Evengyny Thanks for the memories!

Kidskycom It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

Tayyab Torres Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

lasttimeisaw A critical box-office fiasco directed by Herbert Ross (THE GOODBYE GIRL 1977, California SUITE 1978), PENNIES FROM HEAVEN is a Depression-era musical, alternates between a harsh reality and the dreamlike musical numbers of fantasy, it stars Steve Martin as a Chicago sheet- music salesman Arthur Parker, who is frustrated with his frigid wife Joan (Harper) and the failing business and gets smitten with a young school teacher Eileen (Peters) at his first glance. The affair costs Eileen her job and she deign to become a street hustler while Arthur returns to Joan, but eventually the two reunite and decide to start a new life together, but who will expect, Arthur's one-time Good Samaritan deed to a homeless man who plays an accordion (Bagneris), will lead him to his doom as a scapegoat of a murder in this unjust, bleak world.The plot is a continuum of despondency and dissatisfaction, and overtly sexually aggressive, devoid of any limerent whitewashing to appease its viewers, Arthur, is a undisguised lustful husband from the very beginning and Eileen is not a shrinking violet either in that aspect (nudge nudge), in a frank manner, she confesses that she is grateful to Arthur that she is able to be liberated from her prudish facade.By sheer contrast, the imaginary sequences of dancing and lip-syncing with oldie tunes are glamorous to the hilt. The titular song is firstly mimed and danced by Bagneris in a showering of golden coins, and later poignantly used as an epilogue sung by Arthur with a noose nearby. A show-stopping Christopher Walken tap-dances in Cole Porter's LET'S MISBEHAVE is an incredible boon to remind us that he can be deadly charming and dangerous within the same take. Martin, in his second leading film role and long before his trademark white hair begin to sprout, excels in his burlesque deftness and dramatic expertise. The Broadway diva Bernadette Peters, extracts a profound ambivalence of good-girl-gone-bad transmogrification with her sultry body language and a baby-like poker face and last but not the least, Jessica Harper will be forever remembered for the lipsticks on her nipples.PENNIES FROM HEAVEN is the last hurrah of the musical genre which had reigned Hollywood over 60 years, its unconventional tact of juggling with reality and escapism is ahead of its time and Dennis Potter's pedestrian script cannot help it either, but in retrospect, it deserves a revitalisation of BluRay treatment, even just for the sake of those sumptuous and consummate dancing-and- singing parodies.

mark.waltz No, there's nothing jolly about the plot line of this version of the classic British TV series where the characters suddenly break into the original recordings of the 1930's, lip-syncing to the original performers. While there's a lot of the music missing from the T.V. series (particularly memorable to me was a scene where the women tap-dance on the hero's coffin in a fantasy sequence to "I'll Be Glad When You're Dead, You Rascal You!"), what remains is pure musical joy even though the plot is no laughing matter. Sheet music salesman Steve Martin is depressed over the state of affairs in his marriage (to the dour Jessica Harper) so he begins an affair with sweet school teacher Bernadette Peters. But evidence points to Martin being a murdering rapist while Peters faces disgrace as a result of the affair.Yes, the depression was depressing, and in addition to Bonnie and Clyde, bread lines and chants of "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?", there was all that wonderful music, through the movies, Broadway and radio. After being turned down for a loan, Martin and the banker suddenly kiss (in Martin's fantasy) and break into "Yes, Yes, My Baby Said Yes Yes" (a song first performed in the Eddie Cantor musical "Palmy Days") while Bernadette quiets her kiddies down with "Love is Good For Anything That Ails You", also sung in "Hit Parade of 1937". Christopher Walken is a pimp who strips to "Let's Misbehave" and Vernal Bagneris shows humanity as the tramp who sings the title song. Broadway veteran John McMartin appears briefly as Peters' boss.Another amazing highlight is the fantasy sequence where Steve and Bernadette turn into Fred and Ginger while watching "Follow the Fleet" and take over "Let's Face the Music and Dance", filmed in black and white with the two wearing the exact same outfits that Fred and Ginger were wearing. It's a magical moment in post-classic era cinema that is rare to be sure. The songs don't really move the plot along (as they aren't meant to) but represent the element of hope Martin keeps hidden away as his life falls apart. The ending is a bit jarring and unbelievable, but was probably necessary to prevent a bad word of mouth from spreading. This would certainly be a project worth considering for Broadway, but then again, with all the other movies having been musicalized, you have to say, why bother?

GrigoryGirl This is a really ambitious film, but it's a failure. As many here have noted, it's a feature length film of a 7 hour British miniseries. Despite both being written (at least officially) by Dennis Potter, the brilliant TV writer, the movie feels essentially like a greatest hits package, taking the highlights of the miniseries, and making a film out of it. It plays almost like a 108 minute trailer. American moviegoers were majorly confused about it when it came out (it was a notorious bomb in its day), probably due to the use of pre-existing recordings mixed in with a dark, depressing story.There are some excellent things about it. It has great cinematography in it, the production design is eye boggling, and the film, despite the rushed atmosphere, manages to capture the mood and tone of the miniseries quite well. Martin, Peters, and Walken are good in their roles, but their British counterparts are better. Herbert Ross does the best he can here, and while the film is very ambitious and isn't a complete disaster, it's still not as good as the miniseries. Condensing a 7 hour TV film into a 2 hour one is never a good thing.

evanston_dad This not very well known and dismissed musical surprised me with how good it was. Under the glossy production design and snappy musical numbers, there's a very dark center to the film, as its characters struggle through the Great Depression and their own desperation. It put me in mind of the depression-era musicals like "42nd Street," in which landing a part in a chorus line could mean the difference between eating and starving, and people put on a show more out of grim determination than through the true desire to burst into song. Maybe it's this quality that resulted in the film being a box office bomb upon its release.Steve Martin, Bernadette Peters and especially Christopher Walken do smashing work in this movie. Walken shows that pizazz and attitude can go a long way toward overcoming limitations as a singer and dancer.Grade: A-