extrospection season, pt. 1

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Monday, August 21, 2006
I've had it with introspection! It is wearing me out and it's the wrong season for it anyway. Who navel gazes in the summer?? Everyone knows that the time for all of that soggy insomniac self-assessment is in the fall when it rains for 45 days in a row! So, I decree it to be Extrospection Time (you can sing that to hammer time if you try really hard). What does this mean? What does anything ever mean around here? Lists, baby!

Let's start with movies. Movies I've recently watched (some not for the first time):

Pirates of the Caribbean 2: -- I enjoyed this but found it somewhat exhausting. But ... PIRATES! also, (don't read this part until you see the movie, Martina) I already liked Jack Davenport from other things (UK vampire series Ultraviolet, for one) but I must say his bitter, broken, drunken and wickedly sarcastic Norrington was a beautiful thing to behold.

Batman Begins: (DVD) Christian Bale is so perfect for Batman! He's really got a handle on the Bat Issues and can also play a convincing feckless billionaire playboy. I adore Michael Caine as Alfred. I thought it interesting that Morgan Freeman was about the only american in the cast.

Scoop: It has to be said -- Hugh Jackman is a sexy bitch! I thought this was a perfectly pleasing non-demanding way to spend a couple of hours. PLUS, Giles from Buffy was in it briefly and (unrelated to Giles) I am pretty much a sucker for magic shows in movies. No, I don't know why (that would require introspection, which I am OVER). Woody Allen and Scarlett Johansson have fun comic chemistry.

Pride and Prejudice: (DVD) (the new one that came out this year) -- I liked this when I first saw it, but I think I like it even more now. I had some quibbles because some things weren't very Jane-ish and seemed pretty modern... but you know what? that's okay! It's an adaptation, not a literal translation. I watched this with commentary which was fun. The director had a thing against bonnets and computer generated rain and was totally in love with his whole cast. He was also pretty free with the "we decided to sex this up a little." (most ridiculous example in my opinion was Lizzie in the sculpture gallery at Pemberley.) That little tacked on bit at the end with Lizzie and Darcy was pretty ri-goddamned-diculous too, but overall I say thumbs up.

It Happened One Night: (DVD) I love Claudette Colbert's nose. I don't think she'd still have it if she were making movies today. I mean, she'd have a nose, but it would be one of those ones that everybody gets. (also, my dead uncle looked like Clark Gable. I should find a picture.)

You've Got Mail: This was on TV, so I watched it because I promised my cousin I would give it another try. I owe her an apology. This was not as egregiously horrible as I remembered. I still think it should be a lot better than it is considering the people involved, but it's not The Great American Stalker Movie and I regret the distress I caused her by insisting it was for over an hour. (yeah, we make our own fun!)

10 Things I Hate About You: (DVD) From the middle of the Teen Movie renaissance of the late 90's/ early 00's (are they on a 20 year cycle or something?) when every movie ended with a prom. This was the Taming of the Shrew from the "let's remake classic shit into teen movies" phase, which I largely enjoyed. (Emma/Clueless was better, though.)

The Shop Around the Corner: (VHS) the 1940 movie from which You've got Mail was remade. This is an Ernst Lubitsch movie (same director as the charming Ninotchka) with James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan. It is so delightful I hardly know where to start, but let's start with Sullavan. I love that she is 18 shades of cranky, but they don't try to make her "cute" (I'm looking at you, Ms. nose scruncher Meg Ryan). She's crabby. Crabby, clever, scrappy and besotted. It's sweet, I tell you! I still have qualms about the whole part where he knows she's the one he's been writing to but she doesn't. It just seems unfair, (all's fair, I know, I know) although it was handled with a lighter and therefore less offensive to me touch than in You've Got Mail. I also thought the subplots made a lot more sense in this movie than in YGM. It's just better, okay? (although my cousin may never know it since she said that she rarely watches black and white movies. I should have argued with her about THAT for an hour.)

more extrospection to come!
14 comments on "extrospection season, pt. 1"
  1. Margaret Sullavan... [sigh]...

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  3. Go extrospection!

    Thanks for the spoiler warning. I STILL haven't seen Pirates, but suspect we will soon.

    I have to say that I REALLY hated "You've Got Mail". I found it almost as annoying as "Bride & Prejudice", which saying a lot. Actually, I suspect it is only almost as annoying in my memory, because it's been years since I saw it and only weeks since "B&P", and I still haven't gotten over the trauma.

    Speaking of Jane Austen, your post reminded me that I really do want to see "Pride & Prejudice". We're toying with cancelling Netflix when we get our dish (and German t.v.!), so I'm trying to think of everything I want to see in case we really do end up ditching it. I don't know why it holds such importance for me. It's not like I'm not welcome at Blockbuster. It's just one of my whacky "I must do/have it NOW" things...

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  4. Hey! I didn't say You've Got Mail is my favorite movie of all time or anything -- I said it wasn't as egregiously horrible as I remembered. There's a distinction there! I will admit I have softened on the one element that really made me hate it back in the day (which was the whole "I know who she is, but she doesn't know it's me and now I will mess with her mind!" part.) Older, kinder me is slightly more generous with possible motivations -- and seeing the same actions in The Shop Around the Corner where they struck me as less skeevy does factor into my change of heart. I also don't hate Meg Ryan or Tom Hanks, so that probably helps.

    I would like to reiterate that I am not suggesting that everyone run out and rent/buy/find this movie on TV! I watched it because I told my cousin I would, and also because I had the original to compare it to. (Which was really good -- you should netflix The Shop Around the Corner! Although be warned that James Stewart is allegedly Hungarian in it. Well, they all are. But it's so GOOD!)

    It's worth it for Margaret Sullavan's speed letter reading alone! If that's not enough, she also has the best "I am so annoyed at you but I won't say it out loud... well, maybe I will" barely suppressed irritation expression EVER.

    martina, you can borrow my pride and prejudice dvd if you want.

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  5. I should admit that I did enjoy a movie that I think was called Innerspace that starred Meg, The Quaid and Martin Short...the point being that I have not always disliked the Meg...but her new face is rather disturbing. To me. And I did like Tom Hanks on Bosom Buddies...

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  6. Speaking of movies, does anyone else enjoy the Thin Man series? I think those movies are brilliant and they include the most amazing "banter"...

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  7. oh, sure BBD! Come along and remove your post so I look like an extra ranty crazy woman. (like I need the help!) anyway -- I'd just like to state for posterity that I was not only responding to Martina's un-love of You've Got Mail and Mernitman's love of Margaret Sullavan, but also to a now-deleted BBD serving of YGM un-love.

    I am totally on board with Meg's new face being disturbing. The moment for me was seeing whatever that movie she was in with Hugh Jackman (dreamy!) and Liev Schreiber (who was playing an asshole but I always like him anyway) and I could SEE the collagen moving around under her skin on the big screen. It creeped me out and made me sad. (and the movie was really pretty stupid, which some would say I should have known considering it had time travel and hugh jackman, but I LIKE time travel and hugh jackman so shut up!)

    ahem. It would seem that there is something about this confluence of subjects (meg ryan, you've got mail) that flips my argument trigger no matter which side of the discussion I'm standing on.

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  8. ooops -- you posted again while I was getting my rant on. Anyway, I love the Thin Man movies but haven't seen them in ages. I'm waiting for the first one from the library.

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  9. I think that I should say that I heart you Jenn Winn. You really do have it "going on". For realz. And when that Outkast movie comes out we will go see it, fo shizzle?

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  10. Aww, I heart you too BBD. Even if you go around deleting posts and making me look crazy! We should go see the Outkast movie (although you're on your own in the fo shizzle department).

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  11. I used to really dig Bosom Buddies (one of the shows my mom actually let me watch)

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  12. you know, I don't think I ever saw it! We only got about 4 channels (and one of them was PBS) when I was a kid.

    Was that the show where he and some other guy dressed up as women? Sort of like a Some Like it Hot sitcom? or am I thinking of something else?

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  13. Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari had to dress up like women to live in a "cheap" hotel, for women only. It surprises me that Leslie was allowed to watch it, though. It wasn't much "smarter" than Threes Company, but there was definitely less jiggling...

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  14. Clueless is good for what ails you as well...it always makes me smile. Always.

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