NINE - I've kept my silence until now... — Page 3

I saw Nine last night and I'm sad to say I must join the ranks of those who did not like it. I felt that the performances were generally solid but the poor editing and plot made the film disjointed and boring. I do not fault the actors, they gave it their all. The sets and costumes were fabulous. But everything else just fell flat.

May I also add that I'm very forgiving of movie musicals and I've pretty much liked every one that has come out over the last decade. But this one made me wince and left me cold.

Updated On: 12/31/09 at 04:30 PM

Just how bad is NINE?
Well, my friend told me that the night he saw it the reaction by the audience was so bad that several people in the audience started projectile vomiting while others complained of rectal bleeding. He then told me that Rob Marshall’s family was directly involved in the extermination of 6 million Jews. Can anyone confirm this?

"Well, my friend told me that the night he saw it the reaction by the audience was so bad that several people in the audience started projectile vomiting while others complained of rectal bleeding. He then told me that Rob Marshall’s family was directly involved in the extermination of 6 million Jews. Can anyone confirm this?"

I understand Rob Marshall also contributes heavily to Republican candidates, and is a closer personal friend of Dick Cheney. He even donated the sperm for Mary Cheney's children. Marshall is currently keeping vigil at Rush Limbaugh's bedside to offer moral support and backrubs to the man Marshall has puclicly called "the moral conscience of our generation."

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saw the movie today and when they weren't singing i was bored... for me, when people say the plot sucks, the reason the plot sucked for me was that i had no reason to invest in Guido or to care about him and what he was going through... it was just endless whining about making a movie... it just dragged on...

ONE 4 NINE on 20 Ten O/1/10:

Gotta agree with the group here, when NINE isn't singing and dancing it is a solid bore, and not all the singing and dancing is solid but it is more entertaining than any of the script scenes.
As good an actor as Day Lewis is(and he is), he is wrong in this part and does not ooze the charisma deserving of the role, but as has been discussed, the script gives us no reason to care about him.
I liked all the actresses, even Kidman who I do not like, the costume and set/reality of her scene kept me mostly distracted as she tortured one of my favorite songs.
Placing all the musical scenes on that one set was the cheapest creative idea and did get tedious quickly, I felt the idea of using the "vintage" shots was wasted.
I would probably enjoy a video of the musical numbers without the scenes.
I loved the costumes but Sophia dresses like that everyday, I saw her once at DisneyWorld and she was wearing that outfit.
And there was a lot of posing and shaking as opposed to dancing,
but my neck was sore after watching Hudson's multiple head/hair rolls.
Was Dench French?
I would nominate for Oscars:
Costumes (except for Sophia)
Art Direction
Cotillard Actress
Fergie Supporting
That's all.

Oh. Dear. Where to start? I think of this show almost like a Frankenstein creature, bits and pieces unrelated to each other but stitched together into a semblance of what it was trying to be/do. I found myself wondering if Marshall had identified w Contini just a tad too much, as a blocked director forced to use style over substance." I can't make this movie" had a different resonance. There are the occasional moments that show what COULD have been, the drives in the sports car, some of the b/w sequences w Serengina, Marion Cotillard. But moments do not a film make. The things that others have raised- the "Mein Heir" Homage/reference. ( I'll be polite)The lack of actual sex appeal in Phone Call from the Vatican ( GHAWD- that sequence in the hotel room w the Dr was embarassing!) I actually said "oh My G*d" out loud when I saw the opening sequence to the "Follies Bergere"( yes deliberate misspelling) number. When does "homage" become a man bereft of any original concepts forced to use the elements others had already created? Cinema Italiano- well I guess Harvey W larned from doing Chicago- you want to be eligible for an Oscar for Best Song- get a new song from the composer for your movie. (yes I know Kander and Ebb gave him "I Just Move On" but it reeeely sounded like Ein Kleine Trunk Music to me). I'll let it slide as it is one of the few pieces w actual dancing! Folies B was mostly walking and Take It All made me think of a Gypsy gone sour WHY choose ( or why would GUIDO think of his wife being pawed by lowlifes) to stage it that way? The "resolution" ( can I say reconciliation? wink wink) well I guess that a "happy ending" is required for a musical -nowadays. I will grant you the " bow" was amusing but it hardly contributes to balance the scales. Nine may not be one of the "great" musicals- but it deserved to be treated better than this. I can only guess that some of the original creators prefered a chance to getting some $$ now rather than a bit of theatrical standing in history.
*sigh* perhaps I'm too harsh- who amongst us might have resisted the temptation?

obviously La Vie En Rose- but she has a role in Burton's Big Fish.

eatlasagna: I recommend the Frech film JEUX D'ENFANTS (English title: LOVE ME IF YOU DARE). Quirky but enjoyable little film, and Cotillard was great in it, alongside real-life beau Guillaume Canet.

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Most worrying, I fear that this botch-up will damage chances of future top-flight stage productions, tarnished by the film's flop reputation.

I get the feeling that if Marshall wanted Loren there were stipulations, like basically she gets out of a car in full make-up and her own clothes and does the part. I thought she was a fashion icon-I never believed she could act anyway.

As far Marion she was also in the Russell Crowe flick "A Good Year" and she is stunning.

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Sophia Loren is 75 years old now. No amount of tan makeup or plastic surgery is going to change that.

She was once one of the most beautiful young women in the world, and she still has "good bones" as the saying goes. There are a few shots in NINE where Marshall captured her beauty. There are also a few shots in his movie, particularly the last one in the finale, when she is dead center on the balcony, where she looks truly awful. Like a gorgon carved out of clay. It's a terrible angle combined with terrible lighting. Her skin is the same gray color as her dress in that shot. Her facial expression is oddly chilling. It made me wince both times I saw the movie.

While Sophia isn't the breathtaking youthful beauty she once was, there is no excuse for making her look that bad, particularly in her parting shot. And particularly since she had looked much better in other shots in the same movie.

Still, she is 75! Very few 75-year-old woman come close to looking that good.

As far as her acting, until you see her in TWO WOMEN, you can't really judge fairly how good or bad she is. That would change your thoughts in one screening.

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I don't think Marshall knows much about photographing actresses. In Kate Hudson's bar scene she is all double chins and sagging neck angles. Judi Dench is photographed horribly. Fergie looks like a man in many of her scenes. I hope that wasn't done on purpose. Sophia is shot all wrong at various points as a previous poster noted. I remember watching that Project Greenlight series on HBO and seeing Bonnie Hunt dress down the fledgling director about lighting and filming an actress so that she looks good and feels safe so that she can do her best work. I think some people got lots of attention (Kidman, Cruz) and other not so much.

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