I tried to love "Gods and Monsters"—really, I did. It just didn't happen for me. I got bored with Ian McKellen and Brendan Fraser, both of whom I usually like very much. McKellen plays famously not-closeted gay movie director Jimmy Whale ("Frankenstein" etc.), and Fraser is his groundskeeper (but not lover). They strike up a platonic friendship, and ... well, that's about it. Many people have told me how much they liked this movie, but I found it under-written and over-acted. I didn't even watch it all the way through to the end. I apologize.
"Songcatcher," on the other hand, was a pleasant surprise. It tells the story of musicologist Lily Penleric, who goes to visit her sister in Appalachia around the turn of the (last) century and discovers a whole body of undiscovered folk music that is at the very heart of the community there. (She also discovers Aidan Quinn, amid much bodice-ripping.) My main problem with the movie was the lead actress, Janet McTeer, who just didn't do anything for me. Plus she was too tall. (Sorry, maybe it's because I'm not quite 5'3", but it looked like the Attack of the Giant Woman to me.) Moreover, her feminist views struck me as anachronistic. But, overall, it was an interesting story and, man, if you like old-timey music, get this in your Netflix queue fast. Beautiful. Iris Dement and Taj Mahal have bit parts in order to showcase their singing, and Emmy Rossum has a major role—I'd never heard of her, but her voice blew me away. Oh, and Emmylou sings during the credits (worth the price of admission, I'd say).
Karen, Karen, you need to guard against alienating your audience.
Signed: Wendy (aka 50-Foot Woman aka Ginormica)
Posted by: Wendy | July 14, 2009 at 09:24 AM
Sorry! Some of my favorite people are really tall. :-)
This actress freaked me out because she was a head taller than everyone else, including the actress who was playing her sister.
Posted by: Karen | July 14, 2009 at 09:31 AM
Janet McTeer was in this great Masterpiece Theater movie in the late 1980s, called "Precious Bane," based on a lovely book of the same name by Mary West. I really like her.
Posted by: Wendy | July 14, 2009 at 02:13 PM
Is she British? If so, she sure put on a respectable American accent in "Songcatcher." She wasn't horrible in this, but I kept noticing that she seemed a little too wide-eyed in her reaction shots. There was just nothing compelling about her performance -- anyone could have done it.
Posted by: Karen | July 14, 2009 at 02:25 PM
Hi Karen,
I haven't seen this website. Thanks for tweeting it. Linking to it on my blog.
http://www.kids-in-mind.com/
Warm regards,
EK
Posted by: Ellen Kimball | July 14, 2009 at 07:26 PM
Emmy Rossum played the female lead in the movie "Phantom of the Opera." I thought she was a beautiful young actress who did an excellent job, but most movie reviewers didn't care for her singing at all.
Posted by: Ellen Kimball | July 14, 2009 at 07:28 PM