theonejackdry

Just watched the movie for the first time yesterday. I loved it. I thought it was touching and exciting and time flew by. I loved the dancing and enjoying the dialogues and the corny introduction scenes. I thought the dancing was good and it was like seeing Fame for the first time.

Then I read the reviews and discovered it's a very hated movie! I get why people who might have loved the original musical might not like the movie, but if you know nothing of the broadway show (like I did), why spoil yourself the pleasure of watching the movie. Besides I tried to watch the musical and for a show that boasts "the longest run in history", nobody seems to have cared to preserve a single video recording of it. What you find on youtube is a bunch of ghosts on the worst video recording ever made of anything. So there: if you want to enjoy A Chorus Line, now all you have is the movie!

The choreography might have been changed from the musical but it's still great. It might look more like Fame but Fame was awesome, and it sticks to the ensemble pieces and not interpretative dancing like I saw on the only extract watchable on youtube of the musical. The movie is extremely well filmed and no Michael Douglas is not a god like figure in the shadows, he's a pretty interesting character who becomes more personable as the movie progresses. When you read more about the original musical, yes, there are things in the movie that don't make a lot of sense, like the age difference in the dancers (no spoilers). And yes I agree we're supposed to take at face value that Cassie is much better than the others. But well she's pretty good and she has extremely long legs to prove her special status. And it's a movie! : ) It's fun. It's the 80s. It's sentimental. It's a one set nearly continuous real time action that is never boring or feels enclosed. Watch it! It's fantastic. If anyone has a video of the original musical, please put it on youtube for others to enjoy, since it's supposed to be "even better" than the movie ; )

As a Magnum or a Murder She Wrote episode, this episode wasn't that great. The story makes no sense, nobody knows what happens, and it doesn't get resolved.

But I think that's the joke. The whole joke is about what a detective is, and how they work their deductions. I imagine the writers had a lot of fun writing this and it's just so much fun seeing Magnum and Jessica together.

Sure, they could have "worked together" and gotten along, but it wouldn't have been this witty TV Essay.

It's like the set pieces of an episode are there: pursuit, disparition, discovery, gun fight. But it's all running on empty. The real action is in the dialogues and each character alleging they are the victim.

And who Jessica Walter hitting on Magnum!!?? Amazing.

It's either a no so great episode or a brilliant TV crossover Essay. I'll take the second interpretation.