Lopez Blogs

It's very easy (and lazy in my opinion) for newspapers and magazines to label the latest film likely to draw in a large female audience as "the best chick flick since Bridget Jones" or "the perfect summer movie" and then pontificate about how surprising it is that women will respond to a film en masse when it does well!! However, it has to be said that the cinema was filled with menopausal women all enjoying their free hormone replacement patch with every ticket sold to the ridiculously fun, entertaining and brilliant Mamma Mia. And a jolly bloody good time was had by all.


The transferral of the popular stage show to the big screen has only enhanced the appeal of the flimsy plot and characters. Contained in celluloid magic, they now seem larger than life, engrossing and all the more loveable. And the songs?! Every single note, harmonised melody and brilliantly constructed middle 8 was amplified, magnified and celebrated into a sweeping wave of joy, hilarity, melancholy and heartbreak. But of course, it's Abba so the film makers would have to be pretty uninspired to mess it up (For example Waterloo and I Do I Do I Do I Do made Muriel's Wedding). Bringing these songs to life were the solemn responsibility of a uniformly excellent cast led by the always delightful Meryl Streep (and ably supported by the godlike Julie Walters and lovely Christine Baranski - who always has such amazing legs!). Colin Firth was the most likeable of the likeable potential daddies (I love how Wikipedia states "it is subtly suggested his character Harry may be gay" - if that is subtle then Wikipedia has just successfully rewritten the definition of the word!) and Amanda Seyfried is just perfect as Sophie. Special mention deserves to go to the islanders who inhabit Donna and Sophie's world and bring a new dimension en masse to each song. And of course, Dominic Cooper solidifies his position as my second favourite Dakin ever (after Ben Barnes of course) with his sculpted abs and delicious portrayal of lovestruck Sky. Dribble. I don't want to write too many spoilers so here are the best interpretations of the songs on the screen:

• Dancing Queen is the moment when the film just lets go and launches into a whirling dervish of merriment, joy and encourages the audience to become part of the experience. Used by Julie Walters and Christine Baranski as a means to cheer up Meryl Streep after her realisation that she is a bit of a slut after nobbing off 3 boys in as many weeks in her youth, it becomes a celebration of all things Abba. In it's original format, this flawless four minutes of pop is addictive from the first swoop of strings. On screen, it brings together Meryl's gang into full on party mode and as they dance around the island, the womenfolk 'cast off their daily shackles' and join in the celebrations. And if that isn't a visual representation of the power of Abba music, then I don't know what is. Meryl Streep jumping up and down on the bed must be the most carefree glorious moment in film since Tracy Turnblatt shimmies her way onto the Corny Collins show singing "you can't stop a river as it races to the sea". Magnificent.
• Lay All Your Love On Me (butchered by my beloved Steps in 2000) is the perfect song for Sky and Sophie as they prepare for their stag and hen parties respectively. I'm not sure why it stood out to me so much, but I do remember the "From Here to Eternity" moment where Sophie and Sky roll and romp together in the sand. A nice lusty busty romantic moment, but lets face it - on a practical level, no-one wants to spend the best part of their wedding night pulling weird sandy crap out their crannies do they?
• Voulez Vous - another ace pop song that they did some visual magic with. It's practically transformed into a tribal, intoxicating, exotic, rave experience as Sophie's confusion over her possible daddies intensifies and greek dancing surrounds her. It's a kalediscope of colours, whirling one way then the next as the question of the song infuses the cast and takes on a life of it's own. It's incredibly intruiging to watch and apparently took bloody ages to film. I'm not surprised. One step or twirl out of time and it ruins the whole effect.
• Bring on the heartbreak - the double impact of Slipping Through My Fingers and Winner Takes It All for some reason had me silently sobbing away (i'm having an emotional week!). Meryl does a rather brilliant job of capturing the whole "trying to hold a memory in your hand" as she prepares for her daughter to start a whole new life, and then goes right out and proves you don't need a particularly brillo voice to bring gravitas and heartbreak to a song as well written as Winner Takes It All. Excellent.

This jubilant film ends with the cast breaking the fourth wall and inviting the audience to party along with them. And the cinema did! Brillopad. Best feelgood movie since Hairspray and bound to be in faves of the year. Lets have a gratuitous piccie of Dominic to round things off...

Back soon with more abba, weekly round up, a tabloid scandal, the arrival of that fucking Ciccone book and McFly!

Checked the forthcoming French releases on www.fnac.com today and discovered that the end of August will see the release of three albums I'm very interested in hearing. All of them just in time for my trip to Nice in September so there is a strong possibility I'll end up buying all three, well, if they're good enough of course!

A Mylene Farmer album is always an event, to say the least, and it's been three years since the (IMHO) disappointing - by her exceptional standards - "Avant Que L'Ombre" which has been gathering dust in my CD rack as I haven't played it for a while. The first single from the new album, "Dégénération" hasn't really excited me in the way that a lot of her past material has, but maybe it just needs time to grow on me.

Star Academy 7 winner Quentin Mosimann finally gets around to releasing his debut - double! - album on 18.08.08 and he also has his own official blog at http://quentin.over-blog.com/ Is it just me or does he look a tiny little bit like Pete Wentz from Fall Out Boy in some of his new photos?

Finally, I've been a big fan of Sofia Essaïdi since her debut album "Mon Cabaret". She now has the leading role in Kamel Ouali's musical "Cleopâtre" and should at last get the recognition she deserves in France. The soundtrack album is due out at the end of August and fingers crossed it'll be as good as the "Le Roi Soleil" soundtrack which I bought in Nice three years ago and which I couldn't stop playing for months, you'd have thought it was glued inside my CD player.

Day six of my mum's prolonged stay in hospital, and the novelty of life in the cardiology ward is beginning to wear off. Mind-numbing boredom, obsessive blood-testing, daily attempts at so called "food" (but not as we know it) and excessive sleep disturbances are making her and her fellow patients extremely stir crazy. Still, it's another day towards her returning home...hopefully sooner rather than later, once all those necessary tests are completed and resolved, and at least she'll get some decent food here!

Frankly I could write all day about Kylie, her music and her live shows. And sometimes I do. But not today. I have been stuck in Preston all day (the town oop north, not the Ordinary Boy) and am tired and have 5 hours of delayed train journey on me, all without - WITHOUT - the new Sibling Ciccone book. Boo you slow stocking train book store whores. So today, in exchange for some cuddling time with Dazpecs, I hand the reigns of fizzypop to one of my fave MSN buddies, upcoming popstar James Leon to share his thoughts and photos on the Kylie concert last Friday in Manchowder...

"From the moment Miss Minogue descended from a weird spider-web type chair to the sounds of ‘Speakerphone’ I was transfixed.

The show was a visual spectacle as you’d expect – there were several different themes, encompassing oriental/geisha costume and backdrop. Cheerleader with a multi-coloured neon backdrop, gothic glam with Kylie astride a giant glitter encrusted skull, and a black and white Viennese dinner dance theme

While Kylie has never primarily been about her singing voice, she nevertheless was note perfect throughout and really held some impressively long notes at the end of some of the more emotive tracks. She radiates joyful pop de vivre, and despite some recent photos suggesting otherwise – she still looks amazing, and seems to enjoy every moment she’s on stage

I was surprised by the songs that I enjoyed the most – it was the rockier numbers in particular, ‘Kids’ was the moment when I really got lost in the event – when Kylie steps outside of the disco-pop box she seems to really loosen up and gives that extra spark. I’ve never been too sure about the rockabilly electro strut of the comeback single -‘Two hearts’, however live I really got it – and now reckon this might in time be seen as something of a lost classic.

One criticism was the dominance of newer material – she played almost every track from the ‘X’ album, which although does have a few decent songs is not really what the fans want to hear. Myself and the friends I was with were most disappointed at the omission of the classics ‘Hand on your heart’ and ‘Better the devil you know’ –the idea of a Kylie show without the later seems absurd to me. Thankfully ‘Step Back in Time’ and ‘On a night like this’ were highlights elsewhere.

I was however praying that she would do ‘The One’ - the stand out track from ‘X’ and when she finally she performed it as her penultimate number I thought I might combust in a cloud of glitter dust!


Kylie seemed almost reluctant to leave the stage with a 5 song encore, including a fantastic ‘I Should be so lucky’ and clearly was relishing the delight of the audience. True star’s like this don’t come a long very often! "

More Kylie:

• Why 'X' is ok by me (Similary Hard Mandy themed post coming soon!)
• My comprehensive Kylie overview (part one/ part two/ part three )
• Kylie Showgirl Review from 2005

Back tomorrow with more something!