158. If These Walls Could Talk

158. (18 Aug) If These Walls Could Talk (1996, Cher & Nancy Savoca) 69



This serious-minded message film takes an undeniably melodramatic approach in its opening "1952" segment, but I can't recall a film with an unwed mother where the stakes were quite this high. It's impossible not to become immediately invested. I'd never have thought I'd describe Demi Moore as an absolute powerhouse, but she's nothing short of extraordinary here.

"1974" comes down from the devastating opening. Sissy Spacek's role requires some serious introspection and a performer as placid as Spacek can be isn't perfectly suited for the role. "1996" is sometimes too broad for its own good, clumsily written and directed and too actorly to feel organic. But the finale is emotional and eerie.

Fab movie.. Burlesque (2010) or was it made in (1933)?

Burlesque(2010). Musical film directed and written by Steven Antin. This film was the debut of singer Aguilera as an actress and also starred Cher, Eric Dane, Cam Gigandet, Julianne Hough, Alan Cumming, Peter Gallagher, Kristen Bell, Stanley Tucci and Dianna Agron. Cher and Aguilera contributed to the soundtrack album, with Aguilera contributing eight out of the ten songs with Cher taking the remaining two. The album was released in the USA on November 22, 2010. The song "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me", sung by Cher, won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song in 2011.

The film starts with Ali Rose, working in a bar, wanting a new life.. packs up her things and performs one last song "Something's Got A Hold On Me".

After moving to Los Angeles, Ali begins looking for places to audition, with not much luck. One night while walking, she follows the sound of music into a burlesque club, where Tess and the dancers perform "Welcome to Burlesque."

Ali, loves what she sees and decides to do anything she can to stay. Her new friend Jack refers her to Tess for an audition, Ali is shown the door. Instead of leaving, Ali begins working as a waitress, while Tess and Sean look on in disbelieve with Jack asking Tess to give Ali a chance. Returning home to her apartment, she finds that it has been broken into and that her money has been stolen. She shows up at Jack's apartment and he allows her stay with him.

Later Ali, who does not like to lip-sing, tries to talk Tess into letting her singing, but.. Ali is told that the customers love the old classic songs. When Georgia becomes pregnant, auditions are held to replace her. Ali audition's after everyone leaves and talks Tess into allowing her to become one of the club's dancers. When dancer Nikki shows up drunk, Tess orders Ali to take her place.

Nikki, wanting to get even with Ali, takes the opportunity to turn off the music in the middle of her performance. Sean, is about to lower the curtain when... Ali, begins to sing the song live. Everyone is impressed by her beautiful voice. Tess, announces that she will create a new show around the new lead singer and dancer. Sean, tells Jack that he should make a move on Ali before it's too late.

Tess, worried  that she is going to have to shut down the club, sings "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me". A jealous Nikki shows up drunk and gets into a fight with Tess and falsely confessing that she slept with Vince after his and Tess' honeymoon. Angry, Tess throws something that breaks Nikki's car window as she drives away.

Ali and Jack, are always at each other throats as she begins dating Marcus. At Georgia's wedding, Jack calls off his engagement, after getting drunk. That night, Ali and Jack sleep together, but the following morning Jack's fiancee returns unexpectedly and tells Ali that the engagement is still on. Jack denies this and asks Ali to leave.

Back with Marcus, Ali finds out about air rights, an empty space above a building. Ali breaks things off with Marcus, soon after she finds out she was about to be used. She tells Tess everything. Will they be able to come up with a a plan to destroy Marcus's plans and make enough money to buy out Tess's partner's share?

The film Burlesque, has it all: glamour, awesome songs and dance numbers that look like they came straight out of a 1933 musical with a splash of sexy fun.

Christina María Aguilera (born December 18, 1980), first appeared on national television in 1990 as a contestant on the Star Search program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's television series The Mickey Mouse Club from 1993 to 1994.

 Aguilera signed to RCA Records after recording "Reflection", the theme song for the animated film Mulan (1998). In 1999, Aguilera came to prominence following her debut album Christina Aguilera, which was a commercial success spawning three number one singles : "Genie in a Bottle", "What a Girl Wants", and "Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You)." Her sophomore and her debut Latin-pop album, Mi Reflejo (2000), a Christmas third studio album, My Kind of Christmas (2000), and several collaborations followed which garnered Aguilera worldwide success.

After parting from her management, Aguilera took creative control over her fourth studio album, Stripped (2002). The album's second single, "Beautiful", was a commercial success and helped the album's commercial performance amidst controversy over Aguilera's image. Aguilera followed up Stripped with the soul, jazz and blues inspired, Back to Basics (2006), released to positive critical acclaim. The album produced three hit singles "Ain't No Other Man", "Hurt" and "Candyman".

 Four years later Aguilera released her sixth studio album, Bionic (2010), which incorporated aspects of R and B, electropop, and synthpop and was met with mixed reviews and low sales. Aguilera's seventh studio album is set to be released in 2012.

Aside from being known for her vocal ability, music videos and image, musically, she includes themes of dealing with public scrutiny, her childhood, and female empowerment in her music. Apart from her work in music, she has also dedicated much of her time as a philanthropist for charities, human rights and world issues which include her work as a UN ambassador for the World Food Programme.

She made her feature film debut in the musical Burlesque (2010), earning Aguilera a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song. Aguilera's work has earned her numerous awards and accolades, including a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, four Grammy Awards and one Latin Grammy Award, amongst seventeen and three nominations respectively.

Rolling Stone ranked her number fifty-eight on their list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time, ranking as the youngest and only artist on the list under the age of thirty. She was ranked the 20th Artist of the 2000–09 decade by Billboard and is the second top selling single artist of the 2000s behind Madonna.  Aguilera's albums sales are estimated at over 50 million units worldwide, making her one of the best-selling music artists of all time. Aguilera is currently a coach and judge on The Voice.

The Final Conclusion - Best Actress 1987

1987

So the much anticipated ranking is:

5. Holly Hunter in Broadcast News

I was impressed by Holly Hunter to a certain extent, I wasn't as amazed by her as I was when I first saw her a couple of years ago. She still has a wonderful presence and she's a joy to watch but I felt something missing from her work. Very entertaining and loveable work but not something to fall in love with. 

4. Sally Kirkland in Anna

I was completely impressed by Sally Kirkland's performance as Anna. She communicated Anna's despair brilliantly and she has an extremely powerful presence on the screen. Although her movie drags her down, she's still really great as the aging actress. Still, there's something in me that's preventing me from being completely taken by her.

3. Cher in Moonstruck

Cher succeeds in every possible way with the character of Loretta Castorini. Although this is not a towering performance for the ages, it's fantastic and incredibly entertaining anyhow and it displays Cher's talent brilliantly. Despite being relatively new to the craft, she was courageous enough to take a risk by being incredibly subtle. Each and every movement and delivery of hers is just perfect.

2. Meryl Streep in Ironweed

In an unbelievably amazing movie, Meryl Streep is unbelievably amazing as Helen Archer, a worn out, tired woman. She masterfully works with the emotions, brings the right amoung of commitment to the role and she identifies with the pain of Helen incredibly well. Not only is she wonderfully strange on the screen, but also really heartbreaking and disturbing. This unfairly rarely praised work of Meryl is just fantastic. 

1. Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction

Great Glenn is just astonising in her iconic performance as Alex Forrest. She makes Alex a terribly human character whose actions seem to come from her desperation and not her evil nature. She brilliantly develops her character from a sexy, confident woman to a devastated wreck. She's chilling, heartbreaking and just unforgettable. A truly incredible performance by an amazingly gifted and dedicated actress.

So I can proudly announce

that the winner is...

Glenn Close 

in 

Fatal Attraction

Why don't you love me, Academy?

Final thoughts: What a great year! OK, it's basically Great Glenn, Meryl and the others. The win was obvious though Meryl came close (but then Great Glenn said she was not gonna be ignored :D). I enjoyed all of these wonderful performances, some more, some less. But you know it was really great to do a year that you were seemingly interested in. I was glad about the lots of feedbacks and arguments. I've wanted to do this year from the very beginning and now that it's over it all seems so cool, but I'm also a bit sad to let it go. :) This 1987 series was a dream come true for me. :)

Omissions:

• Maggie Smith in The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne 
• Stéphane Audran in Babette's Feast

About the next year: Well, I haven't decided it yet. It depends on a lot of things. First, I don't know if I have time to do a year till January unfortunately and I have to consider lots of other things. I haven't really decided it yet. :)

What do you think? 

Cher in Moonstruck

Cher got her second Oscar nomination and won the Academy Award for playing Loretta Castorini, a widowed Italian-American book keeper in Moonstruck. I can imagine that Cher's triumph was very much like Sandra Bullock's win two years ago: a beloved superstar got her due for an unshowy, lightweight role. Lilian Gish was actually quoted after failing to receive a nomination "At least I don't have to lose to Cher.". However, I see a big difference between Cher and Sandra. Cher actually gave a great performance, which was really lovely and that's probably (besides her superstar status) what gave her the edge over Sally Kirkland who campaigned as hell with the assistence of her Godmother, Shelley Winters.

I love romantic movies with traditionally huge families and boring, aging women turning out to be beautiful. That's the reason I go crazy for films like My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Moonstruck. Although they don't have much artistic value, they are masterfully entertaining without being overly sentimental, soappy or vulgar. They are nothing but good fun with great writing, directing and actors. John Patrick Shanley richly deserved the Academy Award he took home for Best Original Screenplay. I'd say the same about the nominations of Gardenia and Dukakis though I'm not 100% sure if I completely agree with the win of Dukakis (I guess I need to see the others, too).

What can you say about Cher? I mean, she's such a great performer and a legend in every possible way: she sings, she acts, what doesn't she do? Exactly. I can talk about her only in superlatives and it would be boring to talk about how great she is. I guess it was obvious that she would win the Oscar after losing to Linda Hunt back in 1983. She had a blockbuster on her side, she was loved by everyone, it was no wonder she received a huge standing ovation. Although fellow nominee Glenn Close's role as Alex in Fatal Attraction is the most iconic one of the group, Cher also managed to deliver a famous line "Snap out of it." while slapping Nicolas Cage (something that many of us wants to do nowadays). 

Loretta Castorini is aging, she has an awful boyfriend who asks her to marry him and she's a totally unshowy character at first sight. It takes a very talented performer with a strong and interesting personality to make such a character really intriguing and that's why I feel that Cher was such a great choice to play her (it's hard to imagine the original choice, Sally Field as Loretta though it would have been really interesting). She brought the right amount of charisma to the movie and the result was something completely irresistable. I felt as if I was watching a flower blooming not an actress playing a part. 

Nowadays it's kind of natural that famous singers star in feature films but I can hardly imagine Beyoncé or Christina Aguilera showing such talent and versatility as an actress that Cher did. She developed Loretta's character with such confidence and ease. It's just really amazing to see Cher seem so great and professional in this part while also preserving her "rough diamond" aura. She's very subtle throughout the movie and she avoids overdoing certain aspects of Loretta. She's a very "Italian-American" character, if you know what I mean but Cher plays her with very subtle mannerisms and she emphasises the lovely attributes instead of the stereotypes in her.

Cher gorgeously shows more and more layers of Loretta and becomes a totally irresistable presence. Loretta is a quiet and a bit reserved person but certainly not shy and she's not afraid of speaking her mind. Cher's nothing short of incredible in the very famous slapping scene: Cher immortalized the line "Snap out of it!". I loved that Loretta shows that she's a very down-to-earth person who doesn't believe in curses and yet she does everything bad in this movie just to avoid bad luck. Again, this could have been overdone by Cher and yet she found the perfect balance.

The "ugly duckling becomes a beautiful swan" storyline is one of the oldest and most boring ones every and yet Cher and her wonderful movie makes it all work fabulously. In her bit ironic and very humorous interpretation even the most cheesy things work. She did the best by not taking her character too seriously. I guess that's why she was such a great choice to play Loretta: she had much to learn as an actress and she turned out to be fantastic eventually. Moonstruck is a development story not only for Loretta but also for the amazing Cher (who went on to give one of my favorite performances ever in Tea with Mussolini; Why wasn't she nominated for that one?). She wasn't afraid of taking risks (nobody could ever accuse her of that) with Loretta. By underplaying her, she risked being lifeless and boring but her instincts were right: this was the best possible way to play Loretta.

Cher succeeds in every possible way with the character of Loretta Castorini. Although this is not a towering performance for the ages, it's fantastic and incredibly entertaining anyhow and it displays Cher's talent brilliantly. Despite being relatively new to the craft, she was courageous enough to take a risk by being incredibly subtle. Each and every movement and delivery of hers is perfect and we get to see wonderful acting that carries Moonstruck fabulously.

What do you think? 

The Next Year

1987

So the nominees were:

• Cher in Moonstruck
• Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction
• Holly Hunter in Broadcast News
• Sally Kirkland in Anna
• Meryl Streep in Ironweed

A truly WOW year, that I've wanted to do ever since I started these reviews. I'm eager to watch and rewatch these performances and movies that cover a wide range. Careerist women, aging women, tired women and one of them doesn't like being ignored. Oh, I'm über excited!

What do you think? Who's your pick? What's your prediction for my ranking? :) 

EGOT Alert: could Robin WIlliams join the club?

I'm not someone who likes to hype things up. This is true mostly because I've seen so much amped-up hype fizzle miserably.  This is very true for awards season, most specifically the Oscars and the Tonys (mind you, this isn't going to be a Tony or a theatre blog, I'm just making an observation).  But I must cave into my hype on this one for a few reasons, but mostly because of a potential new EGOT champ.

On March 31st, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo staring Robin Williams opened on Broadway at the Richard Rogers Theatre.  Williams received mostly positive reviews, though many single out the play for its excellence more than Williams himself, who plays the titular caged beast.  The most glowing review comes from Charles McNulty over at the LA Times, saying :

Williams submits himself wholly to the play's utterly natural surrealism. Concerns that the actor might turn this into a vehicle for his signature shtick are dispelled right way: Williams is in complete sync with the blasted tragicomic vision of the playwright, whose ample humor is far too sneaky for stand-up showboating...He's put himself at the drama's service.

An EGOT--invented my infamous non-EGOTer Philip Michael Thomas--represents the the Grand Slam of industry awards   an Emmy (TV), Grammy (music), Oscar (film), and Tony (stage).  Someone who EGOTs receives one of each, an impressive feat since few actors ever nab even one.  Williams is nearly there, having an Oscar (as the Best Supporting Actor of 1997 for Good Will Hunting), two Emmys, and four Grammys on his mantle.  This leaves only the Tony.

In the over 80 years the oldest award (the Oscar) has existed, only 10 artists have completed this daunting task.  They range from actors (Helen Hayes, Rita Moreno, John Gielgud, Audrey Hepburn, Whoopi Goldberg) to musicians (Richard Rogers, Marvin Hamlisch, Jonathan Tunick) to writers and directors (Mike Nichols, Mel Brooks).  Note that Bengal Tiger just opened at the Richard Rogers Theatre...a sign?

the face of an EGOTer?

Of course, though, Williams will have to survive the very unpredictable Tony season.  In the past, the Tonys used to turn a cold shoulder to celebrities-turned-Broadway-stars, but at last year's ceremony, Denzel Washington, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Scarlett Johanson all took home highly-competitive acting Tonys over more unknown stage stars.  So a potential Tony victory isn't out of the question, but when it comes to the Tonys, the voters typically hold staunchly to their guns and vote for what they actually consider the best, never giving into media hype or overdue status.

Currently, Williams stands alongside greats John Williams, Barbra Streisand, Randy Newman, Cher, Julie Andrews, and Michael Giacchino as Tony-less potential EGOTers.  

Also, it should be noted that I'm not trying to make news out of nothing.  I bring this up only because the potential for witnessing a complete EGOT is rare.  The last chance we had, by my calculation, was in 2009 when Liza Minnelli lost the Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.  Before that was in 2002, when John Kander and Fred Ebb lost the Best Original Song Oscar to Eminem.  The most recent member to the club is Whoopi Goldberg, who became a member in 10 years ago in 2001.  Chances to see it are few and far between.  I tend to keep my eyes peeled.  Here's wishing luck to Williams to complete and EGOT...and become the first EGOTer (and Tony winner?) to be awarded for playing an animal.


.

BURLESQUE

Written and Directed by Steve Antin

Starring Christina Aguilera, Cher, Cam Gigandet, Kristen Bell and Stanley Tucci

Ali: I've got to get out of this town

We open on a street so sparse, in a town so small, one expects tumbleweeds to float by the diner where two young ladies are wasting their lives away as waitresses. Pop princess / diva / star, Christina Aguilera, is sitting on the counter top, staring off into the distance, looking forlorn and pensive. She announces that she’s got to get out of this town and before long, she is buying a one-way ticket to Los Angeles to become a star! There you have it. This is BURLESQUE, a new musical that steals (sorry, borrows would have been too generous a word to use here) from great movie musicals of the past, like CABARET, MOULIN ROUGE and CHICAGO (which incidentally all did it better), to showcase the vocal prowess of its star and transition her to the next inevitable level of her fame as a Hollywood actress.

It has not been a good year for Aguilera. Her latest album tanked and barely registered at radio. Her summer tour was scrapped due to low ticket sales, or so it was rumoured. And as if her professional troubles weren’t bad enough, she separated from her husband of just five years in the fall. With an album, a tour and a movie coming out in one year, this was clearly meant to be a big one for her. While my heart goes out to her, BURLESQUE is not going to turn anything around. Perhaps if there were a stitch of originality in the film, it might have given Aguilera some desperately needed credibility at this stage in her career. Writer / Director (and I use those terms loosely) Steve Antin, keeps the clichés coming though and it is painfully obvious that the only reason the film was made was to showcase Aguilera’s impressive chops. With reasons like that, it won’t amount to anything but a forgotten blip in the increasingly chaotic pop spectrum.

Judging from the age bracket of the audience I caught BURLESQUE with, I’d say more people were curious to see Cher return to the screen than anything else about this movie. Cher plays Tess, a former burlesque dancer that now runs the club, fittingly called “Burlesque”, where Aguilera finds acceptance and success. Cher is the only character other than Aguilera to sing in the film but never does she sing with her co-star. In fact, when Cher does sing, I was afraid her intensely tight face might crack into tiny little pieces but alas no, and at least she sounded decent. It’s a shame the songs she was given were so boring though. Fortunately, she has everyone’s favorite gay sidekick, Stanley Tucci, at her side to liven things up when necessary, which is often.

BURLESQUE is simply too easy to be anything other than mediocre. About half way through the film, when Aguilera inevitably finds her voice after struggling to get noticed in L.A. and just after Cher finds out that if they don’t raise an obscene amount of money by a fast approaching date that the club will close, you are lulled into a state of complete familiarity. Your fate is accepted and BURLESQUE makes its way to its predictable ending without full-on disaster or wardrobe malfunction. Familiar means comfortable and while comfortable can be nice, it can also be easily forgotten. Simply put, BURLESQUE falls very flat when it was clearly aiming for busty.