Near, Far, Wherever Comments Are...

I just wanted to take a moment out to publicly thank those of you who take the time to comment. I do read them all. Comments aren't exactly a reliable gauge of how popular a post or "series" is, but they're fun to read nonetheless and can help with motivation on darker days. Some time ago I had to switch to "moderated" comments for any article that's not on the front page to prevent the spambots from touching the film experience in its private places -- No means no! -- so I read all those, too. Just for fun a few notes on brand new comments from old posts.


Robert T is, like me, rattled that Disney is always trying to put Princess Aurora in a pink dress after the fact. It's just so wrong. Blue!

Sachin shared an alternative top 10 once confronted with the Top 50 Female Performances of the 00s. Hilary Swank shan't be denied her fans and Amy Ryan's Gone Baby Gone still has proponents. I've actually been thinking about the latter performance this week. I was wondering if anyone in Ben Affleck's The Town is going to seize awards traction by the balls the way Amy did in that earlier Affleck effort. [tangent] And I also saw the trailer to Jack Goes Boating wherein she romances Philip Seymour Hoffman. From the looks of the trailer she's playing this one in inverse noise proportion to her work on Gone Baby Gone. That's probably a smart move since PSH is directing and probably wants all the attention. He's purposefully making himself look even schlubbier than usual. Why must the cinema torture me with its sexism? They'd never let an actress equivalent of PSH anywhere near a camera, even if she was twice as talented as he. He gets lead roles and then purposefully looks worse than he needs to. If they need a woman to look "unattractive" they just hire someone breathtaking and forego makeup or they do prosthetic work to really drive the point home and win the gorgeous actress prizes for hiding her light under a bushel. (Nerve, touched.) [/tangent]

Finally, Derek added his voice to The Devil Wears Prada love from last Tuesday, calling Streep's work not just the best of 2006 but Best of the 00s period.

P.S. Hope you had a great holiday weekend or a weekend that felt like a holiday if it wasn't one for you.

P.P.S. Oscar prediction updates tomorrow.

P.P.P.S. Do you like the new banner? Now that it's up I'm totally wondering which of the six movie peoples will take my call. One Ringy Dingy. Two Ringy Dingy. Pick up!

Halfway House: Merryweather Knows Best

halfway through the day we stop a movie halfway through. What do we see?


37 minutes into Sleeping Beauty, one of the greatest fashion decisions in all of filmdom occurs. Behold the wisdom of Merryweather.

blue

So much better.

If the cinema had existed in the 14th century Merryweather would have become the next Edith Head. If only she could serve as a judge on Project Runway.
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May Flowers, Sleeping Beauty

May Flowers, weeknights @ 11:00

I don't know how many of you know this since I don't talk about animation that much but Sleeping Beauty is my favorite Disney classic. I love the color palette, the villain, the Prince (hubba hubba), and Briar Rose herself: keeper of the tiniest waist since Mammy cinched Scarlett O'Hara up tight by the bedposts.


I also enjoy "their most honored and exalted excellencies, the three good fairies"... or as Maleficent memorably dubs them, "the rabble."

Each fairy can give one gift to Princess Aurora (she's renamed for this movie for some reason). Flora the lead fairy, her name drawn from plant life, is first... "Little Princess, my gift shall be the gift of beauty" and then we get trippy visuals of flowers and the cosmos and a creepy choral number, too

One gift, beauty rare,
Gold of sunshine in her hair,
Lips that shame the red, red rose,
She'll walk in springtime wherever she goes!

Fauna gives the gift of song... though I'm not sure how that correlates to animal life... oh yes, birds! Merryweather gives... well Merryweather isn't really about anything other than comic relief and her love for the color blue. But blue is better than pink, so I always take Merryweather's side.

To escape Maleficent's curse, Flora suggests turning Aurora into a flower. Fauna likes the idea "Oh, she'd make a lovely flower!" But Merryweather (the best fairy, remember) warns that Maleficent will send a frost "she always ruins your best flowers." Maleficent manages to curse the girl anyway.


Cut to the tail end of the movie, this rare beauty with golden sunshine in her hair is awoken by love's true kiss. She holds a rose to her bosom. It wasn't shamed to be seen with her red red lips.
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Top Ten: Princes in Cinema

tues top ten: for the listmaker in me and the listlover in you

With the release of Prince Caspian right around the corner, I thought we'd take a look at some other royal boyz 2 men in the movies...

Top 10 Princes

10 "Prince Hector" (Eric Bana) in Troy
Straddling the abyss that opened between Brad Pitt's worst performance and Orlando Bloom's least sympathetic role, Eric Bana's massive thighs, chest and biceps performance emerged as this misguided 2004 film's only selling point and a breakthrough for him as a rising star. It remains one of the only times in this history of cinema where another male actor has managed to rip my eyes away from Brad Pitt. (Brad played all the roles in Fight Club, Sleepers, Legends of the Fall and Interview with the Vampire, right?)

09 "Prince Eric" in The Little Mermaid
He wasn't just tall, dark and handsome but he was so sweet and sensitive that you knew that Ariel needn't have given up her voice at all to be with him. True maybe she did. The film's sexual politics were all over the place but their love was true and came through in the line drawings and vocals and made that happily ever after plausible. You sure wanted him to "Kiss the Girl" [plentiful Little Mermaid posts. My apologies to the Disney averse]

08 "Charlie Princ(ess)" (Ben Foster) 3:10 to Yuma
Because he practically made the movie worth watching all by his lonesome. Free advice to all supporting actors in sleepy films: strut through the movie like you own it and you will. [Drawing to your right by Joanna. See prev post for more thoughts on this film]

07 Satan in South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut
Because the Prince of Darkness as Saddam Hussein's bitch is an appropriately irreverent, immature and inspired conceit. Satan himself would probably LHFAO.

06 Prince Karl (Edmund Purdom w/ the voice of Mario Lanzo) in The Student Prince
Because he starred in the first movie musical I ever saw at the Redford Theater where I fell in love with old movies as a kid. Sentimental value, you know. I still try to go there to catch something whenever I'm in Detroit.

05 Prince Edward (James Marsden) in Enchanted
Few things last year made me happier than Marsden's send up of Prince Charming. From the fist biting to the bravado and bombastic enthusiasm. I heart Edward.

"116th and Broadway!!!"

04 "The Little Prince" in The Little Prince
Not so much for his cinematic outings per se but just for his existence and his profound and simple wisdom. I love Antoine de Saint Exupéry's classic so much that I've read it in three languages.

03 Prince Phillip in Sleeping Beauty
Hands down the best of all the fairy tale princes. He's a fuller character than most of them (who essentially have to be only square jawed marriage-material for the princesses). He's the actual hero of his film, too --a brave heroic dragon slayer. He looks great on a horse, giving the kiss of true love, flirting with a maiden in the forest, or bound and gagged by an evil pissed-off sorceress. In short: he's even hotter than David Beckham who played him in the Disney Dreams photo series [pictured, left] and just as believable as an underwear model.

02 Prince (Prince) in Purple Rain
I know, I know. He goes by "The Kid" here but His Purple Majesty has only ever played himself, don't you agree? And for that we're grateful. But mostly we're just grateful for the CD which we still listen to 24 years later whenever the mood strikes. Soundtracks don't come with better tracks than: Let's Go Crazy, The Beautiful Ones, Darling Nikki, Wednesday, Purple Rain, I Would Die 4 U, Baby I'm a Star, Father's Song and When Doves Cry. They just don't. If you ask us, Purple Rain was the true Thriller of the 80s.


01 "Hamlet" (most actors in the known universe) in Hamlet
Like The Little Prince, he can lounge in the throne room of this list, not for any particular outing but for his longevity, his indecisiveness (Hot. Well, not really... but relatable!) and Sybil-like quality: how can you not love a character big enough to morph into Mel Gibson, Laurence Olivier, Asta Nielsen, Richard Burton, Kenneth Branagh, Maximillian Schell, Kevin Kline, Campbell Scott, Ethan Hawke and beyond?

I'm sure you'll tell me who I've forgotten. Perhaps I'll be thrown into the stocks for this sin of omission.
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Sleeping Beauty is Beautiful

Sometimes I think Maleficent isn't such an evil villain. Because, after all, what's so bad about getting some beauty sleep? I could use a good spindle prick right about now. Magical slumber totally attracts me because the natural method doesn't work!

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Halloween Countdown...10

I obsess on Halloween. Other than Oscar night it's my fav holiday. But for me obsess often = stress. Trying to come up with the perfect costume, planning to go to too many parties, etc... So, this year I'm taking it easier. But to celebrate bloggishly, and to satiate my desire for list-making, I will countdown the Top Ten Movies That Make Me Think of Halloween

10. Sleeping Beauty(1959)
Maleficent, the one person that Sleeping Beauty's parents shouldn't have ever forgotten to invite to their daughter's debut, is my favorite from Disney's animated rogues gallery. What's more this magical party crasher might just be my favorite villain. period. from any movie. Darth Vader can quit the heavy breathing. The Wicked Witch of the West's cackle isn't as deadly serious as Maleficent's entitled fury. Sleeping Beauty makes me think of this festively dark holiday because I always thought that, on the right person and with the right commitment to the whole look, the perfect Maleficent costume would be unbeatable. I know you can buy mass produced versions but I've never seen anyone come anywhere close to approximating this sorceress' majesty, gorgeous evilness, or the correct color of her flawless skin. And even if the right Halloween reveller could nail this singular look, they couldn't morph into a fire breathing dragon anyway. Losers.