nannerdw Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 It seems like every time I read a review for a movie adaptation of a musical, there's always "Part x was bad, but not like Russell Crowe bad." haha. I watched the 1991 recording of Into the Woods. The first act was really good, but the second act seemed to just drag on and on. Maybe I should have watched it in two sittings. I'm looking forward to seeing the new movie, though, especially for Meryl Streep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jray21 Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 Saw Exodus and Hobbit this past little bit. Both were good, but nothing amazing. Going to see Unbroken next. I read the book and really enjoyed it. I'm taking my Japanese mom with me, so hopefully it won't be awkward like when we saw Pearl Harbor together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 It seems like every time I read a review for a movie adaptation of a musical, there's always "Part x was bad, but not like Russell Crowe bad." haha. I watched the 1991 recording of Into the Woods. The first act was really good, but the second act seemed to just drag on and on. Maybe I should have watched it in two sittings. I'm looking forward to seeing the new movie, though, especially for Meryl Streep. They did a fair amount of trimming to the "second act" in the movie version, although it still retains its darker tone compared to the first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted January 4, 2015 Author Share Posted January 4, 2015 (edited) I watched the 1991 recording of Into the Woods. The first act was really good, but the second act seemed to just drag on and on. Maybe I should have watched it in two sittings. I'm looking forward to seeing the new movie, though, especially for Meryl Streep. I think this biggest problems with this particular recording is that 1. being from 1991 it's very dated and very much feels it, 2, being a "made for Television" show like Masterpiece Theater (I forget what this one was actually for) it loses some of the charm of the Broadway version. Probably the best version I've found so far is the one that was done in London's Regent Park, but you have to watch it on their silly player, but still, it's very good: http://www.digitaltheatre.com/production/details/into-the-woods/ Edited January 4, 2015 by robbalvey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodie Warrior Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 We went and saw "Into the Woods" this past Saturday. I went in with hopes of it being the best film of the year, but sadly it just didn't live up to my expectation. That's not to say the first half wasn't awesome though, I mean the first half of the film goes by rather quickly with humor, good songs, and fast pacing. But the second half was just so boring and seemed to last forever. The cast was probably the best of any film in a while, with Streep and Kendrick the stand-outs. However, they're great performances weren't able to make the second half go by any quicker. I kinda wish they would've just ended the thing after the first happily-ever-after. Overall, I'd probably give it a C+ (the first half by itself would've been a A though). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted January 6, 2015 Author Share Posted January 6, 2015 (edited) ^ I feared this would be an issue for a lot of movie-goers that wanted the film to have a happier ending. I personally LOVE Act II of the show just because things take a turn for the worst and really brings out the "Careful what you wish for" aspect of the storyline. It's in Act II where a lot the real personality of the characters come out. I'm glad that the studio didn't "Disneyfy" it that much when they converted it from a show to the movie. And if anything, they might have even made it slightly darker! Edited January 6, 2015 by robbalvey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodie Warrior Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 ^ I did like the darker ending. I just wish it wouldn't have taken so long to get there. Also, did they ever clear up what happened to Rapunzel? Did I miss anything or did she just ride off with the prince and that was all? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted January 6, 2015 Author Share Posted January 6, 2015 (edited) ^ That is most certainly one of the "odd" parts of the film and one of the changes they made from the show. In the show, she dies. But I don't think Disney wanted to kill off "Tangled" so they just ride of together and live happily ever after... I guess. Edited January 6, 2015 by robbalvey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted January 6, 2015 Author Share Posted January 6, 2015 Disney sent me this great featurette today on the making of Into The Woods. Check it out: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 ^ That is most certainly one of the "odd" parts of the film and one of the changes they made from the show. In the show, she dies. But I don't think Disney wanted to kill off "Tangled" so they just ride of together and live happily ever after... I guess. In the original version of the show, Rapunzel can't deal with the outside world and runs off screaming (due to her being locked up in a tower for most of her life), only to be trampled by the giant's widow. There's also a reprise of "Agony," where we learn the princes have become bored of their marriages (it's as funny as the first version of the song). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterP Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 (edited) We went and saw "Into the Woods" this past Saturday. I went in with hopes of it being the best film of the year, but sadly it just didn't live up to my expectation. That's probably your fault. There were a handful of truly great films this year. I haven't seen one critic say Into The Woods is one of them (still a perfectly fine movie as I saw for myself last weekend). There are websites. There are no reasons to go into a movie thinking its the next Mary Poppins if no one else is saying it is... Edited January 7, 2015 by MisterP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterP Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 The Imitation Game is really good. That Sherlock is a good actor.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted January 8, 2015 Author Share Posted January 8, 2015 New Ant-Man teaser trailer and poster released from Marvel: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nrthwnd Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 They aired the trailer with the premier of Marvel's Agent Carter, on tv the other night. Actually, I think I enjoyed the trailer more than Agent Carter, itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
molemaster43 Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 It was a pretty solid trailer. It doesn't get me insanely excited, but it does intrigue me a bit. And with their success on Guardians of the Galaxy, I'll buy into anything Marvel puts out... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedimaster1227 Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 I'm so insanely excited about this movie! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonGeorge Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 I think I started laughing a little too hard at 1:15 in that Ant Man trailer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 (edited) Everybody knows that Garrett Morris is Ant Man. Well, at least in an old SNL sketch. Edited January 9, 2015 by cfc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jray21 Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 That will definitely be the much better version! I'm getting too overwhelmed by all these comic book movies. I also watch Agents of Shield, or whatever it's called, and when I saw the last Captain America movie it honestly just seemed like an extended version of that. Unbroken - Really enjoyed it. I love war and survival type movies so this was really good for me. It still amazes me what war causes people to do. I kept thinking, how could this be the same country that brought us Disney Sea! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcdude Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 In addition to rewatching the Lord of the Rings trilogy at home (still outstanding...probably the best trilogy ever created), I saw a couple more current movies over the past week and a half: Into the Woods: I wasn't planning to go see this as I'm not a huge fan of movie musicals, but the rest of my family was going and the concept sounded interesting. The first two-thirds of the movie were great, but the last third killed it for me. It wasn't simply the darker tone, but rather a lot of things didn't make sense and it felt like pieces were missing. I'm not familiar with the original play, but from what I've read a couple significant portions of the stage show were cut, so that's probably why I got that feeling. Overall it was an okay film that should have been better, and would probably be enjoyed more by fans of the original musical than by general audiences. 6.5/10 The Imitation Game: This was excellent. Although it wasn't quite true to the real-life events, it was still a great movie. Benedict Cumberbatch did a great job here, and the rest of the cast was quite good as well. I'm guessing this is going to be one of the best picture nominees at this year's Academy Awards. 9/10 Now that 2014 is over, here's my top ten list for 2014 movies (I saw a total of 20). 1. The Imitation Game 2. Guardians of the Galaxy 3. Nebraska (technically a 2013 movie, but it wasn't released near me until 2014) 4. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay-Part 1 5. X-Men: Days of Future Past 6. Captain America: The Winter Soldier 7. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes 8. Kill the Messenger 9. The Lego Movie 10. Maleficent Worst Movie of 2014 (that I saw): Non-Stop Biggest Disappointment of 2014: The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nrthwnd Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 (edited) ^ Seeing Into The Woods this coming week. I saw the original stage musical (Bernadette Peters was awesome as The Witch!) in New York in 1988. Know it inside out, so whatever the changes in the last third, it will be interesting to compare notes, heh. That said, taking a computer break. Watching FROZEN for the umpteenth time. Edited January 12, 2015 by Nrthwnd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
molemaster43 Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 ^^Nice list! Still need to see The Imitation Game unfortunately. Here are my overall rankings for the year: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonGeorge Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 I saw Selma today. It was a rather nice movie, and kept me very entertained. I had been hearing that this film really antagonizes LBJ, and I could understand where they are getting that. I would recommend it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Checked out Inherent Vice, the stoner-detective movie set in the 1970s, and liked it. The plot doesn't make a lot of sense, but that's true of most private-eye flicks. This movie should be particularly interesting to those of us who came of age in the 1960s and '70s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VF15 Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Saw Into the Woods earlier today, and I was pleasantly surprised. Didn't know what to expect having not seen the musical, but I liked it. Most of the musical performances were quite impressive. I particularly thought Meryl Streep and Anna Kendrick were great. The storyline was overall pretty good, but I felt the final third was stretched out longer than it needed to be. I also liked how they threw in some funny moments here and there. Not my favorite movie of 2014, but certainly somewhere in the top 10. I'd recommend seeing it if you have a chance. Wouldn't be surprised if it wins a few Oscar awards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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