Castle

A murder/mystery show with a twist, Castle, on ABC Monday nights, is a great new show that I have become addicted to this summer. It premiered mid-season this past March with only 10 episodes, but has been upgraded to a regular time slot this Fall.

A great new show that I love! Castle is a savvy and clever detective/murder drama that mixes seriousness with humor. It is quality entertainment that keeps you on the seat of your chair until the very last second.

Richard Castle is played by the incredibly adorable and up-in-coming actor Nathan Fillon who wowed us with Waitress a few years back and played Dana Delaney's husband on Desperate Housewives for a season. With his own show, he shows a new side of himself as a wildly successful mystery book writer looking for a new muse who he finds in Kate Beckett.

Kate, played by Stana Katic, is a young, beautiful detective at NYPD with an edge, as always. Her dark past slowly revealed itself throughout season 1 and was the cliff hanger in the finale. I had never heard of her before this show, but I will not forget her after this witty performance. She has been a guest star slough of television shows and has some movie roles, but this seems like her big break.

Like all other cop shows these days, Castle puts a twist of the usual murders by making them interesting and very often just bizarre. Castle's and Kate's on-screen chemistry is red hot and makes me want to desperately know when they're going to cut all that tension by getting together, but spoilers have assured me that they won't be getting together any time soon. I guess it's more fun that way, and certainly makes the show more edgy.

Castle's teenage daughter and eccentric mother add flavor and character to the cast, as do Beckett's partners. It didn't do amazingly well viewer-wise in its opening run, but with a great time slot, formerly occupied by Boston Legal, I hope more people watch it. Incredibly sassy and fun, I look forward to tuning in this Fall for the season premiere on Sept. 21 at 10/9 central.

A Touch of Irish History

My good friend, Stephanie, is about to embark on her own study abroad journey in just a few weeks. I studied abroad in London last semester and she is going on a 10-day tour/class of Ireland before studying abroad in London for the semester. Part of her Ireland course is to watch five specific films and write a paper on each. Being a film buff myself, I joined her for many of them and was surprised at my findings.

What I specifically want to discuss is the movie The Magdealene Sisters, made in the early '90s. It was an extremely difficult, yet captivating movie experience. It is movies like this that really are more of an experience than anything else.

The basis of the film was Catholicism. It took place in the '60s and was about girls who were sent away by their parents to a place run by Nuns because they were accused (many unfairly) of having sex or having illegitimate children, etc. Stuff shunned by devote Catholics. The Nuns did unthinkable things to them and the girls were sentenced to live there to repent for their sins until they died--their whole lives. Needless to say, it really puts life in perspective.

The film itself is a masterpiece. It does what a film is really supposed to do: transport someone to another world, good or bad, and put them in the situations of what the characters went through. To sympathize with the characters so the message really gets across. The film makes its audience feel very much there with these girls suffering and makes the audience feel their pain, not to mention incredible sorrow, for them.

Many of the shots were simply beautiful. They were creative and unique, but also very symbolic of what the audience should be feeling and thinking about. This is definitely a movie I can see watching in a film course and writing an analytical paper on. But more than anything, the movie fulfilled its role of making a terrible part in Ireland's, and Catholicism's history, public. To make people aware of an issue through real life stories and scenarios is a powerful thing, and this movie not only does that, but succeeds, which is the whole point of movies to begin with.

Anyway, it is a great film if you're ever in the mood for something powerful, yet depressing, but very real.

30 Rock: A New Obsession

Not that I really need another TV show to get addicted to, but I decided to watch 30 Rock, just to see if I would like it. I've been a fan of Tina Fey since her SNL days, and decided to see what all the fuss was about with her new show.

I have to say that I am now completely addicted to 30 Rock and the gang that work there. It is so cleverly written and has great voice with strong, interesting and thought provoking characters. Liz Lemon, Tina Fey's character, I imagine Tina Fey wrote for herself, which only makes the show more interesting.

It's a reflexive show about writing a show, which must get very confusing when actually writing the show about characters that write a show. It is interesting that the show the cast of 30 Rock write for, TGS, is not really seen all that much by viewers. It's SNL style, but many of the sketches aren't aired on 30 Rock, so I think that was an interesting choice.

The show itself is interesting, but definitely not one of my favorites. I enjoy the characters and what they go through in life. Liz Lemon who is in her late 30s, unmarried and has this wildly successful career. The B cast of characters are also so incredibly original and funny. Kenneth would definitely be my favorite because he always has a surprise up his sleeve, even though technically his character should be rather predictable. In one episode, Kenneth, who is just a page boy, said he wants to be nothing more than a page boy because he loves working in the wonderful television industry, even if it's just to do menial tasks. I think that feeling sums up what a lot of people think about working in the popular culture medium--just to be there is an honor, and I think it really is.

Alec Baldwin also shines in his sarcastic and complex boss character. The story has so much more up its sleeve that I can't wait to see what they come up with next. It's also a quick, easy getaway, which is what television is really all about.

After watching this show, I have to say that I really admire Tina Fey. She is the woman of the moment, has been for about a year now, and that spotlight isn't dimming anytime soon. She produces, writes and stars in this show and has put her own stamp on it. I admire anyone who can do that and pull it off with such grace and confidence.

This show is also interesting because it illustrates the new era of the sitcom. Sitcoms are not at all what they used to be even five years ago. A show like Friends or Will and Grace (both of which I am big fans) does not exist too much nowadays. It is these sarcastic, dry humored, witty shows that are successful (Weeds, The Office, etc), which is a good thing because it shows progress in the sophistication of television audiences.

So, 30 Rock, Thursday nights. I would recommend it just to smile at the brilliance of Tina Fey.

Thank You, Mr. Hughes

It is almost unbelievable how much death has struck Hollywood this summer. It seems endless at this point. Continuing this terrible trend is filmmaker John Hughes, who died of a heart attack yesterday when he was just strolling through New York.

I love John Hughes for many reasons. The obvious reason being his movies. The majority of what I think of as classic '80s movies are his: Sixteen Candles, Ferris Bueller, Pretty in Pink. They're all so wonderful and are movies that each generation will come to know as teens.

I also love Hughes because he grew up in the North Shore of Chicago, like me, and many of his films have very local ties. My high school English teacher's back is in Ferris Bueller because it was filmed at his high school in the suburb next to mine. A kid I went to camp with lives in the mansion that was the party scene in Sixteen Candles. The references to this area go on and on, and it really is a homage to the North Shore.

So, rest in peace, Mr. Hughes. Your movies will not be quickly forgotten.

Julie and Julia: My Review

The much buzzed about Julie and Julia came out today and I went to go see it with some friends on opening night. Because movie theatre tickets have become so expensive (another blog for another day I suppose) we decided to go to the "cheap theatre" where many older people go. We were the youngest group in the theatre by at least 40 years.

Anyway, I very much enjoyed the movie. As a huge New York Times junkie, especially when it comes to movies, I read several articles about the production of this movie before it came out. How all the food was made, how the film came to be, and the review itself. It is hard to believe that just because of one blog one person started, this whole project got started. However, I think that kind of thing is unrealistic and unlikely, especially now. The original blog was written in 2002, when blogging was a newer phenomenon.

Meryl Streep, who I am convinced can do no wrong in any movie she is in, was fabulous, as usual. She is such a versatile actress. She can do everything: comedy, romance, intense drama. The food all looked amazing. Those actors must have been well fed. I did not really like Amy Adams in the role though, although I have been a huge fan of hers before many people knew her name. I loved her ever since Junebug (a great indie movie if you haven't seen it). There was just something about her in this film that didn't seem to fit.

The movie went back and forth between Julie and Julia's lives, even though they are never seen on screen together, except when Julie is watching Julia on television. Although both their lives intersect and they may have similar reactions to things, it really is two very different stories, and those relations may have been stretched for the plot.

Amy Adams' haircut also struck me as wildly unflattering and quite frankly ugly, which I know is mean, but it bothered me all through the movie. I did enjoy the movie very much. I enjoyed getting to know the icon that is Julia Child and how her life came to be, much through coincidences. For all I know, in a year (when I graduate most likely jobless) I could be Julie Powell, wanting very much to find myself, and if cooking was the way she wanted to do it then so be it. It opened so many doors for her: a book deal and now a movie. Who knows if this will be a one-hit-wonder in her life, but I'm sure she's living it up now.

Nora Ephron is another of my favorites: she has had such an amazing, thrilling career. I can only hope to have half a career she does. She started out as a journalist and made the transition to screen writing over time. In honor of seeing this movie tonight, I rented Heartburn, another Nora Ephron/Meryl Streep movie, and watched it before the show. It is wildly funny and sad. The reason I rented it though was because Ephron based it on her own marriage to the infamous (at least in my mind as a journalism student) Carl Bernstein, of Watergate fame. That has to be the best revenge on a cheating husband: make a film about his infidelity and get Meryl Streep to play yourself and Jack Nicholson to be the guy. Awesome. Another good movie I would recommend renting.

I would recommend Julie and Julia. It has great spirit and energy and was very enjoyable on a Friday night after a long work week with some good friends. Bon appetite!

Grey Gardens (times 3)

Last night I rented Grey Gardens, the recently released HBO film made-for-TV. However, Grey Gardens has been subject to many popular culture items since the original documentary came out in the 1970s.

For those who do not know, Grey Gardens is about Jackie Kennedy's aunt and first cousin, both named Edie, who lived a lavish life in their Hampton's estate Grey Gardens, before life caught up to the both of them and through various circumstances ended up recluses, alone in the house with only each other. Because of their limited funds (Big Edie ended up divorcing her daughter's father) and their refusal to leave the house, it became in major disrepair--all sorts of animals inhabited it, trash was everywhere, the health department eventually intervened and forced them to clean up the place that had no modern plumbing. So goes the story of the crazy mother and daughter, living alone in what was once a beautiful mansion.

A documentary in the 70s was made of the mother/daughter team, featuring their deepest thoughts and many song and dance performances, because both of them never quite gave up the notion that they were going to be famous some day for a singing or acting career.

I rented the documentary a few years ago, and although it is very dry, it does give an inside look into what these two, somewhat crazy people, thought they were doing with their lives. It is so sad: they were literally just degrading in that house, refusing to leave it.

The documentary was adapted into a Broadway musical a few years ago, and I got the opportunity to see it when my family and I went to New York. Christine Ebersole, who played Little Edie, was absolutely fabulous! She won the Tony for her role and had the perfect New York accent to play the part. It was a very good musical, but, as musicals go, it is not an easy task to get everything correct when performing with such limited means. It is amazing about how well is was adapted to music, as its score was also divine.

Now, over 30 years after the documentary appeared, we have HBO doing a straight movie about them, going back and forth from the life of luxury the Edie's led in the 20s and 30s, to the desolate state of Grey Gardens in the 1970s. It was a very good film, and I recommend it for renting. Drew Barrymore was amazing as Little Edie. She said she took voice lessons to get her voice and accent just right, and it sure paid off! Jessica Lange was also very good as Big Edie. It is amazing how much the two of them acted so much like the real people in the documentary.

Historical accuracy is something that always interests/concerns me after seeing a historical film. I have to say that the HBO movie did do a good job of staying true to the original story line. It added a lot in that the documentary and musical did not cover, which I think added a lot to the story as a whole.

Jackie Kennedy was the one who eventually intervened in the situation and payed over $30,000 to clean up the mansion. It was quite a tabloid scandal in those days: the elegant Jackie Kennedy and her not-so-elegant, crazy relatives. Jackie (played by the fabulous Jeanne Tripplehorn of Big Love) is also in the HBO film portraying her visit to her aunt and cousin, but I am not so sure the visit happened in real life.

The story itself, I think, can be emotional and relatable to anyone. Here are two strong women who once had it all and through a series of small steps, they lost everything they had and ended up living not that great of a life. They isolated themselves from everyone and lived in a dump. It really is such a social commentary.

Anyway, I would definitely recommend any one of the pieces discussed. They are a great piece of history.

Alice in Wonderland

New teaser trailer for the highly anticipated Alice in Wonderland movie was released this week. Looks like it'll be very interesting. Tim Burton always spins stuff his own way, and no one ever knows quite what the results will be. Personally, I've been a fan of some of Tim Burton's films (Sweeney Todd) and not a fan of others (hated his adaptation of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory).

Still, I think this film has an interesting twist to it. Helena Boham Carter is a favorite of mine (and Burton's partner). She's playing the evil queen. She plays evil characters oh so well. And who could not love Johnny Depp decked out so he doesn't even look like himself as the mad hatter? Comes out in March 2010 and looking forward to it!

Academy Announces Major Change

I suppose it is only appropriate to begin my first official blog post by writing about the Academy of Arts of Science, who controls the biggest award show of the year, The Oscars: the best award show of the year. The Academy announced a few weeks ago that they would be changing the number of best picture nominees from five to 10. This news was greatly overshadowed by Michael Jackson's death, as was basically every other piece of news in those few days.

This is a very significant change. Doubling the number of nominees seems like a response from the Academy whose critics said that they were not including movies that deserved recognition, like The Dark Knight, which was critically acclaimed and had a huge budget, but was not greatly recognized by Oscar. This does open up the opportunity for more movies to be nominated, like blockbusters, animated and foreign films.

I think that this waters down the prestige of getting nominated for an Oscar, which really is an honor. The actual Oscar show is meant to make money, of course, and this could also be a marketing plan to get more people to watch the Oscars. If popular movies are nominated then surely more people will invest time to watch the three-hour long show.

However, just because movies have big budgets or do well at the box office does not justify this prestigious nomination. The Oscars are the ultimate celebration of the art of film and that should not be lost. It is also interesting that no other category was expanded, just the best picture category. In the Oscars first few years of existence, Oscar did nominate anywhere from eight to 12 films, so this change is historically accurate, which adds another layer of complexity to the date.

Time will only tell how this change will impact the award show and future Oscar shows to come.

The Wonderful World of Movies

Welcome to Hayley's World of Movies blog! If you know me then you can probably guess why I decided to start this blog--because I am utterly obsessed with film and the greater entertainment world, and the magic and art of film.

For those of you who don't know me, I am just a student and I will admit that I am not the most credible person to write a blog about film. However, for the record, I will say this--I am a journalism major at the University of Missouri and consider myself fairly decent at writing and reporting. I also invest much of my time (not to mention money) viewing movies, renting movies (Netflix is the world's greatest invention), reading about movies, watching movie trailers and keeping up the best I can with the greater entertainment world. I hope to be a member of the film world someday, although I am aware it may be a far-fetched dream. I do my best to self-educate myself on what movies are coming out and what my favorite movie stars are working on, so I would say I am somewhat knowledgeable about the movies industry.

Anyway, in this blog I hope to discuss what films I've seen, am looking forward to, etc. I'm also a self-proclaimed award show fanatic, so that will be an integral part of my blog, as will the greater entertainment world, although on a much smaller level. I am a little television obsessed as well, so that may come up in the blog eventually. Basically, this is a blog of my own creation and if people read it or don't then I do not care because at least my opinions on something I am passionate about will be out there for the world to see.

A bit about my movie taste: I do love the artsy, indie films, because I think those are important in life, and way too undervalued in population that consumes and keeps the entertainment industry alive and wealthy. I do enjoy the occasional blockbuster, romantic comedy (if they're well done) and dramas especially. People make fun of me because I do enjoy watching depressing movies, however upset they make me afterwards.

So, thanks for reading if you made it to the bottom. If you didn't, no hard feelings. Onto the wonderful world of movies...