75 - Josie and The Pussycats

Connection To SIN CITY - Rosario Dawson

I feel like I should put this bit first before I go any further - I have so much affection for this movie. When I first saw this movie it was love at first sight.

The fact that the IMDB rating is 5.3 and a 53% fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes (which I guess is the exact same score) makes me think only a small number of people will think it's average will some would have gave it a poor score, whilst others have give it a high score.

I know I heard of the Hanna Barbara cartoon before seeing the film for the first time I can't really remember if I ever saw it, me thinks it must have been on Cartoon Network or similar at one point in the UK and I have seen it (but to be fair certain Hanna Barbara cartoons can merge together).

While the film takes digs at advertising and the like, you could make an argument that it would have hit the nail right on the head if they didn't use actual real companies but still I guess it adds a sense of realism in the film that's not really there otherwise.

The film opens with the boy band Dujour (featuring Seth Green, Breckin Meyer and Donald Faison) performing Backdoor Lover, which does indeed sound like a genuine boyband song from around the time the film was made in 2001, on a plane ride to Riverdale, the boys tell their manager Wyatt (Alan Cumming) that they noticed an hidden message strange in their recording, Wyatt decides to parachute out the plane and let the plane crash, in which he lands in Riverdale's home town and needs a new group to latch on, it's then he comes across the girl band then called The Pussycats and begins use them as the new vehicle for doing sublime messages to youngsters.

The pussycats are played by Rachael Leigh Cook as Josie, Rosario Dawson as Val and Tara Reid as Melody - and Say what you want about Reid and the subsequent decade plus but she's absolutely adorable here as the air-headed Melody, I am not saying the makers of Victorious took the character for Cat but you can't certainly see the similarities. I liked the relationship between the three girls and the jealousy of Val towards Josie is built up well throughout the film.

The film villains are Cumming and Parker Posey, I enjoyed them and it seems like there was having a lot of funny going a bit OTT, though the film is usually better when the Pussycats are the screen, Posey has an awesome scene with a Senator. The best Pussycat related scene is probably the TRL scene.

Overall, the songs are catchy (I really like Pretend To Be Nice) and it's very funny even now after multiple viewings, the girls are pretty too look at and like I said have great chemistry, it's just a shame it didn't set the box-office alight and we got a sequel. I still love this film some 12 years after first seeing it.

57 - Carrie (2002)

Connection To STUCK IN LOVE - Stephen King, who had a voice cameo in the previous movie.

Carrie, Stephen King's first novel and the first film adapted to the screen in 1976, well that movie to me (including the very 70's parts of it) is a classic to me, so the fact that now 2 remakes (which both I think owe the same debt to the movie as they do to the book) exist from a film that was only made in the mid-70's is odd - I am not one of those I think I might have noted before who gets pissy about remakes or long awaited sequels (which the original Carrie did have as well) etc., it's just I believe there is more that could of got remade even once before even the first Carrie remake.

This is a TV movie version - Stephen King as been a mixed bag on the television, I mean we've had Salem's Lot, The Stand and IT (I liked it) but on the other hand we've had stuff like The Langoliers and The Shining from 1998 did nothing for me, but I thought honestly, curiosity killed the cat and really wanted to see it, just to see what it's like.

I think the first thing they got right was the casting of Carrie White, for me at least - Angela Bettis, it's maybe because the film I instantly think of when I think of her is May, which I guess is a character not a million miles away from Carrie, Patricia Clarkson as Margaret White is also good (she's no Piper Laurie though), the rest of the characters I wish I could say more about but none of them stand out, I remember them because of who plays them to be honest - Emilie de Ravin as Chris, Kandyse McClure as Sue, Katharine Isabelle as Tina - and I'm not it's the performances but rather the characters they've been handed.

The film takes elements from both the book and the first film - the prom scene is obviously in mind when they was making it - but the film is and feels over long coming at 130 minutes, I think 20 minutes, maybe more could have been chopped off easily.

And SPOILER FOR THE ENDING - Carrie actually survives this version, she is resuscitated... it feels quite a cop out, however I'll give them the benefit of the doubt as this was mean't to be a pilot to a television series that was never picked up END OF SPOILER

Overall, it's not bad really, Bettis shone for me but there is no way I would watch this instead of the 76 one in the future, this was a one time watch for me.