Xanadu Movie Reviews

[Kathie Fry]

Our skating movie of the month for September 2006 is "Xanadu" starring Olivia Newton-John, the legendary actor and dancer Gene Kelly, and Michael Beck. Xanadu was the last movie ever made by Gene Kelly.

The film also features dancer Matt Lattanzi, Olivia Newton-John's former husband, and the father of her daughter Chloe. Olivia met Matt during the filming of Xanadu. He plays the young Danny McGuire (Gene Kelly's character) and later in the movie he is one of the dancers at the Xanadu Nightclub.

If you can get your hands on a copy of the movie Xanadu, or if you have seen it before, tell us what the movie is like and what you thought of it.

- Kathie

[Kathie Fry]

Your local video store will probably rent or sell the movie Xanadu and you can also buy Xanadu at Amazon.com.

-K

[artisan555]

xanadu. yikes. the biggest budget skate movie of its time, and probably the worst. all i can really say is thank god for modern video technology. viewers can simply fast forward to the skating scenes.

having said that, the skating scenes are pretty poor. no great skating, the dance skating is pretty boring; but gene kelly does ok just from his professional enthusiasm (if u want to see gene really skate, look for a skate/dance scene in -i think- An American in Paris. Now that i've mentioned it; i'm not sure which movie it was in. . . hahaha). olivia nuetron-bomb obviously had only just learned to skate the week before they began shooting. look for places where they cut away to a stunt skater. . .

of interest: scenes of venice beach thirty-ish years ago. FASHIONS! yikes. big hair, aeorbic tights, head bands, hot pants (!!), neon. the art-deco movie theater which became xanadu. . . now the north-parking lot for the post-office and "the grove" on beverly blvd. . .

[chuckboucher]

Only one review I can give on this movie...

Olivia Newton John looked HOT!!!!

And she's not looking too bad for someone close to 60.

[JiMEE]

Is this the first monthly Skate movie being reviewed on this site?

[Kathie Fry]

<< Is this the first monthly Skate movie being reviewed on this site? >>

Yep! This is a brand new idea.

- Kathie

[JiMEE]

Please note that this if my first movie review ever, so it probably will not be well written.

First, I'd like to say that I did enjoy this movie. It has a nice story. It's on the surreal side, and is interesting. I won't give anything away about the story -it's not the greatest, but it is enjoyable.

The movie was made in 1980, so it has that eighties feel to it, which is nice. But it also blends in music and styles from the forties.

As far as skating goes, Olivia Newton-John (or her double - don't know), does some nice artistic style skating. It's nice to watch. Gene Kelly does some skating in the movie, but not a solo. I wouldn't call this a roller skating movie, but a movie that has roller skating in it.

Buy or Rent? The movie is definitely worth a rental. It's not expensive to buy at this time, so it might be better to just buy it. I don't regret buying it. I'll probably watch it one or two more times.

On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 as the highest), I'd give it a 7

[rwsz]

Originally Posted by artisan555

xanadu. yikes. the biggest budget skate movie of its time, and probably the worst. all i can really say is thank god for modern video technology. viewers can simply fast forward to the skating scenes.

having said that, the skating scenes are pretty poor. no great skating, the dance skating is pretty boring; but gene kelly does ok just from his professional enthusiasm (if u want to see gene really skate, look for a skate/dance scene in -i think- An American in Paris. Now that i've mentioned it; i'm not sure which movie it was in. . . hahaha). olivia nuetron-bomb obviously had only just learned to skate the week before they began shooting. look for places where they cut away to a stunt skater. . .

of interest: scenes of venice beach thirty-ish years ago. FASHIONS! yikes. big hair, aeorbic tights, head bands, hot pants (!!), neon. the art-deco movie theater which became xanadu. . . now the north-parking lot for the post-office and "the grove" on beverly blvd. . .

lol i remember skating on Venice beach when i was in cali on vacation, nice thongs for back then , lots of bikes and skaters, no inlines then just quads with outdoor wheels or indoor wheels as in my case, old saturn rollers, loved those wheels.

Rick
,

[Jessica]

Ok, so I know this is really late, but I *finally* finished watching Xanadu. Yes, it's been sitting here for this long.

I really enjoyed it, but maybe that's because I dig 70's disco stuff and of course any movie that involves skating I'll instantly love. It was really, really cheesy, but cheesy enough to make it great. Does that make sense? I especially loved the sequence where the jazz and rock dancers merged together. The dancing was great and the outfits were bizarre. I was totally loving the one guy in the pink leotard. I wish people actually dressed like that.

[unalaska]

Gene Kelly skates in "It's always Fair Weather", 1955 musical. He is pretty amazing skating around on steel wheel quads. When you watch him you wonder if he has some figure skating experience somewhere in his background.

[chuckboucher]

He definitely has some skating in his backgrouns, since he was pretty light on his wheels in Xanadu too.

[Bill]

Kathie,
How about a list of monthly movies a few months in advance? It would be nice to know what movies are comming up and motovate me to increasing my collection. I'll have to dust off my copy of Xanadu just to catch up.
Bill

[Bill]

Originally Posted by Jessica

Ok, so I know this is really late, but I *finally* finished watching Xanadu. Yes, it's been sitting here for this long.

I really enjoyed it, but maybe that's because I dig 70's disco stuff and of course any movie that involves skating I'll instantly love. It was really, really cheesy, but cheesy enough to make it great. Does that make sense? I especially loved the sequence where the jazz and rock dancers merged together. The dancing was great and the outfits were bizarre. I was totally loving the one guy in the pink leotard. I wish people actually dressed like that.

You might like the Stanford Marching Band, (I saw them Friday for the first time) They have been banned from all the games for their behavior, and they dress.... strangely. The way the Stanford football team is playing, maybe they should be banned from playing too

Bill

[Carolyn]

I always request the Xanadu theme song whenever I skate. It is so great. I wish there was a real Xanadu. I want to skate there! It is a fantasy I've had for years now. Why, oh, why can't it be real?!

I watched "ATL" last week. Maybe it is too late to be the next movie. Was there an October movie? I didn't see one listed. I'd recommend "ATL" for the November movie if y'all haven't seen it yet. It doesn't have a great story either, but, ya know, if it has skating, it rocks. And this one does.

I agree the Chaplin "The Rink" was great, too!

[rwsz]

Originally Posted by JiMEE

Well, I just ordered the DVD on Amazon. I'm starting a Roller Skate Movie Collection. So far I have: "Kansas City Bomber" , the 2 "Rollerball" movies, & "Roll Bounce".

I'll post back with opinions after i watch the movie.

now if you want a better roller skating movie get Roller boogie,,,,good one for its time,,,,,,back then an art skater participated and then was ruled unelgible for amateur status and couldnt compete anymore,,,,it was a shame,,,,i think his name was like Jim Brady or something like that,,,cant remember,,,old age lol,,,,,also see ATL it has roller skating in it.

Rick

[Hellion]

Originally Posted by artisan555

xanadu. yikes. the biggest budget skate movie of its time, and probably the worst. all i can really say is thank god for modern video technology. viewers can simply fast forward to the skating scenes.

having said that, the skating scenes are pretty poor. no great skating, the dance skating is pretty boring; but gene kelly does ok just from his professional enthusiasm (if u want to see gene really skate, look for a skate/dance scene in -i think- An American in Paris. Now that i've mentioned it; i'm not sure which movie it was in. . . hahaha). olivia nuetron-bomb obviously had only just learned to skate the week before they began shooting. look for places where they cut away to a stunt skater. . .

of interest: scenes of venice beach thirty-ish years ago. FASHIONS! yikes. big hair, aeorbic tights, head bands, hot pants (!!), neon. the art-deco movie theater which became xanadu. . . now the north-parking lot for the post-office and "the grove" on beverly blvd. . .

artisan555, Yep! you are right, I did not like this one or RollerBall 2

[Kathie Fry]

Here is my review of Xanadu....
Xanadu Movie Review by Kathie Fry

- K

[AzulojasATL]

Xanadu: ONJ is H O T! Nuff Said. I thought the movie was absolutely sad, but I could just sit and look at her for hours.

The only other "Skatemovie" I ever saw was skatetown usa when I was a kid. It was about 1/100th as good as Xanadu, and of course, did NOT have ONJ! Wasted time. I don't have time to watch movies anyway. Cuts in to my skating time!

[Kathie Fry]

I moved some of the posts in this discussion to another thread so they will not be buried in the "Xanadu Reviews" thread. I moved them to this discussion:

Skating in the Movies

- Kathie

[pastskater]

I loved this movie. I am a true Micheal Beck fan and seeing him in this after the Warriors it was great. I have the DVD( The Warriors) and hearing him after all these years and his experience in acting was interesting as well.

I really loved the fun way they gave to sides of the music and skating styles rolled up in one. The music by Jeff Lynne was another added treat; along with Olivia Newton-John's singing and cameo of music talent with Sir Cliff Richard.

The days of old and the means of which Gene Kelly explained himself was with truth and some humor as Danny M. The idea of shooting back to the age of crooning and soliders was not to far from the truth.

So given the facts for skating in the film as well; it will always be a no brainer, fun and entertaining movie. I feel it is a pity there are not more out there like that these days.(Atleast for the younger generation)

pastskater