BEING DÉCLASSÉ

For the second week in a row Sony Pictures' Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs slays its competition, taking in $24.6 million this past weekend. The Bruce Willis-headlined sci-fi pic Surrogates accounts for the second position, raking in a cool $15 million in ticket sales proving that North America just can't seem to get enough of mediocrity; the film has been panned overall. Musical drama Fame performed disappointingly opening in 3,100 theatres, earning $10 million this weekend, placing it in third. The film was made for $18 million and this shouldn't be too significant a loss for MGM considering that teen-targeted musicals often have a second life in rentals and DVD sales.

It was a busy weekend of film for me and I did see Fame on Saturday; it was entertaining enough. The film's main problem is that it covers far too many storylines in too short a span. Many of the stories lacked proper development and there were far too many holes in the plot. Honestly, do they really expect us to believe that its star Denise played by the promising Naturi Naughton, could really have possessed a "secret" singing talent and hide it from her parents? I mean, any trained vocalist would know that to get to her level of talent (i.e. being courted by a record label in the film), there must have been some degree of practice at home surely?! The students I found, grew up a little too quickly and I assume this is a fault in editing. I'm certain that a good amount of footage was chopped. I was drawn to the character Jenny played by Kay Panabaker, who gradually breaks out of her introverted shell through her years (two hours real-time) at New York Academy of Performing Arts. Megan Mullally plays Ms. Rowan to endearing perfection and it is a shame she only appeared in a couple scenes. Grade: C+

I also enjoyed Jane Campion's Bright Star on Friday, although it fell short of my expectations. Abbie Cornish was quite good in her portrayal of Fanny Brawne and this will be the career-defining performance to catapult her into that next level of stardom. Ben Whishaw as poet John Keats, with whom Brawne falls in love, was not a perfect casting choice. I failed to connect with him and found my eyes drawn to Cornish the whole time. The pacing was a bit slow for my liking and I expected an epic, heartbreaking love story and did get that, but still walked away feeling slightly underwhelmed. Grade: B+

Today I caught Scott Hicks' The Boys Are Back, which screened recently at TIFF to positive reviews. Clive Owen, plays a recently widowed Joe, who is forced to raise his son Artie (Nicholas McAnulty) on his own. At the same time his son Harry (George MacKay) from a previous marriage and life in London, longs to reunite again with Joe in Australia. The father and two sons come together and develop a bond. Joe however, is faced with the challenge of returning to his career again as a sports journalist after a three-month grievance leave versus balancing his life as a single parent. The story has its touching moments without being overtly saccharine and it was refreshing seeing Owen abandon the machismo seen in his recent film choices to play a real character I can relate to. Grade: B+

Earlier in the day, I attended the Vanity Fair Portraits 1913-2008 exhibit at Royal Ontario Museum here in Toronto. It was a fascinating experience learning about the history of the magazine which ceased publication after a renaissance from 1913 to 1935 due to the Depression. The magazine relaunched in full fabulous form 1981 and has been here to stay ever since, keeping the celebrity-obsessed on their toes as to whom will grace its covers next. It has been said that it is the true mark of success for a celebrity to be featured in Vanity Fair.


Although I know it is completely déclassé to take photos at the museum, I wanted to give you a glimpse (some glimpses blurrier than others), of what you can expect. Many of the recognizable portraits displayed have left a deep imprint on the public's psyche including photographs of Amelia Earheart, D.H. Lawrence, Frida Kahlo, Liza Minnelli, Madonna, Julianne Moore, George Clooney, Princess Diana, Helen Mirren, Demi Moore, Robert DeNiro and many, many, many more. It was surreal seeing these original prints up-close.

If you're in the Toronto area, the exhibit runs until January 3, 2010. It's a wonderful way to spend a couple hours of your afternoon and well worth the $22.00 admission price.