The best and worst movie stage musical adaptations

Which musicals made the transfer from stage to screen unscathed?  Here's one person's opinion.

The best musical adaptations:

• "Les Miserables" 2012
• "My Fair Lady" 1964
• "Little Shop of Horrors" 1986
• "Oliver!" 1968
• "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" 1967
• "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" 1966
• "Gypsy" 1962
• "Chicago" 2002
• "Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street" 2007(Tim Burton doing Sondheim! How good can it get?)

The worst musical adaptations:

• "Annie" 1982 version (poor John Huston)
• "Jesus Christ Superstar" 1973
• "Man of La Mancha" 1972 (calling this a turkey is high praise)
• "Hair" 1979 (just because the timing was wrong, 1968 becomes 1979?)
• "The Wiz" 1978 (poor Sidney Lumet)
• "Evita" 1996 (Madge as Evita sounded good on paper)

Too easy section (the makers couldn't possibly stuff it up):

• "The Sound of Music" 1966
• "West Side Story" 1961
• "Oklahoma" 1955
• "South Pacific" 1957
• "The King and I" 1956
• "Fiddler on the Roof" 1971
• "Funny Girl" 1968

The jury is still out (I'm fence sitting)

• "Hello Dolly" 1969
• "Paint Your Wagon" 1969
• "Camelot" 1967
• "Sweet Charity" 1968
• "Grease" 1978
• "Dreamgirls" 2006
• "The Producers" 2005
• "Guys and Dolls" 1955
• "A Chorus Line" 1985

Is my dog a genius or just normal?

As a proud owner of a two year old terrier cross (terror?), I am compiling a list of words our dog understands. This is my first dog so I never realised how smart they are.We avoided puppy school and hate the idea of yelling at your dog to obey commands.

Langly's vocabulary so far:
dog, cat, maggy (magpie), bird, possum, outside, park, shops, car, train (he loves it when we take him to town on the train), up (onto the couch command), duckie/duck, meat, ready (for a walk), walk, go, move (off the bed), kitchen (go round to the kitchen door), postie, bedtime, mummy, daddy, Maisie (daughter), Rohan (boyfriend), cheese, treat, bone (these last three will send him running from anywhere).

"The Mimic" Episode 2, Channel 4 British television series review

Matt Morgan's "The Mimic" continues to be a delight. It's nice to watch a television series about warm and caring people, people you would invite into your house. Perhaps I'm just sick of the sniping, competitive, mealy-mouthed types you get on many (scripted) 'reality' shows. Martin, Jean, Chelsea, Neil the newsagent, Steven and his mum are gentle, flawed and believable characters. The filming reminds me of Ricky Gervais's "Extras" in its tone (without the bitter after-taste that sometimes spoilt it).
The impersonations came thick and fast: Christopher Walken, Arnie, Jason Mason, Alan Rickman, Peter O'Toole, early Alec Guinness, Sir Ian McKellan. It looks like we are going to get a riotous Wogan running joke in each episode. Let's hope U.S. television doesn't remake it (cringe)....but I wouldn't be surprised.

Avco-Embassy, Joseph E. Levine guilty pleasure movies

Image Copyright Sony Corp/cinemadumeep.com

Joseph E. Levine was a movie producer who founded Embassy Pictures. He once said that you can fool everybody if the advertising is right. And he was a master. He produced classy pictures like "The Graduate", "The Producers", "The Lion in Winter", "Carnal Knowledge" and the war epic "A Bridge Too Far"; but mostly they were trashy but fun movies.

Being a teenager and a young adult in the 70's and early 80's I watched a lot of schlocky Avco Embassy films. Here's my guilty pleasures for what they are worth:

"The Carpetbaggers" 1964 roughly based on Howard Hughes, trashy = sex+Hollywood+planes+power, this ain't Scorsese's "The Aviator".
"Robbery" 1967, based on the Great Train Robbery in 1963.
"The Day of the Dolphin" 1973 Mike Nicholls directed this George C. Scott movie about training cute sea mammals to blow up the US President.
"The Manitou" 1978, Tony Curtis does horror (to pay his debts obviously)
"Murder by Decree" 1979 Christopher Plummer and James Mason (as Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson) meet Jack the Ripper in this nifty Canadian production. Directed by Bob Clark - a versatile director - from teen flick "Porky's" (1982) to the delightful "A Christmas Story" (1983). Now that's a big jump!
"The Fog" 1980, John Carpenter horror
"Escape from New York" 1980, John Carpenter sci fi with Kurt Russell kicking butt.
"Scanners" 1980, David Cronenberg horror sci fi
"The Howling" 1981, Ground breaking werewolf makeup, Joe Dante has a lot of fun in this, avoid sequels.
"Swamp Thing" 1982, Wes Craven directed.


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The joys of farting

Being 57 years old, the sphincter isn't what it used to be, nevertheless farting is a liberating, pleasurable, albeit essential, experience. So here's my prattle....

Farting on an aircraft relieves stomach cramps plus it is hard to nab the culprit. In flight noise is your ally.
Farting on a lift (rapidly becoming 'elevator' worldwide) is fraught with danger unless you can execute a 'silent but deadly' one after promptly departing the car. Some arsehole did the same thing to me, he/she must have got off on <G> and we got on at <1> being surrounded by the stench, another couple got on at <2>.... so we got the blame.
When you are first in a relationship, you would never dream of 'letting Fluffy off the chain', especially not in bed with your beloved.
Ater living together for nearly 30 years, letting one rip on the couch is not uncommon and playing 'Dutch ovens' in the doona is almost de rigueur.
One draws the line at the dinner table though. One has to have standards.
There must be a direct correlation between your age and the length of your farts. Is it just me? By the time I'm seventy, I'll be tooting off "The Minute Waltz". I can almost perform a sentence now.
Let's hear it for Monsieur Joseph Pujol (Le Petomane).

Excuse my puerile post.

What teachers really mean in their students' reports

I was a teacher for 34 years, that's quite a few reports to write. Teachers hate writing reports because what you put in writing is IN WRITING (at the back of your mind you think: legal ramifications). Parent interviews are more useful than reports, particularly the end of year written report. Why put a dampener on things so close to Christmas? So here are some student report comments..... followed by more honest staffroom comments about the same student. Purely fictitious, of course.

Report comments .........                                              Staffroom  comments

_ has a quiet manner in class........            creepy, isolate, wouldn't like to meet in a dark alley 10 years on.
_ is always early to school, eager to start the day........    dumped at school 70 mins before school starts, parents refused before-school care.
_ can be distracted in class........                      needs daily dose of Nitalin.
_ possesses a quirky sense of humour........              sadist
_ has an artistic flair........                           prime suspect for graffiti daubed around school.
_ has a small circle of friends........               shunned, smelly, obnoxious personality, FLK (funny looking kid).
_ shows attention to detail is her work........              stressed-out perfectionist and she's only seven!
_ is always confident speaking in front of an audience.......  class clown, attention-seeking knob.

"Bates Motel" new tv series on A&E - Worth a look

This could have been a tawdry piece of crap but the cast and the script rise above this.
Vera Farmiga as mama Bates (starred with Clooney in Up in the Air) plays the best multi-faceted nutbag since Jessica Lange donned the nun's habit. English child actor Freddie Highmore (Finding Neverland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) nails the part of Norman Bates.
The first episode treads the tightrope between creepy and camp. The attempted rape scene is not for the squeamish. The scene with the policeman investigating the motel bathroom is delicious. And what was that soft porn sketch book Norman found under the carpet? How did Mr Bates really die?
Lots to like. I am sure this will only be a one season, 10 episodes affair. How far can they stretch it? That being said, I'll definitely give it a go next week.

Banshee Episode 10, Season 1 finale, review - no spoilers

So much to enjoy in the season finale. From Hood's Sherlock-like deduction tricks with the attractive prison psychologist (flashback) to the assault on Rabbit's compound (the rocket launcher bit is a stunner). Lots of juicy stuff hinted at for the second season. Job done up like Pris (Darryl Hannah) in Blade Runner was a bonus. Proctor is becoming my favourite character.
'More is more' is the mantra for the makers of Banshee.  Let's hope they don't drop the ball in Season 2 (like what happened to Smash).
Enjoy.