When in DOUBT, use the dutch angle shot - wokka wokka wokka

Well, I saw Doubt. And it was theatrical (understandable - it is based on a Tony winning Broadway play) and a bit hammy. The concept is interesting, but those 'moral ambiguity' films always annoy me somewhat. Only a masterful director can handle such subject matter. I told my brother when watching it, "Only certain directors should be allowed to use a dutch angle shot, just as only certain directors should be allowed to shoot in slo-motion!" (I have to confess here that I didn't know this camera angle was even called a dutch angle until he enlightened me - why didn't I pay more attention in that cinema class?? I think I was just too distracted by Marcello Mastroianni's hair). BTW - this is a dutch angle shot (from a great film, albeit):

I'm gonna make a short film wherein two characters are arguing over a jar of peanut butter. Let's say those characters names are floresita and El Steven (Note: I am copying this almost word for word from Shanley's script adaptation)

ALTERNATING SINGLE SHOTS - DUTCH ANGLE SHOT FROM BELOW

FLORESITA
Is it true?

EL STEVEN (smoking cigarette)
What?

FLORESITA
You know what I'm asking.

EL STEVEN
No.

FLORESITA
Did you take the peanut butter out of my kitchen?

EL STEVEN
It was organic; it was going to go bad!

FLORESITA
Why didn't you just tell me???

EL STEVEN
I was just trying to spare you further embarrassment.

Oh, the suspense - dun dun dun!!!
Okay, moving on ...
The story is essentially this ponderous mediation on the 'nature of doubt.' It was a tight stage play that is diminished by the addition of cheesy devices like lightbulbs burning out (which interrupted the building tension and the rhythm of the whole piece - WTF did he do that??), harsh wind blowing in the night (oooooooo), killer kitty cats, and, yes, unnecessary dutch angle shots. The glorious Meryl Streep delivers a spastic performance that proves (just as Natalie Portman did in the newer, blander Star Wars films) that even the finest of actresses is only as good as her director. I like John Patrick Shanley, and I loved his Joe Versus the Volcano (one of my favorites); but, again, I think here he should have handed this piece to someone with more expertise.

Speaking of 'moral ambiguity' films. The Reader. Oh, The Reader. I cried three times, I was moved by David Cross' performance. But the film struck me as manipulative and patently blatant. The movie was a great coming of age story, but it was a piss-poor holocaust film. I kind of agree with Ron Rosenbaum's article about it:

Though I still hate you for that Billy Joel diatribe, Mr. Rosenbaum. Gar.

I'm closing with a random clip of Lily Allen's new single. Because it's catchy, and it makes me happy :))

Slumdog Millionaire

I hope it wins Best Picture.

You Know Why!!!

I can't stop laughing when I watch this clip. Maybe it's because now I will forever think of la flor when I see it!

I even procrastinated in posting this entry!

So the new year has started and I'm already behind on my New Year's resolutions, which brings me to my first resolution:

1. Stop procrastinating.
I am the WORST procrastinator known to man (or would that make me the Best?). I put off EVERYTHING. And, I mean, everything. My whole life is on hold right now, because I refuse to make a decision about anything. There is currently a museum display case at the university I no longer attend (done, finished, finito - took me ten years to graduate - I was on the procrastinator's plan), which I STILL have not returned to our local art museum. Because I am a BAD, BAD person. Even though I swore to a nagging professor on MY LIFE that I would return it. Which means any day I will be struck my lightning. All because I am the worst procrastinator known to man.

2. Lose ten twenty pounds.
God, I'm so typical. Aaargh.

3. Stop being a social hermit.
I really don't know that I'm entirely sincere about this one, because in the last few months I have been treasuring my time alone. I have never been so comfortable sitting by myself reading or watching movies. I LIKE being alone. If anything, my Netflix subscription will be the death of me (if not the lightning attack caused by lone museum display case), as it makes me never want to leave my house. But is there really anything wrong with that? I'm not so sure. I'm just not sure real, actual people can be as entertaining as flashy Busby Berkeley dancers and the rocker vampires of Kathryn Bigelow's Near Dark (though a part of me really hates that movie, I still prefer it over a dinner party or a night out at a club).

Well, that's pretty much it for now, because I'm too lazy and tired to think of anything else.

Oh, wait - One More! Find new non-slacker job. I love my job, I do. But it pays horribly and my favorite, favorite boss is leaving, so I'm kind of feeling whats-the-point. It's time to move on. Kind of glad boss is leaving, because if she stayed, I probably would stay here forever ... that really makes me sound like a stalker, but I'm not - I promise, I've just known her a very long time (70 years in dog-time).

* * * * *

I found this blog through someone else's blog and I LOVE it so much I want to marry it. Come to think of it, it probably would not make a very good husband, but I don't care.

http://fuckyoupenguin.blogspot.com/

I never thought hating on animals could be so much fun.

* * *

A pretty mess in Illinois.
Well, it's not so pretty really. Actually, it's not pretty at all.

Obama's in Washington now!!

Michigan's Green Jobs Initiative

The last moments of Columbia.
This article made me cry.

Lastly, I am so, so sorry for the actor John Travolta and his family. I've read so many blogs (it seems reading blogs is all I do with my time, well other than watch Busby Berkeley musicals) which detail and criticize his religion, his sexuality, the manner of his son's condition and death. But none of this matters. The man lost his child. There are few things worse than that experience, no matter who you are or what crazy religion you practice.

New Year's Eve with Harry and Sally

My sister used to play this clip at my grandmother's house every New Year's Eve, so even though it's incredibly sappy, it always makes me think of my family and of my childhood :)




Celebrate New Year's on YouTube!
And do everything else on YouTube, too - just like I do!!

New Year's Rockin'Eve
Dick Clark will NEVER, EVER die. He's amazing.

Celebrity New Year's Parties
Hmm... Does Weird Al Yankovich throw a party? I'd go to that.

Escape From Christmas!

Yesterday, I escaped from Christmas for a few moments and sped off in my brother's car (if you're reading this, Steven, I didn't really speed ... really) while listening to Beethoven's 9th Symphony. I rolled all the windows down and blasted the stereo, and my hair whirled around in the wind and the music, and it was. just. wonderful.



I'm very conscious of what I'm eating today, since yesterday I gorged, of course, on tamales, Spanish rice and my father's amazing homeade bread. But we ordered Sonic at work today, and I had to do some research to avoid getting any fatter than I already am. If you're interested, here's some calorie info :) ... Not that I'm counting calories or anything like that (ahem).

Jalapeño Cheeseburger
610 calories 280 from fat

Jr. Cheesburger
380 calories 180 from fat

Grilled Chicken Sandwich
420 calories 180 from fat

Grilled Chicken Salad (no dressing)
300 calories 120 from fat

And save yourself 270 calories - don't order the fries! I'm just sayin' ...

* * * * *

Más sleep = better heart!
I knew it!

Create your own stamps
My dream come true!

Wal-Mart to sell iPhone
I really don't care - I love my Centro!!

The Dingo Ate Your Baby!
Why are people so crazy???

Read The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Girl Talk
Most awesome awesomeness

Let's play some games!

And RIP Eartha Kitt and Harold Pinter.
We lost two legends in two days.

Kitt sings Santa Baby:


Pinter on the invasion of Iraq:
"an act of blatant state terrorism, demonstrating absolute contempt for the concept of international law."

* * * * *

Listening to: Andre Rieu's Tuscany

Woo Hoo!!!

I am so incredibly excited. I need to take deep, long breaths to calm myself. After months of living as a recluse, my best friends are all in the city. AT THE SAME TIME. I barely know what to do with myself. I'm pacing and I just wolfed down a cheeseburger, and I don't know. I think I need a tranquilizer or something.

Anyway, in other news, I am thrilled about the holidays (have I mentioned this fact yet?) and that doesn't help any with my heart rate. Is it possible to be too happy? It worries me because I come from a long line of pessimists, who believe that when things are going very well, this means they are about to get very, very wrong. I hope that lifelong belief doesn't apply to my current situation.

www.savagechickens.com

* * * * *

Will Smith's New Movie is Lame

I dislike most Will Smith movies. Except Six Degrees of Separation; he was fantastic in that one.

Franke Potente on Soderbergh's Che

Love Franke.

Love Soderbergh.
Love Del Toro.

Pretty please, Santa, let it be good. I behaved this year ... mostly.

Sarah Palin Time Mag's Runner Up Person of the Year. Really? No, Really?

Iraqi Government Says 'Get Out'

At least they didn't throw any shoes.

Warner Music, You Bunch of Stupid Old Farts Remove your content from YouTube - fine. But realize that you are simply shooting yourselves in the foot (feet?). YouTube is a phenomenon, a vast sharing site that connects styles, tastes and interests all over the globe. I use the site often to listen to and discover new music - THEN I BUY IT. The audio quality is typically terrible, so I'm not going to use YouTube as a listening service or to steal your music or some such nonsense. I use it when I'm curious about an artist. God, Warner, GET WITH IT.

On a related note... Music Industry is Going to Stop Suing Small Children and Old Ladies.

Thank God.

* * * * *

www.leeds.ac.uk

The Man Who Invented Christmas

Standiford's good at finding the small detail, the bit of color that a substantial Dickens biography might overlook. He catalogs how Scrooge has become "common cultural property" and how "Carol" is so thoroughly embedded in our collective mind that, were all copies destroyed, the story "could be written again."

Listening to: Los Campesinos

Gold Diggers of 1933

1:49 - 2:30 specifically. This is one of the greatest things I've seen on film, and I can't quite explain why. Ginger Rogers' face is just remarkable - I love it.

Phone, you are my monolith.

Look at me, gaze upon my awesomeness!

So I have a new phone, and I am completely, irrevocably in love with it. I haven't been so much in love with an inatimate object since I purchased my laptop at Best Buy with 6 months no interest. When I look it at it I hear 2001's Thus Spake Zarathustra pulsating in my head. It's magic ... and this probably means I'm more of a materialistic person than I once thought.

In other news,

Tonight ABC airs the documentary Drama High: The making of a high school musical.
Wherein kids fight over roles in The Wiz. I have a feeling this will bring back memories.

Then Tuesday night, ABC airs A Charlie Brown Christmas.

Click Here to listen to Vince Guaraldi's amazing score.
and here to read or listen to NPR's great 2006 commentary on it.

Wednesday, NBC airs A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa.
I will watch anything involving Kermit the Frog. ANYTHING.

I've put together a list of movies I really want to see in the next few months (if I can get my lazy arse out to the theatre):

1. Milk

2. Rachel Getting Married

3. Synecdoche, New York

4. The Wrestler

5. Cadillac Records

6. Slumdog Millionaire

7. Australia

7. Wall-E

8. Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist ...

Wait, some of these aren't even in theatres anymore, are they?? {Groan} I'm so out of it.

* * * * *

Oh, and this is my favorite blog of the day - well, my favorite thing today period .. next to my phone: Citizen Kane posted an event ... and nobody came.

Listening to: Vampire Weekend

Hitler's Testicle(s?) and Other Stories

My brother gave me the most awesome, beautiful 'Best of 2008' collection (his own picks). I listened to it all day today and it was restorative, powerful, and it made me feel alive. I'm feeling lately like re-surfacing, but I also feel that I must not force anything right now. The time of healing is done, and it's time now to celebrate and to offer myself up to the universe. I'm really happy right now in my life, and serene. So much of my life has been a series of self-inflicted struggles, fighting against myself and fighting against the world, and fighting for the Wrong Things. I was very stressed in November, but the happy realization that came out of that was this: "I haven't felt stress in AGES! I forgot what this felt like!" I'm finally at peace. And here I was thinking that wouldn't happen until I was dead {awkward laughter fading into silence}

* * * * *

Let's see ... what's happening today? Let me look in my crystal ball, and - oh no -

Say It Ain't So Jesse Jackson (Jr.) And it just has to originate in Illinois, doesn't it? As if Obama doesn't have a difficult enough job without having to answer to questions about this mess.

Did Hitler Have One Testicle? Because this is the question that keeps me up at night.

Vampire Myths Broken And here you thought it was only Twilight that mangled the genre.

I May Start Watching That Crap Gossip Girl Just For Wallace Shawn Inconceivable!!!

Lindsay Lohan, Leave Stevie Nicks Alone!!! You are Kali, Destroyer of Worlds. Just stop it already.

And for no good reason:



* * * * *

oh, oh, oh - I just had to add this; it's too priceless!

"I don't believe there's any cloud that hangs over me. I think there's nothing but sunshine hanging over me."
Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, the day before his arrest

Reading: The Painted Veil
Listening to: Steve's awesome mix CD

I forgive you, Mitzi Gaynor!

I forgive you, Mitzi Gaynor. I gave Anything Goes another view, just because. And I still didn't like it. Except ... the above sequence is just magical. I've decided it's one of my favorite all-time movie scenes hands down.

I started watching George Cukor's A Star is Born a week ago, and I was initially immensely impressed. But I continued watching it last night and initially it was still great but THEN, endless dance numbers to terrible songs. These words flashed across my squishy brain: WHEN IS THIS MOVIE GOING TO END??? It didn't help when my father entered the room and after a brief silence (and during one of the worst numbers), noted, "You know all those people are dead now." Greeeaaat. There was also some embarrasingly hammy acting from Garland; it's a pity because she was an actress capable of such depth and raw energy, but I don't think she ever in her career truly utilized those acting gifts (other than through song).

I started to get annoyed, when suddenly after two hours of praying for it to end, James Mason completely broke my heart. My God. I have rarely seen an actor so realistically and agonizingly portray such pain onscreen. It was at that moment that I realized Mason made the film, and that I realized he had been consistent and authentic throughout the entire picture, even when everything around him was glitz and cheese. A Star is Born is not a movie about the travails of fame; it is a film about the self-destructive trauma of alcoholism. See it for Judy singing The Man That Got Away, but mostly see it for James Mason's performance.

* * * * *

And....

OMG! Corrupt Politician Alert I have my surprised face on. Not really.

We Need A Cure

Dark Knight DVD as Disappointing As the Movie Was No Heath Ledger extras. And he was the best thing about the film.

The Mouse is 40!

Greedy Fannie

NYT on Kate Winslet's The Reader

John Lennon The Rolling Stone interview "I always wrote about me when I could. I didn't really enjoy writing third person songs about people who lived in concrete flats and things like that. I like first person music."

Flor, You Can't Have Ed Norton, He and I Are in Love

Kings of Leon

I am this moment downloading Kings of Leon's 2001 album Aha Shake Heartbreak. How did it take me so long to discover this band?? I mean, they've been everywhere, yes? Weren't they on SNL a while back? I usually fast-forward through the musical acts when I watch it, though. Probably just skimmed right by them to the next lame comedy sketch. Anyway, they're wonderful. I'm listening to Taper Jean Girl on repeat right now. I have some catching up to do, don't I?

I finally saw Milos Forman's Goya's Ghosts. I enjoyed Stellan Skarsgard's performance, but the movie felt kind of pointless. Bardem was at his creepy best, and Natalie Portman's make-up in the latter half of the movie terrified me, but there was something missing. The film just felt incoherent and totally devoid of heart or humor. The final credits were my favorite part of the film, simply because we then see a slideshow of Goya's work. Dark, horrendous, beautiful. If only the movie could have captured the art and the artist.

* * * *

In other news ...

O.J. is finally going to serve his time.

Strangers can make you happy!
Guess this means I'll have to stop ignoring all the people around me.

Joe Satriani is suing Coldplay.
You know you're gay when you're suing Coldplay.

And I can't wait to see this movie.

But for now, I'm pouring myself a hot cup of tea and I'm going to bed. Mmm, sleep.

Stellllaaa!!!!

Today in history, Joseph Conrad was born and Streetcar Named Desire Marlon Brando premiered on Broadway. Let's face it, Tennessee Williams is a lyrical genius, but that play is melodramatic beyond belief. It's Brando's broken, fierce performance that made the play and the 1951 film. We had never seen an actor like him onstage before, raw and painfully real. As for Conrad, his life reads like an adventure story - makes one ponder the question: Does one have to travel, to experience, to explore in order to write about the human condition? You could offer Emily Dickinson as a counter to that - a woman who lived a sheltered existence and never really traveled anywhere of note. Speaking of Brando, I'm dying to see Last Tango in Paris. It was featured on the IFC network the other night - brilliant series about sex on film. The episode was called Indie Sex:Censored, and it's available on Netflix and on Amazon.com. It was extremely educational (and why do I feel naughty just writing that - seriously, I don't mean it that way... really).

I had a steroid shot (yay! I mean, ouch!), and am recovering speedily. I keep thinking of that line from Dune: "Fear is the mind-killer" and if that is so, then stress is surely the body killer! I need to stress less and live better. God, I'm sounding like a self-help book.




Next year, a movie premieres about the strange relationship between Federico García Lorca and Salvador Dalí called Little Ashes (with he of the mighty cheekbones as Dalí). This got me thinking about other literary or artistic figures I would love to see portrayed onscreen, so I started searching for something with a focus on Wordsworth and Coleridge. The film is Pandaemonium and it centers on the stormy relationship between the two men and on Coleridge's opium addiction. I've added it to my netflix queue, and I'm hoping it will be good. I'm also hoping Little Ashes will be poignant rather than laughable, but we'll see.

* * * * *

I finally saw Everyone Says I Love You (I'd previously only seen snippets), and I'm glad I did. It was so incredibly charming; I adored it. The cinematography is brilliant, those colors just pop out at you; it's so vivid and delightful. The actors (Ed Norton, Tim Roth, Goldie Hawn, Alan Alda, Natalie Portman, and that's only a fraction of the cast) give beautiful performances, specifically the hilarious Roth as convict Charles Ferry. Oh, and the songs... I think my favorite aspect of all Woody Allen movies is the music. The Dandridge's reminded me so much of my own large family, talking over each other with affable frustration, discussing everything from love to art to politics. I just wish Woody Allen would bring back Diane Keaton as a love interest (zero chemistry between his Joe Berlin and Julia Roberts' character Von). I forgive him, because before the dreaded entrance of Von, he ruefully sings "I'm Through With Love," which is another one of my all time favorite standards.

I love movies :)

My favorite thing about Christmas: All the lobbies in the world begin to play Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. Oh, and la flor and I make scary-looking cookies.

On Health Care (cue the violin)

Sick Girl

Mark Ryden

I'm so ridiculously sick. Hacking, coughing, wheezing sick. And yet here I am at work, spreading my germs and trying to keep the pile of tissues in check. It got me thinking about the health care situation in the country and the notion of sick leave (I say 'notion,' because in a lot of work environments, it's just that - a notion). My presence here has nothing to do with my bosses, who are incredible, but just in the system itself. When we are sick, we are expected to buck up, get in our cars, drive to our school/jobs and cough through the days, in the process (again) spreading our sickness to our fellow students and co-workers.

I watched Michael Moore's Sicko a while back, and while I know one must take any Moore documentary with a grain of salt, I found so much of what he had to say compelling. The film wasn't as bombastic and melodramatic as most of his work; it was sound and practical, specifically much of what he said regarding Canada and Europe and their respective systems. I found this great Business Week article to back up certain claims he makes:

http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jun2007/gb20070613_921562.htm

The article examines France and Britain's health care approach and finds that Britain's is rather lacking, while France seems to have the right idea. It's 62 million citizens are healthier than Americans, and "per capita spending on health care is also roughly half as much." The U.S. ranked terribly in a Commonwealth Study assessing the health and quality of our lives.

Meanwhile, the John de Graaf article "Thinking Differently About Health Care" notes that "Americans rank 45th in life expectancy, right there with Albania."

http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/008803.html

"Finally, and this is no small matter, every other industrial country guarantees its workers paid time off from work when they are sick; only the US does not. In many cases, as much as a month of leave is allowed. These countries know that without paid time off, workers will come to work sick, as many American workers do. They will get others sick and stay sick longer, often requiring more expensive treatment for their illnesses. This is not rocket science. Most Americans get this immediately. That is why more than 80 percent of them favor a law that would guarantee paid sick days for workers."

The article is fascinating because it focuses on preventative measures, and not just matters of cost and insurance. If we take care of ourselves in the first place, and if policies are implemented which ensure we are taken care of at our places of work when we are ill, billions of dollars may be saved in medicine and care. But thinking long-term is simply not our forte. We love our credit cards and we eat our hamburgers, and the debt, illness, and fatigue that may follow get little consideration.

{cough, cough}

I'm out.

Mitzi Gaynor, You Bore Me!!

Last night I watched The World is Not Enough and then Anything Goes. Because I am a crazy person, and I don’t sleep. I have to say that Anything Goes was kind of lame. Great music (Cole Porter was a genius), but all performed with a kind of bland winsomeness. Even Donald O’Connor couldn’t save this movie, and I LOVE Donald O’Connor. Mitzi Gaynor’s rendition of the title song had me yawning, and really made me long for Ethel Merman and Ella Fitzgerald. Sorry, Mitzi Gaynor, you bore me. Now, The World is Not Enough, that’s another story. Like all the ridiculously-named, sex-on-legs women in all these movies, I have a soft spot for Bond. The gadgets, the stuntwork, that classic score. I’d never seen this one before, and I have to say two things.

1) I hate Denise Richards more than Mitzi Gaynor and

2) Sophie Marceau terrified me. I mean, scariest Bond girl ever.

Oh, a third thing, I love Pierce Brosnan. He’s just perfect. I don’t know if I like where they’re taking the franchise, but Daniel Craig’s chest is so distracting I didn’t really follow the storyline anyway.

* * * * *

OCD’ers rejoice! Antibacterial soap is on sale at Bath and Body Works (4 for $10). Speaking of sales, apparently Black Friday didn’t go so well. Earlier in the week, the Commerce Dept announced that we’re seeing the lowest consumer spending since the early 80s. This is going to be the kind of Christmas where we all make awkward-looking cookies and handmade gifts. How is it that despite the financial lameness of the holiday, Radio Shack still ran out of TDK DVD-Rs (only $8 for 50) and CD-Rs ($10 for 100) – the only things I wanted. Well, I also wanted a really expensive camera that I can’t afford, but let’s be realistic. Despite the slump, Wal-Mart did well. Wal-Mart always does well; they’re like the cockroach of the industry – they’ll survive anything, even a nuclear holocaust. The world will be rubble and Wal-Mart will still be standing. Which I’m really glad about, because even though they are evil, I love nothing better than wandering through the aisles at 3 in the morning.

The country is in trouble, but we’re still doing better than everyone else. Probably because we’ve borrowed so much money from the rest of the world, we’re floating on that. I blame a lot of our troubles on outsourcing. Can someone Please, Please defend outsourcing to me? I have an open mind – if someone can please tell me how this is a good thing for the country in the long term, I will listen. Outsourcing = good for big business and Indians, but bad for the country overall.

* * * * *

Well, the death toll in Mumbai is now 195. The Pakistani prime Minister denies his country’s involvement. Zardari believes it’s a group set out to undermine India-Pakistani relations. This would make this situation just like the James Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies, in which evil Jonathan Pryce plots to set China and the U.S. against each other using the evil power of the media. I love Jonathan Pryce; I kept expecting him to break out into song and start hoofing it in that film. Don’t even get me started on Michelle Yeoh.

* * * *



I’m Listening to Sam Cooke’s rendition of Little Girl; and it’s fracking amazing. Sam Cooke and Otis Redding may well be the greatest male singers of the last century. Incredible. I’m working on a version of Redding’s I’ve Been Loving You Too Long. I’m obsessed with that song, I sing it like ten times a day. The bad news is eventually I’ll start to bore myself as much as Mitzi Gaynor bores me, the good news is practice makes perfect and I’m starting to perfect a killer version of that song. It’s good to be singing again, even if I’m only singing for myself.

A last note, and I didn’t want to write it, but it somehow feels wrong if I don’t acknowledge it, since it's the primary thing on my mind. David died ten years ago today, and the passing of the decade hasn’t made me miss him any less. I still secretly pray for him to come back, though I know it's irrational. I'm like a child in that way.








well, that's all.

Twilight Film Review, Crazy Girlfriend, and 42nd St.

So I haven't posted anything in ages. But teenage pandemonium and mass hysteria has prompted me to post a Twilight review, and, no, it's not bad.

Anyway, I heart this movie. In all its goofy, utter sincerity. It has not one cynical bone in its body.

Although Robert Pattinson doesn’t completely succeed on all levels (there are moments of unintentional garish hilarity and he sometimes looks like a pained mime about to hurl), his overall performance was brave and nuanced. He brought humor and pathos to a role that could have been played as an expressionless, bloodless hair model/stalker. There is no better actor than a brave one. An acting coach once told me, "When struggling with objectives and actions, make the riskier choices." ... of course, I could just be saying all of this because he is incredibly hot.

I thought some of the effects worked. The baseball game was electric and fun. The tree stuff was nice. The transition from treetops and mountain views to the lullaby sequence was gorgeous. Carter Burwell’s score was majestic and sweet, but I admit it sometimes reminded me of cheesy 80s scores for films like Ladyhawke (another sincere, cheese-fest I love). I hated some of the wire work and the running; I think some creative editing could have saved them from the tacky look of certain effects. The makeup was at times just dreadful. I really think the makeup artist could have made them appear pale without turning their faces into kabuki masks. The vampire's lipstick shade I believe was mulberry.



Overall, it was frank and funny and bold, ultimately cheesy, and a even a bit campy. But it was sincere and self-absorbed as first love always is. This film reminds me of that innocent time when I really believed loving someone could mean everything ... secretly, I still partially believe that.

*****

In other news (let's shift from the sincere to the cynical for a moment, shall we?), this is the funniest thing I've read all week:

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/god_help_him_but_area_man_loves

My favorite line -

"Maybe it's the way she dumped her nail polish on my pool table when I insulted her sister, or the way she cries every time I eat veal, but damned if I don't adore her crazy ass," Shearer said. "I'll kill her someday, I swear, but that wack-job is going to end up being the mother of my children."

Why does this feel more like an accurate description of real relationships than the star-crossed lovers in the above review? Heh heh.

*****



I saw 42nd St. recently as well (the 1933 film version), and it was spectacular. Ruby Keeler gives a diamond of a performance, and Dick Powell is adorable. I adored this film. It made me long for that more innocent time (a time which has more in common with Twilight's universe than with most films today), when watching people hoof it on a stage and fall in love was enough to temporarily salve the everyday agonies of the Great Depression. It's a resilient, hopeful film with a sharp, winking eye. And it's got one of the best, most classic movie lines ever: "You're going out there a youngster, but you've got to come back a star!!" It doesn't get any better than that ... unless it involves a pair of sparkly cheekbones ;)

Often too much truth ...

People see the harm in what excessive candor can do.