I realize that if I ran Hollywood, they'd be bankrupt in a year. Oh, the things I'd greenlight! And the way I'd market the beautiful motion pictures I shepherded into being. (sigh) History shows us that moviegoers like to see spoilers and lots of exposition in their trailers but I shudder when a trailer ends and I already know the entire outline, the best three moments and can guess the ending with 90% accuracy. I'd promote nearly every movie like they're promoting A Single Man. Here is the teaser -- thanks to reader Seeking Amy for pointing it out -- which is all intriguing imagery and dropped hints as to the story that awaits you.
The Good News This is truly beautiful stuff. Julianne Moore looks ravishing and stylish. Colin Firth looks less dumpy than usual and the cinematography by Eduard Grau (a DP I'm not familiar with) looks promising, indeed. It should come as no surprise that the first feature from a reknowned image maker, fashion golden boy Tom Ford, would look good. But this looks great. The delicious cast also includes the superhumanly beautiful Ozymandias Matthew Goode, Pushing Daisies' Lee Pace, Nicholas "About a Boy Man" Hoult, model Jon Kortajarena, Teddy Sears (Dollhouse) and the always welcome Ginnifer Goodwin.
The Bad News The movie is still for sale which means that you can't count on it showing up in your cinema any time soon. Here's to hoping that something magic occurs at Toronto and this movie can enter the upcoming Oscar fray. Which will only be a scuffle, methinks, given the barren awards landscape that 2009 seems to be turning into. *
Howdy, y'all. JA from MNPP here, popping my head in from a busy day at the-home-blog... why am I so busy, you ask? Well it's a Pushing Daisies Wednesday it is, and I'm just downright obsessed with that show. So obsessed in fact that I've gone and interviewed the man behind the show, the lovely Mr. Bryan Fuller, twice now!
Nat was already kind enough to personally link to the first half which appeared last week, and today I've got the second half up and... it has absolutely nothing to do with Pushing Daisies this time. But it does have to do with movies! Scary movies, mostly. It's October after all, tis the month.
So y'all should check that out, since I know we've got some Daisies fans here. And if you're not a fan, become one right this very second. The show needs the ratings, and I can't take any more shows I adore being axed. Do it for me! Someone you don't know! If you're not willing to give up a portion of your life for strangers, than for who, I ask? Who???
Ahem. Pushing Daisies is on ABC, Wednesdays at 8pm. (I am being shameless with plugs for myself and for this show, I am aware. Forgive me. Lee Pace forgives me. See him forgiving me up there?)
I wasn't quite counting down the hours to tonight's premiere of Pushing Daisies (like my buddy JA was) but my DVR was aware and the recording was triple-checked. Okay so I was counting down the hours. It had been a long time between the first and second season. I was nervous.
How kind of them to thank us for that interminable wait by stripping scrumptious Lee Pace down to his skivvies soon after the recap scenes. The only more rewarding way to kick off the premiere might have been a brief musical duet from Kristin Chenowith and Ellen Greene but you can't have everything.
I'd rank this episode somewhere in the middle of the quality range that Pushing Daisies hits. At its best the show's sublime silliness and pinch of bittersweet drama tastes totally gourmet. At its worst, it's still a decent meal but the flavors a touch ripe and the plating way too busy.
My favorite line in the new episode was delivered by "Olive Snook" i.e. Kristin Chenowith, the winner of the 2008 Emmy for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy (Shut Up! this show encourages fantastical thinking. I'm having a pleasant false memory). She has been shipped off to a nunnery (don't ask) by Lily Charles (Swoosie Kurtz), who once stayed there to hide a pregnancy.
You holidayed here 30 years ago and found a baby in the cabbage patch. And by cabbage patch I mean your lady parts.
LOL. So why am I not talking about Lee Pace, the presumed subject of this post? I'm getting there.
In truth, he never has all that much to do in any given episode. In many ways he's the straight man of the show. The supporting cast is the swirling colorful comic relief. Pace is there to provide anchor. He does it beautifully. Pace never flinches from or winks away "Ned"'s sweetness, softness or soulful sincerity which would be temptations for some lead actors... especially within a show so possibly indulgent of winking.
Since this is a film blog, I must say that I hope he gets big movie roles on every Daisies hiatus. It'd be a shame if he was never challenged with a Soldier's Girl level role again. He was so convincing as the transgendered "Calpernia" in that Showtime film. Directors ought to be asking him to stretch again... when he's not making pies. And while we're talking movies, I really must rent The Fall. I'll leave you with this beauty of a number from the spring period comedy Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (spoilers -- it's late in the film). Kristin Chenowith isn't the only woman who bursts into song when she's thinking about Lee Pace. He has that affect on Amy Adams, too.
