That Thing You Do
Here's a recent off-site discussion with noted rock critic Steve Simels on the film.
NYMary:
If you're still here -- I saw your
post on Schlesinger at Power Pop.
For what it's worth, I like
THAT THING YOU DO -- both the movie
and the album -- a lot more than
you do.
I think the movie is pretty much the
best rock movie about the period
ever (with the possible exceptions
of THAT'LL BE THE DAY and STARDUST)
and I think the soundtrack is classic.
Just about every song is a gem,
even the deliberately crappy one that
leads it off.
IMHO.
steve simels | Email | 11.08.05 - 11:11 pm | #
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steve,
I really have issues with the two-dimensionality of a lot of the characters and the pseudo-hipness of the central guy, who was obviously cast because he looks like a young Tom Hanks.
But I do like the music a lot.
NYMary | Email | Homepage | 11.08.05 - 11:14 pm | #
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NYMary:
I know what you mean about the
script, but trust me -- the period
detail is a hundred percent dead
on.
Best movie about 1965 ever made.
steve simels | Email | 11.08.05 - 11:20 pm | #
So, what do you think?
7 comments:
I liked it. Pure bubblegum, which was perfect for the era and industry it was showing us. And Liv Tyler. 'nuff said.
Nope. Not jumpin' in the middle of an argy-ment between you and Simels. That'd be like, y'know -- Toby Petzold commenting on politics.
However, when the movie comes on, I tend to watch it. Steve's definitely right about it capturing that mid-60s feel.
I didn't like it. The dialogue was terrible and any movie that ends with jazz is by definition bleah. Bah humbug. (Kicks puppy.)
I thought Captain Geech & The Shrimp Shack Shooters were wonderful.
The music works me, the movie works for me.... and I remember when they filmed the Erie, PA exterior shots - they were done in downtown Orange, CA. The locals were starstruck for the duration of the shoot - the L.A. Times ran a feature in the entertainment section on it.
Hahaha, emma, I caught part of our "hometown" film the other night--a truly execrable piece of cinema called Liebestraum.
And if Liv Tyler is a reason to see a movie, NTodd, I've got four words for you: One Night at Mc'Cool's. 'Nuff said. Of course, Thers once told me in an obviously overstated moment that I looked like Liv Tyler: clearly bullshit, though our coloring is basically similar. That's why you get married, so there's someone around to whom you'll always be 25 and thin.
It may be, however, that a lot of my resistance has to do with my sharing of Thers's prejudice about jazz: I simply don't see it as the pinnacle from which one reluctantly descends to play pop. Too pretentious altogether.
Thers once told me in an obviously overstated moment that I looked like Liv Tyler
Oh, my darling, you have a fair piece of Liv Tyler in you. I just wish I'd told you that first, before that damned drunken Mick lout.
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