Rosamund Pike in this red dress knocks me out. Could anyone look more gorgeous? On the other hand, this other babe--I don't know who she is, and I'm not sure I want to know--looks like she fell on a freshly seal-coated driveway. Isn't that cold tar down the front of her dress?
I thought Julianna Margulies looked lovely in her red ballerina-length gown and short cropped hair, but evidently no one else thought so, because I can't find a photo of her this morning.
What is worse than watching the Academy Awards on Sunday night?
Watching it on Monday morning.
Why can't you stream it, people?
At least on Sunday night, you come to the show with hope and anticipation. On a Monday morning I've already read that Patrick Neal Stewart was a snooze host after the opening number, so do I really want to watch all three hours? Not really.
We happened to see STILL ALICE on the weekend with Julianne Moore. It was disappointing. First of all, I expected it to take place at Harvard in Cambridge, Mass. 02138, because that's where the novel takes place, but they moved it to Columbia. Okay, that's small stuff.
The book was emotionally compelling, written in the first person by a female professor, who has early-onset Alzheimer's at age 50. I thought some of the saddest memory lapses were when she was still teaching--at one point she sits at the back of her own class as if she's one of the students. The worst scene for me was in a faculty meeting where they are evaluating a doctoral student's work. Alice, who has already been patronized by some of her colleagues, makes an articulate argument for her position. Her colleagues are stunned by her lucidity (as is the reader). Then five minutes later, she repeats the entire argument again word for word. That's where the reader feels how nasty and humiliating it is to have Alzheimer's.
Neither scene is in the movie. I was never pulled into the movie.
I had a hard time with Alec Baldwin playing her husband. I feared that any moment, he would step out of his role as an intellectual, understanding husband and actually become himself, or Jack Donaghy from 30 Rock.
The movie does show how lonely, boring and frightening it is to have the disease. People talk around you, rather than directly to you. Or they whisper about you.
It wasn't an Academy Award script or role, but as I've already read several times this morning, Julienne Moore won for her composite work.
And that bothers me too.
Nicely analyzed, Ms. Plummer. We should watch the Oscars together some year. Only right now I feel like never watching them again.
ReplyDeleteThank you! Thank you! Thank you! My husband and I went to see Still Alice this past weekend and I just told him tonight I am still mad about it. Furious, is more like it.
ReplyDeleteI didn't read the book, so I didn't know all the parts left out that would have helped the movie. I am appalled at all my FB friends who raved about Still Alice. I left thinking, "I gotta get a new class of friends, because I couldn't have hated Alex Baldwin more than I did in this film." Then I made it worse for myself because I read online reviews of the book and the movie where women were saying they felt SORRY for him! What???
He was a schmuck of the highest order. Why would anyone feel sorry for his weak ass? I was ranting about the movie long enough Rob asked, "Did I do something wrong? You seem very upset about a movie that isn't real."
Then I pulled up an article I found about men who leave their wives when they sick (more than double the percentage than women who leave sick husbands) and Rob said, "Oh. I get it. That is terrible."
I told him that was the right answer and I forgave him. He walked away confused but relieved.
I skipped the Oscar's completely. I just wasn't up for it this year.
Here is the article if you want to get mad at selfish, weak men: http://www.oprah.com/relationships/Why-Men-Leave-Sick-Wives-Facing-Illness-Alone-Couples-and-Cancer
Thanks for letting me vent. I couldn't find the right place to do it online. I'm sorry if I hijacked your post, I am in no condition to judge my appropriateness on this topic.
Okay, the fact that you call him Patrick Neal Stewart is a testament to his forgeability as host. I thought the whole 'locked box' predictions schtick was an eye-roller. I'm with you on Julianna Margulies. I love her. I've been obsessively watching The Good Wife from beginning to present (even though I've seen them all before). Go figure. I also thought Jennifer Hudson looked stunning. And who knew Lady Gaga can actually sing like, you know, not an alien. She ain't no Julie Andrews but wow. Nicely done. I was ever-so-pleased BIRDMAN won best picture. I felt personally invested there. Overall though, the Oscars weren't really my thing this year. The sets. The sets were really interesting to me. And of course I thought Meryl's delivery of the In Memoriam segment was just as it should be: poingnent and very kind.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear your review on the film. I won't waste my time.
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