Quick review: Hairspray and CotGF

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Curse of the Golden Flower

Caught this one on DVD, and even on the smaller screen the set design and cinematography is spectacular. Very strong Thumbs Up: on par (if not better) with the director's other movie that I really enjoyed: Hero



Hairspray

Alright! Caught this one last night, and there wasn't a single moment during the movie that I wasn't enjoying it. There's just so much "niceness" and energy in the movie that you can't help loving the ride. I've always enjoyed movie musicals and this one in particular is easy to fall for. All the songs work, the pace is quick, the story is engaging with enough different tracks, and the entire cast is fantastic. Nikki Blonsky as Tracy Turnblad is great, but Travolta in drag as Edna Turnblad is just outstanding. He plays the role completely straight, and in a movie with plenty of great performances, for me, he stole the show.
The songs were pretty decent, but as this Slate review pointed out Marc Shaiman is the guy who co-wrote one of my favorite movie songs (below :)) ever, so it was fair to expect even more.

Below: from the classic Southpark movie, two of the best movie music numbers ever: Warning: do not click on them, if you're easily offended.:)











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