Into the Woods Official Movie Thread- Page 169

[J_Jammer]

Posted: 12/23/14 at 11:40pm

@Showface

WHAT the what is that review? "This movie." If that review said "this movie" one more time, I was going to throw my fist through my laptop screen and hope that I'd hit them in the face.

I guess everyone dies but Rapunzel if it's 99%...or was that a poor exaggeration?

Again the problem with the songs is that people are so used to a repeatable chorus that when it doesn't happen it messes with their mind.

Which is one of the reasons I love the songs. I would argue how great Into the Woods is until my fingers bled.

[J_Jammer]

Posted: 12/23/14 at 11:45pm

There's this one that was positive review but they said this: "Because this is a Disney product, it begins with each character wishing for something each did not have."

Uh...that's how the musical begins. I can't handle reading any more.

[Play Esq.]

Posted: 12/24/14 at 12:50am

Aside:

Anyone surprised by how much ITW advertising is happening on Boadwayworld? I mean, this is the movie's prime audience. Good or bad, pretty much everyone who comes to this site is seeing it. Great for Broadwayworld, but perhaps a waste of money for the movie's advertising budget.

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/24/14 at 1:43am

Peter Hammond of Deadline RAVES about the film.

https://deadline.com/2014/12/into-the-woods-review-movie-rob-marshall-meryl-streep-stephen-sondheim-1201334137/

And gotta love another hilarious user comment.
"It’s an outdated piece of crap – a musical with horrible excuses for music, a story that’s stupid and unfunny and a good cast totally wasted"

LOL

[gypsy101]

Posted: 12/24/14 at 6:25am

I've been reading some reviews and it seems like everyone is complaining about the "last third of the film," which, I assume, is where things turn dark and people start dying. Did these people think Happily Ever After would really come? Do they have no clue what the original play is about? If you lose the second half, you lose the whole point of the thing. I didn't think it would happen, but it has: reviews of the movie version of Into the Woods have taught me a lot about how dull and dumb people can be.

[sarahb22]

Posted: 12/24/14 at 8:02am

It's human nature to want Happily Ever After; fairy tales wouldn't exist if that wasn't the case. I've always thought the moral of ITW is that you can find happiness even if you don't end up getting what (you think) you want. And a lot of times, getting what you want doesn't make you happy.

That said, if anything sinks this movie it will be that after the kind of year 2014 has been (Ebola, Ferguson, very sad deaths of well-known people) the general moviegoing public might not want to go see a movie that emphasizes how lousy life is in the sort of yank-the-rug-out way that ITW does. Guess we'll see.

Updated On: 12/24/14 at 08:02 AM

[Showface]

Posted: 12/24/14 at 9:14am

The NYPost raves that this is "the best musical of the 21st Century", and that Blunt and Streep deliver "two of the year’s very best female performances"!!!!



http://nypost.com/2014/12/24/bewitching-into-the-woods-is-this-centurys-best-musical/

[J_Jammer]

Posted: 12/24/14 at 10:03am

@Sarahb22

And also it points out that no one is alone. No matter who you are and what you're going through.

Which is one of my favorite points. Because often people think that they're the only ones going through something or that because they're going through something they have no one who cares.

Everyone does end up getting something in Into The Woods, it's just not what they wished for. Or maybe it's not as they wished it.

[J_Jammer]

Posted: 12/24/14 at 10:08am

@gypsy101

Exactly. This shows the people (if that is their complaint that the second half is too dark instead of something else...) who are complaining about that are wanting generic films that go through a check list before the end. Or they really also don't like that the songs are like lines with music.

I cannot wait to see it. I wish I could film myself watching it because I'm sure I will look like a child singing to every single song...the very child that annoyed his parents because OMG gotta watch it one more time kind of thing---ad nauseam.

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/24/14 at 11:33am

Awesome review from the NY Post, with great pull quotes!
When can we expect the NY Times review?

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 12/24/14 at 1:04pm

The Dissolve: "Utterly average"

[LinManuelSondheim]

Posted: 12/24/14 at 1:23pm

"Awesome review from the NY Post, with great pull quotes!
When can we expect the NY Times review?"

That guy never does a good review for the best movies. Into The Woods must be awesome! Going early next morning. I remember the first teaser
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIVPfnYXrYY
Then the feauturette
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFRm_rZIEXc
Then the full trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Byk9Is3TjY

I just hope the movie retains the original shows darkness, humor and wit. We're rutting for you Disney and Marshall! :)

[Mrtrobz]

Posted: 12/24/14 at 1:53pm

The film is predicted for a $40,000,000 opening weekend consider the films budget is 50mil then this is sure to be a smash hit. I am excited to see how it progresses.

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/24/14 at 2:52pm

A rave from the LA Times.

The trip 'Into the Woods' is spooky, thoughtful, delightful.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-into-woods-review-20141225-column.html

Updated On: 12/24/14 at 02:52 PM

[Musical Master]

Posted: 12/24/14 at 2:59pm

At this point this is Rob Marshall's most well liked film since CHICAGO. The reviews are definitely better than the ones for LES MISERABLES that's for sure.

[Hagenisnotakitty]

Posted: 12/24/14 at 3:02pm

http://www.markreviewsmovies.com/reviews/I/intothewoods.htm

Though this review has some reasonable points about story-halting numbers like "Giants in the Sky", this reviewer has some bizarre nitpicks:

"The woods are just trees / The trees are just wood," sings one of the fairy-tale characters before and after she and a group of other characters sing that they're going—you guessed it—into the woods.

The literalism of the lyrics makes a certain kind of sense for the stage. The woods behind a proscenium arch clearly are not real. They're pieces of set. The art of theater is representing reality through illusion. The art of cinema is presenting an illusion that appears to be reality. We don't really need to be told of what things the woods are made or, for that matter, of what material the things that make up the woods are made. In a play, we can forgive that sort of excessive description as a part of maintaining the illusion. In a movie, it's much more difficult to excuse."

I mean...REALLY?

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/24/14 at 3:03pm

^ Agreed, Musical Master.

Here's another rave from Susan Wloszczyna for Rogertebert.com

“Into the Woods” will provide edifying sustenance for holiday crowds desperate to find a fitting movie to share with their family after the gift-opening and feasting is over. Plus, it will act as a harmonic palate cleanser for all those stale Christmas carols that have been playing since Halloween.

http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/into-the-woods-2014





Updated On: 12/24/14 at 03:03 PM

[Musical Master]

Posted: 12/24/14 at 3:13pm

Susan is a pretty good critic on her own terms. Now where in the world is The New York Times? I hope it's Dargis rather than Scott.. I can't stand the guy.

[gleek4114]

Posted: 12/24/14 at 5:27pm

Going to see it tonight! Honestly, I can't wait!

[Musical Master]

Posted: 12/24/14 at 5:50pm

Here it is, the New York Times review by Stephen Holden, it's a "NYT Critics Pick" AND it's a rave.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/25/movies/into-the-woods-disneys-take-on-the-sondheim-lapine-classic.html?_r=0

Updated On: 12/24/14 at 05:50 PM

[Showface]

Posted: 12/24/14 at 5:59pm

^I'm glad that it's positive, but I wish it were more a review than a summary of the story which the review read like IMO.

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/24/14 at 6:24pm

wow! Does Holden normally review major movies? I thought of him as more of a Cabaret critic.

Definitely has a lot of summarizing, but certainly reads as a very strong review. Updated On: 12/24/14 at 06:24 PM

[TazTarney]

Posted: 12/24/14 at 6:32pm

Not sure I'd call that a rave..

[Showface]

Posted: 12/24/14 at 6:36pm

^Why not? It is entirely positive with nothing negative to say about it. It raves about the story, the cast, and the production design.

[Musical Master]

Posted: 12/24/14 at 6:38pm

Stephen Holden IS a major critic with Scott and Dargis for NYT. I guess the latter two were busy writing other reviews.