Into the Woods Official Movie Thread- Page 168

[Consistency]

Posted: 12/23/14 at 10:04am

Ha! I doubt even very many musical theater fans who dislike Sondheim would accuse his songs of being "generic."

I actually used to read Berardinelli when I was first really getting into film about 15 years ago. I don't think he's an idiot, but he's kind of the prototypical internet critic - a decent writer, but he rarely goes into any depth or says anything particularly insightful or revealing.

Updated On: 12/23/14 at 10:04 AM

[Kad]

Posted: 12/23/14 at 10:13am

The review READS like he is very familiar with the stage musical, since he repeatedly references changes made. But then he keeps saying the score is generic.

[Len6677]

Posted: 12/23/14 at 10:26am

Here's a real doozy that just came out:

http://www.kpbs.org/news/2014/dec/23/dont-go-woods/

"I would prefer to suffer the peril of the Pit of Despair from "The Princess Bride" than be assaulted by the preening artifice of this film again. It overtly tweaks the conventions of the fairy tale (like Prince Charming being a bit of a cad and happily ever after not being all it's cracked up to be) and proudly notates things like having a giant but a lady giant, which is very rare. But in the end, it really doesn't tweak the formula all that much. It's still ends on an upbeat reassuring note with the bulk of the characters behaving exactly as we'd expect. But how about throwing in some ethnic diversity or maybe Prince Charming is gay."

[J_Jammer]

Posted: 12/23/14 at 10:53am

@Len6677 (not at you, but what you've quoted from the review)

That's got to be the DUMBEST complaint I've ever read.

Diversity is a way for those who are never happy to complain and feel good about themselves.

What a lame complaint.

I'm a minority of a minority...Irish/Japanese. And guess when I notice race...only this morning when I was thinking about the cast and was like, hey, they're all white. And then I went on and listened to the 14 minute beginning song. And by the way, I love that. I have listened to that more than I thought possible, since it is 14 minutes. There's so much in that that I love.

Especially the "SHE'S A THEIF!"

[J_Jammer]

Posted: 12/23/14 at 10:56am

@ljay889 (at the critic you quoted)

I've seen the musical several times and I have to say that they don't do a lot of moving during the songs that are considered WOWing. It's just normal stuff.

BUT...every version has the Baker's Wife (that I've seen) putting her hair back together as she sings her song after dealing with the Prince. And I love that. For some odd reason I find that a good use of her time and I look forward to it. Plus it makes her so likeable. And now I'm sad...

[Len6677]

Posted: 12/23/14 at 11:07am

@J_Jammer, I know, along with the Redeye one I posted yesterday it's definitely the most ridiculous review I've seen.

The other paragraph that had me rolling my eyes:

"When I think of movie musicals, I think of films like "Singin' in the Rain," "An American in Paris," "A Hard Days Night," and "Jesus Christ Superstar." But what Rob Marshall puts on the screen and calls musicals — "Chicago," "Nine," and now "Into the Woods" — is an insult to the genre. I know that "Chicago" won an Oscar and that many love it but I think that may just be that there are so few musicals these days that fans of the genre will embrace any film that sings and dances. Mercifully, "Into the Woods" only sings and has no real dancing, so that's at least one grating annoyance that's been left out."

I don't typically follow reviews for movies, so doing it for ITW has shown me just how many of these "critics" are clueless and have no desire to put the time/effort in to do actual criticism.

[Consistency]

Posted: 12/23/14 at 11:37am

^ That's why I've always found it a lot more useful to listen to certain critics I trust than to follow some general "Tomatometer" score. A good majority of critics simply don't have much of interest to say (imo.)

Which isn't to deny that I've been kind of sad to see the score on this one moving downward over the past few days. Even though none of my preferred critics have weighed in so far - and even though, based on what I've seen and heard of this, there's pretty much no risk of me not liking this - there's always something gratifying about critical validation of something I value.

Updated On: 12/23/14 at 11:37 AM

[musikman]

Posted: 12/23/14 at 11:46am

If you think the above reviews were bad (or WTF-inducing), read this one:

http://www.redeyechicago.com/entertainment/movies/redeye-into-the-woods-review-20141219,0,7628688.column

[J_Jammer]

Posted: 12/23/14 at 11:48am

@Len6677

well I have seen Into The Woods twice live and the DVD version. I love every moment. Different interpretations make it so much fun to watch again.

I never once saw dancing outside of the time the cast is all together, but that was just center stage and the off to the side or walking in circles. Never full on dancing. Which is why this is a great High School production. They don't need much. It's all there in th script.

I don't know what there is to dislike about it...performance wise maybe...but these complaints are all on the dumbest things.

I don't read reviews often. Myabe only snippets just to get an idea. But for films like this I have to see it for myself.

[Len6677]

Posted: 12/23/14 at 11:51am

@Consistency That's exactly how I feel. I already know I am going to like this movie and shouldn't really care what some of these people have to say, but I guess since I'm such a fan of ITW in general I feel sort of protective of it and can't help being annoyed by the lazy, uninformed reviews. The "Top Critics" score on RT has remained around 80% or above, though, for whatever that's worth.

@musikman Yeah, I posted that one yesterday. It's just awful.

[J_Jammer]

Posted: 12/23/14 at 12:02pm

@musikman

Good grief. It's not that hard to know the character's names. The Baker. The Baker's Wife. They're mainly titles. He could've at least got that right. Instead of acting as if they had names and he forgot them.

I guess he needs songs that have catchy choruses. These songs don't and yet I still remember each song as easily as those that do.

And how is Nice is different than good not witty if not a really smart way to view people?

ugh...

Not to mention having a sister who has seen the musical doesn't validate your opinion any more so if you had just left her out of it. Updated On: 12/23/14 at 12:02 PM

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 12/23/14 at 12:27pm

The best -- and most telling -- part of that RedEye Chicago review is when he calls THE LAST FIVE YEARS "brilliant."

[best12bars]

Posted: 12/23/14 at 1:31pm

I love the stupidity of some of these critics shining through and how proud they seem to be of it.

"Nothing really new here" ... from material that was written over 25 years ago?? Nice one, fool. You should start a review of Romeo & Juliet that way. "This is a ripoff of West Side Story written by some old guy in England. It's SO been done before."

I would love to rate these critics "Rotten Tomatoes" -style. There would be a lot of green splats on their faces.

Updated On: 12/23/14 at 01:31 PM

[tenorphil81]

Posted: 12/23/14 at 2:59pm

It feels like the knives are out. Snob alert, but, I think a lot of these critics (including the RedEyeChicago guy) are likely so mind-numbed by a constant diet of subpar sci-fi, zombie, superhero movies that they wouldn't know a quality story if it hit them over the head. I think, too, that there's a lot of ignorance and/or hostility towards musicals for being "unrealistic" when, in fact, several of the sci-fi, zombie and superhero movies are already inherently unrealistic.

No matter. I think the audience response will matter far more.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 12/23/14 at 5:02pm

Y'know what.....**** it....I'm not in the mood for another Les Miserables style disappointment. I won't be seeing this. At all.

[icecreambenjamin]

Posted: 12/23/14 at 5:11pm

^That's a good mindset.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 12/23/14 at 5:14pm

"That's a good mindset."

Whether that was sarcasm or not, it doesn't matter. It's my mindset and I'll keep it, thank you very much.

[icecreambenjamin]

Posted: 12/23/14 at 5:19pm

I happened to love the Les Mis movie.
If this film is anything like Les Mis, I'll be very happy.

And yes it was sarcasm.

[Showface]

Posted: 12/23/14 at 9:41pm

Enjoy this hilarious/ridiculously awful Imdb review:

"This was probably one of the worst movies I've ever seen in my life. EVER. Please, don't waste your time and/or money on this movie, as it was awful. The movie started off cute, with the music and the setting and all. But then the music turned into this preachy, do the right thing, "listen to your elders" movie. It was awful. 30minutes into it, I knew it wasn't going to get any better. This movie felt like a mash-up of a terrible version of Les Mis and Once Upon A Time. The music almost never ceased and I was just about to throw my remote at the TV. Not worth a penny. If I was the creator of this movie, I would never show my face again. To anyone giving this movie higher than a 4 star review is crazy, and most likely getting paid for their good review. This movie should receive a million Raspberry awards. PLUS, 99% OF THE PEOPLE DIED. TERRIBLE ENDING. Don't watch, this movie has literally no genre. This movie is probably as much for little kids as Les Mis is. I couldn't even understand half of the words they were singing. The only good part about this movie is Lilla Crawford. I have seen her in Annie and she is great. But the part with Johnny Depp was TERRIBLE and the part with his "stomach" is so cheesy that I think a 5 year old could have done better effects on it. This movie was a waste of my time, and frankly, a waste of my LIFE."



Lol!!!

[Len6677]

Posted: 12/23/14 at 9:53pm

^ That one's good for some laughs!

I'm choosing to take comfort in those kinds of reviews. It means the movie doesn't attempt to appeal to the lowest common denominator. :)

[Musical Master]

Posted: 12/23/14 at 9:56pm

If anyone wants good news, the RT rating is back in 70% with a lot of top critics REALLY liking this.

[Len6677]

Posted: 12/23/14 at 10:03pm

Yeah, the score among "Top Critics" is up to 85%!

[Musical Master]

Posted: 12/23/14 at 10:05pm

That certainly is a better top critics rating than LES MISERABLES (though I really like that movie) which is at 57%.

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/23/14 at 10:11pm

For what it's worth: 7 experts on Gold Derby are predicting that it will receive a Best Picture nomination.

http://www.goldderby.com/awardshows/experts/oscars-2014-nominations-nominations/best-picture.html

[Musical Master]

Posted: 12/23/14 at 11:08pm

@ljay889, I wouldn't be surprised about it, there's a lot of movies in the Academy's past that didn't receive majority acclaim that were nominated for Best Picture.