I love both of those, GD. And as to the character design, it's based on a manga by Osamu Tezuka (creator of AstroBoy), whose style I used to find overly cutesy and mock-Disneyesque, but it's grown on me. (Especially after reading some of his more adult manga, as well as his epic biography of the Buddha.) Really, the entire anime/manga industry owes it all to Tezuka. (So do the creators of The Lion King, but that's another story.)

I'm glad you enjoyed Polyester, and I think you've nailed its basic appeal. did you have Odorama cards to scratch and sniff? Did you listen to the commentary? John Waters' commentary tracks are amazing, often funnier than the films themselves.

Now, are you ready for Waters' earlier, cruder and more openly sadistic films? (Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble, Desperate Living) I find those hard to sit through, but still kind of fascinating at the same time. And they all have interesting/hilarious commentary tracks on their DVD releases. Go on, rent Pink Flamingos. I double dog dare ya!

Yeah, I know it's the style. And it grew on my as the movie went on, and in other films I think it's great. But for some whatever reason I thought it hurt this film, dumbed it down a little.

And Wall-E. Holy crap did Wall-E lift stuff straight from this film or what?

Ah, ok. I thought it was purely an attempt to use 1930's comics and animation elements (pie eyes) to echo the 1930's style architecture etc. To that end, if they had taken it to the nth degree and had the characters look like Steamboat Willie but in color, it might have been awesome.

Otherwise, it was beautiful.

The original Tezuka Metropolis manga was published in 1949, and the 2001 animated film retains its character designs, but they decided to render the environment digitally (and as pointed out, quite beautifully). The resulting contrast in detail and dimensionality is indeed striking, maybe even jarring, but unique.

HBO is making Mildred Pierce into a mini-series
 

This is just 27 different kinds of wrong.....

HBO remake with Kate Winslet as Mildred, Guy Pearce as Monte

EW report is here

5 hour mini-series? Jeebus the nice tight 111 minutes does quite nicely.

They going to cast Ann Blyth as Mrs. Biederhoffer?

Are you sure it isn't a remake of Mildred Fierce?

Well, my parents and I all went to see Alice In Wonderland today, and I loved it. The 3-D was alright, not really all that great like Avatar. But, overall I'm madly in love with it. And I quite enjoyed the Mad Hatter's dance, I giggled throughout the whole thing.


That may be because they were planning to do it like that in the first place but then backed out of the idea and went with this. I (you may call me weird) do like the idea of Alice and the Mad Hatter like that, they do seem to fit together quite well. Then again, that's just what I think. I like weird couples. :D

The boy and I went to Diary of a Wimpy Kid yesterday. I think they did a good job keeping it close to the books. I'm so glad I'm not in Junior High anymore!

How to Train Your Dragon

Loved it!

I highly recommend it.

I noticed that the front cover of USA Today last week touted How To Train Your Dragon as a new Pixar film. Oops.