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Sara2009

By Sara2009
in Glee [V]

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Autistic Queer
Autistic Queer

Amber won Best Actress in a Musical at the Oliviers. Well deserved I've not heard anything but wonderful things.  I'm sure it'll be the Tony's next year. 

dizzyizzy01
dizzyizzy01

Consistent television and stage work is nothing to sneeze at.  Those that have been fortunate to land those roles (Lea, Grant, Melissa, Harry on TV, and Amber and Matt on Broadway/West End) pretty awe

caracas1914
caracas1914

Add the New York Times Ben Brantley to the rave reviews of Amber Riley in "Dream Girls" in the West end. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/30/theater/review-a-souped-up-dreamgirls-roars-in-london.h

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caracas1914

caracas1914

(edited)

I liked parts of "Struck by Lightning", and as noted it was an acting departure ( 180 actually) from the Kurt Hummel character and a believable one for Chris to handle.

However there were weaknesses in the script, particularly in making Carson a compelling character. I don't need characters to be likeable, but evil or good or in between they should be interesting. Carson needed more shading, having said that, there were some good one liners throughout and it wasn't a sugar coated HS/family fantasy. Poly Bergen and especially Allison Jamey were good , and some of the wry comments on HS hierarchy were on point.

Did I think it's a great movie? No, but I enjoyed it despite its flaws.

Edited by caracas1914
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dizzyizzy01

dizzyizzy01

I don't think anybody serious would argue the cast. That's a lot of people I'd watch read phone books.

 

Oh yea.  I'm just saying that could make it worth watching for some people.  I've watched some fairly terrible movies because I liked one of the actors in it.

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ComfySweater

ComfySweater

Oh yea.  I'm just saying that could make it worth watching for some people.  I've watched some fairly terrible movies because I liked one of the actors in it.

Haven't we all? Try being a Tim Hutton fan. I hope his mortgage got paid off of some of those otherwise there was no reason.

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fakeempress

fakeempress

(edited)

I mean I like Indy movies too, but the plot for Struck by Lightening is just not very good IMO.  It's got a pretty stellar cast though.

The plot itself could work for a high school/coming of age - themed movie, but with some major reworking and refocusing. As noted, first and foremost Carson had to be compelling. I think what failed here is Chris was still too close to this period of his life, which the movie was based on; and also he is somewhat didactic with his alter-egos - which was also a shortcoming in his Glee script, he needs to move away from that impulse. For instance, I didn't get at all if and if so, why, we should be siding with Carson in the high school story; seemed to me the other kids were totally in their right not to be interested in what he was. From what Chris said after, seems his view of his character was more complex, that he was too focused on the future which created his blind spots - but this didn't come across well. I think the director could've helped there more as well. 

Edited by fakeempress
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galax-arena

galax-arena

(edited)
Is Chris movie 'Struck By Lightening' any good?

I think it all just felt too self-indulgent, like it was very obvious that Chris was using it to work through whatever issues he had with high school. And I really, really, REALLY didn't like Carson, and not in a "love to hate" sort of way where the character is awful but interesting. I think Chris actually said that Carson wasn't meant to be all that likable, but he also said that he wrote Carson as the type of person he wished he had been more like in high school (?). So it's like we're meant to see Carson as some sort of author avatar we're supposed to root for against the rest of the "sheeplike" student body, and that just didn't come across because of how awful Carson was. It didn't help that some of the students he blackmailed weren't really that bad at all. 

 

IIRC, Chris said that he started working on the script in high school, and it showed. It was impressive writing for a high schooler, but I think it should have marinated for a good while longer before being made, if at all. As others have said, the casting was great, but for me the writing just overshadowed everything else. I agreed with the critic who said that you don't make one character look smart by making everyone else around him look stupid. 

 

tl;dr - I came out of that movie being #TeamLightning. I'm not sure that's what Chris was going for, lmao.

 

 

Haven't we all? Try being a Tim Hutton fan.

Dude, I watched Rapture-palooza for Anna Kendrick. I'm still not sure I've forgiven her for that. 

Edited by galax-arena
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Hana Chan

Hana Chan

For me, Caron's abrasiveness was something that made a great deal of sense for his character. Neither of his parents seems to have wanted him (with his father saying outright that his being born ruined his marriage to Carson's mother) and the one relative that seemed to love Carson was his grandmother who didn't recognize him nine times out of ten. I'd be a stone bitch too if I had to live in an environment like that. I actually appreciated that Chris didn't soften Carson's edges too much and make him a misunderstood moppet and let him stay manipulative and aggressive.

 

I'm not going to say that the firm was perfect by any stretch. It had some major issues but there was the bones of a really compelling story here and the film was more than watchable for me (and I've sat through much worse films made by professionals with much longer careers than Chris). It had it's charms and I think it shows a lot of promise and potential.

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Myrna123

Myrna123

Is Chris movie 'Struck By Lightening' any good?

I thought it was good.  Carson wasn't likeable, but in the portrayal of the parents, it's perfectly understandable how he was formed.  For having written the film in his early 20's, Chris had a mature grasp of how Carson's parents' choices and behaviors would have made Carson who he was.

 

The film was mostly predictable with flashes of something a little unique and different.  I'm glad it was produced when it was simply because it had a perspective of someone much closer in age to the main character than most high school-centered films, which usually read like 45-year-old-white-male-wish-fulfillment to me.

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Hana Chan

Hana Chan

It is interesting to get a high school storyline from the perspective of someone who isn't that far out of school that he either idealizes his experience or exaggerates the negatives. And it's rare that a writer has the guts to let his main character (especially one that he will be portraying on film) remain decidedly unlikable and be tempted to make him more sympathetic. That, to me, shows a lot of courage in that Chris didn't give into the temptation to make Carson a Gary Stu type of character.

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caracas1914

caracas1914

I think the intent was good, but the execution of the character was a bit flawed. Compelling doesn't mean necessarily likeable to me so I liked the concept of Carson but there was a sense of superior entitlement about Carson that was there, I just wish it was more interesting.

Again having said that I really liked how realistic it was in parent/children dynamics. It didn't smack of conventional HW platitudes.

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fakeempress

fakeempress

(edited)

 

I think Chris actually said that Carson wasn't meant to be all that likable, but he also said that he wrote Carson as the type of person he wished he had been more like in high school (?). 

This was about Chris wishing to have been as gutsy as Carson, in order to deal with what he was going through in his real life back in high school, iirc, not to act exactly like him. 

 

 

 

I think the intent was good, but the execution of the character was a bit flawed. Compelling doesn't mean necessarily likeable to me so I liked the concept of Carson but there was a sense of superior entitlement about Carson that was there, I just wish it was more interesting.

Again having said that I really liked how realistic it was in parent/children dynamics. It didn't smack of conventional HW platitudes.

That's also where I stand. Carson came off as entitled more than was intended and the story was undercooked. That's why I mentioned how Chris seemed to have had a more complex view of him - one of Carson's faults he mentioned was that he was so much focused on and living in the future, that he forgot to live in the present moment. He also compared that with Carson's mother who was living in the past. While this kinda was there in the family story - and the scenes of Chris with Allison Janney and Polly Bergen, also with Dermot and Christina, are the best part of the movie - it should've been much better developed and shaded in the school story. 

 

It was a first effort and it showed. But it was interesting to me to at least see Chris playing (well) a totally different character, and I also appreciated how the stories weren't sugarcoated, the family story in particular. 

Edited by fakeempress
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ComfySweater

ComfySweater

Dude, I watched Rapture-palooza for Anna Kendrick. I'm still not sure I've forgiven her for that. 

It was a paycheck. We're going to need to repeat that to ourselves a lot as the Glee cast go forth into post series television land. I predict Kevin will do the first truly awful thing and not even care. He seems to get tons of work, so one is likely to be terrible somewhere along the way.

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Hana Chan

Hana Chan

Most actors/directors have a few projects in their history that they're not exactly proud to own up to. I don't think that George Clooney is proud to have Return of the Killer Tomatoes on his CV, but for a young actor it was a paying job. And for all of Steven Spielberg's successes as a director, he's still got to own that piece of shit that was 1941.

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galax-arena

galax-arena

It was a paycheck. We're going to need to repeat that to ourselves a lot

I tried that! Didn't work. I'm with Dennis Hopper's son on that one:

"I made a picture called Super Mario Bros., and my six-year-old son at the time - he's now 18 - he said, 'Dad I think you're probably a pretty good actor, but why did you play that terrible guy King Koopa in Super Mario Bros.?'" Hopper replied. "And I said, 'Well Henry, I did that so you could have shoes,' and he said, 'Dad, I don't need shoes that badly.'"

(Except Super Mario Bros. was an unintentionally hilarious masterpiece, how very dare you.) 

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caracas1914

caracas1914

for all of Steven Spielberg's successes as a director, he's still got to own that piece of shit that was 1941.

 

LOL..."1941" is one of my guilty pleasures....

 

Laurence Olivier did "The Betsy" and so so much garbage in the last couple of decades of his life all I could think of was "trust funds for the grand kids.."

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jaytee1812

jaytee1812

Video of a number " believe" from Finding Neverland. Matt talks a bit in a Scottish accent. I am not familiar enough with it to judge

The accent needs work. A lot of work.

I predict Kevin will do the first truly awful thing and not even care. He seems to get tons of work, so one is likely to be terrible somewhere along the way.

Will do? You've never seen Virtually Famous.

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Ceeg

Ceeg

I watched Naya's horror flick so im not one to judge..,

 

I'm a Naya stan, but even I couldn't subject myself to that, so *claps* for you. I'll definitely watch her on DM though, even though I've never seen an episode of that before.

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jaytee1812

jaytee1812

I'm going to not google that as it seems like I'd regret it immediately. I hope he was paid well for it.

  

It's a quiz show. It's funny, but it's not good.

If you ever want to see an actor who should have known better, Michael Caine in Jaws 4: The Revenge. There's no way to excuse that except that they threw a wheelbarrow full of money at him.

He was asked if he'd seen it, he said no, but he'd seen the house it paid for!

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caracas1914

caracas1914

(edited)

What is worse is Michael Caine  had to miss going  to the Academy Awards that year to pick up his one and only acting Oscar  (for Hannah and her two sisters) in his storied career because he was filming Jaws 4....LOL.

Edited by caracas1914
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Sara2009

Sara2009

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The accent needs work. A lot of work.

Will do? You've never seen Virtually Famous.

Jeremy Jordan's accent was dodgy too. I think it's just going to be one of those things people will have to overlook.

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ComfySweater

ComfySweater

Thing is in a few years the embarrassing project that people assume these actors did for money is going to be Glee!

It's not already? There's a decent syndication deal that should keep most of the regulars going for a long while, but that doesn't mean their next projects won't be somewhat funny if viewed from a distance.

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Hana Chan

Hana Chan

I don't hold Glee against many of the younger actors. For Lea, this was her first television job and for Chris, it was his first professional job period. They are all still building their careers and Glee was a good to a lot of them, at least for the first three years. I don't blame them for it going all to shit because RM has the attention span of a hyperactive hummingbird.

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caracas1914

caracas1914

(edited)

Yea, in balance both Lea and Chris (all of them really) would rather Glee have happened to them than not.    That it's ending badly doesn't mean it wasn't a godsend to all their careers.

 

I think most of the Glee cast, Lea, Jane, Matt, Chris, Darren, Dianna, Amber, Kevin  and Naya in particular,  are financially set for life, in that if they are smart they will have careers in showbiz in some capacity or other, maybe not huge celebrities but if they don't blow it they will get steady work. 

Edited by caracas1914
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Sara2009

Sara2009

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(edited)

There's one more number:

It's a bit rough around the edges in a few places, but over all it looks promising. Plus, this song is the most fun thing ever.

Edited by Sara2009
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dizzyizzy01

dizzyizzy01

Matt's talents were so wasted on this show.

 

I doubt any of these actors think of or will think of Glee as some "embarrassing project".  I think they were all certainly ready to move on, but Glee was absolutely huge at one point and launched their careers into new levels for most of them.  Some of them probably wouldn't have a career without Glee.  Some of the experiences that cast had Oprah, meetings the president, world concert tours, etc. were all pretty unbelievable and unlikely to ever happen again for them.

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phoenixrising

phoenixrising

In terms of Chris's movie, I thought it was good for a younger writer, but I agree with the comments about Carson, and I think the middle needed to be fleshed out more. And I didn't feel sympathy towards him, unless his mom was being the worst. However, it was nice to see him play something so different than Kurt. And it was refreshing to have a movie without any high school romance.

The Naya horror film I watched too. She was awesome in it, and it was good to see her play someone really different than Santana. Not good overall, but Naya's performance was great.

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caracas1914

caracas1914

It's hard to underestimate the pressure on Matt since the success of Neverland (rightly or wrongly) rests largely on his shoulders. He's coming back to Broadway from TV, it's been 7 plus years since his last stint on BW,  Movie Producer  Weinstien is trying to make his big splash on stage and has moved mountain and earth to succeed (discarding earlier drafts of the musical and rebooting the whole project resulting in $$$$ expended) the whole replacing Jeremy Jordan  as lead was an awkward PR fiasco, etc, etc.

 

Good luck to Matt!!

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Ceeg

Ceeg

(edited)

The Naya horror film I watched too. She was awesome in it, and it was good to see her play someone really different than Santana. Not good overall, but Naya's performance was great.

 

Why did you have to say this? I promised myself I wouldn't watch it because it looked like a hot mess and got almost no distribution. But now I'm curious.

Edited by Ceeg
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jaytee1812

jaytee1812

Why did you have to say this? I promised myself I wouldn't watch it because it looked like a hot mess and got almost no distribution. But now I'm curious.

Tell me about it, I watch a violent gangster film because Harry was in it!

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fakeempress

fakeempress

(edited)

Yea, in balance both Lea and Chris (all of them really) would rather Glee have happened to them than not.    That it's ending badly doesn't mean it wasn't a godsend to all their careers.

 

I think most of the Glee cast, Lea, Jane, Matt, Chris, Darren, Dianna, Amber, Kevin  and Naya in particular,  are financially set for life, in that if they are smart they will have careers in showbiz in some capacity or other, maybe not huge celebrities but if they don't blow it they will get steady work. 

I think most of these names would've made their way without Glee, eventually. Dianna had episodic TV roles already irrc (I knew her from a Veronica Mars episode), Jane was a name, Lea and Matt had their BW careers going, Naya had been working since a kid.. Glee made them very famous. But if we look at Glee for directly jumpstarting careers, it was mainly Chris, Darren, Cory and Kevin, I think. Amber we haven't really seen doing more yet, nor Jenna (hopefully we will). Especially wrt Chris - Glee made his career, and won him an individual acting award which was huge at his age, for someone with no resume to speak of. Even if their careers don't all go in a smooth upward trajectory from here, they will be employed in some capacity in the business I'm sure.

 

Supergirl is going meta.

http://tvline.com/2015/02/27/supergirl-cbs-helen-slater-dean-cain-tv-series-cast/

Some superb casting on that show.

They had Helen Slater on Smallville and in my eyes she was pretty wooden but I get why they cast her, as well as here. 

Edited by fakeempress
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