Musical Mondays Week 68 Dance With Me

[Cam Bert 8145]

Also this is where we need Taylor Anne's input, but I would imagine the Cuban population is no so large in Texas. I would imagine most of the Hispanic people there are from Mexico. I could be wrong. It just seemed everything was Cuban run or themed or maybe Mexican culture and Cuban culture has more overlap than I thought.

[tomspanks 9039]

56 minutes ago, Cam Bert said:

This guy is no good.

Are you saying he's a...bad hombre?

[Cam Bert 8145]

3 minutes ago, tomspanks said:

Are you saying he's a...bad hombre?

Yes! And if we build that wall it'll keep Chads like him from Cuba out of America for good. MAGA!

[tomspanks 9039]

54 minutes ago, Cam Bert said:

Also this is where we need Taylor Anne's input, but I would imagine the Cuban population is no so large in Texas. I would imagine most of the Hispanic people there are from Mexico. I could be wrong. It just seemed everything was Cuban run or themed or maybe Mexican culture and Cuban culture has more overlap than I thought.

Also, like, I'm sure I'm not too culturally aware, but when you think of Cuban burritos, don't you think of the ones that are cooked on both sides (kinda like a Cubano), not those regular burritos Vanessa tried to eat?

[Cam Bert 8145]

55 minutes ago, tomspanks said:

Also, like, I'm sure I'm not too culturally aware, but when you think of Cuban burritos, don't you think of the ones that are cooked on both sides (kinda like a Cubano), not those regular burritos Vanessa tried to eat?

http://www.kraftcanada.com/recipes/cuban-style-burrito-183902

This is the first thing that comes up I search "Cuban burrito" and the directions include putting it on a skillet.

[tomspanks 9039]

33 minutes ago, Cam Bert said:

http://www.kraftcanada.com/recipes/cuban-style-burrito-183902

This is the first thing that comes up I search "Cuban burrito" and the directors include putting it on a skillet.

I'm pretty sure Vanessa's burrito wasn't toasted and it fell apart as soon as she even thought about taking a bite

[Cameron H. 23786]

Early in the movie, Rafael is tasked with decorating the dance studio for their "weekly party." I get that I'm a homebody, but honestly, is there anyone here that would be interested in going to a party EVERY WEEK? That sounds utterly exhausting.

[tomspanks 9039]

1 hour ago, Cameron H. said:

Early in the movie, Rafael is tasked with decorating the dance studio for their "weekly party." I get that I'm a homebody, but honestly, is there anyone here that would be interested in going to a party EVERY WEEK? That sounds utterly exhausting.

Oh, at my old dance studio, there were weekly "parties" as well.  It's more of a get together to dance.  Basically anyone can show up - they had salsa nights, tango nights, etc.  It's good for people who don't have dance partners, because people rotate and often instructor-assisted.  

[sycasey 2.0 2301]

It's been a long time since I originally saw this movie, but at the time I remember being amused that Kris Kristofferson seemed to have gone straight from a fishing trip to a dance competition, fully dressed in a tuxedo -- something he had definitely not planned on doing when he originally went fishing. So was he carrying a tux in his tackle box?

[SlidePocket 707]

So Kris Kristofferson and Chayanne playing father and son, I don't quite get the resemblance.

[Cameron H. 23786]

47 minutes ago, sycasey 2.0 said:

It's been a long time since I originally saw this movie, but at the time I remember being amused that Kris Kristofferson seemed to have gone straight from a fishing trip to a dance competition, fully dressed in a tuxedo -- something he had definitely not planned on doing when he originally went fishing. So was he carrying a tux in his tackle box?

Even crazier is he’s fishing in Texas and the competition is in Las Vegas

[grudlian. 4725]

3 hours ago, SlidePocket said:

So Kris Kristofferson and Chayanne playing father and son, I don't quite get the resemblance.

Honestly, what really threw me was Kris Kristofferson runs a dance studio. Him being the father to some Cuban guy didn't even trigger anything being off to me.

[tomspanks 9039]

58 minutes ago, grudlian. said:

Honestly, what really threw me was Kris Kristofferson runs a dance studio. Him being the father to some Cuban guy didn't even trigger anything being off to me.

For real. I feel like his hips don’t lie (that they’re wooden)

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

On 6/17/2019 at 9:39 AM, grudlian. said:

Maybe it's because I only took a year of Spanish or being wiped out from allergies when I watched this, but the movie opened with the grave saying "Familia Infante". I thought it was a grave for babies and this was a dark opening for a dance movie.

Are you blaming this movie on El Nino?

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

On 6/17/2019 at 10:07 PM, Cam Bert said:

Also this is where we need Taylor Anne's input, but I would imagine the Cuban population is no so large in Texas. I would imagine most of the Hispanic people there are from Mexico. I could be wrong. It just seemed everything was Cuban run or themed or maybe Mexican culture and Cuban culture has more overlap than I thought.

This is my issue with a lot of operas.  I want to like them but the entire area of Montmartre in Paris speaking and singing Italian takes me out of La Boheme.

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

One big issue for me was everyone treating him like the handyman even when he showed he was more.  When Vanessa Williams left him at the Cuban club he said it was a 2-hour bus ride back.  So he took her to a place maybe an hour or more out of town?  How did he find out about it?  Why couldn't he have gotten a ride with one of the club goers?

When Kris Kristofferson heads up to the pier to go fishing he says to Chayanne "I'll see you up there." WHAT?!?! You couldn't take him in your truck? This was supposed to be a trip for the both of them.  Yet when Kris first meets Chayanne Kris says that the pier is several hours away!  And that's with his own car!  Chayanne could have been riding a bus for half a day to get there!

As a side note, it drives me crazy when movies or TV shows mention places but no other identifying marks.  Law & Order does that.  "Hey, they spent time at that new club in SoHo." or "Next to the Chinese laundry on Seventh Avenue."  OK, I'm pretty sure Seventh Avenue spans a LOT of Manhattan.  Maybe you could narrow it down a bit?  I understand these are fictional locations but still...)

Second side note: the 555 telephone number.  Now that everybody knows what it is and why it's there it takes me out of the story when that prefix is used.  It reminds me the story is deliberately fiction.

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

Expanding on what others have said about the leads' being together: WHY?!?!?  She showed no interest in him and he was physically smitten, not with her dancing.  It wasn't "Hey, she's a great dancer AND beautiful to boot! I gotta get me some of that!"  It was "Hey, she's hot.  I'll win her over with my Latino machismo and sweaty body."

Also, I felt so bad for Jane Krakowski being dumped.  At the competition they made a big deal of Vanessa and Chayanne keying off each other.  I'm glad she finished the dance with Julian and won the trophy but that just diminished the story's impact as well.  Then to show him and her riffing at the studio and poor Jane is sent back to the chorus.  Not fair at all.

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

Last-minute curiosity question:  What kept this studio going until now?  It seems like the studio would get some kind of boost by Vanessa being a world-class professional but most people don't even know the place exists.  (I'm assuming Lovejoy's comment that no one was coming to the party was sarcastic but still...)  Also, how does Vanessa train for her pro career?  She obviously can't do it while teaching and wouldn't want to show up the students in the class by dancing professionally in front of them.  This seems especially egregious at the world championships where she and her partner are representing the ENTIRE U.S.A.!  If I understood the movie, her partner was based out of Chicago.  Did they meet in Kansas City to rehearse?

[Quasar Sniffer 4174]

On 6/21/2019 at 1:34 PM, Cinco DeNio said:

Last-minute curiosity question:  What kept this studio going until now?  It seems like the studio would get some kind of boost by Vanessa being a world-class professional but most people don't even know the place exists.  (I'm assuming Lovejoy's comment that no one was coming to the party was sarcastic but still...)  Also, how does Vanessa train for her pro career?  She obviously can't do it while teaching and wouldn't want to show up the students in the class by dancing professionally in front of them.  This seems especially egregious at the world championships where she and her partner are representing the ENTIRE U.S.A.!  If I understood the movie, her partner was based out of Chicago.  Did they meet in Kansas City to rehearse?

Something tells me this movie didn't consider rehearsal logistics half the time it took you to write this post. It DID bother me that so little explanation was given for why Vanessa Williams was even at that studio, what benefit she got from it,. and why she was saddles with such a terrible partner. Seriously, all he did during the competition was tell her how awful she was doing when, in the movie's eye, she was outperforming everybody. He had no gauge of performance ability. Where was HE rehearsing?

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

17 hours ago, Quasar Sniffer said:

Something tells me this movie didn't consider rehearsal logistics half the time it took you to write this post. It DID bother me that so little explanation was given for why Vanessa Williams was even at that studio, what benefit she got from it,. and why she was saddles with such a terrible partner. Seriously, all he did during the competition was tell her how awful she was doing when, in the movie's eye, she was outperforming everybody. He had no gauge of performance ability. Where was HE rehearsing?

The one thing I know is she was dancing with him because his previous partner quit during the movie (not shown but said) and he was the "best". Vanessa wanted solely to win.  (Not that it's a knock.  That was her character until the very end.)

UPDATE: That makes me wonder who was her partner up to that point?  I don't remember ever meeting him.

[WatchOutForSnakes 807]

For what it's worth, Roger Ebert seemed to really like this movie, though I think he was mostly enamored with Vanessa Williams. 

"A lot of the plot is standard, but a lot of it isn't, including the relationship between a young man from Cuba (the Puerto Rican singing star Chayanne) and a gifted dancer (Vanessa L. Williams) who says, "I don't want to be in love." It goes without saying that these two people are destined to fall in love. But the movie sees Ruby, the Williams character, clearly and with surprising truthfulness; she has a depth associated with more serious movies."