Down With Love & My Favorite Things

[shadowkat]

First things first - the other movie I rented during Thanksgiving was Down With Love - this is believe it or not a parody of the 1960's Doris Day/Rock Hudson Pillow Talk movie, and all the other romantic comedies of that period. Having just rewatched a sizable portion of Pillow Talk tonight on AMC, yep, the Renee Z./Ewan McGregor Down With Love is definitely a parody of Pillow Talk. And except for the complete miscasting of Ewan McGregor in the role - it's not a bad parody. Renee pulls off the Doris Day role splendidly. But McGregor is too close to Tony Randall's physical type to be an apt successor to Rock Hudson (6'6), James Garner, or
Carey Grant who all did these movies with Ms. Day and Tony Randall, playing the other guy. What we end up with is actually three Tony Randalls and no Rock Hudson. 1) David Hyde Pierce (perfect Tony stand in) 2) Ewan McGregor (who is cute but not a hunk and sorry, his chest looks like Tony Randalls),3.) Tony Randall himself. Which may have been the point, I'm not sure. The wierdest thing about Down With Love which was released this summer is that it is a parody of Pillow Talk - which is fine I suppose if anyone in the audience remembers or cares about Pillow Talk, which no one does. Curious to know how this movie got produced. It was a hoot. But you won't get it unless you are either a movie buff or have seen Pillow Talk and movies of that ilk.

Now to cheer myself up... I've created a my favorite things meme, first meme I ever created... here are the questions:
1. Name 10 favorite actors you'd see in anything
2. Name 10 favorite actresses you'd see in anything
3. Name 10 TV shows you'd love to have the complete episodes on DVD (If you already own fifty tv DVD's pick the ten that you can't live without, I'm broke and don't have a DVD player or DVD's - so this is my fantasy list)
4. Name 10 Films you'd love to have on DVD (see #3)
5. Name 10 books that you love and are your favorites at this moment in time (off top of your head - I have to do it this way, because it's too hard to choose)
6. Name 10 favorite Buffy episodes that you will stop to watch a few minutes of no matter how many times you've seen them and take your mind off things
(If you don't watch BTVS, pick some other favorite show)
7. Name 10 favorite Angel episodes (see #6)
8. Name 10 songs that you love to listen to and
can think of off the top of your head that you'd want a CD compiled of
9. Name 10 Musical Artists whose music you love and would take with you if you could only pick ten
10. Name 10 things in another artistic category of your choice that you love to collect - can be 10 comic books, 10 anime films, (combination of two),
10 artistic works, 10 pieces of jewelry, 10 major painters you'd love the own the works of...

Oh, since I usually get burnt out just answering two questions of these meme things and wimp on the rest - if anyone chooses to do this besides myself, you are allowed to do any of the 10 questions, you don't have to do all of them. OR you can do one per entry or just one period. A post-structuralist meme, hee hee. (Bad joke, sorry).


10 favorite actors I'd watch in anything and actually have:
(in no particular order)
1. James Marsters
2. James Spader
3. Anthony Stewart Head
4. Kevin Spacy
5. Samuel L. Jackson
6. Laurence Fishburn
7. Hugh Jackman
8. Peter O'Toole
9. Anthony Hopkins
10. Ian Mckellan

Ten Favorite Actresses I'd Watch in anything
1. Cate Blanchett
2. Meryl Streep
3. Kathryn Hepburn
4. Blair Brown
5. Angela Bassett
6. Sigourney Weaver
7. Julianne Moore
8. Judi Dench
9. Christina Ricci
10.Lorraine Bracco

Ten Favorite TV Shows I'd love to Own Complete on DVD with commentary
1. Buffy The Vampire Slayer
2. Angel the Series
3. Bablyon 5
4. Homicide Life on The Streets
5. Forever Knight
6. La Femme Nikita
7. Twin Peaks
8. Now and Again
9. Hill Street Blues
10. Sopranos

Ten Favorite Movies I'd Like to have on DVD
1. Raiders of the Lost Arc
2. Bladerunner
3. Ladyhawk
4. Lawrence of Arabia
5. Fellowship of The Ring
6. The Two Towers
7. The MAtrix
8. Empire Strikes Back
9. Spirited Away
10.My Name is Nobody (an old western with Henry Fonda that always makes me laugh)

Ten Favorite Books I love at the moment and have read or are reading and can think of off the top of my head
1. Dorothy Dunnet's Lymon Chronicles - Queen's Play
2. The Scarlet Pimpernel - by Baroness Orzy
3. Elisabeth Peters Vicki Bliss Mysteries - Trojan Gold and Night Train to Memphis
4.The Secret History by Donna Tartt
5. East of Eden by Steinbeck
6. 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriele Garcia-Marquez
7. The Sparrow by Maria Doria Russell
8. The Bone People by Keri Hulme
9. Pride and Prejudice by JAne Austen
10. Waking The Moon by Elizabeth Hand

(I have too many favorites - these are just my favorites at this moment)

Ten Favorite Buffy Episodes Love to have on DVD with Commentary and to rewatch in perfect format
(in no particular order)
1. Once More With Feeling
2. Harsh Light of Day
3. Dopplegangland
4. Becoming Part II
5. Passion
6. Beneath You
7. Fool For Love
8. Something Blue
9. Innocence
10. Enemies

Ten Favorite Angel Episodes (see above)
1. Darla
2. Dear Boy
3. Five By Five
4. Reunion
5. Reprise
6. Sleep Tight
7. Forgiving
8. Lullaby
9. Destiny
10. Home

Ten Favorite Songs I can think of that I'd love a compilation CD of at this moment in time
1. Lucky by Biz Naked (From Harsh Light of Day)
2. Key by Devics (From Crush)
3. Out of this World by Bush
4. Paint it Black by Rolling Stones
5. Invisible Ink by Aimee Mann
6. Virgin State of Mind (From Dopplegangland)
7. Send in the Clowns by Sondheim
8. Night and Day by Cole Porter
9. 59th Street Song by Simon and Garfunkle
10. It's A Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong

Ten Favorite Artists that I can think of at this moment that I wouldn't want to part with or want to own:
1. Joni Mitchell
2. Rolling Stones
3. The Beatles
4. Pink Floyd
5. Suzanne Vega
6. Lobi Traore
7. Billie Holiday
8. Joan Osborn
9. The Who
10. Warren Zevon

(The ironic thing is I don't own any of Suzanne Vega, Joni Mitchell, Warren Zevon or the Who on CD...LOL! So let's just say ten artists I'm thankful for and leave it at that.)

Ten Favorite Comics, Anime and artists combined:(in no particular order)
1. Sandman (first series and the dreaming) by Neil Gaiman
2. The Watchman by alan Moore
3. Batman Year One by Frank Miller
4. The Killing Joke by Alan Moore (I think)
5. Ghost in The Shell (anime)
6. Spirited Away (anime)
7. The Hobbit (animation)
8. Castle Calistroka (anime)
9. Dark Night Returns (first one) by Frank Miller (graphic novel)
10. The Nightmare Before Christmas (animation)



Bit of news for those who don't get whedoneque, the next new Angel episode premiere January 7th. We get reruns and whatever else WB throws at us until then.

Comments

[oyceter]

Never actually seen a Doris Day/Rock Hudson movie, so I wasn't particularly bothered by Ewan McGregor (besides, the man can sing!), but oh I loved the movie, from the fake-ish sets to the costumes and the absolutely zany plot. Need to get that one on DVD.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

So maybe it works better without seeing the parodies it's based on?? I know I laughed hard at parts of it, but it was mostly because I'd seen Pillow Talk more than once. If you ever get the chance - try to rent or see Pillow Talk - it will clue you in on some of the inside jokes. Oh Doris Day sang in all the movies and always sang the theme song. The other flicks it was based on was the Bobby Darin/Annett Funnicello pairing -
where both parties sang.

[oyceter]

I really want to see Pillow Talk now, after seeing this. I knew it was a parody/homage ala Far From Heaven, and I love old movies despite not having seen many of them, so I had a great deal of fun. I guess it works if you have enough of an idea to know the sets and the like aren't stupid (like driving scenes when the scenery is projected) and are actually fun plays on how they used to film things, but not enough to be nitpicky? Does that make sense?

[ponygirl2000.livejournal.com]

If you want to see something along the same lines as Down With Love, and with a touch of Far From Heaven, you should check out the French movie 8 Women. I really like these movies that play with our ideas of camp, melodrama and artificiality, I don't think you need to be familiar with the originals just with the style of the source. It's almost like our collective cultural unconscious carries around this strange idea of 50's/early '60's movies. It's not even nostalgia for an era but nostalgia for the idea of an era. All these layers of removal from the source actually make it more interesting for me.

Anyhoo 8 Women - campy, melodrama and a musical, starring the most beautiful French actresses of several generations. Definitely worth the rental.

[oyceter]

Thanks for the suggestion! I had heard of it before, but I didn't know it was a musical.

Better late then never ;)

[breidablik.livejournal.com]

Had to dive in and say thank god someone else agrees that Ewan McGregor was totally miscast - I was beginning to think it was only me. He just looked so not hunky with his shirt hanging over his skinny legs and he came across as smarmy rather then smooth (definately no Rock Hudson). Down with Love primarily made we want to just rewatch Pillow Talk.

Seeing you list Twin Peaks has reminded me that the Season 1 DVD has commentaries on all the episodes and I haven't listened to any yet!

Also, good top ten questions. I've had a lot of fun with the ones I've attempted so far.