A good way to ruin Footloose is to cast the most awkard moving Ren possible, and then to have hilarious dance routines, most likely choreographed by someone way out of touch with current trends. And when the underage girls are flouncing around with too short skirts in front of an audience of parents and children, it just gets fantastically uncomfortable. Also most of the second half was accompanied by a hip hop soundtrack blasting through from the wedding party situated next door. T-Pain and Reverend Shaw's sermons don't mix that well. Needless to say, we'll be back for the Junior Theater's next production.
Also, I went to the movies four times last week. Two near midnight showings for action flicks and then a couple of indie romantic comedies. That might be a new record for me. In order for romantic comedies to work, the main actress has to be very compelling and both Safety Not Guaranteed and Ruby Sparks work because of their leads. Aubrey Plaza is the embodiment of seductive sarcasm and Zoe Kazan out-Zooeys Zooey Deschanel. Of the two, Ruby Sparks is much better, but the premise for Safety Not Guaranteed is both based on a true story and brilliant. "Wanted: Somebody to go back in time with me. This is not a joke. You'll get paid after we get back. Must bring your own weapons. I have only done this once before. Safety not guaranteed."
In Ruby Sparks, Paul Dano literally invents his own Manic Pixie Dream Girl and while it's impossible to not be cognisant of this trope, it's also impossible to resist. I mean, MPDG is what guys like me live for. Even if it's unoriginal and a real life impossibility. "Too many guys think I'm a concept, or I complete them, or I'm gonna make them alive." Every time I watch one of these movies I wonder what kind of Manic Pixie Dream Girl I'd write. She'd be brunette, of course...
Actually, Ruby Sparks is sort of about tearing down the myth of a dream girl. Think a literary Mannequin. I'm almost afraid to watch it again because I don't want to notice its faults and right now I can't think of a single thing I would have changed about the movie. As it turns out, writer/star Zoe Kazan is the granddaughter of Elia Kazan, director of On the Waterfront, A Streetcar Named Desire, East of Eden. Damned if cinematic prowess isn't inherited. There's a scene at the end of Ruby Sparks that is just so well acted and written. Zoe Kazan is my hero.
And then there's Bright Star, which I've had waiting in its red Netflix envelope for too many months. I use my Netflix queue as "to be watched" list and most of the time I don't recall what made me stick something on it. With Bright Star I suspect it's because I heard it was Abbie Cornish's best work and somehow that made it matriculate to the top of my queue. Or maybe it was because she once dated Ryan Phillippe, and that somehow made me want to watch her movies? Geezes I hope that's not the reason.
During most of Bright Star, which is slow paced but effective, I was Googling away to get some historical background on John Keats and Fanny Brawne. They suffered from a great love and Keats' ineligibility to marry Brawne because he had no name and no money. Of course, Keats is now regarded as one of the greatest poets that lived but during his lifetime, it was estimated that his three books of poetry sold about two hundred total copies.
Keats had a cadre of friends and admirers that financially supported him and while they recognized his brilliance and tirelessly promoted him, that didn't help much when it came to the reality of his social status. The strangest thing about Bright Star was how it was just so matter of fact that Keats and Brawne would not be together. This was not a story about a love that conquered all. If anything, their love was restrained beyond belief and it wasn't until he was near death -- Keats died at twenty-five -- that they were engaged.
At the beginning of the year, I read Dan Simmons' Hyperion, which references Keats many times over, and is, in fact, titled after Keats' poem. The rest of the Hyperion Cantos are named after another of his poems, Endymion. It made me want to give Keats' poetry a try but I don't have the patience to decipher Ode to a Nightingale nor the inclination to slog through the rest of his work. There was a time I would have, but I think I've lost my interest in stanzas and meters. Plus it's impossible to read this stuff without someone explaining it to you.
Somehow this has turned into a review post. Which is not what I intended. While I'm here though, Bill James' Public Crime is much recommended. If you like murders and serial killers, this is the book for you. Bill James is famous as the father of sabermetrics -- the inspiration behind Moneyball -- and this has just been his side obsession. If you can count reading hundreds of true crime novels and becoming an expert on the subject as "just a side thing."
It goes to prove that if you care about something, you should obsess over it.
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