I stalled and stalled finishing the Sweeney Todd review I was going to make. I tried to encourage myself to complete it by leaving the LJ window open with it in it, knowing it would be lost if I didn't do anything with it. Fooled me. It's gone now. So, in short: awesome. And made me pretty obsessed with the material, especially the relationship between Todd and Lovett. I now own the 2005 revival and Concert version (love LuPone) and the original Broadway is on it's way.

Very much enjoyed Depp and Bonham Carter. There will always be things you wish they would also do, but it's rare, especially in musicals, where you don't wish that they didn't do something. There wasn't really any part of the film where I went "No! Don't do it that way!" Instead, I went off thinking "Awesome! They could have also done this!" So, no real grievance.

I was in a Voltaire music video, "Happy Birthday, My Olde Friend." Jordana, Genevieve, Regina, and I went, supporting White Elephant, and I even got an actual bit within the video. I am a doorman, asleep at his post, who unwittingly allows the events to unfold. I also got to funk and swerve in the crowd scenes. It was tremendous fun. No word when it goes up online, but it should look pretty great. Voltaire himself was VERY NICE to us and entertained us with Sweeney Todd parody songs. Seriously, that man needs to get into the studio and release an EP now.

(Yes,) Virginia is this weekend, where Genevieve, Christy (Genevieve's sister, with whom we stayed with during the Memphis excursion of 2003), and I are going to see the Dresden Dolls. I missed them, and it should be a lot of fun! During the road trip, Genevieve and I will have lots to gab about and lots of musicks to listen to.

This seasonal change (a bit early considering it's January) of weather is making my sinuses a bit slick and moist. Not a fan.

Wicked Faire's around the bend, and planning for that is in full effect. I have to make some e-mails to people, but I am excited about the line-up we have for WEBS and the set list that I have been tossing around. We will be on the MAIN STAGE this year and be on from 10-11. Word.

( Movie Reviews: Flightplan, Knocked Up, Pirates 3 )

Still to come... Spider-Man 3, Shrek the Third, Closer, Calendar Girls, The Queen, Notes on a Scandal, DEBS, Cellular

Jeepers.

Haven't written very much as of late. More tired and busy than anything else. And when I'm at the computer, I find myself rarely really interested in typing anything out.

So, selections from the original cast recording:

- Lost my wallet. I'm hoping in my house. I last used it on Monday, I think. I am baffled... I would really like to find it, right now. I have looked what I consider everywhere, but not what the wallet considers everywhere. Because then I would have found it. Right. Fuck.

- I like the new Tori Amos. Maybe a long, rambling review later, but I think it's pretty solid. However, as it has been since Scarlet's Walk, it's far too long. If Tori was still making singles, I could have come up with some awesome track listings that would have kept all the tracks (well, most of them) and presented them in a way that her fans would have creamed over, and wouldn't have cluttered up an album. But what's good is really good. Best: "Bouncing Off Clouds," "Almost Rosey," "Mr. Bad Man," "Digital Ghost," "Body and Soul," and "Smokey Joe."

- Saw Spider-Man 3 and will be in the minority when I say that didn't suck, and that I liked it more than the first two. That said, it wasn't that great (a B- at best) and suffered from pacing, bad casting (Kirsten Dunst, your services are no longer required here), and packing in too many okay subplots instead of one great main one. Tobey Maguire was annoying as ever, Topher Grace was actually quite excellent (I admit, I had my doubts), and while James Franco is quite dreamy, his turn from bad to good was the exact opposite of Hayden Christensen's Anakin from Revenge of the Sith. Just exchange devious Palpatine with dark mojo for unimportant butler with 3 lines of "wisdom."

- Watched Cellular with Matt. While it grows tiresome to hear Kim Basinger exclaim "Oh my God" every few minutes, it was an entertaining 2 hours. Chris Evans was quite likable, and made the picture. And, aw, William H. Macy, you are so cute and clueless. Has he yet played an actual puppy yet, 'cause he could do it!

- Fairytale Night came and went. A lot of work went into it, and the planning for it was so longterm that it's bizarre for it to be over. I actually hesitated in throwing away notes I made for it months ago; I had to remind myself it already happened. It was a good show, though, and I was very happy with each performance. I also enjoyed deviating from the normal Riff Raff of mine and playing the Mad Hatter. My Riff had never been more of a loon. My face did hurt from all that smiling, though. I haven't seen one photo from the actual show, though, which makes me sad since there were a million taken for Zombie Night (awesome in it's own right).

- Went to Switch on Sunday with Jamie. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I don't think I'm going again any time soon, but I really had fun.

I honestly thought more had happened since last week, but maybe not? Just getting through it all as usual.

Smoking will be a bigger factor in determining film ratings, the Motion Picture Association of America said Thursday, but critics said the move does not go far enough to discourage teens from taking up the habit. MPAA Chairman Dan Glickman said his group's ratings board, which previously had considered underage smoking in assigning film ratings, now will take into account smoking by adults, as well.

That adds smoking to a list of such factors as sex, violence and language in determining the MPAA's G, PG, PG-13, R and NC-17 ratings. Film raters will consider the pervasiveness of tobacco use, whether it glamorizes smoking and the context in which smoking appears, as in movies set in the past when smoking was more common.
--Yahoo! News

Soon we won't have to be responsible for any of our own actions! We can just blame it on the movies!

Caught the Dixie Chicks documentary, Shut Up and SIng on my Netflix tonight and I thoroughly loved it. It was a pretty fascinating collection of video footage from 2003 through 2006 and avoided Behind-the-Music type biographing and sentimentalism. It also presented a group of artists that I enjoy musically but don't know much about. As bitchy as I expected Natalie to be (just because I had my own prejudging of her outspoken nature) and Emily and Martie to be eye-rolling after every comment, I found myself really fascinated with all facets it presented.

And multi-faceted it was; it included the footage from the UK concert where Natalie Maines said "Just so you know, we're on the good side with y'all. We do not want this war, this violence, and we're ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas" and it also included private meetings between the Chicks and their publicists, managers, and other people behind the scenes. To see Maines look like she wants to wretch when it's suggested that The View is willing to include an interview with them as long as it's just an interview (no song), and their own production crew works on the segment, and only Barbara Walters is involved, is just fascinating you-don't-get-to-see-this type footage.

I thoroughly recommend it to Dixie Chicks fans, because while at least a third of it covers the production of their first album after the controversy, it goes beyond the Chicks' music and really is a really interesting story of an artist and her supportive band mates caught in a PR cyclone for a statement made outside the medium that their fans and supporting radio stations started to protest in retaliation. Not bi-partisan by any means (Maines calls George W. Bush a "dumbfuck," for example), but a great cohesive, interesting documentary that never got boring or pandered.

( Movie Survey )

I have to get back to those interviews... I will. And y'know, also post about my daily life.

Saw Little Miss Sunshine, which I enjoyed but don't see the massive outcry of affection for it as particularly logical. It is a solid ensemble comedy/drama and everyone is entertaining (Steve Carrell is particularly good) but it isn't the Best Picture I've seen in the last year, or ever. But I liked it. B.

And, um, watched Reindeer Games against my better judgment. Matt put something on that he could sleep through, but I watched. Ben Affleck was pretty blase, but it had a pretty strong performance by Charlize Theron, especially towards the end. Not worth the awful reviews it got either. B-.

Basically I think most films that get accolades across the grid and raked across the coals, probably are somewhere in-between.

Recently seen movies...

Friends With Money: There could be a worst mixture of likable actresses (Catherine Keener, Joan Cusack, Frances McDormand, and Jennifer Aniston), slender plotlines and hanger-on boyfriend-husbands for each, for an hour and a half. We are plopped in the middle of everyone's life: Kenner's distant marriage, McDormand's post-40 depression, and Aniston's struggle to figure herself out as she wades through an unfulfilling job as a maid and inability to get over her last lover. Cusack meanwhile seems the most well-adjusted (and scrutinized for being wealthy--on her own, no less), and not entirely sure why she's even with this group of friends anymore.

With snatches of witty banter stretched across the length of the film, there's enough cleverness in the words (if not the story) to keep one's attention, but it's too muddy. Everyone's interesting enough; it seems like a pilot for individual films for each of the leads, right down to the dead-end finish that completes the final scene. But we're not given enough, really, and while it may have been a lark to watch a few weeks of the lives of 4 very different women, neither they nor us have gained very much in the end. We're all just depressed.

Notably better than: Your Friends and Neighbors, which is similarly socially cynical and painful to watch.

-*-

Rumor has it...: I heard awful, awful things about this romantic comedy. It's all about Jennifer Aniston again, and she's still not quite sure what to do with her life (ditto that: Picture Perfect, Office Space, The Object of My Affection, Friends With Money; everything she's ever done). This time, she has the Right Man (Mark Ruffalo reprising his blank stare from 13 Going on 30) but doesn't know if she wants him forever and that terrifies her. Spending my life married to Mark Ruffalo terrifies me, too.

And then somewhere along the lines, she discovers that her mother and grandmother may have been the basis of the book and film The Graduate, and that there's a chance the would-be Dustin Hoffman is her father. A roadtrip to the soundtrack by Nellie McKay follows.

Aniston is sweetly likable again here (she's punking us again with the same role she's always playing) even as an impulsive ho, and even Kevin Costner (as her potential father) is genuinely good. It would have been more interesting, perhaps, if we didn't learn immediately ( Read more... ), and it's important because immediately after, ( Read more... ).

Shirley MacLaine (as the grandmother Katherine) is typically wonderful and given (again, typically) the best lines. That said, it's entirely expected that she'll be sassy and irreverent. Probably expecting her to be too campy for too long, her screen time is significantly shorter than it should be. Kathy Bates gives a thankless cameo. Mena Suvari is a vapid, but that's the point.

So, no, not high art. And in a better frame of mind, maybe I'd decry the mindless drumming of it all, but it doesn't talk down to the audience; it's just unremarkable.

Better MacLaine: the underrated Mrs. Winterbourne.

(p.s. - Livejournal's new format sucks. I'll adapt, but it sucks.)

I saw Snakes on a Plane. It was a bad idea. I would've seen it anyway, because, well, I wanted to before the hype engulfed it much further, and it seemed like it could be a fun little time.

For most of the film, I didn't have a problem with it. I don't have a problem with snakes; they don't freak me out... I mean, I don't really go for the poisonous ones, but if I saw one in captivity, I'm not going to panic. But I do have a problem with surprises, things dropping out at me, popping out at me, and the idea of me writhing around in pain until I die. Those things were all rampant in the film.

There were the fun moments, too, all with Samuel L. Jackson, and it is commendable that it made a pretty decent plotline out essentially a weak Sci-Fi Channel original. It didn't take itself very seriously, which was also good.

But there were just some parts that really turned my stomach; really made me nauseous. They were all pretty quick. I mean, we didn't stare at people for 30 seconds waiting for them to wriggle to death with fangs in their face. But it was all those jumps and writhing that was unbearable. The dead bodies weren't really that much fun either. Basically... the antagonists of the plot were fine as long as they weren't actually doing anything.

So, it's not really the point of the movie to pull any punches. They will show things that disgust me. I am not their target audience.

I am actually also a little disappointed by the quality of the film, which is at first glance, a laughable statement. It's essentially being marketed as a Samuel L. Jackson showcase with a loose, dangling plot and the only most memorable lines being written in after it was supposed to be done. But I actually really was hoping it to be fantastic, just to spite everyone's (including my own) expectations. Jackson unsurprisingly carried the film, alongside an actually quite surprising Julianna Margulies, and a cast you're too afraid to get attached to 'cause they could die at any moment.

So, a part of me liked it, but most of me just wants to forget any of it ever happened. It was just too disturbing, visually and psychologically. Which, all things considered, is just praise.

Last night, I went to see Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest with Willow, Dennis, Michael, Genevieve, and Danielle. ( Read more... )

Matt, Jamie, jamie'sKristen, Jamie's brother, and I went to see X-Men: The Last Stand at the midnight show on Thursday night/Friday morning. Generally, I liked it. ( Read more... )

The show on Saturday was up and down. I wasn't performing, but instead played Trixie and did "Coin-Operated Boy" as the preshow.

A thing about reprised preshows is that they almost always fall flat. People forget, there's never enough time to go over it, and it's just generally either not received well by the audience (such as the "Mission: Impossible" preshow that we did at the Screening Zone the last time it was done), or the actors fuck it up with unexpected choreography or performer changes (such as the "House of Horrors" one when we moved it to a different theatre location-- but it was awesome when done at RockyCon). "Vagina Monologues" went over well the second time mainly due to Liz and the fact that I was more familiar with the text, I didn't really _get_ the doing "Over the Moon" again less than 2 months after the first, ultra-rushed (but well received) time it was done. The Christmas one didn't do very well the second time, but the first and third times went off pretty hitchless. It's just the nature of the draw.

"Coin-Operated" was done again with no rehearsal, or really even going through. No one knew where anyone was, we didn't have all the props, we let in before anyone cleared it with the preshow people, and no one really seemed in the mood for it. It was just done, I guess. The audience energy was anemic, there were no regulars... yet it went over well enough. It was the worst of the now four performances, but it didn't explode in our faces, although I felt like I was going to fall out of my costume 'cause of the suspenders pulling on the underwear.

Trixie was fine; I somehow managed to pull myself out of my pre-preshow funk and enjoy that. Sure enough I was missing performing, sitting in the audience. Going 14 days apparently is difficult when I'm actually there for it. But I enjoyed the show for the most part; I think we look good. Sean may kill himself in those heels eventually because he has no idea how to walk in them (I saw him actually slip a few times during choreography and narrowly catch himself), but generally speaking, we look good.

I was a fucking idiot and didn't bring my Brad costume for Willow.

I would've liked to have gotten more sleep, but we (Matt, myself, and Maria) took Matt's mom out to the movies. We saw Mission: Impossible III, which I can't really say much bad about. It was ok for what it was. Bourne Identity/Supremacy were more exciting, but this was alright--better than the second one. I never did see the first one. Thank every God that he cut his hair, though. Tom Cruise was Tom Cruise, and Laurence Fishburne was Laurence Fishburne. It was interesting to see JJ Abrahms' favorites in different roles, even if they were just cameo's. It was shot in a very Alias way, which was nice.

Not too much else to say; it was ok.

All I really have to say about the day.

Matt, Jamie, and I went to see United 93 on Thursday. ( Read more... )

Guilty pleasure movies that seem to be that way on purpose are bad, bad ideas. But sometimes they get it right, making it harder on the rest of us. American Dreamz is such a movie. Hugh Grant's got his best hate-me-hate-me-I'm-adorable-hate-me face on, Mandy Moore takes that Saved! dagger-in-her-heart-bitch even further, and Dennis Quaid does George W. Bush and actually makes him tolerable, genuine, and someone you'd like to root for.

The film might be accomplishing miracles on that alone. Plus, it's got a game and stellar supporting cast: Jennifer Coolidge as Moore's doting mother, Willem Dafoe as a Cheney-esque Svengali, Marcia Gay Harden as the Botox would-be Laura Bush, Adam Busch (Buffy24) as a middle eastern socialite, and newcomer Sam Golzari as the Iraqi everyman who doesn't want to bomb us all to death--he just wants to sing!

Plus, it's got American Idol skewering minisongs from Stephen Trask!

While not nearly as substantial as Saved!, it packs an entertaining pop punch that really seemed to piss off some of the nearly empty theatre (3 people left shortly after the president's first scene) and while it kind of trails off towards the end, was enjoyable to watch.

Some minor things that bugged we were: ( Read more... )

I had a very good time last night. After work, Richy and Jordana came over. They were coming with us to New York City to see Hedwig and the Angry Inch, which was also going to be attended by Liz, Sarah, Danielle, Genevieve, Willow, Willow's sister Tori, Erick, and Sandy.

After a lot of difficulty finding a parking place, we finally got together with everyone at the overly expensive, awfully small portioned cafe on Cornella. We then headed to the IFC Center, where a fun time was had by (I think) all. Liz looked at time a little thrown for a loop, but I think she enjoyed herself.

I dolled myself in my Hat Pick Magenta dress and pleather pants. I also painted my face white, red-lipped myself, and put on my bowler hat. I was up on stage for about 30 seconds, with John Cameron Mitchell (who was very humble, sweet, and genuinely funny in his opening statements) and shook his hand. He judged the anemic costume contest. I got second place of three (Richy, in stretchy black pants and a boy scout uniform top) got third. We somehow lost to some boy with one of the magic-scarves on his head. I maintain that if Richy took his pants off and danced like young Hansel, he would've won.

The crowd was small, considering it is Easter weekend (which I keep forgetting about, and probably means our show this week will be very small), but the show was fun. They had a full Angry Inch "band" shadowcast and the role of Hedwig was split into three performers. They only performed the stage stuff, which was for the best, considering the rest doesn't really lend itself to a shadowcast. The third Hedwig, who did "Sugar Daddy," "Angry Inch," "Exquisite Corpse," and "Midnight Radio" was the best, and the Skszp was very cute.

For "Angry Inch," the band attacked the first several rows, which was hysterical. In the scene before "Sugar Daddy," when hansel's running through the candy-covered wreckage, we got pelted with gummibaerchen and handed Sugar Daddy candies during the actual song. When Tommy and Hedwig are going through the laundry, they ran a closeline with underwear and clothes through the center of the audience. It was very creative, and an otherwise very lo-fi, but entertaining show.

Ok. So, Crash probably didn't deserve the Best Picture win. I saw it tonight. It actually kinda bugged me in several places, most notably the fact that it couldn't stick with the same characters for more than 3 minutes at a time. That, and I wanted to punch most of them. The filmmakers make a big point to stress that they wanted to capture reality regardless of how ugly it got. It was convenient ugliness, though. I have no doubt that some, if not most, of the events of the film occur to real people, but this film was relentless. It was everyone's worst day moment after moment, and I don't think that solves anything, or shows realism.

No one was "taken down a peg," and no one was shown to be "better" than would be expected by their racist detractors. Everyone started at the very bottom, and just wallowed there. At one point, and I may have taken particular note of it because Amy previously blogged about it, the character played by Ludacris bitches about racist waitresses and how he and his friend were "sized up" immediately by the waitress in the coffee shop, and essentially ignored.

From Amy's blog, 'cause she put it better than I was starting to:

There was one exchange that made me actually "lol" while watching Crash. One young black man is complaining to his friend about the service they had just received in a restaurant. "That waitress sized us up in two seconds. We're black, and black people don't tip. She wasn't gonna waste her time. Somebody like that? Nothing you can do to change their mind."

His friend asks, "How much did you leave?"

He responds, "You expect me to pay for that kind of service?"

And then, Ludacris complains that a white woman shrunk at the sight of him and his friend, into her husband. That racist, assuming bitch. And then he steals her car. Was this film intending to push the message "Be afraid, bitches, because what you're thinking? You're absolutely right."

The film did come off as very self-important, which was a turn-off. I generally don't like films that don't seem to be so puffy with pride that they are saying important things. There were some good performances turned in, such as a sympathetic one by Don Cheadle and a vicious one by Thandie Newton. Michael Pena, who was the locksmith Daniel, was actually quite excellent, too.

Matt Dillion generally bugs the hell out of me, and he was no exception here. Sandra Bullock came off as a bitch, but that was the point. Casting Sandra Bullock was part of that point, and it was both manipulative and clever (same thing) for the cast agent to do. No one wants to hear an American Sweetheart talk about hispanics as gangbangers and thieves. But we can't help but eat it up.

Brendan Fraser was a useless block of wood. Terrence Howard, thrust into the breaking point, probably deserved more than he got and when he should have been understandably blowing up instead seemed like he was having a hissy fit. Ryan Phillipe was alright. Tony Danza was a distracting cameo, but Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi!) was fun to see. I like Jennifer Esposito, and I've never seen her in a drama; I wished she had more to do.

Unfortunately, that was true of most everyone. Since it really was a film walking in circles, that for two hours, it didn't go anywhere. It made humanity seem pretty fucked up (knew that), and there were no redeemable figures in the plot, in the long run, besides Daniel. And no one had a lot of screen time, because they had to make room for 30 other leads in the film. That was frustrating, because it made it seem like this was some sort of pilot for a bunch of films, but instead we get like 15 minutes stitched together of everyone each.

As a whole, it was decent, and predictable. Not predictable as in I could see everything a mile away, but predictable and obvious about two minutes before something "shocking" or "unexpected" was explained. Examples of that included ( Read more... )

So, essentially, a little murky, but watchable. Anyone want my copy of it?

Liquid Datura: Word up.
DrGlass: This is Dr. Glass, brought to you by the movie "Basic Instinct 2." To read the Privacy Policy, click here.

Why, hello.( Read more... )

It actually hung up on me! I remember having fun talking with AIM's SmarterChild back in high school. It sounds like such an elderly person's story of how they used to have fun. "Back in my day, we had to talk to robots on the computer!"

I haven't even seen Basic Instinct all the way through. I am morbidly curious now.