Sparkle Midnight Showing!

[WhizzerMarvin TrinaJasonMendel]

I'm getting back from the midnight showing of Sparkle! I was really excited to go and was hoping for a Dreamgirls/Burlesque/Joyful Noise type movie. It was a little bit of each of those, but ultimately didn't have enough music (Whitney only sang one song) and was such a downer when it could have been more fun.

Whitney got entrance applause, and had some nice over the top line readings and facial expressions that got reactions from the crowd. The sad thing was the state of voice: when speaking she often sounded like a pack-a-day smoker, and when singing she was reduced to a five note range.

Jordin Sparks is not a good actress. She gave it the old college try, but most of her lines drew snickers from my friend and the crowd. The script kept telling us that she was such an amazing songwriter and singer, (spoiler?) but we didn't get to hear her sing anything alone until near the end of the film.

The story involved Sparkle (yes that is Sparks' character's name!) and her two sisters who formed a 60s girls group and rose to fame. Sparkle wrote the songs, but didn't have the self confidence to sing them herself, so her older and prettier sister took lead.

The two sisters were good actresses and their characters were developed far beyond Sparks' Sparkle. The story was more about the eldest sister than the title character.

There are a million and one costume and wig changes, so that's pretty fun to watch. Not everything is period, and dialogue often rings false. At two hours it could have used more editing; cut 30 minutes of dialogue and add 15 minutes of song.

All in all I got some good laughs and I'll be quoting it with friends for a while, but it could have been so much better, even if that meant being campier.

[Jordan Catalano]

Did Whitney scream "KISS MY ASS!" at Sparkle?

[ArtMan]

*Spoilers* Whizzer, I attended an advance screening on Wednesday. Didn't you find the movie to have too many "roll your eyes" moments. For example, an up and comming artist would not have a showcase in that huge showroom with a full orchestra. Too expensive. Also the endinging songs (written by R Kelly) did not have a 60's vibe. But the record producer signed her anyway. I agree that Whitney's voice was so raspy. Its amazing that she could sing at all. Jordan Sparks, I was not impressed with. But the actress who played Sister was very good. And actually Mike Epps was very good also. It was okay for a free movie. The crowd I saw it with seemed to love every bit of it.

[MrMidwest]

Interesting review:

"It's disheartening enough to watch Houston's character sniping about the dangers of the entertainment industry while her on-screen daughter is arriving late to gigs, eyes glazed over and specks of cocaine powder around her nose would've still carried a charge. It's an entirely different level of shamefulness to release the film posthumously with lines of dialogue about how Emma's daughters found her lying unconscious in piles of her own vomit left intact, poised to gut-punch the singer's fanbase in order to then lift them up via Houston's 11th-hour gospel rendition of "His Eye Is on the Sparrow." The effect feels icky, like an inversion of Heath Ledger's spell over The Dark Knight, a movie left haunted by its dead star's seeming submission to his demons. Sparkle feeds from Houston's off-camera struggles like a vampire, adapting elements of her fall from grace and putting her in the position to say "I told you so," a point that wouldn't have been made anywhere near as effectively had Houston not ended up a victim herself in real life."

http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/review/sparkle/6459

[MrMidwest]

3 stars from Ebert:

"Whitney Houston has a solo showcase in a church scene, singing "His Eye is on the Sparrow," and if her voice doesn't match her glory days her presence certainly does. Director Salim Akil and musical consultant R. Kelly don't let her, or any of the singers, down. "Sparkle" isn't blindingly original but it delivers solid entertainment, and despite the clichés I was never for a moment bored. I do feel, however, that it might have been a kindness to leave out the dialog about Houston's character waking in her own vomit. How did that make her feel while she was filming the scene. How does it make us feel now?"
Ebert review

[WhizzerMarvin TrinaJasonMendel]

Mr. Midwest- There were many moments when the audience responded to one of Whitney's lines that now hit too close to home. The daughters got involved in drug use, etc and she would say things like, "Don't you know you're going down a dangerous path?" Even if she wasn't dead it would have elicited a reaction.

ArtMan- Yes there was an eye-roll moment everything other line. At first we were laughing at all of them, but we adjusted to it by the end. SO much was not period. They liked the 60s for all the costumes and wigs, and even many of the dresses were way too revealing for the era, but other than that the dialogue, music and singing style all smacked of anachronisms.

[CarlosAlberto]

I haven't seen this ...yet. The original is a childhood favorite of mine, and from what I am reading Carmen Ejogo as "Sister", the eldest sister (yes, that's her name!) is walking away with this film in very much the same way Lonette McKee walked away with the original.

[WhizzerMarvin TrinaJasonMendel]

Yep, Ejogo is the best thing about the movie and it was pretty much her story anyway. At about 1 hr 40 min into the movie I turned to my friend and asked if the movie was called Sparkle or Sister. I would love to see Ejogo act in something with a better script.

[CarlosAlberto]

Thank you Joel Schumacher for some of the most silliest character names in the history of cinema: Sparkle, Sister, Tune Ann and Stix!



Original Sparkle cast: Dorian Harewood as Levi, Lonette McKee as Sister, Irene Cara as Sparkle, Dwan Smith as Delores and Philip Michael Thomas as Stix

[WhizzerMarvin TrinaJasonMendel]

Sparkle's new red dress:

[WhizzerMarvin TrinaJasonMendel]

They looked more like TLC than a 60s girl group in the remake.

[MrMidwest]

Ejogo was good in a small role as Maya Rudolph's sister in Away We Go.
'You got lucky, sister.'

[bwayphreak234]

I just saw it. I thought it was bad. The story was long and had way too many melodramatic moments. I like Jordin Sparks, but she can not act. At all. The music was AWFUL, and the songs were way too long and sounded the same. Another one to add to my summer movie disappointments.

[Yawper]

For example, an up and comming artist would not have a showcase in that huge showroom with a full orchestra. Too expensive.

The Motortown (later Motown) Revues used to pair headliners with up-and-comers and used to carry an orchestra typically of about 16 pieces. The Revues played all over the US (including Detroit's ~5,000 seat Fox Theatre, where the show went on 4-5x daily during the Xmas season) and even had some European forays.

[ljay889]

The late great Aaliyah was supposed to star in this film more than 10 years ago. At the time of her death, she had only done two films, but her acting likely would have been leagues better Sparks'.

[MrMidwest]

"The music was AWFUL, and the songs were way too long and sounded the same."

You didn't like the Curtis Mayfield songs? I think they're the best part of the original movie.
Hooked On Your Love

[WhizzerMarvin TrinaJasonMendel]

Yawper- Did you see the movie?
(This does come with some spoilers, btw)

The showcase the poster was referring to happens at the end of the movie. Sparkle has just begged to see a big record exec and plead her case that she is worthy of a record deal. He tells her she's got one shot to prove herself. Immediately after she tracks down her ex-boyfriend/manager and says she got her chance- but doesn't have any show ready for the next night.

Magically he throws together this showcase performance for her (and mentions to the record exec that he sold out the house solely on selling tickets to people in the old neighborhood who've come out to support Sparkle). The showcase is complete with three backup singers in costume, a full orchestra and a 50 member gospel choir! It was very unrealistic.

Just in general they never addressed where the family got all of their money. Whitney was a single mom, who at one point had a messed-up life. Now she worked a retail job, but it definitely wouldn't support raising three daughters. Plus their house was huge, beautiful and in a nice neighborhood. The also owned a car. Mother and daughters must have each had their own walk-in closet for all the fancy clothes they had. They make a big deal about owning a color tv, but where did they get the money for it?

[CarlosAlberto]

The songs were awful?!! Sparkle boasts classic songs composed by the legendary Curtis Mayfield. "Hooked On Your Love", "Something He Can Feel", "Jump", "If You Look Into Your Heart" and "Lovin' You" have been covered many times by many artists.

I think the music is what elevates the actual story.

I've heard the new songs that were written and I am not impressed. They are too contemporary sounding and not of the era. But then again this SPARKLE was significantly changed from the original film. The original took place in 1958 in Harlem, the family lived in a brownstone walk up in the middle of the 'hood and the mom was a maid for rich white people in Upstate NY. This one was moved to 1968 Detroit.

I think I'll wait for this one on DVD.






Classic Soul Cinema: Spotlight on the Original Sparkle

[CarlosAlberto]

Another great write up on the original film by Ken Anderson over at the Dreams Are What Le Cinema Is For blog.

It's one of the best if not THE best essay written on the film. I love his blog and any true film buff should really read it. He makes some very interesting choices and I love his writing style.
Dreams Are What Le Cinema Is For: "Sparkle" (1976)

[MrMidwest]

I wish they had just added some more Mayfield songs from other films instead of bringing R. Kelly on board.

[CarlosAlberto]

^ I wholeheartedly agree. They could have worked in some tracks from "Claudine". I think "On and On" and "Make Yours A Happy Home" would have fit.

[CarlosAlberto]

WOW! Carmen Ejogo is 40 years old...she's old enough to be Jordin Sparks mom...WTF!

[ArtMan]

Thank you Whizzer for responding to Yawper. I was about to respond, but you stated it better than I would have. Also, earlier today, I was just talking to a friend I saw the movie with, wondering, also, where Whitney got her money. The entire movie she was dressed to the max and looked fabulous, on a retail job in the sixties. LOL And she sure was a sound sleeper to sleep through all their nightly performances and never know if the girls were in the house.

[ArtMan]

What was the name of the song the other girl group performed in the club? The night they first performed. Now that song sounded like it was from the sixties. That group, I would have signed for a contract.

[CarlosAlberto]

The song is called "Running"

[ArtMan]

Thanks Carlos. I did a search on the song and found it to be written by Harmon & Kelly, (Not R kelly) who are contemporary songwriters. If you listen to the song, I think it is perfect to blend in the soundtrack with Curtis Mayfield's songs. Why R Kelly could not do this as a songwriter, is beyond me. When you see the movie or hear the songs Sparkle sings at the end, they sound like songs from 2012. And really not good ones at that. Celebration is kind of catchy, but again, not 60's, and is sung over the credits. Goaple sings Running on the soundtrack. I'm not sure if she was in the movie, but the singer in the movie was hot and worked it. I was more impressed with her "flash of a character" than Sparkle.