pineapple_lollies

25 May 2012

Closer to reality.

I just saw Fame today and as i do with every film after i see it, icome on to IMDb to see what others think of it. Not much to mysurprise, this film has been hit with a lot of criticism and that wasto be expected. But this is my opinion of what i thought of Fame.I'm not going to compare this to the first one. In all honesty,everyone knows the original is always the best. But Fame was different.This Fame, it stepped in to reality. While a lot of people may fail tosee this, it is true. Because this is the truth for a lot of young kidsout there who try to make it. In each character we see a differentstory. And it's most likely a story of someone who's facing that out inthe real world.I see this close to reality because this will be me in a month.Auditioning for dance and acting at tafe. This movie, although i knowis nothing like what i will probably go through, showed mepossibilities, circumstances and many things i'll most likely have toface like the kids in this film did.Each characters story opened my eyes. The successful ones, you couldfeel for their happiness, while the ones who weren't as successful, icould see that it would hit close to home. Having to go through thehard work, suffer through the late nights, the achievements and theones who fell short. This is what's happening or what is going tohappen to many teenagers around the world and Fame showed us this in away closer to reality than many other films.Although a lot of people are bagging it for not having the right storyline, for having crap actors, for having bad dancing and singing. Ialso think a lot of those people wouldn't know what it's like to gothrough this. I heard that they wanted this Fame to be as close toreality as possible. Hence, the new actors, the dance moves, thesinging and the acting. They were not trying to do the same as the oldFame. They were bringing it in to the world of today. They wanted it tobe closer to reality and if that's what they were aiming for, they gotit spot on.

Debbie Vanden Neucker

25 May 2012

Fame

Description of the film:I have seen the film "Fame" at the kinepolis. The director of this filmis Kevin Tancharoen. The actors who plays in this film are MeganMullally, Kelsey Grammar, Debbie Allen, etc. The genre of this film ismusic and comedy. The movie fame is a remake of the original Oscarwinning hit movie. Fame follows a group of students who experience highs and lows for 4years at the New York City High School of Performing Arts where theyneed to work hard week after week and at the end of the 4 years theydetermine who's suitable for a life in the spotlights and who isn't.Evaluation:I like the film, but it wasn't very special. I like this film, becauseI like musicals, films where they sing and dance, etc. The actors werevery good, because they play very well and they are very good indancing, singing and acting. Ik like also the music, because you alwayswanted to sing en dance on the music during the film. The end of thefilm is very nice, it's amazing to see them dancing en singing likethat.I definitely recommend this film especially when you like musicals orfilms where they dancing, etc.I give this film a eight and a half out op ten, because it's a verygood film, but not the best I've already see.

Stephen Whitty

23 May 2012

Pleasant, undemanding entertainment for drama-club kids and the people who love them -- a family-friendly salute to young performing artists.

23 May 2012

Woeful!

Just when I thought Hollywood could not stereotype and subjugate minorities any further than it already does, it sinks even lower.In this film, it's the gay boy that's not a good enough dancer and has to forget his dream and leave the big city; it's the Asian girl who fails her grades and is kicked out of the school; it's the black kid that has no father and is angry at the world.But, surprise-surprise, it's the heterosexual Anglo-Saxon kids that really shine: Oh, and the token female black singer to balance it all out.If Hollywood ever has an original idea and backs it up by exploding stereotypes, I'll eat my words...

Sue Pierman

23 May 2012

Seems a bit lackluster next to the original, 1980 Oscar winner.

rhona-543-574299

22 May 2012

Creative bankruptcy

My biggest concern about Fame 2009 is the utter creative bankruptcy andlack of creativity from Hollywood directors and producers alike.Re-makes or re-issues are only showing to me that they lost the lastcreative bone in their body with their last surgical procedure (whichwas more than likely a lobotomy).I can just imagine the conversation surrounding the so-called"creative" process: Uhm ... we need to make a movie that's going tomake some money. OK, what's popular at the moment? Well, Highschoolmusical and step-up are definites with the young market. OK, so whatare we going to do? You mean, you want me to think of a new idea? Areyou crazy? No ... hey, how about a re-make? When I was a teenager therewere a lot of song and dance musicky stuff. How about fishing one ofthem out and re-doing it? If one of my students did that in their artproject, they would get a VERY low mark! Fame was relevant to aspecific time and context, commenting on the zeitgeist of an era inwhich relevant comments about art, creativity and growing up were made.It concerns me when forty-somethings try to re-live their teenagefantasies by trying to be hip and with-it to a younger generation andre-heating past films to a 21st century audience, but also the notionthat I keep picking up from young people that anything older than 5years is ancient.Good movies from the past do not have to be re-made or re-issued: theyare fine as they are. Find your own voice, your own ideas and your ownvision of the world: THAT is creativity! A more relevant approach couldhave been to determine the role of performing arts schools in the 21stcentury: are they relevant? Do they offer us "fame" (hey, everyone willget their 15 minutes thereof) or do they still cultivate performingarts the way they are meant to? Or has that become irrelevant? Anyway,if I wanted to watch a rehearsal highlights package of a high schoolmusical (because this is essentially what Fame 2009 is), I wouldn'thave bothered to pay entrance fee to a cinema: I would have waited tillmy own school's rehearsal week and made a cam cording thereof -- somuch cheaper and so much more meaningful!

Sandie Angulo Chen

20 May 2012

Teen musical remake has edgy content for a PG movie.

collipal-1

19 May 2012

A very mediocre remake of a brilliant movie

The Commitments is my favorite musical film from the great directorAlan Parker, but Fame (1980) is on a very close second position (yes, Iliked it even more than Pink Floyd: The Wall).Fame showed us the dailybustle of various young students of performing arts, exploring theirminds and revealing their motivations, insecurities and personalchallenges.And, besides of that, the music was fantastic, and it alsoportrayed the urban realities from New York in that pre-Giulianitime.In summary, Fame is one of my favorite movies from the 80's, whichrepresents a warm but realistic examination of the "fame search".Havingsaid all that, I have to mention that, when I knew a modern remake wasplanned, I did not find that as a bad idea.After all, the concept of"fame" nowadays is very different to what the concept was like 30 yearsago (30 years?! Time really flies), and I thought it would beinteresting to see the contemporary perspective of that chimera, aswell as its new ideological, social and technologicalchallenges.Unfortunately, the ambition from screenwriter AllisonBurnett did not go that far away, and she simply repeats the formulafrom the original film, changing the funk by rap and becoming theintensity from the creative process into bland melodrama and a lot ofclichés.I do not pretend to make more comparisons between both films; those whohave seen the original film will discover parallels and references(including a mention to the excellent The Rocky Horror Picture Show) inthis new version, and they will take their own conclusions out.I willsimply say that Kevin Tanchaoren may have a lot of renown in the worldof dance, but he shows in Fame (2009) that he still has a lot to learnas a film director.His cast selection was very irregular, because eventhough there is genuine talent in some members from it (Naturi Naughtonand Charles S. Dutton), the rest of the actors are weak and lacking ofpersonality.In my humble opinion, Kay Panabaker is the worst memberfrom the cast, since she feels irritating and feigned on herrole.Besides, Tanchaoren does not bring a good rhythm to the movie, soit finishes becoming easily boring.In summary, Fame (2009) is a mediocre, bland and tedious remake of abrilliant film.I do not recommend it, mainly because there is no excuseof telling on an impersonal and listless way a story which should beoverflowing of emotion, enthusiasm and creative energy.

Dan Fienberg

19 May 2012

The devotion to the PG rating is damning, because 8 p.m. shows airing on ABC Family can be edgier and more topical than the new "Fame."

Keith Uhlich

18 May 2012

There are enough hoary soap-operatic plottings for a thousand Gossip Girls (emotionally distant parents, almost-rapes, suicide attempts), yet Tancharoen individualizes each crisis so that no one character comes off as a mock-universal surrogate.

Jetset971

18 May 2012

See the real FAME movie.

Man, watching this tripe filled remake of the vastly superior 1980version of "Fame" made me want to just abandon this disaster and breakout the older flick. To be fair, at least they didn't just rip off theold characters and story lines and transplant them over. On the hand,considering what we are left with here, maybe they should have. Despitethe acting caliber of Grammar,Newerth, and Dutton, it still suffersfrom a bad TV movie script. Were is the gritty realism of the 1980film? I know they wanted to keep this version a PG, but that justdestroyed all the things that made the original work. This lame, tame,tepid remake just makes you walk away with a curse on your lips. What alousy film.

David Jenkins

18 May 2012

This film makes even the most gaudy of Saturday night TV talent contests look like Dostoyevsky in comparison.

Joshua Starnes

17 May 2012

The pageantry really is very nice, especially the dance numbers, but as soon as the music stops, so does Fame. It's not the worst remake ever made, it's not even really very bad, just stodgily, repressively mediocre.

17 May 2012

My 12 year old prefers this version rather than the original

This review is from: Fame (Extended Dance Edition) [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray) Although my 12 year prefers this version and I prefer the original, we both love and prefer the TV version: seasons one and two overall. There are no bad words in the TV versions and the scripts are excellent with a lot of old style life lessons to be learned. So parents get the TV versions for your younger kids to watch now and later let them decide whether they want to watch the movie versions when they are in middle school or high school.

Daniel M. Kimmel

13 May 2012

...an engaging remake that doesn't eclipse the original but neither does it turn it into a travesty.

taiiiintedlove

12 May 2012

FAME? I think not.

Fame was quite a let down I must say. I feel like I've just wastedabout 2 hours of my life and $10 on a movie that I literally got up touse the bathroom during and had no drive to return to the theater otherthan it being my friends birthday. To start, there were so many maincharacters I didn't even catch half their names during themovie...except when there was some overly dramatic (yet insanely slowpaced and boring) scene about how they were leaving school in whichcase their name was no longer important because their character waseliminated. It was hard to connect or feel any type of emotion for anyof the characters because they were so disconnected and theirbackground stories (if they had any) were incredibly vague. Needless tosay I felt nothing when that one boy whose dancing career wouldsupposedly amount to nothing contemplated suicide, he should havejumped, it would have brought something into this story. Its almost asif the people who created Fame felt some sympathy for every Broadwayreject who couldn't make it into the chorus or background of a realshow. Their careers will probably amount to just being "Dancer #1" inthe credits of a movie. The singers, while very talented, were justshowcased off for that. I have a feeling that this was the peak oftheir performance and in about two years time each will have a soloalbum thats being sold for $7.99 at the checkout line at your localKmart. There is so much more to be said about this movie, but I feellike its being to harsh. Simply put: Fame sucked.

Jim Slotek

12 May 2012

A bad film that at times is sublimely cheesy.

Film-Slave

11 May 2012

As to be expected

Tons of homogeneous talent -- the tooth bleach is blinding. No story,no rhythm (oddly enough), over-processed young actors with expensivehaircuts and wardrobe.This film isn't about a school with young hopefuls, it's about afictitious institution packed full of painfully beautiful pimple-freeyoung people.In the original film, a handful of personalities burst onto screen andtheir characters were revealed as layers peeled away.In this version, tons of hotties are thrown in and popped like corn.Nothing memorable occurs, no great songs or outstanding characters.This should have been called "Fame: Another High School Musical" Lookedup the director on IMDb.com and he produced Briney Spears' tours --talk about unoriginal, packed with fluff, and emotionally depthless. Hebrings all those qualities to this film.

Esther Harvey

04 May 2012

Absolute Garbage! Dont take the kids!!

First of all I have never reviewed a film before, but just felt theneed to tell others not to waste their time on this film.Also, don't think that just because it has a PG rating that its a filmfor kids, it isn't! I took my 10 year old daughter with me, as sheusually enjoys a bit of singing and dancing and she was thoroughlybored. I feel sorry for all the mums with even younger children whokept asking "is it finished yet?" The setting for the film was notpleasant, an old and dirty performing arts school set in Chicago, whichincluding the dull characters proved nothing pleasing to the eyes.The school seemed to do nothing for its students, in the 3 years thatit portrayed in 140minutes, apart from make them want to commitsuicide, which one tried to do (I heard another child ask her mum "whyis he trying to do that" to which the mother replied "because he wassad", its great what these films teach our children these days, its OKto jump in front of a train when you feel sad!!!!) Usually I try tolook for something good in films that I have watched, but just cantthink about anything that would make me recommend this film.

04 May 2012

ITS JUST OK!

THIS MOVIE WAS KIND OF ALL OVER THE PLACE! IT HAD A OK SCRIPT BUT ALL THE BOUNCING AROUND THIS FILM DID MADE IT HARD TO KEEP UP WITH. MY DAUGHTER WANTED TO WATCH THIS FILM AT THE MOVIE BUT I'M GLAD WE CHECKED IT OUT AT HOME. I REALLY WISH IT WAS BETTER!