It's been fucking weeks since anyone has written anything here. So I'm breaking the cold, cold ice with a brief word about Elizabeth: The Golden Age.

No, it did not suck. Yes, it was heavy-handed and melodramatic. No, it was not as good as the first one. Yes, the production design was phenomenal. No, Cate Blanchett will not get the Oscar. Yes, Abbie Cornish is hot.

I'm a sucker for period pieces, especially those that take themselves REAL seriously. There were lost of wide, sweeping shots coupled with wide, sweeping violin swells and watching the Spanish Armada go down was pretty cool, too.

The story's not too historically accurate, as far as I can tell, but I won't bore you here with any details.

And one final note: The editing in the first half of the movie was fucking AWFUL. There were so many missed dramatic opportunities and many of the conversation shots looked like they were sliced at random with a meat cleaver. I did a little research and discovered this movie was edited by the same person as the prequel, which was pretty much spot on. Who knows? Maybe Jill Bilcock developed autism in the last 10 years, and not the good kind.

Movies to look forward to:
Control. The story of Ian Curtis, dead singer of Joy Division, based on his widow's novel. It's British, gotten great reviews, and has only been released in NYC for now. Oh yeah, and Samantha Morton's in it. Oh yeah. Yeah. (She also played Mary, Queen of Scots, in Golden Age. Yeah.)

I'm Not There. Several different actors, including Christian Bale and Cate Blanchett, play Bob Dylan in separate fictional scenes. It's written and directed by Todd Haynes (Velvet Goldmine, Safe), who's done some brilliant and weird stuff in the past.