Musical Mondays Week 92 Mamma Mia!

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

This was more like My Big Skinny Greek Wedding. Anyway, we watched...

and

[Cameron H. 23786]

Sorry, I’m a bit behind do to my introducing my son to Marvel movies this weekend. I’m only about thirty minutes into Mamma Mia, but I will finish it up today.

In the meantime, what’s everyone’s favorite ABBA song? 
 

Mine:

 

[Cam Bert 8145]

21 minutes ago, Cameron H. said:

Sorry, I’m a bit behind do to my introducing my son to Marvel movies this weekend. I’m only about thirty minutes into Mamma Mia, but I will finish it up today.

In the meantime, what’s everyone’s favorite ABBA song? 
 

Mine:

 

That's mine too! In my humble opinion this is there best song musically. That opening synth stuff so good. I just want that playing. Since I want to add I'll throw in my number two which is...

 

Also want to give a bonus shout out to King Kong Song which I doubt anybody will pick but is a fun rocky not very ABBA-like song.

[Cam Bert 8145]

As far as the movie goes when all was said and done I knew it was bad and full of plot holes and pointless beats and characters. Yet it was fun and it moved and the music was good. It was neither incredible nor terrible. I don't think I would watch it again, but I do not bemoan having seen it. To me it is one of the most perfectly average movies ever. It took me away for an hour forty and sometimes that's all you need.

[grudlian. 4725]

3 minutes ago, Cam Bert said:

As far as the movie goes when all was said and done I knew it was bad and full of plot holes and pointless beats and characters. Yet it was fun and it moved and the music was good. It was neither incredible nor terrible. I don't think I would watch it again, but I do not bemoan having seen it. To me it is one of the most perfectly average movies ever. It took me away for an hour forty and sometimes that's all you need.

These are my thoughts on it. I liked it just fine the one time I watched it. It was fun. I liked the music. I probably won't watch it again unless someone really wanted to.

I think this is probably the best case scenario for a jukebox musical. Unless you count Singin' In The Rain, I can't think of any that come close to this.

38 minutes ago, Cameron H. said:

In the meantime, what’s everyone’s favorite ABBA song?

Don't make me choose!

[Cam Bert 8145]

19 minutes ago, grudlian. said:

Don't make me choose!

[AlmostAGhost 2718]

I don't know what you all are talking about. This is terrible in every way.

[tomspanks 9039]

If I had to pick, Dancing Queen.  

 

 

On the other hand, Fernando exists...

[Cameron H. 23786]

5 minutes ago, tomspanks said:

 

On the other hand, Fernando exists...

Fernando is a great song.

As for Mamma Mia, I didn’t hate it, and I’m not going to bag on it, but for some reason it really didn’t click for me this time. I’m not sure why that is as I remember liking it quite a bit. Perhaps it was the mood I was in, or, not to get political, the state of the world? It feels like good escapism, but it also feels too frothy. Like, when they world felt more optimistic, this would be light fun, but now it feels, I don’t know, shallow.

Don’t get me wrong, I still think it’s a fine movie. I’m really not sure why I didn’t connect to it.

[Cam Bert 8145]

3 hours ago, Cameron H. said:

Fernando is a great song.

As for Mamma Mia, I didn’t hate it, and I’m not going to bag on it, but for some reason it really didn’t click for me this time. I’m not sure why that is as I remember liking it quite a bit. Perhaps it was the mood I was in, or, not to get political, the state of the world? It feels like good escapism, but it also feels too frothy. Like, when they world felt more optimistic, this would be light fun, but now it feels, I don’t know, shallow.

Don’t get me wrong, I still think it’s a fine movie. I’m really not sure why I didn’t connect to it.

I think frothy is a good way to describe it.

Like when you really think about it you establish a lot of these characters with distinct personalities and yet none of that ever comes into play really. Is there any reason that Stellar Skateboard is a globetrotting author? Is that just to explain his boat? What about the one friend being a cookbook author? They give them these things to make them seem less cookie cutter but in the end none of that matters or is expanded upon. They just keep things light and frothy. 

[tomspanks 9039]

39 minutes ago, Cam Bert said:

I think frothy is a good way to describe it.

Like when you really think about it you establish a lot of these characters with distinct personalities and yet none of that ever comes into play really. Is there any reason that Stellar Skateboard is a globetrotting author? Is that just to explain his boat? What about the one friend being a cookbook author? They give them these things to make them seem less cookie cutter but in the end none of that matters or is expanded upon. They just keep things light and frothy. 

One of them should've been a super scientist.  Spanakopita!

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

1 hour ago, Cam Bert said:

I think frothy is a good way to describe it.

Like when you really think about it you establish a lot of these characters with distinct personalities and yet none of that ever comes into play really. Is there any reason that Stellar Skateboard is a globetrotting author? Is that just to explain his boat? What about the one friend being a cookbook author? They give them these things to make them seem less cookie cutter but in the end none of that matters or is expanded upon. They just keep things light and frothy. 

They also never really explain the backstory behind each guy. They “transform” into Donna’s memory of them but that Image is only mentioned when King George VI picks up the guitar. Each backstory enacted in the sequel has nothing to do with the flash image from the first movie. WHY does Stellar Skateboard have an eye tattooed on each knee? Is he part of the Illuminati?

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

In the sequel I missed whatever explained it was 10 years later. I heard that it was one year since (spoiler) and thought the entire movie happened one year after the first. Then Stellar Skateboard shows up VERY fat, the border guard slammed each dad for being old and ugly and I was muy confused.

[AlmostAGhost 2718]

26 minutes ago, Cinco DeNio said:

WHY does Stellar Skateboard have an eye tattooed on each knee?

This was the only thing about the movie I cared to find out

I hope it's in part 2

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

14 minutes ago, AlmostAGhost said:

This was the only thing about the movie I cared to find out

I hope it's in part 2

[taylor anne photo 11311]

I used to haaaaate this movie. I grew up as, and still am, a giant ABBA fan, and I thought this movie was a spit in the face of ABBA's discography. We went to see this on the West End on a choir trip to London literally ONE MONTH before this movie came out, and I was furious with the entire endeavor. Now I will say after having seen this on stage the movie does a lot of good for the concept. Actually filming in Greece (I assume or at least just in a visibly similar area) really makes this thing come alive in a great way. But I still think creating some story around the ABBA songs is a terrible idea. A lot of these songs make no fucking sense when you really think about them any deeper. BUT THEY STILL SLAP!

I softened over the years and when I saw Here We Go Again I kinda fell in love with it finally??? Maybe it's just truly my love of the actors chosen for the past scenes. Maybe it's my love for Cher. Speaking of - y'all gotta listen to Cher's ABBA album cause it's just as amazing. Idk what it was but I literally cried at the end and became obsessed with Lily James in even more ways.

[grudlian. 4725]

4 hours ago, taylor anne photo said:

I used to haaaaate this movie. I grew up as, and still am, a giant ABBA fan, and I thought this movie was a spit in the face of ABBA's discography. We went to see this on the West End on a choir trip to London literally ONE MONTH before this movie came out, and I was furious with the entire endeavor. Now I will say after having seen this on stage the movie does a lot of good for the concept. Actually filming in Greece (I assume or at least just in a visibly similar area) really makes this thing come alive in a great way. But I still think creating some story around the ABBA songs is a terrible idea. A lot of these songs make no fucking sense when you really think about them any deeper. BUT THEY STILL SLAP!

I checked. This was filmed in Greece. 

[taylor anne photo 11311]

41 minutes ago, grudlian. said:

I checked. This was filmed in Greece. 

Honestly thank god. I couldn't handle being lied to like that right now.

[Cam Bert 8145]

Why I can't speak to the motivation behind the A list actors being in this I saw it sort of like a typical Adam Sandler comedy which is an excuse to spend a month in Hawaii with his friends.

[GrahamS. 803]

On 5/19/2020 at 11:40 AM, taylor anne photo said:

I used to haaaaate this movie. I grew up as, and still am, a giant ABBA fan, and I thought this movie was a spit in the face of ABBA's discography. We went to see this on the West End on a choir trip to London literally ONE MONTH before this movie came out, and I was furious with the entire endeavor. Now I will say after having seen this on stage the movie does a lot of good for the concept. Actually filming in Greece (I assume or at least just in a visibly similar area) really makes this thing come alive in a great way. But I still think creating some story around the ABBA songs is a terrible idea. A lot of these songs make no fucking sense when you really think about them any deeper. BUT THEY STILL SLAP!

I softened over the years and when I saw Here We Go Again I kinda fell in love with it finally??? Maybe it's just truly my love of the actors chosen for the past scenes. Maybe it's my love for Cher. Speaking of - y'all gotta listen to Cher's ABBA album cause it's just as amazing. Idk what it was but I literally cried at the end and became obsessed with Lily James in even more ways.

I don’t think THIS movie is very good—whatever you think of ABBA—but the sequel got an 80% critical approval on RT whereas this one got about 50%, which seems about right based on what I witnessed. I didn’t HATE this movie, but I watched this with my parents (who live two blocks away) as a way to handcuff myself to it to make myself finish it. I think it’s OK, but basing a musical around ABBA is a terrible idea, absolutely.

i also know what it looks like now to see Meryl Streep in CBS sitcom-level material so there’s that.

I gotta say, in terms of the characters, I did HATE Amanda Seyfried’s character because her idea is so fucking reckless and dumb, with no thought to anyone else’s life except her own. I know this is fluff, but I still found her extremely hateable. I think Amanda Seyfried has been good in roles I’ve seen, but when it comes to a character this clueless, maybe she performed it so well that it felt like nails on a chalkboard.

 

[GrahamS. 803]

And honestly, I watched this movie on Monday night and totally forgot about it until now.

[taylor anne photo 11311]

6 hours ago, Cam Bert said:

Why I can't speak to the motivation behind the A list actors being in this I saw it sort of like a typical Adam Sandler comedy which is an excuse to spend a month in Hawaii with his friends.

Pierce Brosnan is quoted as saying he saw Meryl had already signed on and went ahead and did it without actually knowing wtf he was signing up for lol.

[tomspanks 9039]

F, marry, kill:

1. Meryl Streep, Christine Baranski, Julie Walters
2. Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skateboard

[Cameron H. 23786]

1 hour ago, tomspanks said:

F, marry, kill:

1. Meryl Streep, Christine Baranski, Julie Walters
2. Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skateboard

1) F—Baranski; M—Streep; K—Walters (sorry)

2) F—Brosnan; M—Firth; K—Skateboard

These answers are the only correct answers.

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

Back to favorite song, my ultimate is Voulez Vous, with Does Your Mother Know? a close second. Voulez Vous is the song that taught me how bands know when to stop repeating a chorus. At some point I noticed a guitar playing a short beat and the repeats ended. Since then I have listened to songs differently, listening for the “signal”.

Since everyone knows my favorites I will share the song that strikes me the most, Like an Angel Passing Through My Room, the last song on the album The Vistors. (The album is ABBA’s last studio album so the song is almost the last of their career.) The song itself is spare and unsettles me, but the ending breaks me up. The clock ticking just seems to go on and when it stops, whew. I don’t know whether to be glad or scared.