Movie review: Mrs. Henderson Presents
I am a happy woman. After church, I went to the mall and finally, finally saw "Mrs. Henderson Presents", which was absolutely delightful. Things I particularly liked about it:
* The opening title sequence was splendidly animated; it featured the best of hand-drawn animation combined discreetly with computer animation and photos. Very good for setting the tone of the film.
* Judi Dench is brilliant. (Not news to anyone in the civilized world, but true.) There's something about hearing her rip loose with a cuss word that makes even those vulgar words one hears twenty times a day seem perfectly shocking.
* I've never seen or heard of the woman before, but Thelma Barlow is excellent as Mrs. Henderson's best friend and confidante. (Rather like the Coral Browne part in "Auntie Mame", but less Pittsburgh....)
* Bob Hoskins bears...er, bares it all. (Okay, so I like bears.)
* The production design is mouth-watering. I lusted after the multitude of jewels worn my Mrs. H.--fabulous vintage pieces that I wanted to recreate--from tiaras to pendant necklaces. Lovely. Only flaw I noticed was in the widow's weeds. In the beginning, she was wearing a dark blue dress with pretty lighter blue embroidery...right after her husband's funeral. Weren't they still observing a year of mourning in black in those days? That aside, the sets were nicely done and the theatrical costumes were gorgeous. (Oh, and I experienced my recurring desire to wear harlot red lipstick after seeing it on all those 40's-era gals--but I won't. Learned the last time--after watching "Sky Captain"--that the really red shades look dreadful on me...I can get away with it if they have an orange tone rather than a blue tone, but it's still not too flattering.)
+ But wait, there's more! +
Meanwhile, back in the real world...I got home to find a *large* red Target bag in my doorstep. I thought at first that GK had managed to hit another thrift store and was dropping the largess off on her way to the airport. Beads. Lots of beads. A very large bag with numerous containers full of beads--the more I delved, the more into shock I went. The mystery was solved when I got to the very bottom of said bag, where I found a note from R, who said she was cleaning house, didn't have the time to do anything with all this stuff, and she hoped I could do something with it.
If same-sex marriage was legal, I think I'd propose. (Like my hometown, I *can* be bought for a handful of beads.) Wow. There's literally about 2 pounds of seed beads and bugles, plus a bunch of findings--clasps and ear wires, rhinestones and crystals, coins, chips, points and donuts, lampwork and some glorious cane beads. Oh, and a new pair of round-nosed pliers...pink ones. I've GOT to grab more wire, quick!
Tomorrow it's back to the salt mines, but what the hell. I have to fax that info to the FSA people anyway, and discuss my NON-renewal with HR. (Let's see how deep my in-box is. Shall we take bets? It was four inches deep when I left, I'm thinking it's at least ten inches by now.... I don't care; I had a good time. I needed that.)
* The opening title sequence was splendidly animated; it featured the best of hand-drawn animation combined discreetly with computer animation and photos. Very good for setting the tone of the film.
* Judi Dench is brilliant. (Not news to anyone in the civilized world, but true.) There's something about hearing her rip loose with a cuss word that makes even those vulgar words one hears twenty times a day seem perfectly shocking.
* I've never seen or heard of the woman before, but Thelma Barlow is excellent as Mrs. Henderson's best friend and confidante. (Rather like the Coral Browne part in "Auntie Mame", but less Pittsburgh....)
* Bob Hoskins bears...er, bares it all. (Okay, so I like bears.)
* The production design is mouth-watering. I lusted after the multitude of jewels worn my Mrs. H.--fabulous vintage pieces that I wanted to recreate--from tiaras to pendant necklaces. Lovely. Only flaw I noticed was in the widow's weeds. In the beginning, she was wearing a dark blue dress with pretty lighter blue embroidery...right after her husband's funeral. Weren't they still observing a year of mourning in black in those days? That aside, the sets were nicely done and the theatrical costumes were gorgeous. (Oh, and I experienced my recurring desire to wear harlot red lipstick after seeing it on all those 40's-era gals--but I won't. Learned the last time--after watching "Sky Captain"--that the really red shades look dreadful on me...I can get away with it if they have an orange tone rather than a blue tone, but it's still not too flattering.)
+ But wait, there's more! +
Meanwhile, back in the real world...I got home to find a *large* red Target bag in my doorstep. I thought at first that GK had managed to hit another thrift store and was dropping the largess off on her way to the airport. Beads. Lots of beads. A very large bag with numerous containers full of beads--the more I delved, the more into shock I went. The mystery was solved when I got to the very bottom of said bag, where I found a note from R, who said she was cleaning house, didn't have the time to do anything with all this stuff, and she hoped I could do something with it.
If same-sex marriage was legal, I think I'd propose. (Like my hometown, I *can* be bought for a handful of beads.) Wow. There's literally about 2 pounds of seed beads and bugles, plus a bunch of findings--clasps and ear wires, rhinestones and crystals, coins, chips, points and donuts, lampwork and some glorious cane beads. Oh, and a new pair of round-nosed pliers...pink ones. I've GOT to grab more wire, quick!
Tomorrow it's back to the salt mines, but what the hell. I have to fax that info to the FSA people anyway, and discuss my NON-renewal with HR. (Let's see how deep my in-box is. Shall we take bets? It was four inches deep when I left, I'm thinking it's at least ten inches by now.... I don't care; I had a good time. I needed that.)