24 Hours of Movies: Pop Stars on Film!

by Patrick Bromley

You know their music, now see them on screen!

10 am - House Party (1990, dir. Reginald Hudlin)

A recent rewatch of this '90s classic is what inspired this whole marathon, because it reminded me that Kid 'n Play were really good on screen. While there are moments and lines of dialogue that feel outdated in 2026, the movie is pure joy -- music and dance and comedy, with appealing performances by the two leads as well as Tisha Campbell, A.J. Johnson, Robin Cook (RIP), and a funny (and young) Martin Lawrence. I'm so glad this got the Criterion treatment because it will no doubt help improve its reputation as more than just the Kid 'n Play movie and places it among the ranks of important Black cinema.

Noon - Girl Happy (1965, dir. Boris Sagal)

One of my favorite Elvis movies that rarely gets talked about, Girl Happy casts The King as a nightclub singer who has to travel down to Florida and keep an eye on his boss's daughter (Shelley Fabares) during Spring Break. Even by the standards of an Elvis movie, this is a silly, horny movie, but that's what I find so charming about it. The songs are fun, too. It's basically an Elvis Beach Party movie, so no wonder I love it.

1:45 pm - Moonstruck (1987, dir. Norman Jewison)

Cher won a Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of an Italian American woman engaged to be married to a Baxter (Danny Aiello) but who falls in love with his intensely passionate brother (Nicolas Cage). This is a rare romantic comedy that manages to be both funny and romantic thanks to John Patrick Shanley's terrific script and fantastic performances all around. Cage steals every moment in which he appears, but then I'm probably inclined to think that. Miss you, Margo.

3:30 pm - Dune (1984, dir. David Lynch)

Sting made a rare big screen appearance as Feyd Rautha, nephew of the evil Baron Harkonnen, in David Lynch's ambitious and messy adaptation of Dune. It was an interesting bit of casting that undoubtedly got some people out to the theater to be totally confounded by what they were watching the frontman of The Police appearing in, but it's just one of the many aspects of this Dune that make it special. Sting doesn't have to do much but be wild and menacing, at which he acquits himself just fine. His casting lends the role a larger-than-life quality that suits it well. I'm happy that Lynch's Dune can still exist alongside the Denis Villeneuve movies; I'll watch either of them depending on my mood.

6 pm - Tougher Than Leather (1988, dir. Rick Rubin)

The Run DMC movie! This one, directed by superstar music producer Rick Rubin (who also co-stars as the Big Bad), keeps the spirit of 1970s Blaxploitation alive with a story about the rappers reuniting after DMC is released from prison and trying to get their musical careers up and running again while trying to solve the murder of their friend. It's crudely made and unevenly acted (Rubin is kind of bad) but effective as a street-level crime movie. Slick Rick, Flavor Flav, and The Beastie Boys also appear as themselves.  It's been trapped on VHS since the '80s, never receiving a DVD or Blu-ray release. I'm guessing it's a music rights thing, but I also know that some of the parties involved aren't super proud of the project or the way it was received. We'll have to watch it on YouTube.

7:45 pm - Purple Rain (1984, dir. Albert Magnoli)

Primetime Pizza slot goes to what may be the best modern movie musical (if you can call a 40-year old movie "modern"). The first of three Prince movies is also the best, highlighted by music from one of the best albums of the 1980s and an extended concert sequence that allows us to see Prince at the peak of his powers. It didn't exactly turn Prince into a movie star, but it didn't need to. The movie was too busy launching him into the stratosphere.

9:30 pm - Romeo Must Die (2000, dir. Andrzej Bartkowiak)

I'm not the biggest Romeo Must Die guy but it does make me miss Aaliyah, whose music I didn't really know but who proves to be a welcome presence on screen. The film tells the story of two feuding families, with Aaliyah and Jet Li caught in the middle. Maybe they fall in love? That doesn't really become clear, either because it was cut out or because Jet Li couldn't generate the right chemistry as a romantic leading man. I like the idea of transitioning into genre stuff as we get later into our marathon even if I think the movie is just ok. The action is decent and Aaliyah is great.

11:30 pm - Studio 666 (2022, dir. B.J. McDonnell)

As we enter the overnight section of our marathon, I want to spotlight this funny and surprisingly gory Foo Fighters joint in which the band plays themselves and recording their new album in a cursed house. Shot in secret and released just as we came out of COVID, the movie felt and feels like a curiosity -- a one-off goof by a rock band who wanted to make a horror movie. The actors are all fun -- even the band does a good job -- and the effects are cool, even if it all doesn't amount to much. At least we get to hang out with Taylor Hawkins one last time.

1:30 am - Videodrome (1983, dir. David Cronenberg)

I know Debbie Harry is known for being an actor as much as a rock star these days, but back when Videodrome came out in 1983 she was really just the frontwoman for the great Blondie. I love that she chose this to be one of her first screen appearances because it's one of the most messed up and punk things she could have done. I know that this isn't Cronenberg's best movie, but it remains my favorite of all his work. I love the idea of watching it in the middle of the night.

3 am - The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976, dir. Nicolas Roeg)

Confession: I have never seen this movie. Maybe 3 am isn't the best time to experience it for the first time. Maybe it's the perfect time to experience it. Judging by what I know about Nicholas Roeg -- who just might be one of my guys based on my reactions to all of his movies I've seen -- I'm guessing it's the latter.

5:30 am - The Allnighter (1987, dir. Tamar Hoffs)

This is one of the weirdest pop star vanity projects ever made. It was an attempt to make The Bangles' frontwoman Susanna Hoffs a movie star, but it often feels exploitative in a gross way. Even the poster feels exploitative. What makes that weird is that the movie was directed by Hoffs' mother Tamar. Anyway, it's a fine Beach Party update for the 1980s, with Hoffs supported by Joan Cusack, Dedee Pfeiffer, and Deathstalker II's John Terlesky. It's exactly the kind of mindless, breezy entertainment we need at this point in our marathon.

7:30 am - Poetic Justice (1993, dir. John Singleton)

John Singleton's follow-up to his massive breakthrough Boyz N the Hood zags just enough to feel interesting and more sensitive when it could have just been repetitive. Janet Jackson returns to acting for the first time post-pop superstardom and plays a poet taking a road trip with her friends, finding romance with a very good Tupac Shakur along the way. You get two musicians acting in this one! There's messiness in the movie -- some of it because of the time in which it was made, some of it because John Singleton was all of 25 -- but a lot of good here, too. I've been wanting to revisit this ever since Criterion put it out. Now's our chance.

9:30 am - Freejack (1992, dir. Geoff Murphy)

Truth be told, I wanted to program Performance into this marathon because I saw it for the first time a few months back and was totally knocked out by it. Unfortunately, I didn't feel right about having two Nicholas Roeg movies and needed the excuse to finally see The Man Who Fell to Earth so Performance hit the bin. Instead, we'll end our marathon with this goofy 1990s sci-fi actioner in which Emilio Estevez is hijacked into the future so that Anthony Hopkins can take over his body. For some reason, Mick Jagger plays a bounty hunter chasing after Estevez. He didn't act in very many movies so I'm not sure how Freejack made the cut, but his presence makes the movie 50% cooler than it otherwise might have been.

Let's play some records.