I just want to say this and I will say it quickly, and I doubt it will get read much, but I do not care. It's why I have a blog in the first place.
Last weekend I went to see Crazy Heart, and I kind of liked it. I liked the music and some of the story. My favorite scenes were the ones at the end with Robert Duvall, and some other stuff that I will not give away. I didnt care for JB's hygiene, but of course that was in the story line. To be brief, his hair looked greasy. He sweated profusely, puked often. He looked like he was wearing loose dentures and I imagine his breath must have stank. In one scene, Maggie Gyllenhaal winced when he went to kiss her good by because of his breath. He wore polyester blend pants. I am not Maggie Gyllenhaal by any means, but I could not imagine kissing him let alone having him in a bed with me. Jeff Bridges did a fabulous job of playing someone you would avoid fucking at all costs. Not only because of his hygiene, but he was a drunk. He was mean and rude. I liked him in the movie though, because I happened to know that it was really Jeff Bridges who I like.
What I did not like was at the beginning of the movie, his character, Bad Blake, (as odious a name as Lucky Lindy) meets and sleeps with a woman probably about his age. She is the thin-lipped character actress you see all the time. She was in Speed and got killed. Anyway, when we first get a glimpse of her, she is watching Bad Blake stumble around the stage, drunk. She at least appears well groomed and pleasant until the next day when she is sleeping and snoring and her makeup is removed and Bad Blake sees her for the distasteful human being she is. He gives her a look of disgust before he leaves without saying good by. I didn't care for that, and I didn't care for the patronizing way he treated the next older lady he saw. This woman had her hair artfully dyed and styled, had nice teeth (though a tad large) and was very polite and complimentary to Bad Blake. He very kindly put her at arm's length. To look at him in the movie, you'd think he'd be grateful for any attention, but apparently not.
These women were Princess Grace and Audrey Hepburn to Bad Blake's Ratso Rizzo, but since they weren't the lovely young princess in the form of Maggie Gyllenhaal (who made some very poor decisions in this movie, IMO), they were the ugly witches. Yes, I'm old and no I do not get laid very often at all, so that is part of my problem.
Yes, yes, yes. Jeff Bridges is an amazing actor. Whatever. I liked It's Complicated much better.
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Comments
Not getting laid often can actually be better than getting laid almost every night by someone who is a lousy and selfish lover - no matter how young he is...
We just have to show Hollywood we have the money, the brains and the pocketbook so they better kiss our ass.
MTP, Frozen River was so good, and it seemed to really understand the difficulties facing older women. The heroine in that movie did not behave well, but she was doing her best and her character was treated with respect, I thought. Add to that a good story, the scenery--I just loved that movie. Since you like my taste in movies, An Education was good, another older man-young girl story that is lovely to look at and is a little closer to reality. Also, on my cable package, I watched Easy Virtue with Jessica Beal. That was not bad at all, better than a lot of stuff you see at the theater. Gorgeous English countryside, Colin Firth dark and brooding (him I could not resist), and Kristen Scott Thomas, plus an idiot girl doing the Can-Can without underpants. I like to be entertained at the movies. And I remember that actress, Beth Grant, because she is in a lot of movies and she always plays this nasal-voiced obnoxious midwestern type, and the more I see her the more I think, what's she really like? She must be pretty smart and good to get all this work. Oh, and 39 Steps was on PBS the other night. That I would have watched at the theater. it was so good, though I'm not usually drawn to spy thrillers. Again, the English countryside, great actors, great story.
Leonde, I should not have put that in this post. I could probably get laid a lot more often if I wanted to. There are lots of Bad Blake types who ride the bus and plenty have shown at least a passing interest. I'm just too fussy, I guess.
CrazeCzar, good to meet you. I am lucky because we have cheap, independent theaters around, which is where I went to see An Education, and that movie with John Malkovich, where he played the Kreskin character. I work at home so like to get out as often as I can. I went to see that movie because I had heard so many good things about it. it could have been an okay movie without these snide little asides about older women. It seemed to be saying "Yes, he's disgusting but he's too good for the older ladies." I know actual guys like that in real life. They're pretty lonely. Nice thing about older women, we're not so hung up on looks, hygiene maybe, but not looks.
Yes, Deborah. I think Meryl Streep said something about that, about how Julie and Julia and that Abba movie made so much money, and they were for the demographic that "nobody gave a shit about," Meryl's words, not mine. Seems you and she are on the seame page. Still, I'm not looking for Hollywood to ever kiss our asses, not with the junk that's in the mainstream movie theaters, all made for 14-year-old boys. Thanks for coming by everyone.
I think I liked Jeff Bridges better in "The Mirror Has Two Faces." There, he was a real character with the ability to learn for the better what women really want. We deserve respect, I guess, before all else. The fact that TV and movies paint us older women as either hot -to -trot older femmes fatale, or like (more often than the other) somebody's mother with a more serious term than is popular with youth culture, tells me we are not awake enough yet to what aging can mean. Wisdom is better than all the beauty products ever sold to those of us intimidated by the propaganda against growing older with grace...........
I liked the commentary here. I'll be sure to check back here more frequently. --Anybody here seen Kate Hepburn in "Summertime"? Gorgeous story--2 actual adults living it up in Venice!!!! (and with grey hair, too)
But I could say the same about many so-called "beauties" out of Hollywood.
You are so right about the way that our media and culture treat women over 50.
Just saw the old movie Cheri'--a welcome French respite from that atitude of ageism!