Repo! The Genetic Opera

In the future, some weird disease has caused mass organ failure. GeneCo comes along and organ transplants become common place. They also legalize a very effective and addictive pain killer that can be stolen on the streets from the dead bodies that litter the future. GeneCo offers payment plans so you can save your life. However, if you do not keep up your payments, they can legally kill you by sending in The Repo Man to repossess your organs. Oh and it is all sung. Oh and it has Paris Hilton and Paul Sorvino in scenes together.

Mixing Sweeney Todd, violent comic books, Rock Horror Picture show, and Saw probably sounded like a good idea to some people at some point. it must have for this stage show to be turned into a movie. At some point someone finished doing a line of coke off of a midget's ass and said "Paul Sorvino as Paris Hilton's father. Make it HAPPEN!" There was a moment when someone thought casting Sarah Brightman as the blind Opera singer in this disaster would give the project a sense of gravitas. Some producer thought it would be funny for Paris Hilton to lose her face. I guess they forgot that in House of Wax Paris Hilton was impaled through the skull, which is much much cooler. Somewhere someone has incriminating photos of Anthony Stewart Head(Giles in Buffy, for God sake!) and forced him to lend his unbelievable talents to something that was destined to be a travesty against film, opera and surgery.

I have always maintained that when you try hard to look or be cool, you fail. Coolness is just something that happens. I believe the same can be said for movie of the "Cult Classic" genre. When you try too hard to give yourself cult classic status, you usually fall flat on your face. This is one of those times. Ed Wood never set out to make Plan 9 a cult classic, it just happened. That is how the world works. By putting Paul Sorvino as some warbling, talk singing maniac, you do not assure yourself cult classic status. Repo! is missing that key factor. It is missing that special something to be a classic in some sense. Repo! is the kind of movie I hope to forget very soon. I cannot even be coaxed into purchasing the soundtrack when the movie was over. There was farrrrr too much talk singing. I think if you have music going and you talk your dialog in a kind of rhythm, that does not make it an opera.

Final words: Robbie Blake, screw you for subjecting me to this nonsense.

Final grade: F

Cadillac records

My knowledge of Chess records is relatively limited except that I know it was the record company who signed Chuck Berry. I do know now, that some of the things that happened in the movie are not fact based, but the movie made me set out to find that out. Also, only a few years ago I was not at all a fan of Adrien Brody but have slowly come around on him.

Leonard Chess(Brody) seems to have one goal in life: get rich enough to afford a Cadillac. Everything after that is gravy. He owns a nightclub but it gets shot up and thus ends that. Instead of pressing charges on who got it shot up, Chess offers the guy a deal. That guy happened to be Muddy Waters(Jeffery Wright) owner of the fingers that could pluck a guitar like never before and he happened to be band mates with Little Walter(Columbus Short, in what should be a star making performance), a man who could play the harmonica like you wouldn't believe. With Waters as his top talent, the business savvy Chess bribes a few djs, makes a few records, blows up his club to get the insurance and soon he has his own record label and recording studio. He breaks the bank making "race music." He rewards his acts with a fresh Cadillac every year, but does not tell them it comes out of their royalty checks. Soon, Chess records is signing artists like Howlin Wolf(Eamon Walker), Chuck Berry(Mos Def) and eventually Etta James(Beyonce). Waters is barely making any money, but Leonard seems to be rolling in it and like any music biopic drugs, sex and bad business signal the downfall of the label.

Trying to tackle 2 major stories plus 3 or 4 smaller stories is a tough task, but somehow Cadillac records manages to weave the stories together pretty well. The acting is all top notch with Brody and Wright anchoring some of the wilder and more fierce performances from Short and Beyonce. Mos Def's Chuck Berry is a jokester and Berry's well documented love for white women is factored into the movie. The movie tells an important story about American Music history and I am sad more people are not going out to see it. This is record label that helped turn the blues into rock and roll. This is record label that inspired The Rolling Stones and inspired millions of people everywhere to pick up a guitar or a harmonica and the music is great. Every scene that takes place in the recording studio is on fire especially Columbus Short's rendition of "My babe" and Beyonce ripping her way through "At Last." This is the kind of movie that you watch and wish you could sing that well or play an instrument that way. It gives you an awful lot of respect for musicians and what they are able to do.

The movie is narrated by Cedric the Entertainer who plays Willie Dixon, the principal song writer for Chess Records and that is an interesting choice I think. The narrator is part of the story, but far enough removed from the immediate action that we trust him and his point of view. Eventually, Chess Records gets bought out because Leonard was losing money and he did not treat his acts very well, and our narrator informs us that he successfully sued Chess Records for back royalties, so it does give us a second of pause on how much we can trust him. We also learn that Berry did get money from the Beach Boys for stealing his riffs for their beach music. This movie only made me want a full Chuck Berry biopic because his story is so interesting. He broke the race barrier and then when he went to jail it all went away and then a bunch of white artists took from him and thus began rock and roll to the rest of America.

I know this movie has a limited appeal, but it really is worth the time and the money to watch. Brody and Wright do great work together spanning 30 or so years with each other and the music is really sexy and fun and the movie works in that way as well. Cadillac Records is going to get overlooked this season, but I hope people go to it and watch it later and when they do I hope they are like me and go searching for the truth with what happened with this seminal record company and recording studio.

Final Grade: B+

High School Musical 3

Troy(Zac Efron), Gabriella(Vanessa Hudegens) Sharpay(Ashely Tisdale) Ryan(Lucas Grabeel), Chad(Corbin Bleu) and the rest of the bunch are all back, this time it is senior year. The Wildcats have just won their second straight state basketball championship (The rousing opening number Now or never) and now Gabriella has just kind of forced the entire gang into the Spring Musical. Being that they have a girl at school who writes musicals they decide to do an original musical that will be entitled Senior Year and will include things like Prom and other senior year activities. Issues arise when Gabriella gets an early admission to Stanford and leaves the Wildcats behind. Troy is unsure of what he wants from his future with pressure coming from everywhere to go to the local college to play basketball. Also, Julliard has extended a full ride scholarship to one of the students, but received 4 applications and will be coming to the musical to make their decision. Sharpay is still annoying and whiny and wants to be the girl who gets the scholarship and will go to great lengths to get it. A few younger students are introduced to perhaps carry on the HSM legacy. People sing and dance in the rain, Troy and Gabriella finally kiss and Troy gets his serious angst on. Pretty typical HSM stuff.

Here is the part where I review things and by reviewing this movie I am supposed to talk about how stupid it is and all of that. I want to, trust me. I do. But something is holding me back. I know, I am a 28 year old straight male who has somewhat high standards for movies and I am quick to tear stupid kid movies apart and do not tell anyone this but, I kind of enjoyed it! Is it corny? Well, duh of course it is. I could sit and talk about how this is some weird fantasy world and how childish these high school kids are, but we all know that about these movies. Musical comedies are not grounded in reality. They are absurd by just existing and is it so wrong that here is a musical that kids can enjoy. The drama teacher in the movie says that "The stage can be a great help on the road to self discovery" and is that such a bad thing to say? For a decade the stage was where I made myself into the person I am today. So what if the music is too pop heavy and the voices aided by computers. Does anyone really care? Look these movies speak to a very specific demographic, I get that. However, I was tapping my toes right along with them. There is something to be said for the team of song writers to write such catchy music.

There are a few wonderfully produced numbers, "I want it all", "The Boys are back" and the finale "High School musical" and the cast performs them with the kind of energy any director directing any musical would kill to have. It is not all great though as the slower numbers falter because there is not as much energy surrounding them. Efron and Hudgens make a very winning couple on screen as they both look amazing and have a very safe sexual spark. Zac Efron is the one of this group who appears to have break-out success potential. Many people do not like him in these movies because they see him as a wrong fit for the character. He does seem to have some trouble with all of the angst because, well he is Zac Efron and life as him is not very angsty. However, his solo emo number "scream", while unintentionally comical at times, provides a nice outlet for his Footloose like potential. He commands the screen nicely and while his look of sadness is kind of funny looking, he does the job he is supposed to do.

There is something comforting about a world where a team of high school kids wins a championship and it is celebrated with a big family cook-out and not the drinking and general debauchery that is typical and more realistic. High School Musical looks like something out of Pleasantville, yes, but who cares. In high school so many people went through the same issues. When presented with a choice of where to go to college, I buckled under expectations and have regretted it ever since. I admire the ideals of Troy Bolton choosing the school outside of what was expected. High School Musical 3 takes what worked in the first two movies and made better use of the bigger budgets with neat camera tricks and big production values. It doesn't come off as forced the way HSM 2 did and maybe it does not have all of that lightening in a bottle Disney magic of the first one, but it is an earnest, honest, non-ironic look at a fantasy universe where the mother of the brainiac likes that she is dating the big man on campus. Do not think the movie is completely void of knowing that the girls love Efron. The movie opens on a shot of his eyes and sweaty face and he does strip his shirt off, but that is about as PG as it gets. High School Musical exists in a world of the un-ironic. It does not wink at itself or get meta. It believes in everything it says, dances and sings. It is kind of refreshing, to be honest.

Final Grade: B-

Mamma Mia!

I have always felt it was nice to go into a movie with extremely low expectations. It really means you have nothing to lose. My expectations for this musical were about as low possible for still semi-wanting to see a movie. With bizarre casting choices, insufferable music and a stage play that tries to cram roughly 30 songs into 140 minutes, I did not have high hopes for Mamma Mia! I readily admit that I am not the target audience and judging from the large crowd this afternoon, I am the wrong gender and the wrong generation. Again, the low expectations were a blessing, right?

The story of young Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) searching for her dad before she gets married, sounds simple enough. Well, until you realize her mother, Donna (Meryl Streep), sexed up 3 guys within a month and Sophie has three potential fathers. I know it sounds like the stuff out of a Maury Povich episode, but when that story is set to ABBA music, joy and merriment ensue! The three possible sperm donors have been invited to the wedding by Sophie without Donna Knowing. The three men, Bill (Stellan Skarsgard) Sam (Pierce Brosnan) and Harry (Colin Firth) meet on a boat on the way to the island having no idea what is in store. Donna sees them, panics and spends the rest of the movie near tears. Sophie gets a lot of time with each man, but concludes that she cannot figure who the father is. She can draw like Sam, is musical like Harry but her mom got all of her money from Bill's aunt, so who could it be? If you want to know the answer to that question, too bad, because this movie is not going to answer the question Sophie asks for nearly 2 hrs. There is a side plot involving Donna's old band mates played by Julie Walters and Christine Baranski where the two women try and get Donna out of her rut. It is all done with forced creepy smiles, fake joy, obnoxious music and a gorgeous Greek island.

To call the first hour of this movie unbearable would be a slight to things that are unbearable. Meryl streep, at sixty years old, is twenty years too old for the role. I do not care if you put her in a bad blonde wig and cover up her years with make up, she is a sixty year old woman with a twenty two year old daughter. Christine Baranski at fifty seven years old is too old to be the band member who is supposed to be hot enough to be the desire of a twenty-something bartender. When she sings "Does your mother know that you're out" it is just flat out creepy. GILFs exist sure, but to make merriment out of it is just uncomfortable for everyone involved. Streep is about the most talented actress alive, but comedy, well comedy is not her calling. Watching her mug hardcore for laughs was embarrassing. Someone should take a few of her Oscars away just for the first 45 minutes of Mamma Mia! Meryl Streep shouldn't be on screen jumping around like a little girl at camp. I am okay with actors slumming it to have fun, but this, well this isn't even fun. It is cringe inducingly awful. I was moments away from walking out of it just out of respect for the actor Meryl Streep really is. Luckily Meryl gets to actually show off her acting chops in the second half and almost makes you forget about "Super Trouper."

There is one scene/song that actually gets the joy right. It is the one moment of pure actual fun. It is a moment that incited no less than 6 little girls to get up in the theater and dance. It is a moment that had all of the women in the audience singing and rocking; that is, of course, "Dancing Queen." A really bad disco song, sure, but in this movie it is so much more. It starts with Donna's two friends trying to break her out of her funk, but as it goes on it becomes so much more. Donna gets into it and soon the three women are singing and dancing through the island and along the way they seem to pick up every single woman on the island. Working women, elderly women, little girls and every other kind, drop whatever they are doing to celebrate being a woman. It is not only the most fun in the movie, but it actually changes my entire idea of what that song is. Who knew "Dancing Queen" could have so much woman power behind it! It almost saves the first half.

The second half of the movie, the next day, is a much different movie. Streep rips her way through "The Winner takes it all", but that great moment is blown at the end by awful blocking. Streep and Seyfried force tears out of all of the women in the audience with the touching "Slipping through my fingers" and Pierce Brosnan gets to show off his ummm vocal skills(for lack of a better word) on "S.O.S." Brosnan is an interesting topic for this movie. The man doesn't sing so well, he is too old (but a match for Streep) yet, I totally dug it. He is always in tune, but his voice is weak, but man he commits. I mean he commits to all of it. Brosnan only seems to get better looking with age and he fits perfectly with the exotic locale, and the passion in his eyes for Donna is just magical. I know he is getting much criticism in this movie, but for my money he deserves the most praise.

Then there is Amanda Seyfried. Oh Amanda, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways. With big curious blue eyes, a sun kissed Greek tan, a body to fill out any bathing suit and more than capable vocal chops, Seyfried's Sophie is the brightest star of this travesty. If the movie had been better I would pick this for her break out role. Seyfried handles the entire role of Sophie quite well and really holds up with Streep, even in the more dramatic moments. She is charming, utterly likable, sexy but innocent, sweet but not naive. It is not hard to imagine why her fiance, played by six-pack having Dominic Cooper, would give up his life dream of traveling the world to settle down with such a voluptuous beauty.

I believe most people will probably be tricked into believing they are having a good time, because the cast is obviously trying so hard to have a good time. I am fairly certain the director looked at the entire cast and said "For the first hour of this movie, I just want you to smile as big as you possibly can and also jump around a lot; feel the music. Don't worry about steps, just feel the music. Feel alive, but keep smiling, squealing and jumping." I am sure most of the public will join them, but I know better. Nothing is more disgusting than fake joy. Hairspray did it right, Mamma Mia! gets it wrong, oh so very wrong. By the time the finale of "Take a chance on Me" comes around, I was all ABBAed out and ready to go back to the real world.

Final Grade: D

Sweeney Todd

Who better to tackle the slasher musical of Sweeney Todd than Tim Burton? No one that is who. It appears to be the perfect marriage of material to director and while Johnny Depp has toiled in being Mickey Mouse's personal hooker for the last few years, he seemed the perfect actor to tackle Tim Burton's Benjamin Barker/Sweeney Todd. The trailers were brilliant for those of us who knew what Sweeney Todd was. The Posters were perfectly creepy and intriguing. I could not have been more excited to see this movie adaptation of The Demon Barber's story. I have been unusually easy on the musicals that have been brought to the screen these last few years, finding things to like about The Producers and Rent, because I just enjoy watching musicals, but this movie would be something different. This movie was a marriage of so many great aspects that I knew it would be good. Was it?

Benjamin Barker(Depp) has a lovely bride and a lovely new born, but that is all ripped away from him when Judge Turpin(The ultra erotic exuding Alan Rickman) lays his eyes on his wife and puts Barker up on false charges and send him away. years later Barker returns a different man. he has a Rogue from X-Men white streak in his Einstein hair, he is pale white with awful bags under his eyes and he sings a dark, dreary tale of London. He is going by Sweeney Todd now and he has revenge on his mind. He meets up with Mrs. Lovett(Helena Bonham Carter) who tells him what happened to his wife and child and from there Sweeney has vowed to kill the judge. Sweeney sets his barber shop after beating Perrelli(Sascha Baron Cohen) in a barber-off and right quick, Judge Turpin is in his chair. They sing "Pretty Women" in the most normal scene int he movie, but before he can kill the judge they are interrupted by Anthony(the Homely looking Jamie Bower) telling Sweeney that he is going to rescue Johanna( The cleavage bearing Jayne Wisener) from the evil Judge. Johanna is Sweeney's missing daughter, adding to Sweeney's desire to murder the Judge. After this missed chance, Sweeney decides he is going to murder people for a living and Mrs. Lovett will bake them into pies and life will be good. But mostly, Sweeney still wants to get the Judge.

Before I begin reviewing this movie allow me say a few things. First off, I prefer acting to singing, so if the actor is perfect in the portraying of the character, I am okay with not super strong singing. Secondly, I am not a Sweeney Enthusiast, and lastly, I believe in separating source material from adaptations, so I will review this solely as a movie, mostly. Tim Burton has directed his most Tim Burtoniest movie ever. The whimsical magic of Big Fish is here. The creepy melancholy feel of Edward Scissorhands is here. The opening credits are Willy Wonka with blood instead of chocolate and the outright gore of Sleepy Hollow is also here. Visually this movie is about as stunning as I have seen this year. The dark, bleak look of Burton's London is gorgeously haunting and his camera work through the city in various places is breathtaking. All of the acting is top notch, except Cohen and Timothy Spall. Cohen's Pirelli's showmanship is too over the top for this movie and Spall is just bland in every way and his looks just don't seem right to me. Depp is better than he has been in like a decade, which isn't saying much, but his less angry, more morose Sweeney really worked for me and Carter is always a joy to watch and the look over her pie shop is another beautiful bleak picture. Rickman is a stand out and the young Ed Sanders is great and Toby, even if the movie robs him of a great moment in favor of something ridiculous.

That is about where the pluses end for me. This is such a great story and it has been botched in movie form. I am not sure why Burton decided to go with this glossy looking red for blood and why he decided blood would spill out of necks like a Tarantino flick, but it had me laughing hysterically throughout and I know that was not the desired effect at all. General creepiness gave way at about the 45 minute mark in favor of all out over the top gore and the final scene featuring the most ridiculous looking blood and splatter I have seen this side of a low rent Zombie movie. The final moments should be a lot of things but they should not be a laugh riot and that is what it amounted to for me and 70 other people in the theater. It took me right out of the picture and into some direct to video piece of garbage and it is beneath everyone involved. The movie should be epic but there were just things missing for me. I didn't mind the less than huge voices on the leads, as I think Depp's voice really added to his character, and "By The Sea" is a great number, vastly exceeding so many of the other songs.

I really did not think Burton could screw this up, but sometimes things that seem like perfect marriages, fail miserably and while this isn't miserable it is nowhere near what it could have been and should have been . A lot of the blame lies with Screen writer John Logan who should be better at this seeing as how he only writes big epics, but maybe he just doesn't understand this story. I am not entirely sure what I was looking for, but the pacing was off and while some of the great sexual tension and deep dark sexual undertones are there, especially when Depp has Rickman in his chair (Wow, really) it just feels incomplete in some way. It is worth seeing for sure, but I wanted to be scared or creeped out, not in tears from laughter!

Final Grade= B-

Enchanted

I am not going to pretend I am the biggest Disney fan in the world, but from the first time I saw a trailer for this I just knew I had to see it. The fractured fairy tale has become its own genre as of late, thanks in part to those overrated trash filled Shrek debacles, but this one looked charming, almost sweet in its treatment of all those princess fairy tales Disney has made famous. Amy Adams won my heart in Junebug and James Marsden proved he could be campy and fun this summer in Hairspray and Patrick Dempsey, well Patrick Dempsey, with those eyes, is made for fairy tale love movies. So with great hope I set out to the theater hoping to not be disappointed.

Set in the animated kingdom of Andalasia, Giselle(Adams) is trying to put together a model of the man of her dreams. She sings about true love's kiss and has a bunch of animals helping her try and find the right lips. In the middle of her song we cut to Prince Edward(Marsden) who is a troll hunting Prince. The Troll he captures has some familiar qualities, of say a famous ogre we have all come to know as Shrek. It is a nice one time dig at the movie who made its money throwing cheap shots at Disney. Edward is also looking for true love and he hears Giselle singing and he set off to find her. The Troll gets free, chases Giselle and Edward rescues her; they will be married the next day. However, Edward's stepmother(Susan Sarandon) doesn't want to relinquish her crown so she finds a way to ruin the wedding; she tosses Giselle down a well. On the other side of the well is New York City and Giselle finds herself alone and lost, looking for a castle. After losing her Tiara to a homeless man and getting rained on she meets Robert Patrick(Dempsey) and his daughter Morgan(the beyond adorable Rachel Covey) and while Robert is skeptical of her story about being a near princess and looking for her prince, he agrees to help her by getting her a cab from his place. Well it doesn't happen and after sleeping on the couch, Giselle wakes up to a messy place and calls on the animals to help her clean it. Edward also goes down the well to try and find Giselle and he is met by the stepmother's minion, Nathaniel(Timothy Spell) and a chipmunk named Pip. Giselle spends the movie trying to convince Robert to believe in true love and Robert tries to explain to Giselle that fairy tale love does not make sense. People need to date first and try and find out if they are compatible. Robert is dating Nancy(Idina Menzel, who doesn't sing at all, bummer) and they have been dating for four years but it doesn't feel like they are really in love. A love story that I didn't see coming happens in the movie and alls well that ends well, right?

Aside from being an infinitely charming story, this movie is plenty funny, as well. The movie pokes fun at Disney movies, but not in a heavy or ironic way, really. It is more an homage, or a throwback to those Princess fairy tales. The movie believes in the power of true love's kiss but it also believes in falling in love the right way. The movie only has 3 or 4 songs in it but each musical number is a fun and vibrant lift, especially the big number in the middle of the movie, "That's how she knows." It is a catchy and fun song and it gives Patrick Dempsey a chance to be funny. It gives the movie its only sense of irony and it gives all of us musical theater people hope that it is possible to bust into a random song and have people catch on right away. The 2D animation at the beginning of the movie really made me realize how much I miss movies being animated in that way and it gives me hope that in the future Disney will go back to creating these fun and magical movies. Don't get me wrong I love the Pixar stuff, but there is just something special about the classic animation movies and Enchanted is the perfect way to bridge that gap and remind people how great Disney Princess movies can be. The movie has laughs, thrills, great physical stuff for the children (The chipmunk stuff didn't do it for me, but the kids were dying) and of course, true love. It even has a dragon!

Amy Adams owns this movie. Really she does. Her star quality should shoot through the roof here. Forget Reese Witherspoon, Adams is the spunkiest and mot adorable actress out there. Her voice is perfectly suited for the songs and she gives the right attitude for the role of Giselle. She is never ironic because what makes a parody or satire funny is that the characters believe whole heartedly in what they are doing. Adams believes fully that she is a princess in a lost world and her smile, winning charm and unbelievable honesty really take this movie to new Heights. Marsden looks incredibly ecstatic to be smiling recently after years of playing the tormented Cyclops. He is winning, charming and funny and while a little dumb, he isn't stupid. He believes in love and honor and he will go to any great lengths to find it. Dempsey is perfect here. Yes, I do have a man crush on Patrick Dempsey and I am perfectly okay with it. His eyes, those swoon worthy rays of sunshine, are perfect for a fairy tale love. He is built for true love's kiss and he plays Robert with the right amount of cynicism as a single father who is also a divorce attorney. But he is not above getting wrapped up in Giselle's story either. He is a man who believes in logic, yes, but he is also a man who wants to believe in something more. Sarandon doesn't really appear in the movie much, except as an animated witch but she is having all kinds of fun hamming it up as a evil queen.

The movie does get a bit bogged down towards the end as it tries out too many CGI effects for this kind of movie, but it never takes away from the fun the movie has. It is impossible not to get wrapped up in the story because everyone on screen is having an enormously fun time. This is the kind of movie that you just leave with a big smile on your face. Movies like this are the reasons little girls wear Princess dresses and dream of being swept off their feet. I know that for hardcore Disney fans there are all kinds of homages to older movies. Homages in character names, copied shots and even some of the actors in the movie provided voice over work in some of the animated movies, but those of us who aren't crazy can still enjoy the movie for what it is- a fairy tale that exists in fantasy but grounded in the reality that true love can exist. And I was buying entirely what they were selling.

Across the Universe

Allow me to begin by saying I am not a huge fan of the Beatles. I understand it is almost a crime to not be a fan, but whatever, I am not a huge fan. I can count on one hand the songs of theirs I actually enjoy. So, a movie musical set to only the music of The Beatles was not something I was jumping for joy to see. Then I saw the trailer for it and thought it looked brilliant. Well, it looked either glorious or a glorious mess. Either way I was hooked and was very curious about how Julie Taymor(director- Frida and stage version of The Lion King) would handle everything that was going on in the trailer. So, did it turn out to be glorious or a glorious mess?


Set during the Vietnam war this is a mostly plot less movie following the lives of 6 young people living the bohemian lifestyle in New York. Jude(Jim Sturgess) is a "limey" who came to America to find his father and instead found Max(Joe Anderson) and Lucy(Evan Rachel Wood). Upon arriving in New York, Max and Jude meet Sadie(Dana Fuchs), Prudence(T.V Carpio) and JoJo(Martin Luther). Lucy eventually joins them and the six of them live in one apartment. Sadie is a singer looking for her break and JoJo is her guitarist and lover. Prudence is a lesbian with a crush on Sadie and Jude is an artist who is in love with Lucy. Their whole world begins to change as Max gets his draft notice and goes off to join the war. Jude and Lucy fall in love but Lucy's commitment to the anti-war rally cry starts to tear them apart. Sadie gets her big break but she has to leave JoJo behind to get it and does so. The 6 seem to completely separate. But, like I said, the plot is not the point of the movie, the visuals are.


The movie opens on Jude sitting in the sand singing a bit of a prologue and to steal a line from Superbad "looking into his eyes is like the first time I heard the Beatles." Jim Sturgess has the darkest, most mysterious yet honest eyes ever. His eyes are full of a sad passion and hopeless romantic tendencies. His voice is earnest and real and full of an unwavering love for Lucy. But the visuals that accompany the prologue are freaking brilliant. We see basically the entire story we are about to see as told in glimpses as the waves of the ocean move through newspaper articles. It is a stunning opening and really gets one excited for the rest of the movie. Visually this movie is always inventive and exciting and always overshadows everything else. Bono shows up for an amazing rendition of "I am the Walrus" accompanied by these tripped out colors and visual effects that make everyone look blue and then makes every look like radio frequencies, if that is possible. Eddie Izzard has a brilliant little cameo as an emcee at the craziest circus ever. But the sequence that is probably the coolest in my opinion was the scene where Max is being taken into the Army. Set to "I want you" Max enters this weird place where every soldier has a weird mask face and each of the soldiers is doing this is amazing choreography and taking Max through his physical and into his army clothes. It is truly a sight to watch and it is still with me two days later.


Aside from the visual though, I am not sure how much I loved this movie. The voices are all fine, in fact, Dana Fuchs has got this deep raspy soulful voice that blew me away as she ripped through "Helter Skelter" "Oh Darling" and "Don't let me down" and Martin Luther not only sings with a soulful voice but he can straight up wail on a guitar. His rendition of "While my guitar gently weeps" might be the vocal and emotional high of this movie. Even Rachel Wood may not have the strongest voice ever, but it seems perfect for the role and for the songs that she sings. Her best moment comes as she sings "If I fell." Joe Anderson as Max gets most of the best lines as he is a cocky college dropout, but he also gets the most depth as he goes to war (The war sequences are incredibly interesting looking) and when he comes back from war he is a totally different person. Her really has a great soaring voice and it shows during "Hey Jude" and "With a little help from my friends." I already mentioned Stugress' eyes but his voice is also excellent as he passionately proclaims "All you need is love" and goes absolutely bloody crazy with a bass thumping thrashing version of "Revolution." I mention all of this music because it beautifully moves the story along and each song does seem perfectly placed. One of the coolest scenes to me was our introduction to JoJo. He is walking through the street looking as cool as a polar bear's toenails and all around him people are singing "Come together." It really shows how cool this guy is going to be in the film and while it is visually the most simple scene it is still very effective.


Not all of the visuals make sense in the structure of telling a story and often this feels like a bunch of short films/music videos all lumped together in hopes of telling a single story. The movie gets a little long in the tooth by the time it ends and it also gets very predictable, even in its crazy images. Actually the crazy images give way during the final 20 to 25 minutes in favor of trying to finish the story. However, even when it fails it manages to be entertaining to watch as the beautiful colors and images provide a nice different movie going experience. If you have been wanting for another Moulin Rouge! type of movie or if Hair! is your thing, this is a very nice substitute. For fans of The Beatles there are an abundance of references to the band and to songs not included in the movie. If you are looking something different, something beautiful and adventurous, this is a very great glorious mess of a movie that should not be missed!

High School Musical 2

In a testament to the first installment of this behemoth, I was actually kind of excited to watch the sequel. I know I am not supposed to admit such a thing and that it kind of goes against most of what I believe in life and in watching movies, but I couldn't help it. I was drawn into this world where popular jocks are squeaky clean and where the music is about as over produced as humanly possible. I can't help but love some of those songs from the first one and I was interested to see where Disney would take this budding franchise. 3 of the stars have record contracts through Disney and all of these kids owe their careers to Disney, although Zac Effron is doing his best to break free from the bounds of Disney, so I was wondering how all of that would affect this movie.


Taking place a few months after the first one (and we never find out how the musical went, my first complaint), the kids are about to embark on summer. The opening scene gives us the incredibly obnoxious drama teacher, but luckily it is the only place she shows up. The wildcats basketball team all need jobs for the summer, but only Troy(Zac Effron)manages to find work, thanks to Sharpay(Ashley Tisdale). Sharpay thinks if she hooks Troy up hardcore that he will dump Gabriella(Vanessa Hugdens) and hook up with her. Well the running theme throughout this movie stems from the tail end of the last one- We're all in this together! So, Troy will only take the job if the entire crew gets to work there. The club director agrees but immediately regrets it because Sharpay is furious because now Gabriella will be there all summer as well. It should be said that Sharpay's parents own the exclusive club at which all of these people work. The club puts on a big talent show every year and Sharpay and her brother Ryan(Lucas Grabeel) have won it the last five years but this year the wildcats are considering doing the show. Sharpay tricks Troy into performing with her and Ryan in turn decides to help the Wildcats figure out a cool song and dance number. Troy starts to forget his friends and his mantra of "We're all in this together" becomes "I gotta do for me." He fights with his best friend Chad(Corbin Bleu) and he and Gabriella have yet another fight, but it is Disney so do not worry, things turn out all right in the end.


This movie starts off on a strong note with a big group number called "What time is it" about the upcoming summer. The number is a high energy number and the kids get some good dance moves in there and once again use basketballs as dance props, except where as "Get ur head int he game" from the first one, this song doesn't suck, well not much anyway. The music is even more overly produced this time and all of the kids sound as if their voices were run through a computer to digitize them. It is an awful affect that will plague this entire movie. The movie keeps things going with a STOMP inspired drum song called "Work this out" and a Sharpay number called "Fabulous." At this point it seems as if this movie might actually be more infectious than the first one. It is peppier, the songs with higher energy and while they lack the instant smash hit feel, you know they will grow on you. Sadly, we go a little while without any music from this point and the movie kind of treads water as a movie where the kids want to sing but don't get to for a little while. Luckily the show stopping number is just around the corner. As Ryan is trying to convince Chad to dance, they play a little baseball. As they play they sing and dance and as corny as it looks(mostly because neither Corbin or Lucas have any clue on how to swing a bat correctly) it is one absolute fun number. Any number that uses hip-hop wannabe rhythms with swing and jazz dance while using baseball bats is worth watching to me! Grabriella gets her solo I-am-so-disappointed-in-Troy song with "I gotta go my own way" and it is a fine song I guess. The staging is corny as all heck, but I guess that is the way it is supposed to go, right?


If you have read my Hairspray review you know I have a bit of a man crush on Zac Effron. I am not ashamed of such a thing because well it happens, so you can imagine my joy when Zac got his big solo emo dance ballad thingy. Even better is that it is staged in such a way that every time me leaps out of frame and the camera catches up to him, he is in a new locale. He jumps from grass to rocks to sand to being near a pond with each leap! The song "Bet on it" has a certain dramatic flair and Effron is going to be a star, but it would have been nice if he could have emoted without all the silly angry arm thrusts and whatnot. The closing number "All for one" is nowhere near the song that "We're all in this together" was and I think once you realize that about this song and the entire movie in fact, it becomes mostly enjoyable. The movie is even more cheesy this time but the dancing is a lot more fun. The acting even more corny and the music unbelievably computerized, but at its heart it has a good message and since I am not the target audience, I guess the movie works. They still show teenagers in a ridiculously innocent light and even though Sharpay gets to a soap opera level of bitchy, they forgive her for some unknown reason, oh wait that's right it is because "We're all in this together!" For me the stand out here is Lucas. His Ryan is infinitely hilarious and he manages to wear the most awful looking clothes with a cool confidence that make them not so ugly. I know he is overshadowed by Corbin Bleu's atrocious clown fro, but Lucas deserves a little more shine because after all in the first movie he said what every musical theater geek has always known "Everyone loves a good Jazz Square."

Hairspray

The new wave of musicals seem to fit in one of two catergories- Really good or really bad. Chicago and Dreamgirls are considered among the former and Rent and The Producers the latter. I happen to think Chicago and Dreamgirls are very overrated and Rent not nearly as bad as others, so with the rave reviews for Hairspray pouring in, I wasn't sure what to expect. Add to that, I thought John Travolta was painfully miscast and I was very hesitant coming into this thing. I also think the original movie is not at all this brilliant little movie like people claim because John Waters (the director) is not at all talented and the movie is mostly only known for thrusting Rikki Lake into the mainstream and for having a cross dresser play the mother, but actually play her as a mother and not as a guy in drag.


Tracy Turnblad(newcomer Nikki Blonsky) is a chubby and short teenager in the 1960's who loves to dance. She is a dreamer and a believer that people are ultimately good. She is a dedicated fan of a TV show called "The Corny Collins Show." It is some sort of American bandstand and Mickey Mouse Club like show featuring teens who sing and dance. With one of the girls leaving for 9 months a spot opens up and Tracy wants it. At the audition she gets to see Link Larkin (Zac Efron in his big screen debut), a teenage heart throb, in person but due to the mother daughter combination of Velma and Amber Von Tussel (Michelle Pfeiffer and Brittany Snow) she does not get the part. Because of her unbelievable spirit she doesn't get too down on herself and instead spends her extra time in detention learning some new "negro" dance moves thanks to Seaweed (Elijah Kelly, another screen debut). Tracy's mother, Edna(John Travolta) is a big woman who is afraid of the outside world and her father, Wilbur (Christopher Walken) is a joke store owner who wants his daughter to chase her dreams.


Tracy gets her chance to show Corny Collins (James Marsden) how well she moves and gets a spot on the show. She is quickly a favorite on the show and with a pageant coming up, Velma needs to assure that her daughter will win. Undercut in this story is a little history lesson about the black and white divide. Once a month the Corny Collins show has a "negro day." This day is hosted by Motormouth Maybelle (Queen Latifah) and features black singers and dancers. Tracy wants full integration and when Negro day is cancelled, the blacks picket and Tracy joins them. Tracy's talent and undeniable spirit lead Link to rethink what is important and eventually claims "Tracy I'm in love with you no matter what you weigh." It is a musical so things do work out in the end including a mixed couple of Seaweed and Tracy's best friend, Penny (A particularly adorable yet sexy, Amanda Bynes), whose mother believes everything is the devil.


This movie is bursting at the seams with the kind of energy rarely seen on the big screen. The songs flow with the script and transition well out fo them, not lingering for some non existent awkward applause that seems to curse most of these movie musicals. The newcomers are all crazy talented- especially Nikki Blonsky and Elijah Kelly. Blonsky's Tracy is a firecracker of a girl and while her short chubby T-Rex like arms sometimes make the dances look weird, she carries herself very well and moves very well in the movie. She seems unafraid of acting opposite Oscar nominees and probably brought something out in them. Kelly's Seaweed is just spectacular to watch as his voice soars and his dances seem effortless. His obvious charm will most likely make him a star somewhere and as some of you know, I am prone to man-crushes and it seems as if I can add Zac Effron to that list. He is a very funny, cocky but deep Link Larkin. He moves well sings well, but his look is just picture perfect for Link. When I saw it, teenage girls swooned every time he winked. Walken and Pfeiffer both have great moments and it is nice to see them both letting loose and having fun on screen.


However, the biggest surprise for me was John Travolta. I thought he was going to be the downfall of this movie, but once you get passed the hideous face and the awkward accent/voice, Travolta makes Edna a very sympathetic character. He finds the sweet innocence and the overwhelming self doubt within the character and when he gets to dance, oh it is like he has been dying to dance on screen again. I can't imagine dancing in heels is easy, but when it is heels and a fat suit, just wow. He won me over pretty early in the film and just continued to find fun things in Edna. He goes a different direction than intended and I liked it better. Instead of playing it like a man dressed as a woman, he tried very hard to find something matronly within himself and pulled it off. During "You can't stop the beat" when he gets up to sing and dance, the audiences erupted in a mix of cheers and laughter and watching him get his Tina Turner on in a sequence dress is worth the price of admission in itself.


The message of the movie is nice and is made in two single moments towards the end during "You can't stop the beat." First of all Link brings a little black girl out to dance with him on national television and then the best acting moment in the movie and it really is just a moment is when Corny Collins, an incredibly hilarious and perfect Marsden, tells Velma 'This is the future" before grabbing Motormouth and letting her shine on TV. It is such a small moment but it really shows just how good of an actor Marsden is, with just one sentence and one look, I nearly had tears in my eyes. But, the point of this movie is to have fun, no matter who you are and it accomplishes it in spades! Some of the existing musical numbers are gone and two new ones are added in their place and the unfolding events have changed a bit from the musical, but they didn't bother me once. When this movie was over I was very much ready to watch it again because it is just that much fun. The dances don't seem overly complicated but when done in perfect unison that are impressive and while Latifah lacks the raw power of the Motormouth from Broadway, her voice has a sincerity and attitude in it that make "I know Where I've been" a moving number, even if the montage seems a bit overdone.


It is not without knowing its history either as John Waters, Rikki Lake and Jerry Stiller all show up for brief cameos and during the credits "Mama I'm a big girl now" plays and it is being sung by Nikki Blonksy, Rikki Lake and the girl who originated it on Broadway. This has quickly become my favorite of the new wave of translating stage musicals into movies and if you aren't having fun at this movie, something may just be wrong with you!