Recently in Musicalifornication Category

Indie Snapshot: How Sweet It Is

We're only halfway through 2013, but it's unlikely that we'll see an odder cast than the one at the center of Brian Herzlinger's low-budget musical comedy How Sweet It Is. In fact, the movie is almost worth seeing solely so that, years from now, if you ever get asked the trivia question "What movie musical starred Joe Piscopo, Erika Christensen, Paul Sorvino and Eddie Griffin?" you'll be able to provide the answer, plus a plot synopsis and maybe a few bars of the title number, with complete authority.

Why Katy Perry: Part of Me May Be Better Than You Expected

Following the example of Justin Bieber, the Jonas Brothers and many more teen-skewing pop stars before her, Katy Perry now has her own, slightly more adult, concert movie in theaters. There's only so much that you can do with one of these films -- what with the expected combination of standard backstage footage, interviews with family and friends and of course, the concert performances themselves -- but Part of Me really delivers on all of its... well, parts. It's an enjoyable film for Perry fans and may even bring her some new ones as well.

Rock of Ages: Nothin' But a Mild Time

A musical scored to the head-banging, power-chord wailing hair rock tunes of the '70s and '80s may sound like the final nail in the coffin of Western civilization, but from most eyewitness accounts, the Broadway musical Rock of Ages is a silly, enjoyable lark -- a show that has a lot of love for its specific brand of rock 'n' roll but doesn't take it particularly seriously. It's easy to see how this material would play well onstage, where the audience can feed off the energy of the performers and unapologetically rock out to these cheesy classics like they're in an actual nightclub as opposed to a theater. But I'm sorry to report that the new movie version of Rock of Ages has all the energy and electricity of a lite-FM radio station's noontime "Smooth Jazz" hour. With the exception of a few musical numbers, the film curiously finds little joy in songs that are nothing if not pleasures to listen to. Guilty pleasures to be sure, but pleasures all the same.

Singers We'd Like to See in the Bodyguard Remake, and the Men Who Guard Them

Can you believe it's been almost 20 years since The Bodyguard came out? Whitney Houston was a youngish 29, and not yet crazy, and Kevin Costner played the man hired to keep the threatened pop singer safe. Well, now plans to remake the movie have resurfaced, and Warner Bros. is looking to cast an international pop star in the lead role. While Rihanna was suggested for the part almost two years ago, nobody is attached to this new iteration, so we thought we'd envision how the story might be tailored to today's biggest stars, and who might be hired to protect them.

Never Say Never: Should Justin Bieber Be the Next James Bond?

When MGM plunged into financial peril recently, the seemingly indestructible James Bond franchise was temporarily put on hold; it seems to be back on track now, with Daniel Craig returning for a third time as the super-spy, but perhaps some new blood would put the franchise (and MGM) on stronger financial footing? (Remember, Timothy Dalton only got two films, too.) Someone young, popular, maybe with the initials "J.B."... Hey, what about Justin Bieber? The kid is already everywhere, he's got plenty of good years left in him, and he's got some dance moves that could maybe come in useful in a parkour chase through a construction site. Plus, the title of his new concert film, Never Say Never, is already practically a James Bond title. We've plotted out his stint on the Bond franchise for the next decade

Miley Cyrus is Going So Undercover, and I'm So There

As the world mourns the loss of Undercovers on television (not really, nobody's mourning), others are getting ready to celebrate new undercover antics on the big screen. No, it's not the long-awaited sequel to 2002's Undercover Brother, although that would admittedly be awesome. No, it's the newest Miley Cyrus movie, So Undercover, in which she plays a "tough, street-smart private eye" who infiltrates a college sorority. First of all, OMG. Second of all, let's just break down why this is so fantastic.

Nowhere Boy: Stranded Between Rock-and-Roll Epic and Lifetime Movie

Given that this movie stars Kick-Ass's Aaron Johnson, is directed by a conceptual artist and is about one of the biggest rock icons in the world, you'd think Nowhere Boy would be a much more interesting film than it is. Not that I was expecting bloody brawls, creative editing or overtly shocking behavior, but this portrait of John Lennon as a young man is mostly a tame period piece about a boy in 1950s England who wants to be Elvis Presley. At no point do we get the impression that Lennon is particularly special at all -- just lucky and very, very determined. And while his upbringing was certainly nontraditional, it's hardly as shocking or controversial as the movie seems to want us to think it is.

10 Things We Love About Weird Al's UHF

Are things about to get a little weird at your local cineplex? Famed song parodist, TV geek and MTV personality "Weird" Al Yankovic, who wrote and starred in the cult comedy UHF back in 1989, has a new movie in the works. He wrote it for Cartoon Network, but the channel has recently pulled the plug on all movie projects, leaving Weird Al with a script and a dream. Could the comedic genius (you heard us) end up in theaters again? We certainly hope so, because UHF is frickin' hilarious. Here are my ten favorite things about the film.

I Want My DVD: Tuesday, May 4, 2010

New editions of Dirty Dancing and Doctor Zhivago? Finally, the long-awaited bookends to our "romance in times of class struggle" collection! Nobody puts Larissa Feodorovna Antipova in a corner!

The Runaways: The Role Kristen Stewart Was Born to Play

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? And by that, we mean, which came first: Kristen Stewart getting the role of angsty rocker Joan Jett in The Runaways, or Stewart dressing and pouting like an angsty rocker at awards shows? Whether the role made the woman or the woman made the role, it would require some research to answer, but you can't deny that Stewart plays the part of the misfit Jett well, and is part of a decent cast that inhabits this simple, familiar, drug-addled tale of a rock-and-roll rise and fall. You can probably guess at everything that will happen, even if you don't know the story of the Runaways (an all-girl punk group that included Jett and Lita Ford), because it seems like a well-worn path for successful bands: struggle, success, drugs, breakup. But as long as you don't need a particularly engaging story, this long music video is beautifully shot and the characters all look sufficiently bad-ass for the movie's sole purpose: to chronicle how much the Runaways rocked.

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