'FOUR WEEKS THAT CHANGED MY CARE-FREE LIFE FOREVER' DOUBLE BILL!
DIRTY DANCING: THE TELEVISION EVENT (2017, TUBI) 28 YEARS LATER (2025, AMC DOLBY CINEMA)
Morbid curiosity led me to watch the 2017 ABC made-for-TV movie adaptation of "Dirty Dancing," yet another remake of a Patrick Swayze classic ("Road House," "Point Break," "Red Dawn") that's pretty faithful to the original (same year/location/characters/songs). The version streaming on TUBI only has Spanish sound/subtitles. Fine with me because I'm bilingual (and it's a good Spanish dub to boot), but if you're an English-only viewer you're SOL. Shame because, to coin a phrase using F This Movie vernacular, "Dirty Dancing '17" is 'not AIDS' and actually 'it's fine.' It can't touch the 1987 version but in some key aspects it's an improvement. :-O
Abigail Breslin plays the Baby role and Colt Prattes (who?) is Johnny Castle. No surprise here, they're nowhere near as good as Jennifer Grey and Swayze in chemistry, dancing prowess or sexiness. The inferior cover versions of some key songs ('Hungry Eyes,' 'She's Like the Wind') don't help. Nicole Scherzinger makes a great substitute Penny, though. They're all OK but come across as celebrity Breslin in a "Dancing with the Stars" contest being choreographed by coaches Prattes and Scherzinger. :-P But since this movie filled a three-hour timeslot in May of '17 it runs 130 minutes, 35 minutes longer than the '87 original. Many supporting roles were expanded, particularly Baby's parents. Played by Bruce Greenwood (Pike in '09 "Star Trek") and Debra Messing (TV's "Will & Grace"), in this version Baby's parents have drifted apart and are nearing divorce. That weights heavy on Doctor Houseman's mind as Baby borrows money, has him help Penny after the botched @b0rtion and reveals she slept with Johnny. Jerry Orbach was great in the OG "DD," but Greenwood is excellent here and his dramatic scenes opposite Breslin and Messing are highlights. Hell, when Bruce and Debra take over the 'I've Had the Time of My Life' song during the dance at the end l stood up and cheered. :-D
"Dirty Dancing '17's" new ending embraces bittersweet realism and I like it, but can see even its few fans shutting it down and retreating to the safety of the OG's 'happily ever after' vibes. I wouldn't have watched this in a million years without the Junesploitation! push, but that's what June fishing is all about. 3.45 KATEY SEGAL-AS-VIVIAN PRESSMAN'S EX-HUBBY ROLEX WATCHES (out of five).
I never watch trailers/commercials for movies, so you can imagine my surprise finding out Danny Boyle's "28 Years Later" (sequel to the '02 first movie that ignores "28 Weeks Later") has a pacifist teenage humanist as its main protagonist. After an eventful rite of passage hunting for his first rage virus kill in the quarantined U.K. mainland alongside his proud father (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), 12 year-old Spike (Alfie Williams) realizes the adults in the isolated island community he's lived on his entire life don't care about the well-being of his mentally ill mother Isla (Jodie Comer in a thankless role) as much as he does. Proving that last year's "Civil War" wasn't a fluke, screenwriter Alex Garland dials up the nihilism and cynicism about humanity that fuels director Boyle's nasty action beats. Even with some CG digital tools and clever camera tricks (including a pseudo-"Matrix" 'arrow cam' effect for the best kills) this has to be the mainstream horror movie with the most male p@ni$es in full display... the reason Dolby Cinema was invented. :-P
"28YL" is at times deep and thoughtful (Ralph Fiennes crushes his small role), other times seems to be fishing for a franchise extension (the whole Jimmy opening/closing scenes, which feel straight out of "The Walking Dead") but it's never less than compelling. Even when it strikes out (Edvin Ryding's Erik, whose welcomed comic relief is undermined by his short fuse thinking and eventual symbolism) you want to see where Spike will end up 28 days later. 4 SHELL PETROL STATIONS MISSING AN 'S' (out of five).
A young, forward-thinking high school teacher (30-year-old William Shatner in one of his first movie roles) is put in an awkward position when a female student in his class asks a straightforward question about sex and relationships. He decides to be frank and open about the subject in front of the class, which scandalizes the parents and his fellow teachers.
This was probably a little more incendiary 60 years ago than it is today, but it still has its charms. The story about the gap between generations is universal, the teen actors aren't bad, and Shatner gets to deliver a passionate speech.
The Cheerleaders (1972) Stephanie Fondue, who stars in this as Jeannie, had an even more incredible real name. Enid Finnbogason. She was in Hollywood from Winnipeg, got hit up at lunch to try out for this movie and got it. She’d never been a cheerleader. She was twenty. Also: A nude model, so disrobing during the audition was no big whoop.
In the film, Amarosa High School is the kind of high stakes place where lives depend on football games. Along with Jeannie, Bonnie (Jovita Bush), Debbie (Brandy Woods) and head cheerleader Claudia (Denise Dillaway, who eventually did the makeup for 2000s reality specials Exposed! Pro Wrestling’s Greatest Secrets and Breaking the Magician’s Code: Magic’s Biggest Secrets as well as the VHS release of Party Games for Adults Only), the girls try and help the men win. Except that Claudia is catty and is trying to get Jeannie deflowered by the end of the season. It’s a backward teen sex comedy bet.
But hey, everyone goes to see I Drink Your Blood at one point. So there’s that.
Director and co-writer Paul Glicker also made Running Scared (the one with Ken Wahl) and adult movies Parlor Games and Hot Circuit. Other writers were Richard Lerner, Tad Richards and Ace Baandige, a name for someone who claims to have been a Presidential scriptwriter named David. David Gergen seems too clean for this, David Shipley is too young and David Frum was 11 when this came out. I am looking at Presidential writers and comparing them to someone who made a sex film.
Speaking of sex films, Suzie is played by Sandy Evans, but that’s Clair Dia, who was in Lucifer’s Women and 3 A.M. — the only porn with an Orson Welles-edited scene — and directed Screwples and The Health Spa. Patty, played by Kim Stanton, who is also Kimberly Hyde, was also in The Young Nurses and Candy Stripe Nurses. There were a lot of nurse movies. There are even sequels to this one: The Swinging Cheerleaders, Revenge of the Cheerleaders and Cheerleaders’ Wild Weekend.
The coach is Patrick Weight, who was in so many 70s and 80s scumbag movies. Track of the Moon Beast, the handsy truck driver in Graduation Day, Mr. Peterbilt in Beneath the Valley of the Ultravixens, a gardener in Young Lady Chatterley, the stepfather in Wicked Wicked…his career was something.
What about the plot? There is not much of one in The Cheerleaders. The one truly unbelievable aspect of the story is that nobody would be interested in Jeannie. This is one of the better soft-core comedies of the early 1970s I have come across. It crosses lines that would not be acceptable today. The song in the film is actually pretty catchy.
I have seen that series (only two are connected as far I know) of cheerleader films called "pom pom" exploitation.
Clair Dia was someone I recognized right away. She was in some of Alex de Renzy's early films. Soft-core and hard-core casting were still somewhat connected around this time.
I’ve never had the pleasure of experiencing a Gregg Araki film before. An antisocial teenage couple run into a mysterious drifter, and after a healthy dose of violence and vulgarity, all three end up going on a desperate escapade filled with all manner of sex, occasional murder, and copious amounts of that sweet 90s nihilism. Extreme shock tactics queer cinema with an undercurrent of profound sadness. Bonus one-scene Parker Posey sighting. Happy Pride Month!
TEST TUBE TEENS FROM THE YEAR 2000 (1994, David DeCoteau) First-time watch, MVD DVD, 6/10. Two dudes from the future must travel back to 1994 so they can stop Morgan Fairchild from turning the U.S. into a corporation-governed country where sxx is illegal. Starring Ian Abercrombie. Full Moon/Torchlight present fantasy visions, "teens", oiled torsos, a shower scene & most importantly, a wrinkle about a third of the way through that makes this film a TERMINATOR spoof, too. Gunk royalty Conrad Brooks plays a janitor.
The Last American Virgin (1982) A fascinating mix of the highs and lows of 80s teen comedy. It's got bad, cheap humor and lazy line-crossing gags, the peephole into the girls' locker room, etc. At the same time, it's got some pretty daring line-crossing, both in the jokes and more dramatic bits, that most movies like this wouldn't dream of taking on. There are consequences to the reckless, jokey sex stuff. You might get an STD. You might get pregnant. Not everything is handled with the greatest tactfulness, but a lot of it is. The movie really succeeds in feeling like it gets inside the heads of its teen characters, which helped me forgive some of the goofier stuff, and made the bits that work really work. The last 20 minutes of the movie, and the last few moments in particular, are uniquely great for a movie of this genre.
Released in the same year, The Last American Virgin shares a lot of DNA with Fast Times at Ridgemont High The straight comedy bits of Ridgemont are stronger, and it does a much better job of balancing the swings between comedy and drama, but I think Virgin is on the same level in its more serious moments, and the way that it (sometimes) succeeds in making its teen characters feel like real people trying to navigate sex and infatuation, not just horny cartoon characters.
I have to quickly mention the soundtrack, which is very good, but also starts to become a little distracting because just about every song (not just one or two) feel like they end up being played a second or third time later in the movie. I suppose it's realistic that 16-year-olds kind of have their playlist on repeat, but it was something I couldn't help but notice.
Two teenagers get caught up in each other and in a life of crime in this New Wave drama about disillusionment in post-war Japan. Makoto is a high school student who gets involved with Kiyoshi, a young man a couple of years older than her. To get money, they devise a scam to get older men to pick her up and then rob them. There is a lot of cruelty that goes around, particularly in their relationship. Kiyoshi is not the most street smart fellow and frequently finds himself embroiled in conflicts with other criminals. Perhaps not exploitation but a solid film in any case.
THE COOL AND THE CRAZY (1958)
Released by AIP, this juvenile delinquency drama must have played at drive-ins. I am not sure what teenagers of the time would have thought watching it. There is so much heavy-handed messaging crammed into 78 minutes. Benny is an adolescent (looking much older than one, though) just out of reform school. At his new high school, he immediately meets a group of the school’s troublemakers and gets them trying out marijuana. Benny’s grand plan is to becoming a “dope” peddler. Apparently, the weed he has is strong, and the boys are soon suffering from withdrawal and need their fix. As with any drug scare film, bad consequences follow in the wake their actions. A 1950s curio at best.
Eighth Grade (2018) First rewatch. The first hour is one of the more stressful horror movies I've seen (and I'm not even a parent), which makes the last act feel like such an earned relief. Every Kayla and Gabe deserves some Kaylas and Gabes as friends. Keep your head up! Gucci!
28 YEARS LATER AMC (better?), 8/10. I guess since he's 12 but they say he should be 14 this almost counts. I'm not sure what DB was doing with some of the editing in the first half, but it didn't ruin the movie; it was just curious. Iodine Fiennes, bonehenge, zombie-d0ng & eventually the theme tune that helped so many trailers way back when.
Alfie Williams is 14! If 30-year-olds with receding hairlines can play teens in 50s-60s movies, a 14-year-old can certainly play 12 and make this flick count for Teenagers! day!
THE GIRL NEXT DOOR (2004) A shy teen falls for the new girl (who lives next door, natch) only to learn she’s an adult film star. The movie can’t decide if it’s a cutesy romcom or an R-rated raunch-fest. It ends up being neither, making the whole thing feel toothless. Allegedly the filmmakers wanted to remake Risky Business, but they made this instead when they couldn’t get the rights. That movie is slicker and goes a lot harder than this one. The story builds to the characters going to a [rhymes-with-corn] convention in Vegas, and I assumed this was the big set piece to end the movie. Then I pressed pause and there’s another 50 minutes after that! Why is this generic, tepid flick so freakin’ long?!?
30 days of Georges Melies, day 22: THE ENCHANTED WELL (1903) A man is rude to a witch, so she curses the village well so that misfortunes occur when he tries to get water. This one’s mostly about the puppetry, with a Muppet-like snake, and dog creatures that reminded me of Muffit from the ‘70s Battlestar Galactica. There’s a big burst of flame at one point, and I wonder if just having fire on set in proximity to the actors was enough to be considered thrilling back in those days.
I wasn't too sure about the tone of this movie and some of the questionable things it tries. I could definitely do without James Woods, and the lead's home life is just baffling. The lead character is very unlikeable, but Evan Rachel Wood plays the part perfectly. But it ends up as a dark comedy that kind of works—might have to rewatch to truly judge that. For me it sometimes had faint vibes of To Die For or Election, but is definitely not as good as those.
'FOUR WEEKS THAT CHANGED MY CARE-FREE LIFE FOREVER' DOUBLE BILL!
ReplyDeleteDIRTY DANCING: THE TELEVISION EVENT (2017, TUBI)
28 YEARS LATER (2025, AMC DOLBY CINEMA)
Morbid curiosity led me to watch the 2017 ABC made-for-TV movie adaptation of "Dirty Dancing," yet another remake of a Patrick Swayze classic ("Road House," "Point Break," "Red Dawn") that's pretty faithful to the original (same year/location/characters/songs). The version streaming on TUBI only has Spanish sound/subtitles. Fine with me because I'm bilingual (and it's a good Spanish dub to boot), but if you're an English-only viewer you're SOL. Shame because, to coin a phrase using F This Movie vernacular, "Dirty Dancing '17" is 'not AIDS' and actually 'it's fine.' It can't touch the 1987 version but in some key aspects it's an improvement. :-O
Abigail Breslin plays the Baby role and Colt Prattes (who?) is Johnny Castle. No surprise here, they're nowhere near as good as Jennifer Grey and Swayze in chemistry, dancing prowess or sexiness. The inferior cover versions of some key songs ('Hungry Eyes,' 'She's Like the Wind') don't help. Nicole Scherzinger makes a great substitute Penny, though. They're all OK but come across as celebrity Breslin in a "Dancing with the Stars" contest being choreographed by coaches Prattes and Scherzinger. :-P But since this movie filled a three-hour timeslot in May of '17 it runs 130 minutes, 35 minutes longer than the '87 original. Many supporting roles were expanded, particularly Baby's parents. Played by Bruce Greenwood (Pike in '09 "Star Trek") and Debra Messing (TV's "Will & Grace"), in this version Baby's parents have drifted apart and are nearing divorce. That weights heavy on Doctor Houseman's mind as Baby borrows money, has him help Penny after the botched @b0rtion and reveals she slept with Johnny. Jerry Orbach was great in the OG "DD," but Greenwood is excellent here and his dramatic scenes opposite Breslin and Messing are highlights. Hell, when Bruce and Debra take over the 'I've Had the Time of My Life' song during the dance at the end l stood up and cheered. :-D
"Dirty Dancing '17's" new ending embraces bittersweet realism and I like it, but can see even its few fans shutting it down and retreating to the safety of the OG's 'happily ever after' vibes. I wouldn't have watched this in a million years without the Junesploitation! push, but that's what June fishing is all about. 3.45 KATEY SEGAL-AS-VIVIAN PRESSMAN'S EX-HUBBY ROLEX WATCHES (out of five).
I never watch trailers/commercials for movies, so you can imagine my surprise finding out Danny Boyle's "28 Years Later" (sequel to the '02 first movie that ignores "28 Weeks Later") has a pacifist teenage humanist as its main protagonist. After an eventful rite of passage hunting for his first rage virus kill in the quarantined U.K. mainland alongside his proud father (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), 12 year-old Spike (Alfie Williams) realizes the adults in the isolated island community he's lived on his entire life don't care about the well-being of his mentally ill mother Isla (Jodie Comer in a thankless role) as much as he does. Proving that last year's "Civil War" wasn't a fluke, screenwriter Alex Garland dials up the nihilism and cynicism about humanity that fuels director Boyle's nasty action beats. Even with some CG digital tools and clever camera tricks (including a pseudo-"Matrix" 'arrow cam' effect for the best kills) this has to be the mainstream horror movie with the most male p@ni$es in full display... the reason Dolby Cinema was invented. :-P
"28YL" is at times deep and thoughtful (Ralph Fiennes crushes his small role), other times seems to be fishing for a franchise extension (the whole Jimmy opening/closing scenes, which feel straight out of "The Walking Dead") but it's never less than compelling. Even when it strikes out (Edvin Ryding's Erik, whose welcomed comic relief is undermined by his short fuse thinking and eventual symbolism) you want to see where Spike will end up 28 days later. 4 SHELL PETROL STATIONS MISSING AN 'S' (out of five).
The Explosive Generation (1961, dir. Buzz Kulik)
ReplyDeleteA young, forward-thinking high school teacher (30-year-old William Shatner in one of his first movie roles) is put in an awkward position when a female student in his class asks a straightforward question about sex and relationships. He decides to be frank and open about the subject in front of the class, which scandalizes the parents and his fellow teachers.
This was probably a little more incendiary 60 years ago than it is today, but it still has its charms. The story about the gap between generations is universal, the teen actors aren't bad, and Shatner gets to deliver a passionate speech.
The Cheerleaders (1972)
ReplyDeleteStephanie Fondue, who stars in this as Jeannie, had an even more incredible real name. Enid Finnbogason. She was in Hollywood from Winnipeg, got hit up at lunch to try out for this movie and got it. She’d never been a cheerleader. She was twenty. Also: A nude model, so disrobing during the audition was no big whoop.
In the film, Amarosa High School is the kind of high stakes place where lives depend on football games. Along with Jeannie, Bonnie (Jovita Bush), Debbie (Brandy Woods) and head cheerleader Claudia (Denise Dillaway, who eventually did the makeup for 2000s reality specials Exposed! Pro Wrestling’s Greatest Secrets and Breaking the Magician’s Code: Magic’s Biggest Secrets as well as the VHS release of Party Games for Adults Only), the girls try and help the men win. Except that Claudia is catty and is trying to get Jeannie deflowered by the end of the season. It’s a backward teen sex comedy bet.
But hey, everyone goes to see I Drink Your Blood at one point. So there’s that.
Director and co-writer Paul Glicker also made Running Scared (the one with Ken Wahl) and adult movies Parlor Games and Hot Circuit. Other writers were Richard Lerner, Tad Richards and Ace Baandige, a name for someone who claims to have been a Presidential scriptwriter named David. David Gergen seems too clean for this, David Shipley is too young and David Frum was 11 when this came out. I am looking at Presidential writers and comparing them to someone who made a sex film.
Speaking of sex films, Suzie is played by Sandy Evans, but that’s Clair Dia, who was in Lucifer’s Women and 3 A.M. — the only porn with an Orson Welles-edited scene — and directed Screwples and The Health Spa. Patty, played by Kim Stanton, who is also Kimberly Hyde, was also in The Young Nurses and Candy Stripe Nurses. There were a lot of nurse movies. There are even sequels to this one: The Swinging Cheerleaders, Revenge of the Cheerleaders and Cheerleaders’ Wild Weekend.
The coach is Patrick Weight, who was in so many 70s and 80s scumbag movies. Track of the Moon Beast, the handsy truck driver in Graduation Day, Mr. Peterbilt in Beneath the Valley of the Ultravixens, a gardener in Young Lady Chatterley, the stepfather in Wicked Wicked…his career was something.
What about the plot? There is not much of one in The Cheerleaders. The one truly unbelievable aspect of the story is that nobody would be interested in Jeannie. This is one of the better soft-core comedies of the early 1970s I have come across. It crosses lines that would not be acceptable today. The song in the film is actually pretty catchy.
DeleteI have seen that series (only two are connected as far I know) of cheerleader films called "pom pom" exploitation.
Clair Dia was someone I recognized right away. She was in some of Alex de Renzy's early films. Soft-core and hard-core casting were still somewhat connected around this time.
The Doom Generation (1995)
ReplyDeleteI’ve never had the pleasure of experiencing a Gregg Araki film before. An antisocial teenage couple run into a mysterious drifter, and after a healthy dose of violence and vulgarity, all three end up going on a desperate escapade filled with all manner of sex, occasional murder, and copious amounts of that sweet 90s nihilism. Extreme shock tactics queer cinema with an undercurrent of profound sadness. Bonus one-scene Parker Posey sighting. Happy Pride Month!
Great pick!
DeleteThanks! I really need to watch more Araki movies, especially the other two parts of his Teenage Apocalypse trilogy.
DeleteTEST TUBE TEENS FROM THE YEAR 2000 (1994, David DeCoteau)
ReplyDeleteFirst-time watch, MVD DVD, 6/10.
Two dudes from the future must travel back to 1994 so they can stop Morgan Fairchild from turning the U.S. into a corporation-governed country where sxx is illegal. Starring Ian Abercrombie. Full Moon/Torchlight present fantasy visions, "teens", oiled torsos, a shower scene & most importantly, a wrinkle about a third of the way through that makes this film a TERMINATOR spoof, too. Gunk royalty Conrad Brooks plays a janitor.
The Last American Virgin (1982)
ReplyDeleteA fascinating mix of the highs and lows of 80s teen comedy. It's got bad, cheap humor and lazy line-crossing gags, the peephole into the girls' locker room, etc. At the same time, it's got some pretty daring line-crossing, both in the jokes and more dramatic bits, that most movies like this wouldn't dream of taking on. There are consequences to the reckless, jokey sex stuff. You might get an STD. You might get pregnant. Not everything is handled with the greatest tactfulness, but a lot of it is. The movie really succeeds in feeling like it gets inside the heads of its teen characters, which helped me forgive some of the goofier stuff, and made the bits that work really work. The last 20 minutes of the movie, and the last few moments in particular, are uniquely great for a movie of this genre.
Released in the same year, The Last American Virgin shares a lot of DNA with Fast Times at Ridgemont High The straight comedy bits of Ridgemont are stronger, and it does a much better job of balancing the swings between comedy and drama, but I think Virgin is on the same level in its more serious moments, and the way that it (sometimes) succeeds in making its teen characters feel like real people trying to navigate sex and infatuation, not just horny cartoon characters.
I have to quickly mention the soundtrack, which is very good, but also starts to become a little distracting because just about every song (not just one or two) feel like they end up being played a second or third time later in the movie. I suppose it's realistic that 16-year-olds kind of have their playlist on repeat, but it was something I couldn't help but notice.
CRUEL STORY OF YOUTH (1960, dir. Nagisa Oshima)
ReplyDeleteTwo teenagers get caught up in each other and in a life of crime in this New Wave drama about disillusionment in post-war Japan. Makoto is a high school student who gets involved with Kiyoshi, a young man a couple of years older than her. To get money, they devise a scam to get older men to pick her up and then rob them. There is a lot of cruelty that goes around, particularly in their relationship. Kiyoshi is not the most street smart fellow and frequently finds himself embroiled in conflicts with other criminals. Perhaps not exploitation but a solid film in any case.
THE COOL AND THE CRAZY (1958)
Released by AIP, this juvenile delinquency drama must have played at drive-ins. I am not sure what teenagers of the time would have thought watching it. There is so much heavy-handed messaging crammed into 78 minutes. Benny is an adolescent (looking much older than one, though) just out of reform school. At his new high school, he immediately meets a group of the school’s troublemakers and gets them trying out marijuana. Benny’s grand plan is to becoming a “dope” peddler. Apparently, the weed he has is strong, and the boys are soon suffering from withdrawal and need their fix. As with any drug scare film, bad consequences follow in the wake their actions. A 1950s curio at best.
Bottoms (2023, dir. Emma Seligman)
ReplyDeleteTook me a few minutes to get on this movie's wavelength, but once I did I really enjoyed it. Truly funny and edgy stuff.
One of my favorite movie of the last few years. I jumped on the blu-ray when it came out
DeleteYeah I for sure need to get it during the next Kino sale. That movie rules.
DeleteSpontaneous (2020)
ReplyDeleteSometimes you just explode.
I love this movie.
DeleteThe Slumber Party Massacre (1982)
ReplyDelete{7 word reviews!}
(menards) "Comically large drill bits? Isle 5!"
Machine Shop safety film...now with nudity!
Escaped serial killer, THORN in my side.
Eighth Grade (2018)
ReplyDeleteFirst rewatch. The first hour is one of the more stressful horror movies I've seen (and I'm not even a parent), which makes the last act feel like such an earned relief. Every Kayla and Gabe deserves some Kaylas and Gabes as friends. Keep your head up! Gucci!
I need to plan my own first rewatch of this. I also gotta look up what Elsie Fisher has been up to since then!
Delete28 YEARS LATER
ReplyDeleteAMC (better?), 8/10.
I guess since he's 12 but they say he should be 14 this almost counts.
I'm not sure what DB was doing with some of the editing in the first half, but it didn't ruin the movie; it was just curious. Iodine Fiennes, bonehenge, zombie-d0ng & eventually the theme tune that helped so many trailers way back when.
Alfie Williams is 14! If 30-year-olds with receding hairlines can play teens in 50s-60s movies, a 14-year-old can certainly play 12 and make this flick count for Teenagers! day!
DeleteWest Side Story (2021)
ReplyDeleteIf you like musicals, this should definitely be on your list. The big dance numbers are fun and the costumes are exquisite. Teenagers be dumb though.
THE GIRL NEXT DOOR (2004)
ReplyDeleteA shy teen falls for the new girl (who lives next door, natch) only to learn she’s an adult film star. The movie can’t decide if it’s a cutesy romcom or an R-rated raunch-fest. It ends up being neither, making the whole thing feel toothless. Allegedly the filmmakers wanted to remake Risky Business, but they made this instead when they couldn’t get the rights. That movie is slicker and goes a lot harder than this one. The story builds to the characters going to a [rhymes-with-corn] convention in Vegas, and I assumed this was the big set piece to end the movie. Then I pressed pause and there’s another 50 minutes after that! Why is this generic, tepid flick so freakin’ long?!?
30 days of Georges Melies, day 22: THE ENCHANTED WELL (1903)
A man is rude to a witch, so she curses the village well so that misfortunes occur when he tries to get water. This one’s mostly about the puppetry, with a Muppet-like snake, and dog creatures that reminded me of Muffit from the ‘70s Battlestar Galactica. There’s a big burst of flame at one point, and I wonder if just having fire on set in proximity to the actors was enough to be considered thrilling back in those days.
Pretty Persuasion 2005
ReplyDeleteDirected by Marcos Siega
I wasn't too sure about the tone of this movie and some of the questionable things it tries. I could definitely do without James Woods, and the lead's home life is just baffling. The lead character is very unlikeable, but Evan Rachel Wood plays the part perfectly. But it ends up as a dark comedy that kind of works—might have to rewatch to truly judge that. For me it sometimes had faint vibes of To Die For or Election, but is definitely not as good as those.