While some geeks might be uncomfortable saying they are a fan of certain genres of film, I have no troubles saying that I love musicals.  I have been a fan of musicals as long as I can remember.  I love music and film so naturally musicals are dear to me.  I want to share some of my favorite “twisted” musicals with you today.  These are by no means the ONLY musicals I like but these have really meant something to me through the years.  Hope you enjoy.

The Phantom of the Paradise

 What happens when you cross Faust, The Phantom of the Opera, and The Picture of Dorian Gray, and pepper in a smattering of Frankenstein and a discotheque?  You get an early Brian DE Palma film that will blow your mind.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

The first time I watched this film I had no clue what I was watching.  A friend of mine and his sister introduced me to this movie and I have seen it once a year every year since my pre-teens.  The Evil Dr. Frank N. Furter an alien from the planet Transylvania in the Galaxy of Transsexual has found the secret of life itself.  Tim Curry and Susan Sarandon steal this twisted show.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

The Wiz

I love The Wizard of Oz.  I always have.  When I saw this movie I felt like I was seeing it all over again.  It’s terribly dated now and chock full of what to me seems like some nasty ethnic stereotyping, but if you can suspend belief in the real world you will be in for a treat.  The talent assembled here is almost unmatched.  The late Michael Jackson is just icing on the cake.  There’s no place like home.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

The First Nudie Musical

I first saw this movie on Showtime back in the late Seventies or early Eighties, and tried to find it on tape for years afterwards. Very funny, and I LOVED seeing Ron Howard (uncredited) and Cindy Williams in the same film pre-Happy Days/Laverne & Shirley. I have frequently tried to describe this film to my friends, and been frustrated. Even singing “Lesbian Butch Dyke, you can call it what you like” didn’t convey the hilarity.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Cry Baby

John Waters is a genius.  Johnny Depp does some early work here mixing songs with some seriously good 50’s retro props, costumes and scenery.  Not the greatest acting, so be prepared to laugh a lot at this camp fest extraordinaire.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Earth Girls Are Easy

Those of us that grew up in the REAL MTV eighties will remember this film.  Jeff Goldblum, Jim Carry, and Damon Wayans make this musical a MUST see.  It’s really only somewhat a musical since the songs are sparse.  When aliens fly off course and accidentally land in an valley girl’s pool all hell breaks loose getting them back home.  While I have always thought of Gina Davis as some what a horse faced actress, in this film she is SMOKING HOT.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Little Shop of Horrors

I’ve loved this movie for years and never get tired of it. It’s entertaining and funny without needing to go for cheap or raunchy jokes (which I have nothing against). The songs are fun, and everyone in this movie can really sing. The jokes are clean and smart even if they are a little dark and twisted.  This was done by the great Frank Oz. I’m a big Muppets fan, so it makes sense that I love this too.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Popeye

If you can find enjoyment in critically panned movies such as The Wiz, you can find corny enjoyment in this relatively same plateau of a production with catchy songs, and memorable characters.  Distance yourself from cartoon which it’s based, and think of it as a real life community of oddball people with their own rules for living. There was a lot of work drawn on this production and it’s not second rate including sets, music, costumes, and performance. It actually has tender moments from the transition of Popeye being the lone outcast to Olive Oyl discovering her love for this man soon after they find sweet pea lost in a basket. It is that chemistry which pulls the movies weight.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Scrooge

I have reviewed this movie before on the site but it makes my list here just because the thought of a musical based on the ghosts of Xmas story is amazing.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

The Nightmare Before Christmas

Nightmare Before Christmas is wildly original, full of great songs, great lines (“nothing’s more suspicious than frog’s breath!), and great animation.  Between Tim Burton’s freaky/funny vision & Danny Elfman’s songwriting (& splendidly haunted, poignant singing) what imaginative forces we have at work here.

Related posts:

1. So I watched the new Star trek…
2. Top 10 xmas gifts I won’t get in 2008.
3. The Evolution of the Cinema Werewolf

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

  I own the original TRON on DVD and watch it often.  As a boy it was one of those films that captured a time and a place and to get back there I just pop that DVD in and I am instantly transported to an arcade in the 80′s.  i love the actors and even though the story seems a bit weak its undoubtedly a groundbreaking film.

   I was very excited when i heard about a sequel to TRON and MEGA excited to hear that Jeff Bridges and Bruce Boxleitner BOTH would be back not as cameos but actually reprising their roles from the original.  I must say I was blown away.  This was more than I could have ever expected.  There are more nods and tipped hats to the old movie than I can detail here.  Things as simple as dusty old hand held led tomy games to 80′s music blaring from a jukebox in an old arcade.  Lots to love here if your paying close attention.

    The acting is very impressive. As already mentioned Bridges and Boxleitner are both quality actors but the newcomers Olivia Wilde and Garrett Hedlund do a wonderful job here as well.  I was drawn in from the moment it started till it was over.

    The effects were of course TOP notch.  The 3D was tremendous.  I have seen quite a few 3D movies lately and this one had the best so far.  Things shown in real perspective, items moving in and out of foreground and background, just really well done all around.

    The Chase scenes are AMAZING.  The light cycles are back with major improvements to their appearance as well as their capabilities.  The fluid dynamic of the camera work was truley awe inspiring.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

    The costumes were well done and believable, albeit, aside from some glowing strips of light here and there they were almost nothing like the old movie.  I did not miss the toga, greco-roman sash thing from the original at all.  THIS is what a program would wear in a digital world in MY imagination for sure.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

    There are two things I will never forget about this new movie and here they are in order of importance.  The technology used to make Bridges young again as the character CLU is STUNNING.  Benjamin Button has NOTHING on this.  It looks and acts and FEELS like the real deal.  I know its almost fully CGI and in a few fleeting moments of screen time it had a few creepy quirks, but its still AMAZING how real it was.  Words cannot do it justice.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

    Lastly, the soundtrack by Daft Punk was unbelievably perfect for this film.  It is simply spellbinding.  The 85 piece orchestra coupled with old school techno meets in the middle with superior results.

   My final thoughts today are..GO SEE THIS MOVIE.  If you love the 80′s and enjoyed the first film this is canon and a MUST SEE.  If you are not of that generation, disliked or have never seen the first film, SEE THIS ONE ANYWAY.
I left the theatre wishing I could see it again and sad that it was  over.  Being a  film buff this rarely happens to me.

Enjoy!

Related posts:

1. He’s Mean and Unforgiving
2. Cooper Halloween Legacy
3. The Evolution of the Cinema Werewolf

    Each year the TV station WTVF News Channel 5 a CBS affilliate would play an animated promo that touched me.  It has a sweet catchy jingly tune seemingly meant for the holidays and a comforting beauty that captured the holiday spirit perfectly, snow, toys in shop windows and all.  This year I happened to see the promo again and it flooded my heart with such memories and good thoughts of Christmas gone by that I wanted to know more about it.

    This commercial was hand drawn cell by painstaking cell by a former NEWSCHANNEL 5 employee named Charles DePriest in 1974.  The music used was from a music box and is titled “Gott ist die Liebe” (“God Is Love”) written by German composer August Rische (1819-1906) and can be found in many German hymnbooks.  Charles DePriest is now retired and lives in Smyrna,TN.

All this may not mean much to most that read this, but those that have lived here in Tennessee their entire lives you will appreciate this extra info like I did.

Related posts:

1. Holiday Eating Tips
2. Holiday Sparkle and Awe
3. Dickens of a Holiday

Some of my favorite movies were released in 1973.

The classic Horror movie The Exorcist

Enter the Dragon starring Bruce Lee

George Lucas’s first film American Graffiti

The Sting starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford

.

.

Some of the events of 1973 really surprised me.

The first part of the ill-fated first space station Skylab was launched into orbit

The Watergate Scandal caused Richard Nixon to resign the presidency

The Roe vs. Wade Supreme court decision made abortion legal

The World Trade Center opened in New York

The United States Drug Enforcement Agency is created.

The American Psychiatric Association removes homosexuality from its list of known mental disorders

.

A lot of great music was released in ’73.

Pink Floyd released their Landmark Album Dark Side of the moon

Elvis performed his Aloha in Hawaii concert

Aerosmith released their debut album Aerosmith

Kiss performs their first concert, at the Coventary Club in Queens

Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells becomes the first release on Richard Branson’s newly-launched Virgin label

The Who release Quadrophenia

Brothers Malcolm and Angus Young perform as AC/DC at the former Sydney nightclub ‘Chequers’ for their New Year’s Eve party

.

We lost some pretty important people passed away.

Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973

Betty Grable, 1916-1973

Bruce Lee, 1940-1973

Lon Chaney Jr., 1906-1973

J.R.R. Tolkien, 1892-1973

Jim Croce, 1943-1973

David “Stringbean” Akeman, 1916-1973

Lyndon B. Johnson, 1908-1973

.

Quite a few New Faces, aside from mine, decided to make an appearance.

Oscar de la Hoya, American boxer born Feb 4^th

Steve McNair, American football player Feb 14^th

David Blaine, American magician April 4^th

Carson Daly, American talk show host June 22^nd

Monica Lewinsky, American former White House intern July 23^rd

Seth MacFarlane, American animator and voice actor, Oct 26^th

Terrell Owens, American football player, Dec 7^th

Seth Meyers, American actor and comedian, Dec 28^th

Well, now I feel like I know a bit more about the year I was born.  Hopefully you found that reading this was as enjoyable as it was for me to write it.  Until next year!

Related posts:

1. Birthday 1973, A True Story
2. September, Formerly the 7th Month in the Year
3. It’s the Most Ignorant Time of the year

    Recently I had a pretty dramatic hard disk failure and it put my collection in serious jeopardy.  Luckily I have triple redundant backups of ALL my important computer files, music included. 

    The last few days I have been spending some time gently loving and massaging my music by cleaning up and adding missing ID3 tags and making sure that the album art is embedded into the files.  Its a loooooong, tedious process.  I have made it through the letter N in my FULL ALBUMS folder.  I will probably be working on it all throughout the week.  It will pay off though because it will look and sound great on my music player of choice.

   I noticed during this love fest that I was also really picky about the quality of music I have collected.  There was a time when I didn’t have a clue what a “bit-rate” was or why it mattered.  Now, I don’t care for the sound of any bit-rate lower than 192 kbps.  The ubiquitous 128 kbps is just too scratchy and tinny for me.  I actually prefer my tunes be at 320 kbps and a constant bit-rate not variable.  Look it up if you are reading this with a perplexed look on your face.

   What this all really means is that I have a lot of great music.  My kids enjoy it, I enjoy it and its worth the snobbishness and effort.  Now, go love on your music collection.  Nuff’ said.

Related posts:

1. 80′s Music IS Back..sort of
2. Pirate Tennants

pheonix

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrbGpvOulec

yea yea yeas

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhHGPU12e4s

Vampire Weekend

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XC2mqcMMGQ

3OH!3

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AubvMnIwUM

Muse

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xsp3_a-PMTw

Related posts:

1. Music to my Ears
2. Man, I sure miss the 80′s
3. I love British Humor