ALW Phantom of the Opera

[cawthon777 0]

I've been a fan of the musical for years and, luckily, my town is close enough to Washington DC to get the film during its limited release fun. I'm going to try to see it tonight.

 

The Washington Times gave it 4 stars and it seems to have been pretty popular with the Golden Globes people. I don't know if I'll ever forgive Joel Schumacher for what he did to the Batman franchise ... but I'll be more willing to forget about that whole mess if this turns out well.

 

Is anyone else interested in seeing it?

[Guest DVD Spree]

The missus went to see it a couple of weekends ago. She's been a fan of the musical since she was a kid, and she said it's almots totally faithful to the stage version, only about a million times more lavish, and is generally a superb flick if you're into that sort of thing.

 

Which, seeing as the last flick I went to see was Blade Trinity, I sadly am not.

[starvenger 0]

Tomatometer is running at about 5.3/10 average right now.

 

The Toronto Star critic basically said it's as good as Schumacher's Batman flicks, which I think is NOT a compliment...

[Bruiser Chong 0]

I'll see it eventually; it's still in select cities right now. That means an hour and a half drive to Ann Arbor if I want to see it now. I probably won't right now, but my mom and brother are going to be heading out tomorrow night to see it.

[Guest Big_Jay101]

Everybody knows the best version is the one with Robert "Freddy Krueger" Englund.

[Red Baron 0]

I'll see it next week.

[Mole 0]

I am not a big fan of musicals at all; they are just unrealistic to me. The idea of people just singing out of the blue bothers me.

 

It would be like me talking to someone, then I just start singing. I don't like that idea at all.

 

I even gave Chicago a shot, since everyone raved about it, but I couldn't watch it. I couldn't get past the first scene.

[Sideburnious 0]

I saw it, enjoyed it, and if you have the money to burn id say check it out. It sort of drags out a bit though.

[cabbageboy 0]

The problem with these modern musicals is that there is no reason for people to bust into song. Take a look at stuff like Gold Diggers of 1933. Virtually EVERY music number in that is done within the context of people putting on a stage show...the numbers are the numbers from the show (rehearsing, performing, etc). Thus there's a reason for them to exist.

 

I suppose Phantom of the Opera has ample place for music since it's the OPERA and all. But I dunno what to think of the Phantom busting into song.

 

I like the Claude Rains version best, great color in it. I've always found the Chaney silent more cheesy than scary. The Robert Englund one...I honestly can't recall much about it.

[Astro101 0]

Looks like mixed reviews from all the critics, but I saw it tonight and enjoyed it. It gets dragged on as said above, but some of the songs I really liked listening to. I don't think it's a must see, but if you've got time and money, check it out.

[Scroby 0]

I saw tonight and being a musical fan, I really enjoyed it, until it started to drag on. But the ending was wasn't bad so it made up for it. If your a musical fan I recommand it, if not I recommand seeing if you got some time to kill. I have to say through when the Organ started playing towards the beginning I got a quick rush of a chill.

[Guest TheLastBoyscout]

I am not a big fan of musicals at all; they are just unrealistic to me. The idea of people just singing out of the blue bothers me.

 

It would be like me talking to someone, then I just start singing. I don't like that idea at all.

 

I even gave Chicago a shot, since everyone raved about it, but I couldn't watch it. I couldn't get past the first scene.

Nice to see you gave it a chance.

[Blade2kxx 0]

Saw it last night at 10PM in a 285 seat theater... must have been 200 people there...

 

Absolutely incredible experience, and deserved the applause it got at the end. Yes, I will admit to a slight drag, but the music was so beautiful... Emmy Rossum deserves a Best Actress nod for this turn...

[cawthon777 0]

Finally got around to seeing it this afternoon.

 

Really enjoyed the production, how so much went on during the musical numbers that you had to pay attention to appreciate it all.

 

The music was great. The humor was there. Emmy Rossum had my undivided attention from beginning to end. The actor playing the Phantom slowly won me over.

 

I very much enjoyed the additions to the story done for the movie. The new ending (if you've seen it, you know what I mean) gave it a more somber feeling at the end which I loved.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

I am not a big fan of musicals at all; they are just unrealistic to me. The idea of people just singing out of the blue bothers me.

And a teenage girl that is from Beverly Hills slaying all sorts of vampires and demons and such IS realistic, eh? I see more people start singing randomly during the day than I do blonde bombshells shoving stakes through the heart of bloodthirsty ghouls, but maybe that's just because I'm in Massachusetts.

It would be like me talking to someone, then I just start singing. I don't like that idea at all.

Nor do I, because you don't look like you'd have a good singing voice.

I even gave Chicago a shot, since everyone raved about it, but I couldn't watch it. I couldn't get past the first scene.

So you couldn't get past the scene where the musical performance is entirely realistic, as Catherine Zeta Jones' character is a stage performer doing her act? Chicago's songs were all pretty solid, both in terms of making sense and in composition. In fact, the only one I can think of that didn't really make sense to the rest of the plot was when Queen Latifah was singing about the rules, and even that made sense considering the state of mind of Renee Zellwegger's character. Everything else was either a pretty clear delusion from Zellwegger's character, or an actual performance.

[Guest TonyJaymzV1]

I generally hate musicals, but it was good, didn't hate it. Went with a girl who is a theatre/musical fanatic, and she loved it, so that probably made me like it even more. Best acting goes to te Phantom though, reallly won me over.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

I've always wanted to see the musical production. It was in San Francisco for so many years but my Dad hates San Francisco so we never get to go.

 

I'd be interested in this but Schumaker or however his name is spelt didn't inspire confidence in me, and the comment about a changed ending doesn't make me happy either.

 

I think I shall wait for when it premieres in Las Vegas as The Venetian hotel's signature entertainment offering.

[cawthon777 0]

I'd be interested in this but Schumaker or however his name is spelt didn't inspire confidence in me, and the comment about a changed ending doesn't make me happy either.

Don't let that scare you away. The musical's ending is in there, the film version just taked on an epilogue.

[Guest Vitamin X]

OK, perhaps I am missing something here, but I don't quite get the ending. Is this one of those endings where the conclusion is to be left to the viewer or what? The rose on the grave bit makes one believe Phantom may have gotten with Christine, but Raoul was clearly the one she chose in the underground scene towards the end.

 

Anyways, my parents were huge fans of the musical, and my mom went to see it and loved it. I thought the actor portraying Raoul was horrid, but everyone else (especially Minnie Driver) was solid and turned in good performances. The grave scenes dragged out a bit, but it was according to my mom, every bit true to the actual musical. If that's the case, I still find fault in the musical for the strange way it ended.

[Guest El Satanico]

I'd be interested in this but Schumaker or however his name is spelt didn't inspire confidence in me

Batman & Robin is the only truly awful movie Shumacher has made, so that shouldn't cause you any concern. It's not like were talking about "Uwe Boll's Oklahoma".

[Jingus 0]

Vitamin: The rose just symbolized that the Phantom was still out there at the end, that's all. Most adaptations of Phantom have him die at the end.

 

I personally didn't like it, but as I'm not a fan of anything Schumacher's ever done and I didn't love the stage musical all that much, that's to be expected.

[Modern Man's Hustle 0]

Yeah, X. That's why people were all up in arms that the ending was changed oh-so-slightly.

[Guest nugget]

Vitamin: The rose just symbolized that the Phantom was still out there at the end, that's all. Most adaptations of Phantom have him die at the end.

 

I personally didn't like it, but as I'm not a fan of anything Schumacher's ever done and I didn't love the stage musical all that much, that's to be expected.

i don't know about most adaptations, but at the end of the broadway play, theres a spotlight on the phantoms mask and a rose that is found by the mob after the phantom got away....so he didn't die in the broadway version

[Guest Vitamin X]

That's what I heard as well. Way to spoil the ending there, nugget.

[UZI Suicide 0]

I haven't seen the actual film yet but I saw a commercial for the soundtrack today, and I noticed that in the different scenes they show, the Phantom is wearing that white mask thing on a different side of his face. Like in one scene he was wearing it on the left side, then later on in the commercial he had it on the right side. Is it supposed to be like that or was that just a royal fuckup?

[Guest Vitamin X]

For some reason the trailers and whatnot have the mask on the right side of his face (our right, his left) but it's actually on the other side.

 

 

As you can see, but the Andrew Lloyd Webber version seemed to have went with a full mask..

[Guest BDC]

Except it didn't. That's what you see at the end, since it's already been spoiled.

 

Here's a few things from the show that I won't spoil:

-First off, the Phantom had such intellect, he could pull some pretty freaky tricks. If you've seen the theater show, when he puts the noose on Raoul, he's supposedly using his mind to lifting it.

-there's no swordfight in the show and Raoul loses, which I thought was a great dynamic: Christine has to choose to stay with the Phantom or watch Raoul die; when she chooses the Phantom, he lets them both go and pulls a vanishing trick before the head ballerina, Meg, finds his mask

[Guest Vitamin X]

But does the show end exactly on that note, or is there a hint given to a further possibility of romance between the Phantom and Christine, like in the movie?

[Bruiser Chong 0]

It ends with Meg holding up the Phantom's mask. There's no further hint towards the romance between the Phantom and Christine.

 

Just saw the film last night for Valentine's Day and having seen the live show five times, I think Joel actually did it justice. Too many people bash him simply because of his previous works. I thought the movie kept in tact the great music, acting, tragedy, and humor that the play always has.

 

I really enjoyed the the story was more fleshed out, too. People have complained about its length, but I didn't mind the extra time devoted to Rauol after he leaves the auction or the origin of the Phantom given more depth. I could've down without the sword fight, but minor quibbles.