Anyone seen "Angels in America"?

[Crankie Avalon]

I hadn't before, but it's on HBO InDemand and it was pretty entertaining...except for the very end, which I thought was cringe inducing (am I the only one?).

Loved Pacino's portrayal of Roy Cohn. Makes me want to find a biography of Cohn to read--what a reptile!!!

[blogslut]

1. The end was kinda sappy

But all the rest was golden.

[Crankie Avalon]

3. I really wondered how that actor who played the boyfriend living with AIDS...

...("Pryor" was the character name, I think) was able to get through that ending. He was great in his dream sequences, but I don't think I've seen him in anything else and I wonder why. I haven't seen the guy who played his BF, either.

Jeffrey Wright was great as Belize, and I just saw him in "Broken FLowers" with Bill Murray.

[BarenakedLady]

5. I love Justin Kirk

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005095/

Have you seen him in the Showtime show Weeds. Absolutely hysterically, and the totally opposite character he played in Angels.

ETA: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0318997/ the rest of the cast.

[Crankie Avalon]

9. Don't have Showtime.

Now I wish I did, though!

[bicentennial_baby]

10. He was awesome in Love! Valour! Compassion!

The film, that is. :thumbsup:

[Crankie Avalon]

15. I'll have to check it out! Anyone else in it? n/t

[bicentennial_baby]

16. Jason Alexander

here's the IMDB page http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119578/

[blogslut]

6. Justin Kirk/Prior

He did a "Law and Order SVU" once. According to his IMDB, he's on "Weeds" right now. I haven't seen him much but I liked him in Angels.

The boyfriend, Ben Shenkman, seems to be working pretty regularly as well.

[Crankie Avalon]

11. I guess I only get to see movies. HBO shows are about the only television I take in...

...I think both guys are talented and I'm glad to hear they're finding work, though. Do you know if the actor who played the closeted gay Republican has been on anything else?

[BarenakedLady]

14. Check the link I gave you

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0318997 /

Click on any of the cast to see what else they have been up to.

[Crankie Avalon]

18. Ben Shenkman was in "Requiem for a Dream"?

I thought I saw that one on IFC or Sundance, but maybe I didn't catch it from the beginning. I can't remember him in it.

I saw "Jesus' Son" but I don't remember him in it, either.

[blogslut]

23. Patrick Wilson

Oooh! He's in that movie I want to see "Running With Scissors"

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0439289

"Young Augusten Burroughs (Joseph Cross) absorbs experiences that could make for a shocking memoir: the son of an alcoholic father (Alec Baldwin) and an unstable mother (Annette Bening), he's handed off to his mother's therapist, Dr. Finch (Brian Cox), and spends his adolescent years as a member of Finch's bizarre extended family."

[Democrats_win]

30. The book, "Running With Scissors" is sooo funny. Rather graphic too.

A person could actually look at this story and find that it's a story of survival. It really is worth reading. I haven't seen the movie but I bet it's good.

[Pithlet]

21. I saw him in a bit part on CSI a couple years ago.

That's the only time I've seen him besides Angels. ETA Ben Shenkman, that is.

[BarenakedLady]

2. Yes

I enjoyed it very much.

[Crankie Avalon]

4. Saying Kaddish for Roy Cohn...

...how could that not move a body!

[Shakespeare]

17. Pacino was the only bit of bad casting in that movie.

Now, I love Pacino, but nobody has done a better Roy Cohn than James Woods in Citizen Cohn. Would've been nice to see him reprise that. I've always assumed that he did such a great job as Cohn because he's every bit the asshole that Cohn was.

[Crankie Avalon]

19. I'll have to see that. Pacino didn't bother me, but now that you mention it...

...I can see Woods doing a better job.

[MrCoffee]

7. the end sucked.

[Crankie Avalon]

12. The ending was a bit embarrassing, but that was only about 10 minutes of a six hour experience. n/t

[Shakespeare]

8. Yes. They did a MARVELOUS adaptation.

It's on my wish list of DVDs to own, along with HBO's movie Iron-Jawed Angels, which aired around the same time Angels did.

[Crankie Avalon]

13. What's Iron-Jawed Angels? Sorry if I'm being a little sheltered, here. n/t

[Shakespeare]

20. OMG, it's a must-see. It's about parts of the suffrage movement that they don't teach us in school.

Specifically, the government's detention and torture of activists Alice Paul and others. It blew. My. Mind. And then I got really, incredibly angry that this bit of women's history is simply not taught. It was very well done, too--great cast.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338139/

It's available on DVD now, and it'll be one of the next ones I buy.

It's got a website, too:

http://iron-jawed-angels.com/

[Taverner]

22. I saw the HBO special - excellent

I liked the ending - it had a bit more impact in the 80's when it was first played on Broadway. In the 80's AIDS and Homosexuality was something no one talked about. Considering this, I find that last scene prophetic, since the 90's was the first time gays came out of the closet en masse - basically saying "fuck you if you aren't ready to accept us - we're coming out anyway."

[Crankie Avalon]

24. I overlooked that. I was a straight male in my early twenties in the late 80s...

...so I probably have the wrong frame of reference to fully appreciate that.

It wasn't lost on me, though, how the closeted Republican Mormon was the one who was NOT part of the happy family in the last scene, even though his own mother was. The last we saw of that guy, he was looking miserable descending into a dark subway on his way to work.

[bigwillq]

25. Yeah, the ending was bizarre but

the rest of it was amazing.

[huskerlaw]

26. It's in my netflix queue

Would you suggest that I move it up the list a bit?

[Shakespeare]

28. yeppers

I anxiously awaited HBO's adaptation, as I loved the plays. They outdid themselves--the movie is outstanding.

[formerrepuke]

27. It gets better and better with each scene...until that dippy ending.

[Pithlet]

29. I actually liked the ending.

I thought the whole thing was excellent.

[JackBeck]

31. Yes, it was very moving.

And inspired my sig line.

[Democrats_win]

32. Check out this online Cliff Notes-type site for Angels in America.

http://www.sparknotes.com/drama/angels/summary.html

Use the drop-down menu to go to other sections: i.e. Theme, symbols, motifs, Analysis of major characters....

I never understood the HBO series, "Angels In America" and had always intended to read the book but could never find it. I'm glad this thread reminded me to look into this.