Gothamist: Romance and Cigarettes Finally Lights Up

guest

Sat, 08 Sep 2007 15:26:39 -0500

if you look on imdb this movie was well liked in the UK and other places - i enjoyed it - i think Americans are in general overtrained to appreciate only Hollywood storytelling - but i defy anyone doubting musicals to go see "Once" - it's brilliant and unpretentious. you get good music and a trip to Dublin. And as many remark, "not one false moment" - I think John Turturro and friends were having a grand time making this movie - was all the red about Scorsese? The underwater scene was amazing. And "El uarto de Tula" - I can't wait till our protectionist system allows a better representation of world cinema on our screens - it will make American audiences more visually/cinematically literate and give them a much broader sense of humor, more imagination to stretch.

guest

Mon, 03 Sep 2007 19:05:06 -0500

No one hates NY actors. Everyone hates over-opinionated americans, who in the real world don't mean s__t.

Nick S

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 15:32:47 -0500

I had completely forgotten that they made The Producers into a movie. Just goes to show...

guest

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 14:34:20 -0500

Rent didn't do that well on the big screen. same with The Producers, the movie musical. Some broadway musicals don't translate well on the screen.

guest

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 14:16:35 -0500

The film is really brilliant. It is worth seeing for Walken alone! I've never seen anything like it. If you're sick of predictable hollywood sequels, check out this amazing gem of a film. Across the Universe is also an amazing reinvention of the musical. I'm not a fan of musicals, but these are my two favorite films of the year!

Nick S

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 14:12:58 -0500

Yeah, pretty easy to list. Chicago, Dreamgirls (even though calling it "white bread" seems kind of silly), Rent... As a matter of fact, it seems the only succesful recent musicals are adaptation of already mega-succesful stage musicals. I'm interested to see how Across The Universe will do. I hate to say it, but I'm predicting a bomb.

guest

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 14:05:12 -0500

nick, you've forgotten to add Chicago to the list of white bread musicals. amanda bynes was in Hairspray and it was a HIT? Hate to say this but unless Gandolfini is whacking someone, no one is going to see him in anything. that's just the way Middle america thinks.

Nick S

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 13:54:01 -0500

You're right, I overlooked both Hairspray and High School Musical 2 as two big hit musicals this summer. But still, there is a difference. But if you look at the general recent trend of musicals, only the most white-bread, by-the-book ones have been successful in America (Moulin Rouge being the most obvious exception). Have we forgotten about One From The Heart (Coppola)(Must we forget the failure of the re-release of it too?) ? New York New York (Scorcese)? Everyone Says I Love You (Allen)? All three were ambitious musicals. All three were monumental failues. And those were by three of America's best directors. If the experimental musical ever had a chance of catching on, it was with those movies. And with your description of this, it sounds even less accessible. You can't honestly believe that the same crowd that went to see Amanda Bynes and Zach Efron in Hairspray would be interested in seeing "Gandolfini chained to a swing set in Roman garb with his eyes burned out while his daughters jab at him with spears."

John Del Signore

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 12:34:34 -0500

Thanks pest; sometimes mistakes are made when one is trying to finish something late at night. And to Nick S, I still say that if the distribution was done right, this could grow into a sleeper hit. Last time I checked, a little musical-remake called Hairspray was one of this summer's hits.

guest

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 12:16:04 -0500

joy die vivre is a cologne one buys in wisconsin. all the hipsters in the world can't make this a hit.

Steven

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 11:58:24 -0500

I saw this movie last year and it really sucked. The best part was seeing the beautiful Mandy Moore in it even though she wasn't much in the movie to begin with.

guest

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 11:57:53 -0500

i hate to be a pest, but the phrase is "joie de vivre," not "joy de vivre," which sounds like something my aunt from Wisconsin would say. if one wants to sound cosmopolitan, one should google one's foreign phrases.

guest

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 11:46:54 -0500

Middle America hates NY actors, unless you're a hipster. Especially Liberal NY actors. thank God The Sopranos are over and done with. The Big Lebowski is another crappy movie.

John Del Signore

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 11:35:17 -0500

Yeah, I really don't get the tepid reviews at all - the movie is just stuffed with out-of-left field virtuoso magic. Gandolfini chained to a swing set in Roman garb with his eyes burned out while his daughters jab at him with spears? Winslet singing underwater while Gandolfini kicks her to the bottom of the lake? Cannavale's crazed turn as the lothario-next-door? Every scene with Walken? The chorus numbers??? The surprisingly touching ending? I just don't get what's not to love. If not now, this film's sure to become a cult classic over time, along the lines of The Big Lebowski.

JMH

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 11:32:36 -0500

You know who's not funny? Amy Sedaris.

guest

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 11:27:40 -0500

HA HA, The World even hates NY centric actors!

guest

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 11:21:22 -0500

I saw the film over two years ago at a preview screening. and hate to say, despite the impressive cast, this was one of the worst movies i've ever seen. nothing, save for a couple of inspired moments from kate winslet and christopher walken, works.

Nick S

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 11:15:39 -0500

i could see how this film's situation could speak volumes about the hollywood distribution system if it were a masterpiece, but a film the Hollywood Reporter calls "A karaoke nightmare" not being released domestically isn't all that surprising. Musicals simply don't do well in America, especially critically-panned ones. I don't blame UA (Tom Cruise?) for sitting on this.