Your Thoughts On The Phantom film- Page 2

[greeneyed_one]

Posted: 12/25/05 at 1:14am

Well I really liked it. :)

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 12/25/05 at 1:39am

Why do you think it is so boring?

So much of the blocking was so unimaginative and dull. "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" was just Christine walking around aimlessly in a cemetary for four minutes. "All I Ask of You" almost put me to sleep, since it was just Raoul and Christine staring into each other's eyes on a rooftop.

I understand that these songs weren't exactly song-and-dance numbers onstage, but inert moments like these are obstacles a more skillful director could overcome with a bit of creativity and an understanding of how music and movement can be used to tell a story.

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 12/25/05 at 1:46am

"Gerard Butler...eh, enough has been said already."

Roquat considering not just him or this film but so many times ppl repeat things they didn't like about someone or something, I want to honestly say that I really appreciate just saying that instead of...repeating what's already been heard.

I also think it's weird...the film could be deep if you want it to be or if you think about some aspects of the story or I dunno get into it. I read Susan Kay's "Phantom"(amazing book, a must-read for any Phantom fan), and as much as I loved the movie/story in the first place, the book which described his whole life put a whole new spin on it and like so many things I started seeing different meanings in and I'm sure the movie didn't intend to be those exact things but I like that I see them that way.

For example...SPOILER about the book...









It obviously follows him from birth, from when his Mom first made him the mask...of course he had issues w/ her and she w/ him but for his 4th b-day, the first time his mom's friend convinced her to celebrate his b-day she explained he got gifts and he asked if it could be anything within reason...he asked for a kiss...and she couldn't give it to him. His mother could not kiss him. And obviously a lot of his life we follow the fact that he's never kissed or touched anyone, how much he feared their rejection, and also how Christine has a striking similarity to his mother. So the point is as much as I loved and was touched by(and cried the first time) when Christine kisses him, after reading this book and deciding that was his life, it just touched me so much and...I dunno. I also have realized I'm a big Webber fan, could be a part also. :shrug:

The lip syncing...I don't think you can entirely blame the sound guy, the actors too. I mean Emmy barely opened her mouth enough to look like she was singing. It's interesting that the best lip syncers to their/other voices(Minnie, Gerry) are not the singers like Patrick and Emmy, but I suppose they're not used to having to lip sync.

[roquat]

Posted: 12/25/05 at 1:49am

I actually think that the backstory you mention about the Phantom's mother, etc., is better told in the Maury Yeston/Arthur Kopit stage musical "Phantom". It has a much better book (and an arguably better, or at least more interesting, score) than the Webber version.

I also forgot to mention--Miranda Richardson's phony French accent would have embarrassed Pepe Le Pew. That was what I meant about "unintentionally entertaining."

[StephanietheStar]

Posted: 12/25/05 at 1:58am

I liked it too. it has it's faults (Emmy Rossum isn't a soprano for one) but I enjoy it. I think it's beautiful.

just me. :)

[Smaxie]

Posted: 12/25/05 at 2:10am

>Driver was dull and a waste.<

And that concludes tonight's broadcast from backwardsville.

Thought that Driver was the best thing in the movie.

>I loved Patrick Wilson in the Full Monty but he was not as good as I would have expected and he looked so frail compared to the Phantom.
Skinny men just don't do it for me.
He looked smaller than Christine.<

Again, more foolishness. I've never seen Wilson be less that terrific in anything, and even with the silly wig he has here, he still maintains his dignity, even opposite that zero Emmy Rossum. Plus, his vocals are to die for.

Updated On: 12/25/05 at 02:10 AM

[jimmirae]

Posted: 12/25/05 at 2:58am

I have to be honest - I saw this first run in the movie theater and came out happy only with the DIVINE Minnie Driver's performance as "Carlotta" - she was a HOOT! Her expressions were classic!

[Kringas]

Posted: 12/25/05 at 3:18am

Hated the stage version. Enjoyed the movie. It's better than any movie musical I've seen recently.

[pab]

Posted: 12/25/05 at 3:40am

I am not a Phantom fan. I saw it when it opened and was bored. I then decided to give it another try a few years later . . . . bored. A few more years go by and a friend gets tickets and I reluctantly agree to go again (actually I was dragged kicking and screaming) and you guessed it, bored off my ass. Got the DVD, more as a collector's item of movie musicals. It sat there for a good while and then I decided to watch it and thought that it was definitely better than what I had seen on stage. Not great, but IMO better than the stage show.

Updated On: 12/25/05 at 03:40 AM

[rockfenris2005]

Posted: 12/25/05 at 4:24am

Just as a side-note, to see the reaction from the Webber-haters, does anyone remember the news of a Phantom sequel? There were several mentions of it. The first, to my knowledge, was the birthday bash at the Royal Albert: in which Kiri Te Kunawa performed one of its numbers "The Heart is Slow to Learn". The tune was, since, recycled into Beautiful Game. Frederick Forsyth (Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File fame) wrote a book for it, which Lloyd Webber was to utilize: and, when he rejected it, it went out of print (I managed to get a copy quick-fast). It's a very interesting book and it's called The Phantom of Manhattan... pursuing the Phantom's escape to New York, where he meets "Christine De Chagny" and her son Pierre. The twist it, Pierre is his son...

Lloyd Webber had several melodies set aside for it (wonder where he reused them... LOL). There were further mentions on Interviews (i.e. Parkinson, UK etc.) and the project, suddenly, wasn't happening. Around the making of the Phantom film, I could have sworn that Lloyd Webber had been asked about it: and he responded: "we are hoping to make it as a movie." If anyone's seen the Phantom film, there is enough room to expand the story and shoot this version. Not only would it be the sequel to one of the most successful musicals of all time, but it would be the first musical Lloyd Webber has (specifically) written for film. Musical-sequels, like Annie 2 and Bring Back Birdie, have never fared well on stage. But sequels have always worked in Hollywood. I welcome the possibility of this being done, if only to hear "Our Kind of Love" in its proper and original context. In my opinion, probably the most beautiful song he ever wrote was wasted on that crime of a musical (and I wouldn't mind so much if he had of done something more with it, but he hasn't). But, yeah, a Phantom sequel... tremble or celebrate: it would definitely turn a few heads

I just got the movie on DVD today. The lip-sync is definitely obvious. It felt like a very amateur movie, even when it looked so good. I watched the promos, Music of the Night (original video), and I was like: "Michael Crawford should have done this." It's like not having Yul Brynner in The King and I. It was a crime and a shame that he never did it. Not only did he miss out on immortalizing himself on screen, but he turned to the Broadway disaster of DOTV which has (probably) damaged the rest of his career. I won't venture so far as to say its a tragedy, there's plenty worse, but it comes close. Watching "Music of the Night" I was breathless: and Gerry Butler came nowhere to what I felt in just one dodgy little promo video!

[broadway86]

Posted: 12/25/05 at 8:31am

I'm mixed on the film.

The design was undeniably amazing, and its Oscar nominations were all well-deserved. Gerard Butler and Minnie Driver were very good. BUT, there were some odd directorial choices (the graveyard swordfight, anyone?), and Emmy Rossum was weak as Christine.

[phantom8019]

Posted: 12/25/05 at 10:36am

Loved the movie. Saw it 3 times in the theatre. Each time I took someone new who knew nothing about the show and each of them loved the movie. Phantom is a really good movie to start people on who are unfamiliar with musicals. Then, if they are interested, you can introduce them to the more complex musicals.
The last time I saw it it was February last year and I figured we would be the only people in the theatre since the movie had been out a month and a half and was only doing so-so. To my surprise the theatre was packed and there was wild applause afterwards.
You either love this stuff or you hate it. I love most musicals because at the end of the day, for me, it all comes down to the music.
Lloyd Webber's music was made to be blared in a movie theatre. I have the DVD, but I would rather see this on the big screen again, as loud as can be.

[roquat]

Posted: 12/25/05 at 11:37am

I am very surprised at the people who rave about the set and costume design of this movie. I've rarely seen a movie that looked tackier. The sets looked like bad theme parks and the costumes resembled a third-rate imitation of "Amadeus." It is not enough to have a big budget--you also have to have some idea about how to spend the money.

[jackson992]

Posted: 12/25/05 at 2:00pm

First off, how can anyone not like the music from this show. It is some of the best music in theater. I loved most of the movie, except I did not like how Prima Donna was staged for some reason. I also didn't like the swordfight in place of the confrontation song between Raoul and the Phantom. I still found this better than Chicago was but nowhere near as good as Rent was.

[neddyfrank2]

Posted: 12/25/05 at 2:17pm

I loved the film as a film, I did not love it as an adaptation of the Stage Show. I thought that the cinemotography was AMAZING, and so was Emily Rossum's performence. Because there are always two ways to look at it. If it had not been an adaptation I am SURE that a lot more people would like it, but they dont becuase they dont think thaet it did Justice to the stage show. But if you look at it just as a movie, it is an Amazing piece of work. And just because it didn't win any awards doesnt mean that it is no good. When you think of it a lot of stage shows and movies, the movies dont win any awards (The phantom, The Color Purple,Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Billy Elliot)
With that I wish you all a Happy Hannukah, and a Merry Christmas to!

[Copeman63]

Posted: 12/25/05 at 2:59pm

I thought the movie was awful in comparison to the BWay show. The thing that drove me crazy was the lighting for the boat scene, it was so bright, not spooky at all! And the Phantom is awful!

Posted: 12/25/05 at 3:38pm

I love the phantom movie so much except a ferw scenes and I wish Brad Little was in the movie as the phantom lol! He was the first phantom I saw and he was really good but oh well that is just me talking! I hated Gerard Butler I don't care if he is hot they shouldn't have got him the phantom is not suppose to be hot anyway lol he is suppose to be old! I loved everyone else though just not Gerry!!

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 12/25/05 at 3:49pm

oh...can't talk about becuz i passed out during at the movie theatre...BORING!!!

[Marquise]

Posted: 12/25/05 at 4:02pm

i can't get into just how much i truly dislike this movie because i have a life. so i'll leave it at: p.u.!

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 12/25/05 at 4:37pm

First off, how can anyone not like the music from this show. It is some of the best music in theater.

A lot of people feel that POTO's score is a rip-off of Puccini. It also fails to be dramatic enough to move plot or character forward.

RENT was one of the shoddiest attempts at making a movie I've seen all year.

Updated On: 12/25/05 at 04:37 PM

[Marquise]

Posted: 12/25/05 at 4:45pm

at least everyone did their own singing in RENT. in POTO you have a dubbed Minnie Driver and an atrociously sounding Gerard Butler who IMO should have been dubbed.

oh god, let me go. i swore i wouldn't get myself caught up in this.

[jackson992]

Posted: 12/25/05 at 5:46pm

I actually thought the Phantom was great.

I will agree with Minnie Driver however.

[GClef2]

Posted: 12/25/05 at 6:56pm

As a film--It wasn't as bad. The only people I spoke to that didn't like the show, were enormous fans of the stage show. The people that loved it, were people who weren't really familiar with the stage version.

[theatreboi11]

Posted: 12/25/05 at 9:43pm

Worst movie I have ever seen! I thought it was absolute crap that sacraficed the integrity of the show for huge sex appeal! I hate Webber, but loved POTO when i saw it! It was gorgeous, breathtaking, and scary. None of that was in the movie! Such a shame!

[Jane2]

Posted: 12/26/05 at 12:33am

Now I have a question about the film and pardon me if I'm ignorant about whether or not Emmy is a singer-was that her voice throughout?

Updated On: 12/26/05 at 12:33 AM