What Maisie Knew

And the Oscar goes to...

I could explain the background of this picture, but I think pictures say a thousand words.  So here you go. Just for fun and for all the film buffs out there, here is your   

. . . Random WHAT THE --?? Picture of the Day:

Click on photo to enlarge.  Look for the sparkling genuine statuette.

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A little laughter never did any harm

Need a good laugh?  Take 7 minutes to watch this video from the kiwi stand-up/music act Flight of the Conchords. 

New Zealanders Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement combine comic talent with guitar strumming, to deliver almost an acoustic version of the infamous Chronic-what?-les of Narnia rap. Enjoy.

King Kong

Last week I scored a free ticket to the only press-screening of King Kong in Paris.

I had been out late the night before, serving up homemade vegetarian lasagna to hungry ladies at Parisian book club, and then partying at a launch party for the December issue of Go-Go, an English hipster publication for which my friend Dave does film reviews.  Dave's editor at Go-Go offered up the two free passes, so after coming home at 1:30 a.m. and cleaning up the kitchen, I went to bed at 3 for a whole 5.5 hours of precious sleep.

I woke up to Dave's call "I'm sure you're already on your way, but there's a line here, so come as soon as you can...".  Right.  I booked it to the theater, where Dave was standing looking worried and alone.  We made it through the bouncer, the ticket-checker and the name-list-verifier, and were on our way into the largest movie theater I've been to in Paris.  It was so incredibly charming and art deco-ish, but had a big American screen, too.  I had gotten used to the dinky theaters in Paris, whose screens aren't that much bigger than  large TVs, and where maybe 30, maybe, people can sit.  It was a treat to see a big screen.

More impressive, though, was that every damn seat was filled by a spiffy looking, horn-rim-glasses-wearing, black-turtleneck-sporting film buff looking for a smoking area.  No joke.  It was French culture at its best. 

WARNING!  I might give away some of the movie below....

The movie, or should I say, the three hour epic, was both exciting and disappointing.  My respect for Peter Jackson's range has diminished significantly.  He made the same movie he has been making, only this time around, instead of hobbits and a slimy raspy-voiced character played by Andy Serkis, we have tyrannosaurus rex and a furry lion-roar gorilla played by Andy Serkis. But there were still terrific moments of anxiety, a piddling love story that begged for more depth, and really lame digitally-created wide shots of nonexistent terrain.

If you have a fear of oversized insects swallowing people whole, or dogmatically refuse to believe that three tyrannosaurus rexes could be taken on by an oversized gorilla, and the gorilla wins, then don't bother.  If you want to hear Adrien Brody utter one hunky line, then go.   

The editors could have given the movie another whack;  after 3 hours my butt hurt.  And I was really starting to begrudge Peter Jackson his ability when he waited what seemed like an entire hour before introducing King Kong.  First we had to sit through sweeping montages of Depression-era New York, of a tormented movie producer,  of the ocean at night, and then a bizarre sub-plot of freakish gruesome islanders.   Actually, on second thought, they looked quite like goblins.  Wild matted hair, black skin, long fingernails.  Maybe Peter Jackson was making the same movie after all....

In the end, it's a decent action film with some I'll-admit-it nail biting moments and scenes which I watched through spread fingers.  (Those phallic man-eating toothy worms...yuck!!)  But next time, Peter, please. More Brody, less  grody.