Leigh
Leigh McEachran is a movie-going, TV-watching, music-listening, all-around pop culture enthusiast. She eats, sleeps and breathes the entertainment industry, which is why she decided to pair her journalism studies at Ryerson University with her passion for entertainment news in a career in entertainment journalism.
Posts by Leigh
Skins
Nov 1st
You seriously need to watch the UK series Skins. It is amazing.
I just completed the first two seasons of the drama, which is the first generation of characters (similar to how Emma and friends were the first group on Degrassi; The Next Generation.) It is so unique, brilliant and unlike anything I’ve ever seen on television.
The show follows Tony (Nicholas Hoult, a.k.a. the boy from the Hugh Grant flick, About A Boy), a gorgeous, popular, intellectual; and the friends he surrounds himself with. But this high school drama is not your typical fluff, it’s dark and twisted, and the characters in it all have obstacles to overcome.
Skins is everything Gossip Girl promised to be: sexy, risque, dramatic, messed-up and brimming with drama. I have never seen a television show centered around teens so filled with alcohol abuse, pill addiction, drugs, sex, power-trips, and manipulation. The writers of this show aren’t afraid to take risks and it paid off, as the writing team was nominated for a BAFTA TV Award in 2008.
Also, can you spot future Slumdog Millionaire star Dev Patel?
Tune in and tell me your thoughts @LAMcEachran.
The Rum Diary
Oct 30th
Johnny Depp’s new flick, “The Rum Diary,” definitely follows the tone, pace and style of it’s inspiration, Hunter S. Thompson.
I’ve never read Thompson’s fiction novel, which the movie is based on, but I have read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, as well as Jann Wenner’s biography on the writer. Having read these pieces, I can see how true this film stayed to Thompson’s spirit. “The Rum Diary” is a little slow-paced, has some laughs, a love interest, an enemy, journalism, and drugs and alcohol- all staples in Thompson’s work (especially the last two.)
As a writer, I particularly enjoyed one quote in the film, which is said by Johnny Depp’s character, Paul Kemp. Kemp, who is a journalist, says, “I’ve got no voice, I don’t know how to write like myself.” When I was a journalism student at Ryerson University, my first-year reporting teacher told my classmates and I that the hardest thing to do is write in your own voice; so I’m sure many writers, myself included, can relate to Kemp’s struggle.
I enjoyed “The Rum Diary” and, since I’ve read Thompson’s work, it lived up to my expectations. To those humming and hawing over viewing the flick, I would say that if you enjoy reading Thompson, you will probably enjoy this movie; If you don’t like his writing, then you probably won’t like this film.
Have you read The Rum Diary or seen the film adaptation? Tweet me your thoughts @LAMcEachran.
Pop culture references in ‘Casper’
Oct 23rd
Casper is one of my favourite Halloween movies. As I kid, I loved the spookiness of the house, the drama between Kat and the mean girl, and, of course, the Devon Sawa appearance. As an adult, I love the clever script, animation that has stood the test of time, and, most of all, the pop culture references.
I recently re-watched the flick and was surprised at how much the characters in Casper refer to popular culture. When I watched the movie as a kid, these references went over my head; but, re-watching the movie, I really enjoyed all of the shout-outs to pre-1995 entertainment. I listed a few entertainment shout-outs below. Did you notice these the last time you watched Casper?
- Dan Akroyd, dressed as his Ghostbusters character, Dr. Raymond Stantz, walks out of the haunted house saying, “Who you gonna call? Someone else!”
- After the ghosts inhabit Dr. James Harvey’s body, Dr. Harvey looks in the mirror and his face changes. First, he is Clint Eastwood, then Rodney Dangerfield, and, lastly, an eye-brow raising Mel Gibson (back when people still considered him an attractive leading man).
- Gorging on desserts for breakfast, Fatso says, “I feel like Oprah on hiatus!” Stretch adds, “You look like Oprah on hiatus.”
- When the ghosts are harassing Dr. James Harvey, Fatso mimics a fashion show host, saying, “On the runway now, we have Dr. James Harvey wearing smashing underwear.” To which Stretch comments, “Marky Mark, he’s not!” (a reference to Mark Wahlberg’s Calvin Klein underwear modeling days.)
- The three ghosts spoof Lesley Gore’s hit song “It’s My Party,” singing, “It’s my party and I’ll die if I want do, die if I want to. You will die too, when it happens to you.”
- Kat’s dead mother, Amelia, who is now an angel, brings Casper back to life for one night, so he can attend Kat’s Halloween dance. But he will turn back to a ghost at 10 p.m, which Amelia explains is “sort of a Cinderella deal.” Casper moans, “Hey, Cinderella got until midnight!”
- When Stretch turns into a shoe to kick Casper, he becomes a Nike brand shoe.