EvRobert

A couple of years ago, I did a deep dive into the Jason Statham filmography. If you want to see a worse movie t hat is also more boring and yet somehow stranger, I would recommend LONDON, which came out a year after Cellular. Why would I bring up this Jason Statham movie? Because it ALSO stars Chris Evans, Jessica Biel, and Jason Statham. It doesn't take place in London, Jessica Biel's name is London. Statham plays a coked up banker who, despite being like 50 years older than Evans, is friends with him.

I legit am, I went on a Statham binge a couple of years ago. It's a fun movie

I KNEW that and the entire film and afterwards I kept going "so when is Kim Basinger going to come back?" I have no idea why I kept trying to make Nicole Kidman into Kim Basinger

when the red hair was CGI (when they were underwater) I was fine with it, it was her on land sequences...oaf. That all said, I loved the movie because it was just so batshit insane while managing to tell a pretty basic King Arthur story. I would have rather the only love story been between Kim Basinger and the guy that played Momoa's dad. At least that was the only love story I was engaged in.

I somehow missed this being picked for the week. I'm going to watch it when I get home and refamiliarize myself with it. But I have some THOUGHTS on R&H and this musical. Again, want to revisit it before I actually comment.

Go with Clint's three with Sergio Leone. They are about the best of the bunch. The original Django movies are pretty good too

Is The Snowman the movie Fassbender did about Richard Klukinski?

Thanks, I knew there was an order but I couldn't remember where it was located at and it all seemed kind of arbitrary at times (I knew it wasn't just seemed that way LOL)

Out of curiosity, what is the order of picks right now? The only reason I ask is I check every week, afraid I'm going to have to make a pick on the fly

Since Ever After came up in this discussion, I thought ya'll would be interested in this. Looks like there is a musical version of it headed to Broadway

The Music Man plays with this idea too. The whole town either views Marian as a slut because something happened between her and the rich old man prior to Harold Hill arriving that he left her the library or spinster because she isn't a wife and is devoted to the library.

Paul would actually make a GREAT Clarence, but I honestly think if I was casting a modern version, I'd put him and Zouks as Bert and Ernie

I don't have much to add atm, but I will say that Paul is right, I know from experience, that playing Mister Potter is the BEST role for an actor.

in other things, based on this thread, I started the Holiday eps of Nailed it. The first ep, when Lauren Lapkus and Nicole were eating that giant rice krispie treat. I related to that. I love Rice Krispie treats

I really like Lords of Dogtown. It's an interesting companion to thirteen, looking at boys in SoCa and less focused on girls. I thought it was interesting to see a female director handling a distinct male coming of age story. the Nativity Story is also very pretty to look at, and is well filmed, but is one of those Christmas and Christian movies that people just don't talk about. I think it ultimately came down to being pretty vanilla. I haven't seen it since it came out in theaters

That's interesting, I've thought that Hardwicke has had one of the most disappointing career trajectories. Thirteen was so good,Lords of Dogtown was pretty good, The Nativity Story wasn't bad, then Twilight, Red Riding Hood and Plush were probably future HDTGM material

So I love this movie and I'm glad I get the chance to talk about it. I just got back from vacation (or should I say holiday). First I'm a lover of all things R&H and this is a great adaptation of their musical. My only real compliant about the musical itself isn't necessarily about THIS version but that there doesn't seem to be a definitive version. Since R&H wrote the LAW version for TV initially, they (and others) have felt the need to tweak this with more, different songs, whether that's on stage or filmed. I remember in 97, I was not a Brandy fan but I was a fan of Jason Alexander and Victor Garber and Bernadette (I'm a theater nerd, what can I say) and this is probably her best performance as actor, but with the supporting cast they surrounded her with, that's not surprising. This isn't Whitney's best performance but it's her last great performance I think (when did the Preacher's Wife come out?) This was also the start of a brief Renaissance of ABC Wonderful World of Disney musicals that included Bye Bye Birdie (with Jason Alexander), The Music Man (with Matthew Broderick and Kristen Chenoweth), South Pacific (with Glen Close and Harry Connick Jr), and Once Upon A Mattress (with Carol Burnett). These vary in quality and adherence to the original sources with Mattress in particular taking quite a bit of liberties, despite having probably the second best cast. I'm kind of surprised with this surge that NBC and Fox has been doing with the live musicals that Disney/ABC hasn't tried bringing this back. And speaking of Mattress, it wasn't until that musical that I realized that "Cinderella" isn't her name. She is "Ella of the Cinders" meaning she comes from, sleeps, etc in the cinders. Finally the tree is Ella/Cindy's mom and gives her the dress is something that Sondheim uses in Into The Woods. He also uses the multiple balls (IIRC) and the tar on the steps.

So I finally got around to watching this and it struck a weird note with me too. First, it hit at a weird time for me, I just finished acting in a Christmas production of Little Women and it's the first time in like 3 years I've actually been on stage. And then there is my writing and my other artistic endeavors. I long for reviews but I also fear negative ones. Not that constructive criticism is something I fear, because I love that, but it's just this nagging fear that I really suck. I'll also be the first to admit that if I won a 100 million dollar lottery or something, I'd be financing my own shows in NY and being like "screw the critics". I think there is a message about the thin knife edge that actors/artists walk. Recently, on a Facebook playwrights group I'm a part of, a picture was posted of a writer responding very poorly to their play not getting selected for a festival. I'm also reminded of the many times writers have lashed out to critics. I think the message they are trying to get across is the same as Ratatouille. But it's done, less...convincingly. I do think that this would be an interesting companion piece to THE PRODUCERS.

Not to defend this movie that much, but I know when I'm acting in a play (like I am now, Little Women, Hays, KS opens on Friday--shameless plug) even if I know all the actors names, I tend to default and call them by their character names. Maybe these elves were like really into "the method" and wanted to be called by their character names (that they probably gave themselves) at all times.

Ha! I've thought about this one too, just for the excuse to watch it. I'm excited

that would have made this better

Yeah they do kind of play everything as just going through the motions (it does seem like I liked it more but I'm also a sucker for gangster/prohibition movies that lean into the redemption angle i.e. the Bible stops the bullet). It's interesting though that around this same time, Andre 3000 did Be Cool (the Get Shorty sequel that is BAD) and is one of the bright shining spots in that film.

What is it about musicals and gangster films that seemingly go so well together? It's like chocolate and peanut butter. I really enjoyed rewatching this film (if I was to guess, I'd say I hadn't seen this in 11 years or more and reconnecting to the world of Idlewild, GA. Frank Lovece of Film Journal International said that Idlewild was seemingly an "African-American Moulin Rogue" an you know what the comparison kind of fits. Between the anachronistic music (which I think really works in this consider that the roots of hip-hop and funk can be found in the African-American jazz sound). What struck me is how...young I guess the leading cast is. The veteran African-American characters are killed off (or run away) leaving some very hungry characters to fill their place(sometimes figuratively sometimes literally), be it Ving Rhames' Spats or Patti LeBelle's Angel.

You forgot to cite the critic... "...five stars" Leonard Maltin

I've been sick all of last week and wasn't able to participate, but I'm looking forward to this. I remember really liking Idlewild when I originally saw it