Legally Blonde

I love everything about Legally Blonde. The title, the premise, the clothes. I am rewatching it (it's on Netflix) and it really is utterly ridiculous. This is a film that relies entirely on the charms of Reese.

She is adorable. I honestly think the film would have been a flop without her but somehow she manages to be cute, perky and funny.

And let's not forget Bruiser.

The bend and snap, the music montage when Elle decides to take Harvard seriously, Elle's room (both in LA and at Harvard) Jennifer Coolidge. It's perfection on film and I think you all need to watch it again (I assume it's again) immediately.

Also, whatever happened to Selma Blair? And, Raquel Welch!!

All about Grease

I was just in my dressing room getting ready for my new year festivities which involves not leaving the house, obviously. Anyway, Grease blasted out and it got me thinking:

1) I've only really done one serious post about Grease on here.
2) I've not watched Grease this year.

Back in 1978, when Grease was released, there were two cassettes in my mum's car - the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack and the Grease soundtrack. Life was good, it was all we needed. We listened to it all the time. Then tragedy struck, the tapes were taken to a party and never returned. I don't quite know why my mum didn't go and buy them again, we were not flush with money but times weren't desperate. She didn't and we were left without the music. Literally.

So how about I do my rundown of the Grease soundtrack in order of greatness? Why the hell not? I am going to leave out the majority of the prom songs because good as they are, they don't really count. Obviously I will include Born To Hand Jive because I am not a heathen.

In reverse order:

Hopelessly Devoted To You

Something has to come last. I am not a fan of this drippy ballad. Liv gives it her all but it's all a bit dull.

Beauty School Dropout

I want to like this more than I do and over the years it has grown on me. I love Frenchie, I love her pink hair and the bubble gum. Who doesn't love Frankie Valli? I don't know why this doesn't quite work for me but there you go.

We Go Together

This is so joyous - look at them! Nonsensical lyrics, you wonder how on earth they learned them. Also, some kick-ass dancing!

Sandy

I love Sandy because of Travolta's heartfelt singing and the dancing hotdog. We're now into songs I adore: What will they say, Monday at school. It still remains one of my favourite lyrics.

Born To Hand Jive

The greatest dancing sequence with some hand moves we can all try at home.

Look At Me I'm Sandra Dee

Total genius. I love Stockard's relish as she sings this and the lyrics are hilarious. That bedroom is still my dream bedroom.

You're The One That I Want

Still one of my favourite moments in a movie when Danny first sees sexed-up Sandy. It's just marvellous. A great intro to a song that never quite lives up to the early promise. Still, I am splitting hairs.

There Are Worse Things I Could Do

One of the saddest songs ever written. Stockard really is the star of Grease.

Greased Lightnin'

I love the way Danny jumps on to the table near the beginning, the choreography, the dream silver suits, the dirty lyrics. ALL OF IT!

Grease

One of the best openings to a movie ever. From the over blown Love Is A Many Splendored Thing to the opening notes of this. It's simply perfect.

Summer Nights

This will always be my favourite, it's fun and effortless and it has the best line ever: because he sounds like a drag. Never has one person been so wrong. Danny is not a drag!

Happy 2015 readers!

Veronica Mars movie

I am so excited. The Veronica Mars movie is out in just three days. The TV series ended too soon after three seasons and never felt resolved. There is much to be said for leaving your fans wanting more. The money for this movie was raised on Kickstarter in record time. Had I been quicker off the mark, I would have certainly invested. For a relatively modest $10,000 I could have had a speaking part in the actual movie. For $6,500 I could have named a character in the movie. Kickstarter is such a brilliant idea. I have backed Beyond Clueless which is a film about teenage movies. Find out more here. My name is going to be in the credits!

Anyway, back to Veronica. All the cast return, especially Logan. We like Logan. I cannot wait. 12.01am - I really might have to watch it at that time in the cinema.

Netflix

Some people choose Netflix so they can watch House of Cards or Orange is the New Black. Me, I am loving the movies. Specifically the cheesy rom coms and 80s specials. For £6 a month you can have pretty much all of Jennifer Aniston's back catalogue, Dirty Dancing 2: Havana Nights, Pretty Woman, When in Rome, Desperado, Serendipity, Dawson's Creek. The list is endless. It has so much choice, all at your fingertips and I think it's a total bargain.

Last night I watched Super 8 which I missed at the cinema. Loved the first hour and then it descended into sci-fi nonsense. I recommend Netflix highly, I am a bit obsessed with it. Also, don't mock Havana Nights until you've seen it...

10 Things I Hate About You

Back to being a proper teenager with this film. Loosely based on The Taming of the Shrew when it was the Hollywood thing to make films based on Shakespeare plays, 10 Things is a class act of a teen movie thanks to a great script and the Julia Stiles/Heath Ledger chemistry.

It has one of my all-time favourite lines from a movie ever: "what is it with this chick? She have beer-flavoured nipples?" The first time I watched that, I nearly choked. It's inspired.

This is a perfect teen movie that is enjoyable at any age. It also has the wonderful Allison Janney in it who just makes any film better.

Here is one of my favourite bits, it makes me miss Heath a bit.

The Sure Thing

We come to one of my favourite films of the 80s. I never tire of watching The Sure Thing. Quite apart from the fact it has the wondrous John Cusack in it, it also had a young Tim Robbins and Goose from Top Gun! This makes it the Perfect Film.

College boy needs to get to California to meet The Sure Thing (Nicolette Sherdian in a white bikini) and somehow by means of comic japes, takes a road trip with uptight college girl. Guess what happens? I know, it's hard to see where that plot line is going. I'll give you a clue - they hate each other to start with.

Directed by Rob Reiner at the top of his game, The Sure Thing is a pure delight and a reminder that back in the 80s, there was no need for gross out humour. I miss those days. Call me old but I don't need to see bridesmaids puking and crapping themselves in the name of humour.

Anyway, Daphne Zuniga spent some years in the wilderness after this reappearing in Melrose Place. Last I saw of her, she was in One Tree Hill; she really deserved a better fate.

If you've not seen it (really, why not?) then don't watch this trailer as it's pretty much the whole film.

The Notebook

Sappy love stories, I love 'em. The Notebook is a modern classic of the genre and like Titanic, I shamelessly love it. I can't quite be doing with the present day bit of the story because it's too sad but the main part of the film, where they flash back to when they are young is wonderful.

I first watched this on a plane and had no idea how sad it was. By the end, I was weeping and they were coming round with dinner. The air stewards looked sympathetic and said "Hmmm, The Notebook?" with understanding in their eyes. My sister was next to me and in a worse state so technically this is a film I first saw with my sister although not sure it counts on a plane.

I've since seen it quite a few times and always enjoy it. It's another perfect sunday afternoon film. The leads are great in this and it helps they were dating at the time - it's certainly quite steamy but in a harmless, romantic way.

Here's the trailer. Oh the romance...

Top ten annoying female TV characters

I saw my sister yesterday (who I might have to give a guest slot as she gets mentioned so often) and we were watching Gilmore Girls and I said how annoying Rory is. Whereas she conceded she could be annoying, she maintained that there was no way Rory would make a top ten list of all-time annoying TV characters.  After some animated discussion, I had to agree with her. Sorry Rory, you don't make my list. I have kept it to females as they kept getting mentioned but I don't want to be unsisterly so I shall do my best to compile a male list some time soon.

Here we go:

10. Amy Gardener (Mary-Louise Parker) from The West Wing. Everytime she was on screen I felt my teeth starting to tingle with irritation. I hated the way MLP portrayed her, so mannered and affected. I think she was meant to be a bit kooky but I wanted to hurl cushions at the TV. Thank heavens they wrote her out.

9. Joey Potter (Katie Holmes) from Dawson's Creek. Now then, I liked Joey in seasons one and two of DC. She was OK in seasons three and four because she was dating Pacey and gave us some classic Pacey moments. However, by season five I wanted to kill her but not before I had hacked her horrible orange hair off. As my sister so famously said at the time "all she does is wheel out her dead mum as an excuse for why she needs sympathy." We're known for compassion in our family.

8. Grace Adler (Debra Messing) from Will & Grace. I wanted to like her and to be fair, she wasn't all bad. I loved that the network cast someone with abundant ginger curls who wasn't classically pretty. This is not in any way a criticism of Debra Messing who I quite liked. But they made her character so pathetic. She lives in Manhattan, in a fabulous apartment, has a great job and a cool gay best friend. Yet she whinges all the time. When she was given some fun lines, I liked her but she wasn't given enough of them. All she ever wanted was a boyfriend and she was in love with her gay best friend which I do not believe actually really happens. Your gay friends are gay. You love them but you don't have a crush on them. Because they are gay. Maybe I am too well adjusted.

7. Pam Ewing (Victoria Principal) from Dallas. Just looking at that picture above is bringing me out in a rash and it's been well over 20 years. My supreme irritation with Pam can be summed up by her trademark line: "I need more time." The woman could never make a decision about anything. She would sanctimoniously stride into either JR or Cliff's office and shout at them and then whimper away with either Bobby Ewing or Mark (from Houston!) A disgrace to all women.

6. Phoebe Halliwell (Alyssa Milano) from Charmed. Charmed was my guilty pleasure and I shall blog about it soon. Everyone in this was annoying but none quite so much as Phoebe. They made her such a skank, I think that's what bothered me and it's hardly Alyssa's fault. She was bratty and mainly horrible.

5. Krystle Carrington (Linda Evans) from Dynasty. I can't think of anything positive to say about Krystle. Oh yes I can - when she had catfights with Alexis and showed some spine. Other than that, all she did was mope. Why did she marry Blake? WHY? Always put in powder blue, pink or some silvery shade to bring out her eyes, Krystle was the archetypal wet blanket. She quivered, she trembled, she had watery eyes and would whisper "Blake!" like a kicked puppy. I loathed her.

4. Alison Parker (Courtney Thorne-Smith) from Melrose Place. This isn't Courtney's fault but I don't like her face so it didn't start well for us. Something about her mouth. Then they make her the most exasperating character in Melrose (and boy, was there competition). Defined by her love for Billy (who was a plank of wood) Alison was a royal pain in the arse. Amanda was horrid to her and we loved Amanda for it. At no point did one ever feel remotely sorry for wet Alison who dripped around bleating that people were mean and turning to the bottle. Wish she'd drowned in it.

3. Now we are getting properly into it. Ally McBeal (Calista Flockhart). She would be at number one except I actually couldn't watch this show because of her. This could have been a great tv programme - it introduced us to the wonderful Lucy Liu after all. But in the history of television, could any woman have been more excruciating? Waaaaaaaay too thin, in love with another woman's husband, self-obsessed. Arrrrgggghhh! I had to turn it off.

2. Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica-Parker) from Sex and the City. A show about four kick-ass women living in Manhattan and they make the protagonist a wimpy, man-dependent, nightmare. Go figure. I really like SJP and so it pains me to have Carrie at number two but her obsession with being in a relationship infuriated me. She was horrible to Aidan (although I couldn't stand Aidan, he didn't deserve to have her cheat on him) and nobody said to her 'Hey, you are being a bitch". She is this high on my list because the show was so influential and a little more sisterhood would have been most welcome.

1. Kelly Taylor (Jennie Garth) from Beverly Hills 90210. Kelly Taylor was the bitch in the early seasons of 90210 and therefore quite fun. However, when Shannen left, the writers decided to make the show about her and her love for Dylan/Brendan. Dear lord. What a mistake. She floated around doing her psychology course (god help us all) and dolling out advice and words of 'wisdom' to anyone unfortunate enough to be in range. She was a class A bitch (it's ok to be a bitch when your character is to be a bitch but when you are meant to be nice, it's not) to Valerie and again, nobody called her on it. She got slightly burned in a fire and filled a whole season with her 'recovery' from one scar on her back (never her pretty face of course). For me all annoying TV characters are benchmarked against Kelly Taylor and none have topped her yet.

There we have it. A great way to start a Saturday, a good old vent!

Footloose

One of the most joyful songs of the 80s has to be Footloose. Who can sit still to this song? It's just toe-tappingly wonderful. One of my dear friends picked this to be played at my wedding disco and we did indeed kick off our sunday shoes and get back before we crack. I like to think we did Kevin proud.

Oh Kenny Loggins, the world would be a poorer place without you my friend. I am ambiguous about the film however. I know it is a little controversial to not love Footloose but I just can't stand Lori Singer and she goes quite a way to ruining it for me. It's noteworthy that she never did much after this. Possibly because she was so bad in it. She can't even dance. Who gave her this part? I also find the story hard to believe. I know that it's not really about buying into the story but a town that bans dancing?! Really? I thought I had it bad growing up in Essex but hey, we were allowed to dance at the local youth club.

On the plus side we have one of the best soundtracks of the 80s. Along with Kenny, we have Let's Hear It For The Boy, a song I still regularly bop along to. And Bonnie and Foreigner. It's a delight.

The major bonus of Footloose is, of course, Kevin Bacon. What a legend he is and a bit of a crush. He is sublime in this. I never had much time for Will & Grace but the episode with Kevin and the Footloose dancing has my crying with laughter. Here it is, it's at 49 seconds. Enjoy!

Cruel Intentions

Cruel Intentions is one of those films that is simply perfect to watch when you need a delicious teen guilty pleasure in your life. Gossip Girl pretty much took everything from this. If you watch the trailer, you'll see. Even the aerial shots of Manhattan are a direct lift.

Of course, this is based on Dangerous Liaisons which is a film I find hard to love. This doesn't have the same bite as that film but it's a whole lot more fun. All the cast are on top form. I particularly love Selma Blair in this who plays the naive and desperate teenager beautifully. Discussing this with my sister today, we both wondered what happened to Sarah Michelle Gellar. She was hot to trot in this and of course Buffy but she seems to have fallen off the radar. Reese has gone from strength to strength. Ryan, not so much but he was never that great. And this has Joshua Jackson in it. A little bit of a treat for us who admire him but he's not cute in this - bleached tips on the hair? No.

This is completely a film for the MTV generation. No scene lingers for too long, it looks fantastic, everyone is pretty. But the story is a great one. Just like Baz's Romeo & Juliet, when you have great source material, it's hard to go wrong.

It uses music brilliantly - who could forget Bittersweet Symphony at the end when Annette gets her revenge? Fan-tab-u-lous. I might have to watch it again.

Here's the trailer. Enjoy!

The Breakfast Club

The Breakfast Club was a film I didn't actually love back in the 80s. On reflection, what was I thinking? It's only one of the best 80s movies ever and a career highlight for John Hughes. Only Ferris Bueller is better and the reason I prefer Ferris is because it is more light hearted and fun.

However The Breakfast Club is completely awesome. Just watch the trailer and remind yourself how great this film is.

Reasons TBC rocks:
1) Judd Nelson. Bender is one of the greatest characters in any teen movie. "Does Barry Manilow know you raid his wardrobe?" Probably my favourite line in any film, ever.
2) The Simple Minds song. I don't like Simple Minds but who doesn't love 'Don't You Forget About Me?' So perfect for this film and for the moment they play it at the end.
3) The little dance scene. This clip is terrible quality but worth watching for Emilio alone.
4) Molly Ringwald. She was never better. Not even in Betsy's Wedding...
5) Ally Sheedy. I love how weird she is and how she decorates her drawing with snowflakes by shaking her dandruff on it. I wish she didn't have to be made over but hey, it was the 80s, that's what they did.

Any film that can hold your attention for an hour and half in a school library gets my vote. So here's to The Breakfast Club; its quotable lines and its angst. Often copied but never bettered.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

I could have just done a blog on 80s movies. In fact, this blog is not far away from that. Hell, I could have just done a blog on John Hughes movies and had plenty to say about the matter.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off is the best of the John Hughes films. Yes, I put it above The Breakfast Club. For me, it's the pinnacle of all that Mr Hughes did well; fantastic cast, witty script, an understanding of teenagers without being preachy and over earnest and a Yello song. What more could you possibly ask for? Charlie Sheen you say? You got him. A hilarious array of one-liners, I hear? Yep, got them too. In fact, my sister and I can spend an evening quoting Ferris lines to each other. Frankly I am hard pushed to think of a better way to spend an evening.

So Ferris. John really struck gold with Matthew Broderick who is cocky, yet kind. He plays Ferris to perfection. The film is so beautifully set up. The boredom of school is presented to us (voodoo economics), the sunny outdoors beckons and who wouldn't want to play hooky and go round Chicago with Ferris? You just know that he is going to graduate; anyone who can set up the elaborate scheme at home to convince his parents, and anyone who happens to knock at the door, that he is too ill to get up is clearly a smart cookie. So he deserves his day off.

One of the things I love about this is that the three of them spend their day fruitfully. They do the culture thing at the art museum, they eat at a fine restaurant (sausage king of Chicago!), they go to a baseball game, they visit the top of Sears Tower. If you were going to take a day off, this is how you'd want to spend it. Preferably in a vintage ferrari.

I could go through the whole movie and tell you my favourite bits but it would be the longest post ever as I'd pretty much be quoting the entire film. Instead I shall say that Jennifer Grey is so great in this and has one of the funniest scenes in the film when she returns home and punches Principal Ed in the face and calls the police. I also love Alan Ruck as Cameron, Edie McClurg as Grace and Jeffery Jones as Ed Rooney - I just love the way he answers the phone - "Ed Rooooney!"

Ferris Bueller never overstays its welcome. Every scene is perfect and it even plays the credits at the end as more action unfolds - I do love it when a film does that. In short, it's the perfect film for whatever mood you are in - sad, happy, nostalgic - a viewing is like a tonic.

I leave you with one of my favourite moments. Enjoy!