There was some question as to why I posted in my last blog that I did not like Cruella De Vil. I have ample reason, and I would like to share these reasons with you, my friends.
REASONS WHY WE HATE CRUELLE DE VIL
1. Her name is cheesy.
2. Her arch nemeses are a bunch of puppies. Ooooh, terrifying!
3. She's motivated by vanity, and not even a Ratcliffe kind of vanity that would further her career or position in life, just a teenage kind of vanity where she wants to look good. This makes her motives lamer than just about every other Disney villain.
4. When you come down to it, she's really not even THAT evil. Lots of people kill animals for their coats and skins. She's just evil because the animals she wants to kill are adorable. If the movie was 101 Cows, everyone would be on her side.
5. She smokes and smoking is the worst! The worst, Jer!
If you haven't noticed, most animated Disney villains die via falling. This works as an easy way to rid the movie of its antagonist, without dirtying the hands of the protagonist... but it happens so often!
We're on to you, Disney!
I'll show you. Let's go through each animated Disney film, (or at least the major ones,) and count the villains that die by falling.
1.Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs:
The Evil Queen dies by falling down a cliff and having a bolder land on top of her.
Pinnoccio:
Monstro and other villains don't die. Weird.
Fantasia:
N/A
Dumbo:
N/A
Bambi:
Again, I don't remember there being a villain besides hunters, and did they die? I somehow doubt all the hunters in the world died at the end of Bambi.
Song of the South:
Unlike you, I've seen this banned-in-the-US movie. However, I believe the bear and fox live.
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad:
The villains are quite victorious in these movies. No villains die, and certainly not by falling.
Cinderella:
The Stepmother lives. Weak!
Alice in Wonderland:
Just about everybody in this movie is a villain, and none of them die.
Peter Pan: We might assume that Captain Hook FALLS and is chased then eaten by the crocodile, but we have no proof that he does, in fact, die. Oh well. We'll call this one a close-call!
Lady and the Tramp:
The villain in this movie is the baby sitter and her horrible cats! None of them die, but a rat gets it.
2. Sleeping Beauty:
Prince Phillip throws a sword into Maleficent THEN she falls and dies. I very nearly count this one, since she probably would have lived a little bit longer had it not been for the falling. I think it was the fall that did it.
101 Dalmatians:
Cruella de Vil (my least favorite Disney villain,) doesn't die, but is mocked via song, which might be considered, by some, a fate worse than death... although probably not by many.
The Sword in the Stone:
The villains just bow to Arthur at the end....
The Jungle Book: The main villain just runs away.... Hm, he's probably the only villain that runs away. How cowardly!
The Aristocats:
Edgar the butler did it! He FALLS into a trunk and is shipped to Timbuktu... that's not quite death.
Robin Hood:
If Prince John dies, he does so by burning. Yikes.
The Rescuers:
We might assume that Madame Medusa will eventually FALL off the boat's smoke stack and be eaten by her crocodiles, but, again, we're not certain this will happen.
The Fox and the Hound:
Isn't society the villain in this one?
The Black Cauldron:
The Horned King is consumed by the cauldron. Hmph.
3. The Great Mouse Detective:
Ratigan FALLS off a clock to his death. Yay!!!
Oliver and Company:
Sykes crashes into a train and FALLS into the Hudson River. It's close, my friends; it's close.
The Little Mermaid:
Ursula is stabbed through the middle by a boat. Woah. Go, Eric.
4. The Rescuers Down Under:
McLeach falls down a waterfall! Score another one for falling!
5. Beauty and the Beast:
Gaston falls off the castle. Woooooo hoo!
Aladdin:
Jafar lives.
The Lion King:
Scar is eaten by hyaenas.
A Goofy Movie:
Nobody dies in A Goofy Movie! Come on!
Pocahontas:
Ratcliffe lives.
Toy Story:
Sid is scared and, ah, he runs away. That's two!
6. The Hunchback of Notre Dame:
Frollo FALLS off the cathedral.
7. Hercules: Hades FALLS into the River Styx. He doesn't die, but I'm counting it.
Mulan:
Shan Yu dies by FALLING off a roof and being blown up by fireworks. We're not counting it.
A Bug's Life:
Hopper is eaten by a bird.
8. Tarzan:
Clayton dies by FALLING! He gets all twisted up and ends up all hanged. That's a shame.
Fantasia 2000: N/A
Toy Story 2:
Prospector ends up with an over-excited little girl.
Dinosaur:
I'm not even going to fain interest in this movie.
The Emperor's New Groove:
There's a butt-load of falling at the end, but the evil kitty survives.
Atlantis:
Rourke's downfall is propellers. Shame.
Monster's Inc:
No dying.
Lilo and Stitch: No dying.
Treasure Planet:
Some pirates fall into lava and die... but Silver lives. Too bad.
Finding Nemo:
The little girl doesn't die. Sorry.
The Incredibles:
Propellers take another life!
Cars:
Is there a villain in Cars? Don't they just drive around the entire time?
9. Enchanted:
We're counting this movie as animated. Get over it.
Narissa FALLS to her death from atop a building.
Ratatouille: Oh who remembers!
Wall-E:
Auto is disabled.
The Princess and the Frog:
He doesn't fall.
10. Up
Muntz FALLS off the blimp.
11. Tangled: She FALLS out the window, but she probably would have died anyway. I'm counting it.
Toy Story 3:
Lotso gets attached to the front of a semi.
Wreck it Ralph:
Turbo is killed by a bug.
Brave:
The evil bear doesn't fall.
Okay, so it may not be MOST, but it's a lot, and I'm sick of it! Well, I'm not really sick of it, I just notice it.
With 30 Rock and The Office calling it quits, I've decided that now's the time for the world to know which TV shows are Boonie's...
ALL TIME FAVORITES!
Grab hold of your loved ones because we are going for a ride!
In no particular order, these are my top 20 favorite TV shows. Ladies and gentlemen, I, for one, am excited to find out what they are!
1. 30 Rock (above)
2. The Office (below)
3. Once Upon a Time (this show is TERRIBLY cheesy, but I love it.)
4. Friends
5. Seinfeld (AKA: Our older and less attractive Friends)
6. Downton Abbey (two below)
7. Project Runway (right)
8. Arrested Development (below right)
9. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
10. Xena Warrior Princess
11. My So-Called Life
12. X-Files
13. The Simpsons
14. Batman the Animated Series
15. The IT Crowd
16. Batman (yes, the one from the 60's)
17. King of the Hill
18. Malcolm in the Middle
19. Andy Milonakis
20. X-Men
Quasi Honorable Mentions: Futurama
Frasier
Lost (Didn't watch the last seasons)
24 (Didn't watch the last seasons)
Smallville (Didn't watch the last seasons)
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Bob Newhart
The Dick Van Dyke Show
Taxi
Sweet 16
Cake Shows
Bride Shows
HGTV in general
Sometimes I Watch:
Glee (but it's despicable)
Shows I Loved as a Kid: (Warning, look away if you're concerned about my age)
Rainbow Bright
GI Joe
Land of the Lost
Voltron
Full House
Show that can Kiss My #%@:
American Idol
And I'll add that I always preferred Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood over Sesame St. What's weird is that I liked Mr. Rogers' better because of the puppet part... meanwhile ALL of Sesame St. was puppets....... spooky.
Jack Reacher is quite possibly the most boring movie I have ever had the pleasure to sit through... recently. Not only is it that, but it is also predictable, lame, and poorly... everythinged.
The cinematography was over-the-top pretentious, the writing was dull and affected, the characters were uninteresting, the plot was lame and the story was slow.
The script seemed like it was written by a five-year-old, no offense to five-year-olds. The action scenes were pointless and should have been avoided if Jack were really as smart as the writers wanted him to be.
Jack was supposed to be this kind of vigilante, who appears when needed, but he came across more like Mary Poppins.
My husband and I were trying to decide if it was better or worse than Salt. So I'll say this for Jack Reacher, it wasn't AS proud about it's "surprises" as Salt was. It didn't hit you over the head and scream, "Betcha didn't see that coming! Aren't we horribly clever and aren't you terrible stupid?!" Well, it did a little bit.
I'll also say that at least it didn't try to be funny or cute like Mission Impossible II and III. It had bad one-liners but he never said anything about Humpty Dumpty. It tried to be a bit clever with dialog at times, and these times were painful to sit through, but at least I got to feel a sense of superiority. And that's always nice.
I just have to say how refreshing it was that they didn’t
perform this musical the exact same way we’ve all been hearing it performed for
years. Is Fantine emotionally strong enough to sing her “aria” in full voice?
No. Bravo! (I’d use the correct brava
in this case but don’t want to sound too pretentious.) Nobody cares that parts
traditionally sung are spoken or even sprechstimme. Nobody cares that Hathaway
isn’t singing fortissimo at measure 52 of I Dreamed a Dream, as written. The marking
that really matters is appassionato “with
passion”. Even in the glorious, exalted world of opera performance you can
occasionally hear technique sacrificed for passion. If you’re so angry you want
to kill that guy for arresting your husband, you go right ahead and yell that
note instead of sing it. Singing is communication. Without the emotion, drama
and story it’s just another boring performance, of strong singers, singing it
like the last performance we saw, and the almost 200,000 ways you can watch it
sung on Youtube.
Now, I had no problem whatsoever with the singers. Even
Amanda Seyfried (who should have been replaced) didn’t bug me that much.
However, here are a couple things they could improve on. When Hugh Jackman is
singing, especially at the top of his range, he needs to drop his tongue. He
has it raised up against his hard palate. This restricted his resonance and air
flow when he needed it most. Next, Russell Crowe. He could have used more
resonance. He needed to bring his voice out from the back of his throat and to
the front, top of his forehead. This is hard to describe without gestures. And now, Amanda Seyfried. It sounded more like a warble than a
clear vibrato. The difference being control. She sounded unsure and nervous. If
you can convince me her character was unsure and nervous then we have no problem.
OK I could see that. But, when making acting/singing decisions, you need to
make a strong decision, not a weak one.
I’d like to close by saying that to assume actors that are
not singers should have been able to pick up correct vocal technique, in a year
or less, is ridiculous and a bit insulting. Let’s cut them some slack and enjoy
the movie!
http://pnutdolly.blogspot.com/
Bravo-good masc.
Brava-good fem.
Sprechstimme-singing voice
Fortissimo-very strong
hard palate
vibrato- a slightly tremulous effect imparted to vocal tone
for added warmth and expressiveness by slight and rapid variations in pitch.
If I started by saying Les Miserables is my favorite musical and book, I would not be saying enough. It's my favorite musical and book by at least 100 degrees. It would fill the first hundred slots of favorites, and finally you'd get to 101 and that slot would be filled with some other musical the world, and Boonie, could live without. I'm sorry fans of other musicals, but as far as I'm concerned no other musical, and no other novel, comes close.
To explain to you why Les Miserables is such an amazing book seems almost pointless. Those of you lucky enough to have read the entire thing understand completely why I love it. Those of you who haven't read it couldn't possibly understand the entire beauty of it; so why bother to explain?
Instead, I'll simply tell you what's right and what's wrong with THIS production.
I should also include that I've seen this musical performed on Broadway, off-Broadway, and by a high school. I've sung Fantine's I Dreamed a Dream in concert. I appreciate ANYONE who puts on this musical or sings a song from it, no matter how terrible a job they do. I enjoy every second of this musical so entirely that when they're performed, and while I might find fault with the performances, I'm grateful for them.
I'll also remind you that there are productions I hate. I hate the 25th Anniversary edition, although I'm glad they did it, (I've just explained why.) I'm also hardly fond of any of the non-musical movies and mini-series versions. Some are better than others, but none capture the essence of the book quite like the musical does. I'm aware that sounds cheesy, but I lack the ability to explain it differently, although I'll try: The movies tell the story of Jean Valjean, but a novel is more than its story. Perhaps only music can capture the emotions without the aid of a narrator, (a narrator being provided in the novel.) Or perhaps what's lacking is proper character development. While the acting in these movies is usually fair, I might point blame at writing, and editing. Movies that leave out Eponine might as well leave out all the Thenardiers. Movies that leave out Gavroche might as well leave out Marius. Movies that leave out Enjolras might as well leave out the entire battle at the barricade.
One thing I learned in my study of acting is that you must find the moments in the script. The musical provides moments. The musical shoves the moments in your face and screams, "This is a big deal! Pay attention! Be moved!" When I saw one production of Les Miserables sung by PCPA in Solvang, CA, they did one of the best jobs of "finding the moment" that I had ever seen. Movie versions tend to roll over moments. Yes, yes, they do. And it matters.
You should know I'm a snob about this musical, and I have strong opinions about the best and worst performers of it. And if you haven't seen the 10th Anniversary edition, you should. Most of the parts are done better in this edition than anywhere else on earth. However, a few of the performers I wouldn't mind replacing. But I'm not here to critique that one, so I'll just provide a link so you can get your head out of your movie-going butt, and watch someone with an enormous vocal talent play the part.
In this version of the movie/musical, we sacrifice some vocal talent for acting talent and raw emotion. In the play the beauty of the songs and the beauty of the singing almost distracts us from the gruesome happenings. The movie hits us over the head with the gruesome happenings, and includes elements from the book nowhere found in movies, or the play. Watching this film is a different experience from seeing the play. If you've seen the play and want to skip the movie, go for it. But if you haven't seen the play, see the movie. Let it move you. But know that those songs are more beautiful on stage, whereas in a movie theater they don't need to be sung at the top of their peaks; the acting, cinematography and closeness takes care of the agony a better singer might show us.
All right, now. Don't mind me while I do a character by character smash-down. I have to.
--
Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean(right)
If you've ever seen the worst production of Oklahoma! that has ever existed, then you know that Hugh Jackman has an outstanding talent, as he almost, very nearly saved it. His acting was phenomenal, however I found myself wishing that his voice was a little more solid. What can I say? He was brilliant, and probably the best pick for the job.
Russell Crowe as Javert(below) I'm endlessly proud of Russel Crowe for hitting the note so many Javert's cheat. He did an amazing job countering Jackman's Valjean during The Confrontation. That timing is not easy. As always, his acting is superb. However, I wouldn't have blamed them, no offence, Russell, if they dubbed his voice, or at least spent a little more time with it. I'm thinking he doesn't have the range the role requires, which might be why they left out his lowest note. He sings like a tenor, which is probably why he was able to hit and find his most impressive high note. The problem is finding a shockingly talented Javert is more important than casting a talented Jean Valjean. The antagonist is always the most important character cast, so having a Javert who isn't a very strong singer is kind of a big deal.
Anne Hathaway as Fantine (below)
I'm so proud of our "dreaded" Anne Hathaway. She's come a long way since The Devil Wears Prada. This role must have exhausted her, for she truly gave it all she had. I found no fault with her at all, which is refreshing to say. I also didn't find myself envying her the role of Fantine. I wouldn't mind playing the part on stage, where it's cozy and pretty, but I'm rather glad I had nothing to do with the depression that role carries on the screen.
Samantha Barks as Eponine (below)
Yeeeeeeep. You might recognize her from the dreaded 25th AnniversaryofLes Miserables. She was one of the better talents there, but here.... Excuse me! Did everyone forget that Eponine is spunky!?! Sigh. Oh well. She sings well enough, but... girl's got no spunk. No spunk I tell you! Plus, they kind of dance around her character almost as if she has no purpose, which doesn't help the vanilla-ness of her acting. No purpose, no spunk... yilsh. No point.
Eddie Redmayne as Marius (left) I'll take anyone over Nick Jonas! But honestly, this Marius might be one of my most favorites ever. Marius is a kind of "Raoul role," in the fact that the man playing him usually lacks great talent, has a wonky face, and possesses one-sided acting. But not Eddie! His Empty Chairs at Empty Tables was gorgeous. He brought the role from drab to stunning, and the so-so singing to, "Hey, you're almost as good as Enjolras!" If not better.
Which brings me to - Aaron Tveit as Enjolras (right)
He was okie-dokie, but I'm not sure I'd follow him to my death, if you know what I mean. Or even if you don't know what I mean - he didn't have the charisma most Enjolras's display. He was talented, for sure, but all his impressive notes were sung by the entire chorus. While this made the impressive parts powerful, it somewhat wussed-out Enjolras's part.
Amanda Seyfried as Cosette (below)
Raise your hand if you should have been replaced! **Amanda raises hand** That is all. **Amanda fans sob** FINE, I'll tell you why she should have been replaced. Well, I can name that reason in two notes, or, one note, sung twice, and sung badly.
Sacha Baron Cohen as Thenardier (below) The Thenardiers play the role of villain/comical relief. The movie skipped Dog Eats Dog, (previewed here by my favorite Thenardier, Robert Billig,) one of the more sinister songs of the musical that is oddly and eerily beautiful. I did not approve of them cutting this song, which is sung by Thenardier while he robs corpses in the sewers. Personally, I feel without this song you miss part of the nastiness of Thenardier, and only really see his comedic side, (or, well, his MORE comedic side.) But that's not Sacha's fault. He did an excellent job. He could have been MORE, but we hardly needed him to be.
Helena Bonham Carter as Mme. Thenadier (right) Notice the similarities between her name and Sacha Baron Cohen's. Weird! Anyway, you aught to know by now that she is my favorite actress and has been since Fight Club. Move along.
Daniel Huttlestone as Gavroche (left)
In the play Gavroche annoys me and I love Eponine. In the book Eponine annoys me and I love Gavroche. In this I loved Gavroche. Daniel didn't play him like a pig-nosed little punk, but as a street-wise little gallant. Brovo, little Gavroche.
Isabelle Allen as Young Cosette (right) Where did they find such a cute little talented girl? Just excellent!
And I'll end the smash down with
Colm Wilkinson as the Bishop of Digne (below)
You can catch Colm in that little video I attached as the greatest Valjean ever. He's the original, as well. Don't go home without hearing his Bring Him Home. I'm so glad they had him as the Bishop. And SPOILER I'm glad he was at the end. For in the play it's just Fantine and Eponine who are there. But in the book, all who's there is the Bishop of Digne. That's right; the guy's important.
So, I enjoyed it. It was epic, and moving, but it's not the play, and it's not the book. It's the best movie we have of it though. Although the music was over shadowed by the movie's movie-ness. I didn't leave the theater singing the songs, but nor did I leave washing my ears out. However, I don't think it will go down in history, or be remembered for the greatest film of all time, the way we remember the musical as the greatest musical of all time.
You haven't seen The Hobbit because it's splint into 3 movies, and that exasperates you. You may have other reasons, but I don't care. The truth is, you ought to go see the movie. So go see it.
Oh, still not convinced? Okay, so I'll tell ya a bit about it. They added an orc dude. He's pale and he rides a big pale wolf-thing. He's not very nice. The idea is that Thorin, (King Under The Mountain,) cut Mr. Pale Orc's arm off, and orc-dude wants revenge. This little plot insert is kind of... well, differenter. It wouldn't be much of 1/3 of a story without this major villain keeping us going. You take out orc-dude, and we're left with a dragon that's really far away, a necromancer who we're not sure is much of a threat to anybody besides bunnies and pooh-stained wizards. And then there's Gollum, who's pretty easy to ditch once you turn invisible. But, on the other hand... we're not really all that interested in this orc-dude side plot, because we've read the book and we've seen the cartoon, and we know it's the dragon and the war at then end that we really have to watch for. Then there was the other orc, the orc with the ugly neck. He reminded me of Boss Nas from Episode One. And you know what we say about Episode One, right?
I almost wish this movie had come out before Lord of the Rings, because then we would have been more afraid of Gollum. Those who do not know The Hobbit, have no reason to fear Gollum. When I saw Lord of the Rings, I was surprised at how unafraid of Gollum I was, because the cartoon Gollum was terrifying! But it wasn't the cartoon version that was terrifying, it was The Hobbit version of Gollum. This Gollum's main desire is to eat Bilbo, while The Lord of the Ring's Gollum's main desire is to get the ring back, never mind eating.
The Hobbit is more jovial than The Lord of the Rings,as orc-Boss Nas so kindly reminds us, but it's DEFINITELY not for children. About 5 creatures get their heads chopped off, there's some gutting, and it's just a little... disgusting at times. Don't take your little ones to see this one. It's not a cozy PG-13; it's a down-right disturbing PG-13. A little more blood and it could have been R.
Did that not convince you? Oh well. I kind of don't care. I found the movie enjoyable, although I really, really wish, like you, that it was all just one flippin' movie.
