Do you have that thing where you watch A Knight's Tale, finish it, want to watch something else like it, and then realize you're just going to have it watch it again? I sometimes daydream about a world where it kicked off a trend of good, earnest, and willfully anachronistic movies with awesome soundtracks. Said daydream drove me to watch Virgin Territory, which, well, sucked. The show Merlin seems like its spiritual successor, but I have a hard time getting into television shows these days. It also lacks Bowie.

On the subject of musicals, does anyone have a stage musical they think would translate well to the big screen?

The Blues Brothers is my favourite movie of all time. If watching the same movie over and over again would extend your lifetime by a few hours I would've achieved immortality years ago.

Another great one. Though not actually a musical (Nothing against it, just in the context of the thread, thought it should be mentioned)

Do they?!

/Runs to find his copy of El Dorado/

Well shiiiiiiit...

I'm starting to realize how many movies (That I don't think of as musicals)/musicals only have one song that the characters actually sing... it's weird...I'm trying to understand the logic behind it. You'd think you'd either go just go full musical or not have any songs at all. Seems kinda half assed. (Not to mention it sets up a really weird movie universe (No one sings...except well...this one point they do...but otherwise this is NOT a musical. One has to wonder if they are just literally singing the song in universe, and everyone else is just going... w...t...f...)

Last edited by BigDamnArtist (2012-07-30 00:32:17)

Characters singing I have no problem with (Tarzan: You'll be in my heart, for instance) in fact it can be a remarkably moving moment. SO LONG as the movie recognizes that it's the character's singing in universe. (Although the full orchestra in the middle of the jungle is a little weird...and no, you don't get to make the score argument, cause it's a BS argument)

I take issue (Perhaps to strong...maybe, take irk with...?) with a movie that suddenly decides to go Full-Broadway for 3 minutes in an otherwise broadway less movie. (Or to put it another way, to go I Can't Wait To be King in the a movie otherwise about the politics of the savanna played as a straight drama): for example:

The Emperors Groove Song at the opening (This one gets a pass because it's a joke and they hang a lantern on it). But it's the only song in an otherwise musicalless movie.

El Dorado (It's Tough To Be A God): Time jumps, impossible visuals (They end the song sitting on the moon for the gods sake) etc etc

I had anther one but it's gone now...stupid blood loss...screwing with my...smart making...things.

EDIT: Yes I know, this isn't that big of a deal. It just strikes me as a bizarre choice for a filmmaker to make.

PS. Alright...so... Fifth Element... I'm fine with it. Cause it's in universe. If Korben suddenly burst into song, started swimming in space and got in a slap fight with Zorg...then we start to have an issue.

Last edited by BigDamnArtist (2012-07-30 01:59:55)

Apparently not. Is it really such a crazy notion that a movie should stick to it's style of story telling throughout the WHOLE movie?!

Well then...next movie I make will be nothing but a montage of various styles... MUSICAL, NOIR, SLASHER, DRAMA, BACK TO NOIR AND ROUND IT OUT WITH A SMALL DASH OF FRENCH SURREALISM

IT'LL BE THE BEST MOVIE EVER MADE I TELL YOU!!

Yes...but if I was making a documentary about YOU, the singing would be naturally occurring as part of the scene because that's just what you do (The feelings part has nothing to do with it, for all I know the Diva in Fifth Element could be relating the tragic woe of her divorce). But the background behind you isn't suddenly going to go technicolour as pink and raindow woodpeckers fly out of the flowers on your wall and start singing lullabies to you, and the flowers in your window sill smile big toothy smiles and sing along, while the background then morphs into a sunny beach, and somehow magically you're in a swimsuit with a mojito in your hand. Because that's not how your actual life works...

And if that is LITERALLY how an everyday scene from your life plays out...dude... I just...I got nothin to say to that. I will volunteer to make that documentary. Screw that... I will pay you to be able to make that documentary.

EDIT: Ugh...how can I explain this...

You know how you're watching a movie... any movie... and everything is going along great, there's a story and there's characters, and you're just getting into it...then suddenly...

for 3 minutes. And then it goes back to being the movie you were watching, without even having the courtesy to acknowledge wtf just happened.

Last edited by BigDamnArtist (2012-07-30 05:51:10)

Aah, good ol TVTropes come to save my ass again. Yes, exactly that.

Perhaps this trend, from full-fledged musical to films with one musical moment to films with soundtracks (a la Toy Story—I forgot how many songs where in that film until I rewatched it recently!), can be encapsulated by The Emperor's New Groove and its troubled production from epic Disney musical (complete with high profile musician) to what it is today. I haven't watched The Sweatbox all the way through yet, but I can imagine that this trend may have, in a very small way, influenced the negative reaction to its first cut as The Kingdom of the Sun.

Part of it, in the 1930's, was just a desire for movies to entertain everyone the same way a variety show would. So, in the middle of a Marx Brothers film Chico would sit down and play the piano for a bit. This is also why even before Little Mermaid, people thought Disney made musicals. Most of their movies had one song. ONE. Some, like Dumbo and Snow White, had two, but most of the rest just had one tossed in. A leftover from that older tradition.
(you also saw the same thing with Japanese films, so there's suddenly a song in the middle of War of the Gargantuas, let alone the Mothra movies)

I've seen three local productions. The most interesting not just added back some songs from the original into the Broadway version, but had two dancers doing "emotional interpretations" while the main cast sang. Once you got used to it, it worked quite well.

It was also interesting because the actor playing the Arbiter took the line ""Don't try to tempt me, you've no hope, I don't like women, and don't take dope" and made him a flaming queen. I don't think that's what Tim Rice had in mind

(I don't care for the recent concert version, mainly as the woman from Wicked is totally wrong for Florence)