Between the good and bad, that's where you'll find me, Reaching for Heaven

Day two of the challenge, and I won't say I'm tired, I'm just happily ficced out:

Narnia, Edmund, he still has dreams about Jadis and sometimes they come true http://community.livejournal.com/comment_fic/172729.html?thread=37364665#t37364665

Firefly, any, There are no atheists in foxholes. Likewise, there are no believers in charnal houses
http://community.livejournal.com/comment_fic/186758.html?thread=40127110#t40127110 (Mal and Zoe)

Firefly, Mal/Serenity, goodnight ritual http://community.livejournal.com/comment_fic/142945.html?thread=30561889#t30561889

Any, any, "well, not crimes against humanity, necessarily, since you're not human, but..."
http://community.livejournal.com/comment_fic/173965.html?thread=37507981#t37507981 (Yami no Matsuei, Tsuzuki, Terazuma, and Muraki)

Calvin & Hobbes, Halloween, nobody wants to be Robin http://community.livejournal.com/comment_fic/118547.html?thread=25541651#t25541651

Castle/Death Note, Castle/Beckett, cosplaying as L and Light. http://community.livejournal.com/comment_fic/119529.html?thread=25853929#t25853929

Yami no Matsuei, Muraki, Nightwish - She is my Sin http://community.livejournal.com/comment_fic/70803.html?thread=16351379#t16351379

Any, Any, In bed with the enemy - in more than one way http://community.livejournal.com/comment_fic/163273.html?thread=35289545#t35289545 (Muraki/Tsuzuki)

Gormenghast, Titus Groan, the earl's cape weighs him down http://community.livejournal.com/comment_fic/164427.html?thread=35690571#t35690571

Any, Any, As Coroner I must aver, I thoroughly examined her, and she's not only merely dead, she's really most sincerely dead! http://community.livejournal.com/comment_fic/206003.html?thread=43944371#t43944371 (Gormenghast, implied Prunesquallor/Fuschia and implied Steerpike/Fuschia)

Torchwood, Jack/Ianto, "The next time you pinch my fat, I'm going to punch you in the mouth." Ianto thinks he's getting pudgy and it makes him grumpy http://community.livejournal.com/comment_fic/204113.html?thread=43626065#t43626065

****** out of ***** (Yes, I know that's 6 out of 5 stars: It's that good!)

Whoa.

WHOA!

This does for C. S. Lewis what Peter Jackson did for Tolkien: I'd seen the old "WonderWorks" made-for-Canadian-TV version, which was broadcast on PBS years ago, and while that was okay for its time, this made-for-the-big-screen blows it out of the water! Utterly pitch-perfect. Visually stunning. I can't get over how they made it all look so *REAL*!

The four young actors and actresses who play the Pevensie children are splendid, but I think the most exquisite is the little girl who played Lucy. She's such a dear, you honestly want to hug her! (I'm told that when they filmed the scene where Lucy first steps out of the wardrobe and into the snowy woods, that the young lady playing the part hadn't seen the set for it until that very moment, so her wonder and surprise were more than mere acting.)

Tilda Swinton's White Witch... whoa... scary and poised and oddly attractive. I thought Ms. Swinton was an odd choice for the part, since she's built rather slender and androgynous-looking, but she turned out a splendid performance that sends shivers down your spine even as you have a hard time taking your eyes off her...

And Liam Neeson as the voice of Aslan. Wow! Does it get any better? I know some critics have said that a growlier voice would have been more fitting, but I can't imagine anyone else. You get the feeling that he's "not a tame lion", but there's a warmth in that voice that doesn't swamp the character's commanding presence.

And the fellow who played Mr. Tumnus the faun... Awwww! He's so schweet! Another character you just want to cuddle. Or dance with! (Yeah, I'm crushing on him, can'tcha tell?)

I laughed at the funny parts, my pulse pounded through the battle scenes (very, very reminiscent of similar battle scenes from LOTR, and I think they were filmed in New Zealand, too... Hey, Narnia could be the eastern shore of Middle Earth, for all we know...). I cried with joy at the scene where Father Christmas arrives in Narnia for the first time in 100 years. And I was weeping real tears first of sorrow, then of joy at Aslan's death and resurrection.

I've dreamed of there being a *GOOD* movie version of this classic that I grew up with, and now that dream has come true.

Now if they'd do a movie version of C.S. Lewis's "Space Trilogy"....