I don’t think I need to explain Red Riding Hood. Little girl. Red cape. Big bad wolf. Big teeth. You know the drill.
Amanda Seyfried plays the red-caped heroine before red capes were really a thing, and she’s got two brooding hunks competing for her affection: Peter (Shiloh Fernandez), the bad boy woodcutter, and Henry (Max Irons), the good boy blacksmith.
The problem? Valerie’s heart belongs to Peter, but her mom, Suzette (Virginia Madsen), has arranged for her to marry Henry. Why? Well, because her mom promised, and it’s medieval times, where arranged marriages are the norm. Also, plot. Then, just to add more plot, their village is terrorized by a werewolf. Enter Father Solomon (Gary Oldman), the grizzled werewolf hunter, with, a giant metal elephant. No, really.
Oieeee. If all this sounds a little sardonic, it’s because… Well, it is.
No, I did not enjoy this film. In fact, I switched it off halfway through. I remember seeing reviews that compared it to Twilight, which I’d half-forgotten about until the whole thing reminded me way too much of Twilight.
(Catherine Hardwicke would also be the one resonsible for bringing us the first Twilight film, she was reportedly fired after the first one, some might think this was an attempt to take on that franchise…)
Virginia Madsen does her best here, but even she couldn’t salvage it. Her hair and makeup are… a choice. And while her acting is solid, it’s all very soap opera (as is most of the cast, to be fair). I’ve said before how often her talents are wasted, but after watching this, I now truly understand how much wastage is possible.So, would I recommend Red Riding Hood? No. Unless you’re a die-hard Virginia Madsen collector, and even then I’d ask, “Do you really need this on your shelf?”
This is one for collectors only, to be filed away and probably never watched.
Availabilty:
Good. Because nobody wants to buy it… OK – So, yeah – It’s on DVD and a Special Edition 2 Disc Blu-Ray. You won’t have problems finding it currently.
This film is the elephant in the room for me. I might as well come out and say it.
I’m not a fan of Sideways. Yes, I know. This is a site dedicated to Virginia Madsen, and yet here I am, admitting I don’t love the film that resurrected her career. The film that brought her back into Hollywood’s spotlight, earned her numerous accolades, and showered her in awards.
How can that be?
It’s not for lack of trying, I promise. Before rewatching, I half-convinced myself that maybe it was a matter of timing. I was younger when I first watched it, and I thought perhaps a more world-weary, mature version of me might appreciate it. So I gave it another go.
And. Nope. I’m sorry, but I still don’t get it. At its core, Sideways is a road movie – We follow Miles (Paul Giamatti) and Jack (Thomas Haden Church) as they embark on a trip through California’s wine country, celebrating Jack’s upcoming marriage. But the two friends have wildly different ideas of what this last hurrah should be. Jack wants one last fling before settling down, while Miles, reeling from his recent divorce, is searching for something deeper, using his love of wine as the backbone for the journey.
Along the way, they meet two women—Stephanie (Sandra Oh), a free-spirited firecracker, and Maya (our very own Virginia Madsen), a thoughtful and introspective waitress. The women reflect the two men perfectly: Stephanie with her spontaneity mirrors Jack, while Maya, with her quiet contemplation, is the ideal match for Miles. It seems like the perfect set-up, right?
But of course, things go awry, and Jack’s recklessness threatens to ruin everything, including the connection forming between Miles and Maya.
So, why don’t I like it? I don’t know, really.
The older, more “mature” me thought I’d appreciate its subtleties this time around, but instead, I found it boring.
Maybe I was too young the first time and now too old the second? I see a lot of myself in Miles and know plenty of friends who could be Jack, but still, the film leaves me cold and wanting.
Maybe it’s because I’m a beer man over wine? Would it have been different if they’d been drinking beer all the way? Who knows?
That said – Virginia Madsen as Maya? You can’t help but appreciate that, I mean, c’mon. Virginia Madsen deserved every award she got for this performance. Even as someone who doesn’t drink much wine, I hung on every word of that speech about wine’s evolution. It’s a moment that transcends the film, one that you can’t imagine anyone else pulling off. And I’m not just saying that as a fan.
Looking back, you can see how her previous roles from The Rainmaker to Sideways; The Florentine, Almost Salinas, Just Ask My Children and American Gun they all built to this one. Those performances laid the groundwork for Virginia Madsen to totally transform into Maya, and Sideways was her moment to truly shine.
If you watch the speech again, separate from the context of the film she is almost telling you this herself;
Would I recommend Sideways as a whole?
Honestly, no. As a film, it doesn’t resonate with me. But as a showcase for what Virginia Madsen is capable of? Absolutely. Her performance, to me, is the jewel in Sideways’ crown, and for that alone, it deserves a watch.
Availability:
Easy to find on DVD, and it’s on plenty of streaming services. You’ll pay over the odds for a copy on Blu-Ray though – Not sure why.
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. 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. 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. 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.
Children of Fortune. One of the little Holy Grails of the Virginia Madsen collectors out there. Not an easy one to come by this. Up there with Babylon Fields or Hatfield and McCoys at least.
It’s a TV movie from 2000 made for CBS. It follows the story of Navy Detective Dave Passenger (James Brolin) as he is sent to investigate a murder in a small Arizona community named Fortune.
Nothing particularly unusual with any of that. Well except that this particular small Arizona community practices polygamy. And Dave also decides to take his estranged teenage daughter, Erica (Amanda Fuller) along for the ride to help with the investigation for some much needed bonding.
OK. Maybe, there is a bit more to it than him just deciding to bring her along. He’s taken her in after she goes off the rails a bit, they’ve not been long reunited when he gets the call about the murder. Not wanting to abandon her when they’ve just started to get to know each other, and not having a lot of other options, he brings her along. They’re met with some hostility when they arrive in town, but the investigation seems to be pretty much open and shut soon enough when the main suspect, a fella by the name of Shane (Kris Lemche), is caught pretty quickly.
Job done, promises to visit the Grand Canyon are made and all done. Right?
Wrong.
Shane might not be as guilty as he’s made out to be. He asks to see Dave while he’s being held at the local jail and says as much, but keeps it all mysterious and does that telling him everything but without saying anything thing.
They still plan to leave the next day, they get breakfast but something is niggling at Dave.
He meets Ingrid (Virginia Madsen) and asks if they can talk and she’s only too happy to oblige. She seems convinced that Shane couldn’t be the murderer when questioned about the whole situation. And as it turns out she’s the local Sheriff’s daughter, which is convenient. She’s recently moved back to Fortune after living away in New York for a while so she’s got a slightly different perspective on a lot of things. It’s not long before Dave realises there’s more going on here than meets the eye. The more he listens to what people have to say, the less he likes it.
Dave continues his investigation much to the annoyance of the town folk who just want him and Erica gone.
There aren’t any real surprises in what comes next. Dave and Erica do some bonding, Dave and Ingrid get to know each other better and develop feelings for each other. Dave does some more digging into what’s going on in Fortune.
Etc.
Was it worth all the effort of tracking down? Yes and no. It’s not a bad movie, but… It is a bit odd. Quite heavy in the justification of the whole polygamy thing as the residents of Fortune explain themselves to Dave and his daughter. Quite corny in the execution of how these two strangers bring out the apparent unhappiness within the community about how things are. The story itself isn’t going to blow anyone away, but it has nearly a half decent twist at the end, two, technically.
Virginia Madsen does a decent enough job, but it’s a pretty muted performance, which I guess is kind of the point. No strong woman archetype here, no femme fatale sexpot, no concerned Mother doing anything and everything for her kids. No real hardship in her life, but an acceptance of who she is and where she’s from with what’s expected of her very firmly at the front of her mind. In many ways it’s a testament to her abilities as an actress for her to pull this kind of role off.
Normally I’d say it was a Sunday afternoon film, one to watch if it was on. But given the hoops to track it down I’m half tempted to say it’s worth a watch just for the novelty value alone.
If you’re a Virginia Madsen Collector, then yeah. If you’re just idly curious then maybe not.
Which brings me to…
Availability:
By fair means or foul is the expression that comes into play here. It’s not easy to find. It’s not available to buy, I don’t think it ever has been. Conflicting information of if and or when it’s shown on TV. And not available on any streaming platform, including YouTube, which is normally the last refuge for films like this.
I did manage to find one place that would sell me a copy. It’s about as dodgy as it gets though, the disc starts with it being selected from some kind of PVR menu and then the film is watermarked with the TV station logo throughout (see captures). It’s also still got the adverts still in which date the recording to around 2010.
And then, I had to order it twice. International shipping saw a damaged disc arrive the first time around. There was no response from the seller when I tried to contact them to complain. So I left it alone. Whatever, right?
I tried again as I was getting close to the end of these write ups, I filled in the special instructions for delivery on the website to ensure adequate protection was given to the packaging – a good piece of cardboard would do.
The disc arrived undamaged the next time, but not protected as I asked. I was lucky.
With all that in mind, if you want to roll your dice then you can do so…
[sigh] – Operation Christmas Drop is a film from Netflix, released in 2020 just in time for, surprise surprise – Christmas. It’s a Romantic Comedy Family film. As if you needed telling…
And, there isn’t any other way of saying this, but Christmas movies aren’t my thing, at all. Well, films like Violent Night pass the criteria checklist, but apart from that, no. The whole family friendly seasonal message of hope and good in the world, no.
So, while I did make an attempt at watching this movie then for the most part I might as well have not bothered. I got 45 minutes in and felt like I knew the whole plot anyways.
I’m not saying it’s a bad movie, I’m not qualified as I didn’t watch it – What I am trying to make clear is that it isn’t one for me. Much like Grace Stirs up Success and Hot to Trot before it, I’m about as far removed from the target audience as it gets.
That being said, it did give me reason to Google the whole “Christmas Drop” thing and I was pleasantly surprised to find it still does exist and happen, so that’s nice.
The plot of the movie is as predictably Christmassy as you can get. Something nice that usually happens is in danger of not happening. Person who is trying to stop the nice thing happening is eventually won round, and the nice thing happens with everyone smiling and being nice because, Christmas.Virginia Madsen plays Congresswoman Bradford – She’s the main reason the Christmassy thing isn’t happening but she’s delegated Grinch duties to her subordinate, Erica (Kal Graham).
And, I know I’ve commented before on Virginia being typecast, but this one really does take the biscuit. Her role in this one is pretty much her role in Designated Survivor, even down the outfit we first meet her in. Black Suit with an American Flag pin. Which, I realise is pretty much the uniform for a US Senator, at least in my head, but. Yeah.
I mean, you couldn’t tell where I’d grabbed each of these from.
(Designated Survivor is the one on the right…)
Virginia actually isn’t in the movie that much, which was pretty much the deciding reason for me to give up on it completely. And when she is in it, she’s pretty much a Kimble clone anyways. But more evil. Nothing we’ve not seen her do before, which again isn’t bad, but it’s nothing to go out of your way to watch the movie for anyways, fan or not.
And, of course by the end of the film the evil Virginia Madsen even gets a bit of the Christmas spirt herself. Availability:
It’s a Netflix film and it’s still available, unlikely to ever see a physical release though, officially at least.
Tempted, or Returning Lily depending on if you’re trying to keep your film separate from an erotic thriller from two years before with Burt Reynolds, is a 2003 film from Lifetime.
We get the story of a woman who is getting kind of fed up with her life and the way things have worked out for her. Emma Burke (the woman herself, Virginia Madsen) is a career woman whose marriage is in trouble and finding her job no longer gives her the satisfaction it once did. She gets the sad news that her Nanny from childhood. Lily, has sadly passed away. One of Lilies last wishes was that she be returned home so her ashes could be spread over the island of Hawaii and that Emma should be the one to do this.
Glad of the chance to escape her life for a while Emma sets off to do just this leaving her husband begrudgingly looking after the kids back at home.
Once she arrives she finds herself, well, finding herself. She reestablishes her relationships with both her own and Lily’s family. One relationship in particular is, special, the one with Lily’s (much younger than Emma) nephew, Kala (Jason Momoa, yes that one). Cue much soul searching, rediscoveries of things in her past which make her life make more sense and give her a little bit of what she was missing. It’s no deep stuff, no matter how much it tries.
The movie is, watchable. I mean. I didn’t hate it, but I don’t think it’s one I can really recommend. I particularly wasn’t a fan of the ending, it left a sour note with me. Virginia is Virginia, as always you never doubt any part of her performance. She really does have this kind of role down at this point and once again you can’t help but wonder what could have been if she’d been picked for other roles. The DVD cover offers a giggle though, horrendous photoshopping going on here. I actually thought the DVD was a knock off when it arrived and was surprised to see the barcode scan as legitimate.
Availability:
The DVD wasn’t hard to find under the name Returning Lily, but I’ve seen it recently for much more than I paid for it. I’m not sure if it’s because of Jason Mamoas attachment to it or not. You can stream the movie on Amazon Prime where it goes my Tempted.
Artworks. Now, I’m not going to lie. I like this movie, a lot. It’s just an easy and fun watch and more than once when I’ve been stuck for something to put on I’ve reached for this.
Emma Becker (Virginia Madsen) is a former artist now working as home security expert. She’s in an unhappy marriage after the loss of her child in childbirth and generally fed up with her lot. Through her work she meets Bret Rogers (Rick Rossovich), the owner of a local Art Gallery. They hit off, a little more than Emma’s husband would approve of. Her passion for Art rekindled by Bret, she admits she is frustrated by the kinds of people she has to deal with. Bret has had his run-ins with the law himself but finds himself equally at odds with his clients. They talk and eventually come up with the plan that they should steal paintings from rich people who don’t appreciate what they have hanging on their walls.
Emma is reluctant at first, her Dad, Howard (Daniel von Bargen), is the Police Chief, she’s had law and order drummed into her. But, it isn’t long before she decides to give it a go. They team up with one of Brets old chums, Corey (Eddie Mills) and away they go.What follows is a crime caper kind of film, various heists and a woman finding her way to loving life again. Things start to go wrong when Corey starts helping himself to things he shouldn’t, it’s these little trinkets that sound the alarm ringing for the owners and the team are soon under investigation. Bret wants to quit but Emma is fully signed up for the criminal life and insist they carry on.
It shouldn’t work as well as it does, but it does. For me at least. It’s not as obvious as you think it is and if it wasn’t an indie film with a small budget then it might have done better than it did. Fair enough, it’s another where you’ve to switch your brain off. It’s never going to challenge you cerebrally, it doesn’t try to do. You’re just along for the ride. And it’s a fun one.
Virginia Madsen absolutely steals the show in this one without a doubt It’s her movie and she probably actually makes the movie so good. That’s not to say she carries it, but well she kind of does at the same time. It’s almost the perfect vehicle for her talents. For whatever reason the movie seemed to score well with critics when it was doing the rounds but seems largely ignored by the masses. It has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 8% which should be criminal.
No hesitation in recommending this one, it’s a firm favourite of mine in Virginia Madsen’s catalogue. Even if you don’t think you’ll like the actual movie then it should be watched for her performance alone. A true gem.
Availability:
Not hard to find on Region 1 DVD and Amazon Prime have it to buy / rent as well. Shouldn’t prove difficult to track down. If all else fails there is always YouTube…
Crazy Kind of Love is another small indie film entry from Virginia Madsen. The film is from 2013, it’s based on the novel Angel Angel by author April Stevens which was first published in 1995. Its budget is definitely low, but it’s another one I thoroughly enjoyed. Once I’d switched my brain off anyway.
Augusta (Virginia Madsen) is a Mother of two young adults, she’s having a rough time of it. She found out her husband and the Father of her two kids was having an affair, he ultimately leaves the family behind and it breaks her.
She has a full nervous breakdown and spends her time in her bedroom generally just trying to find the will to carry on. Her youngest son, Henry (Graham Rogers) lives at home and hates seeing his Mum like this and so sets about doing what he can to help. Not that he’s in much of a fit way to do this, he’s a massive pot head and has his own problems to deal with. Henry meets a girl himself along the way, Bette (Amanda Crew). She’s, well, an interesting character – Who I do like – But, if this wasn’t a movie, I’d be questioning a lot of her actions.
Bette ends up pretty much inviting herself to live with Henry and his Mum, eventually Henry convinces his older brother Matthew (Zach Gilford) to come home to help get Augusta out of the funk she’s found herself in. It’s Henry’s drug dealer, Jeff (Sam Trammell) plays a huge part in getting the family to heal, yeah – it’s a quirky bunch of characters for sure. Henry isn’t your typical badass kind of drug dealer, he’s the enlightened hippy kind.
I mentioned earlier that you had to switch your brain off for it, and you do. It’s very easy to pick holes in if you want to be cruel, but the heart is in the right place. There’s a lot of stuff that just wouldn’t happen in real life, and that’s OK – This is a movie and it’s allowed to happen like that.
I don’t know if I’d call Virginia Madsen’s role in this one a supporting one or not. She’s definitely one of the main characters but at the same time we don’t see a lot of her in comparison. It is a fine performance though, she plays the part well. Sadness exudes out of her when it should and as the film goes on and she starts to come round a bit you can see the spark return to her.
It’s a fine example of the kind of work she can do when she’s given the chance, the kind of performance you wish more people were made aware of.
It’d be easy to pick this one apart but overall I think I’d be happy to recommend watching it. It’s an indie flick, it has some great performances by some talented people and provided you don’t go deep on it, it makes for a great easy watching movie.
Availability:
Good on Region 1 DVD and streaming on Amazon Prime
I’m just going to go ahead and say it. Creator is a goofy, goofy film. I just wanted to get that off my chest. It won’t be the last time we see Virginia Madsen in such a film, or the last, but I felt it should be said from the off.
Creator is a film from 1985, and it won’t be the first (or last) time I say this about a film on this site, but you can tell it’s from the 80’s.
OK, here we go… Deep breath…
Dr. Harry Wolper (Peter O’ Toole) is a Medical Professor teaching at a small college in Southern California. His wife died 30 years earlier and he’s obsessed with being able to make a lone of her. To help him achieve this he enlists the help of Boris Lafkin (Vincent Spano) and Meli (Mariel Hemingway).
Boris is smitten with a fellow student, Barbara Spencer (who else but Virginia Madsen) and Meli, smitten with Harry (53 and 24 at the time of filming – don’t mention the age difference!). In exchange for Boris’s help appropriating Lab Equipment to help him with his experiments, Harry offers up advice on how to woo Barbara, although his advice is sometimes, interesting.
Meli is there to donate her ovaries to Harry’s experiment in the hope he sees her as more than just an egg donor. Which, to be fair works in the end…
Hi-jinks and adventures ahoy as the film bounds on through it’s comedic vibe of love and resurrection until Barbara one day suffers a brain aneurysm and falls into a deep coma. It doesn’t look good and it looks as though the machine keeping her alive might be best turned off. Both Harry and Boris work their damnedest to stop that from happening and save the young beauty.
And, they all live happily after.
I did say it was goofy! But, I mean come on, look at that smile on Virginia Madsen there.It’s very nearly a good film, I think I should probably like it more than I do. And, I’ve a feeling it’s one of those that if you where around for at the time you might have a better opinion of it than I do. It’s not that I dislike it, I’m just not sure what it is at times. I wasn’t around to see it on release, it would be a good twenty or so years later when I was hunting down Virginia Madsen films to watch that I first found it on a discounted VHS tape. I got a DVD copy in the end and watched it again, but it still didn’t sit right.
I half watched it as part of the rewatch thing I’m doing but it didn’t hold my interest much, I weirdly remembered it quite well and in this day and age the “romance” between Meli and Harry stands out like a sore thumb and I found myself wondering if they’d even be able to film something like that today without causing the internet to uproar and a frenzied fit of keyboards.
The Eighties man, different times.
Creator is based on the novel of the same name by Jeremy Leven, the novel came out in 1980 and Jeremy himself would do the screen play for the film version, there are some changes but the idea remains the same.
Have to say, Peter O’ Toole is in FINE form in this film, no idea what goes on in that mans head but I’d watch him, watch paint dry if it existed. Huge fan of the man, proper old school didn’t care about who he was and what people thought about him.
Virginia Madsen is good as well, I mean – As good as she can be, it’s another early role for her and she’s just along for the ride on this one I’d imagine but you can’t complain about her performance in any way.
I guess for Virginia Madsen, Creator was a quirky stepping stone in her early career. It’s certainly not the film she’s best known for, and I vert much doubt she’d want it to be. But her natural screen presence shines through even in the relatively short amount of screen time and even in a world of far-fetched science experiments and unlikely romance.
If nothing else, Creator is a curious time capsule from the 80’s, and a reminder that even the most offbeat projects have their charm.
Availability:
Yeah, good – More or less freely available on DVD on the cheap and can be found on Streaming services to rent or buy easily enough.
Moonlighting was a TV Comedy show that aired on ABC from 1985 to 1989. The focus of the show revolved the Blue Moon Detective Agency and it’s two owners, David Addison (Bruce WIllis) and Madeline “Maddie” Hayes (Cybill Shepherd). It was stupidly popular at the time and looking back on it, pretty groundbreaking in a lot of ways. I’m not sure if the world was really ready for Moonlighting at the time.
It’s hard to count just how many ways this one TV show changed the face of TV. It’s probably one of the first TV shows to be called a “dramaedy” among other late eighties TV shows such as The Wonder Years and Mash. The show would constantly break the fourth wall with the characters regularly talking to the audience or referencing the scriptwriters. It’d film an episode in black and white forcing the producers to hire Orsen Welles to explain in an introduction. And, well the list goes on and on. If you’ve have an interest then I recommend doing some research into Moonlighting and the history around it.
In the dying embers of the shows final season we’d be introduced to Lorraine Anne Charnock, or Annie as she liked to be called. Enter Annie, enter Virginia Madsen. She’d debut her appearance in the 14th episode of the 6th Season, “When Girls Collide”.
Annie comes to town amid the final throws of the final breakup between David and Maddie, at this point in the story the pair have been split up a while and are both well on their way to being OK with it. Maddie is finally beginning to realise she’s over David once and for all.
David meets Annie in the elevator on the way to his office, unaware of who she is at the time.(Yes that is Demi Moore stood next to Virginia Madsen, no she wasn’t a character, it was just Moonlighting being Moonlighting as she was married to Bruce at the time.)
Maddie and Annie go out for a boozy lunch and the pair have a great time, they tease each other about relationships in the past and Annie tries to set up Maddie with anyone she can think of to help her get out of singledom. The two laugh their way back to the Blue Moon Office where Annie is introduced to David properly and he agrees to take the two women out on the town for a night of fun and frolics.But, while they are out Maddie soon sees that David might be more over than she might like when his fun and frolics with Annie get a little too real. In a fit of jealousy and mad that David actually seems to be over her she tells David that Annie is married and he should leave her alone.
This of course does nothing to help and David ends up sleeping with Annie.
The story misses the next episode, mostly due to the episodes been shown in the wrong order, but it’s picked up again in “Eine Kleine Nacht Murder”, briefly. Maddie witnesses a murder and is almost a victim herself. Not that David seems to care that much. Maddie lies to Annies husband about what her cousin is up-to causing further tension.
For what it’s worth, David and Annie do seem to be getting along well. I mean, we know the relationship is ultimately doomed but it’s nice to see that Annie gets a fair go at it.
And, then the Season and Series Finale rolls around, “Lunar Eclipse”. I don’t know if it’s because of the need to wrap things up quickly or not but the whole Annie thing is over and done pretty quickly.
Annies husband turns up to find out for himself what’s going on, David realises that he shouldn’t be with Annie and orchestrates a plan where she catches him in bed with someone else. The plan goes off perfectly and Annie storms off, back to her husband. It turns that David didn’t do the dirty deed with the lady in question, she was paid to be there and pretend.
Annnnnnnnnnnnnd. The End of Annie in Moonlighting as the show comes to an end. The rest of the episode is Moonlighting being Moonlighting. As the show is coming to an end then sets start being dismantled around them, the two main characters wonder what’s the point being of their existence and set off to find answers. And, well… Yeah.
It’s actually really fun watching Virginia Madsen in this one, Shes a lot of fun, she’s full of sass and fits in perfectly with the rest of the cast. Nothing too dramatic for her to do other than be pissed at David at the end, but you know. It works.
Availability:
Eeeeh. It’s EXPENSIVE to pick up the show on DVD, but it can be found if you look hard enough.
HULU have the show to stream, if you’re in the right area, or have access to a VPN.
Weirdly, there doesn’t seem to be any dodgy copies you can find to watch online. There are bits and pieces but nothing consistent and certainly nothing to get your hopes up about.
Then, just to add more plot, their village is terrorized by a werewolf. Enter Father Solomon (Gary Oldman), the grizzled werewolf hunter, with, a giant metal elephant. No, really.
So, would I recommend Red Riding Hood? No. Unless you’re a die-hard Virginia Madsen collector, and even then I’d ask, “Do you really need this on your shelf?”
