Questions ago-go: Torrey answers

First of all, I apologize for the length of this but I got in a groove and I just went with it.

1. Which fictional world do you wish you could live in?
This answer is probably going to surprise most people who know me, particularly Cookie, but I’m going to say the world of Harry Potter. The main reason this is my choice is that I would love to live in a world with all of today’s modern technology existing along with magic. My initial instincts went toward Lord of the Rings, but who am I kidding…they didn’t even have electricity and I’m a gadget whore. Plus I’m a lover not a fighter. I like the possibilities magic opens up and I think the world would be far more interesting if it actually existed.

2. Why is Walmart evil?
Wal-mart is evil because it forces small establishments out of business due to the fact that they can’t compete with their enormous corporate-powered girth. It also spreads across the country like locusts, leaving a wake of destruction and heartache behind it. I think I read once that Wal-mart’s ultimate goal is for someone to be within 20 minutes of a Wal-mart store no matter where they are in the country. In Lincoln, where I grew up, Wal-mart moving to town lead to the closing of a half dozen privately-owned businesses on main street alone- one of them being Images Bookstore where I purchased all my reading material, from Michael Crichton to MAD Magazine, since I was knee-high to a comic book. Hannah, if you should stumble across Cookie’s blog, you were the greatest bookstore clerk a boy could ask for. Thanks for all those Terry Brooks special orders.

3. Favorite childhood toy.
I’m gonna go with Legos on this one- simply because they spawned so much creativity. I had a lot of Transformers, Masters of the Universe figures and Ninja Turtles, but your imagination can only go so far with those. Legos offered a lot more flexibility. In fact, I would incorporate Legos into my action figure adventures. The sinister Shredder would kidnap April O’Neal, placing her in a make-shift Lego prison that the Turtles would have to break her out of. Plus any Lego invention was instantly made cooler with the addition of snap-on wheels. When talking to parents, I’m pleased to hear that Legos are still popular among the kids today.

4. Name five movies you are looking forward to coming out this year and why.
This looks to be a pretty solid year for movies, so I’m going to double Cookie’s quota and list off 10 movies I’m looking forward to this year.

-Batman Begins
I’ve already said this to some of my friends- Chris Nolan could make this entire movie with hand puppets and it would still be better than Batman & Robin. Joel Schumacher, I know you’re a brotha and all but damn did you make some horrible, horrible Batman movies. Since no one has been able to forget those awful sequels, this movie shouldn’t have too hard of a time winning over the fans. Starting fresh with Batman in his first years is a smart move, and it looks like they’ve put together a strong cast (Gary Oldman looks exactly like the younger Jim Gordon from the comics). I’m betting this one will come together in a nice package.
-Strangers with Candy
It’s no secret how much I adore the show and I’ll take more Strangers in any way, shape or form I can get it. With the entire cast returning I have no doubts that it will be friggin hilarious from start to finish.
-Charlie and the Chocolate Factory/Corpse Bride
What a year to be a Tim Burton fan! CATCF sounds like it’s coming along very nicely- in an interview with John August, the screenwriter, he said that about 90% of the book will be in the film. Timmy was the only director that could get approval to make the film from the Dahl estate and I am very excited to see his take on the wacky tale. Then later in the year Tim’s latest stop-animation film Corpse Bride is coming out- just in time for Halloween. It pleases me to no end that in this time when computer animation is all the rage, people haven’t abandoned other art forms like claymation. Artistic talent should be expressed in as many forms as possible, I say!
-Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
I thought The Sorcerer’s Stone was pretty good and that The Chamber of Secrets was only okay, but boy howdy did they get me hooked with The Prisoner of Azkaban. Alfonso Cuaron put together what may be the most visually pleasing ‘children’s’ movie I’ve ever seen. And the addition of Gary Oldman didn’t hurt things either. It looks like they are going to reel me in again with Goblet since I just read that Miranda Richardson and Ralph Fiennes have joined the troupe.
-Serenity
Anyone who has seen Firefly knows what horrible injustices were done to it, mostly from the juggernaut that was reality TV at the time the show debuted. I’m hoping the film does extremely well to show Fox what they missed out on. At the very least I hope Serenity does well enough to warrant a couple of sequels. They made a smart move pushing the release from April to September so that it wouldn’t be overshadowed by a certain other science fiction movie which you might notice is absent from my list.
-The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
I’ve never read the book, but the trailer to this film looks fantastic. Plus it has Sam Rockwell and Alan Rickman and I’ll watch those guys in anything. They also used gigantic Jim Henson puppets for a number of the aliens, rather than relying completely on CG creatures. I’m definitely down with the JH.
-War of the Worlds
Spielberg hasn’t ever really done a big budget, end-of-the-world disaster movie before so I’m curious to see what he does with Worlds. His movies tend to be more confined. Only teaser footage has been shown at this point so I’m not exactly sure what to expect, but I don’t often bet against Senior Spielbergo.
-The Brothers Grimm
With crazy movies like 12 Monkey and Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas under his belt, I’m eager to see what Terry Gilliam does with the Brothers Grimm fairytales. My husband, Matt Damon, stars in it along with Heath Ledger, so at the very least I’ll have eye candy.
-Wallace & Gromit
Oh how I love their entertaining little claymation shorts. If you’re keeping score that’s two stop-animation films coming out in 2005! I’ve been a W&G fan since junior high and I feared the characters may have been retired, until I read about their first full-length feature film coming out this fall! If you’ve never seen the collection of W&G shorts, you owe it to yourself to pick up the DVD. You’ll never look at penguins the same way again.
-King Kong
Peter Jackson is directing it. That’s all anyone needs to know.

5. If you could have your dream cast for a movie, who would you pick and what kind of movie would it be?
The film would be a comedic murder mystery along the lines of Clue and would feature an obscenely talented cast comprised of Joan Cusack, Sir Ian McKellen, Amy Sedaris, Matt Damon, Johnny Depp, William H. Macy, Gary Oldman, Catherine O’Hara, Alan Rickman, Julianne Moore, Nathan Lane, Jennifer Coolidge, David Cross, Bill Murray, Peter Sarsgaard, John Cusack, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Frances McDormand, Jeff Goldblum, Jude Law, Patricia Clarkson, Christopher Walken, Sam Rockwell and Jeffrey Tambor. The following year, this film would be recognized at the Oscars for having the ‘Greatest Ensemble Cast Ever.’