Into the Woods Official Movie Thread — Page 140

It's great to hear that everyone is good in their roles.

^she'd be an amazing Sally, but she may be too old.

""If they ever get that Follies movie done, she'd make a wonderful Phyliss.

Yes! In the FOLLIES dream cast film I've suggested Streep for Phyllis and Bernadette (of course) for Sally. Best to get it done in the next two years Rob Marshall :P.

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Oh, and you can buy your movie tickets now!

Praying they send screeners to us in the crafts guilds too.
Either way, we'll be at the screening at the Disney Lot this Friday eve. Very psyched.

Updated On: 11/26/14 at 12:27 PM

Another review:

"I was at an industry screening last night, and I wept. The film is beautiful, the music is so lush and gorgeous. All of the actors are spot-on. The few changes to the script are mainly there to streamline the story for timing. At a few points they do seem to over-explain things that were left implicit in the stage show, but that didn't bother me too much.

A couple of things I really liked about the adaptation:
1. The use of daylight.
Stage productions seem to exist only in a dark, overgrown, nighttime woods, and when you think about it, they are there for three days straight. Some of it will take place during the daytime, and Marshall used this wisely for some of the lighter scenes ("Agony," for example) which also gave us some lovely landscape shots. He let night fall when scenes became more ominous.

2. Giving The Witch a deadline
Since I saw the Central Park revival, in which Donna Murphy appeared to get older as the first act wore on, I realized that as written The Witch's three-midnight deadline for the Baker and his Wife is rather arbitrary. Why now and why only three days? Why didn't she come to them sooner and give them as long as it took? The revival showed that it had little to do with them and everything to do with her. She could lift the curse on them whenever she wanted, but she had little time to lift the curse on herself, which really raised the stakes. Similarly, the movie gives them three midnights before [the blue moon that rises every hundred years, and the spell can only be reversed then] so The Witch has her own deadline to worry about.

Also, I liked how the combined scenes and in some places let action speak louder than words to move the story along. It allowed the songs to breathe more and savor the moment, since the momentum of the plot was moving so strongly.

And, for those who are worried, the only ways in which the story has been made more family friendly is in how it's shown. We don't see a toe or heel drop to the floor, we don't see the Baker's Wife fall from the cliff, we don't see Rapunzel's Prince with blood dripping from his eyes, it's all done artistically. But all of that is still there, and the impact is the same.

And Meryl's "Last Midnight" is a tour de force."



http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2180411/board/thread/237275934

Updated On: 11/26/14 at 12:58 PM

Updated On: 11/26/14 at 01:25 PM

Thanks ljay889.

Your suggestion has me now in possession of two free tickets to a 12/18 screening in Chicago. Yippee.

The writer of the latest review I posted continued:

"Sorry for the delay. The holiday has kept me in the kitchen all day!

The singing is, for the most part, wonderful and I have no real complaints about anyone. If I had to nitpick, Emily Blunt reaches a little further in her chest voice sometimes than she maybe should, especially considering how lovely her head voice sounds when she goes there. It happens a few times in "Moments in the Woods," but her performance of the song is enough to let you forgive her. I just wish she'd worked on her mix a little more. Johnny Depp is doing the same thing he did as Sweeney, which is fine, though having seen him, I do wish they'd gone with someone else. His costume (which I still don't like) Is rather reminiscent of Jeff Goldblum in the Faerie Tale Theatre "Three Little Pigs,"(https://youtu.be/sGNTHPn_4Cc?t=8m5s) which made me think, "Why not Jeff Goldblum as the Wolf?!" But he's not there for long enough to really hurt the movie at all.

Anna sounds lovely, of course, and she mentioned that they brought "Steps of the Palace" up a step for her. Mainly because Paul Gemignani knew she might be afraid of her soprano and he wanted it in a key that would force her to use her soprano. And then Rob Marshall said, "I hope it's not too high, because you know you're belting that last note." And she does all that and sounds fantastic.

The kids are awesome. They both have that beautiful musical theatre ping to their voices, resonating right in the center of the mask.

And Meryl. Meryl Meryl Meryl! We've heard the belt in "Stay With Me," which she uses in such beautiful contrast to the whispery soprano she uses at the beginning and end of the song. But then "Last Midnight" comes along and all hell breaks loose. Between her voice, the orchestration, the lighting effect, and the camera swirling around her... I had to catch my breath.

You're all really in for a treat!"

What will we find if we Google Into The Woods movie screenings

Google led me to a free advance screening in Chicago a week before the Christmas opening.