the poetic and literary movement of honey pies, sugar dadies and cross-dressers

Review All That Jazz

2011-06-15T10:46:00.000-07:00

“All that work. All that glitter. All that pain. All that love. All that crazy rhythm. All that jazz.”

All That Jazz is a 1979, Bob Fosse musical picture. It has a little bit of drama, comedy and plenty of fantasy. Written by Robert Allan Arthur and Bob Fosse, himself; it stars actors Roy Scheider, playing Joe Gideon, the main character; Jessica Lange and Leland Palmer. It was internationally acclaimed in the 1980’s Oscar ceremony, when it won 4 Oscars for: Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing and Best Adaption Score. Besides those, it won also 6 awards and was nominated for 11 other.

Through the eyes of Director and Choreographer Bob Fosse, All That Jazz tells the story of his life, as he details the sordid life of Joe Gideon, a womanizing, drug-using dancer. The film begins with Joe’s daily routine: waking up to the sound of classical music, taking an aspirin, putting a couple of eye drops and taking a shower with an unlit cigarette in his mouth. This is the way Gideon leads with the daily stresses of being a dancer/ choreographer and is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. In the next scene, Gideon is at the dance studio selecting, in a brutally honest way, which dancers are going to “make the cut” in his new show. While doing this, you can see he has his ex-wife, Audrey, played by Leland Palmer (also a former dancer) and daughter, Michelle (Erzsebet Foldi) sitting in the back, watching someone who is so important to them. We get the impression, throughout the movie, that without Audrey and Michelle’s support, Joe would have already been dead by now. Audrey and Joe’s relationship went down the drain since he was a lying cheating womanizer. Another important female in his life, is his girlfriend, Kate Jagger (Ann Reinking) who shows us how amazingly well she can dance, all through the film. Although not being very present in Michelle’s life, Joe and Michelle get along pretty swell. The special moments shared between them are naturally through dance. In the next scene, we see Joe and his guardian angel, Angelique (played by the lovely Jessica Lange), who also works as his conscious, confronting him with personal questions. Besides choreographing and picking dancers for his new show, Gideon is editing his feature film about a standup comic and these two time-consuming projects are getting the best of him. Expectably, Joe ends up having a nervous breakdown and has to be hospitalized but he continues to chain-smoke and sneakily involves himself with some nurses. He is so strained from his work, he starts hallucinating with certain episodes from his life, Angelique always showing up and giving him advice. While scenes from his past are creeping up on him, in the present, and his subconscious balancing itself, reminding him of all the harm he caused to his loved ones, the world continues to evolve. Like they say in show business: “The show must go on!” so his staff pressures the big shots, in order, for the show to still go on, with its choreographer recovering in the hospital. Gideon becomes increasingly aware of his mortality – he thinks he is going to die. Still, he does not shut out his addictions: women, drugs and tobacco.

One aspect that characterizes this movie and which earned it an Oscar is its wonderful, whimsical costumes that took it to another level in the dancing/musical world. In some scenes of the movie, many of the dancers aren’t wearing much clothes at all which was something ahead of its time. For example, in the “Airotica” scene, the lack of clothes on the dancers could give it a derogatory, even sleazy appeal, however Fosse’s talent for the visual effects of dance in a movie, gives it a sensual fluidity that makes you feel as if you’re there.

Another aspect of the filmmaking that moved me was the filmmaking itself. I had never seen a Bob Fosse movie before and felt completely enthralled in Joe’s story, probably because the movie portrays his life and his experience in the dance business. There’s a very sensitive and naïve sense of taste in Fosse’s work and I thoroughly enjoyed watching it. He is a true craftsman at his work and I found his ravishing, impulsive, obsessive way of living through dance quite impressive.

This movie is the true tale of a workaholic dancer. And if dance isn’t anything other than a way of expressing ourselves through movement then I think Fosse did an excellent job at reflecting this. You are living through Fosse’s creative, imaginative whirl winded life as you watch the film and get to feel skin deep whatever he is. This autobiographic movie is very entertaining and I think will appeal to the younger crowd, especially people who love the arts.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind movie review

2011-06-13T14:55:00.000-07:00

The review I’m going to write about is “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” which is considered a dramatic, romantic independent film (a.k.a. “indie flick”). More important, it is one of my favorite movies, to date!

Directed in 2004 by Michel Gondry the movie stars Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet and Tom Wilkinson, just to name a few of the main actors.

Popularity wise it’s quite well-known, since it won an Oscar in 2005 for Best Original Screenplay and Kate Winslet was also nominated by the Academy for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Since then, it has won 38 awards and received 50 nominations. This film ranks in the Top 250 Movies of All Time list, classified by the Internet Movie Database (IMDB), in 61^st place.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind tells us the unlikely love story of Joel Barish (Jim Carrey) and Clementine Kruczynski (Kate Winslet).

Joel Barish is a sad, introverted, emotionally withdrawn character who falls for the impulsive, radiant, dysfunctionally free spirited Clementine. They meet on a Saturday afternoon near the coast of Montauk (USA) while Joel is still in a commited relationship with Naomi. He is fatally attracted by Clementine’s colourful red hair.

Despite their completely opposite personalities they become mad about each other.

Life, however, isn’t a box of chocolates or a bouquet of roses. The new lovers have their share of wild fights. One night, after arriving home very inebriated, Clementine starts a fight with Joel, then leaves him.

Later in the story, Joel finds out Clementine has gone to Lacuna Inc., a psychotherapy clinic where clients go to get certain people erased from their memories. This is exactly what Clem decides to do. Joel wants to do the same, so he brings all the objects that remind him of Clementine and the mind - erasing begins.

Then, the plot thickens (as they all usually do): while Joel is unconscious, getting his Clementine memories erased, he suddenly “glimpses” into his subconscious mind and freaks out. While he is experiencing his memories of Clementine, he tells her what’s happening to her and she gives him an alternative plan: to hide her in his memories.

Without giving away any further details of the story, I will just say that this is an amazing accomplishment by Mr. Gondry and his team. In my opinion, the movie editing is brilliant.

It is easy to get confused when you watch this film for the first time, because the sequences aren’t in a logical order. It jumps from the present time, to the future and to the past (back and forth). The amusing point of reference to where you are in the story of Joel and Clementine is directly related to her hair color, which is constantly changing in the movie.

I highly recommend this film, my all-time favorite. I think it appeals to the general audience due to its sweet story and romantic reminiscences for anyone who is or who has ever been in love.

Anica Cortez

club 80's

2009-09-05T08:26:00.000-07:00

"Springsteen, Madonna
way before Nirvana
There was U2 and Blondie
And music still on MTV
Her two kids in high school
They tell her that she's uncool
Cuz she's still preoccupied
With 1985"

Bowling for soup - 1985

2009-07-16T05:32:00.000-07:00

- Don't you hate that?

- What?

-Uncomfortable silences. Why do we feel it's necessary to talk about bullshit in order to be comfortable?

-I don't know.

-That's when you know you found somebody special. When you can just shut the fuck up for a minute, and comfortably share silence.

My Sharona!

2009-07-08T11:50:00.000-07:00

Reality Bites - My Sharona

2009-07-08T11:24:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it's just overwhelming the expectations we have in life, the plans we guard for the future and realising at the end what we have done of ourselves towards the real change that has happened in our lives.. it's funny

the irony of it all!!

Night on earth (1991) by Jim Jarmusch

darjeeling limited

2009-07-06T05:29:00.000-07:00

I wonder if the three of us would've been friends in real life.

Not as brothers, but as people.

And I'm in perpetual motion and the world below doesn't matter much to me
This time tomorrow where will we be
On a spaceship somewhere sailing across any empty sea...

I feel like I can't take it,

2009-06-30T06:37:00.000-07:00

it was one of those days when it's a minute away from snowing and there's this electricity in the air, you can almost hear it. And this bag was, like, dancing with me. like a little kid begging me to play with it. for fifteen minutes. and that's the day I knew there was this entire life behind things, and... this incredibly benevolent force, that wanted me to know there was no reason to be afraid, ever. video's a poor excuse, I know. but it helps me remember... and I need to remember... sometimes there's so much beauty in the world I feel like I can't take it, like my heart's going to cave in.

american beauty.

Seize the day

2009-06-29T12:51:00.000-07:00

" Yesterday's the past, tomorow's the future, but today is a gift. That's why it's called the present."

Voltaire

eternal sunshine of the spotless mind

2009-06-28T17:16:00.000-07:00

2004.
random thoughts for Valentine's day. today is a holiday invented by greeting card companies to make people feel like crap.

2009-06-25T18:52:00.000-07:00

anica, se faz favor, faz a tua conta blogger!