Barring the Date

It's official. The weekend of Dec. 10-12 is fully booked for me. Don't text, call, email, or Facebook me, unless it's to discuss the occupations of said weekend.

Coming out all on the same date (Dec. 10); three favorite hotties - namely Johnny Depp in The Tourist, Skandar Keynes (aka Edmund) in the third installment of the Narnia series, and the David O. Russell smackdown, featuring my ex-beloved Christian Bale.

I seriously hope Depp has his mojo back on for the Tourist. Any variation of his Agent Sands character from Once Upon a Time in Mexico will do. The Youtube bastards took the "Shoot the Cook" sequence from the movie down, so I can't post any clip as proof of his undiluted brilliance in that movie. As for Angelina Jolie, who is unfortunately costarring in the drama, I could seriously care less. She's in the same league of acting as Leonardo Dicaprio - whatever spark or force of persona that propelled them to fame have long been sucked dry by some rancid combination of complacency and slowly-revealed mediocrity. Nowadays, when I watch either of them act, I don't see a character, only a succession of gestures; some dramatic eyebrow chewing, loud meltdowns, furrowed intensity. He really enjoys grimacing and she really enjoys smirking over her shoulder. A bit more hollering inserted if they're really gunning for that Oscar nom.

As for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, I profess to having a thing for Skandar Keynes, who plays Edmund. He was so excellent and stealthy in the second movie. Fun trivia: Skandar's a descendant of Charles Darwin and four million other famous people.

I have mixed feelings about The Fighter - word out is that everyone involved in the movie is on their A-game, but Bale has again lost a drastic amount of weight for the role - I saw a few pictures and he looked ghastly, frankly. I can't stand it. It impressed me a lot when I was a fledging fan - "he's so dedicated!" but weight fluctuation is just an acting gimmick. I think Daniel Day Lewis had an excellent quote, where he - the ultimate shapeshifter - said that hardcore preparation for a role, such as losing weight or gaining a beard, etc. etc., was only dressing on the salad - the character still stems from within. Ultimately, exterior changes are overrated. Plus, it just doesn't make sense to be losing weight if you're going to be playing a boxer, even if the real-life boxer was a lightweight. Plus, I'm sure that these weight regimes affects his brain cells, and we all know that the best actors are also the smartest.

I do hope there will be trailers out for The Wahlberg and The Depp soon, though.