Tag: based on a movie

Trisha’s Take: “Not the Messiah” review

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Not the Messiah: He’s a Very Naughty Boy

Directed by Aubrey Powell
Written by Eric Idle, John Du Prez
Starring William Ferguson, Rosalind Plowright, Shannon Mercer, Christopher Purves, Eric Idle and featuring the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus
Special Guests (in order of first appearance): Michael Palin, Carol Cleveland, Terry Jones, Terry Gilliam, Neil Innes

When I first heard that they were going to be turning Monty Python and the Holy Grail into a Broadway musical, my immediate reaction was to scoff and wonder which idiot it was who thought it up. Imagine my chagrin when I learned that the “idiot” was original Monty Python cast member Eric Idle, he who was responsible for writing and performing many of their more popular songs, including “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” and (my favorite)“Penis Song (Not the Noel Coward Song).”

I never got to see Spamalot in its original run, but considering that it was nominated for 14 Tony Awards, won the Best Musical Award in 2005, and got some very good reviews, you can imagine why I didn’t hesitate to press play when I learned that the performance of an oratorio written by Idle and John Du Prez, his Spamalot collaborator, was streaming on Netflix.

Based on Monty Python’s Life of Brian and called “Not the Messiah: He’s a Very Naughty Boy,” this particular production was filmed at the Royal Albert Hall as part of the 40th anniversary celebration of the creation of the TV series. For those of you who aren’t British or Anglophiles but are Doctor Who fans, you’ll know this place as the one where they held a two different concerts featuring music from the series and featured an original video in 2008 starring 10th Doctor David Tennant and hosted by Matt Smith (the 11th Doctor), Karen Gillan (Amy Pond), and Arthur Darvill (Rory Williams) in 2010.

The show opened with the BBC Symphony Orchestra playing the Monty Python theme song, “The Liberty Bell March,” and I have to say that I absolutely loved the notion that this grand march was being played by a full orchestra in such a lovely and historic building to celebrate some of the greatest sketch comedians who ever lived.

All of the best highlights from Life of Brian were touched upon in the oratorio. The songs which stood out to me as being best adapted from the movie as well as being musically interesting were “What Have the Romans Ever Done For Us?” lead masterfully by bass Christopher Purves; “The People’s Front of Judea” which introduced soprano Shannon Mercer as Judith, Brian’s love interest; and “Not the Messiah,” where the call and response nature of the song even more strongly emphasized the ridiculousness of the crowd’s blind faith in Brian as the Messiah.

However, my favorite songs and those which I think were the most clever were those which strayed away from slavishly following the plot. The argument at a meeting of the People’s Front of Judea where Eric Idle as Stan wants to be recognized as a woman (“I Want to Be a Girl”) turns into a very sweet song between tenor William Ferguson and Mercer as they declare their love for each other. Mezzo-soprano Rosalind Plowright as Mandy, Brian’s mother, gets her shots in during “When They Grow Up” as well, another song which makes much of a small moment in the movie.

But perhaps the best song (and the most cheeky) was “Amourdeus,” a short song without words which consisted solely of short notes sung in rapid staccato. In short, it’s a duet between Ferguson and Mercer where the facial expressions on each made it very, very clear that Brian and Judith are having sex. If you don’t believe me, take a gander:

Of course, you couldn’t have a 40th anniversary celebration without other members of the Monty Python cast showing up. Michael Palin was the most frequent guest vocalist who had the most costume changes in his dual roles as Mrs. Betty Palin, the female narrator, Julius Caesar, reprising his exaggerated speech impediment from the film, a random Roman centurion, and an encore performance as the lumberjack from “The Lumberjack Song.” Terry Jones turned in a great performance in “Take Us Home,” which itself was a parody of old labor union songs, complete with the BBC Symphony Chorus backing him up clad in yellow construction helmets. Fellow Pythons Terry Gilliam and Carol Cleveland also made appearances, mostly to round out costumed bits during “We Love Sheep” (Cleveland) and the mariachi-themed “Find Your Dream” (Cleveland, Gilliam, Jones and Idle).

Incidentally, it’s within “Find Your Dream” that one of my problems with this production comes out; for a group that was known for biting satire that had subtlety and wit, the parody and callbacks within the songs can sometimes be too overt. The themes in “Dream” are too damn similar to Spamalot’s “Find Your Grail” while “A Fair Day’s Work” owes way too much to “The Lumberjack’s Song” while rifling through Gilbert and Sullivan’s pockets for loose lyrics. But I suppose that Idle and Du Prez felt that if anyone was going to be ripping off their work, it might as well be them.

My other huge problem with the performances is mostly exemplified in “Mandy’s Lament,” where I had to turn on the subtitles just so I could figure out exactly what Rosalind Plowright was singing. This is a problem I’ve acknowledged before in other reviews, but I’m starting to think that it isn’t all just a problem on my end but rather that of the enunciation and diction of the performer.

Out of the four soloists, I have to say that I love the Julliard-trained William Ferguson as Brian the most because his lines were the most clear, his facial expressions the most animated, and his youthful appearance and vocalization was a great interpretation of the role which had been originated by Graham Chapman. His talent was on display the most during “The Market Square” and “You’re the One” where he poured every emotion into his face and voice. Even when the focus is on someone else, as in the show’s closing singalong of “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” by Idle, you can still see Ferguson acting as Brian in the wide shots; dedication to character is what makes his performance the best.

As far as tribute shows and anniversary concerts go, there couldn’t have been a better choice of material, venue, or performers for “Not the Messiah.” It’s definitely one for Monty Python fans, but judging from the reaction of the early music aficionado I saw it with, this is a production that classical music fans will appreciate as well. There’s even a free 30 min. behind the scenes film up on Amazon.com for you to gander at, should you be that indecisive.

It’s streaming on Netflix, it’s available on DVD and Blu-ray; I can’t think of any other method you’d need to be able to view this production, short of taking a TARDIS, a phone booth, or a DeLorean to the original performance date.

Trisha’s Take: Footloose review

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Footloose

Directed by Craig Brewer
 Starring Kenny Womald, Julianne Hough, Dennis Quaid, Miles Teller
 Rating: Not Available at time of Review

When I first heard almost two years ago that Paramount Pictures was going to produce a remake of the cult Kevin Bacon dance movie Footloose, that it wouldn’t have elaborate dance sequences, and that it would be an “edgier drama” than the original or the musical based off of it, I said that they were off their rocker:

Remember a little movie musical called West Side Story? You know, that one that’s based off of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and won 10 Academy Awards, including the one for Best Picture?

Well, that movie had racial discrimination, gang violence, death by knife, and a near-rape scene and yet also features some of the most elaborate and most demanding choreography ever seen on film, thanks to director Jerome Robbins and his cast of mostly Broadway veterans.

At the same time, however, I like to keep in mind that while yes, there really are very few original plots out there—and way too many tropes—as Multiplex creator Gordon McAlpin recently put it, a good movie is all in how it’s executed.

By the by, there will be plenty of spoilers for the plot of the original Footloose movie in this review; it’s been 27 years since it came out, for crying out loud. However, I will try like hell not to spoil exactly how the remake does things because I want you to be as pleasantly surprised as I was when I saw it.

Ren McCormack (Kenny Wormald) has moved from Boston, Massachusetts to the tiny town of Bomont, Tennessee (population: 19,200) to live with his aunt and uncle after his mother’s death. While attempting to fit in, McCormack learns that a series of strict laws have been put into place following the tragic death of five high school seniors just three years earlier. With the help of some friends, McCormack hopes to overturn the unjust laws so that everyone can feel free to dance.

Newcomer Wormald is enjoying his first major motion picture release as the lead after roles such as “Dancer” in films like You Got Served and even Clerks II and a run in the direct-to-DVD Center Stage: Turn it Up. Unfortunately, I can’t tell from the material whether or not he’s a good actor. Because director Craig Brewer and original screenplay writer Dean Pitchford stuck so close to the original story, I had a very difficult time seeing Wormald for his own abilities because I was too busy comparing him to Kevin Bacon’s performance. Sure, Wormald is a much better dancer, but Bacon definitely has him beat in the acting department.

Where Brewer and Pitchford moved away from the original is where I liked Wormald the most, but I suspect that it’s more due to the fact that they revealed more backstory and delved deeper into the themes of the original than it is to Wormald’s acting abilities. Perfect examples of this are the scenes between Ariel Moore (played by real-life dancer Julianne Hough) and her bad boy race car driver boyfriend Chuck Cranston (Patrick John Flueger) when she tries to break things off with him, and after that when she has her showdown with her preacher father, played by Dennis Quaid. Due to the added bit of backstory which fleshes out Rev. Moore’s motivation for helping push through the restrictive laws and some other scenes which showcase Ariel’s rebelliousness, Hough’s final outburst and emotional breakdown is so powerful that it’s difficult to watch (and not just because it may be triggering to some). By the end of the sequence, I wondered why no one had thought to shove this girl into some serious psychotherapy. It’s because Brewer decided to delve deeper into the themes of loss and grief and how they change a person that the story as a whole became stronger.

I also loved Miles Teller’s portrayal of Willard, Ren’s first friend in town. Teller infuses Willard with such glee and unabashed love for his town and all the people in it that you completely forget that he’s supposed to be a “stupid yokel” and are simply charmed by him. I had a feeling I’d seen Teller somewhere before, and was pleased to learn that he’d been in Rabbit Hole in a much more demanding role—playing opposite Nicole Kidman, of all people. I laughed the hardest during his scenes, and Teller definitely stole the focus from Wormald in every scene they had together. Another bit I noticed and loved was that it was the owner of the drive-in theater and the owner of the cotton gin who wanted to keep rock and dance music alive in the town, a nod to how African-Americans have always tried to keep their music alive when it’s being repressed; this is apparently a common theme in Brewer’s work, as seen in his breakout film Hustle & Flow.

However, in attempting to give Ren more of a backstory, they inadvertently made him “bulletproof”—that is, after two certain scenes, one between Ren’s uncle Wes (Ray McKinnon) and the reverend, and another shortly after between Ren and the school principal (Brett Rice), there is no way that Ren can do anything wrong because thinking so will make you out to be a Bad Person. This turns Ren into a Gary Stu, and while those scenes were emotionally satisfying for the smackdown within, like a Twinkie, you start to realize that the scenes were hollow and full of fluff. As such, the final brawl between Chuck’s crew and Ren and his friends becomes rather anti-climactic, even if Ariel and Rusty do manage to earn their Badass Female Fighter merit badges during it.

“But what about the dancing?” you may ask. “Tell me about the dancing!” For every point that Brewer and Paramount Pictures earned for casting real live dancers as their leads, five points should be taken away for shooting the group dance scenes so haphazardly that you can’t even see their movements. More telling, the storyboarding keeps the camera focused on above-the-torso shots. It’s not like people who are going to see Footloose are going to be turned off by longer and more elaborate dance sequences.

Just as the first flawed Harry Potter movie for me resulted in my making a mental checklist of which scenes made it into the adaptation, which did not, and what things got added rather than fully enjoying the story, so went my viewing of the new Footloose. That is not to say that I didn’t like it. It’s just that one can only have so many Twinkies.

Warning: Common side effects of seeing Footloose, which will go into wide release on October 14, is that you will have the song by Kenny Loggins stuck in your head for days. Everybody cut—!

New edition of Munchkin to hear the lamentations of your women

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On Saturday, Steve Jackson himself went onto the stage at Comicpalooza, a comics convention in Houston, Texas, to announce that their wildly popular card game was getting a new booster set that’s themed to Conan the Barbarian. Drawn by original Munchkin artist John Kovalic, there will be 15 cards in the set from Steve Jackson Games including items such as the Mask of Acheron and characters such as Khalar Zym and Marique.

Munchkin Conan joins a group of booster card sets that already includes such wildly diverse themes such as Fairy Dust, Santa’s Revenge, and Marked for Death; however, this will be the first time that a game booster set has been themed to a specific property that isn’t in the public domain.

Priced at $5.95 per set and currently still in production, this seems like a no-brainer when it comes to adding to your collection. Pulling out an artifact that brings things back to life? Sounds like a perfectly Munchkinly thing to do. And if you end up being able to play Munchkin Conan while in line for the movie on August 19? Even better.