My Rent Movie Review - SPOILERS WITHIN- Page 5

[paradox_error]

Posted: 11/3/05 at 7:05pm

uh...no.

I suggest you read my posts again, and stop jumping to conclusions.

I'm going to bed, it's past 1 AM in my part of the world.

Goodnight!

[Greekmusicalfan]

Posted: 11/3/05 at 8:00pm

Doxy, you know that I love you to bits, but i think that you are a bit unfair on this case ! TimeSuckage's review has nothing "shilly" about it and it made a lot of us Rentheads happy ! Of course I agree that we will all form our own opinions, but it is nice to hear something about the film before hand ! But I am sure you meant no harm, since you are such a sweet natured person !

[BroadwayGirl107]

Posted: 11/3/05 at 8:06pm

Times' review didn't seem like a very "shill" review to me, and I can assure you Lea is not a shill either.

I don't really see your point, paradox. I think we're ALL going to make our own minds up about the movie when we see it for ourselves, but some of us like to hear something about it from people who have had the opportunity to see it before us. I see no crime in anyone who has attended a screening posting reviews, nor do I see a problem with them just recently joing the boards to post the reviews. They know many of us DO want to hear.

[boatsintheghetto]

Posted: 11/3/05 at 8:57pm

I HATE how prejudice this board gets. just cuz someone's not totally like living in a broadway world, people make fun of them or attack them. Im not saying you did paradox, im just saying in general because it happened to me when i first joined. I'm still not high at all in postage but i read a lot of the posts on this board. Its very unnerving to post an oppinion or question and have a bunch of people attack you. It makes you not feel as welcome. It also brings down a post. like honestly when i first read paradox's post i didnt really think anything of it...like i was great here starts the fights, but i guess cuz i didnt make the post i didnt really think of it. but now this really happy topic has turned evil and demented and now its all lets fight over who has more integrety. Honestly I think a movie is a great way to get non broadway fans into it, maybe we'll have more respect in the world rather than being "broadway losers" (though i do hate the idea of newbies entering our territory and being all like omg rent is like sooo my thing" but paradox did say he did not specifically mean to hurt so lets just let it all go!!!!

ok now onto what I wanted to say...i wanted to ask about what was taken out cuz of the rating but that was answered...id like to respond to something emcee said about how you can tell like instantly that a commercial is on...haha all i have to do is see the buildigns in teh beginning and i kn ow its the commercial. haha my mom thinks im a freak

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/3/05 at 9:02pm

I saw it again today. I get chills every time, but I feel like for a second, I've moved into some strange dimension where Rent is on TV.

Oh, and the only thing removed when all was said and done was a couple of dialogue "f*cks." They sound like they were sort of extranneous. I mean, I know people will be upset because now they'll think the language was dumbed down, but hey, if they weren't in the original libretto, then those people should be satisfied. It it's too faithful, people will be mad. If there's too much added, people will be mad. You'll probably never even know where they would have been. *shrug* Whatever.

Posted: 11/4/05 at 2:22am

Well, at the risk of a rash of sH*t from some, here goes:

I saw RENT tonight.

I am a RENT fan....big one. I thoroughly enjoyed it, got some chills, laughed, and for sure balled my eyes out (the whole Colin/Angel love story gets me EVERY time). It's extremely faithful to the show, and that's a good thing and a not so good thing.

My opinion for now. If you know and like/love the material, then you will for sure be most happy and satisfied. It's pure joy to see most of the originals up there, adding some new stuff, re-energizing the parts they originated and preserving it for all time. There's a lot of great stuff that is fleshed out that is not in the stage production, including a darling take on Tango Maureen. My faves were Wilson, Idina and Jesse. TT was also strong, and vocally was amazing, as was everyone.

If you don't know the show....it's not great film making. Nothing really interesting, either in direction or execution. It was kind of standard point and shoot stuff....character sings on balcony...character continues out on the streets of NYC...lots of that, nice to look at, but not all that interesting or unique. Basically it's a nice recording of the musical.

Am I disappointed....a bit. It was a little to 'safe' It could have been worse, the director could have went way too far in the other direction and lost the heart of the piece.

Thanks...let the pelting begin.
Updated On: 11/4/05 at 02:22 AM

[Marquise]

Posted: 11/4/05 at 2:45am

who sings on a balcony?

[twotrey]

Posted: 11/4/05 at 3:36am

Mimi in "Out Tonight"; various tenants during "Rent"; Roger in "Another Day" (which I think is a huge miscalculation, but that's another story)

[Marquise]

Posted: 11/4/05 at 4:11am

last time i checked they were called fire escapes.
Updated On: 11/4/05 at 04:11 AM

[Chrysanthemum62001]

Posted: 11/4/05 at 4:14am

Quick question....I haven't been following everything all that closely so I'm a little confused. Is the film still going to be released in select cities (Cali and New York) on November 11? Or do the folks in New York have to wait along with the rest of America?

[Marquise]

Posted: 11/4/05 at 4:22am

Chrys the November 11th selected cities release date was abandoned awhile ago. The film will open everywhere on November 23rd.

[Chrysanthemum62001]

Posted: 11/4/05 at 4:26am

Thanks! That's what I was afraid of. Poo-ey!

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 11/4/05 at 8:13am

Arg, I am ticked. I love "Halloween" but I won't be "that" heart-broken about it not being in, but why the crap is "Goodbye Love" not in it. Wait, is the whole song gone or just the part where Mark and Roger fight. I am a little confused. See what happens, gone a week or so and confusion runs rampid within my skull.

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 11/4/05 at 8:52am

I hope infuriated Rentheads dont end up throwing random objects at Chris Columbus on the street because of the cuts.

However, I might have to do the same if Another Day isn't done well in the movie.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/4/05 at 10:11am

There's a lot of great stuff that is fleshed out that is not in the film, including a darling take on Tango Maureen.

Does this line confuse anybody else? I'm assuming it's a typo, as the Tango's supposedly in the movie, and if it was so great, then it had to have been seen, right?

DJ, Goodbye Love ends at the group singing "I can't believe this is goodbye..." I don't know where I posted it last, so I'll just repeat. The Mark/Roger fight was cut because given the nature of close-ups, etc, it ended up that the direct confrontation in that scene just bordered melodrama that they didn't want to have. So, the powers that be believed that the movie worked without it, as the story is told in other ways.

[joniray]

Posted: 11/4/05 at 10:45am

So basically, because Columbus ****ed up the filming of that scene, we now have to do without one of the most important dramatic scenes in the story (and miss out on one of my favorite lump-in-the-throat moments- "Mimi's gotten thin, Mimi's running out of time, Roger's running out the door"). I know Rent means different things to different people, but to me, Rent is about the strong bond between a family of friends and what happens when that bond falls apart and is rebuilt. Without that scene, we never see Mark and Roger's friendship collapse under pressure and we never see Roger confronted with his fear of watching someone he loves die. That's huge.

That, along with a couple of other things that make me go "Hmmm" (no seeing Roger on the line "Reason says I should have died three years ago," Roger on the fire escape for Another Day - so as he draws into himself he goes out on the fire escape???) make me more and more worried that watching this film will make me really angry or at the very least extremely frustrated.

I’ll just try to be heavily medicated when I see it

I have so been trying to avoid these threads but I apparently have no self-control whatsoever when it comes to Rent I keep saying to myself, "wait and see the film – it may all work" and it may, but cutting the meat of Goodbye Love seems to me like such a huge betrayal of what the show is about.

No matter how it all turns out, I promise not to throw anything at Columbus if I see him on the street

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/4/05 at 10:56am

I was initially really upset, but we'll get to see it eventually. And even though I really wanted to see it, I'm a terribly trusting person. I sort of have to believe that the choices were with reason, and are right. When this was explained to me, it didn't seem like it was a mistake, per se, but that the medium just can't handle something like that fight -- that it's inherently pretty "theatrical." I'm also under the impression that we don't see any of the stuff you mentioned *directly* confronted, but that we see the developments brought by that scene in other ways -- in ways that can be shown on film, but can't be done as affectively in theatre. You can use visual explanations, whereas in theatre, those things need to be spoken. Because there are things you can do with film that you can't in theatre -- theatre has to and can be more direct -- it works. I don't know exactly what those "methods" are because I haven't seen the movie yet, but I hope that makes sense.

I have abandoned ALL hope of self-control.

Nineteeeeeeeeeen.

Updated On: 11/4/05 at 10:56 AM

[TimeSuckage]

Posted: 11/4/05 at 11:22am

I know I should take the high road, as paradox has done, but I just learned something that I feel very compelled to respond to, and then I will let the flame war with paradox go.

Paradox, I just checked your profile. You admit you have never seen a Broadway show, and yet you questioned my credibility to post on message boards about Broadway? For real, dude? That's seriously ballsy and very, very ironic, imo.

I'm glad some people here appreciated my posting of a pre-opening review. You were the people I was hoping to please. As I said I am not a Renthead and I didn't LOOOOVE the movie or the stage production, but I've witnessed the excitement brewing over the movie's opening on these boards and wanted to share my thoughts.

Peace out, y'all.

[smartpenguin78]

Posted: 11/4/05 at 11:26am

Time Suckage, do you know where Paradox Lives? It is a totally different situation. Most people in the world have no access to Broadway.

I do not question your status and enjoyed your review, but there is no reason to question Paradox in that manner.

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 11/4/05 at 11:28am

"So basically, because Columbus ****ed up the filming of that scene, we now have to do without one of the most important dramatic scenes in the story"

To be fair, although I love parts of the song (especially Mimi singing "Goodbye Love") there are parts of it that sound melodramatic to me even just on the soundtrack. "Perhaps it's because I'm the one of us to survive" has always sounded like an odd line to me.

[joniray]

Posted: 11/4/05 at 11:35am

Emcee, I'm sure we will all see it eventually, but what about the millions whose first and perhaps only exposure to Rent will be without it? I remember how incredibly moved I've always been by the scene with Roger and Mark and then Mimi. The show almost became too painful to watch at that point and it SHOULD be. I can't see how they can cut that scene out and not somewhat emotionally neuter the piece or at least lessen its impact. If they decided to do it with dialogue, that would likely do the trick but to do away with the scene altogether seems like such a big mistake to me. I'll be the first to admit to jumping to conclusions too quickly if they are able to pull it off without the story loosing any of its power. Ultimately though, does anyone truly believe that Larson would have been fine with this cut?

[joniray]

Posted: 11/4/05 at 11:41am

Actually MrMidwest, though I've never had a problem with "Perhaps it's because I'm the one of us to survive" (in fact, I think it's an important line, to see Mark suddenly explode with a hurtful response in the argument, one that he seems to regret saying), I've never cared for Roger's "Poor baby" response. Wouldn't have minded a tweaking of that moment.

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 11/4/05 at 11:44am

I just think starting an emotionally heavy line in a song with "Perhaps" is a bit odd. If it was something like "What if I'm the only one of us to survive?" I think that might be better.

[jynni]

Posted: 11/4/05 at 12:00pm

On the soundtrack I'm not too fond of the rhyming lines at the end of Halloween - it reminds minds me of "Raoul, I'm frighted" being spoken instead of sung in Phantom. I know the (Halloween) lines probably work on stage but it just sounds off for the movie.

I also think the "Hello Disease" line is too melodramatic and cliched. Not to say that whole song shouldn've been cut but I just don't like the line itself. But that's what the DVD is for!

And really - I don't mind the cuts so much since it's pretty certain we'll get them on the DVD.

One thing I think that's going to come up in the (critical) reviews is the issue with Mimi's non death. Critics say it ties things up too nicely but I actually think the opposite. The cliche in musical theater/opera seems to be to kill off just about everyone. So Mimi living goes against that. Plus we already know she has AIDS - and while people do live longer than they used too, with her frail state and drug problems it's doubtful Mimi would see her 30th birthday.

Really though - that's part of the characters' tragedy. Mark, Maureen, Joanne and maybe Benny would be the only ones still alive today. Mimi, Roger & Collins would most likely have died by now.

[joniray]

Posted: 11/4/05 at 12:05pm

Okay, I could see that. How about "Maybe" instead of "Perhaps?"

But these are picky little things could have easily been tweaked if they weren't playing right instead of cutting the whole scene. If the scene ended up not working, that responsibility has to land right in the laps of the director and screenplay writer.