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Fame: Extended Dance Edition
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - America - MGM Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Ethan Stevenson (4th March 2010). |
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The Film
 When I first heard that Hollywood was remaking “Fame” (1980), a film by director Alan Parker and writer Christopher Gore now approaching its thirtieth anniversary, said news was met with a stone-faced “why?” from me. Of course, within this same week I’d also started to see evidence of a new “RoboCop” (1987) in the early stages of pre-production (which is thankfully on hold at the moment), and was not too far after I’d read about the new “Red Dawn” (1984), so by that point, I was pretty apathetic about the whole thing. The one common element shared between all three of these wholly unnecessary remakes; their original production studio, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. As the once great company, responsible for such universally renowned films as “The Wizard of Oz” (1939) and “Gone With the Wind” (1939), flounders in near financial ruin these days it’s not really all that unsurprising that, instead of creating all-new, original films, the studio has turned into a house of remakes and cinematic do-overs. Other more monetarily sound studios do it too with often, at the very least, moderate success so I don’t particularly fault the folks over at MGM for returning to the well, which is bound to be full of beloved classics, iconic cult films and fun romps. Why should MGM spend millions upon millions of dollars (which they don’t have) on something that, while original, likely won’t sell tickets, when they can put a film, with a familiar title, to theaters and guarantee at least a decent pull from audiences who recognize the name of a film that they sort of like already. It actually makes perfect business sense. Let me make this clear, I don’t hate the idea remaking films. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. I won’t say that I love remakes – I don’t – but there are some films that had a decent premise, but, for whatever reason, just didn’t click the first time around. In those cases I’m perfectly willing to give some aspiring filmmaker the benefit of the doubt that they can make “it” work. To quote John Carpenter, “Remake or original, making a movie still comes down to old-fashioned hard work. If it's based on another film, well, so be it. Remakes have been part of cinema since its earliest days - think of 'A Star Is Born' (1937)…" Carpenter is the perfect example of someone who took an old film and remade it into something better. I prefer “The Thing” (1982) to the 1951 original by miles. He brings up a good point, that filmmaking is hard work and, the reason that his take on “The Thing from Another World” (1951) is superior is because, aside from being a master filmmaker who had the chops to make a good movie regardless, Carpenter also tried to do something different and improve upon the concept of the original film. But, what happens then when a director, writer or producer doesn’t do said hard work in trying to make their movie better than the original? In short, most remakes are the result of that scenario. As I said, I don’t hate the idea behind reimagining an older motion picture. I just hate the practice of doing so in most cases, mostly because with few exceptions remakes are cash grabs that do little to inspire and almost always are not nearly as good as the original they ape. “Fame” done 2009 style is no different than most other remakes, sadly. Disappointingly it’s all too similar to most other redo pictures; by which I mean, it’s a terrible, purposeless film. Those familiar with the 1980 original already know the plot of “Fame”, because for the remake the basic premise is unchanged. The story still centers on an ensemble cast of kids as they progress through the ranks at a performing arts high school in New York. The school, the New York Academy of Performing Arts – passingly referred to as P.A. by the students and faculty – is a place where young people can study acting, dance, music and a host of other artsy topics. On top of all of their art classes, the students must also keep up their grades in proper academia and try, somehow, to balance all of that with a deep and involving social life. Up until this point, essentially, “Fame” 2009 is the same as “Fame” 1980. But the similarities basically stop there. Yeah, we get a look at the audition process to get into the prestigious school, and we follow a select group of students through their freshman, sophomore, junior and graduating years, but besides that foundation and flat basics, director Kevin Tancharoen and screenwriter Allison Burnett completely fail to capture even a fragment of what made the original so special. Whereas Parker and Gore strove to provide a realistic drama about the trials, tribulations (and successes) of kids who want to be singers, actors and dancers – or in short, famous (hence the title) – Tancharoen and Burnett seem perfectly content to deliver a cheesy, PG-rated, “High School Musical” (2006) knockoff. Yes, that’s right this new “Fame” has been sanitized to a PG rating – not PG-13 or even R (like, you know, the original) – and is all wrapped in a nice little bow for pre-teens and Disney-channel watchers. Sure, it’s not the cleanest PG ever put on film (there’s a little underage drinking) but it’s a far cry from the original’s f-bomb filled, overtly sexual world, that allowed serious discussion of such topics as drug use and abortion. Ratings issues (and neutered tone) aside, the original also had genuine sincerity to it; the story wasn’t just about chasing your dreams, and the fact that sometimes it doesn’t always workout in the end. It was also about the stupidity and naivety of adolescence and how we eventually grow up. Life lessons, human stories and a raw originality are what Parker and Gore’s version was all about. Burnett and Tacncharoen, on the other hand, offer us bland characterization, generic plot twists and pointless dialogue, all of which seems to only exist so that the entirety of the film isn’t just dance numbers, performance pieces and monologues. The cast is huge, but only a few of the characters get even a semblance of development, and no one really gets too fleshed out or much screen time. The problem with the main storylines (and the smaller off shoots too) is that they fail to go beyond a general, clichéd outline or to actually get developed into a compelling story. Marco (Asher Book) and Jenny (Kay Panabacker) find “love” but it’s just a high school romance, and not serious or long lasting – the film is ignorant of this fact. Denise (Naturi Naughton) wants to be more than a talented pianist, and actually sing, but can’t because she has an oppressive, controlling father who won’t have his daughter doing anything other than playing classical music. Did I mention that her father is a walking cliché; a successful black man who looks down on “lower class” things like hip-hop/rap? Then there’s Malik (Collins Pennie), the angry youth who uses his music to express his anger at the world but not much else. Victor Taveras (Walter Perez) is an aspiring music producer who falls for the hot blonde dancer from Long Island (Kherington Payne), but gets his heart broken when she dumps him for a chance to be a famous dancer in Europe. There’s also Neil Baczynsky (Paul Iacono), a Jewish stereotype who wants to be a director, but thinks he needs to study acting in order to truly master his craft. Joy (Anna Marie Perez de Tagle), who mostly plays just a background character, is forced to decide whether she wants to stay at P.A. or pursue a career in acting when she’s given a spot on “Sesame Street”. Andy Matthews (Cody Longo), an older student at the academy, graduates and goes on to star in a hit TV show, proving that the school does produce success stories. Downside is that he’s kind of a douche and mostly only got his gig because he’s attractive and had a good agent. The message then is that all the ugly, nice and/or people with bad or no agents are screwed. Finally, there’s Kevin (Paul McGill), who wants to be nothing, more than a ballet dancer. Oh, yeah, and he’s gay. Side-note: props to MGM and “Fame” producers for actually including a homosexual character in a film about performing arts and theater, unlike certain other high school musical producing studios [cough] Disney [/cough]. Un-props though to MGM, et al. for making him overly effeminate, neglectfully sticking him in the background and/or on the side of shots, and only subtly hinting at his orientation (plus is he the only gay guy at this school, cause it sure seems like it). Does it strike anyone else as odd that a film from 1980 (the original) was more progressive in the acknowledgement and depiction of a gay teen – i.e. Montgomery McNeil – than it’s thirty-year newer remake? The adult cast is totally wasted. Kelsey Grammer is completely underused; he gets generic lines and does little, literally adding nothing to the film (but, then again, he’s probably just collecting a paycheck, so who cares, right?). His character could have been played by, seriously, anyone. Megan Mullally took a break from promoting low fat butter to belt out a rendition of “You Took Advantage of Me” and (in the only decent scene of dialog from the whole film) tells the kids that, hey, the sad fact is, you probably won’t be famous. More involved and developed than Grammer’s character, but still cliché and nonspecific. Bebe Nuewirth, Charles S. Dutton and Debbie Allen all play basic; hallow characters, taking on the roles of bitchy ballet teacher, the old sage who takes the troubled youth (Malik) under his wing, and the stern principal respectively. The script was already a weak one, but with the amount of information needed to expressed in such a short time – the theatrical cut of the film is well under 2-hours – there’s no time to iron out the characters or smooth out the plot bumps. This is problematic. It doesn’t help matters that director Kevin Tancharoen and editor Myron Kerstein piece the film together in an abrupt, hurried fashion that looks more amateur than artistic. Edited the way it is, with so many different storylines “Fame” seems more like a series of little vignettes, rather than a cohesive, well-planned, narrative arc, and that’s not a good thing in the least. By comparison, Parker’s version runs 134 strong minutes and not a second is wasted; it’s smartly, tightly edited too. The only bright spot in the entire film (yes, I’m saying something nice about this film [shocker]) is that some of the choreography – in small, small doses – is actually pretty spectacular looking. Credit where credit is due, “Fame” post-millennium does have a visual flair that, in certain scenes, is pretty likeable. The “CarnEvil” dance sequence in particular plays off like a bad acid trip, but is strangely captivating to watch unfold. It’s pieced together pretty nicely too, I admit. But that’s it. The overall visual style and Tanchoroen’s direction is messy and off-putting. For the first 3rd of the picture he seems to deliberately shake the camera, not like "District 9" (2009) or a J.J. Abrams film, but more like the DP and/or camera guy had bad case of the shakes that day or something. He also annoyingly over-uses micro-zooms and quick pans. Chaotic and strange in execution, it seems even worse when the implementation of this technique becomes wildly inconsistent later on. The biggest crime though, aside from this remake tarnishing the name of Alan Parker’s original production, is that, with a better script and a lot more heart, the new “Fame” could have been an okay film. Not a great film, not even a good film, but certainly far removed from the crap that it is now. Tancharoen’s “Fame” is a bad, bad movie (and it didn’t really have to be). Had someone (anyone) in the production actually cared about anything other than box office receipts, maybe “Fame” wouldn’t have turned out to be such a soulless film full of lifeless characters, odd editing choices and an overall bland and too-broad quality. The “Fame” franchise is better than this plain, sterile, Coke commercial of a film. It’s flashy, but dull, too safe and uninspired. This is a huge miscalculation of a motion picture; truly a needless remake if there ever was one. Fortunately, there is a bright side to all this. “Fame” reportedly cost $20 million to make, and just barely recouped it’s budget domestically, taking in a paltry $22 million. Perhaps moviegoers are finally getting tired of the remake game too. If they are, maybe studios like MGM will realize that a little originality never hurt anyone and begin funding non-remake projects. Wait, what? “Fame” pulled in more than twice the domestic gross overseas? Crap. Never mind – looks like the remake is still alive and well.
Video
“Fame” hits Blu-ray with a generally pleasing; high bitrate 1080p 24/fps AVC MPEG-4 encoded transfer, with letterbox bars on the top and bottom of the frame maintaining the films original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.40:1. On a technical level this disc is flawless; detail in long and medium shots, as well as close-ups, reveal incredible intricacy. Edges are smooth and clean, and don’t look artificially manipulated in the least. The picture is also light on film grain, but looks filmic and natural with no signs of DNR. Evidence of macro-blocking or banding is nonexistent. Altogether pretty nice stuff. However, I can’t say I’m a fan of the look the director and cinematographer Scott Kevan have established here. The palate is largely a gross mustard-brown (with some outdoor shots taking on a grayish blue overcast tone) and contrast is sort of flat and lifeless throughout. Blacks are a bit inconsistently represented, at times appearing a little too dark and at others a bit weak, but I think in nearly all cases it's intentional. Sure, some moments in the film are bright, cheery and full of color and musical pizzazz, but for the most part the film looks pretty earthy and depressing – not exactly the sort of thing you expect going into a movie like this.
Audio
Again technically proficient and largely satisfying is the film’s English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit) track, which compliments the video nicely. Sounds are all nice, clean and clear and dialogue comes through pitch perfect. Surrounds get adequate, expected use here and don’t seem overdone or too loud. The one area I found the mix to less than perfect – hence the less than perfect rating – is bass response. Dimensionality, depth and clarity are all superb, but, while a low end is always present in the soundtrack, it distressingly seemed confined to the low end of my speakers, rather than directly coming from the dedicated LFE channel. Not awful, but I must say, a little disappointing. Why more of the low-end wasn’t transferred out of the upper speakers is a puzzler. Also, ADR – or automated dialogue replacement – isn’t always synced with the action on screen perfectly (an example being an extended lunch room freestyle performance, which has some singing, but it’s definitely poorly matched). It’s bound to happen on a film like this – and it even happens on good productions, so I don’t really fault “Fame” – but, I thoughts it was just something to mention as, at times, the sync was really, noticeably, off. Optional French and Spanish dubs are included via corresponding Dolby Digital 5.1 (48kHz/448 kbps) mixes and subtitles are offered in English and Spanish.
Extras
“Fame” arrives with a somewhat expectantly dry, wasted supplemental package. No commentary or in depth documentary/production diary here. In fact nothing of real weight at all. Instead, the Blu-ray comes billed as the “Extended Dance Edition” which stuffs two versions of the film onto one disc; offering a choice between the "Theatrical" or "Extended Cut" (the later of which isn’t exactly what it sounds like: more on that in a minute.) Also included are a few deleted scenes, a music video, and a couple of mostly worthless featurettes. Video based material is presented in a mix of sharp looking 1080p and 1080i high definition, as well as lowly standard definition. Details below: DISC ONE: "Theatrical" & "Extended Cuts" (HD, "Theatrical" 1:46:56 & "Extended Cut" 2:02:12), viewers get the choice between the two versions of the film. Both versions of the film are included via seamless branching. The "Extended Cut" is not as enticing as it sounds – instead of elaborating on characters, story development or trying to remedy any of the films numerous flaws via additional exposition, the alternate cut of the “Fame” remake simply elongates many of the already too long musical numbers. Deleted scenes (HD, 18:11). 15 Deleted scenes, together clocking in at almost 20 minutes, are mostly skippable. No excised dance numbers, nor any material really essential to the plot. Instead these deletions deal with, by-and-large, character’s interactions with their parents and the disappointing nature of rejection. Mostly this is just repetitious stuff, as the film covers these areas just as well as the deletions (which means neither are good at it). On the bright side all of the footage is presented in full 2.40:1 1080p 24/fps high definition with Dolby Digital 5.1 audio. Next is a crappy music video (HD, 3:29) by Naturi Naughton. The song is worthless, as is the video, which kills time with a ton of film clips. "Remember My Name: Character Profiles" (1080i, 17:14). These 11 featurettes offer a little bit of background for the characters and the young actors who play them. They talk about growing up, their characters motivations and what it’s like on set. The film’s director also chimes in briefly. Although the interviews and discussions are often too short and slightly canned, this is easily the most satisfying extra here, which says a lot about the remaining bonuses, because these character profiles are not an overly impressive set… just the best of the otherwise lackluster package. Individual interviews include: - Anna Maria Perez de Tagle - Asher Book - Collins Pennie - Kay Panabaker - Kherington Payne - Kristy Flores - Naturi Naughton - Paul Iacono - Paul McGill - Walter Perez - Kevin Tancharoen "Fame National Talent Search Finalists" (HD, 6:59) is a featurette detailing a bit of the films promotional tour, part of which was a talent search and contest. Snippets of the not too good finalists are shown and then the winners get the second half of the piece dedicated to their full performance (which was part of the prize for winning.) Bleh, not interesting. "The Dances of Fame" (SD, 6:52) is another featurette, this time with actress Kherington Payne, who leads viewers through this brief behind-the-scenes look at a “dancers boot camp” and some of the films choreography. Director Kevin Tancharoen also throws in his thoughts on the development and style of some of the dance numbers. Curiously this is the only extra to appear in standard definition, which seems like an odd choice given that absolutely everything else here is at the very least 1080i. Finally, some bonus trailers are forced upon viewers at startup. Previews, all of which are encoded in HD, include: - "Digital Copy" spot (1:04) - “Whip It” (2:17) – side note; this looks like a blast! - “Post Grad” (2:11) – and this doesn’t. - “All About Steve” (2:23) – ditto “Post Grad”. DISC TWO: A digital copy of the film is included on the second platter – a DVD-5 – for playback on iPod, iTunes and WMV-enabled devices.
Overall
I hated, hated, hated this new “Fame.” It serves no purpose, is inferior to the original film in every possible way imaginable and firmly supports my belief that remakes are, almost always, horrible, useless tripe. The Blu-ray looks and sounds great (but extras are mostly fodder), so fans will be pretty pleased in my opinion. I am, however, not a fan and wouldn’t even recommend a rental on this one. My advice would be to seek out the Alan Parker original, which also hit Blu-ray recently, and actually watch a movie that’s worth a damn. For those who are still curious enough to pop in this crappy version of “Fame”, please do so with extreme caution.
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