The new "Mildred Pierce"

[olympic]

http://www.newsweek.com/2011/03/20/m...-daughter.html

Newsweek seems to love it! Actually, I get the impression that they prefer Kate to Joan [it's a shame Joan isn't alive for us to see a reaction ]

They write some on the 1945 film, how the production code at the time didn't allow for certain scenes that we will see in this miniseries

[Wyliefan]

The murder plot in the original was "ridiculous"? Eh, eye of the beholder, I guess. I think it works great.

[Rex]

Did they do the "my mother, a WAITRESS" scene ? That was my favorite part of the original.

[Satellitegirl]

Yep they did.

[Grannyfan]

I enjoyed it, but I miss Jack Carson and Eve Arden. This new Wally just doesn't cut it for me.

[Allen]

I made the mistake of watching the original on Saturday night and I prefer it to the new version. There's something about the aloofness of Crawford's version that I just love. I think Winslet is amazing and suspect that I will feel the same about Evan Rachel Wood. However, I agree with Grannyfan that Jack Caron and Eve Arden were much better than their replacements. I think Allison Janney would have been a really good Ida. Mare Winningham is good, but she's playing Ida far too straight, without any humor. James LeGros as Wally is just bad casting in my opinion. Guy Pearce is good, but that mustache is just not well done.

[Satellitegirl]

Guy Pearce has an oddly shaped mouth to start with, and that mustache just draws more attention to it. He looks better clean shaven.

[Wyliefan]

Is it just me, or does Winslet look young enough to play Veda instead of Mildred? Maybe she caught Eternal Youth Syndrome from Leo diCaprio.

IMDb says she's my age, so I guess that technically she's old enough to play the mom of a teenager, but she so doesn't look it!

[Allen]

Is it just me, or does Winslet look young enough to play Veda instead of Mildred? Maybe she caught Eternal Youth Syndrome from Leo diCaprio.

IMDb says she's my age, so I guess that technically she's old enough to play the mom of a teenager, but she so doesn't look it!

From the preview, I think they make her look older when Evan Rachel Wood is around.

[screech]

Guy Pearce has an oddly shaped mouth to start with, and that mustache just draws more attention to it. He looks better clean shaven.

When I saw Guy Pearce in this I immediately thought his hair resembled Billy Zane's in Titanic.

[emason]

Watched Parts 1 and 2 yesterday. One word - boring. Make it two words - unbelievably boring. Hate the sound track also; nothing about this is working for me.

[Tinami Amori]

I saw part 1 and 2, and thought it was very good. It is different than the original, in style, but very good in its own way.

It’s not slow …. My guess is – such pace and rhythm was intended..

I think there are very few options to effectively remake an A-list classic film headed by bigger-than-life A-list actress (Crawford) and be able to provide a “fertile soil in a theatrical sense” for a modern A-list Oscar material actress (Winslet).

Director/s did not have much choice but to expand each of the characters, make daily routines more detailed in order to offset Winslet’s extreme case of method acting in order to distinguish the production from the original.

Winslet is in a rank where she can’t afford to “copy” Crawford’s theatrical/classic style. She had to do something different yet equally effective (as an A-list actress herself she can’t loose to Crawford) – so Winslet went for “maximum Stanslavsky”….. and to showcase that style the pace of the movie had to be much slower and other characters more detailed…. Plus there are 5 hours to fill….. .

Remakes are dangerous for A-list actresses….. Julia Ormond’s career was on the rise after “Legend of the Falls”, and vanished after very awful “Sabrina” remake, even “Semila’s Sense of Snow”, the next film, could not save her from being bumped off the A-list into “TV-movies” land.

I am enjoying every minute of Winslet’s acting, every body movement, every facial expression, just as much as I enjoyed Crawford’s; both are different, and both are good…… Can’t wait to see the rest of the episodes.

[Matryeshka]

Just watched this on DVR. It was very well done. The acting was excellent, and the set-up of time, place, and attitude was superb. Everything was done to perfection.

In other words, I was completely, utterly BORED.

I think maybe the perfection was part of the problem--it was methodical to the point it was plodding. It was over-thought and over-produced. The details got to be a little much--we get it. She bakes pie. She's middle class. She's proud. Veda is a brat. I get it, seriously. I don't think anyone watching "Mildred Pierce" is going to be the type of viewer that needs to be hit with the three-ton Acme Clue Anvil. It was like the late 90s Tarasova method of skating translating to film--everything you do well, do it at least three times to make sure everyone gets it. There was no need for that to be two hours and five minutes long--it could easily have been accomplished in an hour and a half--probably a little less.

I'll probably tune in tonight, but if it doesn't move faster, I'll be watching House Hunters instead.

[IceAlisa]

I don't think anyone watching "Mildred Pierce" is going to be the type of viewer that needs to be hit with the three-ton Acme Clue Anvil. It was like the late 90s Tarasova method of skating translating to film--everything you do well, do it at least three times to make sure everyone gets it.

So...speaking of Acme Clue Anvils: how are you liking Possession?

[Wyliefan]

I found someone who's doing recaps of each episode, and though I haven't seen any of the miniseries yet, I have to say they're pretty funny. The recapper agrees with those of you who think it's boring.

[IceAlisa]

Ooooh, lemon meringue pie!

[Matryeshka]

So...speaking of Acme Clue Anvils: how are you liking Possession?

Possession? I know not of what you speak. I am not from your country. No hablo ingles.



It's spring. Everything is new and shiny and sunny. This is the time of year for madcap car chases, vampires, and bodice-ripping. I've put it on the back-burner and am going to re-start it later. I'm hoping it's going to be like The Poisonwood Bible--it took me three tries to start it, but when I finally was in the right mood, I really enjoyed it.

[IceAlisa]

I hear ya. You have to be in the mood for this one.

[rfisher]

Watched Parts 1 and 2 yesterday. One word - boring. Make it two words - unbelievably boring. Hate the sound track also; nothing about this is working for me.

That was my impression as well. I'm watching the premier of The Killing on AMC tonight instead of the rest of this. Not my cup of tea at all.

[Wyliefan]

I ran across Mildred Pierce in the bookstore today, and out of curiosity, I read the ending. It's a very good ending. But I still think the murder story works fine, too.

Spoiler

Honestly, I don't see any reason why they couldn't have used the book's ending in the original film, even in Production Code days. It's not much more salacious than what they did do. With the exception of the Veda-being-naked part, and that's easily solved -- just throw a robe on her. But they don't have the storyline about her becoming an opera singer, and without it, Cain's ending doesn't work. I wonder if they just decided that a murder story was easier and simpler to portray than the opera storyline.