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Re: R.I.P. Helen Reddy

Posted: Fri Oct 09, 2020 4:21 am
by Precious Doll
Great review from Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian of I Am Woman. Great as in he nails a lot of what is wrong with this film in just four paragraphs:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/o ... elen-reddy

Re: R.I.P. Helen Reddy

Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2020 12:13 am
by Franz Ferdinand
There was a really great bit on the Late Show in the mid-90's during the audience talent show where she "happened" to be in the crowd and hijacked the show with "I Am Woman". Great sense of humor and a pleasant voice, "Angie Baby" is an underrated gem.

Re: R.I.P. Helen Reddy

Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2020 6:16 pm
by Precious Doll
Reza wrote:
Mister Tee wrote:Just to be contrarian, I'll say I thought she had as bland a voice as any 70s pop star. Just compare Yvonne Elliman's rendition of I Don't Know How to Love Him to hers -- Elliman is full of emotion; Reddy sounds like she's phoning it in. Ditto with Delta Dawn vis a vis Bette Midler. I truly never understood her fame.
Wasn't her fame mostly based on the war cry "I Am Woman", coming at a time when your country was newly swept up by the Women's Liberation Movement?
The Women's Movement was well underway before "I Am Woman" but I suppose the song was something of a theme for the Women's Movement all over the world and to a degree still is.

Re: R.I.P. Helen Reddy

Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2020 1:18 pm
by Reza
Mister Tee wrote:Just to be contrarian, I'll say I thought she had as bland a voice as any 70s pop star. Just compare Yvonne Elliman's rendition of I Don't Know How to Love Him to hers -- Elliman is full of emotion; Reddy sounds like she's phoning it in. Ditto with Delta Dawn vis a vis Bette Midler. I truly never understood her fame.
Wasn't her fame mostly based on the war cry "I Am Woman", coming at a time when your country was newly swept up by the Women's Liberation Movement?

Re: R.I.P. Helen Reddy

Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2020 12:47 pm
by Mister Tee
Just to be contrarian, I'll say I thought she had as bland a voice as any 70s pop star. Just compare Yvonne Elliman's rendition of I Don't Know How to Love Him to hers -- Elliman is full of emotion; Reddy sounds like she's phoning it in. Ditto with Delta Dawn vis a vis Bette Midler. I truly never understood her fame.

Re: R.I.P. Helen Reddy

Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2020 8:22 am
by Precious Doll
OscarGuy wrote:Evan Peters is a Ryan Murphy regular. He's been in nearly every season of American Horror Story. He shifts between good and bad there.
I had a look at imdb and didn't notice American Horror Story listed in his credits. When looking again I see it now towards the top (hate the way imdb does that). I've only seen season one of American Horror Story and he played Jessica Lange's son and was good in that. I still haven't gotten around to watching the following seasons :(

Maybe when we have our next lockdown I'll dip into Season 2.

Re: R.I.P. Helen Reddy

Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2020 6:19 am
by Greg
My favorite song of hers is "You And Me Against The World."

Re: R.I.P. Helen Reddy

Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2020 6:17 am
by OscarGuy
Evan Peters is a Ryan Murphy regular. He's been in nearly every season of American Horror Story. He shifts between good and bad there.

Re: R.I.P. Helen Reddy

Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2020 4:05 am
by Precious Doll
Big Magilla wrote: I Am Woman, seems to be rather bland.
Mediocre TV movie is an apt description. Its cinema release was scrapped in Australia and it went straight to streaming and it is just as well because it is more suited to that format. I cannot begin to imagine what it would have been like to see it on the big screen as it lacks any visual or directional vision. Tilda Cobham-Harvey is serviceable in the lead role which is woefully underwritten and any bio-pic is in trouble when the leading lady is overshadowed in this case by Danielle Macdonald who steals the film as Lilian Roxan - takes real talent to rise above this material.

Evan Peters who I have never heard of before plays Reddy's husband Jeff Wald is beyond awful.

The film is roundly disliked in Australia. I might be wrong but I get the impression there was never any passion for Helen Reddy in Australia - her death is making the news but beyond I Am Woman I doubt most people have even heard of her.

Re: R.I.P. Helen Reddy

Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2020 2:44 am
by Big Magilla
This terrible year spirals down even more.

Helen Reddy was always a pleasure to see on movie and TV screens even if she wasn't much of an actress, but when when she sang, few of her generation were as powerful. Too bad the recent biopic about her life, I Am Woman, seems to be rather bland.

R.I.P. Helen Reddy

Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2020 12:50 am
by Precious Doll
Singer who dabbled in acting (Pete's Dragon comes to mind):

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/ ... es-aged-78