Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
There aren’t many musicals that I enjoy, as it’s not a genre that usually speaks to me, but this is one of the few that I can always make time for. Unsurprisingly, musicals live or die on the quality of their songs, and one bland number can ruin the whole experience and take you right out of it, but Little Shop of Horrors is filled with great tunes, and there isn’t a damp squib in the whole movie. If I know every word to every song in your musical, you must be doing something right.
Every one of the performers – from wide-eyed leading man Rick Moranis in his romantic pursuit of Ellen Greene; right down to her boyfriend, the abusive and sadistic dentist played by Steve Martin, and the great cameo by Bill Murray as the dental patient who loves getting the drill – plays up to the complete inanity of the plot by playing their parts straight down the middle at all times.
Little Shop of Horrors never takes itself seriously, and let’s be honest, it would be difficult for it to do so: after all, it’s about a talking, man-eating plant, with a penchant for singing sixties soul… speaking of which, here’s one of the best songs from the movie, which not only showcases the great music, but also the fantastic puppeteering skills on display throughout, which in my opinion, looks far more realistic than any CGI that could have been used in its place.
I think most people will have a fondness for certain TV shows from their younger days that they don’t really remember all that much about. It’s like a protected nostalgia. You know – shows where most of the details are gone, but there’s just something (for some reason) that your memory clings on to. My Secret Identity is one of those shows.
Chuck had a very chequered history, and as a result is a show that a lot of people missed on its original rotation, and it was even going to be cancelled after its third season until fans stepped in and made themselves heard. The noise gave them two more years, and the show ended in a manner more befitting its stellar run, but it is still destined to be one of the forgotten gems of the last decade.
Of course – as is often the case with these kind of things – there is a will-they-won’t-they romance running through the entire run, and yeah, Chuck (the show) was never the same once Chuck (the character) eventually got together with Sarah, the CIA agent who had been tasked with keeping him under control… but if you’ve seen Yvonne Strahovski, you’re probably wondering why it took him so many episodes to finally get his act together. I’d have made a fool of myself within the first forty-three minutes of the opening episode.
I’ve always been a fan of Michael J Fox, but even I can admit and accept that Teenwolf is not one of the greatest movies on his resume – hell, it wasn’t even the best thing he put out in 1985. It’s fun, and as entertainment Teenwolf is certainly harmless enough, but it gets by on its central performances rather than the tightness of its script and plot.
-- Purveyor of Imagination -- 