you're like me | show me your fugee face! | bo-yah!
Things I have seen recently:
Moon for the Misbegotten - Old Vic Theatre, starring Kevin Spacey, Colm Meaney and Eve Best.
athena25 had freebie press tickets to this, so the two of us got to watch this Eugene O'Neill play last night. I primarily went to see it because of Kevin Spacey, and because I had it in my head that it was by the same guy that did Juno and the Paycock. This last was plainly not true, as that was Sean O'Casey and the only similarity was Colm Meaney playing an Irish drunkard and having a strong woman lead the cast. In Juno that was his wife, Juno, and in Moon it was his daughter, Josie.
Josephine is a headstrong Irish-American woman living on a rocky farm in Conneticut. She's a bit of a slut - she's had most of the guys around her, and doesn't mind saying it, and neither do they. The problem is, she's in love with her landlord, Jim Torney (Spacey). Now, Jim is a failed Broadway star, slowly drinking himself in to an early grave, and is cut up about the recent death of his mother and doesn't want to start anything with Josie. Meanwhile, Josie's brothers have all run away from home, leaving her with her father - a cheat and a swindler. Basically, he's Sawyer with half a barrel of whiskey down him and a pot belly. And so this is the setting for the Moon's premise - the father wants the landlord's money and doesn't mind using the daughter to get it, the landlord wants the daughter but is convinced he'll kill himself with drink first, and the daughter... the daughter wants them to stop drinking and cheating and promising empty things.
The good things first: Colm Meaney is amazing, and worth the price of admission alone (freebie tickets notwithstanding). I loved him as the Paycock, and I loved him as Phil Hogan in Moon. Eve best, who played Josie, was also wonderful - she is tall and strong and walked in a decidedly unfeminine manner, and her body language was really fabulous. She was also emoting like hell.
Which sort of brings me to the two problems with the play: the length of the second half, and Kevin Spacey. First of all, someone should have taken a big red pen to the entire second half, as it is mostly one long scene lasting over an hour and a half. It kills you. Secondly, it's all high-intensity, so by the end of it you're so tired you don't care what the characters' reasons are.
That long scene is mostly between kevin Spacey's character, Jim, and Josie, and OMG does it suck. It's not that Spacey is a bad actor - obviously - but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that he could very well be a bad stage actor. His facial expressions were too subtle; you couldn't see them unless you squinted. His voice was either too soft, or much too loud, as he obviously remembered that he had to PROJECT!! and ended up shouting. When he wasn't speaking he stood perfectly still, and I had the distinct impression that he was waiting for a director to say 'Action!' or 'Cut!'. Overall, it felt like I was watching two things: the play of Moon, and a cinematic adaptation of it. The mishmash didn't really work for me at all.
Ironically, the many press reps that were at the same performance as us loved Spacey's performance as Jim - they called it the highlight of the show. I have no idea what this says about theatre critics, but the buzz among the actor bunnies running about in the Front of House and scurrying backstage that athena25 was chatting to was that 'there is a serious miscating' in the play. It took and myself all of three minutes to figure out who that miscast person was. Overall rating: 7 out of 10.
Children of Men, Alfonso Cuaron's new movie about a future where it has been 18 years since a child was born is amazing. It's set in 2027 and is sufficiently close to what we know England to look like now and what it's heading towards to make it absolutely terrifying. It's the little touches that complete it for me: the tattered sweatshirts that read London Olympics 2012; the moving adverts on the sides of buses (which I just saw in the street!!); the high levels of pollution because if the population's going to die out in 80 years, who cares about carbon dioxide levels? I loved Chewitel (or 'Chewi', as wingsmith informs me he is know to his friends, and I can no no longer spell his name!) and how intense he was; I loved Michael caine's crazy hippie journalist; I even loved Clive Owen's officer worker (and ex-activist) who ends up lumbered with saving humanity's last hope.
Children of Men is unsentimental but it has some seriously poignant moments that made me burst into tears. I found it moving in the same way that I found V for Vendetta moving the first time I read it, and I cannot recommend it highly enough - if only for the line "show me your fugee face!" Overall rating: 10 out of 10.
Things I loved:
1. Dick: Dick rocked for me here. I loved the extremes of his behaviour, and I loved his last scene with Logan. It made me cry and root for more Dick screen time.
2. Piz: new character time! Piz was funny and awkward and fabulous. I really liked him and how nice he seemed. Veronica needs more people who are just fun and cool around her.
3. Wallace: Wallace!! Wallace is back! Wallace is at college! That makes my day.
4. Logan: check out Logan not being a wanker! See vic massively surprised and fall for Logan immediately.
5. the new credits: yeah, some people hate the changes, but personally I think they're much more suitable for the show's new tone - a little more mature and grown-up, and the crimes are going to get (one expects) more serious and complicated. I liked the vaguely noir-like feel of all that sepia and bleach. The slower music reminds me of the Angel theme tune, strangely, and is in a way indicative of the direction the show is moving in - more Angel-territory with darker overtones and more explorations of sexuality, and fewer bright, happy, Buffy-esque colours. We're not in happy Neptune land anymore - this is a campus under siege.
6. Mac: Mac is my virtual BFF and I love her a lot. The Mac and Dick scene was heartbreaking, and the whole thing - man oh man, that girl does not need any more trauma! I loved the BFF time she got with V, tho...
Things I didn't:
1. Daddy Mars: strangely, his scenes didn't work for me, and I was upset we didn't get Veronica/Daddy time. Grr.
2. Weevil: where is Weevil?!
3. Veronica's digs: or lackthereof. Is she staying at Logan's? Is she living at home? What's going on? That wasn't really made clear and as it's such a major part of college life I was sorta looking forward to sneaking a peek in her new digs.
4. Logan/veronica: is it me, or do they work better when they're at each other's throats?
I know a person who knows a guy, so now I have Veronica Mars #3.01 on my harddrive. If you can't wait until 3rd October, email me or comment and I'll send you the link to it. monanotlisa, I'm putting it in with the care package I'm sending you, honey. *smooch*
Moon for the Misbegotten - Old Vic Theatre, starring Kevin Spacey, Colm Meaney and Eve Best.
athena25 had freebie press tickets to this, so the two of us got to watch this Eugene O'Neill play last night. I primarily went to see it because of Kevin Spacey, and because I had it in my head that it was by the same guy that did Juno and the Paycock. This last was plainly not true, as that was Sean O'Casey and the only similarity was Colm Meaney playing an Irish drunkard and having a strong woman lead the cast. In Juno that was his wife, Juno, and in Moon it was his daughter, Josie.
Josephine is a headstrong Irish-American woman living on a rocky farm in Conneticut. She's a bit of a slut - she's had most of the guys around her, and doesn't mind saying it, and neither do they. The problem is, she's in love with her landlord, Jim Torney (Spacey). Now, Jim is a failed Broadway star, slowly drinking himself in to an early grave, and is cut up about the recent death of his mother and doesn't want to start anything with Josie. Meanwhile, Josie's brothers have all run away from home, leaving her with her father - a cheat and a swindler. Basically, he's Sawyer with half a barrel of whiskey down him and a pot belly. And so this is the setting for the Moon's premise - the father wants the landlord's money and doesn't mind using the daughter to get it, the landlord wants the daughter but is convinced he'll kill himself with drink first, and the daughter... the daughter wants them to stop drinking and cheating and promising empty things.
The good things first: Colm Meaney is amazing, and worth the price of admission alone (freebie tickets notwithstanding). I loved him as the Paycock, and I loved him as Phil Hogan in Moon. Eve best, who played Josie, was also wonderful - she is tall and strong and walked in a decidedly unfeminine manner, and her body language was really fabulous. She was also emoting like hell.
Which sort of brings me to the two problems with the play: the length of the second half, and Kevin Spacey. First of all, someone should have taken a big red pen to the entire second half, as it is mostly one long scene lasting over an hour and a half. It kills you. Secondly, it's all high-intensity, so by the end of it you're so tired you don't care what the characters' reasons are.
That long scene is mostly between kevin Spacey's character, Jim, and Josie, and OMG does it suck. It's not that Spacey is a bad actor - obviously - but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that he could very well be a bad stage actor. His facial expressions were too subtle; you couldn't see them unless you squinted. His voice was either too soft, or much too loud, as he obviously remembered that he had to PROJECT!! and ended up shouting. When he wasn't speaking he stood perfectly still, and I had the distinct impression that he was waiting for a director to say 'Action!' or 'Cut!'. Overall, it felt like I was watching two things: the play of Moon, and a cinematic adaptation of it. The mishmash didn't really work for me at all.
Ironically, the many press reps that were at the same performance as us loved Spacey's performance as Jim - they called it the highlight of the show. I have no idea what this says about theatre critics, but the buzz among the actor bunnies running about in the Front of House and scurrying backstage that athena25 was chatting to was that 'there is a serious miscating' in the play. It took and myself all of three minutes to figure out who that miscast person was. Overall rating: 7 out of 10.
Children of Men, Alfonso Cuaron's new movie about a future where it has been 18 years since a child was born is amazing. It's set in 2027 and is sufficiently close to what we know England to look like now and what it's heading towards to make it absolutely terrifying. It's the little touches that complete it for me: the tattered sweatshirts that read London Olympics 2012; the moving adverts on the sides of buses (which I just saw in the street!!); the high levels of pollution because if the population's going to die out in 80 years, who cares about carbon dioxide levels? I loved Chewitel (or 'Chewi', as wingsmith informs me he is know to his friends, and I can no no longer spell his name!) and how intense he was; I loved Michael caine's crazy hippie journalist; I even loved Clive Owen's officer worker (and ex-activist) who ends up lumbered with saving humanity's last hope.
Children of Men is unsentimental but it has some seriously poignant moments that made me burst into tears. I found it moving in the same way that I found V for Vendetta moving the first time I read it, and I cannot recommend it highly enough - if only for the line "show me your fugee face!" Overall rating: 10 out of 10.
Things I loved:
1. Dick: Dick rocked for me here. I loved the extremes of his behaviour, and I loved his last scene with Logan. It made me cry and root for more Dick screen time.
2. Piz: new character time! Piz was funny and awkward and fabulous. I really liked him and how nice he seemed. Veronica needs more people who are just fun and cool around her.
3. Wallace: Wallace!! Wallace is back! Wallace is at college! That makes my day.
4. Logan: check out Logan not being a wanker! See vic massively surprised and fall for Logan immediately.
5. the new credits: yeah, some people hate the changes, but personally I think they're much more suitable for the show's new tone - a little more mature and grown-up, and the crimes are going to get (one expects) more serious and complicated. I liked the vaguely noir-like feel of all that sepia and bleach. The slower music reminds me of the Angel theme tune, strangely, and is in a way indicative of the direction the show is moving in - more Angel-territory with darker overtones and more explorations of sexuality, and fewer bright, happy, Buffy-esque colours. We're not in happy Neptune land anymore - this is a campus under siege.
6. Mac: Mac is my virtual BFF and I love her a lot. The Mac and Dick scene was heartbreaking, and the whole thing - man oh man, that girl does not need any more trauma! I loved the BFF time she got with V, tho...
Things I didn't:
1. Daddy Mars: strangely, his scenes didn't work for me, and I was upset we didn't get Veronica/Daddy time. Grr.
2. Weevil: where is Weevil?!
3. Veronica's digs: or lackthereof. Is she staying at Logan's? Is she living at home? What's going on? That wasn't really made clear and as it's such a major part of college life I was sorta looking forward to sneaking a peek in her new digs.
4. Logan/veronica: is it me, or do they work better when they're at each other's throats?
I know a person who knows a guy, so now I have Veronica Mars #3.01 on my harddrive. If you can't wait until 3rd October, email me or comment and I'll send you the link to it. monanotlisa, I'm putting it in with the care package I'm sending you, honey. *smooch*