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The Brand New All Encompassing Movie Musical Thread

Started by Small Man Big Horse, April 05, 2020, 12:25:07 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

Small Man Big Horse

Calamity Jane (1953) - Calamity (Doris Day) lives in the small town of Deadwood where after an actor turns up instead of an actress she has to stop a mob tearing the local theatre owner apart, and promises everyone she can get the famous Adelaid Adams on the stage to make up for it. So Jane heads off to Chicago to try and persuade her to come to the small town, but is tricked by Adams' maid Katie Brown (Allyn Ann McLerie) who dreams of  being on the stage, though the ruse is quickly found out and then we're in rom-com territory (though sadly not between Katie and Jane). It's a sweet natured flick, only a couple of the songs are that memorable but the others are very amiable, and this is a fun if slight comedy western musical. 7.4/10

Small Man Big Horse

#61
London Road (2015) - A musical based on interviews conducted over three years with the residents of Ipswich's London Road, where back in 2006 serial killer Steven Wright targeted prostitutes working in the area, it's said or sung word for word (with even um's and er's still in the songs) by a variety of actors including Olivia Colman, Anita Dobson and Tom Hardy (though his role is all but a cameo). Making a musical out of a tragic, recent incident is something I had doubts about but surprisingly it works quite effectively, capturing the climate of fear, how people responded to the fact the victims were all prostitutes (and some of the interviewees say some quite shocking and brutal things), along with examining the media coverage / intrusion. It could have benefitted from interviews with those who knew the victims, and more from the other prostitutes who worked in the area, but otherwise it is quite powerful and affecting. 7.5/10

Small Man Big Horse

Les Miserables (2012) - Tom "Cats" Hooper proved he's able to make a great, over the top musical before his infamous disaster, in this ridiculously melodramatic but fun epic with Hugh Jackman as a dirty fucking criminal who after twenty years of being a slave manages to reinvent himself and rescues the daughter of dead prostitute Anne Hathaway, but Russell Crowe (terrible singer, but in an amusing way) is on to him. One minute it's misery central as a ruined woman dies in a hospital, the next Sacha Baron Cohen is hamming it up with a number about being a dodgy landlord and it's absurdly silly, but lordy did I love it for that very reason, it's one of those films I could completely understand some hating but I enjoyed it enormously. 8.5/10

Small Man Big Horse

Phantom Of The Opera (2004) - Joel Schumacher's film version of the famous Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, I have to confess to liking some of his early work (Jesus Christ Superstar's especially crazy, while Joseph is good fun) but this isn't very good. Gerard Butler's pretty appalling as the extremely creepy and controlling Phantom who you get the feeling is meant to be slightly sympathetic, but yeesh, does he fail to pull that off, Emmy Rossum is at least decent but though the rest of the cast are capable they're rarely anything more. The famous main song is a really great and Music of the Night's okay too, but the majority of the rest are poor, when the film is absurdly melodramatic it's watchable but when it takes itself too seriously it's a drab old fucker and I could have easily have cut an hour from the running time. 5.4/10

Additional Unfascinating Fact: During my very brief career as a stage manager in small theatres one of the actors I knew had a very small role in the film, but commented that despite this Joel Schumacher was obsessed with getting a close up of his arse. The actor joked about it, but at the same time it appeared a bit creepy to the rest of us, even if it was admittedly a stunning anus, and having seen the film said backside is barely on screen for more than a couple of seconds so it definitely is Schumacher behaving unpleasantly.

Dex Sawash


Have you seen Schmigadoon? Might be one for the musicals thread in CC or PB if there was one.
Just ok I reckon.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Dex Sawash on August 08, 2021, 06:57:33 PM
Have you seen Schmigadoon? Might be one for the musicals thread in CC or PB if there was one.
Just ok I reckon.

Not yet though I downloaded the first two episodes to watch a while back but haven't got round to it yet, I definitely will sooner rather than later, though your response seems to chime with the reviews I've read.

Dex Sawash


Watched the E6 of Schmig last night, very poor. Just stop at E5 if you do watch.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Dex Sawash on August 18, 2021, 12:07:38 PM
Watched the E6 of Schmig last night, very poor. Just stop at E5 if you do watch.

That's disappointing to hear, I've still not watched it and might not bother now.

olliebean

Quote from: Dex Sawash on August 18, 2021, 12:07:38 PM
Watched the E6 of Schmig last night, very poor. Just stop at E5 if you do watch.

Apparently they'd originally planned for 8 episodes, but were forced to cut it down due to coronavirus. Which explains why I felt while watching the last episode that bits of the character's journeys had been skipped, and the resolutions weren't fully earned. I guess we ought to make allowances, but it doesn't make it any less disappointing. Perhaps season 2, if they get one, will have a more satisfying conclusion.

rue the polywhirl

Meet Me In St Louis (1944)

...or Meet Me In A Couple Of Hours When This Ends Because This Movie Is Kind Of Boring. Not totally 100% invested in the story although it does look pretty magnificent, decent costumes and set designs, cast are good and Judes Garlando is completely ring-a-ding-ding throughout. Actress who plays Rose Smith is also another solid performer. Only a couple of majorly strong musical numbers. If Skip To My Lou is in your top 3 best numbers then your musical doesn't have a very strong Song List. 5.9/10

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: rue the polywhirl on August 18, 2021, 08:02:32 PM
Meet Me In St Louis (1944)

...or Meet Me In A Couple Of Hours When This Ends Because This Movie Is Kind Of Boring. Not totally 100% invested in the story although it does look pretty magnificent, decent costumes and set designs, cast are good and Judes Garlando is completely ring-a-ding-ding throughout. Actress who plays Rose Smith is also another solid performer. Only a couple of majorly strong musical numbers. If Skip To My Lou is in your top 3 best numbers then your musical doesn't have a very strong Song List. 5.9/10

Aw, I really liked that, the songs aren't amazing but I was fond of the characters, plus the snowman massacre had me laughing a huge amount.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Dex Sawash on August 08, 2021, 06:57:33 PM
Have you seen Schmigadoon? Might be one for the musicals thread in CC or PB if there was one.
Just ok I reckon.

Well I watched the first episode last night and loved it, the songs were superb and I love the set up, it's just my cup of tea. Which makes the fact that it ends poorly even more disappointing, but I'm going to stick with it as I was so won over by the first episode and as long as the songs continue to be fun that'll be more than enough for me.

Dex Sawash

One of the rhymes in E3 or 4 is
Spoiler alert
miscegenation
[close]
which is probably a bit wrong but I laughed a lot

Small Man Big Horse

I'll keep an ear out for that and report back once I've watched it!

Cabaret (1972) - One of those musicals where all the songs are sung on a stage but rather conveniently they tie in with what's happening off of it, this is set in Berlin 1931 as Michael Yorke's repressed Englishman falls for the self-obsessed actress Sally Bowles (Liza Minnelli), though for a while are both fucking Maximilian von Heune (Helmut Griem), and all of this is set to the gradual rise of the Nazi Party. It would have benefitted from a few more songs and there were times when I found Minelli and York's hedonistic behaviour exhausting, and though there were moments which were fantastic (including pretty much every second Joel Grey's on screen), the second half started to drag and I wish it had been tighter. 7.0/10

Small Man Big Horse

Oliver! (1968) - Two and a half hour musical version of Dickens' classic, and while the odd song and dance sequence is a little indulgent most of the time they're really catchy and impressively choreographed. Twist himself is a bit bland (and the film would have benefitted with giving him one final song right at the end), but everyone else is fucking great, Ron Moody, Jack Wild, Oliver Reed and Shanni Wallis being the stand outs, though it's got a very strong supporting cast including an all but unrecognisable Leonard Rossiter, and it lives up to it's reputation as a much loved family classic. 8.0/10

Gulftastic

Oliver! Is indeed the shit. As you mention, built around an absolute vacuum of a lead actor. Even his singing was dubbed over by a young girl.


Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Gulftastic on August 29, 2021, 10:53:06 AM
Oliver! Is indeed the shit. As you mention, built around an absolute vacuum of a lead actor. Even his singing was dubbed over by a young girl.

I didn't discover that until I was reading up on the film late last night, given how average Lester is (and the huge search to find a suitable Oliver) I'm really surprised that they couldn't find someone who could sing and act better than him. Though to be a little fairer the script is partially to blame, it doesn't give Oliver much to do than to be led around by folks either looking sad or happy.

Small Man Big Horse

The King And I (1956) - This was not what I was expecting at all, as I presumed it was just a classic rom-com, and though there are elements of that it's more about the growing friendship between the King of Siam (Yul Brynner) and English teacher Anna (Deborah Kerr) and based on a true story.
Spoiler alert
The ending especially was a shock, but I liked the way they didn't alter history too much and have the King and Anna fuck all night,
[close]
and this is a sweet, charming movie. Only a couple of songs are of the memorable variety but it's beautifully filmed, and while a couple of parts may be problematic in this day and age overall it still stands up as a great piece of cinema. 7.9/10

Gulftastic

As a pre teen child I was played one of the children in a local college production. We wore brown face. It's what will probably stop me being Prime Minister if I ever throw my hat in the ring.

All I really remember is singing 'Getting To Know You' and how long it took to wash off the make up.

olliebean

Quote from: Gulftastic on September 12, 2021, 06:26:50 PM
As a pre teen child I was played one of the children in a local college production. We wore brown face. It's what will probably stop me being Prime Minister if I ever throw my hat in the ring.

Just join the Tories. You'll be fine.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Gulftastic on September 12, 2021, 06:26:50 PM
As a pre teen child I was played one of the children in a local college production. We wore brown face. It's what will probably stop me being Prime Minister if I ever throw my hat in the ring.

All I really remember is singing 'Getting To Know You' and how long it took to wash off the make up.

I'm oddly glad to hear it's not just my school which did brown/black face, I was lucky in our production of To Kill A Mockingbird in that I didn't have shoe polish rubbed all over my face, but a couple of good friends did.

Gurke and Hare

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on August 29, 2021, 12:06:07 PM
I didn't discover that until I was reading up on the film late last night, given how average Lester is (and the huge search to find a suitable Oliver) I'm really surprised that they couldn't find someone who could sing and act better than him. Though to be a little fairer the script is partially to blame, it doesn't give Oliver much to do than to be led around by folks either looking sad or happy.

Yeah, Oliver is a bit of a macguffin in his own musical. I think it's a bit of a shame that they removed some songs from the stage version - That's Your Funeral is great fun with Mr and Mrs Sowerberry taking the piss out of Bumble, and with My Name taken out Reed has no songs at all, which is odd for such a big part.

I didn't realise that wasn't Mark Lester doing the singing. He had an interesting later life - got the typical child star drugs thing out of the way, became a friend of/apologist for with Michael Jackson and is possibly the biological father of one of Jackson's children after being a sperm donor for him.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Gurke and Hare on September 13, 2021, 09:54:42 AM
Yeah, Oliver is a bit of a macguffin in his own musical. I think it's a bit of a shame that they removed some songs from the stage version - That's Your Funeral is great fun with Mr and Mrs Sowerberry taking the piss out of Bumble, and with My Name taken out Reed has no songs at all, which is odd for such a big part.

I didn't realise that wasn't Mark Lester doing the singing. He had an interesting later life - got the typical child star drugs thing out of the way, became a friend of/apologist for with Michael Jackson and is possibly the biological father of one of Jackson's children after being a sperm donor for him.

I didn't know they'd taken some of the songs out, that's interesting to hear as even without them it's a musical with a lot of songs in it, if / when it's staged again I might have to go and see it. But I did know that about Lester and Jackson though and always found it all rather strange, apparently he now claims he was one of twenty sperm donors and I'd love to know who the other 19 were.

Bigfella

Thanks to OP for an absorbing thread, please include my favourites 'Paint your wagon', 'Chitty chitty bang bang'  and the original Willy Wonka with Gene Wilder.  Although I don't feel 'into' musicals as a genre, there's no denying that they can really charm you off your feet.  Amazing how much of a glorious spectacle they can create with just costumes, song and dance.

JaDanketies

Watched Hocus Pocus for the first time the other night. Not really a musical but there's one big musical number and then another
shorter one, with Bette Midler playing one of the main characters. Really enjoyed it!

When musicals are done right, they tower above other movies. Should've had a song and dance number in Terminator 2. Labyrinth and South Park - Bigger Longer and Uncut are two of the most important movies ever made.

PlanktonSideburns

Quote from: rue the polywhirl on August 18, 2021, 08:02:32 PM
Meet Me In St Louis (1944)

...or Meet Me In A Couple Of Hours When This Ends Because This Movie Is Kind Of Boring. Not totally 100% invested in the story although it does look pretty magnificent, decent costumes and set designs, cast are good and Judes Garlando is completely ring-a-ding-ding throughout. Actress who plays Rose Smith is also another solid performer. Only a couple of majorly strong musical numbers. If Skip To My Lou is in your top 3 best numbers then your musical doesn't have a very strong Song List. 5.9/10

Ah man, I really liked this one, despite being fairly arsed about lots of musicals. The mental Halloween bit in the middle, but also garland is awesome at looking REALLY PISSED OFF

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Bigfella on September 21, 2021, 09:15:59 AM
Thanks to OP for an absorbing thread, please include my favourites 'Paint your wagon', 'Chitty chitty bang bang'  and the original Willy Wonka with Gene Wilder.  Although I don't feel 'into' musicals as a genre, there's no denying that they can really charm you off your feet.  Amazing how much of a glorious spectacle they can create with just costumes, song and dance.

Yeah, I really loved Chitty Chitty Bang Bang when I watched it again earlier this year too, and this was the review I wrote for it elsewhere:

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) - Mad inventor Caractacus Potts (Dick Van Dyke), his two adorable moppets and the eccentric Grandpa live together but struggle to get by. There's not much of a plot other than Van Dyke and Truly Scrumptious (and oh yes, she certainly is) falling in love, with a big chunk of the movie being a story Potts is telling the kids to entertain them, and so at times it feels like a selection of sketches than a proper film, but it'd be insane to complain given how much fun it is.  A deserved children's classic with some fantastic songs and beautifully orchestrated chaos, it's one of those films that I loved so much that if I met someone who didn't like it I'd have to kill them, or stare at them for a good long while at the very least. 8.8/10

I have seen and liked Paint Your Wagon but it was about twenty years ago, so should revisit it soon, and that applies with Charlie And The Chocolate Factory too.

Quote from: JaDanketies on September 21, 2021, 09:19:12 AM
Watched Hocus Pocus for the first time the other night. Not really a musical but there's one big musical number and then another
shorter one, with Bette Midler playing one of the main characters. Really enjoyed it!

When musicals are done right, they tower above other movies. Should've had a song and dance number in Terminator 2. Labyrinth and South Park - Bigger Longer and Uncut are two of the most important movies ever made.

I've never seen Hocus Pocus but it's a friend's favourite film, so I'll definitely remedy that before Halloween when I'm in the mood for such daftness.

Quote from: PlanktonSideburns on September 21, 2021, 09:42:39 AM
Ah man, I really liked this one, despite being fairly arsed about lots of musicals. The mental Halloween bit in the middle, but also garland is awesome at looking REALLY PISSED OFF

Yeah, I liked it a lot too, and given that both of us feel this way I'm pretty sure that while normally a delightful poster rue the polywhirl is 100% wrong here and should be executed as soon as possible.

SteveDave

I sat through almost all of "Annette" on Friday but had to turn it off with 45 minutes to go as, God bless Sparks, but it was incredibly dull and a little like they were in love with the scent of their trumps.

It doesn't need to be 2 hours 20 minutes with the first hour and a bit setting up the fact that
Spoiler alert
Kylo Ren is jealous of his wife's success. That could've been done in the first 30 minutes, then you get him exploiting their child, then he gets his comeuppance
[close]
. And Howard from the Big Bang Theory is in it too.

That said, the opening scene is very well done. I will never watch the end of this film

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: SteveDave on September 22, 2021, 12:35:30 PM
I sat through almost all of "Annette" on Friday but had to turn it off with 45 minutes to go as, God bless Sparks, but it was incredibly dull and a little like they were in love with the scent of their trumps.

It doesn't need to be 2 hours 20 minutes with the first hour and a bit setting up the fact that
Spoiler alert
Kylo Ren is jealous of his wife's success. That could've been done in the first 30 minutes, then you get him exploiting their child, then he gets his comeuppance
[close]
. And Howard from the Big Bang Theory is in it too.

That said, the opening scene is very well done. I will never watch the end of this film

That's more than fair enough, I quite liked it (and wrote about it here: https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,88958.0.html) but it's one of those films I can completely understand someone hating.

Oddly enough the final scene is easily the best in the film as
Spoiler alert
his daughter is no longer in puppet form and is played by a young actress who is absolutely amazing,
[close]
and the scene is really powerful, so even despite your issues with it I'd recommend skipping forward to the final five minutes or so for that reason alone.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: chveik on April 05, 2020, 01:16:03 AM
have you watched Les demoiselles de Rochefort SMBH? it's much lighter and joyful than Les parapluies..., there are great choregraphies, even old Gene Kelly is there playing an American tourist. Une chambre en ville is another Demy musical where all the dialogue is set to music, which happens during a workers strike. it's far from being a complete success but I recommend it just for the utter boldness of the thing.

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on April 05, 2020, 01:06:01 PM
I haven't, but both of them are on my list, I have to admit to not being enormously fond of the type of musical where all the dialogue is set to music rather than it featuring separate songs, but definitely will see them sooner rather than later.

And by "Sooner rather than later" I clearly meant "About 17 months time", as I am indeed a rubbish bastard. But I saw Les demoiselles de Rochefort this evening  and really loved it, it's a joyful old thing so I do appreciate the recommendation, even if I took a ridiculous amount of time to finally watch it. This is the mini-review I wrote for Letterboxd:

Les Demoiselles de Rochefort (1967) - Charming French musical from Jacques Demy where two sisters (Catherine Deneuve and Françoise Dorléac) are heading off to Paris but might be up for some romance before leaving (with an elderly Gene Kelly the object of affection for one of them), while their mother laments splitting up with a fiancé who had a ridiculous surname, and oh, there's a minor subplot about a murdered sixty year old dancer, but don't think that'll in any way spoil the fun. Perhaps the plotting is a little meandering but it's not really an issue, and this is a beautifully filmed, colourful and bright delight, the songs are packed with some very funny lines, and it's a playful and smart pleasure throughout. 8.3/10