Netflix #50 and #51 – Angels in America – Suggested by ScottieC, DWQ, Polt, David, Enrico, Adric, Ben, and Brett
Prepare the chorus of angels! For I have finally watched Angels in America! Aren’t you guys so excited? I’ve wanted to see this since it originally aired, but we don’t have HBO. So when I got Netflix, it was one of the first movies I added to my queue, even before asking you, my dear readers, for suggestions. And my goodness, look how many of you recommended it! So it was on my queue for the longest time, but I kept moving it down because of the six hour runtime, and since I only get two Netflix discs at a time, this would have taken up both discs, and there was something about that I just didn’t like. Until one day when I forgot to update my Netflix queue, and before I knew it, I got the confirmation e-mails that Angels in America was being sent to me. And alas, they arrived in my mailbox the next day. Even then, I held off watching them. They sat on my dresser collecting dust while I watched Torchwood and caught up on Ugly Betty instead. But finally I decided to hunker down and watch it.
Why am I telling you all this, you ask? Because I honestly don’t have much to say about Angels in America itself. What’s that, Craig? What are you trying to tell us? Well, dear readers, I’m trying to tell you that I didn’t really care for it. I know! I know! I’m terrible. But I just didn’t find it engaging in the least. After I sat through watched the first 3 hour disc, I thought that the second 3 hour disc would have an amazing pay off, and everything would come into place. But it didn’t. And by all means, don’t think it’s because of the length. I admire length. In movies. I can watch The Return of the King without batting an eyelash. But I just felt like this was a meandering mess that lacked any real focus. And then at the end, Prior Walter wrapped everything up, and told us all the lessons we were supposed to take out of our viewing. And they were certainly good lessons, but shouldn’t you be showing me the lessons I should be learning rather than telling me? I loved the concept of unstoppable human progression, but I just couldn’t see how I was supposed to get that out of the other 5 hours and 45 minutes of angel sex, suffering, and park trolling I had just watched. The one good thing I will say about it though, is that the acting was all top notch, and I absolutely loved Meryl Streep, Emma Thompson, and the true bright spots for me were anytime Jeffrey Wright was on screen. I know a lot of you feel really passionately about this movie, but I just couldn’t get into it. I admire the story it told, because it’s certainly one that people need to hear, but something tells me that the people who need to hear it most aren’t listening.
KEEP YOUR RECOMMENDATIONS COMING!
What?! “Womanizer” is one of my least favorite songs on the CD. haha. I think “Circus” is much better and “If You Seek Amy” could def be a number 1 for her! “Circus” is the number one single on the iTunes chart now…
And as much as I love her and like to believe the entire world really loved “Womanizer,” I know she has extremely loyal fans who bought “Womanizer” on iTunes several times even if they don’t like it that much (me).
And did you see the new “Circus” video?! Love it! (it’s on Perez Hilton if you wanna see it).
“I admire the story it told, because it’s certainly one that people need to hear, but something tells me that the people who need to hear it most aren’t listening.”
Now that I think about it, the reason I really enjoy it is because of the story more than anything else. The first time I was introduced to AiA was when I saw a student production of the first half (the first 3 hour disc? I can’t remember) that my then boyfriend’s roommate was in. He was the Al Pacino character and as an Indian man, it was a bit difficult to make the imaginative leap that he was some closeted Jew. That and several other factors left me with one of those “wow, what an awful aftertaste… what did i eat to cause my mouth to taste so foul?” feelings and I was hesitant to go near AiA for years because of it. What really got to me about the HBO version was their (fairly) clear way of telling the story and the solid acting. Ultimately though I’m in agreement with you. I think it’s really interesting but not entirely entertaining. The intellectual, acting-playwright in me screams with thirteen-year-old-at-a Miley-Cyrus-concert excitement but the demanding TV snob in me that loves watching bad reality date shows on MTV has a hard time swallowing it on an entertainment level. C’est la vie.
Gill: Shame on you! Priscilla is fantastically superfluously wonderful.
Well, I suppose that I can’t fault any of you for not liking Angels in America. I believe that it is a landmark work of incredible beauty. As someone who came out in the early 80s, was diagnosed with HIV in the mid-80s and watched my friends die, I guess I have a different view of the film. Being gay and coping with the AIDS crisis in the Reagan / Bush years was a horrible time, and I think that Angels in America captures the pathos of the age with humor and brilliant insights.
I’m sure to some of you will look at as a “homework movie”, however I would only caution you not to dismiss it too easily. We can’t ever forget how the US Government failed to act immediately at the onset of AIDS, resulting in the lost of hundreds of thousands of lives. The real lesson is that we must never allow this to happen again.