Meryl Streep
Wednesday, July 30th, 2008While I was browsing for Mamma Mia! pictures I came across these two photos of Meryl Streep. Enough said.
Thanks for these and the Judy Davis photo to the drama girl.
Archive for July, 2008
People I admire (and who happen to be left-handed) #3
Wednesday, July 30th, 2008Judy Davis is one of my favourite actors and has been ever since My Brilliant Career. She exudes intelligence and poise.
Her best performances include A Passage to India, High Tide, Impromptu, Barton Fink and Life With Judy Garland.
This picture was taken outside court during a recent libel case so I guess she is under stress but I think she looks splendiferous.
If you ain’t eatin’ Wham, you ain’t eatin’ ham!
Wednesday, July 30th, 2008Mamma Mia!
I went to see this film with my mum and I suspect that I’m not the only one to do so. The last film I went to see with my mum was Titanic and I suspect the audience in the cinema then was the same composition as this one: overwhelmingly female.
Mammia Mia! is not a good film and for the first twenty minutes or so I was frozen in my seat thinking “why am I here? why? why?” Then there was the exhilarating “Dancing Queen” which culminated with the cast dancing on the dock and I told myself to just let go. So I did and from then on it was an enjoyable film.
The ending made me sigh more than a little (not the very ending in all its campy glory which was fabulous) because I really dislike happy endings equals weddings. In this case it didn’t matter who got married it just equals happiness.
Christine Baranski was the highlight for me. I have liked her since she consistently stole the show from Cybill Shepherd and she was made to sing “Does Your Mother Know?” Meryl Streep was just great - she is one of the greats and certainly doesn’t lack humour. I must defend Pierce Brosnan’s voice. He can’t sing too well but he’ll never be as bad as Ewan “foghorn” McGregor.
The only feminist thing about this film is the fact it was directed, written, produced, edited and designed by women.
Spider-Man 3
Bloody hell. I appreciate this film was going for the humour but it missed by miles. The clues were in the secretary’s buzzing of JJ and in the comedy French maître d’ but the nadir was Peter “Saturday Night Fever” Parker and that awful, awful “Fever” dance scene.
The humour wasn’t the worst thing about it. There was also the coincidence strewn plot: without knowing Venom’s back story just how is the casual viewer supposed to know Eddie Block was a Catholic but even knowing that doesn’t explain what Spidey was doing in the church tower. There were too many villains, Peter and MJ’s relationship was painful and useless and the acting was abysmal (except Bryce Dallas Howard and Thomas Haden Church).
And it was interminable and it had a retcon and it was rubbish.
Mr Blandings Builds His Dream Home
Often comedies of stupid behaviour strain my own considerable good humour but this I loved. It helps when it is impeccably played by Cary Grant (surely the best re-actor ever), Myrna Loy (and her big nose) and Melvyn Douglas (who I feel I have neglected).
It is daft and the characters are really too stupid to be successful at anything but it made me smile and laugh throughout. It slipped in a bit of preachiness re housing near the end but I’ll forgive it as I will forgive Melvin Frank and Norman Panama for letting Mr B tell Mrs B to be quiet for doing something as daft as all the other things he had been doing throughout.
Crash
I saw this ages ago but I don’t have too much coherent to write about it. It was heavy-handed and not that clever. I resent Matt Dillon’s character doing heroic things as if it redeems his rape of Thandie Newton’s character (a repulsive and stomach churning scene). Is it stretching to make the comparison with a soldier who is as brave as anything in the field but who rapes women the next day? Does risking your life for another cancel out other morally repugnant behaviour? I don’t think so but I’m not great on really deep thoughts.
Not Matt but Ryan.
Comics update
Wednesday, July 30th, 2008Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight #4-16 (Joss Whedon, Brian K. Vaughan, Drew Goddard, Georges Jeanty, Paul Lee, Cliff Richards, Karl Moline)
I blogged about the first three issues and then stopped. I’m not clear why. Ahem, several issues later, I’m not actually convinced that I really like them though I wouldn’t for a minute consider stopping reading them. Buffy’s relationship with Satsu felt off to me. I know I am negatively influenced by the media coverage that Dark Horse encouraged and this definitely makes me sway towards thinking it was a cheap and sleazy gimmick except I love how they broke up which was nicely done.
The Renee thing? I’m bored now of this sort of thing, really bored. And please do something with Dawn, she is not a joke.
Jo Chen’s covers continue to amaze.
Runaways #25-30 - Dead End Kids (Joss Whedon, Michael Ryan)
I have at long last read Joss Whedon’s run on Runaways. I say at long last as if it’s my fault that it dragged over many months but I suppose it is true that in years to come no one will care what delays there were unless it is poor stuff anyway. Which this isn’t. By the end it was pretty darn good.
Xavin’s constant appearances as a man really bugged me so I was delighted when JW dealt with the issue across two superb pages. I am pissed off we didn’t see them kiss particularly since we saw Victor and Lillie (the one I think of as Caitlin from Heroes) kiss at least twice. I must say that Xavin as a woman drawn by Michael Ryan was gorgeous.
However, the run was messy and abrupt in parts but much better than I ever thought it was going to be when the delays hit.
Serenity: Better Days (Joss Whedon, Brett Matthews, Will Conrad)
The least said about Adam Hughes’ covers the better though I give you the “Once More, With Feeling” soundtrack cover and rest my case. This was messy (again) and confused and frankly not very good. Shame.
Heroes - season two
Tuesday, July 29th, 2008Andy and I struggled to the end of the second season and we won’t be back for more.
Dull and, bizarrely, considering its subject matter, unimaginative with awful plotting and glaring errors in logic.
The series has managed to kill my liking for Greg Grunberg and is also responsible for the following:
- it managed to make a decent actor (Ali Larter) struggle in an unforgiving role that stunk: Nikki/Jessica/Gina
- it reintroduced Sylar who was hard enough work for me to care about in the first season
- it killed off Candice in the most pathetic way considering her power
- Irish scenes of excruciating quality
- Caitlin and her faux Irish accent and her boring romance with Peter
- West and his creepy stalking which, I think, we weren’t supposed to find creepy
- Claire’s lack of progression as a character
- it killed off DL (the fab Leonard Roberts)
- it gave Peter too many powers but conveniently forgot what powers they were if the plot demanded that power not be used (e.g. to read Adam’s mind, to walk through doors)
- casting the iconic Nichelle Nichols and then not use her
- it made Kristen Bell’s character unbearable to start with
- it did nothing with Ando when he and Hiro had such chemistry the season before
- and I haven’t even mentioned Hiro, Noah, Mohinder, Nathan and the twins
So what was I watching?
- Stephen Tobolowsky
- Elle in the last episode
- Monica played by Dana Davis
- the awesomeness of Ashley Crow as Sandra Bennet
- Adrian Pasdar’s beard
- Cristine Rose as the chilling Angela
Here’s Penny!
Saturday, July 26th, 2008
This is Penny who will become our third cat when she is 12 weeks old (she is now five weeks). Our other cats are called Wash and Tara. Where do we get our names from?
…and the book just opens to those pages by itself
Monday, July 21st, 2008
Mad Men “Marriage of Figaro”
A relatively undramatic episode but we learned some interesting snippets.
- Don may be a Dick (actually we discover when he does the dirty on his daughter during her party that he is definitely a dick).
- Pete was quite likeable but I suspect that won’t last.
- Betty is a nice person who doesn’t indulge in the dissing of Helen (and she did invite the divorcee over after all) and went to Bryn Mawr which goes a long way to explaining why she can’t pull her rubber gloves off.
Is this the last of Rachel? Or will she succumb to the Don charm? I hope not even though I like her character and Maggie Siff in the part.
The Chinese people in the office joke seemed flat both on screen and in my reaction to it. I don’t really get it. Though I did enjoy Rachel negotiating the chicken as she leaves the office.
I thought the Lady Chatterley’s Lover scene was very funny with great delivery of the “there’s a few good parts, that’s all…” line by Christina Hendricks.
It is notable that the most attractive characters are the most modern so I liked Helen.
It meandered to a close with Don’s moping not particularly gripping me.
Not, I suspect, anyone’s favourite episode and hopefully the worst.
More on Dr Horrible and Joss Whedon
Sunday, July 20th, 2008A few more thoughts:
As a poster at TWOP said we were sold a musical comedy and for two acts it was one and then in the third it became a tragedy - a tragedy that felt rotten - now what we want and what we need are two different things - however, I didn’t need this, I didn’t enjoy it and it ultimately failed to work for me.
JW has lost my devotion - Buffy and Firefly were so great that I have spent my time watching the quite frankly poor Angel in search of those nuggets of cleverness and humour but they are few and far between. If Dollhouse doesn’t engage me after several episodes I’ll do a Pushing Daisies on it - life is too short to watch material that I don’t really like even if it is written by Joss Whedon.
And why was Penny’s death so damned passive? Might I be happier if she had died doing something? Might I be happier if Tara had died doing something?
