Random thoughts in 2008

Heath Ledger - R.I.P.

It takes a special person to get a special "In Memoriam" on this blog, but the tragic, accidental death of Heath Ledger last January in a Greenwich Village apartment merits a special mention. After a long deliberation, I am ready to concede that he gave the BEST PERFORMANCE in all of 2005 as Ennis del Mar in "Brokeback Mountain" (sorry, Joaquin, Phillip Seymour, and Terrence). Suprisingly, after all the acclaim he received, he only won ONE acting award for it: the Australian Film Institute's Best Male Actor in an International Film. Way to go, AFI!!

Now all we have left to look forward to is his last performance in this summer's Batman blockbuster, "The Dark Knight."

Another thing I hated about "I'm Not There"

I've been listening to a great collection of songs from the soundtrack to Curtis Hanson's under-appreciated "Wonder Boys" on my way to work, and I keep skipping tracks to listen to the 4 separate Bob Dylan songs in a row: "Things Have Changed," "Shooting Star," "Not Dark Yet" and "Buckets of Rain"(the most of any artist on the compilation cd). I do give credit to Todd Haynes for piquing my interest in the enigma that is "BOB DYLAN". (The movie did not edify me in any way, it just made me more curious). That's why I am doubly-mad at Haynes for giving the shortest-shrift to one of the most-fascinating periods in Dylan's life: folkie Dylan!

Instead, Mr. "I'm so Original nobody gets me" Haynes falls back on a hackneyed story-telling device to dramatize that period: a mockumentary! [a gimmick whose time has come, and thankfully gone.] An ineffective pseudo-doc at that: a cross between This Is Spinal Tap (without the laughs) and a typical VH-1 Behind the Music episode. Haynes never bothers to dramatize any moment in Dylan's life from that period. What a wasted opportunity, not to mention a waste of great acting talent (Christian Bale as Dylan and Julianne Moore, reducing her to a talking head). Say what you will about the awkward scenes in 2006's "Factory Girl" between Dylan (played as a laughable impersonation by a way-out-of-his-depth Hayden Christiansen) & Edie Sedgwick (Sienna Miller, so spot-on it is creepy!), at least they made the effort to play it straight.

Soon to be seen in "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh" (by the author of "Wonder Boys")

30-second review of "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day"

Fans of Masterpiece Theatre will be in heaven watching "MPLFAD" (don't make me cut-n-paste that title). And why not? It is a lively British romp in the spirit of those 1920s comedies the Brits do so well. It has all the requisite elements: good soundtrack, nice costumes, fast pacing, and Ciarán Hinds ("Rome") and Shirley Henderson ("Topsy-Turvy") to give it its British bona fides. I half-expected Bertie Wooster to pop-in (without the limp, 3-day growth of beard, and bad attitude, of course).

The two American actresses in the leads -- Frances McDormand and Amy Adams -- not only hold their own, but give utterly convincing performances (parts that Angela Lansbury and Judy Holliday, respectively, would have slipped-into effortlessly in an earlier era) carry the film to its satisfying conclusion. Not even Masterpiece Theatre has been this good since Jeeves & Wooster last shared a cocktail and a bon mot.

The lovely Miss Amy Adams