I have kind of a love/hate relationship with movie musicals. Generally, I LOVE them. But if they're done poorly, it's utterly painful to sit through. (Just as an example, you can go back and check out my review of Les Misérables, which I thought was amazing--with one exception.) Next month comes Hollywood's latest offering, Sondheim's Into the Woods. It boasts a HUGE cast of big names, and hopefully all of them will do their roles well. I do tend to judge actors' singing, although they get big … [Read more...] about Just A Peek, For Fun!
adaptation
An Epiphany About Bambi’s Mother (and Other Notable Deaths by Disney)
I think I've finally answered that nagging question that runs through my brain from time to time, namely: why is it that so many Disney characters have dead family members? If these are fairy tales created for children, why is there so darned much death? I suppose the first and most obvious answer to the question would be that Disney based his movies on fairy tales, which themselves were at times quite dark and had plenty of death in them, but it's not as though those stories were followed … [Read more...] about An Epiphany About Bambi’s Mother (and Other Notable Deaths by Disney)
What Do You Want From Iron Man?
For the last week or so, I've been meaning to get over here and give my two cents regarding Iron Man 3. I'll start off by saying that although I used to read comics when I was a kid, I was more of a DC fan than Marvel, and so didn't follow the Iron Man stories too closely. But at midnight on opening night of Iron Man 3, my husband and I -- along with a fair number of friends we ran into -- christened our brand-spanking-new IMAX theater with this movie, and it was nothing short of a blast! This … [Read more...] about What Do You Want From Iron Man?
Miss The Raven? Nevermore!
Months ago, I was lamenting the fact that I had somehow missed John Cusack as Edgar Allan Poe in The Raven, due to its seemingly short stay in the theaters. This past weekend, I finally remedied that. If you've read my blog before, you may remember that in lieu of the latest Cusack film, I spent some time watching another Poe-centric film, The Black Cat. The feel of that movie was, I think, what viewers were hoping to see in The Raven, although sadly, that's not what we got at all. The Black … [Read more...] about Miss The Raven? Nevermore!
The Cinematic Wonder that is Les Misérables
My first big-screen film viewing for 2013 was Tom Hooper's film adaptation of Les Misérables. No, I did not go see this on Christmas Day, much to the chagrin of my husband. As much as I love movies, Christmas with the family is much more important. So, after a couple of weeks of relaxed schedules and quality hibernating, it was off to the movies! [probably spoilers in here somewhere, for those of you who don't know the story of Les Mis -- but why don't you??] I'd like to preface my review by … [Read more...] about The Cinematic Wonder that is Les Misérables
Romeo + Juliet
There is nothing quite so tragic as to finally have the opportunity to watch a film you've wanted to see for years, only to find that the film you so longed for bore no resemblance in reality to the wondrous work of art conjured in your head. Such, unfortunately, is the case with Romeo + Juliet--a modernized version of Shakespeare's tragedy from 1996, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Daines in the title roles. I will at this point confess that I only got through about twenty minutes of … [Read more...] about Romeo + Juliet