Kiki Turns 24

I kinda always knew she’d end up Jake's ex-girlfriend (whoa)

I kinda always knew she’d end up Jake's ex-girlfriend
I hope she holds a special place with the rest of them
And you know it makes Atticus sick that she's on that list
But she shoulda thought of that before they kissed


I kinda always knew she’d end up Jake's ex-girlfriend (whoa)
I kinda always knew she’d end up Jake's ex-girlfriend (whoa)
I hope she holds a special place with the rest of them...

* apologies to No Doubt but the song was in my head...

Kiki Turns 24

I kinda always knew she’d end up Jake's ex-girlfriend (whoa)

I kinda always knew she’d end up Jake's ex-girlfriend
I hope she holds a special place with the rest of them
And you know it makes Atticus sick that she's on that list
But she shoulda thought of that before they kissed


I kinda always knew she’d end up Jake's ex-girlfriend (whoa)
I kinda always knew she’d end up Jake's ex-girlfriend (whoa)
I hope she holds a special place with the rest of them...

* apologies to No Doubt but the song was in my head...

Old Week. New Banner.

Can you guess what ties the films in our new banner together?

The banner is no longer that strip of Pfeiffer Pfotos because her birthday week has now passed by. [if you still want to gaze, here's my gallery] For those living under a rock or those clicking links to arrive here for the first time (which amounts to the same thing ;) no, I kid. Welcome), not all weeks have themes but this past did. Pfeiffer kept blessing the pfestivities with her presence.


Highlights from the Past Week
The Blog-a-Thon honoring La Pfeiffer.
A brief history of my Tuesday series "A History Of..."
The debut installment of our new community service: Weekly Horoscopes
A celebration of Hug an Australian Day
and an imaginery American Idol Movie.
MTV's Best Kiss nominations.
And for Oscar Obsessives (you know who you are) a look back at 1958's contenders for Supporting Actress

Old Week. New Banner.

Can you guess what ties the films in our new banner together?

The banner is no longer that strip of Pfeiffer Pfotos because her birthday week has now passed by. [if you still want to gaze, here's my gallery] For those living under a rock or those clicking links to arrive here for the first time (which amounts to the same thing ;) no, I kid. Welcome), not all weeks have themes but this past did. Pfeiffer kept blessing the pfestivities with her presence.


Highlights from the Past Week
The Blog-a-Thon honoring La Pfeiffer.
A brief history of my Tuesday series "A History Of..."
The debut installment of our new community service: Weekly Horoscopes
A celebration of Hug an Australian Day
and an imaginery American Idol Movie.
MTV's Best Kiss nominations.
And for Oscar Obsessives (you know who you are) a look back at 1958's contenders for Supporting Actress

Say What -Zodiac?

Say What Sunday
I asked you to add dialogue to the upcoming movie still. The winners are...

PG Family Edition. Thanks, Mikadzuki.



One to give the MPAA nightmares. Congrats to JA.



(previous 'say what? 'installment)

Tags: Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr, zodiac, movies, humor

Say What -Zodiac?

Say What Sunday
I asked you to add dialogue to the upcoming movie still. The winners are...

PG Family Edition. Thanks, Mikadzuki.



One to give the MPAA nightmares. Congrats to JA.



(previous 'say what? 'installment)

Tags: Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr, zodiac, movies, humor

Fabulous

So, this is pfun. The Pfeiffer Blog-a-Thon continues to rage (see here or just scroll down depending on how you got here) I think at 35 bloggers it is now developing a life of it's own. I feel a bit overwhelmed by the outpouring of love.

I wish La Pfeiffer could see it. Or perhaps not. She is a little skittish.

I can't post anything tomorrow (the official day of Pfeiffer's birth) so I wish her a happy birthday now and draw my Pfeiffer Pfrenzy week to a close with this its last official post. I'll keep updating the blog-a-thon should more links arrive so you may need to refresh the screen when you come back. I'll be back after a nap (this has been exhausting) and a cold shower (all this pfandom makes me hot) for a non-Pfeiffer related post.

Fabulous

So, this is pfun. The Pfeiffer Blog-a-Thon continues to rage (see here or just scroll down depending on how you got here) I think at 35 bloggers it is now developing a life of it's own. I feel a bit overwhelmed by the outpouring of love.

I wish La Pfeiffer could see it. Or perhaps not. She is a little skittish.

I can't post anything tomorrow (the official day of Pfeiffer's birth) so I wish her a happy birthday now and draw my Pfeiffer Pfrenzy week to a close with this its last official post. I'll keep updating the blog-a-thon should more links arrive so you may need to refresh the screen when you come back. I'll be back after a nap (this has been exhausting) and a cold shower (all this pfandom makes me hot) for a non-Pfeiffer related post.

Pfeiffer Forever

Michelle Pfeiffer Blog-a-Thon Headquarters

Scroll down for my article and a list of all 37 participating blogs
or return to the mainpage for the new daily postings
If you don't want to miss anything, please subscribe

Libby Gelman Waxner, the humor columnist for Premiere once remarked that Michelle Pfeiffer was 'what God had in mind for humanity before the blueprints got all dusty and smudged in the glove compartment'. I've come to cherish such old school hosannas to her cinematic grandeur like they were ancient scripture. Since we don't see much of her these days, her name spoken aloud often registers as a surprise. I hear the name with its own exclamation point. In last year's brilliant Werner Herzog documentary Grizzly Man there's a scene in which Timothy Treadwell, the film's "star" of sorts, talks about the bears and their mating rituals. He calls the most desired female 'the Michelle Pfeiffer of grizzly bears.' For such a supposedly ideal human specimen, this was not the first time Pfeiffer was mistaken for an animal.

The Ferocity of Pfeiffer

This not-quite-human effect started with Ladyhawke in 1985. Prior to that she ran the risk of being an interchangeable member of Hollywood's blonde beauty pack (infinite in number they are). There was the gum chomping Pink Lady of Grease 2 and the angry icy Elvira from Scarface but she was still just an actress... merely human. She was not yet "PFEIFFER" the star. It would take this mystical role in Ladyhawke as Isabeau, a woman who was also a bird, and simple aging to make her beauty truly alien. Once the softness of youth faded you imagine her onscreen lovers could cut themselves on the browline or cheekbone. The features slowly starting revealing their exquisite if angular architecture. She is rumored to have landed the Isabeau part after a comedic audition in which she imitated our feathered friends. But Catwoman aside, it's not usually a laughing matter when Pfeiffer lets her inner animal roar.

It wasn't even a laughing matter in Ladyhawke. The comedy was delivered by the headlining star Matthew Broderick (intentionally) and its anachronistic synthesized rock score (unintentionally). Pfeiffer's work was all serious "I am sorrow" suffering. She doesn't go for laughs, she goes for the jugular. Not just as an actor but as a budding star. They say that many great stars understand intuitively their rapport with the camera. She must have known then, when she turned to the camera in the moonlight that black hood framing her otherworldly beauty, what a gift the film and the character were to her. Beautiful. Tragic. Not entirely human. The studio would wisely lift the image for the movie's poster. Broderick was the marketable star but Pfeiffer as a legendary face was the great takeaway of the film.

The Isabeau performance isn't avian in shape the way her later correlative woman/animal work was in Batman Returns, when she gave in completely to the stylization. But a nonhuman or animalistic detail finds its way into many performances. Is it the way her tongue sometimes lifts tantalizingly up, too visible in her mouth --not a cheap come hither, lip-licking starlet movement but just something her mouth does, opening with anticipation. Perhaps she's waiting to be fed? But mostly I see the animal in her eyes. Watch any given film and you'll see it. They move too quickly surveying danger or registering movement or, more distinctly, they refuse to move at all. It's in those killer shots where she holds her gaze a beat or two too long on a co-star that you begin to wonder. What is the person is to her? Friend? Lover? (gulp) Prey?

All of these fascinating alien or animal intensities are in full bloom in White Oleander (2002), which I consider among her very strongest work. In an excellent review in Salon, Stephanie Zacharek wrote:

"Ingrid, as Pfeiffer plays her, has both the look and composure of a self-possessed lizard: Her eyes, which we normally know to be a dazzling blue, are icy and cold here, and you could probably count the number of times she blinks during the whole movie."

I haven't counted Stephanie, but I trust that the number is very small. If Pfeiffer had been any less beautiful as a woman, her intensity as an actor would have scared audiences away long ago.

Bird. Deer. Reptile. Wolf. Cat

Comparing Pfeiffer to a reptile was not my idea but I was glad to hear someone else bear witness to her animal within. Back in Ladyhawke Rutger Hauer's man/wolf initally reads as the more imposing creature but it's Pfeiffer's woman/bird that gets scarier with the running time. See that unwaveringly ferocious contempt with which Isabeau locks her gaze on the bishop late in the film. One senses immediately that were this the bird and not the woman standing before him, he would already be missing his eyes.

From her breakthrough days as a cursed bird Pfeiffer's animal instints continue. You could claim the next incarnation as that startled frozen deer in Dangerous Liaisons but for this movie watcher, it's in the area of predator not prey where Pfeiffer comes alive. There's an extra kick to her work as Isabeau and Ingrid and Catwoman or any of her angry but more recognizably human characters that you don't get her in lighter or passive fare. It's her savagery peaking through. Maybe she played the wrong role in Liaisons. It's amazing when you stop to look over Pfeiffer's gallery of characters, that Merteuil and Valmont even made it to the final reel, let alone devoured her.

I get angry whenever watching Wolf that the film is tricked up with special effects to convey the lycanthrophe within. When that film's trailer first appeared in 1994 the marketing hook was all about winkily joking with the audience about the familiarity of Jack Nicholson as a beast, a tactic that also worked wonders back when the two stars first teamed for The Witches of Eastwick. In the trailer Pfeiffer is merely seen slumbering enticingly in a nightgown. I never bought that Sleeping Beauty routine for a second. I knew the film would contain more than one beast. And sure enough, there she was in the film haughty, hostile, bitter and even in the throes of passion, no schoolgirl pushover. At the end of that film after her character Laura has been bitten by a werewolf and her course is set, they throw yellow contacts on this goddesses baby blues. It's a redundant move. You've always been able to see the beast within.

It's for all of these reasons perhaps that Catwoman is so identifiable as a career peak. Never mind that that part was not originally hers (Annette Bening backed out when she became pregnant), it's a perfect fusion of actress and material and timing. She's fully in command of all of the tools in the actors arsenal, careful character modulation, comedic timing, physical and vocal control, ferocious nerve (try doing this without looking foolish. I dare you), and playful stylizations perfectly attuned to the director's sensibility. It's a great work of performance art. Everyone remembers those clever quips, her overt cat gestures (the licking. ohhhh the licking), and her hilarious throwaway "meow." I have one special favorite moment I find too delicious. Catwoman is having a conversation with the Penguin and she's circling a bird cage in his lair. Her laser focus hypnotically shifts from Penguin to the tiny bird and it's like there is no actress at all. Only this cat, this meal, this teasing game in her head.

She's a killer.



Pfans Make Me Hot
Your Blog-a-Thon Participants (Listed in Alpha Order)

As Little As Possible "...A Galaxy Pfar Pfar Away"
Auteur Lust "Cinema's Own Forbidden Fruit"
Being Boring "My Sexual Awakening (in Black Vinyl)"
Cinephilia "My (Sex) Life with Michelle Pfeiffer"
Coffee Coffee and More Coffee on Ladyhawke
Cutting Room "What Lies Within (Great Talent)"
film ick on What Lies Beneath
The Flick Filosopher on Catwoman's "gyno-power"
The Gilded Moose "BREAKING: Pfeiffer Pissed"
Girish on The Fabulous Baker Boys
Glitterati Gossip "Truly Timeless"
Mainly Movies "Susie Diamond is Forever"
Many Rantings of John on One Fine Day
ModFab "Pfeiffer's Fabulous Five"
Movies Madness "Pfor Ever and Always"
Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man on Batman Returns
My New Plaid Pants "Mistress of the Dark"
Nicks Flick Picks on A Thousand Acres
Noel Vera on Batman Returns
nOvaslim "Haute Poosee"
O.P.A.L. on her fandom
Oh My Trill "My Life Without Michelle"
!! omg blog !! "Catscratch Fever"
Oscar and the City Two memories of Pfeiffer
Pfangirl "Diary of a Lapsed Pfan"
Popbytes "Pfeiffer is an Amazon Woman"
Pop on the Rocks "Pfeiffer of the Opera"
Queer Beacon on White Oleander
Queering the Apparatus "Ohhhhh Witchy Woman"
Sarcasm w/ Light Cream Sauce on Witches... & Tequila Sunrise
Scene Stealer Top Five Performances
six things "Six Degrees of Michelle Pfeiffer"
A Socialite's Life on Michelle's comeback
Stale Popcorn Michelle in costumed glory
Stinky Lulu on Grease 2
That Round-Headed Boy "Michelle Pfeiffer's Short Stuff"
The World of Ramification Hottie of the Week



If you're just joining us... check out the blog entire. It's not all Pfeiffer all the time. [This is not a perfect world -ed]. It's just all Pfeiffer this week (the great one's birthday is tomorrow, woohoo) and whenever the topic blissfully comes up

If you need regular heavy doses of Pfeiffer here are the best websites on the net: Official Pfeiffer Admiration Location (updated frequently) * Michelle Pfeiffer: The Face * Bond's Michelle Pfeiffer Page * Noelle's Michelle Pfeiffer Page (dormant but extensive) * Pfandom (this is my own. Not regularly updated as it was pre-blog) *

UPDATE: If you liked this blog-a-thon check out the two others the film experience has hosted since: Vampires (October 2006) and Action Heroines (June 2007)

tags: Michelle Pfeiffer, catwoman, movies, cinema, celebrities

Pfeiffer Forever

Michelle Pfeiffer Blog-a-Thon Headquarters

Scroll down for my article and a list of all 37 participating blogs
or return to the mainpage for the new daily postings
If you don't want to miss anything, please subscribe

Libby Gelman Waxner, the humor columnist for Premiere once remarked that Michelle Pfeiffer was 'what God had in mind for humanity before the blueprints got all dusty and smudged in the glove compartment'. I've come to cherish such old school hosannas to her cinematic grandeur like they were ancient scripture. Since we don't see much of her these days, her name spoken aloud often registers as a surprise. I hear the name with its own exclamation point. In last year's brilliant Werner Herzog documentary Grizzly Man there's a scene in which Timothy Treadwell, the film's "star" of sorts, talks about the bears and their mating rituals. He calls the most desired female 'the Michelle Pfeiffer of grizzly bears.' For such a supposedly ideal human specimen, this was not the first time Pfeiffer was mistaken for an animal.

The Ferocity of Pfeiffer

This not-quite-human effect started with Ladyhawke in 1985. Prior to that she ran the risk of being an interchangeable member of Hollywood's blonde beauty pack (infinite in number they are). There was the gum chomping Pink Lady of Grease 2 and the angry icy Elvira from Scarface but she was still just an actress... merely human. She was not yet "PFEIFFER" the star. It would take this mystical role in Ladyhawke as Isabeau, a woman who was also a bird, and simple aging to make her beauty truly alien. Once the softness of youth faded you imagine her onscreen lovers could cut themselves on the browline or cheekbone. The features slowly starting revealing their exquisite if angular architecture. She is rumored to have landed the Isabeau part after a comedic audition in which she imitated our feathered friends. But Catwoman aside, it's not usually a laughing matter when Pfeiffer lets her inner animal roar.

It wasn't even a laughing matter in Ladyhawke. The comedy was delivered by the headlining star Matthew Broderick (intentionally) and its anachronistic synthesized rock score (unintentionally). Pfeiffer's work was all serious "I am sorrow" suffering. She doesn't go for laughs, she goes for the jugular. Not just as an actor but as a budding star. They say that many great stars understand intuitively their rapport with the camera. She must have known then, when she turned to the camera in the moonlight that black hood framing her otherworldly beauty, what a gift the film and the character were to her. Beautiful. Tragic. Not entirely human. The studio would wisely lift the image for the movie's poster. Broderick was the marketable star but Pfeiffer as a legendary face was the great takeaway of the film.

The Isabeau performance isn't avian in shape the way her later correlative woman/animal work was in Batman Returns, when she gave in completely to the stylization. But a nonhuman or animalistic detail finds its way into many performances. Is it the way her tongue sometimes lifts tantalizingly up, too visible in her mouth --not a cheap come hither, lip-licking starlet movement but just something her mouth does, opening with anticipation. Perhaps she's waiting to be fed? But mostly I see the animal in her eyes. Watch any given film and you'll see it. They move too quickly surveying danger or registering movement or, more distinctly, they refuse to move at all. It's in those killer shots where she holds her gaze a beat or two too long on a co-star that you begin to wonder. What is the person is to her? Friend? Lover? (gulp) Prey?

All of these fascinating alien or animal intensities are in full bloom in White Oleander (2002), which I consider among her very strongest work. In an excellent review in Salon, Stephanie Zacharek wrote:

"Ingrid, as Pfeiffer plays her, has both the look and composure of a self-possessed lizard: Her eyes, which we normally know to be a dazzling blue, are icy and cold here, and you could probably count the number of times she blinks during the whole movie."

I haven't counted Stephanie, but I trust that the number is very small. If Pfeiffer had been any less beautiful as a woman, her intensity as an actor would have scared audiences away long ago.

Bird. Deer. Reptile. Wolf. Cat

Comparing Pfeiffer to a reptile was not my idea but I was glad to hear someone else bear witness to her animal within. Back in Ladyhawke Rutger Hauer's man/wolf initally reads as the more imposing creature but it's Pfeiffer's woman/bird that gets scarier with the running time. See that unwaveringly ferocious contempt with which Isabeau locks her gaze on the bishop late in the film. One senses immediately that were this the bird and not the woman standing before him, he would already be missing his eyes.

From her breakthrough days as a cursed bird Pfeiffer's animal instints continue. You could claim the next incarnation as that startled frozen deer in Dangerous Liaisons but for this movie watcher, it's in the area of predator not prey where Pfeiffer comes alive. There's an extra kick to her work as Isabeau and Ingrid and Catwoman or any of her angry but more recognizably human characters that you don't get her in lighter or passive fare. It's her savagery peaking through. Maybe she played the wrong role in Liaisons. It's amazing when you stop to look over Pfeiffer's gallery of characters, that Merteuil and Valmont even made it to the final reel, let alone devoured her.

I get angry whenever watching Wolf that the film is tricked up with special effects to convey the lycanthrophe within. When that film's trailer first appeared in 1994 the marketing hook was all about winkily joking with the audience about the familiarity of Jack Nicholson as a beast, a tactic that also worked wonders back when the two stars first teamed for The Witches of Eastwick. In the trailer Pfeiffer is merely seen slumbering enticingly in a nightgown. I never bought that Sleeping Beauty routine for a second. I knew the film would contain more than one beast. And sure enough, there she was in the film haughty, hostile, bitter and even in the throes of passion, no schoolgirl pushover. At the end of that film after her character Laura has been bitten by a werewolf and her course is set, they throw yellow contacts on this goddesses baby blues. It's a redundant move. You've always been able to see the beast within.

It's for all of these reasons perhaps that Catwoman is so identifiable as a career peak. Never mind that that part was not originally hers (Annette Bening backed out when she became pregnant), it's a perfect fusion of actress and material and timing. She's fully in command of all of the tools in the actors arsenal, careful character modulation, comedic timing, physical and vocal control, ferocious nerve (try doing this without looking foolish. I dare you), and playful stylizations perfectly attuned to the director's sensibility. It's a great work of performance art. Everyone remembers those clever quips, her overt cat gestures (the licking. ohhhh the licking), and her hilarious throwaway "meow." I have one special favorite moment I find too delicious. Catwoman is having a conversation with the Penguin and she's circling a bird cage in his lair. Her laser focus hypnotically shifts from Penguin to the tiny bird and it's like there is no actress at all. Only this cat, this meal, this teasing game in her head.

She's a killer.



Pfans Make Me Hot
Your Blog-a-Thon Participants (Listed in Alpha Order)

As Little As Possible "...A Galaxy Pfar Pfar Away"
Auteur Lust "Cinema's Own Forbidden Fruit"
Being Boring "My Sexual Awakening (in Black Vinyl)"
Cinephilia "My (Sex) Life with Michelle Pfeiffer"
Coffee Coffee and More Coffee on Ladyhawke
Cutting Room "What Lies Within (Great Talent)"
film ick on What Lies Beneath
The Flick Filosopher on Catwoman's "gyno-power"
The Gilded Moose "BREAKING: Pfeiffer Pissed"
Girish on The Fabulous Baker Boys
Glitterati Gossip "Truly Timeless"
Mainly Movies "Susie Diamond is Forever"
Many Rantings of John on One Fine Day
ModFab "Pfeiffer's Fabulous Five"
Movies Madness "Pfor Ever and Always"
Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man on Batman Returns
My New Plaid Pants "Mistress of the Dark"
Nicks Flick Picks on A Thousand Acres
Noel Vera on Batman Returns
nOvaslim "Haute Poosee"
O.P.A.L. on her fandom
Oh My Trill "My Life Without Michelle"
!! omg blog !! "Catscratch Fever"
Oscar and the City Two memories of Pfeiffer
Pfangirl "Diary of a Lapsed Pfan"
Popbytes "Pfeiffer is an Amazon Woman"
Pop on the Rocks "Pfeiffer of the Opera"
Queer Beacon on White Oleander
Queering the Apparatus "Ohhhhh Witchy Woman"
Sarcasm w/ Light Cream Sauce on Witches... & Tequila Sunrise
Scene Stealer Top Five Performances
six things "Six Degrees of Michelle Pfeiffer"
A Socialite's Life on Michelle's comeback
Stale Popcorn Michelle in costumed glory
Stinky Lulu on Grease 2
That Round-Headed Boy "Michelle Pfeiffer's Short Stuff"
The World of Ramification Hottie of the Week



If you're just joining us... check out the blog entire. It's not all Pfeiffer all the time. [This is not a perfect world -ed]. It's just all Pfeiffer this week (the great one's birthday is tomorrow, woohoo) and whenever the topic blissfully comes up

If you need regular heavy doses of Pfeiffer here are the best websites on the net: Official Pfeiffer Admiration Location (updated frequently) * Michelle Pfeiffer: The Face * Bond's Michelle Pfeiffer Page * Noelle's Michelle Pfeiffer Page (dormant but extensive) * Pfandom (this is my own. Not regularly updated as it was pre-blog) *

UPDATE: If you liked this blog-a-thon check out the two others the film experience has hosted since: Vampires (October 2006) and Action Heroines (June 2007)

tags: Michelle Pfeiffer, catwoman, movies, cinema, celebrities

Thursday Triple: Film to Stage

The Wedding Singer opens tonight. No, not the Adam/Drew romance sillies --that opened years ago, keep up! No it's the Broadway version of the same. This new entry into the rapidly expanding library of movies turned into Broadway shows has the same problems as the others: Blind adherence to the movie (in a stage show you don't need scene changes every two minutes, it's distracting) and a weak score ("Wedding Day," this show's main anthem, is fun but it's way too simple to be reprised continuously. It doesn't add any new flavors as it goes) and confusion about whether the actors should mimic the film versions or create a character.

This is not to say that people won't like this incarnation of the comedy. I bet it'll be a hit. The audience I saw it with went wild for its easy 80s gags. The best thing about the show is the supporting cast who are mostly better than their material. Amy Spanger makes the most of her stock role as "Holly" the best friend and Felicia Finley (remember the name, she's pictured to your left) absolutely rocks the house in her two short scenes as Robbie's skanky ex, "Linda". The leads are less enticing. Stephen Lynch is good but when in doubt he mimics Sandler. Laura Benanti is a mess and the score doesn't do her any favors. Her solos are all DOA. Following someone as effortlessly cutesy charming as Drew Barrymore has got to be a thankless task, poor thing.

As you may well know, I prefer the stage to stay legitimate. I prefer transfers to happen the other way around. But since Broadway shows costs millions and charge $100 a seat, known properties are practically the only way to go. But since I can't turn the tide, I'll at least offer some advice as to suitably transferrable properties.

Three Romantic Comedies Suitable For Broadway
Since it's Pfeiffer week here at the blog, we'll start with Married to the Mob, the wacky 1988 comedy. Mobsters have proven to be reliable comedy gold before (think Kiss Me Kate) and it's pretty easy to imagine a showstopping number with the big-haired mob wives (Joan Cusack and Mercedes Reuhl in the film version). For the Pfeiffer role, why not Broadway's own Sutton Foster who has alread proved thrice (Thoroughly Modern Millie, Little Women, and The Drowsy Chaperone) that she is an expertly physical musical comedy star.

I can't believe I'm mentioning it but What Women Want would also work. It's high concept, funny in that overarching all demographics way, and the 'hearing other people's thoughts' thing is easy on stage since the 4th wall is broken anyway. Top it off with that obviously transferrable intro number: the lead as a child / mommy and her friends as showgirls . The audience is already cheering the first "You Gotta Have a Gimmick" style opening dance number.

Replace Renee Zellweger with someone who can actually sing and dance and Bridget Jones's Diary seems like a Tony winning musical character. She's clumsy. She's funny. She's sassy. She dreams big. She falls in and out of love rapidly. And you know that the first act can close with a hot playboy bunny costumed solo.

Why is this so hard for Broadway? Multi-million dollar transfers are easy as pie.

tags: Sutton Foster, movies, celebrities, Broadway, musicals, The Wedding Singer, stage, Renee Zellweger, Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, Michelle Pfeiffer,

Thursday Triple: Film to Stage

The Wedding Singer opens tonight. No, not the Adam/Drew romance sillies --that opened years ago, keep up! No it's the Broadway version of the same. This new entry into the rapidly expanding library of movies turned into Broadway shows has the same problems as the others: Blind adherence to the movie (in a stage show you don't need scene changes every two minutes, it's distracting) and a weak score ("Wedding Day," this show's main anthem, is fun but it's way too simple to be reprised continuously. It doesn't add any new flavors as it goes) and confusion about whether the actors should mimic the film versions or create a character.

This is not to say that people won't like this incarnation of the comedy. I bet it'll be a hit. The audience I saw it with went wild for its easy 80s gags. The best thing about the show is the supporting cast who are mostly better than their material. Amy Spanger makes the most of her stock role as "Holly" the best friend and Felicia Finley (remember the name, she's pictured to your left) absolutely rocks the house in her two short scenes as Robbie's skanky ex, "Linda". The leads are less enticing. Stephen Lynch is good but when in doubt he mimics Sandler. Laura Benanti is a mess and the score doesn't do her any favors. Her solos are all DOA. Following someone as effortlessly cutesy charming as Drew Barrymore has got to be a thankless task, poor thing.

As you may well know, I prefer the stage to stay legitimate. I prefer transfers to happen the other way around. But since Broadway shows costs millions and charge $100 a seat, known properties are practically the only way to go. But since I can't turn the tide, I'll at least offer some advice as to suitably transferrable properties.

Three Romantic Comedies Suitable For Broadway
Since it's Pfeiffer week here at the blog, we'll start with Married to the Mob, the wacky 1988 comedy. Mobsters have proven to be reliable comedy gold before (think Kiss Me Kate) and it's pretty easy to imagine a showstopping number with the big-haired mob wives (Joan Cusack and Mercedes Reuhl in the film version). For the Pfeiffer role, why not Broadway's own Sutton Foster who has alread proved thrice (Thoroughly Modern Millie, Little Women, and The Drowsy Chaperone) that she is an expertly physical musical comedy star.

I can't believe I'm mentioning it but What Women Want would also work. It's high concept, funny in that overarching all demographics way, and the 'hearing other people's thoughts' thing is easy on stage since the 4th wall is broken anyway. Top it off with that obviously transferrable intro number: the lead as a child / mommy and her friends as showgirls . The audience is already cheering the first "You Gotta Have a Gimmick" style opening dance number.

Replace Renee Zellweger with someone who can actually sing and dance and Bridget Jones's Diary seems like a Tony winning musical character. She's clumsy. She's funny. She's sassy. She dreams big. She falls in and out of love rapidly. And you know that the first act can close with a hot playboy bunny costumed solo.

Why is this so hard for Broadway? Multi-million dollar transfers are easy as pie.

tags: Sutton Foster, movies, celebrities, Broadway, musicals, The Wedding Singer, stage, Renee Zellweger, Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, Michelle Pfeiffer,

Tomorrow

UPDATE: This is happening Now!

Tomorrow

UPDATE: This is happening Now!

Pretty in Link

link, totally!
PopBytes on Brangelina (funny mockup)
NYT on Harlem's lack of dish. Still, I love my view.
Gilded Moose Op Ed guest takes on 'Kiki' Dunst.
Cutting Room names their #1 of 2005. Better late than nevah!
Go Fug Yourself on "Mission: Unfuggable" (3 acts)
Coffee Coffee and... on the dreamy L'Atalante.
Glitterati on that starf***ing wildchild Shimizu

Re: Links
Here is how you do: If you see something you absolutely love here around the vast internet or right here @ the film experience, link it (should you have a site) or e-mail it to others. It's all about that missionary zeal...Tom Cruiselike only since I'm not a scary alien-worshipping cult, you're not crazy and only a few people might look at ya funny.

Spread the word. Share the Film Experience.

Pretty in Link

link, totally!
PopBytes on Brangelina (funny mockup)
NYT on Harlem's lack of dish. Still, I love my view.
Gilded Moose Op Ed guest takes on 'Kiki' Dunst.
Cutting Room names their #1 of 2005. Better late than nevah!
Go Fug Yourself on "Mission: Unfuggable" (3 acts)
Coffee Coffee and... on the dreamy L'Atalante.
Glitterati on that starf***ing wildchild Shimizu

Re: Links
Here is how you do: If you see something you absolutely love here around the vast internet or right here @ the film experience, link it (should you have a site) or e-mail it to others. It's all about that missionary zeal...Tom Cruiselike only since I'm not a scary alien-worshipping cult, you're not crazy and only a few people might look at ya funny.

Spread the word. Share the Film Experience.

Weekly Movie Horoscope

I've always wanted to write a horoscope column. Since my blog is all about pleasuring myself following my muse wherever she make take me (and hoping you're accidentally entertained in the process) I'm a doin' it. Let me know what you think in the comments.

Weekly Movie Horoscope
April 26th -May 2nd Special Pfeiffer Pfixation Edition

Aries (3.21-4.19)
You'll probably be feeling fired up for the next week with that new moon hitting. Leap but by all means, think about the leap first. Careful not to be insensitive. Your Pfeiffer Talisman: Beth Cappadora in The Deep End of the Ocean. No small children are going missing, don't worry. It's just, well, quit giving your significant other those death glares!

Taurus (4.20-5.20)
That new moon is shining just for you. Place yourself first this week and try to get a good fresh luck at things. You might be surprised to see how close everything is to falling into place. Your Pfeiffer Talisman: Michelle Pfeiffer herself! Celebrate your birthday like you're a movie star. Even if it's not for a couple of weeks start celebrating early.

Gemini (5.21-6.20)
While most of the signs are enjoying new beginnings this week, you've got to hurry and tie up some loose ends first --you're all over the place. I know because I'm one of you. Our Pfeiffer Talisman: Melanie Parker in One Fine Day. Watch out for trips and falls at work. Take a good long look at yourself in the mirror: Yep, still hot.

Cancer (6.21-7.22)
This might be a big demanding week but stay low key --under the radar even. Strike when you're good and ready. Your Pfeiffer Talisman: Isabeau in Ladyhawke. She only came out at night but my god how she looked in the moonlight. Even if you don't have an Etienne of your own, I bet you have a Mouse. Someone is protecting you.

Leo (7.23-8.22)
The next couple of days could be rough at work or school...but take heart, this weekend will provide roaring good fun. Think twice before saying yes to more demands on your time early next week. Your Pfeiffer Talisman: Jo Ann Vallenari in Tequila Sunrise. Feel free to call someone on their shit and get your freak on with someone even hotter.

Virgo (8.23-9.22)
This week will be smooth and easy but don't spend --invest and save. That's not sexy advice but that's what the stars are saying. Your Pfeiffer Talisman: Angela DeMarco in Married to the Mob. Changes are definitely coming but don't worry. Dance with a little more abandon. Live! Your fortunes will soon change for the better.

Libra (9.23-10.22)
Seek our your family this week. Surround yourself with that warmth. Good things may be ahead financially, too. Your Pfeiffer Talisman: Madame de Tourvel in Dangerous Liaisons. While Mercury is travelling through Aries stay very alert: Double check everything. Don't be gullible. Protect yourself first, than worry about others.

Scorpio (10.23-11.21)
Busy. Busy. Busy. Not that you should slow down or anything. Have at it. You love the moon and it's new so let your creative (and other) energies loose. Your Pfeiffer Talisman: Catwoman in Batman Returns. Um... you know what I said about letting loose? Now pull it back, tiger. Keep your anger and libido in check. No matter how yummy you feel.

Sagittarius (11.22-12.21)
Things feeling a bit chaotic right now? If so put on your favorite song. Hell, make a whole playlist full of them. Turn it up loud and dive into work and plans for the future. Your Pfeiffer Talisman: Ellen Olenska in Age of Innocence. A new epic all-consuming romance might feel irresistible but. but. but... extreme caution my friend!

Capricorn (12.22-1.19)
A good week to make some spiritual or creative strides as the New Moon is in Taurus. Don't get too caught up in the minutae and kill your momentum. Your Pfeiffer Talisman: Claire Spencer in What Lies Beneath. It's time to follow your curiousity wherever it may lead. Romance might be tricky this week.

Aquarius (1.20-2.18)
If you're nervous about all the chaos (internal or otherwise) rest assured that others aren't seeing it. At work or in the class room you're pretty sparkly right now. Your Pfeiffer Talisman: Sukie Ridgemont in The Witches of Eastwick. With your 5th House of Romance all lit up, you'll be feeling playful. Enjoy it but be careful what you wish for.

Pisces (2.19-3.20)
Take advantage of that New Moon. Now is the time for those changes you've been contemplating all winter. Your Pfeiffer Talisman: Titania in A Midsummer Nights Dream. While Venus is in your sign be careful with your inner drama queen --whether your wildly in love or extremely pissed (maybe with the same person?) cool down.

Make it a great week all. If you know someone who needs this cinematic/astrological advice ,please use this little e-mail post button just below. Maybe they need to focus on their Pfeiffer talisman in the worst way.

tags: Michelle Pfeiffer, movies, celebrities, horoscope, zodiac

Weekly Movie Horoscope

I've always wanted to write a horoscope column. Since my blog is all about pleasuring myself following my muse wherever she make take me (and hoping you're accidentally entertained in the process) I'm a doin' it. Let me know what you think in the comments.

Weekly Movie Horoscope
April 26th -May 2nd Special Pfeiffer Pfixation Edition

Aries (3.21-4.19)
You'll probably be feeling fired up for the next week with that new moon hitting. Leap but by all means, think about the leap first. Careful not to be insensitive. Your Pfeiffer Talisman: Beth Cappadora in The Deep End of the Ocean. No small children are going missing, don't worry. It's just, well, quit giving your significant other those death glares!

Taurus (4.20-5.20)
That new moon is shining just for you. Place yourself first this week and try to get a good fresh luck at things. You might be surprised to see how close everything is to falling into place. Your Pfeiffer Talisman: Michelle Pfeiffer herself! Celebrate your birthday like you're a movie star. Even if it's not for a couple of weeks start celebrating early.

Gemini (5.21-6.20)
While most of the signs are enjoying new beginnings this week, you've got to hurry and tie up some loose ends first --you're all over the place. I know because I'm one of you. Our Pfeiffer Talisman: Melanie Parker in One Fine Day. Watch out for trips and falls at work. Take a good long look at yourself in the mirror: Yep, still hot.

Cancer (6.21-7.22)
This might be a big demanding week but stay low key --under the radar even. Strike when you're good and ready. Your Pfeiffer Talisman: Isabeau in Ladyhawke. She only came out at night but my god how she looked in the moonlight. Even if you don't have an Etienne of your own, I bet you have a Mouse. Someone is protecting you.

Leo (7.23-8.22)
The next couple of days could be rough at work or school...but take heart, this weekend will provide roaring good fun. Think twice before saying yes to more demands on your time early next week. Your Pfeiffer Talisman: Jo Ann Vallenari in Tequila Sunrise. Feel free to call someone on their shit and get your freak on with someone even hotter.

Virgo (8.23-9.22)
This week will be smooth and easy but don't spend --invest and save. That's not sexy advice but that's what the stars are saying. Your Pfeiffer Talisman: Angela DeMarco in Married to the Mob. Changes are definitely coming but don't worry. Dance with a little more abandon. Live! Your fortunes will soon change for the better.

Libra (9.23-10.22)
Seek our your family this week. Surround yourself with that warmth. Good things may be ahead financially, too. Your Pfeiffer Talisman: Madame de Tourvel in Dangerous Liaisons. While Mercury is travelling through Aries stay very alert: Double check everything. Don't be gullible. Protect yourself first, than worry about others.

Scorpio (10.23-11.21)
Busy. Busy. Busy. Not that you should slow down or anything. Have at it. You love the moon and it's new so let your creative (and other) energies loose. Your Pfeiffer Talisman: Catwoman in Batman Returns. Um... you know what I said about letting loose? Now pull it back, tiger. Keep your anger and libido in check. No matter how yummy you feel.

Sagittarius (11.22-12.21)
Things feeling a bit chaotic right now? If so put on your favorite song. Hell, make a whole playlist full of them. Turn it up loud and dive into work and plans for the future. Your Pfeiffer Talisman: Ellen Olenska in Age of Innocence. A new epic all-consuming romance might feel irresistible but. but. but... extreme caution my friend!

Capricorn (12.22-1.19)
A good week to make some spiritual or creative strides as the New Moon is in Taurus. Don't get too caught up in the minutae and kill your momentum. Your Pfeiffer Talisman: Claire Spencer in What Lies Beneath. It's time to follow your curiousity wherever it may lead. Romance might be tricky this week.

Aquarius (1.20-2.18)
If you're nervous about all the chaos (internal or otherwise) rest assured that others aren't seeing it. At work or in the class room you're pretty sparkly right now. Your Pfeiffer Talisman: Sukie Ridgemont in The Witches of Eastwick. With your 5th House of Romance all lit up, you'll be feeling playful. Enjoy it but be careful what you wish for.

Pisces (2.19-3.20)
Take advantage of that New Moon. Now is the time for those changes you've been contemplating all winter. Your Pfeiffer Talisman: Titania in A Midsummer Nights Dream. While Venus is in your sign be careful with your inner drama queen --whether your wildly in love or extremely pissed (maybe with the same person?) cool down.

Make it a great week all. If you know someone who needs this cinematic/astrological advice ,please use this little e-mail post button just below. Maybe they need to focus on their Pfeiffer talisman in the worst way.

tags: Michelle Pfeiffer, movies, celebrities, horoscope, zodiac