A Single Man - Mini-Review

Dear Mr. Ford,

I became interested in your film A Single Man long ago, when I first heard about who was starring.  I love Colin Firth, Julianne Moore and Matthew Goode, and the story sounded very interesting.  I loved the beautiful trailers, and the production looked gorgeous.  I didn't expect to be so incredibly moved by your film, your directorial debut.

When I saw A Single Man, I first started to cry during the scene when Colin Firth's character George finds out that his lover of 16 years has died in a car crash.  You only see Colin Firth react to Jon Hamm's voice on the phone, who tells him "only family" can attend the funeral.  I was riveted by Colin Firth's performance, an amazing one for an actor I have followed for years.  You revealed new depths to his acting, especially in that scene.  At the end of the movie, I started to cry, and I sat watching the credits until the theater emptied.  When I was alone, I started sobbing.  I have not had a reaction like that to a film in I can't remember how long.  I was loudly sobbing -- me, a surburban homemaker, so immensely moved by this beautiful film about a man's loneliness and grief.  I may not have been your intended audience, and some may think this is a niche "gay" film.  But George's pain is both universal, and specific to him and his time.  I'm tearing up again just remembering and thinking about A Single Man.

George moves through this one particular day in his life, and he is determined to commit suicide, as live is not worth living with out the love of his live.  At first, I thought there was something wrong with my eyesight, as the film is often in very muted colors and looks washed out, but occasionallly becomes vivid with color.  I realized that it reflects George -- his life is muted and gray, and only comes into brilliant color and focus when he interacts with a few people that day.  One of his students reaches out to him, he meets a sexy hustler, and he spends dinner with his old friend (Julianne Moore) who wishes they had been more than just friends.

With your talents as a fashion designer, I expected the film to look beautiful, and it was truly stunning.  (Matthew Goode has never looked better!)  The production design was done by the same man from Mad Men, and every detail looked perfect.  It was beautiful to look at, but I didn't expect to be so incredibly moved.   Colin Firth very much deserved his Oscar nomination.  It's one of his career best performances.  Julianne Moore was also fabulous (and robbed of a supporting nomination in my opinion).

Thank you Mr. Ford, for making this film, and hope to look forward to many more from you.  Make me cry like that again.

Three and a half stars.  If you love Colin Firth as I do, then this is a must see film.  Just watch this scene where he finds out Jim, his lover of 16 years, has died in a car accident:



That scene continues a little longer with his reaction, and that's when I first lost it watching this movie. Watch the trailer here.

Also, Terry Gross of Fresh Air interviewed both Tom Ford and Colin Firth. Interestingly, Colin Firth talks about how difficult the scene above was to do because it was filmed on election day, and he was so happy that Obama won!

Cemetery Junction trailer

After we had that cheeky teaser trailer with Ricky Gervais calling co-star Ralph Fiennes, "Chuckles", you would have been lead to believe that Cemetery Junction was another of his wry comedies. This new trailer shows that it's a more dramatic coming of age story, and that both Ricky Gervais and Ralph Fiennes are just supporting characters in this movie about young people growing up in a small English town in the 70's. I'm surprised, but I think going in a new direction is great for Gervais, and I can't wait to see his film. Matthew Goode is also in Cemetery Junction, but he doesn't appear in this trailer.

Leap Year - Mini Review

Let me just say that Matthew Goode in a Fisherman's Sweater, even with a scruffy beard, is no hardship to watch for an hour and a half.  I'm a sucker for a romantic comedy, and went out to see Leap Year to cheer myself up one night recently.  It's a decent enough Rom Com, even if it didn't have all the sparkle and cleverness I might have liked.  Really, after the excellence and newness of the writing in (500) Days of Summer, the standard formulaic romantic comedies come off a bit creaky.

You've seen the many commercials, so you know the set up.  Amy Adams sets off to Dublin to propose to her boyfriend of four years on Leap Year Day, a long Irish tradition.  Her plane is forced to land nowhere near Dublin due to a storm, and she hires Declan, played by Matthew Goode, to drive her across scenic Ireland to rejoin her fiance to be.  Madcap adventures ensue, and shock upon shock, she ends up with dishy Declan in the end.

I liked the movie well enough, and it's difficult to say if my sour mood going in shifted my perspective on the movie.  The one great kiss between Goode and Adams, when of course they are forced to pretend to be married to stay the night at the only B&B around for miles, was pretty darn hot.

But that was about it, not much sparks flying otherwise.  Amy Adams is beginning to wear on me a bit, too.  I adored her in Enchanted, where her perkiness was perfect.  After her turn in Julie & Julia, meh, not so much anymore.

Matthew Goode I have been praying would be in a romantic movie since way back when I first discovered him in Chasing Liberty with Mandy Moore. Yes, I actually own that DVD just because I fell in love with him in this scene, and it's more the talking than the kissing.

Please, Gods of Moviedom, get Matthew Goode a better romantic script, soon!  I haven't seen him in A Single Man yet, but although he looks dreamy in the trailer, that's not exactly what I have in mind.  Oh, I don't know, how about something crazy like chemistry with his co-star and a love scene, not a chaste kiss scene?   What about sharing a bed with a girl not just because he's forced to pretend to be married?  I know, I ask for the moon and the stars...

Leap Year I have to give only two and a half stars.  See it at a matinee with your gal pals, or just wait to rent.  Besides gorgeous Matthew, the Irish countryside scenery is pretty nice to look at, too.  Watch the trailer here.

Pics of the stars of A Single Man

A Single Man Director Tom Ford took these gorgeous pics of four of the stars of the movie - Colin Firth, Matthew Goode, Nicholas Hoult and Julianne Moore.  Yowza!

Matthew Goode and Amy Adams in Leap Year Trailer

Anna, a girl who is always in trouble, is expecting to get an engagement ring from longtime boyfriend, Jeremy, during a romantic dinner. When their four-year anniversary passes without a marriage proposal, she decides to take matters into her own hands. She then follows Jeremy to Dublin to get down on her knee February 29, known as Leap Day, during when women are allowed to propose to men based on Irish tradition.

However, her plane lands on the other side of Ireland and she is forced to enlist the help of handsome and surly Declan to get her across the country. As the two travel across the Emerald Isle, they discover that the road to love can take them to very unexpected places.

I've been waiting anxiously for the trailer of this Rom Com ever since I heard they were filming it. Matthew Goode hasn't been forced to share a bedroom pretending to be a newlywed since Chasing Liberty, my first jaw-slacked introduction to him. This time he doesn't sleep on the floor, I'm gathering! God, he's just gorgeous.

Leap Year comes out in early January.

New Clip from A Single Man

A Single Man 2nd Trailer

Wow. Just so visually gorgeous. You can tell the design is similar to Mad Men, which makes sense as it is the same team. I cannot wait to see Colin Firth's performance. It will have a limited run in December to qualify for the Oscars, but hopefully will make it out to the suburbs like mine in early 2010.

A Single Man is a 2009 American drama film directed by Tom Ford. The film is based on the Christopher Isherwood novel of the same name and stars Colin Firth as the protagonist George Falconer, a gay British college professor living in Southern California. The rest of the cast includes Julianne Moore, Matthew Goode and Nicholas Hoult. The film is Ford's directorial debut.

The production design was done by the same team that created the production sets in Mad Men, which is also set in the sixties.

A Single Man Trailer

I've been waiting for this one. It's getting great reviews in Venice at the film festival, and Colin Firth won Best Actor there.

Some of those shots of Matthew Goode are beyond gorgeous!

The film is the first directed by Tom Ford, the famous fashion designer, who also co-wrote the film.

Firth, who plays a gay professor mourning the death of his partner in Ford's adaptation of Christopher Isherwood's landmark 1964 novel, said on accepting the Volpi Cup: "I'm here for the gift that Tom Ford gave me."

The 48-year-old fashion designer "had a cause that he put in my hands, so it became a very important thing for me as well", Firth said.

Ford told AFP earlier: "I didn't want this to be a 'gay film.' It's a universal film, about love and connection ... The character happens to be gay, so what?"

BBC on Cemetery Junction

Well, this gives a little more info about Cemetery Junction, and that Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant are directing it, and only have small supporting roles. It's actually about a group of 20-somethings. I'm sure it will be very funny. They've still got a month or so of filming left.

And surprise, it's got Matthew Goode in it, too, so you know I'd be there anyway...

Brideshead Revisted - Mini-review

So, I went to see Brideshead Revisted, starring Matthew Goode, a couple weeks ago. I have been mulling over my review since then. I liked the film, and I'm convinced that Emma Thompson is likely to get a supporting actress Oscar nod for her excellent portrayal as the matriarch of the ultra-rich Catholic Flyte family. This adaptation was written by Andrew Davies, who has taken so many other classic English literature to the movie and TV screen. Matthew Goode was fine in the film. I can't think of a current actor who would have been better as Charles Ryder, young artist who falls in love with first Sebastian, then Julia Flyte, but in the end, he's no Jeremy Irons.

Jeremy Irons starred as Charles Ryder in the 11 episode mini-series back in 1981. It made him a star, and that mini-series is held up as one of the best mini-series ever, especially in England. The mini-series has everything in the Evelyn Waugh book, and cutting down to a two hour movie, obviously many subplots were lost. The movie still has the essence of the book, and even uses the same gorgeous Castle Howard as the Flyte mansion. It just doesn't pack the same emotional punch for me. It just can't when you've seen the mini-series. It's been at least 25 years since I've seen the mini-series, and yet it stays with me, and this movie just couldn't quite measure up. If you've never seen the mini-series, and don't have hours and hours to watch all the DVD's, this is a very fine adaptation. Three and a half stars. But if you do have the time, trust me, it's worth it to watch Jeremy Irons in the original.

Much has been made of the fact that the homosexual relationship between Charles and Sebastian was more subtle in the mini-series, and the film has a kiss, which I don't believe is in the book either. The kiss didn't bother me, but there was something to that constant tension and undercurrent in the original and the wondering if there was one off screen! I love Matthew Goode, and I think he'll have a long career. He's due up in Watchmen next year which should really make a big splash for him.

NYT Magazine interviews Matthew Goode

Anyone wonder why I adore Matthew Goode, who is currently starring in Brideshead Revisited, and will be in the upcoming Watchmen? Watch this interview and be charmed as Matthew has a glass of wine with us.

More glorious pics and a further interview in the magazine:

After “Match Point,” Goode was deluged with offers to play similar characters. “When it comes to acting, it is very limiting to be English,” he said. “It was ‘Bring on the posh!’ All the parts I was being offered involved my accent or someone with money and title. Charles Ryder was a departure. He’s nothing like those other men. And nothing like me.”

I find it a very traumatic experience to watch myself in films. It makes me physically sick: I get hot in my nether regions and have to take a sponge bath.” Goode laughed. “I just don’t buy me. It’s hard to watch my booming self.”

Now, if only Brideshead's limited release would reach my suburban theaters!

Brideshead Revisited Trailer!

W00t! Apple has put up a new Brideshead Revisited Trailer. Matthew Goode (Matchpoint) stars as Charles Ryder, the same part that Jeremy Irons played in the original Masterpiece Theater mini-series. Emma Thompson also co-stars in the film due to be released July 25th. Matthew Goode has gotten great write-ups in supporting roles, but this will be his first major starring role. He also appears in Zack Snyder's Watchmen as Ozymandias in 2009.