TheQRM

I LoVe the example of Homer singing about food, since it's how I feel about most musicals - people trying to lyrically advance a plot over music that isn't particular good or even memorable ("Rent"?). WWS along with a handful of other musicals are in a class all by itself, despite Natalie Wood's accent standing out as one of the film's few blemishes (think Sofia Coppola in Godfather III...).

During the bit when Amy & Paul discuss the Nadsat slang used in the film, I was reminded that I always found it interesting how the script (accidentally?) juxtaposes the Russian word "khorosho," which means "good" and its homonym "horrorshow." Also, I think the film is particularly forward thinking in the way Kubrick skewed Alex's interest in Beethoven towards the futuristic by using Wendy Carlos' classical pieces as performed on the very new Moog synthesizer. Classic cinema in so many ways.

Psyched that the show is back, and will add my voice to the "Yes" side of the chorus when it comes to Ghostbusters. Not only because it's top shelf Bill Murray, but also for doing a great tightrope walk between the slightly edgy and mainstream sides of comedy. With even a passing glance of "list of 80's comedies" returned by Google, it's head and shoulders above a ton of other films of the era/genre. Plus you almost have to give it a thumbs up in response to Amy's comments on The...cough, hack...gag..."Neverending Story."

Yeah...no. Our prolonged geek affection for Star Trek's flawed but lovable universe doesn't trump the ham-fisted acting, the weak script and limp visual effects here. Just because we may hold dear those nights when you were allowed to stay up and catch an original series rerun while you ate your Jiffy Pop popcorn does not make this anything more than fun, forgettable fare that did little if anything to reshape/re-contextualize science fiction. And Amy's right about the poor soundtrack choice while Spock is getting the ship's power back online. Way too happy go lucky for a scene about obvious risk and self-sacrifice. Plus, half a decade after Star Wars, and nearly two decades after the original television series, the bridge of the Enterprise still looks as about as technologically advanced as your neighbor's home theatre set up. nyet.

Write the book Amy! And then make Devin write the foreword ;-)

A hardy "No," for Labyrinth despite its post-Bowie fervor that has so many people looking back fondly on his lesser work. Given a choice of something in this genre, a more persuasive argument could probably made for one of the Muppet films. Especially since the songs here are just terrible. And Prince definitely wouldn't have worked as the Goblin King. Bowie was always passable onscreen, but Prince...RIP...was a terrible actor.