Mixing it up.

Seeing A single Man made me think about people that aren't film makers first and foremost but who mix it up and give film a go.
Tom Ford is of course a fashion designer. The only other two who come to mind is photographer Anton Corbijn who made the brilliant Control and also photographer Sam Taylor Wood who made Nowhere Boy (which I'm yet to see).
Who else?
I'm going to add to this list when I'm not so tired.

Mr Darcy did it again!....now for The King's Speech.

Sometimes I think my heart and mind invite a film to let me get a little carried away. 

I almost will myself to feel the way I want and prepare myself to really get soaked up in a drama and it's characters.

I feel so deeply and bitterly disappointed when a film doesn't deliver. 
I have even seen films for a second time when it wasn't so built up in my heart and realised that my expectations were too great. 

Sometimes, of course, I just want to watch something silly  but for me, I think my emotional outlet is film. It allows me to feel so much.

I have always been like this. Many times in this blog I have mentioned how obsessed I was with Romeo and Juliet as a teenager. I think it started there and hasn't ever stopped. 
I crave that feeling an amazing film arouses in me.

I feel such a connection with a character's joy or pain and it allows me to in turn feel my own joy or pain. 

Tonight My Mum and I watched a simply sublime film: A Single Man by Tom Ford.

I have been meaning to see this film for a long time. I actually sat down to watch it over a year ago but I remember I just wasn't in the right mood and shortly turned it off.  I did have a box of about 100 unwatched academy nominated films in front of me and I was greedy to see them all.

For most, I would imagine this film would satisfy people visually. 
But it's subtle love story may get lost on people expecting some grand story with major plot developments. The journey here is slight but for me that is real life.  

The lead character's loss and heartache is monumental but the way Tom Ford lets it unfold is honestly paced and without any melodrama.

A single Man follows a day in the life of George(Colin Firth). We soon learn that George lost the love of his life Jim in a car accident and feels he has little left to live for. It unfolds that George doesn't plan to live for much longer. He interrupts his usual daily routine with little preparatory tasks like organising a gun to shoot himself with. 

It's morbid and yet his pain is so heartbreaking that you almost understand his choice.

Along the way we meet various beautiful creatures who somehow touch his life and warm his heart just when he's given up on it all.

Every shot is lit with such delicate precision that it seems everyone but George is bathed in a warm glow of sunshine while he hides in a shadow.

Every glass, every sideboard, every pen, every walnut dashboard is so perfectly designed and yet it isn't corny or even over stylised. It all fits. 

The cast are impeccable. Julianne Moore is divine as his elegantly dishevelled pal and Nicholas Hoult is perfectly cast as a young Man who sees a kindred soul and also a man in trouble.

The costumes make me want to be in the film. I can't fault them

If you haven't seen this film, do so and let it wash over you like it did me. This is a love story I won't soon forget.

xxx

Dear Dr Conrad Murray. If what you gave MJ was safe then administer the same amount of drugs to yourself.

The other day I caught a bit of' 'Michael Jackson- This Is It' on the movie channel. I saw this movie in London with possibly the biggest Michael Jackson fan I've ever met, Anthony.
I still remember the complete sadness I felt when he died and I still can't actually believe that he is dead.

This Is It documents the rehearsals for Michael jackson's last ever tour, starting at the O2 arena in London.

The quietly spoken, immaculately dressed and serenely voiced MJ did not look like a man about to die. He speaks so beautifully about doing it all with love and for love.
You can see that this was a man who wanted to give his fans the best show possible

Seeing Michael Jackson now makes me sad but it also makes me angry.What botthers me is even if he was addicted to pharmacutical drugs and even if he would have somehow got hold of the medication he wanted, no Doctor should ever prescribe more than what is safe.
The excuse 'If it wasn't him- it would have been another Doctor' doesn't ride with me.
Jump on youtube now and look up Thriller or Beat it or any number of clips and then look up Dr Conrad Murray and listen to his lame excuses.
You killed The King Of Pop. Never forget that.

So many of my childhood memories are tied up with Michael Jackson.
I used to sit my Mum down and make her watch me dance to the Bad record over and over again.
I remember just being so wowed by his dancing and actually feeling like I was witnessing magic.
I remember doing a dramatic rendition of Smooth Criminal that involved just getting up on the sofa and leaping off. Not sure what that move was called.

As a Nanny, I introduced my little Sammy to MJ and he quickly adopted this hilarious MJ dance that can only be seen to be appreciated. It basically involved Sam bouncing up and down and flicking one hand out. It made me giggle so much. Sam had a very innocent view of death and kept telling people on the tube that Michael Jackson was dead. Bless him.

I was in Christchurch yesterday with My Dad and we watched a couple of MJ clips. It never gets old. The moonwalk never ceases to make me clap.
I heart you Michael jackson.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfR7TTeMSDQ

"I am an exceptional thief, Mrs. McClane. And since I'm moving up to kidnapping, you should be more polite.

Two things.
Die Hard is on Television.
Thank you TV land.
Also....Die Hard reminds me that I keep meaning to add an actor to my 'People I want to work with list':
Alan Rickman. He is such a fantastic actor.

Pulp Quentin.

Here's Quentin tarantino's picks for 2010.
What an eclectic mix! I am surprised by a few of the entires, especially how many animated films he likes.
3rd on the list is our own Animal Kingdom.
How excellent.
1. Toy Story 3
2. The Social Network
3. Animal Kingdom
4. I Am Love
5. Tangled
6. True Grit
7. The Town
8. Greenberg
9. Cyrus
10. Enter the Void (“Hands down best credit scene of the year … Maybe best credit scene of the decade. One of the greatest in cinema history.” QT)
11. Kick-Ass
12. Knight and Day
13. Get Him to the Greek
14. The Fighter
15. The King's Speech
16. The Kids Are All Right
17. How to Train Your Dragon
18. Robin Hood
19. Amer
20. Jackass 3-D


I dislike quite a few of his choices including Robin Hood, I am Love and anything to do with Jackass. 
But I loved Animal Kingdom, Te Kids are all right and Get Him To The Greek.


xxx

follow the crumbs...

This sounds interesting. Gemma Arterton and Jeremy Renner are set to star in a reimagining of Hansel and Gretel. Apparently it's an much darker version than the one we know and will involve not just one witch but many witches with Hansel and Gretal hunting them down. I really like both these actors so Im looking forward to this one.

Just because.

"Giuseppe is dead mon"

Oh No
The divine Pete Postlethwaite died today. I had no idea he was ill. He was 64.
Some of my absolute favourite movies starred this gentle articulate and remarkable actor.
What a sad loss to the acting world.
xx

Film of the week.

Have you seen 'Giant'?
It's my film of the week.
It's Texas' version of gone with the wind and chronicles the rise of the mexican people after years of discrimination. It stars James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor, Rick Hudson and Dennis Hopper.
A must see.

Shakespeare said it best.

Sense and Sensibility was on TV tonight.
It has my favourite sonnet in it.


Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark 
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks 
Within his bending sickle's compass come: 
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, 
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
   If this be error and upon me proved,
   I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

Eels again.

The warehouse the warehouse where everyone gets a bargain.
Oh what fun I had at the warehouse in Taupo. Unfortunately my resolution to save and not spend money never seems to stick when I find DVD bargains. Why do I buy dvds? I don't actually have anywhere to put them! Between NZ, London and Melbourne I think I  have multiple copies of the same movies. I def have about 3 raging bulls and 2 batmans. What a goose.
But I found some classic winners. I actually went in to buy Elvis 1968 comeback special for $10. I also wanted Bruce Springsteen live in hyde park.
I came out with: The Wrestler, Top Gun, Edward Scissorhands, Beverly Hills cop, The Mighty Boosh (again???), Ferris Bueller's day off, and Mermaids (??). All very cheesy picks but good to have in the library. Especially The Wrestler. I'm going to show it to my Mum tonight. One day I will have an actual film library and a theatre. yes. I will.

Not a happy little Batman

Dear Wellington.
I have returned to you from a lovely relaxing holiday and I find that none of the movies I want to see are not out yet. They are out in Australia and I have received 3 different messages today telling me how amazing Black Swan is. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I need to see it now! I need to see Blue Valentine now. I will have a mini meltdown if I don't get to see these films soon.
Yours sincerely (and slightly threateningly)

Polly

Pretty as a peach.

Hungover on New Years day and what better film to come on Tv: Marie Antoinette.
What a beautiful film. As I slouched on my chair with my lovely friends I heard a multitude of sighs and "oooohs" and "ahhhhhs". "I want that" I would say. "can we do that?" beth would reply "Lets do that for my birthday!" Victoria announced. Wouldn't a party fit or Versailles be amazing!
To see the world through Sofia Coppola's eyes is to see a world of abosulote beauty. Her soft amber lights, her blushed cheeks, her sumptuous delicacies and elfin beauties like Kirsten Dunst are a joy to watch. She makes me feel like a real girl.
The liberty printed dresses with perhaps 3 too many ribbons and four too many layers made me want to have a dress up party immediately. It was pointed out to me that in the shoe montage (yes...there's a montage featuring shoes, ribbons, macaroons and champagne), you can see a pair of converse high tops. How cheeky and fun.
When I went to Paris I sought out the infamous Laduree bakery just so I could sample those very macaroons. They didn't disappoint.
A delightful cinematic start to 2011.
For me this is the year where I am determined to live out my true fantasies. I want to sepnd a month in Paris and work on my film idea. I want to find myself alone somewhere that scares me a little but makes me stronger. I want to see as many films as I possibly can. And I want to live by my mantra of loving love and all it has to offer.
Happy New Year to you.