Underworld Awakening and Columbiana: not a review

Underworld: Awakening was exactly what I wanted from a vampire film. While Kate Beckinsale's Selene proved rather more bloodthirsty than in previous installments and the magic child thing was a little weird, it was an incredible amount of fun, with a dark and gloomy air.

Columbiana was less fun, but Zoe Saldana more than proved her acting chops. The colour palette was a touch on the orange side, and once again (see also Haywire) we have an uber-competent killer woman playing against an all-male cast. But otherwise, a pretty excellent film.

I have been amusing myself lately by mentally reverse-casting The Three Musketeers. So far I have decided upon:

D'Artagnan: Zoe Saldana
Aramis: Jennifer Lawrence
Porthos: Zoie Palmer
Athos: Lucy Lawless
Richlieu: Maggie Smith
M. de Tréville: Lucy Liu la_marquise_de_ has pointed out Michelle Yeoh would be better for the role. (And I can't really argue.)
Comte de Rochefort: Claudia Black
Buckingham: Maggie Q
Louis XIII: Gabby Sidibe
Anne of Austria: Tom Hiddleston
Milady di Winter: Idris Elba
Constance: Michael Ealy

What do you think?

Interesting links

sovay on The Avengers.

Brit Mandelo reviews The Moment of Change.

Halftime Between Two Lost Decades.

SF Signal Mind Meld on post-colonial SF.

jennygadget on suppressing women's writing.

karenhealey on the glamorous life of a writer.