Late Night Creative Thoughts

  (Image Source: Amazon.Com) The work of Stephen Sondheim still is alive in the theater and will be for years to come. His work transcends decades as certified classics, inspiring generations, and always stepping outside the norms of conventional musical theater. He showed his range truly in the fact that when it came to discussing his work, there were no definitive favorites among musical lovers. From Company and West Side Story to Sweeny Todd and even the big resurgence of Merrily We Roll Along, everyone has their favorite Sondheim show. For me, it's Sunday In The Park With Geroge, this story of making art, art itself, and love is a powerful story spanning two different periods, following George Serot as he makes the work he is most famous for, and then his fictional grandson also named Geroge, one hundred years later trying to navigate the ever-changing art world. Both have their critics and challenges, finding what art means to them and how to make truly creative art, this show...

  (Image Source: Amazon.Com)     Did you know that Pac-Man was originally called Puck Man, of course, you did. But today with the new series almost here at the time of this post, I wanted to talk about the film Scott Pilgrim V.S The World, but not the story or the characters. Maybe some other time, today I wanted to do something I haven't done in a while which is look at the movie purely from a presentation style. Directed by Edger Wright, this movie for many for a long time was the closest thing we had to a movie that felt like a video game. Now we are in a world with movies like Wreck-It Ralph which had cameos but even more so, two successful movie franchises Mario and Sonic The Hedgehog.  From a presentation standpoint, this movie is still amazing, just on visuals alone to tell a story this movie still stands out and looks great. From transitions that look straight out of the graphic novel, this was based on, or the video game effects peppered throughout this...

 When the Mean Girls musical film adaptation was announced, I was conflicted. As much as I enjoy a good musical, I was split on the album and would have preferred a pro shot instead as I always will. But the first trailer dropped a couple nights ago, with a release date set for mid-January. The first trailer was dropped and the movie is about two months out. This was a tad concerning with the first major trailer coming within such a short time, but that was not the only thing giving me mixed feelings, after a couple days and a couple rewatch here are my thoughts.  The movie was already advertised as a musical and announced as such, it is even mentioned in the advertising for the movie. But this trailer decided to market this film like it was a reboot of the film and nothing else. Not a single song was previewed, and every moment a song or dance looked like they were going to be shown off it cut away. There are multiple moments where a character looks as if they are about to si...

  (Image Source: Amazon.Com) Movies having staged musicals are nothing new. They have been a staple of musical theaters with hits like "The Lion King" and other Disney stage adaptations to hits like "Waitress" or "Heathers".  And the newest one making a splash for some better, and for some worse is "Back To The Future". I enjoy the first film and really enjoyed the second, so seeing this as a musical adaptation had me interested, hoping this to be another "Legally Blonde" or "Newsies" and not another "Mean Girls" or "School Of Rock". The latter being movies I adored that, even with shining moments did not translate to stage as well. I can't head out and see the show at the moment, but the cast album is live, so why not look at that and see if I want to see it live. Judging by the songs and music choices, it seems this show follows the plot of the first movie. This is fine the first movie is very self-co...