The Lovely Ms. Adrienne Shelly

As a fan of Ms. Shelly from way way back, I - along with millions of others - was horrified and deeply saddened by her death in November of 2006. Aside from being a great loss to her family and friends, it was an abrupt end to what would have been a fantastic career. Waitress is one of my favorite movies and it is bittersweet that she did not get to experience the success of her film.

I have been following her husband's movements following her death - the creation of The Adrienne Shelly Foundation and the production of a completed script (one of many) that she left behind. And so it is with great excitement that I anticipate the response to Serious Moonlight at this week's Tribeca Film Festival. From all reports it should be wonderful! With any luck they'll find a distributor who will bring the film to Williamsburg.

EW's Summer Movie Preview!!

While experiencing a brief reprieve from April showers, I flipped through the Entertainment Weekly's Summer Movie Preview issue. In February, I realized that there was a movie coming out every weekend that I wanted to see through July (with the exception of only 3 weeks when a movie wasn't coming out that I was interested in seeing).

My Favorites:
Up ... I will follow Pixar wherever they lead.

Angels & Demons ... I may be seeing this film alone. This was my favorite of Dan Brown's books; I read it when traveling through Italy. I don't have high hopes for the finished product, but I will be there opening weekend anyway. I'm nothing if not loyal.

Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian ... I will follow Amy Adams wherever she leads. If seeing Ms. Adams as Amelia Earhart wasn't enough of the draw, then the trailer hooked me. This sequel looks better than the first movie. This is the same motivation for my wanting to see Julie & Julia

Easy Virtue ... I will follow Noel Coward wherever he leads.

My Least Favorites:
Star Trek ... I can't get over Zachary Quinto as Spock. Heroes has ruined Mr. Quinto for me; he will always be Sylar. Even Simon Pegg as Scotty can't get me amped for this movie.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen ... I watched quite a bit of The Transformers cartoon and did not think the first movie was any good. Watching Megan Fox show a lot of skin while avoiding multiple explosions is just not my cup of tea.

My Maybes:
X-Men Origins: Wolverine ... I loved the first and second X-Men movies, but was burned by X-Men: The Last Stand (and have still not forgiven Bryan Singer for abandoning the series to make Superman, blech). The jury is out on whether or not I will see this prequel in the theaters or wait to see it on DVD. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past ... It looks cheesy and predictable. That being said, there hasn't been a good chick semi-mindless flick in theaters in a while and I'm excited for this one, but also for ...

The Proposal ... I love me some Ryan Reynolds (I'm a devotee since the Two Guys, A Girl, and a Pizza Place days) and I'm also a fan of Sandra Bullock (she had me at While You Were Sleeping). And honestly, I enjoy the "Guy hates Girl, Girl hates Guy, until Guy falls in love with Girl and Girl falls in love with Guy" formula more than the "Guy has Girl, Guy loses Girl, Guy gets Girl Back" storyline.

Land of the Lost ... Will Ferrell and Danny McBride in a feature adaptation of the popular Saturday morning television show from my childhood. Will it be good, will it be crap, or will it be craptastic???

Then there are countless small(er)-budget films being released this Summer that may or may not come to Williamsburg, VA. I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high just in case I have to wait another year before these are released on DVD. But if they come to the local cinema, I will be going to see: My Sister's Keeper, The Hangover, Cheri, (500) Days of Summer, Hide and Seek, The Boat that Rocked, and Paper Heart.

There are quite a few films that I'm leaving out because it's a Friday and there's no time to list them all. Let's just say, it's going to be a good summer.

Google Reader + Sally Hawkins + Kiera Knightly rant

As I was scrolling through my Google Reader feed this morning, imagine my surprise to see this headline "Sally Hawkins lands role in 'Never Let Me Go': Is she destined for big things" I just watched Happy-Go-Lucky last week and have been contemplating why I didn't love the movie and/or Ms. Hawkins' acting as much as I had expected.

That being said, I always love it when a critical darling becomes successful. So I have checked out Kazuo Ishiguro's book from the library and am eagerly awaiting the release of Never Let Me Go. I don't think I have ever eagerly anticipated a movie starring Kiera Knightly before, but there's a first time for everything.

On a side note, why does Kiera Knightly always star with such fantastic supporting characters (Johnny Depp, Jack Davenport, Orlando Bloom, Mickey Rourke, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, James MacAvoy, etc.)? You'd think they would cast her opposite another mediocre actor who would make her seem more talented by comparison. And now apparently, Kiera Knightly is being considered for the role of Eliza Doolittle in the remake of My Fair Lady. Ew!

TANGENT (I promise this will help me make my point): While watching parts of the Easter movie trifecta this weekend - Mary Poppins, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and Sound of Music (thank you, ABC Family Channel) - I got in a discussion with my mom about how Doris Day was originally offered the role of Maria Von Trapp. What a travesty that would have been! Imagine a world where Julie Andrews did not play Maria Von Trapp and - I can only assume - what is one of the greatest movie musicals (if not movies) of all time would have been merely a flash in the pan success with no real staying power. Instead, Julie Andrews did get the part and did a phenomenal job. She has had a mind-boggling career playing some of the greatest roles in movies and on the stage (Mary Poppins, Maria Von Trapp, Cinderella, Eliza Doolittle, and the Nanny from Eloise, just to name a few of my favorites). Julie Andrews played the role of Eliza Doolittle on Broadway opposite Rex Harrison, but she did not get to play Eliza Doolittle in the film adaptation of My Fair Lady. Audrey Hepburn snagged the part, but did not get to do her own singing.

And now back to my rant about Kiera Knightly. Why? WHY?! She gets tons of fun roles and great parts, but from what I have seen she can't act her way out of a paper bag. Joe Wright who directed Ms. Knightly in the most recent adaptation of Pride and Prejudice slams her acting ability in the director's commentary of the film. And yet she's being considered for a role that not even the great Julie Andrews was worthy enough to play on film. Kiera Knightly butchered my image of Elizabeth Bennett and I will not allow her to do the same to poor Eliza. This will be one remake that I avoid altogether.

Happy-Go-Lucky

As nerdy as it is to admit, I pay pretty close attention to things like sound mixing and sound levels when I'm watching movies. Either I've developed a "critical eye" or I'm officially a film nerd. Regardless of when I became so critical, the sound mixing in Happy-Go-Lucky drove me nuts. I firmly believe that once I start watching a movie, I shouldn't have to have the remote on hand to constantly adjust the volume. The fact that the sound levels were all over the place is my greatest criticism of this film and something that I had a hard time getting beyond.

Sound mixing aside, Sally Hawkins, who plays Poppy, the lead in Happy-Go-Lucky, is basically unknown to me, except for her small role in The Painted Veil (sigh). I wish I had another performance of hers to compare with this one. The performance, at times seems over the top, and at other times seems endearing. It's hard to take her performance seriously when she appears in such stark contrast to her overly-cantankerous driving instructor and overly-emotional flamenco instructor. But over the course of the movie, she and her laugh gradually seem more realistic and less of a caricature.

I spent most of the movie trying to decide if Poppy had an amazing spirit or an annoying disregard for her own safety and her driving instructor's feelings. Ultimately my confusion distracted me from what could have otherwise been the feel-good movie advertised on the back of the DVD.

Mulit-multi-cam sitcoms in development

In the great debate of single camera vs. multi-cam sitcoms, the fact remains that multi-cam operations are cheaper. So it's not much of a surprise that out of 33 sitcoms in development at the broadcast networks, 19 of them are multi-cam. Check out the long, but great, article about it from the L.A. Times.

The multi-cam sitcom, such as legendary hits “I Love Lucy” and “Cheers,” was once the dominant format in which to televise comedies, as much for conveying a theater-like intimacy to home audiences as for its relatively cheap production costs. But within the last decade, multi-cam sitcoms began to disappear, while single-camera comedies like “30 Rock” and “The Office,” with its movie-like freedom, started to rise in prominence.

“The industry had been moving away from multi-cameras out of a sense that other formats offer more creative freedom,” said Jamie Erlicht, president of programming at Sony Pictures Television. “But there’s room for both and there’s a real appetite in these economic times for the tried and true multi-camera format.”

To 3D or Not to 3D

Disclaimer: I did not see Monsters vs. Aliens in 3D. I, personally, do not enjoy seeing movies in 3D. Who likes wearing those red and green glasses for 90+ minutes? Who wants to spend an entire film watching objects bizarrely fly at them? It strikes me as jarring and unnatural. I realize that 3D technology has come a long way since the 3D movies that I used to watch at Busch Gardens. I need to give this new 3D a chance (if for no other reason than the fact that EVERY animated movie coming out this year is going to be made for 3D). But I am not yet ready to fork over the extra 2 bucks to see a movie in 3D, when I'd rather be stodgy and stuck in my ways. SO, my review may be missing something based on it's single dimensionality.

First, wow! What a cast! Reese Witherspoon, Seth Rogan, Hugh Laurie, Paul Rudd, Will Arnett, Kiefer Sutherland, and Stephen Colbert. Among these are some of my favorite actors of all time. That point aside, pause for a minute and try to imagine all of these actors ever being in the same room with each other. I realize that in the world of animation the actors are most likely never to see each other until the premiere, but still, wow! Seth Rogan stole every scene that he was in, but Stephen Colbert stole the whole show.

Unfortunate that the male actors stole the show, when the story centers around the female lead and her realization that self-confidence, friends, and a sense of purpose are more important than a spot in the shadow of a powerful man. It was a surprising moral for a story named "Monsters vs. Aliens" that was seemingly targeting young boys [insert criticism for buying into gender cliches here].

All in all, it was cute, with some great performances, some great jokes, some originality, and definitely a movie that I would take my young daughter to see. It was not, however, a movie that I would buy and watch over and over again. I might just go on youtube.com and watch clips of Stephen Colbert as the President.