"Mamma Mia!" is finally happening! - And starring Meryl Streep!

flipp525
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Post by flipp525 »

It looks fabulous!
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Post by Penelope »

The trailer is up; it looks like fun. Can't wait!
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Post by FilmFan720 »

Movielover wrote:Oh this is going to be a major flop. I don't know how it's still running. Everyone I know who saw it hated it with the fires of hell. Depp could potentially get praise for Sweeney. That's a musical everyone respects. And if they don't respect, they dare not say it for fear of being swooped on by the musical theatre vultures.
I think that is the reason why this will get greater praise than Depp and Sweeney Todd. This is a film of a flat musical, but the presence of Streep will bring its reviews up to par. Depp, on the other hand, is dealing with a masterpiece and seems to be over his head.
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Post by Movielover »

Oh this is going to be a major flop. I don't know how it's still running. Everyone I know who saw it hated it with the fires of hell. Depp could potentially get praise for Sweeney. That's a musical everyone respects. And if they don't respect, they dare not say it for fear of being swooped on by the musical theatre vultures.
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Post by Damien »

Sir Cliff Richard is a born-again "Christian" so, presumably he thanks Jesus when he wins awards. He collaborated with Van Morrison on a Praise The Lord song on one of Van's late 80s albums.

In the 60s, there was also Cliff's rival, Tommy Steele, a guy so namby-pamby he made Cliff seem like Sid Vicious.
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Post by Uri »

Penelope wrote:
Uri wrote:
Penelope wrote:Uri, I'll never forget the reaction of an English friend of mine, visiting Tampa. We were driving to Orlando to see Mulholland Dr., listening to the classic rock station--the one that plays 70s era Chicago, Fleetwood Mac, Boston, Eagles, Rod Stewart, etc.--and Cliff's "Devil Woman" comes on. My friend just about had a heart attack--she was appalled!

Was she sipping her tea while having her bluish gray hair waving in the wind?

No, she's actually a young lady of Persian descent.
I rest my case.
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Post by Penelope »

Uri wrote:
Penelope wrote:Uri, I'll never forget the reaction of an English friend of mine, visiting Tampa. We were driving to Orlando to see Mulholland Dr., listening to the classic rock station--the one that plays 70s era Chicago, Fleetwood Mac, Boston, Eagles, Rod Stewart, etc.--and Cliff's "Devil Woman" comes on. My friend just about had a heart attack--she was appalled!

Was she sipping her tea while having her bluish gray hair waving in the wind?
No, she's actually a young lady of Persian descent.
"...it is the weak who are cruel, and...gentleness is only to be expected from the strong." - Leo Reston

"Cruelty might be very human, and it might be cultural, but it's not acceptable." - Jodie Foster
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Post by Uri »

Penelope wrote:Uri, I'll never forget the reaction of an English friend of mine, visiting Tampa. We were driving to Orlando to see Mulholland Dr., listening to the classic rock station--the one that plays 70s era Chicago, Fleetwood Mac, Boston, Eagles, Rod Stewart, etc.--and Cliff's "Devil Woman" comes on. My friend just about had a heart attack--she was appalled!

Was she sipping her tea while having her bluish gray hair waving in the wind?
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Post by Penelope »

Uri, I'll never forget the reaction of an English friend of mine, visiting Tampa. We were driving to Orlando to see Mulholland Dr., listening to the classic rock station--the one that plays 70s era Chicago, Fleetwood Mac, Boston, Eagles, Rod Stewart, etc.--and Cliff's "Devil Woman" comes on. My friend just about had a heart attack--she was appalled!
"...it is the weak who are cruel, and...gentleness is only to be expected from the strong." - Leo Reston

"Cruelty might be very human, and it might be cultural, but it's not acceptable." - Jodie Foster
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Post by Precious Doll »

I was a big ABBA fan in the 70's and still love their music. My other half is crazy about them.

I never bothered to see the play Mamma Mia - it simply had to appeal to me. I hate the current trend in theatre productions of using songs from the past to sell tickets. I suppose at least Mamma Mia, like the stage version of Queen, use only songs from their respective groups but I prefer to listen to the real thing anytime.

Actually of the primary things I disliked about Happy Feet was using old songs. If you are going to spend of $100 million on the film you can afford to get good original songs written for the thing.
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Post by Uri »

This is a very (north) American centric board indeed. ABBA opus, for better or worse, was a major part of the soundtrack of the ‘70s of the eastern hemisphere. Waterloo winning the 1974 Eurovision was a major milestone in popular culture here. And of course so were the costumes those Swedes wore that magical night in Brighton. Last year when the 50th anniversary of the Eurovision was celebrated (by an extremely tacky international broadcast, which I suffer just to see all the old clips they were showing), it was obvious to anyone that the most popular winning song, voted for by people all across Europe would be, hands down, Waterloo.

I can see why Americans will have hard time relating, 30 years later, having no sentimental baggage, to this music. But you must remember that back in those dark ages, collective taste was less global. For example, in Israel in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, the youths here were strictly divided into two camps. One claimed that the king was defiantly Elvis. The other, no less vocal, was totally devoted to the other, rival giant superstar of the era. No, not Jerry Lee Lewis, no Buddy Holly – no, it was Cliff! (Richards, that is, that perpetual sterile Peter Pan, the darling of all those blue haired English ladies). As late as the ‘90s, I had two coworkers, one born in 1950, the other a year younger, constantly, fondly though firmly, bickering on this eternal Elvis vs. Cliff issue. For them it was a way to relieve their teenage years. (That is, when they were not reminiscing about the good old days when both of them were serving in the Israeli Navy). Every day, at two in the afternoon, it was obligatory for the radio in our office to be on so we could all listen to a daily hour of oldies. And the Elvis fan always got misty eyed when her favorite song was on air. It was Hey, Hey, Paul or something, by a couple called Paul and Paula, arguably the most dreadfully sticky tune ever recorded, yet for her it did have a certain emotional clout. (Coming to think of it, I should have ask what was she doing, and with whom, the first time she heard this song). So be kind to us, and for give us for our cheap, provincial taste. It’s all we got.
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Post by Penelope »

Y'all are no fun at all.
"...it is the weak who are cruel, and...gentleness is only to be expected from the strong." - Leo Reston

"Cruelty might be very human, and it might be cultural, but it's not acceptable." - Jodie Foster
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Post by 99-1100896887 »

Mister Tee wrote:I'm late getting to this, but...hearing ABBA suddenly referred to as great 70s pop is a bit like hearing Stir Crazy or Caddyshack referred to as comedy classics. Crap that makes money has a way of turning respectable through the magic of passing time. Plenty of us thought they were awful in real time.

I despised ABBA. I curse Australia for reviving them just when they seemed down for the historical count. And, Damien, thanks for reminding me of Fernando -- the worst of the worst; a song that, along with Paul McCartney's Let 'Em In, gives me genuine shivers for 1) sheer badness and 2) unrepressible memories of hearing Bert Parks sing both -- horribly -- on a Miss America Pageant c. 1976.
Totally agree. ABBA is, and was then, dreadful. Mamma Mia is an energetic but silly show with not much in the way of a plot, and then only to justify the use of those awful songs.
Their music was not representative in any way of the 1970s--there was much more interesting stuff happening, as Damien points out. (And for us who were middle-aged, Sergio Mendez.)
"Fernando" makes me quite ill.
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Post by Penelope »

Well, then, what was it about ABBA that people like Bono and Kurt Cobain loved?

I remember looking through a British music magazine a few years ago, it had a list of the top 100 greatest (note, not most popular, but critically the greatest) songs of the rock n' roll era; TWO of ABBA's songs--"Dancing Queen" and "Knowing Me, Knowing Me"--were on the list.

But, then, maybe that's just my taste in music; I've always preferred the slick, brilliant Europop over the aggressive, pretentious American pop.
"...it is the weak who are cruel, and...gentleness is only to be expected from the strong." - Leo Reston

"Cruelty might be very human, and it might be cultural, but it's not acceptable." - Jodie Foster
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Post by Mister Tee »

I'm late getting to this, but...hearing ABBA suddenly referred to as great 70s pop is a bit like hearing Stir Crazy or Caddyshack referred to as comedy classics. Crap that makes money has a way of turning respectable through the magic of passing time. Plenty of us thought they were awful in real time.

I despised ABBA. I curse Australia for reviving them just when they seemed down for the historical count. And, Damien, thanks for reminding me of Fernando -- the worst of the worst; a song that, along with Paul McCartney's Let 'Em In, gives me genuine shivers for 1) sheer badness and 2) unrepressible memories of hearing Bert Parks sing both -- horribly -- on a Miss America Pageant c. 1976.
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