182: Funny Girl

Funny Girl (G) - 1968 - Runtime: 151 minutes
Starring: Barbara Streisand, Omar Sharif
Director: William Wyler

This movie is about the life and times of Fannie Brice and I could care less. Uggh, this movie was just so, umm, not up my alley. I stopped paying attention after the first half hour. I really did not care about Fannie's rise to fame. She seemed to eager and bratty to me and her comedy wasn't exactly gut-busting.

The plot is simple enough: Fannie wants to be a star and she gets her break like right away and ends up being a superstar practically overnight! It's completely ridiculous, and of course, she falls for a hunk of a man, played by Sharif. Of course, they're meant for each other, but not really. I was actually quite surprised by that relationship's ending, because it was entirely realistic as opposed to the rest of the film. But talk about dull! And the music and dance numbers really didn't take off with me. It doesn't help that I have zero interest in Streisand. This is the movie that launched her movie career after finding success in music and theater. But I just didn't connect with her, hence my indifference to this movie.

The biggest problem I had was it's length. After the first thirty minutes, I realized there was two more hours and just rescinded myself to distracting myself until it was over. This is the only time I have done this while watching a movie and I figured it was okay just this once! If you love musicals, you'll probably adore this one and if you don't, like myself, make sure to avoid!

Rating: Not Worth Paying For!

182: Singin' in the Rain

Singin' in the Rain (G) - 1952 - Runtime: 103 minutes
Starring: Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds
Director: Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly

This movie is hard to find, well, at least to rent. My old store had a copy, but we closed and no other store around the area had a copy. It was even hard to find online! Luckily, I found a copy and immediately took it home. The reason I had to see it, was because A) it was a musical and B) it was AFI's #6. And I had watched at least the rest of AFI's top 10, so I had to finish it up. Luckily, this movie is pretty good as far as musicals go, but I don't think I'll ever be watching it again!

The story is rather dull, it's another Hollywood insider story. The world has just been introduced to talking pictures with The Jazz Singer. And unfortunately, that puts Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont on the spot to transition from silent movie stars to bona fide sound actors. What really kills them is Lina's god awful voice. It's straight from Staten Island or Jersey or a mix of both. So of course, Gene Kelly gets Kathy Selden (Debbie Reyonolds) to be the voice of Lina. All is well until Lina finds out and hilarity ensues. It's really not a bad story, just that the movie is so light-hearted and completely unrealistic towards it. Which is fine, because the movie isn't a serious movie at all. It's a comedy, so I have no qualms with that, but near the end I felt so bad for Lina Lamont, but the movie did not. She turns into this evil and diabolical queen bee who wants to sabotage Don and Kathy's romance and careers. But she ends up being the one eating their dust. I know it's supposed to be light hearted, but the movie never gives Lina a happy ending and I felt a tiny bit sad.

But that's not what's great about the movie. The music and especially the choreography, are what makes this movie great. There's so much good dancing, especially by Kelly, that it's quite unbelievable what he can do. It's fun to watch no doubt, and your left kind of wondering what happened to these kind of dance numbers, they seem so simple, but hard to pull off (Although to be quite honest, I really am looking forward to that guilty pleasure, Step Up 3D. It's just looks like all kinds of ridiculous!). So in the end I did enjoy the movie, but I don't think I'll be watching it again.

Rating: Rent It!

182: Nine

Nine (PG-13) - 2009 - Runtime: 118 minutes
Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Nicole Kidman, Penélope Cruz, Kate Hudson, Marion Cotillard, Judi Dench
Director: Rob Marshall

Despite my misgivings about musicals, I kind of wanted to see this. It has quite the cast and Rob Marshall directed Chicago, which I enjoyed and the music seemed pretty good. Well, this movie is not great, but I wouldn't say I'd like my two hours back, either. There's some great set pieces and musical numbers that seem to overshadow the rest of the movie.

Daniel Day-Lewis plays Contini, a great Italian director in the 1960s who is having a dry spell in his creativity. He's poised to make an ambitious movie about Italy and I couldn't help but think of Baz Luhrmann and his financial bomb that was Australia (a movie which I actually loved). And it's at this juncture he consults all the women in his life to find support: his wife, his mistress, his dead mother, his agent, a infatuated reporter and his first lover. Contini is nothing but a selfish, egotistical womanizer for the most part and that's pretty much all I got out of the movie. There's really nothing important about the characters - I really didn't feel for Contini or his struggle. The movie is more about the music and the lavish designs and costumes. No doubt they're great, but without any substance behind them, they're just lavish scenes.

The cast was great and I thought the movie had potential, but it's just one big spectacle without any emphasis on character. As I watched I was just waiting for the next musical number to happen to see if I would like it. And for the most part, I like the music and dance numbers. But that's not enough for me to recommend this one.

Rating: Not Worth Paying For!

182: The Sound of Music

Sound of Music (PG) - 1965 - Runtime: 174 minutes
Starring: Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer
Director: Robert Wise

As Maggie would say, Julie Andrews is a national treasure. I would have to agree with that sentiment. I had never seen this movie (oh why do most of the classic movies I have not  seen are more than two hours?) and it's pretty much blasphemy according to some. I just don't like musicals. But I had fun with this one, despite its length. It's a fun movie - and obviously the best parts of the movie are the music numbers. These are classics in their own right. It's amazing how much of this movie had seeped into our culture.

For those not in the know, like me, the movie centers on Maria, a nun who longs to sing and have fun rather than being a dull servant of God. The nuns realize this and send her off to be the governess of the ruggedly handsome (according to Maggie) Captain Von Trapp, played by Christopher Plummer. Of course like all good governess stories dating back to Jane Eyre, she falls in love with the captain. But things are complicated because the Nazis have taken over Austria and the family must flee or face worse consequences. It's a good story and I was surprised to find out that it was based on the real story of the Von Trapp family who escaped Nazi-occupied Austria. I'm sure the love story isn't all that true, but whatevs, it works.

Obviously the highlight of the movie is the music. And there's some great musical numbers that, surprisingly, I found myself enjoying. "My Favorite Things," "Edelweiss" are two of my favorites and I sometimes still get them stuck in my head. I always think the best musicals (not that I'm an expert) are the ones that strike a balance between the musical numbers and the story. Sound of Music is no exception - the music never overwhelms the characters and the music fits into the story very well. The songs never felt out of place.

A great movie that no doubt is still good today and its themes of discrimination, family and music are timeless. If you were hesitant on checking out this movie like I was, don't worry, it has my seal of approval.

Rating: Rent It!

182: Chicago

Chicago (PG-13) - 2003 - Runtime: 113 minutes

Starring: Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere

I'm not a big fan of musicals. I think the only really good musicals I have enjoyed are The Blues Brothers and ...well, that's it, really (Okay, okay, Moulin Rouge was pretty fantastic). I just don't like it when characters start breaking out into song and dance in the middle of a scene. It completely removes me from the story. And sometimes those musical numbers are long. For instance, I watched the musical movie version of Hairspray and that last dance and song was almost fifteen minutes. It was awful, it made me hate the movie so much more. And to boot, I probably won't ever be bothered to watch the original movie it's based on because of that experience. Also, Maggie and I bonded on our first date because we both absolutely loathe the musical Grease and even more so the people who love Grease. I really think it's a piece of garbage with zero entertainment value, but what do I know? I just don't like the genre.

But part of the commitment I made was to indulge in genres I don't normally partake upon. Such is the case with Chicago - Maggie had already seen it and was willing to sit down with me to watch because she enjoyed it when she saw it several years ago. And you know what? I pretty much enjoyed it. Sure, some of the songs weren't up my alley - but the story was solid and the characters had a level of depth to them that certainly Grease or West Side Story could not live up to. Plus the level of talent on display is staggering. Not only do Zellweger and Zeta-Jones deliver, but who knew Richard Gere could belt one out? Queen Latifah and John C. Reilly (it's hard for me to think of him as a serious, legit dramatic actor after I first seen him in Talladega Nights) were both fantastic, too. So props to this movie - you exceeded my expectations!

I will say - part of the reason why the music numbers didn't bother me was because they were integral to the plot and characters. The characters themselves were performers themselves. I guess that's why I liked Moulin Rouge, too. But I don't want to downplay the story - it's a tale about fame and fortune and the sheer depth that people will sink to in order to be in the limelight.

So, to 2003's Best Picture winner - I say it's at least worth checking out! If you're a fan of musicals, I don't need to tell you that it should be on your shelf, it probably already is!

Rating: Rent It!