Singing Frenchmen and Buff Vampires

Somewhere, in the craziness that was midterms, finals and party planning, I never got around to talking about two rather stunning visual art forms I encountered. So, as a bit of post-holiday catch-up, here it goes:

http://upload.wikimedia.org

Les Miserable: I saw this at the Orpheum with [Львица], [The Question], and [save the panzer]. I'd been fortunate enough to see it when I was fourteen at the Ordway back on one of it's previous tours and totally feel in love with it. It's my favorite show, now tied with La Cage. I'm a total sucker for the music; I absolutely love it (especially "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" - someone once mentioned it in connection to Torchwood on Tumblr and I can't get it out of my head. I was totally thinking of Jack singing it after he's lost half the team during the actual show... God, I am way to devoted to this show; it's usurped the plot of a Tony-award winning musical!) The show was good - Valjean was great, Javert was wonderful, and Marius, who too often can be kind of wimpy, was PERFECT. I've never really liked his character but that night I realized he's the one I sympathize with most - the one who wants to change the world but doesn't want to get swept up into radicalism to do so. Cosette was typically weak, Fantine was a disappointment, but Eponine was wonderful. And Enjolras looked like Roger Daltrey. So win. It wasn't quite as stunning as it had been the first time - maybe because I knew what was coming and because I liked the staging of it at the Ordway just a little better - but it was still an excellent show.

http://upload.wikimedia.org

Fright Night: I had wanted to see this movie over the summer because it had Colin Farrell in it, and Anton Yelchin, also known as "that funny guy from Charlie Bartlett." I'm usually not into remakes but, having never seen the original and DESPERATELY WANTING a movie in which vampires are actually SCARY, I really wanted to see it. I didn't get the chance but then this winter I realized, with my new-found Doctor Who obsession that David Tennant was in it. So my longing to see it tripled.

I know what you're thinking - revamp (hah, pun intended) of an 80s horror movie? Probably going to be lame with gratuitous gore. NOPE. NOT AT ALL. I am not a big horror movie fan. I don't like gore. And they generally have shitty plots. I haven't seen the original - and apparently all fans of it hated the remake. SO I have nothing to compare it to (well, I do, but not plot-wise). That being said...

THIS MOVIE ROCKED. SERIOUSLY. I LOVED IT. Maybe I'm desensitized, but I didn't think it was that gory (have you seen CSI lately? Jesus, last time I saw it, it was WAY grosser than it was when I was thirteen). I liked the characters. I liked that it was humorous. And I liked the fact that Colin Farrell was hot and FUCKING SCARY. But not so scary that I felt like I would never sleep again.

http://moviesmedia.ign.com

Also, David Tennant was an epic win. I'm probably just saying that because of the leather pants. But seriously, I thought he was great.

WINNING

Fright Night has really become my favorite horror movie. Seriously. I'm not really a good person to judge on that, I suppose, since horror movies aren't really my favorite sort of film (too many years of watching bad Sci-Fi channel creations and having enough nightmares without watching horror movies, thank you very much).  But I really like the balance of humor with the horror elements. And I like that it used a teenager plot line without being totally campy or stereotypical about it.

So, yeah, if you want a something that's not super scary, not Twilight and mind-fuckingly gory, I recommend this. Also, you know, the Doctor Who connection doesn't hurt.

Sorry, had to use this damn gif. Blame Tumblr. Actually, what the hell am I apologizing for? I'm not sorry at all ;)