Monday 4 May 2009

Why are all my favourite films about men wearing make-up?

I have recently realised that this is true of most of my favourites...

So, recently been exchanging movie recs with Angpang (http://www.push.uk.net/copywriting.html) on Twitter (yes I have a twitter, it's CakePirate, look me up), so here's a post recommending some films for anyone as wants. This will probably become a fairly regular occurrence since I like films. In order of UK rating, links to trailers in titles ...

U:

Labyrinth (1986), Jim Henson/Stephen Spielberg: I'm not sure this should actually be a U because it can be frightening for little kids... plus, David Bowie in those tights *cough*. This was one of my favourite films when I was between the ages of 3 and 8, then I wore the video out and forgot about it until I spotted it on dvd a few years ago. Now it's one of my faves again (but for entirely different reasons). The Jim Henson Company at its best. Glitter to the max.

PG:

Legend (1985), Ridley Scott: Tom Cruise with buck teeth cavorting about in a gold chainmail mini-skirt your bag? Then this is the film for you. Unicorns and fairies, oh my! Fabulous fantasy with Tim Curry dressed as the devil with his fantastic voice; ooh yeah. Glitter galore.
Music & Lyrics (2007), Marc Lawrence: Typical Hugh Grant rom com about a past-it popstar with a brilliant soundtrack and the lovely Drew Barrymore. Pure cheesy, chick-flick goodness.

12:

Kinky Boots (2005), Julian Jarrold: Based on a true story, again more fabulousness. A feel-good rom com. Also, Nick Frost appears in it. The soundtrack is ace.

15:

Still Crazy (1998), Brian Gibson: Fantasmagorical! Brilliant cast containing a lot of big names (Bill Nighy, Timothy Spall, Stephen Rea, Billy Connolly, Jimmy Nail). All about the attempt at a reunion by an ageing glam-rock band from the 1970's and their trials/tribulations on tour. Brilliant soundtrack. Love it.
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994), Stephan Elliott: Hugo Weaving in Drag. You can never look at Lord of the Rings the same again. Fabulous film, fabulous script, fabulous cast, fabulous costumes, fabulous locations, fabulous props/sets, fabulous soundtrack, just generally fabulous! I love it so much. The dvd case (or the one I have at least) is even pink. Pure gold!
The Orphanage/El orfanto (2007), Guillermo del Torro: Fabulous, psychological/fantasy horror; I didn't think it was scary, just a bit gory at certain points.
Pan's Labyrinth/El laberinto del fauno (2006), Guillermo del Torro: He does it again, a dark/adult fairytale set during the Spanish Civil War. Creepy in a good way, a bit of graphic gore.
The City of Lost Children/La Cité des enfants perdus (1995), Jean-Pierre Jeunet & Marc Caro: Rec'ed by Angpang. Very good film, very odd, but not as hard to follow as some films. Visually stunning; again, creepy in a good way.

18:

Repo: the Genetic Opera (2008), Darren Lynn Bousman: Fabulous, if you can't find it in the musicals section, look under horror, if you can't find it there, you're guess is as good as mine. Difficult to define, definitely fantastic. Set in the not-too-distant future, with a little bit of a political message about resources/consumption set to a great soundtrack. Brilliant performance from Anthony Stewart Head (Buffy's Giles), Sarah Brightman makes a fabulous Blind Mag and I love the Graverobber (also co-writer). Paris Hilton was surprisingly good, but I still don't like her much. Very gory.

That'll do for now methinks, I'll probably do a separate musicals post soon-ish. Ttfn.

2 comments:

Angela said...

Thanks for the mention. Just getting the hang of the world of blog so sorry for delayed reply. What great taste you have (my taste of course) and men in make-up seem to feature in my favourites a lot too. Apart from Ian W (but that's a story for another day).

Eilidh Ellery said...

No worries. I didn't even realise there was a comment until now that's how bad at this blogging thing I am. We'll both get better with practice. Oooh, do tell.