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I'm reading The Time-Traveller's Wife and, although I'm enjoying it, I'm getting a distinctly homophobic vibe from it. Also, I tend to find that some sections capture my attention, while others make my attention wander.
New Supernatural 4x02 images. Spoilers, obviously.
Was Mackenzie Ackles on Supernatural?
A couple of trailers: Zack and Miri Make a Porno, Milk. You know, I'm not a fan of Sean Penn and I haven't seen a Gus Van Sant movie I like yet, but I am going to be there opening day when this comes out.
Nathan Fillion on Craig Ferguson, both of whom I love. Why did they pick a clip from Dr. Horrible in which Nathan neither sings nor speaks? Also, you know who Nathan saw when he was in Sydney? ME! I'm sure it was the highlight of his trip, even though we barely spoke.
Preview of the 'Fringe' comic written by Zack Whedon.
This Buffy mood theme is just spiffy.
More new HBP pics.
In the last couple of days I've seen a couple of movies.
The Band Wagon
I am ashamed to say, as a musical fan, that I had not seen this until yesterday, because it's been lauded as one of the best musicals of all time. I have to admit, I'm more a Gene Kelly girl than a Fred Astaire fan for the most part. Gene Kelly is so hard-hitting, while Fred Astaire just floats. Dance-wise he's a better match for the elegant, gorgeous, effortless Cyd Charisse.
What's really fascinating about this movie is the art-imitates-art-imitates-life feeling you get watching it (something like with Citizen Kane, only with less unchecked egotism and more jazz hands.) Fred Astaire plays a washed-up song-and-dance movie star known for his top hats and tails floundering in the 50's, and Cyd Charisse plays a ballerina afraid to cross into the pop-culture world that Fred inhabits. I know, right? Not that Fred Astaire was washed up, but The Band Wagon was clearly his chance to shine in a new time, so it was interesting to see that. There were some great laughs that stemmed from the film trusting the audience to really know about what was going on at that time, too.
The director and writer characters were excellent supporting roles (Oscar Levant is great, and I'm sad that I never saw Nanette Fabray in anything else because she's just gorgeous) and they kept the film moving at a good pace. What disappointed me more than anything else was the lack of chemistry between the leads - I said before that Fred's a better match for Cyd than Gene dance-wise, but they don't manage an ounce of the fire Cyd and Gene have in the green dress scene in Singin' in the Rain. I also kind of felt like the numbers were hit-and-miss, particularly in the final play they produce, which is essentially just a collection of cool numbers that has no discernible storyline. There's a few famous, stand-out numbers, but there's equally a few that kind of fall by the wayside and they don't tend to move the plot along as much as I'd hope for. Cyd's dubbing is woeful, too. Overall, though, definately a much smarter, more interesting musical than that era was used to, and I will agree with one IMDb poster who said that it was the last great musical of its era (but it's no Singin' in the Rain.)
4 out of 5
Penelope
Before I review this one, I need to get something off my chest.
#1: HER NOSE ISN'T THAT BAD. I mean, okay, a little odd, but certainly not 'run screaming from the room' bad. If you were walking down the street you probably wouldn't even NOTICE that it was a pig's nose, you'd just think 'that poor girl has a rather unfortunate nose' and move on. Also, once you get used to it, she looks really odd without it. It's quite cute.
#2: If you're going to shoot in England and cast a grand total of four Americans (including yourself, Reese Witherspoon), at least let ALL the British cast members speak with their own accents instead of just a few, because the whole time I was getting frustrated.
Okay. Suspending disbelief, I enjoyed this movie WAY more than I expected to. It was quite a cute modern fairytale about (as they all are these days) finding yourself, and James McAvoy and Christina Ricci were adorable in it. The cast was crazy, too, full of familiar British faces (Nick Frost! Burn Gorman! Lenny Henry! Russell Brand!) The plot moved at a decent pace and didn't get too bogged down, and I loved the aesthetic of it. The long separation of Christina and James kind of let the movie down a bit, particularly since they were so good together. I left it smiling, though, which is what you want from a fairytale.
3 out of 5
More curves than a scenic railway
Green Queen
New Supernatural 4x02 images. Spoilers, obviously.
Was Mackenzie Ackles on Supernatural?
A couple of trailers: Zack and Miri Make a Porno, Milk. You know, I'm not a fan of Sean Penn and I haven't seen a Gus Van Sant movie I like yet, but I am going to be there opening day when this comes out.
Nathan Fillion on Craig Ferguson, both of whom I love. Why did they pick a clip from Dr. Horrible in which Nathan neither sings nor speaks? Also, you know who Nathan saw when he was in Sydney? ME! I'm sure it was the highlight of his trip, even though we barely spoke.
Preview of the 'Fringe' comic written by Zack Whedon.
This Buffy mood theme is just spiffy.
More new HBP pics.
In the last couple of days I've seen a couple of movies.
The Band Wagon
I am ashamed to say, as a musical fan, that I had not seen this until yesterday, because it's been lauded as one of the best musicals of all time. I have to admit, I'm more a Gene Kelly girl than a Fred Astaire fan for the most part. Gene Kelly is so hard-hitting, while Fred Astaire just floats. Dance-wise he's a better match for the elegant, gorgeous, effortless Cyd Charisse.
What's really fascinating about this movie is the art-imitates-art-imitates-life feeling you get watching it (something like with Citizen Kane, only with less unchecked egotism and more jazz hands.) Fred Astaire plays a washed-up song-and-dance movie star known for his top hats and tails floundering in the 50's, and Cyd Charisse plays a ballerina afraid to cross into the pop-culture world that Fred inhabits. I know, right? Not that Fred Astaire was washed up, but The Band Wagon was clearly his chance to shine in a new time, so it was interesting to see that. There were some great laughs that stemmed from the film trusting the audience to really know about what was going on at that time, too.
The director and writer characters were excellent supporting roles (Oscar Levant is great, and I'm sad that I never saw Nanette Fabray in anything else because she's just gorgeous) and they kept the film moving at a good pace. What disappointed me more than anything else was the lack of chemistry between the leads - I said before that Fred's a better match for Cyd than Gene dance-wise, but they don't manage an ounce of the fire Cyd and Gene have in the green dress scene in Singin' in the Rain. I also kind of felt like the numbers were hit-and-miss, particularly in the final play they produce, which is essentially just a collection of cool numbers that has no discernible storyline. There's a few famous, stand-out numbers, but there's equally a few that kind of fall by the wayside and they don't tend to move the plot along as much as I'd hope for. Cyd's dubbing is woeful, too. Overall, though, definately a much smarter, more interesting musical than that era was used to, and I will agree with one IMDb poster who said that it was the last great musical of its era (but it's no Singin' in the Rain.)
4 out of 5
Penelope
Before I review this one, I need to get something off my chest.
#1: HER NOSE ISN'T THAT BAD. I mean, okay, a little odd, but certainly not 'run screaming from the room' bad. If you were walking down the street you probably wouldn't even NOTICE that it was a pig's nose, you'd just think 'that poor girl has a rather unfortunate nose' and move on. Also, once you get used to it, she looks really odd without it. It's quite cute.
#2: If you're going to shoot in England and cast a grand total of four Americans (including yourself, Reese Witherspoon), at least let ALL the British cast members speak with their own accents instead of just a few, because the whole time I was getting frustrated.
Okay. Suspending disbelief, I enjoyed this movie WAY more than I expected to. It was quite a cute modern fairytale about (as they all are these days) finding yourself, and James McAvoy and Christina Ricci were adorable in it. The cast was crazy, too, full of familiar British faces (Nick Frost! Burn Gorman! Lenny Henry! Russell Brand!) The plot moved at a decent pace and didn't get too bogged down, and I loved the aesthetic of it. The long separation of Christina and James kind of let the movie down a bit, particularly since they were so good together. I left it smiling, though, which is what you want from a fairytale.
3 out of 5
More curves than a scenic railway
Green Queen
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From:
no subject
I had the exact same thought! why not pick "a man's gotta do"?
Also, you know who Nathan saw when he was in Sydney? ME!
I totally thought of you ;) Australia = You and I knew you had met him haha
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I FUCKING KNOW!!!!! This was the number one thing that annoyed my about this movie! It wasn't a pretty nose, but I have seen people with noses like that/as bad as that, AND THEY DID NOT LOOK LIKE CHRISTINA RICCI UNDERNEATH THE NOSES! Aside from that, though, it was a cute movie.
Why did they pick a clip from Dr. Horrible in which Nathan neither sings nor speaks?
I really didn't get that either. I mean, it was a cute clip, but why would they not chose a scene where Nathan, you know, does anything? And haha I totally thought of you when he mentioned Australia.
The secret Giles/Anya shipper inside me rejoices about the mood pic for 'tired' in that very cute mood theme ^^
*edit wtf buffy/anya? :D
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That's pretty much how I felt about it.
Going to watch the interview now. I ♥ both Nathan and Craig.
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I loved Penelope. I agree with your points on it, but overall, I think it was highly enjoyable and so much better than I expected.
Oh, thanks for the links to the trailers too. I want to see both.
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I liked it too! It's just, those little things kind of irritated me.
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I enjoyed the time travellers wife, and don't recall getting homophobic vibes from it... But you seem to be a lot more sensitive to these things than I am - I'm happy to let my brain wander and accept things for what they are.
YOu know Mark Sheppard is coming to hub now, right?
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