Elizabeth I

A short post this week, because we’re in a whirlwind of activity getting ready for Left Coast Crime in Denver …

There’s promotional stuff to pack, clothes (and shoes and hats) to choose … I sometimes wish (always when I’m packing) that I was one of those people who can throw any old wearable into an overnight bag and somehow emerge at a destination, refreshed and coiffed, and somehow make a stained sweatshirt look good.

Wait … there really aren’t people like that, are there? Stained sweatshirts never look good outside of an action movie.

Anyway, point is I have to give thought to what to pack, and thought (and packing) takes time … and time is always in short supply. Tempus fugit, as Virgil pointed out (we owe so much to that man, and he still gets the short end of the stick compared to Homer. But at least he didn’t have to suffer the ignominy of Brad Pitt playing his protagonist). But I digress …

So before I leave you with a question to ponder for the week, until guest blogger and fantastic noir writer Rebecca Cantrell checks in, I wanted to tell you why Helen Mirren doesn’t have to worry.

I watched E:GA in Seattle, and it’s not that Cate Blanchett isn’t one of the best actresses working today. It’s that Elizabeth: the Golden Age was a ninety-odd minute film, not well directed (enough with the spinning, apotheosized Virgin Queen, for God’s sake!) and tried to fit a mini-series worth of content and character into one movie. In other words, like a lot of films, style was more important than substance and content. (Clive Owen swinging on a rope? Did we really need this? And I’m even a fan!)

And when, oh when, will anyone ever get the “I may have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a King” speech right? They stuck Glenda Jackson on a podium in the ’70s; they had Helen picking up dirt balls and laughing with her troops as the Armada sailed (the only “huh?” moment in that series). Here, they don’t use the the lines at all, though they at least put E. on a horse.

Well, enough of my grumbling. Lord, what fools these directors be.

So here’s your question to ponder: why is Paul Giamatti playing John Adams?

Look at the movie poster. And think about it.

Until next time, when I’m back from the Mile-High Thrill of Left Coast Crime, and posting about exciting new theater news in San Francisco!!