In which I exhaust my meager wit.
Like I said, this weekend was all about movies, hanging out with the newly-returned Rackle Factor (
_titania_), and Christmas shopping.
Rent:: It was a little odd to watch onscreen. I like the majority of the music quite a lot, and Rent holds a special place in my heart because it was the first thing I came across that said it was okay to be queer. That love is love. That I wasn't some kind of godless freak. That said, I am not a complete RENT-head. I recognize that it has some flaws, and yes, those flaws transferred to the screen.
First off-- I have never, ever been able to take Roger seriously. I mean, the boy looks like he comes straight out of a Bon Jovi video, and his songs, aside from ("One Song Glory") are not terribly strong. Blah blah blah based on La Bohème blah blah. Whatever. I get that he's supposed to be kind of a sap, so it's not really Adam Pascal's fault. Still, I find the character largely uninteresting and uninvolving. It's the rest of the cast I'm interested in.
This was a straight stage-to-screen adaptation. With the exception of the addition of a gay marriage nod, very little is changed. This leads to the film being both endearing and nostalgic and a little less than thrilling.
The singing was largely great. You could tell that Rosario Dawson is not a natural singer, but that's okay because she did very well physically acting out the part of Mimi. Also, she looked like a 19 year-old druggie, and not a 40 year-old one, which is why I actually liked her over Daphne Rubin-Vega. Anthony Rapp is the standard as Mark, and did pretty well. (As a side note, now that he's not playing a starving artist, can we please chip in and get him a cheeseburger? He looked kind of pterodactyl-esque during "La Vie Bohème.") Taye Diggs was given far too little to do. Idina Menzel was deliciously catty as Maureen (though nothing on earth will ever keep me from snoozing through "Over the Moon"). Two standouts were Jesse L. Martin reprising Tom Collins (the reprise of "I'll Cover You" is so touching) and Tracie Thoms singing her ass off as Joanne. She's so cute, I'd love to see more of her. As a side note, the refurbishing of "Tango Maureen" was my favorite moment. "One Song Glory" and "Without You" were also really good, because Chris Columbus used them to tell more of the story than we get to see on stage. I liked that quite a bit.
And then there's Wilson Jermaine Heredia. Oh my dear sweet lord. No one will ever, ever be a better Angel than him. Did I mention ever? 'Cuz whoa. I can't even verbalize it. He is so amazingly awesome and dude, it's not fair that he gets to be prettier than 90% of the female population.
My big gripe was the really ridiculously cheesy orchestration. "Your Eyes" is a bad enough song without the unforgivably terrible power-chords of the eighties, especially while we're staring up Roger's nose. Okay? That could have been tweaked or downplayed, because instead of being upset that Mimi's dying, I just giggled a lot. Much of the orchestration was a tad too wet-noodle for the cinematic medium-- I'd have liked something a tad more matching to the gritty visuals, not just the "NEW orginal cast broadway recording!" version.
That said. It was fun. Not omgsogreat!, but fun. I'll probably get it on DVD.
Pride and Prejudice:: Okay. It's no secret that I'm not Keira Knightley's biggest fan. Most of the time, I'm the president of the "feed Keira!" fanclub. I mean, she's a gorgeous girl, and from the interviews I've seen/read, she seems perfectly down-to-earth and fun. It's just that she has a tendency to look like Skeletor in full-body shots, and that's a mite off-putting. Well, there's that and the fact that I can never seem to get past the fact that she's Keira so I can get into the character.
That said. She was really good in this movie. Granted, everything I've heard has compared her to Jennifer Ehle (or, as Rac pronounced it, Ehrrhehrle.) She's not her. She's her own animal, which was good. And Matthew MacFayden was not Colin Firth. Still, it worked. The acting was great, the cinematography was great. It was supremely watchable and not the standard fairytale roll-your-eyes "omg chick flick" adaptation. Also, I got a small woobie for Mr. MacFayden when I saw him in a bit part in The Reckoning, and I'm so not gonna be surprised when this flick shoots him to full-blown hunk status.
Kingdom of Heaven:: I try to not catch Orlando Bloom flicks in the theater if I can help it. It's mostly because the boy only has three facial expressions. I'm so pretty! I'm so heroic! I'm so confused! But lo. In this movie, he adds not one, but two more. There's"Blue Steel" and "Magnum" ...er, I mean "I'm so broody!" and "I'm so angry!" Sadly, this is nearly enough of a marvel to merit watching the film in and of itself, even if, like me, you just rented it.
This film is largely saved by a solid supporting cast, a modicum of historical accuracy, and the fact that it actually doesn't follow the Hollywood standard that a film's protagonist must utterly save the day and slay his opponent in order to be effective. The directing was mostly good (Ridley Scott was perhaps a little too heavy-handed with the slow-mo blood spatter / speed to real-time technique). Also, Baldwin IV was a damn cool king.
Kingdom of Heaven raised some good questions, and it made nice parallels to the state of war in today's Middle East. (I could practically hear rednecks across the country scratching their heads, thinking "yew mean them there towel-heads ain't always the bad guys? that they can be all honerable-like?!") It was more than just a surface action movie, and considering the dire state of this year's cinema, I was actually pretty grateful for that. Also, it takes a bit of guts to point out that just calling yourself a Christian doesn't make you right or good. Christians are still human, which makes them pretty capable of horrible, selfish, violent acts... just like the rest of us.
I think I'm out of witty commentary. It was miles better than Troy, and therefore worth a renting if you're bored on a Sunday.
Allow me to say, though, that I was absolutely disgusted with Rent's audience. A significant chunk walked out after the Tom/Angel kiss. A bigger portion went, "ewww!" Rac and Heather heckled those ignorant wimps, good for them. Also, people need to learn how to turn off their fucking cell phones while they're at the theater. Don't like the movie? Fine. Leave. Don't check for text messages every five seconds, because your stupid little blue LCD screen is distracting as hell. Asshat.
I got to buy Christmas prezzies! I got a few for the people playing along with LJ Secret Santa, my brothers, a couple girlfriends. I'm kind of giddy, actually, since I found the perfect gift for a few of the naughty chicks on my list. I've mostly go everybody else figured out, too-- I've never gotten the Christmas Shopping Stress Headache, because I *love* to buy presents. I actually look forward to it. The gift giving, I mean, not the aching wallet. Or the aching hands, since I'm going to be doing a lot of custom-writing this year.
Lunch break is over. Back to work. Borga Borga Swedish Chef lady called in to complain that no one had contacted her about her claim. Good thing I keep good records, eh?
Today's Lesson in Fandom::
Typing. Like. This. In. Every. Single. Argumentative. Livejournal. Comment. Does. Not. Make. You. Sound. Badass. Or. Full. Of. Conviction.
It makes you look like an irritating ass.
Oh! And lest I forget, happy birthday tothebratqueen, purveyor of my favorite well-written smut fanfiction. Long live the queen.
_titania_), and Christmas shopping. Rent:: It was a little odd to watch onscreen. I like the majority of the music quite a lot, and Rent holds a special place in my heart because it was the first thing I came across that said it was okay to be queer. That love is love. That I wasn't some kind of godless freak. That said, I am not a complete RENT-head. I recognize that it has some flaws, and yes, those flaws transferred to the screen.
First off-- I have never, ever been able to take Roger seriously. I mean, the boy looks like he comes straight out of a Bon Jovi video, and his songs, aside from ("One Song Glory") are not terribly strong. Blah blah blah based on La Bohème blah blah. Whatever. I get that he's supposed to be kind of a sap, so it's not really Adam Pascal's fault. Still, I find the character largely uninteresting and uninvolving. It's the rest of the cast I'm interested in.
This was a straight stage-to-screen adaptation. With the exception of the addition of a gay marriage nod, very little is changed. This leads to the film being both endearing and nostalgic and a little less than thrilling.
The singing was largely great. You could tell that Rosario Dawson is not a natural singer, but that's okay because she did very well physically acting out the part of Mimi. Also, she looked like a 19 year-old druggie, and not a 40 year-old one, which is why I actually liked her over Daphne Rubin-Vega. Anthony Rapp is the standard as Mark, and did pretty well. (As a side note, now that he's not playing a starving artist, can we please chip in and get him a cheeseburger? He looked kind of pterodactyl-esque during "La Vie Bohème.") Taye Diggs was given far too little to do. Idina Menzel was deliciously catty as Maureen (though nothing on earth will ever keep me from snoozing through "Over the Moon"). Two standouts were Jesse L. Martin reprising Tom Collins (the reprise of "I'll Cover You" is so touching) and Tracie Thoms singing her ass off as Joanne. She's so cute, I'd love to see more of her. As a side note, the refurbishing of "Tango Maureen" was my favorite moment. "One Song Glory" and "Without You" were also really good, because Chris Columbus used them to tell more of the story than we get to see on stage. I liked that quite a bit.
And then there's Wilson Jermaine Heredia. Oh my dear sweet lord. No one will ever, ever be a better Angel than him. Did I mention ever? 'Cuz whoa. I can't even verbalize it. He is so amazingly awesome and dude, it's not fair that he gets to be prettier than 90% of the female population.
My big gripe was the really ridiculously cheesy orchestration. "Your Eyes" is a bad enough song without the unforgivably terrible power-chords of the eighties, especially while we're staring up Roger's nose. Okay? That could have been tweaked or downplayed, because instead of being upset that Mimi's dying, I just giggled a lot. Much of the orchestration was a tad too wet-noodle for the cinematic medium-- I'd have liked something a tad more matching to the gritty visuals, not just the "NEW orginal cast broadway recording!" version.
That said. It was fun. Not omgsogreat!, but fun. I'll probably get it on DVD.
Pride and Prejudice:: Okay. It's no secret that I'm not Keira Knightley's biggest fan. Most of the time, I'm the president of the "feed Keira!" fanclub. I mean, she's a gorgeous girl, and from the interviews I've seen/read, she seems perfectly down-to-earth and fun. It's just that she has a tendency to look like Skeletor in full-body shots, and that's a mite off-putting. Well, there's that and the fact that I can never seem to get past the fact that she's Keira so I can get into the character.
That said. She was really good in this movie. Granted, everything I've heard has compared her to Jennifer Ehle (or, as Rac pronounced it, Ehrrhehrle.) She's not her. She's her own animal, which was good. And Matthew MacFayden was not Colin Firth. Still, it worked. The acting was great, the cinematography was great. It was supremely watchable and not the standard fairytale roll-your-eyes "omg chick flick" adaptation. Also, I got a small woobie for Mr. MacFayden when I saw him in a bit part in The Reckoning, and I'm so not gonna be surprised when this flick shoots him to full-blown hunk status.
Kingdom of Heaven:: I try to not catch Orlando Bloom flicks in the theater if I can help it. It's mostly because the boy only has three facial expressions. I'm so pretty! I'm so heroic! I'm so confused! But lo. In this movie, he adds not one, but two more. There's
This film is largely saved by a solid supporting cast, a modicum of historical accuracy, and the fact that it actually doesn't follow the Hollywood standard that a film's protagonist must utterly save the day and slay his opponent in order to be effective. The directing was mostly good (Ridley Scott was perhaps a little too heavy-handed with the slow-mo blood spatter / speed to real-time technique). Also, Baldwin IV was a damn cool king.
Kingdom of Heaven raised some good questions, and it made nice parallels to the state of war in today's Middle East. (I could practically hear rednecks across the country scratching their heads, thinking "yew mean them there towel-heads ain't always the bad guys? that they can be all honerable-like?!") It was more than just a surface action movie, and considering the dire state of this year's cinema, I was actually pretty grateful for that. Also, it takes a bit of guts to point out that just calling yourself a Christian doesn't make you right or good. Christians are still human, which makes them pretty capable of horrible, selfish, violent acts... just like the rest of us.
I think I'm out of witty commentary. It was miles better than Troy, and therefore worth a renting if you're bored on a Sunday.
Allow me to say, though, that I was absolutely disgusted with Rent's audience. A significant chunk walked out after the Tom/Angel kiss. A bigger portion went, "ewww!" Rac and Heather heckled those ignorant wimps, good for them. Also, people need to learn how to turn off their fucking cell phones while they're at the theater. Don't like the movie? Fine. Leave. Don't check for text messages every five seconds, because your stupid little blue LCD screen is distracting as hell. Asshat.
I got to buy Christmas prezzies! I got a few for the people playing along with LJ Secret Santa, my brothers, a couple girlfriends. I'm kind of giddy, actually, since I found the perfect gift for a few of the naughty chicks on my list. I've mostly go everybody else figured out, too-- I've never gotten the Christmas Shopping Stress Headache, because I *love* to buy presents. I actually look forward to it. The gift giving, I mean, not the aching wallet. Or the aching hands, since I'm going to be doing a lot of custom-writing this year.
Lunch break is over. Back to work. Borga Borga Swedish Chef lady called in to complain that no one had contacted her about her claim. Good thing I keep good records, eh?
Today's Lesson in Fandom::
Typing. Like. This. In. Every. Single. Argumentative. Livejournal. Comment. Does. Not. Make. You. Sound. Badass. Or. Full. Of. Conviction.
It makes you look like an irritating ass.
Oh! And lest I forget, happy birthday to
thebratqueen, purveyor of my favorite well-written