Spartan Girl

Keri Russell's controlling dad in August Rush was a piece of shit. It was bad enough that he trained her to be a musical prodigy all so that she could be his meal ticket. But to sign away her own baby for adoption and lie to her about him being stillborn...there's a special place in hell for people like that.

You can either love or hate some movie endings, but let's save this thread for the worst. The first that immediately comes to mind is Crazy Stupid Love for the sole reason that Steve Carrell's character is the one that has to make the grand romantic gesture/apology at the end while Julianne Moore -- who I might point out was the one who cheated on him and wanted out of the marriage for no real good reason then proceeded to get hypocritically pissy at him for dating other women -- never apologizes for anything. And he wanted her back WHY?! And, in tribute of Robin Williams, the ending of Dead Poets Society always made me angry. Yes, the "O Captain My Captain" bit was awesome, but it doesn't change the fact that Robin Williams' character gets blamed and fired while the parents that drove their son to suicide get off scot free!

Poor Zelda! I can't imagine why anyone would WANT those pictures. I literally screamed "I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT!" at the news when it announced the details of the suicide. Back to what's worth remembering, my first and foremost favorite Robin Williams movie will always be Aladdin. I loved Aladdin and the King of Thieves too; it was great that they managed to get him back for that one -- it made it 1000 times better. I too love The Birdcage and his rare straight-man performance. One Hour Photo was definitely a notable performance, but he scared the crap out of me. And even though I don't like Mrs. Doubtfire, I loved her character. I so wish Mrs. Doubtfire's show had been real.

Anyone else hoping that Robin Williams is having a clean yet kick-ass party with Belushi in the afterlife right now?

Lauren Bacall is sad, but at least she had a long full life and is with Bogey now. Robin Williams...still can't get over it. When I saw the news, my knees gave out and I kept yelling OMG over and over. I would have understood if it was a drug relapse but suicide?! It's just so terrible that he felt so low and desperate. I've always had a soft spot for him and will always love him for being the Genie in Aladdin. But I hope that he met up with John Belushi in the afterlife and the two of them are both clean, sober, happy, and having one kick-ass party.

I would have loved for Rachel McAdams to play Amy because it would have finally gotten her out of her romantic drama typecasting she seems to fall in these days.

Toy Story 3. Two words: Spanish Buzz.

I didn't like Gingerbread either, mainly because Joyce didn't have to deal with the fallout of almost burning Buffy at the stake and basically saying she wanted a normal daughter instead of her because all of the adults magically forgot almost everything afterwards.

This might be a weird topic to start, but you have to give props to movies with people that can either cry really pretty or very realistically without sounding fake. The first one that comes to mind is Dem Moore in Ghost. She lets the tears fall without even scrunching up her face, and it never looks fake. Then there's the flashback in Never Been Kissed when Josie gets eggs thrown at her in her prom dress. Drew Barrymore started sobbing straight from the gut, and anyone that has gone on that hard of a crying jag will tell you that was completely sincere.

I'll never understand why Buffy didn't confront him about that after she figured out what really happened, especially in the light of how nasty he was to her in "Dead Man's Party." It only caused her more pain in the long run; before she went to fight Angel for the last time, she was already at an emotional low and probably wasn't even thinking about having Angel back. If Xander HAD told her, she probably would have told him to tell Willow not to bother: she just wanted it done and over with. But Xander took that choice away from her. Instead, she had to go through with killing not Angelus the monster but Angel the man she loved. What Buffy SHOULD have done when she found out about the spell was call out Xander about it and cut ties with him right then and there. And it continues to piss me off how Xander gave her the "you don't know how I feel" speech about Anya in "Selfless" when Buffy KNEW PERFECTLY WELL how he felt. And yet Xander continues to dismiss the situations as "different." Now ask me again why I don't like Xander!

I'm adding Chris Pratt to my Marvel movie crushes. Now if they could just get Chris Pine in a movie, I'd be all set.

Too many parts to count in Guardians of the Galaxy, but I'll go with "I'm distracting you, you big turd blossom!" And everything with Rocket.

I loved it. Marvel's funniest movie yet. It actually felt more like Star Wars than a Marvel superhero movie. Rocket and Groot were definitely the standout characters, though the group as a whole was spectacular. Cooper's was almost unrecognizable until he did the big fake laugh. And as much as I grew to hate the repeated use of Hooked On A Feeling in the commercials I loved it's one scene in the movie. I also loved Peter's use of dancing to distract Ronan. "I'm distracting you, you big turd blossom!" Oh Chris Pratt... Already can't wait for the sequel!

Post-prison Meg beating the crap out of Peter has to be one of the all-time best scenes. The satisfaction I felt seeing Peter getting curb-stomped is beyond words.

I thought I'd start a thread for the first infamous Buffy crossover: ie, the one where Angel briefly gets to be human and be with Buffy only to give it all up at the end to save her life. I know a lot of people don't like this episode, but I do. It was nice to see Buffy and Angel happy together, if only for a brief period of time. They hadn't been that happy since the first half of season 2 of Buffy. And their in-between-coital picnic was cute...it was worth it to see Angel go on an eating binge if nothing else. But as Joss Whedon has apparently ruled, Angel can never be happy. :(

Seconded this YES. You cannot justify Xander's actions in that episode. There was no pure motives or greater good: he went to kill Angel with Faith out of pure spite. I cheered when Faith later threw his ass into the wall when he got in the middle of her fight with Buffy. Bitch had it coming.

Summed up my feelings perfectly. Even if whatever Xander says is technically right, he always comes off as a jerk while saying it. I agree with everything everyone said about "Dead Man's Party." And for the record, I wish Joyce had shown a bit more remorse for throwing Buffy out of the house. IMHO, you forfeit your right to be upset that your child ran away when you throw him or her out. She could have given her a little bit more slack about everything since she was the one that played a role in driving her away.

I liked Cordy a lot more on Angel too, but I liked her early "Queen C" self as well. I always liked how brutally honest she could be. My favorite Cordy moment has to be when she breaks up with Xander in the hospital. "Stay. Away. From. Me." I never knew a voice could be so empty and yet so filled with pain and venom at the same time. Poor poor Cordy. But Xander totally deserved it.

I would love to see Emily Van Camp cameo as Sharon Carter/Agent 13 in a scene with the elderly Peggy. With Revenge is going down the tubes, she might as well be in a good show until Cap 3!

Maybe it was supposed to be more of a satire. Anyway, back to Harry Potter, one of the things that really impressed me about the final book was the semi-redemption of Dudley as a result of Harry saving him in OOP. JKR definitely went for the unexpected route there, but it was a good way of showing that it is possible to overcome parental abuse -- because as Dumbledore said in HBP, the Dursleys spoiling Dudley was just as damaging as abusing Harry. And I liked that while he and Harry would never be truly friendly, they at least parted on civil terms. But I'm not gonna lie: I was disappointed that Harry or Mrs. Weasley didn't turn Vernon into a dung beetle. Would have loved that.

I guess I'm in the minority that didn't hate A Casual Vacancy but I totally agree about the unlikable characters. But you got to hand it to JKR for not being too squeamish to kill off characters.

Ooh man, just coming to post that. Ironic how her Law and Order appearance was mentioned just yesterday. RIP

Oh Jesus I saw that Dear Zachary documentary. It made me physically ill.

The Forbidden Forest scene in DH 2 always destroys me. I loved the moment when Harry runs to Lily only to have their hands pass through each other was beautiful, not to mention a nice parallel to the Mirror of Erised scene in SS when she touches his shoulder...or does. *sob* I really think Daniel Radcliffe nailed the moment when he pulls out of the Pensieve and absorbs the fact that he is a Horcrux and therefore has to die. The look on his face was a perfect mixture of shock, horror, fear, anger, nausea fading slowly into resignation. And I know that people have criticized the movies making Ginny blander, but Bonnie Wright sold that scream.

But that's my point, Xander DOESN'T keep his mouth shut. He almost always makes his opinion very clear. But when he screws up, Buffy usually feels like it's not her place to judge. The only time she ever really brings up his shortcomings is when he rips into her and she goes on to the defensive. But other than that, she usually tries to be sympathetic.