f'ing with the classics

I know that it's common for Hollywood to do remakes.

They do big-screen remakes of television shows, like "Bewitched" (never saw the movie, heard it was awful), "S.W.A.T." (saw the movie, hated it), "Miami Vice" (saw the movie, hated it) and "Land of the Lost" (didn't see it).

They also do big-screen remakes of previous movies, like "Psycho" (never actually seen all of the original, didn't see the remake - didn't see the point), "Sabrina" (never saw the original, liked the remake) and "Halloween" (liked the original though didn't see it until much after its release and don't plan to see remake).

But there are some movies that are just so classic, so iconic, so perfect, that they should be untouchable, never to be messed with by new hands. And now, they're daring to do a remake of such a classic, to try to make lightning strike twice in the same spot. Impossible!

Are they remaking "Gone with the Wind"? "Birth of a Nation"? "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"? No. Worse.

They're remaking "Fame".

"Fame" was an amazing movie. It was based on the real-life performing arts high school in New York, and it allowed the rest of us to see what it was like. That cafeteria scene. Remarkable. The street scene with Bruno's music blaring? Incredible. And how awesome was the scene of Doris coming into her own during "The Rocky Horror Picture Show"?

You had Coco and Leroy and Bruno and the other students and the teachers and other faculty.

Irene Cara was Coco, the confident, talented singer/dancer/actress who knew she was going somewhere. But it was heartbreaking to watch her sing on camera as she took her clothes off, hoping this was going to be her big break. Irene Cara made a name for herself for a while, partly as a singer.

Gene Anthony Ray was Leroy, the foul-mouthed street punk who had an attitude unsurpassed by anyone, but he could also dance his ass off. His relationship with teacher Mrs. Sherwood (played by Anne Meara) was incredible to watch. Different worlds, on a collision course.

And then there was Lee Curreri as Bruno - Bruno was my favorite. I had such the crush on him. Yeah, ok, he's quiet, and he doesn't have the greatest singing voice, but he was shy and a hell of a musician and composer.

And Paul McCrane as "I'm afraid to come out of the closet" Montgomery. Who knew that skinny little nervous kid was going to grow up to be the asshole head administrator of a giant Chicago hospital, not to mention Jack Bauer's evil brother?

Albert Hague played Shorofsky, the music teacher. I would have loved to have had him as a music teacher. Maybe I might have been inspired to be more musically inclined.

Oh, yeah, and Debbie Allen was the dance teacher.


Perfection. The final concert at graduation. Spectacular.


The movie was so great, they even made a TV show out of it. OK, the TV show wasn't quite as good, though Bruno was still in it, and I did like Erica Gimpel as the new Coco, though I don't think I saw her in anything else other than a few episodes of "E.R."


But later this year, they're going to release a remake of the movie.

This is the trailer that I saw when I was at the movies yesterday. I will admit that the singer (I'm told it's Naturi Naughton) does a good job with the song. But I can't do it.

It looks like they've changed the names around, so it's not technically a remake, but I guess a modern day re-telling. Whatever. I don't care. Yeah, kids are still graduating from that high school. But it won't be the same.

Debbie Allen plays the principal in the new movie. She was relevant in the 80s. She hasn't been relevant in a really long time. I hope she's not choreographing the new movie though. Once upon a time, she was a damned good choreographer. But that was a really long time ago too.


I know some people will be interested in the new movie. But me? I'll be hangin' with Coco and Leroy and Bruno.


The Oscar-nominated song "Out Here On My Own".




The Oscar-winning Best Original Song "Fame".

80s flashback - Glenn Frey - "You Belong To The City"

I think I've previously mentioned how much I loved "Miami Vice". It was on during my college years, and since it was on Friday nights, I'd take the night off from homework, and I'd plant myself in front of the TV at 10pm to watch the show. (Yeah, I wasn't a partying kind of person in college, so TV was usually about as exciting as it got. But, I did have my own TV in my room, so I didn't have to deal with the masses in the lounge and the group vote of what to watch and having to deal with other people while I watched my show.)

I loved everything about the show - the characters, the look, the stories, the way the show was shot and edited, and especially the music.

One of the most amazing songs from the show was Glenn Frey's "You Belong to the City". Just perfect, so I present that below.

Oh, and here's a really terrific write-up about what made "Miami Vice" great.





Love that wailing sax.

80s flashback - The Human League - "Don't You Want Me" and "Human"

Tonight's 80s flashback is a two-fer - two videos for the price of one blog post!

I wouldn't say that I'm a fan of The Human League in general as I don't really know their body of work very well. But I was and am still quite enamoured of two of their big hits. The subject matters are intriguing, and I just love the feel and rhythms of the songs. It's hard to say which one I actually like better. The first song is more upbeat and more energetic, but the smoothness of the second song is just intoxicating. They're both songs that I have a hard time not singing along to when I hear them, so pity you if you happen to be around me when I hear one or the other.


"Don't You Want Me" - One of the things I love about this song is that you get both sides of the story. He talks about how much he did for her, though there's an implied threat as well, and you kind of feel sorry for him a bit, but then you get her side. You either think she's a heartless bitch or that she did what she had to do.




"Human" - Infidelity is something that most people find unforgiveable, but his coaxing voice does wonders in trying to talk you through it, to forgive him. As much as his straying might have hurt, you also hear the longing and sorrow in his voice. And then, there's the shocking twist at the end - she did the same thing! Wonder how *he* took that bit of news?

80s flashback - Pat Benatar - "Love is a Battlefield"

I am without dispute a child of the 80s. I grew up with the music, the movies, the styles, the trends. Yeah, lots of stuff went wrong in the 80s too, but I prefer to focus on the good stuff, the stuff that made me happy. :)

So, I'm going to reminisce on occasion about random things in the 80s.

One of the quintessential performers in the 80s was Pat Benatar. She was opera-trained, but she really wanted to sing rock music, and belt them out she did. They weren't necessarily happy songs, but they were pretty amazing. And she had even more amazing videos. The 80s were when music videos rocked.

Here's "Love is a Battlefield". I always loved the choreography in the bar when the women are all dancing together. Stupid guy trying to boss them around - they're going to dance all over you! I think I actually tried to duplicate the moves. I said "tried", not "succeeded".

Whatchutalkin' bout, Willis?

Gary Coleman seems to be in the news a lot considering he hasn't done anything really worth mentioning in quite some time. But I suppose it's really just the train-wreck quality of his life that garners attention. I heard a story about a week or two ago that he was going to try his hand at baseball. Ummm, ok. But then I heard that it was going to be similar to Billy Crystal's prior experience with the New York Yankees in that it was going to be a one-day-contract kind of thing, but at least in Billy Crystal's case, it was for the Yankees, and love 'em or hate 'em, their standing and place in baseball history cannot be denied, and Billy Crystal has been a huge, long-time Yankees fan, so this was the thrill of a lifetime for him. In Gary Coleman's case though, he was playing with the Madison Mallards, who are members of a summer collegiate baseball league. Yeah, I know, you were probably thinking he was going to play with a Little League team instead. In addition, it looks like it was supposed to be some kind of publicity stunt, both for Coleman and the Mallards, who are a dismal 12-21 in the second half of their season.

But the outing didn't quite turn out as they both probably expected since Coleman never actually registered an at bat. Here's a story with details of what happened.

At least the Mallards won that game, but my question is, who the hell is paying $20 for Coleman's autograph?


Oh, and by the way, Gary Coleman (pictured on the left below) should not be confused with Gary Cole (pictured on the right below).

Shall we play a game?

I've been looking forward to seeing "WarGames" since I found out about a month ago that they were going to be showing it on the big screen for one night in celebration of the film's 25th anniversary. We ended up seeing it with three friends, who we met for dinner before the movie. After we had taken out seats and were waiting for the movie to start, I joked to the husband that he wasn't supposed to be at that particular movie with four women, and he responded that four women weren't supposed to be at "WarGames" together in the first place! By the time the show started, the theatre was probably about half full - not too bad a turnout.

First, they showed a series of interviews with filmmakers associated with the film - producers, writers, director and other crew. They talked about how the idea first came about and how it was developed. There were also interviews with people who had been consulted about various parts of the story, as well as people talking about the impact and foreshadowing of the movie's events. They also had interviews with Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy and Barry Corbin, who played the General in the movie - I wouldn't have recognized him if I'd just seen him as he looks very different now, but I certainly recognized his voice.

It was really interesting to hear about how a lot of the things came about. I was surprised to hear that the "piss on a spark plug" line was something Corbin had ad-libbed after being asked to come up with something that would express the urgent need to let David Lightman (Broderick's character) have access to the computer. It was also interesting to hear that in the scene where David tries to excuse himself past Jennifer (Sheedy's character), she had ad-libbed the move of trapping him between her legs, and she had thought it was a totally innocent but playful move and had not begun to suspect the sexual tension connotations until she saw the footage. It was also funny to hear the crew guy talking who was responsible for all the blinky lights on WOPR, and as ominous as all those scenes were with the close-ups and the camera circling WOPR, I kept thinking about the guy typing away to make the lights blink menacingly.

Both Broderick and Sheedy talked about how they got their roles and what that one role did for their careers, as well as how well they got along and how much fun it was on the shoot. Broderick also said that he was given a Galaga machine to practice on because he had to be really good at it, and he said he really enjoyed that "research".

After that came the trailer for the "sequel", "WarGames: The Dead Code". There is yet another computer that wants to play a game for real, and yet another hacker who stumbles upon more than he intended.

Here's a link to the trailer they showed tonight.

I could not stop laughing when they revealed that the name of the new computer is RIPLEY - and they refer to it as a "she"!

It looks pretty much like a throwaway movie, but I'm going to have to get it and watch it anyway.

Here's a link to the 25th anniverary DVD release of "WarGames" and here's a link to the release of "WarGames: The Dead Code", both of which will be released on Tuesday, July 29, 2008. This is apparently the "official website" that has information about both films, though I haven't browsed the site to see what it actually contains.

As for "WarGames" itself, it's been years since I've seen it, and even though I knew what was going to happen, I was still tense at parts, and I loved seeing it. Some of the music early on seemed completely out of place, and I don't remember thinking that at the time. Broderick and Sheedy were just so good together, and there was a lot of laughter with all the old computer technology. The oddest thing for me was that a sound particularly struck a nerve - the clicking of the keys as they typed. Keyboards nowadays sound different, mostly because they're a lot smoother and easier. I remember being on terminals in college that still used the more difficult to hit keys, the ones you had to hit harder and clicked harder, and they sounded exactly like the keys that David and everyone else was typing on.

One weird story bit struck me though - Falken mentions that the last ferry to leave the island is at 6:30pm, and when they're in his house and he hears the ferry boat whistle, he mentions that they've missed it and they're welcome to stay, and he says goodnight and goes upstairs. He goes to bed at 6:30pm?

Oh, and yes, I did notice the discrepancy with the Paris flight reservation. On screen, you can see that David made the reservation in Jennifer's name, and yet, when David is being interrogated, he's being asked about going to Paris. Since his name wasn't on the reservation and they presumably didn't know about Jennifer, they shouldn't have known about the Paris flight reservation. But they needed it as a plot point. :)

I hadn't known/remembered that the film had received three Oscar nominations, including one for Best Screenplay, which I think is well deserved. The film also won the award from the Editors Guild - and I didn't even know this when I decided to do a paper in college about the editing, specifically the segment right as and after Joshua finds the complete launch code.


I have recently had the occasion of correctly guessing a password for something that I wanted to get into, and I thought that my ability to know how to guess came from all the hacker books I read after college. Nope. I didn't even realize that subconsciously, I'd learned from "WarGames" that passwords often have a connection or personal meaning (like Joshua), and the words I tried and the actual correct password that I eventually guessed came from my knowledge of that.


Watching and remembering this movie made me think of another movie, "Sneakers", which I also loved. And it hadn't even occurred to me that the two writers of "WarGames" were also two of the three writers on that film. Hmmm, I've love to see "Sneakers" on the big screen again.

"WarGames" - 25th anniversary screenings - July 24, 2008

While we were at the movies today, we saw an ad for a special one-night-only theatrical screening of "WarGames" on July 24, 2008, in celebration of the film's 25th anniversary. Wow, I can't believe it's been that long. I actually did a paper on the film's editing in one of my college classes. I *love* that movie. OK, I'll admit, I had a huge crush on Matthew Broderick at the time, but I loved the movie anyway.

I heard something else when they made the announcement, but I wasn't quite sure I'd heard what I thought I'd heard. I'm sure I must have misheard it. But no, I didn't.




I really *did* hear them say "sequel". Here's the page for more information about the screenings. I hadn't heard anything about a sequel (which is apparently called "WarGames: The Dead Code"), and I have no idea what kind of sequel they could possibly be making after all this time. Heck, are Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy in it? Or their kids? (OK, not Matthew's and Ally's kids because they don't have any, but the kids of their characters, I mean.)

They seem to be having the screening in a number of theatres across the States. Here's a listing of all the theatres that will be having the screenings. I just bought our tickets to the AMC Century City theatre. If you have a MovieWatcher card, the $1 per ticket service fee is waived.

"What kind of an asshole grows up in Seattle and doesn't even know how to swim?"

The answer is me!

Since for the next year, I will be the ultimate answer to life, the universe and everything, I'm having a Phil-fest as a gift to myself.


"Wear My Hat" - I love this song, which is about the interaction that a famous singer can have with fans who are fanatical in the true sense of the word. Oftentimes, people can be invested in a celebrity's work and be knowledgeable about their personal life and then project a relationship with that celebrity, one that doesn't actually exist. I love the humour with which this story is told, and it's also a really peppy song and has great infectious music. When I saw Phil in concert singing this song, he and the rest of the band had such a great time with it, passing hats back and forth with each other, so it was so much fun to watch. The following video mixes music video footage with concert footage.





"Separate Lives" - This is one of my favorites from earlier Phil. The song is actually written by Stephen Bishop, and it's a duet by Phil and Marilyn Martin and was used in the film "White Nights". Lyrically, musically and vocally, it's an amazingly moving song. I love the recorded version, but the first time I saw this in concert, and it was staged so that Phil was singing lead alternately with two of his backup singers, one male and one female, I was blown away. Normally, it's a great song of broken love between a man and a woman, but when you add the third-party dimension to it, it just makes the story of the song that much more complex and heart-breaking. The concert footage below doesn't have the physical triangle staging that is done sometimes for this song (now if only "The Phantom of the Opera" would bring that staging back for the "Wandering Child" section of the show when Christine is at her father's grave, but I digress), but the voices are still terrific. After all, it's Phil with Amy and Arnold.





"Against All Odds" - Another one of my earlier Phil favorites, this time actually written by Phil himself. This was the title track of the film of the same name, and again, a song that I love lyrically, musically and vocally. This is the official music video which incorporates footage from the film (starring Jeff Bridges, James Woods and Rachel Ward) with footage of Phil singing.





And then we get to a blast from the past. I loved watching "Miami Vice" from the very beginning, for its story, acting and the cinematography and editing of the show. This was a Friday night ritual when I was in college. One of the things I loved most was their brilliant use of just the right music and images, not to mention that they used music and artists that I liked. The show exuded the very essence of ambience and mood. This is the segment from the pilot episode that uses "In The Air Tonight". Brilliant. I was hooked.




Hope you enjoyed that Phil-athon as much as I did!

"Makin' It"

I.love.this.song. I hadn't heard it in something like 20 years - until Wednesday, February 13, 2008. February 13 happens to be the birthday of David Naughton, who sang that song, and Ralph Garman on Kevin and Bean does a showbiz update at the top of each hour which includes mention of celebrity birthdays, and he mentioned David's birthday and how much he loved him and then they were playing "Makin' It". Kevin and Bean were making fun of Ralph because he knew all the words. Ummm, so do I. Still. At least the chorus, even though I haven't heard the song in so long.


Sing it with me:

I'm solid gold
I've got the goods
They stand when I walk through the neighborhoods

I'm makin' it
I've got the chance, I'm takin' it
No more, no more fakin' it
This time in life I'm makin' it


I don't know what the deal is with the video so just listen to the song.





So then it turns out that someone listening to the show is a friend of David's, so he called David and told him about it and to listen, and David ended up calling the show, so they talked to him for a while. He's currently living in Henderson, Nevada, because he got married last year and his wife got a job out there, so they moved. David has a new movie that will be coming out called Brutal Massacre: A Comedy, which is about the mishaps that occur during the making of an independent horror movie, and David plays the director. He's also apparently attached to do a film called "Nightmare Carnival". I have no idea what it's about or if I'd even be interested in seeing it, but I love the tagline!

For anyone not familiar with David, he's probably best known as the Dr. Pepper guy from way back when who sang the "Be a Pepper" jingle and danced in the commercials. He was also in "An American Werewolf in London", which I've not seen, but I've heard it's quite good. The song "Makin' It" was used in the movie "Meatballs" (an excellent movie, btw) and was also the title song for the short lived television show "Makin' It". Yeah, it was a "Saturday Night Fever"-type show, but that was an awesome movie, so why not use it as a springboard? I don't remember very much about the show itself, but I used to love David Naughton because he was so cute, and I just remember that Ellen Travolta played his mother. Here's some more information about the show.

David is still a pretty good-looking guy.





And for years now, music of the 80s (ok, technically, "Makin' It" came out in 1978, but it's still an 80s era song) has gotten a bad rap. Well, I'm not ashamed to say that I loved the music of the 80s. That's what I grew up on, and that's one of the types of music that speaks to me. I like lots of different kinds of music for different reasons. So, yeah, there was a ton of disco in the 80s, and it wasn't necessarily thoughtful or socially conscious and some of it could be repetitive. But so what? It was also fun! And it was great to dance to. So if you wanna have some fun dancing to it, come join me. If not, we're partying without you.