"Into the Woods"

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Stewball
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"Into the Woods"

Post by Stewball »

Rob Marshall appears to be attempting to come close to his only real success, Chicago, with this. If the music in the preview is any representation, it looks to be a complete flop. Maybe they should go for the humor. When I saw the updated preview of it today with the addition of Chris Pine's Prince Charming's line ("I'm supposed to be charming, not sincere"), I busted out laughing, then faded when I realized I was the only one who thought it was funny. A male role model for our time. Creeps.

MmzHrrdb
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Re: "Into the Woods"

Post by MmzHrrdb »

Stewball wrote:When I saw the updated preview of it today with the addition of Chris Pine's Prince Charming's line ("I'm supposed to be charming, not sincere"), I busted out laughing, then faded when I realized I was the only one who thought it was funny. A male role model for our time. Creeps.


If it comforts you at all, that line caused a ripple of chuckles at the screening I attended.

My screening was also largely populated by 60+ year olds.

Make of that what you will.

Stewball
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Re: "Into the Woods"

Post by Stewball »

JLFM wrote:
Stewball wrote:When I saw the updated preview of it today with the addition of Chris Pine's Prince Charming's line ("I'm supposed to be charming, not sincere"), I busted out laughing, then faded when I realized I was the only one who thought it was funny. A male role model for our time. Creeps.


If it comforts you at all, that line caused a ripple of chuckles at the screening I attended.

My screening was also largely populated by 60+ year olds.

Make of that what you will.


Look at what they've just released: Annie (again :| ), Unbroken, The Imitation Game & Big Eyes....30s to 50s era stuff. The only things for the LCD crowd being Night at the Museum and The Interview, which got bump from being banned but's fading anyway when people find out it's (apparently) as stupid as the previews. Then there's The Gambler which looks to be another "why don't we all wallow in this guy's/girl's self-destructive behavior for a couple of hours" waste of time. You know where the gamblers are going to be spending their movie money.

I'm going to see Big Eyes, and then will check out ITW. The story's beginning to sound like it might be good, but what did you think of the music? They apparently don't even have a catchy tune to trot our for the previews or whatever, much less a showstopper like Frozen had. American Sniper looks to be the best thing left coming up, and maybe A Most Violent Year.

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Re: "Into the Woods"

Post by MmzHrrdb »

Stewball wrote:I'm going to see Big Eyes, and then will check out ITW. The story's beginning to sound like it might be good, but what did you think of the music? They apparently don't even have a catchy tune to trot our for the previews or whatever, much less a showstopper like Frozen had. American Sniper looks to be the best thing left coming up, and maybe A Most Violent Year.


I loved the music. I admit that I can't remember the melodies to most of the songs, but they were all pretty entertaining, and the highlights (the 15 minute opening) are incredible. A lot of people have been in love with the "Agony" number, but I was underwhelmed by it, personally.

Stewball
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Re: "Into the Woods"

Post by Stewball »

JLFM wrote:
Stewball wrote:I'm going to see Big Eyes, and then will check out ITW. The story's beginning to sound like it might be good, but what did you think of the music? They apparently don't even have a catchy tune to trot our for the previews or whatever, much less a showstopper like Frozen had. American Sniper looks to be the best thing left coming up, and maybe A Most Violent Year.


I loved the music. I admit that I can't remember the melodies to most of the songs, but they were all pretty entertaining, and the highlights (the 15 minute opening) are incredible. A lot of people have been in love with the "Agony" number, but I was underwhelmed by it, personally.


It turned out to be exactly what I expected, a pretty good story except for the music. The singers are very talented and the lyrics were excellent and even clever at times, but the notes were just scattered around, off and on, bringing "sing song" down to a new low as an epithet. I was both embarrassed and bored when the music started, with the number "Agony", being what should be used as the title for the CD album--if they have the gall to produce it. The reason there weren't any memorable melodies is because there weren't any worth remembering, making this just another nail in the coffin for musicals.

Rob Marshall saying Stephen Sondheim is the "greatest living composer" may not be far off the mark, given the fact that he has one foot in the grave, and the shambles that the music industry is in, especially with the lack of song-writing talent. In fact, the only notable musical Sondheim ever was ever involved in was West Side Story in 1957, but he only did the lyrics with Leonard Bernstein writing the music.

The was produced for Broadway in 1987 and is exemplary of the Broadway boiler-plate that's stifled the place for the last 35 years, with Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera being the only momentary exception.

Oh yeah, another thing. The "be careful what you wish for" theme needs to be cleaned up. Wishing for things and wanting more isn't wrong, it's the way we go about getting them that sometimes leads us to surrender to temptation. It's a distinction a collectivist companies like Disney isn't likely to want to make.

martryn
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Re: "Into the Woods"

Post by martryn »

Saw it tonight. Was not impressed. My wife loved it, of course. Wish we had more options in my neck of the woods, but between Netflix DVDs by mail and the drivel you can find on Redbox, it's a 45 minute drive to the nearest theater with 6 screens, and two of those are dedicated to The Hobbit.

While I thought the singing was impressive and the songs entertaining, I thought the movie was all over the place. I think there were a lot of unresolved plot issues, unexplained plot holes, and unexplored plot hints. Liked the sets, and the movie was filmed to give the impression more of a stage show than something you'd see on the big screen. Really thought it was like a night at the theater. Course, when I thought I was three hours into the film it appeared as if things were wrapping up but SURPRISE! there was a part II of the movie with basically a second plotline to resolve, and that felt like it was an hour long. The movie was like two hours in total but I felt I sat in the theater for four. Argh!

My wife cracked up when Chris Pine started singing for the first time. She said that was the turning point of the movie for her, and he really stole the show. We both thought Johnny Depp was basically a pedophile. For some reason I had no desire to want to fuck either Anna Kendrick or Emily Blunt in this movie. Kid who played Jack was actually the most impressive of the lot. They should cast that bastard as Peter Pan before he hits puberty and they lose their chance.

EDIT:
Reading the Wikipedia article, it was a musical play, so I guess that translated well. Congrats on that. Should have known.

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