High School Musical: Senior Year

At the prospect of either staying home and watching Wayne watch the cricket, I thought I’d take the opportunity to experience the craze that is High School Musical.

TV2 showed HSM 1 & 2 and I found myself enjoying 1, but not so much no. 2 (so slow I fell asleep).  With HSM going to the big screen, I wondered if I was in for a big surprise.  However I quickly discovered that I was not the target demographic audience.  While the dance scenes and singing was fantastic, I just could not get into it.  The words ‘cliche’ and ‘cheesey’ came to mind a lot.

Ok so maybe I didn’t enjoy it as much as I expected I would (no longer a teenager anymore), it was a film I had to see to understand the tweenie generation.

Steph’s rating: 6/10

THE ADVENTURES OF PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT

We Love Movies – Video recommendation of the Week:

This movie gets the little old gray-haired lady seal of approval.

What is that, you ask? I first saw this movie years ago, shortly after it came out on video – certainly not in the theater, movies like this never never play in my town – or the next town over – or the one after that either. I rented several movies that day, and when I brought the tapes (Hey! Remember tapes?) up to the counter, the young girl girl singled this tape out of the pile and said, “Oh my god! This movie is sooooooooo good! You’re going to love it.” (No, she didn’t have gray hair – I’m getting to that.) So I took it home and watched it, and she was right. It was good.

I’ve recommended this film to lots of different people over the years without any bad reviews. It came up in conversation again just recently and I decided to feature it here. I wanted to watch it again to refresh my memory of it, so I went where I usually go to get instant movie gratification – the public library. I took my selections up to the circulation desk to check out (as usual, I found a handful of good stuff). The little old gray-haired lady, who had to be more than 80 years old, looked through my selection, which included some great old classics, and singled out PRISCILLA. She stared at it for a few seconds, her mind replaying bits of the movie. Finally, she tapped one bony finger on the DVD case, let out a long sigh, ” ……aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh. This film is won-der-ful! It’s so good, you’re really going to love it! It’s a beautiful film!” She assured me no less than 6 times before I left the library. And thus was created the “Little Old Gray-Haired Lady Seal of Approval.”

Oddly enough, this isn’t the sort of movie I would have expected to receive this status……..

WALK HARD: THE DEWEY COX STORY

We Love Movies – Video recommendation of the Week:

No one eats poop in this movie!

I find that a good indicator of the quality of a comedy is whether or not anyone ends up eating poop. In a lesser comedy, one that’s not intrinsically very funny, the film-maker will try everything in the Porky’s / American Pie / National Lampoon bag-o-tricks – even if it doesn’t fit – to try to get you to laugh. It often works because they know it will stimulate a little dangley bit on the underside of the brain that causes you to find amusement in the stupidest things – it’s a cheap shot – they don’t even have to work for it. You’ll probably laugh because you can’t help it, but you’ll immediately regret having done so – it’s not really funny when you think about it, and it gets old very fast. It’s an old trick. The old vaudevillians were always trained that when the audience wasn’t responding – do a pratfall – they have to laugh, they can’t help it. What can I say, humans laugh at stupid stuff. Why else would people tune in to television every week to watch home movies of people falling down, or getting hit in the nads with a soccer ball, or getting a pie in the face? This week’s movie, WALK HARD: THE DEWEY COX STORY, is funny from the opening scene to the very last fade-to-black. You’ll laugh, guaranteed, but those laughs will have been earned the hard way – with clever dialog and sincere adherence to the story’s premise and material.

Mamma Mia!

This movie is fun and frothy!

This musical does not take itself seriously at all… so its a wonderfully light-hearted and ‘giggly’ couple of hours. This film manages to suck you in that singing anywhere, anytime is as natural as breathing. Some of the best humour is just in the expressions of the cast as they sing and dance, it just leaves you in fits of laughter, at all the excitement and hilarity.

The audience will want to see this film because of Meryl Streep and Colin Firth and maybe a smigen of Pierce Brosnan. I was there for the ‘thinking girls heart-trob’ Colin Firth which in this musical they turned gay! (however not convincingly so – phew!!)

This movie is definitely a giggle and one to enjoy with your girl pals. I have not seen the live stage show, but I can imagine that it’s something quite special after seeing the film.

I’m also downloading ABBA songs as we speak!  So the music was delightful and the final scene not to be missed!

Steph’s rating: 7/10

Once

We Love Movies – Video recommendation of the Week:

Perfect!

It has occurred to me that, of late, my recommendations have been getting – shall we say – wordy. That is, long. I sometimes have a tendency, when I can’t think of what to write, to start off in an arbitrary direction (like now) and approach it from another angle. It also occurs to me that a lot of you don’t have time to waste and so, are not reading my post. I understand – you mainly want just enough information to decide whether or not this is a film you want to watch. So, I’ve decided to get this part over right at the beginning and let you go on with your day – and for anyone that wants to stay, I tell you WHY you should watch this film.

VERDICT: Yes! You should definitely see this film! You will love it! You will adore it! It will make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside and make you want to call your best friend that you haven’t seen since high school. Go out and hire it or buy it today! It’s one of the best movies of the year (2007 not 2008)!

U23D

This U2 3-D production boasts the greatest number of 3-D cameras ever used for a single project and the technology really is something to go ‘WOW’ at.

At times I felt like I could reach out and give Bono a hug (OK maybe a kiss!).

I especially loved the ‘midst of the crowd’ shots best looking onto the stage, you could feel yourself there.

Across the Universe

We Love Movies -Video recommendation of the Week:

There are two kinds of people in the world….

People are always saying this – about all sorts of things. But if you think about it, it’s the most absurd generality – that is, it’s true about almost everything.

Examples may include: “There are two kinds of people in the world ………”

• …those that put people into two categories, and those that don’t.”
• …those that like to carve dinosaurs out of baked potatoes, and those that don’t”
• …those with ears shaped like bake potatoes that are then cut in half then baked some more – maybe with a little pat of butter, and those with ears shape like potatoes that haven’t been baked at all.”
• …those who like to keep a baked potato on a string around their neck, and those that prefer to keep their baked potato ……..er ……….elsewhere.”

…and I haven’t even begun to explore the myriad possibilities of other types of baked vegetables. However, the saying only really has any meaning when it is used to make a distinction between groups of people that are approximately equal in number – like I’m about to do.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

There was nothing surprising about the casting as the main actors had all played similar roles in the past. The ‘mad genius’ is a role well suited to Johnny Depp’’s acting style and he certainly was the stand out performer.

The singing was good. Particularly enjoyed the song about making the pies and the suitable vocations for best ‘meat’. The killings themselves would be a little too realistic for some (blood spurting, throats being cut…)

Overall a solid movie.

Rating: 7.5 / 10

Hairspray

This flick is fabulously cheesey with a capital CHEESE and I liked it. John Travolta is hillarious and the singing and dancing catchy – love those 60 moves!

If you like musicals you’ll like Hairspray, otherwise it will be two hours of torture. I enjoyed the sweet story, the fabulous 60’s style and fashions and of course the wonderful dancing. Zac Efron a stand out along with John T’s dancing scenes!

No a stand out musical though (as hoped), but still OK.

Steph’s rating: 6/10

Dreamgirls

I really liked this film. It’s a visual feast of 60’s and 70’s style and fashion! Eddie Murphy is amazing as the sleazy, but good natured ‘Star’. He has some really funny scenes – but oh, his hair was so bad! Definitely worst wig ever!

Hollywood (i.e. ‘Golden Globes’, E TV) are raving about Jennifer Hudson, but I thought Beyonce Knowles was just as fabulous, if not more!

Not a movie for everyone – especially if you don’t like musicals! But I really enjoyed the dancing and singing – very cool! This film makes the music industry seem brutal and Jamie Fox nails the part as the nasty manager/ producer. This movie has a great story line and the clothes and costume design were outstanding!

Steph’s rating: 7/10

Take the Lead

First dancing movie I’ve seen this year. It was sweet and I enjoyed it, however it was predicable and bit slow moving in parts.

The Producers

I love musicals and this one’s a classic!

Laughed really hard throughout – Matthew Brodrick is brillant in this.

Walk the Line

Wonderful story, amazing acting.

Reese Witherspoon never disappoints! Never knew Johnny Cash’s story and was touched.