Last Movie Watched

Little Shop is one of my favorite musicals. I even played Mr. Mushnik in high school. I've always been something of a crotchety old man, I suppose. As much as I like the ambiguously happy ending to the movie, it's the Director's Cut for me all the way. I went to a screening of it pre-pandemic with Frank Oz and listened to him talk about it, and while I've forgotten most of what he said, he did say it's his preferred ending, so that's really all I need.

I do agree that Seymour is softened a bit in the movie. Not like he's hard edge or anything in he show- he's still a loser- but he does some pretty bad things; certainly more our "protagonist" than our "hero". Both a victim of circumstance and later his own choices. The only character I'd say is truly good is Audrey. It's running off-Broadway now, and I've seen it with a couple different casts. It's always interesting to see who the next Seymour and Audrey are- the former especially. There's been plenty of the "conventionally attractive younger man" playing him who, while they definitely do a good job with the material, kinda lend a different vibe to Seymour. Not that Rick Moranis is ugly or anything, but he's certainly not your traditional leading man. So Seymour can certainly come off a little incel-y at times, depending on who's playing him- how old or young they are, their mannerisms, etc. Not a knock at all, just an interesting take on the character.

Obviously I get why folks like happy endings, back then and today more than ever, but I always appreciate the message behind a thing. Little Shop is, if anything, a cautionary tale while also being a tribute to old sci-fi, which often ended on downer notes because they mirrored real world things. Were it ever to be re-made, I'd hope they'd stick with the true ending, and maybe even show the characters as parts of the plant like they do in the stage show (I know it's just a way to have the actors on stage, but was always a morbid little detail I appreciated).
 
I definitely prefer downer (or at least bittersweet “we came through serious trauma and now we are coming out on the other side”) endings in musicals. That’s my vibe in general, though: I like comedy, but I prefer tragedy.

Also I rarely want conventional protagonists to succeed.
🙃
 
joshsquash729 said:
There's been plenty of the "conventionally attractive younger man" playing him who, while they definitely do a good job with the material, kinda lend a different vibe to Seymour. Not that Rick Moranis is ugly or anything, but he's certainly not your traditional leading man. So Seymour can certainly come off a little incel-y at times, depending on who's playing him- how old or young they are, their mannerisms, etc. Not a knock at all, just an interesting take on the character.
Click to expand...

No, that's absolutely the case, Seymour can be played in a lot of different ways and an incel-adjacent kind of reading of him is totally valid and logical within the story. I think the Moranis casting itself is a huge argument for the happier ending cut, because Moranis is innately so sweet and bumbling. His energy pulls the story towards comedy and away from tragedy; he's not traditional leading man attractive but you also can't really imagine him playing a very dark or entitled character. I think the only role I've seen him in that even veered towards prickly or sarcastic was in Streets of Fire. There are definitely recent Seymours who probably couldn't play Wayne Szalinski or Louis Tully that credibly (Jake Gyllenhaal, say, or Milo Manheim), and those are guys who would demand the original ending.
 
And I watched Rich Little's Christmas Carol. I haven't watched that since the '80s. Didn't realize how terrible he was at getting people's tonality. He was solid at their mannerisms and inflections, though. His best was George Burns and worst was Inspector Clouseau. At times, James Mason seemed to creep into the latter. Still, he was a huge influence on me as a kid to start mimicry--which I got very good at, if I don't say so myself. :cool: I still freak/creep people out when I do the odd voice, particularly when it's a co-worker or someone else they personally know. :D
 
Just watched Good News, by Kill Boksoon director Byun Sung-hyun, and it's easily the film of the year for me (Kill Boksoon, incidentally, is probably my best film of 2023 and I'd likely call it the best action film of the decade so far, maybe depending on how we're categorizing Everything Everywhere All At Once). Somehow combines caustic political satire with a ton of sincerity in ways that most satires don't even risk. Just totally deft work, tightly edited, endlessly funny. Can't recommend highly enough.
 
Finally watching DUNC Part II. I confess I struggle with the whole thing in general because it's just so miserable and joyless a setting. No one, from top to bottom, seems to be alive, just existing.

Some nice outfits, mind.
 
Yestderday I watched Scrooge starring Albert Finney and y'all that movie stinks

Patrick Stewart as Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, however rules, and might be the best adaptation yet, even if not my favorite
 
Actually, I should say, I'm not sure if I actually think it's not as good. I think I didn't immediately have as much fun with it. But that's not actually the same thing. And I think it's something that a rewatch might cure.

But then I'm also the guy who thinks Shaun of the Dead is the third best Cornetto Trilogy film and that's also a deeply unpopular opinion. I do think this one might be similar to World's End for me though, one where the tone was in one place and I wasn't quite ready for it, but upon reflection I appreciated it more and more. We'll see when I take a second swing at Wake Up Dead Man sometime in the nearish future.
 
Ducked in and caught a matinee of 5 Nights at Freddie’s 2.
It’s interesting to watch a franchise horror thing where they aggressively avoid all the blood and gore and sexy stuff while still trying to play it all “straight”. Mostly it was nice to watch the talented Elizabeth Lail.
 
I wonder if Wake Up Dead Man is similar to Midnight Mass in that it may resonate a bit more with folks who were raised religious- whether they remained so or not. I'm certainly the latter, though have had some difficulty reconciling certain things, and while nowhere near as serious or overt as Midnight Mass was with its themes, I feel like it still plays it seriously enough when it needs to. Some things really hit home in a lot of ways. The scene where Josh O'Connor takes the phone call was a lovely little scene that felt like it came out of nowhere, but in the best way- a kindness we're severely lacking nowadays. Regardless, I'd have to rewatch the first 2 to have any sort of definitive ranking. I feel like they're all so close that it may just depend on what mood I'm in. Murder mysteries are an odd bunch to me, especially ones with multiple entries. Aside from, say, Clue, I kinda tend to just lump them all together, and my favorite fluctuates. Knives Out, the recent Poirot films, etc.- the "best" one or my "favorite" one changes

Seeing One Battle After Another later today in IMAX. Mostly excited for the Odyssey teaser before it, but I've heard really good things about the movie itself. I fear my expectations might be a little too high, given how many "best of 2025" lists it's topping. But then I see a lot of those same lists don't include Sinners anywhere on them, and it makes me question the validity. So we'll see.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top