Kitty

Remember my name? Fame!

Monday, 26. October 2009, 05:18:59

This Sunday there was half price on all movies in the cinema. I had to take advantage of that, and checked the list of titles they were showing. Unfortunately there wasn't any of the "real big movies" up - but since I love going to the movies, I chose to watch a couple of movies I intended to rent on DVD later.

One of them was "Fame".

Let me say right away that I haven't seen the original Fame, that was made in 1980, so I can't compare the two.

Take thousands of teenagers that are united by the same dream: attending the New York High School of the Performing Arts. Over 10,000 auditions, and only 200 places - the competition is hard from the beginning. Every student thinks that he or she has a special talent and from there the culture reeks with everyone's sweaty desire to accomplish the impossible goal: The desire for fame.

What did I expect? I expected to be entertained, I expected to hear some great music and see some great dancing.

Did I get what I expect? Well, not entirely. I mean, the music was kinda dull - and the acting was really bad, in my opinion. The dancing was great, and I loved the last scene, where the kids graduate with a huge show.

One of the problems with this movie is the character development - or lack thereof. There is so much going on and time passes so fast that you don't really get to see much development of many of the characters. I understand there is only so much time in the movie, but that could have been resolved by reducing the number of "lead" characters from - what? - ten, to maybe half. If you reduced the number of people we had to keep track of, we'd be able to see more how those characters evolve, and care more about them in the end.

Oh yeah, the movie gave lovely Megan Mullally a little comeback. I loved her as Karen Walker in Will and Grace. She didn't do much for me in "Fame" though. But it was nice seeing her again!

All in all Fame was a disappointment - I'm glad I only paid half price for the ticket.

I think I'll check if the local DVD store has the original "Fame" at a fair price. It'd be cool to watch that!

And no - I don't remember any of the lead characters' names.

out of 6.

The SkullPasta and Salmon

Comments

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Dacotah # 26. October 2009, 06:22

Hi Kitty

Yep, good thing you only paid half price.
Sorry it wasn't a good movie.

Zaphira # 26. October 2009, 06:25

I'm okay with it, when you see a lot of movies you take your share of the bad ones as well.

Amnith # 26. October 2009, 06:37

Sometimes you see so ridiculously bad movies that you'll talk about how bad they are, laugh about it and compare movies to it for years. I present to you the unholyness of a movie with no basis in reality. Behold, The Core. I mean, with a plot that says “The only way to save Earth from catastrophe is to drill down to the core and set it spinning again.”, how can it not go wrong?

An example, which was actually provided by my astronomy teacher back in the days I studied physics: They are discussing HOW to drill into the earth with some “advanced physics formulas”, and write them on a tablet or something. The formulas are something like ΣF = m·a and a = v^2 / r. It might look hard and ugly if you are not into physics, but this is the second formula you learn in physics, more or less. ΣF means “the sum of all forces” while m·a means “the mass multiplied by the acceleration”. a = v^2 / r then means “the acceleration is the speed of the body squared, divided by the radius of it's circular path”. Not exactly hardcore. (OH THAT WAS A PUN!)

Yeah, it's extremely bad, but it's the unholy greatness as well. In its own way, of course.

Spaggyj # 26. October 2009, 08:15

I've never seen any of the Fame productions, probably never will. Sometimes when a movie's cheap it's worth seeing though, even if it ends up lame.

Zaphira # 26. October 2009, 08:28

@ Rob ~ You studied physics as well?!

I don't think I would have achieved anything by watching The Core, to be honest.

@ Kimmie ~ You're right. It was two hours of movie watching - and I do enjoy watching movies!

There's one more coming up - at half price I had to see two!

Amnith # 26. October 2009, 08:30

Originally posted by Zaphira:

@ Rob ~ You studied physics as well?!

I studied and dropped out of it.

Originally posted by Zaphira:

I don't think I would have achieved anything by watching The Core, to be honest.

No one would. Except to say how bad it is, or get T-shirts saying something like "I survived watching The Core".

Zaphira # 26. October 2009, 08:40

I think the worst film I ever saw was... hmmm... *thinks* Tremors. I knew a guy who collected bad movies.

Amnith # 26. October 2009, 09:00

People might hate me, but we were forced to watch Dead Poets Society in 3rd or 5th grade or something like that. It was supposedly a "drama comedy", but it was the hugest pile of awfulness I've ever experienced.

Furie # 26. October 2009, 09:55

I'm gonna live forever!
Dammit kitten.

.

Dead Poets is a character drama with moments of comedy. It's more tragedy than anything else.

Tremors is an awesome bad movie.

One of my favourites.

Amnith # 26. October 2009, 10:15

Originally posted by Furie:

It's more tragedy than anything else.

Dacotah # 26. October 2009, 12:59

rose-marie # 26. October 2009, 14:50

You got big dreams. You want fame? Well fame costs and right here's where you start paying... in sweat!

I'm not going to see this one, but I do remember the old series...

rose-marie # 26. October 2009, 14:50

Oops, did I say old? I meant... eh... erlier?

garlingmatthews # 26. October 2009, 16:40

The original film really, really, really sucked, although it was trying to do something interesting. I liked the T.V. series, though. When I was, um, nine.

I liked "Tremors". It was fun bad. Like another Fred Ward film, "Remo: Unarmed and Dangerous." It's terrible and incredibly enjoyable at the same time.

Zaphira # 26. October 2009, 17:24

@ Rob ~ I remember Dead Poets Society as an okay film, not stunningly good, but okay. It's been some years since I saw it, so I might remember wrong.

@ Mik ~ Nice little ear worm, no?

I think I might have to make a "worst movies I've ever seen"-post. I have a couple of films on the list that might surprise y'all.

@ Rose ~ There's no need to waste money on this one unless you're a dedicated Fame-fan.

@ Gavin ~ Was it both a film and a series? I always thought it was only a movie.

garlingmatthews # 26. October 2009, 17:28

There was. Alan Parker did a movie, that I only saw years later. It was a bit chaotic. Then there was a series which I watched as a kid and loved.

http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fame_(TV-serie)

Of course, being Ireland, they showed it out of order, so one week the Mexican boy would be extradicted, and the next he'd be dancing his little socks off.

Uh, I mean http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fame_(1982_TV_series)

Amnith # 26. October 2009, 17:40

Originally posted by Zaphira:

I remember Dead Poets Society as an okay film, not stunningly good, but okay. It's been some years since I saw it, so I might remember wrong.

Imagine a bunch of 11 year olds watching it. We were NOT amused.

RedFreya # 26. October 2009, 17:53

I liked Tremors too. It was so bad that it was good! Though Tremors 2 was really, really bad , T 3 was definitely tongue-in-cheek .There`s even a prequel T 4 .They have a bit of a cult status for students and insomniacs. When I watched them, they were on late night TV. I have not seen Fame at all, but I think I would prefer dancing Graboids

to dancing people !

Furie # 26. October 2009, 18:20

Ah Remo... That little wrist tap got me so many women.

Of course most of them were nurses in the psych ward.

garlingmatthews # 26. October 2009, 18:24

"I heard your tendons move." Does it get any better?

ellinidata # 26. October 2009, 18:32

thanks for the warning Zaphira,
I had my share of watching bad movies and I love to share:

all are out now... Pls avoid them , it is a crime to pay money to watch them :

I hate sequels to start with :

"Basic Instinct 2"

out of 6
"Alone in the Dark"

out of 6
"All About Steve, Whiteout"

out of 6.....

yes these past two months I had it with the movies...
that's why from now on,
I am going shoe/ bag shopping!

garlingmatthews # 26. October 2009, 18:37

Wow, score, I haven't seen any of these!

ellinidata # 26. October 2009, 18:41

for the money you will save ,
you can buy a pair of sneakers!

how much is the movie tkt in Europe these days?
in the US btwn the movie tkt, car parking and popcorn/drink you nn an easy 40.00USD per person!

garlingmatthews # 26. October 2009, 18:44

The normal price in Sweden is 80-110 sek.

http://www.xe.com/ucc/convert.cgi?Amount=80&From=SEK&To=USD&x=20&y=12

clean # 29. October 2009, 21:14

I think the original Fame is worth a watch for you, Kitten, if only to kind of wash the aftertaste of the update out of your mind.

Flashdance might be worth your while, too. After (and only after) you've seen that, you might find this funny (or horrifying, it all depends).

Zaphira # 29. October 2009, 21:18

@ Gavin & Angeliki ~ Prices for ticket here are also 80-110 DKK (10.75-14.75Eur). I think it's gotten almost too expensive.

@ David ~ I'll go look for it during the weekend.

And yes, I found the ad very funny!

garlingmatthews # 30. October 2009, 06:58

That is pricey. Has it gone up a lot recently? When I moved here in 2002, the only nation in the world that had more expensive cinemas that Sweden was Japan. Although there are cinema's in London where the tickets cost £15 (124 dkk).

But I get bundles of company tickets from my tennants union, Hyresgästsföreningen, which cost 69 sek each.

Flashdance is totally different to Fame, David!

And I'm not sure how bad the new one would have to be for that to work.

clean # 30. October 2009, 07:19

Oh, noes ... does that mean they're doing a new Flashdance?!

Zaphira # 30. October 2009, 07:27

@ Gavin ~ Prices have gone up over the last years, slow and easy and unavoidably.

I don't even dare thinking of what a ticket for a helaftensfilm in Imperial costs!

It's cool with the offers on buying cheap ticket!

@ David ~ It seems that lots of old stuff is having a re-... um... a re... <damn, don't know the word...> let's call it re-birth then.

garlingmatthews # 30. October 2009, 07:28

I was talking about Fame, but you know it's only a matter of time.

I liked Flashdance. Steel wielding ballerina? What's no to like?

Zaphira # 30. October 2009, 07:31

Did you click on David's latest link, Gavin?

garlingmatthews # 30. October 2009, 07:38

I did!

It's directly out of Flashdance.

Zaphira # 30. October 2009, 07:42

At first I didn't see the white clothes he's wearing underneath the black underwear thing!

garlingmatthews # 30. October 2009, 07:44

Didn't notice that!

Minenow # 31. October 2009, 05:26

After seeing the previews, I knew I wouldn't see it.

You solidified that I wouldn't pause for it, were it on tv, however..

Zaphira # 31. October 2009, 06:23

I think I wanted to give it a try because sometimes the lighthearted, chirpy films give the mood a positive kick. There were scenes in Fame that did that too, but not as many as I would have liked.

Furie # 31. October 2009, 12:02

My problem with that sort of light hearted film is that they tend to give an unrealistic view of the world and there are people who hide themselves away and only watch those movies, then wonder why the hell the world is so much worse than they expect.

For me a light hearted comedy has to have at least a moment of darkness in it. That's why Ferris Bueller's Day Off is what I count as the recipe for the perfect comedy. The moment at the end where Cameron has his brilliantly acted breakdown makes up for the cartoon comedy stylings with such a deep and emotional moment that's shocking to the viewer. It's the duality of light and dark that makes it interesting to me.

garlingmatthews # 31. October 2009, 12:16

Ferris Bueller as social documentary; I like it!

Minenow # 31. October 2009, 14:41

I have to agree with Mik. There has to be the grit of reality mixed in there for me to appreciate the piece.

garlingmatthews # 31. October 2009, 20:47

I'm not sure that film grit is more real than film romance or film comedy

Furie # 31. October 2009, 22:34

That's what I'm saying. All of one is unhealthy. You need a mix to keep the mind prepared.

garlingmatthews # 31. October 2009, 22:35

For unreality. That actually makes sense to me.

Furie # 31. October 2009, 22:49

Yes, and no. Hmmm, see if this makes sense, cause it's hard for me to explain this without drawing it out too much.

It's been found that people who watch romantic comedies (the usual Hugh Grant crap from the 90s) have unrealistic expectations of relationships and will expect their partners to automatically know when they have a problem, think that any problem will sort itself out magically without any work from them and they don't compromise in relationships as much as people who don't watch those movies. As unrealistic as the whole situation is, people are using it as their standard for how relationships should be. When you introduce other movie genres and situations into the mix, however unrealistic each situation may be, the gritty and sad situations balance out and help people to stop basing their entire life standard on the films they see, mostly because the bad things are as overplayed as the good things and therefore way less palatable for people's fantasies.

garlingmatthews # 31. October 2009, 22:56

I understand all too well. I watched a great deal of television as a child, and absorbed the bullshit philosophy peddled by the well meaning dolts who were responsible for children's T.V. at the time, and hit the brick wall called reality at school. Having seen some gritty dramas as a kid would have served me very well.

Furie # 31. October 2009, 23:45

Ah, it appears I misunderstood. I'm not used to talking to many really self aware people even after cherry-picking friends with that quality here.

garlingmatthews # 1. November 2009, 07:54

Thank you. You realise, of course, that henceforth you friends shall be called the Furious Cherries

clean # 1. November 2009, 08:36

I remember gritty dramas as a kid. Hill Street Blues, Cop Shop, Prisoner ...

Ahh ... nostalgia.

Furie # 1. November 2009, 11:51

Rose trademarked the Furious Cherries for her biker gang.

I'd love to get Hill Street Blues on DVD at some point. I know it'll be dated by now, but I caught a parody of the opening sequence recently and it all came flooding back.

Furie # 1. November 2009, 11:53

*slams David's hand in the steam press*
I'm top dog now, bitch.

clean # 1. November 2009, 12:31

That show was my first exposure to Maurie Fields. He did his job so well in Prisoner that I hated him instantly. Light years, of course, away from his actual personality as one of the nicest guys on TV.

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