I Am A Bad Feminist

I am a bad feminist. So is Roxanne Gay. We are all a mess of contradictions.

Her book is amazing. You can read my review of Bad Feminist here. If you have not read it already, I highly recommend it.

New Beauty and the Beast Movie

I’ve been obsessing about this movie above for quite a while now. After being released all around the world, it will finally come to American movie theaters in September. I can only hope that it is worth the wait.

The Critics Were Wrong (Maybe)-Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)

The people in Hollywood know a good thing when they see it. In 2003, when Pirates Of The Carribean: Curse Of The Black Pearl was released, it was a massive success. That gave movie makers the green light to continue with the franchise. The problem is (as it is if often the case with most sequels) that as each consecutive movie was released, the reviews were not so full of praise and the audiences began to stay away.

Such is the case with Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011). Will (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth (Keira Knightley) are out of the picture. Making strange bedfellows/pirate odd couple are Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) and Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush).  Their quest is locate the fountain of youth. But they are not the only ones who are eager to locate the legendary fountain. Blackbeard  (Ian McShane) and his daughter Angelica (Penelope Cruz) are also on the same path. It’s not just a question of who will reach the fountain first, it’s a question of will the past and relationship that Jack had with Angelica come back to bite him in the behind?

This movie attempts to recreate the magic of the first film. Attempts is the key word here. Even without Bloom and Knightley in the cast, something is missing. Whether it is the fact that Jack Sparrow is becoming old or that the filmmakers attempts to inject a period appropriate character like Blackbeard, just something is missing.

Were the critics wrong? No.

I do not recommend this film.

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Darcy’s Competition

Any fan of Pride and Prejudice would argue that Colin Firth’s dip in the lake is iconic and sets hearts racing.

I’d never though I’d see the day that the this scene might have a rival.

All I can say is that this ginger might have put on a pair of fins and a shell bikini if it meant a swim in the ocean with Ross Poldark.

Saturday Night Live The Exhibition

Over the last 40 years, Saturday Night Live has cemented itself into our culture. Irreverent, laugh out loud and sometimes controversial, Saturday Night Live has always seemed to have it’s finger on the pulse of what the American public is thinking and feeling.

To celebrate the 40^th anniversary of the program, NBC aired a special earlier this year, celebrating the show’s history and it’s impact on this country.  Expanding on the special, Saturday Night Live, The Exhibition, opened at the end of May.

The experience leads visitors through the week and the process of putting the show together. Props, costumes, photographs and entire and video interviews of cast and crew sets are laid out throughout the exhibition. From the initial stages of writing to creating costumes, sets, the exhibition is not the staid and boring museum.  It is vibrant, alive and a thrill for any fan.

I absolutely recommend it, it is a must see exhibit.

Saturday Night Live, The Exhibition is located at 417 5th Ave In New York City.  

The Audience Review

Queen Elizabeth II is an interesting figure in British history. She is one of the most well known public figures in the world, but there are a few who are lucky enough to get beyond the public persona.

The Audience, a new play by Peter Morgan is about a little known meeting that the Queen has had with her Prime Ministers. Every Tuesday evening, the Prime Minister and Queen Elizabeth will meet for twenty minutes to hash out the past week’s events and to speak of what is to come for the next week.  This has been a tradition for sixty years, 12 Prime Ministers have sat opposite the Queen in those six decades.

Playing Queen Elizabeth II once more is Helen Mirren. But this is not the just the older Queen Elizabeth that Mirren played in The Queen. The play jumps back and forth in time, going back to her childhood (Sadie Sink & Elizabeth Teeter alternate the part of young Elizabeth).  As an adult, we see Elizabeth with her Prime Ministers, starting with Winston Churchill (Dakin Matthews) and ending with the current Prime Minister David Cameron (Rufus Wright).

This play is nothing short of a masterpiece. Helen Mirren has proved once more why she is goddess that she is. Her Elizabeth is more than a ceremonial figurehead. She is witty, intelligent and extremely interested in the day to day running of her country.  We also see her growth as a woman and as a young girl, she chafed that rules placed upon her when her father became King.  Like any manager, her relationships with her Prime Minister vary from professional to warm.

Tonight was the last performance of this show. I’m usually not a fan of revivals, but next time this show comes around to NYC, I would see it again. Especially if Helen Mirren reprises her role.

I absolutely recommend it.

Marriage

Marriage is many things.

Marriage is a daily compromise between two individuals who have chosen to spend their life together.

Marriage is a commitment.

Marriage is the willingness and the want to wake up to one person every day for what will hopefully be the rest of your life.

The landmark decision late last week to make same sex marriage the law of the land was met with fervor on both sides of the aisle. Couples who have been together (and some by extension, raising their children together) for years, will now be recognized with the same rights, privileges and responsibilities that straight couples have taken for granted.

But there are some that are mourning this ruling.  Their point of view is that the voters, not the Supreme Court, should have made the decision.

While I respect their point of view and their right to state their opinion, I disagree with them.

Marriage and the concept of marriage has come a long way. It is no longer a husband lording over his wife. Marriage is the want of two adults, who are ready, willing and able to make a life together.

I believe that the people who oppose same sex marriage should applaud this ruling, not fight it. Watching same sex couple finally get to tie the knot reminds us why we value marriage. If they really value marriage and what it represents (stability, a solid home life, raising children in a two parent household), then they are only fighting against what they state is the ideal way to live.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Far From The Madding Crowd Review

Literature is filled with tales of life, romance, drama and marriage.

Thomas Hardy’s 1874 novel, Far From The Madding Crowd is about all of the above. Add in a strong, complicated and thoroughly human heroine in Bathsheba Everdene and you have a novel that stands out in a sea of classics. The latest adaptation of the novel premiered in May.

Bathsheba Everdene (Carey Mulligan) is a unique young woman. She has just inherited her recently deceased uncle’s farm. In addition to now being an heiress and a landowner, Bathsheba has received attention and/or marriage proposals from three distinct men.  Gabriel Oak (Matthias Schoenaerts) is the John Wayne of the three suitors: nearly silent, strong and steady. Sergeant Francis Troy (Tom Sturridge) is the army officer who looks good in uniform, but may turn out to be a flash in the pan.  William Boldwood (Michael Sheen) would be the standard choice of a husband for a woman like Bathsheba. William is older, has a large home, a large piece of land and a steady income to his name.

Bathsheba is determined to remain single. But with such an array of men to choose from, remaining single may not happen.

I tried to read the book, but I could not get through it. So, to be fair, this review is strictly based on this adaptation. Carey Mulligan has proved once again why she is one the best young actresses around. Classy, intelligent and always choosing to play a variety of characters, I predict that Ms. Mulligan will do very well come award season. Among the co-stars that play her would be husbands, Matthias Schoenaerts is the newest BPD (British Period Drama) hottie on the block. Tom Sturridge as Sergeant Troy is the Wickham (harking back to the 2005 Pride and Prejudice, where Ms. Mulligan played Kitty Bennet) of FFTMC. He is handsome, says pretty things, and looks good in the uniform, but there isn’t much else to him. Michael Sheen, as William Boldwood is the standard choice for the heroine, but Bathsheba Everdene is not the standard literary heroine.

I recommend this movie.

Far From The Madding Crowd is presently in theaters. 

Flashback Friday-Love & Basketball (2000)

Sometimes, the person we are meant to be with is the person that we grew up with.

In Love and Basketball (2000),  Quincy (Omar Epps) and Monica (Sanaa Lathan) met when they were 11 years old. Both had a dream of playing basketball professionally, following in the footsteps of Quincy’s father who plays professionally. Their will they/won’t they relationship stretches to high school and college, where they date briefly. But as young love often does, their relationship ends in heartache. Several years pass, and both Quincy and Monica have had some success as professional basketball players.  They meet again and a decision must be made. Will their relationship be contained to the past or is there still unexplored territory?

I like this movie. What draws me in as an audience member is the relationship between the two lead characters. There is something that keeps them coming back to one another, the question is, are they willing to face it?

I recommend it.

The Best Of America

For all of the complaints about The United States, there is something to be said for our idealism and our belief in life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

History was made today as the supreme court ruled that same sex couples have the right to get married and receive the same privileges as their heterosexual counterparts.

Marriage is now defined as two adults (regardless of sex) who are ready, willing and able to make a public commitment to each other.

This is not the first landmark case to make history. The ruling carries as much weight as the 19th Amendment (giving women the right to vote) and Loving V. Virginia (the landmark civil right case that broke the anti-miscegenation law that existed in several states).

While we have a long way to go, the fact that this is now the law of the land paves the way for the true democracy that our founding fathers envisioned when they made the bold and dangerous decision to break away from Britain.