What's an actor like you doing in dreck like this?
*sigh* Oh, the tortures I'm willing to suffer for my favorite actors. So I'm sitting here forcing myself to watch this FX-laden (and you know how I "love" FX), otherwise pointless revision of The Wizard of Oz on Sci-Fi called Tin Man, mainly because I happened to glimpse Alan Cumming in the relentless ads for it ... and he's literally the only thing keeping me from turning it off. For starters, if you're going to remake a movie, make it better. But the original 1939 version of The Wizard of Oz was so perfect, it can never be improved on, automatically dooming any attempt to do so. The original cast, the music, the script, the pacing, the story--everything about it was perfect. So for this version, it seems they went back to the drawing board ... and found nothing there. What music there is is drab, so is the scenery, the acting's lifeless, the dialogue's trite, and the fantastical story has been distorted into something akin to a smart-aleck Dorothy Gale (re-dubbed "D.G.") meets Blade Runner. Or so it seems to wannabe. Not one of the characters is interesting or believable--in fact, most are annoying. In the original, each of the characters in turn says he has no brain, no heart, no "noive," but their actions show it's only their lack of belief that's holding them back. In this "O.Z.," while D.G.'s three peeps are ostensibly human, they don't have to make such claims; they're literally true. The "Tin Man" really has no heart; by contrast the 1939 character played so sentimentally by Jack Haley was my first childhood crush! (Even Toto, my hero, has been excised!) The only decent character in this is "Glitch" (Alan), the charming zipper-headed counterpart of the Scarecrow but with a bad case of ADD. In fact, his dialogue seems like a blatant a rip-off of Dory from Finding Nemo. It's only Cumming's irrepressible likability that makes this the least bit watchable.
He's been in most every scene so far, but unfortunately, Glitch has just been felled by the "mobats" (hideous CG counterparts of the flying monkeys from the original movie--Nikko was cool, but these things are just gross), and he's nowhere to be seen in the coming attractions for Part 2, so unless I see another ad to indicate otherwise, I guess I won't have to waste another two hours of my life finding out how it ends. (They're not even saying how many parts there are to this miniseries! But I can't imagine what's left of the plot filling up two more hours--minus at least a half hour of commercials.)
Oh, to see Alan Cumming in a decent film ... I think the last one was Circle of Friends back in 1993 or '4! No wait, Nicholas Nickleby wasn't bad, though his role was rather brief. I kind of took for granted what a good actor he was until I saw how completely different his real personality is on talk shows from any of the characters I've seen him play (well, the sort-of M.C. in Reefer Madness was close, but that was another awful movie!). He's also a wickedly hilarious comedian who can't get through a sentence without saying something naughty and giggling about it! He's so cute (and not a little bit sexy). He even sings and dances pretty well ... Not to mention he does a flawless American accent. I would never have guessed he wasn't American if I'd never heard his natural (heavy) Scottish accent! *sigh*
Maybe I should pop Nicholas Nickleby into the player and get two for one: Tim Spall's in it as well, though they both have small roles. (But that's why God gave us fast forward, right? Really, I just want to see Alan do his Scottish Highland dance ... that he learned just for the film!)
Guess I'm just grumpy because I went to see Doug's old band last night and was probably the only one there feeling nostalgic, now that they're suddenly getting all famous thanks to Little Steven discovering them after 25 years. It was a nice venue, and my friend got us front-row balcony seats, but I miss Doug being on the drums (they didn't even make a mention of him), as well as their old sound--back when you could actually hear what song they were playing without Andy's booming bass drowning everything out--which is the reason Chuck refused to go with me. (I must really be getting old because I had to struggle to stay awake through it!) It's probably the last time I'll go see them; like Chuck already did, I think I finally came to accept last night that the Chesterfield Kings I once knew are gone, just like Doug, just like so much in my life. :(
So ... Like my new Ragetti mood theme? No, I didn't make it myself; abitobsessed did, and generously shared it in the mackenzie_crook community. Even so, it took forever to "install" in my account, so I can't imagine finding the time to make the whole thing from scratch! (Although eventually I may do one anyway.)
He's been in most every scene so far, but unfortunately, Glitch has just been felled by the "mobats" (hideous CG counterparts of the flying monkeys from the original movie--Nikko was cool, but these things are just gross), and he's nowhere to be seen in the coming attractions for Part 2, so unless I see another ad to indicate otherwise, I guess I won't have to waste another two hours of my life finding out how it ends. (They're not even saying how many parts there are to this miniseries! But I can't imagine what's left of the plot filling up two more hours--minus at least a half hour of commercials.)
Oh, to see Alan Cumming in a decent film ... I think the last one was Circle of Friends back in 1993 or '4! No wait, Nicholas Nickleby wasn't bad, though his role was rather brief. I kind of took for granted what a good actor he was until I saw how completely different his real personality is on talk shows from any of the characters I've seen him play (well, the sort-of M.C. in Reefer Madness was close, but that was another awful movie!). He's also a wickedly hilarious comedian who can't get through a sentence without saying something naughty and giggling about it! He's so cute (and not a little bit sexy). He even sings and dances pretty well ... Not to mention he does a flawless American accent. I would never have guessed he wasn't American if I'd never heard his natural (heavy) Scottish accent! *sigh*
Maybe I should pop Nicholas Nickleby into the player and get two for one: Tim Spall's in it as well, though they both have small roles. (But that's why God gave us fast forward, right? Really, I just want to see Alan do his Scottish Highland dance ... that he learned just for the film!)
Guess I'm just grumpy because I went to see Doug's old band last night and was probably the only one there feeling nostalgic, now that they're suddenly getting all famous thanks to Little Steven discovering them after 25 years. It was a nice venue, and my friend got us front-row balcony seats, but I miss Doug being on the drums (they didn't even make a mention of him), as well as their old sound--back when you could actually hear what song they were playing without Andy's booming bass drowning everything out--which is the reason Chuck refused to go with me. (I must really be getting old because I had to struggle to stay awake through it!) It's probably the last time I'll go see them; like Chuck already did, I think I finally came to accept last night that the Chesterfield Kings I once knew are gone, just like Doug, just like so much in my life. :(
So ... Like my new Ragetti mood theme? No, I didn't make it myself; abitobsessed did, and generously shared it in the mackenzie_crook community. Even so, it took forever to "install" in my account, so I can't imagine finding the time to make the whole thing from scratch! (Although eventually I may do one anyway.)