Frozen

IMDb

For the first time in forever a true Disney classic is realized

Author: CarrieJa from United States
25 November 2013

When people speak of their favorite Disney movies, the big four of the Renaissance and films of the Golden Age of animation are likely to be mentioned. The past decade has seen Disney movies that were hit or miss. Some considered classics, some forgotten and some close to being classics but not there yet. Frozen changes this dynamic and creates a full fledged classic. Frozen IS not just a classic, it is THE Disney classic of the decade. It could position itself up there with the best of them. Disney returns to its roots with a vengeance. The best animated film of the past few years in my opinion.

The story is heart melting, filled with the pure feeling and heart that has become a staple with the best Disney movies. It is a moving story that has family at its center. It is unpretentious in what it is trying to portray. The comedy hits right on the mark and the action packed adventure and thrilling journey make this a tale with a little bit of everything in the exact right amounts. It is a daring movie that is laugh out loud at the some moments and stunning and provoking at others. All achieved in balance. A true triumph in story telling that proves exactly what Disney does best and again proving that they are back to producing top quality films. This is an affecting human story, one that is significant.

Startling and stunning, beautifully envisioned, emotionally powerful and relevant. Gorgeous visuals, stunning backdrops and intricacies like you have never seen before. The environments, the costumes, the character movements among other things make this film a gigantic step forward. The brilliant voice talents that breath life into this project need to be applauded and then some. The cast consisting of Kristen bell (Veronica Mars) and Idina Menzel(Wicked!)among many others bring winning charm, superior voice acting and magnificent vocals as well as heart to this tale. The sensational wit and humor, the arrays of different personalities, their emotions, their triumphs and falls make them some of the most interesting characters that people can relate to and some of the best i have seen in animation. The cast fully become the characters.

The score and music is perfect. The score is grand. The sound, the texture, the harmony, the melody is in a class of its own. Above and beyond anything attempted by the animation studio in the past decade. I would place the songs up there with those of the 90's movies and 2000's Enchanted. A true all round musical triumph. Songs that will be stuck in your mind and you will be humming them and you won't even know it. And some you will be belting out at the top of your lungs because they are that good. Songs that progress the story and an essential part of it.

So you have meticulously crafted breath taking animation, an affecting tale of the bond of family, romance, hilarious wit and humor courtesy of the characters especially sweet Olaf and heart stopping adventure. A true fairy tale that i would say could very well be The Little Mermaid or The Beauty and The Beast of this generation.

FROZEN has that Disney MAGIC that has been missing for so long and it comes in full force here.

Rotten Tomatoes

Featuring the voices of Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel, "Frozen" is the coolest comedy-adventure ever to hit the big screen. When a prophecy traps a kingdom in eternal winter, Anna, a fearless optimist, teams up with extreme mountain man Kristoff and his sidekick reindeer Sven on an epic journey to find Anna's sister Elsa, the Snow Queen, and put an end to her icy spell. Encountering mystical trolls, a funny snowman named Olaf, Everest-like extremes and magic at every turn, Anna and Kristoff battle the elements in a race to save the kingdom from destruction. (c) Disney

RogerEbert

The animated, 3-D adventure wants to enliven and subvert the conventions of typical Disney princess movies while simultaneously remaining true to their aesthetic trappings for maximum merchandising potential. It encourages young women to support and stay loyal to each other—a crucial message when mean girls seem so prevalent—as long as some hunky potential suitors and adorable, wise-cracking creatures also are around to complete them.

It all seems so cynical, this attempt to shake things up without shaking them up too much. "Frozen" just happens to be reaching theaters as Thanksgiving and the holiday shopping season are arriving. The marketing possibilities are mind-boggling. And in the tradition of the superior "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Little Mermaid," surely "Frozen: The Musical" will be headed to the Broadway stage soon. The songs – which are lively and amusing if not quite instant hits—are already in place. 

Little girls will absolutely love it, though. That much is undeniable. And the film from co-directors Chris Buck ("Surf's Up") and Jennifer Lee is never less than gorgeous to watch. A majestic mountaintop ice castle is particularly exquisite—glittery and detailed and tactile, especially as rendered in 3-D.

But first we must witness the tortured backstory of the film's princesses – not one, but two of them. The script from "Wreck-It Ralph" co-writer Lee, inspired by the Hans Christian Andersenstory "The Snow Queen," has lots of cheeky, contemporary touches but is firmly and safely rooted in Scandinavian fairy tale traditions.

When they were young girls, sisters Anna and Elsa were joyous playmates and inseparable friends. But Elsa's special power—her ability to turn anything to ice and snow in a flash from her fingertips—comes back to haunt her when she accidentally zaps her sister. (Not unlike the telekinesis in "Carrie," Elsa inadvertently unleashes her power in moments of heightened emotion.) A magical troll king heals Anna and erases the event from her memory, but as for the sisters' relationship, the damage is done.

Elsa's parents lock her away and close down the castle, which devastates the younger Anna. (Of the many tunes from "Avenue Q" and "The Book of Mormon" songwriter Robert Lopez and his wife, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, the wistful "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" is by far the most poignant.) But once they reach adolescence and it's Elsa's turn to take over the throne at age 18, the two experience an awkward reunion.

The perky, quirky Anna (now voiced by a likable Kristen Bell) is a little nervous but overjoyed to see her sister. The reserved and reluctant Elsa (Broadway veteran Idina Menzel) remains distant, and with gloved hands hopes not to freeze anything and reveal her true self on coronation day. But a run-in with an amorous, visiting prince (Santino Fontana) who sets his sights on Anna triggers Elsa's ire, and she inadvertently plunges the sunny, idyllic kingdom into perpetual winter.

Flustered and fearful, Elsa dashes away in a fit of self-imposed exile – which significantly weakens "Frozen," since she's the film's most complicated and compelling figure. On her way to the highest mountain she can find, Elsa belts out the power ballad "Let It Go," her version of "I Am Woman." This soaring declaration of independence is the reason you want a performer of Menzel's caliber in this role, and it's the film's musical highlight. (Her flashy physical transformation from prim princess to ice queen does make her resemble a real housewife of some sort, however.)

Afterward, though, the story settles in on Anna's efforts to retrieve her sister and restore order to the kingdom. Along the way she gets help from an underemployed ice salesman named Kristoff (Jonathan Groff) and his trusty reindeer sidekick, Sven. They all meet up with a singing snowman named Olaf (a lovably goofy Josh Gad, star of "The Book of Mormon" on Broadway) who dreams of basking in the warmth of the summer sun. This "Wizard of Oz"-style quartet makes the obstacle-filled trek to the imposing fortress that awaits. (At least "Frozen" has the decency to borrow from excellent source material.)

While the journey may seem overly familiar, the destination has some surprises in store. Some come out of nowhere and don't exactly work. But the biggie—the one that's a real game-changer in terms of the sorts of messages Disney animated classics have sent for decades—is the one that's important not just for the little girls in the audience, but for all viewers. It's so innovative, it makes you wish everything about the film met the same clever standard.

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And HollyWood movies

The Bloody Indulgent

IMDb
In an attempt to savagely chew the blood out of a B-rated strip club owner named Sid (Brian Gaskill), a skeezy indulgent vampire, Burt (Kevin Richardson), whose zest for "life" is equaled only by his addiction to really expensive, exotic drugs, hides out (and dopes up) at an upscale drug den, owned by a photographer who seems to have grown a dark whimsy of killing herself. Dori, Sid's girlfriends, and the other rather unique and humorous strippers at the club (Diva Zappa, Tracey Leigh, Laura Martin... ) are hell bent on revenge and declare war on Burt. In the meantime, Burt's sidekick Todd (newcomer Brandon Heitkamp) grapples with his new station as a vampire, turned by Burt in a moment of blood-lust, and also grapples with his ensuing bisexuality, a by-product of being turned into a vampire... he thinks. This sexy-violent musical is full of hot dancing girls and boys, drug addled nymphettes, existential zombies and gallons of blood rounding out this French New Wave version of a Pulp Fiction meets Strictly Ballroom romp.



HorrorNews

SYNOPSIS:

After killing the owner of a B-rated strip club, Burt, an indulgent vampire with a zest for life hides out (and dopes up) at an upscale drug den, until the strippers seeking revenge…and the zombies that come out of no where…all face off for a final showdown.

REVIEW:

The combination of horror and comedy has existed since the golden era of Hollywood, yet is still regarded by some as a bastardization and affront to our industry.  Perhaps the haters don’t get the joke.  Since both genres elicit strong emotional (often vocalized) reactions, offering a double dose seems only logical, right?  That’s the rub friends, and why many discredit the misunderstood horror/comedy:  These movies are rarely scary.

Throw “musical” into the blender, and all hope for a fright is abandoned.  With the exception of a few jump jolts in “Cannibal! The Musical” or Paris Hilton’s presence in “Repo! The Genetic Opera,” the few titles capable of boasting this classification are devoid of chills.  The key with these films is to forget the “horror” part and try to enjoy it for what it is, as yours truly must set aside hatred for musical theater to do the same.

Is all this mental preparation worth the experience?  Yes and no.  There is no denying the abundant energy behind “The Bloody Indulgent,” and it’s often every bit as fun as the cast and crew have creating it.  It’s also a disjointed mess, the many musical numbers varying wildly in quality from catchy to ear rape.  Writer/director Ken Roht, whose only previous credit is the documentary “Angel’s Ladies,” won’t be accused of playing it close to the vest, but his unhinged approach to the material often blurs into chaos.  The cinema sins are plentiful here, but there’s quite a lot to admire as well.

The plumiest feather in the film’s cap is casting Kevin Scott Richardson in the lead role of horny vampire Burt.  If you’re in possession of a penis, you may be wondering who this Kevin guy is.  Richardson happens to be one of the original (and current, they still tour) members of The Backstreet Boys, the 90’s pop sensation that made guys cringe and girls judge their boyfriends by unfair standards.

He’s a gas as Burt, who resides in a parallel reality where vampires are acknowledged (if not fully accepted) by society.  Of course, that could just be Burt, as he is not a benevolent bloodsucker.  In fact, he’s an uproariously obnoxious jerk.  Minutes after chasing down and turning his friend Todd (Brandon Heitkamp) for the hell of it, he attacks a bouncer at seedy strip club The Bootleg for attempting to kick him out.  Todd’s dancer girlfriend Connie (Diva Zappa, Frank’s youngest) stops in mid-act upon noticing the bites on her man’s neck, and calls for the patrons to put an end to Burt’s douchey shenanigans.  This leads to a killing spree, as our anti-hero slaughters everyone in the joint, including Connie and club owner Sid, portrayed by Brian Gaskill of nearly every soap opera produced since 1990.

There are so many disparate elements and side characters popping in and out of “Indulgent,” it would be impossible to describe everything that occurs in under 5,000 words without resorting to bullet points.  Given that bullet points are for artless nerds, I’ll avoid them and keep to the basics.  After the multiple murders and approximately ten songs later, Burt and Todd decide to lie low at a drug den/studio owned by Clare (Sharon Ferguson, “Quarantine”).  Clare’s creative pursuit is abducting strangers, drugging and dressing them for a photo spread, then shooting them when she’s finished.  Even she is a little chagrined by Burt’s arrival, barking at him to behave himself while he’s there.

Scenes of Burt not behaving himself are interspersed with two different revenge plots against him.  The strippers plan a contest to raise funds for a vampire hunter (Kenneth Hughes), whilst Connie is resurrected courtesy of two friendly zombies.  She also has comeuppance on the mind, and her new pals teach her the ways of the undead in the film’s funniest sequence, giving her pointers as she attempts to tear a woman’s skull off.  “Get up under her brow and pull back, it’s easy!”  This trio steals the show, hands down.

Every musical styling that occurred to Roht and composer Paul Goldowitz is accounted for, including a few I’m not entirely certain are of this earth.  That wasn’t a compliment.  From lousy stadium rock to a clever ballad about public bathroom sex, the best to be said for the soundtrack as a whole is that if a song doesn’t appeal, it’ll soon be over and another will be bringing up the rear.  A few baffling moments have characters singing their lines minus any accompaniment at all.  The only semblances of cohesion throughout are the few stretches when no one is warbling, which are short-lived at best.

Another major flaw (before shifting back to the accolades) not to be ignored is that “Indulgent” isn’t as boundary-pushing as it seems to think it is.  Bisexual vampires haven’t been cutting edge in twenty years, and rampant drug use was already beaten to death by PG-13 80’s romps.  Despite a quick flash or two of breasts, there is no gratuitous nudity on display at all.  Plenty of blood is spilled, but the gore and viscera (you know, the good stuff) one would expect from such an endeavor are also absent.  Content wise, this plays like Troma Lite.

Scoring a charitable C- in the musical department and failing miserably as horror, “Indulgent” redeems itself through humor.  From the running gag that everyone despises Burt to a zombie dance brilliantly spoofing Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video, the laughs come just as furiously as the tunes.  Not only is the King of Pop ribbed, one number is a direct nod to “Bye Bye Birdie,” as the girls make phone calls to organize their Strip-Off competition.

I get it.  There are those who refuse to watch musicals, and I don’t blame them.  Others can’t stomach sitting through a horror/comedy, and I do blame them because they’re wrong.  For mindless chuckles that will breeze by in 80 minutes and be instantly forgotten, “Bloody Indulgent” is the inspired train wreck for you.

Just do yourself a solid.  Fast-forward when the rocker chick takes the stage.

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Burlesque

ok Cher enough said Right



Rotten Tomatoes

Movie Info

Christina Aguilera makes her dramatic feature debut as Ali, a small-town singer who takes her shot at stardom performing at a neo-burlesque nightclub in Los Angeles. Situated in a regal old theater that's still dazzling despite having fallen into disrepair, The Burlesque Lounge is the kind of club where legends are born. When club owner Tess (Cher) hires charismatic Ali as a cocktail waitress, the ambitious big-city newcomer goes to great lengths to make a good impression. Taken under the wing of a friendly featured dancer (Julianne Hough), Ali quickly realizes that not everyone is quite as nice when she forms a friendship with bartender/aspiring musician Jack (Cam Gigandet) and incurs the wrath of the club's cattiest showgirl (Kristen Bell). After making her leap to the stage with a little help from a sympathetic stage manager (Stanley Tucci) and the club's playfully androgynous host (Alan Cumming), Ali becomes the star attraction at The Burlesque Lounge, and the crowds start packing in. Later, a wealthy businessman (Eric Dane) makes a bid for the club while trying to charm the talented young performer straight into his arms. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

IMDb

A small-town girl ventures to Los Angeles and finds her place in a neo-burlesque club run by a former dancer.

Full Movie on Watch32

On a clear Day you can see forever

Well having Gay films you have to have Barbra For the Class

IMDb

Reviews & Ratings for On a Clear Day You Can See Forever        

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30 out of 35 people found the following review useful:

Masterly coda to one of Hollywood's greatest careers.

Author: cissy caffrey (hitch1899_@hotmail.com) from dublin, ireland
12 June 2000

ON A CLEAR DAY opens with two extraordinary sequences. Firstly, with Babs singing the title song, there is a montage of flowers growing at speed in front of our very eyes, a decisively Minnellian melange of colour and artifice to create a real eye-dazzlingly emotional explosion which reaches an ecstatic crescendo as Babs skips through a maze of floral abundance. This is followed by a chilling, antithetical credits sequence, a VERTIGOesque assembly-line of diminishing rectangles in cool, gorgeous colours, in which the familiar Broadway music feels distorted and distant.

These two sequences encapsulate the film's conflict - between heart and mind; emotion and intellect; freedom and order; dream and reality; self-expression and conformity. In 1970, the age of BONNIE AND CLYDE, M*A*S*H and WOODSTOCK, a Minnelli/Lerner/Streisand musical must have seemed amusingly quaint, but today, we can marvel at its audacity and flair, while many of its more acclaimed contemporaries seem tinny and shrill.

The narrative proper seems initially mundane after such abstract excess. Daisy GambleGamble (perfect name!) interrupts a lecture by famed psychologist, Marc Chabot, being accidentally hypnotised as he demonstrates on a pupil. She is a scatty, ditzy loudmouth who has come to Chabot in the hope that he will manipulate her out of a 5-packs a day smoking habit to please her ultra-conformist fiance, Warren, who has a career-crucial business dinner.

Chabot has little interest in this clumsy pest until he discovers that she has some psychic powers. Intrigued, he explores her through hypnosis and discovers her past-life as a supremely resourceful, sexually magnetic, orphaned Cockey golddigger of the Regency, who is standing trial for espionage and treason, her caddish husband having deserted her. Chabot begins to fall in love with this remarkable woman, and believing, against all his rationalist principles, in reincarnation.

Even by Minnelli's standards, this is a bravely open-ended picture, not only in its unexpected denouenment, but in refusing to simplify the bewildering, complicated emotions his characters become prey to. On a simple structural level, he contrasts conformity with the life of emotion and imagination. Chabot is a doctor whose devotion to science and facts is almost monkish in its celibate form. His office is the embodiment of conformity, a bland brown pervading walls, chairs, fittings, barred windows, books, even his own clothes. Despite being Yves Montand, he is no French lover.

Into his life comes this impossible woman whose striving for fiance-pleasing orderorder results in further chaos. In her second incarnation, as Melinda, she brings bawdiness, vulgarity, romance, humour, daring, but, most of all, colour, sumptuous, ravishing, blinding colour. The effect she has on Chabot is reflected in the film's form, which moves from steady, mid-level, classical compositions, to outrageous fancy, dizzying camera movements, mercurial editing cutting across time and space. Chabot soon begins to have Daisy's dreams, while she becomes divided from herself in a remarkable visualisation of the split between duty and desire.

But it's not enough to suggest simplistic dichotomies - even the 'normal' Daisy has a rooftop garden which is simply magical (isn't that such a lovely idea, a woman who makes flowers grow quickly by talking to them?), while her fiance, like Darrin from BEWITCHED, is so desperate to conform that he becomes mad. 'Sciences', such as psychoanalysis are invoked in the spirit of the times, but the Pandora's Box they open in no way 'explain', but sets free, as Chabot ruefully recognises.

This is all significantly gendered as men try to control and explain a woman who darts gleefully through history, place, morality, while barely taking a break. As ever with Minnelli, the celebration of artifice only reveals how repressive real-life is, and his satire is cutting if you care to look. This is an undervalued, joyous, sad coda to one of Hollywood's greatest careers (Minnelli would go on to make only one more movie), as full of invention and love as his first film, CABIN IN THE SKY.

The music is fine, with little of the heartache as GIGI or fun of MY FAIR LADY. Montand is charming in a thankless role, but Barbara Streisand - and, God help me, I never thought I'd say this - is an absolute joy in a double (treble?) role, especially convincing in saucy period dress, yet, moving when she needs to be.


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Eating Out The Open Weekend

Rotten Tomatoes

Movie Info

Sexy couple Zack and Benji decide to have an "open" weekend to partake in the smorgasbord of available men on their vacation to a gay getaway in Palm Springs. When Zack runs into his ex-boyfriend Casey at the resort, they both do their best to look like they are having a good time. How could they not, when they are surrounded by cute, frisky guys with six-packs and very little clothing? When Casey reacquaints with his old high school friend Peter, he convinces him to pretend to be his boyfriend to save face with Zack despite Peter's reluctance. As sexual tensions start to mount between Benji and Peter, Zack becomes increasingly dissatisfied with his relationship while Casey longs for a stable relationship of his own. A sexy and outrageous comedy, Eating Out: The Open Weekend serves up plenty of eye-candy and fun along with the pursuit of finding true love.

 VirginMedia

Synopsis

Gay comedy sequel in which Zack and his new boyfriend head to the same all-male holiday resort as Zack's ex, Casey. Zack (Chris Salvatore) is still caught up in the bloom of new love with Benji (Aaron Milo). In contrast, Casey (Daniel Skelton) is heading to the Palm Springs resort with his friend, Penny (Lilach Mendelovich), and has to recruit Peter (Michael Vara) to pretend to be his boyfriend for the weekend - lest Zack think that he hasn't got over him yet. Unbeknown to Casey, however, Zack has problems of his own. While he only really has eyes for Benji, his new partner feels he isn't ready to make an exclusive commitment yet and suggests that they open up their relationship for the weekend. With an unattached Casey lurking around, this could prove to be disastrous... 

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Stage Fright

Well another Band camp gone Wrong with killer.

FearNet
Horror Movies
In what may very well come to be one of those films revered like Repo! The Genetic Opera or Rocky Horror Picture Show, Jerome Sable’s Stage Fright lights up the screen with over-the-top musical numbers and over-the-top slasher movie kills. It is the connective tissue between those kills and those songs and the rest of the film, however, that are somewhat challenging and make the whole thing a tough one to weigh out one way or the other.
Because at its best moments, Stage Fright is a total blast. The opening number of the film is a great example. We see busloads of campers headed for a summer theater camp who break into song and dance of the full-blown Broadway variety. They sing about being singled out in everyday life and how this camp and these people are their release, their safe place. The lyrics are flat-out brilliant, the choreography is fun and the whole thing is just a hoot and a half.
We soon learn (both from the opening scene of the movie and soon after the aforementioned musical number that follows it) that the camp cooks are the children of Kylie Swanson (Minnie Driver) who was brutally murdered on the opening night of  the musical The Haunting Of The Opera ten years before. This scene starts the film and introduces the connection between her short-lived character and the camp’s director Roger McCall (played with gusto by Meat Loaf). Her children are taken in by Roger which places them at the camp in present day.
Roger is a mess of a human being and seems to be clinging to the chance at the next great star to come out of his camp serve as his ticket back to Broadway and out of near financial ruin. Roger is earnest but less than trustworthy and you wonder almost immediately how these kids ended up under his care. This might be a memory problem on my part but I thought there might be a chance the kids were his, but, it might’ve been that they were Kylie’s and that she and Roger were seeing each other when he was producing her play. Either way, it seems a bit funny in the more literal understanding of child custody.
Regardless, both actors are pretty solid, with Douglas Smith playing the aloof brother Buddy and the effortlessly talented Allie MacDonald playing his sister Camilla. They work off each other very well and once Camilla becomes focused on trying to audition and be cast in the camp’s ‘revival’ of her mother’s fateful play, the dynamic between the two of them is strained and evolves in a well-handled way. Good actors, both these kids are.
Further, the whole ensemble of child-actors are pretty darn good, headed by the insufferably annoying Artie Getz (Brandon Uranowitz), a theatre geek turned director brought in to bring Roger’s vision of repeat glory to the stage. Artie reminded me of more than a couple big-headed, small-talent twerps I spent time with in the theatre programs in high school and college. The types that seem artsy and creative but are mostly just insecure bullies and braggarts just the same as those they fear from the sports programs. Kudos to the actor Brandon Uranowitz for capturing the essence of what his character really is.
Beyond him, there are great turns by actors Ephraim Ellis, Thomas Alderson, Melanie Leishman and many others tapping into the insecurity and brash-over-the-topness of what it means to be a ‘theatre kid’. You don’t get the sense that the film is picking on these kids as much as it is highlighting what might frustrate an outsider about them. The self-centeredness, the obsession with approval and the need to be the center of attention. However, when things start to go badly and the slasher film buried under all this musical theatre rears its head, you see these kids as nothing more than real people. Scared and uneven and struggling with identity and self-worth just like everyone else. It was a good choice to not completely demonize this subset of adolescent humanity but instead show the amusing and the human sides of it all.
So does all this add up to the next great horror musical? Kind of. The highs (like that opening musical number) are just wonderful and sharp and super fun. The slasher elements are done with style and flair and are (in more than one instance) a damned bloody mess. But the balance, at times, feels off. Not to make a pun, but the rhythm of the film sometimes feels about a beat slow from where it should be so when we get to that big slasher-reveal and culmination, the up and down nature of everything taken all together leaves said reveal and the climax not as scary or gut-punching as it should be.
If you want the human element to really resonate in a story like this, you really have to put humanity on trial. Because when it is all said and done, slashers work best when the perpetrator or perpetrators of the violence are revealed to be either completely irredeemable or just another victim of someone or something else. Humanity, or the lack thereof is the real culprit and in Stage Fright it just feels like that gets lost a little bit as we streak to the finish line.
All in all, this film is often fun and impressive, charming and smart. The violence is brutal and mean and funny often all at the same time. The cast is good and is energetic in their efforts. Is it worth the time? Absolutely. Is this the next great midnight movie for horror nerds and theatre geeks to bond over? Maybe not – but – time will tell.

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 Full Movie on PutLocker

At first glance, "horror movie" and "musical" would seem like a terrible mix. Musicals are often a celebration of human emotions whereas horror films frequently try to evoke and provoke those unpleasant things that terrify us all. But of course there is the cult classic granddaddy called The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), which is not only a horror movie and a musical, but also a maniacal love letter to old-fashioned horror movies and musicals. (Brian De Palma's 1974 film The Phantom of the Paradise also deserves a mention in this category.)

 

From Rocky Horror on there has been a calm but steady trickle of films that have little to no problem combining singing and dancing with scary stories. Little Shop of Horrors (1986), Cannibal: The Musical (1997), Sweeney Todd (2007), and Repo! The Genetic Opera (2009) still find new fans today because they're able to introduce horror ideas to musical presentations with various types of comedy (of course) to help sweeten the deal.

 

Those last two paragraphs are an elaborate way of saying that the amusing new indie flick Stage Fright is sort of like a cross between Glee and Sleepaway Camp, and while it struggles with a few slow spots and occasionally offers some tonally confused signals, there's certainly enough to please horror buffs, musical geeks, or anyone who has tried to make an indie film or stage musical.

 

Debut feature from writer/director (and composer) Jerome Sable (his 12-minute "The Legend of Beaver Dam" is pretty great), Stage Fright is about a theater camp that is suddenly plagued by a masked murderer. (Already you know if this movie is for you or not.) Our heroine is Camilla Swanson, a lovely young lady whose mother was viciously murdered (ten years earlier) just as her stage career was taking off. Probably not a great idea for Camilla to work at a "theater camp," but of course she manages to land the lead role in a revival of "The Haunting of the Opera." Yes, the very same play her mother would have...

 

Let's just stick with "a theater camp is suddenly plagued by a masked murderer." The story of Camilla, her dead mom and her unhappy brother makes more sense in the movie. Suffice to say that Camilla is still being looked over by failed producer Roger McCall, a guy who has his own motives for re-staging the play. None of this stuff really matters, because Stage Fright is not only a horror flick and a musical but also a frequently broad comedy, but it's important to note that the Roger McCall character is played by the legendary Meat Loaf, and the man gets several chances to A) be funny and B) belt out some brief songs. His presence alone might make Stage Fright worth seeing.

 

Fortunately Mr. Sable has a good eye for young talent, and Stage Fright is at its best when it's focused on the kooky ensemble of "theater kids" who attend the camp. (There's a little girl with a lisp who almost steals the whole movie.) Come to think of it, virtually everything that surrounds Camilla's central story is more amusing than Camilla's central story. That's not a knock on the very talented Allie MacDonald, who clearly has gifts in the singing, acting, and silliness departments, but Stage Fright is, at its heart, a slasher flick. And really, who cares about the plot in a slasher flick?

 

Horror geeks need not worry. For a weird genre mash-up that's both legitimately funny and graced by a handful of great original songs (yes, it's that kind of musical!), Stage Fright is not dainty when it comes to the kills. The movie is not very scary, which is fine, given what the filmmakers are clearly shooting for, but it is occasionally creepy and frequently quite gory.

 

But what's most appealing about Stage Fright is simply the sincerity. This is a horror / musical that's also a comedy; not a mean-spirited satire of horror films or musical theater. If you'd take some cinematic delight in seeing a Glee-like ensemble stuck inside a summer camp slash-fest, Stage Fright will work for you -- but if you're actually a huge fan of horror flicks and musical theater in equal measure, this scrappy little indie just might be your new favorite movie. (Doubly so if you love Meat Loaf.)

- See more at: http://www.fearnet.com/news/review/fearnet-movie-review-stage-fright-sxsw-2014#sthash.gIRMhNR2.dpuf

At first glance, "horror movie" and "musical" would seem like a terrible mix. Musicals are often a celebration of human emotions whereas horror films frequently try to evoke and provoke those unpleasant things that terrify us all. But of course there is the cult classic granddaddy called The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), which is not only a horror movie and a musical, but also a maniacal love letter to old-fashioned horror movies and musicals. (Brian De Palma's 1974 film The Phantom of the Paradise also deserves a mention in this category.)

 

From Rocky Horror on there has been a calm but steady trickle of films that have little to no problem combining singing and dancing with scary stories. Little Shop of Horrors (1986), Cannibal: The Musical (1997), Sweeney Todd (2007), and Repo! The Genetic Opera (2009) still find new fans today because they're able to introduce horror ideas to musical presentations with various types of comedy (of course) to help sweeten the deal.

 

Those last two paragraphs are an elaborate way of saying that the amusing new indie flick Stage Fright is sort of like a cross between Glee and Sleepaway Camp, and while it struggles with a few slow spots and occasionally offers some tonally confused signals, there's certainly enough to please horror buffs, musical geeks, or anyone who has tried to make an indie film or stage musical.

 

Debut feature from writer/director (and composer) Jerome Sable (his 12-minute "The Legend of Beaver Dam" is pretty great), Stage Fright is about a theater camp that is suddenly plagued by a masked murderer. (Already you know if this movie is for you or not.) Our heroine is Camilla Swanson, a lovely young lady whose mother was viciously murdered (ten years earlier) just as her stage career was taking off. Probably not a great idea for Camilla to work at a "theater camp," but of course she manages to land the lead role in a revival of "The Haunting of the Opera." Yes, the very same play her mother would have...

 

Let's just stick with "a theater camp is suddenly plagued by a masked murderer." The story of Camilla, her dead mom and her unhappy brother makes more sense in the movie. Suffice to say that Camilla is still being looked over by failed producer Roger McCall, a guy who has his own motives for re-staging the play. None of this stuff really matters, because Stage Fright is not only a horror flick and a musical but also a frequently broad comedy, but it's important to note that the Roger McCall character is played by the legendary Meat Loaf, and the man gets several chances to A) be funny and B) belt out some brief songs. His presence alone might make Stage Fright worth seeing.

 

Fortunately Mr. Sable has a good eye for young talent, and Stage Fright is at its best when it's focused on the kooky ensemble of "theater kids" who attend the camp. (There's a little girl with a lisp who almost steals the whole movie.) Come to think of it, virtually everything that surrounds Camilla's central story is more amusing than Camilla's central story. That's not a knock on the very talented Allie MacDonald, who clearly has gifts in the singing, acting, and silliness departments, but Stage Fright is, at its heart, a slasher flick. And really, who cares about the plot in a slasher flick?

 

Horror geeks need not worry. For a weird genre mash-up that's both legitimately funny and graced by a handful of great original songs (yes, it's that kind of musical!), Stage Fright is not dainty when it comes to the kills. The movie is not very scary, which is fine, given what the filmmakers are clearly shooting for, but it is occasionally creepy and frequently quite gory.

 

But what's most appealing about Stage Fright is simply the sincerity. This is a horror / musical that's also a comedy; not a mean-spirited satire of horror films or musical theater. If you'd take some cinematic delight in seeing a Glee-like ensemble stuck inside a summer camp slash-fest, Stage Fright will work for you -- but if you're actually a huge fan of horror flicks and musical theater in equal measure, this scrappy little indie just might be your new favorite movie. (Doubly so if you love Meat Loaf.)

 

- See more at: http://www.fearnet.com/news/review/fearnet-movie-review-stage-fright-sxsw-2014#sthash.gIRMhNR2.dpuf

At first glance, "horror movie" and "musical" would seem like a terrible mix. Musicals are often a celebration of human emotions whereas horror films frequently try to evoke and provoke those unpleasant things that terrify us all. But of course there is the cult classic granddaddy called The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), which is not only a horror movie and a musical, but also a maniacal love letter to old-fashioned horror movies and musicals. (Brian De Palma's 1974 film The Phantom of the Paradise also deserves a mention in this category.)

 

From Rocky Horror on there has been a calm but steady trickle of films that have little to no problem combining singing and dancing with scary stories. Little Shop of Horrors (1986), Cannibal: The Musical (1997), Sweeney Todd (2007), and Repo! The Genetic Opera (2009) still find new fans today because they're able to introduce horror ideas to musical presentations with various types of comedy (of course) to help sweeten the deal.

 

Those last two paragraphs are an elaborate way of saying that the amusing new indie flick Stage Fright is sort of like a cross between Glee and Sleepaway Camp, and while it struggles with a few slow spots and occasionally offers some tonally confused signals, there's certainly enough to please horror buffs, musical geeks, or anyone who has tried to make an indie film or stage musical.

 

Debut feature from writer/director (and composer) Jerome Sable (his 12-minute "The Legend of Beaver Dam" is pretty great), Stage Fright is about a theater camp that is suddenly plagued by a masked murderer. (Already you know if this movie is for you or not.) Our heroine is Camilla Swanson, a lovely young lady whose mother was viciously murdered (ten years earlier) just as her stage career was taking off. Probably not a great idea for Camilla to work at a "theater camp," but of course she manages to land the lead role in a revival of "The Haunting of the Opera." Yes, the very same play her mother would have...

 

Let's just stick with "a theater camp is suddenly plagued by a masked murderer." The story of Camilla, her dead mom and her unhappy brother makes more sense in the movie. Suffice to say that Camilla is still being looked over by failed producer Roger McCall, a guy who has his own motives for re-staging the play. None of this stuff really matters, because Stage Fright is not only a horror flick and a musical but also a frequently broad comedy, but it's important to note that the Roger McCall character is played by the legendary Meat Loaf, and the man gets several chances to A) be funny and B) belt out some brief songs. His presence alone might make Stage Fright worth seeing.

 

Fortunately Mr. Sable has a good eye for young talent, and Stage Fright is at its best when it's focused on the kooky ensemble of "theater kids" who attend the camp. (There's a little girl with a lisp who almost steals the whole movie.) Come to think of it, virtually everything that surrounds Camilla's central story is more amusing than Camilla's central story. That's not a knock on the very talented Allie MacDonald, who clearly has gifts in the singing, acting, and silliness departments, but Stage Fright is, at its heart, a slasher flick. And really, who cares about the plot in a slasher flick?

 

Horror geeks need not worry. For a weird genre mash-up that's both legitimately funny and graced by a handful of great original songs (yes, it's that kind of musical!), Stage Fright is not dainty when it comes to the kills. The movie is not very scary, which is fine, given what the filmmakers are clearly shooting for, but it is occasionally creepy and frequently quite gory.

 

But what's most appealing about Stage Fright is simply the sincerity. This is a horror / musical that's also a comedy; not a mean-spirited satire of horror films or musical theater. If you'd take some cinematic delight in seeing a Glee-like ensemble stuck inside a summer camp slash-fest, Stage Fright will work for you -- but if you're actually a huge fan of horror flicks and musical theater in equal measure, this scrappy little indie just might be your new favorite movie. (Doubly so if you love Meat Loaf.)

 

- See more at: http://www.fearnet.com/news/review/fearnet-movie-review-stage-fright-sxsw-2014#sthash.gIRMhNR2.dpuf

Tommy

Ok if you havent seen the Who's Rock Musical you have a sheltered Life. It may be corny at times it has good meaning for its age. Do we all know the songs.It is on Crackle

Tommy (Roger Daltrey) is a "deaf, dumb and blind kid" who retreats into himself after the death of his father. His mother, Nora (Ann-Margret), and stepfather Frank (Oliver Reed) take him to see a specialist (Jack Nicholson) but Tommy is apparently a hopeless case. That is, until Tommy discovers that "he sure plays a mean

pinball." Tommy gains fame when he defeats the Pinball Wizard (Elton John) for the world championship. As a result, Tommy becomes such a celebrity that he even founds his own religious cult. But his fans begin to commercialize his fame, while Tommy wants to stick to the straight and narrow. When Tommy wants to end the commercialization of his message, his supporters accuse him of being hypocritical and turn on him. Ann-Margret, with a slinky red dress slit way up the side, was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar, losing out to Louise Fletcher in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

NY Times Review

Tommy (1975)

Film::'Tommy,' The Who's Rock Saga

By VINCENT CANBY

Published: March 20, 1975

Ken Russell makes movies the way another man might design a ride through a funhouse. He deals in headlong but harmless plunges from giddy heights, abrupt changes of pace, joke turns, anachronistic visual effects, ghouls that pop out of the dark, all accompanied by sound of a force to loosen one's most firmly rooted back teeth.
The method is spectacular but it has seemed wickedly foolish in movies like "The Music Lovers" (about Tchaikovsky), "The Savage Messiah" (about Gaudier-Brzeska) and "The Devils" (an adaptation of Huxley's "The Devils of Loudun"). Now at long last the man and his method have found a nearly perfect match in subject matter, "Tommy," The Who's rock opera written by guitarist-composer Pete Townshend.
"Tommy" can take being fiddled with, and Mr. Russell's "Tommy" virtually explodes with excitement on the screen. A lot of it is not quite the profound social commentary it pretends to be, but that's beside the point of the fun. "Tommy," which opened yesterday at the Ziegfeld Theater, is mad, funny, irreverent, passionately overproduced, very very loud and full of the kind of magnificent physical energy that usually wrecks a movie by calling attention to performance.
"Tommy" is a solemn tale that must not be taken too seriously. It's an elaborate put-on about the terrible victimization of a small boy who is traumatized deaf, dumb and blind when he sees his stepfather murder his real father. Young Tommy then goes on to become the pinball champ of the world and, eventually, after he miraculously regains his senses, the new messiah who preaches salvation through pinball playing.
Mr. Russell's style, which had the effect of literalizing the artistic impulse in "The Music Lovers" and "The Savage Messiah," seems to liberate Mr. Townshend's rock score and lyrics, which are sometimes in embarrassingly dead earnest.
"Tommy" is composed of excesses. Bad jokes or heavy-handed satire are redeemed by everyone—director, production designer, orchestrators, actors—going too far, which is, after all, what the original "Tommy" is all about: a world inhabited by people too jaded to react to anything but overdoses.
The performers are extravagantly fine, particularly Ann-Margret who, as Tommy's mother, ages 20 years in the course of the film (largely through the increased application of blue eye shadow) and sings and dances as if the fate of Western civilization depended upon it. She is tough, vulgar, witty and game. The Who's lead singer, Roger Daltrey, plays the grown-up Tommy with a drive that matches Ann-Margret's while successfully simulating show biz innocence. Oliver Reed is, correctly, almost a cartoon as the opportunistic stepdad. He also sings quite nicely.
The movie, which has the structure of a vaudeville show, is laced together with specialty bits, some of which are simply jokes (Jack Nicholson playing a vacuous Harley Street medical specialist) and some of which are production numbers as riveting as rock can be at its best. These include a sequence in which Tina Turner shows up as The Acid Queen who attempts to cure the catatonic Tommy, and others with Elton John, as the Pinball Wizard defeated by Tommy, and Eric Clapton, as the Preacher who presides over a Lourdes-like shrine devoted to the healing powers of St. Marilyn (Monroe).
As I said, it's all fairly excessive and far from subtle, but in this case good taste would have been wildly inappropriate and a fearful drag.

The Cast
TOMMY, directed by Ken Russell; screenplay by Mr. Russell, inspired by the rock opera by Pete Townshend; additional musical material by John Entwistle and Keith Moon; produced by Robert Sligwood and Mr. Russell; executive producers, Beryl Vertue and Christopher Slamp; music director, Mr. Townshend; directors of photography, Dick Bush and Ronnie Taylor; editor, Stuart Baird; distributed by Columbia Pictures. Running time: 110 minutes. At the Ziegfeld Theater, 54th Street west of the Avenue of the Americas. This film has been rated PG.
Nora Walker . . . . . Ann-Margret
Frank Hobbs . . . . . Oliver Reed
Tommy . . . . . Roger Daltrey
Pinball Wizard . . . . . Elton John
Preacher . . . . . Eric Clapton
Uncle Ernie . . . . . Keith Moon
Specialist . . . . . Jack Nicholson
Group-Capt. Walker . . . . . Robert Powell
Cousin Kevin . . . . . Paul Nicholas
Acid Queen . . . . . Tina Turner
Young Tommy . . . . . Barry Winch
Priest . . . . . Arthur Brown
Sally Simpson . . . . . Victoria Russel
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