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rikodog
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|  | FAME The Remake...The Review
« Thread Started on Oct 5, 2009, 7:47am » | |
I just got back from vacation and thought for sure I would come back and find a whole slew of reviews for the new movie. Am I missing them? Is there a thread with reviews that I overlooked?
I saw the film right before I left for vacation. I'll post my review here if there is no other thread. I'll wait a day and see if I missed it. Thanks for the help.
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Pam
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| | Re: FAME The Remake...The Review
« Reply #1 on Oct 6, 2009, 1:55pm » | |
Feel free to post your opinion of the movie. I did see it the night it opened I'm just terrible at writing out a detailed review.
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rikodog
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| | Re: FAME The Remake...The Review
« Reply #2 on Oct 7, 2009, 8:00am » | |
OK then...here is my review. It was OK. Ta Da!!!
Being a huge fan of Alan Parker I did not see the need to remake his beautiful and poetic movie FAME. That being said, I am also a fan of the TV Show that does not carry with it any ties to the movie other then some character names and a few of the actors. The TV show was no where near as gritty and real as the movie was but lets face it...it would have never lasted on TV if it was. The 80's was all about fun and good times and being campy. I use the word "campy" as a good thing and not a bad thing. Therefore being a teenager during the 80's I dug FAME and sat down week after week watching this great TV Show.
When they announced the movie remake I was not thrilled. When they announced that the DVD's of Seasons 1 &2 were going to be released with the films debut I was thrilled. For once I support marketing!!! So my hope is that if a lot of people go see FAME the remake the better chance we have of getting all of the seasons of FAME the TV show onto DVD. So I went to the theater and bought a ticket with fingers crossed for more DVD goodness of my 80's TV show.
I must admit when I saw the trailer for FAME the remake I did not think much of it. Then I heard the Soundtrack online and was further scared but thought maybe the soundtrack would make more sense once I saw the movie. So here it is...popcorn and drink in hands I take my seat. I wait through 20 minutes of commercials, 15 minutes of trailers, then movie theater announcements and finally FAME starts. In my mind I am thinking here comes a 90 minute MTV music video but much to my surprise it is not. It's actually attempting to look like a modern day version of the Alan Parker classic. It fails in this category but I am none the less impressed that it is not the High School Musical that I thought it was going to be from the trailer.
For what it was it was good. There were a few bright spots in it. They young girl who played the classical pianist turned R&B singer for one. She's got chops!!! The girl from "So You Think You Can Dance" was good but I thought her character development throughout the movie was not. I guess I could say that for all of the characters. They attempted to give each character one thing that we the viewer could relate to but it was not enough for me. I needed more to invest my time into actually feeling for these characters. There was nothing near as good as the Ralph/Doris/Montgomery connection from the original.
Lets face it...if you like/love FAME you are going to this movie but if you don't know of FAME or were just OK with it back in the 80's you probably won't. The new movie has nothing you can sink your teeth into and brag to your friends and family about. For me it was more or less watching a good TV movie then a blockbuster on the big screen. I could be wrong on this and I hope to a certain degree that I am. I want this movie to succeed so that I get my FAME TV show DVD's. Oh well that is my take on it...what's yours???
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Roberta
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| | Re: FAME The Remake...The Review
« Reply #3 on Oct 8, 2009, 3:45am » | |
Just meant to say I enjoyed your review Dave - it was witty and amusing. (I'm not going to see FAME 2009 though - it would be painful to me, I'm sure  ). I was wondering...why didn't you mention Debbie at all? Is her role so small? Anything to say about her acting?
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rikodog
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| | Re: FAME The Remake...The Review
« Reply #4 on Oct 9, 2009, 7:14am » | |
Debbie Allen's role in FAME the remake is very small. She gives the students a speech about working hard and then later she appears for about a minute talking to a student and that's it. I was surprised they did not give her a bigger role. The same can be said for all of the TV actors they had in this movie. Bebe's role was almost non existent and that is a real shame. She is always amazing. The did give Megan a solo song to sing but it was so staged it felt out of place. Charles S. Dutton could have done his role in his sleep and Kelsey was there to just collect a paycheck because he truly had nothing in which to act upon. It was like watching Frazier Crane on downers.
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Roberta
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| | Re: FAME The Remake...The Review
« Reply #5 on Oct 9, 2009, 10:59am » | |
Oct 9, 2009, 7:14am, rikodog wrote:| Debbie Allen's role in FAME the remake is very small. She gives the students a speech about working hard |
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Why am I not surprised? LOL. Thank you Dave. It's a shame she wasn't used more. It's (almost) like in the original movie, now that I think of it...
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rikodog
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| | Re: FAME The Remake...The Review
« Reply #6 on Oct 12, 2009, 6:56am » | |
Well that was the brilliance of the movie. Get involved with the students lives and not the teachers. The TV show made it about both (and rightfully so). You have 2 hours to pull the audiance in with a movie and Alan Parker did a great job of covering 4 years and giving growth to the students characters. The TV show had to incorporate the teachers in order to create more story lines to fill a whole season.
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sue
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| | Re: FAME The Remake...The Review
« Reply #7 on Oct 13, 2009, 9:28am » | |
Great review Dave. I haven't seen the movie yet, and I'll probably end up waiting for it to come out on dvd. I was always crazy about the series anyway. My daughter went to see the movie though and agreed with you that it was only okay. She didn't think there was enough character development to really care about these kids...too much to cover in 4 years. She has never seen the original movie, (but very familiar with the tv show), so obviously couldn't tell me which she thought was better.
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rikodog
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| | Re: FAME The Remake...The Review
« Reply #8 on Oct 15, 2009, 7:46am » | |
Usually there is two rules of thumb on DVD's and buying them.
One: Buy the DVD opening week as some stores put bonus materials with them and they are generally on Sale.
Two: Wait 2 months and if the DVD sales flop they will be put in a bargain bin for less then $10.00 or you can buy it used on Amazon for cheap.
Myself, even though it was not a great movie I will buy it opening week. I am still praying that high sales will bring the rest of Fame TV Series to DVD.
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Pam
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| | Re: FAME The Remake...The Review
« Reply #9 on Oct 19, 2009, 2:11pm » | |
Well, as I have mentioned to some already, I felt like the stories were rushed ... the whole movie really. I liked it enough, for what it was but I just felt like the stories were not finished and some of what was shown in previews were not shown in the movie. That's normal anymore but I think in one instance, it would have at least gave a conclusion to one unanswered question.
As an example, the character of Jenny goes to meet up with a former classmate who's filming a TV show and he gives her this BS about having her come to the set to meet with someone from the show to help her further her career. Once she gets there (to his trailer) the woman whom she went there to meet isn't there, nor is she available, and he makes excuses and asks her to go over a script with him ... WHILE HE VIDEO TAPES IT ... and the part of the script he choses to do was basically a make-out scene. So while Jenny is uncomfortable about it she goes along with it until she's had enough and decides to leave.
That's where my question comes in to play. What happened to the tape? Now, on one of the commercials I saw Joy in her sister's bedroom (I assume) and her sister was at the computer and you see Joy look at the computer screen with a somewhat shocked look on her face and you hear someone say something about the video being put on YouTube. Now ... granted, you don't know what video they are referring to but my guess was that the guy that convinced Jenny to allow him to video tape her turned around and posted the video online. In the movie though ... you never find out what, if anything, that guy did with the video. And, of course, the whole scene with Joy's sister was cut from the movie.
As for whether I'd buy it when it's released, of course I will.  Maybe I'll get to see some of what they cut out of it then. LOL
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rikodog
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| | Re: FAME The Remake...The Review
« Reply #10 on Oct 20, 2009, 6:45am » | |
HA HA I thought the same thing. If the guy is that big of a douche why wouldn't he post the tape and cause even more drama between Jenny and her REAL boyfriend. I did not even catch the part you are talking about in the trailer. (Runs to YouTube to check it out.) Good catch Pam!!!
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Pam
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| | Re: FAME The Remake...The Review
« Reply #11 on Oct 28, 2009, 1:55pm » | |
Did you happen to find a the video I described on You Tube?
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mildani
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| | Re: FAME The Remake...The Review
« Reply #12 on Nov 5, 2009, 5:09pm » | |
I watched the film a couple of weeks ago and I have to say I quite enjoyed it. Then again, I seem to enjoy all films of this kind (even High School Musical, no shame! ![[image]](http://www.fameforever.net/smilies/mysmilies-blue/tongue.gif) ).
I thought it was ok for a remake. It didn't exceed my expectations, but it wasn't a total disappointment. Well, it's always different to watch a film in this situation, when your mind automatically makes comparisons with the original version, especially in the scenes that are very similar, so it's also harder to make a judgement. But overall I think it had a good balance between making it new and making it Fame.
I would actually review it but I don't recall everything in detail. I definitely need to watch it again a couple more times to make up my mind about it and really have an opinion. The first impression wasn't bad at all, though.
And as far as technical/directing impressions go, I have none because I don't watch many films and I honestly can't really criticize those characteristics.
Yep, Pam, I suppose you're right about that one. They just left that storyline open. I assumed he didn't do anything with the tape as she never went as far along with it as he would have hoped?
My favourite scene, for sure, was the one with both Marco(?)'s and Malik's auditions, sort of mixed together. I loved it.
And did I miss it or was there not a FAME scene? I was expecting to see them all just running to the middle of the street, jumping to the top of cars passing by and singing the song for the first time and... they didn't, did they?
Aka: I really need to watch this again soon!
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Pam
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| | Re: FAME The Remake...The Review
« Reply #13 on Nov 12, 2009, 8:28pm » | |
You have a point Daniela about that storyline but I still think, that since he schemed to get her there in the first place, that even though it didn't go as far as I'm sure he was hoping for he would use the video to embarrass her or something.
There was no Fame scene in the streets like the original. If I remember correctly, the song was just used in the end credits.
I need to see it again to really remember some details.
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