Posts Categorized: Movie Showtunes

Camp the Movie about Theatre Camp Reviewed – Buy Camp Here!

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My friend and I do musical sundays where we cook dinner and watch a movie musical or movie version of a musical. This week we ended up seeing Camp the Movie about a musical and theatre camp show up in the movies we could rent so we decided to watch. He had seen this movie before and loved it and I had seen the previews for it years ago on other movie’s trailers.

Camp the movie is all about a bunch of gay kids and fag hags that go to musical theatre camp together.  They have been going every year since they were little and have all become close friends.  Then all of the sudden everything changes when an actual straight male camper shows up and creates a ton of drama for everyone.

The movie features everything from a drama queen to an abusive and demanding diva.  An undermined, backstabber, the sweet girl who gets screwed over by the guy and then ends up with him, the gay guy who gets bashed for doing drag and a ton of performances including an awesome version of Turkey Lurkey Time, Ladies Who Lunch and a surprise appearance from Stephen Sondheim.  The movie is absolutely campy which is why Camp is the perfect name for a movie about musical theatre camp.

With quotes like “Have you every experimented with heterosexualtiy?  You mean slept with a straight man?” to the girl who was screwed by the Diva, poisoned her and then stole her role with this quote “What in the hell are you doing here? l knew you’d be discussing stopping the show, and l just thought how disappointed the kids would be. – You scheming little bitch! – Please! l’m a child. lf you think for one… Save the speech, rummy. She’s fucked, l’m ready, and the goddamn show must go on. So let’s get cracking, shall we?”, you will be laughing during the entire show.

The movie covers everything from what it’s like to audition for shows.  How hard it can be to be told your fat and also show you what it’s like to compete with other people who won’t stop until they get their way.  You see gay issues, straight issues, teenage issues, self esteem issues, issues with parents who think their kids aren’t perfect so they try to make them perfect, parent issues because their kids are gay from the gay kid’s perspective and everything else you could think of.  The movie is awesome and I highly recommend it.  If you love Sondheim music and funny quotes, or have ever wanted to become an Actor, this is the perfect movie for you to watch.

I Touch Myself from Austin Powers – Is it still actually funny?

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If we all remember the movie version, we fell in love with the theme song sung by Madonna for one of the Austin Powers movies and the video of her riding in his car singing.  She then also had a song for an actual James Bond movie that completely kicked ass.  However, another song which Ryan wanted to write about is I Touch Myself from Austin Powers.

I wasn’t sure if I should let him write about I Touch Myself from Austin Powers the movie, but they are producing a musical version of it and it is a kind of popular song.  When reading about what he thought when he first saw it and what he thinks now, I decided to let him post it.  Here is Ryan’s overall thoughts on I Touch Myself from Autism Powers.

Growing up I seriously believed that I Touch Myself from Austin Powers was the funniest musical sequence to ever occur in film. I just watched it again for the first time in about 15 years, and while I no longer would defend that position, I do think that I had a pretty decent sense of humor for an eight year old. After all, what is this scene lacking? I Touch Myself from Austin Powers has it all; sexiness, dance moves, robots, explosions, a fun soundtrack, and even adult stars (the “fem bots” are played by Jenna Jameson). Sure, some parts are a bit slapstick and immature, but the movie is about a cryogenically frozen secret agent who comes back to fight Dr. Evil. You can’t take such a ridiculous plot seriously, and neither can the movie itself.

The biggest thing I notice now that I did not as a child is how confusingly dated everything seems. In this scene, there is a Canadian actor, playing a 1960’s Brit, exploding 1990’s porn star robots with his sex appeal. Austin has the retro-sci-fi outfit (though admittedly not for long), the Fem Bots have ridiculous nineties haircuts, and everyone is smoking on screen. Thinking about how weird all of this is almost makes the scene seem as surreal as it is over the top. There is just a whole lot going on that has no business in this decade – or any other for that matter.
But the scene is more than comedic relief. I Touch Myself from Austin Powers is the one time the hairy chested protagonist’s oversexed personality does not get him in trouble — rather it saves his life. After watching about an hour of the immensely likeable character’s libido shoot him in the foot, I was really rooting for his sex drive to do something good for him. And in this scene it does! Earlier in the film the Fem Bots are displayed as this cutting edge, death inducing technology. They are like lady Terminators that use their seduction instead of strength. However, Austin Powers also uses his seduction instead of strength (or skill, or intelligence… seduction is pretty much all he has) and when he dances to I Touch Myself they literally short circuit from how awesome he is.

I think that there is an almost humanist appeal to this success. Everyone wants to think that the thing they keep doing that gets them in trouble or others call a waste of time will come in handy. Maybe you will end up in some sadistic trivia game and being able to recite all of the dinosaurs from the Jurassic period will save your life. Or maybe one day all the cup stacking you have been practicing will help when you need to… ok, the cup stacking will probably never take you further then winning cup stacking competitions. Still, throughout the movie, Austin tries seducing many people with the best intentions. Time and time again, this only leads to him hurting himself and others. After all of this, I Touch Myself from Austin Powers was a breath of fresh air and a victory for the underdog.

I will not argue that the sound effects aren’t annoying. And I agree that or that the whole premise isn’t abundantly absurd if not stupid. However, this movie seemed like pure comedic genius when I was in second grade, and even if you hate it, at least it is a catchy song.

Everybody Wants to Be a Cat from Disney’s Aristocats

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On my way home today, I remembered the song Everybody Wants to Be a Cat from The Aristocats, and as I started to whistle it, it struck a chord with me. You see I work in an office with a cat. While I am sending out hundreds of emails, the cat is sleeping. While I am getting yelled at by my boss, the cat warily opens its eyes to stare at us, then goes back to sleep. When I leave my desk, I come back to find the cat with its whole head submerged in my glass of water — if it decided to stop sleeping that is. While I don’t get angry, I do sometimes get jealous. Everybody Wants to Be a Cat from The Aristocats perfectly summarized why I feel this way. Cats don’t work hard. They lounge around, being cool with humans at their beck and call. If they want some excitement in their day they just have to try to catch a laser pointer or taunt the neighbor’s dog. A lot of cats are living a life of complete indulgence and luxury. The Aristocats are smart enough to recognize this, so they know that everyone else is jealous and that everybody wants to be cat.

Asides from the envy I feel towards felines in the work place, I also like Everybody Wants to Be a Cat from the Aristocats because it is one of the best Disney songs I know of. It has some of the cutest cartoon singing and dancing I have ever seen — check out the kitten brothers falling into the basket and the sister kitten singing the “rikki-tikki-tikki” part if you don’t believe me. I love how it starts off smooth and jazzy, but then ends up as a crazy and raucous song with psychedelic lighting. Another thing I think is awesome are all of the incredible instrumental bits. For example, the pounding drum solo at 2:25, or the kitten who absolutely shreds the piano at 4:47. Speaking of the piano solo, you can completely tell that this song predates Disney getting politically correct by the ostensibly Chinese cat that sings “Shanghai Hong Kong Egg Fu Young/ Fortune cookie always wrong.” That bit definitely would no be OK in a G-rated movie today.

The part where Duchess starts playing the harp always annoyed me a bit when I watched Everybody Wants to be a Cat from The Aristocats as a child, and to be honest it still does now. My siblings and I were all in agreement that the alley cats were the cool ones — not those ritzy house cats. Who is she to come into their cool and hip pad with her lavish harp, trying to serenade them while they are singing a swinging song? However, the alley cats seem to become enamored by it though, so I probably shouldn’t judge. Anyway, the swinger cats regain control for the end of the song, and they certainly go out with a very big bang.

Growing up, my little sister and I would often get told off by my mother as the song was coming to an end. We both found it almost impossible to watch the entire ensemble of philharmonic felines pile drive through abandoned tenement without jumping and stomping around in the living room. Even after they arrive at the bottom of the floor, they keep going, taking their self-congratulatory cause to the streets. And why wouldn’t they? Like I said earlier, being a cat seems like an amazing life. You just lounge around getting petted, you have retractable claws and can sleep whenever you want. I’m sure life is a little rougher for the alley cats, but they just take advantage of these hardships by channeling them into their music. Even if I hadn’t already been jealous of cats, I would after watching Everybody Wants to be a Cat from the Aristocats.

You’ll Be a Dentist from Little Shop of Horrors

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I’ve heard some tragic songs, but no musical number has ever incited as many emotions in me as You’ll Be a Dentist from Little Shop of Horrors. When I hear this song a flood of painful memories come back to me…. spending most of my adolescence in braces, having my wisdom teeth pulled (on prom night and having to go looking like a chipmunk with a mouthful of acorns) and the worst, my orthodontist dropping a running drill on my lip….let’s just say that You’ll be a Dentist from the Little Shop of Horrors strikes quite a chord in me.
Unlike in this song, my dentists have always been the more sinister, silent type. Personally, I would much prefer Steve Martin’s maniacally violent character in Little Shop of Horrors. I feel like his character possesses a more comprehensible level of sheer insanity, whereas my dentists have just had an eerie intangible creepiness. The song even gives some insight into how he turned out this way, such as recounting his childhood spent terrorizing animals and showing him in his shrine full of mommy issues. To be fair though, I bet he did indeed make his mother proud by taking the dentist route rather than turning into a serial killer.

I really enjoyed how the song develops. Upon hearing the opening with the funky little synth line, I thought that Elvis was going to give us a song about cruising around the country picking up girls on a chopper. Instead, the Dentist Song from Little Shop of Horrors gave me about 2 minutes of a sadistic, yet hilarious, Steve Martin. The majestic and inspirational part of the song that follows the perky synth line gives everything an incredibly upbeat tone, despite the brutality going on throughout the whole thing.

While the entirety of the song was hilarious, my favorite part was definitely when the camera shifts to inside the mouth of the man who is getting drilled. Even though the sound of the drill brought back memories of the horrifying smell of tooth dust and an unbearable sensation in my mouth, watching the writhing tongue made it all worth it. In a close second place was the back and forth “AWWW” between the dentist and his gurgling victim. Although I considered these two bits the highlights, I had no problem watching The Dentist Song from Little Shop of Horrors several times over, and I feel like I got something out of it each time. If you have seen it before and doubt its re-watch value, give it one more try, but this time, pay attention to how he parks his motorcycle this time –I bet you didn’t catch that one before!

You’ll Be a Dentist from Little Shop of Horrors is great because it capitalizes on a deep rooted fear that is present in almost anyone who has ever had a cavity. It is a song of sharp contrast; with violent lyrics and actions, but insanely upbeat lyrics and melodies. However, above all else, it is a hilarious number that pretty much anyone with a sense of humor will love. Even my girlfriend liked it, and she hates donuts, puppies, babies and musicals. Don’t let my favorable review of You’ll Be a Dentist from Little Shop of Horrors make you think it didn’t scare me though – I’ll definitely brush extra well tonight.

Somebody Super Like You & Life at Last – Phantom of Paradise

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I originally told Ryan to write a post about zombies on broadway…I had recommended a few shows about zombies and instead, we got this. Enjoy!

When I started watching the video for Somebody Super Like You / Life At Last from Phantom of the Paradise, I first though I was seeing a KISS tribute concert. After it became clear that was wrong, I wondered if had fallen asleep during a scene from the Rocky Horror Picture Show, but that did not seem right either. So I decided I would try to put the song in some context, and you know, read the video title. The song still begs a lot of questions, but at least now I know it is Somebody Super Like You / Life At Last from Phantom of the Paradise.

The whole scene from Phantom of the Paradise is way over the top and cheesy in a way I thought was awesome and hilarious. Opening with a huge thunderstorm and a blatant rip off of the Phantom of the Opera theme, the band quickly starts rocking out on stage. Watching how enthused their fans become, it’s hard not to start clapping and stomping right along with them.

The first time during Phantom of the Paradise when I was unable to hold my laughter in was when the girl in the yellow shirt was reaching out so desperately for the singer, and he takes her hand — literally. Watching as the band continues carrying out mutilations each verse somehow just gets funnier and funnier. I especially liked how they transferred from the victim’s scream back into the song. During the harmonizing part of the number, I thought that the graceful and dance-like sewing of the severed body parts was also hilariously choreographed.

Even though I thought the music in the second section of the song, where you get to see the newly created man, was a little lacking, it was my favorite part. Watching the phantom surreptitiously riding counterweights into the catwalk served for some very light hearted suspense, and I thought this more than made up for the lack luster music. To be honest, I was pretty excited to watch the Phantom use his bizarre lightening bolt gun to kill the Frankenstein character, as I really was not a fan of the man or the music. However, I did think that the guy calling for the fire extinguisher at the end was a great way to squeeze in a final laugh.

After watching Somebody Super Like You / Life At Last from Phantom of the Paradise, I am determined to see the rest of this movie over the weekend. Wrapping up a night out with a couple of friends and an absurd horror rock opera is not something I’ve done in the past, but after this clip from Phantom of the Paradise I am definitely looking forward to trying it out.