“The Brave Little Toaster” is one of my favorite movies, and as a child my brother and I were obsessed with it. How obsessed? Well back then when there were video rental stores with (gasp) late fees my brother and I rented “The Brave Little Toaster” every week for about a good 2-3 months. I mean EVERY week we rented that movie. I ask my father to this day why he just didn’t buy the movie. His response has varied but I think he feared we would watch it non-stop if we owned a copy. A smart father.
The point is: I LOVE this movie. For those unfamiliar with the plot it’s about a group of household appliances who come to life when nobody is looking and then pretend to be inanimate objects when people are around. If this sounds a lot like “Toy Story” that’s because “Toy Story” and John Lassiter who worked on the project for a while were all influenced by this film; and the book it was based on of the same name. The book was published in 1980 and the film adaptation came out in 1987. With various direct to video sequels like (I kid you not) “The Brave Little Toaster: Goes to Mars.” Keep in mind this is also when we had that ever annoying “Putt Putt Goes to the Moon” (gosh, I hated that stupid purple car, but he always tricked me into helping him solve his puzzles. I mean I couldn’t just leave him on the moon!) But I digress.
According to the folks over at Cinema Blend. They plan to make a live action “Brave Little Toaster” movie soon. Complete with tons of CGI! Yay! If you can detect the tone of sarcasm in my text that’s because I’m resisting the urge to hold up my middle finger to the computer screen right now! Who in the world wanted this? Nobody was asking for a live action version of this family classic! Nobody! Can you name someone who just was having a few beers and then leaned in and said “Ya’ know what Hollywood needs? A Brave Little Toaster film! You know with Lampy, Blanket, that radio guy voiced by the dude who did the Critic uh,….John Lovitz! Yeah and that cranky Vacuum. But not traditional animation, no I want it live action! And don’t worry about animating the toaster dude, he’s going to be CGI! It’s going to be awesome! Pass me another Newcastle!”
Maybe the producers WERE drunk when they came up with the idea.
How could Disney do this? You know it won’t be as good, why not just re-release the film for a low distribution cost and get kids to buy it. Have Selena Gomez tell them it’s her favorite movie. Or maybe have some nice product placement in an episode of “That’s so Raven!” (Is that show still on Disney? I don’t know. I’m old.) Why make a whole new movie? It seems pointless, it seems useless. “Useless!” Funny I should use that term because it points to a depressing scene in the original toaster film that was almost cut because one of the producers: Donald Kushner thought it too depressing having a song in a movie about appliances committing suicide while they sang they were worthless. Suicide is actually a constant theme throughout the film and there is also a clown based nightmare that also was almost cut. But they didn’t cut it out because this was the 80’s and kids were tougher then. Or something, I’m not sure maybe Disney was always this crazy and now it’s just being diverted into making foolish decisions.
I know my voice matters very little in this grand scheme, it’s not like I hate Disney for this. I just am disappointed in their decision making right now. This is going to introduce a new generation of kids to a story that’s been around for over 30 years, but not in a way that seems appropriate. I’m not cool with the idea of a live action story of this nature because for some reason it seems to steal the imagination out of it. Animated worlds are beautiful and unique because in those worlds things happen that can’t happen in the real world. And yes CGI is a tool that can enhance films and bring certain things to life, but it doesn’t trump animation for kids. There is something not quite genuine about it. “The Brave Little Toaster” is a classic that shouldn’t be messed with. But of course the film will be made, and I’ll just have to accept that. Who knows? Maybe it will actually be good. No it won’t I forgot to mention there are plans to introduce an iphone character. So I guess they are just going to call for help and it all will be solved within 5 minutes.
Now here is a video of cars committing suicide because that’s the kind of film my brother and I liked to watch every Friday. No wonder my dad refused to buy this movie.
Yes my postings on the incredible Rebecca Black continues this time with a video I was an extra in. Written and Directed by Seth Allison and Mishy Turner this parody sketch/music video talks about Ark Music Factory finding their next “Rebecca Black” its quite honestly hilarious and you should watch. There is also some great camera work in here by the incomparable Kyle Helf. Originally aired on “The Randumb Show” you’d be a fool not to watch this video!
It seems everyone under the age of 30 is talking about the music video to the song “Friday” by Rebecca Black that went viral earlier this week due to its absolutely atrocious lyrics, auto-tune sound and just plain strange video cues. So I’ve decided to break down the music video that I have watched over and over again for anybody out there who wants to know the truth about this video. Which has become an instant internet meme. But first if you haven’t watched it here is your chance…
Oh good, you survived watching that video. Actually I don’t find the song to be torture at all, it is easily one of the funniest things ever created, and apparently it is not a joke. Now when I write this article Rebecca has yet to appear on “Good Morning America” and explain to the country why this song exists, so I will say now even if she says it was a big joke we all know it wasn’t. There is a difference between something that is bad that is trying to be good and something that is bad but trying to have some fun with it.
Like most Americans this girl loves her some Friday.
“Friday” is trying hard, way too hard to be a good song, and it just isn’t. So let’s break it down:
Friday starts out innocently enough with Rebecca waking up in her Suburban home and being excited that its Friday! Honestly this is the only thing the music video got right, she wakes up hair is a mess but she has a smile on her face because well…its Friday! Then the song just goes downhill, first off its auto-tuned and while auto-tune has its place in the music industry even auto tune can’t hide bad singing and this wasn’t good singing. I’m not saying Ms. Black is a bad singer she just didn’t do well in this song, and maybe that was the transformer she was trying to hide in her vocal chords who knows? So then the music video shows its true colors, you know its going to be bad. She is standing singing and then out of nowhere she drops this set: Gotta have my bowl, gotta have cereal Seein’ everything, the time is goin’ Tickin’ on and on, everybody’s rushin’ Gotta get down to the bus….. stop.
And this is where the decoding begins and this innocent little song becomes more than that. “Gotta have my bowl, gotta have cereal.” There is a comma there, obviously a new thought has been created. Is there a subliminal message in here about toking it up before school? She never said she was putting the cereal in that bowl, she’s gotta have MY bowl. Even though I’m in college now and have my own set of dishes I never refer to them as my bowl. Food for thought people. Oh and that mentioning of the Bus stop? Well here is the next bit of lines: “Gotta catch my bus, I see my friends (My friends) Kickin’ in the front seat Sittin’ in the back seat Gotta make my mind up Which seat can I take?”
So I guess she won’t be taking the bus to school then? Her friends just pull up and offer her a ride, which is nice but then something really strange happens we just cut to night and she and her friends are driving around. I think the message Rebecca is trying to convey here is to skip school on Friday. I mean why even go when your stoned and are still munching on cereal. I’m not even sure if that car belongs to the driver none of these kids look old enough to be driving. Has the makings of a joy ride all over it. And why is Rebecca so concerned with what seat to take, she is the last one in the car and probably the smallest. I know what that means; you gotta ride the middle seat dear. But she really seems fixated on the seat to take. Is there a deeper philosophical meaning behind all of this? Perhaps her seat in the car represents where she is in life right now, or how she relates to her friends. It’s important to note all of her friends are white. It would have been interesting if they had thrown a black or Asian kid into the mix. Maybe she doesn’t want to sit in the back seat with the Latino kid? We’ll never know, socially conscious opportunity missed there. It could mean a lot of things, Rebecca is a deep woman we as people aren’t giving her enough credit. The more I analyze “Friday” the more deep I realize it truly is. Did I mention it gets deeper? “It’s Friday, Friday Gotta get down on Friday Everybody’s lookin’ forward to the weekend, weekend Friday, Friday Gettin’ down on Friday Everybody’s lookin’ forward to the weekend Partyin’, partyin’ (Yeah) Partyin’, partyin’ (Yeah) Fun, fun, fun, fun Lookin’ forward to the weekend!” You just read the chorus for this song. Do you feel confused? Maybe upset? Its okay just breathe deeply, because its going to only get worse from here.
So Rebecca and her friends are driving around and Rebecca is still obsessed with which seat to take. Is it really that important? Its not like she ever had a true opportunity to call shotgun. Rebecca and her friends are just driving around after skipping school jamming to music and standing up without their seat belts on. Rebecca doesn’t follow safety laws, ’cause she’s a thug! Just listen to her flow: “7:45, we’re drivin’ on the highway Cruisin’ so fast, I want time to fly Fun, fun, think about fun You know what it is I got this, you got this My friend is by my rightI got this, you got this Now you know it Kickin’ in the front seat Sittin’ in the back seat Gotta make my mind up Which seat can I take?” Wait a minute why does she keep saying that she’s got this? And that I’ve got it? Got what? Then it hit me, she is obviously hitting us with some subtle hints here about her Illuminati past. I’m sure the secret society had some weird correlation to the day of Friday and if they don’t some paranoid dude in his basement will make something up to connect them. I think she may be planning to pick off her friends one by one until she either is riding shotgun or is driving the car itself. She is just biding her time, waiting to strike.
Then the most disturbing and baffling thing in the entire song takes place. I wouldn’t believe it was true unless I heard it myself. “Yesterday was Thursday, Thursday Today i-is Friday, Friday (Partyin’) We-we-we so excited We so excited We gonna have a ball today Tomorrow is Saturday And Sunday comes after…wards I don’t want this weekend to end.” Did that just happen? Did she just break down half the week for me? Its like I’m watching a very bad episode of “Sesame Street”. Is it really necessary to let me know that the day before Friday is Thursday? Then she goes further and says the next day is Saturday and that Sunday comes after. Yeah no crap Sherlock! I’ve lived through a week before, I know how it works. Is this girl serious? We we we we so excited? Whose excited? I’m so confused! Its obvious this girl skips school, we we we so excited that’s such bad English it wouldn’t be featured in a rap video. Speaking of which… as Rebecca Black and her friends reach a party of other 13 year olds with zero adult supervision the music video takes a turn from the worse to the down right creepy. Suddenly this random 30 something black rapper comes onto the screen driving in his car and he starts rapping: “R-B, Rebecca Black So chillin’ in the front seat (In the front seat) In the back seat (In the back seat) I’m drivin’, cruisin’ (Yeah, yeah) Fast lanes, switchin’ lanes Wit’ a car up on my side (Woo!) (C’mon) Passin’ by is a school bus in front of me Makes tick tock, tick tock, wanna scream Check my time, it’s Friday, it’s a weekend We gonna have fun, c’mon, c’mon, y’all!”
Who is this dude? He just appears out of nowhere, I’ve never seen him before is he serious? Why is a 30 year old black man in this video? I guess Rebecca has a black friend after all! And he can drive! Obviously this man knows Rebecca well enough to have a cute nickname for her, and it appears he’s coming to her party. That is beyond creepy, he is way too old to be hanging out at this party unless he is there to chaperon them. He is just so out of place in this white bread music video and yet it doesn’t surprise me. “Friday” pulled out all the stops to make the song as much of a hit as possible, and what better way than doing a collab with two unknowns? Its awful, but I’ll remember this man’s face for the rest of my life. Anytime he tries to do serious rap I’ll just be sure to point out that he was the guy who appeared in the Rebecca Black music vid. Was it really worth the paycheck dude? I hope so.
I feel a little bad making fun of this young woman, hey she’s just trying to make a living. But that’s also why I don’t feel too bad for her. People are downloading this song, people are sharing it, people are watching it. Sure its mainly because they find it ridiculous but honestly she is on the lips of so many people now and she will be making a pretty penny from this. Don’t feel too bad for her, now obviously some people have taken making fun of her too far, but I think I kept this well in the realm of fair game. Can Rebecca have a future in the music industry? Who knows, I feel she should could make a mark if she kept churning out songs like this. In the end we we we so excited for Friday too Rebecca, your video reminds us of that. Friday is a good day, Saturday is too. I’m so proud that you feel obligated to educate Americans on days of the week. So I salute you Rebecca do your thing even if we all just stand by scratching our heads and continue to wonder why you will get more press that a million great indie bands.
You can also watch a hilarious spoof video I was in of Rebecca Black’s “Friday” by clicking here.
Let me start off by saying that I will give you a fair warning before my review starts to let you know when I will start actually spoiling key elements of the plot of “Life is not a Musical” The Musical” which I will occasionally call “Life” for the sake of my fingers. So don’t worry if you haven’t seen it, most people reading this article probably haven’t. I understand that and the first 75% of this article will be spoiler free, and you will know how I feel about the movie in a holistic sense well before I start my slight spoilers.
You probably haven’t heard or seen “Life” due to the fact that is a recently released (at the time of this article’s inception) independent short film from Idea Box Productions and the Pepperdine Film Society. Now usually when I think of indie films, I think of a lot of montages involving grainy film, running down hallways and aisles, playing on the beach, smiling, free spirit young adults usually dealing with dark material. Or really cheesy SyFy Channel original movies. “Life” is neither of these, thank the Lord for that. It is a well thought out and executed independent musical romantic comedy. Yes that’s right its a musical, give yourself a star if you figured that out after reading the title of the film. If you just realized that now…..well…le’ts move on….
Clayton Snyder (left) and Jacob Shideler
Directed by Paul Casey who wrote the script with Zane Miller “Life is not a Musical: The Musical” focuses on a young man named Tom (Jacob Shideler). Also unlike most college made independent films the lead character is not in college. Good move there, as it allows Tom much more freedom in his character development. I’m a firm believer that college either molds you or hardens you and sometimes seeing that in a film with that frame just doesn’t work for the source material. Casey and Miller made the right choice making Tom a more unattached character. The more time I spend in college the more I tend to hate it, I was happily refreshed to see a movie made by collegiates that got out of that life sucking realm.
So as I started to explain before I interrupted myself “Life” focuses on Tom a young adult who is going through a rough time. He’s just gotten divorced from his wife Brooke (Jillian Lawson) and has lost his job. The two are so distant from each other at this point its hard to believe they ever liked each other let alone loved one another. Tom’s friends (Craig Knepley and Jeffrey Thompson) are about as useful as a plastic spork at a steak dinner. It seems the only one in the world who actually somewhat cares about him is his lawyer Carson (Clayton Snyder) and it could be argued he just wants to win the case and doesn’t care much about Tom as a person. Tom is forced to become a handyman for a local theater group where he works with the beyond bizarre Grover (Seth Allison). Eventually, as these musicals go Tom falls for a beautiful woman named Claire (Allegra Edwards). But there is competition from the snakey Adrian (Zach Garrett) , and before you know it BOOM you’ve got a musical and a darn good one at that.
I review and rank all the movies on a scale from 1 to 100 on my youtube channel and on here. 1 being absolute trash and 100 being perfect (An honor only given to “Toy Story 3” and likely never to be given again) but when grading “Life is Not a Musical: The Musical” it’d be unfair to rank it in comparison to big budget films, I’m not saying it doesn’t hold its weight against big budget films but there is a different approach you have to take when grading truly independent films. And this one truly is having spent well under 15K on the project.
Garrett’s cinematography is pitch perfect
The most important thing about a musical is the music. Colin Edge & Zane Miller penned the music and lyrics and let me say this is by far the strongest mark of the movie. I kid you not, big budget film or small budget small I WANT THIS SOUNDTRACK! I want it on itunes tomorrow and I want to own the CD so I can listen to it when I wake up in the morning. The songs are fun and catchy, and there is just the right mix of story and song, you never get too much of either and both are satisfying, but the musical numbers really stand out. A lot of credit has to be given to Layla Brisco for her job choreographing the unpaid talent in this project. Everything is so well executed you swear that these numbers once played on Broadway at some point. Zane and Colin could very well have a future in this genre as well as Layla.
The story is fairly generic but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Not every musical has to be a “Sweeney Todd” with a complex storyline interwoven into it all, musicals need to be fun and jazzy like this one every once in a while. Sure I knew where it was going most of the time but I didn’t care I was along for the ride, and I was entertained. Plus there were enough funny moments to keep me perky and again the musical numbers were hilarious in their own right when they needed to be. Sure maybe there could have been some more twists, but I’ll get into that later, talking about it now would spoil the movie. And you wouldn’t want that.
The cinematography is superb Zach Garrett who was the Director of Photography did a splendid job creating the atmosphere with just about every single shot, and when Zach couldn’t be behind the lens Austin Chapman lent his gifted eye to the reel. No scenes are sloppily shot and thats something you also must give credit to director Paul Casey for, sometimes (and this is something I do constantly) you become so obsessed with finishing the movie you don’t spend enough time on a scene making it look beautiful, but Zach and Austin saw the beauty in every scene and made love to each frame of cinema like it was Denise Milani, even if sometimes it didn’t come out looking like her you could always see the effort to make every shot interesting. Aspiring director of photographers and directors should seek this film out for simply the quality alone. Could learn a thing or two, I know I did.
Songs about divorce are always relevant
I’d have to say the biggest down tick of “Life” is some of the editing. And don’t jump on me editor of this film, you did a fantastic job, but certain scenes could have been tightened up. (I don’t know who edited the film, they did a good job they really did) but there were times like for example a very long dance warm up scene where it lagged. Yes the shots were beautiful but just like a good looking guy or gal sometimes you have to know less is more. I’m not claiming as a filmmaker that I’m impervious to this error, I’m just saying I noticed it in a few scenes of “Life” that’s all, god forbid I give out some level and fair handed criticism in this review. The editing was still top notch with many scenes and there was a great pace to the film besides a few missteps here and there.
The acting in this movie is above the standard fare of indie films, I mean its a musical were not going to get long dramatic monologues every other scene. Jacob Shideler who plays the lead does a good job playing the at times frustratingly shelled Tom and Allegra Edwards glows as Claire. The two play off each other well and have good chemistry and Allegra manages to make her character seem incredibly natural even in this musical world. The supporting cast is just as good Thompson and Knepley are funny as the useless friends and Lawson squeezes in some sympathy for her polarizing character as Tom’s ex-wife. Clayton Snyder of “Lizzie McGuire” fame is probably the heavy hitter in terms of relative star power in the film and he offers very nice moments of levity during the divorce angle of “Life”. Seth Allison is a scene stealer as the creepy head janitor Grover and made me laugh everytime he was on screen. And Miriam McSpadden who plays Claire’s friend Aubrey offers up some really nice one liners and comebacks I wouldn’t dare ruin for you.
Of course kudos once again to the entire crew. Paul Casey and the assistant director Karee Maxson had a lot on their plate, luckily they also had people like Kinsey Cronin to lend a hand as production manager. Everyone associated with this project worked hard and you can color me impressed with the whole product, that’s why I’m giving “Life is not a Musical: The Musical” a 91/100 you can find out when the soundtrack and DVD will be released by clicking here. I should also come clean now and admit that I am lightly and very briefly associated with this film as I have a “Special Thanks” credit for my random and sporadic help on the film, most notably lending them a tripod. Which I’m not even sure they used. In the end this was a daunting task that most filmmakers would have either backed away from or gone up in smoke trying to complete but these ladies and gents pulled it off with style.
Dance for me my children! Dance! Dance!
WARNING: SOME SPOILERS AHEAD! IF you have not see “Life is not a Musical: The Musical” yet and want to be totally surprised nothing you read on from this point needs to be read. If you have seen the film and want to know a bit more about my thoughts on the cinematic effort please continue on.
One problem I couldn’t address much in the spoiler free review was some noticeable lack of character development. With a movie that is around 80 minutes long more could have been done. The most frustrating has to be Zach Garrett’s character Adrian. Adrian is the central external antagonist in the film, and yet he is reduced to basically two and a half scenes. We see him try and woo Claire and kind of fail, but delusional or perhaps uncaring he presses on. Then we really don’t get much more of him until he of course becomes a really mean guy and basically rough hands Claire. The monster! But that scene lacks a fire and build due to the fact that it offers little to be satisfied when Tom finally does punch Adrian. Adrian seems more like the guy Tom uses as his punching bag to vent his frustrations with life on. So what if he likes Claire? Have you seen Claire? It’d be hard for a dude not to like her, how does that make him a bad person? Oh yeah he’s mean to her, well its good enough but with a top notch actor like Mr. Garrett more could have been done to expand this character. Its not a huge black spot on the film but I’d say this kept it from being ranked a 93.
There is also the wise piano player who just seems to be there, and while funny and all I felt that if Tom’s character was spilling all this to him he should have been introduced in the linear storyline at some point, even if only briefly. But this is all small stuff who can resist a movie where you get to see Bill Szobody yell at “under performing” actresses? I’m being nit picky at this point, and I’m not saying I could do this better. If I was given this task I very well could have failed, and that is why I will close by giving props to Mr. Paul Casey and Mr. Zane Miller. This production worked with over 120 students Paul Casey who came up with the idea and concept for “Life” never gave up on his dream and thanks to help from Zane Miller who also pushed it to so many people it became a reality. I could give shout outs to various people who helped make this film what it is like Kyle Helf, Mishy Turner, Haven Nutt, Carissa Gipprich, Erika Varela, Katie McDonough (okay fine! I’ll stop now!), but for the sake of trying to remain somewhat unbiased I’ll just leave you with the trailer for “Life is not a musical: the musical”. Enjoy!
Red Flag Movie Productions© 
September 13, 2012
Brave Little Toaster Remake?! Live Action?!! NOOOO!
by iconmatthew1
My childhood.
“The Brave Little Toaster” is one of my favorite movies, and as a child my brother and I were obsessed with it. How obsessed? Well back then when there were video rental stores with (gasp) late fees my brother and I rented “The Brave Little Toaster” every week for about a good 2-3 months. I mean EVERY week we rented that movie. I ask my father to this day why he just didn’t buy the movie. His response has varied but I think he feared we would watch it non-stop if we owned a copy. A smart father.
The point is: I LOVE this movie. For those unfamiliar with the plot it’s about a group of household appliances who come to life when nobody is looking and then pretend to be inanimate objects when people are around. If this sounds a lot like “Toy Story” that’s because “Toy Story” and John Lassiter who worked on the project for a while were all influenced by this film; and the book it was based on of the same name. The book was published in 1980 and the film adaptation came out in 1987. With various direct to video sequels like (I kid you not) “The Brave Little Toaster: Goes to Mars.” Keep in mind this is also when we had that ever annoying “Putt Putt Goes to the Moon” (gosh, I hated that stupid purple car, but he always tricked me into helping him solve his puzzles. I mean I couldn’t just leave him on the moon!) But I digress.
According to the folks over at Cinema Blend. They plan to make a live action “Brave Little Toaster” movie soon. Complete with tons of CGI! Yay! If you can detect the tone of sarcasm in my text that’s because I’m resisting the urge to hold up my middle finger to the computer screen right now! Who in the world wanted this? Nobody was asking for a live action version of this family classic! Nobody! Can you name someone who just was having a few beers and then leaned in and said “Ya’ know what Hollywood needs? A Brave Little Toaster film! You know with Lampy, Blanket, that radio guy voiced by the dude who did the Critic uh,….John Lovitz! Yeah and that cranky Vacuum. But not traditional animation, no I want it live action! And don’t worry about animating the toaster dude, he’s going to be CGI! It’s going to be awesome! Pass me another Newcastle!”
Maybe the producers WERE drunk when they came up with the idea.
How could Disney do this? You know it won’t be as good, why not just re-release the film for a low distribution cost and get kids to buy it. Have Selena Gomez tell them it’s her favorite movie. Or maybe have some nice product placement in an episode of “That’s so Raven!” (Is that show still on Disney? I don’t know. I’m old.) Why make a whole new movie? It seems pointless, it seems useless. “Useless!” Funny I should use that term because it points to a depressing scene in the original toaster film that was almost cut because one of the producers: Donald Kushner thought it too depressing having a song in a movie about appliances committing suicide while they sang they were worthless. Suicide is actually a constant theme throughout the film and there is also a clown based nightmare that also was almost cut. But they didn’t cut it out because this was the 80’s and kids were tougher then. Or something, I’m not sure maybe Disney was always this crazy and now it’s just being diverted into making foolish decisions.
I know my voice matters very little in this grand scheme, it’s not like I hate Disney for this. I just am disappointed in their decision making right now. This is going to introduce a new generation of kids to a story that’s been around for over 30 years, but not in a way that seems appropriate. I’m not cool with the idea of a live action story of this nature because for some reason it seems to steal the imagination out of it. Animated worlds are beautiful and unique because in those worlds things happen that can’t happen in the real world. And yes CGI is a tool that can enhance films and bring certain things to life, but it doesn’t trump animation for kids. There is something not quite genuine about it. “The Brave Little Toaster” is a classic that shouldn’t be messed with. But of course the film will be made, and I’ll just have to accept that. Who knows? Maybe it will actually be good. No it won’t I forgot to mention there are plans to introduce an iphone character. So I guess they are just going to call for help and it all will be solved within 5 minutes.
Now here is a video of cars committing suicide because that’s the kind of film my brother and I liked to watch every Friday. No wonder my dad refused to buy this movie.
–Matthew S. Robinson