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Elektra Boogaloo

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Posts posted by Elektra Boogaloo

  6. Posted

    I am not a fan of Thanos the character. Also not excited about like Darkseid in DC. They are kind of characters without a personality. But I do want Nebula to kill him, so I am upset she was not in the trailer.

     

    YouTube keeps recommending DISASTER ARTIST press tour stuff with Paul in it to me.

     

    • Like 3

  11. Posted

    An audience member asked about the song "On the Robert E. Lee" in this version of the movie. It's a reference to the song "Waiting for Robert E. Lee" from the original film.

     

    This is representative of the insane choices this remake made when it comes to what to include from the original. The most obvious of these choices is the inclusion of black face. In this movie Neil Diamond is forced to don black face in order to perform in a black-owned club. One reason black face originally became a practice was because segregated theaters would not allow African Americans to perform. So, this movie's weird choice to make black face a necessity because of some deluded concept of reverse racism is a whole extra level of offensive.

     

    Today, "The Jazz Singer" is discussed along with "The Birth of a Nation" and "Gone with the Wind" as an example of early cinema whose racist portrayals had lasting and negative effects on attitudes about race. But even without the benefit of hindsight, when "The Jazz Singer" came out in 1927 it was protested by the NAACP for its racist use of black face. If something is seen as racist in 1927, it's probably not a good idea to include it in 1980. Even the remake "White Christmas" had enough sense to remove the black face scene from the original "Holiday Inn" - and that movie came out in 1954.

     

    This definitely falls into the "what were they thinking?" category.

    I didn't even know that was an existing song. I thought it was something they made up on the spot. It seems like all the "homages" are racist.

    • Like 1

  12. Posted

     

    *sigh* It was the mini after Bratz.. .

    Sometimes we need a devil's advocate. Maybe add some more hoo-ahs! To your posts?

     

    WHY ISN'T THIS MOVIE ABOUT MOLLY AND BUBBA

     

    I gotta say ... I think I'd yell.

    Again, Bubba is the real hero. It should be about him. Would not be surprised to find he was like Molly's Lamaze partner and there in the delivery room.

     

     

    YES! Bubba asks Molly if she has any Charlie Parker at the Banjo/Robert E Lee party and she's like "Totally brah!" and then they bond over the record. That's the beginning of their beautiful lovestory and THAT'S why they named their son Charlie Parker.

     

    I missed this! But adds credence to the idea that Bubba is "The Jazz Singer" if he at least has shown interest in jazz.

     

     

    Can someone with better graphic making abilities than I make a fancy quote attributed to Sir Laurence, Baron Olivier, First of His Name or Whatever that is just "this piss is shit."??? I need it.

    • Like 3

  13. Posted

    LOL at Cameron H defending this movie. Is it because you like how the white guy wasn't allowed in the Black club? (I forget which episode Paul called you a segregation fan in. Haha.)

     

    I agree with you that I saw Molly appreciate his talent but I never saw him be, like, appreciative or surprised or moved by that. Maybe Diamond was trying to say Molly got him so much better than Rivka but we never see what Rivka WANTS from him. I mean we know she doesn't like LA but she never, like, pleads to have kids or whatever.

     

    So like I saw why Molly was initially attracted to him (though I continue to be baffled as to why she stayed with him) but I didn't see why he liked her.

    • Like 6

  15. Posted

    Yes! If that baby is 6 months old (I think it could even be older) then she has just gotten through a whole bunch of HARD SHIT - pregnancy, labor and delivery, the first fragile months, no sleep, etc.- presumably on her own. I would be pissed AF to see that guy waltzing back in now, and all FOR WHAT? Because his musicians weren't up to his ridiculous and sudden inexplicably high standards?? or that he got caught with his extra-marital girlfriend by his dad?? Regardless - neither is an appropriate reason to go all "walk the earth like Caine" on everyone.

    Also she was his manager so she would have been out of work when he left? How did she survive? I definitely would not have dealt with him on a professional level ever again.

     

     

    Speaking of the baby, I feel like Bubba must have been there for Molly during her pregnancy and after the birth of the child. So much that Molly named her baby after Bubba's favorite musician, Charlie Parker. (Or so I imagine)

    I believe this because Bubba looks out for Jess so much. I think he might just go around saving wayward white people.

     

    How awesome would it be if the baby had been mixed?

     

     

     

    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 beginng

     

    I am relieved to hear people can think of better stories of Jewish identity. Because I worried that maybe Diamond was connected to the Jolson movie (even though it does not hold up) because there was so little portrayals of Jewishness on film.

     

    I mean, we joke about lots of Jews in entertainment but we rarely see movies with Jewish characters.

    • Like 2

  16. Posted

    I would argue that this movie is ultimately not about his rise to be a successful/popular musician at all. That seems to be a foregone conclusion and as it was pointed out on the podcast - there are pretty much zero hurdles to make his "dream" come true. He gives it a small effort and he succeeds because of course he will.

    This movie is really about his journey to do a wife upgrade.

    Besides bar brawls over blackface, pretty much every obstacle in the movie is about his love life.

    Before he goes and after he is in LA, Rivka and his father argue about his leaving and how long he is going to be gone ("A husband should be with his wife!") Then there's the scene where he and Rivka break up and then the scene with his father meeting Molly for the first time.

    The biggest - MOST RIDICULOUS - conflict that "sends him to Loredo" is on the surface about his recording session, but is actually him being upset over his dad's reaction to meeting Molly.

    Also -Molly is the FIRST WOMAN he meets in LA. He is so desperate to wife swap that he's like "YEP YOU'LL DO."

    This is not about his rise to fame - oh no... this is really about a 39 year old man going through a midlife crisis.

     

    This is so true. It doesn't feel like "forbidden" love like the Second Opinion claimed. It was more like he couldn't be bothered to fuck anyone but the most convenient lady.

     

    Also, I know very little about Neil Diamond so I can't contribute to the "is this accurate" debate, but I did Google him when the movie was assigned and saw he did break up with his childhood sweetheart first wife for an assistant who became his second wife. (Not his last.)

     

    Oh this reminds me-can we talk about the baby?

     

    I would love to know what the filmmakers THINK the timeline of this movie is. Because no one acts like Neil Diamond has been away that long when he comes back from Texas. But that baby was, I think, like six months old? (Could definitely hold it's own head up.)

     

    So Molly carried the child for nine months and then raised it along for like six more and she isn't PISSED at all??

     

    Like oh the man is back so I better cater to his whims now. Ugh.

     

    ETA:

    Luckily it didn't win either but it's also one of the first films that help inspired the Razzies to be created. Diamond took home the first ever Worst Actor trophy while Laurence Olivier won the first ever Worst Supporting Actor award. [/Quote]

    So that means this came out the same year as CAN'T STOP THE MUSIC? Odd. They are two musical bio pics, I guess, but they seem so different.

     

    Maybe just because Steve Guttenberg expends more energy in the opening roller skate scene than Diamond does the whole movie?

     

    Also should someone who has a Razzie be able to have acting awards named after them? (See: the Olivier)

    • Like 6

  17. Posted

    I just watched the original as well and the one thing I feel it does much better than this version is the conflict about singing at the end.

     

    Like Chris Gethard pointed out the Neil Diamond one is so low stakes. He hasn't talked to his dad who has a minor medical problem that prevents him from singing, but he also has the day off from his show so he has nothing but time. While in the original Al Jolson version this is the emotional climax of the movie. He already tried to patch things up with his father once before which didn't work out well. Now his father is on his death bed and his mom is begging him to come sing for his father for Yom Kippur but it also happens to be the opening night of his first Broadway show. Now, it is melodramatic but there are at least stakes. He can reconcile with his father before he passes and honor his religion or he can live his dream and be who he is meant to be.

    Thanks for info on the original, Cam Bert and grudlian. I had never heard of it before I was forced to watch this one.

     

    I guess it makes more sense for the fame and religion to come into more conflict. But I bet Neil Diamond wasn't capable of showing the internal so struggle, maybe? As far as I can tell the biggest acting "choice" was growing a beard.

     

    Speaking as a musician ... fuck this movie.

    .

    I wish I could go back in time and put this on my sign. Aside: I originally had planned to do a sign that said "the theme song should be longer!" But I changed it after watching this.

    • Like 5

  18. Posted

    Blast, do you know if the original Jazz Singer was well-received because I thought it was. But then I read your post comparing it to Birth of a Nation and I know that was a huge blockbuster and it was only later that people saw how problematic it was. I guess I thought the original Jazz Singer was still respected with an asterisk?

     

    (Although if it was respected except for the minstrel stuff why make that the one "homage"? Why not do a cover of one that music or have a photo of him somewhere?)

     

    I guess I can't figure out why Diamond didn't just write a new musical if he wrote the songs?

     

    Why did you do this to is, Neil Diamond?

    • Like 6

  19. Posted

    I have a theory that Bubba is the real hero of the movie (because Neil Diamond sucks).

     

    June alluded to this when she said Diamond got ahead off the backs of White women and black men, but Bubba is also a singer. He is part of the Black face Band, obviously. And sings backup for Diamond in LA.

     

    What I find odd is the scene where Diamond and Molly are waiting around for Bubba's call. I believe she says Bubba has been bussing tables at a club and talked to the manager about an open slot.

     

    What makes NO SENSE is why he would not take that spot for himself. He is the one who works there, the one busting his hump (and presumably the one who could sing for the manager to prove his talent instead of just relying on a bus boy's word?).

     

    Then there is how awful Diamond is to Bubba. I mean yeah he does him a favor by singing in the Black face Group. But they do get arrested because of it. Then Diamond gets them FIRED from their initial backup gig, singing for that Billy Idol-wannabe. I would say he owes Diamond NOTHING at that point.

     

    Yet he secures the gig for Diamond. Then gets treated like shit by Diamond in the recording session. And despite this he travels ACROSS THE COUNTRY to bring him home when they find him in Texas.

     

    I think this is above and beyond. So Bubba must be the hero, right? Maybe he even sings Jazz and that is why the movie is called the Jazz Singer?

     

    • Like 9

  21. Posted

    Yeah I was like, "No, Betty White with an urn of ashes!"

     

    Thank God.

     

    Anyway back to Jazz Singer. I watched it awhile ago obvs. I remember thinking it was boring in parts (like a giant Neil Diamond concert movie) but odds bits have stuck in my head and will not go away. His hair. His glittery top. The very old baby.

     

    Not sure why it has staying power.

    • Like 2

  23. Posted

    Okay, Runaways is on hold while I watch The Jazz Singer. I’m only about a half an hour in and I’m not sure why this one got picked. Aside from that opening scene and Neil’s low energy, it hasn’t been all that crazy. I kind of like it so far. I guess my biggest question is he playing his part younger? If he’s supposed to be in his Twenties I can see where the movie is going, but at the time, Neil was pushing Forty. Even that’s not a huge deal, though.

     

    He is in Black face in the first 15 minutes! Not that crazy?

     

    And also Sir Laurence is WAY over the top. He's got that "the guy I am opposite is giving me nothing so I am going to do everything" Pretzie disease. (Why did they cast him as a Jewish father?)

     

    My face Sir Laurence is when they are at the end concert (which goes on for like half an hour) and when the people clap, he looks around like "what are they doing here?"

     

     

    • Like 4

  25. Posted

    I feel like I am missing out on "The Punisher" snark but I am not watching it. Punisher has never been a favorite hero of mine. (Plus Frank's evil in Spider-Gwen and I'm still mad at him. Don't judge me.) I always wondered why they kept trying so hard for him to have a movie. Although I will admit to liking his storyline on the second season of "Daredevil" better than the ninja storyline. I think he works best when he has another hero serving as his foil. He's too dark for me on on his own. Though obviously he's a very popular character so it works for some people.

     

    This is my fave Punisher appearance:

    • Like 4
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