What I'm Watching: Grand Hotel

Guess who's back from the dead?? Well, I was never actually dead, but it seems that life has taken me away, far far away from this blog, and I don't like that, cause I love blogging!

But I knew that I could post today because I'm so tickled to say I've finally finished a series and now I can share it with you!


I'm the type of person that is pretty visual. I've got a photographic memory and often times an entire movie, tv show, or film version of my own works play in my head. So if a poster for a film/show doesn't appeal to me, chances are I may pass it by. And if it does, I don't care if the spoken language is pig latin, or if it's silent, I'll watch it. As you know, by now, surely, I'm a true lover of film and I will watch anything at least once.

And that's the instance with this show.

There was something about the combination of the almost kissing couple, the large building in the background and the man with the gun that said "WATCH ME!'


So I put it on my list (how many people still call it the "queue?") and it stayed there, for months.

If you will remember - think back with my lovelies - November was a crazy month for me last year. I was in a play and then the day we wrapped I got very sick and was "reclinerridden" (bedridden reclinerridden, get it?) for 3 days. So I decided that now was the time to start watching this series.. because what else was I gonna do while I was sick?

I was hooked instantly, and I think you will be too.


"Grand Hotel" or "Gran Hotel," as it is named in Spanish, begins its drama with Julio Olmedo played by the gorgeous Spaniard Yon Gonzalez. Julio is headed to a town called Cataloa (our tale is set in Spain) to the Grand Hotel to find his sister, Christina, who has been working there as a maid. Her frequent letters have ceased and he's worried.

We know right from the beginning that Julio has a good heart, but that he is as slippery as a snake. When he arrives at the Grand Hotel he is told by the staff, including his to-be best friend Andreas (Llorenç González) that Christina was fired very recently. In fact just last week after the "Lighting Party," which was a gigantic celebration that the hotels owner, Dona Teresa Alarcon (Adriana Ozores) - there are two things she hates in this world, lies and mistakes - and the hotels manager, the cold, hard, and driven Diego Murquia (Pedro Alonso) arranged to debut the new Edison Electric Lights throughout the hotel. It's the first hotel in Spain to have electric lights, truly a landmark event.  Hearing that Christina is missing, and knowing the only way to find her is to stay there at the hotel, Julio lies and tells the management (Don Benjamin-the maitre d) that he's the new waiter they've been waiting on. When he real waiter shows up, Julio just smiles and acts like that guy is nuts and explains that that man can't be the new waiter because he's the new waiter and he's already there!

Another reason Julio is so keen to stay at the Grand Hotel is Dona Teresa's daughter, and Diego's fiancee, Alicia (Amaia Salamanca) . He'd spotted her at the train station earlier that day when he was traveling to Cataloa and was almost instantly in love with her. Alicia has been away at school, and is so happy to be home. Out of the three Alarcon children she is the most down to earth and human. Son Javier is pretty loose, preferring the company of ladies of the night and gamblers and essentially pishing away his family's vast fortune.  Sofia, the eldest child, has married Alfredo De Vergara, a Marquis, and when we first meet them, they're expecting their first child.


As the story unfolds, we learn that pretty much everything at the Grand Hotel is a big lie. Everything LOOKS good, but nothing IS good.  And let me tell you, EVERYONE is lying about SOMETHING.

There are so many stories that interconnect in this series, it's a typical soap opera-esque show, but to me, way better than just your typical Spanish Tele-Novella.  

Spoilers could possibly exist ahead.... you've been warned....

In season 1 there is the Missing Sister story line. That mainly concerns Julio, Alicia and Andreas. Also include Detectives Ayala and Hernando, which are almost the exact same characters as "Poirot," and later on in season 2 we see an Agatha Christie character and we learn that she based the Poirot characters after Ayala and Hernando. And this is complete fiction btw. Julio continuously gets into messes, dragging Alicia and Andreas along with him, and it's always left to Ayala and Hernando to get him out, because his ideas usually lead them in the right direction.

There's the Mystery Letter story line. It's the letter that will end the Grand Hotel world as we know it. Apparently that letter, which Diego has hidden in his office, contains a secret from Don Carlos, Dona Teresa's late husband, and the outcome of that secret coming to light will result in the hotel changing hands, and Dona Teresa cannot let that happen. 

There's Andreas/Belen. You will HATE Belen.  I hate Belen. So much. She is nothing but trouble. Right from the beginning she is a pain in the butt, always causing trouble, only looking out for herself, always trying to advance Belen. She gets pregnant and convinces Andreas that the baby is his, and so he marries her, and he convinces himself that he loves her. (In fact, he is insistent that he loves her throughout the whole run of the show, and I'm just not convinced.) This story line is a train wreck, there is one disaster after another. And you will side right along with Dona Angela (Concha Velasco), the housekeeper and Andreas' mother, in hating Belen. You'll love Angela, she is no nonsense, right down to her shoelaces. 

Andreas and Julio.

There's the Gold Knife Killer plot. This one interconnects directly with Christina, and as the tale unravels there is more and more evidence leading them straight back to the hotel. You'll figure out who the killer is before they tell you, but when you figure it out, you won't have seen it coming. When I figured it out, as sick as I was, I was shouting at the tv and sloshing my chicken noodle soup everywhere. 

And most importantly there's the Julio Falling in Love with Alicia story. You'll fall in love with Julio too. 

By the end of the season, you're stuck.


Season 2 is focused mainly on the Mystery Letter. Trying to get it, trying to find out what to do with it, trying to find out Don Carlos' other secrets....

The Alicia falls in love with Julio story, at last. Even though she marries Diego in this season, she sees his true colors and absolutely falls head over heels in love with Julio. There's lots of ups and downs and ins and outs in season two.

Alicia and Julio 

Luckily for all of you out there, you can watch the whole series all the way through (66 episodes). But me... nope. I couldn't. Netflix didn't have the 3rd season loaded and so at the end of season 2 - WHICH IS A HUUUUGE CLIFFHANGER - I was left shouting in frustration.

Season 3 is wrapping up all the loose ends of the show, and it introduces a new character, Maite, Alicia's best friend. 

There's a new Maitre' d in town, Don Jesus, and there's a bit of a love affair that he gets caught up in...

But the main story of Season 3 is Diego. His madness and suspicious nature (especially his belief that Alicia is having an affair - which is right on) finally take hold of him and by the end of the season all his secrets are out.



This show has often been compared to Downton Abbey (which is LOOOVE) because of it's time period, and the style of show it is... you know the whole upstairs/downstairs aspect. And the music in both shows is nearly identical.  I couldn't stop watching... and part of that reason is that every show ends as a cliffhanger. Very abruptly. So you have to watch the next episode to know what happens. So start watching it when you have a few days to watch.



You'll love this show. If you don't mind reading subtitles, which I don't. It's got lots to keep you on the edge of your seat! 



Happy Watching!

What I'm Watching: Night at the Museum 3

When we heard that Robin Williams had passed away, my house went into some heavy mourning. Aaron and I both loved Robin Williams. No joke, I wore black for two weeks. The deaths of celebrities always hits me pretty square in the stomach, I'm so in love with everything film, television and theatre that I feel like part of myself dies when someone I love as much as I loved Robin Williams leaves out, especially when they leave out too soon.

So we were a little hesitant to watch the new Night at the Museum movie. We were afraid we would just want to cry through the whole thing, seeing Robin as the much loved Teddy Roosevelt wax figure. And so we didn't go wait in line to see it in the theatre, as we did with both of the previous NATM films. And when we saw it was on Amazon to rent, we kind of let it lay for a while.

Sunday afternoon, however, we were spending a very leisurely day at home after church -and the SEC Champsionship Game (GO CATS!!!!) - and we decided that, since my Mom was hanging with us, we would rent Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb from Amazon and see if we could survive it.

(This rental was a $4.99 - 48 hr rental.)

The thing I love about the NATM movies is how creative they are, and how they just feed the heck out of my imagination. I mean, I would move in to a museum that did that and just sit and talk to the figures. I would annoy the crap out of them, learning more than I ever thought I could. I'm a history nut, so that plays into my love of these movies too. The first one, I mean, it was incredible. Everyone knows that. The second one... there was sooo much going on, there were so many new characters.... and while it was good, while Amy Adams did a great Amelia Earhart, Hank Azaria was hilarious as Kah-mun-Rah, and we did have a little eye candy by way of Jon Bernthanl (Shane from The Walking Dead) as young Al Capone, it wasn't quite as good as the first one, IMO. It was just too much.

So I was almost ready when the opening started playing to be just a teench more disappointed.


Nope.

Not at all.

Before I begin.... I think it's safe to say, if you've been following my WIW's that there are SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Larry Daley is in charge of what is called the "night program" at the museum and has arranged a somewhat spectacular fundraiser type dinner which included appearances from the usual exhibits and from the limited time planetarium exhibit. Just as he's getting everyone lined out for the performance Ahkmenrah comes to him and says that there is something wrong with the magical golden tablet. You know, the magical golden tablet. The one that is responsible for all the museum coming alive every night.... It's beginning to corrode, and turn green with some sort of rust.

But the show must go on.  Teddy rides into the main room, filled with tables of wealthy patrons and everyones favorite museum coordinator Dr. McPhee - once again played by Ricky Gervais. Teddy introduces himself, gives an extremely brief history of the museum and talks about the stars... and then he introduces us to the constellations. They come streaming in, alive, and beautiful...

It's magic, and I knew from that moment I would love this movie.

But then something goes wrong. The tablet grows a little bit more decayed and it throws the entire exhibit haywire. Dexter the Money jumps on Larry's face, Jed and Octavius start tripping the horrified party goers. Teddy appears to have a short in his operating system, sparking different reactions, fast motion talking, slow motion talking, repetitive saluting... he even holds Larry at gunpoint and heartbreakingly says "I don't know you."

After the mess is cleaned up, Larry goes home to find Nick (his son, played in this movie by Skyler Gisondo), a soon to be High School graduate, having a party and learns that he wants to forego college to become a DJ. Oh my. The next day, he decides to do some research on the tablet, gets some great advice from Cecil, the original guard from the first movie played by the adorable Dick Van Dyke (and an appearance by another dearly departed treasure: Mickey Rooney) and pretty much forces the newly fired Dr. McPhee to arrange transferring Ahkmenrah to the British Musuem in London.


Enter Rebel Wilson as the guard at the museum. She does what she does best, making you laugh and shake your head all at the same time. Anyway, Larry and Nick sneak in after the "transfer" is complete and are surprised when they discover that instead of just Ahky (as I like to call him) being in London, Teddy has come, Sacajawea tagged along, Atilla couldn't leave it alone and of course Jed and Octavius came. Oh yes... and Dexter, can't forget Dexter. Aaaaand then there's the new Neanderthal... La, an exact copy of Larry. One of Dr. McPhee's little jests. He calls Larry "Dada." He's so funny!!

So the deal here is, Ahkmenrah and Larry need to get the tablet to Ahky's father (Sir Ben Freaking Kingsley!) so that he can tell them how to fix this problem. And the "Egypt" exhibit is deep inside the museum, and they have to get there before the tablet completely corrodes, otherwise it's the end for everyone.

Along the way, they lose Jed and Octavius. Of course. And on their sidetrack quest to find them, they encounter the super dreamy Sir Lancelot played by Dan Stevens (Matthew from Downton Abbey). He made us laugh SO HARD when he started talking.... He's just too funny. Watching him with long hair and a beard made me get even more excited for Beauty and the Beast!!!



As with any NATM movie you have your funny moments and your more serious moments. Like when Lancelot tries to take the tablet for himself, thinking it's the Holy Grail or some such relic, becoming the bad guy instead of the cute knight in shining armor. And then your right back to funny when he finds a London production of Camelot starring Hugh Jackman (who he keeps calling "Huge Ackman") and once again right back to serious when he starts losing it and throwing things into the audience, causing the tablet to corrode just a little bit more.

The lady guard and La!!! HAHAHAHA! Just watch! It's too funny!!

In the end, the New York exhibits tell Larry that they feel like Ahky and the tablet should stay in London, so that he can be with his family. There is just enough time to get back to New York while everyone from there is still awake....



I didn't find much that I disliked about this film... and there was honestly nothing that I disliked so much as to even tell you about. All in all I loved it.

And of course, I did cry, just a little bit, when Teddy said goodbye. Cause this time... for real, in real life, it was forever.


But what is a NATM without a dance party at the end!?!? We get one, and it's HILARIOUS!



If you were on the fence about watching this movie, like we were, don't be, it's funny, and definitely a perfect way to end this series. It's sad, so so so sad, watching Robin Williams' last performance, but he does it so well, and Teddy is one of his characters that, like Genie from Aladdin, will be with me forever. It spoke to my imagination and I'll forever be grateful for that.

It was SOOO worth the $5.17 (with tax) that I spent to rent this movie and I FOR SURE will be buying it on DVD to add to our collection.


This movie has all your favorites in it, has a few new faces, and in the end, when the credits roll, you will smile and say "That was a good movie."

What I'm Watching: Movies about Nazis

Actually it's movies about "KILLING" Nazis. Just to clarify.


 I don't know how it is where y'all live, but here in SoKy, it's cooooold. Or it has been cold. The last couple of days it's been quite a bit warmer than usual. I've been under the weather forevah it feels like. First it was this, then it was that, now I've got a nasty rattling cough that just won't go away. It's really getting me down, and I'm just walking on eggshells that it doesn't turn into a sore throat. I'd rather be shot than have a sore throat.

And naturally when I'm feeling down I turn to my favorite pass time: watching movies! Lately, I haven't been digging "American" movies. Feels like I've seen them all before. Not even indy movies are cutting it for me, so I decided to go back to my love of Foreign Films and my undeniable crush on Mads Mikkelson to find something to keep me occupied.


Flame & Citron was enthralling. Simply enthralling. It's the (mostly) true story about two Danish Resistance fighters during WWII, code named "Flame" and "Citron." They're best friends and always have each other's back.

The two of them are basically hired killers by the Danish government. They are part of an resistance group fighting against the Nazi's, who are literally everywhere you turn. Their orders are given to them and off they go. Easy, pretty much clean, in and out. One Nazi at a time.

"Flame," who's real name is "Bendt" is played excellently by Thure Lindhardt. I knew I'd seen his face before the moment it popped up on the TV screen. Grabbing my iPhone and opening up the IMDb app I discovered the reason why he looked familiar. He played the ruthless super assassin "Rufio" in one of my all time favorite shows, The Borgias. He is the "muscle" of the two, in the beginning. He's so calmly lethal.  No joke, he gets out of the car, walks up to the designated Nazi, and - not to mince words - blows their brains out. On the street, in their houses, hotel rooms... wherever they are, Flame kills them.

"Citron" is "Jorgen," and he is played yummily by Mads Mikkelson. Jorgen hates the Nazis. They've made him physically ill. He's the driver. When the film opens Jorgen hasn't pulled the trigger on anyone.  By the end of the film, he's literally fighting pretty much the entire Nazi army single handedly...

There's a slew of supporting characters, including a double agent named Ketty that Bendt can't fight his attraction to, even though he's playing with fire. There's the head of the Gestapo, Hoffmann, and Flame & Citron's boss, Winther.

There is so much intrigue and who's really the bad guy in this film. It's hard to explain because I don't want to give anything away.

There is very little language in this film.... if any. It's in Danish and German, but of course it is subtitled.  There is obviously some violence and there is one "adult" scene... and that was so awkward.

The end isn't happy. I'll just let ya know right now, but you can kind of expect that, considering it was WWII and all.

10 out of 10. BIG TIME.


I watched another Mads Mikkelson film called "Age of Uprising" and it wasn't very great at all. A lot like Braveheart, but it moved waaaaaay too slowly for my taste. Didn't even make it half way through.


For A Woman is a love-story that sort of reminds me of The Bridges of Madison County  the way it's presented. It starts off with adult children going through a recently deceased parents belongings and discovering a secret love affair.

Anne and Tania discover a mysterious ring and several photos in their mothers secret suitcase. Anne, a screenwriter, decides to turn her parents love story into a film and begins to write.

As she begins to unravel the story, she learns some amazing things.


Michel and Lena are Russian Jews. Michel is also a Communist and is very involved in a Communist group. Having met in, married in and fled a concentration camp they've immigrated to Lyon, France. Their story begins with them applying for French citizenship. Soon they're parents to Tania and Michel owns a suit tailor's shop.

Michel and Lena are obviously nuts about each other and love being together.

One afternoon Lena comes rushing down to the shop (from their apartment above) and tells Michel that his brother is upstairs. Michel is skeptical because he thinks his younger brother, Jean, died in Russia, but once he gets upstairs he sees it is Jean.

Jean is part of a secret group that is (also) killing Nazis. These Nazi's are trying to escape Europe and during their stop over in Lyon, Jean and his associate Sascha, kill them.

In both films the main characters express that they're not killing "people." The Nazis aren't "people."

Michel puts Jean and Sascha to work in the shop.

After some time, Lena can no longer hide her attraction to Jean, and kisses him in the kitchen. Jean insists he won't sleep with his brother's wife, that they're better than that.

After an argument Michel kicks Jean out. Jean begins living in a hotel room. The Germans are getting close to Jean, too close, and so he has to disappear.

Lena is depressed and upset that Jean has left. She loved his company, he was great with Tania.... Her friend gives her this advice "Sometimes we regret the mistakes that we don't make."

Who does Lena choose???????

This movie was BEAUTIFUL. I didn't know any of the actors in it, but right from the get-go I felt like the cutie-pie that plays Jean looked like a french Jamie Dornan - you know, Christian Grey? The woman that plays Lena is beautiful and very talented.

This whole movie is great. Really really beautiful. Like I said, it reminds me of The Bridges of Madison County the way that it goes back and forth between grown adult children and their parents.

There is some language. This film is in French and Russian and German, mostly French, and has subtitles. There is one adult situation scene, and it's pretty tame but there is a flash of a woman's bare chest, but it's very quick.


Again, 10 out of 10!!


I'm loving watching these Foreign Films! They give me something that regular American films just aren't giving me. You can bet that as long as I've got the rattling cough that I'll be watching these movies.... it helps that they have subtitles because half the time I cough the whole way through them! Haha!

What I'm Watching: Renee Zellweger

I am not a huge Renee Zellweger fan, I can take her or leave her, her earlier stuff is the best and to me it feels like after Cold Mountain everything sort of went downhill. But there are two movies in her earlier repertoire that I simply must share with you!


A Price Above Rubies IMDb


I'd seen this film years and years ago, when I was a teenager, living at home, and I remember liking it enough that whenever I would see it come on TV (usually WE or Lifetime would play it) I would turn it on and watch at least half of it.

Starring Renee Zellweger and Christopher Eccelston, with an almost cameo-worthy appearance by Julianna Margulies and directed by Boaz Yakin, this film, released in 1998, is about a devout Jewish woman's rebellion. It's all about how she spreads her wings and learns how to become her own person.

Now, to start off, I know absolutely NOTHING about the Jewish faith. All I know are the stereotypes... the Sylvia Fine's (The Nanny)... so going into this movie I was hoping to get a real honest look at the Jewish faith... whether I did or not, I don't know. I was completely unaware how strict the most devout Jews were about women covering their hair. It's either wear a wig or a scarf over your hair. Show your real hair only to your husband, basically. I had NO idea.

Renee's character, Sonia, has recently become a mother. Her husband, Mendal, is a scholar, a very devout, very religious scholar. Motherhood doesn't seem to suit Sonia. She craves a certain intimacy with her husband that he, flat out, tells her he believes is sinful. She's unhappy, stuck in her marriage, and to top it all off, she's got a screaming baby that she can't stand to really be around. At one point in the film she is speaking to someone and she confides in him that she doesn't know what's wrong with her. That she is hot, all the time, that she feels like there is a fire lit inside her. She says she is so physically sensitive that she cannot breastfeed her child, or put on a shirt because it hurts, it burns. It's obvious that she is longing for intimacy with her husband, but he is not willing, at all.  They have a child, that's the end. If they want more children later on.... well... do the mechanics, the end. She tries, over and over again, and others do as well, in the early beginnings of the movie to convince her that her life isn't so bad, that it could be a lot worse. but still, the fire is lit inside Sonia, and that type of fire cannot be extinguished.

Her brother in law, Sender, played by Christopher Eccelston (he's made a career out of playing jerks, bless him), is a jeweler. Sonia's father was a jeweler and taught his daughter everything he knew, but wouldn't let her take over the family business because she was a woman. One night at a family dinner, Sender produces a broach for her to inspect, telling her it cost some outrageous amount of money, like $6,000. She looks at it, and pretty much tells him it's a piece of tin with a cheap colored glass stone.

Not long after that, Sender arrives unannounced to Sonia and Mendel's apartment, offering Sonia, who is home alone, a job as a buyer. She is very gifted in that area after all. The thing of it is, Sender - Mendel's brother - is a cad. Before Sonia can even think, Sender is making his move on her, right there, up against the living room wall, the baby just a few feet away. It s loveless affair for both of them. For Sender, it's conquest, and for Sonia, it fills the physical need, but not the emotional. And let's face it ladies, we are all about the emotion.

Sonia goes to work for Sender and immediately becomes a favorite amongst Sender's clients. One afternoon, while haggling over a ring with a store owner, she comes across a hand crafted 22 karat gold ring. She's amazed at it's beauty, its intricate design and decides she must find who the creator is. The store owner tells her he got it for cheap in Chinatown and was gonna send it out to be melted down. Sonia takes the ring and goes to every shop in Chinatown, until a woman on a park bench wearing similarly designed earrings tells her that there's a guy in her neighborhood that makes what she's looking for.

Ramon works for the above mentioned jewelry store owner and is the designer of the one of a kind ring. Sonia goes to his shop and insists he can sell the items. And honestly, if I were going to believe anyone, I'd believe her. There's an attraction between Ramon and Sonia, but she's still 1) married to Mendel and 2) sleeping with Sender.

Things go from bad to worse when Mendel forgets Sonia's birthday. Pretty soon the entire community, including Mendal's sister Rachel - Julianna Margulies (she's a fantastic actress and is only on the screen for probably 15 minutes all together throughout the length of the film.... I would have loved seeing more of her character) - knows about her attraction to Ramon and consider her job with Sender sinful.


This film requires more than one watch to be truly understood, I think. There's lots going on in this movie, from the affairs, to the job, to her husband, to his family, to the religion, to a story line about Sonia's younger brother who died as a child... but it all flows together so well. That's life, things happen all at once. Women who have been unhappy in their marriage at any point will relate to Sonia, even if we cannot understand exactly how a devout Jew operates. Sometimes there is just something lacking in a marriage and we can definitely line up our stories with Sonia's. Sometimes our husbands are too involved with the ball game to talk to us about our day. I'll be honest, Renee Zellweger's recent films... (not that there are many, she hasn't worked in so long) anything past Cold Mountain (she was astonishing in that movie) I don't really care for. I don't even like the Bridget Jones movies. But this is a movie where I feel she flat out shines. Her speech about the fire inside her is breathtakingly performed. She carries and drives this film effortlessly. Sure, her accent kinda comes and goes a bit, but don't most actors that fake an accent lose it once in a while? Her despair is obvious, and thats what keeps you watching until the end.

If you are interested, here is a link to the trailer on YouTube. This film can be viewed for free on Netflix and is rated R. There is some nudity and a few adult scenes.



While I'm on the subject of Renee Zellweger, I'd like to take a second to talk about my all time favorite Renee film. It's a little seen gem called The Whole Wide World.

This movie is beautiful. It's thrilling. It's infuriating. It's romantic. It's sad. It's a masterpiece, and it makes me so sad when people say they haven't seen it.  And above all, it's a TRUE STORY!

Renee Zellweger stars as Novalyne Price, a young schoolteacher and aspiring writer in Texas. She is introduced to Robert E. "Bob" Howard, the author of the famous Conan the Barbarian pulp fiction novels, played to the height of perfection by Vincent D'Onofrio. She wants to know how to write, and Bob is a huge success, so she feels like he's the person who's brain she must pick!

Over a little time, Novalyne and Bob become friends, spending lots of time together and pretty soon, it's clear that Novalyne is in love with Bob, and Bob, even though he doesn't have a clue what to do with it, is in love, helplessly, with Novalyne. However, Bob, for lack of a better phrase, is a Mama's Boy. His Mother is very ill and requires all the attention that Bob has aside from writing, and Novalyne is sort of an afterthought.


This film contains what is, in my true opinion, the greatest on-screen kiss to ever happen. I remember watching it with my parents for the first time.... my Dad was so funny, right in the middle of the kiss he jumps up off the couch and shouts "Well Good Lord their lips are gonna be blue by the time they're done! Lord have mercy, y'all take a breath, get some air!" <-- his exact words. He made me pause the movie so he could go get a glass of water after they were done. :)


Because this is a true story, based on Novalyne's memoir The One Who Walked Alone, you don't have to dig too far to know that Bob's life was tragically cut short when he took his own life. Bob Howard was a truly tortured man. Mental illness and creative genius often live in the same body, and too often one or the other will cause the lights to go out, and that's what happened with Bob Howard.


Vincent D'Onofrio practically jumps off the screen. He is a truly, truly gifted actor. He fully embodies all the aspects of Robert E. Howard, the mental instability, the tortured soul, the desire for Novalyne, and the desire to provide every possible comfort for his ailing mother, the creative madness that was Conan the Barbarian... He even twitches around like someone who's skin is too tight, someone who's creative energy is so overwhelming that they constantly move. They twiddle their thumbs, strum their fingers, shake or bounce their feet and legs. Don't ask me how the man got to that place, but God bless him for it. It's a performance that brings everything else to a screeching halt. All you can do is watch him. He's cocky, and arrogant, and desirable, and frustrating, tortured and brilliant all at once. It's a masterpiece power house performance.

The term "can't be tamed" is often tossed around these days, and immediately the Miley Cyrus song pops to mind... but in this instance, Robert E. Howard was one of those people that could not be tamed. To tame the beast would be to kill him. Settling down with Novalyne to raise a family would have been the end of the man. He was simply too much man to survive any way other than how he did.

Renee Zellweger is beautiful in this film. The costumes and hairstyles of the 1930's work so well on her. Her performance mirrors all the emotions that we, as the viewer, feel. If she was frustrated with Bob, which was often easy to do, we were frustrated with Bob. When she loved him, we loved him. The driving force in this film is, without any doubts, Vincent D'Onofrio, but Renee Zellweger definitely helps carry it along in the passenger seat. Renee Zellweger had yet to hit the big time in 1996 when this film was made. In fact, I believe this is the last film she made before heading off to do Jerry Maguire, and we all know how that turned out.  Years later in 2004, when she won the Oscar for that amazing performance as Ruby in Cold Mountain she thanked Vincent D'Onofrio in her speech, saying that he'd taught her "how to work" during the filming of The Whole Wide World. As I kept saying she was in A Price Above Rubies she is extremely relatable and normal in this movie. It is easy to watch, and there's a comfort to seeing her on the screen.

This is a MUST SEE film for romantics. It's not a happy ending film, it's one of those "thankful for the experience" films. If you've never been in that place in your life, I don't know that you will love this movie as much as I do. At the end of the film, when we learn of Bob's fate, my Dad was so shook up that he swore he'd never watch the film again, and he never did. It tugged too hard on his heart strings.  I truly adore this film and have purchased it on VHS and DVD. It is available on YouTube in it's entirety.  I just can't express how much I truly love this movie. It's beyond words.

This film is rated PG!



If you had to choose between these two movies to watch I say DEFINITELY go with The Whole Wide World. It's the best out of the two, hands down.

What I'm Watching! (Bad Foreign Film Edition)

Good afternoon everybody! Today I'd like to take you on another What I'm Watching journey.... cause that's what this is.... a journey. Ooh, should I start doing "What I"m Watching Wednesdays??" Would that be fun? Comment below if you think it's a good idea!

I'd like to start off with a movie that was so wildly talked about during awards season that I was chomping at the bit to see it. It was even so "good" it was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2014 Academy Awards. (The spoken language is Flemish.) So to me that says, "this movie is probably awesome, you must see it." I mean, after all, I've had great luck with foreign language films in the past. Anyone remember my post about A Royal Affair??

It's called The Broken Circle Breakdown. (Click the link to go to the IMDb page.)


I watched this film for free (with my Prime Membership) on Amazon Instant Video last night, finally.

Let me just start out, right off the bat, by saying that this is one of those unfortunate instances when the trailer that Amazon Instant had for me to watch completely outdoes the film itself. The trailer left me standing on my feet with my hands knotted in my hair I was wanting to see this film so bad. But after I finally watched the film itself... it was a total bummer. I thought.

The summary on Amazon Instant led me to believe that this film was, and I quote "intensely romantic." I beg to differ.


I'm gonna spoil the whole thing for you, so if you want to watch this movie for yourself and not be tainted with my opinions, you'd best stop reading after a certain point. But you can skip this one as far as I'm concerned, so read ahead!

So in The Broken Circle Breakdown we are told the story of Didier and Elise. Didier is an atheist, and a banjo player/singer in a bluegrass band. Do they even have those in Belgium? I didn't think it was a thing. Anyway, he is obsessed with America. He loves American music and basically just thinks America is the end all be all.

Elise is an artist in a tattoo shop, and according to the IMDb summary, she is a religious realist. Honestly the only "religion" ques I picked up on where the anti-religious rants Didier went on towards the end of the film, but maybe I missed something.


This film jumps back and forth A LOT. And it left me pretty confused most of the time. I know films do that sometimes, cutting between the past and present, for dramatic effect, but the way it was done here left me scratching my head. It starts off when Didier and Elise's daughter, Maybelle - named after Mother Maybelle Carter from the famous Carter Family - is diagnosed with cancer. I should have known right then that this film was gonna leave me lacking. Anyway then it flashes back to Didier and Elise's first night together, ever. Like they drive up into his yard (he's renovating an old looks like a church type building but living in a little travel trailer) and wham bam bada bing. No explanation of how they met, why they met, how long they've known each other, not a clue on who these people are, other than the fact that we know that 7 years into the future they have a child with cancer. Didier talks to Elise about America, and about how stupid tattoos are ('nothing is worth writing it on your body,') and then he wakes up the next morning to the sounds of her taking his truck. She shows up, I'm assuming, a few days later wearing the Old Glory bikini shown in the poster above, with an American Eagle "tattooed" on his truck hood.  Thus begins their "intensely romantic" (hogwash) relationship.

The bluegrass music, while I love it as a genre and I actually enjoyed the musical numbers contained in the film, seemed SO out of place. Maybe it's because everyone was speaking Flemish and then singing Bill Monroe's greatest hits in PERFECT English. It made me wonder, do they even know what they're singing?? To me, that's the point of bluegrass and gospel music (of which there are a few songs towards the end), it's knowing what you're singing about. I never could understand why, if it was Didier's band, why he was singing gospel songs if he was an atheist.  Riddle me that one.

It is obvious that he loves Elise, who somehow magically has a songbird's voice (I think she screeches through her version of "The Wayfaring Stranger," completely killing the emotion of the song, even though it was supposed to be a highly emotional moment) and is instantly the female voice in the band. But when she shows up telling him she's pregnant, he acts like a complete turd and drives off. He shows up a little while later with a bunch of carpentry supplies and tells her that they can't have a baby living in the "caravan." So we are supposed to take that as an "Ok."

Maybelle is an adorable child. I cannot tell you how cute this girl is and frankly I think she's the best little actress in the whole film. She takes her cancer like a champ. There is one scene in particular where a bird flies into a window and dies. She cradles the dead bird in her hands, sobbing, and Didier tells her it's dirty, that he's going to throw it in the trash can. I was sitting in my recliner hollering at the TV. "Can't you see she needs you to BURY that bird?? Your child NEEDS that comfort!!! She's dying and she knows it! What are you gonna do with her when she dies? Throw her in the trash can!!??" And then he goes on a rampage saying that the birds are stupid and they need to learn not to fly into glass. When Elise puts some decals on the windows so that the birds will see and not fly into the glass, Didier tells her it's not fixing the problem, it's just covering it up. They're birds. They're never going to learn. They're birds. Get over yourself. Maybelle finally tells her Daddy that the dead bird became a star and instead of breaking her heart, which I was expecting him to do, he says "Ok, sweetie." Whoa. Deep, man. Real deep.

Maybelle is given some stem cell treatments which the doctors tell Elise and Didier are going to be nearly 100% effective and that they expect the little girl to be completely cured of her cancer. (SPOILERS on the end from here on out!!!) She dies. It's heartbreaking. She was the light of the entire movie. At her graveside, in the middle of the rain, the band sings "Go To Sleep You Little Baby," you know, the song the three sirens sang on the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack. I admit, I sang harmony along with it... just because I like that song.

Naturally Didier and Elise's not legal marriage (they said "vows" to each other one night after a gig with one of the band members impersonating Elvis as the officiant, whatevs)  begins to suffer when Elise falls into the expected depression that comes along with the death of a child. And then the blame and name calling starts getting thrown around. Didier says that maybe their house wasn't clean enough, that maybe she ate something she shouldn't have, that Elise drank and smoked for the first 3 months of her pregnancy because she didn't know she was pregnant... Elise slams back saying that there's no cancer in her family and that his Dad and two of his uncles died with it.

She leaves him. She covers up the tattoo of his name on her stomach -something she tends to do with her boyfriends apparently, as we find out in a flashback to how they met, FINALLY- and says she's changed her name to Alabama. Ok. Didier complains that if she isn't Elise anymore, then who is he? Who is he supposed to be with her? (That part I kind of thought was romantic... you know. "Who am I without you? There's no me without you!") She thinks for a moment and says his new name should be Monroe.

They're still singing together as a group and after a few more musical numbers we start seeing flashes of Didier in his white performance suit (they all dress in white to sing) driving his truck with blue lights flashing ahead of him. These go on for ever, cut in and out of scenes.

Didier goes coo-coo-bananas at one point during a gig and starts shouting about there being no God.  As a Christian, I did not agree. I believe in God. I know he's real. Elise, by the end of his little speech in which he calls himself an ape and says that he's afraid, looks like someone has let all the air out of her. She believes Maybelle has gone on to a better place, and Didier believes that she has just ceased to exist. How depressing. Didier calls his beloved dream of America stupid and evil, I think, because at the time President Bush has just vetoed the embryonic stem cell bill. Didier says its America's fault his daughter died. Because America is putting the breaks on stem cell research, Belgium, who has no issues with it whatsoever, is being pulled back. He's upset, he's irrational. I moved on.

FINALLY we discover that Elise, after giving herself a mysterious tattoo, overdosed on some sort of pills. Didier finds her in the tattoo shop, where she's been living since their split, and calls an ambulance. We eventually discover that she's brain dead. So as a final farewell, the day they turn all the life support machines off, Didier and the band play her a final bluegrass jig... not a solemn goodbye song, a freaking jig, around her deathbed. But honestly, if you're gonna die, there's probably no better way to do it than with a lively bluegrass song.

The final shot of the film before it goes dark and the credits roll is Elise's final tattoo.... Alabama & Monroe. *tear*



No more spoilers!


So.... the story to this film was a good one. I'll give it that. The idea of the plot was good. The downfall of a marriage between two wildly different people after the death of their child, mixed in with bluegrass music... yeah. But somewhere I think the execution went wrong.

And can I just say this? PHOTOGRAPHICALLY.... like the technical side of photography, not the composition side, THIS FILM SUCKED!!! There was like NO CONTRAST whatsoever in any shot in the entire film. It made everything look bleak and grey and nothing had any definition to it, at all. I suppose that's the look they were going for, but me, personally, no way. Emotions tend to run higher when everything is in bright, bold detail I think. Ok, so the bleak and grey worked for the funeral scenes but come on... the beautiful shots of the horses running through the fields could have been so much more beautiful if they'd cranked the contrast up just a bit!!

IMDb gives this film a 7.8 out of 10 and I have to give it a 6... maybe a 5. I REALLY REALLY wanted to like this movie. There are 48 user reviews on IMDb and only about 3 of them have anything negative to say.  I just wasn't feeling this movie, at all.

I did like the name though. The Broken Circle Breakdown... pretty awesome if you ask me.

Again, this movie wasn't my cup of tea, it didn't live up to how amazing I thought it was supposed to be from the trailer and the "intensely romantic" comment in the Amazon Instant summary.  If you are interested, give it a look, see what you think.


Just as a warning, as I do for all of my reviews, there is some bad language towards the end. (The "F" word must be universally pronounced the same way) And, of course, there are some adult situations..... I don't know how she got her feet to press up against the truck window like that, but I applauded her flexibility. And also, if you're a softie like me, you may want to have some Kleenex handy for Maybelle.




I watched this next film way before I started doing the What I'm Watching posts. But since I was talking about Foreign Films today, I thought I'd throw this one in. Unfortunately, I didn't like this one either. And I thought for sure I would.


To The Wonder stars Ben Affleck (it was great to see him on screen again, it feels like it's been forever since he's worked, except for Argo, which I still haven't seen) and Rachael McAdams and was directed by Terrence Malick, the man that directed on of my favorite movies The New World. I assumed that because The New World struck such a chord in my soul, that this film we be the same way. Nope. Uh-uh. No way! Not even Ben Affleck could make me like this movie, and I generally love him.

I am not even sure where to start with this movie. It's another one of those where I'm not sure there is an actual story line.

Ben's character, Neil meets this woman, Marina, in Paris. But we never know their names until the very end. Weird? Yes. Anyway he falls in love with her, and her daughter and she comes home with him to Oklahoma. Talk about a culture shock.

Well as you'd expect, free spirited Marina doesn't exactly fit in in Oklahoma. Never mind the fact that they're living in a huge house in a fancy subdivision, which would be enough for me. Right?

All Marina does is spin. The entire time she's on screen, she running and spinning. I got tired just watching her.

Eventually she goes back to Paris, as you'd expect. And while she's gone, Ben Neil runs into Rachael Jane (how unique). Apparently these two had been "friends," if you know what I'm saying, before and then something happened and they split and I think, if I remember correctly, that she got married and was widowed... IDK, in any event she owns this big ranch.

And they're awesome together. Jane doesn't spin. Thank God. Rachael McAdams is simply stunning, visually, in this movie. She's really gorgeous, wearing her pearls with her mud boots. Love it.

But then Neil hears that Marina is having some problems in Paris and he rushes back to rescue her, marrying her. WHA?! Seems kinda sudden, but whatever.  And of course, back to boring ol' Oklahoma they go, without her daughter, who has decided to stay in Paris with her Father.

In the middle of all of this Marina meet Father Quintana, played by Javier Bardem, who is having a "crisis of faith." I'm not sure why his character is even in this movie. He mainly wanders, muttering to God.

Of course, all that glitters is not gold, and Neil and Marina are back in their problems again. She treats him almost like her warden, like he's holding her prisoner, but, if she would just think back, she's the one that called him and said "help I need you, take me back to Oklahoma. Dump the woman you love, the woman you can have a real life with and come back for me, I'll spin in the open fields for you. I'm French and fabulous." Yeah. It got on my nerves.

Did I mention that there IS NO DIALOGUE in this movie?? NONE! Hardly anything at all. It's mostly Marina muttering something in French, or Jane or Father Quintana praying, all in VOICEOVER. Every bit. Jane maybe says 5 words to Neil. I don't recall hearing Ben's voice much at all.

It just WORKED in The New World. IDK what the difference was. But in that film the voice overs and the running and spinning in fields just worked, in this movie it DID NOT.

I read in the Trivia section on IMBd (click the linky above to go to the IMBd page) that Terrence Malick did not have an actual script for this film. He just gave the actors notes every morning and told them to run with it. Basically this film is improvised from beginning to end, and given that, the performances are really good. Terrence Malick said he wanted the emotions conveyed with their actions and their bodies, not with words. Idealistically (is that the right word?) that's all well and good and sometimes it works, i.e. The New World. But it did nothing for the structure of the film, or for the story, really. Again it could be such a good story. Fall in love in Paris, come home, things don't work out, she leaves, guy finds love with an old flame, but then the French girl suddenly reappears, who does he love more??? It could be good, right? I see potential in that.

And, apparently, this is semi-auto-biographical. Plus the trivia section states that Christian Bale had been cast as Neil but had to drop out and was replaced by Ben Affleck.... nothing against Ben, I think he's lovely, but maybe I would have liked it more with Christian.... we will never know.


Apparently I'm not the only person that thought this film was a bust. IMBd gives this movie 6.0 out of 10 stars. I think that's being generous.  I give it a 4, maybe even a 3. Rachael McAdams was my favorite part, and I enjoyed looking at the house that Neil and Marina lived in during her first stay in Oklahoma, I'm a bit of a house nut, in case you couldn't tell.

Just.... pass on this movie. Really. I say it every time that you can watch it if you want to, see for yourself, gather your own opinions, but... honestly... this movie is not worth the effort it takes to pull it up on either Netflix or Amazon Instant. Seriously. It's bad, It's... it's baaad. If you want to watch a good Terrence Malick movie, one with a story, and a beautiful setting and beautiful people, plug in The New World.



So that's it for the Bad Foreign Film Edition of What I'm Watching Wednesday!!! I think that this could possibly become a regular Wednesday thing. I really enjoy my time with my TV, in case you couldn't tell, and watching things I've never watched before and then hopping onto Blogger and writing a review about it makes me feel all special, and important!

I wish I had something to rant and rave about and tell you that I absolutely love it and cannot imagine how I lived my life before watching it, but, alas, it was not to be in this weeks edition.

Maybe next week ;)

 

What I'm Watching!

I'm back with another What I'm Watching! I enjoyed doing this so much before that I thought I'd do another one!

So I've watched The Borgias 84,000 times since I discovered it a few months ago. I'm still obsessed with that show. I love it. But I'm beginning to get to that point when I can repeat every episode verbatim, so I went in search of a new series to start.

Once Upon a Time airs on ABC.

I attempted Once Upon A Time. While I LOVE the idea and the execution... and generally everything else about this show... they killed Jamie Dornan off way way way too soon. I had to take a break to grieve the loss. I haven't made it all the way through the first season yet, but I intend to catch up before the new season starts this fall.

Basically the deal is Emma Swan had a baby when she was a teenager that she gave up for adoption. One day, her given up son, Henry,  now about 10-ish years old, shows up begging for her help. He takes her back to his hometown of Storybrooke, Maine where his mother, Regina, is the Mayor. 

The thing about Storybrooke is, as Henry is so eager to tell Emma, is that everyone in the town is a fairy tale character, and they don't realize it. 

Regina, Henry's adoptive mother and the towns Mayor, is the Evil Queen from Snow White. She has the entire town under a spell and is in serious cahoots with Rumpelstiltskin, played by Robert Carlyle. I'm not sure who's worse, at this point.

The thing I like the most about this show is how imaginative it is and how the fairy tales I grew up with intermingle with each other. I also love watching Ginnifer Goodwin turn in a stellar performance as Snow White/Mary Margaret Blanchard. She is so stinking cute with her little pixie haircut, and all her costumes are right up my alley. 

FUN FACT: Ginnifer Goodwin, who is Snow White on this show, and Josh Dallas, who plays her Prince Charming, fell in love on set and got married in real life!! They just had a son! She literally married Prince Charming.

Emma Swan comes into play in the fairy tale world as the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming that they banished into the real world when she was born to save her from the Evil Queen. Slowly Emma helps the residents of Storybrooke remember who they were, and what their stories were.

I really have enjoyed what I've seen of this show, and as soon as I have sufficiently gotten over the loss of Jamie Dornan, who played the Sheriff of Storybrooke/The Huntsman from Snow White, I will continue on my journey.

If you have a really active imagination, like I do, or just love fairy tales, this show is wonderful! 





The next show I became enthralled with was a little gem called Carnivale (pronounced Carni-Vahl). I remember wanting to see this show when I was a teenager, but we didn't have HBO, so I was unable to. Amazon Instant recently added this to it's library and I immediately sat down to watch it, and didn't move for nearly 3 days.

Both seasons now available on Amazon Instant Vide

Carnivale ran on HBO from 2003 to 2005. Originally 6 seasons had been planned by creator David Knauf, but after 2 seasons it was canned by HBO, sending fans of the show into a tizzy. The idea was for 2 seasons to be a book. Meaning, 2 seasons tell one story and so on, but all 6 seasons would be connected in a way. So in the end there would be 3 "books" to the Carnivale series. Sort of like American Horror Story is doing these days.

There remains a small glimmer of hope that maybe, possibly, perhaps one day a company like Netflix or Amazon Instant might be able to produce a third season of this show. And if that's the case, I'm first in line with my own bag of popcorn to watch.

I don't even know where to start to tell you about this show. So much goes on and there are so many details. There are two story lines that run parallel to one another, set in the 1930's during the Dust Bowl. In the first story line we meet Ben Hawkins (brilliantly portrayed by Nick Stahl), who's mother has just died from dust pneumonia. A traveling carnival comes across Ben as he's burying his mother, and takes him in as a roustie (roustabout, hired hand). The carnivale is run by the never seen Management and a little person named Samson. There's also a psychic named Appolonia and her daughter, Sofie (Clea DuVall), the bearded lady Lila and her mentalist lover Lodz, the snake handler Ruthie, as well as the cootch dancing Dreifuss family (which includes Meat Loaf's daughter, Amanda Aday, in the early episodes of season 1), and a whole host of other characters, including leader of the rousites, former Major League baseball star Clayton Jones, known as "Jonesy." He's probably my favorite character, he's such a good guy. He got knee-capped by the Mob after refusing the throw a game in their favor. He hobbles around with a leather knee brace on the outside of his pants leg, but that doesn't slow him down at all, he's a force to be reckoned with when you mess with something or someone he loves. Tim DeKay is absolutely adorable as Jonesy.

In the second story line we meet Brother Justin Crowe (the incomparable Clancy Brown) and his sister Iris (Amy Madigan). Brother Justin is a Methodist minister who suddenly begins having visions about opening a mission in Chinatown. A supporting character in Brother Justin and Iris' story is Reverend Norman Balthus, their mentor, played exquisitely by the late Ralph Waite. His character suffers a stroke late in season 1 and is confined to a wheelchair, unable to speak, in season 2. He acts nearly everyone else off the screen with his facial expressions and the looks he gets in his eyes. Job well done, sir. Job well done.

Carnivale is your basic good vs. evil story. You'd think that Brother Justin, the preacher, would be the good, but you'd be wrong. He is a satanic avatar hellbent on the destruction of the world. Ben is a healer and an angelic avatar, if you will. Ben and Justin dance around each other, and their epic showdown for 23 episodes and finally have it out in the 24th. There is the search for Ben's father, Henry Scudder, a disastrous trip to a ghost town called Babylon, love affairs, fires, rival carnivals, visions, secrets, lies, deaths, resurrections, miracles and more twists and turns than a winding country back road all packed into two all-consuming seasons. 

If you like American Horror Story, chances are you will like this show. It still, to this day, has a devout following, of which I now find myself in the midst of. It's a little dark in places, kind of scary here and there... but over all it's a very good show. There is some bad language and nudity (it's HBO, what are you expecting?). The nudity is centered around the cootch show and the Dreifuss women, just as a heads up, I mean, that's what a cootch show is peeps.

So now, after 3 days of non-stop watching this show, I'm faced with having to carry on with my life after the explosive series finale, and all the insane things that happened. I don't know how to just move on after something like that! ;)

Naomi Watts stars as the late Diana, Princess of Wales

As far as movies go, I haven't watched many new ones, because of my obsession with The Borgias and Carnivale. However, I did take a time out a few nights ago to watch Diana. ...Uuuummm... I'm not sure how I feel about this movie. 

Naomi Watts gives it a solid try as Princess Diana. She's a wonderful, talented actress, but I think the character of Diana, Princess of Wales is a toughie in general, for even the most experienced or talented of actresses. While she gave it her best effort to give us that "Diana Look," like what's on the poster, you know, the through the lashes look that Diana gave so often, it looked unnatural for her, and made it seems as though she was trying too hard. Her accent was fine, but Naomi Watts is wonderful at accents. The thing that always gets me about Diana movies is the hair. They never get the hair right. It's too feathery too late in her life, most of the time. Too much the way she styled it in the 80's into the 90's. Towards the end of the life, her hair was less feathery, less fluffy. It was sleeker, more defined.,  They showed bits of Naomi as Diana during the Martin Basheer interview, the famous interview that caused Buckingham Palace to implode... I felt like I personally could have mimicked it better. 

That's what it was. To me, it felt like Naomi Watts what trying to just mimic Princess Diana, instead of really getting in, digging her heels into the part and becoming the Princess.

This film tells the story of the late princess' affair with an Indian heart surgeon named Dr. Hasnat Khan, played by Naveen Andrews, the only bright spot in this movie for me. I knew very little about this relationship before seeing the film, but apparently he was "her great love." I don't know. I guess I never gave it much though. I always assumed that Dodi Fayed was the great love, but this film plays him off as a rebound, the guy Diana went to to get back at Hasnat for breaking off their relationship. You can never be 100% sure with what's the actual truth about Princess Diana, there are so many stories and contradicting opinions. It even shows Diana setting up a photographer while she was on her vacation with Dodi, making sure that Hasnat saw the images of her with Dodi on his yacht. All those supposedly intrusive photos of her last vacation with Dodi, in this film, were played as a set up by the princess herself.

Here's my thing... movies about public figures, especially ones as famous at the late princess, are hard to pull of right. This movie was touted as the greatest thing since sliced bread, but it left me flat. An actress as well known as Naomi Watts falling flat on her face trying too hard was not something I enjoyed watching.

What I did enjoy was Naveen Andrews. Perhaps it's because I didn't have a picture in my head of how the real Hasnat Khan was during that time.  I didn't have something for him to live up to, you know what I'm saying. Right? He made me believe he was in love with Diana, truly. The way Naomi Watts played Diana.... she played her almost as desperate, which could be true, depending on which story you listen to. It was almost like she saw him, picked him out of a crowd and made him her project. Anything to feel loved. We all know that Princess Diana had issues with that, -not feeling loved- but this movie made it seem as though Diana saw Hasnat, an attractive, successful man, decided to make him her project and the next day was wanting to marry him. Naveen Andrews had me in tears at the end of the movie when he finds out about Diana's death. I was shocked that I was crying during a film I disliked as much as Diana, but after the credits rolled I realized it was the emotion I felt coming off of Naveen Andrews causing me to tear up.

The only movie in this area that I think gets it right is The Queen with Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II. I don't know what the difference is. Is it the material? The writing? What time frame the film is set? A film about the death of the Princess (not a lifetime movie, I mean) might be worth a watch, but it will never happen. Is it the acting? Helen Mirren is an amazing actress, but so is Naomi Watts-- most of the time. The direction of the film? I don't know where Diana went wrong, but to me, it did.

I may watch it again, just to see Naveen Andrews be amazing. 

I wonder if, when actresses like Naomi Watts sign on for roles like this, if they're expecting it to be their shining Academy Award winning moment? Did Lindsey Lohan think she was a shoe-in for Emmy's and Golden Globe's when she played Elizabeth Taylor (horrifically)? I certainly hope Naomi Watts didn't come onto this project thinking that she was going to blow all the competition out of the water, because she certainly did not. 

If you're on the fence about watching this movie, go ahead and give it a look. Naveen Andrew's performance is wonderful. And it is fun seeing Naomi Watts in all of those iconic Diana dresses.

Starring Brian d'Arcy James and Sutton Foster as Shrek and Princess Fiona

Lastly, here's a movie I can't get away from. Aaron and I love it! Shrek the Musical! 

Ok, so we're 7 years old. Whatever, we don't care. We are obsessed. You can find this little lovely on Netflix.

I decided to watch this one night back in February while I was giving crotcheting a scarf. I know, random. But I did. 

Instantly I loved it. Aaron was asleep, but I went and woke him up to get him to watch it with me. It's so stinking cute.

If you liked Shrek, the movie, which, lets face it, most of us adults did, you will love this. 

Shrek the Musical ran on Broadway for a year, from 2008 to 2009. It then did a tour of the US in 2010 and in 2011 the West End revamped the musical for their audiences. It is unclear when, exactly this version was filmed, but it was during the original run of the US Broadway show.

Brian d'Arcy James plays Shrek, the iconic green ogre. He does the part justice, let me tell you. His accent is spot on, his acting is hilarious and his singing is beyond amazing. He has a stellar voice.

Blowing me away as Princess Fiona is Sutton Foster. I'd never heard of her before this, but she.is.phenominal. She is hilarious, she can sing, she can dance, she has perfect comedic timing. We love her so much we are tossing around the idea of naming a daughter (if that ever happens) Sutton. 

Daniel Breaker totally lives up to Eddie Murphy as Donkey. He is HILARIOUS! His singing voice is fantastic and his comedic timing, like Sutton Fosters, is spot on. 

Lord Faarquad is played by Christopher Sieber. The tall actor performs the entire show on his knees. Yes. He breaks the 4th wall on a regular basis, and hilarious every time he does. For example, when he rides up to Princess Fiona, to save her from Shrek and take her back to the Duloc to marry him, he's riding an obviously fake horse. To stop the horse he says  "Whoa, plastic horse." And it's hilarious!  His musical numbers are show stopping.

The supporting cast of fairy tale creature is dead on. Pinocchio sounds exactly like the Pinocchio from the movie version, as does the Gingerbread Man.

I'm a sucker for catchy musical tunes, and this show has them in spades.

My second favorite song in the production is "I Know It's Today," which is sung by Princess Fiona at 3 different stages in her life in the tower. She sings about reading the fairy tales and waiting for it to happen to her in real life, just knowing it's today that it will happen for her. 8,423 days later, it still hasn't happened.  By the end of the song she's a bit frantic. Sutton Foster's voice is amazing. 

My  favorite song is "Who I'd Be." This song tugs at my heartstrings so bad. Donkey asks Shrek who he'd be if he wasn't an ogre. Originally Shrek says nobody, but after some prodding, Shrek sings about being a hero, or a viking, a poet, or a prince charming. Princess Fiona, now changed into an ogre as it's after sunset, comes into the background singing a refrain of "I Know It's Today." Donkey chimes in turning the song into a stellar trio, sending chills up my spine every single time. It's another one of those instances where this feeds my imagination. I tear up every time. The lighting is beautiful during this song as well. You just don't know until you see it. The way their three voices blend is simply magical.

There are the funny songs, like "The Ballad of Faarquad," and "Donkey Pot Pie," sung by the dragon to Donkey. Don't forget about the two show stoppers that the Fairy Tale Creatures sing "Story of my Life" and "Freak Flag." Shrek and Fiona also stand off against each others suffering in "I Think I Got You Beat," which has some fabulous harmony.

The best part is they end the show with "I'm a Believer!" 

This is just all around good fun for kids, or us kid like adults. Before you watch anything else I've mentioned, go watch this. It'll make your day. 


So yeah, that's the wide array of what I'm watching. It's a bit all over the place, ain't it? Oh well, I like what I like, even if it makes no sense how or why!


Thanks for hanging out with me for another What I'm Watching!