He also asked Brandy to his prom a few months later.
Month: January 2020
399. The “Cats” round up part 2 — the movie (2019)
I finally saw Cats, after putting it off for weeks because I just knew that it was going to be a tough movie to watch due to the cgi faces. I had actually planned seeing it in theater the day it came out, after seeing Rise of Skywalker, but unfortunately I fell ill while watching Star Wars. I loved the movie*, don’t get me wrong, problem was I had eaten too much salad the day before and was feeling the effects that morning. No WAY was I going to sit through scary!Cats with a stomach ache and weakness.
So I watched a version that was shot with the worlds worst camera phone online. I actually started my attempt to watch this on Christmas Eve. I just finished on Martin Luther King Day.
There were some interesting aspects to the movie, but there are definitely parts that I would fast forward through next time I watch it when it comes out on dvd. I catalog dvds at my job, and I noticed that box office failures get released rather quickly and cheaply. Maybe we can get it on dvd before the end of winter!
My fast forwards:
JENNYANYDOTS. MY GOD, THAT WAS HORRIBLE. That is #notmyjennyanydots from the musical. She doesn’t wear a stupid pink outfit under her skin (?!) She wears a fringe getup, under her glamorous coat. She doesn’t hate Bustopher Jones, I think she might even have the hots for him — movie Jennyanydots despises him. Bustopher Jones is also another sore spot in the film. We get it, you’re loud and obnoxious, James Corden.
Jennyanydots from the musical also doesn’t eat her roach kids like the movie one does.
Victoria and Jennyanydots are easily the least authentic looking from the musical. Victoria has those same dopey eyes the mother from How I Met Your Mother has.
The woman who plays Victoria, Francesca Hayward is beautiful. The CGI did her wrong.
Rumpelteazer and Mungojerrie are two of my favorite characters in the musical. They are grossly half assed in the film. They don’t even sound like they’re singing. It’s like:
mUnGoJeRrIe aNd rUmPeLtEaZeR WeRe a nOtOrIoUs cOuPlE Of cAtS
As kNoCkAbOuT ClOwNs, QuIcK – ChAnGe cOmEdIaNs
tIgHt – rOpE WaLkErS AnD AcRoBaTs
tHeY HaD An eXtEnSiVe rEpUtAtIoN, mAdE ThEiR HoMe iN ViCtOrIa gRoVe
tHaT WaS MeReLy tHeIr cEnTeR Of oPeRaTiOn fOr tHeY WeRe iNcUrAbLy gIvEn tO RoVe
(I made that text with this, no way did I do that myself)
Rumpleteazer sounds like she’s shaking the whole time she’s singing. You want whoever was playing the duo in this 1991 clip to be in your movie. (Or this 1981 clip)
Not…this. The scene is so sexual. Mungojerrie jumping on the bed with Victoria, putting a pearl necklace and watch on her neck.
Victoria’s song, Beautiful Ghosts. Totally doesn’t fit in the film. It reminds me of that ad you constantly see on YouTube for some singing app, and the song starts with “I’m standing on the water..”, or “by the water”, I don’t know, its always cringy.
(source)
Where is Jellylorum during the Gus the Theater Cat scene. she’s his helper! She needs to be there. Where are Gus’ 20 pounds of quilts that he must wear at all times.
Girl, we all know I’m going to say Taylor Swift as Bombalurina was absolutely awful. She cannot sing the classic song “Macavity the Mystery Cat”. It’ll make your ears hurt.
Also, I don’t think that Bombalurina works with Macavity in the musical? Like she knows of him, she probably has a crush on him, but they have never been partners in crime? Her musical singing partner, Demeter is absolutely forgotten.
Macavity sending everybody on a barge?! What is that. Growltiger is there? Gus doesn’t recognize him.
NO JEMIMA. I missed seeing her work with Victoria to get the other cats to accept Grizabella.
“The addressing of cats” at the end is way too long. I was wanting to say out loud, “It’s morning! Grizabella is long gone away in her balloon. It’s over.”
Ok parts:
The dancing at the jellicle ball scene is the only scene where the cgi fur is useful? If that’s the right term? It makes the cats look almost like the musical for a second. Except for the closeup on Victoria dancing that is in the trailer. She looks in absolute pain. Her tail looks like it’s sticking straight out of her butt too. Because I’m five.
Mister Mistofflees is probably my choice for the best character in the movie.
Second choice would have to be Rum Tum Tugger.
Macavity is a jerk and I’m loving it.
Totally getting a Charles Minor feel from Idris.
Why are the cats soooo tiny on the tracks during “Skimbleskanks”?! It’s hilarious.
Loved Macavity trying to hitch a ride on the balloon.
*i actually had the realization the other night while trying to fall asleep that I’ll never see Rey in another movie and this thought upset me immensely.
Related:
Vulture: 25 days of Cats – an oral history of the musical by original cast members.
403. “Challenger” made for TV movie (February 25, 1990)
In the early 90s, there seemed to be a barrage of made-for-tv movies from events “ripped from the headlines”. 2 Always with poor production, always with flat acting, always with artistic liberties taken, and almost always with controversy.
Most made for tv movies of this genre were made a few months to a year past the event. However, with a such an emotionally heavy event such as the Challenger explosion, time was taken. Still, such an event couldn’t be handled carefully with the cheap production values of a made-for-tv movie.
Families of the astronauts that died that day were angry that a movie was being made. 3 Jane Smith, wife of Challenger pilot Mike Smith, was especially offended by a scene near the end of the film where as the shuttle is going up in the air (part of the only clip montage I could find on YouTube), crew members recite the poem “High Flight” in their thoughts:
I don’t know what he was thinking. I certainly know he was not reciting poetry. I know he was alive until the water impact. I think the movie trivializes everything that led up to their deaths and exploits their deaths.
‘I didn’t want them to make the film in the first place because it isn’t a happy ending, it’s a horrible ending.
Lorna Onizuka, wife of astronaut Ellison Onizuka stated:
‘This producer has made a mockery of my husband’s life and the sacrifices he made for his country,’ Onizuka said. ‘How many deaths do my children have to live through? I think this has killed him again.’ 4
So this is probably the first time that I’ve written something about a movie in which I wasn’t able to see the movie. When I started this I thought it would be on YouTube, dailymotion, or archive.org since it was just a one time only TV movie from 30 years ago. The only way to see it online is to pay $4+ to rent it. I’m like, “why am I going to pay $4 for a three hour movie that I only have 24 hours to watch, and was panned by so many people?”
From just the two clips I was able to find on YouTube, the movie looks terrible. I don’t think I could sit through it, even for free. The actress who plays Christa McAuliffe overacts horribly.
The Los Angeles Times described Karen Allen as, “so awed and wide-eyed that she walks around with an idiot smile frozen on her face”. 1 The Chicago Tribune described Allen as:
“Most unfortunate of all is what happens to McAuliffe, understandably the star of this space shot. As played by Karen Allen, McAuliffe is more school girl than teacher. With each step of her preflight indoctrination, she expresses herself with increasing giddiness. It may have been her intent to give us wide-eyed innocence. Whatever she`s up to, she fails miserably.” 2
There’s another clip where Dick Scobee takes Christa on a plane ride and its so wooden.
I found two commercials advertising the movie. One is your typical commercial for a television program. The other one has a cover of the Bette Midler song, “Wind Beneath My Wings” in the background, which of course is the saddest song ever.
I also found a commercial break from the airing of the movie. The infamous “we don’t have to talk about O rings on Sunday” line is also included.
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1. Rosenberg, Howard, “‘Challenger’: The Wrong Story Got Filmed,” Los Angeles Times, February 24, 1990. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-02-24-ca-1077-story.html
2. Kogan, Rick, “ABC`S `CHALLENGER` IS ANOTHER DISASTER,” Chicago Tribune, February 23, 1990. https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1990-02-23-9001160741-story.html
3. Suro, Roberto, “TELEVISION; ‘Challenger’ Looks At the Human Side Of the Disaster,” New York Times, February 18, 1990. https://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/18/arts/television-challenger-looks-at-the-human-side-of-the-disaster.html
4.Schlangenstein, Mary, “Wives angered by Challenger movie,” UPI, February 23, 1990. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1990/02/23/Wives-angered-by-Challenger-movie/3320635749200/.
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