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Jul. 1st, 2006 06:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatHaven't accomplished much today, meant to write this morning but vaccumed and played that Fate videogame instead. Also went to the movie Superman Returns, which I'm not sure would make sense to anyone who had not seen the first two films. It sort of takes it for granted that you have and in some ways acts as a homage to the earlier ones and in others is a sequel or continuance of those first two films. If you did not like the first two Superman films, don't bother seeing this one, if you did like them, you may enjoy this one. Kate Bosworth and Routh are no Margot Kidder and Chris Reeves, but they get the job done more or less. I did miss Kidder and Reeves sense of play and sense of humor. Kevin Spacey and Parker Posey on the other hand do a good job of taking on the roles that had been played by Gene Hackman and I can't remember the other actress' name, she reminds me of Terri Garr. In fact, Spacey may have stolen the film as a chilling yet charismatically intelligent Lex Luther. Frank Lagenella who plays the Chief has little to do and James Marsden, who plays Richard White, Lois' new boyfriend walks around looking pretty. The film has very little dialogue in it - mostly action sequences and visuals. Beautiful in places. I enjoyed it for what it was. But can't say it's memorable. It just scratched my itch, made me happy, let me escape a bit on sweaty Saturday afternoon.
Oh, the trailer for Spiderman 3 is gripping. Apparently the next Spidey is going to well take on the villian Venom, which for anyone who is familar with the comics, is an interesting idea. It also deals with something I was thinking about today - that evil lies inside us all, our worst enemies, I think, are ourselves. Not other people. But us. That was to an extent the themes that Joss Whedon tackled in the last seasons of Buffy, Angel and the film Serenity. Not an easy theme to play around with, mostly, because, I think, most people would rather attack the externalized evil then look inwards and deal with an internal one. That and the fact that introspection? Takes guts. After all, what do you do if you don't like what you see?
Oh, the trailer for Spiderman 3 is gripping. Apparently the next Spidey is going to well take on the villian Venom, which for anyone who is familar with the comics, is an interesting idea. It also deals with something I was thinking about today - that evil lies inside us all, our worst enemies, I think, are ourselves. Not other people. But us. That was to an extent the themes that Joss Whedon tackled in the last seasons of Buffy, Angel and the film Serenity. Not an easy theme to play around with, mostly, because, I think, most people would rather attack the externalized evil then look inwards and deal with an internal one. That and the fact that introspection? Takes guts. After all, what do you do if you don't like what you see?
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Date: 2006-07-02 12:31 am (UTC)I'll want to see 'Superman Returns' at some point just to catch Kevin Spacey's Luthor.
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Date: 2006-07-02 03:06 am (UTC)Been somewhat conflicted on it.
Superman Returns is actually much better than I make out above. It is a sadder film than the first two. Focusing on Superman's solitude. His inability to ever really be a part of the human race. He can save them and they may love him for what he does, but they will never know him.
He will always feel alienated from them. Separate. His human alter-ego Clark is invisible. No one notices his absence or his presence. He's lost in the mob of reporters, worshipping Lois' star like all the others, unseen except by Jimmy Olsen the photographer.
In some ways this version of Superman may be the most realistic.
Oh Margot!
Date: 2006-07-02 01:11 am (UTC)She was absolutely hilarious!
Re: Oh Margot!
Date: 2006-07-02 03:10 am (UTC)I know from reading the interviews that his performances in BTVS and ATS were a little rawer than he wanted and he felt "over-exposed".
Margot was on the other hand quite memorable in that part. Interesting actress. Her Lois was quirky, tom-boyish, and feminine all at once. While Bosworth's is more serious and in some ways sadder.
JM - not forgotten
Date: 2006-07-02 03:48 am (UTC)I drove down to a concert in Detroit last spring, and he said then that he won't do live theater for at least 15 more years because of "family commitments". At the concert - he had great presence, he was engaging, funny and the show was well worth the price of the ticket and the drive - just for the parts when he WASN'T singing. Oh, his singing that night? Well it pretty much sucked. I know he’d like to make a go of his music, but personally I don’t see that happening.
JM also auditioned for Harry Dresden last fall (the soon to be TV show), but when they told him he'd have to move to Toronto for the next 5 years he said "no thanks", and apparently that was a deal breaker.
So the boy's making choices - and acting isn't the hasn't been the factor.
He’ll be back eventually - and I'll offer to take the responsibility to keep an eye on him so I can let you know when something comes up, OK?
(I know, me watching JM is such a hardship!! *sigh*).
Re: JM - not forgotten
Date: 2006-07-02 03:27 pm (UTC)Right now, both actors have made the choice to put family first, career second and they've made enough money to be able to afford to do that. It would be one thing if they could move their families with them, but that isn't possible in their situations.
LA is a tough place for a working actor - you don't really get paid for live theater in LA, by the way. It has to do with the whole union situation and I don't understand it completely, except that every theater in LA has to be under a certain seating capacity, that no one really gets paid that much - including the stage hands. It is a movie and tv town. Which is why a lot of Hollywood actors have homes in NYC - which provides them with the ability to do live theater, get paid and honored for it. Competition? Deadly. You are competiting with over 1000 other actors, and people don't choose you based on talent, so much as based on what you look like, if you fit how they envision the role, and whether or not they like you - much like auditioning for jobs. Don't know how he does it.
Agree with you about Marsters stage presence. I saw him in concert about three years ago, it was his second to last performance in Ghost in the Robot, before he disbanded the band, finally realizing that it was not working. His voice? Not the best in the world. The music? White noise.
But watching him on stage? Phenomenal. The man has charisma and he knows how to work an audience.
Sex on a stick is an understatement. And boy the way he moved. He knew what he was doing and how to do it and what to do and watching he figure it out and do it - fascinated me.
I'd pay to watch him act on stage. And I know he has a low-budge horror flick coming out - called Shadow Puppets, which may or may not be distributed - as well as a few more guest shots on Smallville. I wish he could get more work - he is, outside of Head, Acker and Denisof, the only actor from BTVS and ATS that I really found interesting as an actor to actually want to see in other things. Head I fell in love with prior to BTVS and watched BTVS, because I was following him around at the time. Denisof stole ATS from Boreanze and Carpenter, he was that good. And Acker stole it from Boreanze and Marsters and Denisof, when she performed Illyria and Fred. Marsters stole BTVS from Gellar, Boreanze, et all.
Just waiting to see when and if he gets that role. May never happen. So much of it depends on chance.
Re: JM - not forgotten
Date: 2006-07-02 09:21 pm (UTC)I never saw G.O.T.R. live - except on the Sharon Osborne show (http://www.whedon.info/article.php3?id_article=4378) (which didn’t suck). I loved that they performed It’s Nothing, the song that Charlie wrote about why he hated that James was famous!
The Detroit concert I saw was part of the Motor City Buffy Convention, and I think it was one of James first solo gigs after GotR split up. It's very hard to play "fancy" guitar and sing at the same time unaccompanied, and I was genuinely surprised and pleased for James personally … but it wasn't an polished professional display. He knew it, so he told stories, explained a lot about the songs, and dropped all the barriers in an attempt to make up for it. It was a very intimate setting… small crowd, small room, and I was in the third row RIGHT in the center.
It felt like he was looking right at ME for at least 1/3 of the show. And every time he’d swivel over and I’d notice - I would blush wildly - and he would do that smirk/twinkle thing and just stay locked on (which of course left me breathless - for the better part of the night). I was surrounded by dozens of beautiful YOUNG (17-22) women who were all dressed to the nine’s, but apparently I was much more fun to get reactions out of!
I was giddy for DAYS!. * sigh *
Let me know if you hear anything new!! I un-subscribed from Whedon.info last week because they started using those adds that crawl/slide across the page, and I have no patience with that, so I vote with my feet!
Good luck on your interview, let us know when you're coming - maybe we can arrange dinner afterwards!
Re: JM - not forgotten
Date: 2006-07-02 10:23 pm (UTC)If so it would be nice to see a friendly face - although it will be quick, no more than two days and one night, since company is paying. Interview is tentatively scheduled for July 18th, pushed back from the 13th due to Jury Duty.
Ahh...he does know how to work an audience. In theater you learn about eye contact. Make it with the audience, make everyone in the audience feel like the center of your world. He did the same thing at the Ghost in the Robot concert that I saw, and the audio was pretty bad, so it wasn't what you saw on Sharon Osborn. I fell in love with him a little at the Gotr concert, hard not to. Very charismatic actor.
Yep, I gave up whedonesque as well, got tired of the ads and other stuff.
Re: JM - not forgotten
Date: 2006-07-03 01:54 am (UTC)Re: JM - not forgotten
Date: 2006-07-03 12:17 pm (UTC)Re: JM - not forgotten
Date: 2006-07-03 12:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-02 02:06 am (UTC)Really looking forward to Spiderman 3! Been a Spidey fan for many, many years...
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Date: 2006-07-02 03:00 am (UTC)I've seen all of them as well. Including the horror show that was Superman IV - I was in England at the time, we were bored and it was the only movie playing - so we went, and it may be amongst the few films that I walked out of. It was *that* bad. Superman Returns is much better than either Superman III or IV. It's art direction is quite lovely and Spacey's portrayal of Luthor is the best I've seen to date. The story's focus unlike the earlier films isn't on the romance, but rather on the solitude of Superman, how he is cursed to be separate from everyone and no one can really know him. Clark is invisible, only Superman is seen, yet all they see is the hero, not the man hurting within. It is a sadder film than the first two and in my opinion possibly a more realistic one.
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Date: 2006-07-02 12:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-02 03:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-02 03:49 pm (UTC)Hear, hear!
Just curious, where in NYC are you, generally? I lived in Midwood and Park Slope, Brooklyn, about half my life. (I just realized, I've lived in Colorado more than half my life now... I remember hardly any of it. But Brooklyn I remember well.)
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Date: 2006-07-02 10:26 pm (UTC)Near the Carroll Gardens subway stop. Been here about ten years. Lived for about half a year in Queens, a year in Manhattan (Tudor City) and about eight in Brooklyn.
Lived in Colorado a portion of my life as well - went to college in Colorado Springs in the 80's.
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Date: 2006-07-03 11:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-03 12:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-03 01:05 pm (UTC)