Chloe's Got a Gun...

Hick (2011) / US / Out on DVD now / Directed by Derek Martini / Written by Andrea Portes (from her book of the same name) / Starring Chloe Moretz, Eddie Redmayne, Blake Lively, Juliette Lewis, Alec Baldwin, Rory Culkin / 94 minutes

You know those movies where they go all out on trying to portray how "real" people grow up in the "real" world? They try so hard, and in the end, they just end up becoming really, well, pretentious.

One such movie is Hick, starring Chloe Moretz, Eddie Redmayne and Blake Lively, which slipped under the radar when it was released earlier this year. The film follows 13 year old Luli (Moretz), who decides that life in her small, backwoodsish town isn't enough for her. She sets off for the bright lights of Las Vegas, even though she's only 13. All's well, though, because she's put a pistol in her bag and she hopes that the fact that she's wearing hardly anything will get her enough friends to get her to Las Vegas. First she meets Eddie (Redmayne), a drifting cowboy who agrees to give her a ride until she pisses him off, and she's back on her feet again. Then she comes across grifter Glenda (Lively), who gives her a ride on the condition that Luli becomes an accessory in Glenda's cons. Everything is pretty straight-forward up until then, but then Eddie comes back into the picture and things start getting a little strange...and incomprehensible.

Dark Shadows, or: How Eva Green and Co Went Crazy (Over Nothing)

Once upon a time, I used to be in love with Eva Green. Okay, maybe I pretended to be. You see, when I was 11 (jeez, it is hard to believe that I was once that young), I had a HUGE crush on Daniel Craig. And I hadn't even seen Casino Royale until I'd been 'in love' with him for at least three months. Anyway, through this mini obsession I also decided that I would be obsessed with Eva Green.

And how could you not be? She's insanely beautiful.

Admittedly, I haven't seen that many of her films. I haven't seen The Dreamers, even though I've promised myself all these years that I would. But I have been impressed with her work in Casino Royale, Perfect Sense and even The Golden Compass, to a degree. But then there's Dark Shadows.

Her performance in Dark Shadows is like this whole other beast. In fact, the entire movie is.

So she plays Angelique Bouchard, a witch who was jousted by Barnabas Collins (Johnny Depp) back in the 1700s and made him into a vampire to suffer forever. The guy wakes up in the 1970s, and then he finds out that Angelique is still around, causing all sorts of witchy havoc. Witchy havoc which includes, well...I'm not actually sure. She likes to burn stuff down, yell a lot, bulge her eyes at inappropriate moments. And there's the weirdest sex scene I never knew I needed to see. Now, I have watched four seasons of True Blood, so I am no stranger to the mysterious world of vampire sex. But wow...Eva Green really went for it in this one. I would say that Johnny Depp did too, but he didn't look bothered either way. There was flying around the room. There were weird shots. There was a red snake tongue. While I had my head buried in my hands, somehow Eva Green got even more crazy.

Okay, maybe I'm being harsh on Eva Green. I remember when that awful trailer came out and everyone was posting gifs on their Tumblrs to show their appreciation for the minute or so of footage they'd seen of Angelique Bouchard. I admit, Eva looked like she was doing good. But then you see the movie, and she's just too much. It is nice to see an actress going all out, but the problem is that there's not really enough development behind her character to justify how batshit crazy she is. She's just taking the jealous ex-lover to an extreme level. A level so extreme that it can't even be justified by the fact she's a witch.

However, Eva Green isn't the only one in Dark Shadows who is over the top. There's the case of Chloe Moretz. I'm neither here nor there on the girl. She's like, a year younger than me and has managed to be in movies with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jessica Chastain (fun fact: Jessica actually played Chloe's role in a made-for-TV version of Dark Shadows a few years back) and Mark Strong, so yeah, I'd say she's doing pretty well. Dark Shadows shows exactly why most people shy away from these child stars. Chloe plays Carolyn, the teen daughter who is, well, everything you stereotypers can list about your perception of teenagers. The problem is that Chloe is a teenager, which worries me about what she really thinks teenagers are like. I mean, I don't even know what to say about her performance - it is like she's on drugs (don't even get me started on the 'twist'...). Which I suppose they kinda all were back in the 1970s, but case in point, Dark Shadows is a big mess of good actors being given stereotypes and told to go wild. And the problem is, they do. They go absolutely insane on making everything so over-the-top that they lose sight of what actually makes for a good movie. And yet, this has to be one of the most tame films that I've seen from Tim Burton. Which is partly due to the fact that the film is not sure of what it wants to be.

It wants to be a family film. Sticks in a weird sex scene a la True Blood but double the weirdeness.

It wants to be a comedy. Makes it into a big family melodrama.

It wants to be a drama. Still tries to make jokes. That are usually not all that funny.

It wants to be a horror. The 'evil' person is way too insane to be scary.

It wants to be a Tim Burton movie. So it has Helena Bonham Carter in it for like, five minutes so it can be justified as that.

At the end of the day, it had a nice soundtrack. And Michelle Pfeiffer. Who is the only one who seems to keep herself on the ground.

What did you think of Dark Shadows? Did you love or loathe Eva Green? Was Chloe Moretz the perfect teenager?

Come and Dream with Me.

Film: Hugo
Year: 2011
Director: Martin Scorsese
Written by: John Logan
Starring: Asa Butterfield, Chloë Grace Moretz, Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Ray Winstone, Emily Mortimer, Christopher Lee, Helen McCrory, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jude Law.
Running time: 126 min.

Here it is. Martin Scorsese's first foray into the dreaded world of 3D, which also happens to be a kids movie. But is Hugo really a kids movie? No. Here is a movie that kids could probably watch, but by the several high-pitched murmurs I heard from the few kids at the viewing, I don't think that they were all that enthralled. Yet, between all of the recycled chases through the train station and a villain who is perhaps just there for the sake of  having a villain, we have Martin Scorsese's extremely personal love letter to cinema and all of its magic. It is a movie that could prove enjoyable to the adults, who choose to see through its many flaws and see a passionate look at film shine through. There is nostalgia everywhere, both in the way of going to the cinemas for the first time, or having a nice, family friendly adventure just like they used to make them - without talking animals. But for kids, if they're not enthralled, get them at the right age and they might take something very special away from it: going to the movies is a magical experience, and it always has been. However, that is a message that doesn't even get recognised until the second half of the movie.

DVD - Let Me In *mild spoilers*

or: That Let the Right One In remake.

One word to sum it up: Surprising.

Growing up is hard. You go to school, and suddenly you are surrounded by people who are all competing to be the best. There are those cliques who like to show that they're the best, and they're happy making everyone else miserable. They never spare one thought for their victims and they see bullying as something that will make them cooler. But what's life like on the other side? Let Me In's protagonist, Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee) shows exactly that. He would put on a mask and make these fellas beg for mercy, but of course, he's a little too scared. So instead, he suffers in silence, and when he's not at school he's living with his mother in an apartment block in New Mexico, hoping that he might have enough courage to stand up to his tormentors. One day, he comes across a new neighbour, Abby (Chloe Moretz), a young mysterious girl who seems to have a heater installed inside her, because she walks around in the snow with bare feet. Along with her comes an older man (Richard Jenkins), which leads Owen to wonder about what this young girl is. The pair strike up a friendship, and Abby becomes something similar to a mentor to Owen. All the while there have been a few unexplained murders going on around town and Owen discovers that his new friend - however good she might be for his confidence - isn't all she seems.

Now, you're probably expecting me to spend the rest of the review comparing this to Let the Right One In. I thought I would too. But I have very few things to say about that. First of all, you probably know that the original is my ninth favourite movie of all time. I absolutely love it to bits. So naturally, unless Let Me In burst out of my screen and made a pretty fireworks display outside of my house, I wasn't going to like it as much. In fact, I was adamant that I would hate it. I thought the Americans would, well, tarnish it with their American-ness. Alas, this did not happen. Everything was kept slow and restrained, as beautiful as ever. The only things that bugged me in the way of comparison is the fact that I'm so used to this film being in Swedish that I got pissed off that they were speaking in a language I could understand.

Let Me In does the inevitable, though: it improves on the original. This film starts in the middle of the story when Abby's 'father' is in hospital, and then centres the film around that scene. They also bring in a cop, played by the ever-brilliant Elias Koteas, which brings the story fluidity, even if it reduces the role of Virginia (Sasha Barrese) and her boyfriend, slightly. Let Me In also cleans the story up, as it doesn't have all of the strange subplots coming out of it. It just picks a point and it runs straight for it. I imagine, if I saw Let Me In before Let the Right One In, then I may actually find myself gravitating towards this version much more, but I don't imagine I would have been as taken by it as I was taken by the original. I still love my Let the Right One In to death, and nothing can take that away from me.

The vampire genre has become something of a phenomenon, ever since they started sparkling in the sun and going to school like old Edward Cullen. Now, those Twilight fans are looking for every blood-sucking fragment of air they can find. Unfortunately, they'll be disappointed by Let Me In, as it's as slow as anything. Well, sorry guys, but this is the way a vampire movie should be. Abby is evil trapped in an innocent facade, not a bloody wimp stuck in a wimpy facade. She's 12 years old, the ripe age when kids start learning more about themselves and start to become more wary of who they are because they are trying so hard to find their feet. Well imagine being stuck in that exterior for 400-odd years? Having to see people live the life that was given to them, while you stay paused in reality? Not only that, the only way of surviving is at the expense of others? Let Me In does a brilliant job of portraying that, really getting into the psychology of being a vampire. Which is why it isn't like all of the other vampire movies. It's just a movie about being different, and having to deal with it, in whatever way possible.

Matt Reeves is obviously being faithful to being a wonderful tale of friendship with a supernatural theme rather than being a movie supernatural movie with a bit of friendship. He keeps things as beautiful as they ever were, with long, lingering shots that prove that the film hasn't been made just to give gore and guts fans a good time. However, he definitely remembers the fact that this is still a horror, and there is a lot of blood. Abby, as cute as she seems, is terrifying when he goes into full vampire mode. Her eyes glowing while her face loses colour and has blood dripping from everywhere is enough to give me nightmares. One scene that works really well is the scene where Virginia catches on fire due to sunlight. One minute, she's sucking on her own blood (a sight which is haunting my dreams at the moment), the next, she's turned the whole room into a sea of flames. There are plenty of genuinely scary moments, just like this one, which are hard to shake after watching the movie.

Last, but not least, the performances are absolutely brilliant. Kodi Smit-McPhee continues to impress with his performance as creepy loner Owen. He just looks like the type of boy who would be bullied, and isn't the kind who could possibly stand up for himself. He does the fragile thing really well, and holds really nice chemistry with his co-star Chloe Moretz. With this film, Moretz confirms herself as not only a very capable young actress, but probably the most exciting we've seen in a long time. Her performance in this is absolutely amazing. I don't know how she played such a tortured soul so well at just her age, but I have to admit defeat to jealousy. Richard Jenkins, too, is great, even though he only has a small part. I personally think that his character is the most interesting, considering he is the one who has to commit most of the evil for Abby since she is too young to be anything but innocent, and Jenkins brings this emotional integrity to the role which is absolutely great. But considering 85% of this films success comes down to a pair of young actors, it does extremely well for itself, and makes for a wonderful adaption/remake.

THE VERDICT: Fans of the original need not worry: Let Me In doesn't tarnish that film in any way. It's scary, beautiful and haunting, which is exactly what a vampire movie needs to be.

What I hoped for:

What I got:

Reviews Round Up: Black Death, The Switch, Cyrus, The Poker House (post #500!)

Can you believe it? I'm at post number 500 already. I believe 100 posts ago it was Christmas Day. Anyhoo, here are some quick paragraph long reviews on what I have seen in the past week:

Black Death

Yeah, while America has just got this in limited release at the theatres, we in NZ have had this on DVD since November. It was sitting in the preview drawer so I decided to give it a spin, and surprisingly, I liked it. The film is pretty much set in the times when the bubonic plague was just starting, and through word of mouth it is revealed that there is a village with a woman who has the power to bring people back to life. A group of men decide to search for this village, but when they come to it, there's something more sinister about the place. This movie was pretty gruesome (I mean, one guy in the film literally gets ripped in half), and it sure held a few surprises. It wasn't at all perfect, but it was surprisingly interesting in many places. It was also extremely religious and more gothic horror than I expected. Maybe I should stop doubting the quality of films in that preview drawer.

What I expected:

What I got:

The Switch

One of the most popular kind of movie out there at the moment is the good old Jennifer Aniston comedy. Just after that another popular movie type is one about artificial insemination. Jennifer Aniston+Artificial insemination=POPULARITY! Not even. I thought that having Jason Bateman in this movie would make this LOL-worthy but lordy, I don't think I even laughed. This movie was so bland and too over dramatic. I still think Jason Bateman has credibility, though. As for the Aniston...well, this movie was better than such outings as The Bounty Hunter and Love Happens. Just one more thing: what were Patrick Wilson and Juliette Lewis doing in such a film? This movie had such a killer cast, and I must admit, Lewis was pretty funny (just not laughable funny) and definitely made a stand out. The end really pissed me off. Like, I could have pretty much guessed that from the very beginning.

What I hoped for:

What I got:

Cyrus

I kinda didn't feel Cyrus. I quite liked the movie, but it felt really slight. Like it felt as if I was going to forget it straight after the credits rolled. I don't like that feeling. However, I do remember it for the slightly strange relationship between mother and son Jonah Hill and Marisa Tomei. Jeez, that was beautifully played out by those two actors. John C. Reilly was brilliant and as confused as I was about these two, and I genuinely liked the way the characters interacted with each other. But several times during the movie I felt like switching it off and going to sleep (funny thing was, I finished watching this at 10.30pm-ish, and didn't end up getting to sleep until 12.30am). That's not saying it was a bad movie. It was just that the movie wasn't as witty or as electric as I had hoped it would be. The performances really got me through.

What I hoped for:

What I got:

The Poker House

Heard of The Poker House? I'm impressed. Haven't? Well, it stars Jennifer Lawrence, who recently got Oscar nominated for her performance in Winter's Bone, Selma Blair as her junkie mother and Chloe Moretz, who, of course, was Hit-Girl in Kick-Ass and is a part of the young taking over Hollywood. Basically, this was a precursor to Moretz and Lawrence's rise to stardom in 2010. Lawrence, particularly, was amazing. Here she plays a 14 year old who is living in a world of sex, drugs and near poverty, feeling like she ain't good enough for anything. Her performance is so heart breaking that it literally lifts the movie from the same old same old mould it has come from. It is based on the life experiences of actress Lori Petty, who wrote and directed the film quite well. I was surprised by this movie, as I thought it would just be an average thriller that came straight out of the preview drawer. Again, I should expect more from these movies. This one was brilliant.

What I hoped for:

What I got:

Things I love about Kick-Ass...

Damon: Have you thought a little more about what you might like for your birthday?
Mindy: Can I get a puppy?
Damon: You want a dog?
Mindy: Yeah, a cuddly fluffy one! And a Bratz movie star makeover Sasha.
Damon: *amazed, confused look*
Mindy: I'm just fucking with you Daddy. Look, I'd love a Benchmade model 42 butterfly knife.
Damon: Oh child...you always knock me for a loop!
^if this scene doesn't make you fall in love with the movie, then I'm not sure what does.

I know quite a bit about Kick-Ass. Why? Because I have watched four times in the past week (well, I practically watched in once a day for four days). Trust me, even though most of the people I know hate this movie (no idea why), I find it insanely addictive. Must be time to roll out one of the Cinematic Paradox favourites: 'Things I love about...' (it's become a regular feature, in case you hadn't realized).


Realistic superheroes...so to speak.


Okay, so maybe Hit-Girl isn't exactly 'realistic'. I mean, the girl is about eleven years old, and can kick serious ass. I know she didn't go to school or anything, but if I ever met a girl who could do half of what she does in this movie, then I would be...shocked. Utterly shocked. On the subject of Hit-Girl, I still don't get why people get so angry about the fact that Chloe Grace Moretz spends most of this movie using *oh my goodness* profane language. Swear words are just another part of the English language, love them or hate them, and it's not like any little kids would be watching this movie. If they were, I would seriously have to question the mental state of their parents. And anyway, Hit-Girl mutilated at least ten people in this movie...isn't that worse than swearing??


Dave Lizewski, played by my latest guy crush Aaron Johnson, is a very believable super hero. He starts all the madness, only with a pre-concieved idea from his childhood and a dream that he may be able to fight crime. Sure, he has the advantage of being made out metal and having 'fucked up nerve endings', but he can't really 'kick ass' like all the other superheroes. Aaron Johnson does a great job of playing a loveable nerd, not unlike Jesse Eisenberg, and clearly needs some more roles. The guy is a hero.


As for the other two, Big Daddy and Red Mist, well, the former is definitely trained but not the sort of hero one would expect, and the latter isn't a hero at all. I think I may have liked Nic Cage in this movie, but the way he spoke when he was being Big Daddy sure did piss me off. Christopher Mintz-Plasse was equally great as the kind of misunderstood child. Look at it this way: Chris D'Amico is like Harvey Dent. Harvey lost Rachel, he went nutso. Chris lost his dad, and he looked well on the way to becoming a nut job. "You either die a hero, or live long enough too see yourself become a villain" definitely applies to Chris D'Amico.



Mark Strong


Mark Strong gets his own little section because I really respect this guy. He is in what seems like every single movie that comes out, yet still hasn't gained the accolades he deserves. His performance as the evil guy Frank D'Amico is a far cry from his previous days in films like Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. He just oozes with this tough guy exterior and totally has fun with the archetypal villain character. Who didn't wanna kill him? And the line he has: "Mummy, I wanna Kick-Ass party. Dumb little fucks." stays in my mind for some reason. Maybe because I wouldn't mind a Kick-Ass party.

Superhero spoof movie...is it?


I'm not talking those stupid spoof movies like Vampires Suck and that kind of crap. This movie very quietly takes the piss out of other superhero movies, or it has taken something from one and used it. Like, I'm pretty sure in one scene, you can here a piece of music that was used in The Dark Knight. The movie is all about being a superhero without superpowers or money, just a bit of naivety, and therefore it takes the superhero genre and turns it on it's side. Which I thought was pretty clever. And I got it all because I am a self confessed superhero movie geek...which I'm told is strange for a 15 year old girl.

The soundtrack...
...is totally rocking my world at the moment. So I'll just share some tunes from the movie which I really like.

This track, incidentally, was also on the soundtrack of 28 Days Later...which I am yet to review. There's another track in the movie, which is also composed by John Murphy, which was used in Sunshine, another movie directed by Danny Boyle.

Lastly, Matthew Vaughn's direction
He started with Layer Cake, which was a pretty standard British gangster flick which wasn't too memorable. Then he directed some schmaltzy fantasy flick Stardust, which wasn't really that great. I can hardly believe that Kick-Ass is by the same person. He's really studied what other action directors have done, and has added his own thing into there. I mean, watching this, I could definitely see similarities in his work to works of Quentin Tarantino and Christopher Nolan. He knows how to set up an action sequence, slow mo in all the right places, capture emotions and keeps a good comic book feel to it. Matthew Vaughn is clearly at home making action and comic book movies. Let's see more of these as opposed to fantasy slice-and-dice (ahem, Stardust).

^ Beautifully set up scene, probably made all the better because of the music.

Five things I love about Kick-Ass. I am going to try not to watch it again for a week...which I can tell will be pretty hard. Can't wait for Kick-Ass 2: Balls to the Wall in 2012!

Let the Right One In remake gets a trailer, and what a fail it is.

Remember that blog post I did a while back about the Let the Right One In remake? Well, there's now a trailer for the upcoming Let Me In...and now I have more evidence to suggest why it wasn't a good idea to remake such a great film.


List of things that are wrong:

• Remake. FAIL.
• Chloe Moretz. Talented but not Lina Leandersson. FAIL.
• Kodi Smit-McPhee. Um, I don't know what to say about that one. SEMI-FAIL
• The music. WTF?! FAIL.
• It's American. MAJOR FAIL.
• The hoodie is present. I know it's cold, but actors get paid to act, right? Lina Leandersson didn't need a hoodie. Despite that, the hoodie is a great addition to any wardrobe. ACHIEVED.
• That blouse Chloe Moretz is seen wearing. FAAAAAAAAAIL.
• "I need blood to live." Uh yeah, you're a vampire. We've seen that all before in Twilight. FAIL.
• Stalking the she-vamp. The she-vamp who looks pretty much like an average girl I'd see in this town. FAIL.
• "Among ordinary people." Well done. Vampires do live around ordinary people these days. See: True Blood, Twilight, The Vampire Diaries...ACHIEVED (based on the fact that they established vampires live among ordinary people).
• That scene where the blood comes out of her head. Eli made it freaky, Abby makes it a freak show.
• That floating white sheet. What is it? MERIT (I want to know what it is)
• Morse code. Swedish people make it look better...and that was just weird. FAIL.
• Looking forward to it factor? ACHIEVED (for comparison reasons only)

Okay, okay, I'm biased because I absolutely love the original and I hate it when Americans steal other stuff. But hey, this is one they shouldn't have touched because the film really only works in Sweden--it captures the beauty of it.

This is one film I'll be waiting for when it comes out on DVD...until then I can make do with Let the Right One In.

Trailer grade: FAIL.

America: 'Hey Sweden, why don't we just remake your great films?'

Americans need to get their own ideas.
So yeah, remaking The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is understandable, because:
1. It is a critically acclaimed book series, which anyone-whose-anyone has read. So, if these people are a bit tired after reading those massive books, then they probably don't want to read the subtitles to a movie, which probably isn't as good as the book in the first place.
2.David Fincher's directing it. At least he's a director who knows what he is doing, not some guy who last directed a comedy which was 'Rotten'. If David Fincher is directing it, you know you have a winner.

But America has got their paws on Let the Right One In . Which is possibly the greatest vampire movie of all-time. And also one of the creepiest. This movie does not deserve to be given the American treatment. Because the Americans will literally take the idea, dumb it down to the lowest common denominator, and the magic left in it will be ruined by their idea of popular culture. Now, I don't mean to hate on the person that is the director of this- Matt Reeves , director of Cloverfield-because I'm sure he means well. But he just isn't David Fincher.

Let the Right One In has been changed to Let Me In, and the lead characters names have been changed from Oskar and Eli to... Owen and Abby.

Seriously?

Chloe Moretz will be playing Abby, and so far she has been proving to be one of the greatest young smart-ass actresses ever. Not that I hold that against her. She was terrific in (500) Days of Summer and has been getting quite good reviews for Kick-Ass. But can she handle the role of the she-vampire with the right intensity just as Lina Leandersson did? Well, she's been given a hoodie, so I guess that's starting a new punk look for the vampire...or maybe she found it too cold to be parading around the snow in a white blouse.

Chloe Moretz, complete with hoodie, as she-vamp Abby. Not quite the Eli we remember, but you know, I'd imagine that this 400 year old girl is quite down with the yong ones. Which is why she's in the hoodie, and making faces with her breath on the window, you see.

Lina Leandersson, playing the original 400 year old she-vamp Eli. No hoodie, just white blouse with a bit of blood coming out of her. You gotta love her for that.

Kodi Smit-McPhee will be playing Owen, who is a bullied young boy who befriends the she-vamp (haha, I like that way of putting it). Smit-McPhee is a young Australian actor who got his big break opposite Eric Bana in Australian flick Romulus, My Father. But you've probably seen him in the apocalyptic film 2012, just kidding, The Road. Not bad for a little Australian guy, starring in a film like this, which will get all of it's publicity from the controversy surrounding it.

Abby and Owen puzzle over a Rubik's cube-and possibly why they chose to remake this film-out in the cold courtyard. Look like a fine coupling to me. A little like a younger version of Bella and Edward. So if K-Stew and R-Pattz quit Breaking Dawn due to pay disputes, you know where to find Chloe and Kodi!

The director of the original, Tomas Alfredson, is understandbly not to happy with the Americanization of his film. That's because his film is a masterpiece, and he know's it. Everyone knows it. You just can't beat the originals, even if they are made in some funny language and require you to read for one and a half hours of your life.

Will I be going to see Let Me In? Probably not in cinemas. I understand it is going to be given a wide release, which is unfortunate because Let the Right One In was given a really small one. But I will see Let Me In one day. What I imagine it to be is full of gore and blood--just plain sillyness you get from average run-of-the-mill horrors these days. There will be an uber-awesome soundtrack, filled with rap music and possibly Justin Bieber (to, you know, keep up with the cool crowd), instead of the lovely harmonious pieces of music which can make even the hardest heart go soft. And Abby will become the next style icon--she will do for the she-vamp what Carrie Bradshaw did for the maxi-dress. Trust me, after you have seen Let Me In, you'll want to be seen in a hoodie (as pictured to the right, the simple black hoodie can make you look so much cooler).

So anyway, I did mention The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo at the beginning of this post. I'd love to see Carey Mulligan playing Lisbeth Salander. Ten dollars says that they will change her name. It'll be interesting to see sweet Jenny playing a pierced computer hacker. And she'll still be going for the older men. Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Johnny Depp are all rumoured to be playing Mikael Blomkvist. This could be alternatively called An Education 2: Jenny Moves On? Because, you know, Americans like changing names of other peoples stuff so it seems like their idea.

Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander in the Swedish version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. There's a really fun-loving, Care Bears watching, pink princess under all of that tough guy act, somewhere.

Ah, there's our Carey Mulligan playing Jenny in An Education. The Americans will water the role of Lisbeth down a little, because we would hate for Jenny's repuatation and look to be diminished! (oh right, she was having an affair with an older man...)

Just in case you were wondering:
Let Me In will be released in America in October 2010.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is slated for release in 2012. But the next two parts in the trilogy (all Swedish) will be coming later this year. However, critically speaking, the sequels haven't been doing well.