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Saturday, June 04, 2005

The weekend cinematic experience (possible spoiler alert, but you should know what to expect from Star Wars, anyway)

Best Beloved and I went to see Peaches this afternoon, another free movie session thanks to being an AFI member. Of course, we got another of those interminable previews of Madagascar which pushes all my buttons about celebrity voices in animation. I can't wait till that movie comes to cinemas so that it will stop being previewed at every fricking session! I think its been about a year since I first saw that preview. Is it really so bad that they have to promote it so heavily? I don't think I saw a single preview for Hitchhikers and it still did alright. All those Madagascar previews have made me determined never to set eyes on the bloody thing.

Anyhoo, I enjoyed Peaches, although I didn't really need so much Emma Lung. Hugo Weaving was very good, as was Jacqueline Mackenzie. I've been reading articles and reviews about it, which said very little about the actual movie and lots about what a nice man Hugo is, so down-to-earth despite having been in so many blockbusters. I give thumbs-up though to the dude who plays Hugo's half-brother, one of those classic dry Aussie supporting roles.

As we walked out I asked BB if he liked it, and he replied that it was alright for a chick-flick. There's no pleasing that man. He complained about the testosterone levels in Star Wars when we went last night. BB likes movies with sultry ladies in saris. If Padme had worn a sari, and in fact, got it wet by being caught in the rain or splashing in a handy fountain, BB would have been in heaven and would have sat happily through the rest, even the lava scenes. Speaking of Padme, I thought Lucas stretched his story a bit by having her die in childbirth. From what Leia says in Return of the Jedi, I expected her to hang around just a little bit longer -- when Luke asks her if she remembers her mother, Leia says something like: 'Not really, she died when I was very young. She was very beautiful.' Yes, less than an hour is very young! There's plenty of other little holes I could pick, but being a Star Wars fan I thought they did an alright job. As usual the sets were stunning, although the lava scenes were a bit rough at points. I thought the last three scenes were in the wrong order; I would have preferred Leia then Luke THEN Darth, just to give a nice frisson to the end and make you rush to your video collection to see the next installation. As it was, I felt nicely rounded off, and happy to wait for a while.

Unfortunately Bumblebee will be waiting for a while as well.... he'll not be seeing this installation on the big screen just yet, as I don't want him to have nightmares about burnt bodies and Jedi slaughters. He can wait for DVD and our small screen. He'll be sad (he's off with the Albatross* this weekend) but once I tell him the story in detail, he'll be ok. His imagination will probably do a better job then Lucas ever could (and he's got a bigger light-sabre collection than General Grevious)...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I saw Peaches too and what a pleasant surprise. While not earth shattering it nevertheless was an entertaining complex story which kept me and most of the audience very focussed.
Thought the acting was really good-not over the top screaming and yelling but just very subtle. I couldn't get enough of Emma Lung (except some of the sex scenes were a littel too long and revealing for me). She definitely has an incredible screen presence. Just like she was in The Cooks-you couldn't keep your eyes of her. It's an "it" quality that very few actors have.
Matthew LeNevez was wonderful and felt he should have been in it a lot more-very likeable character. He's an ex-Canberra boy. He's definitely one to watch-he's already won an AFI award for best supporting role in Marking Time.