYJ has a very toned body :D Thank you for sharing these pics. Where did you get them? Was it for a film/drama, or just random pics of his daily life?

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I am so glad you like! TONED BODY is understatement :D I think these are his RL pictures, I came across them trailing soompi's "The Legend" thread for the good pictures of "gods"..