Dreaming with the wind

I went to see The King's Speech today, and I have to say: All this praise for Colin Firth? Totally deserved. If that performance is not worth an Oscar, I don't know what is.
( no spoilers to speak of )

And to round things off, a little anecdote from my visit to the movie theatre:

( The facepalm is strong in this one )

I finally watched "Shutter Island" last night. What is it with Leonardo DiCaprio and really good movies lately? Could he please stop that because I don't particularly like his acting which always makes me think: Gosh, that movie is great but why can't we have someone else for the lead role? I'm not saying that he is a bad actor, not at all, I just don't like his acting style.
Anyway, there was a detail in the movie that caught my attention and is still puzzling me because it doesn't fit.
( MAJOR spoiler for the movie )

I watched The Royal Shakespeare Company's verion of Hamlet yesterday. Yes, the one with David Tennant. Well, I started watching it yesterday but had to stop after about 2 hours because I was so tired and didn't want to miss a single scene. So I finished it today.

I am usually not a big fan of theatre on tv. I like going to the theatre once in while but on tv I prefer a more... realistic version, if you know what I mean. Nevertheless, I was really looking forward to seeing this version of Hamlet. I didn't manage to see it live on stage but I read so many positive reviews so I was really happy when I heard that they would bring all the actors back together and perform it again for a DVD release.

The film version is not exactly like the theatre version. You don't have two or three cameras pointed at a stage but proper sets even though they are still very spartanic and therefore carry this theatre feel. And you have some "effects" that you could not produce when just filming a performance on stage. So you get a slightly different version from their actual theatre performance but I believe that its still very close.

Well, not that we got those technical details out of the way, what can I say? The reviews didn't exagerate in the least. It is simply amazing. Every single actor in this play delivers such a flawless performance. But since, of course, I watched it mainly for David Tennant, I am going to concentrate on his Hamlet. He is the main character after all.

( You all know the story, so no spoiler unless you are someone who counts things like The Titanic sinks, Troy falls, Anne Boleyn loses her head )

I've always been a big fan of M. Night Shyamalan's movies. So when "The Happening" came to our cinemas I was very excited even though the critics pretty much tore the movie apart. But they did that with "Lady in the Water" and, to a certain extend, with "The Village"and I love them both. Unfortunately our local cinema stopped showing "The Happening" very suddenly so I never got the chance to see it. Until yesterday when I bought the DVD.
What can I say? I loved it!

( spoiler for The Happening )

As I told darciana in a comment today I don't have to own every single movie or tv show my favourite actors has ever made. But I tend to keep my eyes open and buy DVDs of their movies when I come across them. Even when I'm 90% sure they're bad.

And since I needed blank DVDs I also came home with "Cursed" (Milo Ventimiglia) and "Soul Survivours" (Eliza Dushku) today. What is it with my favourite actors always accepting roles in horror movies?

I've just watched Cursed.
Note for dimturien: In case you didn't know, Michael Rosenbaum is in that movie as well.

( spoiler )

I went to see "Becoming Jane" yesterday. ( short review )

On a somewhat related topic: As much as I love my US shows I feel they're taking over too much. So I'm currently looking for shows from my beloved isle(s).
Anything you can recommend?
I'm open to pretty much anything though I don't usually like crime shows and I'm not a big fan of pure comedy.
I'm mainly looking for tv shows but I'm interested in mini series and movies as well.
The only criteria they have to meet is being English or Irish.

A website about British and/or Irish shows would be helpful as well. Something in the like of serienjunkies.de or tv.com

And last but not least in squeeworthy news: I got my confirmation letter for Asylum 2008 today. Wheeeeee! *g*