Footloose remake

If you are an 80's child then you are familiar with the movie Footloose. Kevin Bacon's character goes to a sleepy rural town that has outlawed dancing. Thanks to Kevin and tunes from Kenny Logins, they challenge the towns laws and bring dancing back.

I don't recall that I ever watched footloose in entirely. I think I have caught portions of the movie on TV. I have never seen footloose on stage either (or local high schools perform Footloose regularly). But I have seen enough of the movie to understand it's plot.

Linda and I watched the remake on opening weekend. The theater was packed with a cross section of many ages: the elderly (who would have been in their 30's when the original movie came out), the 80's children, and a large number of youth.

The remake followed the original script closely and deviated only when it made sense to do so. Much of the music was from the original movie, but they did add some modern music to mix things up.

Overall, the remake was excellent. It was a nice trip down memory lane. Whether you decide to pull the original movie off your shelf (God forbid you have in on VHS) or you decide to watch the remake - I recommend you watch footloose this weekend!

Ten years later

I was in a business meeting when Linda called me to say that a plane flew into a World Trade Tower. I dismissed it until she called back to say a second plane hit the towers. We turned on the conference room television and watched 9-11 unfold. On the way home from work that day I noticed the roads were empty and strangely the sky was empty too. You don't realize how you become use to seeing planes trail across the sky until there are none - all grounded due to what happened.

9-11 defined our 30's. The wars we caught, the sacrifices we made, the people we elected, and the nation we became were forged in in that 110 minutes on 9-11.

Where were you on 9-11?

Remake of Dirty Dancing

Many of the great 80s movies are getting (or have received) a remake. Footloose is coming out in a few months. Talks are underway for a new Wolverines movie (not the comic book hero, the one about high school teenagers fighting the communists). And next? Dirty Dancing!

Kenny Ortega choreographed the original and is responsible for the wildly successful High School Musical Disney series. He is returning to direct the remake.

The real question: can the magic of Dirty Dancing be captured a second time? If you are a fan of the High School Musicals, the answer is probably "yes" and you could suggest a few of the actors for it! Kidding aside, Ortega has a lot to live up to.

ET is not the same

Remember seeing E.T. when it first came out at the movie theatre? It was a smash hit! It made Ressee Pieceies a household product and launched the career of Drew Barimore. The images from E.T., such as the bicycle flying across the moon, are unforgetable.

I decided to recreate the magic by renting E.T. For the kids (and me too). To my surprise, the kids were bored and didn't make it even half way through the movie.

What happened to this classic movie's popularity? Like everything popular: it has been overdone. The theme of an alien befriending a child is now a common theme throughout media. From Katie and Orby (PBS) to Transformers - it has been done and redone countless times. Today, that classic movie is just another knock-off of a tired theme.

For a scarce few of us, E.T. was a pivitol movie whose impact was huge yet momentary. Future generations might become completly unaware of this classic and its impact on modern lore.