Xanadu
On today’s blog, I have a special, unexpected treat for you all. I’ve done reviews before on this blog, but never have I had the chance to actually show you the movie I’m reviewing. So today, I’m giving you all a special chance to watch the 1980 cult classic “Xanadu.” To watch the movie, simply click the play button on the box below. Or to view it full screen, click the movie while playing to go to the movie’s page.
Hulu.com is a fantastic service for showing clips from feature films as well as the entire film itself in some cases with limited commercial interruption. I chose “Xanadu” to review in particular because I think it’s an interesting point in cinema. The film stars Olivia Newton-John, Gene Kelly and Michael Beck (of “The Warriors.”) It concerns Sonny (Beck,) a young artist who realizes his dream to create a roller-skating club and Kira (Newton-John,) the Greek muse who inspires him to do so. Also along for the ride is Danny (Kelly) an older man who used to be a jazz musician and now wants to help Danny open up the club.
If the title of this movie sounds at all familiar to you but you know you haven’t seen this movie, perhaps you remember hearing about it being the name of Kane’s dream house in “Citizen Kane.” Or perhaps you live in the New York area and saw ads for it on Broadway sometime this past year.
The movie is an interesting experiment in the musical genre. I found it to be two kinds of musical. Up until that point in film history, the world was used to the classic musical formula of the forties. The kind of musical that used terrific big band/jazz music and stars like Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra singing and dancing with terrific choreography, even if it meant doing so spontaneously out in public. That type of musical is represented in the movie by the very presence of Gene Kelly and his song and dance duet with Olivia Newton-John, “Whenever You’re Away From Me.”
In the eighties, a new kind of musical was born, or as it would come to be known, the dance movie. A dance movie was like a musical where no one actually sings, but instead dances to music that eighties pop music that comes on a nearby stereo or comes in the form of a montage. It was a time for hard rock, new wave and plenty of dancing to fast beats and sometimes flashing lights. Popular examples of movies with this formula would be “Footloose,” “Flashdance” and “Breakin’,” all of which came after “Xanadu.” And to represent the eighties musical were ELO, one of the greatest bands ever to come out of the late seventies\early eighties, and Olivia Newton-John, does sing a lot in the film, just never when she’s on screen with Michael Beck.
This transition between the two musicals becomes apparent during one of my favorite numbers, “Dancin’.” In this scene, Danny and Sonny imagine what their new club will be like. Danny pictures a 1940’s big band playing at the club while Sonny imagines a hard rock bank. Both bands come to life in their imaginations with accompanying dancers and the song bounces back and forth between styles. Near the end of the song, the bands and dancers merge to become a unique blend of jazz and hard rock like you’ve never heard before. It’s almost symbolic, as if the old form of musical was passing the torch on to the new musical. Alas, whether the film deserves this credit is questionable.
To show you what I mean, let me take you back in time to 1980, before I was even born. Some of the history behind this film is simple enough. In the wake of “Grease,” Olivia was hot property but needed an extra boost to ensure a successful career. “Xanadu” would have been her solo vehicle, but it failed miserably at the box office. Instead, her music career survived and lasted her long enough. As she stands now, her career still survives on her “Grease” image as she was selected to judge for “Grease: You’re The One That I Want,” a 2006 reality show where contestants auditioned to be in the new production of “Grease” on Broadway. As for her music career, the last I’d heard her do was a song for the soundtrack of “The Land Before Time XIXIX: The Non-Stop Poisoning of My Childhood,” which should show you where that stands.
Similarly, her Grease co-star John Travolta went through trouble in his career during the eighties. After the failure of “Staying Alive,” (The lesser known sequel to “Saturday Night Fever”), Travolta also refused to take the lead in “Splash” and regretted it after getting one-upped by Tom Hanks for the remainder of the eighties. Even his reunion with Newton-John, “Two of a Kind” wasn’t strong enough to revive his career and he wouldn’t have another hit until “Pulp Fiction.” Since then he’s been able to get Shorty, have a face off, catch a swordfish, get punished, be cool, use hairspray and continue to bolt forward with his career. This guy’s got so much steam, even an alien war couldn’t take him down.
So where did “Xanadu” go wrong? Well, in my humble opinion, there was too much frosting on the cake. The movie has a lot of pretty special effects. In fact, the producers pressed pretty hard for the movie to have as many special effects as it could handle. Trouble is, special effects don’t always save a lack of storytelling. It seems that the musical numbers, special effects and all the glitzy stuff actually leave less time for the story to develop more character and get us more into it. A well told story can be helped with great special effects, but without the frosting, “Xanadu” is a little too bland.
Still, the movie’s worth a watch. It’s very eighties, boasts a lot of great talent, has a great soundtrack…But really, I think the number one reason for watching this movie is the number “Don’t Walk Away,” a scene where the movie suddenly turns into a cartoon directed by Don Bluth, the greatest animation director alive.
Anyhow, watch and enjoy.
Hulu.com is a fantastic service for showing clips from feature films as well as the entire film itself in some cases with limited commercial interruption. I chose “Xanadu” to review in particular because I think it’s an interesting point in cinema. The film stars Olivia Newton-John, Gene Kelly and Michael Beck (of “The Warriors.”) It concerns Sonny (Beck,) a young artist who realizes his dream to create a roller-skating club and Kira (Newton-John,) the Greek muse who inspires him to do so. Also along for the ride is Danny (Kelly) an older man who used to be a jazz musician and now wants to help Danny open up the club.
If the title of this movie sounds at all familiar to you but you know you haven’t seen this movie, perhaps you remember hearing about it being the name of Kane’s dream house in “Citizen Kane.” Or perhaps you live in the New York area and saw ads for it on Broadway sometime this past year.
The movie is an interesting experiment in the musical genre. I found it to be two kinds of musical. Up until that point in film history, the world was used to the classic musical formula of the forties. The kind of musical that used terrific big band/jazz music and stars like Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra singing and dancing with terrific choreography, even if it meant doing so spontaneously out in public. That type of musical is represented in the movie by the very presence of Gene Kelly and his song and dance duet with Olivia Newton-John, “Whenever You’re Away From Me.”
In the eighties, a new kind of musical was born, or as it would come to be known, the dance movie. A dance movie was like a musical where no one actually sings, but instead dances to music that eighties pop music that comes on a nearby stereo or comes in the form of a montage. It was a time for hard rock, new wave and plenty of dancing to fast beats and sometimes flashing lights. Popular examples of movies with this formula would be “Footloose,” “Flashdance” and “Breakin’,” all of which came after “Xanadu.” And to represent the eighties musical were ELO, one of the greatest bands ever to come out of the late seventies\early eighties, and Olivia Newton-John, does sing a lot in the film, just never when she’s on screen with Michael Beck.
This transition between the two musicals becomes apparent during one of my favorite numbers, “Dancin’.” In this scene, Danny and Sonny imagine what their new club will be like. Danny pictures a 1940’s big band playing at the club while Sonny imagines a hard rock bank. Both bands come to life in their imaginations with accompanying dancers and the song bounces back and forth between styles. Near the end of the song, the bands and dancers merge to become a unique blend of jazz and hard rock like you’ve never heard before. It’s almost symbolic, as if the old form of musical was passing the torch on to the new musical. Alas, whether the film deserves this credit is questionable.
To show you what I mean, let me take you back in time to 1980, before I was even born. Some of the history behind this film is simple enough. In the wake of “Grease,” Olivia was hot property but needed an extra boost to ensure a successful career. “Xanadu” would have been her solo vehicle, but it failed miserably at the box office. Instead, her music career survived and lasted her long enough. As she stands now, her career still survives on her “Grease” image as she was selected to judge for “Grease: You’re The One That I Want,” a 2006 reality show where contestants auditioned to be in the new production of “Grease” on Broadway. As for her music career, the last I’d heard her do was a song for the soundtrack of “The Land Before Time XIXIX: The Non-Stop Poisoning of My Childhood,” which should show you where that stands.
Similarly, her Grease co-star John Travolta went through trouble in his career during the eighties. After the failure of “Staying Alive,” (The lesser known sequel to “Saturday Night Fever”), Travolta also refused to take the lead in “Splash” and regretted it after getting one-upped by Tom Hanks for the remainder of the eighties. Even his reunion with Newton-John, “Two of a Kind” wasn’t strong enough to revive his career and he wouldn’t have another hit until “Pulp Fiction.” Since then he’s been able to get Shorty, have a face off, catch a swordfish, get punished, be cool, use hairspray and continue to bolt forward with his career. This guy’s got so much steam, even an alien war couldn’t take him down.
So where did “Xanadu” go wrong? Well, in my humble opinion, there was too much frosting on the cake. The movie has a lot of pretty special effects. In fact, the producers pressed pretty hard for the movie to have as many special effects as it could handle. Trouble is, special effects don’t always save a lack of storytelling. It seems that the musical numbers, special effects and all the glitzy stuff actually leave less time for the story to develop more character and get us more into it. A well told story can be helped with great special effects, but without the frosting, “Xanadu” is a little too bland.
Still, the movie’s worth a watch. It’s very eighties, boasts a lot of great talent, has a great soundtrack…But really, I think the number one reason for watching this movie is the number “Don’t Walk Away,” a scene where the movie suddenly turns into a cartoon directed by Don Bluth, the greatest animation director alive.
Anyhow, watch and enjoy.
posted by Jaimetud at 6:10 PM
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