Ms. Amused

No George NO!!

I’m in tears now to read that George Carlin is dead.

My introduction to George Carlin was in Outrageous Fortune which was also my introduction and the beginning of my fondness for Bette Midler. It was also the first time I saw Shelley Long in and while I loved her in in it, can’t say so much for the rest of her stuff, it’s hit or miss for me.

But George stole the show…. as he always does any time I see him in something. I love Kevin Smith for casting him in Dogma and then again in his pet project, Jersey Girl. I actually love George best as the grandfather in JG than anything else that I’ve seen him in it. Unlike a lot of Kevin’s fans, I get what Jersey Girl was about and I think it’s wonderful. Will Smith did too which is why his cameo “as himself” is excellent as well.

Man… George…. so many times I wanted to go see him perform live. I lived in Vegas for two years and George played several times while I was there but curse my deafness, I opted out of paying the high ticket prices for a performance I wouldn’t understand without the captions.

But what I can do is get his performance dvds (that are captioned) and watch them instead. In honor of what I would have loved to see in person.

Oh George… it should have been the other one that is a failure at his job… not you. I hope your final weeks were happy ones.

18 June 2008

Radcliffe Toning Up For Nude Scene Stint On Broadway

Actor Daniel Radcliffe is determined to tone-up his body before appearing on Broadway’s Equus in the nude - and he’s not ashamed to admit it. The Harry Potter star, 18, will disrobe in the Broadway adaptation of the Peter Shafer play later this year - just as he did onstage in London when the play opened there in 2007. And Radcliffe made sure to stop by the gift lounge before Sunday’s 62nd Annual Tony Awards, where he shamelessly picked up a Scorcher Butt Machine - a piece of exercise equipment with “a special emphasis on butt shaping”. He says of his new work out regime, “They don’t have things like this in England. We never get gifts.”

Jason Statham so far has made a career out of making action flicks (either as lead or part of an ensemble cast) that are extremely watchable for me. In this day and age of endlessly recycled and “lets make things go boom” action movies, this is a big deal for me.

In the first 10 minutes, I’m thinking to myself that perhaps he’s finally missed the mark because it starts right out into a heavy gun fight scene and it’s hard to give a damn about anyone because you don’t know who’s fighting who and why.

But it’s all set up and then we see the basis for justice as per the tag line and then I was engaged.

I don’t often watch Jet Li movies but I really should because he’s excellent at establishing a real presence for his character with few words.

I did have some problems with the storylines.

Problem 1: My understanding of Japanese culture, Shiro should be carrying an eternal grudge that he has only a daughter for an heir. Instead, he’s very American in being proud of his daughter and her ability to be his heir. Plus Devon Aoki was rather wooden in her performance. I saw her “acting” her character whereas everyone else WAS their character.

Problem 2: Crawford (Statham) gets all bent out of shape over his partner Tom being killed. Yet his reactions in the tea shop when his new partner is killed seem suppressed. Yes I know he does kill the guy who shot him but the same level of angst isn’t there.

Problem 3: The ending is a anticlimactic. The final confrontation scene ends too quickly and the subsequent dénouement feels disconnected from the intensity of the revelations we just had.

The reasons to watch it anyways out number the cons.

Jet Li is awesome.

Jason Statham is a great conflicted cop.

Good balance of action/fight scenes to story telling.

Fresh twists on common stories.

And did I spy the latino actress from My Name is Earl, playing Shiro’s wife? Yep that is Nadine Velazquez!

If you liked Pan’s Labyrinth, you’ll like this one too. If Pan’s was a little too dark for you, this one is less dark.

They share similarities by being in a wartime, a kid whose home is invaded by barracked soldiers, but finds a little magic in their life.

The movie doesn’t reach the level of storytelling magic that 80s master trifecta (Labyrinth, Dark Crystal, Never Ending Story) did but it’s sweet and enjoyable. The 3d work on the water horse is pretty good, only a couple times does it look odd.

Definitely worth watching. Ben Chaplin turns in a nice performance as does the rest of the cast, even the little boy who is the lead character.

And how can you resist that cute face?

Kate & Matthew’s first movie together: How to lose a Guy in 10 days was only saved by their chemistry and how well they played off each other.

This movie didn’t need that to save it this time around but it really showcased it as Kate & Matthew are pitted against each other as a divorcing couple who are both obsessed with finding the wreck of the Aurelia.

I was having so much fun watching the two of them that the finding of the treasure was anticlimactic because that also brought reconciliation between the two leads. The movie’s strength is in the dialogue and interplay between the feuding couple and the others involved.

It’s not a ’smart movie’ but boy is it a fun popcorn movie that you want when you want to smile. Kate & Matthew are definitely the new Tom Hanks & Meg Ryan. The latter even did a movie in the tropics too, Joe vs the Volcano anyone?

Donald Sutherland was also amusing as billionaire father who was trying to build a relationship with his estranged airheaded socialite of a daughter who was just plain stupid as well.

Surprise casting involved Malcolm-Jamal Warner (Theo from The Cosby Show) as a dread locked islander speaking in a Jamaican style accent. He needs to be utilized more. I remember him from Drop Zone too. We should be seeing a lot more of him.

Like someone pointed out in the (measly) extras, I can’t think of any other movie where the male lead gets beaten up so much and repeatedly but never really fights back.

Some of the comedy bits were a little stale but still got a smile from me. The only thing I had a problem with was the sword between the legs bit. It just seemed like an excuse to aim a camera up at the crotch of the daughter. There was nothing funny about it right down to her “oops hahaha” flirty giggle. This is the kind of thing that makes me hate Judd Apatow movies because that’s all they seem to be about, setting up for the next “oh gimme a break” shot.

While their first movie narrowly misses my new much higher mark of “would I buy this”, Fool’s Gold passes muster for enjoyability and rewatchability.

As suspense/thriller movies go, it’s very formulaic. You see every plot device for what it is, ie Griffin’s phone call to Marsh saying that he thought he knew who it might be but he wanted to look at it a bit more first so see ya at work. I immediately looked and Ryan said “Well that’s it for Griffin, he’s dead”. Because A) anytime a supporting character says that they have an idea but need a little more time to verify it, they are killed or otherwise taken out of the picture before they can divulge it. Also B) combine that with “I’ll see you at work” means that won’t happen either in a Murphy’s Law kind of way.

And that’s really the worst thing I can say about this movie. Despite a lot of predictability, it’s very watchable and enjoyable. The premise is an internet killer that sets up situations where the more people that log into the site, the closer to death the victim becomes.

Ryan found that very scary but couldn’t seem to make the connection that I was pointing out that it’s commentary on the state of our society these days where we encourage paparazzis to stalk the celebrities and anyone of minor importance and the distribution of real life gory photos such as the ones of that girl whose head was smashed like a melon in an car crash. A cop sent photos to dispatch who then sent them to someone else in a “hey look at this gruesome thing” and it quickly became another internet thing and then someone sent the photos to the girl’s cousin’s cell phone.

Knowing how close we are to that gives this movie even more power to grip you.

Diane Lane is decent though I thought her character was a little off. Colin Hanks was excellent. Joseph Cross (who we thought was one of the Ashmore twins) was superb. I have to admit I found myself thinking that Joseph looks more like a young Tom Hanks then Colin does.

The premise for the movie is original but the storytelling isn’t. Watch it if you liked Kiss The Girls, Double Jeopardy, movies of that ilk, want to see Colin Hanks prove it’s not just cause of his Dad that he’s getting casted, like Diane Lane, love creepy torture death scenes a la Se7en.

I’d been wondering why everyone was freaking out so much about the team splitting up on NCIS cause… when did that happen?

Turns out that right after the climatic death of a character, the credits rolled and I stopped the DVR. Usually when there’s a two hour finale, it goes from start to finish… not 1 hr episode and 1 hr episode.

Also I’d been in a distracted enough state that I didn’t pay attention to or notice that A) I’d only been watching for an hour and B) the progress bar was at the halfway point, not the end. The latter especially because I hit the stop button and not the pause.

So now I’m VERY thankful that I decided to keep the finale for a few days because I might want to rewatch it to be sure I didn’t miss anything.