Match Point

Had this originally in the shotgun list but decided I was getting verbose enough that it warranted its own spot. Crazy! I'm just like that!

So.

Rented Match Point the other day and was not blown away. Not even a breeze in fact. Doubtless partly due to the presence of Jonathan Rhys Meyers, for whom I admit I have a mostly-unfounded, pathological dislike. Doubtless partly also due to the fact that I heard so many raves beforehand - getting my hopes up too high for things and the ramifications of same will be my lifelong cross to bear. Mind you, I was not expecting the Woody Allen of old, whose movies I adore. So the fact that this movie is so different from his others in many ways was something I was actually looking forward to and therefore I do not think that this aspect enters into the case. (Heading you off at the pass in case you were going to suggest that as the crux.)

I admit part of the problem was almost certainly my having rented it instead of seeing it on the big screen. Many of you will be surprised to know that Susan the Movie Queen, who used to spend about 50% of her paltry income in grad. school, Tucson, and Cleveland, on thrice-weekly movie theater outings, has been to the movies only once since Christmas, and then it was mostly to see Ed. (Outing to the Capri in -I think- February? for Shop Girl, which I heartily recommend even tho, yes, the book is infinitely better, as with nearly all adaptations and through no real fault of the best ones at all... I mean adaptations in general are kind of the Frankensteins of the movie world... they are usually monstrous and not anything like what is expected/hoped... but they themselves are not to blame - they didn't ask to be created after all... blah blah blah Modern Prometheus of the entertainment industry blah blah blah.. I could go on and on... esp. as my morning coffee just kicked in... I guess that would be Promethei/ae anyway? ... or something...)

Anyway I'm starting to wonder if I shouldn't make a concerted effort to start going again because there have been several lackluster viewings in the little Ross Square Movie Pad lately of films whose magnificence had been touted far and wide only to elicit chez moi a slightly bewildered shrug, if that. There is definitely something to the theater experience. And until I either get rid of every stick of livingroom furniture or find myself in a larger abode, I guess that experience will not find itself duplicated at home...

But seriously, if you liked Match Point and think you might be able to impart some wisdom, please share. I'd almost be willing to watch it again... I just would have to tape some paper up over JMR's face... (I will say that I was less distracted by my dislike of him this time than I usually am, but I'm not sure if that speaks to his prowess, Woody's treatment, or my own slow but sure maturation.)

...at least there was some nice (but far too little) Rupert Penry-Jones eye candy, as well as a few scenes with Penelope Wilton, my all-time favorite Desdemona...