Saw Dreamgirls tonight, and liked it a lot. Didn't love it, but that may have had more to do with the fact that the guild screening audience we saw it with was annoyingly distracting. (Applause at the end of a really good movie, I understand, but clapping and hooting and hollering after EVERY FRIGGING SONG? Dudes, it's a MOVIE. Jennifer Hudson CAN'T HEAR YOU.)
Speaking of Jennifer Hudson, she's clearly meant to be the breakout star of the film, but she's not an actress. She's got an amazing voice, and she sings the hell out of her big numbers, but she's not playing a character, she's performing the music. And since she has to carry most of the emotional weight of the film, it's a problem. I really wish they'd cast that role from Broadway instead of American Idol.
The best performance in the film is Eddie Murphy -- he steals every scene he's in. Just fantastic.
We saw
Stranger Than Fiction
today, finally. Great movie about writing and stories and life and living and death and all that business.
My three character actor pick for today:
Roger Livesey
Claude Rains
Steve Zahn [and can somebody get him some more decent roles, please?]
Caught a few minutes of
A Matter of Life and Death
on TV yesterday. Sigh. I'm picking him even though he played the lead - romantic lead even - on occasion, because he definitely fits the character actor definition.
Funnily enough, it's much easier for me to think of favourite male than female character actors, though there are plenty about.
This weekend's been all Harry Potter, all the time on ABC Family channel. They've been including little 30-second behind-the-scenes footage from Order of the Phoenix, which the Leaky Cauldron has up here (although the one labeled "Bellatrix Lestrange" is a dup for the director one right now--hopefully, they'll fix it pretty soon, because that one is really good, including a shot of her holding her wand to Neville's throat).
ETA: there's also a clip from HBO's First Look at the film.
there's also a clip from HBO's First Look at the film.
Ooooh! Want movie now, please!
I finally made it to the movies to see Flushed Away this afternoon. It was good enough to be worth sitting in the midst of dozens of shouting preschoolers.
Just how many movies has Hugh Jackman been in this past year, anyway? There's this, The Prestige, Scoop, X-Men 3, The Fountain... am I forgetting anything?
Finally got to see
Casino Royale.
I have found my OTB. Sean, love you kiddo, but it's time to move on.
Hugh was also a voice in Happy Feet.
More extensive series of the clips on YouTube re. Order of the Phoenix, mostly cast interviews. Apparently these aired on ABC over the weekend.
The girl who plays Luna seems particularly spot-on for the part.
