Hey, a Movie! Starring Everybody and Me!

[overnighter]

Okay, not actually starring me, but you get the idea. . .

I went to see Frost/Nixon tonight with miss_begonia. It was fantastic. The acting was outstanding, and I never fail to love a movie that shows the power and the purpose of the media. Even when it's ill-used about 90% of the time.

Comments

[beachtree]

I have no idea if Amy Adams' character was supposed to sound any differently than someone from where she indicated her family lived (at the time anyway) in Maryland. That sort of background was some of the context I wished we'd been provided with. Granted, the film could only be so long and had a specific focus, but a line or two- or hints- about the background of the main characters would have been appreciated.

I did notice that the nun upon whom "Sister James," had been based, and who had been J.P.S.'s teacher, also had an Irish surname. According to the credits, she served as technical advisor, obviously giving certain details about religious life that would have been an utter mystery to her students. That may have been pure coincidence, or maybe she was of Irish heritage. I didn't notice her speech all the time, but at times, it did seem fairly prevalent. Then, of course, I started to fixate on it.

Meryl Streep's accent and demeanor felt affected and hollow to me at times, especially in the opening scenes. I know films are rarely shot in chronological order, but maybe it was the first days of shooting. Then she seemed to find her way more. I thought P.S.H. was excellent. Viola Davis? Man. She so proved the adage that there really are no small roles. She was amazing.

I agree that Frost/Nixon did well with capturing the spirit. It just made me think of all the people who saw Stone's "J.F.K." and took it as truth. Slippery slope!

Michael Sheen presented problems for me because I'd ironically just seen "The Queen" the week before. Yeah, bad timing. I kept thinking of him as Tony Blair with way too much hair product and hideous, scary pants. Since I honestly don't know much about David Frost, I couldn't say if he was convincing in the role of the person, or if it was more about being in the position of being out of his league regardless.

I thought Frank Langella avoided all the pitfalls of doing bad Nixon impressions/impersonations and was able to focus on portraying the man. Props to him for that!