Oscars

Done and dusted for another year ... and all very predictable.

Drive he said

DRIVE certain delivers! To all those other classic iconic cinema loners (think Travis Bickle in TAXI DRIVER, that other Ryan (O'Neal) in Walter Hill's THE DRIVER (1978) with the suitably enigmatic Isabelle Adjani, Julian Kaye in AMERICAN GIGOLO (any Schrader hero will do!) or Heath Ledger's Ennis Del Mar locked into himself eating his solitary meal in the diner in BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN - there are echoes of them all here - now there is Ryan Gosling's nameless driver in this character-driven, slow-burn thriller of the first order that features elements of some of the finer works from directors like Scorsese, Michael Mann, Tarantino, Walter Hill and Sam Peckinpah, as directed here by a director new to me, Nicolas Winding Refn. It will be interesting to see what he does next...

The film is an electric mixture of beautiful lingering cinematography, a pulsating soundtrack, lean dialogue and short bursts of graphic, bloody violence. It's tense and involving; almost impossible not to get immersed in.



Ryan Gosling is the embodiment of cool, as the well-intentioned but unstoppable force who works as stunt driver, garage hand and occasional driver for robberies. His solitary life is interrupted when he slowly gets involved with the girl down the hall and her little son, while her husband is in prison. Once the husband is out, the driver is drawn into a heist which of course goes wrong, putting him, the girl and the boy in danger. We are dealing with terrifying men here and the action is suitably graphic for the various slayings. One memorable scene is in an elevator with the driver and the girl as he realises the other guy has a gun and is after them, as time slows down ... and then speeds up. I love the look of the film, all those night scenes, the often dark and dream-like LA setting, the driving, the music, Carey Milligan is marvellous again and suggests so much with so little dialogue, as does Gosling. I am now looking forward to seeing him in CRAZY STUPID LOVE and THE IDES OF MARCH. That ending too is perfect ... In all, a movie I want to sit my friends down in front of and make them love it too. And you can cut out and dress up Ryan too ...

Marie Colvin, Remi Ochlik, R.I.P.

Here at the Projector we try to keep out of political stories as others' opinions will differ, but sometimes one cannot ignore what is going on in the world (as with the tsunami in Japan last year) and one simply has to salute astounding courage and bravery. So it is with reporting the deaths of war correspondent Marie Colvin, 56, and French photographer Remi Ochlik, 28, who were covering the bombardment of Homs in Syria, where the regime there were determined to remove the foreign press.

I had been aware of Marie Colvin's by-line for years as one of the principal journalists of "The Sunday Times" as she reported from war zones all over the world, losing an eye in the process. Colvin worked for "The Sunday Times" for 20 years and twice won the British press award for Foreign Correspondent of the Year. Today's press reports the appalling danger they were in by still sending out news reports from Homs, as those determined to silence them could lock on to satellite signals and home in accordingly.... One can only salute their bravery and that of all the others following the recent changes in Egypt and Libya.

I'm gonna wait till the midnight hour ...

I have had a few very late nights in Paris myself, back in the '80s (when one of my oldest friends was married and living there for a decade), so its nice to go back there with Woody in his latest outing MIDNIGHT IN PARIS and yes, its his best in some long time. As previously posted here, his "Spanish one" VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA seemed a return to form, and of the "London ones" YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER had a great cast and some good comic moments, but MIDNIGHT IN PARIS is just simply perfect, and again a neat 86 minutes ... also, with Woody, no extras on the dvd - presumably he only shoots what he needs for his script so there are no deleted scenes, outtakes, commentaries.


Owen Wilson is Gil, a scriptwriter in Paris with his girlfriend and her family (who are on a business trip) as he slowly realises how little he has in common with them. She is not interested in walking in the rain and much prefers to go shopping, the parents are rightwing reactionaries obsessed about money and the price of things. Then that midnight taxi turns up as Gil gets away for a late night walk ... and suddenly he is back in the 1920s to the Paris of the Jazz Age. We share his bemusement as he encounters the Fitzgeralds (thats Scott and Zelda), Cole Porter at the piano, the young Hemingway, and soon the salon of Gertrude Stein - a no-nonsense Kathy Bates; Adrian Brody is perfect too as Dali, and Gil also encounters surrealists Man Ray and Luis Bunuel (to whom he gives the idea for EXTERMINATING ANGEL!). Then too there is Adriana (Marion Cottilard) the muse to Picasso and other painters ... On his return visits Gertrude Stein agrees to look at his new manuscrpt and he begans to fall for Adriana but she is dissatisfied with the 1920s she is living in, so by another time warp they go back to the 1890s Belle Epoque and encounter who else but Toulouse Lautrec at the Moulin Rouge sketching all those can-can dancers! Meanwhile, back in the present, there is another girl in Paris Gil gets to know, whom we just know will be perfect for him .... good to see Woody back in Paris practically 50 (well 47) years after WHAT'S NEW PUSSYCAT where he was chasing Romy Schenider and those other girls (above)... and of course the French scenes in EVERYONE SAYS I LOVE YOU.



Woody Allen's latest then is beautifully written and a charming story that belongs in the top ten of his all-time greats - up there with "the early funny ones" and ANNIE HALL, MANHATTAN, INTERIORS, STARLIGHT MEMORIES, HANNAH & HER SISTERS, CRIMES & MISDEMEANORS. From the opening montage of lush picturesque Parisian scenes by day and night and in the rain, the film is a love letter to the city of light. Owen Wilson is for once perfectly cast as the young Woody type, Michael Sheen is ideal too as the ex-lover of Inez, Gil's girlfriend, whom it turns out she is still sleeping with (trust Hemingway to notice that...) and there is the nice scene at the art gallery where Gil puts the pompous pedant in his place; Carla Bruni turns up in the nothing role of the tourist guide, and it all ties up nicely together. The best laugh out loud moment is provided by the detective hired by Inez's father to see where Gil goes at night - boy does he he get into a time warp!

Thoughts ...

David Hockney's "Arrival of Spring" from the new Royal Academy exhibition.

The award season is now underway - here in the UK the Golden Globes do not mean much to us, and were hilariously awful on that E! Entertainment channel last week, broken up every few minutes as they were with commercials for the Kardashian show, even breaking into Christopher Plummer's speech. I just had enough and zoomed through the rest of it. Elton's face was priceless when Madonna graciously (or did she?) accept her gong for best song ... for one of the movies (THE IRON LADY and THE ARTIST being the others) that Harvey Weinstein is behind this year.

Well the reviews are now in here for W.E. and make amusing reading - (I quite like Madonna's music though - that mid period "Ray of Light" and "Music" with those interesting videos and re-mixes) - but looking at clips from Clint's J. EDGAR my only question is: WHY? Why on earth bother making a dull movie about this dull man and his era, no movie could tell the real story, and they spend so much time under rubber trying to look old (hopefully not as hilariously as Bette Midler and James Caan in FOR THE BOYS!). It is of course my loss but Eastwood's films just do not interest me, I give his movies a miss, amazing he is still making them in his 80s. He bags Judi Dench here as Hoover's mother - a rather thankless role like her Dame Sybil in MY WEEKEND WITH MARILYN. It all seems reminescent of Scorsese's THE AVIATOR where Leonardo had a go at capturing Howard Hughes. Will it really be Sinatra next ? - but surely Frank and his life and work is too well known to impersonate - and again how could it be the real story? But in an era of impersonations winning awards - it seems Meryl as Mrs T has a lock on the best actress this year, despite Michelle Williams as Marilyn - and then there is THE HELP. So the Oscar nominations should be interesting, and the BAFTA nominations are also in, with all the usual suspects. [I don't think it will be Meryl after all now, the film isn't good enough and her Mrs T is like a "Spitting Image" cartoon; liberals will hate it for glorifying Thatcher, while her devotees will hate it for presenting her as an old lady with dementia...]
More than the Oscar-bait movie J EDGAR though it is Ralph Fiennes' CORIOLANUS that seems the real film, a very cinematic version of one of Shakesepare's lesser known plays, interestingly set in a modern Balkans background with Fiennes, Gerard Butler and by all accounts a stunning performance by Vanessa Redgrave (Vanessa label) as his mother - but it seems to have been ignored by the nominators .. what gives? In the meantime new dvds of THE SKIN I LIVE IN, THE GUARD and THE TREE OF LIFE have arrived, with DRIVE and TINKER TAILOR... arriving this week - more on those soon then.

Watching Jeremy Irons being interviewed this morning and discussing MARGIN CALL it is now one I am very keen to see when it opens here - another terrific cast including Irons, Spacey and Zachery Quinto (also one of the producers) on the current financial meltdown;

While the new David Hockey exhibition has got glowing reviews, though as Philip Hensher says it ignores that great body of work of the last 40 years to focus on his English paintings since he moved back here 7 years ago - but it is time to celebrate these new paintings and iPad works. Another popular art show for London then. There are over 150 pictures - "the Yorkshire artist combines formidable draughtsmanship with an invigorating colour palette to capture and transmit a pleasure in sylvan landscapes rarely seen since the impressionist era", as "The Sunday Times" puts it. Like the sell-out Leonardo exhibition day tickets are released each morning. Hockney now is firmly a national treasure after his decades in California, France and other countries as he explored his various forays into painting and photography. California was where the sun was warmer and the boys sexier. "England doesn't have many vivid blue swimming pools for white-rumped Adonises to jump into ... and the colour schemes Hockney favours, England simply isn't Hockney-coloured", but now Hockney "painting Bridlington in the rain" makes those essentially British landscapes his own; as a display of energy by an artist who is almost 75 this is some statement". And also this:
"The energy, radiance and manifest love with which Hockney depicts the landscape of his native Yorkshire are magical, and his huge oil paintings and smaller watercolours beautifully capture both joy in nature and the changing seasons, and a poignant sense of life's transience. I emerged from the Royal Academy convinced I had seen the work of a modern master enjoying a spectacular blaze of autumnal creativity, and spent the rest of the day feeling both ridiculously happy and unaccountably blessed. That is the consolation of great art".

Music-wise Lana Del Ray is currently wowing us, I love that track "Video Games"; the late Amy Winehouse's "A Song For You" is a stunning version of that Leon Russell song I loved and which Donny Hathaway made his own - until now. I like Maroon 5 and their jumpy infectious music, like Franz Ferdinand or The Killers, and "Moves Like Jagger" has been the song of the season, great video too!

American Bridesmaids -v- English Inbetweeners

Here at the Projector we like to be positive about things – movies, music, art, books, People We Like, etc – and leave negativity outside. Sometimes though something comes along which one just cannot get enthusiastic about … such is BRIDESMAIDS. It is a chore just recounting the plot … do I have to?

Annie's life is a mess. But when she finds out her lifetime best friend is engaged, she simply must serve as Lillian's maid of honor. Though lovelorn and broke, Annie bluffs her way through the expensive and bizarre rituals. With one chance to get it perfect, she'll show Lillian and her bridesmaids just how far you'll go for someone you love, as the blurb says.

I thought this would be hilarious and bought it as one of many gifts for Christmas – but we sat there in mainly bemused silence as it unfolded, over two hours, with quite a lot of tedium. Even the gross-out scenes did not amuse.

The problem I have with it is that we do not get SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE here in the UK, so most of these SNL people are unknown to me. I had never seen Kristen Wiig before, nor Melissa McCarthy who plays Megan. The humour seems disjointed, like scenes or skits just linked together with no dramatic progress. The scene on the plane for instance starts out funny and then goes on and on and on … likewise, that extended scene when the two rivals (Wiig and DAMAGES’ Rose Byrne, ideal here as the annoyingly perfect Helen) keep grabbing the microphone as they compete to show how much they mean to the bride Maya Rudolph.

It was good though to see Jill Clayburgh one more time, and I did not recognise Jon Hamm as the dickhead casual boyfriend, and there was Matt Lucas in a few scenes.

Kristin Wiig though plays a sad loser, working in a job she hates after her bakery folded, she ends up having to return home to her mother as her room-mates don’t want her, so she is naturally jealous and resentful as plans for the wedding and Helen’s largesse get out of hand, and her relationship with that nice cop goes in fits and starts and is too protracted.

To sum it up - I just found it mainly unfunny, poorly written and masquerading as a comedy. There are a lot of American comedies that I find less than amusing nowadays and which seem to be focused on teenage boys and their bodily functions; this female version isn’t any better, but is so forgettable I will soon have totally forgotten it.

Kristen Wiig is merely the latest in a long series of "actors" like Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell, David Spade, Rob Schneider, etc. Big screen comedies basically have been taken over by the alumni from SNL and the talent emanating from the stable of Judd Apatow. They may be good at comedy sketches but need to learn how to develop a storyline arc to cover 90 minutes, let alone 2 hours!

Overall, the movie seems to paint a negative picture of women. I was surprised that this was written by a woman (directed by Paul Feig) - it basically portrays women as sad, unable to function without a man, catty and superficial and determined to out-do each other. So no, I won't be rushing to watch the dvd extras: the deleted/extended scenes, the gag reel, the bloopers etc. But its not just me - the IMDB reviews for instance are so polarised, people either love it or hate it.

THE INBETWEENERS MOVIE on the other hand is madly funny and I liked it a lot, despite it being "focused on teenage boys and their bodily functions"! Go figure.

One of the hits of the summer THE INBETWEENERS movie follows the 4 lads from the hit tv series as they finish school and go on holiday to Malia in Crete - one of those Greek holiday spots like Falaraki in Rhodes. Predictable yes, but fast and really funny. This was my first encounter with the boys, as I had not seen the 3 series of the tv show [but have now got the boxset to rectify that - each half hour show should be fast and funny]. Anyone who watches the show knows the set up of the boys: Will, bespectacled, well-mannered but altogether massively irritating - but the one we identify with; his best friend Simon, who goes on and on about his ex-girlfriend who clearly doesn’t feel anything for him - she also turns up on holiday here; dim and slow-witted Neil, and Jay, chronically lying about women he’s shagged, things he’s done, and er, women he’s shagged. The four boys’ ridiculously embarrassing travails through life made for three hugely entertaining series on channel 4, so now comes the obligatory big screen outing.

Critics have hailed THE INBETWEENERS MOVIE as prurient, juvenile, and relentlessly crude. It is. Some of the jokes do fall flat, but the ones that are good are great, and coupled with a cheesy-cool soundtrack, some genuine drama and an arsenal of one-liners that will have you hiding behind your hands with embarrassment. It pretty much does what it says it would on the tin, with an added bonus of the unexpected but genuine satisfaction the viewer gets from seeing the 4 boys become men – sort of, as they sort out their entanglements with 4 very different girls as it all culminates on a boat cruise. Satisflyingly enjoyable then. Sorry, Bridesmaids.

Woody in Paris Barcelona London ....

The latest Woody Allen has attracted raves, one cannot wait to see MIDNIGHT IN PARIS - though I will have to for the moment (until my knee operation recovery is over). Instead I caught up with his Barcelona film VICKY CHRISTINA BARCELONA - it too attracted a lot of good notices, being at the time, 2008, his best in ages. I like the colours and the look of the film, it certainly captures the Catalan capital, as we follow the two American girls Scarlett Johansson and Rebecca Hall in their entanglements with painter Javier Bardem and his complicated ex, Penelope Cruz. Lots of delicious moments here, the music is perfect too. A soundtrack album to investigate then. It cements Bardem and Cruz as THE Spanish couple. Prior to that I suppose the last Woody I totally enjoyed was EVERY0NE SAYS I LOVE YOU, in 1996, also with it's delicious Paris scenes.



Next up, his recent London effort YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER, another of his complicated comedies, but with another interesting cast. Good to see that great actress Gemma Jones in a good role, and also Pauline Collins (forever SHIRLEY VALENTINE). We follow two couples and their entanglements: wealthy Anthony Hopkins leaves wife Gemma Jones as she has got old and marries Charmain, a call-girl bimbo, and then realises he has made a ghastly mistake, Gemma though won't take him back as she has moved on with her belief in reincarnation; their daughter Naomi Watts married to dull writer Josh Brolin fantasies about her art gallery boss Antonio Banderas - she tries on a pair of expensive earrings for him which she later sees on her friend and then her mother won't lend her the money she needs to start her own gallery, while he, Brolin, has stolen the manuscript of a new novel (which he passes off as his own and is being published) written by a friend whom he thinks has been killed in a car accident only to find he is in a coma and may be recovering, as he also takes up with the girl in red across the road. Cue lots of comedy-drama then as these characters try to find their way through life. Not laugh out loud but wryly amusing. But, in the current American cinema, how many film-makers are getting to even try and address the complex questions of grown-up relationships, aging and the fear of death, and the lies we tell ourselves to get through it all? - without having to make comedies for juveniles. Or deal with the paradox that humans seem to need something to believe in, and yet that same belief can also lead us astray? Or give great older actors like Anthony Hopkins and Gemma Jones really meaty roles? As long as Allen keeps asking questions, he'll remain a voice worth listening to. Some interesting British locations and interesting familiar players in small roles: Pauline Collins, Celia Imrie, Anna Friel, Meera Syal, Joanna David, the old guy from BENIDORM etc.



It seems ages now from the early funny ones like LOVE AND DEATH, and that great run with ANNIE HALL, INTERIORS, MANHATTAN, STARLIGHT MEMORIES and then oddball delights like PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO, RADIO DAYS, HANNAH AND HER SISTERS, CRIMES AND MISDEMEANOURS, then those later films like SEPTEMBER, ANOTHER WOMAN, ALICE. The other London films did not really work, we even hardly got a chance to see them .... but Woody keeps on in his 70s. Is it really 46 years since he was chasing Romy Schneider around that library in WHAT'S NEW PUSSYCAT - my insane delight from 1965.

Potiche

POTICHE. The perfect treat for recuperating from an operation! I knew this would be ideal for sharing with visiting friends. Francois Ozon’s candy-coloured soufflé is a delicious comedy set in provincial France in 1977 – the clothes, hairstyles, fabrics etc are all spot on. We begin with Suzanne Pujol (Catherine Deneuve) out jogging in her track suit, cooing to the wildlife and jotting down her poems. Her sexist pig of a husband treats her like a trophy wife and is having trouble at the umbrella factory began by Suzanne’s father. The workers are striking for better pay and conditions while the husband Frabrice Lucini does everything wrong and treats his mistress Nadege (Karin Viard) shabbily too. The upshot is the workers kidnap him and Suzanne takes his place at the factory when he is too ill to continue.



She of course soon sorts everything out with the workers, production is up but it is too good to last. The major Babin (Gerard Depardieu) has helped her and it turns out they have a history going back to when they were young. They become close again as they battle not only the scheming husband but also her daughter who plots against her over control of the factory. Suzanne turns out to be quite formidable as she then runs to become a MP – Deneuve is wonderful here as the woman who realises she has turned a blind eye to her husband’s infidelity and oafish treatment of her for too long.

It is all amusingly worked out, the disco scene is pure 1977 and a nice send-up of the SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER era. Amusing too is the way the son Laurent (Jeremie Rennier) progressively gets gayer as he starts designing at the factory. Whatever one feels about Deneuve and Depardieu they are to all extent and purposes the faces of French Cinema now and they deliver a lot of fun here. Ozon scores a popular hit in his varied movie-making career (its as deliciously camp as 8 FEMMES) and it is good to see Deneuve – with all the associations of her past movies (there are fleeting moments here that suggest UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG and THE YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORT) – enjoying a fun movie here. Extensive extras on the dvd include an extended making-of (it was a lot of fun on the set), wardrobe tests etc.

Coming soon: a veritable feast of Deneuve - reviews of Demy's PEAU D'ANE (DONKEY SKIN), INDOCHINE, 2 by Techine MY FAVOURITE SEASON and HOTEL AMERICA, A CHRISTMAS TALE, and maybe PLACE VENDOME and THIEVES!

Ripley's Game, 2002

RIPLEY’S GAME. This 2002 film by Liliana Caviani (THE NIGHT PORTER) seems to have slipped under the radar. It is the second film adapted from Patricia Highsmith’s novel “Ripley Underground”, the first being Wim Wenders’ 1977 THE AMERICAN FRIEND, a very hip iconic movie of the 70s ideally cast with Bruno Ganz as the dying picture framer Jonathan Trevanney and Dennis Hopper as Tom Ripley. Here we have the odd casting of John Malkovich as a rather effete now-wealthy Ripley who annoyed by Jonathan (Dougray Scott) lures him into being a hit man to provide for his family after his fatal illness. Ray Winstone is ideal as Reeves, the rather fleshy thug [with that unfortunate male companion in his hotel bed when the gang calls...] who needs a hitman to bump off a rival as he asks old chum Ripley for help, but its not clear why Ripley and Reeves need to lure an outsider into their crime scenario.



Jonathan carries out the first murder, but the second one on a train goes wrong, but Ripley is there to take charge and events move rapidly as they barricade themselves in at Ripley’s home, that rather chilly Palladian villa in the Italian Veneto he shares with Luisa his harpsichord-playing girlfriend, as the three goons come for the final shoot-out. The women’s roles are not very important here as Ripley, Jonathan and Reeves stay centre-stage. In all, an interesting addition to the Ripley canon. It seems Cavani left the troubled production and it was completed by Malkovich, but never got an American theatrical release, certainly worth seeking out now.

Downton Abbey returns, plus Jane and Alice ...

No sun-dappled gardens or gentle rustling of taffeta greets viewers as they return to DOWNTON ABBEY for Series 2. We are blasted straight into the trenches, where a mud-covered Matthew Crawley (Dan Stevens) is heroically fighting the Great War. The first series began with the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 when the Downton estate loses its male heir, and ended with the outbreak of World War I in 1914. It is now 1916 as we revisit Julian Fellowes’s “posh soap opera” featuring the Lords and Ladies of the Estate and their downstairs staff, who get equal screen time.

Previous classic costume dramas like UPSTAIRS AND DOWNSTAIRS were a bit staid, but the fascinating thing about DOWNTON is that is done in the modern zappy American style. Each character – and there’s about 20 of them - have their own story arcs and there are some marvellous bits of humour here and there, as in the first episode here, the uppity new maid wanted the cook Mrs Patmore to save her some of the crepes suzettes from “upstairs” but she annoys the cook who takes pleasure is tossing the pancakes to the dog – it’s a little moment but a satisfying one.

While Armageddon rages abroad, life at Downton remains stultifyingly the same for the Earl (Hugh Bonneville) and Lady Mary (Michelle Dockerty). By moving the action from the relative frippery of country-house living to war, Fellowes has wisely raised the stakes and given the actors more to chew on. Lady Edith is still a bitch but apparently will change, ditto Lady Sybil. Then there is Mr Bates the valet and his evil wife, ladies maid O’Brien is still as poisonous as ever, as the house is presided over by the butler and wise housekeeper (Phyllis Logan). The Dowager Countess (Maggie Smith in a late great role) still has some biting retorts as she and Mrs Crawley (Penelope Wilton) try to gain the upper hand. But it is our star-crossed lovers – Matthew Crawley (Dan Stevens) the new heir and Lady Mary who fascinate.

Lots to look forward to here then as the Estate becomes a convalescent home, and will Matthew and that devious footman Thomas survive in the trenches? Overall, the sumptuous drama remains as inviting as before. Classic costume drama at it’s best then. Best though to record it and watch afterwards, zapping out the commercial breaks as there are too many of them, and how soon will the DVD be out?

During my recent hospital engagement I decided to read some old books which have become favourite films, so it was a pleasure to actually read the original BLACK NARCISSUS by Rumer Godden, first published in 1939 and never out of print, ditto her THE GREENGAGE SUMMER which became that intriguing 1961 film with Kenneth More, Danielle Darrieux and Susannah York, and also the 1950s novel by A.J. Cronin THE SPANISH GARDENER which became that popular Dirk Bogarde movie in 1956, but how they changed it! I was astonished to see that Jose is 19 and the father too is taken with his attractive physique, Jose though gets killed while trying to escape due to the father’s intervention. Bogarde was in his mid-30s then so Jose is a lot older (and provided with a girlfriend to keep his relationship with the boy innocent). The Rank Organisation were of course not going to kill off their 'Idol of the Odeons', so Jose not only survives in the film but sends the reconciled father and son happily on their way to their next posting - a total reversal of the ending in the book which is much bleaker with father and son now posted to Sweden and Nicholas resolved to get away from the unloved father and return to his mother as soon as he can! (Reviews of these at Bogarde, York, Deborah Kerr, Black Narcissus labels).

I now see that Jane Asher (who played the younger sister in THE GREENGAGE SUMMER (LOSS OF INNOCENCE) is playing Lady Bracknell in a new production of THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST and I imagine she will be terrific in the role. Asher is actually the same age (64) as Dame Edith Evans when she played the role. Several actresses have portrayed a younger sexier Lady Bracknell - Jane should be perfect! What a contrast to her dolly bird in Skolimowski's 1970 DEEP END, reviewed here (Jane Asher label), and just out on dvd.



Below: performers now have the internet in their dressing rooms!

Alice Krige has also turned into a fascinating presence - now in the BBC series SPOOKS as Peter Firth's lost love, and as Ralph Fiennes' ex-wife in PAGE EIGHT the recent film by David Hare (reviewed recently here). I did not see her Borg Queen in a STAR TREK film, but she has been quietly impressive so many different genres - that icy patrician Roman in the 2001 ATTILA (as played by Gerard Butler), SOLOMON KANE, and others since her debut in CHARIOTS OF FIRE.