Weekend Reviews
Dec. 5th, 2005 09:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jaunthieIn an unusually get-out-and-go-places fit, I saw both a movie and a concert this weekend. Here follows my reviews of Nickel Creek in concert at the Paramount and the movie Pride and Prejudice.
Note of warning to my readers: I am a long-time Austen fan, and I did part of my undergraduate thesis on her novels. Keep that firmly in mind when I tell you that if you have any love for the novel "Pride and Prejudice" or any knowledge of the Regency time period in which it is set, do not go and see this piece of crap film. It's not the actors' fault, all of whom valiantly did their best with the material at hand (although I feel Kiera Knightley was right to be nervous about her ability to adequately portray Elizabeth Bennet, given the script she had to work with - she was in over her head and it showed at times). It's not the cinematographers or costumers' fault either; both departments did quite well, although the overwrought sweeping shots (complete with out-of-period swelling musical crescendoes) get a little wearisome. No, the fault lies completely with an awful script (everything that isn't Jane jars horribly with what is) that had absolutely no idea of the time period, the humor, or any of the subtleties of the original text (short of making sure everyone had grungy-looking hair, as bathing was necessarily less frequent back then). I swear, if I had not been at the theatre with friends, I would have walked out on the film. It was that bad. At least![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
fisherbear was amused by watching me squirm in horror, although he too wanted to walk out.
Does this mean you will hate the film? Not at all. My friends Luthien and RocketMan, with whom we saw the film, both liked it well enough. RocketMan enjoyed ogling Kiera, and Luthien loved the movie (and testified that the horses were 95% accurate, which is very important to her). It's a lovely romance novel on screen, and as I said above, the actors and production folks all worked very hard. It's a very pretty film. If you like the idea of handsome men wandering around with open shirts and long jackets on misty moors to just happen upon the similarly underdressed female of his dreams (despite the miles of open nothingness around and the statistical unlikelihood of such a meeting), you're going to like this film a lot. It's just not Jane Austen, and if you (like me) can quote large sections of the book from memory and/or have studied the books, avoid this movie like the plague. Or bring a barf bag and don't say I didn't warn you.
From the awful to the sublime...that sums up last night's concert quite well. The opening act for Nickel Creek was just awful - forty-five minutes of an A+ graduate of the Bob Dylan School of Diction playing with himself on endless loop. Yeah, you read that right, and yes, that's really what it was like. Dear gods, he was bad - beyond pretentious and boring as all hell. But once Nickel Creek took the stage, all was more than right with the world. Despite a few problems with microphones and instruments (among other things, Sean had a spectacular string break during "Somebody More Like You"), the trio (plus their usual stand-up bass player Mark) played an absolutely wonderful concert, including material from all three albums, several new songs, plus some hysterical covers (dunno which was my favorite surprise moment: Sara kicking off her 4-inch heels to suddenly break into "Short People Got No Reason To Live" or Chris forcing his voice into falsetto for a really over-the-top-but-musically brilliant cover of Britney Spears' "Toxic"). Not only was the music wonderful, but they just looked like they were having so much fun, you couldn't help but have fun too.
The audience was very appreciative and enthusiastic, too, which always helps. One note to fans, though: when the musicians are in the middle of a really fiendishly difficult musical duel (and new material to boot), do not choose that moment to toss flowers or something into their path onstage. The offering will be unmercifully punted out of the way, with good reason - don't distract folks while they're working. They'll apologize later - but honestly, they don't have to. Save the tributes for when songs are over, okay?
If you get a chance to catch these guys in concert, be sure to do so - it's an incredible treat. Just bring something to distract yourself for the opening act. ;-)
All this, and we got the living room rearranged and the tree bought and decorated, too!
Note of warning to my readers: I am a long-time Austen fan, and I did part of my undergraduate thesis on her novels. Keep that firmly in mind when I tell you that if you have any love for the novel "Pride and Prejudice" or any knowledge of the Regency time period in which it is set, do not go and see this piece of crap film. It's not the actors' fault, all of whom valiantly did their best with the material at hand (although I feel Kiera Knightley was right to be nervous about her ability to adequately portray Elizabeth Bennet, given the script she had to work with - she was in over her head and it showed at times). It's not the cinematographers or costumers' fault either; both departments did quite well, although the overwrought sweeping shots (complete with out-of-period swelling musical crescendoes) get a little wearisome. No, the fault lies completely with an awful script (everything that isn't Jane jars horribly with what is) that had absolutely no idea of the time period, the humor, or any of the subtleties of the original text (short of making sure everyone had grungy-looking hair, as bathing was necessarily less frequent back then). I swear, if I had not been at the theatre with friends, I would have walked out on the film. It was that bad. At least
fisherbear was amused by watching me squirm in horror, although he too wanted to walk out.Does this mean you will hate the film? Not at all. My friends Luthien and RocketMan, with whom we saw the film, both liked it well enough. RocketMan enjoyed ogling Kiera, and Luthien loved the movie (and testified that the horses were 95% accurate, which is very important to her). It's a lovely romance novel on screen, and as I said above, the actors and production folks all worked very hard. It's a very pretty film. If you like the idea of handsome men wandering around with open shirts and long jackets on misty moors to just happen upon the similarly underdressed female of his dreams (despite the miles of open nothingness around and the statistical unlikelihood of such a meeting), you're going to like this film a lot. It's just not Jane Austen, and if you (like me) can quote large sections of the book from memory and/or have studied the books, avoid this movie like the plague. Or bring a barf bag and don't say I didn't warn you.
From the awful to the sublime...that sums up last night's concert quite well. The opening act for Nickel Creek was just awful - forty-five minutes of an A+ graduate of the Bob Dylan School of Diction playing with himself on endless loop. Yeah, you read that right, and yes, that's really what it was like. Dear gods, he was bad - beyond pretentious and boring as all hell. But once Nickel Creek took the stage, all was more than right with the world. Despite a few problems with microphones and instruments (among other things, Sean had a spectacular string break during "Somebody More Like You"), the trio (plus their usual stand-up bass player Mark) played an absolutely wonderful concert, including material from all three albums, several new songs, plus some hysterical covers (dunno which was my favorite surprise moment: Sara kicking off her 4-inch heels to suddenly break into "Short People Got No Reason To Live" or Chris forcing his voice into falsetto for a really over-the-top-but-musically brilliant cover of Britney Spears' "Toxic"). Not only was the music wonderful, but they just looked like they were having so much fun, you couldn't help but have fun too.
The audience was very appreciative and enthusiastic, too, which always helps. One note to fans, though: when the musicians are in the middle of a really fiendishly difficult musical duel (and new material to boot), do not choose that moment to toss flowers or something into their path onstage. The offering will be unmercifully punted out of the way, with good reason - don't distract folks while they're working. They'll apologize later - but honestly, they don't have to. Save the tributes for when songs are over, okay?
If you get a chance to catch these guys in concert, be sure to do so - it's an incredible treat. Just bring something to distract yourself for the opening act. ;-)
All this, and we got the living room rearranged and the tree bought and decorated, too!
