Monday, May 12, 2008

Mothers' Day Movie Marathon

My friend and I planned a Dance Movie Marathon and accidentally had it on Mothers' Day. I didn't know it was Mothers' Day when I picked that day, but we ended up having it yesterday anyway. It was perfect, actually, because I believe that on Mothers' Day one should be entirely free of any maternal duties. Son and MB gave me the "Juno" soundtrack, which I love.
My friend made delicious chocolate chip cookies, and I made enchiladas (the sauce was amazing!!). We walked to the store for ice between movies 1 & 2, and we made some margaritas for movie 3.
The movies were supposed to start at 1, but we had some technical difficulties, and I was a bit late. By the end of the night, we were one whole movie behind. We started around 1:30 and ended after 10. It was so worth it.
The line up:
Footloose. I hadn't seen this in so long, that I'd forgotten Sarah Jessica Parker was in it. Also, it's weird to watch it so close to where it was filmed. All the girls had Idaho hair as far as I could tell (but I guess it's also Utah hair). Also, a colleague was in it, though we didn't see him. But he was there, somewhere.
Breakin'. I'd never seen this, and it was very dated, just as Footloose was. But the dancing was good. I think the white girl wasn't a very good dancer, but what do I know. Loved the 80s outfits, such as the leotards with belts and ripped shirts. It kind of made me want to watch Flashdance. I think my favorite part was the young Ice T.
Strictly Ballroom. Again, it had been ages since I'd seen this. I think this might have been the only truly good movie in the line up. The father is hilarious in his solo dance scenes. And the hair!! This made me want to learn to dance so I could do the Flamenco, which is what I think they did. Shows how much I know about dancing.
Save the Last Dance. I had never seen this one, and I liked it. I liked the inter-racial romance thing it had going on. Also the dancing (in the bar at least) was good.

Some weird convergences: "True Colors" was featured in both Strictly Ballroom and Save the Last Dance (I think... it was in two different movies anyway). Also Save the Last Dance featured a shout out to Turbo and Ozone, the dance stars of Breakin'. All the movies featured the "outsider" or "loner" against the mainstream. Most of the movies used either class or race issues to explore this mainstream/other plot line. And as Lis pointed out, the makers of Step Up 2: The Streets had obviously studied Breakin'.
Also, having watched these four movies I now understand that most of our problems can be solved through dancing. (And by "our" I mean whatever group you belong to: young people in rural Americans, white people, ballroom dancers, racially divided groups of people in Chicago, etc.)
I now think that I should have a movie marathon every Mothers' Day. Maybe next year it will be movies featuring teachers and/or English teachers. Maybe Dead Poets' Society, Stand and Deliver, Dangerous Minds, Freedom Writers, Mr. Holland's Opus. Any other suggestions for themes and/or movies?

5 comments:

Lisa B. said...

So very sorry I couldn't complete the marathon with you all . . . but I did enjoy Footloose so very much, and the food WAS delicious.

I agree with the teachers movie marathon, but would also add a horrible English teacher in there, as in Loser, which features Greg Kinnear as an asshole. Also, Music and Lyrics has Campbell Scott, if I'm not mistaken, as an asshole creative writing teacher. Educating Rita, maybe?

Condiment said...

This is a clever idea. I like the balance of quality and irony in your selections, and I'm glad you eschewed the Shall We Dance? remake with Richard Gere and J-Lo.

I also like the chronology of the films, and think one film per decade would be a nice touch... So I would probably substitute Saturday Night Fever for Breakin, for the full lineup of 70s, 80s, 90s, and 00s dance hits.

Ideas? Men and cars: Death Race 2000, Road Warrior, Death Proof, etc. Computers gone amok? Self-destructive artists? Vincent and Theo, etc. etc.

lis said...

I think if you do a teacher movie marathon you have to include Half Nelson. The only teaching movie I really like (not that I will be there).

Saturday Night Fever would have been a good choice, but I've been wanting to watch Breakin for ages (haven't seen it since I was 10), and this seemed like the only good excuse to rent it. At the Blockbuster, when the clerk was making fun of my choice, I defended myself with a long story about the movie marathon. It wasn't nearly as dramatic, romantic, etc. as I remembered it being. Wasn't Ozone better looking when I was 10?

Valerie said...

I'm sorry - but no Dirty Dancing OR Flash Dance? Are you insane!

Limon de Campo said...

Oh, you should have a marathon of movies featuring Mr. Hand from Fast Times at Ridgemont High.