It's nearly 4 a.m. and I work tomorrow, so obviously I am up reading random things on the Internet. I saw a review of the movie "Nine" and remembered seeing a preview a long time ago and thinking wow, that looks really good. I read a few very normal paragraphs talking about the theme, and the cast. Then out of nowhere comes this line, in which Penelope Cruz talks to the interviewer:
“Guido is a very charismatic figure. Even his mental chaos is very attractive,’’ Cruz contends, accenting her words with more sizzle than her petite frame should be able to manufacture legally.
Huh? I'm baffled because it really was so unlike any other line in the review. And also because it doesn't make sense. How does one "manufacture" a sizzling accent? Maybe if she put on an accent I could almost understand. But she doesn't. And what does "legally" have to do with anything at all? The writing deteriorated from there, ending sentences with prepositions, and describing Nicole Kidman like this: "The veteran actress, generally pretty hard to read behind her sharp-angled face". I'm not so sure about 'behind' the face - don't they mean the face itself hard to read? Well, whatever. What struck me was 'generally pretty"... two adverbs in a row, both unnecessary.
I don't mean to be the writing police, but the writing so badly distracted me from the content I don't even know what I read - not unacceptable for a major newspaper. And I don't know why I'm even blogging about this, except that it's 4 a.m. and there's not a lot going on around here.
“Guido is a very charismatic figure. Even his mental chaos is very attractive,’’ Cruz contends, accenting her words with more sizzle than her petite frame should be able to manufacture legally.
Huh? I'm baffled because it really was so unlike any other line in the review. And also because it doesn't make sense. How does one "manufacture" a sizzling accent? Maybe if she put on an accent I could almost understand. But she doesn't. And what does "legally" have to do with anything at all? The writing deteriorated from there, ending sentences with prepositions, and describing Nicole Kidman like this: "The veteran actress, generally pretty hard to read behind her sharp-angled face". I'm not so sure about 'behind' the face - don't they mean the face itself hard to read? Well, whatever. What struck me was 'generally pretty"... two adverbs in a row, both unnecessary.
I don't mean to be the writing police, but the writing so badly distracted me from the content I don't even know what I read - not unacceptable for a major newspaper. And I don't know why I'm even blogging about this, except that it's 4 a.m. and there's not a lot going on around here.
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