RENT Movie-Why?

[bestnurse]

Posted: 11/27/05 at 10:26pm

Hated it! Adam Pascal had one expression on his face the entire movie. Santa Fe was ridiculous with all the spining and jumping in the subway. Adam on the rocks singing, corny. Rosario overacted. They never developed Angel's character. The feeling I get when I see it in the theater time after time is moving and penetrating. All I could do during the movie was wish it was over. I don't understand why they had to make it into a movie in the first place. It should have been left alone.
Updated On: 11/27/05 at 10:26 PM

[ljay889]

Posted: 11/27/05 at 10:26pm

Search feature???

[bestnurse]

Posted: 11/27/05 at 10:30pm

Search feature? What?

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 11/27/05 at 10:40pm

He means use the search feature (located at the top of the board) because there are dozens of threads where everyone else has been expressing their opinions about Rent.

[bestnurse]

Posted: 11/27/05 at 10:46pm

Thanks. I get it but I was expressing my opinion and I know I am not alone in my views. I was just posting what I thought.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 11/27/05 at 10:51pm

People are trying to consolidate Rent threads of similar topics because they are over-taking the board. Try the "Rent reviews" thread.

Updated On: 11/27/05 at 10:51 PM

[Testing1232]

Posted: 11/27/05 at 11:07pm

<< Hated it! Adam Pascal had one expression on his face the entire movie. Santa Fe was ridiculous with all the spining and jumping in the subway. >>

Given the fact that Adam was smiling during the "Santa Fe" scene, laughing during "Today for u...", but hysterically crying during "Your Eyes", your "expression" comment doesnt make much sense... I mean, if you didnt like the movie, thats one thing, but to say he had one one expression on his face doesnt hold water.

[MyNameInLights]

Posted: 11/27/05 at 11:09pm

Sorry you felt that way.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/27/05 at 11:13pm

See, I count more than one...

[Marquise]

Posted: 11/27/05 at 11:18pm

~ i'm not sorry she feels that way
she has a right to her opinion
~ so what if she felt she lost 2 and a half hours of her life that she won't get back
makes no difference to me....

[IveGottaBeME]

Posted: 11/27/05 at 11:32pm

i loved it. many did... i can't tell you how many freakin away messages have rent quotes on it today. let's quit being so negative

[defying_gravity2]

Posted: 11/27/05 at 11:45pm

I've always had RENT quotes on my away message. Yay for not jumping on the bandwagon!

[broadway86]

Posted: 11/28/05 at 12:03am

Rosario overacted.

Wha? I thought she was just right.

[IdinaRocks]

Posted: 11/28/05 at 12:09am

You have to admit it's cool that so many more people are getting into the show. I have a bunch of friends who've already gotten the OBC recording, and who are dying to see it on bway b/c of the movie, who had no interest before. It still has a great message, even if it's not as effective and prominent than in the show, and I'm just glad its spreading the love =)

[overthemoon419]

Posted: 11/28/05 at 12:23am

Personally, I loved the movie.

Was it perfect? Not by a longshot, but that's just my opinion, and a "perfect" movie to me would most likely "suck" to the majority of people. There are many things I would have done differently (casting a different Mimi, one from a stage production if not Daphne herself) would have been my first move; many people would have hated such a decision.
I felt Rosario didn't have a firm grasp on the character.
I felt that Anthony was underused.
I felt that the last shot, of Angel, was the only way to properly end the film and do its characters justice.

Singing and dancing on the subway? No less realistic than a streetful of people throwing flaming eviction notices from their windows, or a ballet-dancing Puerto Rican street gang on the Upper West Side, or a plant that eats people and sings about it, or a dump full of cats that are worthy of a dance-off with the aforementioned street gang.
It's a musical, it's a movie, suspend some belief. Think too much and nothing's enjoyable. E.T. was a robot, Yoda has the wisdom of a lump of foam. The yellow brick road was painted on the floor of a soundstage and everyone grows up, regardless of how much fairy dust they use. But do we love these movies? Of course! Movies are an escape from real life--why criticize them for doing their job?

The making of a movie does not in any way affect the quality of the stage production.
Will it bring in a new audience? Probably.
Will some people hate it anyway? Probably.
Making RENT into a movie makes it available to a wider audience. By capturing Jonathan Larson's music and vision on celluloid forever, RENT can never die. Were it never made into a movie, RENT could have the same fate as CARRIE (although I doubt it would)--and once the show closed, it closed for good. The movie may not be your cup of tea, but please don't criticize it's being made, because the production of a movie is a blessing, not a curse. The movie and the show are different yet the same, and they are each full of their pros and cons. But what works on stage does not always work on film, and vice versa. I wholeheartedly believe that this movie was made the best possible way, to use the camera to add to the story rather than to hurt it, and to glorify the entire production on film rather than make an awkward transition merely for the sake of "not changing anything" to stay true to the original Broadway production--a "good" movie beats a "mediocre but identical to the stage" movie in my book, any day.

RENT was, is, and will always be in the centre of controversy, whether over its romances, it's AIDS content, its score, its cast, or the medium through which it was produced. Some people are born complainers. The rest of us are happy with RENT and with any way we can listen to it, see it, and be a part of it. To bring RENT into my living room is like a dream come true, and with the majority of the original cast, it's like a slice of heaven. Sure, it has its flaws, but what doesn't? Let those of us that enjoy the movie enjoy it; if you don't like it, then don't buy it on DVD, what else can I say?

::steps off soapbox:: phew.

[meagan9848]

Posted: 11/28/05 at 12:58am

shut. up.

[H.Higgins]

Posted: 11/28/05 at 1:07am

overthemoon,

I appreciate your comments. I'm happy to say I agree with you.

[aidachick]

Posted: 11/28/05 at 1:39am

I dont post often because I use this board mostly for the information and reviews. but I love RENT i saw it for the first time when i was 11 on accident, (long story mommy didnt know the whole story so we went)I didnt understand any of it but it touched me, i dont know how something i didnt even understand could effect me but it did, i loved the music and after that i saw it a few more times.

when the Rent movie was really happening i was sooo happy and then i saw it. i knew that it wasnt going to be the broadway show videotaped but i was hoping it would stay close to it.

I loved a lot of the scenes on there own i think i liked almost every scene on its own but the movie left me cold, i felt like the scenes didnt fit together and that Chris cut out some vital songs and scenes. I think the reason i overall didnt care for the film is because i wanted it to be better. i think i was expecting something that either was impossible to create on film or the directer was not able to do it.

this saddens me because Rent is close to my heart as well as a lot of peoples and it feels like a big let down for me at least.

I went to see the film with a big group of people and a lot of them didnt like the characters. they felt they were basically drug addicts and scumbags, this i dont think is how the characters should be viewed altho it is sorta what they are. it seems like that shouldnt be the most important part of the story but in the film it is. its like here are a bunch of poor people who are friends instead of here are a group af friends who choose to lead their lives differently but are still like everyone else.

in all i just felt the film did not come together as flawlessly as it could have and as far as i could tell it was the director and editors that controled how good it would have been because the material for a good film is their.
I felt the film lacked a lot of the heart the show has.

thanks for letting me vent my friends are sick of me talking about rent!!!!

[Radioactiveduck]

Posted: 11/28/05 at 1:59am

I also rather dis-liked the Santa Fe scene. Jesse L. Martin looked like he was practicing to be Angel's stripper buddy or something. It was just tacky.

Love, love, LOVED the film, however.

[meagan9848]

Posted: 11/28/05 at 2:26am

OvertheMoon419,

My last comment was directed at the original poster, not you. You said (very nicely I might add) what I no longer have the patience to say.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 11/28/05 at 2:26am

I agree with the comment about Adam singing on the rocks in Santa Fe. It was cheesetastic. I'd like to also add the bit with him singing in the car, as well as the cast singing in a subway car, Anthony singing while ridding a bike, the setting for "Take Me or Leave Me" and the tango hallucination - all very awkward and all very painful to watch. They just looked odd on film, and are prime examples of how not to film a musical.

I also didn't like how lyrics were turned into dialogue that rhymed. The phantom movie was guilty of this as well. Like movie going audiences can only take so many songs yet I don't see how dialogue a la Dr. Seuss makes up for it.

I would have also encouraged a bit more trimming. "Seasons of Love" seems to have only been in place to keep the fans happy, but I'm a fan and I saw no need for it to open the film like that. It was a lame tribute that didn't work. I would have been fine with the short version that played over the film montage. I also hated "Will I". Again, the only reason it seemed to be in place was to show us Roger going to the meeting which could have been done with a five-second scene or not at all as it wasn't entirely necessary. On stage it's used for transition. On film it was not needed. That, and I hated the way it was shot.

Those things aside, and the fact that the entire score was not preserved which for me is always a major pet peeve even though I knew going in that I was seeing "RENT light" there were a lot of things that I did like and I still enjoyed the film for what it is. The performances were all, obviously, brilliant. "Light My Candle" was filmed and executed to perfection. "Over the Moon" as hysterically funny and "Your Eyes" was just gorgeous. If the film encourages people to see "the real thing" either on Broadway or on tour then the film serves a purpose and Jonathan's "eternal flame" lives on... Updated On: 11/28/05 at 02:26 AM

[dmb_rent]

Posted: 11/28/05 at 2:31am

but hysterically crying during "Your Eyes"

I would say "hysterically crying" would be taking it a bit far. He had watery eyes and an upset face. --- Yikes, I'm not defending this original poster...(and even I'm slightly annoyed to see another rent review that could be in the review thread!)...I think Adam did a great job! But...do you know what hysterically crying looks like? That, he was not doing. It probably would have been over the top for the scene anyway.

[dmb_rent]

Posted: 11/28/05 at 2:33am

Singing and dancing on the subway? No less realistic than a streetful of people throwing flaming eviction notices from their windows, or a ballet-dancing Puerto Rican street gang on the Upper West Side, or a plant that eats people and sings about it, or a dump full of cats that are worthy of a dance-off with the aforementioned street gang.
It's a musical, it's a movie, suspend some belief.

And, haha...I would say that singing and dancing on the subway isn't that far from reality anyway. At least, the singing part I witness on an almost daily basis.

Updated On: 11/28/05 at 02:33 AM

[dmb_rent]

Posted: 11/28/05 at 2:37am

and the tango hallucination - all very awkward and all very painful to watch.

One last post from me for the night --- WHAT! That "tango hallucination" was probably the most cinematically stimulating scene of the whole movie. You are very wrong there. I know it's your opinion, but ... That was really like the most visually "cool" scene! In a way it reminded me of the part in Moulin Rouge where they're doing the "Roxanne" rendition --- this [tango scene] wasn't nearly as amazingly done as that [roxanne] scene, it just reminded me of it.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 11/28/05 at 2:44am

for the tango I would have just preferred that they be wearing street clothes or maybe the dancers wear street clothes and Mark and Joanne in tango attire... or really just not at all... it wouldn't have been THAT boring just watching them tango. it just screamed "Broadway musical" instead of "rock opera". that's all... I didn't hate it. 'just rubbed me wrong...