MOVIES!

OK, this is weird. This is like the second time I've posted something in here and had it disappear.

I had written something about going to see Cloverfield and 27 Dresses. This shows the two sides of Green Eyez.

Cloverfield, as you probably know, is by JJ Abrams. I guess he used the same techniques here he does in Lost (I don't know since I've only watched a couple of episodes) but basically makes it so you feel like whatever is happening is happening to you. These kids are at a going away party, hilariously for a guy who got a promotion and is leaving for Japan the next day. While they're filming the party, all hell breaks loose. In true documentary style, we follow these kids and their camera along. We get no other perspective except theirs. They only show the monster in glimpses. Never fully. No answers are given. It ends with the tape. That's it. Everyone was like "wha?". I will say that if you have motion sickness, this is not the movie for you. I could not watch the last 45 minutes of the movie. Learned my lesson from Blair Witch. After THAT movie I had a horrible case of the spins and couldn't get up from my seat. When I finally made it home...let's just say it wasn't pretty.

27 Dresses is adorable. Sweet and everything a romantic comedy should be. You know how it will turn out, but that's OK, because the ride is a totally fun one. It is most definitely a chick flick. That's two in a row for the adorable James Marsden, who is quite the charmer. It was nice seeing Katherine Heigl in a role where I don't hate her, as Izzy has been annoying the hell out of me lately.

Luca has had a post disappear too Very strange. Board poltergeist I guess

I love James Marsden! He IS adorable! I cannot believe he is 31 already! Time flies. I remember watching that TV show he was on when he was just a teenager. I was thrilled when he got the part in Fantastic Four! Went to see the movie with my boys. Hard to believe that was 8 years ago! I love Kathrine!! But yes, Izzy has been annoying as all get out lately

I would NOT like a movie like Cloverfield at all. I would get queasy too Plus sounds like a frustrating ending. But The Blair Witch Project does support my point that you can scare the hell out of people without really showing anything gory! Or much of anything! Sorry you were sick when you got home , but the good thing is at least you made it home first! You know, I don't watch Lost very much anymore, but I have seen many episodes, and I don't recall it being filmed like that Must have been episodes in a season I didn't watch. I watched all of the first season and half of the second. Then it just lost (no pun intended ) me. I may watch the upcoming episodes since there isn't much new on TV to watch right now!

I heard Cloverfield was good , but I got sick in the Blair Witch and the last Bourne movie made me queasy so I will have to pass. Although I bet i would like it.

Katherine Hiegl just gets on my nerves . After her bitchiness at the Emmy's last year and her attitude in the Vanity Fair article, I have no use for her. I've never watched GA so I don't know what she is loke on there.. But oh my she is way too big for her britches.

Well, my mom has never watched Grey's either. She only knows Kathrine from interviews and she cannot stand her!! She finds her totally conceited and just rubs her the wrong way. Perhaps those of us who got to know her through "characters" she played in the past (like me loving her from Roswell and some Disney movies I've watched with the kids) gave her some slack. Perhaps all the "Hollywood IT Girl" stuff has gone to her head. I just loved her on Greys until the end of last season and this one.

I have read some good reviews for her in 27 Dresses. I think she is very beautiful and probably makes a great movie star in that way. She has that old time Grace Kelly beauty and classy look.

She certainly has been an outspoken supporter of the writers. She was the first one to say she would not go to the Golden Globes. So I guess she is principled in that way. She knew she had a great shot at winning, but still wouldn't think of going. I give her credit for that.

Oh I do think she is pretty. But In the VF article she was totally dissing the role she had in Knocked Up. I just thought that was wrong and ungracious. Plus the comments she made saying she didn't expect any marriage to last and she was getting married. It's funny I've never seen her in anything. My sister does not like her either .

Yeah, I remember hearing about that and her getting some slack for it. I know she went on a lot of shows and tried to fix that by saying she was misquoted and/or misunderstood. That is weird that she would say that about marriage when she is clearly over the moon about her new hubby and raving about her amazing wedding Maybe too many cocktails at lunch

Sorry, FC. if I wasn't clear. What I meant about Cloverfield and Lost and JJ Abram's style, is that he just shows you stuff and you don't get many answers. My friend said he filmed the monster the same way. Lost has never done the documentary-style thing.

I haven't read any Katherine Heigl interviews. What it sounds like to me is that she doesn't play the Hollywood game and tends to just say whatever is in her head. Seems like she's incapable of shmoozing and just blurts stuff out. As proof, her attack at marriage when she was engaged.

I'm not a huge fan of hers or anything. To me she comes off very confrontational and that's never good. I just think she needs to learn how to play the game a little bit better and keep her mouth shut a little more.

Well,you sure are right about not getting many answers on Lost. Just more questions!

When did the writers strike end or did it? All the celebs are out for the SAG awards, even Viggo!

It didn't end. The strikers said they wouldn't picket the SAGs, therefore the actors are not crossing a picket line. See, they were going to picket the Golden Globes, which would mean the actors would have crossed a picket line if they attended. Therefore, no "real Golden Globes". If the strike isn't over by the Oscars I am not sure what the writers will decide to do about picketing.

WOW! That Javier guy looks so freaking gorgeous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ETA: OMG, he is also charming, gracious, and totally adorable!!

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WOW! That Javier guy looks so freaking gorgeous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ETA: OMG, he is also charming, gracious, and totally adorable!!

You've got that right! That Frazz can sure pick em!

Ok, Daniel Day Lewis is the classiest. To honor Health's memory by speaking so highly of his performances and giving specific examples about what he thought was so special about them....just wow.

DDL seemed a little lost at the beginning of his speech. I think he had a hard time expressing what he wanted to say at first. I know that while being interviewed by Oprah the other day he had to stop what he was talking about to talk about Heath. I got the impression that he didn't really know him, but was moved by him as an actor and was deeply saddened by his passing.

I tell ya, those "In Memoriams" make me so sad So many good actors lost in 2007. Many of whom I have fond memories of watching their movies with my mom when I was little. My mom named me Deborah because of Deborah Kerr. She just loved her and we would watch her movies together. The King and I was a fave of course! So it was sad to see her in that group tonight.

There were a few surprises tonight I think, but it was a very enjoyable show!

I agree. I enjoyed it too. The SAG and Golden Globes are my favs. I loved the openning with the different actors telling about how they got started in acting.

Have you heard if they are making any progress in resolving the writers strike?

I am touched by DDL's humanity about feeling the need to talk about and honor Heath. Too bad they never worked together...did they?

From what he said on Oprah I got the impression they did not work together and that he really didn't know him well. He probably just really admired Heath's work, and of course the thought of someone so young and with a little child passing away so suddenly, probably really bothers him - as it does so many people. DDL said to Oprah that it just didn't feel right to him to be taking about his winning awards when he had just heard such tragic news. I think one reason so many are so effected by Heath's passing is that he was not just "another wild partier celeb dying of a drug overdose". He was an extremely gifted talent who took his work very seriously and was really trying to create a body of work to be proud of. Not a Britney in other words.

Danial Day Lewis is another "real" actor. I suspect that the loss was profound and personal on that level.

I keep trying to come up with a better term that doesn't insult the other type of actors, but am not having much luck yet.

Artist/Actors just sound pretentious.

But whatever they are called, they are a very specific sub section, and they recognize each other. It is like the death of an unknown twin.

Luca wrote:

Ok, Daniel Day Lewis is the classiest. To honor Health's memory by speaking so highly of his performances and giving specific examples about what he thought was so special about them....just wow.

yes he is. I totally love him. And Yes again he is a REAL actor, not a persona.
I enjoyed the show very much. See Javier is a doll. Josh Brolin is nothing to sneeze at either. I was impressed by him in both No Country and American Gangster. His wife is also gorgeous.

Aerwin wrote:

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yes he is. I totally love him. And Yes again he is a REAL actor, not a persona.

He has "it", just a compelling, electric person. His "realness" came through loud and clear last night. He feels and it is not just about him.
How refreshing and beautiful.

What did Josh say about NCFOM when accepting the ensemble award? It is just a freaky, little film?

Yeah he said it was a freaky little film and something about if you don't like the ending... I read the book so I knew the ending, my husband didn't at the end he looked at me and said "WHAT"??! I thought the Coens could change the ending but was very happy they did not. Atonement however the ending is very different than the book. I prefer the book.

Here is the whole shebang of what Daniel Day Lewis said...and I find this the sweetest, most heartbreaking explantion of what we have been trying to define:

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LOS ANGELES - Daniel Day-Lewis dedicated his Screen Actors Guild Award to Heath Ledger, saying the Australian star’s work had inspired him to keep acting.

In a moving acceptance speech as he collected the best actor award for his performance in “There Will Be Blood”, British-born Day-Lewis said Ledger’s role in 2005 gay cowboy drama “Brokeback Mountain” had been “unique.”

Day-Lewis said Ledger — who died in New York last week aged 28 — encouraged other actors to keep “regenerating” through his challenging performances.

“For as long as I can remember, the thing that gave me a sense of wonderment, of renewal, the thing that teased me with the question ’How is such a thing possible’ and then dared you go back into the arena one more time has always been the work of other actors,” Day-Lewis said.

“There are many actors in this room tonight including my fellow nominees who’ve given me that sense of regeneration. Heath Ledger gave it to me,” he said, to loud applause.

Day-Lewis cited Ledger’s performance as a suicidal son in the 2001 drama “Monster’s Ball” as well as his celebrated Oscar-nominated turn as a taciturn, repressed cowpoke in “Brokeback Mountain” four years later.

“In ’Monster’s Ball’ that character that he created seemed to be almost like an unformed being, retreating from themselves, retreating from his father, from his life, even retreating from us,” Day-Lewis said. “And yet we wanted to follow him, and we were scared to. It was unique.

”In ’Brokeback Mountain’ he was unique, he was perfect. That scene in the trailer at the end of the film is as moving as anything I’ve ever seen. I’d like to dedicate this to him.”

I honor whatever each of us values most. My personal stuff is pretty much identical to DDL's except that I am just not in a position (and might never be..but ya never know....) to do what I need to do to be who I really want to be.

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“For as long as I can remember, the thing that gave me a sense of wonderment, of renewal, the thing that teased me with the question ’How is such a thing possible’ and then dared you go back into the arena one more time has always been the work of other actors,” Day-Lewis said.

That part in particular.

The "real" or artist/actors, good or bad, successful or unknown, approach the work, the parts, from a point of view of not knowing how the depths will be revealed through themselves...they go in to find out. The other type of actors try to figure it out mostly beforehand, so as to illuminate it for the viewer.

Both approaches can yield very watchable and engaging work.

I think both are noble.

But I so relate to the "real" ones, that I gain strength, for real, from something like DDL's speach.

When that kind of thought is not out there, and the other type is all I see or hear, I give up, because I can't do it the other way.

I want to keep the faith. DDL inspired me, with this, just as Heath inspired him

More (older, pre-Heath) thoughts from DDL:

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Daniel Day-Lewis describes the process of becoming another person. "At some point, if I'm lucky, a life will begin to emerge, a sensation first and foremost," he says. "In other words, you might look at exactly the same objects but in a slightly different way."

He adds: "The impression one might have, the subjective impression, is that a great distance has been traveled. Of course the truth, and the paradox, is that if you're not still working from the very center of yourself and your own experience, then really you're working from an empty vessel."

The actor, who just received an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe award for his performance in "There Will Be Blood," is clearly well-versed in the art of transformation. The movie earned a total of eight Oscar nominations, including best motion picture. "There Will Be Blood" takes place in America at the turn of the last century, and Mr. Day-Lewis plays the greedy oil prospector Daniel Plainview, a misanthrope who seems willing to crush anyone who challenges his ambitions. In the film at least, Mr. Day-Lewis is so fully this man that when I first find myself alone with the actor in a large upstairs room at The Players club at Gramercy Park, I feel vaguely unsettled.

But Mr. Day-Lewis, who on this icy winter day is wearing a patterned coat and a colorful scarf, is actually quite personable. The actor, born in London in 1957, now lives in a quiet town in Ireland with his wife and two sons. ("Locally everyone knows who I am and they're not bothered, they couldn't be less impressed," he tells me.) He has starred in many well-known films, including "Gangs of New York," "The Last of the Mohicans," "In the Name of the Father," and "My Left Foot" (for which he won an Academy Award), to name just a few, bringing his trademark intensity to each role. I mention that people seem to characterize him as a "serious" actor. "God help me, yes," he says.

"Perhaps I'm particularly serious," he tells me, "because I'm not unaware of the potential absurdity of what I'm doing." He explains: "The work itself takes care of that part of one that might step aside and say: Is this a seemly thing to be doing, to be spending one's life dressing in other people's clothes?"

Such thoughts could be paralyzing, Mr. Day-Lewis warns. But at the same time, he says, "there's the potential for a certain kind of nobility in the work. Because, after all, if you're not exploring human experience in one form or another, it seems that maybe there's something missing in one's life."

Mr. Day-Lewis seems to choose his roles carefully, even waiting as long as five years between movies. "I can't honestly account for the very personal response that I have to one story and not another, a sense of an orbit, the orbit of a world that draws me as my own life recedes," he says. This time, Mr. Day-Lewis tells me that it was Paul Thomas Anderson, who directed and wrote the screenplay and received Oscar nominations for both, who attracted him to "There Will Be Blood." "I somehow felt that he'd worked very much in the same way that we do, that he'd allowed these lives to pass through him."

The film — based on Upton Sinclair's 1927 novel, "Oil!" — could also be viewed as a sharp critique of American capitalism, or as a portrait of the larger struggle between religion and the pursuit of wealth. (Daniel Plainview's nemesis is a preacher.) But Mr. Day-Lewis seems loath to see "There Will Be Blood" in this light.

"People already have made certain connections and invited us to think about it almost as if it's a parable, a cautionary tale, a story that somehow has a clear reflection in our contemporary world," he says. "But our work is a much narrower field of focus. And it's vital for us that we, that in telling our story, we do it only with the intention of trying to imagine that world, to create that very particular world, that very particular society within that world."

Some of Mr. Day-Lewis's other films have had more obvious political overtones. "In the Name of the Father" showcases the shocking injustice dealt to "the Guildford Four," who were wrongly convicted of, and imprisoned for, an IRA bombing in England. "The Boxer" also touches on the IRA.

"As an Englishman with Irish origins, as someone that has straddled those two worlds and has tried to understand as far as it is possible to do so that system, struggle, conflict in the North, of course I had thought about that a great deal," Mr. Day-Lewis says. "But again, perhaps for that reason itself it was important then to refocus on the very particular story each time. It wasn't because I felt the need to make a statement of intent, or a statement of personal commitment to one thing or another. But I did believe very strongly in the importance of telling that story about the Guildford Four, and probably my raising, my education, my cultural background led me to that place. But I choose not to dwell upon that when I'm working."

Mr. Day-Lewis studied acting at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. He was trained in the Stanislavsky technique and is well-known for his exploration of "method acting" -- which includes recalling one's own real-life emotions to identify with a character. I ask Mr. Day-Lewis if he thinks his acting style is atypical in today's movie world. "I'm led to believe it is by people who comment on it — it seems perfectly normal to me!" he says, laughing.

One might more easily imagine a "serious" actor like Mr. Day-Lewis on the stage, rather than on the screen. But he says that while he loved working in small studio theaters, performing in big theaters was a problem. "There was a tension always between the inner truth that you are trying to discover and communicate, and the necessity to fill this great space with something that could never actually be perceived by the people that were more than four or five rows back. So I felt that most of the work was somehow getting lost. And the effort necessary to fill that place was denying me the private experience that I needed to make it work," he explains.

Mr. Day-Lewis's last stage performance ended badly: He reportedly walked out of a 1989 London production of "Hamlet" before the end of the run. "Unfortunately the last piece of work that I did, which was 'Hamlet,' I think I could have done something in a studio theater with that play. I think I was ready to, and I think I might have been able to do something worthwhile. But as it was, I did it in the Olivier Theater at the National, which some people say Laurence Olivier designed to crucify every generation of actors that came after him because he and only he knew how to work that space. But I've seen other remarkable performances in it. It can work for some people."

This may in part explain what draws Mr. Day-Lewis to the cinema, as opposed to the stage of a large theater. "As a member of the audience I don't like it that I can't see what's going on in the eyes and in the face and in the most subtle responses of a performer when I'm more than a few rows back. I find it very frustrating," he says. "I love to see work on a screen. I like it that the camera is so penetrating. As much as it is unmerciful, I like that about it. In the theater you might be tempted to represent, rather than to be. And that goes against really everything that I felt I was trying to do, and everything that my training was based on."

Mr. Day-Lewis's movie-star status could make for a difficult return to stage acting. He says he would be interested in working on a smaller stage, "if I could do it without it becoming a circus."

Mr. Day-Lewis is clearly a harsh judge of his own work. He expresses regret over his performance as Tomas in "The Unbearable Lightness of Being," in which he claims to have felt out of his depth. "There was more that I would have wished to know, more that I would have wished to have understood, intrinsically, not objectively, but intrinsically about that world, that time, those people."

To find relief from the vast uncertainties of acting, Mr. Day-Lewis seeks refuge in a more material art: furniture making. He tells me that he has always enjoyed making things. "It's a perfect antidote to the other work that I do, which is intangible. To have anything that's fully finished, and even if it's imperfect, you can see what it is, it is that thing," he says with enthusiasm. "You live in a world within which you could be crushed by all the unknown elements, and of course with a piece of furniture it is absolutely what it is."

Mr. Day-Lewis says he was saved from himself when, after announcing he was going to take up an apprenticeship, he was told by his cabinet-making teacher that he didn't have the temperament for the craft. It was probably for the best. "If you have a certain wildness of spirit," he says with a hint of amusement, "a cabinet maker's workshop is not the place to express it."

Mr. Day-Lewis's great skill allows him to see the world through another man's eyes, to experience another man's life. He seems to take pleasure in the journey, even during "There Will Be Blood," in which the soul he is borrowing is a deeply troubled one.

"It's a joyful thing," Mr. Day-Lewis declares. "It's very hard to explain that, even to myself. It's a paradox. Given the chance to enter into areas of one's soul, of one's experience, that can be extremely unsettling; nonetheless, there's great joy in the exploration of that. For me, at any rate. We do it with impunity. We're not held to account for it. It's a game; it always remains a game."

Thank you for bringing that over Fraz. He is truly a class act.I am proud to be his fan since the 80's. I first saw him in My Beautiful Laundrette and I've never missed any of his movies.

Frazzle wrote:

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That part in particular.

The "real" or artist/actors, good or bad, successful or unknown, approach the work, the parts, from a point of view of not knowing how the depths will be revealed through themselves...they go in to find out. The other type of actors try to figure it out mostly beforehand, so as to illuminate it for the viewer.

Both approaches can yield very watchable and engaging work.

I think both are noble.

But I so relate to the "real" ones, that I gain strength, for real, from something like DDL's speach.

When that kind of thought is not out there, and the other type is all I see or hear, I give up, because I can't do it the other way.

I want to keep the faith. DDL inspired me, with this, just as Heath inspired him

DDL is truely inspirational as an artist that is totally committed to his craft, and as a person who appreciates the artistic beauty of other actors performances. I imagine he would be an absolute joy to know and to work with.

Keep the faith Frazzle, actors like you that strive for the most challenging
and rewarding acting process are a treasure and usually find an appreciative audience eventually!

I thought this was cute!

Clooney Concedes Oscar to Day-Lewis
7-Feb-2008
Written by: E. Van Dril</FONT>

Daniel Day-Lewis’s performance in “There Will Be Blood“ has the inside chance at the Oscar.

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There are some things in life that are perfect.

A San Diego summer day. Bar Rafaeli. Tiger Woods’s golf swing. The Godfather. The 2007 New England Patriots. Oh wait.

It appears that Daniel Day-Lewis’s performance in There Will Be Blood can be added to this list. At least according to George Clooney, imdb.com reports.

Clooney, nominated for Best Actor in this year’s Oscars for his roll in Michael Clayton, concedes Oscar defeat to Day-Lewis, claiming that no one has a chance against the British actor.

Also nominated for Best Actor is Viggo Mortensen for Eastern Promises, Tommy Lee Jones for In the Valley of Elah, and Johnny Depp for Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

After watching Day-Lewis in his nominated role, Clooney says, "If you want my honest opinion, I think it's going to be Daniel Day-Lewis. He sort of irritates all of us because he's so good. I'll tell you right now, I don't like him!"

The Academy Awards will air on February 24.

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