Cyndi Lauper Still Rockin at 57

She's so unusual.

It's not just that she has colorful hair and crazy wardrobe. It's not just the four octave range. It's not just the tireless fight for other people's civil rights. It's the combination of all the unusual and wonderful things. Since this is a movie site, enjoy Cyndi Lauper's movie themed numbers on her birthday today. And please note: Cyndi's new record "Memphis Blues" also debuts today.

She's now writing the music for the Broadway adaptation of the drag comedy Kinky Boots (2005). I wasn't crazy about that movie but it seems like a natural fit for a stage musical transfer. If anything it'll be way better given that Cyndi Lauper and Broadway legend Harvey Fierstein are involved.

Cyndi's Movie/TV songs

"Another Brick in the Wall" from a 1990 concert version of Pink Floyd The Wall (1982)



"Pee Wee's Playhouse" Theme Song (1986)... the greatest tv theme song of all time, yes? | "Slumdog Millionaire" Wyclef Jean ft. Cyndi Lauper (2009). Not from the movie obviously but aligned with as it were...



"Hole in My Heart" from Vibes (1988) | "Goonie R Good Enough" from The Goonies (1985)



"I Want a Mom That Will Last Forever" from Rugrats in Paris (2000) | "Here and There" from Here and There (2009, which she also starred in)



And I'm cheating on these final two videos in that they have no connection to the movies, but they're two of my all time favorite songs by her. They weren't mega hits or universally adored because the world doesn't make any sense.

"You Don't Know" from Sisters of Avalon (1996) | "I'm Gonna Be Strong" from both Blue Angel (1980) and 12 Deadly Cyns (1994)



Happy birthday Cyn'!

i said your link your link your link is my drug

Variety finds the new Robin Hood too self serious. [gladiator voice] Are you not entertained unsurprised?
Movie|Line "The Summer of Discontent" why is this summer so empty and 2011 so packed?
USA Today the latest info on Julie Taymor's The Tempest starring Helen Mirren
Boing Boing Star Wars in 2 minutes with Legos
Dear Old Hollywood a Goonies 25th anniversary celebration coming up in June


Marie Claire Fatal Attraction going on stage by Christmas. Happy uh Christmas bunny haters
Just Jared Awwww, the Supermen together. Makes one miss Christopher Reeve though (sigh)
In Contention poster and images from Biutiful starring Javier Bardem
After Elton Neil Patrick Harris ranks Hollywood men. I can't believe he went there
Queerty why can't Cam & Mitch kiss on Modern Family? This is a weird topic since same sex kissing happens literally every week on Brothers & Sisters. That particular TV taboo has long since been broken

Finally, have you seen the Betty White SNL yet?



This compilation is helpful for those of us who get around to these things later. I tried to watch yesterday on Hulu -- I can't be bound by air times! -- and then reading opinion pieces from around the web I realized that I'd somehow missed some of the skits. So I'm hoping this video has them all. Which was your favorite? I lol'ed about the census taker (the 'kitten' in Betty's lap... priceless) and "just let her stay home and lez". Teehee

We Can't Wait: BURLESQUE

It's time to look at the movies that have us salivating with anticipation for this fresh new film year. I asked the whole Film Experience team to give me their "most anticipated" list and then we fused them together for a countdown which kicks off soon.

"We Can't Wait. Summer and Beyond"

Before we get to our dozen most awaited films, I've given everyone the go ahead to chat up their "orphan". That's the film from their List O' Impatience that the rest of us weren't quite as anxious to see. My highest ranking orphan was a musical. I know. I know. Such a shock. I could knock you over with a feather right now... a feathered boa.

Burlesque
Directed by: Steve Antin
Starring: CHER! That's all I needed to know.


Synopsis: Tess (that's CHER!) is a retired dancer and the owner of the struggling title venue. A small town girl named Ali (Not CHER!) arrives with a very big voice and becomes the venue's main attraction. Drama of multiple sorts follows.
Brought to you by: Screen Gems...and probably the popularity of the The Pussycat Dolls. Though they're really the low rent mall version of the hip neo-burlesque movement, if you ask me.
Expected release date: November 24th. Let's hope it's no turkey.

While it's possible that this movie will be terrible, that doesn't mean it won't be highly watchable. If it manages to be good ... oh happy day! Cher is a fine screen actress and we've barely seen her -- apart from that endless "farewell" tour -- in years and years and years. I suppose I'm vaguely curious to see if Christina Aguilera can act but I'm guessing she gets decent reviews even if she's merely adequate. After Britney's Crossroads and Mariah's Glitter debuts, the only way is up right? The supporting cast includes cheeky Alan Cumming, sparkly Kristen Bell, muscley Cam Gigante and streepy Stanley Tucci. And they're all costumed by the great Michael Kaplan, who I've already written about this week.

Finally, I've always found actor-turned-director Steve Antin "curious by association" as well as a little hunky. And that's even before he came out of the closet. I remember him best as the guy that mouthed off about his frenemy Sandra Bernhardt in Without You I'm Nothing and victimized Jodie Foster in The Accused. I know others remember him more from a certain 80s sex comedy [nsfw] or from The Goonies. He wrote Burlesque with underrated screenwriter Susannah Grant (In Her Shoes, Pocahontas, Erin Brockovich) and Keith Merryman.

Will you be buying tickets or hiding once this film struts your way in fishnets?

"We Can't Wait: Summer and Beyond"
The "orphan" picks Nathaniel (Burlesque), JA (Love and Other Drugs), Jose (You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger), Craig (What's Wrong With Virginia?), Robert (True Grit) and Dave (Brighton Rock); Team Film Experience Countdown #12 It's Kind of a Funny Story, #11 Sex & the City 2, #10 Scott Pilgrim vs the World, #9 Somewhere, #8 The Kids Are All Right, #7 The Illusionist, #6 Toy Story 3, #5 Inception, #4 Rabbit Hole, #3 Never Let Me Go, #2 Black Swan and #1 The Tree of Life.
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TONY Awards Round Up: Harden, Lansbury, Hathaway, Langella, Neil Patrick Harris

And now a pre-show moment with Martha Plimpton...

That's right. I was conceived because of the musical Hair. I wouldn't exist without it.

That's Plimpton sandwiched inbetween Broadway's Hair boys: my fellow BYU alum Will Swenson, who we've been drooling on for awhile and Gavin Creel (Love the... tie? scarf? tarf?). Plimpton was actually speaking the truth to the reporter. Her parents Keith Carradine (yes, the star and composer of one of the greatest song scenes in all of cinematic history, "I'm Easy" from Robert Altman's Nashville) and Sheila Plimpton met while performing Hair on stage in the late 60s.

I bring up this pre-show red carpet moment because Martha Plimpton is a handy human symbol of how much the mainstream media, and by extension the public, misses out on because they ignore theater and great actors who work in it. To the general public Ms. Plimpton isn't recognizable or, if she is, it's in a vague... hey, she looks like that 80s actress from The Goonies! The sad thing about the movies giving up on her is that she's not just a fine actress but a terrific celebrity. She is easy with the laughter and quick witted with reporters. My favorite Plimpton interview quip came last year when asked to describe what she does for a living, saying something like 'i put on a wig and shout at strangers for two hours'

Martha lost her category at the TONY Awards last night ...that's three consecutive losses, poor thing. But a lot of good people lost. That's nothing new.

Who won? Billy Elliott, Stephen Daldry's adaptation of his own 2000 movie, won nearly everything it was nominated for including Best Musical. Next to Normal, its only real competition, beat Elton John's Original Score and tied Elliott for orchestrations. The Norman Conquests and Hair were chosen as the best revivals and God of Carnage was named Best Play.

Random wrap up thoughts from the evening:

• <-- Harold and Kumar 2's add campaign asked "What Would Neil Patrick Harris Do?" In the case of the TONY Awards he would wear some sort of pleather (?) tux and be an amiable, funny but low key host. Some of his quips seemed to go unnoticed in the cacophony of the show (god, it was a mess). The structure of the ceremony didn't showcase his musical chops until the credits were rolling. What a waste. But give him another go at it, please.
• Lots of tech problems. Why can't they get this together? Broadway is in the business of live events. Why is live television such a hurdle for them?
• Geoffrey Rush's win for Exit the King makes him the the first new Triple Crowner since Al Pacino won his Emmy in 2004 for Angels in America. Rush now has the Oscar (Shine), Emmy (Peter Sellers) and TONY (Exit the King). He also gave an awesome acceptance speech which made me more fond of him that I'd ever been (which is to say I've never been)
• Marcia Gay Harden was also prepared, funny and articulate. Why can't more actors be like that when they win prizes? Marcia needs only the Emmy to become a triple crowner and the Emmy is the easiest prize to win. She could even get it for Damages in September. If she gets nominated that is... loved her on that show. As I announced on a Twitter, Marcia and I are to be married as soon as she is thrice crowned.
  
• If you got as confused as I did when they showed Oscar nominee Janet McTeer (Tumbleweeds) and you thought "my god, what happened to her?!?" you're forgiven. They just had the name wrong names typed up under the wrong faces. McTeer has not entered a witness protection program nor has she had a face transplant. She looks pretty much like she did in 1999.
• Shrek looked single handedly bad enough to destroy my faith in musical theater forever. It looked like something that belonged on the stage for free at a theme park. You know those hour long shows were you rest your feet and get some air conditioning before hitting the rides again? It should not be a high price Broadway show! Naturally, it's a box office hit.

• Sutton Foster and other unfortunates are wasting their talents to act-along with the Shrek movie onstage. Shouldn't this be left to children in the nation's living rooms with their worn DVDs? Still, Christopher Sieber's "Lord Farquad" got one of the biggest laughs of the evening... albeit from the mouth of Neil Patrick Harris hours later

  Chris Sieber, please. Dancing on your knees? That only works to win Golden Globes!

  No, NPH didn't shy away from ribbing his fellow gays.

• <---Angela Lansbury is now to the TONYS what Katharine Hepburn is to the Oscars (though she shares that distinction with Julie Harris and Hepburn doesn't share). She's now won 5 competitive acting TONYS. Lansbury was definitely feeling the love in the room and gracious enough to admit to her fellow nominees that it wasn't a fair contest. Her last trophy was in the 70s for creating Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd! (oh and we wish she'd let her hair go gray or white. Go the Judi Dench / Helen Mirren route, Angela)
• When I see Liza Minnelli in the same black sequined pant suit she's been wearing for years in front of a tacky set sign that says "BROADWAY' my heart leaps and I have to supress squeals of delight. It's true. "I am what I am".
  
• You know how I know I'm a musical theater geek? Whenever I see Alice Ripley (Next to Normal) I start singing Side Show's siamese twin ballad "I Will Never Leave You" at the top of my lungs. Every time. When is Glee coming back on?

• Anne Hathaway is rapidly becoming my favorite young movie star. She always seems so happy to be in showbiz... like 'these are my people' happy. There's none of that obnoxious: 'I'm too cool for this' attitude that plagues some members of Young Hollywood -- you know who I'm talking about. Translation: Hathaway isn't just in it for the fame and fortune and she's most definitely in for the long haul. You'll be hearing her name until you're dead, mark my words.
• Alice Ripley's best actress speech was... um, unhinged. Was she channeling her unraveling Next to Normal mom? She prompted my room of friends to start quoting Sandra Bernhard's classic routine "...don't you just love theatahhhhh people!"
• Frank Langella was hilarious whilst making fun of himself, his Oscar loss, and his TONY snub. Why can't more stars have a sense of humor about the whole awards show / campaigning / losing thing? This reminded me of reviews of his charisma during the Oscar campaigning for Frost/Nixon. Dracula still can work a room. I imagine if he's ever up for an Oscar again post Nixon he's going to nab it.
  
• I haven't seen Billy Elliott on stage and don't really have a desire to (the movie is great but that came out in 2000. It isn't even dust covered yet) but while I was watching the performances I was thinking how difficult that show must have been to cast. You have to find not one but three young boys who can act, sing and dance a very demanding lead role. Jamie Bell only had to do two of those three things. But he nailed them, so...
  
• Susan Sarandon is still a sex on a stick.
  
• Yes, the revival of Hair is as awesome as it looks. Go see it.
  

Okay, enough theater. Back to the movies!


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Red Carpet Lineup. Hot Streaks

We haven't done a fashion lineup in a while, so here goes...some ladies walking the flashbulb-lined red this past week.


Even though Rumer Willis (who turns 21 this summer) is not what you'd call traditionally beautiful I admire that her public persona often screams "I'm hot shit!" I think you have to respect that. Martha Plimpton is hot shit on Broadway (where she's currently enjoying her 3rd consecutive TONY nomination) if nowhere else. But isn't Broadway enough? She seemed to give up on her dwindling movie career just as the new decade began. It pisses me off that most people only think Goonies! when they see her because, helloooo, she was so good in other 80s gems like Shy People, Mosquito Coast and Running on Empty back in her River Phoenix days. And though I barely recall it I seem to remember that she was hilarious in 200 Cigarettes (1999). Does anyone remember that holiday comedy?

Anne Hathaway is fierce. It's like she just stepped out of the opening credits of Dynasty -- loves it.

Audrey Tatou is... I have to admit I don't really get her though she was cute in Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie. I'm vaguely curious about (Le Fabuleux Destin de...) Coco Avant Chanel but isn't it weird how there's always a glut with bios? First the Shirley Maclaine TV movie and now this AND Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky. No Coco and then Coco tripled.

And I have to give credit when it's due: Renée Zellweger looked amazing at the Met Costume Ball. I'm totally confused. Gone is the weird 'she'll break in half' hot mess we've been seeing for years. The skin looks fresh, the dress is flattering... the eyes are open! It's a small miracle.

I've hidden Kerry Washington behind Renée because none of us should have to see that dress full on. Y'all know I've been rooting for Kerry for years but if she doesn't ascend in some memorable way in the next two years I don't think it's ever going to happen. She's got three movies on the way: Life is Hot in Cracktown with other semi-famous B & C listers, A Thousand Words with Eddie Murphy and what looks like an important supporting role in the acting showcase Mother & Child starring Annette Bening and Naomi Watts.

Marisa Tomei is here because I'm addicted. Why isn't everyone? I don't understand why she doesn't have 12 projects lined up post Wrestler. And as StinkyLulu pointed out -- here's to her longevity. She's been Oscar nominated in her 20s, 30s and 40s -- a rare feat. It's like Cher with #1 singles. Here's to a fourth Oscar nomination once Marisa hits her fifties.

And finally, one more note on "Miss Golden Globe 2008" (that'd be Rumer). She co-stars in her mother's directorial debut, a short film called Streak (pictured right). Brittany Snow plays an uptight sorority girl who is always counting calories and making herself miserable. One day she meets free spirit Rumer. There's some lesbo subtext/teasing and eventually the girls end up streaking together across campus. Streak beats you over the head with a 'love your body no matter what you weigh!' message but then when Brittany finally does love her body, stripping off her clothes in a moment of joyous abandon, we only see her from the neck up. It's total Message Dysmorphia. It's... unfortunate.

Love your extra lbs ... from the neck up!

I'm sorry Demi. I still love you. xoxo
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