Jim watched and loved Pan's Labyrinth this weekend. I would love the beauty of the visuals and the story being told on two levels, but I also know how sad it is. It would stay in my bloodstream for days. Another great movie that I can't handle.
Olivia and Maria watched Clash of the Titans this weekend. That's a fun one!
I went to a world premiere performance of an unearthed Tennessee Williams play in Chicago this weekend, The Day on Which a Man Dies, directed by David Kaplan. It was performed in a small , brightly lit venue with the four actors very close to the audience. Done in the Japanese Noh manner, it is stylized and jarring, and has left me thinking about the nature of relationships and the extent to which they make us vulnerable, also how there are differents ways of giving yourself to another: physically, mentally, emotionally. The venom in this couple is not unlike that between the married couple in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. The close proximity of this stage and the use of the color red contribute to the sense of brutality in the piece. Jennie Moreau who plays The Woman is absolutely stunning.
Feel free to comment on movies that you've seen and enjoyed recently, or on any theater experiences, too!
One reader's thoughts as she steps from book to book.
Books I've Finished
- "A Christmas Memory"
- by Truman Capote 12/8/12
- "Child's Christmas in Wales"
- by Dylan Thomas 12/7/12
- "One Christmas"
- by Truman Capote 11/29/12
- "The Thanksgiving Visitor"
- by Truman Capote 11/29/12
- Inside Mrs. B's Classroom
- by Leslie Baldacci 11/28/12
- The Bee Eater
- by Richard Whitmire 11/15/12
- There Are No Shortcuts
- by Rafe Esquith 10/28/12
- I'd Like to Apologize to
- Every Teacher I Ever Had
- by Tony Danza 10/21/12
- Corked
- by Kathryn Borel 10/15/12
- Year of Learning Dangerously
- by Quinn Cummings 9/30/12
- A Hologram for the King
- by Dave Eggers 8/23/12
- To Kill a Mockingbird
- by Harper Lee 7/18/12
About Me
- Christine
- I often have a few books with bookmarks in them at once. I enjoy classics more than contemporary works of fiction, often read historical fiction, and love to get glimpses into other people's lives by reading memoirs and biographies.
14 comments:
Aah, Clash of the Titans. That is and was one of my favorite movies growing up. Anyone who likes mythology should give it a try. Perseus, Andromedra, the Krakon, Medusa, the three-headed dog things, Kalabus (sp?), huge scorpions that form from Medusa's drippy head-blood...what's not to like? Also, for those who think I ruined it all? I gave away hardly anything, there's SOOO much more!! Oooh, and Bobo, how can I forget Bobo!! *sigh* Who knew mechanical owls even existed back then, certainly not I? :D A GREAT movie!! (I have it if anyone wants to borrow it, just ask!) Adventure, romance, cool monsters...okay, I'm done, I swear.
Pan's Labyrinth, too, is phenomenal. Beautiful cinematography. Christine, I really think you could handle it, with maybe a couple parts fast-forwarded! :) To me, it ends on a happy note...Though the one thing that bothered me (and it really is a technicality) is the translation should be The Faun's Labyrinth, but I guess to make it more relatable/marketable to U.S. audiences, it was changed(?). Because NOWHERE is it mentioned ever at all that the faun is THE Pan, which would be quite a difference. But I digress :)
Is Pan's Labyrinth sub-titled? I don't do sub-titles because I can't sew at the same time!
While you were all watching intellectual stuff I wallowed in Matt Damon fantasies while watching "The Bourne Ultimatum". It restored my faith in the trilogy after a very disappointing "Supremacy".
See, Insomniac! I told you III was better than II. Very good action movies. How do you manage to sew during those quick fight scenes and chase scenes?
I have to admit that during an intense action movie like that, I do less stitching and more watching!
I was afraid at one point that the story was going to repeat itself - when they're in hiding and she cuts her hair. Thankfully it didn't. I liked her wry smile at the end though!
Holy squee, Christine. Please, please love Pan's Labyrinth. I know I've plugged it like mad before, but still. It fills me with fangirlish glee.
Despite some weak points, I totally enjoyed seeing Sweeney Todd. Felt like standard Burton, atmospheric and brooding with a little dark humor thrown in. My biggest peeves were Depp pulling a Rex Harrison ala My Fair Lady and Bonham-Carter's breathy, wispy singing voice. If the leads don't have the cords, the producers should bite the bullet and dub them over.
Man. I cannot believe Clash of the Titans came up. I feel so old. And if we borrowed a bunch of governmental stuff from the Greeks, why have we not also build mechanical owls? 'Cause those would just be cool.
Pan's Labyrinth. The translation of the title bugged me, too--he wasn't supposed to be THE Pan at all. But I had a hard time handling that movie myself. The real-life end was so rough. I couldn't quite believe that fairytale juxtaposition they added on, because it just seemed too easy after all the other events, real-life and fantasy, throughout the film.
Beautiful, though.
I loved Sweeney Todd. And frankly, I hate it when it's blatantly obvious when people in a movie didn't sing their own songs, but that's just me. Then again, I didn't think they sounded bad at all :) I even have the soundtrack.
The only things I didn't like about the movie, I didn't like until I read the play (which happened afterwards). Mrs. Todd's character in the movie was cleaned up a lot, and the Johanna/Anthony story gets a lot more definition. In the movie, it was rather unbelievable. Oh well, the actor's deliciousness made up for it :)
Moral of the story: The Burton/Depp/Bonham Carter trifecta could make a movie entitled "Sitting in a Room" featuring Johnny and Helena (you guessed it) sitting in a room, shot in undeniable Burton style, acted out with Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter flair, and I would pay to see it. Probably more than once. They are my pleasures, sans guilt.
P.S. I want Helena's costumes/wardrobe.
Seem to be on a music movie kick.
Rewatched the Tom Petty doc, saw "Help", and am watching "A Hard Day's Night" right NOW!
Thank goodness for IFC.
Also saw "Field of Dreams".
Apparently my concentration is coming back.
Yeah, Don! The girls got Help! for Christmas and Maria loves it! She especially loves Ringo.
We've also flipped by Hard Day's Night tonight, but settled on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives on good old Food Network.
You never told me you got around to watching the TP documentary. Isn't the first disc great? Isn't theirs a great rock and roll story?
Glad you're feeling better! Sorry I missed your big B&N visit last week.
PS to Don, Jim is sorry that you had to sit thru Field of Dreams, but he hoped you enjoyed the Tom Petty.
Tell Jim to read the book.
Martha, I agree that Depp and Bonham-Carter are great actors; *that* I have no argument with. Heck, if anyone can make hollow-eyed, white-streaked, and revenge-driven look dead sexy, Depp can. (And yes, I, too, wished to steal Bonham-Carter's wardrobe.) Like I said, the singing bit was the only snag with me.
Let's see...okay, I think that for the *film* format, their voices worked fine. I realize that a stage production moved straight onto film isn't a movie, it's just a recording of a play/musical, and the type of acting you do on a stage won't always work on film, and vice versa. Some things have to be modified; it's the nature of the medium.
I still think they sound perfectly decent in the movie, but after I saw it I went out and got the original Broadway cast recording, and man, I'm a sucker for OBCs. So I guess my point (finally) is that I'd watch the film for the acting, but listen to the OBC for the songs.
Danika, I can see where the fairytale/reality parallel in PL might be off. For me, whether Ofelia was experiencing was "real" or not was always in question, so I think the ending worked in that respect. And besides, what determines what's real for a person but his or her own perception?
It wasn't the reality of it that bothered me, particularly, it was the . . . warm fuzziness of the fairy tale ending opposed to the hard, cruel world of the "real" ending. I know fairy tales are supposed to have warm fuzziness, but really, Grimms' and Andersen's didn't hold themselves to that, so why should we do so now?
And I missed Don at B&N? Life is so unfair.
Good point about Grimms and Andersen, Danika. Hmm...maybe because Ofelia had already dealt with a whole lot of nasty stuff, there had to be *some* kind of payoff for it. Although one could argue that her saving her brother by sacrificing herself *was* the reward, so to speak.
Yeah, I got nothin'.
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