Two movies with James McAvoy
“Penelope” is a cute, fun fairy tale — not particularly memorable, but entertaining and appealing, with an excellent cast, and with pretty good writing. Throughout the movie I was really wishing James McAvoy’s character would take a shower; I think he was supposed to look appealingly mussed (he plays a down-on-his-luck character,) but I kept thinking about how someone looking that mussed would smell. Even so, he’s fun to watch and is one of my new favorite actors. I had to come home and look him up on IMDB to see why he looked so familiar; I hadn’t remembered that he was the lead opposite Anne Hathaway in “Becoming Jane.” As for that film, it’s another with a very appealing cast, but as a biography, it’s dreadful — it shows a fantasy of what some readers would love for Jane Austen to have been like; taboo-breaking, risk-taking; a perfect modern liberated woman. The historical revisionism was hard for me to take, as was the maudlin ending. However, it did make me a fan of McAvoy, and I think we’ll be seeing lots more of him. (Actually, I understand that we can see too much of him in Atonement — after reading some reviews of that film, I’ve decided it’s too obscene for me.)
Here’s a picture of McAvoy from “Becoming Jane” — it just now occurred to me (I’m sure the period costuming helped) that he’d make a pretty good Joseph Smith:
(I flipped this portrait of Joseph Smith to make him face the same direction as McAvoy above.)
March 10, 2008 at 2:29 pm
I really enjoy James McAvoy as an actor as well. Have you and your kids seen The Chronicle’s of Narnia, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe? That’s where I first saw him on film. He plays Mr. Tumnus the Faun. He really has a presence onscreen. I saw “Atonement”, it was beauiful cinematography/costume wise, but wouldn’t say it was a story of great merit honestly. More hype than anything unfortunately.
March 10, 2008 at 2:30 pm
And P.S., he does look like Joseph Smith!
March 10, 2008 at 4:47 pm
Obscene? Atonement? I hope you change your mind about seeing it! I thought it was fantastic - the cinematography is so gorgeous I thought it would have won an Oscar for sure. And McAvoy’s performance is just breathtaking. He’s great in fun little movies like these - but he really got to show is depth as an actor in Atonement.
March 11, 2008 at 7:29 am
I’m devoutly religious (I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) and, tho’ I’m far from perfect in this, I do try to be very particular about what I watch. I would ideally prefer no sex depicted in movies, and from what I’ve read this movie strays pretty far from that standard, so I think I”ll be happiest not seeing this movie. Also, some say the story line itself is (ironically) not very redemptive, so for me that’s another strike against it. I do hope McAvoy will get some meaty roles in films more to my taste (although, sadly, a lot of the films Hollywood considers “meaty,” are the same ones I consider “obscene.”
March 11, 2008 at 8:36 am
He looks so much like Joseph Smith. How funny. I will think of this whenever I see this actor–cracks me up, thanks for sharing.
March 12, 2008 at 8:22 pm
How ironic that a film named “Atonement” is the only strike against his playing Joseph Smith (unless the director were Richard Dutcher).
March 12, 2008 at 10:02 pm
I’m guessing Dutcher’s dropped the Joseph Smith movie idea — but if someone can talk him into doing it with McAvoy, I’d go see it fer sher.
(But I’m not sure “Atonement” is McxAvoy’s only strike against his playing Joseph Smith in a church-sponsored film — I think he might have a nude scene in The Last King of Scotland — and then there’s that creepy Tumnus role he played in some fantasy film.