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mghealyjr
Reviews
The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
I loved this movie
I haven't read the book, but I felt this movie was a home run. I'm sure most can relate to the "boss from hell" who ultimately became the best boss you ever had, the person who motivated you to perform at your best, and the former employer who ended up writing you a kick-ass recommendation.
Meryl Streep was that boss for me. It didn't matter if you'd accomplished 95% of what you were supposed to do; they'd ask about the other 5%. I love that! Streep was brilliant, of course. I also happen to love Hathaway, who I believe has a face meant for screen. In MHO, too, Stanley Tucci can do no wrong. All in all, pitch perfect, with these three.
What I did not like was the facility with which Hathaway's friends dismissed her. Other than her improved make-up and fashion, and annoying habit of answering her cell phone at all hours, I didn't think she changed all that much after working for Miranda. I think she found her stride in an unexpected place, and her friends were just being selfish and myopic.
Streep managed to humanize the Miranda character, and I felt her final speech to Hathaway didn't necessarily justify a cell phone in the water gesture. I hear the book presents a more compelling moral dilemma. Here it just rang shallow. Miranda is not a beast, and I believe that Hathaway was learning from her. There was not much evidence of moral decay.
But I'm a believer that that which does not kill us makes us stronger. I feel like Hathaway's character became stronger in knowing Miranda, and vice versa.
-Michael
Mario Cantone: Laugh Whore (2005)
The Best
I love the feature of the Time Warner DVR that lets you keep things forever. The first time I used it was on Mario Cantone's "Laugh Whore." This is probably a typical story, but before I saw it, my opinion of Mario was that he was fun but mostly abrasive. I also have friends who share this view of him, and most of them are gay.
Friends, this is genius comedy. I knew it was true when my straight 40 year-old brother called me from Alabama (where he opened and runs two NYC-style pizzerias), to ask me if I'd heard Mario's impression of Jim Morrison. That is one of the truly genius moments of the show, among others.
I am a fan of mimics, and Mario is one of the best. This is such a great variety show, and the music is really great too. I can't think of a moment where I would delete this from DVR, until it malfunctions.
Get it! -Michael
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
I can't add much to what others have said here, but
...I feel compelled to say that I have not sobbed out loud so suddenly to a film as I did when Ennis came back down from Jack's room with the shirts cradled in his hands, and Jack's mother immediately reached for a shopping bag for him to carry them away in.
Actually, that's not true. I had a similar reaction at the end of (also) Ang Lee's "Wedding Banquet", when Winston Chao's father raised his hands over his body in response to the airport metal detectors, and that was the final shot...taking wing into eternity.
Even more compelling was how that same actor in a different and later Ang Lee film was the one who bagged the young, elfin mom much to our surprise in "Eat, Drink, Man, Woman."
Ounce-for-ounce, I think Ang is one of the most talented directors working today. I have loved all his films. They have each given me one moment (at the very least) of sublime connection to what makes us all human.
-M
'Twas the Night Before Christmas (1974)
to me, a classic
I agree that this is a classic. I was born shortly before this cartoon was made, so it was a big part of my Christmas ritual growing up. The morale is great ("even a miracle needs a hand") and the songs are GOOD. They crept in my head at an early age and stayed there 'til this day. I see a lot of my adolescent, atheist, Ivy League self in the defiant Albert, who derides Santa as a myth, but also in Mr. Trundle, who works devotedly for something he believes in. I'm not talking literals here, people, but there's something nice about believing in something greater than yourself, or your known quantities.