Depp-a-thon

First of all, I was given another bunch of roses yesterday. I have two vases of fragrant roses within smelling distance of my computer chair. Ah, this is the life.

~~~~

Secondly, turning 26 is kinda boring and sucky in terms of people doing anything special. BUT! In terms of gifts - I received 10 DVDs!
~ Robert Rodriguez's El Mariachi trilogy (El Mariachi, Desperado, Once Upon a Time in Mexico)
~ From Hell
~ Dead Man
~ Benny and Joon
~ Japanese Story
~ Blow
~ Donnie Brasco
~ Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Yes, you read correctly - that's 7 Johnny Depp films. Methinks my darling husband and mum have noticed my Johnny fangirl tendencies. (Speaking of which - Sondheim himself has said that Johnny's work in the currently-filming Sweeney Todd is "the performance of a lifetime" ! I am so squeeingly fangirlingly excited!)

And the others are - well, Robert Rodriguez, who is the coolest director. If only I could get El Mariachi to play without the commentary! (as much as I LOVE Rodriguez's commentaries, I would like to watch the actual film properly first! Bothersome DVD!)
And Japanese Story is a beautiful Australian film with Toni Collette and a Japanese gentleman whose name escapes me... hold on, Gotaro Tsunashima... beautiful Australian-outback story.

~~~~

Oh and aforementioned darling husband also gave me "Adventures in the Screen Trade", a book by William Goldman about Hollywood/moviemaking/film industry. I'm told it's a great read, although I'm not sure how out of date it may be now.
And "Dirt Music" by Tim Winton; I have no idea what it's about but everyone raves about it, so it must be at least a bit good.

~~~~

So, in the last few days I've watched....

Dead Man - a beautiful film about life and death and goodness knows what else. This was only the 2nd time I've watched it and I haven't yet decided what I think it's about, but I have decided that it's a compelling piece of art. Johnny's performance is what he does best - all eyes and hands and gestures and just *being there*.

From Hell - I just can't get out of my head that this film has Bilbo Baggins in it. During the character's first few scenes I was thinking "Ah, who is that?", then it clicked that it was Ian Holm, who played Bilbo, which made the rest of his scenes rather amusing in my funny little head. Anyway, it's a good film. Not amazingly brilliant, but quite a few nice moments. Directing felt a bit shoddy, but I don't know very much about directing so I can't really comment. This was based on a graphic novel which I thought was really interesting - a lot of the characters are certainly quite comic-book-ish.

Benny & Joon - Oh my lord! Wonderful film! Johnny is totally brilliant in this, I can just tell it's going to become one of my watch-a-million-times films. His Buster Keaton/Charlie Chaplin-esque moments are beautifully, heartbreakingly hilarious. Depp and Mary Stuart Masterton work together in such a gorgeous, natural way that the falling-in-love of their two characters is effortless and amazing to watch. LOVE it - can you tell? (And why has nobody ever made me watch it before???)

~~~~

Ok, enough raving for tonight. :-)