the big chill Tagged Articles at Cinematical

(In honor of Mother's Day, we're launching a series of posts today written, in part, by our mothers after we asked them one simple (yet very complex) question: What's your favorite movie and why?)

The first film I ever watched with my parents was Annie Hall. I was three. I'd go on to watch bits and pieces of it throughout the years (my mother always had it on), but it wasn't until later in life that I came to really appreciate everything this film represents and all that it means for my eccentric Jewish family from New York. So when I asked my mother for her favorite movie, I already knew this would be the first one out of her mouth ...

"At that time, I related to Annie Hall. I always dressed differently; was always trying to better myself. We were hip, your Dad and I; we lived in the city and I even had a Bloomingdale's card that Daddy was always trying to take away from me. I just saw myself in this film. I went to school, but never finished -- not only was Woody Allen at his best when he made this film, but he also captured this time in New York City perfectly. A close second after Annie Hall would be The Big Chill -- because I never graduated college and I never had a group of friends like that, so I was always drawn to that movie. And the soundtrack ... how do you beat that soundtrack?"

Ever since I found this story earlier today, I've been singing Purple Rain to myself all morning. And this is one of those songs I don't have memorized, so if you were near me you'd hear something like this: [To Purple Rain tune] "Don't tell me ... you could ever see me again -- Purple Rain ... Purrrple Rain." C'mon, like I'm the only person out there who fudges the words to songs. Guaranteed you will start humming this tune now, it's that addictive. Just don't blame me. Anyway, Vanity Fair magazine decided to list the 50 greatest movie soundtracks of all time, and at the top sits Purple Rain -- which consists of such memorable Prince tunes like Let's Go Crazy, When Doves Cry and I Would Die 4 U, among others. Personally, I think the soundtrack is great (even if the movie was kind of terrible), but I'm not crazy about giving the top spot to a soundtrack that featured one artist. Or perhaps that's more of a reason to reward it? Here's Vanity Fair's reasoning behind the choice: "[The] Purple Rain soundtrack was a flawless combination of funk, R&B, pop, metal, and even psychedelia into a sound that defined the '80s."

Be that as it may, but should Prince beat out, say, The Beatles? Yes, coming in at number two on their list is A Hard Day's Night, followed by an interesting choice in The Harder They Come. The rest of the top ten is as follows: Pulp Fiction, The Graduate, Superfly, Trainspotting, Saturday Night Fever, American Graffiti and The Big Chill. All very good soundtracks, although I may have pushed Pulp Fiction higher up on the list ... but I'm just a sucker for the music from that film. Unfortunately, Zach Braff's Garden State soundtrack did not reach the top 10. Sorry kids. And what's The Big Chill doing all the way at number 10? I mean, c'mon -- that soundtrack ruled (and as he says that, he opens up iTunes in a separate window). What do you think? Did they get the top 10 right? Would you have shifted things around. And please tell me which songs are now stuck in your head after reading this ...

A few years ago, I would've been much less nervous about the news that The Big Chill, Lawrence Kasdan's 1983 accomplishment, was going to be re-made with an African-American cast. Switching race in classics can be an interesting thing -- especially in Shakespeare. I'm still bummed that I wasn't able to see Patrick Stewart's reverted theater version of Othello (where he was the only white man among a black cast). However, then came Guess Who, the "remake," if you can call it that, of Guess Who's Coming To Dinner. (Then again, it actually got a bunch of nods from Black Reel Awards to Black Movie Awards...) Now I worry that a good opportunity will just be turned into a lame farce.

The plan is to re-title the movie, and keep the original script as a template -- college friends who reunite for a weekend to attend the funeral of a friend and get reacquainted -- just update it for the new cast, which will be a collection of actors in their 30's. Keeping the funeral angle will, I hope, keep its potential. This will pull the school memories out of the 60's and into the 90's, and music is said to be a big component of the film, although Variety says "the redo may stick with the original's fixation on Motown classics." Regina King (Ray) is already on the cast list as she is producing the ensemble with Reina King (her sister) and Stomp the Yard's Will Packer. She's been in some quality films, as well as her share of fluff, but hopefully King is looking to leave the goofy at the adaptation door. We should know soon enough -- the plan is to get the movie into production by the end of the year.

As even the least film-dorky among us know - if only from the story of Kevin Costner's editing room transformation from Big Chill supporting actor to a body on a slab - directors shoot storylines and sequences that don't make it into the final cuts of their films. Sometimes, as with Costner, the faces that end up on the cutting room floor are very familiar ones, which inevitably leaves us wondering about what might have been. (Harrison Ford? In E.T.?!)

The folks at Film Threat recently put together a list of the Top Deleted Performances of All Time and, while the title seems wildly inappropriate (some of the performances were bad, and many have never even been seen), the list offers up ten very recognizable names who, for a variety of reasons, were relegated to the rubbish bin. Among the names on the list are such megastars as Tyrone Power, Buster Keaton, W.C. Fields, and Alain Delon (Why anyone would want to cut him out of anything is beyond me.), and the widely-varied stories behind their disappearances are fascinating and well worth a look, for trainspotters and fans alike.