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Capone does not want FAME to live forever…quite the opposite!
Hey, everyone. Capone in Chicago here.
Films like this remake of FAME are frustrating for so many reasons, chief among them is that it's clear they aren't trying particularly hard to be great. Contrary to foggy memories, the 1980 version of FAME isn't that great a movie. It's sort of the prequel to A CHORUS LINE, showing a group of dancers, singers, musicians, actors, and other artistic types at a high school for the performing arts, where a group of teachers ply them with skills, push them harder than they've ever been pushed, and load them up with all of the cliches about effort and talent and placing the art before the celebrity they may or may not achieve. If even this plot description makes you roll your eyes, imagine the experience of watching the film.
But here's the thing: FAME (2009) features a group of largely unknown younger actors doing some pretty incredible stuff between the lame and obvious stories. The songs are catchy, the singing is often lovely, the dancing is impressive, and the acting... hey, did I mention the catchy tunes? What helps to keep Fame from sinking under the weight of its own self-importance are the older actors playing the teachers. I hate to say this--because I'm always looking for fresh faces in any film--but seeing familiar faces in this movie made me breathe a sigh of relief. Bebe Neuwirth plays a dance teacher, Kelsey Grammer a piano instructor (yes, both Frasier and Lilith are in this movie), Charles S. Dutton is the acting teacher, and Megan Mullally does a nice job as a singing coach who actually bothers to bond with her students. Original FAME alum Debbie Allen appears in a couple of scenes as the school principal.
The film seems to go out of its way to provide as multi-cultural a mix of kids as humanly possible. Black, white, Asian, Latino, they're all here on Noah's Benetton School of the Arts. And each come with their own set of anxieties and shortcomings they must conquer. The white girl (Kay Panabaker, who reminds me of a younger Amber Tamblyn) is a little nervous to do her thing in front of crowds; the black girl (Naturi Naughton) is a classical pianist who really wants to sing R&B; the hottie (the also white Kherington Payne) is a sexy and talented dancer whose biggest flaw is that she possesses no personality; another girl (Anna Maria Perez de Tagle, whose name would lead me to believe she's Latino, but I thought she was Asian while watching the film) is tempted by a job before she graduates; the Hispanic boy wants to be a music producer and learns a hard lesson about the music industry; the black guy (Collins Pennie from HALF NELSON and PROM NIGHT) wants to be a rapper-actor; the white guy (Paul McGill) thinks he's a filmmaker; and the other white guy (Asher Book) is can sing like an angel and is dating the first white girl. The problem with Fame isn't that all of these characters (and there are more) get mixed up in the heavily populated mix; the problem is that each character so clearly fills a niche that you can almost piece the cast together like a puzzle with no group left unrepresented, even if it means character underdevelopment is guaranteed.
But the question remains, Are people coming to see FAME for rich and fully drawn characters? I'm guessing not. They are coming to watch the alleged development of talent. They are coming to witness the birthplace of tomorrow's hit makers, acting giants and dancing greats. And they're coming to see a large number of these students fall short of their dreams. That's an element of this film I was surprised to see addressed. Some of these kids don't quite have what it takes to become great in their respective fields. Neuwirth gets to deliver that message to one student, and it's one of the few solid scenes in the film. Still, in the end, FAME becomes a slightly more believable but no less annoying and unholy version of HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL, which I actually found more entertaining because it embraced the musical genre so completely. Fame would very much like to be a musical. You can almost feel the film itself bursting on its reel to let the characters break into song and dance whenever they feel like. Instead what we get is a small number of musical numbers that occur very politely in the context of the film. With the exception of the senior graduation performance, which briefly seems to ignore the small confines of the auditorium stage.
Beyond the lack of plot beyond simply following these students through four years of schooling, my biggest sticking point with FAME is that most of the younger actors are terrible. Dancer Kherington Payne is almost laughably bad (but she's smoking hot, so we'll forgive her). Most of the actors look like they were brought in to audition for one of those Sprite commercials where people drink soda and start doing backflips and smiling. That said, Naturi Naghton is someone whose singing and acting are worth revisiting. She's a gifted performer stuck in this tepid movie. She's so good in fact, that she makes those around her look five times as mediocre. Oh, and if you're wondering if there's a scene equivalent to the "Coco being pressured into undressing before the camera" scene in the original movie, there is, but it's not nearly as fun-creepy. Yeah, I said it.
I didn't walk into FAME expecting great things. And my expectations were soundly met. The best thing on director Kevin Tancharoen's filmography is a pre-breakdown Britney Spears live special that ran on TV a few years ago, so his history of dealing with real human beings is limited. Parts of the film feel like music videos, while others feel like a CW drama, with all of the emotional depth that that implies. There's ample potential with this subject matter, but until a film is willing to be honest about what really goes on at schools filled with artistic types, the results will always feel sterile and dishonest. That's right, I'm looking for the true story of hormones raging, cutthroat competition, hedonistic behavior, and a large group of dancers whose best options after graduating will be to star in the next Lil' Wayne video. Tell the truth people, and then maybe we can talk.
-- Capone
capone@aintitcoolmail.com
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it started as a movie, became a tv series spinning off from said movie, became a stage musical, went back to tv for like a week and is now back in theaters.
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...but the concept of remaking Fame for every generation has some logic, given that its focus is on the pop culture of a very particular time. Still, I rather quaff a tarantula smoothie than sit through this thing.
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Though if it was a TV series, Herc the Vag would have a weekly TB for it.
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Yeah, it's full of incredibly needy phonies, most of whom have little to no talent and like Capone says, they have very little chance at making it anywhere.
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the guy who steals a shitload of other peoples verses? from biggie to jay z to even aaliyah? fuck lil wayne jay z will take the occasional biggie line and at least surrond it with something orignal, unlike that lil wayne bitch who will do a entire verse of someone elses writing.
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That's how much I want to see this movie.
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"Anna Maria Perez de Tagle, whose name would lead me to believe she's Latino, but I thought she was Asian while watching the film)" ---- Clearly there aren't a lot of Filipinas in Chicago, if Capone can't figure this one out.
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Sep 25, 2009 12:34:40 PM CDT
If you see me in a line for this...please kill me.
by doctor_leonard_mccoy
So the producer has some sex thing for flushing money down the toilet or what?
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Sep 25, 2009 12:43:44 PM CDT
Oh, this isn't good. Now, I'm really, really not going to see i
by azultool
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and the flashdance remake, and the inevitable dirty dancing remake.
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It had some gritty content (including an uncomfortable Irene Cara topless scene) that led it a bit more credibility than Capone is admitting.
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Born in 1990...ok. Resume googling.
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Capone, you do know that the original FAME was directed by the legendary Alan Parker dont you? Because you make no mention of it and dismiss the movie out of hand.
Alan Parker not only directed the excellent FAME, he also helmed THE COMMITMENTS, BUGSY MALONE, PINK FLOYD THE WALL, ANGEL HEART, MIDNIGHT EXPRESS, MISSISIPPI BURNING and BIRDY.
He was (is) a contemporary of Ridley Scott and uses a similarly visual approach to movie-making. I think most, myself included, would consider him one of the greatest talents in his field. -
So yes, to concur with cerebralassassin FAME does have credibility. Rather more credibility in fact than Capone.
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done anything since angela ashes. and then after he got knighted and became head of the BFI!
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...that came up with this one?
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...just for Midnight Express. Tongue removal scene, "conjugal visit" scene, kick-ass Moroder score, effing rules, that movie.
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If not fuck this remake.
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... this "Piece of Sh*t" to be anything but, a "Piece of Sh*t"?
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The original "Fame" was good but very prtentious and highly overrated! The TV series was pretty fucking dreadful! And now this winner! Do they dance around the LA river puddle in this one?????
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I know as a movie reviewer, you are supposed to see everything, but I am disappointed in you for first actually going to watch this travesty and second for actually thinking you could give it a chance. The original Fame was bad (sorry to all the theater bunch that loved it 20 years ago), so thinking a remake of a bad movie ala High Schoo Musical camp would be better is plumb crazy. I look forward to this getting some Razzies next year.
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With my Mum and Gran.... It's become a tradition for us to see them together...... Shut up!! Well anyways, the trailer came up I groaned and said 'ahhhh Fuck'. The trailer was that bad my Gran didn't even tell me off for swearing!!!
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A: This film.
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Parker also directed an excellent marriage-on-the-rocks film with Diane Keaton and Albert Finney (giving one of his best ever performances) whose name escapes me, but was a great drama. Parker tends to be forgotten in the great directors list of the 70's and 80's period.
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The French exchange student getting freaky in the shower with the star dancer, and getting knocked up. The already mentioned scene with Coco, the cussing. This sounds more like a sequal to the TV show.-----later-----m
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Why bother even reviewing a film like this? No one here will see this or planned to. If they do see it, it will because a wife or a significant or a child other planned to see it regardless of reviews.
This is why Roger Ebert is a great reviewer. He can review a genre film a target that review to the audience that will actually see it. The ideal film for the typical aintitcool reviewer is a two hour picture of a piece of cake and after the movie they get a free piece of cake.
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I constantly drive past one in Chicago and traffic is constantly backed up or stopped entirely when the kids invariably break into a spontaneous dance number in the street.
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Girl has pouty lips that would make Angelina Jolie scowl with jealousy.
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While I didn't think it was a great film, I don't think it deserves to be slammed for its cliches. It was released almost thirty years ago when they were probably much less cliche. Of course they are tired now since very rarely are movies made today that don't have some sort of message.
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skimn, yeah agree that Parker seems to be undervalued or perhaps overlooked. I think Capone let himself down by not knowing/not mentioning him.
He had a great 'hazy' visual style to his movies, and he always liked to put in a few shots of fans. Not fans as in people, but fans as in whirring blades. Next time you watch one of his keep your eyes out for all the fans, seriously. -
The only good thing about the original Fame (at least from a straight guy perpective because lets be honest, they're not seeing this crap anyway) is that it was like the only PG rated movie that had tits in it. Now you probably can't even say the word tits without a PG-13 rating. What happened to this country?
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That's one of the best things about the HP films--they're the kind that make you want to make a sort of ceremony out of it with people close to you. I'm doing that with the HP films and also did it with the LOTR movies.
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I know you all probably won't go back, but if you like Kherington, I advise you to seek out her videos from So you Think you can Dance. She was cast there for dancing ability and star-quality. Hard to explain exactly, but something more than mere hotness.
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...(Voice Like A Red Hot, Molten Railroad Tie Nail From Hell) Mullally... is the SINGING teacher?!!? Thah Fuuuck?
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No Pandorum or Surrogates reviews, but one for Fame?
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The toxic waste infected, helicopter smooshed, cancer ingesting, bad Bauer brother Paul MacCrane was in the original. So its got that going for it.
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Sep 25, 2009 4:02:42 PM CDT
Fuck "Fame" I'll take "Staying Alive" any day of the week
by alienindisguise
Fame was always the gayest of musicals and they could remake it 100 times and it would still be the queerest thing on earth.
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will have to go fantasize about that on.
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My fuckstick demands an appearance of one of my favorite teenage fap queens.
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This movie isn't really a remake of the old movie.....it's a remake of the T.V. series.
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if I recall correctly, it was because of the dirty hippies. Now with this one, it's the kids? There wasn't anything wrong with the kids. I thought this movie was great. WAY better than I expected. It even made me reconsider my anti-remake prejudices. In fact, I considered that it flowed so well that it might end up being better than NINE when all is said and done this year. I thought CHICAGO was choppy and sounded like it was filmed in a can. So if we get the same thing from Marshall with NINE, then FAME will be better. Just before a movie ends I usually start considering what I'll give it for an IMDb rating, and with this I thought '9/10'. And then I asked myself 'why not a 10?' And then I realized it was because I didn't want to give a remake of FAME a 10 because clearly those movies aren't tens. Only a goofball would give something like that a ten. So... 10/10. I mean if I had to complain it would be that it was too short, which just means I wanted more of it. Let's not be snobs and just leave the theater singing so that everyone can hear us. (I did.) That's what you're supposed to do with musicals. I don't remember any character development in SINGIN' IN THE RAIN. Don's decision to spill the beans on Lina was no greater character evolution than the kid who decided to go home and teach.
I agree with you 99% of the time Capone, but I guess movie musicals are the exception. -
a performing arts school? Is it many? I'm curious.
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And the TV series that came after it was great. Now, it's a fucking reality show.
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We need another remake like Hollywood needs more assholes.
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Is this a nerd site or a tap-dancing-douchebag site?
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it tackles some pretty heavy stuff (abortion, racial tension, eating disorders, etc). Wasn't it rated R? We live in an age of youthful narcissism and exhibitionism run amok. I'm sure the new film will reflect these values, either consciously or unconsciously. The original was a glimpse into the lives of "special kids": Kind of a Hogwarts for performers. But Youtube and American Idol has cheapened that.
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you have got to be shittin' me...
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That this crap thread about any of these crap movies belongs on the back page of some TMZ website and not here. I agree this is not a tap-dancing-douchebag site. Epic Fail!
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...in a tomboy beanpole sort of way. Oh, and 'Warlock' was the mutt's nuts!No idea why this film was made though. Let's hope nobody sees it and everyone involved in the money side of things loses a shed-load. 'Re-imaginings', eh? Some fuckers would happily give the Sistine Chapel another coat of paint...
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pretty solid flick, and Antye Trau is the hottest chick to come along in a long time. What a rack!!
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oh man...i was touching myself thruout!the skittles were delicious!who was that dude that did that stuff with his face!I WAS LIKE NO FUCKING WAYand then they jammed it like a toothpick, buut fucking backwards and more like NO WAY NO FUCKING WAY and the dude was like yes way brahdingus! Ten KAthy Bates being Ten Kathy Bates...I give fame 8.5 Kathy Bates. Great Set Design.
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and how many they can squeeze in
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was the only reason I would watch the original fame. The last scene where she pulls out her beautiful milk domes and cries into the camera was a sleazy highlight in my young puberty boner popping years. They used to run the movie all the time on Showtime - I'd always Mario hammer my cock and then watch the Muppet Movie - which was also playing around the same time.
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with this sterile, neurotic hotness. Nothing remotely hot ever happens onscreen anymore, either overt or suggested. Just a bunch of weird, bleach-teethed, pep-rally fucking clones.
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Not that the film looked particularly good, but you'd think a Bruce Willis sci-fi movie directed by Jonathan Mostow would get at least a few reviews.
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Sep 26, 2009 12:16:37 PM CDT
I actually really liked the movie...and I agree with Capone at t
by thecreepingkid
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It was originally a PG-13 not PG. Also heard the director wanted to make the anti-"High School Musical," and the studio got scared and made him re-cut...
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You reviewers and the shit you guys have to watch. PRAY TO GOD BIG RED DOES NOT LIKE TWATLIGHT 2! But knowing him and his taste for shit flims, he will eat it up in one bite.
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...........................
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When you can tell exactly how bad the movie's going to be right from the trailer...
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surogates ok Pandorum I wanted to hate it but ITS SUCH A B MOVIE I COULDNT. The last 15 mins was the best even though we have seen this movie before, for it is at least 4 movies in one.
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Maria Perez de Tagle is from a long line of philipine entertainers...so that is why she has a spanish name but looks asian...or do you also need education on the history of the philipines and why that would be so?
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For film reviews head to Sick Picks @ http://sickpicks.blogspot.com/
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if people hate musicals automatically of course they're going to hate something like this. And I can see the argument that AICN is kinda dominated by a anti-musical crowd so movies like this don't belong with a talkback. But it's here. If you wouldn't have liked it in the first place because you hate that sort of thing, then don't bother with it. But if you do happen to like musicals I can't see why you wouldn't like it. I've read other reviews and they're not positive but I disagree. I think it's got everything a musical should have including the somewhat cliche characters and people bursting into song for no apparent reason. And the people in this movie are talented. The dancers can dance, the singers can sing, unlike some musicals that just hire a big name who can almost carry a tune.
Compared to other recent movie musicals I'll take this over SWEENEY TODD and CHICAGO any day. And for the record, I couldn't even watch more than 10 minutes of HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL because of that 'in a can' sound I spoke of earlier and I don't think the kids I heard were very good singers. I kinda liked HAIRSPRAY in some spots but it wasn't nearly as good as FAME. MOULIN ROUGE!, DANCER IN THE DARK, and ONCE (if you want to count it as a musical) were better. ACROSS THE UNIVERSE is probably the one FAME's on par with. -
That Albert Finney/Diane Keaton movie was "Shoot the Moon", released in 1982.
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Disgusting, like those movies where someone gets out of the ghetto by playing sports. How about a movie celebrating the success of a good education?
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I tired to watch Twilight a week ago. It was the worst movie I have ever tried to watch. Every person in the film looked like they were in constant agony or that they were on the verge of shitting there pants. The kid that played the werewolve indian is obviously way to feminine to come across as anything but a gay best friend to the main actress and the dialouge was over all horrendus. I didn't go into it wanting to hate it that bad, just wanted to see what the fuss was about. Thank you Twilight for making sure I never do that again. I'm sorry Fame, I'll never see you.
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BECAUSE, IF SO, THAT WOULD DEFINITELY GET ME INTERESTED. BEYOND THAT, WHY THE FUCK WOULD ANYONE GO AND SEE THIS MOVIE OR RENT THE DVD? FFS.
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Yeah when I first saw her on so you think you can dance, my wife and I predicted she would turn into an actress because she is so gorgeous, and obviously talented. We weren't suprised when they revealed last season of sytycd that she'd be in a movie. Here's our next prediction. KP will make maybe one or two more dancing movies before she says fuck it and goes mainstream making shitty romantic comedies.
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I think calling it cliche is pretty damn dismissive. The film was actually fairly dark and not 'high school musical' at all. If anything, I think it tended to expose those cliches as just that and focus on the people who were trying to survive. It's not like it showed any of them actually achieving fame.
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Why did you walk into Fame at all?
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