[Don't ask me why I haven't gone to bed at 6:30 AM. Awful hangover and slight ulcer is my own diagnosis.]
That was about how I looked on New Year's Eve. Add some absinthe, and later going home to clean up my boyfriend's vomit - there you have my 2010 celebrations! Okay, the New Year's party was actually pretty awesome. I hope the situation was at least quite similar for my dear readers (excluding the vomit part).
Since I am such a sweet, generous person I thought I could give you some new wallpapers for the new year. There should be something fitting for everyone I believe. As long as you have widescreen format (16:10).
(If you have either 5:4 or 4:3, just email me if you desperately want any of these - I have them in store.)
It seems like some of my readers wanted more after my Top 20 Favorite Actors post - and what can I do but obey? As usual I had to leave out some favorites after all (why can't they all fit in??), like Grace Kelly and Mae West. Well well. Here they are: My top 20 favorite actresses (in alphabetical order, of course):
I just took a quiz, consisting of 20 questions resulting in a description of what kind of classic hero/heroine you are. Quite funny actually, you can find it here! If you are a man, you can always check out what kind of a classic leading man you are here.
Report back to me if you take the tests! It's essential.
I am, according to the test, the Myrna Loy type. The description of my character follows:
You are loaded with a quirky kind of class that people find irresistable. Men turn and look at you admiringly as you walk down the street, and even your rivals have a grudging respect for you. You usually know the right thing to say, do and, of course, wear. You can take charge of a situation when things get out of hand, and you do it with great poise and chic. Your wit and sense of fun endear you to your partner and every other man in the room. Your screen partners include William Powell and Cary Grant. You're quite a catch...if you want to be caught.
I especially like the last sentence! Watch out for me, boys and girls! Ha ha. Doing the manly test, I became Cary Grant - charming, smooth and debonair!
Once again I had a different idea of the genre of the film before watching it, and therefore was quite shocked at how dramatic the movie actually turned out. I mean, look at the poster! Doesn't it all look jolly good, fine and dandy? Now, the shock wasn't as dramatic for me this time as when I watched Mrs. Miniver (1942) and expected a crazy screwball comedy about an eccentric British housewife (oh yeah, laugh at my silliness...) - Cheaper by the Dozenis a comedy, just a very sensible and realistic one, complete with the natural not-always-so-jolly-good ingredients of real life. And can there be a better way to adapt a novel based on a real life family with twelve children? (Well, Steve Martin certainly thought so in 2003... and again in 2005. The idea gives me horrible, horrible nightmares.)
So this is a real life story about a really big family in the 1920's. The father Frank Gilbreth (Webb) is an eccentric time and motion study and efficiency expert - something that comes in handy with scheduling the daily routines of such a large number of children.
Clifton Webb is of course a magnificent choice for such a part, and I regret that he didn't make a real entrance in the motion picture industry until his celebrated Oscar nomination performance as Waldo Lydecker in Laura (1944). Two reasons for his less than sporadic appearances in film before that seems to be A) he worked a lot on the stage, and B) he was a homosexual, something that studio bosses and directors often were very uncomfortable with, and therefore thought twice before hiring him. (He almost didn't get the part in Laura because of it.)
The loving mother is played by the irreplaceable Myrna Loy, who in real life never got a child of her own. The casting choices for the parents of a dozen children is therefore very ironic and amusing - a gay man and a childless woman! And still I can't see anyone else playing their parts. (And really not Steve Martin.)
I absolutely adore that red-headed flapper à la Clara Bow to Jeanne Crain's right!
The oldest daughter, and narrator of the film, is called Ann (also beautifully cast part, Jeanne Crain). I don't really see why Ann should be the narrator, though - the original book was written by daughter Ernestine (played in the film by Barbara Bates, who we can see the same year as Eve's obsessive fan "Phoebe" in the last scene of All About Eve!) and son Frank Jr (Norman Ollestad). Anyway, that's about the only thing I could come up with as a complaint about the film - and not really worth mentioning. Cheaper by the Dozen is an adorable film, and I can't wait to see the sequel, Belles on Their Toes (1952).
One last little comment. What has happened when it comes to aging gracefully in today's Hollywood? It was so lovely to see a 45-year old Myrna Loy play a part her own age, and not covering up the wrinkles in her face with huge amounts of make up or botox. It seems like classic Hollywood actresses either started playing older parts when they couldn't play the young, foolish virgin anymore, or either dropped out of making movies (like Norma Shearer).
Well well, just needed to air my annoyed thoughts about women fearing to grow old. (See some perfect examples here...) Have some dignity, for crying out loud.
I've finally seen it! And I must say that this film was a positive surprise to me. I didn't have any high expectations.
So why did I go see it? Johnny Depp usually chooses his parts well, they seldom disappoint you. And when he chooses to play the charming gangster John Dillinger, I can't help but getting a little curious about it.
The director, Michael Mann, did however lower my expectations. Yes, he made Collateral (2004), and that was a pretty good movie (if you ignore the cliché ending), but nothing more impressive than that. He seems "too American", to me. (Does that make any sense?)
I had a free movie ticket, that made my choice obvious. Otherwise the cinema tickets in Sweden are way too expensive (ca $14).
I guess there isn't much I can say about the film that hasn't already been said, so I will just go with my personal opinions and not dig too deep. I'll begin with the flaws:
The camera work was a little too shaky. I liked the mixture of extreme closeups and long shots, and there were a lot of amazing camera angles, but in the actions scenes the camera just confused me. It was hard to understand what was happening with all the quick cuts and the spinning camera.
The length. There wouldn't have been any problem to cut it down to just under two hours. What is it with movies nowadays? It seems like all filmmakers try to to make their own Lord of the Ring trilogy. (Which I loath, by the way.)
Trailer: See the trailer, and you'll get what I mean. (Why do all trailers want to "Americanize" the movies? It feels like an insult, to those films that actually has some original parts, to be thrown into the mainstream ditch among all the others.)
Now to the good stuff!
Characters:
The characters depictions were really amazing. You sympathize with the public enemy Dillinger, just like the Depression era people did and you therefore should.
The relationship between Dillinger and Billie Frechette (played by the lovely Marion Cotillard, who won the Academy Award for her depiction of Edith Piaf in La Môme, 2007) feels real, and contributes to the rest of the story. Christian Bale as Melvin Purvis from FBI was great too, even though he didn't really get the chance to shine.
It felt kind of weird though, the first time I saw Johnny Depp with a machine gun. He hasn't made many action type roles in his life, so it was quite fun to see. And thankfully, he wasn't any Rambo type of an action hero - he was the kind of an action hero Johnny Depp could be. The John Dillinger type.
Artistically:
The cinematography, aside from the, at times, too jumpy camera, was beautiful and professional. The color scheme was romantic, and there was a good mix of close-to-sepia colored scenes and Technicolorful striking scenes (like the almost disturbingly beautiful scene in the beginning, when Melvin Purvis hunts down and kills Pretty Boy Floyd in an apple garden).
Wardrobe:
Oh, those costumes! The clothes were very faithful to the 1930's fashion, very striking. And I must add here, that if that red dress Marion Cotillard refers to as "a three dollar dress" really cost $3, It's mine.
Everything about the film in this area is thoroughly planned - clothes, cars, hair styles... Well, pictures say more than words:
Manhattan Melodrama:
I was at first afraid that this part of the John Dillinger story wouldn't be in the film. When I heard that it actually was, there was nothing that could keep me away from the cinema.
I was surprised at how much focus it was on relatively small part that it was Manhattan Melodrama [review] Dillinger went and saw (zoomed in newspapers, film posters in the background, etc.), and the irony in Clark Gable's gangster character Blackie's death and the impending end of Dillinger just outside the theatre. I got the feeling that the director admired this film. The popular rumour that Dillinger's favorite actress in fact was Myrna Loy, is underlined in Dillinger's reaction of the film.
And didn't I get tears in my eyes when I saw three of my favorite actors, William Powell, Loy and Gable, fill the screen? Oh yes, I did. And I was probably the only one in the theatre reacting that way. (At least of the people in my age.) When I first saw Manhattan Melodrama (1934), I had no idea that I was going to be able to see parts of it on the screen in a movie theatre. It was an experience I'm proud of.
All in all I really liked Public Enemies. And I will spend many nights dreaming about Johnny Depp in that glorious moustache... Can't wait for Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds (2009), when I get to see a Brad Pitt, who finally has gotten a little older and finally is handsome, with a moustache too.
I just wonder why they skipped the bit about Dillinger going through a plastic surgery to change his appearance. Instead he just grew a moustache and put on some round glasses (no complaints, it was a really good look for Depp). It kind of takes away the purpose of Anna Sage having to tell the FBI she wears an orange skirt, in order for them to recognize Dillinger, doesn't it? Well well...
Now - let's drool, ladies! (And gentlemen!)
Here's a little comparison between the real-life persons, and the people who depicted them in the film:
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