Somewhere Different Now

Hello, y'all!  In an effort to be the change I wish to see in the world, I am going to try to make my LJ a livelier place by posting more often.  My flist has been sadly quiet lately.  I don't really like tumblr as a platform, but I find myself spending tons of time there because it is so lively, plus it's easy to look and reblog even when I feel too tired/uninteresting/incoherent to write a post here.  Nevertheless, I am going to try to get my rear in gear and actually post, even if it's only about the latest movie I've watched.

I saw Now You See Me in the movie theater today.  I was excited about it based on the trailers, but the not so hot rating on Rotten Tomatoes kept my expectations on the low side.  I ended up really enjoying it.  I would recommend it if you like the following:

• magicians!


• heists


• twisty plots with surprises, including some of the sort that I didn't see coming but which made so much sense after the reveal


• Mark Ruffalo


• other attractive cast members


• Morgan Freeman


• Michael Caine


• moral grey areas that allow us to root for both the magicians pulling off criminal schemes and the cops investigating them


• a sense of wonder


• a Robin Hood sensibility that fits well with our post-economic crash times

On the minus side, the characterization was a little thin for many of the characters, and I actively wanted the two lead cops' relationship to remain platonic despite the film apparently feeling the need to shoehorn in some romance.  That's a fairly minor gripe, though.  In certain respects, it is reminiscent of The Prestige.  Now You See Me is not as good as that, but then, The Prestige has David Bowie playing Nicola Tesla, and I don't think it's possible for anything to live up to that.  I don't want to risk spoilers by saying to much, but if anyone else has seen this movie and wants to talk about it, I'd love to.

Speaking of things one doesn't want spoiled, I have been having far too much fun with schadenfreude while reading people's social media reactions to this week's episode of Game of Thrones.  All these sweet summer children who apparently expected characters to survive!  However, I really need to make reading books 4 & 5 a priority, because I just got accidentally spoiled about a future character death, and I'd like to keep that from happening anymore.

Also on the topic of things that can rip out hearts, I continue to adore bendingsignpost's Sherlock/John fic Bel Canto, which is a fusion with The Phantom of the Opera.  The fusion of the canons works way better and less crackily than I might have expected.  This fic is also stuffed with complex interpersonal conflict between characters who each have validity to their viewpoint, danger, insight into both the major and minor characters, powerful prose, occasional bits of humor and sweetness, and heartache.  Far too much heartache.  It's a WIP, but there are only two chapters remaining and they update weekly.