Category Archives: Doc’s Movie Reviews

The Greatest Night in Pop

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A great new documentary arrived on Netflix that featured the story of the recording of the classic 80’s song, We are the World.

There was a lot of recorded sections of the actual archive recordings with all of the artists involved in the amazing night. Starting after the American Music Awards were done, the recording session went the rest of the night and into the morning hours. 

Lionel Richie was one of the first interviews the doc had as he was a major factor behind the creation of the song. He and Michael Jackson wrote it, despite trying to get Stevie Wonder to be a part of it.

The artists interviewed for the doc included Richie, Bruce Springsteen, Kenny Loggins, Huey Lewis, Cyndi Lauper, Smokey Robinson, and Dione Warwick.

One of the interesting tidbits in the doc included the section with Sheila E talking about Prince and the desire of the people in charge to have Prince as a part of the song. 

Watching the process of these legends of music trying to put together this epic song in the limited time they had was fascinating. Seeing Bob Dylan struggle to get the line of the song out was amazing. You had Huey Lewis and Cyndi Lauper express their doubts and insecurities over being included with people that they looked up to for their whole lives.

Another awesome moment was when Quincy Jones thanked Harry Belafonte, whose idea led to this night’s work, and the whole crew broke into a version of The Banana Boat Song. That was an excellent moment from the doc.

This was a fantastic peek behind the curtain of one of the most amazing nights in music history. 

4.3 stars

Orion and the Dark

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A new animated movie from Dreamworks dropped on Netflix this weekend that had been around for awhile. It arrived after a tough schedule last year and just appeared. It featured Jacob Trembley as the main character, Orion.

Orion is afraid of just about everything, but nothing more than the dark. When Orion was carrying on about his fear, the personification of the Dark (Paul Walter Hauser) showed up in Orion’s room and took him on his job through the night, introducing him to the other beings responsible for the night.

The voice cast is strong. Besides Jacob Trembley and Paul Walter Hauser, the cast included Colin Hanks, Angela Bassett, Ike Barinholtz, Nat Faxon, Carla Gugino, Matt Dellapina, Mia Akemi Brown, Natasia Demetriou, Aparna Nancherla, Sky Alexis, and Werner Herzog (yes, Werner Herzog).

As the film was going, the scene shifted to Orion with his daughter in the future, and he was telling her the story of this night. I actually think this dropped at the very beginning, but my Netflix copy skipped it because it felt very out of place where this was dropped.

The story was sweet and had a good message. It was a quick watch and had some clever ideas. It felt like Inside Out but with the night. 

3.7 stars

Argylle

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Here is the first real disappointing film of 2024. 

I have been looking forward to this movie since I first saw the trailer in 2023. It sounded great and the cast was outstanding. I avoided online reviews as much as I could, but I knew they were trending negative. Still, I hoped that the film would be one of those that may be in the middle with critics, but that would be still be entertaining.

Sadly, will Argylle was not terrible, it was not good either. Meh is a very good way to describe this film, the newest from director Matthew Vaughn.

According to IMDB, “Elly Conway, an introverted spy novelist who seldom leaves her home, is drawn into the real world of espionage when the plots of her books get a little too close to the activities of a sinister underground syndicate. When Aiden, a spy, shows up to save her (he says) from being kidnapped or killed (or both), Elly and her beloved cat Alfie are plunged into a covert world where nothing, and no one, is what it seems.”

The definite standout of the film was the performances of its two main protagonists, Bryce Dallas Howard and Sam Rockwell. Don’t be fooled into thinking that Henry Cavill, who is featured heavily in the marketing, is a main character because he is not. He does not appear in much of the movie, mainly in the opening scene which was used quite a bit in the trailers. 

In fact, I hated the way Cavill was used after that opening scene. He was basically a figment of Bryce Dallas Howard’s imagination moving on and would show up to give her a pep talk.

Bryan Cranston is the main antagonist of the film and he is a basic villain without much development for his character. He was always just kind of menacing and that was about it. Catherine O’Hara played Elly’s mom and she had a minimal amount of screen time. She was more used than John Cena and Ariana DeBose, though, who were basically cameo rolls. Samuel L. Jackson was limited to watching a Lakers game for much of his time in the movie.

The movie was too convoluted with its plot and it tried to fool the audience several times that just served to confuse many and mess up the story. When it was just Howard and Rockwell on screen, the film was considerably better.

It was also way too long at almost 2 and a half hours. This needed to be trimmed considerably so it was between 1:45-2:00 hours at most. You could feel the length of the film.

The CGI was not good either. There were times when the cat, named Alfie in the film, was just ridiculous looking. There were plenty of moments too that you could see the green screen.

The film had a major reliance on exposition too, as there was a major info dump in the middle of the film when the twist arrived. The film had to explain things to us way too much and it slowed it down even more.

I was very disappointed with Argylle as I was hopeful that this could be a really fun spy adventure. Sadly, though there were some things positive to it, it is not a film that I would want to see again.

2.6 stars

Monty Python’s the Meaning of Life (1983)

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And so we have reached the end of the 2024 Genre-ary DailyView: Musicals. After a full month of classical musicals or stage shows shot as a film, we wrap up this year’s Genre-ary with EYG Hall of Famers Monty Python and one of their funniest, if not chaotic films, Monty Python’s Meaning of Life. 

Monty Python consisted of six main individuals: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin. 

This film stitched together a series of sketches featuring the immense talents of these six men. It was shocking at times. At times it was raunchy. At times it was offensive. Above all else, it was, at all times, really funny.

Admittedly, there was a scene including vomit jokes, which I have NEVER been a fan of, but this was about as funny as I will find these scenes. 

There are some absolutely brilliant songs involved too including “Every Sperm is Sacred,” “Penis Song (Not The Noël Coward Song),” “Galaxy Song,” “Christmas in Heaven,” and “Meaning of Life.” These are uproariously funny. I love “Every Sperm…” and “Penis Song.”

Some of the skits do not work as well as others, but there are so many outstanding moments that I really was pleased that I scheduled this to conclude the Genre-ary. 

Topsy Turvy (1999)

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The penultimate night of January brings us the second to last film in the Genre-ary DailyView here at EYG. On Max tonight, I watched the musical from 1999 Topsy Turvy. This film has a 90% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Sadly, I just was not into it.

I do love Jim Broadbent, and he is great here. The movie was a biopic musical about Gilbert & Sullivan. They are great too.

I just did not find myself into the film. It had a hard time keeping my attention and I struggled to keep watching.

According to IMDB, “After their last production meets with less-than-stunning reviews, the relationship between Gilbert and Sullivan is strained to breaking. Their friends and associates attempt to get them to work together again, which opens the way to The Mikado, one of the duo’s greatest successes.“

It felt very long, even longer than the actual runtime of 2 hours and 40 minutes. 

I felt sad that I could not get into this movie. It just never grabbed me and, despite the wonderful Jim Broadbent, I was just not actively engaged in the film.

42nd Street (1933)

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I went all the way back to 1933 for one of the most beloved and iconic musicals of the early days of cinema. Choreographed by the legendary Busby Berkeley, 42nd Street was a massive success.

According to IMDB, “Renowned Broadway producer/director Julian Marsh is hired to put together a new musical revue. It’s being financed by Abner Dillon to provide a starring vehicle for his girlfriend, songstress Dorothy Brock. Marsh, who is quite ill, is a difficult taskmaster who works long hours and continually pushes the cast to do better. When Brock breaks her ankle one of the chorus girls, Peggy Sawyer, gets her big chance to be the star. She also finds romance along the way.“

The final dance routines of the show were spectacular. I loved the title track, but most of the remainder of the songs were fine, at best.

I have to say that this was fine, but it did feel kind of old. That is not a fair criticism, I know. Still, I can’t get past the fact that it is a musical that does feel like it was made early in the film world.

I am glad that I watched it. It clearly was a classic of its time. And the dance routines at the end were sensational.

South Pacific (1958)

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Today’s Genre-ary DailyView sends us back into the 1950s to one of the classic musicals of all time, South Pacific.

According to IMDB, “On a South Pacific island during World War II, love blooms between a young nurse and a secretive Frenchman who’s being courted for a dangerous military mission.”

It is really two love stories, one with the young nurse Nellie Forbush (Mitzi Gaynor) and the Frenchman Emile (Rossano Brazzi) and the other with Lt. Joseph Cable (John Kerr) and a native girl Liat (France Nuyen). Both relationship, intriguingly enough, are derailed by racism. 

Nellie rejects Emile when she found out the he had had two children with a Polynesian years before, one who was now dead. Cable decided he could not marry Liat because she was a native girl and not white. It may not have been specifically said out loud, but that is absolutely the reason.

That makes me wonder about our main heroes of this romantic musical. I guess this is a product of the 1950s and, sure, both reconsidered their racism eventually (although Cable came around too late), but the idea that their mindsets were appropriate was in the film.

I was surprised when I saw that Ray Walston was in this film, and providing the comedy relief (at least part of the time). He was some of my favorite parts of the film.

Again, there are some very well known classic songs in this musical including “Some Enchanted Evening,” “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair,” and “There is Nothing Like A Dame.”

It was a little long, but I did like the music and it is always great to see Ray Walston. South Pacific is a classic for a reason, but I did not expect the racism to be a major theme of the story.

Fame (1980)

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The final Saturday of the Genre-ary DailyView brought me the film Fame, from 1980, which inspired a TV show of the same name. 

Fame is not a typical musical, but there are plenty of examples of movie where there was suddenly a dance number. 

According to IMDB, “At the New York City High School for the Performing Arts, students get specialized training that often leads to success as actors, singers, etc. This movie follows eight students from the time when they audition to get into the school, through graduation. Among these are the brazen Coco Hernandez, shy Doris Finsecker, sensitive gay Montgomery MacNeil, and brash, abrasive Ralph Garcey.”

There was a solid cast including Irene Cara, Paul McCrane, Boyd Gaines, Laura Dean, Anne Meara, Barry Miller, Maureen Teefy, Debbie Allen, Richard Belzer, Lee Curreri, Eddie Barth, Albert Hague, Joanna Merlin, Jim Moody, Gene Anthony Ray, and Antonia Franceschi.

Each of the high school students (who looked like 25-30 year olds) had a story and a character arc. Some were better than others. 

This was a decent film but it did have a disjointed feel to it at times. Easily the best number of the film was the title track, Fame, performed by Irene Cara. This was full of energy and easily my favorite part of the film.

Once (2007)

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Today’s Genre-ary DailyView film is 2007’s Once, an Irish musical/drama that is about as charming and sincere of a movie that you are going to find.

According to IMDB, “An unnamed guy (Glen Hansard) is a Dublin guitarist/singer/songwriter who makes a living by fixing vacuum cleaners in his Dad’s Hoover repair shop by day, and singing and playing for money on the Dublin streets by night. An unnamed girl (Markéta Irglová) is a Czech who plays piano when she gets a chance, and does odd jobs by day and takes care of her Mom and her daughter by night. Guy meets girl and they get to know each other as the girl helps the guy put together a demo disc that he can take to London in hope of landing a music contract. During the same several day period, the guy and the girl work through their past loves, and reveal their budding love for one another, through their songs.”

This was a beautiful film. Simple and well-told, Once had an amazing group of songs performed by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová are wonderful together. Hansard is a more experienced actor than Irglová, but she was every bit as excellent as he was.

The music was a major star of this film. A more modern musical, part of the movie was the creation and recording of these songs but our characters. I found those moments the most intriguing. The relationship in the film between guy and girl was different and surprising.

Written and directed by John Carney, Once is real, gritty and warm. Thoroughly entertaining, Once is a low-budget success that is exceptional to watch. 

Bye Bye Birdie (1963)

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The Genre-ary is creeping toward a finish as we reach January 25th, and we pull out the Dick Van Dyke musical, Bye Bye Birdie, based on a stage musical.

According to IMDB, “Conrad Birdie is the biggest rock & roll star of the 60’s ever to be drafted. Aspiring chemist and song writer Albert is convinced he can make his fortune and marry his girlfriend Rosie if he gets Conrad on the Ed Sullivan show to kiss a high school girl goodbye. Albert’s mother will do anything to break him up with Rosie. Kim and Hugo, the high school steadies, live in Sweet Apple, Ohio where most of the action takes place“

Certainly, this is loosely based on Elvis Presley going into the army, as Conrad Birdie is very much like The King. Albert (Dick Van Dyke) is desperate for Birdie to sing a song he was trying to write. Rosie (Janet Leigh) hoped that the song would give Albert the ability to get away from his overbearing mother (Maureen Stapleton) and give Albert the strength to ask Rosie to marry him.

Fun songs throughout the film included “Put on a Happy Face,” “Kids,” and “Bye Bye Birdie.” 

This was quite a fun little movie that was sweet and silly. It works as a family film, but its not the most compelling ever. It was fine. 

Earth Girls are Easy (1989)

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It’s late in the day and I needed a film for the Genre-ary DailyView. The scheduled film for the day was Earth Girls are Easy.

According to IMDB, “Three furry (and funny) aliens travel around the universe in a spaceship and receive a broadcast showing human females. They are fascinated by these shapely creatures and discover that the broadcast came from Southern California on Earth. Meanwhile, Valley girl Valerie Gail feels her cold fiancé Dr. Ted Gallagher is slipping away and decides to seduce him. Instead, she catches him cheating on her with a nurse, throws him out, smashes his things and refuses to see him again. The aliens’ spaceship crash lands in Valerie’s swimming pool – putting a decided damper on her future wedding plans in Las Vegas. She brings them into her home; and the aliens prove to be quick learners and absorb American popular culture and language through television“

The movie had a surprisingly great cast including Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis, Michael McKeon, Jim Carrey, Damon Wayans, Charles Rocket, Larry Linville, Rick Overton, and Julie Brown.

Julie Brown was introduced to me from the Dr. Demento Show with her classically inappropriate song, “The Homecoming Queen’s Got a Gun.” Brown co-wrote this movie and performed several of the songs, the title track “Earth Girls are Easy,” “I Like ’em Big and Stupid,” and “Cause I’m A Blonde.”

This film is really simple and pretty stupid. It has some funny moments, but it is so crazy that it has a hard time keeping a consistent tone. 

This is harmless, but just really dumb. Jeff Goldblum is always great. Jim Carrey was great here. Otherwise, it is a basic B movie with some funny songs.

Shrek: The Musical (2013)

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Today, for the Genre-ary DailyView, I went to Vudu and rented Shrek: The Musical. It is a recorded version of the stage show that was based on the Dreamworks movie, Shrek.

The story was fairly consistent with the Mike Myers movie. The costumes and designs of the characters and setting was fantastic and really took the stage show into an awesome look. It’s amazing with the creativity of the set designs that were able to bring this animated movie to life.

Brian d’Arcy James played Shrek the ogre and Sutton Foster played Princess Fiona. Both did an excellent job making these iconic characters their own.

The play had a whole new list of songs written for the show, although it did end with the I’m a Believer, just as the original movie did. The music was fun and clever, working very well for the story. 

Daniel Breaker had a difficult job, trying to fill the shoes of Eddie Murphy as Donkey. He did a decent job in a role that was always going to be a challenge.

I really do like this type of film, showing a Broadway play as it is on the stage, much like they did with Hamilton and Kinky Boots. I would love to see more of these.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)

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A school delay has given me the chance to do the Genre-ary DailyView this morning and the scheduled film today was the 1953 classic Gentlemen Prefer Blondes starring Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell.

There were not as many songs as I thought there might be, but the most famous one is clearly “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend,” as performed by Monroe.

The pairing of Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell really worked well in this movie, as the entire bit depended on the chemistry between the two of them as unlikely friends. Marilyn Monroe’s character, Lorelei, loves diamonds and Russell’s Dorothy has a sarcastic head on her shoulders. The duo are the backbone of the movie.

There are some funny moments in the film, as they played the situations into fancy. 

According to Rotten Tomatoes, “Lorelei Lee (Marilyn Monroe) is a beautiful showgirl engaged to be married to the wealthy Gus Esmond (Tommy Noonan), much to the disapproval of Gus’ rich father, Esmond Sr., who thinks that Lorelei is just after his money. When Lorelei goes on a cruise accompanied only by her best friend, Dorothy Shaw (Jane Russell), Esmond Sr. hires Ernie Malone (Elliott Reid), a private detective, to follow her and report any questionable behavior that would disqualify her from the marriage.“

Director Howard Hawks provides a lavish production that can just barely stand up to the power of its two leading women. Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell are so great together and they are absolutely the reason to see this movie.

Musical Shorts

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Because I felt as if I was cheating with the musical this morning (Ray really was not a musical), I decided to watch some short movies on YouTube to cover the bases. I did three of them.

“Taylor Swift-All Too Well: The Short Film” (2021)

“Incest! The Musical” (2011)

“Zombie Musical” (2011)

The Taylor Swift short was basically a song with a story being told over top of it. It is a music video. However, Sadie Sink did appear in the video as one of the main characters. I did enjoy the song, but, again, it most likely not a musical. The story of this collapsing relationship was sad and engaging. Sadie Sink is an excellent young actor.

Incest! The Musical was really fun, which I know it is an odd thing to say. A brother and a sister sing about their attraction for one another and how they don’t care what the world says about their relationship. This has some really clever lyrics on the songs satirizing a subject that everybody considers queesy.

Then, in 2011, in the middle of the zombie craze, Zombie Musical appeared. Basically the same idea that you have seen all over the place with zombie shows/movies, but with songs.  This short was remade into the film “Anna and the Apocalypse,” which was fun and I watched during the first DailyView.

All three were enjoyable in their own way.

Ray (2004)

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Okay, so today I am cheating.

I watched Ray, the biopic of Ray Charles, starring Jamie Foxx, which lead to Foxx winning the Academy Award for Best Actor. However, it absolutely falls into the category that I spoke about at the beginning of the Genre-ary DailyView. It is not a musical. 

It did have musical listed on the summary for the movie, but it is one of those movies that has music in it, is even about music, but is not a musical. I did say at the beginning of this month that I might not follow that rule as I was going through it and so I have broken it.

According to IMDB, “The story of Ray Charles (played by Jamie Foxx), music legend. Told in his adult life with flashbacks to his youth we see his humble origins in Florida, his turbulent childhood, which included losing his brother and then his sight, his rise as pianist in a touring band, him writing his own songs and running his own band, and then stardom. Also includes his addiction to drugs and its affect on his working life and family life.“

Jamie Foxx is sensational as the legendary performer. He seemingly brought back to life the larger than life character of Ray Charles Robinson, better known to the world as just Ray Charles. 

The biopic sections of this movie are the best parts. Watching Foxx develop Ray through his relationships, his struggle to find the right sound, his drug habit and other problems was the standout of this film.

The music was used well, but I could have used more of it. It seemed to only give a flavor of the songs in the film. Again, another reason why I would not consider this a musical, necessarily.

I thought the weakest part of the movie were the daydreams/delusions that Ray would have flashing back to the traumatic event of his brother’s death. The appearance of water in his suitcase or on the floor were too cartoony for what the movie was trying to go for. This felt way too artsy for the story. The straight up flashbacks were considerably more powerful and more effective than that.

I do appreciate that the film did not shy away from some of the negative aspects of his life. Many of these types of musical biopics leave out major issues in favor of a more positive spin. We see Ray Charles and his drug addiction, which led to his arrest, and his extra-marital affairs, one which even gave him a son.

Along with Jamie Foxx, the strong cast included Regina King, Kerry Washington, Clifton Powell, Sharon Warren, Richard Schiff, Larenz Tate, Terrence Howard, Wendell Pierce, Bokeem Woodbine, and even Moonlighting’s Herbert Viola, Curtis Armstrong, himself. I was able to get past my dislike of that actor because of his Moonlighting role. Being fair, he did a solid job here.

This was a movie with a lot of good and some areas where I would have liked something different. Jamie Foxx is tremendous as are the rest of the cast (shout out to Kerry Washington for her role as Charles’s wife, Bee). Ray is a touch long and, not really a musical, but it is a solid film overall.