Friday Night Entertainment: Bistro and Cinema
"You can't throw a rock in this town without hitting a belly dancer."
Sultan's Bistro features two belly dancer soloists on Friday nights. Belly Dance Teacher T (henceforth known as BDTT) told us (there are only three of us in our class) that if we showed up, she would talk to us about costuming and we could see the costume of the soloist who's one of the Big Girls. (The Big Girls are the advanced class. They dance together as a troupe.) Neither Belly Dance Classmate H (BDCH) nor Belly Dance Classmate M (BDCM) showed up, but it was still really fun! I got to hang out with BDTT and watch the belly dancers, and then watch BDTT slip folded up dollar bills into the dancers' belts.
"I'll keep you my dirty little secret."
Twelfth Night is my favorite Shakespeare comedy and I love teen movies, so you can only imagine how nothing was going to keep me from seeing She's the Man.
But first, the trailer report.
I came into the theater in the middle of the trailer for Dreamgirls. I have no idea what this movie is about. The trailer tells us that it stars Jamie Foxx, Beyonce Knowles, and Eddie Murphy, and then it shows us a silhouette of three curvy women in shiny gowns. I can only hope there's some sort of crossdressing in the plot.
After that was the trailer for Akeelah and the Bee. This is actually my second time seeing the trailer, and both times I got all teary-eyed when she starts quoting Marianne Williamson: "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure."
Next up was the trailer for X-Men: The Last Stand. I have no recollection of X2 so I'm having trouble placing this in time. I had to come home and watch the trailer again because I swear there's a Storm/Wolverine moment. (I have a soft spot for Storm/Wolverine from my X-Men fangirl days. If you want some Storm/Wolverine porn, I've always liked "Fog in the Forest." Some of it's a little on the cheesy side, but I imprinted on it at a very young age.) And, mmm, Wolverine begging Jean to come back. Also: Iceman using his powers. Woot! Since I can't place it at all, who's the hairless kid? Is he from the comics or made up for the movie? I had a flash of wondering if it's Legion and if they'll do AoA (Age of Apocalypse, an official X-Men AU) in the next movie. Because you know there'll be a next one, even though this one claims to be the last stand.
Ahem. Yes. That was a lot of going on about that. For the record, I'm still ticked off about what they did to Mystique in the movies. I'm still excited about the movie though, but not as excited as the girl behind me who said, "I'm so excited" about five times during the trailer.
Then we saw the trailer for Stick It. I can't wait. Seriously, people, can. Not. Wait.
And now the movie. There's an essay I'm not writing entitled "Hilary Duff and the Death of Narrative." I was a little worried at the beginning of She's the Man that it might apply, but luckily the movie did move into a narrative structure after the opening credits.
Some of Viola's shift into being Sebastian is uncomfortably embarrassing, which is bad, but a large part of the movie is very, very funny, complete with slapstick and quick changes of clothing.
Amanda Bynes does a credible job. Channing Tatum is hot, hot, hot. Julie Hagerty is fantastic as Viola's mother. David Cross (Tobias from Arrested Development) is the awkward and hilarious principal. And Vinnie Jones gets one of the best bits as his Coach Dinklage, a very serious, macho soccer coach, tells off the opposing team's coach and explains that at Illyria, we don't discriminate on the basis of gender.
I had one really big problem with the movie that really stretched its credibility in my mind. Here we have a girl pretending to be a boy. She talks shoes with the hottest girl in school and develops a huge crush on her buff male roommate. And no one ever suggests that Viola-as-Sebastian is gay. Even at the end when she's still in drag and confessing her love to Duke, everyone else is more confused than anything else. It's not like there are no gay people in the world of this movie--the gay hairdresser does her makeover and it's strongly implied that he ends up with one of the big buff soccer guys at the end--so I don't know why no one ever thinks it, even for a moment.
Sultan's Bistro features two belly dancer soloists on Friday nights. Belly Dance Teacher T (henceforth known as BDTT) told us (there are only three of us in our class) that if we showed up, she would talk to us about costuming and we could see the costume of the soloist who's one of the Big Girls. (The Big Girls are the advanced class. They dance together as a troupe.) Neither Belly Dance Classmate H (BDCH) nor Belly Dance Classmate M (BDCM) showed up, but it was still really fun! I got to hang out with BDTT and watch the belly dancers, and then watch BDTT slip folded up dollar bills into the dancers' belts.
"I'll keep you my dirty little secret."
Twelfth Night is my favorite Shakespeare comedy and I love teen movies, so you can only imagine how nothing was going to keep me from seeing She's the Man.
But first, the trailer report.
I came into the theater in the middle of the trailer for Dreamgirls. I have no idea what this movie is about. The trailer tells us that it stars Jamie Foxx, Beyonce Knowles, and Eddie Murphy, and then it shows us a silhouette of three curvy women in shiny gowns. I can only hope there's some sort of crossdressing in the plot.
After that was the trailer for Akeelah and the Bee. This is actually my second time seeing the trailer, and both times I got all teary-eyed when she starts quoting Marianne Williamson: "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure."
Next up was the trailer for X-Men: The Last Stand. I have no recollection of X2 so I'm having trouble placing this in time. I had to come home and watch the trailer again because I swear there's a Storm/Wolverine moment. (I have a soft spot for Storm/Wolverine from my X-Men fangirl days. If you want some Storm/Wolverine porn, I've always liked "Fog in the Forest." Some of it's a little on the cheesy side, but I imprinted on it at a very young age.) And, mmm, Wolverine begging Jean to come back. Also: Iceman using his powers. Woot! Since I can't place it at all, who's the hairless kid? Is he from the comics or made up for the movie? I had a flash of wondering if it's Legion and if they'll do AoA (Age of Apocalypse, an official X-Men AU) in the next movie. Because you know there'll be a next one, even though this one claims to be the last stand.
Ahem. Yes. That was a lot of going on about that. For the record, I'm still ticked off about what they did to Mystique in the movies. I'm still excited about the movie though, but not as excited as the girl behind me who said, "I'm so excited" about five times during the trailer.
Then we saw the trailer for Stick It. I can't wait. Seriously, people, can. Not. Wait.
And now the movie. There's an essay I'm not writing entitled "Hilary Duff and the Death of Narrative." I was a little worried at the beginning of She's the Man that it might apply, but luckily the movie did move into a narrative structure after the opening credits.
Some of Viola's shift into being Sebastian is uncomfortably embarrassing, which is bad, but a large part of the movie is very, very funny, complete with slapstick and quick changes of clothing.
Amanda Bynes does a credible job. Channing Tatum is hot, hot, hot. Julie Hagerty is fantastic as Viola's mother. David Cross (Tobias from Arrested Development) is the awkward and hilarious principal. And Vinnie Jones gets one of the best bits as his Coach Dinklage, a very serious, macho soccer coach, tells off the opposing team's coach and explains that at Illyria, we don't discriminate on the basis of gender.
I had one really big problem with the movie that really stretched its credibility in my mind. Here we have a girl pretending to be a boy. She talks shoes with the hottest girl in school and develops a huge crush on her buff male roommate. And no one ever suggests that Viola-as-Sebastian is gay. Even at the end when she's still in drag and confessing her love to Duke, everyone else is more confused than anything else. It's not like there are no gay people in the world of this movie--the gay hairdresser does her makeover and it's strongly implied that he ends up with one of the big buff soccer guys at the end--so I don't know why no one ever thinks it, even for a moment.