Not a Review of Mamma Mia…

Rather, a wistful remembrance of my intoxicated viewing of said film. Intoxicated not by booze, but by the flickering lights in the weird world of music and dance -

Slow motion Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan singing with a strange Borat-like accent on a cliff, the strangest version of Gimme, Gimme Gimme (A Man After Midnight) I’ve ever heard, these are the things that swirl in my brain and make me eagerly anticipate the next viewing of this little classic.

I had never seen the musical, so I didn’t know what I was getting into; but once it started I understood that I was going to get pure cinematic enjoyment.

While The Dark Knight is full of real and feigned gravitas, Mamma Mia takes nothing seriously, except (like Huey Lewis) the power of love, and in strange consequence creates a whirlwind of emotion stronger than The Dark Knight, and 10 times more enjoyable. There is no bullshit moment (where the viewer sees the puppet strings of the filmmakers and calls, ‘Bullshit!’) in Mamma Mia, because it’s all bullshit. This unbelievable world is made very clear from the beginning and we don’t need to suspend disbelief because this is a musical set to the music of ABBA. Consequently, it all works; everything fits perfectly, like a finely crafted wedge of European cheese.

Streep as Dancing Queen

Tags: abba, european cheese wedge, mamma mia, meryl streep, movie, review

Watching (Snippets of) the Watchmen

Preceding the Dark Knight is the first trailer for the upcoming Watchmen film, based on what is essentially considered the greatest graphic novel ever written. This film has been in development forever, shuffling about directors and actors and continuing to piss off Alan Moore, the man behind the book. Alan Moore is right to be concerned. So far, his brilliant graphic novels have been turned into appalling films which strip them utterly of their effulgent genius. Remember The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen? I try not to myself. (Fun tidbit. League was the film which Sean Connery accepted in lieu of the role of GANDALF in a little indie trilogy called The Lord of the Rings.)

You know what though? The Watchmen trailer didn’t look…that…bad. I know. I couldn’t believe it either. Granted that Billy Corgan soundtrack was pretty atrocious and I couldn’t help but snicker when they billed it as being “from the visionary director of 300“. Visionary? Really? The man knows how to use a green screen and that freeze motion camera effect, I’ll give him that. But so do lots of people in Hollywood. Was Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow a visionary film? (Don’t answer that. It’s rhetorical. And also, no.) 300 was at best a decent action film (and at worst, an offensive right wing polemic.) Before that, Zach Snyder poorly (and needlessly) remade one of my favorite films of all time, Dawn of the Dead. The man is on pretty thin ice with me.

But Dr. Manhattan looked pretty amazing. Hell, everyone kinda did. We saw a glimpse of Dr. Manhattan’s Mars. We heard Rorschach’s growl. We saw the Comedian’s cocky grin. We know that the movie is taking place in it’s original time period (the 80’s) which lessens the preachy parallel-to-our-current-administration potential. Everything, thus far, appears to be in order. Time will tell, of course. I am worried about what they will cut out. At 400 pages of Moore’s signature dialog-heavy storytelling, they have to cut something. (And I sure hope it isn’t ANY of Dr. Manhattan’s explanation of time travel and why he is unable to stay connected to the human world.) But for now, I rest a bit easier. I hope Alan Moore does too. But let’s be honest. Ain’t nothing pleasing that old curmudgeon.

And just remember. No matter how bad it gets, it could have been much, much worse:

{{{Shudder}}}

Tags: 300, alan moore, comics, movie, trailers, watchmen, zach snyder