Proper Etiquette At The Globes

I missed watching the Golden Globes Live.  I was most looking forward to seeing the duo of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler as co-hosts because I had this feeling they'd do a fantastic job.  How could they not?  Hadley Freeman of The Guardian wrote a stellar piece on the Fey/Poehler effect on the Golden Globes, calling it a "groundbreaking performance." Apparently, the two besties stayed true to themselves instead of morphing into the cardboard cut-outs of most hosts.  Awards shows can be genuinely funny?  Without forced laughter?  Who knew?

Since I didn't get to see the show in its entirety, I've had to catch up with the quips, the snarkiness, and the awkward moments on my own.  Luckily, between talks with friends, Youtube, and my own browsing on the internet in the name of research when I should be writing, I'm up to speed on the best moments of this year's Golden Globes. 

Case in point, the clip above.  Sure, everyone affiliated with the film was ecstatic that "Le Miz" won best picture (Comedy or Musical.)  However, what was Ms. Hathaway thinking?  No, you don't get more time to thank the people you may have forgotten in your acceptance speech from a prior award win.  Not only does it catch other people off-guard when you grab the mike out from under them (a la Kanye West) but it's just not cool.  Not to mention, it's particularly distracting to get cozy and overly affectionate with a composed, yet confused Amanda Seyfried while someone else is try to thank their people...without forgetting anyone.

Then, there's the domino effect.  He forgets, she forgets.  Someone's list is longer.  Another film has the maximum number of producers and they all want to make their thank yous.  Before you know it, we'll have nominees auctioning their leftover 'acceptance speech time' to each other via smart phones from the comfort of their seats.

©2013 by KLiedle

Lost On The Yellow Brick Road

I feel like a disgrace to my own industry.  I know it's officially Awards Season, but it's as though I'm lost on the yellow brick road.  The Golden Globe Awards came and went.  Oscar nominations were announced and I was only halfway interested.  I'm usually riveted to the screen come awards season, but this year... I hate to say it, but I just don't care all that much.

To be honest, I've had alot going on which precluded my ability to get to the movies much.  Due to that, I'm less informed about the Oscar-caliber films this season than I've ever been.  Of the nine films up for Best Picture this year, I've seen ONE of them... "Les Miserables," which I finally saw this past Sunday. Ironically, it was the reason why I missed watching the Golden Globe awards telecast. ( I can say that Anne Hathaway deserves everything coming her way for her exhausting and heartbreaking performance as Fantine in "Les Miserables.")

Despite my relative ignorance of sorts this year, I am excited to see films like "Silver Linings Playbook" and "Beasts Of The Southern Wild" getting recognition this year.  Both of those films have been on my buzz list for awhile; I just haven't gotten around to... well, seeing them.  I'm also intrigued by "Amour," a film written and directed by the Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke.  It's the type of small film about real life issues that rarely gets noticed, if it gets made at all.  "Amour" is about an elderly couple coming to terms with their changed lives when the wife suffers a stroke.  If not for award season buzz, I may never have become aware of it.  Now it's on my "must-see" list. "Amour" is up for both Best Picture and Best Foreign Language film at this year's Oscars.  (It won the Golden Globe for best foreign language film.)

I'm also glad to see Lena Dunham getting award recognition for "Girls," her show about young Brooklynites struggling to find their way in the world.  (I can talk about this with clarity because I have Season One on DVD.)  It's nice to see Dunham get a warm embrace from the entertainment industry since many have given her the cold shoulder for "flaunting her body" and writing storylines that center on the sexual topics of young adulthood, the things no one wants to talk about.  The horror!  San Francisco Weekly called the show, "Startling, uncomfortable, and incredibly accurate."

"I was wondering about the stuff that gets up around the sides of condoms?" Hannah inquires...     Nothing's taboo in Dunham world.  Love her or hate her, she knows what she's doing.  No, it's not perfect, but it rings more true to life than most shows about the battlefields of post-collegiate life.

By this year's Oscar telecast, I hope to have seen a few more titles, but if not, I'll be plowing through my "must-see" list now that I have a little more free time. 

©2013 by KLiedle

Meltdown Karaoke

There are few things in life worth getting worked up about.  In fact, I've gotten pretty good at rising above things like stress.

"That darn stress won't get me," I snarl as I see it taunting me from across the room.  Nope, I'm better than that.  I'm in charge.  I'm focused.  I can handle anything!

Except that I can't.  Not always.  A couple of days ago, when the weekend was still so very far away, I could feel the stress seeping into my pretty, little head in a surprisingly fierce way.

The domino effect of another change in our shooting schedule did it to me.  As a film kicks into gear, filming locations move around all the time based on proximity, budget, conflicts, pairing with other locations, etc.  Eventually, the whole enchilada of things fall into place so I don't let it phase me.

That day however, I felt I'd been on the rollercoaster a tad longer than I'd intended.  When I felt the stress storm coming on, I locked myself in the bathroom on-set and had my mini-meltdown. 
 [I hate crying at work, but occasionally it does happen.] 

I emerged about five minutes later looking tired and depleted-- sort of like a melted crayon some kindergartner had left in the backseat of a car in the middle of summer.  Only, it wasn't summer.  There had been flurries that morning.  I was freezing.  I don't like winter, that's why I live in California.  And no, my day was not going well.

Mini-meltdown behind me however, I tried to re-focus.  This was followed a series of feverish texts, phone calls, e-mails, and me flipping through my notebook countless times while accomplishing seemingly very little.  It was then a crew member turned to me and said:

"You know who you remind me of?  Anne Hathaway in The Devil Wears Prada." 

I looked up at her.  Yes, I'm brunette--  I got the bangs and the straight hair, and a similar body type (minus the boobs.)  Like Hathaway's character in the film, I also had the worrisome look on my face and my phone clutched in my hand at all times.

Yes, that day I felt like the devil wears Prada--  only in my case, I didn't know who the devil was.  Meryl Streep certainly wasn't anywhere to be found.  We didn't cast her in our film, did we?  Not that I'm aware of.

Moments later, they were rigging up karaoke to be used in a scene the following day and they needed someone to test it out.  As another woman was making her way to the stage, I unexpectedly jumped up to join her. 

It should be noted that I am the least likely to volunteer for karaoke ever.  In fact, I don't think I've ever volunteered for karaoke in my life.  I've always been dragged into it by some overzealous friend.  But I needed karaoke right then and there.  I needed to get the stress out of my system.  Kick that devil to the curb.  So, I sung my heart out with this woman I'd never met.  In fact, we bonded over that short-lived experience. And that's how my stress fled back into the shadows and out of my day.

Copyright © 2012 by KLiedle

Off With My Head! [ or 3-D When Will It End? ]

I may be one of the few, but I never saw Avatar in 3-D. In fact, I never saw it at all. The worst of it all is that I could've seen it for free because of my job and yet--

I just wasn't all that interested.

Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland intrigued me. Wouldn't it be grand?!! Then, the reviews started coming in and I thought twice. Hmm...maybe not. Oh heck, I still wanted to see it. I wasn't expecting to be blown away, nor was I expecting to go running out of the theater screaming in horror. I set my expectations low and thereby asked only that it be entertaining.

Alice was my inaugural experience with 3-D technology. Indeed, it was an entertaining somersault down the rabbit hole. It was dark and twisted, yet missing some of the essence of the original story's most endearing characters-- i.e. the White Rabbit and Alice, herself. The film was in 3-D, but many of the characters still felt flat and two-dimensional. Alice skulked through most of her days and Anne Hathaway as the White Queen was horrendously miscast in my opinion [and I normally enjoy Ms. Hathaway's work.]
The jabberwocky made it all worthwhile. It's as though it flew off the cover of a heavy metal album only to be slayed by an armored Alice invigorated with female empowerment.

I didn't notice it so much then, during the movie, but apparently my brain doesn't like being tricked by 3-D technology. I exited the theatre with the mother of headaches. It was throbbing, pulsating, and no matter what I did-- it wouldn't go away. At points, I wished the Red Queen in all her 3-D glory would proclaim: "Off With Her Head!" and take me out of my misery. My headache lasted all day and well into the evening--and I NEVER get headaches which made it even worse. "Never again will I do 3-D," I thought to myself.

Now it seems that avoiding 3-D will become the newest challenge for moviegoers like me. Studios are chomping at the bit to convert their studio releases to 3-D. To me, it's irritating-- not only because of the headaches or the extra 3-D surcharge, but because it makes studios believe that technology trumps story and character. Moviegoers can be put under the spell of technology and spectacle for a time. For many, however, the novelty will wear off and they'll realize they've been duped by Hollywood's latest stunt.

Copyright © 2010 by KLiedle
For All Things Alice Illustration credit: shebrews/flickr
Shebrews does Alice-inspired illustrations on vintage paper. Visit shebrews photostream to see the full collection.

For more about emerging 3-D Technology:

Dolby -Dolby 3D Digital Cinema
XpanD Digital Cinema
Some theatres are now experimenting with XpanD Digital Cinema.

The 3-D headache was brought to me by Dolby Digital 3D. For the lucky few like me, 3-D headaches are now appearing at theatres everywhere.

The common causes of headaches are allergy, emotional stress, eye strain, high blood pressure, a hangover, infection, low blood sugar, nutritional deficiency, tension, and the presence of poisons and toxins in the body.
http://www.home-remedies-for-you.com/remedy/Headaches.html

No Gifts Necessary For This Wedding...

Yesterday, I went to a wedding. I didn't dress up nor did I bring a gift.

It wasn't a real wedding, but it sure felt like one. "Rachel Getting Married," written by Jenny Lumet and directed by Jonathan Demme is the story of a family in the midst of a weekend-long wedding celebration. Like many weddings, it's full of conflict, dysfunction, unresolved family issues as well as love, family, music, connectiveness, renewal, and private moments of letting go. Rachel may be getting married, but this story centers on Kym, Rachel's unconventional sister, back from rehab in order to participate in the festivities.

Kym (played with precision by a remarkable Anne Hathaway) comes off as a rebel with a seemingly indestructible exoskeleton. However, she is so much more complex and fragile than even her family gives her credit for. Their family, in all its glorious dysfunction, tries to hold together for the sake of Rachel's wedding, but they are not exactly a tight-knit group. They're seen more like a cobweb trying to hold together during a rainstorm. Old family issues, yet unresolved, rise up like ghosts with Kym's arrival. She is a reminder, a bookmark of sorts, to a chapter the family would soon like to forget, but can't.

The film's beginning is a shaky one-- literally. Shot documentary-style and mostly hand-held in its first moments, we are introduced to a world that seems confusing, uneasy and off-kilter. This may be off-putting to some filmgoers, yet it is purposeful, for we are most definitely seeing the world through Kym's eyes.

A wedding is a momentous occasion, full of love and joy yet also full of heartbreak and anxiety. Amid constant music and the hustle and bustle of wedding preparation and out-of-town guests, Kym joins the crowd, but doesn't really feel like she's a part of it. Everyone feels like they know her 'personal business' and for someone in recovery mode, that's not an easy thing.

Kym's presence forces her sister and her parents to confront things they'd rather keep buried. This is a difficult thing, but necessary for the family to move forward. Without giving much away, the film showcases the conflict between honoring the past and letting it go, and most importantly for Kym, learning to forgive oneself.

"Rachel Getting Married" feels real because it it's loosely constructed and free-flowing. It feels like we're watching it in real time-- full of family drama, unspoken moments, and joy. It's also, by far, the coolest wedding I've ever seen on a movie screen-- apart from perhaps "Monsoon Wedding."
"Rachel Getting Married"
Starring: Anne Hathaway (Kym); Rosemarie DeWitt (Rachel); Bill Irwin (Paul); Debra Winger (Abby); Tunde Adebimpe (Sidney); Mather Zickel (Kieran); Anna Deavere Smith (Carol); Anisa George (Emma)

Directed by: Jonathan Demme; written by Jenny Lumet. A Sony Pictures Classics release.

Copyright © 2008 KLiedle