the President loves scallops
Hello guys! How is everyone? I hope y'all are good/okay/alive and so forth. My weekend hasn't been very interesting in that all I did yesterday was sit on here and knock over the 20 emails and 900 something entries in my feed reader that had accumulated this week LOL. (They're all from blogs I read; 300 of them were from Jezebel!) This is what happens when I don't go online for 4 days eh. Just as a clarification, though: I think I gave some of you the wrong impression last entry and made it sound like I'm not enjoying uni. I am! It's already at least ten gazillion times better and more interesting than TAFE was and I'm surrounded by people my own age learning stuff I'm actually interested in. AND I discovered my communications class has no oral assignment because at 230 people the class is too big. (You may commence "oral assignment" jokes at the beep*). Also, I discovered today that I can wear some of my closed-toe shoes now without hurting my toenail so, you know, score.
Some very light pimpage:
- I just signed up over at roswelllims which is looking to be awesome, so do follow it if you're a roswell fan/like pretty icons/would like to see how I do. The competition is stiff though, and I haven't made icons in months so I'll probably lose!
- LJ news! Probably the only interesting part is pimping of russiamagazine which is like a regular translated summary of what the Russian sector of LJ is discussing, which includes everything from politics to the really crappy English-to-Russian translations on House that assume Hilary Clinton climbed Mount Everest. There's also a chance to ask brad questions but sitll no news on ala carte userpics, and an uneventufl release.
Anyway, there was a members offer at the movies today so
- Mum and I had absolutely no intention of seeing this until we saw the trailer for it before Milk (which is a smart trailer/film match-up, right there). I was assuming it was just going to be a whole "Bush is a hero!" thing and all dramatic, but the trailer makes out that it's basically making fun of him. It's actually somewhere confusingly in the middle. And the soundtrack doesn't help.
- Basic thoughts on this movie: It's really weird, and not in a good way. It doesn't have a strong contention, it meanders, and the casting is a bit distracting. I left with no idea of what point they were trying to make with this, which in terms of writing and cinema in general is Not Good.
- I've always found it interesting that when it comes to opinions on Bush there has never been a middle ground. In most people's eyes, if you like Bush you're crazy (or worse, you're a Republican, which in some circles is far worse than being crazy) and the only acceptable standpoint is to hate him. I figured this movie was going to support him, but it actually goes back and forth between making him out to be a genius to making him appear horribly useless and misguided. Which is pretty much as confusing as it sounds.
- On that point, I have yet to Wikipedia this movie but I'm sure the actual Bush administration probably had little to nothing to do with this film save maybe letting the set designers roam the white house to do sketches. The film tries hard to make out that this is how it all actually happened (it even uses real archive footage from Congress at one point featuring Hilary Clinton and Joe Biden circa 2003, edited as though they're applauding Brolin!Bush) but it doesn't feel as polished as other political biopics and thus you get the sense it's all pretty heavily dramatized. At times it feels a little like watching a re-enactment from one of those real crime shows, you know? As much as the actors put into their performances, it feels a little like that.
- On that note, not going to lie, Brolin is good in this. He's a bit of character actor much like Sean Penn, but not quite as good - he leaves a few too many of his own mannerisms behind. It's a bit like he took Dan White and injected some Llewelyn Moss into him and there you have it, Bush. He does do a damn good Bush impression, but doing Bush impressions is pretty easy. The real guy didn't make it very hard. However, there are some points where he gets Bush's mannerisms, like his hand movements, down so well it's like the actual bush comes out for a split second. I think of Brolin had pushed harder he could have perfectly nailed his Bush impression but he fell a little short.
- Speaking of, the Wiki trail for this says that they had originally cast SENOR BALE in this role (D:) but he dropped out because he wasn't happy with the prosthetic makeup and felt he couldn't get into the character if he wasn't happy with it (which, you know, fair enough for a method actor). It also says Brolin would sit and call hotels in Texas and chat to the front desk girls to get the Texan accent down but I still felt like his bush accent was a highly watered down version of Llewelyn.
- The rest of the casting in this film is a bit half-and-half. I didn't really buy Elizabeth Banks as Laura Bush even though it's good to see her pull her acting chops out in something other than a sex comedy. Ellen Burstyn is really good as Barbara and James Cromwell is great despite bearing no resemblance whatsoever to George Bush Senior. Speaking of no resemblance: Ioan Grufford shows up really randomly for all of one scene, and it wasn't until Brolin!Bush was all "well, Blair" that I realized who he was meant to be (Tony Blair, obv). Apparently all you have to be able to do to be cast as Blair is speak the Queen's English. They should have got whoever it was who played Blair in The Queen! That said, the casting for all of Bush's west wing staff (Rumsfeld, Powell, Cheney and especially Condeleeza Rice) was spot on.
- The baseball metaphor. Oh man. I don't know whether to trash it or tell you it was, unfortunately, the best part of this film. Basically, throughout the movie they cut back to bush standing in the middle of a baseball field (or maybe it was a football stadium, but he was definitely catching baseballs). At first he's taking in the cheers of an imaginary crowd, then later he catches a high-flying baseball in the outfield to more cheers. At the end of the film tries to catch the ball again, this time in a suit, but it never falls from the sky and there's a close-up of his face looking scared and confused. Roll credits. It's more than a little lame but it is a nice metaphor, even if it is a bit blatant. ZOMG HE ~DROPPED THE BALL~ IN THE WAR ON IRAQ.
- I think my issues with this film may stem from the fact that I'm not a huge Oliver Stone fan, because he likes his war movies and I'm not big on war movies or movies centered around wars without any actual fighting, as this one was (you could actually argue it's centered around two, because George Bush Sr's early handling of the Gulf War comes into play as well). I'd just like to know whether his contention was that Bush was just an idiot, or whether he had the skills but was pushed into the presidential position too early due to family ties and the family name. I get the feeling the point of this movie was one of those two, but otherwise I can't quite figure it out.
And tomorrow night we're using the free pass we got from the reel deal promotion to see The Wrestler because my mum is in love with Mickey Rourke. Noelle: we're going to see it at THE GLEN :O
* beeeeeep
Some very light pimpage:
- I just signed up over at roswelllims which is looking to be awesome, so do follow it if you're a roswell fan/like pretty icons/would like to see how I do. The competition is stiff though, and I haven't made icons in months so I'll probably lose!
- LJ news! Probably the only interesting part is pimping of russiamagazine which is like a regular translated summary of what the Russian sector of LJ is discussing, which includes everything from politics to the really crappy English-to-Russian translations on House that assume Hilary Clinton climbed Mount Everest. There's also a chance to ask brad questions but sitll no news on ala carte userpics, and an uneventufl release.
Anyway, there was a members offer at the movies today so
- Mum and I had absolutely no intention of seeing this until we saw the trailer for it before Milk (which is a smart trailer/film match-up, right there). I was assuming it was just going to be a whole "Bush is a hero!" thing and all dramatic, but the trailer makes out that it's basically making fun of him. It's actually somewhere confusingly in the middle. And the soundtrack doesn't help.
- Basic thoughts on this movie: It's really weird, and not in a good way. It doesn't have a strong contention, it meanders, and the casting is a bit distracting. I left with no idea of what point they were trying to make with this, which in terms of writing and cinema in general is Not Good.
- I've always found it interesting that when it comes to opinions on Bush there has never been a middle ground. In most people's eyes, if you like Bush you're crazy (or worse, you're a Republican, which in some circles is far worse than being crazy) and the only acceptable standpoint is to hate him. I figured this movie was going to support him, but it actually goes back and forth between making him out to be a genius to making him appear horribly useless and misguided. Which is pretty much as confusing as it sounds.
- On that point, I have yet to Wikipedia this movie but I'm sure the actual Bush administration probably had little to nothing to do with this film save maybe letting the set designers roam the white house to do sketches. The film tries hard to make out that this is how it all actually happened (it even uses real archive footage from Congress at one point featuring Hilary Clinton and Joe Biden circa 2003, edited as though they're applauding Brolin!Bush) but it doesn't feel as polished as other political biopics and thus you get the sense it's all pretty heavily dramatized. At times it feels a little like watching a re-enactment from one of those real crime shows, you know? As much as the actors put into their performances, it feels a little like that.
- On that note, not going to lie, Brolin is good in this. He's a bit of character actor much like Sean Penn, but not quite as good - he leaves a few too many of his own mannerisms behind. It's a bit like he took Dan White and injected some Llewelyn Moss into him and there you have it, Bush. He does do a damn good Bush impression, but doing Bush impressions is pretty easy. The real guy didn't make it very hard. However, there are some points where he gets Bush's mannerisms, like his hand movements, down so well it's like the actual bush comes out for a split second. I think of Brolin had pushed harder he could have perfectly nailed his Bush impression but he fell a little short.
- Speaking of, the Wiki trail for this says that they had originally cast SENOR BALE in this role (D:) but he dropped out because he wasn't happy with the prosthetic makeup and felt he couldn't get into the character if he wasn't happy with it (which, you know, fair enough for a method actor). It also says Brolin would sit and call hotels in Texas and chat to the front desk girls to get the Texan accent down but I still felt like his bush accent was a highly watered down version of Llewelyn.
- The rest of the casting in this film is a bit half-and-half. I didn't really buy Elizabeth Banks as Laura Bush even though it's good to see her pull her acting chops out in something other than a sex comedy. Ellen Burstyn is really good as Barbara and James Cromwell is great despite bearing no resemblance whatsoever to George Bush Senior. Speaking of no resemblance: Ioan Grufford shows up really randomly for all of one scene, and it wasn't until Brolin!Bush was all "well, Blair" that I realized who he was meant to be (Tony Blair, obv). Apparently all you have to be able to do to be cast as Blair is speak the Queen's English. They should have got whoever it was who played Blair in The Queen! That said, the casting for all of Bush's west wing staff (Rumsfeld, Powell, Cheney and especially Condeleeza Rice) was spot on.
- The baseball metaphor. Oh man. I don't know whether to trash it or tell you it was, unfortunately, the best part of this film. Basically, throughout the movie they cut back to bush standing in the middle of a baseball field (or maybe it was a football stadium, but he was definitely catching baseballs). At first he's taking in the cheers of an imaginary crowd, then later he catches a high-flying baseball in the outfield to more cheers. At the end of the film tries to catch the ball again, this time in a suit, but it never falls from the sky and there's a close-up of his face looking scared and confused. Roll credits. It's more than a little lame but it is a nice metaphor, even if it is a bit blatant. ZOMG HE ~DROPPED THE BALL~ IN THE WAR ON IRAQ.
- I think my issues with this film may stem from the fact that I'm not a huge Oliver Stone fan, because he likes his war movies and I'm not big on war movies or movies centered around wars without any actual fighting, as this one was (you could actually argue it's centered around two, because George Bush Sr's early handling of the Gulf War comes into play as well). I'd just like to know whether his contention was that Bush was just an idiot, or whether he had the skills but was pushed into the presidential position too early due to family ties and the family name. I get the feeling the point of this movie was one of those two, but otherwise I can't quite figure it out.
And tomorrow night we're using the free pass we got from the reel deal promotion to see The Wrestler because my mum is in love with Mickey Rourke. Noelle: we're going to see it at THE GLEN :O
* beeeeeep