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Movie: Golden Globe nominated Christina Aguilera in 'Burlesque'
Member Since: 9/7/2008
Posts: 12,807
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Member Since: 9/7/2008
Posts: 12,807
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Member Since: 5/1/2007
Posts: 15,659
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OMFG
SHE KILLED 
Should have been the single
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Member Since: 2/18/2007
Posts: 12,501
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no matter what
I'll watch Burlesque many times that I can!!!
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Member Since: 11/25/2008
Posts: 13,160
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The movie gets released in a couple hours, I wonder what the 1st day gross will be. 
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Member Since: 9/7/2008
Posts: 12,807
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Roger Ebert Reviews
Quote:
The burlesque shows in “Burlesque” feature no nudity, no striptease, no baggy pants comedians and no performers with names like Porsche Galore. Other than that, the shows are identical to the offerings at the Rialto and Follies burlesque houses that flourished on South State Street when I first visited Chicago as a sin-seeking teenager.
“Burlesque” offers burlesque as if it died and went to heaven. Behind a tawdry side entrance on Sunset Strip, a club exists that would make a Vegas casino proud. It has the eerie expanding and contracting dimensions of fantasy. At first, the stage is the right size for an intimate cabaret; later, there's enough space to present a production number with dozens of (unaccounted for) dancers descending a staircase worthy of Busby Berkeley. The audience is all shadowy extras, whose friends will have to look real hard to spot them.
The “Burlesque Lounge” attracts the attention of Ali (Christina Aguilera), the proverbial small-town girl just off the bus from Iowa. She walks in just in time to see Tess (Cher) conveniently performing the number “Welcome to Burlesque.” In this scene and throughout the movie, Cher looks exactly as she always does. Other people age. Cher has become a brand logo.
The movie has a limited cast of broadly drawn characters, used to separate song-and-dance numbers. Tess co-owns the club with her ex-husband Vince (Peter Gallagher). As a couple, they inspire games of What Is Wrong With This Picture? His function is to eagerly hope they can sell out to Marcus (Eric Dane), the real estate developer who wants to tear down the club and put up condos. The club bartender is Jack (Cam Gigandet), who wears eyeliner but turns out to be straight. He allows Ali to crash on his sofa, but there's no sex because he has a fiancee in New York and also because the film has a PG-13 rating. The stage manager is Sean (Stanley Tucci). He's gay, except for one unforgettable night with Tess in Reno. Or Lake Tahoe. She forgets.
The star dancer is Nikki (Kristen Bell), who grows instantly angry with Ali after the farm girl tells her she looks like a drag queen. They must not see many drag queens in Iowa. There is also the nice girl named Georgia (Julianne Hough), who … well, a plot like this only leaves one thing for her, doesn't it?
Sorry, I got distracted again, thinking of the condo tower Marcus wants to build. How big a footprint will it need? We get repeated shots of the exterior of the lounge, which consists of an arch of light bulbs next to what looks like the side of a modest frame building with outside steps to a second floor that doesn't seem to exist inside.
On the landing of those steps on that first night, Ali sees a black girl standing, who smiles nicely to her. We see this same girl repeatedly in the film, but she never gets a name or any dialogue. She has the role of the Black Girl Who Is Seen But Not Heard as a Member of the Club Family. She shouldn't complain. No other dancer gets to be anything at all.
In the film, both Cher and Christina Aguilera are showcased in big song numbers, which I enjoyed on a music video level. Aguilera has an unforced charm in her early scenes, but as she morphs into a glamorous star, she becomes increasingly less interesting. We learn she is an orphan. That simplifies the back story.
You know how in Bollywood musicals the star actress will be all by her lonely self on a mountain top, and when she starts to sing and dance, a dozen male singer-dancers materialize out of thin air? That happens here in the big finale. The girls form a perfect chorus line, a stairway to the stars appears, and a dozen male dancers descend. Where did they come from? Where will they go? Remember, this club is so small, there is only one clothing rack backstage for all the costumes.
Is this the movie for you? It may very well be. You've read my review, and you think I'm just making snarky comments and indulging in cheap sarcasm. Well, all right, I am. “Burlesque” shows Cher and Christina Aguilera being all that they can be, and that's more than enough.
Burlesque - 2/4 Stars.
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http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/...IEWS/101129989
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Member Since: 9/7/2008
Posts: 12,807
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Burlesque soundtrack #10 on iTunes overall
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Member Since: 1/22/2005
Posts: 13,429
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Roger Ebert is basically the most respected reviewer in America, and he seemed to enjoy it for what it was. (A campy musical, light on plot, heavy on the performances.) So that bodes well for the film.
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Banned
Member Since: 11/24/2009
Posts: 61,404
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He gave it a bad review (it will be rotten), but his opinion doesn't really matter. His hates musicals and gave the box office monster Mamma Mia a similar 2/4.
Edit: he did give great reviews to Moulin Rouge and I think Chicago, so he doesn't hate them, but he doesn't seem to like them all that much unless they're really bold and game-changing.
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Member Since: 9/7/2008
Posts: 12,807
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Quote:
Originally posted by .Chad.
Roger Ebert is basically the most respected reviewer in America, and he seemed to enjoy it for what it was. (A campy musical, light on plot, heavy on the performances.) So that bodes well for the film.
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Yes! everybody were waiting for his review... 
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Banned
Member Since: 11/19/2010
Posts: 4,697
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Quote:
Originally posted by .Chad.
Roger Ebert is basically the most respected reviewer in America, and he seemed to enjoy it for what it was. (A campy musical, light on plot, heavy on the performances.) So that bodes well for the film.
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He gave it 2 out of 4 stars... That's not a positive review. It's a thumbs down.
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Member Since: 11/25/2008
Posts: 13,160
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Quote:
Originally posted by Kunt
He gave it 2 out of 4 stars... That's not a positive review.
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It's mixed, he ended it really postive too. 
He's overrated anyways. 
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Member Since: 1/22/2005
Posts: 13,429
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What I'm saying is 2 out of 4 isn't positive, but it isn't negative either. His review would lead me to believe he liked it more than he disliked it. It's a mid-level review, which is better than a bad one.
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Member Since: 5/1/2007
Posts: 15,659
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Remember Ebert's philosophy is to rate films according to their genre (hence the 4/4 he gave to Salt, cause it was better than most action films), so a 2/4 isn't anything to celebrate.
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Member Since: 9/7/2008
Posts: 12,807
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SMHYB is #1 and Express #2 in iTunes soundtrack songs!!
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Member Since: 11/25/2008
Posts: 13,160
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It's mixed, and ya'll will deal. **** him, and Rotten Tomatoes. 
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Banned
Member Since: 11/24/2009
Posts: 61,404
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RT doesn't have mixed, only Fresh + Rotten.
You need 3/4 from him to be Fresh.
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Member Since: 9/7/2008
Posts: 12,807
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The San Francisco Chronicle
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Burlesque
"Burlesque" is irresistible from its first minutes, and over time it creates a whole atmosphere, not only onscreen but within the audience. It's big, perfectly cast and entertaining in every way, but more than that it feels like a generous public event. See it with other people. See it with a crowd.
You will know you're in good hands 30 seconds into meeting Christina Aguilera, as a small-town girl who dreams of big-city glamour. Aguilera has the face of an actress, full of character and thought, and in this, her first screen role, she has an ease with dialogue that some people never achieve. Only when she opens her mouth to sing would anyone peg her as a pop star. Her deep, booming voice shakes the theater's sound system, as Cher's name flashes on the opening credits, and we're off - to about as good a time as anybody's going to have this year sitting down.
"Burlesque" is an amalgam of strains and elements from dozens of movie musicals: There's the club that could exist nowhere on earth. There are dance numbers that could never really happen. There's a paid staff of showgirls. There's a scary brunette diva, and a young woman who's going out there a child and coming back a star. There's also a burgeoning talent who must choose between a rich guy and a nice guy - alas, they are never, ever the same guy.
Some will recognize these motifs from "Showgirls" or "Flashdance," but to see these as cliches would be missing the point. "Burlesque" is operating within a whole musical tradition, with stuff in it literally going back to "The Broadway Melody" from 1929. The point is not that it's possible to piece together a musical out of leftover parts, like Frankenstein, but rather that the old can become new again, when re-imagined for a new era and invested with enthusiasm and feeling.
Let's say something about Cher right away, or else people will start looking for the Cher paragraph. She's wonderful in this. Over the years, she has done things with (and to) her face that make it difficult to cast her in a wide range of roles. But here, as a veteran singer and dancer who owns a struggling nouveau burlesque club in Los Angeles, everything about her look and self-presentation becomes a virtue. As befits a legend, the role and Cher seem to overlap. We watch both of them, appreciating the no-nonsense motherly warmth behind the glitz with a growing conviction that we're seeing some original and very showbiz variety of a great woman.
The club in "Burlesque" has nothing to do with traditional burlesque. Aside from a single, chaste fan dance, the programs consist of production numbers performed by showgirls who dance and lip-sync. Only Cher, as the owner, sings in her own voice - she has two numbers; her second, the ballad "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me," is what could be called "the song from the show." Later, Aguilera also gets to sing. The soundtrack contains originals, as well as such nods to the past as "A Guy What Takes His Time," which was hot stuff when it premiered in the Mae West film "She Done Him Wrong" (1933). As performed by Aguilera, it's not exactly cold stuff now.
Four years ago, Jennifer Hudson became a star, and deserved to become a star, after stopping the show exactly once in "Dreamgirls." In "Burlesque," Aguilera is jaw-droppingly good in several numbers. Moreover, she makes us believe in this aspiring performer's talent, in her consuming need to succeed, and in her essential worth as a person. The script was never going to earn writer-director Steve Antin a Nobel Prize, but it's cleverer than it has to be. Right out of the box, Aguilera knows how to listen to her fellow actors, to react and be spontaneous, and it makes all the difference.
Good people surround her. In addition to Cher, there's Stanley Tucci as the nice gay man who mediates between the owner (Cher) and her new star, in much the same way he mediated, as a nice gay man, between Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway in "The Devil Wears Prada." Kristen Bell brings force and subtle comedy to her role as a Burlesque diva who feels her star slipping and doesn't like it. Unfortunately, the multi-talented Alan ******* has little to do, even though this would seem to be his natural environment.
And then, it ends, two minutes before it might have started to sag. Antin doesn't belabor the story. He cuts strings and dashes for the finish - just in time for the massive dance number that sends people out with a spring in their step and the energy to rejoin a world that, for two hours, they'd completely forgotten.
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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...MV8E1GFJU8.DTL
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Banned
Member Since: 11/19/2010
Posts: 4,697
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E! Online review:
Quote:
C-
Review in a Hurry: The singing and dancing come easy to Christina Aguilera. But being a passable actress? Not so much. Cher makes for a good mentor in this by-the-book tale of makin' it in the big city, but she's barely onscreen.
Bland Burlesque isn't even awful enough to qualify as a so-bad-it's-good guilty pleasure. Oh well.
The Bigger Picture: In this misfire from first-time writer-director Steve Antin, naive Ali (Aguilera) leaves her Iowa hometown to make it as a star in Hollywood. To her dismay, Tess, the owner of the struggling burlesque night club where she finds a job (OMG, played by Cher!), won't give her a chance to strut her stuff.
Tess has bigger problems. She's behind on mortgage payments, and her ex (Peter Gallagher) wants to sell the place. Worse still, the club's resident diva Nikki (Kristen Bell) has become more of a boozy, loud-mouth hindrance than a star.
Oh, but Ali has an ace in the hole. While the other dancers only lip sync, Ali has pipes like a pop star! But are they enough to save the club?! Does it matter?
Pretty much all the set pieces with Aguilera headlining are sexy-cool. The costumes by famed designer Michael Kaplan tease every inch of her curvy body, and fans of the singer will be pleased.
Cher is Cher, and that's a good thing. She's been away from the movies for more than a decade, and even with this shallow role, she finds ways to inject humor—particularly playing off Stanley Tucci.
With two big stars like Aguilera and Cher, there shouldn't be anything wrong with Burlesque being yet another story of fame and fortune in the world of strippers dancers. But so many things fall so flat, it's hard to forgive.
Antin, who's made many music videos for The Pussycat Dolls, knows how to orchestrate big numbers. Sadly, the film lumbers forward in frantically edited five minutes sequences, never building to anything compelling or seductive. The dancers are sexy, but the motives of everyone are strictly of the PG "I just need to keep trying my best!" variety.
Worse, the offstage dancer banter is painful, and it's clear Aguilera can't connect with her costars. We can understand why—she has become a pop idol by performing for audiences, not interacting with them. Put that same attitude in a scene, even a fairly straightforward one with her flirting with roommate/love interest (Cam Gigandet—Twilight alert!), and nothing resembling chemistry registers.
Aguilera is miles ahead of the cold, energy-sucking screen presence that has always plagued Madonna, but it's not enough. Overall, Burlesque ends up more Coyote Ugly bland than Showgirls trash. Too bad.
Read more: http://uk.eonline.com/uberblog/movie...#ixzz16AV9K7E8
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Member Since: 11/25/2008
Posts: 13,160
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They added more theaters, It'll open to 3,037 now, hopefully that's a good sign.
Others -
Tangled 3,603
Love and Other Drugs - 2,455
Faster - 2,454
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