Musical Mondays Week 83 The Commitments (w/ Once)

[Cameron H. 23786]

14 minutes ago, grudlian. said:

By the way, even though I keep kind of ripping on this movie, I did like it. I think the actors were mostly pretty good. The energy of the film is pretty good and I'm really glad they didn't try that dumb ending like, "They went on the be the biggest band in the world" or some such nonsense. They ended like the vast majority of bands:  a few gigs then never, ever being remotely popular.

I wanted to say the same thing. I’m picking on it, but I did enjoy it.

[tomspanks 9039]

I enjoyed the soundtrack more than the movie overall. If the movie was a series of music montages I would’ve been ok with that. The band seemed to have a lot of fun performing and they were more charming on stage than off. 

PS - I also liked the commitments being the origin story of Guy (Glen Hansard’s character in Once)

[Quasar Sniffer 4174]

29 minutes ago, tomspanks said:

I enjoyed the soundtrack more than the movie overall. If the movie was a series of music montages I would’ve been ok with that. The band seemed to have a lot of fun performing and they were more charming on stage than off. 

 

I agree, but I think I had trouble even connect me with some of the on-stage performances because, honestly, the singer was such a juvenile asshole offstage. I could barely look at his face without wanted to smack his dumb fat cheeks. So that limited my ability to have my faith restored in the characters with their musicianship. So maybe if he had more redeeming qualities, perhaps just a glimpse earlier in the movie, I'd be more into what they were doing musically.

[Cam Bert 8145]

I will say, music aside, the best bit of this movie is how it ended. That ultimately this isn't your typical story of coming from nothing and being successful. Rather this was about how being in this band and the music ultimately changed these people's lives for the better. Like Lips said it was never about being a success and getting lots of albums but giving them some hope at a bad time in their lives and period for their country. Some went on to be musicians with varying degrees of success, one became a successful doctor and the one that dropped out of the band is kinda back where he was. I thought that was a very nice and unexpected ending.

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

9 hours ago, Cam Bert said:

I will say, music aside, the best bit of this movie is how it ended. That ultimately this isn't your typical story of coming from nothing and being successful. Rather this was about how being in this band and the music ultimately changed these people's lives for the better. Like Lips said it was never about being a success and getting lots of albums but giving them some hope at a bad time in their lives and period for their country. Some went on to be musicians with varying degrees of success, one became a successful doctor and the one that dropped out of the band is kinda back where he was. I thought that was a very nice and unexpected ending.

I generally agree.  Without realizing it, that's probably what's drawn me to the movie time and again.  My only quibble with your statement is after the first rehearsal Joey says "It was a start.  I believe in starts.  Once you have that the rest is inevitable."  So he was preaching a "prosperity gospel" for a while, at least to Jimmy.

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

Was Wilson Pickett late because the driver was lost?  You'd think they would have gotten directions before leaving the hotel or assumed the limo driver knew the place.  I wonder what Joey told Wilson to get him to the club?  Would Wilson have been disappointed to see a bunch of kids instead of a full-class whatever Joey had said?

[Cameron H. 23786]

11 minutes ago, Cinco DeNio said:

I generally agree.  Without realizing it, that's probably what's drawn me to the movie time and again.  My only quibble with your statement is after the first rehearsal Joey says "It was a start.  I believe in starts.  Once you have that the rest is inevitable."  So he was preaching a "prosperity gospel" for a while, at least to Jimmy.

I felt like it was less that he felt recording/financial success was inevitable, but that nothing can happen until you actually start something. Once you get on that path, whatever happens, good or bad, is out of your hands. Beginnings hold the promise of something good even if they don’t necessarily guarantee it. Starting something is the only part we have control over.

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

10 minutes ago, Cameron H. said:

I felt like it was less that he felt recording/financial success was inevitable, but that nothing can happen until you actually start something. Once you get on that path, whatever happens, good or bad, is out of your hands. Beginnings hold the promise of something good even if they don’t necessarily guarantee it. Starting something is the only part we have control over.

I understand but that's not how Jimmy saw it.

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

Jimmy is as responsible for the band's implosion as anyone.  Openly lusting after Imelda then turning Natalie down, saying things needed to stay professional.  If he'd had a chance with Imelda you know he would have jumped right in.  I do hope he and Natalie got together at some point.  I didn't see until recently how big a torch she carried for him.  He then stiffed the guy who supplied the equipment and didn't tell anyone. (I forget who introduced them but he should have stepped in at the roller rink fight.)  He wasn't paying the band and then promised multiple exclusives at the Wilson Pickett gig.  The record company guy was right that (paraphrasing) "Everyone in the music business is an asshole."  That included management, in Jimmy's case at least.

As with everything, good communication is key.

[Cameron H. 23786]

7 minutes ago, Cinco DeNio said:

I understand but that's not how Jimmy saw it.

You’re right. I thought we were talking about Joey.

[tomspanks 9039]

10 hours ago, Cinco DeNio said:

Was Wilson Pickett late because the driver was lost?  You'd think they would have gotten directions before leaving the hotel or assumed the limo driver knew the place.  I wonder what Joey told Wilson to get him to the club?  Would Wilson have been disappointed to see a bunch of kids instead of a full-class whatever Joey had said?

No, he was never coming.

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

On 12/31/2019 at 8:14 PM, tomspanks said:

No, he was never coming.

So he wasn't really in the limo he just sent out his entourage to pretend so he had a plausible reason for not showing up?

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

On 12/31/2019 at 10:03 AM, Cameron H. said:

You’re right. I thought we were talking about Joey.

I apologize for taking so long to respond.  We were talking about Joey but I confused the issue by also referencing the dreams I felt he was giving Jimmy and the others.  Let's split them.

[Cameron H. 23786]

Just a reminder, for anyone interested, we’re doing Once as a follow-up next week to get us back on track schedule-wise. It’s really good. I’m looking forward to watching it again

[AlmostAGhost 2718]

8 minutes ago, Cameron H. said:

Just a reminder, for anyone interested, we’re doing Once as a follow-up next week to get us back on track schedule-wise. It’s really good. I’m looking forward to watching it again

ooh i was wondering what the 'w/ Once' meant in the title! i love the Once soundtrack but actually never watched it.  I will try to watch both films this weekend

[Cameron H. 23786]

15 minutes ago, AlmostAGhost said:

ooh i was wondering what the 'w/ Once' meant in the title! i love the Once soundtrack but actually never watched it.  I will try to watch both films this weekend

Sorry, we mentioned it briefly in Cinco’s announcement thread. Since HDTGM dropped the Reindeer Games episode instead of a mini we needed to stretch Cinco’s  pick out for two weeks to stay on track. Rather than just talk about The Commitments for two solid weeks (which is totally fine to do), we decided to combine it with Once since the main character in Once is the guitar player in The Commitments.

[AlmostAGhost 2718]

1 hour ago, Cameron H. said:

Sorry, we mentioned it briefly in Cinco’s announcement thread. Since HDTGM dropped the Reindeer Games episode instead of a mini we needed to stretch Cinco’s  pick out for two weeks to stay on track. Rather than just talk about The Commitments for two solid weeks (which is totally fine to do), we decided to combine it with Once since the main character in Once is the guitar player in The Commitments.

Cool, yea it makes sense. I wasn't following the thread so close with the holidays, so I'm happy for another week to get these done too

[Cameron H. 23786]

Um...I guess hold off on Once? Instead of a mini-ep HDTGM released a full ep. I’m not sure if this is a fuck up they will be fixing or letting ride. If they are skipping a mini-ep this week, then we’ll just continue with the rotation as normal.

[grudlian. 4725]

43 minutes ago, Cameron H. said:

Um...I guess hold off on Once? Instead of a mini-ep HDTGM released a full ep. I’m not sure if this is a fuck up they will be fixing or letting ride. If they are skipping a mini-ep this week, then we’ll just continue with the rotation as normal.

Whew. I thought I was the only one expecting a minisode when I opened stitcher this morning. 

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

I talked about Once once.  Once!

[tomspanks 9039]

On 1/2/2020 at 6:04 PM, Cinco DeNio said:

So he wasn't really in the limo he just sent out his entourage to pretend so he had a plausible reason for not showing up?

Lol my bad I got confused

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

Apologies.  I haven't watched Once yet.  Will watch it tonight.

[Cameron H. 23786]

5 hours ago, Cinco DeNio said:

Apologies.  I haven't watched Once yet.  Will watch it tonight.

I would say watch it only if you want to right now. Technically, it's Jammer's pick now. I had only wanted to bundle the two movies because the HDTGM schedule was off, but they fixed it, so we're back on track.

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

6 hours ago, Cameron H. said:

I would say watch it only if you want to right now. Technically, it's Jammer's pick now. I had only wanted to bundle the two movies because the HDTGM schedule was off, but they fixed it, so we're back on track.

Oh good.  I didn't look at the main board.  Thanks!