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Fame [2009] (DVD)
by lyndsey1989
I had wanted to see this since its release at the cinema but of course I never got round to it! It came through from my online DVD rental company yesterday so I decided to settle down and watch it this afternoon. It is an updated version of the 1980 film of the same name. Initially I had thought it would be really good but after ... looking on IMDB I was a bit disappointed as it has a low score of 4.5/10. Nevertheless, I watched it with an open mind and this is what I thought!
*Plot*
The film begins by showing us young talent auditioning for places at the New York City High School for the Performing Arts. There are good performances and bad performances but we do not get to see initially who gets through.
The film then shows us Freshman Year at the High School. We then see who was successful with their auditions and we also see how much work they are expected to put into their studies. We learn that performing arts is not an easy ride and the students are likely to struggle with the workload.
Freshman Year gives us a brilliant opportunity to get to know all of the students better and understand their personalities. We see that despite studying the same subject, all of the students are very different. We then see how successful they become.
*Opinion*
For the first half an hour of this film I was quite confused. There were so many characters on the screen I found it difficult to tell who was who. However, once the film developed its few main characters and I understood who was who I really enjoyed seeing what would become of the character s and whether they would reach their dreams or not.
I found that I warmed to all of the characters really quickly as each of them had their own unique story to tell and they were all very interesting. My favourite character was probably Denise, a young girl who had the voice of an angel but whose parents only wanted her to be a pianist. I really liked seeing how she dealt with her parents narrow minded idealisms and I loved the way her story turned out in the end.
I loved the plot of the film and after it got going I thought it picked up really well and was very attention-grabbing and there was always something exciting going on. It was a really busy film but I found it easy to follow and didn't get at all confused (after the initial confusion over characters at the start)! The ending was done well and wasn't too long so therefore I wasn't getting bored.
Overall, I really enjoyed the film. One disappointment though was the song of 'Fame' it didn't actually appear in the film (only on the closing credits), now this isn't too big of a thing but I was expecting it all the way through the film so I was kind of disappointed!
*Additional Information*
The film was released in 2009.
It was directed by Kevin Tanchareon.
It starred Kay Panabaker, Walter Perez, Naturi Naughton and Asher Brook.
It is rated a 12 in the UK and runs for 123 minutes.
*Summary*
A fun, feel good film, recommended for all.
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Nine - The Musical (DVD)
by dramaxxqueenxx05
This film will prove that being a famous film director is a lot of hard work no matter how old you are and how difficult it can still be to work on a movie, imagine you are in the shoes of Italian film director, Guido Contini.
Guido is of course, a very famous film director who is planning to make a new movie, even though he ... has told the press that a new movie has been made, but in reality the movie hasn't actually been made. Guido has to get inspiration from people he meets or knows, including his wife Luisa who he has been married for sometime, Carla a slutty girl who tries to get closer to Guido but Guido refuses to love her. Lilli, Guido's costume designer who is very good at her job, very intelligent. journalist, Stephanie who will do anything to get Guido back on his feet. His leading lady, Claudia who also needs to encourage Guido. His mother, who has been a big inspiration in his life and finally another slutty girl named Saraghina.
However this movie could get into Guido's life too quickly and cause a lot of trouble in his personal life, but which pathway does Guido go? win or loose? or should he retire and let someone esle be a famous genius film director? Find out in this movie directed by Chicago film director, Rob Marshall and sadly this is one of the last pieces written by film writer/director Anthony Minghella. This film is an all star cast so this film is bound to be great.
cast
Guido Contini - Daniel Day Lewis
Lusia Contini - Marion Collitard
Carla - Penelope Cruz
Lilli - Judi Dench
Stephanie - Kate Hudson
Claudia - Nicole Kidman
Sarghina - Fergie
director : Rob Marshall
runtime : 118 minutes
certificate : 12
release date : 18th december 2009 (theatre) 19th April 2010 (DVD)
This is personally a good film and a good huge back for some notable people in the film industry including Rob Marshall and another good performance from double Oscar winning actor Daniel Day Lewis, sadly the last for some, and that was Anthony Minghella.
However I didn't like the fact the movie did drag on a little, especially in some scenes.
But this is big, colorful, musical and probably would be amazing on broadway
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Nine - The Musical (DVD)
by pmcds
Filmed much in the way that Chicago is, Nine tells a story through the songs of its main character, Guido Conti (Daniel Day-Lewis) and the various women in his life. As he struggles to come up with material for his new film as well as find his heart's true desire, we as the audience get to revisit with him all of the various women in his ... life, from wife to mother, concubine to harlot.
What I struggled to find in this film was the flow. Day Lewis is a brilliant actor, and normally excels in whatever role he chooses. Here, his role as an Italian director whose fans are begging for the next film allows him to show off his accent skills as well as the patience and poise he can show as a director. He manages to hold a screen perfectly whenever he's on show, and this film is no exception.
There's also a finely impressive array of female stars here as well. With a plethora of female leads in his life, such as his wife, love, agent, etc, famous names such as Dame Judi Dench, Fergie (from the Black Eyed Peas), Kate Hudson, Nicole Kidman and Penelope Cruz have been snapped up for the film, and this impressive line up was one of the reasons I expected the film to be good. What actually happens is that each character has so short a presence on screen at any one time that they can't make an impact.
Musically, it's okay, and all involved manage to give a good showing on this point. Again, the flow of the film was somewhat disturbed by the constantly changing of scene and cast, as Conti remembers a few scenes and lives through others, and it's a shame it doesn't all come together, as I can see this could have been really good. You do start to feel somewhat for Conti, and there are some moments when you wonder if everything is going to turn out okay for him and his women, even though you're not sure if any of them really care or not.
Perhaps the clearest character in the film is Marion Cotillard's Luisa, Conti's wife, who has a bit more longevity in the film's scenes than the others, and it's here I remember more. She plays the ego battered wife who is trying to pretend everything is fine, despite her man having so many other women in his life.
Visually, the film has some stunning moments, and the dance choreography and cinematography from a scene by scene point of view is very impressive, but it's like someone has taken a series of short scenes and clipped them together rather randomly. The whole thing is a bit of a shame, really, and with so much promise in its various elements, I'd have expected better. Disappointed was the feeling this left me with, and although there are some very good moments, the whole ensemble put together is not something I can recommend.
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