Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Xanadu (1980)
Director: Robert Greenwald
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
An experience so vacuous it's almost frightening. Built around a threadbare Hollywood fairytale which has Newton-John (on roller-skates) playing a muse despatched by Zeus to help mortals realise their fantasies, it turns out in fact to be an unashamed show-case for Livvy's multifarious 'talents'. Alas, as the film grinds from one epic production routine to another, it becomes painfully clear that she can't deliver a line (the script, full of gnomic punchlines, is admittedly abysmal), hold a note (the Jeff Lynne/John Farrar songs are lowest common denominator), or step a pas de deux (despite the helping hand of Gene Kelly, who can still cut it on the dance floor). Not even Michael Beck, fresh out of The Warriors, can salvage the disaster.Author: IB
User reviews of this film
-
- dande said...
- Posted on Nov 28 2007 10:13 the web is verey good
- Report as inappropriate
-
- dande said...
- Posted on Nov 28 2007 10:12 i want watch the movie
- Report as inappropriate
-
- dande said...
- Posted on Nov 28 2007 10:11 i want watch the movie for free without money
- Report as inappropriate
-
- David Fowler said...
- Posted on Nov 17 2007 17:40 Magnificent camp! An excellent remake of the far less entertaining 1946 Rita Hayworth musical "Down To Earth". Olivia is utterly without hope of Hayworth's charisma. She is however sweet and genuine and truly entertaining. She's no great dancer, but she, of course, sings like an angel. The ageless Gene Kelly charms and dances with his usual aplomb. Michael Beck looks great in jeans and white socks, otherwise the less said the better. The wonderful Jeff Lynne/John Farrar score perfectly encapsulates the sound of the time, and the voice of Zeus is provided by the great Wilfred Hyde-White. A full eight course meal of sugar confections. No more than that, but no less than that either. You might wanna get out your roller skates........
- Report as inappropriate
Cast & crew
Director: Robert Greenwald
Producer: Lawrence Gordon, Joel Silver
Cast: Olivia Newton-John, Gene Kelly, Michael Beck, James Sloyan, Dimitra Arliss, Katie Hanley, Sandahl Bergman full cast
Genre(s): Musicals
Duration: 96 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Review: Penélope Cruz more raunchy than ever in 'Nine'
Dave Calhoun reports on Rob Marshall's Oscar-touted musical with Daniel Day-Lewis playing a troubled director
Time Out's 101 Films of the Decade
Ten years, thousands of movies and millions of dollars in international box office, and it all boils down to this
Jim Jarmusch on 'The Limits of Control'
Jim Jarmusch has followed ‘Broken Flowers’ with an esoteric crime mystery. Dave Calhoun speaks to him from his New York office
Richard Linklater on 'Me and Orson Welles'
Dave Calhoun meets the 49-year-old, Houston-born filmmaker Richard Linklater to discuss his new comedy
Our verdict on Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones
Peter Jackson ends a triumphant decade with a sentimental misfire with this lush Alice Sebold adaptation
On the set of Ken Loach's 'Route Irish'
Dave Calhoun meets Ken Loach on the set of his forthcoming Iraq war movie
Is 'Paranormal Activity' the new 'Blair Witch'?
How does a film go from DIY experiment to box-office smash? 'Paranormal Activity' director Oren Peli explains
A gateway to all things 'New Moon'
In anticipation of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon', Time Out is offering the chance to pick up a limited edition pack with three exclusive magazines and a free poster.
The films that deserve a TV spin-off
With Roland Emmerich suggesting he'd like to make a '2012' TV spin-off, we propose some more movie-to-TV serialisations
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations












What do you think?
Post your review now