Celluloid Heroes (the REAL follow-up)

[brand@prag.com]

My humblest apologies for the repost of Steve's brilliant review 
of TLTCTC.  My intention was to follow-up his review with this 
post, but I must have inadvertently hit the wrong series of 
keystrokes (Newsflash! - Operator error causes waste of 
bandwidth!).  I have been trying to repost since last thursday, 
but nothing has been going in or out of R.M.G. since then.

I also got to the UC Theatre a bit past 7:00 and found that the 
tickets went on sale at 8:30.  Two people were in line (Karen and 
either Chad or Larry).  I am sorry now that I did not ask them if 
they were "lovehounds."  A signal (some form of common clothing 
or such) might be helpful to identify fellow lovehounds.  I 
myself clipped my KB Staff backstage pass to my sweatshirt.

My two compadres (not Kate fans, but I'm trying) and I sat down 
not knowing what to expect.  What it turned out to be was a 
series of KB videos (yes!) loosely held together by a fairy tale 
frame story (ugh).

steve.b@TQS.COM (Steve Berlin) writes:
>...a video for "Rubberband Girl" which was actually kinda, well, 
> dull.

I'm afraid I agree with Steve on this one.  Staged performance 
videos never turn me on.  The band seemed lost (lip-sync and 
gyrate ad nauseam).  Loved the music..loved the chanteuse...

> Also Kate looked like she was trying to stay awake while singing

Yes, I noticed.  Was she wearing dark glasses during the song?

> (only later did you discover that this was part of what plot 
> there was).

This was part of the "plot?"  Please enlighten me (I can be 
rather dense when it comes to symbolism and the small details - 
HMMMM...great name for a music group).

> ..and then she launched into a video for "And so is Love". This 
> one rather disturbed me, 'cause a bird was killed in it.
 
I wasn't disturbed about that, because the bird wasn't KILLED, 
it just DIED.  I DID find it disturbing that Kate KISSED the dead 
bird.  If it was HER bird, or if she had spent some significant 
time and effort trying to save the bird from its fate, I might 
believe that she had enough feeling for the bird to kiss it 
goodbye.  As it was, she caught the bird, held it for a while, 
and then let it fly in the room before it crashed about and died.
If she was worried about its safety, why didn't she take it to an
open door or window and let it fly outside?  I know....I'm 
rambling.  I MUST have missed the symbolism.

> [Miranda Richardson] bursts through a mirror for the first bit 
> of real dialog.

IMHO, the movie would have benefited from a bit more dialog (a 
lot more?) to flesh out the plot and enhance the story.
 
> ....M.R. is a better actress than K.B.  What DID surprise
> me was she was doing a MUCH better job lip synching to Kate's 
> music than Kate herself was.
 
Considering she's not an actress by trade, I thought Kate held 
her own pretty well.  Without many lines to deliver though, 
the acting might have been difficult for ALL involved.

> [Kate] can only do this [get back to the real world] by giving 
> the shoes back to M.R., who refuses them, so Kate has to do it 
> by Magic.  That's it.  That's the entire plot.

IMHO, it seems that Miranda Richardson's character must have 
WANTED to get the red shoes back, or else she would not have 
shown up again with the means for Kate to give them back (TL, TC, 
and TC).  The alternative is that M.R. was vindictive enough to 
risk getting the shoes back just to taunt our poor Kate.

> ...and Uriel holding a bowling ball.  Someone else can figure 
> out the symbolism of these.

Symbolism?  Not I.

> We then jump into a video for "Eat the Music", 

I enjoyed the ETM segment...lots of energy and color, (let's meet
our next contestant Brand, who is a geologist, a musician, and is
facinated by bright shiny objects).  :^)  This is the first time 
I've REALLY appreciated/enjoyed this song.  I STILL think the 
song is too repetative (give us more than three chords...PLEASE!) 
but it really worked well in the TLTCTC chase sequence.

> Finally, more surreal images flash before us, M.R. gets the Red 
> Shoes back, Kate escapes back to the Real World, but M.R. 
> performs one last piece of Magic, and lastly we see a pair of 
> legs poking up from a pile of rubble - are they Miranda 
> Richardson's, or are they Kate's?

M.R. performs one last piece of magic?  I missed it (or just 
can't remember it).  I think the legs obviously belonged to....
<<OOPS!>> I don't want to spoil it for those who haven't seen.

> The credits are worth mentioning - naturally, the entire Bush 
> clan was involved (including Paddy as a dancing devil in the 
> "Red Shoes" number).

Did anyone else think that the devils looked like Jon Lovitz from 
S.N.L.?

> All in all, I give "The Line, The Cross, & The Curve" a big 
> thumbs up...

I enjoyed getting to see the videos to TRS and would go see 
TLTCTC again, but the film, as movies go, was not great.  I must 
need to see it again to fully comprehend its greatness.  I did, 
however, see its Kateness (truly awesome).

> ...best soundtrack I ever heard in any film...

With the possible exception of Pink Floyd's "The Wall", I quite 
agree.  The Wall - proof that you can make a great movie sans 
dialog (okay, the MUSIC supplied the dialog).  BTW, the U.C. 
Theatre had a fairly decent sound system (its no THX, but..).
 
> Karen, who brought this all to our attention in the first 
> place and will be holding another Katemas this year..

Yes!  Thanks again to Karen.  Without her timely posting, I would 
have missed this rare event.

I am listening to KFOG 104.5 FM (short for Kate-FOG?) and they are 
playing ASIL.  It's so nice to hear Her on the radio every once in 
a while (it would be nicer to hear her on the radio a lot).  
Don't be afraid to call your local stations and let them know 
what you like to hear (soapbox city).

*********************    Noteable Quotables    *********************
"I have never felt such pleasure. Nothing else seemed to matter." - KB
"So you can make me cum, that doesn't make you Jesus." - T Amos
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B^^) B^^) * "...I've never been	  *   She brings us love
B-<  B-<  *     so happy to be    *      and deeper understanding.
B__) B__) *     alive..."  - KB	  *         - BB
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