This week in fandom

The King's Speech

This movie! ♥ THIS MOVIE. It's like they took the usual Oscar-bait formula and made it charming and adorable. And now I know why Colin Firth has been going around calling Geoffrey Rush his "geisha girl."

I saw it with a coworker, and she is rooting for The Social Network for the Oscar pretty hardcore. She loved King's Speech, but she wants Social Network to win because it's 'more personal.' I have not actually seen Social Network - I will probably see it just to stack its chances against the other movies, but it will probably make me angry for various reasons.

But even so! I generally do like to root for the more 'personal' movies, like Slumdog, Little Miss Sunshine, or Juno. But I think that King's Speech, unlike a lot of Oscar-bait movies, was much more focused on the relationships than the historical setpiece or the Important Issues. And that's why I'm rooting for it. ♥

Also, DID I MENTION ADORABLE.

Black Swan

Okay, so I went into this expecting it to be like Perfect Blue: The Ballet Edition. And I really liked it! But as I watched it I thought, "Eh, it's not really that messed up."

You all are probably giving me a look right now. I would also be giving me a look right now. But I thought compared to Perfect Blue, it was pretty linear!

That said, it was delightfully twisty, and I loved the last quarter of the movie in all its trippy glory. I went home a little worried that I was going to find Winona Ryder in my kitchen. Someone more informed than I can provide a better analysis of how misogyny in the ballet world was portrayed, so all I will say for now is, I do believe Natalie Portman will be snagging that Oscar.

Heavy Rain

This is a very interesting game, with even more interesting gameplay. It's basically an interactive murder mystery movie - or as I like to call it, "the most ominous game of The Sims ever."

I'm just sort of getting into the action now, but it's really fascinating so far. There are quite a few different choices you can make, and they're not obviously good or bad like in most games. Said choices even make the plot splinter in different directions. The story can even continue when one or more of the characters dies. I can't wait to see how things go when I get further!

I am still getting attached to the characters, though. There was one I really liked, but then I got the worst spoiler ever and now every time I see them I'm like "WAS IT ALL A LIIEEEEEE." I think I enjoy playing the FBI agent the most, though. He has random futuristic FBI technology, and I am fascinated by his accent.