Mr. & Mrs. SmithIt's Brangelina time!
If celebrities are like royalty, at least this pair is a good-looking duo, unlike certain actual royals. They're both fun to watch and, through cultural osmosis, fun to follow. Good luck to them!
Brad looks a little ragged trying to keep up with his paramour, but who can blame him for trying his best? And Angelina, like any good modern Helen of Troy, has the power to live the way she wants to. Who can blame her, either? They spread good will and good cheer around the world, adopting children as they merrily go forth. As for Jennifer Aniston, watch her in The Good Girl and go from there (if you haven't seen it already). I liked her in Office Space, too. Never got into Friends for whatever reasons.
With the Academy Awards coming up, there have been numerous articles about movies from the past year or so. Mr. & Mrs. Smith is variously described as "drama" and "straight action," but really it's a satire about marriage and relationships set within a fantasy context of professional assassinations and intrigue. What carries the movie is the obvious chemistry between Brad and Angelina (and Vince Vaughn) with witty dialogue and a first glimpse into the creation of Brangelina. Their film quips have followed them, no doubt, into real life.
For Brad Pitt in top form, there's Fight Club (1999). It's violent, but ironically, only one character is actually killed in it (I'm fairly sure), whereas in the "lighter" Mr. & Mrs. Smith, scores of nameless people are killed off with great glee. Fight Club warrants a full entry of its own down the road apiece. Incendiary as it is, I doubt it could have been made after 9/11. If you haven't seen it, you'll understand what I mean if you do. Furthermore, it's mordantly brilliant but certainly not for the Disney crowd. Chuck Palahniuk's original novel of the same name (1996) is wonderfully dark, too. Here's a link to his official website: http://www.chuckpalahniuk.net/
Last night, HBO premiered Mrs. Harris, based on Shana Alexander's Very Much a Lady: The Untold Story of Jean Harris and Dr. Herman Tarnower (1983). It's dark and witty, with several mentions of Grosse Pointe to underscore Harris' difference in background from Tarnower's Brooklyn. I liked it -- reminded me stylistically of The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (HBO/BBC Films, 2004).
Finally, Factory Girl is in post-production. It's another period film set mostly in the 1960s and a sort of biopic centering around Edie Sedgwick. More on that when it moves closer to release. As of now, looks like next fall. Meanwhile, I look forward to the April 1 release of Andy Warhol Screen Tests with Edie on the book cover.
~~~~~Ciao for now, Manhattan~~~~~>
4 comments:
About "Factory Girl," here's Lou Reed as quoted by the New York Daily News: "I read that script," Reed said the other night at a party for his new photo shows at the Hermès boutique and the Steven Kasher Gallery. "It's one of the most disgusting, foul things I've seen — by any illiterate retard — in a long time. There's no limit to how low some people will go to write something to make money."
Rock on, Lou! Blog on, Erik!
I loved your comments or Brad and Angelina. It's funny, but I preferred her with Billy Bob. Brad looks tired now, but Billy Bob started out looking tired and besides, he was Bad Santa!
Yeah, they were wild! I guess by the fifth marriage, looking tired goes with the territory. I want to see Pushing Tin again soon, come to think of it.
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