Uma/Ulla

#1

Uma/Ulla

Posted: 12/28/05 at 8:23pm

Uma Thurman had BETTER get a nomination for this one.

Her version of "If You've Got It, Flaunt It" gave Catherine Zeta-Jones' "All That Jazz" a SERIOUS run for its money. And I can't have been the only one who thought of Ginger Rogers during her romantic dance with Broderick, as she twirled all over the set in blue chiffon. (Of course, she can't really sing, but neither could Ginger--does anyone CARE?)

The movie itself is divinely silly--I wept from laughing and had to force myself not to applaud. Nathan and Matthew's final duet is almost as touching as "Brokeback Mountain". And the damned CLOSING CREDITS are funny. The audience I saw it with stayed all the way through them to the priceless gag at the end.

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I ask in all honesty/What would life be?/Without a song and a dance, what are we?/So I say "Thank you for the music/For giving it to me."

#2

re: Uma/Ulla

Posted: 12/28/05 at 8:43pm

Ginger could sing! she didn't have a very memorable voice, but she's very pleasant to listen to in her early muscials and with Fred Astaire.
But I understand what you're trying to say, they have a lot of presence.

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~And let us try, before we die, to make some sense of life~

#3

re: Uma/Ulla

Posted: 12/28/05 at 8:44pm

I soooo disagree with you. I LOVED the movie, but thought Uma was the low point. Her acting was decent, not great. Her dancing was fine, and her singing was AWFUL. How you can say she gave Catherine Zeta-Jones a run for her money is beyond me.

And that scene with the blue dress was based on the old Ginger Rogers/Fred Astaire musicals; Mel Brooks loved that genre, so it's meant to bring to mind exactly that.

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"You ask four guys, you get four different versions" ~ Tommy DeVito, Jersey Boys

#4

re: Uma/Ulla

Posted: 12/28/05 at 8:46pm

I know it's popular on here to bash Uma, because she's not "of the theatuh" but I thought she was the best thing in the movie.

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Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.

#5

re: Uma/Ulla

Posted: 12/28/05 at 8:48pm

roquat, that was sarcasm...right?

#6

re: Uma/Ulla

Posted: 12/28/05 at 8:50pm

i haven't seen the movie yet. uma usually is a wonderful actress but singing wise she doesn't have the greatest voice but it's not the worst either. she didn't come close to blowing zeta-jones away vocaly.

#7

re: Uma/Ulla

Posted: 12/28/05 at 8:53pm

Catherine blew Uma out of the water. Uma's performance was okay but Catherine's was sensational.

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"I wish the stage were as narrow as the wire of a tightrope dancer, so that no incompetent would dare step upon it." Goethe

#8

re: Uma/Ulla

Posted: 12/28/05 at 8:57pm

That shot of her flipping off the desk into a split--heart-stopping.

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I ask in all honesty/What would life be?/Without a song and a dance, what are we?/So I say "Thank you for the music/For giving it to me."

#9

re: Uma/Ulla

Posted: 12/28/05 at 8:57pm

For her first movie musical role (I think), Uma did a decent job, in my opinion. I think Catherine Zeta-Jones did much better in Chicago, though.

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"A little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing." - Thomas Jefferson

#10

re: Uma/Ulla

Posted: 12/28/05 at 9:48pm

WOW! I think Catherine takes the cake in Chicago! She is better than Renee, Richard and Queen, shes absoluetly fabulous! And I thought Uma did ok in The Producers, but she can't sing at all, and to compare her to someone who stole the entire movie and won an Oscar is a bit of an uphil fight.

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~Now I'm standing centre stage, I'm at home at last!~

#11

re: Uma/Ulla

Posted: 12/28/05 at 9:51pm

Personally, I didn't think Uma was such a standout. She was kind of 'blah' for me, like I didn't hate her nor love her. She was just ... there.

#12

re: Uma/Ulla

Posted: 12/28/05 at 10:14pm

I agree with almostxfamous. She was just there.

And comparing her to Catherine Zeta Jones in Chicago? That's borderline blasphemy right there.

#13

re: Uma/Ulla

Posted: 12/28/05 at 10:21pm

Uma better than Catherine? Are you kidding? Catherine Zeta Jones was freakin phenomenal in Chicago and to compare Uma to Catherine is just ridiculous

#14

re: Uma/Ulla

Posted: 12/28/05 at 10:22pm

The flip from the desk to the splits made me love Uma. And her fake accent was alright. I do hope she gets a nomination, even if it wasn't amazing.

And I laughed through the entire movie, obnoxiously so. So did everyone else. And we all applauded. It's hard not to, after the marching swastika kick line.

#15

re: Uma/Ulla

Posted: 12/28/05 at 11:02pm

I just got home from watching the movie for the first time and although I thought it was a bad movie, I think Uma Thurman was one of the few things I liked about it. However, it's completely absurd to compare her performance to Catherine Z. Jones, I mean, not at all.

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"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"

#16

re: Uma/Ulla

Posted: 12/28/05 at 11:21pm

while i disagree about blowing catherine away i must say uma hit the nail on the head for ulla. the point, for me at least is that she ISN'T a great singer. Cady was vocally divine however if an actress walked in and sang like that (and belted with virtually no discernable accent) she would never get cast in a show meant to flop.

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"Grease," the fourth revival of the season, is the worst show in the history of theater and represents an unparalleled assault on Western civilization and its values. - Michael Reidel

#17

re: Uma/Ulla

Posted: 12/28/05 at 11:25pm

eh. Uma's Ulla bored me. She was the least memorable part of the movie for me.

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"You just can't win. Ever. Look at the bright side, at least you are not stuck in First Wives Club: The Musical. That would really suck. " --Sueleen Gay

#18

re: Uma/Ulla

Posted: 12/28/05 at 11:30pm

She's a good actress, but her performance wasn't over-the-top enough.

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#19

re: Uma/Ulla

Posted: 12/29/05 at 12:17am

I enjoyed Uma as Ulla, but if she gets a nomination over better performances (Amy Adams, etc.), I will be royally pissed.

#20

re: Uma/Ulla

Posted: 12/29/05 at 12:26am

I had a problem with her accent. It seemed like she had a problem keeping it consitent- she kept slipping back into an American one. Maybe it was hard for her to do a fake accent as opposed to an authentic one. I found it very distracting.

#21

re: Uma/Ulla

Posted: 12/29/05 at 7:10am

Catherine Z-J was horribly mis-cast in Chicago. I believe that for the Roxie/Velma relationship to work Velma MUST be older and wiser than Roxie. Hence why Roxie aspires to being like Velma. I didn't think she was glamorous enough nor did she demand your attention when performing. If Uma isn't as good as her then she must be diabolical.

#22

re: Uma/Ulla

Posted: 12/29/05 at 9:33am

Not diabolical, just BLAH.

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"You ask four guys, you get four different versions" ~ Tommy DeVito, Jersey Boys

#23

re: Uma/Ulla

Posted: 12/29/05 at 10:20am

Uma was awful. She sang like a frog, although she looked stunning. Gary Beach deserves a nomination. He stole the show, as always.

#24

re: Uma/Ulla

Posted: 12/29/05 at 10:23am

I thought Beach was terrific too (as usual, as you said) as was Roger Bart. Heck, I think they were all good in it--except Uma. Zzzzzzzzzzzz.

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"You ask four guys, you get four different versions" ~ Tommy DeVito, Jersey Boys

#25

re: Uma/Ulla

Posted: 12/29/05 at 10:27am

None of the actors stand a chance of a nomination.