Hey guys, remember Chicago Hope?

I do vaguely, and now thanks to the wonders of Hulu, I've watched the first part of the first season. Some thoughts.

1. This is like Grey's Anatomy before Grey's Anatomay, but with people that might be interesting. It's still too early to tell. There's an awkward marriage break-up, a crazy wife in a mental institution (Jane Eyre gothic much?), experimental procedures. And this is only the first season. I can't wait for more! (I think I'm serious about that exclamation point)

2. Hector Elizondo as Dr. Phillip Watters vs. Miguel Ferrer as Dr. Garret Macy. In a low-talking, gruff boss-off who would win?

Hector in Chicago Hope (Also, Mark Harmon with an eye patch? Wait, he's on this show?):



Miguel in Crossing Jordan:



I'm going to say I prefer the resonance of Miguel Ferrer's voice more.

3. I adore Adam Arkin. I love him as Dr. Shutt on Chicago Hope or as Adam on Northern Exposure or as Stanley Keyworth on The West Wing. Something about his fronted consonants is just so absolutely endearing even when he's hostile.

4. Mandy Patinkin as Dr. Geiger. [ed note: Totally not fired, he just left the show a few seasons in to spend time with his family]. I enjoy him and his motown singing in surgery. Actually, the singing in surgery is most of what I remember about the reruns of this show.

Also endearing:

Publish Post

Angrily tossing around a ball in Season 1 Episode 4 "You Gotta Have a Heart," proving he can be as brilliant and caustic as Toby or House. Geiger even has the requisite screwed up love life.

5. That's really all I have to say for now, but it looks like 342987045 actors that I'm familiar with were on this show, but it's never really talked about. I'm just excited for Mark Harmon.

I realize all I'm doing these days is posting videos

But too bad because I have another one. At least I got up and went to school this morning.

Anyway, this is a collection of pineapple references from the great USA show Psych. It's the kind of show that grows on you, featuring a West Wing favorite Dule Hill as Gus and the dream pop culture reference actor James Roday as Shawn. Mostly, I just love it when Shawn says, "Are you a fan of delicious flavor." Pineapple is delicious.

The Audacity of Rock: Part 3

Let's sing at a school pep assembly about angsty teenagers.

Nirvana "Smells Like Teen Spirit"

Apparently this is the song that kicked off the grunge scene. While that's debatable, let's talk high school. My gymnasium was definitely not this smoke filled or creepy. And there was a lot less long hair and a lot more Abercrombie and Hollister. I never really connected with this song (I'm a little young to really belong to this era), although being raised in the Northwest I admit I have a special place in my heart for Nirvana. Anyway, some genuine angst.

Nirvana |MTV Music

My Chemical Romance "Teenagers"

I dare anyone to say this isn't a brilliant rock song. Not only is it totally catchy, it's not dark enough for me to feel guilty about not agreeing with its sentiments. Also, it came out once I was already in college meaning I was a little too old to belong to this era of rock. This is just to say I never got into the teen angst thing. Anyway, the video features another pep assembly from hell, this time with gas masks.



So in the Battle of Teen Angst: Grunge vs. Emo, I think emo wins out mostly because it doesn't sound angsty so much as anthemic. And I love me some classic rock throwback.

Questions to Ponder:
1. What's the draw of creepy cheerleaders?
2. Is high school supposed to suck this much? Because I missed out.
3. Why were the only "alternative" bands that put out teen angst songs when I was in high school Good Charlotte or Linkin Park? And how lame were they?


Part 1 and Part 2 of The Audacity of Rock.

I don't cough for my own amusement

Somehow I've managed to not wake up my roommate with my constant coughing tonight--I swear she would sleep through a bombing blitz without even moving. Anyway, I've only slept a few hours and can't breathe very well and wanted to find that clip from Pride and Prejudice where Mrs. Bennett is yelling at Kitty for coughing, but I couldn't, but I found the clip where Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth meet after Mr. Darcy has taken a dip in his lake (BBC version). Anyway, it made life a little better. In fact, I'm just going to watch the whole thing right now. It's not like I'm doing anything else with my time today...

Enjoy

Thank you Illinois.....the land of Linkin'

My fabulous friend Margaux makes awesome connections between feminism, Ibsen, the 1970s, and good child actors in film: La Reine Margaux

My sister's weekly US History posts fill my inner nerd with joy. This one's about Kansas: Blonder and Thinnerrrr

I don't think I mentioned this before, but I interviewed that awesome sister for a podcast about blogging for my campus's writing center. Here's the newest episode about comic books and graphic novels: Word of Mouth

Daniel Carlson at Pajiba writes a weekly recap of Lost that I find both amusing and insightful: "Namaste" (S5/E9) at Pajiba.

And video for you from a sitcom that's kind of comforting to watch, My Boys. It's coming back on TBS next Tuesday (3/31). In this clip, Brendon has gotten out of control after making it in a local magazine's list of hottest bachelors so the gang has a douchebag intervention:

Some great beards

Anyone who knows me or has read my blog long enough knows that I love a good beard. Maybe it's because I'm a little beard-deprived here in Utah, but I think I would love them regardless. Anyway, this is mostly an excuse to find picture of men with good beards. Here are five:

1. Harrison Ford. I found this picture years ago, and I have no idea where it is from (did he do a movie sporting this lovely beard?), but it certainly makes him manlier--if that's possible.

2. Christopher Maxwell as Vic Brody in Benjamin Button. If you recall, he and his twin were one of the best parts of the film for me. Also, it took a while to find a picture, so props hotflick.net for having a screen shot of him.


3. Joshua DesRoches as Rick Brody in Benjamin Button. The second part of of this awesomely bearded set. Again, hotflick.net provided me with this angsty screen shot.


4. Clint Eastwood as the man with no name in A Fistful of Dollars. He's about 10x more badass with this beard.


5. Bret McKenzie from Flight of the Conchords. I think he's usually my favorite of the duo because of this beard.

The Audacity of Rock: Part 2

Let's use a huge wall in our live performances to isolate ourselves from the audience.

I can't decide if this is a great idea or just painfully trite. Whether it's the 80s or the 00s, it's pretty entertaining.

Pink Floyd "The Wall"

The following is a documentary of Pink Floyd's infamous "The Wall" tour. Nothing ever will beat the audacity of this show with its pompous symbolism about isolation in society. This part of the documentary shows how the wall was erected during the show (as well as the creepy inflatable characters). About halfway through this clip, you see the halfway point in the concert as the final brick is being placed over Rodger Water's face. Could you even try to make that more theatrical? I submit that you cannot. As an added bonus, the music for this show is great.




The Killers "Human"

This performance isn't a whole show since it's at the 2008 EMA's, so we're spared any long-term ridiculousness. Each member of the band is in a separate cube in a giant block wall. You can only see the silhouette of each band member being back-lit by red. The non-band inhabited blocks show things like speakers, lines, or stars. The whole thing distracts from the fact that an actual band is playing. "Are we human?" I don't know, The Killers, since I can't actually see you.

PS I might be giving you too much credit with the symbolism.
PPS You owe Pink Floyd for making synth legit.



Part 1 of The Audacity of Rock.

Song of the Day: What's Up

Whilst waiting for my food at the campus food court, I was serenaded by the cashier with this song:

4 Non Blondes |MTV Music

"What's Up" by 4 Non Blondes

Needless to say, I was impressed that the guy knew all the words and also that he sang with so much gusto.

And in terms of this video: let's hope 90s fashion doesn't come back. Oh, wait.

Homework post: Rome, Open City

I'm in a French and Italian Cinema class right now. Please enjoy one of my assignments.

The Passion Play in Rome, Open City

Rome, Open City follows Giorgio Mandfredi, a Resistance leader opposed to the Nazis. He needs to flee the city and finds help with Francesco, a man engaged to a single mother, Pina. Manfredi is turned over to the Gestapo by his lover Marina, but in prison finds support from the priest Don Pietro Pellegrini who is on the same side of the fight as he is. When Major Bergman cannot get the Priest to speak, Manfredi is tortured in Don Pietro’s view. Roberto Rossellini shows a unified Italy through the blending of a Communist’s world and a Catholic’s world by presenting this torture like a Passion play.

The setting in this scene of Rome, Open City is much like a play venue. Don Pietro is seated perpendicular to Major Bergman’s desk so he faces the door where Manfredi is being held. He is the audience to the violence. Major Bergman opens the door, and it is like raising a curtain for the stage, which in this case is the torture room. The doorframe acts like a proscenium arch which maintains a fourth wall to the torture held within the room. These two rooms become a setting for a play with an audience and a stage. By showing this in a play venue, we can draw connections to what sort of character Manfredi is “playing.” Don Pietro is forced to view the Communist as a Christ character in this context, blending what would normally be the Priest’s world with Manfredi as the main character. This shows a connection between two very disparate men, a priest and an atheist, that becomes a united force because their spheres are brought together through a performance of torture.

Maintaining the fourth wall and theatrical feel of the scene, the camera keeps Don Pietro’s point of view. We are only shown the torture in the room from the outside with a visible doorframe. We are kept at a distance from it much like Don Pietro with long and medium-long shots. The only close-ups used are those on Don Pietro’s face. We see his reaction clearly, making the focus on the audience, not the action “on stage.” This emphasizes the performance feel of this sequence since the torture is clearly filmed as if we are watching a play happen, not like we are in the action itself with the camera filming in the torture room. Through the use of a close-up on the audience member, we see that Don Pietro is deeply disturbed by the pain of another man who normally would not be on the same sides. The use of distance helps to show how the Passion play deeply affects the Priest and strikes a bond between the two men. This bond shows a united Italian force against the Nazis since their sentiments and pain are for the same cause.

The props used within this torture scene make this “play” one like a Passion play of Christ’s torture. Through the doorframe, we see one of the officers cross the room with a whip in hand. While it is not used in this segment, the whip is reminiscent of the scourging of Christ before the crucifixion. Also familiar with the crucifixion story is the Roman soldiers going about their duties lightly. Instead of casting lots for clothing or dressing up the prisoner, these Nazi officers light cigars with the blow torches that will soon be used to torture Manfredi. The use of these props indicates their lack of scruples in this act. Earlier in the scene Major Bergman mentions that Manfredi is an atheist, but in this torture sequence, he’s shown as a martyr withstanding torture much like Christ. The props highlight that paradoxical connection. This view of Manfredi mixes Don Pietro’s and Manfredi’s belief systems to show Italian unity by making the two systems merge together.

By presenting Manfredi’s torture like a Passion play, Rossellini successfully draws a connection between two unlikely allies. A Catholic priest and an atheist are brought together through the blending of their two worlds, which displays an Italian solidarity against an outside force. This film is a landmark in what would be a truly Italian cinema style recognized throughout the world, neorealism. By presenting Italy as a unified coalition of groups in Rome, Open City, Rossellini created a nationalistic film that helped to define Italy’s cinema industry.

Love Story and The Fountain

I've recently been going through my own DVD collection lately, most of which was acquired my freshman year at college (so, like 3 years ago). Anyway, I ended up watching Love Story and The Fountain back-to-back. It's a weirdly perfect combination of romances that end with the death of the woman: one reflecting on a passionate relationship of a few years and one about finding out how to deal with impending death.

________

Love Story (1970) is a chick flick that I would actually tell somebody to watch. There's so much cute and sass that it keeps from becoming senseless drivel but instead just enjoyably sappy.

It begins with a man sitting on bench with the narration "What can you say about a 25-year-old girl who died? That she was beautiful and brilliant? That she loved Mozart and Bach? The Beatles? And me?" This is Harvard jock Oliver Barrett* (Ryan O'Neal) who we quickly see in a flashback meeting the saucy Radcliffe music major Jennifer Cavalleri (Ali MacGraw), the one who we know will die. Their attraction is immediate and fiery. She calls him Preppy. He calls her a Radcliffe Bitch. It's just great.

Their courtship is a series of quick scenes. We see them go on dates. Jennifer sees Oliver play hockey. Oliver sees Jennifer play the harpsichord. Tommy Lee Jones makes an appearance. There's even a ridiculously cute scene where the dream couple is playing football in the snow (Jennifer, of course, is wearing a large sweatshirt, adding to her adorableness). Throughout there's a lot of sarcastic swearing at each other until one of them is sincere about their feelings. Again, it's just great.

The rest of the film involves them getting married, meeting Jennifer's sweet Catholic dad, dealing with the freeze-out between Oliver and his father, poverty from sending Oliver to law school, and "love means never having to say you're sorry." And then they want to have children, but they can't get pregnant. It turns out Jennifer is ill and--besides the bizarro choice to not tell her about if for awhile--the illness and death is fairly quick and kind of sweet, with Jennifer refusing the A Walk to Remember treatment**.

Francis Lai's overdramatic score almost pushes the whole thing into terrible shmaltz, but Ali MacGraw makes up for it everytime she delivers a "don't bullshit me" line, and you just accept the film for what it is: a tragic, sincere, youthful romance.

________

The Fountain (2006), however, is not as fun to watch. It's vulnerable in its study of how people deal with death. Plus, it's hard film to watch with complex combination of three storylines involving the same couple.

The anchor for the film takes place in modern day. It shows how Tommy (Hugh Jackman) is dealing with his wife Izzi's (Rachel Weisz) cancer. He's a research scientist doing cancer treatment trials on primates and trying to defeat death. Needless to say, he's not handling things well.

Another storyline is the first one we see, and it takes place in the 16th Century. Spanish conquistadors are facing hostile Mayans. Tomas (Jackman) is brought to the leader and we see him get stabbed. This is the penultimate chapter in a book being written by Izzi, which she will later ask Tommy to finish. Throughout the film we get to see the book from the beginning which includes Queen Isabel of Spain (Weisz) under the threat being overthrown by the inquisition. She sends Tomas to the Americas to find the tree of life that will provide immortality and save Spain.

The third storyline takes place in the future. Tommy is in space, contained in a bubble with a tree; he treats this tree like Izzi. His only company is his memories of Izzi and occasionally of the Queen. He's heading for a star, Xhibalba, where he hopes to find immortality.

The storylines intertwine in such a way that an interpretation is clearly evident, but it's pretty clear the Darren Arronofsky wanted to present the idea that seeking immortality is a bad idea. Many of the same shots, actions, and ideas are present in all three plots clearly showing the parrallels between them. The tree in the future might even be the same tree that Tommy used to make an experimental drug.

It's gorgeously shot with a lovely score by Clint Mansell. The most moving part of the film, however, is Hugh Jackman. Rewatching The Fountain made me wish he took more serious roles because he can carry a film--even a very clinical and symbolic film like this one--and make it relatable. Weisz is lovely as well, giving playful sagacity to modern-day Izzi, but it's Jackman that makes this film for me.

________

The one thing I found strangely similar in both films is when Oliver and Tommy find out their wives are irrevocably going to die. In Love Story, Oliver walks along the streets to the sound of eerie bell vibrations, drowning out other noises. The Fountain shows Tommy walking down the street with only the sound of footsteps until he's almost hit by a car causing ambient noise to come screaming back. Finding that parallel made the fact very clear that this was a weird double feature, but very satisfying.


*Also my guitar's name.
**No temporary tatoos were had and no stars were bought.

The Audacity of Rock: Part 1

One of my favorite things about rock criticism these days (from the little that I read of it) is how much critics like to point out that new bands pastiche old ones, mostly whenever current acts try anything ambitious/ridiculous. I submit this: rock is/has/always will be ridiculous so stop pretending it can be anything but. Really, in our era of deconstructionism, it's impossible to try something highly conceptual without it looking contrived, but that audacity is what makes rock awesome. You want to try a concept album? Do it. Go on tour with contortionists? Yes. Wear androgynous make-up/get ups? Of course the atrocity of prog rock should always live on.

Anyway, I'd like to draw comparisons between past rock acts and current ones mostly to show that new acts are just awesome, even if nothing about them is really new. I think new bands' efforts should be embraced because, let's be honest, it's always been about trying too hard to be cool. Now time for Part 1.

Weird crap happening whilst in the woods wearing suits. While The Beatles' "Strawberry Fields Forever" has a bizarre harpischord (?) with webs on it and stuff filmed backwards, Panic at the Disco's "That Green Gentleman" has old-timey bicycles and Russian dolls with themselves at different ages contained therein.

Panic at the Disco |MTV Music

Questions to ponder:
1. Which one is creepier?
2. Which one makes more/any sense?
3. On a scale from 'pretty' to 'do they even know what's going on', how high are the Beatles in this video?
3. Has Paul McCartney always looked that feminine?
4. Why does Brandon Urie have a sitar in boat?
5. How awesomely ridiculous are both of these?

Medley of the Day: Soundtracked!

Music can really make or break a film. In fact, sometimes the musical score outshines the film. In any case, I'm a big fan of film scores. And while acknowledge that John Williams, Danny Elfman, or Hans Zimmerman are pretty great, they aren't my favorites. I'm just hardly in the mood for epic.

Here are some of my favorites, which equals a very long playlist, but I recommend listening to the whole thing. It's a good listen.



1. "Main Title (The Godfather Waltz)" by Nino Rota from The Godfather--How do you not love this music? It's Italian and absolutely haunting. The solo trumpet at the beginning is about as melancholy and lonely as you can get. Oh, Michael Corleone. Don't joint the family business.

2. "The Gravel Road" by James Newton Howard from The Village--While the film itself falls short*, the music is absolutely gorgeous with an edge of creepy. It captures the tone of the film and matches the washed out colors perfectly. And Hilary Hahn's violin solos are so determined and pure like Bryce Dallas Howard's performance of Ivy.

3. "Orchard House (Main Title)" by Thomas Newman from Little Women--I think at least half the reason I love Little Women like I do is because of this music. It's period appropriate, but subtle enough to not overpower scenes. And it's sensitive enough for a story about young women without being schmaltzy. This main theme has enough energy in it to represent our spunky heroine Jo.

4. "Visita al Cinema" by Ennio Morricone from Cinema Paradiso--The perfect music to capture the perfect nostalgia of Cinema Paradiso. It's sweet and tender, and--most importantly--uses the saxophone without being cheesy.

5. "Charade" by Henry Mancini from Charade--I love a lot of Henry Mancini's work, but this one is fun, mysterious, and so 60s. And I love that Cary Grant later hums this in the ridiculous Walk Don't Run.

6. "Compass and Guns" by Thomas Newman from The Shawshank Redemption--Yeah, more Thomas Newman, but he's great. This is one of my favorite songs on the soundtrack. I love the combination of earthly instruments--piano, oboe, strings, harmonica--in a bitter-sweet melody and counter melody combination.

7. "Death is the Road to Awe" by Clint Mansell from The Fountain--This song demonstrates everything I enjoy in this soundtrack. The score is performed by Kronos Quartet and Mogwai, and they create an ethereal, modern, and sensual mood.

8. "Lovers - Flower Garden" by Shigeru Umebayashi from House of Flying Daggers--The film itself is a feast for the eyes, and in combination with this simple melody, it's elevated to something better than it is. This particular song is during a brief respite for the two leads and they share a tender moment.

9. "Out of Africa" by John Barry from Out of Africa--This feels like a film score. And since it's written by the same guy who did Dances With Wolves, it has the same feel, but without the Stands-with-Fist association. In all seriousness, it's romantic and epic and exactly what I think of when I think of film scores.

*Although I maintain that the first half is a near perfect film.

Watchmen Quickies

1. For how fun the soundtrack was, it was distractingly ill-fitting and campy. Take this song for the sweet love scene between Dan and Laurie. Way to cheapen the moment. Also, Tears for Fears "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" muzak in Ozymandias's office? Really?

2. Rorschach is still awesome, in a weird, uber-conservative creepy sort of way.

3. What a terrible idea.

4. Redeemable parts: Dr. Manhattan's reflection on Mars and Rorschach's rorschach ink blot test. Those scences got the closest to how the novel uses different mediums to create a story.

5. Matthew Goode--never go blond again. But I still love you from that one Masterpiece Theatre.

6. Way to only allude to key storylines that give the Watchmen poignancy. Yeah, adapting to film takes trimming, but this was just confusing, and I just read the book.

7. Patrick Wilson--stop picking roles in bound-to-fail adaptations to film. You may have a pathetic sort of charisma in these films, but please, save yourself from further ridiculousness.

8. Easier to sit through than Benjamin Button.

One thing I failed to mention...

...when I did my write-up of The Godfather II was how unrecognizable the lead men were. This is the Al Pacino I grew up with...

...and then Agent Bedhead shows us when he was a cute young man.

But what really blew my mind was that this...

Would later turn into this...

And I've never seen Taxi Driver, but Mr. De Niro was quite handsome as a young man (shirtless):

Hiroshima mon amour

Hiroshima mon amour (1959) isn't so much about a passionate one night stand as the ideas behind it. Written by Marguerite Duras, Elle is a French woman in Hiroshima shooting a film about peace. We first meet her describing the museum she saw of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima to Lui, a Japanese man who speaks good French. We hear Elle speak over pictures, newsreel, and reenactments of that day, while all we see of her is her hand on Lui's bare back. This first conversation sets up the important themes of the film: how do you remember events and how do you really know events if you weren't there?

And really, the film is just a series of conversations, the location just changes. Elle and Lui (I believe their names are only used in the credits) talk about their pasts mostly, their present circumstances only hinted at. And the bulk of the the reminiscences are from Elle's mind. She talks about WWII, her love with a German soldier, and the ensuing fallout. We see flashbacks of her in her youth cut into shots of her haunting face as she relives her past.

The film is both more alienating and more engrossing than I'm describing it. It's a strange film about forgetting and the damage that can happen when you do forget important parts of the past. It's about two brief lovers who start forgetting each other even as they say good-bye. It's as specific as it is anonymous. The action is minimal, but the lighting, the use of hands, and the faces of the lead actors--especially Emmanuelle Riva --carry a depth of painful nostalgia. Alain Resnais uses cinema creatively to give the film both a documentary and fictional feel, giving Elle the task of both hearing a story and telling one. We realize that she doesn't really understand Hiroshima just as we don't really understand her story. This certainly isn't an easy film, but it's one that causes you to reflect about what it means to forget and what it means to remember through someone else's eyes.

Song of the day: Runaway

The other day somebody expressed their dislike of Janet Jackson, and I was trying to remember why I kind of like her. The reason I do: "Runaway" from Design of a Decade 1986/1996--except I had the cassette single*. It's vaguely ethnic in sound, and the music video is vaguely ethnic in dance and costume. I loved the harmony-heavy "yeahs" in the chorus and listened to this song over and over. Check it out:

Janet Jackson - New Music - /music/video/" style="color:#439CD8;" target="_blank">More Music Videos

No wonder I have such fond memories of Miss Jackson. Has she ever been so bubbly and adorable?

Side conversation: In a cage match of who does the best at incorporating globalization in a music video, who would win: Michael Jackson in "Black or White" or Janet Jackson in "Runaway"? Discuss.

*Thanks, sister! (I think it was a Christmas gift).

Double feature: Grease and Grease 2

As much as I want to hate Grease (1978), I can't. I watched it a ton when I was a preteen (thanks VH1), so much so that the last time I saw it was when I was 14 about 8 years ago. By that age I was old enough to be sick of it and to understand most of the sexual innuendo. What's worse, though, was that I watched Grease 2 (1982) a ton, too. How or why I watched this more than once is a mystery (well, VH1 again). And I recall kind of liking it. So, to refresh my memory of both of these films, I sat down and watched both in a row.

Watching Grease was pleasantly fun. I remembered most of the film, caught a few more of the sex jokes, and was thoroughly entertained by the whole thing. The leads are disarmingly charming. Remember when John Travolta was attractive and funny? And I hate to admit it, but I know all the words to the songs. I avoid singing along to that Grease medley that's always on jukeboxes, but I know all of the words. In fact, "Hopelessly Devoted to You" is one of my favorite songs to belt when I think no one is around. Overall, the music is catchy and well written and sung by very capable singers. Plus, the songs actually further the plot/character development. And besides the problematic "moral" to the story*, it's just a solid film.

But the best part of rewatching Grease was realizing that Stockard Channing really was one of my favorite actresses ever. She's usually a side character, but she manages to drum up a lot of sympathy and personality with the little screen time she has, in this film as Rizzo. And I'd be lying if I said that I didn't find Kenickie a little attractive this time around, too. I think I finally caught on that he is a naive kid, and his relationship with Rizzo is fiery and fun to watch.

Here's Betty Rizzo:

I think I still enjoy "There are Worse Things I Could Do" because I haven't heard it 43239487 times. Also, listen to that 70s saxaphone action.

Grease 2 on the other hand is just a trainwreck. They try to bring back the principal, the nerdy Eugene, Leo (Crater Face), and of course Frenchy**. Bt now it's 1961 and there's a new crew of T-Birds and Pink Ladies, this time 23487 times more lame. The T-Birds have about 0 game, and the Pink Ladies are even more vapid than before. But it's not like no one was in this movie. Michelle Pfeiffer and Christopher McDonald went on to be in more and better*** films than this one. Anyway, this is what you get when you get a choreographer who is not Kenny Ortega behind the camera to direct half-baked characters played by mediocre actors (Michelle would get better and Christopher would find his niche).

Not to mention the terrible music. I love how they tried to get all the sex jokes in with "Reproduction." And the repetition of "Girl for All Seasons" was just painful, not to mention the Saturday's Warrior-esque vision of the biker. I have to admit that I always get "Let's Bowl" stuck in my head every time I've gone bowling, but that's kind of despite the song. But the best song by far is "Who's that Guy." The wonder filling the overly reverbed vocals is just magical. And when I say magical, I mean terrible. Check it out:



My favorite lyric is "Where can I get one?" because I agree. Maxwell Caulfied as Michael Carrington is the best part, and not for his acting or singing ability, but for his looks. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to believe any girl would refuse his affections. Really, he's the bright spot in all of this mess.

Final word, Grease 2 suffers from the Dirty Dancing Anachoronism Disorder, where the 80s shine through everything that is meant to be 1960s. The hair, the music, the awfulness: it all screams 80s and should only be enjoyed for it's campy mockableness. At least Grease has sympathetic characters. I guess Grease 2 suffers from the same plight as most sequels: it's unwarranted and way too long be enjoyed for how boring it ultimately is. But then I remember Maxwell Caulfield and feel okay about life.

Yum.

*I'm pretty sure Danny would have taken Sandy back even without those sewn-on pants.
**Because if you want to learn how to make your own cosmetics, you don't go to high school chemistry, but that's just me.
***If you consider Happy Gilmore to be better, which I do.