I don’t usually use this space to discuss movies and TV, but I have to say a word or two about The Queen and Helen Mirren’s performance for which she won a much-deserved Academy Award.  Her performance as Queen Elizabeth II is not just an actor mimicking another person; no, Helen Mirren captures the essence of this most famous of modern European royalty.  The film itself is not a flattering depiction of the British royal family.  It presents Elizabeth II as a cold and uncaring, but more because of the way she was brought than by actually being cold and uncaring.  Helen Mirren captures that so astonishingly well.  This film also presents an interesting picture of Charles, Prince of Wales.  In the film he’s shown as this sort of mealy-mouthed and pathetic man who would sacrifice his own mother to become king of England. 

But what I found most interesting how Tony Blair was depicted in the film.  I don’t know much about British politics, but I know that Labor are not exactly Royalists, but Blair and his team — his wife especially — are shown to have utter contempt for the royal family and at first they see the death of Diana as some sort of political gain.  At least at first.  As time passes you can see how Blair’s attitude changes and his contempt is replaced with a deep respect, affection even, for his monarch.

I’ve never been much interested in royalty, but I always felt Diana was at least party to blame for her predicament simply because she used the press as much they used her.  I also felt like the royal family got the shaft even though they obviously misjudged the situation and were so far removed from “their people” they didn’t understand how in thrall the British people were with their “people’s princess.”

I only watched bits and pieces of the Oscars presentation; I can never actually watch them from beginning to end anymore.  Ellen Degeneres, as always, is a safe bet and what little I saw was fun.  Al Gore had the funnies bit of the night.  As for the winners, well there weren’t a whole lot of surprises, except one:  Eddie Murphy’s loss for Dreamgirls.  I’ve seen the film, and while I think it’s OK, but not great, it’s very obvious why Jennifer Hudson overshadowed Beyonce.  She deserved her Oscar.  Murphy also have the performance of his career and I was a little surprised to see Alan Arkin win over him.  Little Miss Sunshine is a good film and Arkin is great in it, but this really was Murphy’s to lose; and lose he did.  He was probably the most disappointed of any nominee last night.

The first time I saw young actress Dakota Fanning it was in The Sci Fi Channel’s fantastic mini-series Taken.  Since then, as we all know, it seems like no child-centric movie can be made without the young starlet.  I’ve always dound Fanning to be an interesting young actress.  She always comes off being wise beyond her years no matter what role she’s playing.

Her latest film, Houndog, is getting a lot of negative attention because it features a rape scene with the 12-year-old girl and puts her in some very adult situations.  From the description the film is about child abuse and the affect that can have on the victim and those around her.  Without even seeing the film, as usual, Christian groups are outraged and one Catholic group is calling for a Federal investigation.  Oddly, it’s Fanning who comes off sounding the most adult in this situation.  Just read her defense of the film and what it depicts.  If this young lady can survive Hollywood into adulthood she is going to be one hell of an actress — hell, she already is!

You know, Fox News is just about pathetic these days.  Now, they’re using an animated film, Happy Feet, to attack Hollywood for promoting the heinous Liberal agenda of environmentalism.  God forbid, we teach children to take care of planet Earth.  How dare we teach them such a subversive and un-Christian ethic.  Damn Hollywood to hell!

Maybe it’s because I’m a softy for Jesus films, but I am really looking forward to seeing The Nativity Story.  Unlike The Passion of the Christ, this films seems like it’s something you can take the kids to without worrying they will have to endure the violent and bloody beating of Jesus Christ (of course, that didn’t stop many, many Christians from taking their young children).

So, as Mel Gibson finds more and more reason to blame others for his drinking problem and his anti-Jew tirade he is now blaming the disingenuous The Passion of the Christ scandal as a reason.  What a load of bullshit.  I used to be a big Mel Gibson fan.  I really enjoyed the Lethal Weapon movies and I thought Braveheart, while excessively violent, was very good and We Were Soldiers was some of his best work.  Heck, I even enjoyed Bird on a Wire (althought mostly because of Goldie Hawn) and What Women Want.  I saw The Passion of the Christ, and while I enjoy a good Biblical epic, Passion
was not my cup of tea; however, I still thought Mel had the right to
make and distribute the film.  I was disgusted by the pseudo-scandal
and the way churches turned themselves into moneychangers in the
Temple, but again he had the right to make the film.  However, I don’t
think I could ever watch a Gibson film again.  This latest scandal and
the way in which he has blamed everyone but himself has just turned me
off for good.

It shouldn’t really be a surprise that News Corp is creating a division within its Twentieth Century-Fox film studio called FoxFaith to produce and promote faith-based films.  Rupert Murdoch and News Corp are known for finding niches to exploit.  Personally, I see nothing wrong with this.  It wouldn’t hurt Hollywood to make more family films that don’t include sexual innuendo, violence, and disturbing imagery.  The irksome thing about this article is that, as usual, Hollywood is using Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ as the reason for Fox’s decision.  First, let’s be clear about this:  Fox is doing this for one reason only and that’s to make money from an untapped market – that’s it.  Second, using Passion of the Christ as an example of the resurgence of faith-based movies is disingenuous.  No one had heard of or cared about this film until Gibson used the concerns of the Anti-Defamation League to drum up a false controversy, and then use churches to fan the flame of that fake controversy.  It’s an anomaly, no more.  How many faith-based films have been released, before or since, that have been a success – even when you consider the DVD market?  Zip!  The only films of this type to be moderately successful are the two movies based on the Left Behind series.  That being said, I applaud them for making this move.  It’s an untapped market and we need more family fare at the box office.  But don’t kid yourselves; if News Corp doesn’t make money off this venture, FoxFaith will disappear.

I think maybe Eva Longoria might want to get a little more experience under her belt before she kisses off the medium that turned into household name.  According to a recent interview, Longoria says she’s finished with television once Desperate Housewives ends its run.  I doubt serious if The Sentinel and the poorly-titled How I Met My Boyfriend’s Dead Fiancee are the kinds of films to build a career one.  I know nothing about the second film, but in The Sentinel Longoria was little more than eye candy and not that great.  That’s not to say she can’t do it.  She’s not the strongest actor on the show (those are Cross and Huffman), but she is ambitious and ambition can take you far in Hollywood.

While we’re on this subject, the biggest loser of Desperate Housewives coming to an end has to be Teri Hatcher.  Fans of the show have grown to dislike the character, Susan, and Hatcher herself has used the show to capitalize on everything from stupid books to make-up.  People are tired of her.  If the show ends, I think she will disappear into the Hollywood landscape like she did over a decade ago when Lois and Clark ended its short run.

Maybe it’s just me, but I thought Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest was beyond stupid, badly acted, and horribly written.  I put off seing the film for over a month because every time I saw people coming out of the theater after seeing the film they were grumbling about how mediocre or bad it was.  I finally saw the film myself when it came to a theatre with cheaper ticket prices and I was unimpressed.  That fact that it has now grossed more than a billion dollars worldwide just floors me!

Is it possible the best thing that could happen to Viacom is for Sumner Redstone to go away?  After the Tom Cruise brouhaha and now the unexpected firing of CEO Tm Freston it seems like Redstone is out of control.  I still believe Redstone and Paramount will be the losers in l’affaire Cruise.  Every actor has a finite time as a top box office draw and Cruise may be on the declining edge of that time, but he still has years left of $500 million world-wide and DVD grosses like M:I3.  Then theirs the unprofessional firing of Freston.  Has any of that helped Viacom’s shareholders?  Apparently not.