Hairspray

[2007]

Starring:
Nikki Blonsky
John Travolta
Michelle Pffiefer
Zac Efron
Amanda Bynes
Christopher Walken
Elijah Kelley
Queen Latifah

average rating: ★★★★
~
performance: ★★★★★
screenplay: ★★★★
plot/storyline: ★★★★
cinematography: ★★★★★
~
Musical

This was a really fun, colorful movie! If any of you have ever seen the old "Hairspray," you will be very impressed by this remake. Without changing much of the context at all, they reworked the movie into something entertaining and interesting. The 60's theme is so consistent, from the clothes to the colors and the racial issues.

Each of the actors were great as each of their characters. Nikki Blonsky could act, sing, smile, be chubby and still be absolutely adorable. John Travolta was absolutely hilarious as Mrs. Turnblad, dressed in a giant fat-suit, with long hair and make-up. John Travolta is tall, too, so he was gigantic. The rest of the cast consisted of Christopher Walken (always funny), Zac Efron (who was just okay, but he fit his character), Michelle Pffiefer (the evil Barbie Doll), Amanda Bynes (who was cute, but sort of mute) and Queen Latifah (as big as usual).

The songs were actual bearable, too, and the story was just altered enough so that everything fit into an actual story. Anyway, it was worth the watch, quite cute. :)

High School Musical

[2006]

Starring:
Zac Efron
Vanessa Anne Hudgens
Ashley Tisdale
Corbin Bleu

average rating: ★
~
performance: ★
screenplay: ★
plot/storyline: ★
cinematography: ★★
~
Disney Channel High School Cliche

High School Musical, to put it simply, has no good aspects, period. We thought that it might at least be funny, since there was so much fuss about it. The reviews for the movie on www.imdb.com were, for the most part, ecstatic, saying how much they adored this Disney movie, how it was the best Disney Channel movie EVER and how it was cute and sweet and brought them back to their high school days.

Whoa.

The performances of main characters were ridiculously lame. I realize that the film isn't meant to be taken serious, but this was worse than just goofy. It was bad acting. Each one of those Disney stars (who were 18 through 22 years old, by the way) could have played their characters with more grace and reality, even if the movie was going for unrealistically cheesy.

The screenplay had about two lines that I found myself laughing at, but the rest was a ridiculous jumble of stupidness and mushiness. Ack. The story was all about peer pressure (fahhhhh, I'm so sick of peer pressure) and was otherwise stuffed with the same old high school cliches. Yeah, thanks, but we already learned about high school cliches in about thirty thousand other movies, such as Mean Girls and so forth. *scream*

Anyway, I don't have much more to say on the subject of this movie, because I honestly don't give a crap about it. It was stupid, cheesy, lame, not really funny, cliched, disgusting, blecky, and ultimately not worth watching.

Oh, and I didn't mention that the singing was excruciating. Efron and Hudgens were horrific, their voices edited to the point of vulgarity in the studio. Why couldn't they just let them sing? I guess they were just that bad.

The Sound of Music

[Rogers & Hammerstein, 1965]

Starring:
Julie Andrews
Christopher Plummer

average rating: ★★★★
~
performance: ★★★★
screenplay: ★★★★
plot/storyline: ★★★★
cinematography: ★★★★
~
Musical... hence Julie Andrews being in it...