Path: ...!eternal-september.org!feeder3.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Arthur Lipscomb Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv Subject: Re: What Did You Watch? 2024-03-08 (Friday) Date: Sun, 10 Mar 2024 13:14:40 -0700 Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 76 Message-ID: References: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Injection-Date: Sun, 10 Mar 2024 20:14:40 -0000 (UTC) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="2de36ea6a0378a163748468bf4c9d7d8"; logging-data="3307672"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX19EfytY/O4vozZCeK9LMBKev8Xcumt6jBg=" User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird Cancel-Lock: sha1:Cfg0t2dBWpX8bxXpfc9CXRukMIE= In-Reply-To: Content-Language: en-US Bytes: 5159 On 3/10/2024 12:02 PM, BTR1701 wrote: > In article , > "Ian J. Ball" wrote: > >> On 3/9/24 8:38 AM, Dimensional Traveler wrote: >> >>> What Did You Watch? > >> Mean Girls (2024) (Pee+) - In (glorious?) 4k - another movie that >> benefited not at all from being 4k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2y8Sx4B2Sk (because of the way it was filmed >> (hell, the movie I watched after, which wasn't even 4k, was a better >> looking image!). >> Luckily, I have seen the original (on Showtime?...) in the past few >> months, so it is still pretty fresh in my mind. >> Anyway, you're probably thinking - "What is the point of remaking a >> movie that already hit it out of the park 20 years ago?!" Well, this one >> is the musical version. >> As such, I definitely found it inferior to the original (which Pee+ >> also has in 4k, though I have not checked that out yet...) in about >> every way possible. >> There were a few good bits - John Hamm turns up as Coach Carr >> (Dwayne Hill played him in the original). And I thought Christopher >> Briney was a more appealing Aaron Samuels than Jonathan Bennett was. >> Finally, Angourie Rice is probably a better actress than Lindsay Lohan. >> Cady's mom is played by Jenna Fischer, who looks so old now... >> Bebe Wood and Avantika are fine as the other plastics, Gretchen and >> Karen - not much worse than the originals, but no better. >> The scene where Regina finds out that Cady has been feeding her carb >> bars to make her fat, and screams, is incredibly well lit - Rapp looks >> downright demonic! That's the best-shot scene in the whole film, but it >> belongs in an entirely different (better! horror!) movie. >> Other changes I didn't understand at all - the character of Cady >> Heron's dad is totally eliminated from the proceedings! And they replace >> Amy Poehler with Busy Philipps as Regina's Mom (why?!!). >> They also sneak in a cameo from Lindsay Lohan (who also looks old >> now - and she's not even 40!!) to play the Mathletes Moderator, but I >> thought Bruce Hunter excelled at this bit in the original. >> Tim Meadows and Tina Fey are still in this, but it felt like both >> roles, especially Meadow's, are downgraded in this version, which I also >> find inexplicable, as Meadows (and to a lesser extent Fey) are the best >> things about the original film. >> They also excise some key bits from the original, like Cady >> daydreaming that she attacks Regina, and more crucially the end of the >> original film where we learn that the "reformed" Regina channeled all of >> her rage into lacrosse and became a jock - Why would you drop probably >> the best bit from the original film?! >> On the singing and music end: >> The music was OK - some of the songs were better than average, >> others were unmemorable. >> Of the singers, I thought Auli'i Cravalho was by far the best (well >> backed up by Jaquel Spivey) - I didn't like Cravalho's take on Janis >> nearly as much as Lizzy Caplan's, but Cravalho's (and Spivey) provide >> probably the best musical bits. Reneé Rapp as Regina can really sing... >> well, sort of - she can really belt it out, but I thought Rapp's >> enunciation was poor (very!) so as a result I couldn't make out half of >> what she was singing! Angourie Rice is an OK singer - she's not bad, but >> she's nothing special either. >> This was an OK watch, but I have no desire to rewatch this version >> now, and the original is a much better watch. > > I'd never seen either movie so after reading this, I settled in last > night for a MEAN GIRLS marathon. I ended up watching them in reverse > order, though, so I got the musical version first. > I really want to watch both movies back to back in proper order but I can never manage it. I think probably I liked the musical version better, but I won't be sure until I can do a proper pairing.