Posts
2011, 08-23:
Review of film: “GLEE: THE 3D CONCERT MOVIE”
On May 19, 2009, FOX TV in the U.S. broadcast a pilot episode of a planned series about a GLEE CLUB in a high school...
... The first full season started in September of that year, &, to most peoples’ surprise, it became a HUGE HIT, an “iconic” program that kept being “mentioned” in the media & nominated (& becoming a winner) re numerous industry AWARDS...
... From the director of the Glee Club, Spanish Teacher (MATTHEW MORRISON playing Will Schuester), to the coach of the Cheerleaders (JANE LYNCH playing Sue Sylvester), to the Glee Club MEMBERS themselves, the cast started becoming “HOUSEHOLD” names to many...
... The group became so popular, they embarked on summer CONCERT tours... During a recent version of that tour, they were filmed at the MEADOWLANDS arena in New Jersey (near New York City) for this CONCERT film...
... Fairly “typical” of most such films, it has a good deal of footage talking to FANS before (& seemingly during breaks in) the Concert...
... Characteristic of the cliché elements, there are numerous examples of people saying who their “FAVORITE” cast members are & periodically giving their reasons “why” & disagreeing with the opinions of others...
... We also see a considerable amount of footage showing “BACKSTAGE” comments by the Concert cast:
... There are scenes of a number of the people (including DARREN CRISS playing “Blaine Anderson”) singing together a bit for the camera...
... We also see wheelchair-bound “Artie Abrams” (KEVIN McHALE) kidding that, “KURT [Hummel, played by CHRIS COLFER] & I run this whole ship!...”
... We see dancer HARRY SHUM JR. (who plays “Mike Chang”) showing his “6-pack” body & explaining, there are certain specific foods that help him maintain each particular area of his torso...
... Singer AMBER RILEY (who plays “Mercedes Jones”) laughs at a kidding “insulting” comment from one of the other women in the cast...
... And we hear LEA MICHELE (who plays “Rachel Berry”) singing backstage...
... Soon, we are treated to actual CONCERT footage, with numerous numbers being performed on the “I”-shaped stage & periodically on the floor of the arena when certain performers go down & walk “THRU” the audience-ringed area (all the while protected by security people)...
... The makers of the movie for some reason decided to put in a fair amount of “DRAMA” Documentary footage (which is NOT shot in 3D!), focusing on 4 or so main people whose lives were (per their own stories) “TOUCHED” & “AFFECTED” by the (demographically-diverse) characters portrayed on the show:
... We meet a dwarf young lady named JANAE who’s a CHEERLEADER at a high school in Yuba City, Arizona. She’s “different” than the other people at her school & “FEELS” that way-- but she follows the “precepts” of the “Glee” show & realizes we’re ALL “different” in some ways...
... Positive-thinking Janae is shown practicing with her Cheerleader squad (being thrown up in the air & caught), interacting with her Jane Lynch-loving coach, going to a PROM with a genial normal-sized football player named Reid, & being considered for Prom QUEEN...
... There’s a little 7-ish boy who dresses like “Warbler” Darren Criss in a black-with-red-stripes suit & SINGS ALONG with his performances (like “Teenage Dream”) which are playing on a TV behind him...
... We meet a heavyset girl (with magenta-colored hair) who tells how she has Asberger’s syndrome (a type of AUTISM) & how the TV show has helped her “COPE” in life & the like...
... We also meet a young black man whose name is something like TRISTAN Thompson. (He & the other commentators are not listed in the IMDB cast credits)...
... He tells how, like Chris’ character, he’s attracted to BOYS, & he wrote in his journal how much he liked a certain guy in 8th grade... Tristan tells how mortified & upset he was when some other guy TOOK his journal & showed it to the guy he liked, who then made FUN of him (as others did)...
... In scenes interspersed thru the movie, he tells how he came “OUT” as gay to his schoolmates and others, & soon transferred to ANOTHER school... He discussed how all that made him FEEL in life...
... We also hear how he was 19 when the movie was filmed, & how his life is PROCEEDING now...
... The movie then goes back to various CONCERT performances, including the number “BABY, I WAS BORN THIS WAY”...
... We hear someone tell LEA backstage that superstar Barbra Streisand was expected to attend the performance that day...
... Lea is very affected by that news. She then explains (about a Streisand song that she was due to SING in the show) that, she’d been performing “DON’T RAIN ON MY PARADE” (from the 1968 “FUNNY GIRL” film) essentially ALL HER LIFE, & thus was very excited at the thought that Barbra would be there to listen to it...
... We soon HEAR Lea perform that song onstage-- doing a wonderful job with her “soaring” pop-influenced voice...
... Later, we hear KEVIN (pushed around in a wheelchair by Harry) sing a popular number...
... In time, we hear “diva”-acting “Brittany Pierce” (played by HEATHER MORRIS) front a “vampy” number using shooting-“smoke” effects...
... A bunch of GROUP numbers are performed, such as one where they wear red jackets...
... KURT and LEA do a “counterpoint” numbers while seated on stools: he sings “C’MON, BE HAPPY”, as she sings “HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN” (& they join together in singing the same song at the end)...
... DARREN sings a number of songs, both with and without the “Warblers” group...
... There are a number of performances that feature a lot of DANCING (usually highlighting talented HARRY) along with singing by the ensemble...
... We see a solo number by arrogant-acting “Noah ‘Puck’ Puckerman” (MARK SALLING)...
... And, there are various numbers featuring cast members wearing white T-shirts with “STATEMENTS” on them: Kurt’s says “Likes Boys”; Amber’s says “NO Weave”; Mark’s says “I’m With STUPID”; Mike’s says “Can’t SING”, etc...
... Besides the large-group numbers, there are numerous ones done utilizing smaller groups of 2 or 3 people at a time...
... Certain numbers feature sexy “Santana Lopez” (NAYA RIVERA), “Quinn Fabray” (DIANNA AGRON), “Finn Hudson” (CORY MONTEITH), and blond-haired “Sam Evans” (CHORD OVERSTREET)...
... There’s also “Tina Cohen-Chang” (JENNA USHKOWITZ), “Lauren Zizes” (ASHLEY FINK), Warblers “Jeff” (RIKER LYNCH) & “Nick” (CURT MEGA) & CASEY MONNIE, plus “David” (TITUS MAKIN JR.) and dancer JONNIE HALL...
... At one point, Kevin sits in his wheelchair & talks of how he thinks about how things “MIGHT” have been in life-- & he then gets up & DANCES around the stage as he sings (showing that the wheelchair is just part of the “character” he plays)...
... This 84-minute film played as a “limited release” (scheduled for 2 weeks)... I have a “range” of feelings about it:
... It’s a cheerful, ENJOYABLE movie when the CONCERT footage is on. Not all the singing & dancing numbers are “special”, but most have an “energy” that I found pleasurable...
... The 3-D effects were unusually GOOD in a lot of the concert footage, in part because the close-up views afford an effective way to show “DEPTH” in the performances...
... I found the “DRAMA” documentary footage a bit “DISCONCERTING”: it was not in 3-D, but, of more importance, it was not REALLY part of the “CONCERT” that was promised in the title...
... Oh, they tried a “cheesy” little “offset” wherein they at one small point show that the people who gave their dramatic stories are shown ATTENDING the Concert in the audience... But, that struck me as a “COP-OUT”:
... I have nothing against the people IN the “drama” section, & found their stories fairly INTERESTING for the most part...
... But, it came across to me as a time-padding “THROW-IN” to the film, & the way they kept inserting it over & over again BETWEEN the Concert footage struck me as somewhat “OFF-PUTTING”...
... If they wanted to do a documentary about how “GLEE” has AFFECTED people with its “messages” about life and people, fine— have THAT the main subject of the documentary...
... But, if you’re offering a “CONCERT” movie, then GIVE people more of the actual CONCERT that was promised, not a bunch of overdone clichéd “blather” about who people have as their “FAVORITES” & throwing-in DRAMA commentaries that aren’t really CONCERT-related...
... But, beside that, the “concert” footage was basically relaxing & FUN (especially for “GLEE” aficionados), the 3-D was comparatively effective, & thus I’m rating the film at 7.25 out of 10 stars...
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