Friday, December 30, 2011

"The Iron Lady" arrives

Well, as you can see, I've updated my movie counter because The Iron Lady officially opens in the U.S. today, although only in New York and L.A. Just under the wire for Oscar. Fun side note, I'm typing this blog entry on our new Mac mini, a gift from Joe's parents for Christmas. I'm historically super tech-savvy so Joe is having to give me very few pointers(?).

As I think I've mentioned before, I'm not sure why Great Hope Springs doesn't come out for a year, as shooting ended in like September or October. It doesn't seem like the kind of film that would need a ton of editing. Unless they think it'll be an awards vehicle? Who knows?

I still have to wait two weeks to see Iron Lady, but I've waited this long, what's fourteen more days? There will be plenty of Meryl hype to feed my insatiable obsession until then. That should be a fun weekend though: lunch and Meryl with Scooter and then the Golden Globes the next day. Hopefully I'll be out of my sling by then. For those who have forgotten, I'm having shoulder surgery in like four hours. I really hope the next post I write, regardless of its contents, is greatly appreciated because it will have taken me about an hour and a half to type with my left hand. Until then, stay cool, Streepers.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Kennedy Center Honors aired

So I just watched the event tonight, as I was in Wisconsin Dells for Joe's family Christmas. All I can say about Kalahari is...wow. When I got home I cued up the DVR and Meryl's recognition was the first up. I was sort of wondering how it would go, assuming alphabetically, incorrectly. I don't really want to get into what everyone said, because seriously, what more can be said? We get it, she's good. I enjoyed Tracey Ullman's comedy, Bob DeNiro regurgitating comments verbatim that he made about Meryl at her AFI award ceremony in 2004, and the beautiful and talented Emily Blunt referencing her collaboration with Meryl in The Devil Wears Prada. God, since Anne Hathaway co-hosted the Oscars in March she has just bugged the shit out of me. She just never seems particularly serious, and don't get me wrong, I dig all the singing she's been doing lately (apparently wanted that role in Les Mis pretty badly), but give it a rest already.

Meryl of course did a great job of acting surprised and humble. I don't mean that as if I think it was a performance. I think that for events like this when everyone is basically inside your asshole it's got to be a bit tough to seem overwhelmingly gracious all the time. Meryl's probably gotten used to it, and it has to be nice to have such recognition from peers. It's sort of a boost for her Oscar campaign for The Iron Lady. I enjoyed the brief comment about Meryl's "full-court press" in movieline's weekly Oscar Index. I maintain that it'll be an uphill battle for her, but as I've said, I'll certainly enjoy the ride.

I wasn't sure if I would watch the other honorees, but I did. In particular I really enjoyed the segment with Barbara Cook. Didn't know much about her, but learned that she was the original Cunegonde in Leonard Bernstein's Candide. Fun coincidence because just last week I got tickets for Joe and me to see Candide at the Portland Opera in May. Yes, I'm also an opera nerd, but promise to limit my blogging efforts to Miss Meryl.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Gasp!

I have made a grave mistake. In discussing the movies I received for Christmas, I thought that I had covered all on-screen performances for Meryl. I was wrong. On simplystreep I happened to look at her career section and there was info on another made-for-tv movie I had never heard of. The Deadliest Season (1977) stars Meryl as the wife of a professional hockey player who gets relegated to the minors. This means I have currently seen zero of the three tv movies she's done. I had honestly never heard about this last one, but I've decided that I will be looking into getting my hands on it, as well as Holocaust. I already own Holocaust on VHS but figured I might as well just get it on DVD, so along with The Deadliest Season it would complete my collection of her television performances. Lord knows I'll have plenty of time to watch them over the next two months. Ugh.

Monday, December 26, 2011

Meryl for Christmas

There are exactly two screen performances out of Meryl's entire career that I have yet to view. Both were gifted to me by my parents for Christmas. Neither of them are feature films, of course, as the only of those I haven't seen is The Iron Lady (which isn't even available to me yet in Minneapolis--less than three weeks!). They are the two made-for-tv films in which she's starred: Uncommon Women and Others (1978), and ...First Do No Harm (1997). I also received the miniseries Angels in America (2003), but I've seen that a couple times. I plan on waiting to watch them until at least Friday, when I'm having surgery on my stupid shoulder and will thereafter be practically useless for weeks. Little does Joe know that he may be doing a little more typing than he's used to in the coming weeks. Eh, he's a fast typist.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Incarnation

Of course I got the January issue of Vogue today with Meryl on the cover. By now we all know that she, at 62, is the oldest woman ever to grace the cover of this famed mag. I've already blogged about how it's kind of weird that Meryl is on the cover of a magazine whose editor is a woman she has essentially characterized onscreen, so I'll spare my reader further analysis of that psychology. Far more interesting is the story by Tonne Goodman, covering Meryl's publicity of The Iron Lady and her push for a new women's history museum on the National Mall.

First and foremost, Meryl looks beautiful on the cover. Few women possess her natural presence in front of a camera. The article inside isn't super long, but it had a couple of fun tidbits that caught my attention. I enjoyed the writer quoting director Phyllida Lloyd as describing Meryl's performance as Maggie Thatcher as "not an impersonation on any level. It's an incarnation. Of a very particular kind." Incarnation is typicallly defined as an embodiment. The latter word is certainly thrown around a lot to describe hyped-up roles, but I have little doubt that in this particular case it's apropos.

Monday, December 19, 2011

Meryl recognized by Southeastern Film Critics Association

Another accolade for Miss Meryl in this awards season. Overall this is her third award for Best Actress this year. Today she was also the runner-up (tied with Michelle Williams) for the St. Louis Film Critics. They chose Rooney Mara for The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo. Williams has sort of been cleaning up lately. Despite her critics recognitions, she continues to be third in the prediction chart on gold derby, behind Viola Davis and Meryl. The love has been rather spread out, but at this stage, I think we can pretty safely bet on Streep, Davis, Williams and Tilda Swinton to be Oscar nominees. Some may think I'm going out on a limb with Swinton, but I'd honestly be more surprised if she weren't nominated over Glenn Close or Charlize Theron, for example. We still don't get those nominations revealed for several weeks. And still almost four weeks before I'll be able to see The Iron Lady. Maybe it'll never happen. I'm just being sour because I'm sick of waiting. My friend Brendan (who has some acting connections) teased me this weekend that he knew of a website I could visit to get a link to an advanced screening. I'm not holding my breath.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

...and nominated for a Golden Globe

This isn't even really news after she was nominated for a SAG yesterday. If Meryl hadn't been able to get recognized as having one of the top ten performances of the year (since they do five for drama and comedy each), it would've been news. I haven't even really looked at the whole list of GG nominees because work was crazy today and I'm watching the NCAA volleyball national semifinals. I'm more looking forward to seeing Meryl interviewed by Morley Safer on 60 Minutes Sunday night.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Meryl nominated for SAG award

Duh. This was announced like 90 seconds ago. There was no real surprise to me in the Best Actress category. Some people I'm sure will be surprised that Glenn Close was nominated for Albert Nobbs, but let's remember that this is actors nominating actors. They'll tend to gravitate toward veterans and "overdue" actors more easily than would the Academy or highbrowed critics groups. I switched the tv over to TNT at the last moment and happened to see that Jessica Chastain (The Help) and Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids) were both nominated for Supporting Actress. Good for them!

As for Miss Meryl, like I said, it was expected based on how things have gone over the last month. I'll be interested to see people on the blogs foam at the mouth over their elations and disappointments. It'll be the unexpected noms that will of course get the most talk. Regardless, congratulations, Meryl.

Monday, December 12, 2011

Meryl graces the January cover of Vogue

Apparently this is the first time she's been on the cover. Not a big deal to me, considering I've read things from Meryl saying that she thinks fashion is sort of lame (I'm paraphrasing). Far more interesting is the fact that Meryl and Anna Wintour probably met. I don't know if they have ever met before, but I've seen The September Issue (love) and I imagine that for a cover like this, Anna would have some connection. Why is this a big deal? Two reasons: one, I thoroughly enjoy both of these women, and two, Meryl basically portrayed Anna in her Oscar-nominated role in The Devil Wears Prada. Wintour wasn't portrayed in a particularly positive light, but they're both professionals, and I've actually read Anna being quoted as saying that the attention DWP brought to the fashion industry was a good thing.

I personally think that Anna got a kick out of Meryl's performance and has no problem with being portrayed as "strong." She told Barbara Walters that she thinks it's actually helpful to people to have someone in control and who is able to make decisions. I tend to quote that to Joe to rationalize my bossiness. Here's the Vogue cover that hits stands on 12/20. Super pretty.