I really didn't expect to watch a Meryl Streep movie last night, but somehow ended up watching one anyway.  I assumed that as soon as my friends got bored of Guitar Hero World Tour they would transition straight into DDR, but that was not actually the case.  We played Wii sports for a bit, I am terrible at tennis, then we projected Mamma Mia on to the wall.  It was unfortunately not the sing-along version because the boys needed a compromise or the movie wouldn't have happened at all, but we survived.  And once again, we had to confirm that Meryl Streep was not dead.  

We took a break to welcome in the new year with Martinelis and the fireworks display around the Space Needle on television.  The fireworks had a surprisingly cinematic theme, so I thought I'd share it.

So Long, 2008

I have no recommendations for films to watch on New Years eve.  Of course, you should watch something with Meryl Streep in it, but unless I get really industrious I doubt I am.  Last year I went to see Enchanted with my parents and I don't remember what I did the year before.  I do remember one New Years party with friends where we watch Monty Python and Mars Attacks.  Classics.

I don' think it really matters, it's mostly a holiday for getting plastered anyway.  I very much doubt that I'll be getting plastered tonight, but I do believe in the power of champagne.  Maybe my friends and I will watch a movie, but it's more likely we'll play a lot of DDR and have pizza.  If we were watching a movie, here's what I'd chose:  

Postcards from the Edge - This was one of the first Meryl Streep movies I saw and I love it.  It's not always happy, but it's bitingly funny and has a phenomenal story.  It also has one of my favorite lines ever for a movie: "I think I'm going to go weave a basket now."

Mars Attacks - It's really stupid, and I like stupid.

Modern Times - I saw this movie with a live orchestra once and I don't think anything will ever top that, but it's still an awesome movie.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show - For one night and one night only, the NBC peacock meets God!

Happy New Year.

The Originals

We didn't watch television when I was growing up.  Hell, we didn't even have a TV until I was four.  It's the same one we have now.  It lives in a cart thing that my dad built with wheels on it so it can be pushed back in the closet when it's not in use.  From this it's possible to discern my parents' general attitude towards the whole television concept.  TV was fine, but there were better things to do.  Our TV has never played channels.  Once my dad dug up an ancient antenna and we watched a very fuzzy winter Olympics.  When I was little I got to watch one movie a week.  We would go to the movie store on Friday after school and I would agonize over which movie I'd watch.  The major problem in the whole system was that when I really liked a movie I didn't want to see anything else.  I watched Hercules so many times that my mother just gave in and bought it.  But that wasn't the first one.  First it was Doctor Dolittle.  And this was long before the Eddie Murphey version, this was the old school Rex Harrison musical.  I thought talking to animals would be the coolest thing ever.  Week after week that was what came home from the movie store.

My parents got sick of Doctor Dolittle much quicker than I did so in order to save their sanity they got my started on Swiss Family Robinson.  I loved that movie.  It started a continuing adoration of tree houses.  There was also pirates and climbing in trees and jungle creatures.  What not to love?  I was never a big fan of the whole brothers in love with the same girl story line, mostly because at that age romance was still an overrated concept.  But the rest of it was fantastic.

I don't remember what was after Robinson.  Either Hercules or Star Wars.  High quality entertainment.  Movies were a big deal in my house.  I didn't get to watch cartoons on weekends, I did that at other peoples' houses, I watched movies.   And I think I treasured them because they were so rare.  To my parents credit, their regime of one movie a week didn't last very long, but it still made an impact.  As I got older I outgrew movie Fridays and watching the same movie continuously.  I've seen a lot of movies, and they stick with me better than most things.  Film is one of the few topics where I feel I can hold my own in conversation.  Unless it's about porn, I still haven't seen Zombie Strippers staring Jenna Jameson.

Happy-Go-Synecdoche

I don't remember what my first movie was.  Some kids do, they can recount the first time their parents sat them down in front of the strange black box.  It's usually Disney or one of the classics like The Sound of Music or The Wizard of Oz.  I don't think my first was The Wizard of Oz, but it must have been one of the earlier ones because I can distinctly remember an absolute terror of the Wicked Witch of the West.  At my daycare when I was three we used to stage frequent productions of The Wizard of Oz in the living room.  On those days I was forced to play the Wicked Witch that way I couldn't be frightened of myself.  Mostly all that was required of the role was sitting in the corner while clutching the disgusting broom from the kitchen.  The whole experience was an early indicator that I was not meant to be an actor.

Movies were a big deal at my daycare.  Once a month or so all the parents would meet for secret discussions the children weren't privy to.  We would get pizza and cram into the tiny back room in front of the TV.  I don't really remember watching movies at these gatherings.  I remember long arguments about what movie we should watch and long stretches when the TV was having technical difficulties.  During one of those waits one of the older kids told us that the black and white static on the screen was teams of black and white ants racing.  Every few minutes we'd get to ask which team was wining.

On Friday I saw "Happy-Go-Lucky" and last night I saw "Synecdoche, New York."  HGL I really wanted to like, but it fell short.  I think the main problem was I could never really like the main character, she always kind of bugged me.  So I watched all of her exploits with mild irritation.  Then none of her exploits were resolved in the end.  They just kept introducing story lines and none of them were completely wrapped up.  

Synecdoche on the other hand.... wow, that's a trip.  It's written and directed by Charlie Kaufman, the guy who did Adaptation and Being John Malkovich.  I'll watch Adaptation at some point, Meryl Streep's in it, and Being John Malkovich is one of my favorite movies.  I went in expecting something pretty trippy, but still brilliant.  That was what I saw, but the trippy really outweighs the brilliant.  I felt like I was trying to process a new way of looking at everything while trying to keep up with the story and multitude of characters.  James over at A Blogwork Orange says it's a film that must be seen twice.  That would probably help.  It's quite the creative work and the performances are incredible.  But it fucks with your mind.

Hysteria at a Funeral

I watch a lot of movies on the weekends. This weekend I think I watched more movies than I did homework. In some cultures that's what's known as screwing yourself over, but I call it watching a lot of movies. Some day I'll actually plan ahead and watch Meryl Streep movies. But obviously that hasn't happened yet.

Friday night I saw The Dark Knight. Fuck, that movie is scary. I'm scared of clowns, I don't think it was a good decision to see it. I'm still trying to come up with a logical, not roundabout way to link it to Meryl Streep, this is the best I've got so far. Michael Caine is in The Dark Knight and Little Voice with Ewan McGregor who's in Moulin Rouge with Nicole Kidman who's in The Hours with Meryl Streep. But it doesn't make any sense in my head that Meryl Streep and Michael Caine haven't done anything together because they're both so brilliant, yet nothing is coming to mind. I might have to look that up later.

I spent most of Saturday in Philly. We went to the protest against Prop 8 in front of City Hall and that was pretty amazing. It's awesome to see so many people out there supporting something that wasn't even on the ballot here. And I think we all need a good protest now and again, good for the soul. We have freedom of speech and right to assemble, good not to forget how to use it. After protesting we went to South Street to buy things for Rocky Horror. Not everyone just has garter belts and fishnets lying around. Although wouldn't that be handy?

Saturday night there was a screening of Death at a Funeral. My role was to put the DVD in the DVD player and push play. I almost couldn't take the excitement. Luckily, I held it together because I spent most of Death at a Funeral laughing hysterically. British humor is so under-appreciated here. All our movies should include blackmail, acid, and everything possible going utterly wrong. I have two ways to link it to Meryl Streep and both of them I'm missing names. And both of them use the movie Love, Actually. So, there's a guy in Death at a Funeral who was on an amazing British sitcom called "All in the Family." I think. He was also in Love, Actually, he played Colin, who goes to Wisconsin to pick up girls. One of the better story lines of the movie. Also in Love, Actually is Colin Firth - wow that sentence was written by Yoda. Anyway, Colin Firth is in Mamma Mia! too. I think I use him too much.

Then we watched Rocky Horror. I love that movie. I'm Brad in our show of it here. Susan Sarandon was in The Banger Sisters with Goldie Hawn who was in Death Becomes Her with Meryl. So Hah. I'm late for history.

Edit: Epic fail. Colin Frissell, the guy from Love, Actually is played by Kris Marshall, who was in the sitcom "My Family," not "All in the Family." Oh well, I was close. But otherwise that works.

One Month till Doubt

I've had the pestilence for the past week.  It's been a party, but I think I'm getting over it.

Not much has happened on the movie front.  I watched half of Pride and Prejudice (new version) and half of Sophie Scholl and twenty minutes of Angels in America.

The presence of Judi Dench in Pride and Prejudice (not BBC version) got me thinking.  I want there to be a movie with Meryl Streep and Judi Dench and Helen Mirren and... Laura Linney and Emma Thompson.  Ideal situation.  Fantasy casting, like fantasy football, but better.  And they're be in a really well written movie about women being kick ass and awesome, and it'd be altogether a fabulous experience.

That's be cool.

The main reason for this post is that there is exactly one month until Doubt comes out.  I think that's pretty important.  Unfortunately, because it is the day before my show and the weekend before exams, I don't know if I'll get to see it on opening weekend.  That makes me very sad.  I hope other people go see it for me, because I'd hate to have to go on another crusade in defense of a Meryl Streep movie like I did with Mamma Mia!.  Because that wasn't amusing and entertaining at all.  No sir.

Still, Catholic nuns, priests, possible sexual harassment of altar boys.  Sounds like a party.

Tipping the Velvet

With the exception of Prop 8 and its friends, I'm pretty thrilled about the results of the election.  Washington state even managed to keep its democratic governor, cool beans all around.

Yesterday I watched Tipping the Velvet with a friend.  Meryl Streep is not in this film, but it would be awesome if she was.  There's this extremely kinky (well, extremely kinky for London circa The French Lieutenant's Woman) woman who sort of takes in the main character and even though Anna Chancellor is very attractive, Meryl Streep would have been amazing in that role.  Anyway, movie was fun, I highly enjoyed it.  The smut scenes were excellent.  I tried to explain the plot to my friends afterwards and they really could not handle the main character's name being Nan, so she became known as Main Character for the rest of the evening.

Anna Chancellor was Mr. Bingley's sister in Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth who won the most adorable award for Mamma Mia!  That's using a mini series, which isn't technically a movie, but Tipping the Velvet is a mini series as well, so I don't feel bad.

So the plan of watching Out of Africa this weekend is totally not going to work out.  It's parents weekend and there's a million other things to do, like going to see the student production of Macbeth and an orchestra concert.  But I'm still watching plenty of movies.  I want to write my term paper for history on European identity in film, so viewing some potential candidates.  I'm going to try to get through all four this weekend, but I doubt that'll happen.