My Fair Lady - 1964 - Dir. Cukor

I'm not a big musical guy, which is something I say before I ever give my opinion about musicals. But I like My Fair Lady. It's silly, got a bit of sass in it, and it's charming . BUT WHO WOULDN'T BE CHARMED BY HEPBURN AND HARRISON!! I mean, both of them are a ton of fun to watch, and I do enjoy a musical based around the way people speak. Harrison plays a uppity dick ever so well but never so well that I want to smack him in the mouth. Hepburn plays a big-mouthed upstart but again, never so well that I want to smack HER in the mouth either. I guess, when you have a musical where the two main characters are jerks, I'm more likely to be a fan. But I suppose what works is that the tone is never really all that cynical. It's silly. Fun, in the spirit of a light-hearted bet. The emotion that gets injected into it is subtle. When everyone congratulated Harrison on a job well done, Hepburn's face is all you need to see. And the movie knows well enough to give us only that. It's can wander around sometimes. The scenes with the father are nice tough if a little tangent-y. It's one of those movies that kind of runs on charm rather than tight or compelling story-telling. It's not a bad story, but perhaps it's strongest trait is that it takes a backseat to the characters and music.

Audrey Hepburn, Filthy As Usual

All That Jazz - 1979 - Dir. Fosse

All That Jazz was way crazier than I expected it to be. Although, I suppose I should have expected it, I only had secondhand info about Fosse. Maybe it's because of Black Swan but it seems like Aronofsky takes a lesson from the book of Fosse. Larger than life characters, wild, snappy editing, shaky realities, repetition. First of all, I've never seen Roy Schneider to a role like this and it completely blew me away. I feel like it must have been particularly hard to sell such a dirtbag-ish character but Schneider does so with ease. I'm not a huge musical guy, but Fosse is fun to watch and it works particularly well in the film. Although, I feel like the end number is way longer than it needs to be and kind of kills the mood. Easily my favorite part of the film is the editing, it's just nice and insane. The scene where almost all of the sound is cut out is just absolutely awesome. At first, it's a little hard to keep up with but eventually you manage to piece it together. The movie has it's slow points and I feel like the major criticism I have is that it's a pretty shallow film, you don't get much more out of it than the experience of the viewing. It doesn't seem like Fosse aimed much higher than that though, so I guess he did a perfectly fine job. And I had a blast watching it, so I'm not complainin'. Oh... and did I mention that Schneider kinda charmed the pants off of me?

Ben Vereen is terrified to be touching Roy Schneider's Head.

Across the Universe - 2007 - Dir. Taymor

I really liked Taymor's Titus back when it was released. So I think I approached thinking that I would at least get some crazy memorable visuals out of Across the Universe. Failing that, at least I could enjoy some Beatles songs. And there are certainly a whole lot of Beatles songs. I was thrown by how this movie is assembled, it's basically the 60's paced at a breakneck speed with clips or entire Beatles songs sprinkled throughout (LIKE A MUSICAL! GASP!). I really was thrown by how quickly we move through this though. We're left to just fill in the gaps with 60's stereotypes. And I don't think the film really makes an attempt to dissuade that feeling either. The film feels distinctly hollow. The ending brushes aside any problems that rise throughout the film with "All You Need is Love" which feels super cheap for a movie to pull. "Oh I have a morphine addiction but it's cool, I have Love." I suppose the music and visuals was to be the Heart of the film though. Although, I have to say apart from a handful of sequences, I wasn't exactly blown away with the "music videos." They grab the attention but I rarely felt like I was seeing something I hadn't seen before. In general that's what the movie is. It's watchable, It's like Cotton Candy the movie. If you're in the mood for cotton candy, it's great. PERFECT even. And I would recommend it in that situation. But if you're looking for a meal of any kind, look elsewhere.

Tsh... British Guys on a chilly beach.

Mary Poppins - 1964 - Dir. Stevenson

As a big tough guy, I never bothered to watch Mary Poppins or if I had, it was as a kid and never seemed to bother to remember it. I have to admit, it's quite charming. I was originally won over by a remix made from sound clips from the movie and MAN, did I get a kick out of the dancing. And Dick Van Dyke's charming idiot smile. That's nothing to saw of Julie Andrews who is charming all in her own right. Of course, these things are known and have been known for years. I'm just getting on the train. It did not disappoint, dancing wise. Seeing Dyke semi-flail around balanced by Andrews unfaltering grace and coolness makes for a great chemistry. Which is important considering the film is pretty light story wise. Something that is actually pretty interesting to watch. It's a Disney before it became a well-oiled machine. It's a little more daring at times. What comes to mind is it's light-hearted treatment of the Banker's death. Not the most lovable of characters, but they do crack a joke on his expense and shrug off his death. It's actually kind of neat. It's a nice feeling movie, always a little playful. Perhaps not a masterfully told story like some of Disney's features, but a masterfully charming film.

Everyone is happy about what is above them except the little girl, who is all about something to the right of her.

The Muppet Christmas Carol - 1992 - Dir. Henson

I probably have seen this before. I can't imagine as a child who loved Muppets, I never saw the Christmas Carol, but I sure as hell don't remember anything about it. I was a little surprised by the LACK of Muppets, or perhaps, the lack of traditional Muppets. But perhaps I just have an extremely high tolerance for Traditional Muppets. ANYWAY, the film created new muppets for the three ghosts. I have to say, I loved the Ghost of Christmas Present. He was sweet as hell. I think what originally got me into this was that Michael Caine said this was his most memorable. I can see why. This must have been a ton of fun to make and he does a great job as Scrooge and plays it as honestly as someone might with real actors. Henson seems to have a lot of respect for Dickens and the source material while still being rather playful with it as seen with the minor addition of Robert Marley and Gonzo's take on Dickens himself. I think I would have almost liked MORE goofing around on the Muppets part but maybe that's just because as an older fellow, The Christmas Carol is a pretty tried and true bit of storytelling. I think a great deal of the fun is just seeing how each of the Muppets were intergrated into the classic tale.

Michael Caine looks INSANE!