Looks line is nein on "Nine"

Sorry, interrupted to make a sandwich for lunch -- title should have been Looks Like It's Nein on "Nine"

I coulda sworn I read a good one.. will post if I remember where.

Looks like I made that up.

Just saw an article about this at www.slashfilm.com. It wasn't that nice either.

I think there's one or two on Rotten Tomatoes.com -- I'm just suspicious that they're gay fanboys for Rob.

Now that I checked back -- there are a few good reviews from respectful critics. I wonder if this will be one of those films that will knock 'em out at the box office with all the sheer visual glamour but actually isn't a very good movie musical. There's tough competition over the years in Broadway adaptations -- as far as the worst adaptation, it's a toss-up between "A Chorus Line," Richard Attenborough's documentary tone bore, or "Man from La Mancha," which, except for the hit song and the one romantic ballad is not the great a musical to begin with. "A Chorus Line" single-handily killed the movie musical. It's hard to pick the champion out of "West Side Story," "My Fair Lady," "Chicago" (Murrow's own superb work), and "Cabaret."

Those are high standards to aim for and I don't know if the sheer scale of the production got the best of Murrow, or what. I saw him interviewed at the premiere in London and he was, as usual, glib and smiling. Like he knows the captive audience of Broadway musical fans will go an see the movie despite poor reviews and it can maybe make a profit along with the TV and DVD post-theatrical releases. Oh, and "Rent," which I thought was an excellent adaptation and even "Phantom of the Opera" is very entertaining as a film. "Sweeney Todd" was also a surprise, even though the horror was poured on like molasses in January, much more potent that the stage version.

I dont like musicals for one reason. The action of the story is always getting interrupted by some idiot who breaks out into song. I find this art from particularly annoying. Now, when I was a kid, I saw Lil Abner with my folks. I loved it. I also loved "The Producers" (the original with Gene Wilder and Zero Mostel).


HOWEVER, a movie with Daniel Day Lewis breaking out in a tune is frightening to me. What am I missing ?

To me, many musicals are abominations. But, when cast and chemistry are in abundance, certain of them can rank among my high favorites, as is the case with My Fair Lady. After years of wondering about Camelot, I finally watched it - well, large portions of it. PU.

You're right if the song writing is strictly Broadway obligatory tune trash and the lyrics are mediocre. Just watched "The Pajama Game" on DVD with Doris Day and John Raitt and it's a genuine musical comedy, but a comedy romance. It does have some good tunes songs that break out of the show tune genre, like "Hey, There" and "Hernando's Hideaway" (both big hits on the pop charts at the time of it's Broadway run). It also has a plot involving a labor strike, the comedic aspect being that it's a pajama factory. The pajama fashion show at the end is hilarious.

Lewis can sing, so I wouldn't worry about appreciating his vocals, but this is based on Fellini's "8-1/2" about a movie within a movie and is autobiographical. I'm afraid, unlike "Cabaret" where the songs are thoroughly integrated into the plot, the musical numbers are lavish but just don't seem to fit into the framework of the classic movie. On stage, it was done against one set -- a soundstage.

"Camelot" was a mess -- overlong and overcooked.

What is strange is "Nine" has received 10 nominations from the Critic's Choice Awards. That's the critics voting.

Then you read the reviews and think, gawd, was everything else really bad? I believe it's also has SAG nominations including ensemble cast (I'll have to check that one).

My own feeling is that many musicals that were originally stage hits simply don't translate very well to the screen. I even try to avoid most of them. I don't see how 'Cats', for example (which I saw three times on Broadway), can be anything except bizarre on the big (or little) screen. There's a whole lot more to a musical than just the music. Many things that seemed magical on stage with live actors become just banal and naive on the motion picture screen.

The best Hollywood musicals, for me, are the ones that were written as film scripts, not adapted tfrom a stage play.

Haven't heard anything good about 'Nine' yet, btw. NPR panned it along with everyone else.

I immensely enjoyed "Hello Dolly," "Gypsy," "South Pacific," the aforementioned "The Pajama Game," on stage among others but only a small handful made it successfully to the screen. Some made it to television through PBS as a video of a stage production. "Sunday in the Park with George" is one of those that's great on video, the revival of "Kiss Me Kate" is a hoot -- "Brush Up Your Shakespeare," yet the earlier filmed version is rather clunky until the dance number come on. The original black and white "Show Boat" directed by James Whale who also gave us "The Bridge of Frankenstein" is a beautiful film, the remake with Howard Keel, Katherine Grayson, and Ava Gardner is colorful, vibrant but curiously flat (and the songs are sung extremely well, Ava being dubbed, of course).

I love the PBS "Sweeney Todd" with the original broadway cast, but as its own cinematic horror movie with music, the filmed version with Johnny Depp is very effective.

I mentioned some poor adaptations and can add "South Pacific" which was overlong and those awful color filters were jarring and unnecessary. It was episodic and kept faltering like it had a flat tire.

Tangenting from discussing musicals to the original 8 1/2, which I never did see...
here's a slide show on Fellini at Time magazine including re 8 1/2 - (they mess up the spelling of amarcord..)

http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1941144_1994625,00.html

8-1/2 is on the best films of all times lists almost every time. I don't know if the movie critics are just not into Broadway musicals period. I think "My Fair Lady" got mixed reviews and only "West Side Story" had a record of a lot of rave reviews.