the groundhog day project

Hell is sexy. And fun. And, it doesn't matter how much you use people or manipulate people, you're going to make it on Broadway (or wherever) and everything will be fine. These are the lessons of Staying Alive for seven-year-old me. The obvious reaction some might have is that Jackie shouldn't take Tony back... Except for two things: 1) they aren't really together in the beginning of the film and he is quite honest--at first, anyway--about not being exclusive; in fact, he indicates to... Unnamed girl early on that he thinks they are in a relationship and she counters (IMDb quotes wrongly attributes this line to Laura): "Guys like you aren't relationships; you're exercise"; 2) she also hooks up with Carl. As Laura says... well, check today's title above. Tony and Jackie use each other so they don't have to feel alone in between their flings with other people. Tony and Jackie use each other for support when they get rejected after auditions. ...

First reactions to Staying Alive after many years of not watching it: I still know this song , and wow, Kurtwood Smith is in this . [Alas, he disappears quickly.] Roger Ebert called Staying Alive "a big disappointment... [not] really a movie at all, but an endless series of musical interludes between dramatic scenes that aren't there... a Walkman for the eyes." I grew up on this movie and not it's predecessor, Saturday Night Fever ; I'd seen Saturday Night Fever , of course, but for whatever reason--probably because this movie is less gritty and certainly doesn't get anywhere near abortion--we had this one on VHS and watched it often. It may be cheesy, it may be "a Walkman for the eyes" but, you know what, sometimes that is exactly what you need from a film. (Plus, it was #8 at the box office for 1983.) When Tony Manero (John Travolta) eyes the mirror ball at the club where he works as a waiter, I'm sure plenty of people in the audience were...