Muscle in Progress

My newest heartthrob who could marry me anyday has got to be Robert Pattinson.  Hell yes, he was hot as “Cedric Diggory” in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, but have you seen him as “Edward Cullen” in Twilight?  Holy Hell… I’d become a vampire for him anyday!

I mean, just look at him… the boy man is HOT!  And he is a man… he’s 22 after all.  And hey, 22… matched up with someone who’s 29.. it could work right?

Oh, and get this… in his next movie due out sometime next year, he plays a very famous gay “celebrity”… hmmm wonder what that might mean .  No I’m not saying that Robert is gay, but hell, a guy can dream right?

IF you haven’t seen Twilight because maybe you think it’s just a kid’s movie, get over yourself.. and get your ass into a theater and check it out!   I hope they start filming more of the popular book series and that Robert and the rest of the “Cullen” family continue to star in them hehe.

From the moment the curtain rose, we knew that we were in store for a rare treat. Of course, by now, being the big Broadway geek that I am, I knew exactly how the opening number would roll out, but you never really know what you’re going to get until you’re actually immersed in the pagentry and theatrics. What an incredible musical!

We have been waiting for “The Lion King” to make its presence in Honolulu for years ever since the rumors started to spread about the possibility of it coming here. You see, I live in an area that isn’t really known for its theatre community. Unfortunately I moved away from the successful theatre areas of LA, San Fran, Orlando, and NYC…. and here on an island in the middle of nowhere, it’s very rare that we get an actual Broadway tour rolling into town. So when that happens, I make it a point to get my ass into the theatre to see it.

What makes this show even more special is that it is here until December 9th, so if any of you out there are secretly planning a trip to Honolulu, make sure to come and check this show out! And whats more, because they’re here for an extended run, the crew from the show rebuilt the concert hall’s stage! So it’s going to be interesting to see what will be able to come here in the future because of the new modifications.

Anyway, back to the show…. familiar and loveable songs, haunting African rhythms, undulating drums permeating throughout the whole production accompanying some of the greatest choreography ever presented on the stage makes for a great show! All of the leads were incredible both as singers and as dancers, but if I had to choose favorites….

Clifton Oliver’s portrayal of Simba brought out the youthfulness and the playfulness of the character, while his solemn moment of singing “Endless Night” brought tears to the eyes of everyone around me. And of course, with a song like that… you’re either gonna create magic, or royally fuck it up.. so I’m glad that he did the role and his acting predecessors proud. Everytime I listen to the song on the soundtrack, it makes me think back to the original Simba on Broadway, the beautiful Jason Raize…and I cry. Those in the Broadway community probably know why…

Gugwana Dlamini’s portrayal of Rafiki was both a breath of fresh comedic air and a heart-wrenching rollercoaster of emotion at the same time. A versatile performer, she brings a powerful presence to the role.

But in my mind, the scene of the night would be Ta’rea Campbell’s rendition of “Shadowland”, Nala’s signature song in the show. Her voice had such power and depth to it that even though the sound levels were a little lower than I would have liked throughout the show, she was able to blast through it and bring the crowd to its feet…which, coming from a place that is not known for its great support of musical theatre, IS saying something! In fact, the mere fact that the show is sold out for most of its run IS REALLY saying something

Rumor has it that Westcoast Entertainment, the promoters of this tour, were so impressed with the ticket sales that they are contemplating bringing other big name shows like “Wicked” to Honolulu in the near future. Hmmm, what a sight that would be!

The only recommendation that I could make for the touring cast of this show is to cut out some of the dialogue, because the show goes on and on in areas where it would’ve been much better just to give us an idea of the storyline and then move on. It seems like they tried to take ALL the dialogue from the movie and put it into the stage production, which I think is a major “no-no” when you’re trying to stage something. Now I can see doing it from the other way around… if you were taking a stage show and turning it into a movie… but, yeah… anyway… Oh! And one more thing, please turn up the mic levels on the actors… There are many moments in the show where you can’t hear what the actors are saying if you’re sitting towards the back of the theatre…and supposedly a new state-of-the-art sound system was installed just for this show, so hello…. can you use it?

But, all in all, if you couldn’t tell, I loved the show and definitely want to see it again… maybe this time a little closer up Oh and for all you lovers of the male body….yes most of the dancers are shirtless as are some of the leads…. oooh…Simba…. heheheh.

Love, love, LOVE this movie! I have been a big fan of the Hairspray craze for years now, ever since I first saw the original movie when I was a young boy. For those who have never seen the movie, the story is about a young girl named Tracy Turnblad who dreams of being a star on the local Baltimore dance show, the Corny Collins Show. Unfortunately, Tracy wasn’t exactly what the current society saw as beautiful. She had big hair, a big body, and well… let’s just say her fashion sense wasn’t all that great. But that wouldn’t stop her!

Another reason why she wants to get on the show so bad is because the imaginary “love of her life”, Link Larken, is the lead male dancer on the show and the local high school heart-throb. The only problem is, he never seems to notice Tracy….and oh yeah, he’s dating the ever-popular Amber Van Tussel whose mother owns the tv station that the dance show is on. Will Tracy ever achieve her dreams? Well, you’ll have to watch the movie to find out!

Anyway, when I found out that they were taking this John Waters classic and making it into a musical for the Broadway stage, I was a bit apprehensive. I mean, how could you take a John Waters film and put it on stage? Trust me, his films are not exactly what you would call high-budget blockbusters…they’ve always been more like cult-classics

But I digress…the show came out and wowed audiences for years, winning several Tony Awards including Best Actress, Best Featured Actor, and Best Musical of the Year. I immediately ran out and bought the soundtrack and fell in love with it. So, when the news came out that it was being turned into a movie again in its musical format, well I couldn’t wait to see it!!

Again, I was a bit apprehensive, because you know how it goes…musicals are always better on stage than in the movies, and I was really hoping that the movie would be received well. Then the news hit the net that John Travolta would be playing Tracy’s mom, Edna Turnblad, a role made immortal by Divine and later in the musical by the irrepressible Harvey Fierstein. Of course John Travolta is no stranger to the movie musical (remember Grease?), but he hasn’t really been the greatest supporter of the gay community, so I was worried that he wouldn’t be right for the role. But I have to tell you, he brings a different quality to the role that I must say I’m very impressed with…besides it’s just funny as hell seeing Travolta as a big woman shaking her thing on the big screen .

The other leads in the show, Nikki Blonsky as Tracy, Queen Latifah as Mabel, and Amanda Bynes as Penny were incredible as well. It just amazes me that they were able to find someone like Nikki who blended into the part as Tracy so well after the wild success of Ricky Lake as the original Tracy in the first movie, and Marissa Winokur winning Best Actress for her role as Tracy in the stage musical.

And of course, I had to stop myself from drooling over the young male leads in the movie. What an incredible combination… James Marsden as Corny Collins, Zac Efron as the heart-throb Link Larson, and Elijah Kelly as the hot and loveable Seaweed. I’m just glad that all of them are adults because well… they’re just so damned cute! And who knew they had such great voices!! Oh…and it just tickles me to see Christopher Walken, a man known for his hard-assed drill sargeant-type roles in other movies, to be the sweet loveable dad, Wilbur Turnblad.

Anyway, ok I better shut up now.. if you haven’t seen the movie yet, get your ass out of your house and get on it! I promise you that you’ll be bouncing up and down the street humming the tunes afterwards… because after all, “You can’t stop the beat!”

Ok, now what to say about this movie…. I’m sorry, but it was a total snooze… The only cool parts were the ones that involved Tobey Maguire and James Franco. Their battle scenes were incredibly well-done, and of course, getting to drool over James Franco is reason enough heheh. But, other than that, the movie was just way too long. By the end of it, you just wanted everybody to die so that you could go home!

I was so disappointed with this film. I LOVED both of the other movies, but I don’t know what they did to this one…

Forget it… seriously…
So the long-advertised “Norbit” opened today. I have to say I was really hoping that it would be hella funny since it was being billed as the return of the “old Eddie Murphy.” And of course I’ve always admired Eddie Murphy for being a pretty funny guy, but man… what a disappointment!

It had some funny moments, but if I hear “How you durrrin?” one more time I was gonna scream and rip my hair out. By the end of it, I didn’t really care if Norbit ended up with the hot girl or not. This would be one of those movies that you would just wait for to come on HBO or something. The only really funny character in the whole movie is the old Chinese guy who runs the orphanage. Everybody else is just stale as they come.

Eddie, Eddie, Eddie… what did you do to yourself… *sigh*

Hmmm… what to say about this movie. It’s heart-warming, sweet, and of course a total dream. As if anything like this would really happen in real-life right? The story follows the life of Drew, a lonely gay forest ranger who dreams of one day finding the right man to live out his days with.

One day, during a rainstorm, he stumbles upon Matt, who seems to have just taken a nasty spill down a ledge of rocks. The problem is, Matt can’t remember who he is or where he came from. After spending some days in the hospital and getting to know each other, Drew decides that the best way for Matt to recuperate is to stay with him in his cabin.

What follows is surely a sweet budding romance between the two men. All seems perfect, when all of a sudden, Matt’s wife (yes, I said wife) shows up to claim him and take him back to his real life. So what becomes of Drew and Matt in the end? Well you’ll just have to watch the movie!

“Oh…my…God…” That about sums up this movie. In a VERY good way!! Heheh.. I haven’t laughed my ass off so much in a long time! This has to be one of the funniest slap-stick gay movies I’ve ever seen. See, now the 90s had “Jeffrey”, and now the 2000 decade has “Another Gay Movie.”

Basically it’s a gay campy version of “American Pie” with bits and pieces of popular gay “coming-out” movies thrown into it. I about pissed in my pants several times cracking up at this thing, and I was apparently so loud that my mother had to come knocking on the door to see what I screaming at. Unfortunately, she happened to walk in during one of the sex scenes so she immediately rolled her eyes and probably thought it was a porno or something like that hahahha!!

Anyway, if you haven’t seen it and you need a good laugh… check it out! Definitely worth a rental on Netflix or even buying it online. You won’t regret it if you love teen comedies. The only person who can’t watch it is Alex, ’cause as soon as I can get to San Fran, I’m bringing it with me…. so Alex, make sure you save that movie for me ok? You’ll understand why when we watch it .

So I finally broke down and rented (Thank you Netflix!) “Come Undone,” a French award-winning film about young love and the struggles of coming out (yes, another one..). The film is about two young boys (and by boys I mean 18-19 years old) named Mathieu and Cedric, who meet on a beach in France and somehow fall magically in love. It isn’t real clear to me how exactly the two meet because the movie tends to jump all over the place. One moment the two are lying on the beach yards away from each other, the next minute Mathieu is at home with his sick mother and sister, and then the next it’s the middle of the night and Mathieu and Cedric are walking down the street together. In fact, the whole movie kind of jumps forward in time, then jumps back, then jumps forward again… so you REALLY have to pay attention the to story to “sort of” get it.

Granted the acting was superb. You can really feel a strong connection between the two boys throughout the course of their relationship. But then, something happens that I still haven’t figured out yet.. for some reason, Mathieu goes into a deep depression. I don’t know if it’s because his mother is ill, or because he can’t really handle being an “out” gay man, or what… but all of a sudden, the relationship spins out of control true to the title of the film, and Mathieu ends up in a psychiatric hospital for a week trying to sort things out. The next thing you know, he’s out, on his own, cutting off his relationship with Cedric, and off to meet one of Cedric’s ex-lovers. And then the movie ends there… Frankly I was stumped. I mean, WTF??? Can we get a completed story plot here?? Damn these foreign films… grrr.

But I guess all in all, it is a pretty good film, and if you’re into foreign films, it’s definitely worth a look, if only to see that gratuitous sex scene on the beach (Hahaha!).