The Feast

I'll confess-I've gone back and forth a number of times on a "way in" to this production that honors its complexity without implying discordance. Ultimately I found best way to approach the script by young playwright Celine Song is the both/and.  It's both narrative and experimental, a dining room drama and play about big ideas, both squirmingly morbid and goofily funny.

Snowglobed at the Schmee

I find it interesting that we've come to expect a certain amount of mayhem in our holiday merriment.  Bickering siblings (no matter the age), the arguments over religion, the fight to keep the tradition alive (or to finally, for the love of Pete, not have to have that dish anymore because Grammy's been dead for three years now and she won't know!) are part and parcel of our peace on earth goodwill toward men (sic) as modern Americans.

Fried Baloney Minus Healthcare

Ennis King has invented an entirely new branch of science. It's called Broke-ology, the science of being broke. It's got theories and an extensive equation that includes the two elements in the title. Ennis is an expert, because he's been studying it all his life. The Broke-ology began with his parents, William and Sonia.  They only meant to live in the house with the bars on the windows for a few years, five at most, but it became their lifetime home.  When younger brother Malcolm comes home with his brand new second Master's degree in hand, he's faced with a tough decision--to stay close by and help Ennis with the aging William, or go back to his own opportunities.

Diner

I wrote a tribute for the 30th anniversary of "Diner."

Wayne's World is 20

Party on, Garth!  Party on, Wayne!  At Edward Copeland on Film.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

My latest review at Edward Copeland on Film.

I Wrote Something

Just not here.  50th Anniversary of the release of West Side Story at
Edward Copeland on Film and More

Review: The Vault

If you haven't already blown your summer reading budget, consider the latest in Boyd Morrison's Tyler Locke series, The Vault. Introduced in the bestselling The Ark, Locke is a former combat engineer who pulled off a daring rescue and a history-making discovery.

Game of Criticism

I'm looking forward to "Game of Thrones" on HBO.  I'm actually behind the game; I hadn't even heard of the books until the news about HBO's production, but it seems to be my "teacup."  I love political intrigue (see "Shogun") unusual use of language (see "Justified," "Deadwood," "Brick"), and swords and shields (see "Spartacus" Or don't-many find it overblown and gory).
So it's interesting to me to see that according to the NYT reviewer, as a Vaginal-American, I'm not supposed to like it.  I guess some bedhopping was thrown in there because I'm not supposed to like any of the things listed above.

In addition, there was a truly bizarro review at Slate (in which I'm disappointed-I usually love Troy Patterson's writing) that I'm not sure I even really understood.  It was more of an exercise in writing on a meta level about how fantasy is perceived, or something.  I think I can see what he was aiming for, but missed.  Actually, that's a bit strong, I can't know what he was aiming for.  But neither can he, the reviewer who admits he doesn't watch/enjoy fantasy, claim to know what the production was aiming for, either.  There's a way to critique outside of your comfort zone by identifying those elements that are off-putting.  (I find the violence disturbing, the language opaque, the huge cast of characters confusing, whatever it is.) But Patterson keeps going back to an adolescent motif, perhaps his code word for fanboy.  Full of sex and violence, but not for grownups?  Again, I'm confused.

So critics, by all means, give me reasons why I might like a production or not, but do not tell me I won't like it because I'm developmentally delayed or a woman. (Or both.)  That angers me.

And Matt Zoller Seitz, evidently.

Frankenstein

Confession:  I've never read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein all the way through.  I think what happened is that I started it as a precocious kid, got bogged down, and never went back to it.  I've never seen Whale's classic film version either.  I did see Gods and Monsters, with Ian McKellen as Whale, (which has one of the funniest  one liners ever-"Mr. Vale, I tink your moofies are not my teacup).  I've also seen Young Frankenstein (Frau Blucher!), for what that's worth.  Even still, as a reasonably educated person I have an idea of what it's all about just by osmosis.  It's about industrialization, playing god, some early feminism, the thrill and the dangers of science, love, responsibility, and even more.  Because it is all these things as well as a riproaring story,  it has well earned its corner of the literary canon. I suppose I can't assert this, never having read it, but it has certainly infused our cultural knowledge.

So how exciting to see some big names attached to a play at the National Theatre derived from the source novel.  Script by Nick Dear, directed by Danny Boyle (who was quite accomplished in directing for the stage before becoming a film name), it stars Jonny Lee Miller and Benedict Cumberbatch.  I've written about Cumberbatch's "Sherlock" here, and I'm a big fan.  Here's the other thing:  the two leads switch the main roles. One night Miller plays Victor and Cumberbatch plays the Monster, then the next night, Miller plays the Monster and Cumberbatch plays Victor.  The version I saw as screened by the Seattle International Film Festival Cinema was the latter.

Review: Fish Tank

At Edward Copeland on Film.

Although Fish Tank is not particularly plot heavy, the film unfolds inexorably. There’s just no way that things will go right for this family. Even the very sky lowers down upon them, but that makes the sweet moments, when they occur, that much sweeter.

Review: Centurion

Centurion is another swords and sandals movie, although it's set in Scotland, so there aren't any sandals. The Romans are still trying to subdue the Picts but are suffering the triple threat of homesickness, the weather, and very successful guerilla warfare. Quintus Dias, the centurion of the title, is spared after a Pictish raid because he can speak the language and may be "useful." He escapes, and totters through the snow shirtless (because he's played by Michael Fassbender) and bound. This is actually the opening scene of the film, and Dias informs us that "This is neither the beginning nor the end of my story."

Blog-a-thon: Brick

My entry for the Film Noir Blog-a-thon is now up at Edward Copeland on Film

First time director Rian Johnson walked away with the 2005 Sundance Special Jury Prize for originality of vision for his film Brick. Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Lukas Haas, it was an attempt to film a noir but with a completely different set of visual cues. Rather than creating a 1940s detective in a rainy New York or Chicago, Johnson set his plot in motion in a modern Southern California high school. In the DVD commentary, Johnson admits that his script was on a knife edge-the slightest misstep in tone would have made it “dreadful.” However, apart from a couple of minor quibbles, I agree with the Sundance jury that he pulled it off.

If you liked it, or if you've clicked around and enjoyed any of the other phenomenal posts out there, please do donate. Here's another shot at the link. The word on the (shadowy, rainy) street is that donations are slowly trickling in. It takes just a few minutes, and if you donate, you can imagine someone growling, "It was you, angel. It was you..."

Latest Review at Seattle's Child: The Drowsy Chaperone

My son said that The Drowsy Chaperone was “the best show I’ve ever seen!” He’s seen a lot of theater, so that’s high praise. I agree with him – this show brings all the best of musical theater indulgence right front and center, without losing the heart and soul that makes it all worthwhile.

Full review here.

Noir City Seattle-Saturday Night's Double Bill

A couple of things before we get into the post-mortem of the films, They Won't Believe Me and Don't Bother to Knock.  First, this is not my official blogathon entry (see right) although any chance to remind everybody to donate to the Film Noir Foundation should be taken.  Click away!

Second, I just have to rant a little about the people at the festival who laughed uproariously at the things-that-look-funny-in-2011. Why did you even go to Noir City?  I get it--one patient lying in a hospital bed offering another patient a cigarette, yeah, that's funny now.  But the movie is not a comedy, it wasn't meant to be funny, so don't treat the cinema like your living room or dorm room or whatever.  You take the rest of us out of the mood of the movie.  Watch it with your 1947 eyes. Get off my lawn.

Review: 3 Screams

3 Screams

By Vincent Delaney

A West Coast Premiere

At Theatre Off Jackson

The inaugural show for a new production company is a notable event, but when that company includes names like Peggy Gannon and Brandon Ryan, such a show definitely makes a Seattle theater-goer sit up and take notice.  Man Alone Productions presents 3 Screams through February 26^th.  Written by Seattle playwright Vincent Delaney, the play is an ambitious work that takes on a lot thematically as well as visually.

Review: Bugsy Malone at Youth Theatre Northwest

For Seattle's Child.

Whether these kids continue in acting, or if it’s a one-time thing, Bugsy Malone demonstrates that they’re learning how to “sell” a musical number, create and maintain a character, and convey a story to an audience. Being able to fire silly string at your friends is just icing on the coconut cream pie!

Review: Red

Now up at Edward Copeland on Film.

Willis, Freeman, Malkovich, Mirren, Cox. Throw in a Borgnine and a bit of Dreyfuss, and you've got a cast worth watching. RED (Retired and Extremely Dangerous) marketed its lineup heavily, and for good reason. These international treasures hopefully will not abandon making high art, but it's grand to watch them having a great time.

Review: Baaria

It's interesting that I so recently saw I Am Love because as cold and restrained as most of that film was, Giuseppe Tornatore's Baaria is warm and gregarious.  Tornatore is the Italian director who won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 1988 with Cinema Paradiso, and after a foray into the thriller with The Unknown Woman, he's returned to his typical themes of family, history and memory.

Review: 101 Dalmatians 50th Anniversary

My latest post at Edward Copeland on Film.

The art design was completely new because they moved away from the realistic representations (particularly for humans and landscapes) that had characterized previous films such as Snow White and Cinderella. The backgrounds were filled in with blocks of color that did not always “stay within the lines” and the art designers purposefully set reference lines and items within the scene asymmetrically. It was the first time since Fantasia that the art design was dedicated to being “art” — a fully realized vision with its own syntax and vocabulary.