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Time Out
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Moulin Rouge! The Musical
This review is from January 2022. The friend who was supposed to come with me to 'Moulin Rouge! The Musical' dropped out because of a migraine, and honestly, hard relate: director Alex Timbers's dementedly maximalist 'remix' of Baz Luhrmann's smash 2001 film is pure sensory overload. Frequently I found myself cackling hysterically at it, on my own, for no particularly good reason, other than how *much* it all is. If you can remember any of the 2001 film's music beyond 'Lady Marmalade' (here present and correct as show opener, complete with sassy, snappy choreography from Sonya Tayeh) you'll remember that the soundtrack largely consists of medleys of other people's songs. So we have 'Sparkling Diamonds', aka 'Diamonds are Forever' smushed into 'Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend' or the semi-infamous 'Elephant Love Medley', a wilfully preposterous amalgam of the cheesiest lines from myriad famous pop tunes, a veritable one-track sex mix. You have to think that it's essentially this that drew Timbers and music supervisor Justin Levine to 'Moulin Rouge!', as they've gone absolutely nuts with the idea, pumping the story full of pop songs old and new, fragmented and whole. Like a glittery cow jacked up with some fabulous experimental growth hormone, 'Moulin Rouge!' is now bulked into a veritable behemoth of millennial pop bangers. There are the ones that were in the film. There are some that were around when the film was made but weren't included ('Torn'; no kidding, the theme from 'Dawson's Creek'). Then there are more recent numbers that might have been included if they'd been written at the time ('Hey Ya', 'Firework', 'Bad Romance', 'Rolling in the Deep', the riff from 'Seven Nation Army'). And finally there are a few cool oldies, notably a late '60s Stones medley and a run-through for Timbers's old collaborator David Byrne's 'Burning Down the House'. It is, by design, far too much. Derek McLane's ravishing set is a garishly pulsing wonderland of belle époque neon, a recreation of the iconic Montmartre nightclub the story is set in at the dawn of the twentieth century. Though it is in fact absolutely ages before we get even a hint of plot amid the barrage of anachronistic pop tunes. Around ten minutes in, a line of dancers are doing the can-can to a distorted metal version of the iconic dance tune, and Clive Carter's Harold Zidler – who we can just about gather is the master of ceremonies at the club – fires confetti at us out of his cane then wanders off. And at that point we're still not particularly close to the story starting: the sturm und drang barrage is awesomely OTT. There must be at least 50 songs in the mix here: it's less a jukebox musical than a frantically-pressing-shuffle musical. But it's also… ridiculous? And not in a good way? More so than the film, 'Moulin Rouge!' The Musical' is entirely leveraged on the idea that pop medleys are cool. But as somebody who very much lived through the mash-up craze of the '00s and has dim childhood memories of Jive Bunny And The Megamixers, my question is: are pop medleys cool? Or at least, cool enough to build an entire musical around? I mean, maybe: they're a lot of fun, and as a historical craze that seems to have a moment in the sun every other decade, the '20s are ripe for a revival. But the fact is the form is not so dizzyingly brilliant that I felt forgiving of the plot when it did finally crawl out of bed. Beneath the songs we're stuck with a generic plod through the romance of the club's doomed, beautiful star performer Satine (Liisi LaFontaine) and penniless American dreamer Christian (Jamie Bogyo) who falls head over heels for her when he comes to pitch some songs her way. The vivacious LaFontaine and likeable stage debutant Bogyo – he looks a bit like a more cheerful Adam Driver – are very watchable, but there are plenty of points in the second half where the songs stop for a long time and we're left with a plot that's both wearily tropey and awkwardly po-faced. Sure, it's the same plot as the film, which I'd say has aged well. But the film had Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor at the peak of their powers: LaFontaine and Bogyo are good, but they're not stars in the same sense. The film had the ravishing hyperreal twinkle of Lurhmann's lens, and a deft mastery of its own melodrama that falls rather flat in John Logan's book for the musical – the big emotions are going through the motions. There is an obvious comparison to be made to '& Juliet', the other big millennial pop musical in the West End right now. But '& Juliet' has a giddy silliness that makes the characters a joy to spend time with. Here they're just walking plot devices, killing time between songs. It's a very fun night out, guaranteed to push the buttons of anyone who grew up on 'Pop World', 2manyDJs, or indeed, the films of Baz Luhrmann. But for all its tongue-in-cheek chutzpah, when the music stops you're not left with much.
Fox News
30-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
Bruce Glover, James Bond villain, dead at 92
Bruce Glover, known for his roles in "Diamonds are Forever" and "Chinatown," died on March 12, according to his son, actor Crispin Hellion Glover. He was 92. Crispin confirmed his father's death in a series of Instagram photos shared on social media on Saturday. "Bruce Herbet Glover May 2 – March 12, 2025," he wrote alongside a number of photos of his father. Details surrounding Bruce's death were not revealed. Fox News Digital contacted Glover representatives for more information. Crispin shared a few family photos, and images from some of his father's most famous roles, including when Bruce appeared in an episode of "Perry Mason," and alongside Jack Nicholson in the classic "Chinatown." Bruce was born in Chicago, Illinois, and after high school, was drafted into the Army in 1953. He served during the Korean War. He landed a few minor television roles in the late '50s and '60s, including stints on "Car 54, Where Are You?," "My Favorite Martian," "The Good Guys," "The Outsider," and the "Mission: Impossible" TV series. Bruce's arguably most famous role was as Mr. Wint in the 1971 James Bond flick, "Diamonds Are Forever." "The final moment in the film where Sean Connery does that rude thing pushing the hooha up my yaha and giving that character his final great sexual moment is the biggest laugh in the movie," Glover told The Original Van Gogh's Ear Anthology website in 2019. His last credited role was in the 2015 film "Influence," which also starred Crispin. Bruce is survived by his sons, Crispin and Michael Leigh Glover.
The Independent
03-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Why did the Oscars spend more time mourning 007 than David Lynch, one of the greatest artists to ever live?
A murmur of confusion spread across social media during last night's Oscars, as Margaret Qualley started to high kick to the Bond theme, shortly before musicians Lisa, Doja Cat, and Raye emerged to warble 'Live and Let Die', 'Diamonds are Forever', and 'Skyfall'. Did James Bond … die? Permanently, this time? News that 007 has been relinquished into the clutches of Amazon certainly doesn't bode well for the super spy's future – unless you're particularly enamoured by the idea of a 'young M' spin-off – but a 10-minute eulogy for the guy seemed a little bit much. The Oscars does seem to have a chronic attachment to Bond tributes – the franchise was already 'celebrated' on stage in both the 2022 and 2013 ceremonies – but this year, perhaps more than any other, there were other figures more deserving of our screen time. The magnitude of talent lost in the past year has felt especially painful. Gene Hackman's death, only three days ago, was the latest shock. Opening the annual 'in memoriam' segment, Morgan Freeman, his co-star in Unforgiven and Under Suspicion, spoke beautifully about his friend, an actor who approached his craft with unfailing honesty, who embraced his characters' thorns, and found within them a radiant spirit. I began to choke up a little. Hackman was a difficult loss, certainly, but this year had seen the death of the most pivotal artist in my life and in the lives, I know, of many others: director David Lynch, who netted dreams and put them up on screen. Lynch not only showed us the limitless potential of film as a medium, but of hidden worlds inside our own, of light within impenetrable darkness, and of love living deep within the jaws of evil. Isabella Rossellini, star of Lynch's Blue Velvet and Wild at Heart, and his former partner, was sat in the audience. There for her nomination for Best Supporting Actress for Conclave, she was wrapped in blue velvet in tribute to Lynch, and had invited as her guest Laura Dern, one of his most significant collaborators, Rossellini's co-star in Blue Velvet and Wild at Heart, but also of Inland Empire and Twin Peaks: The Return. This is it, I thought. They'll come on stage and talk about this great artist, in that loving, compassionate way those who knew him are inclined to do. Maybe Lisa, Doja Cat, or Raye will come back out to perform Roy Orbison's 'In Dreams' as featured in Blue Velvet. Maybe they'll turn the stage into Twin Peaks 's Red Room. Won't that be nice? But then, the 'in memoriam' montage struck up to the morbid strains of Mozart's Requiem, and Lynch received… 10 seconds of screen time. Can we call that a travesty? Because it sure feels like one. Lynch was never awarded a competitive Oscar in his lifetime. He was nominated four times and received an Academy Honorary Award in 2019. His speech was a short note of thanks, followed by these words, directed to his new trophy: 'You have a very interesting face, good night.' That's the way the industry works. These prizes are, primarily, for those who colour well within the lines, not those who ignore them and create new shapes. But his influence on the films celebrated on Oscar night is undeniable, in ways small and large – the way he could render ordinary life as a fairytale (hello, Anora 's Cinderella story); the way he visualised the primitive sins at America's heart (hello, the surrealist flourishes of The Brutalist); and the way he already adapted Frank Herbert's Dune (hello, uh, Dune: Part Two). Lynch's spirit was in that room, and so for his legacy to barely receive a squeak of recognition flew in the face of a ceremony otherwise centred around the dignity of artistry and craft. Sean Baker, while accepting Best Director award for Anora, one of his four wins, made a passionate call for the preservation of cinemas, 'a communal experience you simply don't get at home'. Host Conan O'Brien did the same, via the comedic route, with a skit in which he pretended to devise a new concept of streaming to be held in a single location where you don't have to hold the screen ('the building holds it!'). One of the best choices of the night saw the stars of the nominated films in the oft-dismissed categories of Best Costume Design and Best Cinematography take to the stage and pay direct tribute to the craftspeople behind them. There were multiple triumphs that seemed to champion individual creativity over corporate might – not only was it a good night for independent film, with Anora 's five awards, but also Latvia's Flow. Directed by Gints Zilbalodis on the free and open-source software Blender, the feline-focused flick won Best Animated Feature over Disney's box office juggernaut Inside Out 2 and DreamWorks's The Wild Robot. Meanwhile, the night's most powerful win, for documentary No Other Land, which sheds light on the destruction of Palestinian villages in the West Bank by occupying Israeli forces, won its category despite still not having a distributor in the US. And, yet all of this must contend with the fact the Oscars are produced by the ABC Network, who are owned by Disney, which accounts for the ceremony's dancing Deadpool, despite Deadpool & Wolverine receiving precisely zero nominations – and goes some way in explaining the prolonged Bond tribute. Of course Disney would rather see the financial value of Bond, an audience draw and a testament to the power of franchises, take precedence over such trivial things as meaning or emotion. Lynch worked within the mainstream but never fit comfortably into it. Because of that, he'll remain an emblem for every Sean Baker, Brady Corbet, or Coralie Fargeat – to name some of the directors behind this year's Best Picture nominees – who continue to fight to create personal art within an increasingly hostile system. The Academy may have failed Lynch, but his ultimate victory lies in every speech that calls for truth in art, and the art in truth.
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Doja Cat Sings In Oscars ‘James Bond' Medley, And People Are Shaken, Not Stirred
If you were ever curious about a certain pop star's singing ability, the cat's out of the bag forDoja Cat. The 'Say So' musician covered Shirley Bassey's 'Diamonds are Forever' during a 'James Bond' medley at the 2025 Oscars on Sunday night. doja cat covers 'diamonds are forever' at the oscars. she's singing !! — 2000s (@PopCulture2000s) March 3, 2025 And it seems that most people on X, formerly Twitter, felt her performance on a scale of 1 to 10 was a 0.07. oh doja find the note… — rj • yj spoilers (@vansfacee) March 3, 2025 Doja Cat is a great idea for a Bond tribute but having her sing Shirley Bassey is a losing game — charlie soprano (@LittleCharlesTV) March 3, 2025 Me through Doja performance # — Gerardo (@iamglenx) March 3, 2025 Doja was giving this — mazzy (@mazzypopstar) March 3, 2025 And although most on the social media platform had their claws out when it came to Doja Cat's pipes, there were some users who were impressed by her performance. NOT THE VOCALS JUMPING OUT OH DOJA CAT THE VERSATILITY YOU HAVE😭😭😭 — 𝗱𝗮𝗻𝗻𝘆🫧💚 (@beyoncegarden) March 3, 2025 Yall just hating behind a screen! Yall big mad you ain't at the Oscar's everyone's jealousy shows every time Doja looks the fuck good and sounds AMAZING!! Y'all fr hate to see a real talented woman winning! My baby looked and sounded STUNNING! #Oscars#Oscars2025# — DojaCatRadar (@DojaCatRadar) March 3, 2025 i didn't realise doja cat could sing like this- # — sulli (@resuxli) March 3, 2025 Doja Cat does sing in many of her songs but is known by most for her rapping, ability to make viral social media videos and love of Taco Bell (and 'Stranger Things' actor Joseph Quinn.)
