there's death, mayhem, soft-focus, and nice tenors.
5 miles.
Elizabeth is the tale of how Elizabeth, daughter of Henry VIII, managed to survive her sister Mary's reign, ascend to the throne, and consolidate her power. She has a lover, Sir Robert Dudley, and lots of suitors (like the King of Spain and the Duc D'Anjou). There are advisors who think she's unsuited to the task because she's a woman, and those who think she's dangerous because she's a Protestant. Norfolk would like nothing more than to assassinate Elizabeth and take the throne himself--and, while he's at it, keep England with the True Faith. The only person who appears to be on Elizabeth's side is Walsingham, who is about as trustworthy as your average viper.
The movie is gorgeous: the costumes, the sets, the cinematography, Cate Blanchett as Elizabeth. Every shot of this movie has something to look at.
The music goes a long way to setting the stage, although a couple of times I wondered if they couldn't TURN DOWN THE HORNS A LITTLE.
The acting is great: this is the first time I've ever seen Geoffrey Rush (Walsingham) and he was fantastic in what is little more than a tiny part. (It almost made me want to see Shine.) I didn't care for Christopher Eccleston as Norfolk, but lots of people think he was fantastic, so what do I know? Darin and I got into an argument over whether Joseph Fiennes, as Sir Robert, looks more like Ralph Fiennes in a perpetually snarky mood [Diane] or Rob Lowe [Darin]. We both agreed Ralph is better looking.
That said...there's no story. How can all these things be going on and there's no story? I'm not even sure myself. There are a ton of things going on at any one time and very little payoff for any of them. No character is developed particularly well--we get to know Elizabeth better than anyone else, but how she suddenly became Michael Corleone was not explained at all.
(The third act, by the way, is lifted wholesale from The Godfather, but with far less impact--perhaps because it's such a direct quotation.)
Despite the weakness of the narrative, I recommend Elizabeth, which is certainly one of the more sensual experiences I've had at the movies recently.
We went out to dinner with Fernando last night. When we got back, I checked out film.com and said, "The only movie opening tomorrow I'm willing to see is Meet Joe Black." (The others being I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, Dancing at Lughnasa, and I'll Be Home For Christmas. And nothing short of the Star Wars preview is going to get me to see The Waterboy.)
I wasn't thrilled about it--after all, it is a three-hour long movie. Of course, for most people this is a plus: Three hours of Brad Pitt! (Or, if you're Diane, it's "Three hours of Anthony Hopkins!") But we agreed on that and went to see it tonight.
Meet Joe Black is the story of Death (Brad Pitt) coming to Earth for a vacation, to see what life as a mortal is like. He picks William Parrish (Anthony Hopkins), a multibillionaire with a heart of gold, as his tour guide--Death is no idiot; he wants to live well. Death falls in love with Parrish's daughter Susan and has to decide whether to take her back with him or not.
There's other stuff too: one of Susan's patients is a Jamaican woman who sees Death for who he is, Parrish has an older daughter who's planning a gigantic 65th birthday party for him, and there's a takeover being planned at Parrish's communications conglomerate.
There's lot of great stuff in Meet Joe Black. My own biases aside, Hopkins is fantastic as the guy who's going to die and still wants to put his house in order. Brad Pitt is pretty good too, both as the guy Susan meets at the beginning and as Death. The supporting cast is good--Jeffrey Tambor has schlub roles sewed up.
The biggest problem, however, is how fucking long every single shot in the movie takes. Not only is Brad Pitt gorgeous--but we're going to look at him for a couple of seconds longer. Every conversation goes on at least twice as long as it should. There's no way this movie should have been 3 hours long. So many times I thought, Are we going to go over this again?
(In fairness, Fernando reports that he thought this movie went by way faster than Titanic, which he thought took most of his natural life to unfold.)
The second biggest problem is the character of Death. Not that Brad Pitt isn't good, like I said, but that there's no character there. He's completely affectless, which gets old. He's sinister with William Parrish--show me around or you die right now. He's an innocent who has no concept of peanut butter, or he's omniscient, knowing intimate details of people's pasts. As Darin said, we have no idea what his abilities or limitations are; they keep shifting.
So I'm not sure if I can recommend this one. Hopkins and Pitt are good, but you have to wade through quite a lot to enjoy them.
(Also ruining the movie for us: the Brad Pitt Fan Club was sitting behind us, bursting out into giggles at everything Brad did or said. Darin thought they were showing off to one another; I said they were having the kind of embarrassed reactions you do when you're that close to the object of your dreams--having been an immature girl for most of my life, I know what that feels like. God help these chicks if they ever run into Brad in real life. Actually, God help Brad--this must be what his every day is like.)
A couple of months ago I read in the New York Times about the obsessed fans of the stage musical Jekyll and Hyde, currently playing on the Great White Way.
Well, I like musicals, so I decided to check this one out. I bought Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical, which features the original cast of the Broadway show.
I listened to it a couple of times before ordering the original concept album: Jekyll & Hyde: The Gothic Musical Thriller, which has two discs instead of one.
Now, what's weird about this is: I still can't hum any of the tunes, and the lyrics are banal--definitely of the moon/June variety. (I can't tell you how many times I guessed the end of the line before the singer got there.)
When it comes to lyrics, Tim Rice is still king. Yes, he can be precious, and some of his puns are to groan for. But compare lyrics from "
Franco's reign in Spain should see out the Fortiesfrom Evita--would you have ever thought to rhyme "Forties" with "thought is"?--to Façade from Jekyll & Hyde:
So you've just acquired
An ally who
Looks as secure in his job as you
And more important, current political thought is
Your wife's a phenomenal asset
Your trump card
There's a face that we wear
In the cold light of day --
It's society's mask,
It's society's way
And the truth is
That it's all a façade!There's a face that we hide
Till the nighttime appears
And what's hiding inside
Behind all of our fears
Is our true self
Locked inside the façade!
The lyrics from Jekyll & Hyde are a little too on-the-nose--they tell you exactly what they mean. Rice is a master of coming in at an angle and entertaining you while telling the story. When his worst impulses go unchecked--the entire musical Blondel, for example--he's all flash and entertainment and winks to the audience.
However, I really like the singing in both versions of Jekyll & Hyde, especially the lead male voice is both (Robert Cuccioli in the Broadway cast, Anthony Warlow on the concept album). And I'm sure if Darin and I ever make it back to New York, I'll be getting tickets.
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Copyright 1998 Diane Patterson
Send comments and questions to diane@spies.com