METTEL RAY

Thursday Movie Picks: The Stage

This Thursday Movie Picks comes to you late because girl has some difficult things in her life happening. No worries though, what doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger, and I feel like I’m growing every day as a human and as a person. Anyway, enough about this personal stuff, on to this week’s theme, which is all about the stage! All my picks are nostalgic and are focused on the process of getting a certain production, dance performance or a play, onto the stage.

1. STEP UP (2006)

This movie is a very nostalgic pick for me because man, I was so freaking in love with Channing Tatum 10 years ago. And yes, I feel extremely old right about now, but despite of my old age, I still feel like Step Up is a charming movie. And, it not only has a very cute love story on screen but it also gave us a real life couple with Tatum and Jenna Dewan Tatum being happily married since 2009. And though the follow up movies have been slowly loosing their appeal, I think the first Step Up is still quite watchable. It’s not perfect, but it’s still cute and the last dance sequence on the stage is pretty darn cool.

2. GET OVER IT (2001)

We’re going even further down the nostalgia train with this pick but I wanted to shine some light on this weird little comedy. I used to have such a huge crush on Shane West (because of A Walk to Remember) that I watched pretty much all his movies. Get Over It was one of it and he was horrible in this one! The accent! It’s so bad it’s actually funny and you’ll enjoy it too if you won’t take it too seriously. So yes, it’s not the best movie out there, but it’s fun, if you let it.

3. MOULIN ROUGE! (2001)

And from teen comedies we jump into musical dramas, which also happens to be like the first movie that comes to my mind when I think about the stage. The infamous Moulin Rouge!, where Ewan McGregor sang his way into many many hearts (including mine). The movie is still one of those saddest memories I have from my teen years. I remember watching it, crying because of it, and then watching it again a few days later. Plus, some of the songs in there, still somehow on my brain  – and I’m horrible with remembering songs, like, very very horrible.

THIS SERIES IS CREATED BY WANDERING THROUGH THE SHELVES

mettelray

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17 responses to “Thursday Movie Picks: The Stage”

  1. ninvoid99 Avatar
    ninvoid99

    Shane West is in my enemies list because of that accent and for butchering “Alison” by Elvis Costello. I can’t believe he became the singer for the Germs as he was just awful in that movie about the band. I’d like to deck that motherfucker one of these days.

    Reply
    1. mettelray Avatar
      mettelray

      Oh, that’s sad to hear. I like him, I will give him aid after you deck him, it’s a win win situation. 😀

      Reply
  2. Daniel Bayer Avatar
    Daniel Bayer

    OMG I LOVE STEP UP! Good pick for the week, too. Both Jenna and Channing are great in it and it’s so cool to see their chemistry translate to real life. Actually, I kinda love ALL the Step Up movies for different reasons.

    Reply
    1. mettelray Avatar
      mettelray

      Thank you! I actually liked the second Step Up too, it had cool dancing sequences. I don’t think I have watched the later ones with as much enthusiasm though.

      Reply
  3. Dell on Movies (@w_ott3) Avatar
    Dell on Movies (@w_ott3)

    Step Up was a solid movie. It’s easily the best that franchise has to offer. Haven’t seen your other picks.

    Reply
    1. mettelray Avatar
      mettelray

      Step Up is a solid one, though I’m shocked you haven’t seen Moulin Rouge! yet!

      Reply
  4. joelnox Avatar
    joelnox

    I’ve only seen bits of Step Up and what I saw didn’t do much for me but it’s hard to judge from a scattered sampling. Maybe someday I’ll catch the whole thing beginning to end.

    I enjoyed Get Over It mostly for Ben Foster but it was a cute film overall which is more than I can say for Moulin Rouge. With that I liked Ewan McGregor and the sets but I have a low to nonexistent threshold for Kidman and I probably walked in with too high expectations. A couple of co-workers were just gaga over the picture and praised it to the skies, I didn’t have the heart to tell them I barely made it through!

    I went waaaay back for mine this time but all three are films I’ve enjoyed many times. The first in particular is a favorite.

    The Velvet Touch (1948)-Stage star Valerie Stanton (Rosalind Russell) attempts to break ties with her longtime producer and paramour Gordon Dunning (Leon Ames) after the closing of her latest play so she can move on with her life and career but during an argument in his office she accidently kills him. Unobserved she leaves and as suspicion falls on Gordon’s former flame Marian Webster (Claire Trevor) the film looks back at how matters came to such a pass. Meanwhile jocular policeman and theatre buff Captain Danbury (Sydney Greenstreet) investigates. Nice stage atmosphere and excellent performances add much to this undeservedly obscure, efficiently made little drama with a twist of noir thrown in that has a great ending.

    A Double Life (1947)-You’ve heard people jokingly tell others when they are getting carried away with something to “not get lost in the part!” but that’s just what happens in this noirish drama that won Ronald Colman a Best Actor Oscar. Anthony John (Colman) is a famed stage star greatly respected for his Shakespearian interpretations. The problem is that he lives the roles both onstage and off, when playing comedy he is the best guy in the world but when the material is dark so are his moods which among other things has led to the end of his marriage to his frequent costar Brita (Signe Hasso). Now he’s undertaken Othello and as he immerses himself deeply into the role his sanity begins to slip putting all around him including Brita and his mistress Pat (a young, whippet thin Shelley Winters) at risk.

    42nd Street (1933) – Aspiring hoofer Peggy Sawyer (Ruby Keeler) is a greenhorn new to the Broadway stage where through a friendship with two other chorines, the brassy Lorraine (Una Merkel) and the loose “Anytime Annie” (Ginger Rogers) she gets a spot in the chorus of a new show “Pretty Lady”. Through huge contretemps the star of the show has to bow out and Peggy is plucked from the line and told by the producer Julian Marsh (Warner Baxter) “You’re going out there a nobody…but you’ve got to come back a STAR!” And she does with the help of mind bogglingly elaborate dance numbers staged by Busby Berkeley. Incredibly influential musical invented just about every cliché in the book.

    Reply
    1. mettelray Avatar
      mettelray

      Not sure if I could watch Moulin Rouge! as enthusiastically now as I did way back when but I still think, compared to current state of musicals, that it’s pretty good. Even with Kidman.
      With your picks, when you go way way back, I know nothing about your picks so yet again, I haven’t seen any of yours. This is becoming embarrassing for me…

      Reply
      1. joelnox Avatar
        joelnox

        Nothing to be embarrassed about, there’s an enormous amount of films out there. My hope is that with these recommendations others will be curious and seek them out. By and large I try to recommend titles that are at least still available and pop up on TCM or FXM or are available through streaming services. As I said my first pick this week is a huge favorite of mine, a quick moving 100 minutes.

        Reply
  5. Brittani Avatar
    Brittani

    GET OVER IT!! We matched on that one. I really want to watch Moulin Rouge again, it’s been years. I love that Tatum and Dewan are still together, that’s so sweet.

    Reply
    1. mettelray Avatar
      mettelray

      Yaas! I already celebrated our match on your blog as well, it’s nice, it’s an interesting pick to match with. 😀
      And Tatum and Dewan are like couple goals. To be both so unknown, get together, and then happily stay together through Tatum’s rise to such heights – no envy there between them, and I’m glad it’s as such.

      Reply
  6. Sonia (A Film A Day) Avatar
    Sonia (A Film A Day)

    I loved Step Up and the chemistry between Jenna and Channing is terrific!

    Reply
    1. mettelray Avatar
      mettelray

      Well it was real chemistry so it’s hard to criticise it as anything else than terrific. 😀

      Reply
  7. Birgit Avatar
    Birgit

    Moulin Rouge was ok but I wasn’t enthralled by it. I should see it again to see if I changed my mind about it. I haven’t seen your other films but the one with Tatum is on my list

    Reply
    1. mettelray Avatar
      mettelray

      Step Up is a must! Watch it.. I’ll wait here…

      Reply
  8. Wandering through the shelves Avatar
    Wandering through the shelves

    I’ve seen them all. I’m not into teen dance movies…and there are quite a lot including the Step-Up sequels…so Step Up was just ok. However I do like the last performance they did. I saw Get Over It soo long ago…it had something to do the stage?

    Reply
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