Musical Artist Movie Hall of Fame

Ha, that made me laugh out loud...yup it's true too! I was really hoping Gideon hated Lucie

whoops, thought you had written them



I will wait

__________________
What I actually said to win MovieGal's heart:
- I might not be a real King of Kinkiness, but I make good pancakes

~Mr Minio

Yes, that's good. I'm terrible at these write-ups because it's usually hard for me to get my thoughts down on paper, so that's probably the best that I'll be able to write for that movie.

__________________
.
If I answer a game thread correctly, just skip my turn and continue with the game.
OPEN FLOOR.

The School of Rock


Just finished re-watching School of Rock. It's been at least three years since my last watch.

Jack Black is definitely an acquired taste, but another perfect marriage of actor and character was created here in Dewey Finn, an unemployed rock and roll wanna-be who accepts a job as a substitute teacher at an expensive prep school under false pretenses and upon arrival, decides to form a rock band out of the students when he happens to overhear them in their music class.

In terms of surprises or cinematic invention, this provides absolutely nothing, but in terms of pure entertainment, including some genuine belly laughs and moments of genuine warmth, this movie knocks it out of the park. The Pied Piper effect that Dewey has over these kids is so much fun to watch. I loved watching Dewey bring certain kids out of their shells and putting egos of other kids in check, not to mention his effect on the school's tightly wound principal, beautifully played by Joan Cusack.

This movie was pure entertainment from start to finish...the group's final performance at the Battle of the Bands was awesome and was the lead-in to a very smooth and satisfying conclusion. This was one of my favorite re-watches so far and I don't remember what I rated this when I reviewed this on my review thread, but I'm giving it .

You've only experienced one HoF with me, haven't you? So did you, perhaps, think that what I did in the 12th - in regards to when I posted my reviews/thoughts - was because I started later than everyone else? Oh, no. I do that no matter what. I watch everything. I finish pretty fast. But then I am really lazy when it comes to actually writing something. But they are coming. They are definitely coming. Eventually.

Done.

__________________
I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity - Edgar Allan Poe

Hi Guys!

I just gave this rant on the Musical Hof, but I'd like to say it here too. Sorry for being gone so long from this thread. It's been hecktick at work and I've been trying to get another HoF done before its deadline. I'm done with that now and will hunker down and get to watching the movies here now. I'll get at least one or two reviews up before the week is up, just to show that I'm actually going to participate, but if you're still unsure of me, then feel free to wait with my noms until later in the HoF or until I've got a few reviews up. I am looking forward to these movies, though, so I'd say there's little to no chance I'm not finishing (barring unforseen events). See you in a few.

__________________
Why not just kill them? I'll do it! I'll run up to Paris - bam, bam, bam, bam. I'm back before week's end. We spend the treasure. How is this a bad plan?

@Clazor I believe you can finish this. And not only that, you have until July 2nd to finish. So it isn't like there is any rush to finish anytime soon. It is just good to hear that you still want to be a part of this.

SWEET DREAMS

Just completed my re-watch of the richly entertaining 1985 biopic of country and western legend who, at the height of her career in the early 1960's, was killed in a tragic plane crash.

The film follows the typical biopic route from humble beginnings to her brief but shining success, not to mention her turbulent marriage to Charlie Dick.

Even though the film does follow the typical biopic route, it does some subtle variations on the classic themes of showbiz biopics. I love the way this film quietly addresses the fact that Charlie, though he loved Patsy, secretly resented being "Mr. Patsy Cline", but this film does it in a more subtle way than most biopics. What results here is one of the most realistic depictions of a show business marriage that I have ever seen...according to Robert Getchell's screenplay, Charlie and Patsy loved hard and fought hard and despite everything they went through, the love between these two is never in question no matter what happens between them here.

What this film has above everything else is a powerhouse performance from Jessica Lange as Patsy Cline, that earned the actress an Oscar nomination...Lange drives home the passion and ambition of this character. Lange's performance is raw and vivid and terribly funny. Another reason I love this movie and this performance is Lange's lip-synching to original Patsy recordings. Patsy's voice was like caramel and honey and there was no other like it and using original recordings was a no-brainer, but Jessica Lange does the best job I have ever seen of an actor lip-synching to someone else'voice. She nails the mouth positions that are required for a singer to produce particular vowel sounds and someone who has never heard Patsy Cline could easily think Lange is doing her own singing here...she is that good, I've seen a lot of onscreen lip synching over the years, and NO ONE has done it better than Lange does here.

Ed Harris has rarely been more sexy and charismatic as the loving but deeply flawed Charlie Dick, but don't get me wrong...Cline is not painted as a saint here, but the main difference between Patsy and Charlie is that Patsy speaks without filter during this story and never lies yet never lays the problems of their marriage completely at Charlies feet. Also loved Ann Wedgeworth as Patsy's warm but stern mother. A warm and entertaining film that pays proper respect to its subject.

that makes sense, you did shoot them out with a passion near the end, I gotcha ya


wait a tick! That means I'll be waiting for quite some time ---

crap

just kidding, look forward to them WHENEVER they arrive


@Citizen Rules I've heard about the same to Coal Miner's Daughter, I'm gonna try to pick it up this week at my library and possibly one or two others as well.

Before I watched this I had seen a review stating that theirs was an "abusive" relationship which ended up being a misinterpretation.
It was just as you stated, a passionate love and passion includes yelling and brawling along with intense pleasure. There is even a remark made by Patsy describing why she cared so little for her first husband when her mother asked what she expected and Patsy states, exasperated: "oh, I don't know. . . a fight, maybe." a little hopeful.

Right...Cash was a dipsh!t. No two ways about it, the man was an utter shmuck. Throughout this movie, he made me annoyed and frustrated at almost every turn. He's an @ss to June, don't seem to get what boundries are and continuesly seem to choose to do things in a way as to draw maximum annoyance from me. He was a very talented guy, no question, but the man in this movie was a shmuck.

That said, Phoenix worked his butt off making me feel the level of annoyance I did. Massive props to the man, as well as to most of the cast members in this. Witherspoon was a fabulous mix of witty, funny, angry, distressed and (I think) the only one more annoyed with Cash than me in this. Goodwin, while pushed to the side alot and left out for big chunks of the movie, was well cast as the homebound wife of our main character. I'm surprised she managed to stay so long. Though I think they portrayed her very one-sided. As Gideon mentiones (hope I remembered that right, if not I'm sorry), she was portrayed as a very unlikable character, though it might be more fair to say that they only showed us the couple when they were on a bad footing. Phoenix comments in one of the few scenes they share that he loves waking up to the sight of her, but we are never shown any scene of them actually being happy and enjoying each others company (to my recollection at least). One scene where they don't argue, one time where Jonny plays with their kids. Something to back up the claim that he likes to be around her/them.

Favourite characters/scene by far though, goes to June's parents and their routing of Cash's drugdealer. Finally starting him on the road to sobriety, in comes this guy and is met by a double-barrel to the face. I'm kinda impressed he managed to keep control of his sphincter long enough to get away.

And then there's the vocal performance. I think I remember hearing somewhere that Phoenix himself has had a musical carrer, and I totally believe that. He has a nack for getting the sound of the late Cash down (not perfect, but good enough) and I can't really hear any autotuning. Same with Witherspoon; she has some pipes on her, and with a better than usual southern accent she also captures (at least to my limited ear) the basic sound of June. Both also had chemistry between them. They seemed belivable as friends and then as a couple (sort of). Their voices harmoniesed on stage and their dialouge (both friendly and hostile) seemed legit. As for the music itself, I'm not the biggest Cash fan (the first song I actully recognized was the titular "Walk the Line") but I enjoyed what I heard throughout.

Overall, it's not a favourite, but as far as biopics it's good. I admire it more for the cast and the hard work they put into it rather than by the story/characters, but in the end I think it made it through with more positives than negatives on my part.

A good first pick, Vamp!

School of Rock

Would you tell Picasso to sell his guitars?

I love this film and I’ve seen it numerous times, also one of a few films I laugh out aloud. Linklater made an excellent decision to cast Jack Black. I think he was born to play Dewey Finn plus I’ve heard Black himself sings in a rock band. The movie is about a rock&roller trying to make it big eventually finding himself in a fancy private school as a fake sub teacher. Bored at first then taking on starting his own rock band with the kids he “teaches” so he can play his 20 minutes solos and do his stage dives .
The movie is not very deep however I like the way how he manages to encourage children and how he makes them feel comfortable around him. In the end he creates a nice relationship with those kids. I think when you are really passionate about something children will follow your example and can learn a lot. It was also amazing how he could exactly identify the talents from children and was sensitive enough to give everybody a chance to be part of the band. Everybody could participate and contribute and Dewey doesn’t underestimate anybody, respect them and can be strict when needed, that’s why those kids love him and stay with him even after the fraud was revealed. It was also a nice touch to see children themselves encouraging Dewey so the help was mutual and Dewey finally finds a purpose in his life. It is very important a teacher hearing from children to say "It was a cool lesson today" or coming up to his apartment to pick him up for Battle of Rock Bands.

Black is unforgettable in this picture, children were adorable, supporting cast was great, School of Rock songs were hit. I will gladly rewatch it some time soon.

__________________
You can call it the art of fighting without fighting.

great write ups, both, clazor and nestorio.

Walk the Line

It is a biopic about ups and mostly downs of great Johnny Cash starting from his childhood in Arkansas in the Great Depression era up until he proposes onstage in London, Ontario to, also great, June Carter Cash back in 1968.

Before I write something about the movie I must say I’ve never really cared about Johnny Cash’s music apart from a couple of songs I’ve heard from somebody else’s record player. That’s why I didn’t even recognize the difference between Joaquin Phoenix and Johnny Cash voice. I must say Phoenix did a pretty impressive job singing those songs himself.

The story didn’t hit me much. It was almost cliché for me: harsh childhood on farm, father alcoholic, death of brother, struggling and success, lots of drug abuse, first wife, adultery, divorce, and second wife. It was too dramatic, story just dragging on and on from one spiritless scene to another. God, wasn’t there any joy in that guy? I couldn’t feel any pity for Cash even when he was in the total bottom. Directing was overly concentrated on negative part of Cash and made it quite depressing movie. As a human being Cash was depicted as a personality with no self-respect and not able to be happy always dwelling on the past never ready to forgive himself.

I don’t want to be only negative so I must say I was speechless after seeing Phoenix’ performance. I mean that very change from emptiness and despair to fulfilment and happiness was amazing and nicely manifested by Cash going to church and then playing songs for inmates in Folsom Prison. Here, perhaps, I would add an extra half an hour to make it up for all that depression in the first 3/4 of the movie.

Otherwise, the movie kept me interested and involved. Do I want to watch it again? I’m not sure about that.

Ray (2004)

I believed Jamie Foxx was Ray Charles. If the actor in a bio-pic can make me believe I'm seeing the actually life of a famous person, and not watching an actor...then the movie works for me. Ray works for me.

Jamie Foxx captured the mannerisms and vocal inflections of Ray Charles to a tee. Foxx sounded a lot like Ray too, both in speaking and on the songs that Foxx actually sang.

What I liked best about this movie was it completely captured the feeling of the time era that was being depicted. It immersed itself in the past. I especially liked the archival film footage. So many 'period piece' films only go so far in recreating the sights & sounds of the era being presented. The inclusion of archival color film stock from the 50s of New York and Seattle was very neat to see. I freeze framed the actual scene of Seattle in the 1950s and studied the buildings and signs.

In period piece movies, I listen to the dialogue that the scriptwriter wrote for the actors...I can tell a good scriptwriter has an ear for the lingo of the past, and will not use modern day phrases. This movie captured the way people talked in the 50's beautiful and I felt like I had a time machine back to the early days of Ray Charles' life. That's high praise, because so many other film makers don't pay attention to the small details.

BTW, very cool, that both Ray Charles and Loretta Lynn got their start in my state of Washington! That's because we're super hip out here

Very interesting linguistic fact Citizen. Thanks a lot for your sharp ear. I gotta rewatch to verify it

some more great write ups.
NICELY done, guys!!
@Nestorio_Miklos I get what you're saying about Cash and the heavy focus on the negatives, and since I never knew any actual history on "The Man in Black" I wish I could say. You would hope there was and this was merely using drama to sell a movie and there WAS more to his earlier life. And I agree on Phoenix's performance.

@Citizen Rules glad to hear how they went the extra mile to make, not only the scenery, but the dialogue fit the time period. I've heard nothing BUT great things on Foxx's spot-on Ray Charles, so, like a number of others, I'm looking forward to this one.

Coal Miner's Daughter

Spacek was truly amazing in this!

I was won over by her from the get go. She truly nailed this role and brought such warmth you could NOT help but fall in love with this lil hillbilly girl from Kentucky.
A really great lil bio-pic that really brought you into her life, from the first time meeting her husband to the end song of her singing the title song. And what a wonderful voice she has for singing as well!!

So many parts that I enjoyed. From all the hollering she did with her kids and the love she and Doo had for the, to the way her and Doo fought and loved all in the space of a few minutes. A real slice of life, that.
I also want to mention the actor/country singer who played Spacek's father. Truly felt for the man and thought very highly of him.

My ONLY complaint is that this review IS SO SHORT.
Fantastic nom, Destiny!!!

I think Ed is smitten...Totally agree with that, Sissy was the movie to me. No wonder she won an Oscar for Best Actress. Have you seen her in much else? I haven't.


A really great lil bio-pic that really brought you into her life, from the first time meeting her husband to the end song of her singing the title song. And what a wonderful voice she has for singing as well!!

I want to ask you what you thought of Doo (the character) did you like him? And what did you think of the actor who played him Tommy Lee Jones?

I read on IMDB that the actor who played her father looked so much like Sissy's real dad that when she first seen him made up for the movie, she fainted.

Ha, that's my complaint too Nicely written Ed. Glad you loved the movie.