Author Topic: Merry Music of May 2020  (Read 10049 times)

oldkid

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Merry Music of May 2020
« on: April 22, 2020, 06:23:50 PM »
The marathon in which anything music goes!  Musicals, biopics of music artists, docs about music or musicians... if it's focused on music, it's in!

oldkid
Company (1996)
Oliver!

Knocked Out Loaded
Stones in Exile
Girl Walk/All Day
The Stone Roses: Made of Stone
Hitsville
Jesus Christ Superstar

etdoesgood
Other Music
Stop Making Sense
This is Spinal Tap (then Adam and Josh's conversation will make more sense to me!)
Sing Street
Girl Walk // All Day
Control

1SO/Sandy (see individual responses for links)
On the Riviera
Call Me Madam
Meet Me In Las Vegas
The Tender Trap

1SO
Naughty but Nice
Shine on Harvest Moon
Two for Tonight
Say One for Me
Where Do We Go From Here?
On the Riviera
Call Me Madam
Sitting Pretty
Syncopation
Stop Making Sense
Meet Me in Las Vegas

Junior
Hail Caesar!
Stop Making Sense

Sandy
On the Riviera
Call Me Madam
Meet Me in Las Vegas

Bondo
Streets of Fire

Musical Extras:
"Praise You" Fatboy Slim
Popo the Puppet
Where Do We Go from Here? Columbus sequence
Columbus, Stan Freberg
Who Will Buy?
« Last Edit: May 25, 2020, 04:38:23 PM by oldkid »
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

1SO

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Re: Merry Music of May 2020
« Reply #1 on: April 22, 2020, 09:38:49 PM »

Dave the Necrobumper

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Re: Merry Music of May 2020
« Reply #2 on: April 23, 2020, 07:00:08 AM »

Sandy

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Re: Merry Music of May 2020
« Reply #3 on: April 23, 2020, 01:59:00 PM »
Golden living dreams of visions!


oldkid

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Re: Merry Music of May 2020
« Reply #4 on: April 28, 2020, 10:50:35 PM »
Company (1996)

First off, this isn't a film, per se.  It is a recording of a staged production.  So the sound is kind of off and the visuals aren't the best.  Or is that because I'm watching it on YouTube?  No, I think it's the less-than-top-notch production.  But since this is my first viewing of the show in any form, I'm happy to see it in its original idea-- a stage production, and I'm sitting there as an audience member with the occasional ability to see faces close up.

It seems so loud and brash, especially at the beginning.  I am so uncomfortable for our protagonist,  Bobby, who is pushed and prodded and cajoled by his various married friends.  As the relationships progress, we realize that he wants the attention, that he is desperately lonely and he is deeply concerned with each of his friends.  The five marriages are each given a spotlight, and each are disturbing in their own funny way.  But this is less of a comedy and more of an examination, or an interrogation, of marriage itself.  Is marriage a worthwhile prospect, given that each marriage is both bad and good in its own way?  There is companionship, but also a forced quality, where no one is allowed to be themselves.  But neither does Bobby feel that he can be himself.

Which is why the song, Being Alive, is the perfect synopsis for this musical and wraps it up perfectly.  Companionship is a contradiction and we must live with it because we don't live well without it.  Or that is the approach of the show.  I wish they had explored more about the economic necessity of marriage.  What they clearly side-stepped was children, as if they didn't really matter.  But I think that is because there is so little time.  They want to explore marriage as a solution to companionship, as a pill for happiness.  It's pretty fair, I suppose.

4/5

EDIT: I didn't mention it in the review, but I wonder if Company can ever be seen without considering A Marriage Story with it?  Although only focusing on a single marriage, I wonder if it does a more complete job.  I will say this, because I understand the context of Being Alive better, I think I understand A Marriage Story a little better, as if that film were a coda or sequel to this one.
« Last Edit: April 28, 2020, 11:02:27 PM by oldkid »
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

Knocked Out Loaded

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Re: Merry Music of May 2020
« Reply #5 on: May 01, 2020, 10:09:44 AM »
Stones In Exile (Stephen Kijak, 2010)



A kaleidoscopic collage of clips and stills from around the early 70s when The Rolling Stones were at their artistic peak. Having fled Britain in 1971 because of tax reasons the band settled in France and a makeshift recording studio was set up in the cellar at the mansion that Keith Richards rented in Villefranche-sur-Mer. The hedonistic lifestyle and the predominant creative chaos at hand resulted in one of the best rock'n'roll albums ever recorded: Exile On Main St. It is no. 7 on the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list that Sandy currently is dissecting and incidentally her favorite track is the same as mine: Shine A Light. Stones In Exile is a straightforward documentary as such but I am so happy that it exists. This was a rewatch.

50°
« Last Edit: May 01, 2020, 10:18:35 AM by Knocked Out Loaded »
Extraordinary (81-100˚) | Very good (61-80˚) | Good (41-60˚) | Fair (21-40˚) | Poor (0-20˚)

Eric/E.T.

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Re: Merry Music of May 2020
« Reply #6 on: May 01, 2020, 12:07:54 PM »
Just wanna say, I GOT PLANS FOR THIS MONTH:
Stop Making Sense
This is Spinal Tap (then Adam and Josh's conversation will make more sense to me!)
Sing Street
Girl Walk // All Day
Other Music (new documentary I'm watching through FilmBar's virtual cinema)
A witty saying proves nothing. - Voltaire

1SO

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Re: Merry Music of May 2020
« Reply #7 on: May 01, 2020, 09:19:16 PM »
My aim is to watch films that others have heard of, then I started building a list and looks like I gotta be me. Right now my most recognizable titles are Dee Rees' Bessie (2015) and Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967). The rest are more like Naughty but Nice (1939) with a WB All-Star cast: Ann Sheridan, Dick Powell, Helen Broderick, Allen Jenkins, Zasu Pitts and Jerry Colonna

1SO

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Re: Merry Music of May 2020
« Reply #8 on: May 02, 2020, 02:48:27 PM »

Over on Top 100 Club, Sandy and I created a schedule for a quartet of Musicals, and you're all invited to join.

May 7: On the Riviera (1951) starring Danny Kaye and Gene Tierney with Gwen Verdon as a Speciality Dancer

May 14: Call Me Madam (1953) starring Ethel Merman, Donald O'Connor, Vera-Ellen and George Sanders

May 21: Meet Me In Las Vegas (1956) starring Cyd Charisse

May 28: The Tender Trap (1955) starring Frank Sinatra and Debbie Reynolds


On the Riviera and Call me Madam are on YouTube. The other two can be rented across streaming platforms.

1SO

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Re: Merry Music of May 2020
« Reply #9 on: May 03, 2020, 02:00:30 PM »

Naughty But Nice (1939)

I've noticed I tend to open these monthly marathons with a return to old friends. This one comes from Warner Bros and it's the final film they made with crooner Dick Powell. He's a professor of classical music who doesn't like the current trend of Ragtime and Boogie Woogie, so you know what his arc is. It's a very predictable film with a good girl who puts lyrics to his compositions for an indie label (headed by Ronald Reagan) and a vamp (Ann Sheridan) who tries to lure him into a contract with the evil tune studio. There are also three proper Aunts (led by Zasu Pitts) and their swinging sister (Helen Broderick).

So yeah, that's about it. It's the kind of story where you just play to the cast's strengths and try to come up with some funny lines now and then. What might've made this work are the songs, by Johnny Mercer and Harry Warren. They have multiple Academy Awards, but everything here is pretty lousy. It's the kind of film where you have to believe a song is going to be a smash because they tell you, even though your ears say different, and you can't tell their comedic tunes ("Remember Dad On Mother's Day") from the serious ones ("Hooray for Spinach")
RATING: ★ ★ ½

 

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