BuzzSugar

Buzz In: What Musicals Do You Want to See on the Big Screen?

BuzzSugar — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 07:30:17 -0800

Did you guys hear? The screen musical is back! Well, at least according to Hugh Jackman, who kicked off his Oscar ceremony musical medley on Sunday by talking about the box office success of Mamma Mia!.

It does seem like we get a good on-screen musical every few years, between Dreamgirls and Hairspray and even Chicago a while back.

I would love to see Mr. Jackman himself singing and dancing in the movies very soon, which got me thinking about musicals that should get a big-screen adaptation while the iron is apparently hot. I think Spring Awakening would be pretty great as a movie, and there's been some buzz for a while about getting Wicked on the big screen as well.

What musicals do you think would make good movies? And do you agree with Jackman that this is a trend worth rooting for?

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Movies For Those Who Love to Dance (or Just Watch It on TV)

BuzzSugar — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 08:30:40 -0700

Do you feel that, too? That giant hole in your Wednesday and Thursday nights that used to be filled with glorious dance (and Nigel Lythgoe)? It's just one week since the finale, and I'm already suffering withdrawal from So You Think You Can Dance. My backup dance show, America's Best Dance Crew, is also nearly done. So I thought I'd share some of my favorite dance movies of all time to get me through these tough times. To see some of my picks, hit "Start." Photo courtesy of Fox

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What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday

BuzzSugar — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 08:30:00 -0800

All of the new DVD releases hit stores (and Netflix) on Tuesdays. So each week in What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday, I sort through the best of the batch and tell you what to add to your queue.

Hairspray
Watching John Travolta in the padded suit and dressed like a woman never does seem quite natural, but despite this, Hairspray is one of my favorite movies from the summer season. Based on the stage musical (which was based on John Waters' 1988 film), Hairspray tells the story of the endearing Tracy Turnblad (Nikki Blonsky), a curvacious Baltimore teen who wants nothing more than to dance on The Corny Collins Show. Once she makes her way on the show, however, she starts tackling even bigger problems, from racial tensions to weight issues - all while belting out songs and beaming her bright smile. Check out my full review of the movie and my interview with Nikki Blonsky and director Adam Shankman.

Two more new DVDs if you read more

Nirvana Unplugged in New York
This title is not yet available on Netflix, but it is available for purchase. As this is one of my November must-haves, I am thrilled that the DVDs of Nirvana's acoustic MTV show are finally being released. It's only been 14 years, after all. In addition to the MTV concert, the DVD includes four tracks from the band's soundcheck, two unaired songs they performed, and previously unreleased behind-the-scenes footage.

Rescue Dawn
Director Werner Herzog was so fascinated with the story of Dieter Dengler he told it twice: first with his documentary Little Dieter Needs to Fly and then this year with his feature film Rescue Dawn starring Christian Bale. Dieter was a German-born American pilot who escaped from a Laotian POW camp in 1965. As a Vietnam War-era saga, Rescue Dawn follows the soldier from his first mission, when he survives a plane crash only to be tortured and starved by Laotian soldiers before fleeing into the even more superhuman hardships of the jungle. It's a phenomenal story, artfully told.

BuzzSugar's Must-Haves for November

BuzzSugar — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 07:30:00 -0700

Welcome to BuzzSugar's monthly must-haves, where I show off a handful of the things I'm most looking forward to watching, buying, renting and reading. As the air gets chillier and we start to ease into the hectic holiday season, I'll be curling up with the following goodies.

To find out why these seven things are at the top of my list, just read more

Waitress - I so loved this romantic comedy written and directed by the late Adrienne Shelly, I've been anxiously awaiting the DVD release so I can watch it anytime I please. Keri Russell plays a pie-making waitress who becomes pregnant by her abusive husband - and is none-too-pleased about that. With the help of her two girlfriends and a sexy gynecologist, she gets through the pregnancy and learns the meaning of true love. Waitress is out on DVD November 27.
The Brit Box - Fans of the Smiths, The Cure, The Sundays, or numerous other Brit pop bands will be salivating over this four-disc collection of hits, courtesy of Rhino. The set traces the rise of Cool Britannia, from early pace-setters like the Jesus and Mary Chain to superstars like Pulp and Oasis. Plus, the four discs and extensive book come packaged in an adorable box shaped like the classic UK phone booth. Check it out when it hits stores November 20.
Gilmore Girls - Season Seven - Coming out November 13, this 6-disc set is an absolute must-have for any die-hard Gilmore Girls fan! Relive the final season with Rory, Lorelei, Luke, Sookie, Lane and the rest of the Stars Hollow gang.
Listening Is an Act of Love - Four years ago, Story Corps started a national project to record oral histories - of your grandmother, your mother, even the stranger down the street. The group installed recording studios around the country to collect stories, and many of the recordings have since aired on public radio. This book, which will be released November 8, collects excerpts from some of the 10,000 stories recorded since the project began.
Live Earth: The Concerts for a Climate in Crisis - According to Billboard, Warner Bros. is releasing a 1-CD/2-DVD package that encapsulates the Live Earth concerts held last July. Proceeds from the CD/DVD will benefit the Alliance for Climate Protection. You can see a whole track list for the CD/DVD set here.
Nirvana: Unplugged in New York - Can you believe it's taken this long for Nirvana's MTV Unplugged performance to be released on DVD? The disc will be released November 20, nearly 14 years from when Nirvana originally did the show. The DVD features four tracks from the band's soundcheck, two unaired songs they performed, and previously unreleased behind-the-scenes footage.
Hairspray - This summer's super fun song-and-dance extravaganza will hit the shelves (when else?) November 20.

Which Will Be No. 1 at the Box Office: Hairspray or Harry Potter?

BuzzSugar — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 10:28:47 -0700

There are an awful lot of people looking forward to seeing the new Hairspray movie this weekend, but can they rival the die-hard Harry Potter fans going to see The Order of the Phoenix for second, third, fourth or fifth times? What do you think? Which of these battling summer flicks will take the crown as No. 1 at the box office this weekend?

Hairspray: Massively Fun

BuzzSugar — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 23:50:43 -0700

What with all the racial tensions, weight issues and societal crises, Hairspray was the most fun I’ve had in a theater in a very long time. It is virtually impossible to watch this newest film version of Hairspray without laughing and wanting to get up and dance. In fact, if you don't crack a smile at least once during this super high-energy, teenage fun fest, I might wonder if your heart were still beating at all.

This rock-n-roll high school musical is full of the energy and tensions of the 1960s when hair was shellacked high and dancing was a daily teenage pastime. As a high school kid in Baltimore, the "pleasantly plump" Tracy Turnblad (Nikki Blonsky) longs to be on The Corny Collins show, a local TV dance program, but when she goes to the open try-outs with her loyal friend Penny (the lollipop-sucking jail bait Amanda Bynes), she's cruelly turned away by the evil station manager, Velma Von Tussle (Michelle Pfeiffer) and her equally heinous daughter Amber (Brittany Snow). Back at school Tracy gets sent to detention - which seems to double as a kind of night club - and befriends a bunch of black kids, in particular the smooth Seaweed (Elijah Kelley) who teaches Tracy some fancy new moves. That's certainly not the end, though, so read more

Forcing her way onto The Corny Collins show one afternoon, Tracy catches the eye of Corny himself (James Marsden) with her newfound moves and is placed as a regular on the show. Once there, Tracy attempts to get The Corny Collins show to be integrated all the time, rather than the one day a week when black kids are allowed to dance. This leads to a heap of trouble with the station - and then with the police. The whole thing ends, of course, with a spectacular ensemble number. Through it all, there are a lot of songs about weight, and lessons about race relations abound. Yet all these heavy issues (no pun intended) are made lighter by all the smiling, bopping and belting, in classic musical fashion.

The one (gigantic) sore spot in this whole outrageous production is John Travolta playing Tracy's mother, Edna Turnblad. In this role, Travolta is constantly giving the audience a chubby-eyed wink, so uncomfortable and outlandish in his fat suit and muumuus it made me squirm in uneasiness for him. He makes a mockery of the role of Edna and therefore of all of Edna's issues: her insecurities and eventual triumphant ownership over her weight are rendered meaningless in Travolta's performance. He comes across as a buffoonish caricature not of a large woman, but of a human being in general.

Aside from that, the rest of the cast is delicious. Nikki Blonsky has an infectious light-filled presence onscreen and a great, big voice to go with it. Zac Efron is completely adorable as - big stretch here - a somewhat narcissistic teen idol. Queen Latifah does her relaxed-yet-powerful thing, James Marsden is magnificently cheesy as Corny, and Allison Janney is hilarious as Penny's crazy, Bible-thumping mother. Amanda Bynes herself gets many of the funniest lines in the movie, and supplies the appropriate amount of cutesy naivete. Hopefully you'll get a lively audience like I did, one that cheers, laughs and claps as though the actors are there to hear the praise. This really is a fantastic musical, presenting real issues while simultaneously providing a raucous and heartfelt good time.

Movie Preview: Hairspray

BuzzSugar — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 16:31:01 -0700

Surely you're aware that Hairspray opens nationwide this Friday, that it was directed by Adam Shankman and stars Nikki Blonsky (both of whom I interviewed!), and that it features John Travolta wearing women's clothing and heavyset prosthetics. So, yeah, there's a lot going on with this movie. Based more on the stage musical than on John Waters' original 1988 film, this summer's Hairspray retains the same storyline: During the racially charged 1960s, the lovable Tracy Turnblad (Blonsky) takes Baltimore by storm when she not only makes it onto the local teen dance show, The Corny Collins Show, but strives to integrate the show as well. The movie also stars Queen Latifah, Allison Janney, Christopher Walken, Michelle Pfeiffer, Amanda Bynes, Brittany Snow and the adorable Zac Efron. Check out my full review this Friday, and if you haven't seen the toe-tappingly fun trailer, you can watch it if you read more

Photo courtesy of New Line Cinema

Buzz Interview: Hairspray's Nikki Blonsky and Adam Shankman

BuzzSugar — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 23:44:39 -0700

I recently sat down with Hairspray director/choreographer Adam Shankman and the star of the show, Nikki Blonsky, to discuss their film adaptation of the Broadway musical (which was itself a stage adaptation of John Waters' original 1988 movie). You'll hear more of my thoughts on the movie next week, though for the purposes of this interview I'll tell you I think this movie promises to be a major summer hit. Being a fan of John Waters' original, I was wary of this version but it turned out to be thoroughly enjoyable.

In the brief time we spent together, I didn't get to hear nearly enough from Miss Blonsky, the sweet 18-year-old who positively lights up the screen with her excitement and charm. Director Adam Shankman - who was a guest judge this week on "So You Think You Can Dance" - comes off as a passionate guy who likes to chat. A lot. Check it out:

On the topic of this version of Hairspray vs. John Waters' film:
ADAM: I was not concerned about competing with John’s movie because John Waters made me feel like this was my own baby. He was just like a proud grandfather in that he would support me no matter what. He’s just such a generous man. And I did not want to go away from it too much. We had lunch in Baltimore and he drove me to the neighborhood where he shot the movie and where the characters actually lived...and nothing’s changed! None of it, none of it’s changed since that period, since he made the movie... I felt like we were approaching it in a really unique way… I really broke it apart and I really made it my own.

There was a lot more to say, so read more

On the topic of Shankman's passion for Hairspray:
ADAM: You know what, [I feel so passionate about Hairspray] because I think I feel like Tracy. I feel like an outsider who never understood the word "can't," but that hovered over my head because of certain things, like being gay. I was Jewish in a heavily non-Jewish neighborhood, I was strangely handicapped even though I was like, this white kid born into an upper-middle-class family, so I came to realize that in our own really weird ways, what we are bonded by is that we are all somehow minorities. Which is why I don’t understand how fear in our country, and prejudice, exist.

And besides, what other musical has this kind of music that has so much power, so much energy, so much positivity, and is so goofy but is about something so real, and so relevant, and frankly, totally ripped from the headlines right now - with Don Imus, Michael Richards, Isaiah Washington, I mean we are still living in a climate of prejudice…The idea that I have the opportunity to make a movie that portrays racists as idiots was something that I felt strongly to do.

On searching for someone to play Tracy:
ADAM: I said from the beginning I needed a teenager playing the part of Tracy because I will not have any dishonesty about Tracy. And that is the tradition - that Edna is always a man and Tracy is always a newcomer and I was not going to shy away from that. Whoever was going to play Tracy had to be totally unencumbered by judgments. She had to be the shiny new face of courage and honesty. And I ended up finding this heavenly creature who is literally, exactly what Tracy is: working class, really pretty, plus-size and proud of it. I mean she sees no sexual lines no color lines, whatever, you know, literally no judgment. And the level of confidence that I saw in her audition was mind-blowing. And so you know when everybody else joined the cast they became a little bit intimidated, oddly, by her, because she has no pretense. And no baggage and no nothing.

On the other cast members:
ADAM: Everyone just kind of brought their A-game... Oh, and by the way everybody kind of ended up becoming who they were, you know, their characters, in a truly charming way. John became very maternal with [Nikki]. Michelle [Pfeiffer] really wanted to make sure everything was okay, you know she was white-knuckling it during some of those numbers sometimes. Amanda [Bynes] is a total goofball. And Queen Latifah - a one-woman NAACP. Christopher Walken - a walking joke shop. Oh, Zac Efron, teen idol, imagine! The only two people who are literally nothing like their characters are Brittany [Snow] and Allison [Janney]. Those are miraculous performances because they have absolutely zero in common with their characters… Jimmy [Marsden] is the corniest person on the planet.

On casting Nikki Blonsky in the role of Tracy:
ADAM: I was determined that [Tracy] was going to be young. And she was going to be somebody I wasn’t going to have to pad. And it was going to be somebody very pretty, and who could sing the crap out of the material.

Nikki read about it online, the audition, it was an open call, and she...submitted the tape and... I loved her. I couldn’t believe how sweet and real and innocent and like, her eyes were all over the place with excitement, and she was heavier, a lot heavier than she is now and... she just oozed confidence. Finally I was like, ‘You guys, it’s her.’

On Nikki's experience working on Hairspray:
NIKKI: I had the greatest time.

ADAM: If there had been 28 hours a day for her to shoot, she would have done it.

NIKKI (to Adam): Well, I mean, you took me out of this normal environment. I know what it’s like to work, you know, a part-time job [at Coldstone Creamery], get paid literally nothing and then have taxes taken out. So, I know what it’s like to be scrubbing toilets and scraping dried ice cream off the counter. And when I came into this I was just like, 'Oh my God, this is everything I’ve ever wanted to do, I just have to prove to them that they made the right choice. I’m going to give them everything that they want - and more.' 'Cause I was just determined to give them what they asked for.

On casting John Travolta, and how Hairspray rounds out his trio of musical movies: Grease (set in the 1950s), Saturday Night Fever (set in the 1970s) and now Hairspray (set in the 1960s):
ADAM: Unfortunately, I didn’t cast... he was being talked to before I got involved. What I was excited about, with the idea of him doing it, was all that – and then with including Michelle in there, you know, with Grease 2 and all that, it’s crazy. And I think what makes this all the same is that rock-n-roll musical, you know, they’re all similar in that way with the unabashed zeal, unapologetic breaking into song. We just went for it headlong in a way that was celebrant.

On what's next for Nikki:
NIKKI: I pray to continue in film, I’ve gotten the film bug, I would love it. I have just had the most amazing experience.

ADAM: She has a great relationship with the camera, that’s not something she could learn or buy, that’s the 'It' factor, you know? I think when we started out I had the camera this close to her and she didn't even blink. I am telling you, half that board (points to the giant cast poster for Hairspray) - and I’m not gonna tell you who - you start moving that camera close and they start moving away. [Nikki] was just like, 'What do you want me to do?' I think she should do more movies.

NIKKI: I want to do more movies, I mean that’s what I want to do. Maybe someday if I have the hunger to go to Broadway, maybe originate a role, that would be cool.

ADAM: I’ll say.

NIKKI: But I want to, right now, stick with more films.

A joke is made about remaking Pink Flamingos next:
ADAM: No, no, no. Why would you remake a John Waters just to remake it? It was the music that made us want to do this.

Source

Weird Little Hairspray Clip

BuzzSugar — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 13:18:16 -0700

Like Transformers, I'm pretty sure Hairspray is all set when it comes to the heavy promotion, and some of the clips from the movie I've seen online recently are not particularly noteworthy.

This one, however, made me laugh and gave me the creeps all at the same time. There's just something about photographs coming alive and singing that leaves me not quite knowing what to say. You couldn't do that with a stage musical.

There's no Travolta-in-drag-and-prosthetics, but it's a clip worth watching regardless, so read more

New Hairspray Clip - Do the Travolta Shimmy

BuzzSugar — Fri, 25 May 2007 04:57:37 -0700

Calling all fans of musicals - this musical number clip from Hairspray is for you. It's campy, slightly ridiculous and highly energetic. Plus, it features John Travolta wriggling his (her?) body into flashy new clothes and letting loose. I'm a bit of a curmudgeon and even I was temporarily softened by this little number. To watch the clip, read more

Photo courtesy of New Line Cinema