DAVID DANCED BEFORE THE LORD WITH ALL HIS MIGHT ... LEAPING AND DANCING BEFORE THE LORD: Footloose, the unnecessary remake trailer. Skinny ties! Angry warehouse solo dance!
Footloose was my second #1 favorite movie (THe Muppet Movie was my first #1 favorite), and I wore out two different copies of the soundtrack tape ... it's not like it's Great Cinema, but it was/is a damn good movie, very much of its time and place, and it just seems stupid to do this now. I hate remakes-for-no-reason -- get a new goddamn idea! This is why HBO and the other premium and basic cable channels are kicking movies' asses these days -- Game of Thrones, not a Thorn Birds "reboot." You know? Ugh.
It wasn't as awful as I feared. I was surprised at how it doesn't seem to depart much at all from the original. The only noticeable change: It was bad enough in the original that all the prom-goers seemed like professional dancers while living in a town that had outlawed dancing. The remake only seems to exaggerate that problem.
What's great about the first movie is that it's not just about the teenagers - the adults played by John Lithgow and Dianne Wiest get their share of time, too, so the movie isn't just "good, fun teenagers versus stodgy, religious adults" but a little bit more complex than that. I love the scene with Wiest and Lithgow in his church when she dresses him down: "You can lift a congregation up so high, they have to look down to see heaven. But it's with the one on one where you need a little work!" I haven't watched the new trailer (hard to do at work), but I'm hoping that they keep this element in there.
(However, I agree with Gleemonex - why? why remake the good stuff? Especially something that feels so much of its era?!)
If I want to see someone other than Kevin Bacon to the angry warehouse solo dance, I'll watch the season 1 finale of Flight of the Conchords.
ReplyDeleteThis is something UP WITH WHICH I WILL NOT PUT.
ReplyDeleteFootloose was my second #1 favorite movie (THe Muppet Movie was my first #1 favorite), and I wore out two different copies of the soundtrack tape ... it's not like it's Great Cinema, but it was/is a damn good movie, very much of its time and place, and it just seems stupid to do this now. I hate remakes-for-no-reason -- get a new goddamn idea! This is why HBO and the other premium and basic cable channels are kicking movies' asses these days -- Game of Thrones, not a Thorn Birds "reboot." You know? Ugh.
It wasn't as awful as I feared. I was surprised at how it doesn't seem to depart much at all from the original. The only noticeable change: It was bad enough in the original that all the prom-goers seemed like professional dancers while living in a town that had outlawed dancing. The remake only seems to exaggerate that problem.
ReplyDeleteThis is damning with faint praise, but it certainly looked better than the Broadway version I had the misfortune of attending.
ReplyDeleteWhat's great about the first movie is that it's not just about the teenagers - the adults played by John Lithgow and Dianne Wiest get their share of time, too, so the movie isn't just "good, fun teenagers versus stodgy, religious adults" but a little bit more complex than that. I love the scene with Wiest and Lithgow in his church when she dresses him down: "You can lift a congregation up so high, they have to look down to see heaven. But it's with the one on one where you need a little work!" I haven't watched the new trailer (hard to do at work), but I'm hoping that they keep this element in there.
ReplyDelete(However, I agree with Gleemonex - why? why remake the good stuff? Especially something that feels so much of its era?!)
Oh, MAN, was that show bad.
ReplyDeleteThe lovely little scene between Wiest and Lithgow looking across the field at the scene of the prom is very nicely done as well.
ReplyDeletehow many degrees from Kevin Bacon is this new kid?
ReplyDeleteWormald's Footloose co-star Ray McKinnon worked on Apollo 13 with Bacon, giving Wormald a respectable Bacon score of 2 (http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/jackalope/2011/06/footloose_star_to_teach_phoeni.php)
ReplyDelete