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Into the Woods Official Movie Thread — Page 165

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#4101

Official Into the Woods Movie Discussion Thread

Posted: 12/19/14 at 7:00pm


I have no beef with Metacritic. I just don't like the way it looks.
CHURCH DOOR TOUCAN GAY MARKETING PUPPIES MUSICAL THEATER STAPLES PERIOD OIL BITCHY SNARK HOLES
#4104

Official Into the Woods Movie Discussion Thread

Posted: 12/19/14 at 8:06pm

I will say, something I've noticed more and more, and I'm not sure whether this has always been the case and it's just that I'm now becoming aware to it, but critics who review movie musicals adapted from Broadway shows seem to have zero understanding of the original musical value and often seem to display a certain disdain for the musicals themselves. For instance, I remember how much the songs from DREAMGIRLS were heavily criticized, with many critics complaining that they should have just used the original Motown songs without any awareness that that is just not DREAMGIRLS (and yes, some of this is Bill Condon's fault for getting blinded by the Diana Ross/Supremes inspiration). When NINE came out, critics rightfully blamed the script and the nonsense, but many also were offended that anyone dared adapt 8 1/2, and again, many critics hated the score itself. I'm noticing with some of the criticism for INTO THE WOODS a real issue that people seem to be having with Lapine and Sondheim's second-act development, of course this has been a point of criticism toward INTO THE WOODS since it opened on Broadway, but I can't help but feel annoyed by the critics' seeming resistance to be receptive of the musical's original intentions.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
#4105

Official Into the Woods Movie Discussion Thread

Posted: 12/19/14 at 8:11pm

Yes it's difficult - are they reviewing the musical or the quality of the adaptation? I'd argue that for us we only really care about how well the musical has been presented on screen because we have already made a judgement on the musical. But for theunitiated it is important they review both.

I guess what I'm saying is I don't know if it is necessarily wrong that critics criticise the musical itself, even though it does make me cringe sometimes to start reading the cliches that the melodies are tuneless etc.

Give me claws and a hunch, just away from this bunch.

Updated On: 12/19/14 at 08:11 PM

#4107

Official Into the Woods Movie Discussion Thread

Posted: 12/19/14 at 9:30pm


ok... saw a PREVIEW last night.... larry kramer was in the audience

i LOVE "INTO THE WOODS".... love it... it is one of ally ALL-TIME faves....

sad to say, the movie is "fine"... just "fine"...

it is THERE... they MADE It.... it was nice of them... film-making is HARD... and, well, they made a "fine" movie...

meryl streep runs around and tilts her head and she sings STAY WITH ME in a beautiful way.. LAST MIDNIGHT is over-wrought and makes no sense... it comes out of nowhere... and she sinks into a TAR PIT.. why?... who knows?!

james corden VANISHES... his performance is NOTHING.... he is NOT THERE at all..... he literally vanishes...

emily blunt is cute and fine... and, ironically, OBVIOUSLY pregnant... she's fun to watch... her death is VAGUE... and it is barely mentioned.. there is ZERO grieving...

anna kendrick... cute... sings the STEPS song well... she has ZERO CONNECTION with THE BAKER... they have ZERO chemistry at the end.. she appears to be a FOSTER CHILD who will join the family...

JOHNNY DEPP is mortifying... a TRULY CRINGEY moment.. is he EVER going to stop playing EDWARD SCISSORHANDS... his performance is really embarrassing and ends with an odd HOWL... the whole RED RIDING HOOD scene is, like, stapled onto the movie...

CHRIS PINE looks great and he is quite funny and i wish the whole movie had the energy of the AGONY number... it is quite excellent... so, of course, they CHOP OUT the funnier REPRISE...

rapunzel makes no sense and they took out the GREAT LAUGH of her screaming when people climb her hair... she has organized her hair climbing with a SPECIAL RIG...

the kids are ok... why JACK has to sing GIANTS IN THE SHY while dancing on a log is BEYOND me... you see these major scenes of him climbing the beanstalk.. but the "SKY" number... he prances on a log...

they took out a lot of violence but the killing of the GIANT is prolonged and pretty violent itself... why.. i do not know...

it is just FINE... it EXISTS... i will NEVER see it again...

and NO ONE is going to care... the only thing that kept me going was the fact that i like the musical and the songs.. the general population will NOT CARE and this will FLOP fast...

sad.. but, true... mark my words...

check here in a week and a half...

WHAT ELSE IS THERE TO KNOW?!!!!!
#4111

Official Into the Woods Movie Discussion Thread

Posted: 12/19/14 at 10:10pm

When the Witch says “Couldn’t you stay content, safe behind walls, like I could not?”, how on Earth does that indicate that’s what she wanted her mother to do to her, when her mother cursed her for getting something taken from her, just like the Witch punishes Rapunzel for having her “innocence” getting taken away from her? The Witch means she couldn't stay safe behind the walls she had in her own home, the same wall the baker’s father climbed over to rob her. That's why she couldn't stay safe behind walls. A person climbed over her wall.

Updated On: 12/19/14 at 10:10 PM

#4113

Official Into the Woods Movie Discussion Thread

Posted: 12/19/14 at 10:23pm

it REALLY is FINE... it was a diverting way to listen to INTO THE WOODS...

i love INTO THE WOODS...and i wish it was more satisfying...



WHAT ELSE IS THERE TO KNOW?!!!!!
#4115

Official Into the Woods Movie Discussion Thread

Posted: 12/20/14 at 1:04am

Kyle...likes TO TYPE like THIS because HE has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING interesting to say...

I wish his posts were MORE SATISFYING....

Alas, they ARE NOT...

Oh well...TOO BAD...

Maybe they will improve....i THINK NOT...

Click on this thread in a week...YOU will SEE...


#4117

Official Into the Woods Movie Discussion Thread

Posted: 12/20/14 at 1:59am

I am GLAD you found the FILM to be FINE...
But I CANNOT take ANYONE who writes like THIS seriously...
In the END... I HAVE to imagine THAT your REVIEW is as bad AS your WRITING style...
#4118

Official Into the Woods Movie Discussion Thread

Posted: 12/20/14 at 10:04am

I was reading through the reviews on rottentomatoes, and I have to say, I don't get the reviewers who gave negative reviews. One spent a (rather long) paragraph bemoaning the fact that Cinderella's stepsisters have their feet butchered. He had no idea where that idea came from. Another actually criticized Agony as being, what was the word? Oh yeah, tiresome. Really?

I'm not saying the movie is perfect, but the criticisms that it's getting are ridiculous. The one thing I do think is a genuine criticism that even positive critics are hitting it for is the shift between acts. To be fair, the shift is massively awkward and I totally get the critique of that. However, to say the rest of the movie goes off the tracks from there is just insane.

And to Kyle - the lack of grieving for the Baker's Wife? It makes me think you didn't actually see the movie...
Hi, Shirley Temple Pudding.
#4120

Official Into the Woods Movie Discussion Thread

Posted: 12/20/14 at 10:14am

Not surprised that critics are slamming the shift in tone between the first half and the second half, as that was a common problem people have had with the show itself since it opened. It's not something the movie version could really fix without radically altering the story.

I seem to recall that the school version only allowed students to do the first act and cut the second act completely.
#4121

Official Into the Woods Movie Discussion Thread

Posted: 12/20/14 at 10:57am

I wonder if they had introduced the Giants earlier when Jack visits them and then a reaction from the Giants wife after he dies would it make the shift less jarring to have a lady giant just show up out of the blue.

Updated On: 12/20/14 at 10:57 AM

#4122

Official Into the Woods Movie Discussion Thread

Posted: 12/20/14 at 12:03pm

Personally my biggest beef with the second half of the musical is that when LRRH mentions that they shouldn't be trying to kill the giant because "she's a person, and shouldn't that be wrong?" She never gets an answer. And it's actually a darn good question. "She's hurting people" doesn't seem to be a complete enough answer - why does she have to be killed?

But then, a lot of musicals have problems with their second acts, and Sondheim is no exception. The first act of "Sunday in the Park with George" is brilliant, but the second act never quite finds its voice. Setup is easy; resolution is hard!
#4123

Official Into the Woods Movie Discussion Thread

Posted: 12/20/14 at 12:03pm

@Mrtrobz, I think that "Giant's in the Sky" will show Jack and The Baker in real time and we flashback to the times when Jack climbed the beanstalk and we never see the Giants at all during the song.
#4124

Official Into the Woods Movie Discussion Thread

Posted: 12/20/14 at 12:36pm

sarahb- The line in the show (it may have changed in the movie) is "But the giant is a person. Aren't we to show forgiveness? Mother will be very unhappy with these circumstances."

The brilliance is that she DOESN'T get an answer because there IS no real "answer." Is the Witch wrong for wanting to give jack to the Giantess, when the cold hard facts are that he stole from them and killed her husband and his actions are mainly responsible for the horrible events that have transpired from the Giantess coming down the second beanstalk?

Are the Baker, LRRH and Cinderella wrong for not wanting to sacrifice a child to a Giantess who, though her anger is valid, HAS been causing distress and chaos to a community of many innocent people?

You decide what's right. You decide what's good. Mother cannot guide you.
"Sing the words, Patti!!!!" Stephen Sondheim to Patti LuPone.
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