Charisse and Mitchell

I'm a little surprised (and miffed too, I guess) that none of the obits I read on Cyd Charisse mentioned her work with James Mitchell. He was her partner much more often than Fred Astaire or Gene Kelly were -- he just wasn't a big star. But many think (and I agree) that James was the best partner for her. Just watch this and you'll see how much more physical and sensual they were together, compared to the light-weight stuff she did with Astaire. I mean REALLY! Just watch it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHnFmFSWk5U

Ed Sanders

OK, here he is, on the left. His name is Ed Sanders. And here's Jack Wild on the right. Some similarity in the looks but really it was the talent and charisma that got me. I hope to see this kid in something else soon. He's fantastic.

Sweeney Todd

The other recent film I saw was Sweeney Todd, although I have to say I found it rather gruesome. All that blood spurting around was a bit too graphic for me. The art direction was good and the music OK but not great. The two leads were OK but not great. Their singing OK but not great. Overall the whole movie was OK but not great.

The best performances came from the supporting cast: Judge Turpin played by Alan Rickman and the sailor Anthony, who had a fantastic voice and an exquisite face. Sacha Baron Cohen was a scene stealer and so was the young boy who played Toby. I think that kid actually stole the whole film away. He reminded me of Jack Wild. I'll try to look him up and find a picture.

Juno

Finally got a chance to catch up on some movie viewing. One of the flicks everyone kept telling me I had to see was "Juno." Well, I saw it and it was OK but it wasn't as great as people were making it out to be. I found it kind of over-the-top, to be honest. In what universe would health professionals, be they pharmacy clerks or ultrasound technicians, be so rude and insulting to a client, especially a teenager dealing with a pregnancy. Those scenes just seemed to be thrown in there to showcase a couple of character actors. But I guess we're expected to suspend our disbelief. After all, the main character is a barely pubescent teen who talks like a 50-year-old university professor. Brainy brainy brainy girl, but not smart enough to use protection when she manipulates her boyfriend into having sex. The audience is supposed to sympathize with Juno but I didn't really like her much. She was rude and ungrateful to her parents (who were remarkably supportive about the whole situation) and downright cruel to her boyfriend. The only people I did like in the movie were her stepmother and the adoptive mum-to-be, although the film took a mocking tone towards the two of them. They were (gasp!) old and unhip, and actually cared about other people's babies. How pathetic! So much better to be emotionally detached and to dump on everyone who loves you.

On second viewing ....

I watched the Lost finale again the other day and a couple of things came up.
1. - I wonder if Charlotte is Charles's daughter.
2. - What happened to Daniel Farraday and the other people on the raft? I'm guessing they're dead since the island disappeared while they were halfway to the tanker. Too bad because I liked him.
3. - Is Aaron the next re-incarnated leader, like Locke?