Spring break is over, so I'm back to my usual activities this week, plus more, because it's performance week for Mary Poppins, and that means I have to be at rehearsals every night. I'm already whimpering a little. But I started the week right with a yoga class, only that made me so relaxed that I want to go to sleep. But I can't because I'm determined to get some work done today. I do have my plumbing problems solved, which is nice. I have really hard water that tends to corrode metal, so my bathroom faucet was in bad shape and I had to wrestle it a bit to shut it off. It's so nice to just turn the handle. And the bathtub drain/plug assembly was a mess, but now I can properly plug the tub. I celebrated with a bath last night, since all the water stayed in the tub until I removed the plug. Luxury!
I saw the new version of Cinderella on Friday, and I really loved it. I always loved the animated movie, and this is to some extent just a remake because it mostly follows the same story beats, only there's a bit more depth to it. There's more getting into Cinderella's mindset of how she ended up in the situation she's in. They show the transition instead of cutting straight from happy family to her being a servant. It has a lot to do with the way that people who have a sense of responsibility and who try to be kind get taken advantage of by selfish people. Then there's a lot more substance to Cinderella's relationship with the prince, which is aided by the fact that the prince gets to be an actual character. It was charming and romantic, with gorgeous costumes, scenery and music and I'll be buying it on Blu-Ray when it comes out.
There is some meta amusement from the casting, with Agent Carter playing Cinderella's mother and teaching her valuable life lessons (though, sadly, none about punching people in the face), and we had an odd little Downton Abbey meets Game of Thrones mash-up, with Cinderella and one of her stepsisters being from Downton Abbey (in an upstairs/downstairs role reversal) and the prince and his buddy being from Game of Thrones. That led to an unintentionally funny bit when the prince -- played by the actor who played Robb Stark -- declares that he wants to marry for love rather than to fulfill a treaty, and you can't help but shudder and say "oh yeah, that's not gonna go well." You can just see the sequel writing itself, in which the princess he was supposed to marry invites him and his bride to attend a wedding.
If you're a fan of the animated version, stay all the way through the closing credits for some familiar songs (though it means sitting through the obligatory awful pop song first).
This weekend I also watched Stardust again, so I guess it was romantic fantasy film weekend. There was an article at tor.com about Ladyhawke that makes me want to rewatch that one, too. I just wish they'd do a "special edition" with a more appropriate score because the soundtrack just about ruins that movie.
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