25 Years Ago Today

Hey everyone! I read on the internet this morning that today is the 25th anniversary of the attempted assassination of President Reagan, my all time favorite president. It's probably the first national event that happened that I can remember where I was and what I was doing when I heard the news. I was at the hairdresser's with my mom and everyone was in an uproar - it was right out of Steel Magnolias. Anyway, this column from MSNBC.com is really interesting and contains a lot of info I didn't know, including two of Reagan's more famous quips made while he was near death. The first was "Honey, I forgot to duck", his initial greeting to his wife . The second was "Please tell me you're Republicans" to his doctors. Talk about grace under fire.

-sunday

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: Is it 2008 yet?

March (Movie) Madness

Hey everyone! The past two weeks have brought some welcome relief to us avid movie-goers. I saw two back to back that I enjoyed. These are the first two movies of 2006 that I've seen that have actually been worth a trip to the cinema.

V For Vendetta - I am a huge fan of Natalie Portman's and of the Wachowski brothers' films Bound and Matrix 1. Matrix 2 and 3 were pretty big letdowns for me. Almost everything I heard about V was from last summer when the film got postponed after the London tube bombings. Then I read on Creede's website that it was based on a comic written back in the 80s while Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister. The opening and closing scenes of V were by far my favorites - absolute masterpieces of combined special effects and music. Buildings in London were bombed with fireworks going off to the tune of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, one of the few pieces of classical music I not only love, but can reliably identify. The tone that most of this movie is told in is what makes the blowing up of buildings okay. First off, it is based on a comic book and is set in the future, so it just doesn't seem real. Maybe they're trying to get us to see that this is what the future could be like, but I didn't really buy it. To me, this was more of a fantastical work that did result in a bit of post-movie discussion. I found the violence to be on par to seeing aliens blow up the White House in Independence Day - another movie whose explosions I loved. There were no suicide bombings in the movie, in fact the bomber goes out of his way to broadcast the date and exact location of his newxt target. On top of that, the message of V was basically to fight to win back freedoms taken by a truly fascist government - and what could be more American than that? If you want to read more into V than that, you probably can, but you were not beat over the head with any kind of politicking. Natalie Portman was fabulous in the film and there are few actresses that can so easily pull off the shaved head look. Hugo Weaving, the Matrix's Agent Smith stars as the man in the mask. I did wish I could see movement in his face, and as an actor I can't imagine how daunting this role was, but he also did a great job. I have to say that V felt overly long to me and that it slowed down a bit in the middle. I kept wanting more explosions. Those at the end were worth the wait.

The Inside Man - This weekend Thomas, Jen and I went to see the new Spike Lee movie, Inside Man. Spike Lee is one of my favorite modern-day directors. It doesn't hurt that as I sit typing this I can look to a photo I took with him a few years ago at the Denver Distinguished Lecture Series. He was very nice and let me have two pictures taken. I thoroughly enjoyed his thought-provoking lecture. Aside from Henry Kissinger's, it was the best I heard in that series. I've also enjoyed a good many of his films, Malcolm X (the movie Denzel should have won his lead Oscar for), in particular. I have felt that Lee's been off his game a bit lately though. The last film of his that I enjoyed was 2002's 25th Hour starring Edward Norton and this year's Oscar winner, P.S. Hoffman. I was thrilled that Lee returned to form with Inside Man starring the delicous Denzel, the equally delicious Clive Owen and an under-used Jody Foster. I can only take so many movies about bank heists and "one last job"s, but Inside Man had an original script, fabulous actors and a great director. It definitely freshened up this over-played genre. It makes me sooooo glad that I did not waste my time on this year's poorly reviewed Firewall starring Harrison Ford. The other noteworthy thing about Inside Man was its well-defined characters - even those with the smallest of parts felt like they had fully-drawn people to play - from the Albanian ex-wife to the Sikh frustrated with being constantly mistaken for a Muslim terrorist. There are many twists to the story that I don't want to spoil, and the script doesn't tie up every loose end. Even today I've been exchanging emails with Jen filled with speculation. My only real problem with the movie though was the ever-changing camera styles. Lee did not employ one particular look and feel for this movie, a la Michael Mann. At times the camera jittered wildly and at other times he would employed fast close-up swoops, both of which I suffered in agony given my battle with motion sickness. I have to wonder if enough people enjoy this style of film-making to make up for all of us that get sickened by it. If I could ban something in the world, that would be near the top of my list. Denzel and Clive and a smart story make Inside Man a can't miss, queasy stomach or not. I'd say it's definitely the most enjoyable film of 2006...yet.

-sunday

R.I.P. Caspar Weinberger.

Dancing Queen Gone Bad

Hey everyone, This weekend Thomas and I went with Matt and Tracy to see Mamma Mia at the Denver Center for Performaing Arts. I was very excited because I knew the music was all of Abba's old songs, songs I dearly love. I mistakenly thought the plot was going to be around the actual band Abba - how they formed or the story of their days on tour, etc. I expected lots of 70s outfits, disco balls and blond hair. Instead the curtain drew back to reveal the plainest set I have ever seen in my life. I eventually realized that it was meant to be an inn/cafe in a modern-day Greek village. The actresses appeared and instead of being blond disco divas, they were 2000-era hippies. The plot centered around Sophie, a 20 year old Mary Lou Retton lookalike about to get married. She was distressed because she read her mother Donna's diary and found out the father she never was any one of three different men. As the play progresses, the three men arrive in town as do Rosie and Tanya, two women Donna used to be in a band with back in the 70s.

There were many faults I found with Mamma Mia:

• The look and abilities of the cast - they all seemed like munchkin rejects from Wicked, except for the actress playing Tanya - she was great
• There was shockingly little dancing. The cast stood rooted to the ground during most of their solos. Finally in the second act there were a few larger scale dance numbers
• The quality of the entire show. We agreed that the show's sophistication was on par with an episode of Saved by the Bell. I would never in my wildest dreams have imagined that this is the quality of a show I could see on Broadway, yet it was staged by a touring Broadway company.

I in no way want to sound ageist, but I could not help noticing that all the greyhairs surrounding me were howling throughout the musical. They all throughly enjoyed it. So was it us? Do you have to be very young or on the other side of 50 to appreciate Mamma Mia? Or is it that musicals in general are in decline? The last one I saw was Wicked and I was a little disappointed in it, particularly the anti-climacic finale. But in comparison to Mamma Mia it was a masterpiece. There was spectacle and some degree of complexity in the story. I've come to the conclusion that I'm better off sticking with plays. I completely enjoyed a recent production of Steel Magnolias and the two off-Broadway plays I saw last year. This is disheartening because when a musical is done well - Rent or The Lion King - there's nothing like it.

Ads for Mamma Mia all say that the audience ends up dancing in the aisle. We did end up on our feet after being forced into an ill-deserved standing ovation. At that time, the cast gets dressed up in glam-rock outfits and performed a couple of numbers singing and dancing. That turned out to be the highlight of the show. Why they saved it for the encore is beyond me.

The night was saved thanks to a fabulous dinner at Rioja, a restaurant I'd never been to on Larimer. Every single bite - the bread, the salad, and the dinner was delicious and the service was excellent. If you're downtown, it's definitely worth a shot.

-sunday

Oscar 2006 Recap

Aloha everyone! In a cruel twist of fate this year's Oscars were scheduled the night before our 6 a.m. (yes, that was a.m.) flight to Maui. As this is the entertainment world's super bowl (not mine - that's the Golden Globes with their brilliant cocktail of movies, tv, and well, cocktails), I just had to watch it. Once again I am eternally grateful for my Replayer. I zapped through a large portion of the show, but watched enough of it to distract me from packing important things like my camera. Anyway, I know that everyone has already forgotten the Oscars, but I am too caught up in this stuff to not detail my best and worst.

Overall, I'd say the show was pretty unmemorable. John Stewart did a serviceable job. He didn't suck, but he didn't knock my socks off, either. After his enjoyable opening monologue the only comments I even recall of his were regarding the enthusiasm displayed by surprise winners Three 6 Mafia for Best Song. It probably didn't help that all of the nominated films were in the Indie category. No Lord of the Rings this year, more's the pity. And no film swept the awards, a few here, a few there. Definitely a mixed bag.

And now for The Sundays:

All Time Best Montage: That would be the one at the very beginning of the show - the one that showed all these movie characters promenading down a road. I watched it several times from the swoop in where we saw the Titanic and the spaceship from Close Encounters to the end where the Millenium Falcon from Star Wars zipped off the screen. Some of the actors/characters I spotted included Bogart's Rick, Rhett and Scarlett, Brando, Nicole in Moulin Rouge, Julia as Pretty Woman, Denzel from Glory, and James Dean from Rebel taunting Spidey that he reads too many comic books. There were many others, and I loved them all and the general idea that somewhere all these characters are in some kind of movieland hanging out with each other. After that all the subsequent montages failed. And why we must have 17 different montages at the Oscars is beyond me. It was overkill (and yes, I now remember Stewart commenting on that as well).
Best Presenters: Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin's introduction of Robert Altman for the Lifetime Achievement Award. Their Altmanesque overlapping dialogue was charming and stood out in stark relief from the stuttering of other presenters (yes, I'm talking to you Jessica Alba).
Most Disappointing Win: That would be a tie - George Clooney for Syriana (Matt Dillon was so robbed!) and Rachel Weisz for Constant Gardner. I would have preferred anyone but her, particularly Amy Adams or Michelle Williams, but anyone but her. Not that I dislike either of the above, but I did heartily dislike both films.
Best Accessory: The penguins! I am embarrassed to say that I have not yet seen March of the Penguins (I have a reluctance to see most documentaries in the theatre for some reason), but I'm really glad the crazy French guys carried their penguins onstage and I'm really glad they won the award. I haven't seen any of the nominees, but I'm a huge fan of penguins in general.
Worst Accessory: The bow on Charlize Theron's left shoulder. It looked like a raccoon or something. Perhaps a little too avant garde for the rest of us.
Most Annoying Addition to the Show: Producer Gil Cates decided to up the drama by playing music the entire time a recipient is giving their speech. This was both rude and extremely annoying. Please, please find a new producer and freshen this show up.
The Newest Hasbeen Award: This goes to Jennifer Lopez. For a few years JLo was one of my favorite celebrities. I'm embarrased to admit that I even bought one of her albums (tho I admit that I never listened to the entire thing). Ever since she married the scarily ugly Marc Anthony, she just looks weirder and worse. Who would have thought her liasons with Puff Daddy and Ben Affleck would be her relationship high points?
Funniest Speech: Three 6 Mafia's speech when they won for Best Song. I agree with Stewart - their excitement and bleeped out speech was a breath of fresh air.
Best Recovery: Jennifer Garner's comment that she does her own stunts after she tripped while walking to present some category or other.
Most Militant Speech: The guy who won best foreign film for the South African Tsotsi. He took the time limit very seriously and even ordered about the cameraman.
Most Improved Pregnant Dresser: I can't imagine the horror an actress must feel when having to figure out what to aware to awards shows when pregnant, so I shouldn't even comment on this. But I will. I noted at the Golden Globes that Rachel Weisz looked fairly hideous. Well, she was much improved this time around and looked quite beautiful in her black dress, normal hair and understated makeup.
Smallest Waist: Hillary Swank - she has to have had a rib removed!
Most Emotional Speech: Phillip Seymour Hoffman. I loved what he said about his mom. I was pulling for Joaquin, but I wouldn't have minded Heath or PSH winning, so I was okay with this.
Best Speech: Reese! Finally, someone I wanted to win actually won. And she gave a great speech and managed to avoid tears and hysterics while actually saying something meaningful. Bravo!
Worst Dressed: Much as I hate to say it, Larry McMurtry. What was up with the crooked bowtie and jeans. Come on, it's the Oscars.
Most Boring Speech: McMurtry's writing partner, Diana Ossana. Yikes.
Biggest Shock to everyone in the Kodak Theatre: Crash beats Brokeback. Since my #1 film (Walk the Line) wasn't even nominated, I didn't really care who won. But Crash was on my top 5 of the year, so I was glad it prevailed. Plus, it gave all the news reporters something to write about for this pretty boring awards show.
And finally, Best Dressed: Michelle Williams. Who'd have thought little Jen from Dawson's Creek would steal the show. But she did in her mustard colored gown, and gorgeous, old Hollywood hair and makeup. The color of her dress somehow worked and she just looked amazingly beautiful - better than she ever has and much better than the poofy purple thing she wore to the Globes. Plus, she and Heath Ledger win the award for most in love Hollywood couple in a long time. They are beyond adorable. Runners up: Uma Thurman (looked like a goddess), Salma Hayek (great dress color and hair) and Naomi Watts.

Let's hope next year is better (but it's almost April and we haven't had anything Oscar-worthy yet).

-sunday