Have a James McAvoy Night!

Courtesy of a new blog at EW.com called Bits & Bobs, we have a list of recommendations for a veritable James McAvoy fest!

In honor of Wanted's massive opening weekend at the U.S. box office, let’s get the party started by loving up its brilliant Scottish star, James McAvoy, for his telly work. The guy steals every movie he's in (sorry, Forest), but any self-respecting Anglophile knows he's been doing the same thing for years on British TV. So fire up that Netflix account, hit YouTube, and check out these shows (all available on DVD):

The first is James in a retelling of MacBeth where James even sings:

Next is Shameless in which I believe James met his wife:

Shameless, Season 1: Steve (McAvoy) is a car thief. His girl, Fiona (McAvoy's real-life bride Anne-Marie Duff) is living on a Manchester estate (Britain's version of public housing) and caring for her five younger siblings. The show’s humor (drunken teenagers, naked bums) is, well, shameless. Watch the entire first episode here.

I haven't watched the whole Shameless episode yet, but James comes in at about 4:30 in the first clip in a dramatic meetup with Fiona that includes a mooning by James! Gotta love British TV!

Read the rest of the recommended British TV shows with James HERE! The nice thing is most of them are on YouTube. You don't even have to wait for Netflix to get your James fix.

Wanted - mini-review

It killed me to wait, but we were at a family reunion all weekend, and I couldn't see Wanted until Monday afternoon. So, you're wondering, was it worth the wait and the hype? Hell, yeah!

This movie is a non-stop adrenaline rush. I got a kick out of the fact it was set in Chicago, but commuters can only dream that L trains go that fast!

Angelina Jolie is just so at home in her own skin in action roles like this. Morgan Freeman, excellent as usual. But, James, oh my, James McAvoy. His performance is simply brilliant. I can't imagine anyone better in this role. He starts out the movie as this nervous nebbishy cubicle slave, and ends the movie as a total badass. He makes the transformation completely believable. I feel like he poured everything he's been in other movies into this role, at times nervous and twitchy, sometimes showing anguish and emotional pain full out there, and then his intensity which has been seen sometimes in other films is given full throttle. Just brilliant. (James has even said that he made himself pass out by unknowingly holding his breath during intense scenes.)

What I am also excited about with this movie is the director, Timur Bekmambetov, a Russian-Khazak. People have been talking about two Russian films he's made: Night Watch and Day Watch that are supposed to be out of this world. The action sequences and the colliding bullets in Wanted reminded me of my open-mouthed amazement watching the first Matrix film. You're seeing things and techniques that are new and fresh.

Timur Bekmambetov told an interviewer that his influences aren't from living in Russia, but in the USSR:

"(The Soviet Union) was a fantasy world created by one man, and his name was Stalin, and he created and controlled everything," Timur said. "How to dress, how to drink, how to talk, how to think. He was the producer."

Timur continued, "We lived for seventy years in a fantasy movie created by one person. It gave us a sensibility and the ability to believe different things. That influences your way of thinking."

I cannot wait to see what this guy comes up with next. He is definitely a creative force to watch.

Three and a half stars. See it on the big screen. It is totally kickass. With the successful opening weekend that Wanted has had, there is already talk of a sequel. Given the ending, that will be interesting. Only if you've seen the film, read this interesting article on how the ending was reshot. Major spoiler alert!

The Incredible Hulk - mini-review

This is a solid movie from director Louis Leterrier. I didn't hate the Ang Lee Hulk movie, but I certainly didn't love it. I wanted to love Ang's movie since I love so many of Ang Lee's movies, and I like Eric Bana. But it just didn't come together and the special effects just didn't look good.

This Incredible Hulk delivers. We don't have boring backstory. We dive right in to the action. The special effects are better (as you would expect a few years on). Ed Norton helped write the script, and it is fantastic. It satisfies on all levels, and we have a real villain to go up against the Hulk. Yes, we have moments of angst, but they don't overwhelm things. Tim Roth has always made a terrific villain (see Rob Roy, for instance!) and I love his "Is that all you've got?!" line.

It has the right amount of humor, too. I love all the little Easter Eggs. There's a brief clip of "The Courtship of Eddie's Father" playing on a TV and Lou Ferrigno plays a security guard. Stan Lee makes a small cameo, and the movie ends with Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) talking with the General. I love how Marvel is cross-pollinating its movies.

Solid three stars. I'll be curious to see if there is an extended version on DVD. Ed Norton refused to do press for this movie as he was unhappy with the length that the studio demanded for final edit.

Lost BBC Beatles Interview

A Beatles interview from the 1960s in which John Lennon and Paul McCartney discussed the way they composed songs together was broadcast on British radio Tuesday after it was found in a film can in a damp garage in south London.

The Beatles were at the height of their immense popularity when the tape was recorded at Scottish Television studios on April 30, 1964. The band had recently toured America, winning huge audiences on the Ed Sullivan show and shooting to the top of the charts on both sides of the Atlantic.

The interview was only broadcast in Scotland and sat in a film canister until it was discovered by film historian Richard Jeffs, who was astonished to find the familiar Liverpudlian accents of the Beatles on the tape. Listen to the BBC program here.

Baron Cohen & Ferrell in Sherlock Holmes pic

Hmmm. Judd Apatow is reuniting the Talledega Nights co-stars in a Sherlock Holmes comedy. Sacha Baron Cohen will play Holmes with Will Ferrell as Watson. At least Sacha Baron Cohen has a natural English accent! Read all about it in Variety.

Harry Potter Movie Like Trainspotting?

Huntington Post:

DANIEL RADCLIFFE has compared the new Hogwarts blockbuster to Scottish drug flick Trainspotting.

He says his sixth movie outing, Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince, has moments like the cult 1996 film.

Daniel told Empire magazine: "There's a fair amount of sexual energy and drug parallels. We have a couple of Trainspotting moments.

"That's two films I never thought would be mentioned in the same breath."

So does that mean we'll see Harry diving into the worst toilet at Hogwarts to fetch his wand?

There was just one promise from Daniel -- the dark parts are so dark, they're black.

But director DAVID YATES revealed: "We're opening with a big attack. We'll bring a major London landmark crashing down."

Hellboy on Inside The Actor's Studio

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Hat tip: Ain't It Cool

Cadbury Egg Rube

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Tag! You're It!

There's a new Tag game going around, and the rules are simple:

Open the book nearest to you and open to page 123. Then post the 5th sentence. Very simple.

Darling Diva tagged me, and the closest book to me is Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr. Darling Diva recommended it to me and I am loving it! It's a book about fairies. Creepy, not very nice fairies. Diva and I lurve those paranormal and vampire books! A lot of the exciting writing these days is happening in the young adult genre, and I'm glad Diva has hooked me in to some great ones like this one and Twilight by Stephenie Meyer.

"Mortal habits change faster than ours."

Now, my turn to Tag. Not all have blogs or websites, so post on your Facebook wall. Post your sentence to the comments, too.

Kaione, BluEyedDaizy, Sooth, Josh, & HDKingsbury

Kevin Smith Raves about Dark Knight

Director Kevin Smith (Clerks) has seen an advance screening of Dark Knight and raves about it on his blog:

Without giving anything away, this is an epic film (and trust me: based on the sheer size and scope of the visuals and storytelling, that's not an overstatement). It's the "Godfather II" of comic book films and three times more earnest than "Batman Begins" (and fuck, was that an earnest film). Easily the most adult comic book film ever made. Heath Ledger didn't so much give a performance as he disappeared completely into the role; I know I'm not the first to suggest this, but he'll likely get at least an Oscar nod (if not the win) for Best Supporting Actor. Fucking flick's nearly three hours long and only leaves you wanting more (in a great way). I can't imagine anyone being disappointed by it. Nolan and crew have created something close to a masterpiece.