Miscellaneous Movie Musings the Sequel

[Morrigoon]

Not surprisingly about Justin Timberlake. He gave a great performance in Love Guru. Okay, I was surprised too But now I won't be.

[Alex]

You can't make a good movie version of it because the good parts of the book are in the things that will never be put in a movie.

The musical is a fine musical as a standalone thing, but it is a faint shadow of the book.

[Morrigoon]

The book is a ponderous tome with entire chapters devoted to expendable material (see the chapter about the convent, for a prime example, the only purpose of which was to say that Jean Valjean worked there, as it bore little bearing on the forward motion of the narrative).

The musical, however, cuts the book down to a mere 3 hours. But a 30-hour musical movie? The industry will never believe that American audiences could handle it.

[wendybeth]

Sorry, Morri- but I disagree with your assessment of the book. I think perhaps to many people who have become accustomed to soundbites and synopsis it can be considered "ponderous",* but to me every word in that story is where and how it should be- to excise anything from the original story only serves to diminish it. I love the musical, but the original story is one of the greatest novels ever written, second ( imho) only to Flaubert's Madame Bovary.



(* Not directed at you- just at all of us who have had our brains altered by the computer age).

[Morrigoon]

Originally Posted by wendybeth

Sorry, Morri- but I disagree with your assessment of the book. I think perhaps to many people who have become accustomed to soundbites and synopsis it can be considered "ponderous",* but to me every word in that story is where and how it should be- to excise anything from the original story only serves to diminish it. I love the musical, but the original story is one of the greatest novels ever written, second ( imho) only to Flaubert's Madame Bovary.



(* Not directed at you- just at all of us who have had our brains altered by the computer age).

To be fair, I was like 14 when I read it.

[flippyshark]

The stage musical has been slowly whittled over its history to where it now runs 2.5 hours, as opposed to its original 3. Two and a half hours is a perfectly normal running time for a big event movie these days, so I don't see any real reason not to keep the musical intact. The real challenge will be dealing with all those gorgeous but motionless ballads. Having an actor stand alone on stage and sing is thrilling in person, and potentially deadly on film, and this show has a lot of that. I imagine there will wind up being many cutaways to illustrative montage during songs like "I Dreamed A Dream" or "Empty Chairs At Empty Tables" to avoid the spectacle of hapless actors lip syncing while looking forlorn for entire songs at a time. I hope it all works out. I adore this show. But it could be a ponderous bore of a movie if not handled carefully.

[Moonliner]

Originally Posted by flippyshark

The stage musical has been slowly whittled over its history to where it now runs 2.5 hours, as opposed to its original 3. Two and a half hours is a perfectly normal running time for a big event movie these days, so I don't see any real reason not to keep the musical intact. The real challenge will be dealing with all those gorgeous but motionless ballads. Having an actor stand alone on stage and sing is thrilling in person, and potentially deadly on film, and this show has a lot of that. I imagine there will wind up being many cutaways to illustrative montage during songs like "I Dreamed A Dream" or "Empty Chairs At Empty Tables" to avoid the spectacle of hapless actors lip syncing while looking forlorn for entire songs at a time. I hope it all works out. I adore this show. But it could be a ponderous bore of a movie if not handled carefully.

What did you think of the play VS the subsequent movie verison of Phantom of the Opera?

[Snowflake]

Caught the first two parts of HBO's Mildred Pierce last night. Production values are fabulous. Costuming spectacularly spot on. Amazing that nothing was shot on the West Coast.

I'm missing the spiffy Warner Brothers dialogue. Overall, an enthusiastic response from me. The first two parts are set up, grittier than Hollywood gloss.

Good quality television and Guy Pearce is just slimey from the get go. Wally is just, ew.

Kate Winslet is very good. I'm not sure if I will like the grown up Veda or not.

[flippyshark]

Originally Posted by Moonliner

What did you think of the play VS the subsequent movie verison of Phantom of the Opera?

Phantom as a play? Terrific fun, and I liked several of the tunes before I became permanently tired of them. But, I'd go again if someone bought me a ticket.

The movie? I like Gerard Butler, but he was miscast here. That high note in Music of the Night is a real cringer. Also, I wish he had actually been pathetically ugly, not incredibly handsome with what looked like a bad sunburn on only part of his face. I liked the lush production values, but found the whole thing lacked energy. Also, I didn't care for the habit of replacing sung recitative with spoken dialog, especially as they didn't re-write it AS dialog. They just spoke lyrics in a very stilted self-conscious way. (Almost like they were ashamed to admit they were making a sung-through musical! I hope the makers of Les Mis simply commit to the form and sing out throughout.) Not disastrously bad, but never thrilling either. It just kind of thumps along, very expensively. (Also, Minnie Driver seems to be the only one having anything like a good time with the material - maybe a little bit TOO good a time? I could have made a decent sandwich out of that ham!)

As for the film of Evita, as mentioned by Strangler Lewis, I like that one a lot more, and thought the montage impressive, telling lots of story visually. But, yeah, I could see how that could be exhausting.

Has anyone here checked out the Phantom musical sequel Love Never Dies? Now, THAT is some mighty bold musical misfire! (Based on a focused listen through of the cast album, not an actual viewing) I bet it never gets anywhere near a movie screen, and good thing, too.

[Morrigoon]

Originally Posted by flippyshark

The movie? I like Gerard Butler, but he was miscast here. That high note in Music of the Night is a real cringer. Also, I wish he had actually been pathetically ugly, not incredibly handsome with what looked like a bad sunburn on only part of his face. I liked the lush production values, but found the whole thing lacked energy.

Agreed, but more so. Gerard Butler RUINED the movie for me. I enjoyed it on first viewing, but find it almost unwatchable since because I simply can't stand a Phantom that can't sing. Worst Phantom since Franc D'Ambrosio.

Production values kicked ass and the rest of the movie is great. I'd consider a rewatch if someone ran the play soundtrack over the film's soundtrack.

Also, I didn't care for the habit of replacing sung recitative with spoken dialog, especially as they didn't re-write it AS dialog. They just spoke lyrics in a very stilted self-conscious way. (Almost like they were ashamed to admit they were making a sung-through musical! I hope the makers of Les Mis simply commit to the form and sing out throughout.) Not disastrously bad, but never thrilling either. It just kind of thumps along, very expensively. (Also, Minnie Driver seems to be the only one having anything like a good time with the material - maybe a little bit TOO good a time? I could have made a decent sandwich out of that ham!)

Again agreed. I *hate* that Hollywood doesn't trust American audiences to a true musical.

They'd better not so much as attempt that with Les Mis. It's a through-composed musical and I can't see anything but disaster resulting from inserting spoken lines.

As for the film of Evita, as mentioned by Strangler Lewis, I like that one a lot more, and thought the montage impressive, telling lots of story visually. But, yeah, I could see how that could be exhausting.

Except for the part where they took all the best/funniest lines out and gave Madonna the song that belongs to the mistress she kicks out.


Alex: Agreed on the novel. Good read.