All Rent Reviews (Place Here)- Page 20

[katygrace84]

Posted: 11/23/05 at 12:25pm

Little threadjack for Em- Just remember that facetious is the only word in the English language that contains all 5 vowels in order. That always helps me.
Updated On: 11/23/05 at 12:25 PM

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/23/05 at 12:25pm

I can remember that!

[joniray]

Posted: 11/23/05 at 12:39pm

"Good Lord, the negative reviews on RottonTomatoes are BRUTAL. Someone even said that RENT is this year's GIGLI. "

I think you might have misread the review. Is this the one you are referring to?

"Rent is about as timely now as Gigi." – Jorge Morales, Village Voice.

That's Gigi (a Lerner & Loewe musical from the '73-'74 season), not Gigli.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 11/23/05 at 12:45pm

Actually I think he means GIGI - the 1958 film musical that swept the Oscars. The stage musical came years later

[WickedRentLuv]

Posted: 11/23/05 at 12:46pm

Yeah, the review definitely means Gigi. NOTHING could be as bad as Gigli.

[joniray]

Posted: 11/23/05 at 12:51pm

MB, I think you are totally right. Does me thinking immediately of the stage show make me too Broadwaycentric?

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 11/23/05 at 1:15pm

I believe the biggest question is "Is it as good as Home Alone?"

[brendcat]

Posted: 11/23/05 at 1:40pm

My local Paper the St Louis Post-Dispatch gave Rent a B+
The first line of the review, "Rent is a beautiful mess."

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 11/23/05 at 1:41pm

Bennett: I didn't "recind" anything - I merely deleted it. I didn't hear anyone bitch about that, actually.

[Tom_Andersen]

Posted: 11/23/05 at 1:55pm

Here's a link to the entire 'Rent' review in the Village Voice.
Village Voice review of 'Rent' movie

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 11/23/05 at 2:07pm

Munk,

Deleting is the BWW equiv. of recinding. As I remember, you said you took it down because the review no longer expressed your opinions on the film. And it was certainly commented on - on your thread and others -- but no I don't think anyone really cared.

[JulieLuvsGershwin]

Posted: 11/23/05 at 2:44pm

My expectations are were way to high I just saw it and it will not be able to introduce millions of close-minded teenagers to musical theater. I don't see how that's possible when all of the original cast members where out preformed by the new people (Rosario and Tracey). Those two tore up the screen, everyone else was just 'blah'. Idina did bring Maureen to life at times ,but like everyone else she seemed to be just going through the motions I think they would have been better going with their original idea and screwing the entire thing up by casting pop stars. This has set musical theater becoming mainstream back another 5 years.

[Steeler Jim]

Posted: 11/23/05 at 2:54pm

Leave it to those smart people in Pittsburgh to get Rent...

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05327/610947.stm

[JC14]

Posted: 11/23/05 at 2:57pm

CNN says Rent is "raw and poignant"

http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/Movies/11/23/review.rent/index.html

[YouWantitWhen????]

Posted: 11/23/05 at 3:06pm

Are all these reviewers seeing the same movie?

I know I have said it before, but this love/hate with the film by the critics is pretty amazing. I am not sure I have seen anything quite like it before.

Very little middle ground here.

[Steeler Jim]

Posted: 11/23/05 at 3:12pm

It's not that unusual that reviewers disagree strongly about movies. It happened with pretty much every Star Wars film, Titanic, etc. It's all about personal tastes.

There are reviewers out there who take a single flaw in a film and pan it for that, and there are others that will give a rave to a film filled with flaws simply because more things in the film work than don't.

Full disclosure - I'm a journalist, and a former movie/arts critic. Former, because I really hated the feedback from people who disgreed with my opinions. Some of them literally threatened me with bodily harm. It was sick.

Posted: 11/23/05 at 3:24pm

I loved the movie. It surpassed my expectations, and everyone protrays their characters perfectly onscreen. It's the only movie that has ever made me openly cry, and that's how I know it did it's job.

[tripaway2day]

Posted: 11/23/05 at 3:35pm

From orlandocitybeat.com

Nice and positive.
-----------------------------------------------------
3 stars out of 4
MOVIE REVIEW
Rent

By Molly O'Donnell

Special to Metromix


As someone living la vie Boheme, I was skeptical about Rent. For one thing, my roommates and I have bounced rent checks, and we've never danced around the damned kitchen singing about it. No matter how many times the cast sings "we're not gonna pay," someone eventually will. I was afraid it might be the audience.

Surprisingly, the film brings to Jonathan Larson's musical something the live stage performance couldn't: context. No matter how good a set designer is, replicating the grungy East Village is a difficult undertaking. The live version opted for minimalism in the face of this dilemma, which was smart, but still dissatisfying. The film version of Rent accomplishes what the staged version left to the imagination. Finally, viewers can see and smell pre-gentrified, urine-soaked, urchin-cluttered Avenue A. Besides this enriching feature, the film brings something else you won't get on Broadway: facial expressions. From even the best seat in the house, you won't be able to see every twitch on an actor's face or hear every shift in intonation in his or her voice.

Apart from these enhancements, the film remains closely linked to the live version. Something weird happens when Hollywood makes a musical as "real" as possible. Serious contemporary issues seem cheapened by harmonization and fancy footwork.

That said, I admit I fogged up when Angel died. However, that also seems cheap. It's always gut-wrenching when the young and beautiful die, but rarely does terminal illness kill in such a quick and beatific way. Angel's death is tortuous, because the character is delivered impeccably by the talented Wilson Jermaine Heredia, whose sweet, peppy optimism seems as natural as it is breathtaking. Jesse L. Martin, Angel's lover Tom Collins, also delivers a good performance, but I've been poisoned by thousands of episodes of Law & Order, and was constantly expecting Lenny Briscoe to round the corner and say, "Hey, Ed, who's the drag queen?"

During Taye Diggs' brief appearances, he hardly creates the hate-able sell-out Benny, but who can blame him? How threatening can an evil villain be, when constantly forced to sing and dance (think drunken Miss Hannigan from Annie). Anthony Rapp is the perfect Mark, and Tracie Thoms is the perfect Joanne. Those characters are more grounded than others, and, surely, not as difficult to pull off as Maureen. However, Idina Menzel rocked as the wild woman, and her performance art/protest rally is captivating . Mimi (Rosario Dawson) and Roger (Adam Pascal) made believable tragic lovers, though the real tragedy may just have been their hair -- yikes! Oh, please, don't let the Bon Jovi look come back.

For fans of musicals, the most important elements are captured by this film. The singing and dancing are flawless, and -- if that's your thing -- good reasons to see Rent. Apparently, that's a lot of people's thing, because people actually clapped in the theater as if this were a real live performance. Psst -- they can't hear you.

[Amneris]

Posted: 11/23/05 at 4:05pm

I also wanted to add that OTM was HYSTERICAL with idina on the TV screens and I liked how almost ALL the RENT alumni were extras in the song "RENT" Yassmin Alers was right up front =D

[iheartcheyenne123]

Posted: 11/23/05 at 4:23pm

I am on my way to see RENT!! AHHH YESSS!! I'll post my review when i get back

[boatsintheghetto]

Posted: 11/23/05 at 4:28pm

I loved the movie to death...but i hate when other people in the theater sing or say the lines im like shut the F*ck up...you dont have to prove you know the movie

[brdwaybaby17]

Posted: 11/23/05 at 4:31pm

I saw it on monday... the audience reaction was great...
Dude, every time the answering maching did the "speak" line they cracked up... all 5 times...
I really enjoyed the movie... I only got bored maybe once... I think during "Your Eyes"... because... well, I honestly think all of the other characters that are not Mimi and Roger are more interesting... but whatever...
I missed Christmas Bells.., but you can't keep everything...
It was beautifully shot...
And Idina Menzel cannot dance...
I really adored the movie...
I hope everyone else likes it.

[lovinlovett]

Posted: 11/23/05 at 5:33pm

I just got back from my first viewing. This was also my first exposure to Rent in any way.

I just adored the first half of the film. I was in awe. It lost me a bit during Over the Moon...I was like "huh?". I still enjoyed the last half and I think it will grow on me even more with repeat viewings.

Favorite scene: Tango Maureen - Yay!!!! Wonderful!!!

Least Favorite Scene: Over the Moon

Favorite Character: To my surprise....Mark! He was so cute and amazing in his part.

Least Favorite: Maureen I think. The mooing thing got on my nerves. But, I really like Idina overall.

All of the actors were incredible! This is a perfect example of why they should always put Broadway actors in the film versions as opposed to Hollywood stars. All of these people can sing and dance and were perfect in their parts.

[Elphaba]

Posted: 11/23/05 at 5:58pm

I have just returned from seeing the first showing of Rent in Palm Springs. There were only 31 people in the theater.....perhaps 6 teenagers (in RENT shirts) 3 elderly male-female couples, and the rest gay men I know.

I was so overwhelmed by this movie that I can't even now deal with having seen it.
The emotion I felt seeing this was almost more than I could deal with. And all I kept thinking was I was getting a little taste of what seeing it on Broadway with the original cast must have been like.

And in reality, having seen the live production, and then the movie, I understood more of it. La Vie Boheme was incredible.....not sure I ever knew all the words before. I'm just stunned.
It's probably good I went alone, as my partner would have probably been embarrassed by how emotional I got.

In this day and age, after all we have been through with AIDS and Homophobia, and even general rudeness between people, to have a movie NOT be overdone, and to truly have a message this inspirational was amazing.

Go see RENT. It is amazing.

[singingwendy]

Posted: 11/23/05 at 6:07pm

First off...loved most of it. Thought the acting and singing were great. For some reason they sounded better on screen than they did in my CD player....LOL.

LOVED the Tango Maureen sequence...although I wonder if seeing Maureen before "Over the Moon" takes away from her big entrance?

Found it amusing that even though most of the actors now said their previously sung lines "regularly", Anthony Rapp kept exactly the same rhythm and timing as if they were sung. I know...habits are hard to break! Not that it took away from the performance, and no one except anal-retentive music teachers like me will notice!

Really missed "Good bye Love" and "Halloween" and agree with most others who said that by cutting those we lost alot of Mark's character. It almost seemed to me that the director was making such a point of showing Mark being the only one alone, and then changed his mind in the second half of the film.

Also wondered if people unfamiliar with the show would understand all the relationships among the 8 leads. I personally felt that the Benny/Mimi relationship was never really established. Also, did Mimi know Angel before? At the funeral she mentions that Halloween is Angel's favorite holiday...but if they only met the Christmas before, they'd never spent a Halloween together. Anyway...wondered how much "fill in the blank" I was doing that others who don't know the show might not do.

Overall though, I really enjoyed it. Definately worth seeing again! And I can't wait for the "Collector's Edition" with all the deleted scenes!