Movie Review: Fame

[asterroc]

The latest -and perhaps last- in the string of 1980's musical movies that I've been watching this year was Fame [Wikipedia, IMDB] (movie #7, others being Grease #5, Flashdance #3, and Dirty Dancing #4). The movie was not as musical as I was expecting, though there were a few gratuitous bursts into song and dance, and some gratuitous acting as well. It's essentially Hogwarts for performing arts¹ in that there are many students with their many stories, and none are gone into as depth as they should be. The entire tale is little vignettes into the life of an overachiever in the performing arts, including the dramas of self-revelation, failure, family strife, and budding sexuality. If there are geeks in your life, especially ones who went to nerd camps or schools, it's a must-see, but for all others you can take it or leave it as you choose.

Are there any other 80's musical movies that I've missed?

¹Yeah yeah, I know Rowling would've ripped Parker and not the other way around.

Comments

[rosefox]

Footloose? Or was it turned into a musical post-movie? I can't remember.

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

No clue, but I'll add it anyway. :)

[kelsin.livejournal.com]

Yeah I was going to say Footloose too :) Only one that came to mind immediately!

[jrtom.livejournal.com]

If you're familiar with "The Pirates of Penzance", you might be amused by "The Pirate Movie", which is a pretty funny parody (and very, very '80s).

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

G&S are awesome. :) Reminds me I should add "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead".

[jrtom.livejournal.com]

If you enjoy parody, '80s movies, and G&S, then definitely add "The Pirate Movie" to your list. :)

[framefolly.livejournal.com]

Why 80s musicals? Is this a part of a larger viewing project? I'm always envious of and curious about people who get to watch movies for fun... ;) ...
The Muppets Take Manhattan
So you list #7, 5, 3, and 4 -- what were the others?

You've probably seen these, or aren't interested, but they fit the literal bill of 80s musicals:

Beauty and the Beast
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
The Blues Brothers
Labyrinth
The Little Mermaid
Little Shop of Horrors
The Meaning of Life
Pennies from Heaven
School Daze
Victor Victoria
The Wizard of Speed and Time
Yentl

[framefolly.livejournal.com]

Zounds! The Muppets got shifted out of place, and I can't edit my comment!

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

http://zandperl.livejournal.com/tag/movies is all the movies I"ve been watching lately. I don't have much time to watch them, but they're there.

Thanks for the list! :) I'll add a few to my Netflix queue.

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

I never answered *why*. B/c I realized that somehow I'd never watched these way back when they actually came out, yet the songs that were in the movies kept getting stuck in my head, so I wanted to know their context. :-P It's not always what I'd expect.

[framefolly.livejournal.com]

Grin -- I totally know what you mean -- when I finally finally saw Grease I was like -- OH. Oh. oh.

It seems we have similar tastes in leisure movies! In reading about your recent viewings, I often felt, Yes! And unlike with so many of the other people in my life, you and I actually seem to watch a good number of overlapping movies -- so many of my friends are into a few genres that...I haven't or can't. Like horror (and its many flavors), British tv (which I'd like to get into, but tv takes longer, hard-to-find stuff (like experimental films that were never made into vhs or dvd, and only 4 disintegrating copies of the film exist in the whole wide world), etc. Reading your movie entries made me feel confident that other people our age like these, too!

I'll comment on the individual entries another time. Back to grading #$((*&@ W3#$*....

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

I'm not usually a fan of horror, but I like psychological thrillers and ones with a Sci/Fan bent - for example "28 days later", or "The Sixth Sense". T$ and I are planning to see "30 Days of Night" this weekend - neither of us are horror fans, but he likes the vampires, and I kinda like vampires but I *really* like the intersection of the fantasy of vampires and the science of how above the arctic circle you have whole months of darkness. *grin*

In general Sci-Fi is my favorite genre for movies, with musicals coming in after that though I wouldn't usually think of them as a genre I like. I also like action, fantasy, and certain actors. T$ likes Sci-Fi, action, crime, and noir, and in TV shows likes all of the above plus some styles of humor and British. I'm not as into TV as he.

[framefolly.livejournal.com]

I'm good with other horror -- but supernatural horror -- with vengeful ghosts, esp. -- give me nightmares :P .

[calieber.livejournal.com]

My ex is (or was last I'd heard) the librarian at the high school that now occupies the old Performing Arts space. It's currently Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis High School for International Careers (I think Performing Arts itself moved to Queens somewhere). When we were together and I walked her to work sometimes I had to resist the urge to start singing right on 47th Street—the exterior has barely changed.

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

Wikipedia said it's Laguardia High School of the Performing Arts in Queens.