Into the Woods (5/10): It should've ended a lot sooner than it actually did.

“Stay a child while you can be a child.”

Based on the stage musical written and composed by James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim, Into the Woods has been adapted to the big screen by Rob Marshall without losing its stagy feel to it. Marshall has had success with musicals in the past (Annie, Chicago), but he also had his misses (Nine), so this wasn’t something new for him. Into the Woods seemed to have an interesting premise considering it mashes up several familiar children stories (Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella, Rapunzel, and Little Red Riding Hood) and gives it a twist. I went into this film knowing nothing at all about the popular stage play so I won’t be comparing it to the original material. What I can say however is that the film is rather predictable during the first hour and it all of a sudden takes a darker twist during the last forty minutes. That twist should have been the most interesting part of the film, but  I actually ended up enjoying the first half of the film much more despite the predictable story. When the film felt like it was wrapping up at about 80 minutes (which would’ve been a perfect running time for me) it decided to go on and that is where I felt the story drag and found myself checking my watch every five minutes. The twist didn’t work at all and didn’t have the effect I expected it to. I understood what the story was trying to do by sort of focusing on what actually happens after the happily ever after but it never goes anywhere with that premise in this adaptation. They either shouldn’t have included that final act or they should’ve made it much darker, but since this is a Disney production aimed towards children they couldn’t actually do so. I would’ve enjoyed Into the Woods more if it ended when it seemed to do so, but those final forty minutes were unbearable. 

The performances and the music are the highlight of this film. Despite not having many catchy songs they are all well performed and sometimes they even overlapped with each other during some scenes. The composition was actually pretty complicated, but it was effective. The cast in this film is amazing. Having Meryl Streep in the titular role as a witch was the best decision that the executives made for Into the Woods. She delivers, but it is Emily Blunt who steals the movie. She is great in this film. Other strong performances from Anna Kendrick, James Corden, Tracey Ullman, and Chris Pine elevate the material. They all have great singing voices and there are some memorable moments as well (Anna Kendrick singing a very difficult song as she is running away from the Prince and Pine singing “Agony” and delivering a rare funny moment). I didn’t really enjoy the performance from the kids played by Daniel Huttlestone and Lilla Crawford. Crawford never convinces as Red Riding Hood and she does have an important role in this film. Johnny Depp doesn’t get much screen time, but he doesn’t stand out either as the Wolf. The performances and the set design are the best thing about Into the Woods, but the story really hurt it and I wasn’t a fan.

My Review: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (8/10)

¨What can I say Gibbs? It`s a pirate`s life for me. Savvy! ¨

The fourth film of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise has finally arrived and I must say I was pleasantly surprised. I was reminded why I had grown to love Jack Sparrow so much after the previous two sequels had lowered my expectations a bit. I`ve enjoyed all four movies, although none has topped the original one. The good thing about On Stranger Tides (the title taken from Tim Powers’ novel which this film is loosely based on) is that it’s the closest and most similar to Gore Verbinski`s first film The Curse of the Black Pearl. The following sequels seemed to get more complicated and loose some of the focus of what made the first film so great: the characters. On Stranger Tides goes back to the basics and has a much simpler story reminding us that there is no need to complicate the plot when the truly entertaining thing about these movies are the characters. One may argue that two of the most important characters are missing in this film: Elizabeth Swan and Will Turner, but in my opinion Jack Sparrow and Barbosa are truly the central characters. This film lets us focus entirely on Sparrow and that is fine enough with me, while Barbosa takes an interesting and comical approach in this movie. Screenwriters Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio are back for the fourth time and I´m glad they decided to keep things much simpler and entertaining. This time around the man that was missing was the captain of the original three Pirate movies, Gore Verbinski, who was replaced by Rob Marshall (director of Nine and Chicago). I must admit this is my favorite Rob Marshall film now and the second best in the franchise.

Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) is back again for another adventure. When his friend Gibbs (Kevin McNally) is about to be hung in London, Jack shows up to rescue him, and in his possession he has the map to the fountain of youth. While in London he hears a rumor that Jack Sparrow is looking for a crew for his new ship. But that can`t possibly be true because he is Jack Sparrow and he doesn`t even own a ship. It appears a woman from Jack`s past is behind this, Angelica (Penelope Cruz), a con-artist who will do anything to get Sparrow to take her and her father, Blackbeard (Ian McShane), to the fountain. Sparrow apparently still has feelings for her, but he doesn’t really want to take them, so he is forced on board the Queen Anne`s Revenge anyway. The ship is protected by zombies who obey Blackbeard`s every command, but that isn`t Sparrow`s only worry: the waters are infested by dangerous mermaids who lure the sailors into the deep sea to be eaten. Blackbeard is an evil man, as one of his Christian missionary prisoners, Phillip (Sam Claflin) points out to him. Angelica is worried about a prophecy that her father will soon be killed by a one legged man, and that`s why she`s in such a rush to get to the fountain before anything happens to him. Sparrow has no intention in saving Blackbeard. Barbosa (Geoffrey Rush) is also after the fountain of youth, although he isn`t a pirate any more. Now he is working for King George and his men. So the race to the fountain of youth begins with several dangers on its way.

This film is character driven, the story really doesn`t have to be all that complicated and that is fine with me. It`s purely entertaining and fun. Jack Sparrow is his usual self again and I just couldn’t get enough of him; he is always great and funny. Out of the four films this is probably the least funniest. I didn’t laugh a whole lot like I remember laughing in the other movies, but I still had a great time with the action and adventure. Geoffrey Rush is probably the funniest character in this movie showing a different side of Barbosa. Newcomers Sam Claflin as Phillip and Astrid Berges-Frisbey as Syrena seem to be the next Will and Elizabeth for the franchise, although they didn’t get too much screen time. My least favorite character was probably Angelica, I didn`t like her character at all. Ian McShane played a decent villain. The best thing about On Stranger Tides is that the film centers on Jack Sparrow and we get to see plenty of him. The action sequences are really well choreographed and the visuals are great. The scenery is also beautiful. Before this film I wasn’t so excited about seeing another Pirates movie, but this one left me wanting more. This is not one of those intellectual films, but it is what a summer popcorn movie should be like. It`s not perfect at all, but it is entertaining and reminded me a lot of the original.

http://estebueno10.blogspot.com/

My Review: Nine (5/10)

¨Directing a movie is a very overrated job, we all know it. You just have to say yes or no. What else do you do? Nothing. "Maestro, should this be red?" Yes. "Green?" No. "More extras?" Yes. "More lipstick?" No. Yes. No. Yes. No. That's directing. ¨

Those are the words that Lilli, a costume designer, tells Guido, the director, in the musical Nine. I don`t think Rob Marshall has the same opinion about that after directing this difficult film which was based on Federico Fellini`s famous movie 8 ½. It is very difficult for someone to try to make a movie based on one of the greatest films from director Fellini who is considered to be by many the best director of all time. Rob Marshall had big shoes to fill, and it had been seven years since he directed his latest musical, Chicago, which gave him an Oscar for best director and best picture. But that was way back in 2002 and this time the film falls short. It counted with an all star cast (5 of the actors won at least one Oscar), an Oscar winning director, a pair of Oscar winning screenplay writers, and Oscar winning designers, but this film went home empty handed in the 2010 Academy Awards because it just failed to live up to expectations. The story just felt flat and it didn`t accompany some of the great musical numbers very well. Compared to Chicago and Moulin Rouge, this film is miles away from those excellent musicals and can`t even be named alongside them. I never saw the Broadway Musical for this movie which won several Tony Awards, but something went wrong between that theatrical version and trying to bring it to the big screen. The Musical Nine was first produced in Broadway back in the 80`s and the main character Guido was played by the late Raul Julia. A more recent version was produced in 2003 starring Antonio Banderas, who was considered for the role in the movie, but it finally went to Daniel Day Lewis. The screenplay for this movie was written by Michael Tolkin (The Player and Deep Impact) and Anthony Minghella (The English Patient and Cold Mountain), but I have to admit they didn`t do a very good job with the transitions from dialogue to musical numbers, which at some points felt too forced.

Daniel Day Lewis (There Will Be Blood) plays Guido, a famous Italian director who is having trouble coming up with a story for his ninth film which will be entitled Italia. His latest films have all been flops after enjoying a very promising career during his early years. Guido tries to get away from all the pressure and the media in order to find inspiration. He is having an affair with an actress named Carla (Penelope Cruz from Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Vanilla Sky) while his wife Luisa (Marion Cotillard from La Vie en Rose and Public Enemies) stays at home very suspicious of her husband. Guido can`t find his inspiration in his wife because their relationship seems to have cooled down, and he can`t find it with Carla either. Claudia (Nicole Kidman from The Hours) is his Muse and she always works in his film, but this time he can`t even find the inspiration in her. He searches all over for inspiration or ideas for his next film spending time with: his mother (Sophia Lauren), his costume designer Lilli (Judi Dench from Notes on a Scandal), a beautiful Vogue reporter named Stephanie (Kate Hudson from Almost Famous), and even remembering a prostitute from his childhood named Saraghina (played by Fergie from The Black Eyed Peas). Guido`s life begins to unravel in front of his eyes as he sees his directing career going down the drain along with his love life.

Nine is not a terrible movie, but it doesn`t live up to other musicals like Moulin Rouge or Chicago, because it seems to rely solely on sexuality. There are some very good musical numbers which I enjoyed a lot, but the story didn`t seem to work in Nine. The musical numbers were all pretty decent; Fergie`s Be Italian, Hudson´s Cinema Italiano, Cruz`s A Call from the Vatican, and Cotillard`s Take it All, stand out from the rest of the film. But these musical pieces are far too spread out in a movie that lacks a more involving story and better transition from one scene to the next. I think that any director would have died to be able to count with such a talented cast, but this time things didn`t go as planned. Nicole Kidman who was so good in Moulin Rouge, seems to have been the weakest actress in Nine and they could have used her a little better. This could have been so much better, but Rob Marshall didn`t seem to be able to fit all the pieces together this time around and hopefully he will do a better job with his next film which just happens to be the fourth part of the Pirates of the Caribbean saga. Nine is a film you will remember only for a couple of musical pieces, but the rest is very forgettable. I don`t really recommend this film unless you are a fan of one of these actors. Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Kate Hudson all stand out from the rest along with Daniel Day Lewis who is always solid in his performances.