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I was excited about this when it was in development, right up until the moment Kristen Stewart was attached. The fact that she doesn’t speak in the trailer isn’t a good sign for her performance.

Watch the trailer HERE.

One list I post every year is the books I read. Rather than copy and paste, it makes more sense to refer everyone to the place where I keep track: GoodReads.

My goal starting this year was to read 50 books for the first time ever. After making significant progress, I upped that goal to 70. You can see all of them, as the list grows, right HERE.

I’ve had this idea bouncing around in my head for a few months. I like all the various themed posts I do here at RtM, and while some have fallen into disrepair and need to be revived, I wanted to add a new one called ‘My Favorite…’ Basically, I’ll write about my favorite something or other. Examples: My favorite song about stalking. My favorite song about universalism. My favorite movie where the ghosts are the good guys… etc. Maybe sometimes the lists will be a five things combo instead, like, my five favorite songs about gorillas who don’t like bananas.

The first one, since the time one misses the Hudson Valley most is definitely in the autumn, is my favorite song about the area I come from.

There are lots of songs about NYC, but very few about the dozens of smaller cities and bedroom communities in the first city’s shadow.

“Poughkeepsie”, by Over The Rhine, is a notably beautiful exception. It could also be in the running for my favorite song about suicide, but that list is too long because people have written some beautiful songs about suicide, which is sad. At least in this song she never kills herself, but finds hope looking out over the beauty of the Hudson River. Oops, spoilers!

Poughkeepsie – Over the Rhine — You can buy the song HERE.

As a bonus, you should listen to this lovely José James cover of Autumn in New York. Sure, it’s about NYC, but still…

Autumn in New York – José James & Jef Neve

Lately, I’ve only been posting videos. Lame!

On that note, here are some more.

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Wanderlust

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We Bought A Zoo

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21 Jump Street

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ParaNorman

Watch HERE.

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Sorry for being late getting this up. I’ve got 99 problems; not being able to sit down at the computer is one of them.

A few trailers to catch up with. Some are probably already up on tv. You should watch ALL of them, sucka.

1. Chronicle

Courtesy of Mr. Josué Blanco. Also, SEATTLE!

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2. Dr. Suess’ The Lorax

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3. The Secret World of Arrietty

Miyazaki, that’s all I need to know.

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4. Tyrannosaur

I assume it’ll take a long time for me to muster the fortitude to watch this one.

As was sort of promised yesterday, here are three more things.

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1. Izze

I love Izze so much. How is this stuff only a mix of juice and soda water?!? It’s so delicious. Better than soda. I bet it’s like the frozen yogurt episode of Seinfeld, and soon we’ll find out Izze is full of all sorts of delicious and unhealthy things. Like sugar. And bacon.

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2. Helvetica

A documentary about type faces, specifically through the lens of Helvetica, the most famous and used font in the world.

It made me want to watch more movies about fonts. A few of the folks in there only got to talk a few times and they deserve their very own documentaries.

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3. A Tribe Called Quest

Been listening to a lot of Tribe lately, which I guess is always the case. So, I’ve been listening to even more tribe than usual lately. They’re still the greatest, and Midnight Marauders and The Low End Theory are still my favorite Hip Hop albums of all time.

Only three things today, but probably more tomorrow.

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1. Batman: Arkham City

The game I was most excited for of any game ever. I’m really glad it’s such a vast world’s to explore, because I’ve beaten the main part of the game. I’m glad I still have trophies to find and side missions to beat. More Batman/Catwoman fun is on its way.

Also, playing the game as Catwoman is really fun. She’s so fast. It’s a different experience in combat with her. Although, I’m still trying to master her pouncing mechanics for swinging about the city. I can’t wait to play as Nightwing and Robin when that DLC comes out. Just look at the concept art.

You should buy this game.

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2. Tom Waits – Bad As Me

It’s been far too long since Mr. Waits released a new, original studio album. This is worth the wait (no pun intended). So amazing listening to Tom doing what he does. I’m in love with this man.

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3. Neil Gaiman – Stardust

Most fascinating to me in this read was how much was added to the movie that wasn’t in the book. I’ll watch the movie again over the next few days to see just how different the two really were.

Things haven’t actually been all that sparse here on Roused over the last few weeks. I’ve gotten content up at least intermittently this month. Still, today marks my return to writing in earnest, so here are five more random things I’ve been enjoying of late.

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1. Hanna

Just watched it for the second time, Emily’s first. I absolutely love this movie. The way its framed around Grimm’s Fairy Tales; a kick-ass heroine who isn’t masculinized, isn’t sexualized, and never loses her humanity in the midst of the struggle for survival; amazingly beautiful cinematography, editing, and great relationship between the visuals and the music, especially during action scenes.

Amazing performances as well, especially by the young Saoirse Ronan, who continues to amaze film after film.

Love. Love. Love.

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2. Ides of March

People seem to be split on this movie. Sure, Rotten Tomatoes has it at 83%, which is nothing to scoff at, but when people don’t like it they seem to really hate it. I really enjoyed it, though.

I think a huge part of what drew me in was the power of Gosling’s performance. I really didn’t care much for him in the past. He had to go through a bit of a Leo DiCaprio style shift in how I felt about him. It started last year when I saw Half Nelson for the first time, and after Drive and Ides of March I am now wholly won over.

I think the Cloonster did a really great job in every facet of this film. There were always several layers going on at every moment, lots of implications that are never fleshed out, but are enjoyably playing below the surface for anyone paying enough attention. Every scene is filled with the characters off-screen, which isn’t an easy thing to do well, especially not with the subtlety of Ides of March.

It also seems important that the political darkness he is taking a look at happens in the world of his own political views. If the guys in this movie were all Republicans, it would have just felt like a cheap shot.

It’s a film of tremendous real-world darkness, which raised many questions, and the story is told with a skill that had Emily and me in conversation well after the film.

My feeling when I left the theater was, if a just world, this film locks up noms for Best Actor (The Gos), Best Supporting Actor, maybe twice (PSH and Giamatti), with some potential for Clooney as Director.

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3. Summoner Wars

An awesome expandable nerd game that I love. I’m not very good at it, but I love it just the same. A bunch of fun ‘factions’ or armies to play as, lots of different styles of play to experiment with. Good times. Emily even likes it, which makes for lots of fun times.

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4. John C Reilly as ‘Dean Ziegler’ in Cedar Rapids

The movie was decent. Uneven, but funny enough at times to be worth my 90 minutes. But, I loved John C. Reilly. If I was laughing out loud, it was almost certain to be Ziegler I was laughing at.

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5. Starting the lists of 2011.

Yay! My favorite part of every year is making the lists of my favorite music, movie moments and characters, tv shows, video games, etc. Brian is back for a second straight year of collaborating on the music lists. We are getting started early to hopefully miss fewer great albums this year.

Woooooooo!

Some movies I’ve been loving lately, during the last few crazy weeks. I can’t wait to get back into movie watching more regularly again.

1. The Lion King (on Blu-Ray)

Still awesome, after all these years. Among other things, a smorgasbord of metaphors for understanding our own identity development, how we run from our callings, how fear holds us back from being what we can be, etc.

I really wish I had my own Rafiki.

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2. Jane Eyre

I’ve never read the book. It’s just another classic on the long list of books I own but still need to read. So very many books, and so little time. It’s sad.

This means I had no idea what to expect when watching the film. I was actually on the edge of my proverbial seat watching this love story unfold. Great performances, stunningly beautiful cinematography, and solid direction make a splendid film.

Also, I love Michael Fassbender so much!

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3. To Catch a Thief

Oh, Alfred. My sweet, sweet Alfred. You created so many wonderful films in your life. To Catch a Thief  was like a balm to my story starved soul. After circumstance limited me to only three movies in September, this film made things better. Some of the sexiest chemistry ever, and yet all with silly innuendo and firework metaphors instead of the blatant sexuality we have all grown so accustomed to.

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4. Plan 9 From Outer Space [Invasion/Visitation Movies #7]

The consensus worst movie of all time. It  really was awesomely bad. You should watch this, and then watch Ed Wood to see the story behind the man behind the movie.

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5. Kung Fu Hustle

Stephen Chow is amazing. He’s the type of star that only exists in a few forms for each generation. There are those folks who write, choreograph, act, etc. etc. etc. In many ways, this movie is Stephen Chow as today’s Gene Kelly. The martial arts and dancing of Kung Fu Hustle tells a large part of the story. We learn who characters are, we see martial arts that are hilarious as well as those that are exciting. It’s certainly nothing in the jaw-dropping ‘how’d he just do that’ variety. However, that’s mostly because Chow’s sense of humor takes things so far over the top that most fight scenes are filled to the brim with CGI assistance.

When I say that Chow’s sense of humor takes things over the top, I really mean it. This movie is part homage to movies, part martial arts dance party, part Bugs Bunny cartoon, with a little bit of Buddhism thrown in for good measure. I loved it. It was pure good time movie watching.