The Jake Gyllenhaal vs Elmo face off and An Education - A Review

It's been brought to my attention that some people - and I mention no names - are making comparisons between Jake Gyllenhaal and Elmo, even suggesting that Elmo is ahead on the cuteness scale. I would agree that Elmo is undoubtedly hairier than Jake, and indeed redder than Jake, but is he cuter? Is he as good in the kitchen? What does he look like in spandex?



Please note that Leona Lewis, a winner of the X Files or X Factor, when asked about her latest celebrity crush did not go all gooey-eyed over Elmo: 'I fancy Jake Gyllenhaal. He’s hot, and I like tall, rugged guys.' Could Elmo ever be described as 'rugged'?



When Fran of Travis asked people to vote over Jake's hotness, did he compare a shirtless Jake with a shirtless Elmo? Oh no. And many thanks to Aggiegurl for posting a picture of this moment from the On The Road show. And thanks to Gretchen for finding it.


An Education - an interlude

I finally got to see An Education this evening, having had to leave the premiere screening early. It was brought home to me how much the whole feeling of a movie can change during the magical process of film making. I saw a scene being filmed in Oxford for this which would have completely changed the resolution of this story, for us and for the characters. Perhaps this scene wasn't filmed with any serious intention of it ending up in the final cut, but, irrespective of that, I saw it as such and when tonight I saw the closing scene, there was something missing from it. Obviously it's difficult to speak of this without giving anything away of the story and so I won't. But it made me realise how different a film can seem when you've been fortunate enough to have seen a part of it filmed.


As for the finished film in the theatre tonight, I wasn't entirely sure about it. I thought Carey Mulligan and Alfred Molina were fabulous (making me very keen to see Carey in Brothers and Alfred in Prince of Persia) but Peter Sarsgaard's casting proved an oddity for me. He was sexy and urbane and looked every inch the part when out on the streets of London and Paris. And yet, as soon as Peter moved indoors, for me, he was out of place. The accent didn't seem quite right, the humour was uncomfortable - the seduction of Jenny less believable, more awkward. Peter is a superb, charismatic actor and I'm still waiting for him to have the role he deserves. This was a step forward for sure. A giant step for Carey.


It's always strange seeing your hometown in a movie and Oxford is a character in its own right in An Education. I rather liked that and I'm very thankful it brought Peter and Carey here. I'm looking forward to seeing how this film, and its actors, does in the awards season. Could we see Jake and Peter competing for the same awards?

Includes pictures by IHJ, WDW and BBMISwear. Guest appearance by Elmo.