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Jan. 16th, 2005 01:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
doyleThank god it's back. I was sitting yesterday thinking "well, I could update End of Days... no, all the stuff's on LJ. Or my own fic website... wait, all my stuff's in my memories." Even quite a bit of my lab data is in private posts.
So we went to see Lemony Snicket and Phantom of the Opera and played two games of Atmosfear. That's productive. In its own way.
My three housemates love the books. We have the whole series in the house and I'm the only one who's not into them. I read the first one, didn't like it much and didn't bother with the rest. After seeing the movie I read The Reptile Room this morning and I found it a bit more interesting. I do like the style a lot, I'm just not sure why they don't grab me.
That said, I love the look of the movie and the actors playing the kids were amazing. I think I would have loved the film if Jim Carrey hadn't been in it, since every time he was onscreen I wanted to somehow kill myself with my popcorn just to get away. I like Carrey as an actor - I thought he was great in The Truman Show and Eternal Sunshine - but he's the comedic equivalent of getting a brick in the face. And I don't know why he was trying to be funny, anyway. Count Olaf played straight could have worked so much better.
...I hesitate to mention this since I'm guessing there's going to be an incest-fic kerfuffle in the not too distant future, but I'm not the only one who got a Flowers In the Attic vibe from Violet and Klaus, right?
Ah, PoTO. I'll cop up to this being one of my least favourite musicals, but then I've only heard the score and never seen it on stage - I thought it was trashy-fabulous (with the theatre owners just being fabulous). I want to live in a magnificent opera house! And have masquerade balls! And wear a swishy cape! And leap onto statues and fling my arms to the sky in a dramatic moment! (Kevin said that he wanted the camera to just stay where it was as the music stopped and after a long moment Erik sheepishly climbed down and slunk back to his lair.)
I expected Jennifer Ellison to be terrible as Meg but she was actually good, and looked great. Still can't see her as anything but the trampy, mouthy one whose name I can't remember from Brookside. Christine's cleavage deserved its own mention in the credits, especially for its heroic part in Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again, where it's onscreen for about ten minutes straight. I can't believe the actress is only 18 (meaning she was about 16 when she cast?)
The Phantom himself was a bit odd. I mean, as soon as the mask came off his scars expanded to cover a lot more of his face than previously. And his hair changed colour and half of it fell out. Plus, sexy as the actor is, the sending of little notes (Carlotta sucks! BURN!) did come off as the 19th century equivalent of the stereotypical nerd lurking in his parents' basement, flaming people on Ain't It Cool News.
Anyway. Phantom of the Opera was fun and I'll get it on DVD - speaking of, I bought Maurice on DVD yesterday. It already had my love for not putting Hugh Grant on the cover - I love him but Clive's not the main character, as the cover and synopsis on my video copy would have you believe - and won much, much more love when I realized it had 45 minutes of deleted scenes, including the whole subplot from the book about Dr. Barry's nephew staying with the Halls. And the last scene with Maurice and Clive, which always seemed far too short and abruptly ended, is far better in its full form (basically word for word from the book, with Maurice fading back into the dark).
So we went to see Lemony Snicket and Phantom of the Opera and played two games of Atmosfear. That's productive. In its own way.
My three housemates love the books. We have the whole series in the house and I'm the only one who's not into them. I read the first one, didn't like it much and didn't bother with the rest. After seeing the movie I read The Reptile Room this morning and I found it a bit more interesting. I do like the style a lot, I'm just not sure why they don't grab me.
That said, I love the look of the movie and the actors playing the kids were amazing. I think I would have loved the film if Jim Carrey hadn't been in it, since every time he was onscreen I wanted to somehow kill myself with my popcorn just to get away. I like Carrey as an actor - I thought he was great in The Truman Show and Eternal Sunshine - but he's the comedic equivalent of getting a brick in the face. And I don't know why he was trying to be funny, anyway. Count Olaf played straight could have worked so much better.
...I hesitate to mention this since I'm guessing there's going to be an incest-fic kerfuffle in the not too distant future, but I'm not the only one who got a Flowers In the Attic vibe from Violet and Klaus, right?
Ah, PoTO. I'll cop up to this being one of my least favourite musicals, but then I've only heard the score and never seen it on stage - I thought it was trashy-fabulous (with the theatre owners just being fabulous). I want to live in a magnificent opera house! And have masquerade balls! And wear a swishy cape! And leap onto statues and fling my arms to the sky in a dramatic moment! (Kevin said that he wanted the camera to just stay where it was as the music stopped and after a long moment Erik sheepishly climbed down and slunk back to his lair.)
I expected Jennifer Ellison to be terrible as Meg but she was actually good, and looked great. Still can't see her as anything but the trampy, mouthy one whose name I can't remember from Brookside. Christine's cleavage deserved its own mention in the credits, especially for its heroic part in Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again, where it's onscreen for about ten minutes straight. I can't believe the actress is only 18 (meaning she was about 16 when she cast?)
The Phantom himself was a bit odd. I mean, as soon as the mask came off his scars expanded to cover a lot more of his face than previously. And his hair changed colour and half of it fell out. Plus, sexy as the actor is, the sending of little notes (Carlotta sucks! BURN!) did come off as the 19th century equivalent of the stereotypical nerd lurking in his parents' basement, flaming people on Ain't It Cool News.
Anyway. Phantom of the Opera was fun and I'll get it on DVD - speaking of, I bought Maurice on DVD yesterday. It already had my love for not putting Hugh Grant on the cover - I love him but Clive's not the main character, as the cover and synopsis on my video copy would have you believe - and won much, much more love when I realized it had 45 minutes of deleted scenes, including the whole subplot from the book about Dr. Barry's nephew staying with the Halls. And the last scene with Maurice and Clive, which always seemed far too short and abruptly ended, is far better in its full form (basically word for word from the book, with Maurice fading back into the dark).
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no subject
on 2005-01-16 02:20 pm (UTC)Makes the Buffy or Harry Potter fandoms look normal and well-adjusted, huh?
I covet Violets dress and hairstyle. I may have to find someone to make me it for Hallowe'en.
no subject
on 2005-01-16 02:47 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2005-01-16 03:11 pm (UTC)I love you.
no subject
on 2005-01-16 03:19 pm (UTC)Organ Grinding
on 2005-01-16 03:30 pm (UTC)And the funky synthesisesrs and grinding electric guitars in 19th Century Paris.
Re: Organ Grinding
on 2005-01-16 03:33 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2005-01-16 04:14 pm (UTC)I'm kind of worried about this whole incest kerfuffle upcoming thing, too. I liked it better when no one gave a shit that we were occasionally writing it.
Anywho, I think I'm going to do a Violet/Klaus for New Years Resolutions.
no subject
on 2005-01-16 04:37 pm (UTC)Interestingly, or sadly, Hugh Grant is on the cover of various VHS editions of Maurice, probably for crass marketing purposes, but now I see what you mean about the DVD. It shows James Wilby in the foreground, looking back at Rupert Graves, who is in the background but coming toward Wilby with great intent -- sorta encapsulates the film right there. Having the ladder in the shot is kind of amusing, actually, metaphorical and amusing. The whole thing is quite pretty -- Merchant Ivory certainly knows how to give the viewer her money's worth.
no subject
on 2005-01-16 05:16 pm (UTC)he and his editor really, really, really missed the timing. there were times when carrey was doing his thing and i though, 'ok, that's not as over-the-top as i thought it was going to be', but then the camera would linger a little too long. or the dramatic pauses were just. too. much.
olaf and his gang were particularly victimized by this, IMHO.
so was auntie.
anyway, just my two cents. ;]
no subject
on 2005-01-16 07:46 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2005-01-16 08:51 pm (UTC)OMG! Me too! I felt dirty pondering that.
That's about right. I don't know if she was still sixteen or barely seventeen when they started shooting. Even naughtier: The first escene she shot with the Phantom was the PONR one.
no subject
on 2005-01-17 04:54 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2005-01-25 01:17 am (UTC)Anyways, I agree that the movie was well done, illuminating of the text and pretty true to the story and I too was glad that they didn't put Hugh on the cover (not only because Clive isn't the main character, but because one of my school chums is the spitting image of Grant -with a brother named Hugh, no less- and seeing him in the movie squicked me enough without having to endure him on the cover).
no subject
on 2005-01-25 03:20 am (UTC)one of my school chums is the spitting image of Grant
But does he have the, er, interesting moustache Hugh sprouts in the last half of the film? *g*