grease Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Quick List: Worst Musical Moments
Filed under: Music & Musicals », Fandom », Trailers and Clips »
One of my favorite things in the world is a musical gone wrong. I don't know, there's just something particularly funny about watching a musical number go down in flames -- and the more awkward the better. Well, at least I know I'm not the only one who feels this way, because Over at Den of Geek they have compiled a list of the Top 10 Worst Musical Moments in Movies. Now, they didn't just limit themselves to straight musicals, but the results are a trip down memory lane for me and a nightmare for most people. Taking the number one spot was a pretty obscure moment starring Hollywood Legend Mae West and Timothy Dalton (the much-maligned Bond) in the 1978 musical, Sextette. There are plenty of cringe-worthy moments in this film, but the highlight is Geek's selection: Dalton and West singing (and I use the term loosely) Love Will Keep Us Together. There's really nothing more to say, mainly because I seem to have lost the power of comprehension after watching that clip.
So who else managed to make the list? Well, we've got Vanilla Ice in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II, Pierce Brosnan ruining ABBA songs in Mamma Mia, Neil Diamond in black face for The Jazz Singer, and my personal favorite -- a clip from Rhinestone starring Sylvester Stallone as a NYC cabbie turned country singer. But, after looking at Geek's list, I noticed a few omissions (at least in my opinion) so I decided to do a little listing of my own.
After the jump: my top 5 worst moments in Musical history...
Spin-ematical: New on DVD for 5/5
Filed under: Action », Classics », Comedy », Drama », Foreign Language », Independent », Music & Musicals », Mystery & Suspense », New on DVD », Home Entertainment », Cinematical Indie »
No skipping this week! Bump a couple of these up to "buy" if your budget allows.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story of a man who ages backwards becomes a staggering, three-hour demonstration of superb make-up and seamless computer effects under the direction of David Fincher. Despite the length, only one note is played -- everyone else's pity for "poor Benjamin" -- while the man himself (Brad Pitt) remains a frustrating cipher. With Cate Blanchett and Taraji P. Henson. Also on Blu-ray. Rent it.
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Last Chance Harvey
While in London for his daughter's wedding, New York jingle-writer Dustin Hoffman romances Emma Thompson. "A movie for grown-ups, but not in that clammy, Oscar-craving way that would make it untenable; it's a movie about people that takes place in the real world," said James Rocchi in his review for Cinematical. Directed by Joel Hopkins. Also on Blu-ray. Rent it.
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Wendy and Lucy
Michelle Williams stars as "a down-on-her-luck girl who's hoping to turn things around for herself with a summer job at a fishing cannery in Alaska," wrote Kim Voynar in her Cinematical review. When her car breaks down and her beloved dog goes missing in a small town in Oregon, she is "forced to make a series of increasingly difficult choices, and to rely upon the kindness (or not) of strangers to resolve her plight." Directed by Kelly Reichardt (the superb Old Joy), who "excels at capturing these small, very human moments in the overall stories of her characters' lives." Rent it.
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After the jump: Indies on DVD, Blu-ray, and Collector's Corner!
Watch This: 'Grease' v. 'HSM' -- Who Rules the School?
Filed under: Music & Musicals », Fandom », Trailers and Clips »
This week, we see the big-screen release of High School Musical 3: Senior Year. While Zac Efron and the other cuties have certainly got a strangle hold on young girls everywhere, HSM has some pretty big high school musical shoes to compete against -- Grease.
Personally, I think it's no contest. Way-too old actors versus cherubic youngins? Grease is the word. (The very, very dirty word.) Besides, Sandy's stilettos can kick the crap out of the Wildcats, although neither team looks particularly slick in their spanky sport uniforms.
I would've thought that new kids and Disney marketing would be enough to trounce the old and loved classic, or create a distinct generational divide, but seeing things like this suggests that there is something to give us hope in the world. But maybe I'm a crazy old broad. Watch the video, reminisce, and weigh in below! (And please feel free to add Grease 2 to the mix as well, if you prefer Cool Riders.)
Additionally, if you're just a HSM nut and can't wait till this weekend to rock out with the latest songs on the big screen, feel free to grab this brand new widget Disney sent us and go to town. The High School Musical 3 soundtrack hit stores today.
Sequelicious: 'Mean Girls 2', 'Road Trip 2', 'Naked Gun' and More!
Filed under: Home Entertainment », Remakes and Sequels »
Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the video store, a whole new line of sequels threatens to crowd the new release shelves. Paramount Famous Prods. announced plans to raid the libraries of Paramount, Paramount Vantage, DreamWorks, MTV Films and Nickelodeon Movies in search of source material to sequelize, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Projects already in development include sequels to Mean Girls, Road Trip, The Naked Gun, Bad News Bears and Grease. First out of the gate will be Without a Paddle: Nature's Calling, due out in early 2009.
If you're saying to yourself, "Wait a minute, haven't some of these movies already been sequel-ized, sometimes more than once?" the answer is yes. (Naked Gun, Bad News Bears, Grease). If you're then wondering, "Why more sequels?" the answer is, as Deep Throat told Bob Woodward, "Follow the money." The unit is headed by Louis Feola, who formerly ran Universal Studios Home Entertainment, which made three direct-to-video sequels to American Pie and three to Bring It On. Each sold between one to two million copies, translating into many millions of dollars without the risks and expense of thearical distribution.
I have absolutely no problem with low-budget productions that trade on their resemblance to well-known titles, as long as they're smartly made with a degree of fun, intelligence, and style. That's been in short supply lately in the direct-to-video productions I've seen. We'll see what happens when Paramount Famous starts releasing their line in earnest starting in 2010, at a pace of five to six films annually.
The Exhibitionist: Movie Theater Movies
Filed under: Exhibition », Columns »
Each week, The Exhibitionist comments on the latest news, trends and innovations related to the theater industry, or it discusses long-continuing problems with and complaints against cinemas in general, or it simply relates a specific moviegoing experience of yours truly. But rarely does this column get into the subject of actual movies. Well, seeing as there's not much new in the industry this week, and seeing as I'm fortunately not being dragged to see Sex and the City and therefore have no experience to relate about being a sole male in an auditorium packed with women, I figure this is a perfect time to bring up actual movies. Not just any movies, though: I'm presently only interested in discussing movies about, set in or prominently featuring movie theaters.
The earliest movie that I'm familiar with that significantly involves a theater is Buster Keaton's Sherlock Jr. The silent comedian plays a projectionist who falls asleep on the job then has a dream in which he literally climbs through the movie screen and into a detective film. A similar idea of breaking the boundary between auditorium and screen is used in Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo and in John McTiernan's The Last Action Hero, both of which involve a movie character who manages to leave his respective film within the film. But nothing tops Keaton's screen-entering stunt, which utilizes special effects that still astonish more than 80 years later.
Friday Night Double Feature: That Other High School Musical Series
Filed under: Music & Musicals », Fandom », Home Entertainment », Trailers and Clips », Friday Night Double Feature »
Let's start off with a little bit of trivia: Did you know that High School Musical and its sequels have had the working titles Grease 3, Grease 4, and Grease 5? That would make it seem as though Zac Efron and his super-cute co-stars were some new generation possibly bred from the loins of Sandy and Danny. Not quite. It's got the whole differing social group angle, and how friends can get in the way of love, but it's definitely not that dirty, classic family movie we all know.As a tot, I liked Grease, but I loved Grease 2 -- this is probably because Maxwell Caulfield was much easier on the eyes than John Travolta. But after watching the original a few times and devouring the second much more often, there was a long hiatus until a close cousin of mine got a little older and Grease got re-released in theaters. I took her to see it, and my jaw sagged through the entire film. How dirty! How could I not have realized this? I looked over at her; she was smiling, happy, and oblivious, so obviously the "don't-see-the-raunchiness" spell was working all these years later. It skillfully rides that fine line between raunch and respectability.
So, in the sea of a new musicals, equipped with myriads of fangirls, I give you my generation's High School Musicals: Grease and Grease 2.
What's Your Favorite Movie Year?
Filed under: Fandom », Exhibition »
Over on Movie City News, LexG had a thought-provoking post under BYOB last Friday on which of the highly buzzed films of this excellent movie year will actually be remembered down the road. LexG posits that the best test of whether a film will stand the test of time among the film crowd is "whether it's directed by a world-class, etched-in-stone AUTEUR." Much interesting debate ensues in the comments: 1983 -- which do you remember more fondly? The Dresser or Vacation? Which is more revered, Fight Club or Green Mile? LexG argues that There Will Be Blood, Eastern Promises and Sweeney Todd are more likely to be remembered down the road than, say, Michael Clayton.The discussion that follows is pretty interesting. Which are regarded to be the "best" years for movies (1939, 1975, 1983, 1997?) and which are the worst (the '80s in general?) Of course, it partly depends on what question you're really asking -- are the years and decades being evaluated by which films critics still regard as the best, or the ones they're most likely to pop into their DVD player again now?
I don't, as a general rule, rewatch movies a whole lot. Trying to stay on top of the current fare requires watching a lot of films as it is, especially staying on top of the indies, docs, and obscure foreigns; I just don't have time to rewatch films much. When I look back the movies that really made an impression at defining points of my own life, the ones that stand out are generally there for reasons of emotional attachment that may have nothing to do with how I would review the films critically.
ET, first and foremost, followed by Star Wars, Alien, The Goonies, Indiana Jones, Grease, Ghostbusters, Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Dr. Strangelove, Terms of Endearment, Good Will Hunting -- these are some of the movies that I saw in theaters when they first came out to which I have a strong enough emotional attachment that I'll re-watch them. And course there's a plethora of older films that I had the pleasure of discovering for myself at various key points in my life, all of which, to one degree or another, influenced me growing into a
Which year (or decade) do you think had the best movies? And what are some of your personal faves?
They're Remaking 'Grease' ... with Jessica Simpson?!
Filed under: Music & Musicals », Casting », RumorMonger », Fandom », Remakes and Sequels »
Sometimes news is better than anything our twisted minds could ever cook up. Not only has moviemaker rationale completely left the universe, but Michelle Pfeiffer's sanity has gone with it, if a recent article from News.com.au is to be believed. She says that she has been approached about an upcoming remake of the epically dirty, kid-friendly classic, Grease, and I quote: "It's a great idea and I hear they would like to get Jessica Simpson for the role of Sandy, she would be good." Oh, God. Where do I start?! This might just be a sign that the apocalypse is coming.Okay. Let me start with the hideous part of this news: Simpson would be good? Simpson is being looked at for SANDY? Now, no matter how much I am not into her as an actress, and how wary I am of musical remakes (my response to Footloose exemplifies that), who in their right mind would cast someone who can't even get her features released? And in a starring role of a remake of a beloved musical? Has no one heard about Blonde Ambition? This seriously can't be true. If they wanted to remake Grease 2, and put Rob Schneider in the role Johnny Nogerelli, I could see it -- Zmed, Schneider... I can dig it in a goofy sort of way. But man, I'd love to hear what Olivia Newton-John says about all of this.
Now onto Pfeiffer. She says that she wants to play Principal McGee: "She is fun and has some great put-down lines. I think I would like the part now that I have been asked." However, cut into my cheese-loving heart, she detests her role in Grease 2: "I hated that film with a vengeance and could not believe how bad it was. At the time I was young and didn't know any better... I hear it's a cult movie now." Yeah, Michelle, it is. It's even one of the reasons Brian Herzlinger loves Drew Barrymore. Anyway, why rant about one and then want to be in a remake of the other? But even that doesn't matter as much as how and why she'd think Simpson would be good in this.
I must stop ranting about this now, as I could go on for pages and no one wants that. But let's have some fun first. We've got Simpson as Sandy, so what other terrible casting choices could they make to really make this potential remake even more laughable?
[via Cinema Blend]
RIP: Reel Important People -- September 24, 2007
Filed under: Obits »
Al Drebin (c.1918-2007) - Owner of Budget Films, an archive company that supplies footage to films, television shows and humanitarian projects. He died of heart failure September 18, in Los Angeles. (Variety)- Edith Campion (1923-2007) - Poet, actress and mother of filmmakers Anna Campion and Jane Campion. She appears in the former's 1989 short The Audition and in the latter's 1990 feature An Angel at My Table. She died September 16 in Otaki, Manawatu, New Zealand. (ABC Radio Australia)
- Mark Copeland (1962-207) - Steadicam operator for The Gravedancers, National Lampoon's Pucked, The Ultimate Gift and the upcoming The Key Man. He died in a helicopter crash September 11, in Sarasota, Florida. (CBC-Raleigh)
- Joel Fein (c.1944-2007) - Oscar-nominated sound mixer for The Buddy Holly Story. He was also a recording sound mixer for Blade Runner and Fletch Lives and the restorations of Bridge on the River Kwai and Spartacus. As a sound re-recording mixer, he worked on Back to the Future II, Midnight Run, The Hard Way, Ghost Dad and Gary Sinise's Of Mice and Men, and as a score mixer, he worked on Bachelor Party. Later in his life he concentrated on television work, for which he won an Emmy and was nominated twice more. He died September 22 in Wichita. (The Wichita Eagle)
- Alice Ghostley (1926-2007) - Character actress (pictured) best known for her television roles on Bewitched and Designing Women. She is familiar to Grease fans as the film's automotive shop teacher, Mrs. Murdock. She also appears in The Graduate, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Flim-Flam Man, The Odd Couple II and as herself in the documentary Broadway: Beyond the Golden Age. She died of cancer September 21, in Studio City, California. (NY Times)
Film Clips: Tweens Love Them Some High School Musical
Filed under: Fandom », Movie Marketing », Columns », Film Clips »
While most movie-watching eyes were on the theatrical box office this weekend, wondering if Superbad would surpass expectations and if The Invasion would crash, another demographic had a higher priority -- the hotly anticipated premiere of High School Musical 2 Friday night on The Disney Channel. If you don't have a tween, it might not have been on your radar, but if you, like me, have a girl between the ages of 9-12 in your house (and be honest, a lot of you high school girls were watching it too) you've been hearing of little else for weeks.
In our house, we became aware of the phenomena that is High School Musical when the first one premiered on January 20, 2006. Our daughter, then almost-nine, DVRed it and she (and we, by default) watched that movie so many times that it wasn't unusual for me or my husband to be caught absent-mindedly singing "We're All in This Together" or "Get Your Head in the Game" -- two of the shows most popular tunes -- while we bopped about the house doing chores. Then they had the karaoke version, and the version where the cast taught you the moves to the choreography for "We're All in This Together" step-by-step, and pretty soon even the two-year old was showing off his "cool moves" to company.
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Exclusive: Poster Premiere for 'Extraordinary Measures'
