I can judge movies on things other than the hotness of the leads. I just choose not to.

I saw The Dark Knight today and really enjoyed it. (I saw it with my mom. Her opinion? "It was loud.") (And when my dad came home, I told him we saw The Dark Knight, and Mom had to explain it was the Batman movie.) One of the criticisms I've heard a lot about the movie is that that movie is too long, that it drags when Heath Ledger's Joker isn't on the screen. And I just didn't feel that at all. I did glance at my watch once, but it was more, "I wonder how far into this we are?" than "Man, is this almost over?" Maybe it's that I did spend part of the movie thinking, "Man, Christian Bale is hot!"

One moment that stood out in the movie was the scene with Heath Ledger and Maggie Gyllenhaal, because I couldn't help but think that Heath and Jake Gyllenhall were in Brokeback Mountain together, and this scene must've been fun for Heath and Maggie to shoot. Naturally I couldn't help but think about this being Heath's last role, but the fact that it didn't really look or sound like him helped, I think. I was also pleased that [SPOILER ALERT!] the Joker doesn't die in the end. I had been dreading that pretty much since the movie started being advertised.

The marketing campaign was an interesting one, and I feel bad for the folks behind it--what a fine line to walk. By the time the movie came out, I was kind of sick of hearing about it. I saw so many commercials. But I think that it was a good idea--and not just because the movie wound up making eighty bajillion dollars. I remember the first time I saw a trailer for it, and everyone in the theater kind of hushed up and watched...there was definitely murmuring when the Joker first appeared. But with that many commercials and that much promotion, I think people had gotten beyond that shock, and could look at it as more than just Heath's last movie.

The movie itself? I'm just going to go ahead and assume that the moral is that democracy is good! Or something. Also, Gary Oldman rules.

(And Christian Bale was particularly hot when just hanging around in jeans and a t-shirt. Mmm.)
Other jumbled together thoughts: I got distracted by the mayor being played by Richard Alpert from Lost; is the mayor supposed to freak people out with his mere presence? One thing I did not like was the overuse of the "twirling around the action in circles around and around and around" technique. Blergh. Particularly when watching in IMAX. Maybe my heart is made of stone, but I found Dent's reaction to Rachel dying to be a bit extreme, to say the least. Like, I get that you're upset, but chill, yo. I totally saw the convict tossing the detonator coming, but was still pleased that it happened.

In general, I agree with a lot of the points Sars makes in her review.

Nine v. Ten

I finally caught an episode of Doctor Who with Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor, not David Tennant. I had been wondering for a while how much I'd like the show without Tennant, because I found him incredibly likable (i.e., he's cute). The verdict is: It was weird, but I enjoyed it. It helped that it was a good episode. I do still find the whole thing kind of odd, but I guess others have adjusted.

The thing that's particularly weird is that other shows have had multiple actors play one character, but with Doctor Who, the character himself changed a bit when he's regenerated. Everywhere else, the character is essentially the same. But the Doctor himself changes a bit when he regenerates, and I still find that a bit odd. Eccleston's Doctor still had a bit of the humor that Tennant's Doctor has, but Nine seemed a bit harsher, meaner than Ten. I don't know much about past Doctors, but each had his own personality, and I'm still trying to adjust to that.

Fortunately, I have a bunch of episodes with Nine stored up on my DVR. I'm particularly looking forward to the end of his run; I just wish I still had The Christmas Invasion (Ten's first full show). I may just have to break down and Netflix the complete seasons.

A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do

What do you get when you combine Joss Whedon, Neil Patrick Harris, and musicals? Awesomeness. Pure hilarity. I'm totally pumped for the next two acts. I'm just trying to figure out how Joss Whedon and Neil Patrick Harris met. I can't help but notice that the other two leads had appeared in previous Whedon shows. (Actually, now that I think about it, they were both in Season 7 of Buffy. Nathan Filian, of course, also did Firefly. It took me a second before I could place Felicia Day as one of the Potentials on Buffy that season.)

Anyway, you definitely should check it out. And do not miss the very end. Hee.

Sucking me back, or just sucking?

I used to watch Prison Break. I faithfully watched the first two seasons. Then, a few episodes into the third season, I stopped. I admit that it was mostly because they killed off Sarah, and I'm a total Michael-Sarah shipper. But also...a season breaking out of prison. A season on the run. A third season...back in prison? They should've ended it after two. The end of the second season was thisclose to perfect. Plus, they just added more and more characters in the third season and random layers to the conspiracy...I just lost the energy. Particularly without a Michael-Sarah payoff.

But then. Oh, but then. You crafty Fox marketing people. I saw a commercial for the next season. And then, of course, was "And one BIG surprise," with Michael saying, "Sarah." Not fair. I'll just have to start checking for spoilers and see whether it's worth watching again.

Thanks, I'll just go home with Bonnie Jean instead

I was reading the TWOP thread about the Legally Blonde reality show and someone said that one of the current cast members is going to be in the Brigadoon revival, which I found completely exciting. Brigadoon revival? Excellent!

And then I did a search, found out a bit about the revival, and became a lot less excited. In a Playbill article on it, I found this:

Guare, according to the Post, has rewritten the original Alan Jay Lerner book: Brigadoon is now "a pacificist town that 'disappeared' in 1939 because its inhabitants didn't want to live in a world torn apart by war."

What? Why? No, seriously. Why? Obviously they'd have to change the mechanics of how Brigadoon works, because it hasn't been 100 years since 1939. Would the town now appear for a day every 10 years? That doesn't seem good enough for the story; Tommy has to know that if he walks away from Fiona, he walks away forever--he can't pop in again in 10 years. (I mean, sure, that would suck, but is still a bit different.)

Honestly, I don't see the need to change it at all. But it really grates that it sounds like they're adding political undertones to it.

Well, drinking is encouraged on cruises...

I was watching The Travel Channel this weekend, and they were, once again, showing some of the "Samantha Brown goes on a cruise" shows. I've seen most of them before, but I caught one that I hadn't seen--she goes on a weekend cruise with Carnival. It's one of those cruises that is something like 4 days, but only stops at one port of call. Since I'm going on a Carnival cruise this fall, I thought I'd check it out (her previous cruises, like mine, were all with Royal Caribbean).

I really enjoyed it, in large part because of two things: Samantha seemed a lot more relaxed, and it showed that people recognize her. At least twice in the episode, she directly acknowledged that people knew who she was, and that it actually interfered a bit with (a) her weekend, and (b) some of the on-board activities she attended. She didn't seem upset or anything, but put it out there. (And the show illustrated it with a couple of quick montages of her posing for photos.)

As for being relaxed...I don't know. She just seemed a bit more wacky than normal. Maybe she was slightly tipsy the entire time? I enjoy her personality normally, so it was kind of funny seeing her like that.

Fun with 1776

After independence...state songs!



John Adams is pissed off at John Dickinson



Seriously, probably my favorite part of 1776 is near the end, just after the Congress votes to approve independence. The way the secretary says that the resolution has passed, and Adams saying "It is done...it is done." Shivers.

Happy Independence Day, everyone!

New experience or old favorite?

Much like how I keep saying that I want to go various places in Europe but always wind up back in London, I have a tendency to be like, "Ooh, that play/musical looks good!" and then see the same shows that I've already seen. Lately there's been a lot of theater I was interested in--Christmas Carol 1941 at Arena, Nixon's Nixon at Round House, The Visit at Signature, that play about the American who gets sent overseas where most of the dialogue is in a made-up language. And what did I see? Hairspray.

It's happening again, too. I see that Olney is doing Big River, which I've seen a couple of times and love. I'm really tempted to see it. They're also doing The Mousetrap, which I'd also like to check out. I should go see The Mousetrap, if I'm going to see one, but...I don't know. Of course, maybe inertia will win again, as it has so often lately, and I just won't see anything.

(Also tempting? Les Mis at Wolftrap the end of the summer. It'd be my, like, 9th time. But it's been years since I've seen it last!)

You're the Elle that we want

I am, of course, watching Legally Blonde the Musical: The Search for Elle Woods, the reality show involving girls competing to replace Laura Bell Bundy. Just like I watched Grease: You're the One That I Want that searched for Danny and Sandy in the latest revival of Grease.

The Legally Blonde show is way better than the Grease one. It's not even a contest, really. The Grease show was based on a British show that cast Maria for The Sound of Music, and was largely reminiscent of American Idol. Each week, the finalists would perform a song, and that's really the sole thing they were judged on. If I recall, the finalists did do some work on acting, and we did see them perform group songs from the show, but the viewers voted, and the main basis was the individual songs. Which weren't from the show. Which weren't necessarily in the style of the songs in the show.

There are any number of problems here, not the least of which is that the viewers chose the winners. The American public doesn't necessarily want the most talented people; they want the most interesting people. In my opinion, it worked out; I really liked Laura and Max. But if I were the producers, the whole process would keep me awake at night. The other main problem is that so little of the process dealt with Grease. We saw them do production numbers, but that's about it. We were told they had instruction in dance and acting, but again, saw very little of it. It was almost entirely the finalists' solos each week that led to eliminations.

Part of the reason, I think, is that the audience already knows Grease. Well, the movie version, anyway, but the stage versions are starting to be based more on the movie than on the original stage production--as evidenced by You're the One That I Want, which wasn't in the original Broadway production. But since the London revival in the mid-90s, there those movie songs are.

Sure, people know Legally Blonde the movie, but the songs in the musical are entirely new. It was a perfect show to use for this kind of reality program, as the viewers know the story and the main characters, so they don't need primers on that, but they don't know the songs. It's a great introduction to get people interested in seeing the play (if they missed it when MTV aired it a few months back).

And the show is done much better. Each week, the contestants work on either singing or acting or dancing. The most recent episode had them working on a dance routine, and that's what they were judged on (in addition to their overall work). And they're doing material from the show itself--again, it gives the audience a bit of the show, but it also gives the judges (a known casting agent, the author of the book of the show, and an actor in the show) a chance to view each girl as Elle and see whether she works in that capacity. You know, like an actual audition would.

Plus, there's the awesomeness of seeing the girls living together, and all the cattiness that involves. The girl eliminated this past week refers to the other finalists as "little girls" and was completely bitter. One of the girls eliminated last week was told by the casting agent that she would make a good swing--which is quite the compliment, as the actress is only around 20--and she totally copped a 'tude, all, "Whatever, I want to be the star." Fabulous!

And if there's one thing I learned, it's that dang, some of those Legally Blonde songs are catchy. I periodically get "Omigod You Guys" in my head. And I only know, "Oh my God, oh my God, you guys. This one's perfect and it's just my size!" Pathetic. Also, it seems like the relationship between Elle and Emmett is a bit fleshed out in the musical, so I'm hoping a future episode has some of their scenes.

This all kind of reminds me of some of my thoughts on The Next Food Network Star, but it's far too late. Maybe another time.