Gayest Weekend Ever
I hadn't had a chance to update exampleusername and my Netflix "watch instantly" que in quite a while, but on last Friday I got to it. I selected a whole lot of concerts and documentaries, anime and my usual dry subjects. But through my browsing I happened upon a movie I hadn't seen since I was a kid and almost broke my poor mouse button selecting it. "Muppets Take Manhattan"! I loved that to pieces when i was but a wee lad. It's never been very far from heart because it was one of the few musicals I could stand to watch. Now lets be clear. I can appreciate musical theater. I got to watch the Peter Pan musical when I was young and loved it. When I saw Sandy Duncan fly out over the audience I nearly shit myself. I have been to a couple of live performances of musicals and I can get into em. What I mean when I say, "I just can't stand musicals.", I am speaking of the movie variety. This preference crystallized quite clearly the first time I saw "West Side Story" and the Jets and Sharks where dancing around knife fighting. All the dancing and singing knocks me right out of the story on the screen. Another one is "The Sound of Music". Remember when the Von Trap family was getting chased down by fucking Nazis? And a song breaks out. That just kills all the tension in my opinion. I was thinking about that fact when I noticed the "Musicals" tab on Netflix. "Maybe I just haven't given musicals a fair chance?", I thought. I used to not like green beans either and now I can't get enough of them. Maybe my tastes have matured? So I selected a couple to watch in the hopes that maybe now I could see in them something I hadn't before.
First up was "The Producers". I chose this one because I heard some good things about it. It Matthew Broderick in it who I have loved since "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", and Nathan Lane who is pretty funny. Plus Mel Brooks wrote it. So if any musical was gonna win me over I figured that this one had a good a chance as any. It was... ok. There were some pretty funny parts in it and the subject matter was screwball enough for me not to be dragged out of the experience when the dancing and singing started. I was just a little bent out of shape by the way gay men are presented in this movie. Now I know what your gonna say, "It's early Mel Brooks stuff." or "Dude, don't you remember "The French Mistake"?" Yeah, yeah I know. Still it's pretty tired. And speaking of gay in the movie, when the courtroom scenes song is sung, I can't help but feel I would have liked the movie more if Max and Leo had fallen in love rather than Leo and Ulla. Still.. it was a fun movie. And Will Ferrell managed to be funny. OH! And John Barrowman was in it as a actor playing a Nazi and guess what? He can sing! Captain Jack can sing.
Second up was "Cabaret". The reason I chose this one was because I had seen the exact same version before when I was a kid and it scared the shit out me. Seriously. I can still remember seeing the Master of Ceremonies for the first time, with the painted lips, eyes, and cheeks, singing in front of that fucked up fun house mirror with the carnival music playing in the background. *shudder* First time I saw that I said, "Fuck this. I am going to play with my Transformers instead." So I fired them movie up and... dude is still creepy as hell. Exactly as I remembered. The movie.. is great though. I now know why Liza is held in such high esteem by the older gay guys. She can sing and act her butt off. You know though, she was playing a immature drunken whore which isn't that big a stretch for her. Just jokes guys! :) Don't cut me. I really liked the music in this one. The fact that all the music took place in a Cabaret and away from the drama really appealed to me. It made a lot of sense in the movie and didn't drag me out of the experience. I can totally recommend it.
Last one I chose was "Hedwig and The Angry Inch". I gotta say guys, I really didn't expect to get much out of this one but I was wrong. This movie has totally changed my attitude toward musical movies. It's fucking fantastic. The story is great and the songs fucking rock. Like "Cabaret" all the musical numbers take place in the confines of a show, so the disconnect from them is minimal. And you just can't help but feel for the main character even though he's kinda a douche. It's the best movie I have seen in a while. If you haven't seen it, go see it.
So spending the weekend watching musicals is pretty gay huh? Good.
First up was "The Producers". I chose this one because I heard some good things about it. It Matthew Broderick in it who I have loved since "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", and Nathan Lane who is pretty funny. Plus Mel Brooks wrote it. So if any musical was gonna win me over I figured that this one had a good a chance as any. It was... ok. There were some pretty funny parts in it and the subject matter was screwball enough for me not to be dragged out of the experience when the dancing and singing started. I was just a little bent out of shape by the way gay men are presented in this movie. Now I know what your gonna say, "It's early Mel Brooks stuff." or "Dude, don't you remember "The French Mistake"?" Yeah, yeah I know. Still it's pretty tired. And speaking of gay in the movie, when the courtroom scenes song is sung, I can't help but feel I would have liked the movie more if Max and Leo had fallen in love rather than Leo and Ulla. Still.. it was a fun movie. And Will Ferrell managed to be funny. OH! And John Barrowman was in it as a actor playing a Nazi and guess what? He can sing! Captain Jack can sing.
Second up was "Cabaret". The reason I chose this one was because I had seen the exact same version before when I was a kid and it scared the shit out me. Seriously. I can still remember seeing the Master of Ceremonies for the first time, with the painted lips, eyes, and cheeks, singing in front of that fucked up fun house mirror with the carnival music playing in the background. *shudder* First time I saw that I said, "Fuck this. I am going to play with my Transformers instead." So I fired them movie up and... dude is still creepy as hell. Exactly as I remembered. The movie.. is great though. I now know why Liza is held in such high esteem by the older gay guys. She can sing and act her butt off. You know though, she was playing a immature drunken whore which isn't that big a stretch for her. Just jokes guys! :) Don't cut me. I really liked the music in this one. The fact that all the music took place in a Cabaret and away from the drama really appealed to me. It made a lot of sense in the movie and didn't drag me out of the experience. I can totally recommend it.
Last one I chose was "Hedwig and The Angry Inch". I gotta say guys, I really didn't expect to get much out of this one but I was wrong. This movie has totally changed my attitude toward musical movies. It's fucking fantastic. The story is great and the songs fucking rock. Like "Cabaret" all the musical numbers take place in the confines of a show, so the disconnect from them is minimal. And you just can't help but feel for the main character even though he's kinda a douche. It's the best movie I have seen in a while. If you haven't seen it, go see it.
So spending the weekend watching musicals is pretty gay huh? Good.