Author Topic: May 2013 MDC: Musicals  (Read 14172 times)

1SO

  • FAB
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 36128
  • Marathon Man
Re: May 2013 MDC: Musicals
« Reply #50 on: May 11, 2013, 01:33:50 AM »
Lili
What a strange movie. It's like someone who doesn't have a history with The Muppets and has never seen The Muppets was asked to make a Muppet movie using a very small budget and only a few characters. If you've seen a Turkish Superhero movie, this is kind of like that. Once again Leslie Caron plays jailbait who blossoms into a woman before the eyes of a man who saw her as a girl and is having trouble seeing her now as a woman. Only this time she interacts with MPuppets.

A strange projection therapy begins, to the delight of audiences who are touched by Lili's emotional turmoil. That turmoil directly involves the man who happens to control the puppets. So they work out their relationship differences in front of smiling strangers. (Jim Henson presents, The Muppets La Strada.) What can't be discussed is conveyed via a couple of dream sequence ballets. In the first, Caron is all tarted up in the most provocative tutu ever designed for someone with a figure like Ellen Page. In the 2nd, she dances with life-sized versions of her puppet therapists. They also sing a sweet little song.

Sandy, your feelings towards Leslie Caron and my seeing her as a blank come up once again. She does nothing for me and her costars in this film do even less. She's the cinematic opposite of Audrey Tautou in Amelie. The film runs a scant 80 minutes, and while I always appreciate brevity, what happens during the film is so skimpy I would have liked to see more of the audience shows. I feel it could have deepened my connections to the people.

roujin

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 15508
  • it's all research
Re: May 2013 MDC: Musicals
« Reply #51 on: May 11, 2013, 10:05:56 AM »
Lili is, indeed, a very weird movie. In a good way, though.

sdedalus

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 16585
  • I have a prestigious blog, sir!
    • The End of Cinema
Re: May 2013 MDC: Musicals
« Reply #52 on: May 11, 2013, 11:24:53 AM »
The Bojangles dance was politically abominable, but Astaire was excellent.  The lyrics sounded like rhymes a teenager would invent, but the music was the catchy 30's pop orchestral sound, which is great.

It was a serious and heartfelt tribute from Astaire to Bill Robinson. The blackface is awkward, but hardly abominable.
The End of Cinema

Seattle Screen Scene

"He was some kind of a man. What does it matter what you say about people?"

Sandy

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 12075
  • "The life we build, we never stop creating.”
    • Sandy's Cinematic Musings
Re: May 2013 MDC: Musicals
« Reply #53 on: May 11, 2013, 02:06:22 PM »
Lili
What a strange movie. It's like someone who doesn't have a history with The Muppets and has never seen The Muppets was asked to make a Muppet movie using a very small budget and only a few characters. If you've seen a Turkish Superhero movie, this is kind of like that. Once again Leslie Caron plays jailbait who blossoms into a woman before the eyes of a man who saw her as a girl and is having trouble seeing her now as a woman. Only this time she interacts with MPuppets.

A strange projection therapy begins, to the delight of audiences who are touched by Lili's emotional turmoil. That turmoil directly involves the man who happens to control the puppets. So they work out their relationship differences in front of smiling strangers. (Jim Henson presents, The Muppets La Strada.) What can't be discussed is conveyed via a couple of dream sequence ballets. In the first, Caron is all tarted up in the most provocative tutu ever designed for someone with a figure like Ellen Page. In the 2nd, she dances with life-sized versions of her puppet therapists. They also sing a sweet little song.

Sandy, your feelings towards Leslie Caron and my seeing her as a blank come up once again. She does nothing for me and her costars in this film do even less. She's the cinematic opposite of Audrey Tautou in Amelie. The film runs a scant 80 minutes, and while I always appreciate brevity, what happens during the film is so skimpy I would have liked to see more of the audience shows. I feel it could have deepened my connections to the people.

 :)) Loved your write up 1SO! Unratable?! I'll start with quoting roujin:

Lili is, indeed, a very weird movie. In a good way, though.

I don't have any disagreements with your review, in fact, I'm impressed that you were able to encapsulate it so well--I've never made the attempt. The puppet creators never worked in film or television, but were revered. They are strange and different creations. I saw this when I was younger than Leslie Caron's character and I'm sure that's why it made an impression on me. I've not really seen anything else like it since.

There's some interesting quotes and ideas that I like in the movie:

"What the devil is the matter with you? You're in love with the girl and she's in love with someone else. This sort of thing happens all the time; people don't *die* of love. You'll recover... But meanwhile can't you be civilized about it?"

Paraphrasing this one from Wiki, because I can't remember exactly how it goes, "Every little girl grows up and has to wake up from her girlish dreams and open her eyes."



Thanks for watching it 1SO! It was just too difficult for me to explain. :D
« Last Edit: May 12, 2013, 12:34:05 AM by Sandy »

1SO

  • FAB
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 36128
  • Marathon Man
Re: May 2013 MDC: Musicals
« Reply #54 on: May 12, 2013, 12:23:55 AM »
Cosi
"Music is what love between two people should be, and you've thrown out the music."

I had a major problem believing in Cosi. There was simply too much to swallow.

I didn't believe Lewis (Ben Mendelsohn) would be able to work up a game of pattycake with the mental patients let alone an Italian Opera. I hated that this very prejudice is handed to the negative people in the film to help show what bad people they are, yet the true difficulty of putting on the show is never considered.

I didn't believe the portrayal of mental illness. Toni Collette, David Wenham and eventually Jackie Weaver do fine. (I know, what a cast!) The others never escape the trap of turning their affectations into flesh and blood people.

I didn't believe Lewis' relationship with Lucy (Rachel Griffiths.) She is rarely given a kind or tender moment with him.

After playing the mental illness for laughs, I had no reason to believe the play would come off with any level of success. It doesn't. A half-dozen things go wrong, but the sequence is still filmed with the audience having a great time. It's like showing a montage of problematic moments from Spider Man:Turn Off the Dark and then cutting to the audience watching The Lion King. I would rather take a hammer to the head than sit through what is presented in its entirety.

The highlights were the musical moments. Toni Collette has a couple of very pretty songs (and a third one during the closing credits.) There's also a great surreal post-credits tag involving Wagner, an accordion and a pig. (roujin, I thought of you.)

oldkid

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 19044
  • Hi there! Feed me worlds!
Re: May 2013 MDC: Musicals
« Reply #55 on: May 12, 2013, 05:33:59 PM »
The Bojangles dance was politically abominable, but Astaire was excellent.  The lyrics sounded like rhymes a teenager would invent, but the music was the catchy 30's pop orchestral sound, which is great.

It was a serious and heartfelt tribute from Astaire to Bill Robinson. The blackface is awkward, but hardly abominable.

I said it was "politically" abominable, which is like politically incorrect, but worse.  Many people would look at it and instantly reject it.  But I think Astaire was marvelous.
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

JolietJerry

  • Member
  • **
  • Posts: 160
    • The Cinema Sandwich Podcast
Re: May 2013 MDC: Musicals
« Reply #56 on: May 12, 2013, 08:05:23 PM »
Singin' in the Rain (1952)

I knew the reputation of "Singin' in the Rain" long before I put the disc into my PS3 today. I'd seen the clips on awards shows, caught some of it on TV before, and had read it's praises for years. I was delighted to find out that, like my experiences with "Casablanca" and "Citizen Kane", it was a film that more than lived up to the hype. Like my reaction to Bogart in "Casablanca", I have to say that Gene Kelly is the man.

I have very limited experience with musicals. "The Wizard of Oz" is on my Top 20 list, "The Blues Brothers" is a favorite, I've tried to watch Luhrmann's films but just didn't enjoy them, and I thought 2012's "Les Misérables" was terrible. That's about it unless you count Disney films; which I don't. Generally, aside from Oz and BB, my reaction has been either, "I'd rather see this as a play" or "Why can't they just say the lines instead of sing them?" SitR was the first time I found myself looking forward to the next song (and in this case dance routine) and it felt like it wouldn't be right for the movie to have been made any other way. I give credit for that to Kelly who's perfect as Don Lockwood and amazes more with each new number. Everyone in this film hit's a home run in their roles though and I found myself realizing that I was watching a spectacle "event" film that didn't need loud explosions, CGI overkill, or crude humor to entertain...how often does that happen these days?

I mentioned "Citizen Kane" earlier and Jean Hagen's Lena reminded me of Kane's second wife, Susan. If only Susan had been able to hire Kathy Selden to stand behind the curtain and sing for her  ;D. So, I loved this film and will be adding it to my collection. Once in awhile I'll have a feeling that maybe I'm too critical of certain genres or periods or actors. A film like this reminds me that I am open to watching anything...as long as it respects me as a viewer and really does deliver the goods. I also have to add that the Bluray is astounding. I've seen better (Tree of Life, The Master, and a few others) but this looked gorgeous.

5 stars out of 5

Corndog

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 17025
  • Oo-da-lolly, Oo-da-lolly, golly what a day!
    • Corndog Chats
Re: May 2013 MDC: Musicals
« Reply #57 on: May 12, 2013, 08:09:33 PM »
Awesome! So glad it lived up to your expectations. I just love all three leads so much, I would be hard pressed to pick a favorite, so I find it better just not to. Just love the film for what it is and how truly amazing all of it is.
"Time is the speed at which the past decays."

1SO

  • FAB
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 36128
  • Marathon Man
Re: May 2013 MDC: Musicals
« Reply #58 on: May 12, 2013, 10:11:20 PM »
Welcome to the club. And it appears you had no problem with the lengthy, diverting "Broadway Melody"

JolietJerry

  • Member
  • **
  • Posts: 160
    • The Cinema Sandwich Podcast
Re: May 2013 MDC: Musicals
« Reply #59 on: May 13, 2013, 06:55:28 AM »
Welcome to the club. And it appears you had no problem with the lengthy, diverting "Broadway Melody"

It definitely stuck out as a diversion but it was an amazing one. I don't see how anyone could complain about giving Kelly another chance to be showcased.

 

love