hemlocksmoothie

Haven't listened to the episode yet, but just wanted to point out that my weird personal takeaway from this movie was that Naomi Watts has a real thing for being romantically humiliated at parties. The whole lead-up to her seeing Tom dancing with his new love interest gave me anticipatory Mulholland Drive shudders.

This line was my hardest laugh-out-loud moment of the movie. Maybe it was a joke, but I took it as them trying to "flesh out" a relatively minor (or at least underused) character with a little one-line backstory, like this isn't what she ever imagined for her life. Sort of like how they mention in the episode, how characters are always delivering expository information or backstory, but it feels like there is connective tissue missing. There was another weird line towards the end when Dimitri is fighting one of Victor Dashkov's guards. The guy has Dimitri on the ropes and there's this moment where he gets close to his face and seethes about how satisfying it will be to kill him, as he's always had to play second fiddle, or been perceived as the "second best" guard. Something to that effect. Maybe I missed something, but I don't think we'd even met this character up to this point. The stakes were hilariously unearned.

Did anyone else notice that on the horrible Netflix poster it looks like they originally had Rose with her hands on her hips, then decided to have her holding a stake instead, but apparently forgot to remove the hands on hips afterward? Anyway, it made me laugh.

Me, upon realizing the Teen Witch episode will be delayed by a day or two. (Kidding, of course. Just really looking forward to this one.)

Yeah, I had the same experience. I put it on my Netflix list on Tuesday, and on Wednesday night it was gone. Had to shell out the three bucks and rent it on Amazon.

I too thought the way they shot the young son in some scenes made him seem almost sinister. I know we're supposed to understand that he's a bit suspicious & guarded about this new woman in his father's life, and perhaps broody over the prospect of someone trying to "replace" his mom, etc., but it was a strange vibe they created. At one point, I leaned over to my girlfriend and said, "If this little kid ends up calling in the tip on Katie that leads to her being found, I'm going to lose it." On the subject of kids in the film, I also thought the performance by the daughter (and store manager, apparently) was pretty good, although all the lingering glances of approval from her as her dad fell in love with this new girl drove me crazy. Obviously this little girl was meant to be wise beyond her years, but c'mon. Haha. I think it was the cloyingness of it that I couldn't stomach after a while. I do realize we're talking about Nicholas Sparks here, so I guess that's a given. I feel compelled to mention, my sister loves Nicholas Sparks novels and I always felt like a bit of a literary snob when I would criticize him ... until I read this interview from 2010, that is. I had just finished Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian, and stumbled upon it while googling for different interpretations of its famously inscrutable ending. In the article, Sparks repeatedly strokes his own ego, comparing himself to Sophocles and Hemingway, and accusing Cormac McCarthy and other writers of "melodrama" --- "There's a difference between drama and melodrama; evoking genuine emotion, or manipulating emotion. It's a very fine eye-of-the-needle to thread. And it's very rare that it works. That's why I tend to dominate this particular genre. There is this fine line. And I do not verge into melodrama. It's all drama. I try to generate authentic emotional power." Oh yeah, Sparks really threads that needle! That's just one hilarious quote in an avalanche of narcissistic insanity from the interview. He really skewers McCarthy in particular. Maybe it's common knowledge, but I never knew Sparks was so full of himself and lacking in self-awareness about his own work. Seriously, screw this guy. Here's a link to the article in case you like the sensation of blood shooting out your eyes as you read something: http://usatoday30.us...song11_CV_N.htm