Right, so in the last two nights I've watched two very different vampire movies that I've been wanting to see since I heard about both of them: Swedish film "Let the Right One In" and Canada-made sequel to a cult classic, "Lost Boys: The Tribe".

One is a critically acclaimed foreign drama exploring love and loss and sacrifice.

One is a surfer vampire direct-to-video horror-comedy with a crazy motorcycle and skateboard chase scene. It's a film which features an original cast member and one half-brother of another original cast member.

So which movie did I love? (Okay, like more than the other...)

Corey Feldman For The Win!!! (I really need to re-watch "Dream a Little Dream".)

Yup, call me utterly shallow, but of the two, the Lost Boys sequel was so much fun - I was just grinning watching the silliness of it all. I'd definitely watch that one again. Granted, in no small part due to the charms of yet another attractive Sutherland man (this time, Angus, son of Donald, half-bro of Kiefer).

Whereas with Let the Right One In - I'll take a gander at the American remake when that gets to dvd and see if that one is easier to watch, but I don't think I want to watch the original again. Really disturbing. I'd kind of expected something more along the lines of "Salem's Lot" and instead it was "The Hunger" with children. The key wrongness being they're children. Disturbing. Yeah.

But by contrast LB:TT was just the kind of silly lightness needed to counter it. It would make a great double-feature with either the original "Lost Boys" or with its tonal companion "Fright Night". It's hard to make a good horror comedy. But not impossible. And this was fun. So yeah, Corey for the win!

Okay, yeah, now I am just name dropping... :D

Today Ron and John and Eric signed my Phil! So cool!

That's what my last week has been filled with. And it's been quite a pleasure!

It's been a while since I had a bunch of celebrity sightings like this outside of an event (such as the Alice Ultimate Fan Event which I owe a blog about). So that's why this week has been so surprising!

Now, most of the people I know weren't nearly as excited as I was when I told them about seeing some of these folks, but you know, I'd rather have had this week than a week full of so-called "A-Listers". It made me happy anyways.

So last week I was coming off of a high from seeing the new "Alice in Wonderland" movie (twice - once in 3D and once in 2D - and I owe a blog about this as well). Okay, I wasn't really coming down yet because I was still wearing a necklace with the Cheshire Cat and the Mad Hatter's hat on it and I was carrying an armful of magazines with Johnny Depp's picture on the cover and was probably humming music from the "Almost Alice" soundtrack (which I owe yet another blog about). So really, I suppose I was still fully immersed!

At any rate, I was approaching an elevator when I saw a handsome man in a nice suit standing also waiting for the elevator. By the time he turned and I saw his profile, I realized it was Michael Sheen. SQUEE!!!

Sorry, but I'll squee a thousand times over Michael Sheen before I squee for any Hollywood leading man. Not only is Michael a talented actor, but he's a very attractive guy. Rabbit. Vampire. Werewolf. Prime Minister. Etc.

He's also a gentleman as he waited for me to enter the elevator before he did. I asked which floor he was going to and hit the button for him. Then since I had the chance I smiled and said I was a big fan of his. He seemed (humbly) surprised and pleased at my recognizing him and thanked me. Again being in full Alice mode, I had to tell him he made an excellent rabbit. He laughed as I showed him my fannish necklace. He seemed to think it was rather cool and commented on how surprisingly good the opening weekend had been at the box office for the film. I agreed and congratulated him on it. Again he seemed modest in that endearingly British way and pleased at the compliment and thanked me as he exited the elevator. It was only at that point that I remembered I was carrying an armful of magazines with an Alice movie image on the cover and kicked myself for not asking him to sign one. Still, I had a lovely moment with a lovely man and it made my whole day.

And then the next day, when I was in a store and James Callis walked by me, I thought "what is up with all the gorgeous British men around here?" But James was walking quickly through the store and may have noticed that I froze like a deer in the headlights when I recognized him and by the time I figured I should go say something fannish to him, he'd left. Sigh. Still - gorgeous! I really loved his small role in "Bridget Jones' Diary" but it's of course his role as Baltar in "Battlestar Galactica" that made me a big fan. Kicked myself for that moment of paralyzed shyness that meant I didn't get to fuss over him.

One would think two gorgeous British actor sightings would be my quota for a month at least but then today I walked right into Gilles Marini. (Yes, I know, not British, but continuing the beautiful foreign actor theme...) He was with his wife so I was careful not to look like I was trying to hit on the guy (I wasn't - not my type but so sweet!). She probably has to put up with a lot of people drooling over her handsome hubby, but I really just wanted to say what I proceeded to: I leaned towards him and smiled and told him how much I'd enjoyed his part in the recent "Handsome Men's Club" skit on Jimmy Kimmel. I told him it was one of the funniest things I'd seen on TV in a while and that I'd enjoyed him in it. He smiled openly and thanked me very politely. He has a very winning, open way about him - I can see why people really like him. He just seems like a really cool guy. Which concurs with everything I'd heard about him from others.

That was it really, he and his wife went on their way and I went on mine. But it was a lovely cap to a week's worth of encounters with beautiful foreign men...

Yesterday I indulged myself for an afternoon and tore through Laurell K. Hamilton's latest Anita Blake novella, "Flirt". The plus side of her novellas are that they are quick fun reads. The minus side is that they don't tend to dwell in the larger story arcs. Some folks might like the shorter trips because they are less angsty with more action-adventure, but I guess I just like having the chance to spend more time in her writing world in the longer books.

Totally enjoyed "Flirt" but it's like an appetizer when you're craving a multi-course meal!

And what do you know - I think I am actually starting to miss Jean-Claude - and he's always been the least favorite of Anita's paranormal paramours for me. And of course, I miss my favorite, Asher. Not missing Richard so much though - that's a bit too much angst.

Was just rewatching "Big Top She-Wolf" - the best - and the darkest - episode of dear "She-Wolf of London". And lovely Jason Carter in that top hat and long coat (which I seem to recall his telling me at a convention once was his own) - 20 years !!! after I first saw the episode - still one of the most exquisite creatures I've ever seen. The image of him in that outfit in that episode still haunts me beautifully.

Ah yes, I was goth, when goth wasn't cool. ;)

And the episode definitely holds up best of any of the ones I've re-watched on the dvd set so far.

Yeah, I know - there are a lot of qualifications in that, but just as I was about to call it simply "2nd Best TV Miniseries EVER!" I realized I was leaving out such amazing pieces as "Jekyll", "Neverwhere", and "Ultraviolet" from the U.K. (And I haven't seen "Casanova" yet but that's probably up there too.) So I had to make the extra qualification.

And to get it out of the way - the best TV miniseries EVER, ANYWHERE was Stephen King's IT. No doubt. No competition. The best. Perfection. From cast to writing... yeah, even with the silly ending/explanation. Don't care. Blame Stephen King for what 'it' was. But that mini is perfect.

Funny enough that also co-starred Dennis Christopher who appeared in The Lost Room. Small TV world, eh?

Oh, and previous second best U.S. mini which has now sadly been displaced to third best - Stephen King's Rose Red. Which I also still love and adore.

But I picked up The Lost Room because it was on sale last week on Amazon.com and as soon as I got it, I had to immediately re-watch it. And it's as good as the first time I saw it (just a few months back). Great cast - especially the recurring characters - and just insanely awesome writing. I mean, if I were to write a dream project, it would probably tonally be very similar - fantasy, sci-fi, horror, religious/spiritual, character dramedy. Just awesome sauce.

Why this was never made into a series is completely beyond my understanding. The writers certainly left it wide open for that. And I'd've loved to have seen where they went with the story.

But, we'll always have the miniseries...

I tried to squeeze in some time to rewatch the original brilliant Patrick McGoohan "Prisoner" prior to this AMC remake, but only managed to watch the first two episodes (wonderful, iconic, fascinating). Still it was enough to remind me how extraordinary it was and despite the mediocre reviews for the new version, I still had hopes for this remake.

First, because McGoohan allowed it to be made at all - high praise indeed given his notorious protectiveness of it. And although I'd've loved to have seen the rumored Christopher Eccleston version of the tale, I was quite pleased with the casting of the always perfect Ian McKellan and the generally overlooked Jim Caviezel.

I'm a big fan of Caviezel's - I think he has a quiet intensity that critics don't appreciate while they praise flashier performers. But every time I see him on screen he captivates me with a quiet, roiling... under-performance... he never needs to shout because whatever he feels pours out of his skin and says it for him. I love watching him onscreen because he makes me pay attention.

So two hours into this six-hour mini-series, I am intrigued enough to continue watching. It's not as good as the original (not even close), but it's interesting unto itself, it has McKellan chewing the scenery and Caviezel being quiet, but suffering and intense. He's just so good at it.

It made me realize that if they had chosen to cast older, he'd've also made an excellent Spock in the Star Trek reboot. I love Zach Quinto, but Caviezel could have nailed that role too. Be nice to see him playing a Vulcan in a future film though - maybe Surak if they go that way or even Sybok if they go that way.

At any rate, another unexpected pleasure was one of those 'where do I know him from' casting choices for McKellan's son 11-12 - thanks to imdb it turns out that I'd recognized Jamie Campbell Bower from his role in "Sweeney Todd". He's got an unusual prettiness about him that made me recognize that I knew him but with shorter hair in this I didn't know from where. I'm hoping he'll have a bit more to do in the upcoming "Prisoner" episodes that will be airing tomorrow and Tuesday.

And if it is true that he has been cast as Grindelwald in the forthcoming Harry Potter movies, I think that is perfect casting - but I won't say why so as to avoid spoilers.

So it was recently announced that SyFy - that bastion of... well... wrestling and no budget monster movies... would be doing an American remake of "Being Human".

No, you did not hear howls of terror from me, nor weeping in despair, because, short of a casting miracle, I won't be watching it anyway.

That said, they have one chance (and one bonus) of getting this right. As I fully expect this will be made on the cheap in Canada using an all Canadian cast (because otherwise they would normally hire Brits for this "American" remake), they can get this right in one way only:

Cast Kyle Schmid as Mitchell.

Yes, I know it's completely typecasting, but I also know he's the only one who can get this role right - the humor and the angst of it. This week I've been watching my new Season Two "Blood Ties" dvds and much as I adored Christina Cox and Dylan Neal, it was Kyle who was the unexpected attention-getter in the role, of course, of the vamp. And sadly, he hasn't seemed to have found a good juicy role since then.

The night before last I rewatched Steve Bacic's guest turn in one BT episode and realized that he would be the perfect Tully in a BH remake as well. He can pull off the gruff, danger, appeal and charm of the character and is always a pleasure to watch.

So there it is - two choices for perfect casting that would make me watch this show no matter who else they cast in it.

But I'm not holding my breath...

So this weird thing happens when I check out a bunch of movies at the same time. They almost always have something in common that I never realized consciously. Sometimes it's a theme or an actor they share. Often it's a title thing, like I'll pick five movies all with two word titles starting with the word "The". That happened a few weeks ago. This week I picked three movies all ending in the letters "er". But that's not even the weird thing. I mean, I know Hollywood is a relatively small place and there are only so many 'it' people working, so things happen like I got "Donnie Darko" and "Say Anything" to watch back to back without realizing that both movies featured siblings playing siblings - in DD it's the Gyllenhaals and in SA it's the Cusacks. But here's today's weird coincidence: I picked out two young adult fantasy adventures to watch - "Jumper" and "The Seeker (The Dark is Rising)". The first film featured AnnaSophia Robb in a small role, which reminded me I wanted to see "Race To Witch Mountain". The second film featured Alexander Ludwig - who plays AnnaSophia Robb's brother in... "Race to Witch Mountain". So I guess all roads lead me back to Alexander Key's universe. Which is not a bad thing.

Oh, and I really enjoyed "Jumper" - thought it was a lot of fun for a fluffy popcorn movie with a character with a cool power that I would have liked as a kid. And even Hayden Christensen wasn't bad in it. Though Jamie Bell rather stole the scenes he was in. "The Seeker" didn't work quite as well for me, mostly because it was trying too hard to be Harry Potter and it didn't need to be. It was first and was its own story and characters and mythology (and probably was one of the many influences for JK Rowling). The moments where the film didn't remind me of Harry Potter, I could actually rather enjoy it for what it was. And Christopher Eccleston is always a delight and was the reason I wanted to see it in the first place. LOL at him playing another doctor!

Sometimes it just takes one image to make a movie worth seeing. Even a bad movie. And bizarrely, the examples I can think of all involve amazing FX shots of supernatural animals.

Sleepy Hollow is worth sitting through in all its tedium for that incredible haunting shot of a horse emerging from the roots of a tree.

Ghost Rider is worth suffering through (just barely) - or even better, fast forwarding through - for an equally amazing image of a ghostly horse racing a motorcycle.

And this film, while 'merely' pleasantly diverting (as opposed to great), is still far far better than either of those two and yet still it shares one thing in common - an FX moment of unforgettable power. In this case, absolutely beautiful... no, poetic... images of werewolves turning from human to wolves. These moments in the film are balletic, acrobatic, artistic, breathtaking.

I'll readily admit that werewolves take a far distant second place in my heart behind vampires. But perhaps due to the glut of vampire stories in pop culture of late, the weres are growing in my esteem.

And truly, there are times were they can even outshine vampires in my estimation. Of all the classic Universal monster movies, I dearly love the original Wolf Man above all. Far far more entertaining and compelling to me than Dracula (despite the gorgeous performance of Bela Lugosi in the latter). And in my current deep literary love - Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake books - the vampires pale (if you'll pardon the pun) to my love of her far more fascinating were cultures and characters. And there are several werewolf movies I adore (from An American Werewolf in London to Wolf to my all-time favorite The Company of Wolves); and I was one of the handful who truly enjoyed the short-lived TV series Wolf Lake.

Yet while I did not fall in love with "Blood & Chocolate", I certainly enjoyed it, though it was not much deeper than your average boy meets wolf story. The cast was appealing, the score and soundtrack notable. But it was the extraordinary sequences of man to wolf transformation that make this film a must see for any were-fan. Just beautiful - children of the night.