Since it's Friday, and my thoughts have already turned into flights of fancy [I really need to get focused at some point], let's talk about movies (upcoming and present) that you want to see. Here are mine:
RENT - I've seen this on stage twice and I love love LOVE it. I read somewhere that some members of the original Broadway cast will be in this movie. Can't wait for it to come out. Can. Not. Wait. I was invited to a special screening to benefit Project Open Hand, but tickets were like, $100 a piece. Exqueeze me?
Memoirs of a Geisha - Loved the book, and I mean no offense when I say this, but why is 50% of the cast Chinese? I mean, Director Rob Marshall got some great actors for this movie, but man, we don't ALL look alike.
And then there's:
- "Walk the Line," the Johnny Cash movie
- "Jarhead," the Jake Gyllenhall drool-fest
- "Good Night and Good Luck," George Clooney's movie about the McCarthy era
- "Capote" (Have I ever mentioned my undying love for Philip Seymour Hoffman? Seriously. I think he gets my other ovary.)
Hell, I still haven't seen "The Constant Gardener" yet. I'm so behind.
*** The absence of the new Harry Potter movie is no coincidence.
Posts
4 comments:
No Harry Potter!?!!!? Isn't that punishable by death or something?
I mean, in this age of consumer-driven conformity, how could you not feel the overwhelming urge to get in line with every other lemming and shell out an enormous sum to sit in a large, cavernous, cold space with fifteen thousand too many small children in order to be exposed to what everyone is telling you ... telling you, damnit! is pure fucking genious?!!?
what the fuck's wrong with you, eh? you got a mind or something?
watch yer back, and if you see Donald Duck sneaking up behind you, run.
You are so right about the casting of the Chinese girls. Marshall could have found Japanese actresses but the bottom line is simply that his producers demanded MONEY GIRLS with Box Office potential to bring in the bucks to pay for the US$80 million movie and make some profits later. Even the esteemed movie critic for TIME magazine Richard Corliss, in his recent preview of Geisha said "It is a SHAME [repeat SHAME] that a film with so specific a setting could not have leading ladies steeped in that culture. " Meaning Japanese culture. But aside from the improper and money oriented casting, faces aside, the worst thing about the casting choices is that the Chinese actresses speak English with Chinese-accented English sounds, and NOT Japanese-accented English, so they sound INAUTHENTIC. That's the bottom line. The accents make the film unwatchable. Chinese English is very different from Japanese English, as anyone who has ever lived in either country knows. But most Americans won't even notice or care. Sad. The dumbing down of America goes on.
My friend Carol worked on RENT, and she and my good pal Marty saw it Saturday. They said it was quite enjoyable (it was the first time Carol had seen it on the screen, despite having been there for the filming of it). Mrs. G and I saw Good Night & Good Luck Saturday night and thought it was the bomb. (Wait -- do people still say that? If not, then we thought it was ebola.)
I also liked Capote quite a bit, but was somewhat underwhelmed by The Constant Gardener. Nice cinematography, but I didn't think it was the world-beater that most critics do.
Still want to see both Jarhead and Walk the Line. And Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic. Harry Potter? Ehh, not so much.
You didn't mention Brokeback Mountain!!! Shame on you Mags!! Shame on you!
Post a Comment