Thursday Movie Picks: The Stage
1) Get Over It
This is one of my favorite rom coms. I loved it as a teen, Ben Foster is trying to get with Kirsten Dunst so he auditions to be in his school's stage version of A Mid Summer Night's Dream. Plus Kirsten Dunst sings and it's lovely.
2) Birdman
This all in one take (but not really) look at Riggam, a fading actor appearing on Broadway is amazing. I'm still so happy this won over Boyhood for Best Picture.
3) The Producers
Yes, I'm talking about the remake. I like it. It's funny. I know everyone else hates it. (mental note: write a guilty pleasure review of this)
I've only seen Birdman. Great movie. I am extremely happy it won over boring ass Boyhood.
ReplyDeleteYASSSSS
DeleteI also went with Birdman. I freaking love it and I'm so happy it won over Boyhood which I loved by the way.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to love Boyhood but I just couldn't. So disappointing after all the hype.
DeleteI don't know if I'd go so far as to say I loved Get Over It but I liked it an awful lot. It was sweet and charming plus I have a soft spot for Ben Foster.
ReplyDeleteI didn't hate The Producers remake nor did I love it but then I feel the same way about the original. It definitely had its moments but as a cohesive whole I'm not sure it came together.
I didn't care much for Birdman (though compared to the headache inducing Boyhood its high art!) Keaton was good and they nailed the backstage milieu but I was rather bored by the end. I'm not sorry I watched it but once was enough.
This week was sort of wide open and a trifle vague so I stuck strictly to theatre life, though two of them have a murderous bent. They are all older films so I'm guessing they might be rarely seen but I love them all, particularly the first.
The Velvet Touch (1948)-Stage star Valerie Stanton (Rosalind Russell) attempts to break ties with her longtime producer and paramour Gordon Dunning (Leon Ames) after the closing of her latest play so she can move on with her life and career but during an argument in his office she accidently kills him. Unobserved she leaves and as suspicion falls on Gordon’s former flame Marian Webster (Claire Trevor) the film looks back at how matters came to such a pass. Meanwhile jocular policeman and theatre buff Captain Danbury (Sydney Greenstreet) investigates. Nice stage atmosphere and excellent performances add much to this undeservedly obscure, efficiently made little drama with a twist of noir thrown in that has a great ending.
A Double Life (1947)-You’ve heard people jokingly tell others when they are getting carried away with something to “not get lost in the part!” but that’s just what happens in this noirish drama that won Ronald Colman a Best Actor Oscar. Anthony John (Colman) is a famed stage star greatly respected for his Shakespearian interpretations. The problem is that he lives the roles both onstage and off, when playing comedy he is the best guy in the world but when the material is dark so are his moods which among other things has led to the end of his marriage to his frequent costar Brita (Signe Hasso). Now he’s undertaken Othello and as he immerses himself deeply into the role his sanity begins to slip putting all around him including Brita and his mistress Pat (a young, whippet thin Shelley Winters) at risk.
42nd Street (1933) - Aspiring hoofer Peggy Sawyer (Ruby Keeler) is a greenhorn new to the Broadway stage where through a friendship with two other chorines, the brassy Lorraine (Una Merkel) and the loose “Anytime Annie” (Ginger Rogers) she gets a spot in the chorus of a new show “Pretty Lady”. Through huge contretemps the star of the show has to bow out and Peggy is plucked from the line and told by the producer Julian Marsh (Warner Baxter) “You’re going out there a nobody…but you’ve got to come back a STAR!” And she does with the help of mind bogglingly elaborate dance numbers staged by Busby Berkeley. Incredibly influential musical invented just about every cliché in the book.
Ben Foster is a gem, I'll watch anything with him in it. I haven't seen any of your picks this week. :(
DeleteGET OVER IT!!! Man, what a blast from the past. I remember liking it but not anything else about it lol.
ReplyDeleteBirdman is freakin' perfection.
While I enjoy the musical version of The Producers, the film of it is just not very good, which makes me so sad. It just felt like something was missing.
I was hoping Get Over It would at least be remembered by someone else lol.
DeleteI definitely get the complaints about the Producers remake. I think because I saw it before I went back and watched the original I ended up liking it more than most.
I thought The Producers remake was alright. Seeing Uma sing and dance was fun.
ReplyDeleteGet Over It was OK but I just didn't like seeing Martin Short overact and I was really annoyed by Shane West in a British accent butchering "Alison". If I thought that was bad, that was nothing compared to his horrendous performance in What We Do is Secret about the Germs. Man, I'd like to deck that no-talent piece of shit one of these days.
Oh man Shane West was awful in BOTH of those movies. I hated the use of obvious fake backgrounds in What We Do Is Secret. I really wanted to like that movie.
DeleteSame here as I liked the Germs. I can't believe the band chose to reunite and have him sing for the band. I don't care what anyone says, he is not Darby Crash.
DeleteI suppose he had the look down but any time he was required to emote that movie was a disaster.
DeleteI liked The Producers, but I haven't seen the other 2.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I'm not the only one that liked this version of it!
DeleteI thought I I thought I'm left my thoughts here already:) I didn't see the first one but I truly enjoyed Birdman...I thought Michael Keaton deserved the Oscar. I love The Producers but have not seen the remake. I love the original and I was happy to see it live in Toronto but not with the original stars...it was too funny.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to see The Producers live! That would be a fun show.
DeleteGet Over It!! Ha. That is such a random pick to match with but I love it! It was also one of those teen movies I enjoyed, and I guess I'm glad that I wasn't the only one. :D Birdman's a nice pick, completely missed that one myself.
ReplyDeleteI wish I owned Get Over It. I'd love to watch that again.
DeleteAnother Get Over It pick. I had totally forgotten the whole play plot.
ReplyDeleteBecause this movie is awesome lol
Delete