Penelope Review

Penelope has finally found its opening weekend and my review is as simple as this: Go SEE it in the theatre because it is a rare, wonderful, sharply comedic and quick-moving film. Support a movie in a theatre that uses great set designs which includes art by Joe Sorren and includes music by Sigur Rós. Chase scenes are not predictable. Penelope covers, in a few comical moments, what else would a person do who was confined to one house their entire life? I enjoyed the "who's real" and "who's fake" process of elimination and how one copes when you only find the latter. The characters are well-crafted and played by some of my favorite people, obviously Christina Ricci, but also minor characters played by Burn Gorman (Torchwood), Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead's Nick Frost, and the ever-watchable (getting all the laughs when I saw the movie) Peter Dinklage which you've seen in The Station Agent and Death at a Funeral, plus Marianne Faithfull is in it and she really is as great looking as I remember her from the brief appearance she made in BBC's "Absolutely Fabulous". The story's moral is powerful: embrace individuality. It's as simple as that and I would love a poster of this phrase on every street corner to remind those people that forget to do it.

Release the movie, already!

Glad to finally hear about a real theatrical release date for Penelope. "Summit Entertainment has obtained the rights to the film with plans to release it on February 1st, 2008," according to Variety. I've been watching the Bristish award-winning drama Shameless which also stars James McAvoy as Steve. He plays a guy named Max in Penelope and I am looking forward to the onscreen chemistry between him and Christina in this delicious fairy tale. He's going to be in a major pic in 2008 as he plays in Wanted as Wesley along with another really great underrated actor, Thomas Kretschmann.

We finally can watch the trailer for Penelope and I love the rest of the cast joining Christina Ricci for this fun tale. James McAvoy is going to charm us again like he did as the doctor in The Last King of Scotland.

Also, there's a great article today in the San Francisco Chronicle on a taxidermist and a collector of Victorian taxidermy.

If ghost hunting is your thing, check out Philadelphia Ghost Hunters Alliance tour of a gothic prison.

Lastly, I updated the guide for finding all titles that star Roger L. Jackson, the voice actor, though this is not a complete list of all the work he's done in the most recent years. He's been a regular actor for all of the Mucinex commercials you may have seen. I think the stuff works, too. Of course, Zicam, if you follow its directions, works so that you don't have to get sick enough that you need Mucinex.

Penelope

I read great stuff other day about that new Christina Ricci movie, Penelope, where the reviewer wrote, "Ricci, playing against type with refreshing results, treats Penelope's voyage of discovery without any winks or nods to the audience. Her Penelope is a sweet-natured, surprisingly well-adjusted woman who yearns for love. Her real problem is not the snout but overprotective parents." The film also stars Peter Dinklage, Richard E. Grant, Catherine O'Hara, James McAvoy and Reese Witherspoon.

And in this interview I'm pleased to read that the co-producer calls Penelope the "anti-Barbie" movie.

There is no official release date, but hopefully before long we'll see this lovely fairy tale-like movie.

NEW EDIT: There are now pictures online!