2011. Dir: Craig Brewer. Starring: Kenny Wormald, Julianne Hough, Dennis Quaid, Miles Teller and Andie MacDowell. ●●●○○
It's strange. It's been nearly a week since I saw the 80's dance classic remake Footloose and whilst I distinctly remember enjoying it, and seemingly floating out of the cinema on a cloud of warm air, I cannot for the life of me remember why. It's almost as if the movie only ever had ambitions to make you hum Kenny Loggins' theme track on the way out and then promptly forget each of the preceding 113 minutes. Luckily I wrote a cpouple of scribblings down during the bus ride home or I'd never be able to write up anything close to a review.
I also feel the need to confess I saw Paramount's latest teen-dance flick for free. I have filled a form out somewhere saying I blog and would appreciate free tickets for films which I would then write up. Usually I'm too busy or the tickets have already been given out, or the film looks rubbish, so I don't get them but this time it worked. You can now spend the rest of the post judging whether my unexplainable amnesia or the generosity of Paramount had the greatest effect on my comments.
If you lived under a rock during the 80's, or let's assume kindly you weren't born, then you may not know the 1984 original which launched the career of Kevin Bacon (and let it be known here that in spite of replacement Kenny Wormald's Rebels without a cause lite stylings and likeable delivery he will never be the sixth degree of Hollywood ubiquity) and featured the unlikely conversion of a town dedicated to crushing the teenage dancers to one willing to slowly accept their love of bump'n'grind. Here Wormald finds himself relocating to Bomont, Tennessee following the untimely passing of his mother and just before his graduating year of high school. He instantly falls for the rebellious Preacher's daughter (Hough, looking mightily like a young Jennifer Aniston) and, partly to win her heart from her oily sexually predatory stock car racing boyfriend (Patrick John Flueger), partly to find a physical release for his former champion gymnastic body (seriously - although his school seems not to care for his former athletic prowess) he must stand up against the militant townsfolk, led by Dennis Quaid, the Preacher father of Hough. You shouldn't be as confused as this plot synopsis sounds as there aren't that many characters.
I don't want to give away the ending, but if you've seen the poster you know that Wormald and Hough spend some time towards the end of the movie dancing, this is after Wormald's reciting passages from Leviticus at the town meeting in an attempt to move the puritanical bunch. You may during that scene finally lose your rage with the screenplay, of it isn't enough that rock 'n' roll moves were banned for no apparent reason - I realise the justification is the death of five local teens on the way home from an all nighter, but it looked like teenage drinking and poor driving skills were responsible not the form of entertainment they were up to - but the extent of Wormald's argument for dancing is "The Bible says it's OK" in passages that in no way reflect the town's specific underage dance prohibition.
Of course the film isn't trying to show real critical reasoning, indeed in places the moral message seems surprisingly twee. The hero of the piece is a wannabe lone wolf, angry at the world and ready to rebel at it's small c conservative core. However the most hardcore resistance he offers is playing loud music in a clapped out VW Beetle. He refusing drugs point blank and won't kiss Hough until she and Flueger are finished and even then anything more sexual than a slow twirl around the barn floor seems out of the question.
On a side note it's interesting to see the difference between American and British conurbations, like the fictional Bomont I grew up in a population around 20,000 and when the headteacher said there were around 220 kids in the final year of school I nearly fell off my chair, such were the numerical similarities to my childhood. But the thought of a town council actually being able to make a decision like banning dancing, let alone enforce it, seems like something out of the dark ages to this small-town boy. Indeed the most discussed motions in Melksham would be the date the Christmas decorations go up.
Movies like this live or die on the dance floor of course, and the variety and joie de vivre of the dance scenes is evident throughout, from a grungy car park face off to a superclub C&W Line dance, not to mention the obligatory update of Bacon's angsty solo. Wormald is infinitely better in that respect, bringing an athleticism to his moves that Bacon could only dream of, although you could question whether the character should have that polished a technique? It's a shame also to hear the best two tracks in the soundscape are the two Oscar nominated songs pilfered from the original, Footloose is used to post-ironically point the way to the original whilst Let's Hear it for the Boy hilarious plays during an affectionate montage sequence.
Wormald copes well with the blandness of his character, nailing the angry exchanges with his recent memory and the lost puppy looks, and in a attractive best friend kind of way he could have a career ahead of him. The less said about Hough's wooden performance the better though, I suspect she was given advice from Andie McDowell who floats in as her mother. However all of these performances are firmly in the shade of Miles Teller, excelling as the best friend Willard, always ready for a fight and so filled with manly pride he refuses to dance throughout the first two acts, he alone manages to bust through the stereotypical character profile and give a fully rounded comic performance with just a touch of self-awareness. When combined with his sterling work as the teenage driver in Rabbit Hole earlier this year you realise this is a guy to watch.
Craig Brewer, with cinematographer Amy Vincent, know how to light a scene and show the cast in their best but it's certainly not as edgy or interesting as their last two films Black Snake Moan and Hustle & Flow, making you hope that whatever Brewer moves on to he can return to that dangerous style. Whilst this version may be just a little too beholden to the original there's enough here to justify watching this as an alternative some Saturday afternoon or mid-week sleepover in the future, and I for one certainly think it was worth every penny I spent on seeing it.
Wednesday, 19 October 2011
Footloose
Friday, 14 October 2011
Time for a quick nap (Out this week - 14/10/11)
It's an admittedly facetious title this week, which in part relates to the Cannes nominated film that takes the top slot this week, but it also indicates that there's not much really jumping out to me. If you slept through the weekend would you honestly miss anything worth seeing? Personally I very much doubt it, there may be some OK releases out of 14 new movies (the highest number we've had out in a particular week) including 2 US chart toppers but I doubt anything's going to end up on anyone's top ten lists. Film of the week is Sleeping Beauty.
Sleeping Beauty
This film divided audiences in Cannes where critics fought over whether the central character played by Emily Browning is empowered or subjugated by her job as an unconscious prostitute, and you can be sure Julia Leigh's debut gets the same response in it's UK release.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●○○○○○
Dolphin Tale
I don't think anyone had this true-life inspirational fable of a dolphin that loses it's tail and the boy who fights for a prosthetic replacement on their radar at the beginning of the year, sure it may have Morgan Freeman tottering on the edge of the storyline, but no-one expected it to take the $50m it's just passed at the US box office. So it must have something heart-warming in it.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●○○○○○○
Footloose
Remake of the classic 80's dance drama with Kenny Wormald taking the Kevin Bacon part and bringing rock and roll to the small town where dancing has been banned and bringing the kids to their rebellious feet. I may go and see this...
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●○○○○○○
Three Musketeers
Each generation gets the Dumas adaptation it deserves, so whilst I grew up with the comic swash-buckler starring Michael York, now we have Paul W.S. Anderson's steampunk visualisation with Logan Lerman (who at least I've never heard of), Christoph Waltz provides bad guy swagger and Milla Jovovich is badass in a corset.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●○○○○○○
Aazaan
Bollywood movie that explores the boundaries between loyalty to family and to Mother India, as the titular half-Afghan hero must prevent the terrorist plot led by his brother.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Albatross
Low budget British indie with an interesting cast, led by Julia Ormond and Felicity Jones, that explores an unconventional love triangle with one of two friends falling for the others father.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Everything must Go
I'm not completely sure why this Will Ferrell vehicle has completely passed me by until it's UK opening. It could be because it's his reach for dramatic credibility as his relapsing alcoholic loses his family and decides to sell all his stuff in order to move on. Rebecca Hall and Laura Dern support.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Khushiyaan
The Bollywood movie industry is at least in part built on the dramatic tension between family and career, and here the theme is built upon with an architect and his New York based wife and child returning to the Punjab village where he grew up and reuniting with his ailing father.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Real Steel
Rocky with Robots? It swept to the top of the US charts last weekend, and should almost certainly do the same on this side of the pond, with it's ubiquitous bus advertising campaign, but I've yet to hear anything about the movie that makes it seem unmissable. Although Hugh Jackman doing Sugar Ray Leonard's fight choreography might be worth it.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Retreat
It's another entry in the mankind falls apart after a virus begins to wipe people out sub-genre, joining last week's Perfect Sense and the upcoming Contagion, only this time we have sweaty trio of Brit thesps Thandie Newton, Jamie Bell and Cillian Murphy fighting in a small island retreat.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Texas Killing Fields
I'm not sure why but earlier in the year this swampland cop drama was picking up awards buzz, possibly because it's the sophomore directorial effort of Michael Mann's daughter Ami Canaan or the appearance of the ubiquitous Jessica Chastain with Sam Worthington among those chasing the local serial killer with a taste for small girls.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
First Night
Odd little mix of Country house romantic shenanigans and opera as a bunch of industrialists with more time than sense decide to put on an amateur performance of Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutti. The music is, of course, fantastic, but the soap level histrionics look utterly missable.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○
Snehaveedu
Finally Mayamalan Comic drama also sees a wandering character returning home to his small village, this time the prodigal is the father who must get to know the son he left behind.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○
Tuesday, 30 August 2011
Tuesday Trailers - Footloose
Remakes are always a tricky proposition, for every potential new fan there are half a dozen purists, devoted to the original, anxiously looking for flaws in the latest version. So it's with an unusual courage that I freely admit to looking forward to the remake of this cult hit. I actually want to see whether Kenny Wormald can hold a candle to Kevin Bacon and whether we'll one day need a new seven degrees game.
Footloose is released on 14 October 2011.
Saturday, 17 April 2010
Film News (17/04/2010)
Of course the biggest news this week is the release of the Cannes line-up. Never ones to mix-up the formula this years competition is dominated by films from known and respected male auteurs. Of them there are a few that I would definitely like to be in the crowd to guage the response as it happens. Curiously I was invited as a plus one, but as my friend is a yellow badge and has her own film to plug I don't think it would be much fun.
Of most interest to me are the two entries that made my top 20 [anticipated films] for 2010: Alejandro Gonzales Innaritu's Biutiful and Mike Leigh's Another Year. In the competition I'd also be intrigued to see La Princesse du Montpensier and Utomlyonnye Solntsem 2 from Bertrand Tavernier and Nikita Mikhalkov respectively.
Outside of the competition my tastes are more mainstream. Robin Hood, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, Wall Street 2 - Money Never Sleeps you all know about, bu I'll also be interested to hear the word from Stephen Frears' Tamara Drewe which I wasn't expecting for another year at least.
Anyway let's march on to the usual mix of film and casting news.
Jackie
I think it goes without saying that Darren Aronofsky loves his wife deeply (I imagine if I was married to the lovely Rachel Weisz I would be pretty enamoured too) in teir last collaboration - the divine but confused The Fountain - she essentially played his muse through 10 centuries, the love between Hugh Jackman's stand-in and Weisz being the universes only true constant. So it is hardly surprising that Aronofsky has cast her in his latest biopic of the iconic first lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy.
The film will document the days between JFK's assassination and the funeral as Jackie must cope publicly and privately with the grief, pain and expectations of the nation. 
This picture is stolen from awardsdaily.com, but you get a chance to see the subject and the performer together. (Thank you, by the way)
It's the sort of role that any actress would kill for, and I would imagine that Darren knows what he's doing. I just hope he is able to objectif the performance more, in The Fountain he was so busy adoring Rachel with the camera that she came across as one-dimensional and this role deserves more than that.
Read on for rebellious dancing, art house pastiches, drunken footballers and an unusual case of fraud (sounds like a great saturday night).
Footloose
The endless delays on the Footloose remake have led to another star and director moving through the revolving door of it's production office. So to recap Chace Crawford is out (following Zac Efron) as is Kenny Ortega. And whilst there is no news on the lead (although Zac's diary is looking free again) Craig Brewer has taken the reins. Yes, that's the same Craig Brewer who made Christine Ricci all sweaty in Black Snake Moan. Suddenly I'm very intrigued.
I heard You Paint Houses - and offshoot
Bobby DeNiro has been babbling on about his next collaboration with Martin Scorsese as if it's planned to start soon (whereas we all know Marty has Hugo Cabret and Silence on his slate first). I suppose if I was De Niro I'd want people excited about this too, so you can't blame him. So far it's all be a retread of the previous rumours, that they're working together on the biopic of alleged mob assassin Frank Sheeran who may or may not have killed Jimmy Hoffa, expect that he's also announced a side project to be filmed at the same time. In his own words:
"We have a more ambitious idea, hopefully, to make it a two-part type of film or two films. It’s an idea that came about from Eric Roth to combine these movies using the footage from ‘Paint Houses’ to do another kind of a [film that is] reminiscent of a kind of 8 1/2, La Dolce Vita, [a] certain kind of biographical, semi-biographical type of Hollywood movie — a director and the actor — based on things Marty and I have experienced and kind of overlapping them."
Now if that doesn't get you all excited then I don't know what will.
Namath
Now that Jake Gyleenhaal is officially buff he's obviously looking around for a greater variety of roles that will show this off (something for which we are all grateful), one of these is the biopic of American Footballer Joe Namath. I confess I know nothing about who this fella is - feel free to enlighten me in the comments - but I'm sure that any American Football movie will have plenty of time for the camera to linger over Jake as he hits the team bath.
Mmmm.
Untitled Bill Anthony Jakob biopic
Our fourth, and last, biopic of the week is almost certainly the least known of the subjects. Above we've had President's wives, mob enforcers and athletes, but somehow I think Jakob's story could be just as much fun. In 2008 Jakob descended on a sleepy Missouri town claiming to be a Federal agent and wiping the crime from the streets. He was extraordinarily successful. Only he wasn't a fed, just an ardinary guy trying to make a difference. Like a real life superhero. Of course the real FBI arrested him for fraud. It'll be interesting to see which way screenwriter Clark Gregg goes with this bizarre tale.
