joshg

This just popped up on my Youtube feed: "Who Sang The "Nessun Dorma" Climax The Best?" HDGTM? fans will take special note of Aretha Franklin at 5:20

Sadly, the ending is literally spoiled for everyone because the composer died before he got a chance to finish the opera. Puccini's student wrote what is accepted today as the standard ending, but the music just isn't as good as the rest of it.

I don't understand why this movie needed to be a more painful viewing experience than most others, or why Paul provided a music-free cut of the film to help us get through it. You're watching a Pavarotti movie; the singing is the whole point! Especially the week after Paul talked on his other podcast about how opera in films like Shawshank Redemption and Pretty Woman is a shortcut to understand that a character has depth. The plot/acting is the painful part that you should fast-forward. You don't skip the breakdancing in "Body Rock", or the BMX racing in "Rad", or the splits and kicks in a Jean-Claude Van Damme movie. Maybe opera isn't for everyone, but then neither is bicycling, martial arts, or Neil Diamond. If you skip the arias and songs then you're missing out on the one thing that Pavarotti was known for. (Actually, scratch that...you would still get the womanizing and the eating. Let me rephrase: if you skip the singing then you're missing out on one of the three things that Pavarotti was known for.) But the singing is what the movie claims is Pavarotti's get-out-of-jail-free card. His voice is the reason for the bottomless adulation he receives. No one ever compliments him on anything else other than his singing, or relates to him as a person. It's all about his greatness because of his singular talent, and it entitles him to act like an entitled creepy stalker. The movie fails because it takes for granted that the singing will sell Giorgio as a sympathetic character; we'll fall in love with him just as Pamela does. The problem is that the music itself only exits to serve Pavarotti's ego. Opera novices like June won't be more inclined to like opera any more after watching this movie, because each vocal performance only inflates the image of the man who exhibits narcissistic personality disorder even when he's not singing. Not once does Giorgio speak about opera as an art form, or the craft of singing, or the emotion of music. Each song is either a vehicle to show off his physical stamina, or a call for everyone in the vicinity to gather around him in adulation, or a vehicle for him to cynically manipulate and flatter his groupies and fans. The final line of the climactic aria "Nessun dorma" is "Vincero!" - "I will conquer!" - which is basically the theme of the film. It's all about him. He can do whatever he wants: have an affair but stay married with no consequences, destroy a kitchen's worth of food, return to the Met Opera after a self-imposed exile provoked by a hissy fit, soldier on even after his lover leaves him. The craziest part of the whole movie is that "Nessun dorma" is sung twice! There's still about 30 minutes left to the opera. So the movie effectively gives Giorgio an encore that no one asked for. There was no doubt that "Nessun dorma" would be the climax of the film, but do we have to hear it twice in its entirety, both verses? Apparently yes, so Pav can sing the high B even longer the second time (6 seconds the first time, a whopping 10 seconds the second time). I think it's musically thrilling, but the movie definitely pushes the audience as far as they can go to the point of admiring the singing and not caring for anything else. Especially nowadays, when the #metoo movement and general impatience for diva-ish behavior has finally caught up to the opera world that created the likes of Pavarotti.

I found it bizarre that Steel Dragon wasn't actually from Pittsburgh. If anything, the city was known as the steel city, especially up until the 80's. The football team is the Steelers. And the town boasts not one, but two tribute bands? But nope, I guess they're British!

Hey! Are they doing my movie yet? D’oh, so close....

The story of The Jazz Singer is how Hollywood treats these stories of the Jewish experience. The original 1922 short story has the protagonist initially ignore his father's wishes. "Jack Robin" is informed of his father's passing a few hours before the opening curtain, but he then returns to the synagogue to chant the Kol Nidre out of guilt. His future is left ambiguous, but he seems ready to give up his dreams to be with his family and people. The 1925 broadway play based on the short story ends the same way, but his father dies in the hospital when "Jakie" is on his way to the synagogue after he makes the decision to abandon the theater. The star of the stage play, George Jessel, was signed by Harry Warner, the mostly Jewishly committed of the Warner Brothers and the only one born in Europe, to be the original star of "The Jazz Singer" movie. As the project evolved, though, Jessel's involvement fell through (he asked for too much money) and Jolson was hired, much to the relief of Jack and Sam Warner, who would control production of the film. Jessel was deemed too Jewish for a mainstream audience, and Jolson was a hugely successful entertainer and assimilated Jew: someone to whom the younger Warner Bros. could relate. It is then no surprise that the ending was changed, which, according to Jessel, was the real reason he would not star in the film: "Instead of the boy leaving the theater to follow the tradition of his father in the synagogue, as in the play, the scenario had him return to the Winter Garden as a blackfaced comedian with his mother applauding wildly from a box seat. Money or no money, I would not do this version." Harry Warner's granddaughter disagreed: "The end of The Jazz Singer was innovative in that it resolved a conflict familiar to immigrants of that time. Everyone gets what they want: the traditional father reconciles with his son and hears him sing in the synagogue, but the son goes back to be a success onstage." So, if one were to trace the gradual loss of stakes through the various versions of this Jewish assimilation story: 1908 play, the basis for a 1940 Yiddish film "Overture to Glory": the protagonist dies, even after giving up the theater 1925 play "The Jazz Singer": the father dies and the protagonist gives up the theater 1927 movie "The Jazz Singer": the protagonist reconciles with his father before the father dies, eventually returning to the theater (in a minstrel show) 1937 Yiddish film "The Cantor's Son": the protagonist gives up America altogether, returns to his family 1980 movie "The Jazz Singer": no consequences whatsoever: the father cheers his son onstage So even if there are portrayals of Jewishness on film, Hollywood seems to prioritize the assimilation aspect; everything is okay as long as the protagonist doesn't make any sacrifices for his religion. The earlier Yiddish films are obviously intended for an exclusively Jewish audience, and therefore make no attempt to assuage good feelings about assimilation and secularism. A more recent example of this is Keeping the Faith, where Ben Stiller's rabbi character ends up with Jenna Elfman, even though the whole point of the movie is that he can't marry a gentile. The movie throws the audience the flimsiest of kosher bones at the very end, where it's revealed that she's taking conversion classes. Not that she'll definitely convert...she's just taking classes. Here is the scene where the cantor actually dies at the end: https://youtu.be/5WK_6ntuEls?t=2m20s

As the long article you linked alludes to, the profession of being a cantor is not what it used to be - most people are cantorial soloists, not fully ordained cantors. These days it probably is more like a music director, who leads the choir (if there is one) and congregation in the different prayers. A true cantor in the old tradition was a religious leader on par with being a rabbi. But in addition to having complete knowledge of Judaism, you had to be trained to a) have an amazing voice, know all the tunes and "trope" (musical symbols and patterns) for each holiday and portion of the service, and c) be able to improvise. The cantor's job was to elevate the congregation's spiritual experience, to actual bring his listeners to a state of ecstasy and closer communion with God. Of course none of these demands are explored in the movie, because everything just comes easy to Neil Diamond. The higher stakes of the 1927 "The Jazz Singer" are discussed in this thread, but there are also other examples in the "conflicted cantor" genre that sound like they're probably more dramatic than the 1980 film. The 1937 Yiddish film The Cantor's Son, "marks the screen debut of singer and cantor Moishe Oysher. In his book on Yiddish cinema Bridge of Light, critic J. Hoberman calls The Cantor’s Son an "anti-Jazz Singer," further remarking that the film's story parallels Oysher's own struggle to reconcile his cantorial calling with a career in show business. Like his film character, Oysher, born in Bessarabia the son and grandson of cantors, was both a matinee idol and a celebrated cantor." The conflict revolves around whether Oysher is going to stay in America or return to his European homeland. http://www.jewishfilm.org/Catalogue/films/CantorsSon.htm Oysher also starred in the 1940 Yiddish film Overture to Glory, in which he plays a character based on the real-life "Cantor from Vilna", Yoel David Loewenstein (1816-1850). Loewenstein was a prodigy whose voice was first noticed when he was only 11, and was then called upon to take over from his father, who died when the boy was only 14. One of the requirements to become a cantor was to be married and have a household; one had to become a Balebes (Yiddish for household owner) or a Balebessl – a small household owner. Since he was a sought-after cantor at such an early age, that meant he had to get married at age fourteen. Ten years after becoming a cantor, at age 23, he fell in love with opera, and decided to become an opera star (the equivalent of popular secular music back then). Like Neil Diamond and Jess Robin, he fell in love with a gentile woman (a singer and daughter of a Polish aristocrat). As the article below states, "In the mental derangement which followed, he abandoned his musical career, left his wife and children, and became a ‘Baal T’shuva’ (penitant). It was then customary for people who wished to atone for their sins to become wanderers, walking from community to community in silence...Finally, his family traced him, and placed him in an asylum in Warsaw, where he died in 1850, at the tragically early age of thirty-four." In the movie version he collapses and dies on the bimah (podium) as he is singing the Kol Nidre prayer. https://geoffreyshisler.com/biographies-2/yoel-dovid-lowenstein/ Since the movie was based on a 1908 play, perhaps the original Jazz Singer film was based loosely on the life of Der Vilner Balebessl? Anyway, both of these Yiddish versions take a decidedly negative view of American assimilation and decide that the protagonist is either better off back at "home" in the old country, or dead. The 1980 Neil Diamond film gets to have it both ways (American and Jewish), as he sings for a stadium crowd wearing a sparkly suit, complete with a glittery white scarf that acts as a superficial homage to the prayer shawl he wore at the beginning. A couple more Jewy things: As the 2nd Opinion reviewer pointed out, that wasn't a Passover seder in the Jess and Molly sex montage; it was Shabbat (the Sabbath). Maybe they were observing the very dubious but popular commandment among Jews: "It's a double mitzvah on Shabbat". The prayer Diamond sings at the end of the film is Kol Nidre - "All Vows". It is the most serious prayer sung on the holiest night of the Jewish calendar year. On behalf of the congregation, the cantor declares that all vows made in vain are hereby null and void; that way no one will be held to promises they can't keep in the coming new year. This is appropriate for Jess, since he has been making empty vows for the entire movie. "Don't worry, I'll be back in a couple weeks." "It will all be fine." And for something completely non-Jewy: Jess gave Molly an ultimatum: ditch the boyfriend in the boat, don't go to Acapulco with Tommy, go out with me. But Tommy corrects them and reminds Molly that they're just going to Catalina. So what happens next - Molly goes out for a romantic day trip with Tommy to Catalina, and then dumps him when they get home that night and starts dating Jess then next day? What did Molly say to Jess - "Okay, I choose you, but starting tomorrow??"

At the end of the movie Bubbie confesses that she's a chocoholic. So I guess the implication is that she has an uncontrollable addiction, and will go completely cuckoo for Coco Puffs if her impulses are left unchecked. Therefore Yasmin is her sugar daddy (or chocolate daddy, in this case), and rations out chocolates in controlled portions. The only chocolate her own mother is allowed to eat is what Yasmin provides. Which means that the shoes are either payment or some kind of bribe so Bubbie gets her fix.

A related basic question: The completely unnecessary MTV career path aside, why would any college scholarship choose their recipients based on the results of a talent show? We would assume that the Bratz would want to go to colleges where they would be recognized for their individual skills and achievements. One girl would get a soccer scholarship, one would get a science scholarship, etc. Only Sasha was really interested in dancing and Yasmin was the only one who really cared about singing. So then why award a supposedly academic scholarship based on your MTV-style singing and dancing showstopper? And an even more basic question, which also applies to the talent show in Grease 2. How many high schools in real life have a talent show and then try to make it into a competition? At the end of the show, what could be worse than claiming that all but one of the performing acts are losers?

I agree, this movie was cancer. But I think it's important to try to break down why it is so awful. It is clearly going for a message of empowerment, loyalty, and you-go-girlism. But that's a tough case to make when you insult your audience within the first five minutes of the movie. Encouraging people to break free from stereotypes is disingenuous when YOU are the one who is making those stereotypes to begin with. Why spend 90 minutes telling people that they don't need to fit into the jock/nerd paradigm after you've already laid out the cheapest ethnic stereotypes imaginable? Jade (and I mean, really - JADE?) has an Asian tiger-mom who pushes her in science AND THE VIOLIN. Yasmin's heritage seems to be Latina/Jewish (which, for the record, has nothing to do with Sephardic), so of course mariachi, La Cucaracha (the most cliche Mexican song ever), and bagels. Because of course Jews eat bagels every morning and call their mothers Bubbie, even though "Bubbie" means grandmother. So any positive message comes across as fake, at best. Not to mention the fact that the girls are all pretty, skinny, and rich. (It reminds me of Modern Family, a sitcom which also purportedly supports non-traditional families and liberal attitudes, yet God forbid the two teenage boys, Luke and Manny, every have a crush on a girl who isn't a model straight out of Seventeen Magazine). It's not even as if Meredith's ostentatiousness was presented as some shallow cautionary tale about the superficial trappings of materialism. ALL the girls are rich...Yasmin is apparently the "poor" one because she is the one teenager without the walk-in closet. As one review on Rotten Tomatoes said, "This is why the terrorists hate us."

I learned the last line "una pata para andar."

Great interview. I wonder if he ever said to his dad, well at least I wasn't in Teenwolf Too!

When they had ABC White House Correspondent Martha Raddatz play "Not My Job" on NPR's "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me", the subject of the quiz was Andy Sidaris, who had recently passed away. The third question to Raddatz was as follows: Mr. Sidaris was not unaware of his own limitations as a filmmaker. Which of these did he once say about himself? A) I have the aesthetics of a newborn baby. Just show me the breasts, please. I tried to watch a Woody Allen movie once but I walked out after 10 minutes because nothing blew up. C) I couldn't spell "STORY" if you spotted me the 'S' and the 'T'

The audience member brought it up, but the movie poster still poses too many questions to let go. Donna says they haven't heard much from Cody Abilene, Rowdy's cousin, since he left the agency to become an actor. So at the time of filming Malibu Express, Cody was either a) a spy, still in the agency, playing himself (maybe this was how he caught the acting bug, and that is this film's excuse for him not appearing in Hard Ticket to Hawaii, conveniently replaced by his cousin), OR already a full-fledged actor, playing a fictitious character in a made-up story. Either way, are we expected to believe that Cody Abilene played a character named Cody Abilene? How often does one get a chance to play a character not based on himself, but exactly himself? The boat named "Malibu Express" is a holdover from that movie, so we can speculate the Cody gave or lent the boat to his cousin Rowdy (Cody's dad owned a yacht club and built the boat). Which means that the previous Malibu Express is a cinema verite non-fiction film in this universe.

The most hilarious part of the movie (aside from Seth Green)... In the seduction scene, Dan Ackroyd's head is literally thrust backwards. Twice. The first time it looks like a convulsion, as if he was having some sort of premature (female?) ejaculation. The second time his head hits the back of the headboard when Kim Basinger rips open her negligee, as if he is smacked by the projectile force of her tits, like the guy in the Maxell cassette commercial. via Imgflip GIF Maker https://youtu.be/XiJzLfxWooo

The first poster so clearly reminds me of Strange Invaders. Strange Invaders? Anyone? https://youtu.be/3CV3O0PLE1g

Regarding the generous donation in the amount of $360 - it does not mean that the donor is part of the Illuminati; it means that he is Jewish. The Hebrew word for life is "Chai": two letters, Chet and Yud (as in, "L'chaim"). According to the gematria (alphanumeric code), Chet, the 8th letter of the alphabet, is assigned an 8, and Yud, the 10th letter, is a 10. Therefore, "Chai" is 18, and Jews traditionally give monetary gifts in multiples of 18. 36 is Double Chai, and depending on the occasion and the generosity of the donor, people will give gifts of $180 or $360. To life, HDTGM!!

There's also this...

A bit late to the party, but I hope this graphic will be useful. The director Howard Deutch directed Pretty in Pink (and Some Kind of Wonderful), married Lea Thompson, and had daughter Zoe Deutch. photo share

Another HDTGM connection! Not only Halloween III, but Speed 2 Cruise Control as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWhhPWyWCv0

It was very creepy, but Luke saying anything with all that makeup on would have been creepy. For anyone who wants to delve deeper into this abomination, the guys at Red Letter Media did a funny take-down last year for their Best of the Worst. They touch on Hamill's accident (which also explains the bangs that cover his entire forehead) and the incriminating evidence that the Wookie planet looks suspiciously similar to how it looks in Episode 3. Also on Youtube is an interview with Anthony Daniels who warns people that they'll literally die if they watch this.

This reminds me of the tags they put at the end of prime time dramas. Next week....on How Did This Get Made!