don't go wasting your emotion... lay all your love on me
Picked up the wedding bands today. Straight from the gym to Marks and Morgan. Have them in hand, or rather, sitting in boxes on desk. Holy cracker, this is really happening.
Went to a midnight movie Thursday night/Friday morning. Not that movie. Mamma Mia. I couldn't wait to see it, and Lee really wanted to see it too, and it's rare that we agree on a movie. So, since he had to close the restaurant every night this weekend, we decided to be crazy and go for the midnight showing, despite my having to be at work at 9 a.m. Friday morning.
The theater was overflowing with people going to the midnight and 3 a.m. showings of The Dark Knight. Some in costume-- many jokers, a few Batmans, and one suitably awesome Harley Quinn. There was a lot of energy in the building. I felt like a freak among freaks, but in a good way. All the posters-- every single one in the building-- had been Jokerized. At first I thought this was random graffiti, but then I realized it was an inside job, most likely manager/corporate approved. Although the Jokerized Kitt Kittredge scared the crap out of me.
I really liked Mamma Mia.
My favorite movie critic, Cranky Hanke, noted pre-screening, "the trailer comes across like everything people complain about when they say they don’t like musicals." And that may well be true. Fortunately for me, I LOVE musicals with every fiber of my being. And fortunately for all, they USE the musically-musical-ness to the film's advantage--playing up cliches and the ridiculousness of certain situations--why would a bachelor party dance on a pier in perfect unison? Well, why not? and why not do it in scuba gear, using giant flippers as props? It is a musical after all! And why not have a Greek chorus of hotel service staff, who mysteriously appear whenever backup vocals are needed, then fade back into the background, with never a line of dialogue for themselves?
I was a little disappointed with the three dads/three lovers aspect-- I've never seen the stage musical, although I have listened to the soundtrack quite a bit, so I was pumped to see the story play out. I had been told that it was kept a secret even from the audience which of the three men was actually the mother's true love-- the one who had left her "broken hearted, blue since the day we parted, why why did I ever let you go?" (Told you I had listened to the soundtrack a lot. Show tunes are my kryptonite.) Anyway, it was too obvious which of the three Meryl Streep's character, Donna, was actually in love with. I didn't really get a chance to root for Colin Firth's character the way I would have liked to. Of course, everyone ended up with a happy ending, in true musical fashion-- but with just enough twists and turns and silliness to make it work.
Surprisingly, though, all the silliness was tempered by amazing touches of realism. None of the cast was very made up, at least not obviously so. They all looked like people you might know, or people who might work in a hotel on a secluded island. I noticed chicken pox scars and bruises. You never see flaws like that in movies, unless it's part of the plot.
And, as the Knoxville News Sentinel reviewer noted, for a musical, particularly a light-hearted musical, the characterization is strikingly strong. Also, Amanda Seyfried rocked her performance as the ingenue character, much harder than the original Broadway actress in the same role, or, Lee says, the one he saw at the Fox theater in Atlanta. It's a fine line, to play the ingenue as appropriately innocent, but not annoyingly so. And she pulled it off like a pro. Mean Girls and Veronica Mars did not do her justice-- she was born for this role. That girl can belt out a tune!!
Don't get me wrong, I do intend to see The Dark Knight eventually. Heath Ledger deserves it. I hear people are coming out of the theater saying "Jack Nicholson who?" I suspect, however, that I will be disappointed when the Joker loses.
Went to a midnight movie Thursday night/Friday morning. Not that movie. Mamma Mia. I couldn't wait to see it, and Lee really wanted to see it too, and it's rare that we agree on a movie. So, since he had to close the restaurant every night this weekend, we decided to be crazy and go for the midnight showing, despite my having to be at work at 9 a.m. Friday morning.
The theater was overflowing with people going to the midnight and 3 a.m. showings of The Dark Knight. Some in costume-- many jokers, a few Batmans, and one suitably awesome Harley Quinn. There was a lot of energy in the building. I felt like a freak among freaks, but in a good way. All the posters-- every single one in the building-- had been Jokerized. At first I thought this was random graffiti, but then I realized it was an inside job, most likely manager/corporate approved. Although the Jokerized Kitt Kittredge scared the crap out of me.
I really liked Mamma Mia.
My favorite movie critic, Cranky Hanke, noted pre-screening, "the trailer comes across like everything people complain about when they say they don’t like musicals." And that may well be true. Fortunately for me, I LOVE musicals with every fiber of my being. And fortunately for all, they USE the musically-musical-ness to the film's advantage--playing up cliches and the ridiculousness of certain situations--why would a bachelor party dance on a pier in perfect unison? Well, why not? and why not do it in scuba gear, using giant flippers as props? It is a musical after all! And why not have a Greek chorus of hotel service staff, who mysteriously appear whenever backup vocals are needed, then fade back into the background, with never a line of dialogue for themselves?
I was a little disappointed with the three dads/three lovers aspect-- I've never seen the stage musical, although I have listened to the soundtrack quite a bit, so I was pumped to see the story play out. I had been told that it was kept a secret even from the audience which of the three men was actually the mother's true love-- the one who had left her "broken hearted, blue since the day we parted, why why did I ever let you go?" (Told you I had listened to the soundtrack a lot. Show tunes are my kryptonite.) Anyway, it was too obvious which of the three Meryl Streep's character, Donna, was actually in love with. I didn't really get a chance to root for Colin Firth's character the way I would have liked to. Of course, everyone ended up with a happy ending, in true musical fashion-- but with just enough twists and turns and silliness to make it work.
Surprisingly, though, all the silliness was tempered by amazing touches of realism. None of the cast was very made up, at least not obviously so. They all looked like people you might know, or people who might work in a hotel on a secluded island. I noticed chicken pox scars and bruises. You never see flaws like that in movies, unless it's part of the plot.
And, as the Knoxville News Sentinel reviewer noted, for a musical, particularly a light-hearted musical, the characterization is strikingly strong. Also, Amanda Seyfried rocked her performance as the ingenue character, much harder than the original Broadway actress in the same role, or, Lee says, the one he saw at the Fox theater in Atlanta. It's a fine line, to play the ingenue as appropriately innocent, but not annoyingly so. And she pulled it off like a pro. Mean Girls and Veronica Mars did not do her justice-- she was born for this role. That girl can belt out a tune!!
Don't get me wrong, I do intend to see The Dark Knight eventually. Heath Ledger deserves it. I hear people are coming out of the theater saying "Jack Nicholson who?" I suspect, however, that I will be disappointed when the Joker loses.