#1
Posted: 6/30/07 at 4:50am
Can we say hit!
Director-choreographer Adam Shankman's buoyant stage-to-screen translation of "Hairspray" may not equal the comic zest of its 1988 root source, John Waters' first and still-finest mainstream feature. Nonetheless, it's one of the best Broadway-tuner adaptations in recent years -- yes, arguably even better than those Oscar-winning ones. Unpretentious, feel-good pic is low on histrionic diva wailing and MTV-style editing, high on retro movie-musical craftsmanship. Despite uneven casting among marquee thesps, it's a real crowd-pleaser. Potential sleeper could tap not just positive word-of-mouth but also various demographics underserved by the summer's pileup of CGI-heavy action.
Oddly, adult roles rich in comedic potential are interpreted with not-so-special flair here. Sporting a vaguely Western drawl, Travolta doesn't offer much beyond the inherent wink-wink humor of seeing a famous male actor in latex-assisted fatsuit drag. Walken, who's played the mock Eisenhower-era dad before, can't wring laughs from the joke-shop material. Their marital-devotion duet, "Timeless to Me," indulges the performers beyond the mild amusement it affords.
Pfeiffer makes Velma eminently hissable, though her villainy could've been a lot funnier. Latifah, whose comic expertise particularly shone in Shankman's "Bringing Down the House," makes Maybelle more a model of dignified reserve than a sassy "motormouth." Allison Janney (as Penny's Bible-thumping mother), Jerry Stiller (1988's Mr. Turnblad, here the proprietor of Mr. Pinky's Hefty Hideaway) and Paul Dooley (the TV station's owner) are other reliable thesps who fall a little flat.
The kids, though, are just fine. Newcomer Blonsky is cute and spunky, and has a big voice with the right early-'60s-girl-group "tear" in it -- especially in her early highlight, "I Can Hear the Bells." Efron, Snow, Bynes and Parks all score points. But the real scene-stealer is Kelley, whose self-confident Seaweed socks across perhaps the movie's single most dynamic number ("Run").
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117934040.html?categoryid=31&cs=1
Director-choreographer Adam Shankman's buoyant stage-to-screen translation of "Hairspray" may not equal the comic zest of its 1988 root source, John Waters' first and still-finest mainstream feature. Nonetheless, it's one of the best Broadway-tuner adaptations in recent years -- yes, arguably even better than those Oscar-winning ones. Unpretentious, feel-good pic is low on histrionic diva wailing and MTV-style editing, high on retro movie-musical craftsmanship. Despite uneven casting among marquee thesps, it's a real crowd-pleaser. Potential sleeper could tap not just positive word-of-mouth but also various demographics underserved by the summer's pileup of CGI-heavy action.
Oddly, adult roles rich in comedic potential are interpreted with not-so-special flair here. Sporting a vaguely Western drawl, Travolta doesn't offer much beyond the inherent wink-wink humor of seeing a famous male actor in latex-assisted fatsuit drag. Walken, who's played the mock Eisenhower-era dad before, can't wring laughs from the joke-shop material. Their marital-devotion duet, "Timeless to Me," indulges the performers beyond the mild amusement it affords.
Pfeiffer makes Velma eminently hissable, though her villainy could've been a lot funnier. Latifah, whose comic expertise particularly shone in Shankman's "Bringing Down the House," makes Maybelle more a model of dignified reserve than a sassy "motormouth." Allison Janney (as Penny's Bible-thumping mother), Jerry Stiller (1988's Mr. Turnblad, here the proprietor of Mr. Pinky's Hefty Hideaway) and Paul Dooley (the TV station's owner) are other reliable thesps who fall a little flat.
The kids, though, are just fine. Newcomer Blonsky is cute and spunky, and has a big voice with the right early-'60s-girl-group "tear" in it -- especially in her early highlight, "I Can Hear the Bells." Efron, Snow, Bynes and Parks all score points. But the real scene-stealer is Kelley, whose self-confident Seaweed socks across perhaps the movie's single most dynamic number ("Run").
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117934040.html?categoryid=31&cs=1
Well I didn't want to get into it, but he's a Satanist.
Every full moon he sacrifices 4 puppies to the Dark Lord and smears their blood on his paino.
This should help you understand the score for Wicked a little bit more.
Tazber's: Reply to
Is Stephen Schwartz a Practicing Christian
