Category Archives: family

Virginia Madsen in Holidazed

Holidazed

Holidazed. Another year, another Christmas effort from Hallmark. And, another Christmas project for Virginia Madsen following on from Better Watch Out and Operation Christmas Drop, kind of.

If you’ve read up on those efforts from me already then you’ll already know I’m not a massive fan of the Christmas theme. But, as always I’ll give it a go.

Holidazed gets off to a good start, the first shot is of Virginia Madsen driving a Pink Cadillac through town, I mean as the start of these things go, I’ve seen a lot worse. OK. So, it’s not Virginia as such but her character, Connie.Virginia Madsen as Connie Manetti-Hanahan in Holidazed. She is seated in the driver's seat of a vintage car, gripping the large steering wheel with gloved hands. She wears a quilted green jacket, and her blonde hair cascades in soft waves over her shoulders. She has a warm, contented smile as she looks ahead, with the car's classic interior and a blurred suburban winter landscape visible through the window.

We follow Virginia Madsen, well, Connie and her Pink Cadillac till she arrives home where we meet some of her family before which sees her married to Chuck (John C McGinley) with grown up kids all coming home for the holidays. From there, the story shifts focus, introducing other families in the neighborhood.

And that would be when we begin to understand the show a little. Each of the families introduced is a bit “quirky” and have their unique family dysfunctions. Gay couples that haven’t come out to their Grandma, divorced couples dealing with new partners and old friends with unresolved attractions meeting up again. All played out to little tunes prompting you to see the humor, or drama, in the situations, etc.

It’s Christmas, you know – Got to have these little adventures and put things under microscopes to see the error of peoples ways or they’d never get that redemption arc we’re all so desperate to see.

Yeah, I know. I sound a little jaded by these things—BUT—no, no buts—I’ve got nothing. I’m just not a fan of these kinds of comedy dramas at the best of times. Throw Christmas in, and I’ve still got nothing. Just not a fan of these kinds of comedy dramas at the best of times, throw Christmas in and I’ve still got nothing. Call me Scrooge, call me Grinch and it’d be nothing I’ve not heard before.
Virginia Madsen as Connie Manetti-Hanahan in Holidazed. She is wearing a festive black sweater adorned with red cherries and green leaves, along with a red headband decorated with pearls. Her blonde hair is loosely styled with soft curls framing her face. She has a thoughtful, slightly amused expression as she listens to someone off-camera. The background shows a modern kitchen with a countertop and some appliances, while a blurred male figure in a brown jacket is partially visible in the foreground

The drama for the Manetti-Hanahan family revolves around a long-running feud with a neighbor, one their daughter has just made worse by falling for the neighbour’s son. This upsets Chuck as head of the household, and the feud who then proceeds to throw jibes at her by calling her a traitor and referring back to his days in the armed forces.

There are 8 episodes in total of Holidazed, the first one introduces us to all the families in the neighbourhood, the next six episodes deal with each family as the main focus and the finale brings them all back together for the wrap up.

I’d hoped for some kind of crossover between the episodes, but there didn’t seem to be any. They are self-contained and all end on some kind of cliff hanger, normally involving some kind of shock to one of the members of the family as some kind secret or revelation is played out.

The Manetti-Hanahan family get their turn in the seventh episode, which gets introduced with Virginia introducing us to a previous Christmas Eve related event via a first person talk to the camera, which gives us more insight on why she’s trying so hard to make this one a success.

This episode picks up where the first one left off, following the usual formula—melodrama, escalating conflicts, and leading up to the inevitable Christmas Day reckoning.”

Although, to its credit Connie does have a line which hangs a hat on the whole thing within the first five minutes with “Is it too much to ask to have a Hallmark Christmas for a change?”, which I won’t lie – Did amuse me.

The rest of the episode delivers exactly what you’d expect. More drama is piled on as we learn that Connie is a bit more highly strung than normal as she’s waiting for a call from the Doctors about a test she had done a few days before. She missed the call from the Doctors with the results and she’s left hanging now till after the festive period.

Virginia Madsen is her usual excellent self here, falling back on her matriarch of the family role as she herds her wayward family into behaving themselves. In the first episode she even whips out a Behavioural Contract she wants her family to sign in an effort to enforce the Holiday spirit.

It’s not a bad thing to watch but nothing we’ve not seen her do before. And, she gets to flex her comedic side once again which is always nice to see. It’s an exercise in balancing exasperation and warmth in a way that makes Connie’s frustrations feel genuine rather than just sitcom-level antics. Just.
A festive family gathering scene from Holidazed. The group, including Virginia Madsen as Connie Manetti-Hanahan, is dressed in colorful Christmas sweaters featuring reindeer, snowflakes, and holiday-themed designs. They stand together in a warmly decorated living room with a beautifully lit Christmas tree and wrapped presents in the background. Some family members are smiling and posing, while young children sit on the floor in front, dressed in equally festive attire. The cozy holiday setting includes a large gray couch with throw pillows, Christmas decorations on the walls, and a warmly lit atmosphere.

The eighth and final episodes brings the whole thing full circle and the resolutions to the dramas that have happened previously are all played out. It’s obviously an episode full of spoilers, but I will say it holds very few, if any, surprises.

There isn’t even any reference to the factg that both Virginia Madsen and John C McGinley both starred in Highlander 2 back in the day, I guess it’s still too soon for either of them to joke about.

To be fair to Holidazed, it’s well done for what it is. It’s obvious they aren’t for me, but I can respect them for what they are and a lot of people do like them, especially around Christmas. It’s harmless enough, the actors put in good, if not predictable turns.

Availability:

Not great at the moment. Was streamed on the Hallmark Channel but, it’s too early for a physical release of it just yet. Guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens with this one.

Gallery:

Trailer:

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Virginia Madsen in All The Wilderness

All The Wilderness

All the Wilderness, or The Wilderness of James as it was originally titled, is a 2014 film written and directed by Michael Johnson. This is one of the Virginia Madsen films I watched as “new” for this whole thing, but also one I’d wanted to watch for a while. Not really sure how I ended up not getting around to it for this long though.

You know how it goes, it sits in your “must-watch” pile, and suddenly, it’s been ten years and you’re in the middle of a website dedicated to Virginia Madsen…

… That might just be meVirginia Madsen as Abigail Charm in All the Wilderness. She is wearing a red and white plaid jacket over a light blue shirt, with her blonde hair loosely tied back. She has a gentle expression, with a slight smile, in a warmly lit home setting.The film starts and we’re slowly introduced to the main character of James Charm (Kodi Smit-McPhee), it couldn’t be more obvious that this kid is lonely and not quite fitting in with the world in which he finds himself. He’s drawing pictures of a dead bird for starters, which pretty much screams “weird kid” in the world of cinema. This label is reinforced over the rest of the opening of the film as we listen to him narrate his interpretation of the wisdom passed on to him from his Father before seeing him have a run in with the “popular kids”.

We learn that James has relatively recently lost his Father, he died. Since then he’s had a fascination with death. He’s taken to believe that he can predict when people, and animals, are going to die.
Virginia Madsen as Abigail Charm in All the Wilderness. She is sitting in a car, gazing out the window with a contemplative expression. Raindrops streak the glass, and the dim, moody lighting suggests a reflective or emotional moment.This of course doesn’t sit well with his Mother, Abigail (enter Virginia Madsen), who not only is coping with the death of her husband, but the effect that it’s all had on her only son. She’s trying to understand and help him, but it’s beyond her and so has employed professional help in the form of a Psychiatrist, Dr Pembry (Danny DeVito).

It’s during a visit to Dr Pembry that James meets Val (Isabelle Fuhrman), well, I say visit but she catches James as he’s just escaped his session with the Dr through a bathroom window. She’s obviously way more cool than he is and it makes for kind of an awkward interaction. James obviously doesn’t know how to talk to her, but did any of us really know at that age?

The film properly kicks in when Abigail finds the family Hamster dead in its cage. The death of the Hamster was of course predicted by James and so she feels like he’s purposefully harmed the pet to prove his point. James vehemently denies this of course and takes off into the night to escape his Mother.
Virginia Madsen as Abigail Charm in All the Wilderness. She stands in a kitchen, wearing a plaid shirt, her curly blonde hair framing her face. Her expression is serious and emotional as she looks at someone in the foreground, it's a tense and heartfelt conversation.It’s during this little solo adventure he meets Harmon (Evan Ross) and a somewhat unlikely friendship is struck up between the two. Harmon is used to life on the streets, he’s older and more hardened than James but he takes him under his wing after hearing James had seen him busking at a mall and enjoyed it.

And, any more at this point and we’d be veering off into spoiler territory.

Or, would we?

Honestly – This movie isn’t going to hold any surprises for anyone I don’t think. It’s a pretty generic story that’s been told a hundred times or more before, especially on the indie scene.

That doesn’t mean to say it’s not worth your time, just that there isn’t anything new or ground breaking here. What is fresh is the cinematography, well, maybe not fresh but it is a very good looking film. It’s obviously all done on a budget, but it’s been all used and looked after. The camera work, the vistas and even the colour palette used all stand out as someone looking after it with an eye for detail. Maybe even a little too much as I don’t often notice things like that… Or, maybe it was that well done I did notice.

The acting also stands out as being a cut above the rest as well. It’s not unusual for actors to use these kinds of films to show their true talent, but not one of them misses the target here. Kodi Smit-McPhee holds the film well, sometimes he comes across as naive but I put that down to his interpretation of the character. Isabelle Furhman and Evan Ross fill in the background nicely.

The film’s two biggest stars, Danny DeVito and Virginia Madsen don’t actually command that much screen time between them but they both leave their mark. Virginia’s performance is one of her more subtle ones. We’ve seen her do this thing before but it’s always a masterclass in how these things should be done. There’s an obvious emotional weight of a heartbroken woman refusing to give up despite the cards she’s been dealt. Virginia Madsen as Abigail Charm in All the Wilderness. She is sitting on a dimly lit couch, wrapped in a striped blanket, wearing a plaid shirt. With one hand resting against her head, she appears deep in thought or exhaustion.It’s impressive to think that around the time the movie came out she’d done the “Mother” thing a few times, but in very different ways. Anna Nicole and Crazy Kind of Love are both variations on the same theme of the Mother figure, but she was also pulling a different kind of Mother out of her bag of tricks for The Last Keepers and Grace Stirs up Success all around the same time.

All told, All the Wilderness is a worthy experience. It falls short of being a truly great must see film. But not by much.

The film’s back cover calls it “a coming of age” film, but for me it was a “coming to terms” film. The story isn’t without heart and the final 15 minutes of the film do give you the pay off you were probably expecting, but it’s still kind of satisfying.

Pick this one up, or don’t turn it over if you ever see it on the TV – It’s worth a watch.

Availability:
It’s not the most easily found film. But it shouldn’t take you long to find on DVD if you look properly, and if you don’t mind digital then it’s on some of the streaming channels as well if you don’t mind forking out a little for it.

Trailer:

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Virginia Madsen in The Last Keepers

The Last Keepers

So, The Last Keepers. Another that wasn’t exactly high on my list of films to watch when doing this Virginia Madsen watch / rewatch thing. And, I’m not sure if it’d even be on my list if it wasn’t for Mrs Madsen. No, I am sure. It wouldn’t be.

It’s not the kind of film that is trying to grab your attention either, it’s got quite a subdued presence all round. And, without meaning to sound like a broken record – I don’t know if I’d have even heard of it without Virginia Madsen.

Despite all its quietness and nonedescriptness, it’s a film you’ve seen before. Probably many years ago, and many times. It’s a “quirky girl finds out she’s actually quite special” kind of film.

See. Told you, you’d seen it.

Now. You’ve seen it before, but have you watched it recently?Virginia Madsen in The Last KeepersThe Last Keepers is charming. It wins you over. It doesn’t offer you anything new and doesn’t challenge you in any way. But there is something about it that all gels together and brings you that exact same fuzzy feeling you didn’t know was missing till it gives you that hug.

The quirky teenager of The Last Keepers is Rhea Carver (Zosia Mamet). She’s an artist who has always felt out of her place in her small town high school. She lives with her reclusive (“strange”) parents, Abigail (Virginia) and John (Aidan Quinn) alongside her wise old Grandmother, Rosemarie (Olympia Dukakis).

It’s an odd life to live, but a peaceful one. Rhea is happy enough with her lot, she might not have the life of a normal teenager, but she’s happy enough. But, all that changes when she finds out she’s actually the latest in a long line of female mystics who possess ancient magical powers. Normally these powers manifest as Telekinesis, Visions or Healing, but Rhea seems to have command over all three – This insinuates that she might be “The Chosen One” of prophecy.
Virginia Madsen in The Last KeepersAnd that, of course, explains everything.

Rhea’s powers begin to get stronger, the family begin to realise that even within their own world that she’s displaying powers stronger and more powerful than is normal. Abigail has visions which lead her to be more protective over Rhea than she should be. There’s problems at school when her classmates realise there is something going on with Rhea which leads to accusations of her being a witch, not helped because she actually is a witch.

Rhea soon begins to feel the pressure and overwhelmed by it all, but with her family’s help and support she makes all the right choices, eventually, and embraces her destiny.

OK – So, that’s the broad strokes. There is a lot more to it than that but it’s all noise and melodrama, and you’ve seen it all before.Virginia Madsen in The Last KeepersVirginia Madsen is superb form here. I’ve said before that she does this kind of role so well. But I sometimes take for granted how well she does it. In The Last Keepers it’s on display more than most other times just how layered she can make these roles. There is a warmth and a depth to Abigail that simply shines. The internal conflict she has over wanting the best for her daughter but at the same trying to protect her family’s legacy.

The whole cast is great to be fair, and I think that is one of the things that makes this film so charming. It’s really well done, for what it is.

(Also worth a little nod to the fact she’d work with Aidan Quinn a few years later in Elementary)

Is it groundbreaking? No.

Is it as cheesy as it gets? Yes.

Can you find a reason to hate on it? Doubtful.

Is it going to give you warm fuzzy feelings? Probably.

Am I writing this with a little too much light in my soul after watching it? Definitely.

This isn’t my cup of tea, and I probably won’t watch it ever again without reason. But I won’t ever knock it.

This is no doubt a film that has flown under too many people’s radars. It deserved better.Virginia Madsen in The Last KeepersIt’s hard to recommend the film as an  adult, for an adult audience (as I assume most people reading this are) – BUT – If you have kids of a certain age who need to see a bit of good in the world then you can do far worse than watch this with them.

Availabilty:

Good. No problems at all finding this one on DVD. Blu-Ray is harder to find, seems like it was only relased in some countries this way and it’s also available on Amazon Prime, depending on your location and or access to a VPN.

Trailer:

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Virginia Madsen in Voltron: Legendary Defender

Voltron: Legendary Defender

In 2016 Netflix collaborated with Dreamworks to bring us Volton: Legendary Defender, a reboot of the Voltron series which first debuted back in 1984.

It’s true what they say, classics never die, especially in the day and age of reboots, and Netflix.

The history of the whole show is too much to go into here, especially as we’re all only really here to talk about Virginia Madsen, and the part she plays in the Voltrons history is only about 10 minutes of actual screen time. And, honestly I’m not the best person to talk to about Voltron at the best of times.

Technically, not even screen time, it’s voice time….

Virginia’s sultry tones can be heard in the third season of Voltron: Legendary Defender episode “Hole in the Sky”. She voices Commander Hira.Virginia Madsen in Voltron: Legendary DefenderCommander Hira comes from an alternate reality in which the roles of the heroes and villains of the regular Voltron universe have been reversed. It takes the regular heroes a few minutes to catch up with what exactly is going on, but when they do they aren’t at all impressed.

Virginia Madsen does her cartoon villain thing here, she seems to have a thing for doing these kinds of roles on cartoons looking back at her work in the DC Universe with Justice League (and Unlimited) and Stuart Little 3. I get a very real sense she revels in this kind of thing. It’s a very calm, collected and even calculated presence she gives Hira, quite unnerving when the truth about what they are doing is revealed with the mind control stuff.
Virginia Madsen in Voltron: Legendary DefenderIt’s a subtle, and chilling performance for sure. It’s all effortless, like she’s taking a Sunday stroll through the park with her dog.

Availability:

Well, it’s on Netflix for sure – How long is anyone’s guess, it was supposed to be retiring this year in 2024, but as of the time of writing (October) it’s still on no warnings that it’s leaving anytime soon.

Unlike other Netflix shows you can purchase the DVDs for the series, although I could only find them on Reigon 1 DVDs which means you’ll have to be in the US or have a multi-region DVD player to watch them.

Trailer:

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Virginia Madsen in Justice League Unlimited

Justice League Unlimited

Justice League Unlimited (JLU) is Virginia Madsen’s third dip of the toe into the DC Animated Universe, and her second in the realm of the Justice League specifically having previously played Dr Sarah Corwin in the Justice Leagues The Brave and The Bold episode a few years previously.

JLU is of course a part of the same animated universe, it’s a continuation of it – And it’s one that over its run managed to keep the high standards as the rest of the shows that came before it. Blending a good mix of action, character development and damn good storytelling JLU widens the scope and the mix of the heroes and brings even the most secondary character into the limelight.
Virginia Madsen in Justice League UnlimitedVirginia Madsen would this time lend her voice to Roulette AKA Veronica Sinclair, a cunning and manipulative villain who runs an underground fighting ring called Meta-Brawl. She pits super-powered villains and heroes against each other for entertainment, capitalising on their abilities to attract Gotham’s elite. Roulette’s lack of actual superpowers is offset by her ability to manipulate others and organise elaborate and more often than not, dangerous events.

Roulette appears twice in the Justice League Unlimited, the first time is in the second or fourth season episode, depending on which version you have – Either way, the episode is called “The Cat and The Canary”.

Roulette has managed to snag Wildcat to fight in her Meta-Brawl event, he’s feeling a bit redundant these days as he doesn’t actually have any superpowers to speak of and feels he can’t keep up with the other “Supers”.
Virginia Madsen in Justice League UnlimitedHis former protege, Black Canary, finds out about all of this and gets naturally concerned. She drags Green Arrow with her to convince Wildcat that he doesn’t need to do this, or anything, to prove himself. But, before anyone can get a grasp on it all Roulette has set up a fight between Wildcat and Green Arrow.

Obviously, this was never going to end well for Roulette. But, it’s fun to see it play out anyway.

The next time we see Roulette is in the third season (or fifth season) episode, “Grudge Match”.

In Virginia Madsen’s second episode Roulette is back (obviously) with a new, and what she thinks is an improved version of her Meta-Brawl. This time she’s calling it Glamour Slam and just has women doing the fighting. She takes her idea to Lex Luthor and he agrees to let her use some of his mind control technology he’s acquired from Grodd to get some of the Justice League heroines into the ring against their will. Black Canary, Vixen and even Wonder Woman herself all get thrown into the brutal battles for others’ entertainment.Virginia Madsen in Justice League UnlimitedIt eventually comes down to Huntress to notice something isn’t right with Black Canary and sets about rescuing her from the clutches of Roulette’s mind control.

And, well – Yeah – This goes about as well for Roulette as the first time we saw her.

These pesky villains, do they never learn?Virginia Madsen in Justice League UnlimitedVirginia Madsen plays Roulette with an obvious relish. You can tell how much she enjoys these kinds of roles and just has fun with them. For some reason I always imagine her sat in her recording booth with a huge grin on her face as she hams it up.

Availabilty:

Good, no probelm at all finding it on DVD or Blu-Ray. The Blu-Ray I bought from America was Reigon Free as well, so – Bonus.

Trailer:

Not an official one, but…

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Virginia Madsen in A Change of Heart

A Change of Heart

Well now, here’s an interesting one for us Virginia Madsen fans. Or, frustrating. Perhaps even both. No, definitely both.

A Change of Heart has never been released to the general public.

Shot in 2014, Directed and Produced by Kenny Ortega with some help from Emilio Estefan in South Florida the film stars the likes of Jim Belushi, Gloria Estefan and Virginia Madsen.

It seems to have sat on shelves for a little while before being shown at film festivals in 2017, The Miami International Film Festival, the OUTShine Film Festival and Parool Film Fest and was well received enough to get two nominations from the Imagen Awards that year. One for best Film and another for best Director.

Then, nothing. Nada. Zilch. Zerotown.
Virginia Madsen in A Change of Heart I’ve never seen the film, so I can’t really comment on it. I’ve done a fair bit of Googling around it though, and this is the best synopsis I can come up with based on reviews, interviews and snippets;

A Change of Heart follows the story of Hank (Jim Belushi), a gruff, old-school firegfighter forced to retire and now making is living as an exterminator. His life is far from perfect. His wife, Deena (Virginia Madsen), is leaving him, his youngest daughter, Josie (Aimee Teegarden), is a lesbian with a girlfriend, Teddy (Cody Horn), and his eldest daughter, Laurie (Dawn Olivieri), is dating a Cuban refugee, Carlos (William Levy). Hank, set in his outdated ways, struggles to accept the increasing diversity around him, clinging to the prejudices he’s always held without ever even knowing why he held them. We all, unfortunately, know the type here. 

Hank isn’t exactly the type to be shy about his opinions, openly questioning Latinos about their citizenship and longing for the “good old days” when life seemed simpler (for him, at least).

Then, life throws Hank a curveball, he suffers a heart attack. His life is saved by a heart transplant, but, as there so often is in life when it comes to these movies, it comes with a twist. Hank believes that his replacement heart comes from a Puerto Rican drag queen.

And, so, he finds himself doing things he believes Puero Rican drag queens do. Because, that’s what happens with heart transplants…[cough]

Cue the “comedy” as we see him embrace a whole new way of living. He gets streaks in his hair, wears high heels, performs in drag at his local gay club and starts making fancy meals. As Hank stumbles through his new lifestyle, he’s guided by his therapist Dr. Farjado (Gloria Estefan), who tries to help him navigate these troubled waters he finds himself in, but just as Hank begins to embrace his new self, another twist…

As it turns out that his heart donor wasn’t who he thought. In fact, his heart came from a heterosexual Japanese sushi chef, leading Hank into yet another chapter of soul-searching…

And a fondness for sushi, because, again, that’s what happens…Virginia Madsen in A Change of HeartI’m pretty sure it’s supposed to be a redemptive arc for Hank and by the end of it, everyone is laughing and joking and Hank is no longer the grumpy old man we met at the start of the film with a new appreciation for life and more tolerance and understanding for others…

Sooooooooooooooo. Yeah.

From all I can read, the best guess I have is that someone, somewhere, realised, or at least thought, that this film probably wasn’t going to land well with today’s, more aware, audience and it was quietly shelved before anyone could get their knickers in a twist over it.

I mean. I get it, I’m not 100% sure when we lost the ability to laugh at ourselves and others without causing offence. And, sure – I get that the film probably hits a few stereotypical outdated concepts and playing it for laughs in the way that it does probably sets off a few alarm bells.

But I suspect it probably wasn’t as tasteless as it would have been some time ago and that no actual harm was meant. The message was there “old Grumpy man changes his mind about things he’s been brought up with to enjoy a new enlightened life”, and it’s not a bad message.

I mean both Emilio and Gloria Estefan were both honoured shortly before their involvement with the film by Miami’s Gay & Lesbian Film Fest Ally Awards. Kenny Ortego is himself gay and has been known to comment on how he make films “queer kids can relate to” and would direct the remake of the Rocky Horror Picture Show shortly after making this.
Virginia Madsen in A Change of HeartAnd we all know how inclusive Virginia Madsen is with this kind of thing, especially having starred in well received films such as Becoming Colette and moving on later in her career to make 1985.

I honestly don’t think that anyone set out to make an offensive film here, I really don’t – I think some feet got cold about the way film could be perceived. Which, seems kinda dumb all things considered.

But. All this is a guess we shall never actually know.

Had it been released, this would have been the second time Virginia Madsen and Jim Belushi had worked together on a film, the first time being way back in 1999 in the movie, The Florentine.

Anyway…

In the absence of any form of Availability – Film poster:

Virginia Madsen in a Change of Heart

Trailer:

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Virginia Madsen in Stuart Little 3

Stuart Little 3: Call of The Wild

Ahhhhhhhhhhh. Stuart Little 3, the raggedy little scamp of a mouse. Now. I won’t lie, before all of this Virginia Madsen site stuff I hadn’t seen the movie, and, honestly, had no real desire to either.

I saw the first one a looooooooooooooooong time ago, it was amusing, but not for me. The third film always seemed a bit odd to me. The third movie see It change to a fully animated affair compared to the previous two mix ups of live action and CGI. It also skipped the cinema entirely and went straight to DVD.

We still have Michael J Fox doing the mouse thing, Geena Davis doing the Mom thing and Hugh Laurie doing the Dad thing though, all is not lost.

In Stuart Little 3 we find Stuart and family heading off on a camping trip to Lake Garland. The whole family, including the cat, Snowbell Which, I guess is a bit odd, but we’re talking about a film about a talking mouse here.

Not long into their trip Stuart meets a skunk named Reeko (Wayne Brady) who isn’t the most favourite animal in the forest due to his association with “The Beast”, a female Cougar who is the leader of the forest around Lake Garland. The Beast is the character who sounds remarkably like Virginia Madsen.

I’m pretty sure there’s a joke to be had somewhere around here but I shall refrain from attempting any…

Stuart and Reeko end up making friends, with Reeko even being invited to the family dinner. But, it’s not long before Reeko Is showing everyone just why he’s not the most popular animal in the forest and after deciding that the food he got from the Little family wasn’t enough he hatches a plan to lure Snowbell into the forest for The Beast.

Stuart is obviously having none of this and sets off to save Snowbell, and cartoon based shenanigans ensue.

Virginia Madsen seemed to have a lot of fun making this movie. I guess it’s kind of a different role for her to be the out and out villain in a story. Well, not including her early femme fetale roles anyway. The Beasts character comes from a dark place, snarling, commanding and power hungry. Quite the contrast to most of her other roles around the same time period, and those both before and after. I’d quite like to see her play this kind of ‘evil’ role in live action at some point. I mean, this is a kids film and she manages to pull off evil in a family friendly way, imagine her let loose.
Virginia Madsen in Stuart Little 3I mean, it’s not the first time she’s taken the role of the villan in something animated, look at her Silver Sable in Spider-man, or Roulette in Justice League Unlimited. Let her have some proper live action over the top villany I say!

The movie itself, well. I’m a grown up and don’t mind the odd “kids” film when there is something in there for the adults as well. But this isn’t one of those films.

And, I have to say it was disappointing on a few levels, I don’t think that even as a kid I’d enjoy this film as much as the other ones. I don’t quite know what it was missing, but, something.

One for the collectors of Virignia Madsen to put on their shelves and possibly never watch, heh – One for most people to put on their shelves and never watch I’d imagine.

Availability:

You can trip over copies on eBay, Amazon and wherever else you normally shop if you aren’t careful.

Trailer:

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Virginia Madsen in The Magic of Belle Isle

The Magic of Belle Isle / Once More

There’s something truly special about a story that gently reminds us of life’s simple joys and the magic that often lies just around the corner. In 2012 Hollywood would bless us with such a movie in the form of The Magic of Belle Isle (or, Once More as it’s known to us in the UK), and it would be like a good old cuddle from your favourite dog. I mean, it’s from Rob Reiner, what else could we expect?

Well. Provided you forgot about the “Misery” of it all in the back of the room.

We’re introduced to Monte Wildhorn (Morgan Freeman), he’s known for a few Western Adventure type novels but it’s been a while since he’s published anything. He’s generally fed up with his lot in life since the death of his wife and confinement to a wheel chair thanks to a car accident involving a drunk driver. We find him grumpy, battling with his own alcohol problems and seemingly unable to do anything with his trusty typewriter than stare at it.

At the insistence of his nephew he’s brought to the lakeside town of Belle Isle, he finds himself one of those little cabins that are achingly beautiful but only ever seem to be found in movies.
Virginia Madsen as Charlotte O'Neil in The Magic of Belle Isle (AKA Once More). She stands in a dimly lit room, her curly hair framing her face as she speaks with a soft yet serious expression. Floral wallpaper is visible beside her.It isn’t long before Monte meets Charlotte (our Virginia Madsen). She’s a single mother of three who hasn’t had the best of luck herself, but she gets on with it the best she can. It’s not an unfamiliar character in this kind of movie, but Virginia brings a lot of heart to this role as she always does. It’s not a massive change up from the Charlotte we saw in Diminished Capacity character wise, but when it’s done this well you aren’t ever going to complain. Strong, gentle and yet oh so tough.

Charlotte and Monte strike up a friendship when perhaps they shouldn’t. Not shouldn’t, that’s not the right word – Perhaps it’s more you wouldn’t think of them as natural friends but you see them together and you’d think they’d known each other forever.

Monte takes a particular shine to one of Charlotte’s daughters, Finnegan (Emma Fuhrmann). Through her young eyes Monte begins to see the world anew. Finnegans endless curiosity and dreams of one day becoming a writer awaken something forgotten in Monte and allows him to enjoy being himself again.
Virginia Madsen as Charlotte O'Neil in The Magic of Belle Isle (AKA Once More). She sits at a dinner table, wearing a blue and black sleeveless dress, smiling warmly at her daughters. The floral wallpaper and vintage fireplace set a cozy atmosphere.Belle Isle itself is like a character in the film, and it’s impossible not to fall in love with its charming, small-town vibe. With its peaceful lakeside views, lush greenery, and the comforting hum of community life, the town feels like a safe haven—a place where time slows down and where healing can happen in the most unforced ways. Rob Reiner’s direction captures this idyllic setting perfectly, inviting the audience to take a deep breath and settle into the slower pace of a summer spent by the lake.

Ahhhhhhhhhhh. It’s nice to think that in a world like we have today, that a place like that could (or, should) exist. I can’t help but think it’s a little too idyllic – Maybe I’m just getting as old and cynical as Monte.

The Magic of Belle Isle, isn’t a film I’d normally watch. But I can’t help but be pulled in by its charm. Perhaps I was feeling soft when I watched it. Perhaps it’s just that good a film it can force you to like it by not giving you any reason to not like it. It never pretends to be anything it’s not. There aren’t any dramatic twists to the plot, there is no last minute revelation which turns the whole thing on its head. It’s just a good old fashioned story about two people who needed a little bit of niceness in their lives and they didn’t really dare to hope they’d find it.
Virginia Madsen as Charlotte O'Neil in The Magic of Belle Isle (AKA Once More). She sits in bed, smiling as she reads a paper aloud to her young daughter, who laughs beside her. The warm lighting and lace curtains add to the cozy, intimate setting.I honestly don’t know if I’d have liked this film without Morgan Freeman or Virginia Madsen being a part of it. They’re both characters who I can’t really see being played by anyone else now that I’ve seen them do it. Of course Morgan Freeman is just as much a master of his craft as Virginia Madsen is of hers. The chemistry between them is definitely there for all to see.

And, it seems not just on screen. In interviews Virginia has spoken highly of Mr Freeman, speaking with Movie Mom she says;

“Can you imagine, first of all, I meet him on the red carpet. He’s tall, he’s handsome, he was in a white tuxedo, a white jacket with black tie, and he just looked so cool, man. And I just went up to him and it was just, he had that big smile and the Morgan Freeman voice and I was like, “This is going to be just fine.” We just had instant chemistry. And then, not intimidating at all, to sit through two hours of magnificence and genius of Morgan Freeman and everyone telling what a genius he is…and I’m like, “I’m the luckiest girl in the whole wide world!” I was the luckiest girl in the room that night, and it did turn out to be just a breeze. It was easy to work with him.”

And it’s not just Morgan Freeman she was happy to work with, talking about working with Ron Reiner, Virginia Madsen was equally enthusiastic when talking to Working Author;

“On the set was happiness and joy and real family feeling, because I think we’ve been talking a lot about the kind of atmosphere Rob creates on his sets and it’s – I think because everything has the appearance of being laidback, and yet he’s extremely focused, and he works really fast so everyone has to be on their toes. But there’s this atmosphere of everything being laidback and easy, so people can be very open and their creativity can soar.”

I mean, honestly – Watching and reading about this one has been wholesome from start to finish.

In short, it’s another of Virginia’s films that is best saved for a lazy Sunday with a cup of tea or coffee, perhaps a blanket to snuggle under.

Availability:

Good! One that you shouldn’t have a problem finding on DVD at all – In case you missed it, it’s called “Once More” in some regions. Other than that it’s all good.

Gallery:

Trailer:

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virginia madsen in pickle and peanut

Pickle and Peanut

Pickle and Peanut is a Disney XD cartoon from 2016, which seems to have a bit of a strange legacy.

It’s all a bit, strange, if you ask me… Virginia Madsen, for whatever reason, agreed to give her talents to the show. For reasons I’ll probably never know, or understand.

Her character, Jackson, is in one episode, Night Shift.
Virginia Madsen as Jackson in Pickle and Peanut - Night Shift
The episode, the best I can work out has Pickle and Peanut working the night shift stacking shelves at a supermarket. Jackson is one of the workers they are assigned to work with.

Mistakes are made, hi jinks happen and none of it will appeal to you if you’re of an age, or mindset where you can truly comprehend how nonsensical any of it is.

It’s a cartoon that I’m not sure is meant to make a lot of sense, I’ve got zero tolerance for this kind of thing and I actually spent more time than I care to think about hunting this down.

I can’t find a copy to buy legitimately, there are some sites you can order this from on DVD but I sincerely doubt they’ll be anything but pirate copies put on disc by someone at home.

And, if you live outside of the US you can expect to pay dearly for them, if not the discs then the postage.

As far as I can tell it’s not available on any streaming channels either.

Me? Where was I lurking when I came across it? – Usenet.

Usenet isn’t terribly complicated to workout, but it’s more effort than I’m willing to go to here. You can find all kinds of stuff on there that isn’t stupid cartoons if you do want to put in any effort though.

But. You can find some clips on the Tube of Yous and not being able to find the full episodes might just save your sanity. Or, mine at least.

As far as I can tell, it’s terrible. It’s definitely not something I could sit and enjoy – One of those shows that is just weird for being weird.

Virginia Madsen as Jackson in Pickle and Peanut - Night ShiftNot entirely sure why she’d associate herself with this kind of show, but I can only assume they offered her a boat load of money, or she really needed some money.

Maybe her kid likes the show – That’d make the most sense.

Anyways. There you go. That’s about all I have to say on this.

Availability:

As mentioned, you won’t find this legitimately. You can find people who’ll sell you this on DVD if you look hard enough. The postage rates to the UK are obscene, and after viewing clips online I just wasn’t prepared to pay that much to say that I owned them.

If you’re desperate to get hold of this, and I mean, I wasn’t, but I still managed to find it on Usenet which is probably your best option if you’ve an idea how to use it. And, if not – There are plenty of places that can show you.

Trailer:

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virginia madsen in joy

Joy

It’s 2015 and it’s another year, and another Virginia Madsen biopic. Well, perhaps that’s not entirely fair to say, or even true –  But she does seem to have been in her fair share of them.virginia madsen in joyJoy isn’t a Virginia Madsen centric film though, far from it, she’s on supporting actress duties this time around.

The film is the story of Joy Mangano, who I’ll admit to having never heard of before I saw the film, and outside of America I guess I wouldn’t be on my own in not knowing who she is or what she did for the world.

Joy Mangano is the inventor of the Miracle Mop.

See, you’ve heard of that haven’t you? Well, hopefully.

And, Joy, is her story. Kind of.

It’s 1990 and Joy (Jennifer Lawrence) is annoyed and frustrated with many things in her life. She’s living with her two kids, her Mother (Virginia Madsen), her Grandmother (Diane Ladd) and her ex-husband Tony (Edgar Ramirez) is living in the basement.
virginia madsen in joyIf all of that wasn’t enough, her sister, Peggy (Elisabeth Röhm) is constantly on at her to sort her life out and to top things off, her Father, Rody (Robert DeNiro) also moves into her basement shortly after the story begins after the failure of his third marriage.

So, yes. Not an ideal world she was living in.

Much of that she could do little about, but what she could do something about was her mop. Yes, the proverbial straw that breaks the camel’s back and would change her life forever was the humble mop.

Taking out her frustrations on the mop, Joy is cleaning the messy house one day. She’s doing some mopping but when she goes to wring out the mop she cuts her hand on a piece of glass that has gotten stuck in the mop head. Because of this she decides the design needs an upgrade. The first mop was patented in 1893, so close to 100 years people have lived with the old design at this point. But not Joy. no Sir.

Joy would reinvent the mop with a continuous loop of cotton so that it could be wrung out easier and she wouldn’t have to faff around quite so much.

Which may sound like a simple enough change to make to a mop, in hindsight, but you didn’t think of it, and neither did I. And if we did, we didn’t do anything about it. But you know who did?

Well, yes. Joy.

Joy would take her invention all the way to the top. There’d be hiccups along the way of course, and it wouldn’t all be plain sailing.
virginia madsen in joyThe film documents a fictionalised version of the truth of the trials and tribulations she faced along the way, the basics are there in that she did invent the mop, she did face some troubles getting it into peoples homes until QVC let her on the air to sell the mop herself but Joy does take many short cuts through the whole story. It was never, ever supposed to be a “biopic” as you’d normally think of one – From the moment it was conceived it was always a “half truth”, Joys second name isn’t even mentioned in the film itself.

But, that doesn’t make any of it less entertaining. I liked this film, a LOT more than I thought I would. I first watched it on Disney+ some time after it was released. I had no clue what it was about, just that Virginia Madsen was in it. In fact, between me and you when I was looking at the cover I thought Jennifer Lawrence was being abducted by aliens or something.

I enjoyed it so much that I actually went and did some reading up on Joy Mangano off the back of it.

Virginia Madsen doesn’t have a huge part, and in truth I was reminded of her role in Crazy Kind of Love a little bit. In the film, Terri is a bit of an odd ball, she stays in her room all the time watching soap operas on the TV and being generally not very helpful to Joy and her extended family. But her role as Terri is fiction, well, the way she’s portrayed is at least and it’s said that Terri is likely a composite character of several people Joy knew.

It’s a good solid character though and I think one of those roles you wouldn’t necessarily have had down as a “Virginia Madsen” role, much like her role as Virgie Arthur in then Anna Nicole movie a few years before.

So, yeah – One to watch on a Sunday afternoon this one methinks.

Availability:

Good. Seems to be more or less freely available on DVD, Blu-Ray and streaming services depending on your location

Trailer:

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