A lot of the books we are “reading” for this cycle are more trash than treasure. And when we get a classic like The Three Musketeers, it’s more of a joke that Kiefer Sutherland is staring at me from the cover as I read it. All the Pretty Horses is a real outlier. Not only is the book amazing (controversial opinion alert), but the cover is actually not all that embarrassing to have staring back at you. It’s a serious take at the adaptation, although Billy Bob Thornton and Matt Damon seem to disagree. As for my memory of this film in BMT lore… I actually don’t have any. I don’t really recall this movie coming out. Probably with the bad press a-swirling and being recut to resemble a romance western film, we took a look at it and passed hard in favor of What Women Want, a true Christmas classic.
To recap, our boy John Grady Cole is sad. Sad because his family ranch is being sold off by his absentee mother. His dad is traumatized by the war and his Grandpa has died and everything is terrible. Time to head down to Mexico with his friend Rawlins to find the old cowboy way. They pick up a crazy kid, Blevins, on the way and work their way towards the ranching area. Blevins ends up losing his horse and gun during a thunderstorm and goes a bit crazy when he realizes they were sold off in a nearby town. He steals back his horse and makes a run for it, leaving Cole and Rawlins to continue onto the ranch on their own. After arriving and getting some low level jobs, Cole decides they should show their chops by breaking a group of wild horses. The boss is impressed and moves Cole into the horse business and uses him to help breed a stallion he bought. Meanwhile Cole finds himself falling for the boss’s daughter, Alejandra. The boss and his aunt don’t like this and ultimately give Cole and Rawlins over to the Mexican police, who are looking for them in connection to Blevins. Ultimately, they are sent to jail and Blevins is murdered. Both Rawlins and Cole barely survive attacks in the prison before the aunt helps free them. Returning for Alejandra, Cole confronts the aunt who admits she only freed them on the condition that they leave and claims Alejandra has agreed not to see him. Cole scoffs like a scoffer and contacts Alejandra and meets her at a train station where they make sweet, sweet love. He thinks they are gonna run away together given the lovemaking and such, but she’s like “I can’t” and leaves him. Jaded, Cole returns to the Mexican police to get their horses back and does so by taking the corrupt captain hostage. In the process he’s injured and barely survives his return to the US. There he returns Rawlins’s horse. THE END.
I mean, come on. I kinda love that this movie ended up qualifying and we are here watching it for BMT, because it is simply not that bad of a movie. In fact I would say it’s a pretty good movie. Not even really that bad of an adaptation, despite what Thornton and Damon say. I can see their point, that the book does not have a particularly romantic tone, so having a producer try to cut your film up to be something it’s not is probably pretty annoying. But it doesn’t really mean the movie actually is bad. This definitely seems influenced largely by just how beloved the book is. I also think the bad press by Thornton and Damon probably wasn’t helping, nor was the involvement of Weinstein, who was deep in his Oscar campaign shenanigans at the time. But I very much enjoyed watching this movie. I also think this is some of the finest work Damon has done. Showing some real acting chops. Henry Thomas is also pretty great. I liked it!
Patrick?
Patrick
‘Ello everyone! *Gif of me working haaaard on the ranch when Penelope Cruz rides by and my eyes bug out like a cartoon character, and then my head turns into a wolf’s head and I howl and my tongue rolls out on the ground.* Let’s go!
The Good? I actually liked this movie quite a bit. It is a faithful adaptation of what is something of a revisionist western. I do think the back third is a mess, but the first third especially does a lot to translate what makes the book great into a movie. Specifically, the thing I like about the book (which shares a lot of DNA with some of McMurtry’s westerns) is the idea of the “true cowboy” in post-WWII America and the question of whether the cowboy can or should exist. The image of a cowboy riding along a highway basically. I also think Damon and Henry Thomas were much better than expected. I had figured going in the acting was going to be a sore spot, but it really isn’t the issue.
The Bad? The only major issue is that every so often you can see the “indulgent” version of the movie leaking through, especially in the back third. There is a moment where a guy is just like dancing while Damon is on the phone and then it is suggested it is all in Damon’s head. And then soon after there is a slow motion shot at the train platform of a man picking up a little girl in his arms. Both shots are absurd. Amateurish, almost. I have a feeling that the version Billy Bob Thornton showed to the executives which got a bee in their bonnet was the version with like 60 other weird artsy nonsense shots like that. The edit is likely just stripping all of that stuff out. The back third suffers for it, it feels incredibly rushed and if you hadn’t read the books I can’t imagine it makes any sense whatsoever.
The BMT? Nope, I think this movie is good. As far as the difference between critical receptions then and now this is a decent example. The movie might not be the best film in the world, but it would get like 60-70% on RT now. It is a very nice looking western and a faithful adaptation of a beloved book. The idea that it would get trounced by critics is just impossible.
The Rewatchable? What aged the worst? Just giving Penelope Cruz nothing to do in the movie, seemed to genuinely derail her American career a bit. The that guy award kind of goes to Henry Thomas, Elliott from E.T., who I thought had basically retired from acting in the ‘80s, but nope. Still acts. Out of left field, the overacting award? Billy Bob Thornton gets a rare Overdirecting nod. The occasional directorial flourish he threw into the film never failed to make it worse.
I do like this for a Setting as a Character (Where?) for Mexico, it is a very Mexico film in the end. I actually don’t think the twist (that Penelope Cruz decides to never see Damon again as per her agreement with her father) is bad, genuinely quite good. It being a “revisionist romance” would be one of my hot takes. The movie is Good, through and through.
“That book was amazing,” Kyle says breathlessly as they leave Dick Computer’s office. “Can I read it?” The look of hope and wonder breaks Patrick’s heart. He explains that the book isn’t real. A classic delay tactic so that by the time they can deliver Platonic Solids Series Part III: Cubey or Not Cubey it will be long forgotten in the cascade of money and fame that the best entry in the series will bring. “Right… the best entry,” Jamie says, a nervous note entering his voice. Patrick isn’t ready to face even the idea of writer’s block, let alone the actual block itself. He’s never encountered such a thing, churning out several books a year under a variety of pen names. Suddenly that gives him an idea. Maybe working on something like Bad Movie Tribe was just the trick. Not Bad Movie Tribe itself, of course. He wouldn’t give Dick Computer the satisfaction. He huffs out loud as he recalls his demand that they shorten the imaginary book. Jamie was right. The perfect length for a book was 400 pages with 25 page chapters. You hit Chapter 13 and you know you’re sliding in for a good time. Jamie huffs in agreement as he is also at that moment remembering the insult. No, they wouldn’t give Dick Computer the satisfaction. In fact… “Jamie, can you bring up the list of books I’ve taken advances for in the last 18 months?” Patrick asks as they return to their apartment. Jamie pulls open the filing cabinet marked with a dollar sign and leafs through it. “What’s the smallest one?” Patrick asks. Jamie looks for a moment. “Uh, you got $4000 to write the introduction to a new media tie-in edition of a play for an upcoming remake of… Fresh Horses!?” That’s right! I know no prettier horse than our beloved Funky Fresh Horses. But alas, we have to watch All the Pretty Horses itself this week. It’s shocking that it qualifies given the pedigree, but the star and director both trashed the film after Miramax recut it. Recut a beloved book adaptation to make it more commercial? What could go wrong? Let’s go!
All the Pretty Horses (2000) – BMeTric: 32.8; Notability: 25
StreetCreditReport.com –BMeTric: top 22.4%; Notability: top 6.4%; Rotten Tomatoes: top 27.7%; Higher BMeT: Battlefield Earth, Dungeons & Dragons, Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas, Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, Urban Legends: Final Cut, Baise-moi, Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the Thirteenth, Cruel Intentions 2, Highlander: Endgame, 102 Dalmatians, Dracula 2000, Leprechaun in the Hood, Supernova, Little Nicky, The Next Best Thing, Big Momma’s House, From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman’s Daughter, Get Carter, Beethoven’s 3rd, and 36 more; Higher Notability: Gone in Sixty Seconds, The 6th Day, Little Nicky, Get Carter, Dracula 2000, Next Friday, Dude, Where’s My Car?, Mission to Mars, Bless the Child, Pay It Forward, The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas, Loser, Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, Romeo Must Die, Rules of Engagement, 28 Days; Lower RT: Beethoven’s 3rd, Fortress 2, Battlefield Earth, Down to You, Bless the Child, Lost Souls, Heavy Metal 2000, Dungeons & Dragons, Eye of the Beholder, The Skulls, Supernova, Get Carter, The Watcher, Boys and Girls, Highlander: Endgame, The Ladies Man, Urban Legends: Final Cut, Hanging Up, Red Planet, Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, and 45 more; Notes: We’ve seen 11 of 20 of the top BMeT for 2000 which is pretty good. I think the next on the docket should be Nutty Professor 2, but you could convince me to watch the entire Beethoven series obviously.
RogerEbert.com – 3.5 stars – This is the kind of movie that’s best to see on a big screen, where the size of the sky and the colors of the land can do their work. It’s as if the events are bigger than the people–as if John Grady Cole will never again be such a reckless damn fool kid as he was during this year and will always sort of regret that.
(I do love when we get to do films that Ebert genuinely seemed to love. I can see it though. The book is amazing, and so it shouldn’t be a surprise that if you vibe with it you genuinely like the adaptation.)
(What is this music!? What the fuck haha? The film being advertised as a romance is kind of crazy. You have to know the book as almost being an anti-western anti-romance to know this is either an interesting adaptation or an absurd ad campaign. “Accused of a crime he didn’t commit” … didn’t he?)
Directors – Billy Bob Thornton – ( Known For: Sling Blade; Daddy and Them; Jayne Mansfield’s Car; BMT: All the Pretty Horses; Notes: Won an Oscar for writing Sling Blade, as was nominated for acting twice (A Simple Plan, and Sling Blade). This seemed to somewhat end his major directing career, but that’s possibly because he got pretty famous as an actor soon after.)
Writers – Ted Tally – ( Known For: The Silence of the Lambs; Red Dragon; The Father Clements Story; White Palace; 12 Strong; Shrek 2; Future BMT: The Juror; Before and After; BMT: All the Pretty Horses; Notes: Won an Oscar for The Silence of the Lambs. 12 Strong was the only thing he’s done recently, probably retired.)
Cormac McCarthy – ( Known For: The Road; The Sunset Limited; Child of God; The Gardener’s Son; No Country for Old Men; The Sunset Limited; Future BMT: The Counselor; BMT: All the Pretty Horses; Notes: Y’all know Cormac. He died only a few years ago. I need to read his other books though, this one was amazing.)
Actors – Matt Damon – ( Known For: Ocean’s Eleven; Ocean’s Twelve; Syriana; Ocean’s Thirteen; Saving Private Ryan; Good Will Hunting; The Talented Mr. Ripley; The Good Shepherd; The Departed; Rounders; Chasing Amy; Stuck on You; Dogma; The Bourne Supremacy; The Bourne Ultimatum; Gerry; Courage Under Fire; The Third Wheel; The Legend of Bagger Vance; Mystic Pizza; Future BMT: The Brothers Grimm; The Monuments Men; The Great Wall; Suburbicon; BMT: All the Pretty Horses; Notes: This being our first Damon seems crazy, but it is crazier he’s only been in four qualifying films. He really has just an incredible career, winding along into and out of A-list status. He now seems to do what he wants. He’s been nominated three times for acting (Good Will Hunting, Invictus, The Martian))
Henry Thomas – ( Known For: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial; Desperation; Gangs of New York; Suicide Kings; Legends of the Fall; I’m with Lucy; Frog Dreaming; 11:14; The Last Sin Eater; Psycho IV: The Beginning; Valmont; Fire in the Sky; I Capture the Castle; Cloak & Dagger; The Quickie; Misfire: The Rise and Fall of the Shooting Gallery; Dead Birds; Suffering Man’s Charity; Niagara, Niagara; Misunderstood; Future BMT: Dear John; BMT: All the Pretty Horses; Notes: I have to be honest, I didn’t know he was in so much stuff. He’s still acting. He’s always been acting. He’s most recently been in the Fall of the House of Usher series.)
Lucas Black – ( Known For: Jarhead; The Miracle Worker; Cold Mountain; Killer Diller; Sling Blade; Friday Night Lights; Deepwater; Get Low; Unsung Hero; Seven Days in Utopia; 42; Promised Land; Our Friend, Martin; Furious 7; Ghosts of Mississippi; The X-Files; Flash; F9; Future BMT: Legion; Crazy in Alabama; The War; BMT: All the Pretty Horses; The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift; Notes: I guess semi-discovered by Billy Bob Thornton for Sling Blade. Again, him not being in more BMT films is the surprise. Ended up back in the Fast & Furious series finally, the third one is surprisingly fun.)
(This is a huge disaster. The budget isn’t a surprise. Period piece with a lot of horse wrangling seems like a recipe for a flop.)
Rotten Tomatoes – 32% (32/100): This adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s novel comes off as rather flat and uninvolving. Scenes feel rushed and done in shorthand, and the romance between Damon and Cruz has no sparks.
(Well, again, the romance in the book is a little like that. There isn’t much as far as indicating they have the grand romance you think of in books like this. I do think if that was an intentional adaptation choice it is a mistake. You either ignore or lean into the romance, making it the way the book does makes it feel half-assed.)
Reviewer Highlight: Whether you’re familiar with the story or not, you’ll have trouble feeling connected to it. – Steven Rosen, Denver Post
(A little too classic and, honestly, pretty to stir much emotion in me. I like the overall orange tone to it, but it’s just a very safe poster. It’s not bad. B)
Tagline(s) – Some passions can never be tamed. (A)
(Hmmm, interesting. I like it. I can definitely see how the marketing for the book probably rubbed people the wrong way. Make it into a teen love story essentially. But I like that this is working in the horses and love, etc. Ignoring the book, I think this is quite good.)
Top 10: Fight Club (1999), Forrest Gump (1994), The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Shutter Island (2010), Schindler’s List (1993), The Prestige (2006)
Future BMT: 74.9 The Turning (2020), 72.6 Zoom (2006), 70.2 London Fields (2018), 69.6 Gulliver’s Travels (2010), 67.3 Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (2004), 66.3 102 Dalmatians (2000), 65.4 Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul (2017), 64.2 Valentine (2001), 59.5 The Big Bounce (2004), 58.1 Best Defense (1984), 57.9 The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter (1990), 55.5 Hanging Up (2000), 55.4 Eye of the Beholder (1999), 55.2 Snow Dogs (2002), 54.3 The Divorce (2003), 53.9 Abandon (2002), 53.3 The Stepford Wives (2004), 52.5 Addicted (2014), 50.8 Freedomland (2006), 50.0 Kull: The Conqueror (1997)
BMT: Battlefield Earth (2000), Dragonball Evolution (2009), Cats (2019), Left Behind (2014), Fifty Shades of Grey (2015), Jaws 3-D (1983), One Missed Call (2008), Fifty Shades Darker (2017), Fifty Shades Freed (2018), The Bye Bye Man (2017), The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009), Striptease (1996), The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996), Firestarter (2022), The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 (2011), Tarot (2024), Meg 2: The Trench (2023), The Haunting (1999), Fair Game (1995), Eragon (2006), After We Fell (2021), North (1994), Monkeybone (2001), The Rage: Carrie 2 (1999), Conan the Barbarian (2011), After Ever Happy (2022), Exorcist: The Beginning (2004), An American Haunting (2005), The Snowman (2017), The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising (2007), Sliver (1993), Pinocchio (2002), The Musketeer (2001), Shanghai Surprise (1986), Get Carter (2000), Exit to Eden (1994), After (2019), Alex Cross (2012), Queen of the Damned (2002), Congo (1995), …
Best Options (Romance): 54.3 The Divorce (2003), 53.9 Abandon (2002), 52.5 Addicted (2014), 46.0 Surviving Christmas (2004), 45.1 King Ralph (1991), 40.5 Admission (2013), 39.5 Stroker Ace (1983), 38.9 Intersection (1994), 36.6 The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004), 34.8 Drive Me Crazy (1999), 34.4 How to Deal (2003), 33.8 Must Love Dogs (2005), 33.3 The Last Song (2010), 32.9 Mary Reilly (1996), 32.8 All the Pretty Horses (2000), 30.1 Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992), 30.0 What’s Your Number? (2011), 29.8 Nights in Rodanthe (2008), 28.8 The Love Letter (1999), 27.8 Dying Young (1991), 26.7 The Saint (1997), 26.5 The Nanny Diaries (2007), 24.6 Up Close & Personal (1996), 24.6 Dear John (2010), 23.8 Tulip Fever (2017), 22.3 Year of the Gun (1991), 21.7 The Giver (2014), 21.6 The Evening Star (1996), 21.6 The Lucky One (2012), 21.0 Charlie St. Cloud (2010), 18.9 Love in the Time of Cholera (2007), 18.3 2 Hearts (2020), 17.0 The Beach (2000), 16.2 Worth Winning (1989), 15.7 Feast of Love (2007), 15.3 Stanley & Iris (1990), 14.7 Not Easily Broken (2009), 14.2 The Best of Me (2014), 13.4 Where the Heart Is (2000), 12.5 Stella (1990), 11.5 Snow Falling on Cedars (1999), 10.7 Bicentennial Man (1999), 10.7 A Good Year (2006), 10.5 Redeeming Love (2022), 10.3 Labor Day (2013), 9.3 P.S. I Love You (2007), 9.2 One Day (2011), 7.8 The Time Traveler’s Wife (2009), 6.5 The Phantom of the Opera (2004), 5.5 Memoirs of a Geisha (2005), 4.7 The Ultimate Gift (2006)
(A lot of these are borderline. The one we probably had the best bet of getting “Now a Major Motion Picture” versions of the book would be Must Love Dogs. King Ralph being based on a book is reeeeeeeal borderline.)
Welcome to Earf (HoE Number 15) – The shortest path through The Movie Database cast lists using only BMT films is: Penélope Cruz is No. 4 billed in All the Pretty Horses and No. 2 billed in Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, which also stars Nicolas Cage (No. 1 billed) who is in The Wicker Man (No. 1 billed) which also stars Leelee Sobieski (No. 6 billed) who is in Here on Earth (No. 1 billed) => (4 + 2) + (1 + 1) + (6 + 1) = 15. If we were to watch Sahara, and Two for the Money we can get the HoE Number down to 15.
Notes – In 2014, Billy Bob Thornton told Entertainment Weekly that the rumors of his original cut being somewhere in between 3 to 4h long were incorrect, but that his cut was 2:42h. He also mentioned that he still is in possession of his original version.
Jesse Plemons, who was cast as the younger version of John Grady Cole, didn’t know all his scenes had been removed from the final cut until he actually saw the film with friends and family.
Some attempts have been made to release a director’s cut DVD, but arrangements cannot be reached with the composer of the film’s music, Daniel Lanois. As part of the re-cut, Harvey Weinstein scrapped the original score and hired Marty Stuart. Lanois felt insulted, and has steadfastly refused to license his score (which, unusually, he owns) to any release of the film.
Cormac McCarthy visited the set during the making of the film. The author apparently spent little time fraternizing with the main cast and crew. He instead spent much of his visit discussing firearms with the prop master.
An assembly cut, which ran around 3 hours and 40 minutes, was shown to producers before the final edit was finished. They were told they were viewing an unfinished movie and not to make judgments. Billy Bob Thornton was still working on his final edit, but the studio wanted to see something. Thornton agreed to it, but regrets it to this day. Former Miramax marketing head Dennis Rice had this to say: “It was the most self-indulgent director’s cut I’d ever seen. It was like torture to watch that movie.” Thornton’s eventual edit ran around 2hrs 42m. Matt Damon and others that saw this final version thought it was a masterpiece. Wanting it even shorter, the studio took it away from Thornton, and cut to it’s final length of 1hr 56m. They also replaced a beautiful haunting music score by legendary music producer Daniel Lanois with a soundtrack by Marty Stewart. It broke everyone’s heart that had put so much love into the project. Thornton’s version has never been seen or released to the public.
Sigh, we are coming to the end. We are a Sly Stallone based venture. We operate on the Stallonian calendar which promises a Stallone flick every year with 53 Thursdays. Last Thursday of such a year is Stallone Day and celebrates all things Sly. This is all detailed on the website. Anyway, we are nearing the end of unique qualifying films and when we run out a question will arise that can only be answered by the BMT Council of Elders( BMTCoE). Some might be asking why I’m mentioning this before diving into Staying Alive. To those people I will simply say, “Get out! Shoo!” and throw pebbles at you until you leave. Staying Alive is the only film that Sly directed but did have a role in (not counting his uncredited appearance in the film). He’s also written two Statham films that he wasn’t in, but neither of them qualified. Truly unique. So keep in mind that this is a very special episode.
To recap, our hero Tony Manero is trying to make it in the Big Apple. He teaches dance classes to make a buck while going on audition after audition. It seems like he will never get his chance and it’s incredibly frustrating. He’s got a cool girlfriend, Jackie, but he even takes that for granted, sleeping with a star dancer that has blown into town for a new show, Satan’s Alley. At the auditions for Satan’s Alley they all get parts. Tony is very excited but also doesn’t love how small a part he has. Realizing he’s done Jackie dirty, he apologizes and asks for help practicing the lead dance in the show. He seems the main dancer is struggling and wants to take a shot at replacing him. When the time comes he pretty much botches it and the demanding director is like “ha, you suck.” This makes him feel like quitting, but Jackie is like “you can’t” cause she’s the coolest. He’s like OK and gives it another go and dances like a god dang star. The director? He’s like “Wow. OK. You have the part.” At the premier, Tony dances like a star again and the star dancer is angry because he’s using their chemistry against her. But this explodes on stage in the second half in what can only be described as literally the sexiest dancing scene in the history of cinema and in no way is it dumb and silly. By going off script, Tony becomes a hero of dance and the whole cast celebrates his one-of-a-kind achievement. Tony wins. THE END.
Hahaha, the crux of the problem for Staying Alive is that it is incredibly silly. Like no holds barred silly ass shit. Siskel must have been so disappointed! They really turn their back on pretty much everything the first (very good) movie was all about. He heads into the city at the end of that film (a pretty depressing film at that) because he knows his unserious life can’t last forever. Sure he’s hot shit in one club in Brooklyn, but at the end he’s given a trophy he doesn’t deserve because the judges are racist and it’s a moment of devastation. Just glaringly obvious that this stuff he’s been working on is meaningless. He heads off to Manhattan to become… a super silly Broadway dancer? Lol, what? A perfect example of the unnecessary sequel that should have been abandoned immediately once it was clear that the breakout star from the first film was just too famous to make a sequel where his loser character was still a loser. His character had to be dope as shit. That sucks. One final note: Travolta is a good dancer… but he is not a Broadway dancer level dancer. Crazy choices all around. Bravo. As for what the plot should have been? Easy, he should have been living as the arm candy for a stable of rich Manhattan ladies. Taking them out dancing and stuff while doing some modelling and commercial work. Acting is ultimately where Tony ends up if he is to succeed.
Hot Take Clam Bake! This was all a dream. It was a dream he had maybe just before a cab ran him over in Manhattan. Dreaming that, despite struggling with his art, he is able to break through and take over a Broadway show and demonstrate to the world that he is actually The World’s Greatest Dancer. Because otherwise the entire concept of the film makes no sense and is built on a tower of lies. And this was written and directed by Sly Stallone… so that would be blasphemy to suggest. Hot Take Temperature: Satan’s Alley.
Patrick?
Patrick
‘Ello everyone! *gif of me dancing. Hard. On Broadway. Everyone is watching like “Holy shit that guy can dance … hard!”* Let’s go!
The Good? Travolta’s body man … he is in incredibly good shape. The dancing is pretty incredible, even though at a high level, would this be on Broadway? Like … would people watch this on Broadway? I think the answer is yes. As a matter of fact I think I could figure out that the answer is yes because I bet I can find ads in the New York Times for shows EXACTLY like the weirdo one they put on in the end where a dancer dances his way through Hell or whatever.
The Bad? The film is soooooooooooo boring. And Travolta as a character is sooooooo shitty. He was shitty in the first too, but at that point he was in a shitty situation, and trying to even figure out what it meant to not be in such a situation. Learning what ambition even means. In this though he kind of seems like a dick, and did I mention the film is incredibly dull?
The BMT? Nope. It is nice that we finally did it because it has a very bad Rotten Tomatoes score, and is one of the last Stallone films we needed. But it is boooooooooring.
So … continuing what I was doing last time, can Google Gemini grounded search get Rotten Tomatoes scores from imdb links more easily than just scraping? Last time it wouldn’t provide answers for more than 10 when given 100 films. So I chunked them into ground of 10 and … nope, still, it mostly cannot find anything below the top 50, and for all but the top ten it gets somewhat random results. So no, this is not something I can use in any way. It is very disappointing. I really thought it would work, and given how I tend to use Google (to get IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes links mostly) this was the first time I thought something could work that would be quite useful to my BMT work. Alas. It just isn’t ready for primetime.
This is a huge Setting as a Character (Where?) for NYC, just Broadway and Brooklyn all over this piece. I think that is it. Sure his dream of being a Broadway star could be considered a MacGuffin I suppose. And his inevitable rise to stardom is a twist of a kind. By naw, just the setting here. This movie is ultra-dull and is the epitome of Bad even if the director and its status as a legendarily bad sequel screams out to be good-bad, it just ain’t.
What can we learn about dancing … hard? Find out in the Quiz. Cheerios,
What was the name of that song which was the first single off of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack by The BeeGees? Stayin’ Alive? No, I was thinking of How Deep Is Your Love. Let’s go!
Pop Quiz Hot Shot!
1) The BeeGees notably released the Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack which had three number one tracks by the band. As a matter of fact it was the best selling album in history until it was supplanted by what?
2) Honestly, I kind of always thought of Stallone as a director, but he really doesn’t direct that much. His most recent effort was what 2010 action film?
3) Travolta has a number one single. It is of course a duet. What is that song?
4) One song from the album did get some accolades, being nominated for Best Original Song at the Golden Globes. Who wrote and sang the noted song Far From Over?
5) One of the most infamous events in U.S. sports history was Disco Demolition Night in 1979. The event took place at Comiskey Park. Who is the home team that had to forfeit the second leg of the double header that night?
Bonus NYTimes Listing Question: Since the release predates the listings I have they are all over the place. But I did find a date, June 27, 1998, where it played at 7:15PM on TMC up against this bad boy:
“Alright, well this looks like a slam dunk,” says one of the elderly jurors, “which is good because I have tickets to Wrestlemania tonight in the city.” He holds up a pair of tickets and walks to stare out the window. The field trip to Dark Territory was fun, but reality was setting in now that they were back in the jury room. “Let’s vote,” says the foreman and hands out small pieces of paper. Poor kid. But you just can’t go slashing a sheriff with a samurai sword and get away with it. You just can’t! As the ‘guilty’ votes are read, they begin to pack up. Suddenly a ‘not guilty’ vote rings out. Everyone stops and looks at Jamie. He takes a moment before acknowledging that yes, it was him. “I just think there should be a discussion, maybe,” he says sheepishly. “I don’t think so, bub,” says Wrestlemania, fuming. Several other jurors also demand he change his vote. “Ok, ok, how about this,” Jamie says, holding up his hands. “Let me ask you all just one thing.” They begrudgingly agree. “The murder weapon…” Jamie begins and Wrestlemania jumps on it immediately. “Exactly,” he says, “They found him with the murder weapon. A samurai sword! With an eagle on the handle!” The rest of the jury nod. “Oh really,” Jamie says and pulls his own samurai sword from his back scabbard and flips it in the air to land point down in the table. The jurors gasp and look at each other in disbelief. It’s an exact replica. “I guess,” says the foreman, “a little discussion won’t hurt.” “My god. That kid out there is probably laughing at us,” fumes Wrestlemania. But Jamie doesn’t think he’s laughing at all. He’s too busy just staying alive. That’s right! If you thought we would do Stay Alive and not take that opportunity to smash cut directly into the Saturday Night Fever sequel Staying Alive then… I don’t know what to say. It would mean you didn’t know us at all and that’s pretty sad. Let’s go!
StreetCreditReport.com –BMeTric: top 1.3%; Notability: top 3.4%; Rotten Tomatoes: top 0.0%; Higher BMeT: Jaws 3-D, Smokey and the Bandit Part 3, Superman III; Higher Notability: Superman III, Curse of the Pink Panther, Krull, Deal of the Century, Doctor Detroit, Flashdance, The Sting II, D.C. Cab; Notes: Don’t worry, Smokey and the Bandit Part III is on the docket. Looking at the 90s television data is kind of funny. The three Smokey and the Bandit films played 81, 47, and 20 times. Almost perfectly 50% of the prior one. The first is a classic obviously.
New York Times – Janet Maslin – ONLY the presence of John Travolta turns ”Staying Alive” from an unqualified disaster into a qualified one. Mr. Travolta is able to radiate warmth and sweetness even under the direst of circumstances, which are certainly the ones in which he finds himself here. As directed by Sylvester Stallone, who is also co-writer and coproducer, ”Staying Alive” is a sequel with no understanding of what made its predecessor work. The first film was funny and touching, powered by a phenomenally successful score. This one is clumsy, mean spirited and amazingly unmusical.
(Janet is right about everything here. This is exactly the issue with the film. It is just kind of depressing and joyless and misses everything that made the original work.)
(Give me that music up top, c’mon … yeah there it is. Hoooooooooo doggy Travolta looking sexy in this trailer. What more is there to say, 10/10 trailer on the Travolta Sexiness scale.)
Directors – Sylvester Stallone – ( Known For: The Expendables; Rocky II; Rocky Balboa; Rocky III; Paradise Alley; BMT: Rambo; Rocky IV; Staying Alive; Notes: Welp, we finished his directorial efforts. Stallone, get behind the lens, you know you want to.)
Writers – Nik Cohn – ( Known For: Saturday Night Fever; BMT: Staying Alive; Notes: He was the writer of the article that Saturday Night Fever was based on.)
Sylvester Stallone – ( Known For: Rocky; The Expendables; The Expendables 2; Creed; First Blood; Rocky II; Rocky Balboa; Rocky III; Creed II; Cliffhanger; Homefront; Creed III; F.I.S.T.; Paradise Alley; BMT: Rambo; Rocky IV; The Expendables 3; Rambo: First Blood Part II; Rocky V; Rambo III; Rambo: Last Blood; Cobra; Over the Top; Driven; Staying Alive; Rhinestone; Notes: And, yup, we also finished up Stallone’s writing credits. Fuck you A Working Man, why did you have to ruin the dream.)
Norman Wexler – ( Known For: Serpico; Saturday Night Fever; Joe; Mandingo; Drum; BMT: Raw Deal; Staying Alive; Notes: Was born in New Bedford, huh. He was nominated for two Oscars, one for the movie Joe, and the other for Serpico. For real though … like Joe? I haven’t heard of this film.)
Actors – John Travolta – ( Known For: Pulp Fiction; Face/Off; Grease; Bolt; Austin Powers in Goldmember; Carrie; The Taking of Pelham 123; The Thin Red Line; Hairspray; Savages; Broken Arrow; Get Shorty; Saturday Night Fever; Look Who’s Talking; Phenomenon; Blow Out; Ladder 49; Killing Season; A Civil Action; Primary Colors; Future BMT: The Punisher; From Paris with Love; Basic; The General’s Daughter; Look Who’s Talking Too; Michael; Look Who’s Talking Now; Domestic Disturbance; Mad City; Lucky Numbers; White Man’s Burden; Shout; BMT: Swordfish; Wild Hogs; Battlefield Earth; Be Cool; Old Dogs; Staying Alive; Perfect; Two of a Kind; Notes: Man, we didn’t do The Punisher? But like … how have we done the other ones? Is that right? That is the craziest bit of flotsam we have. Actually strike that, having done Scary Movie 5 and not registering the first four as BMT films was the craziest bit of flotsam.)
Cynthia Rhodes – ( Known For: Dirty Dancing; Runaway; Curse of the Crystal Eye; BMT: Flashdance; Staying Alive; Notes: She seems to have quit the business when she married Richard Marx. Except of course the ridiculous film Curse of the Crystal Eye (never played on television).)
Finola Hughes – ( Known For: Like Crazy; Above Suspicion; Intrepid; Nutcracker; Future BMT: Aspen Extreme; BMT: Staying Alive; Notes: Aspen Extreme! Hol up … we HAVE to do Aspen Extreme. That movie is one of those perfect “they don’t release em like they used to” BMT gems.)
Budget/Gross – $22 million / Domestic: $64,892,670 (Worldwide: $64,893,329)
(That is obviously solid. I imagine it is the terrible reviews that made them not go for the trilogy. Maybe Stallone should start brushing off scripts, I think Travolta’s still got it.)
Rotten Tomatoes – 0% (0/30): This sequel to Saturday Night Fever is shockingly embarrassing and unnecessary, trading the original’s dramatic depth for a series of uninspired dance sequences.
(ZERO OUT OF THIRTY?! What the hell. Is this the crown jewel of How the Hell Haven’t We Done This Yet?! cycle.)
NY Times Short Review: Lackluster sequel to “Saturday Night Fever”. (… yeah that sums it up NYT).
(I have never seen a poster that would turn me off of a film more than this one. If I saw this in a theater I would say “nope” and turn right around. But… I am in love with that font. This might be the best poster font we’ve seen in quite a while. I hate this poster but that font rescues it. C.)
Tagline(s) – Tony Manero knows the old days are over. But nobody’s gonna tell him he can’t feel that good again. (D)
(No way. No how. I gave it a D because it’s actually so weird that it’s kind of funny.)
Keyword(s) – top BMeT
Top 10: Fifty Shades of Grey (2015), The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009), Green Lantern (2011), Batman & Robin (1997), Batman Forever (1995), The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 (2011), Ghost Rider (2007), The Happening (2008), A Good Day to Die Hard (2013), The Mummy (2017)
Future BMT: 96.3 Disaster Movie (2008), 93.6 Date Movie (2006), 90.7 Vampires Suck (2010), 90.1 House of the Dead (2003), 89.0 BloodRayne (2005), 87.9 Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023), 86.9 Street Fighter (1994), 86.6 The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 3-D (2005), 84.1 Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World (2011), 83.1 Inspector Gadget (1999), 81.5 You Got Served (2004), 80.0 Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience (2009), 80.0 Jeepers Creepers III (2017), 79.5 Daddy Day Camp (2007), 79.4 Home Alone 3 (1997), 79.3 Boogeyman (2005), 78.7 Shark Night (2011), 78.2 The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure (2012), 78.1 Who’s Your Caddy? (2007), 78.0 Jeepers Creepers: Reborn (2022)
BMT: Epic Movie (2007), Meet the Spartans (2008), Battlefield Earth (2000), Dragonball Evolution (2009), Catwoman (2004), Jack and Jill (2011), Batman & Robin (1997), Son of the Mask (2005), The Room (2003), The Emoji Movie (2017), Cats (2019), Gigli (2003), Scary Movie V (2013), Alone in the Dark (2005), Jaws: The Revenge (1987), The Last Airbender (2010), Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997), The Wicker Man (2006), Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966), Madame Web (2024), Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987), Fifty Shades of Grey (2015), Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997), Slender Man (2018), Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd (2003), Jaws 3-D (1983), Troll 2 (1990), The Love Guru (2008), Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2 (2004), In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale (2007), The Cat in the Hat (2003), The Avengers (1998), Crossroads (2002), Halloween: Resurrection (2002), The Fog (2005), Fantastic Four (2015), Rollerball (2002), Baby Geniuses (1999), Spice World (1997), From Justin to Kelly (2003), Dungeons & Dragons (2000), Norbit (2007), …
Best Options (Romance): 93.6 Date Movie (2006), 77.9 Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (2000), 75.5 Look Who’s Talking Now (1993), 74.9 Junior (1994), 74.6 God’s Not Dead (2014), 72.7 Look Who’s Talking Too (1990), 72.4 Bewitched (2005), 72.3 Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector (2006), 64.9 Sex Tape (2014), 64.4 Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj (2006), 62.9 The Honeymooners (2005), 62.3 Obsessed (2009), 61.2 Beethoven’s 2nd (1993), 61.2 Staying Alive (1983), 57.8 The Next Best Thing (2000), 56.0 Why Did I Get Married Too? (2010), 55.9 Radhe Shyam (2022), 55.7 Fame (2009), 55.5 The Back-up Plan (2010), 55.3 Who’s That Girl (1987), 55.0 Honey (2003), 54.3 The Bachelor (1999), 54.2 Maid in Manhattan (2002), 54.1 The Divorce (2003), 53.7 Abandon (2002), 53.7 Meet the Browns (2008), 53.4 Aloha (2015), 52.4 Loser (2000), 52.4 How Do You Know (2010), 52.3 Superstar (1999), 52.2 Addicted (2014), 51.1 Over Her Dead Body (2008), 51.1 Little Fockers (2010)
(Again, would Junior have been a better option? Maybe, but the idea of finishing up Stallone basically was too alluring. We only have one Stallone film left. This was our 25th Stallone film. It is crazy stuff.)
Welcome to Earf (HoE Number 14) – The shortest path through The Movie Database cast lists using only BMT films is: John Travolta is No. 1 billed in Staying Alive and No. 2 billed in Wild Hogs, which also stars Ray Liotta (No. 5 billed) who is in In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale (No. 2 billed) which also stars Leelee Sobieski (No. 3 billed) who is in Here on Earth (No. 1 billed) => (1 + 2) + (5 + 2) + (3 + 1) = 14. If we were to watch Shout we can get the HoE Number down to 10.
Notes – John Travolta has claimed his favorite director to work with was Sylvester Stallone. He said Stallone knew how to make him look the best on screen.
Under Sylvester Stallone’s supervision, John Travolta spent five months doing rigorous training to develop a dancer’s physique for this film, losing 20 pounds in the process.
DIRECTOR_CAMEO(Sylvester Stallone): Bumping into Tony Manero as he walks down the sidewalk in a crowd. They turn to look at each other for a moment.
This was one of 1983’s most successful films at the box office.
This was the last non-“Rocky” film Sylvester Stallone directed until Rambo (2008).
Awards – Nominee for the Razzie Award for Worst Actor (John Travolta)
Nominee for the Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actress (Finola Hughes)
Nominee for the Razzie Award for Worst New Star (Finola Hughes)
What is there to say about Back to Black? Nothing, that’s what.
To recap, Amy Winehouse is not yet a star. She’s just a girl that loves singing. Loves playing guitar. Loves her grandma. And yes, she loves drinking. When her demo ends up at Island Records she begins her road to stardom and releases her debut album. But then? Not as much as should happen. They want her to be more pop. She wants to be Amy Winehouse. In an ensuing break she meets Blake at a bar. They start a torrid, messy, on-again, off-again love affair. After things get particularly messy, Blake leaves and Amy is left heartbroken. This is exacerbated by the grief of finding out her grandma is dying of cancer. She channels all this into her second smash hit album Back to Black. In the wake of this success, she gets back together with Blake and they elope. Ultimately this turns tragic when Blake is arrested for assault and Amy is left to deal with her demons on her own. A series of messy, drunken performances ensue. By the time Blake gets out of prison, Amy is a drug addict and he is in recovery and so he asks for a divorce. She spirals even further and eventually admits that she needs to go to rehab. She battles recovery for several years while Blake moves on. Eventually she loses the battle and passes away. THE END.
Before commenting on the actual quality of this film, I think it should be made clear that I am not a particular fan of Amy Winehouse. I have no special connection to her music. It’s good. I remember hearing it when it came out and there were some bops. I also never saw the documentary. I don’t know much about her life and death. I don’t know much about her husband or her dad. Alright… this film is fine. I don’t see what the big hubbub was about. Perfectly middle of the road movie. Some good music. I thought the acting was better than fine. A tragic story. I think everyone comes off poorly, which is mildly amusing as I believe the controversy surrounding it was that it’s too closely connected to the family and so lets them off the hook… so… this is letting them off the hook? Eeesh. Anyway, It’s not particularly good, but there are good things about it. One particularly bad thing about it is that it forces me to take recapping and talking about the film very seriously when this whole enterprise is meant to be a joke. And I don’t like that. I prefer to have a larf.
Hot Take Clam Bake! Oh man, I got a white hot take. But it would be in bad taste, right? Like this is a heat seeking missile. An absolute sizzler. A complete Uno Pizzeria & Grill. If I dropped this scorcher you would think you were in the Scorch Trials. You would take one look at my take and ask where Dante was because you done found yourself in the Inferno. It’s the full body burn of takes. And everyone knows that if you are going to have a full body burn in your movie you may as well have two (you already got the full body burn guy on set). Well guess what? This is the equivalent of a film with three full body burns. I can’t drop it though. Bad taste and all. But if I did… oh ho… watch out! You’d be burnt. Hot Take Temperature: theoretically intense.
Patrick?
Patrick
‘Ello everyone! *Gif of me singing my little heart out and just loving bad boys, you know?* Let’s go!
The Good? The singing is quite good. And as a person who has never seen the documentary Amy this was a good excuse to wiki a bunch of stuff about her and get to know something about someone I really didn’t know much about before.
The Bad? Arguably this film is propaganda. I’m not saying it is either way, but it does feel like the involvement of the family, as usual, throws into question the objective nature of the film. And given the ultimate conclusion of the story that feels a bit gross. The film is pretty long and everything but the singing is either bland or sad. I don’t like that. People who know me always say there are two things Patrick doesn’t like: things that are bland, and things that are sad. (Editor’s Note: that’s true, that’s what I always say)
The BMT? Hell to the no. Why would I ever watch this film again? Why did I watch this film at all? I wonder if in the future we’ll have to replace the Romance category like we replaced the Sci Fi category long ago and very explicitly call it the Romance/Drama category. I do think it is much more likely we could find good Dramas in the end, at least those are more likely to be bad because they are weird instead of dull.
I said I had some thoughts on how to get indexing done in the last Recap … but that isn’t for today. Instead, I just wanted to look and see if using smaller images would do anything drastic. Why smaller? Well, there are two paths according to the documentation, one for images of size <300ish pixels, and one for larger. I, by default, tend to use 280×420 as my poster size when saving stuff. But I did wonder whether that was contributing to the indexing problems. So I decided to test it with 140×210 posters instead:
Nope. Didn’t help. Onwards and upwards.
Obvs this is basically a Where’s Where or Setting as a Character (Where?) for bits and bobs of London. I recognized a ton of places, mainly because Camden Town is quite a good vegan neighborhood in London. I’ll leave it at that though. This film is Bad, in that it is boring, but it is closer to good than BMT in the end regardless because at least the singing is pretty good.
Singing? A tragic story of drug and alcohol abuse? Talk to me people! Let’s go!
Pop Quiz Hot Shot!
1) Let’s start with a super applicable question: Online there are a multitude of videos concerning coating objects or even whole rooms with a super-black coating to see how it absorbs over 99% of visible light. What is the name of the coating invented by Jen Jensen in 2014?
2) Back in Black isn’t the name of this movie or the album being alluded to. It is the 1980 album by AC/DC, which was the first to feature which lead singer (formerly of Geordie) who had replaced Bon Scott who had died in early 1980?
3) The director Sam Taylor-Johnson met and subsequently married her husband Aaron Taylor-Johnson on the set of her directorial debut film from 2009 called what? It is based on the childhood of John Lennon.
4) The movie stars Marisa Abela, who does quite a good job in mimicking Amy Winehouse in the end. She is currently notable for starring as Yasmin in what HBO series?
5) Amy Winehouse is famously from Camden Town. What large Royal Park is just to the south of Camden Town?
Bonus NYTimes Listing Question: On October 3, 1990, the film Back to School played on Showtime in primetime up against:
Patrick sadly returns the copy of Tarot to the shelves of the ‘brary. He waves to Denise and Denise, the two librarians, who flash him a thumbs up. Since he’s been around so much they’ve started letting him return things to the shelves himself. “Caw,” Nathaniel caws. “Meow,” Mr. Whiskers meows. “I know,” Patrick says like a human. He wasn’t sad because Tarot was bad, it was exactly what he needed after bathing in Jamie’s eternal Night Swim. He was sad because everything he had tried hadn’t worked. What man could resist a cat, a crow and some chills? It didn’t make sense. “Hey Patrick,” one of the Denises says handing him a few more DVDs to stock. “I couldn’t help but overhear what you’ve been going through.” Patrick nods in appreciation. “It’s just,” she continues, “your crow and cat are delightful.” ‘Obviously’, Patrick silently scoffs in his head. “And Tarot is something the whole family can enjoy to unwind after a long week of not watching Tarot,” she says carefully. Patrick is confused as to why Denise insists on wasting his valuable restocking time telling him a bunch of obvious things. “But did you think maybe Jamie doesn’t want delightful things?” Denise finishes, hoping that Patrick was listening. Oh Patrick was listening all right. He was listening and thinking. Everyone knows what Jamie likes to listen to when he’s feeling up (Your Body is a Wonderland by John Mayer, duh), but what was his wallow music? And where would he find it? Suddenly he hears the distinctive “Caw!” of Nathaniel. “No fudging way,” he says, looking at the crow pecking at the CD by the very sad Norwegian death metal band Black to Black sitting right there on the glorious shelf of the glorious ‘brary. That’s right! You probably guessed it, but we are watching the Amy Winehouse biopic Back to Black. You might be asking, ‘Why?’ We would also be asking that. Let’s go!
Back to Black (2024) – BMeTric: 21.0; Notability: 45
StreetCreditReport.com –BMeTric: top 18.8%; Notability: top 2.0%; Rotten Tomatoes: top 18.6%; Higher BMeT: Madame Web, Borderlands, The American Society of Magical Negroes, Uglies, The Crow, Night Swim, The Strangers: Chapter 1, Tarot, Trigger Warning, The Exorcism, Imaginary, Joker: Folie à Deux, Mother of the Bride, Hellboy: The Crooked Man, Megamind vs. The Doom Syndicate, Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver, Mea Culpa, The Deliverance, Breathe, Time Cut, and 27 more; Higher Notability: Joker: Folie à Deux, Reagan, Borderlands, The Garfield Movie, Madame Web; Lower RT: Tyler Perry’s Divorce in the Black, Megamind vs. The Doom Syndicate, Borderlands, Madame Web, Mother of the Bride, Kraven the Hunter, Breathe, Uglies, Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver, Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths – Part Two, Tarot, Reagan, Killer Heat, Canary Black, Mea Culpa, Atlas, Night Swim, Dear Santa, Trigger Warning, The Strangers: Chapter 1, and 22 more; Notes:
Variety –Amy, contrary to her mythology, does end up in rehab. Near the end of her life, she gets clean, as Janis Joplin did. But that isn’t enough to keep her from becoming a member of the cautionary club of pop stars who died at 27 (Janis, Jimi, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain). Her self-destruction is on full display in “Back to Black.” Yet the film presents it, even revels in it, without giving you the sense that it fully understands it.
(At one point I recall there being some issue with the involvement of either the ex-husband of Winehouse (unlikely) or her father, which made the film potentially a response to the Amy documentary which I think was very critical of her father. Given that I fully expected the critical response to be poor.)
(There was a better trailer (one where it seemed a little like there was a more traditional path to stardom … so I suppose deceptive maybe), but this one is still good. The music and singing seem killer.)
Directors – Sam Taylor-Johnson – ( Known For: Nowhere Boy; A Million Little Pieces; Destricted; BMT: Fifty Shades of Grey; Back to Black; Notes: She’s kind of a weird director in that she seems to fully be in the “paycheck” movie phase. She has nothing on the docket at the moment.)
Writers – Matt Greenhalgh – ( Known For: Control; Nowhere Boy; Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool; The Look of Love; BMT: Back to Black; Notes: Well, that at least explains why Taylor-Johnson is involved, he wrote Nowhere Boy.)
Actors – Marisa Abela – ( Known For: Barbie; Rogue Agent; She Is Love; BMT: Back to Black; Notes: Well known for Industry, the only real laudets for the movie were in her singing which is, indeed, pretty impressive. She is in Black Bag which is interesting.)
Eddie Marsan – ( Known For: V for Vendetta; Deadpool 2; Sherlock Holmes; Hancock; Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows; Gangs of New York; The Gentlemen; Mission: Impossible III; The Illusionist; Snow White and the Huntsman; The World’s End; 21 Grams; Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw; Match Point; Wrath of Man; Atomic Blonde; War Horse; Vice; Jack the Giant Slayer; Miami Vice; Future BMT: The Man Who Knew Too Little; 7 Days in Entebbe; BMT: Back to Black; Notes: I recognize him from Happy-Go-Lucky. He’s in a ton of TV at the moment, and is pencilled in for the probably-never-going-to-happen Sherlock Holmes 3 still.)
Jack O’Connell – ( Known For: 300: Rise of an Empire; Unbroken; This Is England; Money Monster; Eden Lake; Harry Brown; ’71; Ferrari; Starred Up; Lady Chatterley’s Lover; The Man with the Iron Heart; United; Trial by Fire; Seberg; The Liability; Little Fish; Jungleland; Tower Block; Weekender; Private Peaceful; Future BMT: Tulip Fever; BMT: Back to Black; Notes: He’s in both 28 Years Later and Sinners this year which … either of those could be good. The trailer for 28 Years Later at least looks incredible.)
Budget/Gross – $30 million / Domestic: $6,157,705 (Worldwide: $50,979,416)
(Not great. Kind of weird the budget is so high, maybe because of the concert stuff and paying the Winehouse Estate? Just seems crazy considering there is really no stars.)
Rotten Tomatoes – 35% (63/181): Back to Black’s sympathetic approach to its subject’s story is an overdue antidote to the tabloid treatment she often received in life, even if the end results are disappointingly pedestrian.
(Again, the issue is being sympathetic to Amy Winehouse is one thing, but the documentary, fairly or unfairly, makes the treatment of the father in the film seem a little off somehow.)
Reviewer Highlight: Much like the rabid tabloid coverage Winehouse faced, Back to Black is a lazy attempt to capitalize on both the success and struggles of a great artist. – Emma Oxnevad, Chicago Reader
(I mean, I guess if I was super into Amy Winehouse this poster would make me excited for it. Despite being serviceable, I’m going to give it right in the middle because the font is the worst I’ve ever seen. C.)
Tagline(s) – Her music. Her life. Her legacy. (C+)
(I like the classic structure of this. It is extremely generic, though. Like why couldn’t this be the tagline to Selena?)
Keyword(s) – 2024-2024
Top 10: Dune: Part Two (2024), Deadpool & Wolverine (2024), Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024), Civil War (2024), Inside Out 2 (2024), The Fall Guy (2024), Alien: Romulus (2024), Road House (2024), The Substance (2024), The Beekeeper (2024)
Future BMT: 62.3 The Exorcism (2024), 61.6 Imaginary (2024), 61.6 Joker: Folie à Deux (2024), 36.0 Singham Again (2024), 27.4 Slingshot (2024), 27.2 Harold and the Purple Crayon (2024), 25.9 Fighter (2024), 24.8 Devara Part 1 (2024), 19.0 Reagan (2024), 16.7 Here (2024), 11.6 Red One (2024)
BMT: Madame Web (2024), Borderlands (2024), The American Society of Magical Negroes (2024), The Crow (2024), Night Swim (2024), The Strangers: Chapter 1 (2024), Tarot (2024), Argylle (2024), The Watchers (2024), The Garfield Movie (2024)
Best Options (Romance): 21.0 Back to Black (2024)
(Arguably this is our Romance film, but clearly that is in lieu of any other option. Is Romance dead? As a genre I mean, not in general.)
Welcome to Earf (HoE Number 58) – The shortest path through The Movie Database cast lists using only BMT films is: Bronson Webb is No. 26 billed in Back to Black and No. 19 billed in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, which also stars Penélope Cruz (No. 2 billed) who is in Captain Corelli’s Mandolin (No. 2 billed) which also stars Nicolas Cage (No. 1 billed) who is in The Wicker Man (No. 1 billed) which also stars Leelee Sobieski (No. 6 billed) who is in Here on Earth (No. 1 billed) => (26 + 19) + (2 + 2) + (1 + 1) + (6 + 1) = 58. If we were to watch Entebbe, Surrogates, The Jackal, Nights in Rodanthe, and The Glass House we can get the HoE Number down to 21.
Notes – Marisa Abela had done most of the singing in this film herself. She trained extensively to mimic Amy Winehouse’s vocals.
Scenes were filmed at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club at 47 Frith Street, Soho, London W1D 4HT, England and outside Winehouse’s first flat in Camden Town, and at Primrose Hill, London. In February, scenes were filmed inside the Metropolis Studios in Chiswick, London.
Jeff Tunke claimed he was cast as Mark Ronson and his scenes were deleted. However, director Sam Taylor-Johnson said Ronson was never a character in the film.
Following the death of Winehouse on July 23, 2011, several filmmakers attempted to create biopic projects but none of them progressed. By 2022, StudioCanal UK moved forward with production, and filming took place in London from January to April 2023.
The whole backstory of Dream a Little Dream is tragic. Corey Feldman was trying to be a more serious actor. He wanted a role that would stretch his horizons a bit. But he also was deep in a Michael Jackson phase and wanted to push that as well. What does that mean? Given the fact that Michael Jackson was a singing, dancing and fashion icon, Feldman decided to go for the trifecta. He’s working on a single for the film, and within the film he gets to dress like MJ and dance his little heart out. So sure, he wants to do this very serious philosophical body swap movie with Academy Award winner Jason Robards, but he also wants the dance scene. The studio? Thrilled. Interestingly, if you read Feldman’s autobiography he seems to indicate that the inclusion of Corey Haim was more his agent/studio idea. Once Feldman was in didn’t they want to cash in on the Two Corey’s mania? Did it matter that Haim broke his leg just before filming? Nah, write it in. So what started as an attempt for Feldman to be taken more seriously became a Two Corey’s vehicle with MJ inspired dance sequences. As I said, tragic.
To recap, Coleman and Gena are an elderly married couple. Coleman has become obsessed with dreams and the idea that through dreams he will be able to spend eternity with his beloved. He is pursuing this through the power of meditation when suddenly Bobby, a local bad boy/slacker, collides with the girl he has a crush on, Lainie, who unfortunately dates one of his friends. This collision at the moment of meditative perfection results in a body swap, whereby Bobby and Lainie are stuck in the dream world while Gena and Coleman are now teenagers, gulp! Confusedly, they also are kinda mixed with their original selves so they are more like old people-teenager hybrids and only sort of know each other. Coleman wants to just wait it out, but then realizes he has to play into the role of Bobby or else risk his wife getting stuck forever in the dream world dooming them to be separated forever. Coleman ends up helping Bobby get better grades and improve his relationship with his parents. All this in pursuit of Lainie, who it eventually becomes clear must fall for Bobby in order to recreate the magic and swap all the bodies back. This culminates in a climactic scene where Bobby talks his friend out of murdering him (for real) and a different (and much more important) scene where Bobby dances like Michael Jackson and looks totally cool for sure. Having completed the mission Coleman realizes then that there is no replacement for the real thang and indeed they are able to switch back.. THE END.
I feel a little bad for Feldman. You can tell he was having some troubles here and he looks crazy. The idea that someone would want to take his career from acting to the general genre of “Michael Jackson impersonator” is insane. That’s not a genre of music/dancing/fashion. That’s just what MJ does. And yet MJ was so huge that this was a viable career move and he was hardly the biggest star to have tried it. All that being said, Feldman actually does have natural charisma. There’s a reason I remember liking his character the best in a number of notable films. This is all a wind up to say that this film is super duper weird. One of the weirdest major motion pictures I can think of. It’s like a deeply philosophical take on a body swap movie. Makes me think the writer-director said yes to all kinds of things involving Feldman simply because he wanted desperately to make this weird ass movie that otherwise probably wouldn’t have been made. Usually when something this weird is made you have to assume it’s based on a book (like Winter’s Tale or something). But this is a Mark Rocco original, babbby. As for Ghosts Can’t Do It, the only reason to watch this unpleasant catastrophe is to see the perfect example of an auteur film. A film that truly seems like you are looking into the deranged mind of its creator, like a Neil Breen film. The basic plot is about Bo Derek being married to an elderly rich guy who has awesome sex with her, but then dies and his ghost demands she find a hot young stud to kill so he can possess him and they can continue boning. And then they do just that. You OK, John Derek? Perfect pairing with Dream a Little Dream.
Hot Take Clam Bake! Are we sure (steady yourselves) Feldman couldn’t have been Michael J. Fox? Like if he hadn’t gone down the dark road he was on would we have seen him carry some big films and then transition to a career where he’s the star of Just Shoot Me! or something? You see him running around and acting and (god help me) dancing and there are actual moments where I had to take a step back and be like “this kid was a mess and still got up there and looks halfway like a star.” It makes me want to read more of his autobiography just to see how aware he was of what was happening as it crumbled and fell apart. I can tell you the Dream a Little Dream parts of the book are very engaging. Hot Take Temperature: A Michael Jackson dance move.
Patrick?
Patrick
‘Ello everyone! *Gif of me dressed as Michael Jackson lip synching a song and dancing around like an idiot* Let’s go!
The good? Uh … this movie is bonkers. Like, this movie is like you cracked the head of the writer open and just started watching. It is wild shit, and in a way I’m here for it, and the fact that it operates like a standard body swap almost makes it better. Some of the cast is also quite good, like they know what’s up and what they need to do … some of the cast.
The bad? Both Coreys. I don’t want to pile on them. I don’t want to come down hard on them. But Haim is just all over the place, limping around, and really very terrible in this. Feldman just looks like a lunatic. He’s a bit better from the acting perspective.
The BMT? In a way yes … it is really really weird. It is a really weird film. It is so weird. Is it so weird it could view for Hall of Fame … I think so. I it so weird. But it is also boring. It is such a tough decision. The movie is just so weird!
You best believe Ghosts Can’t Do It. I have no words. This is a truly bizarre film. John and Bo Derek were one of one terrible filmmakers. We’ve seen several of them so far, and they kind of just get worse and worse as you watch them. One time a critic I think said that John Derek was the worst filmmaker in history. Part of me wants to say that that is right. This film is very weird, Bo Derek comes across as very weird, and the mind of whomever wrote this movie seems very weird. D, part of me wants to be like A+, this is what BMT is all about, but the film is weird and off putting, so I’m slamming it. Slammed!
Obviously a big part of my AI journey here is trying to find uses for it in BMT. So far … mixed bag. There are odd bits where I’m like that’s interesting, but nothing so far is shaking the BMT foundations. One idea Jamie had was to look through Letterboxd reviews, and what better opportunity to look through structured returns. So I pulled 100 reviews off of Letterboxd, and then ran it through Gemini with the instruction to say whether the review indicated the person had “fun” watching the movie or not. It would return as a json blob which seems .. vaguely correct I suppose.
Anyways, to try it on this guy. Out of the 100 reviews the BMT Super Fun Factor (aka BMTSSF) was 41%. That is actually pretty good. If we want some references BMT classic Cobra was a 73%, BMT classic stinker Waiting for Forever is 14%. It is perfect? No, one in like five fails for no reason by giving back bad json. Spot checking shows it isn’t super clearly interpreting things well, possibly just random outside of very bad or very good reviews. But it is a pretty funny idea. Similar to pulling keywords out of posters, this is one thing where it is like … just fun enough that I might actually try scraping a full year to see if anything interesting falls out the other side.
Oh, and let’s see if we should get excited. What is From the Hip’s BMTSSF? 45%. So a little better than Dream a Little Dream. Surf Nazis Must Die is a 48%, which maybe points to it somewhat deserving its cult classic reputation.
Oh, definitely a Planchet (Who?) for Haim which is a bizarre character with an even more bizarre production story. Some solid Product Placement (What?) for the oreos you snack on as you talk to your kids about the accident he just got in. I mean, maybe the ultimate MacGuffin (Why?) y’all need to get back in your body, it’s a body swap film. And I’m going to do it, this is a BMT film, it is wild and crazy and weird.
Dreams? Little Dreams? Talk to me, people. Let’s go!
Pop Quiz Hot Shot!
1) It’s the End of the World as We Know it by R.E.M. is on the soundtrack for the film. It peaked at 69 on the Billboard Top 100. That is not nearly the highest R.E.M. reached, which was #4 for what song?
2) For the Siskel and Ebert episode for The Worst Films of 1989, Dream a Little Dream was a pick. Another film was a little film about a wrestler named Zeus starring Hulk Hogan. What was that film?
3) The Two Coreys were famous enough as a duo to have their own wikipedia page. They paired up nine times on film. The first time was in The Lost Boys, and the third time was in this film Dream a Little Dream. What was the second film they appeared in together?
4) This is an impossible one, but in the direct-to-video sequel Dream a Little Dream 2, Bobby Keller and Dinger find magic what? Yeah, you read that right, literally magic.
5) Jason Robards is in the film. He won a Tony (The Disenchanted), two Academy Awards (All the President’s Men, and Julia), and an Emmy (Inherit the Wind). But he notably played James Tyrone Jr. in what Eugene O’Neill adaptation?
Bonus NYTimes Listing Question: On March 19, 1990, Dream a Little Dream played at 8PM on HBO. Right after though this came on:
Bad Movie Twins 