858 posts
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Post by karloscar on Dec 31, 2017 10:37:21 GMT
I think I could stand the tunes if the Pasek/Paul lyrics weren't so bland and clichéd. The setting is a circus which provides plenty of scope for interesting imagery, but no it's all mountains and oceans and dreams and bad rhymes. Even though Tightrope is used as a song title, they don't develop the image, just repeat it as the boring hook line. I know they want songs that are radio friendly and can be sung out of context but other writers manage to do this without being so bland and lazy.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 31, 2017 21:34:04 GMT
Massively unrealistic and unbelievable and unbearably cheesy for the majority of its runtime.
Surely a wild romanticization of Barnum.
However, it's easy entertainment and I was never bored. The cast all give decent performances, with no real standout.
Pasek & Paul have done their usual of releasing a soundtrack of ten songs that all sound the same, generic pop that is eaten up by the masses and will somehow amass awards attention. I'm not suggesting they're all bad songs, 'This Is Me' works very well and I also enjoy 'The Other Side'. But as one critic wrote of this film, Pasek & Paul have been 'getting away with murder' in the musical theatre world recently and this is no exception. At this point one of them could sit on a piano and get a Golden Globe nomination for whatever sound they'd managed to produce. Such a shame to see them regress from their work in Dogfight and go for the generic pop sound and cliche ridden lyrics, but why wouldn't they when it gets them money and awards?
2.5*
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Post by danb on Jan 2, 2018 18:56:21 GMT
I’ve just sat through this and thought that the music was the best thing about it. The film itself was cheesy and beyond predictable. Zac Efron did quite well in a ‘grown up’ role, Jackman was alright and made it all look effortless, but Michelle Williams looked embarrassed to be there. I found Zendaya to be beyond vanilla which was annoying when she’d been so spunky in Spiderman. I shall be downloading the soundtrack asap.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2018 6:33:42 GMT
I saw a late night screening last night and I have to say I was pretty amazed. Being technically my first musical of 2018, I was nervous having read mixed things having been excited about this for a while, but I loved it! Visuqlly, it was beautiful to look at, with the sets, costumes and special effects drawing you into the world. I thought the cast were uniformally excellent, with Zac and Zendaya being the story that kept me the most emotionally invested. Keala was brilliant as the Bearded Lady and of course Hugh and Michelle do their usual scene-stealing. I was moved a fair few times throughout, and this was thanks in part to their performances. The music followed suit of the composers with being pretty much a show stopper with every number. Highlight included the opening/closing, Never Enough, Rewrite the Stars and of course, the song getting all the awards attention, This is Me. Alongside their staging, these numbers paricularly stood out, but with strong choreography and staging, every number felt strong and special for their own reasons. I think it is a rare case for me where I liked every number honestly. I loved it, and I'm glad considering I was excited for a while about it.
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Post by The Lost on Jan 3, 2018 8:44:48 GMT
Saw this last night, it's a bit... yeah.
Being very much into circus (much of my extended family are or have been in one) I know PT Barnum's story inside out, and this was just about the loosest interpretation you could create of his life and still claim it had any basis in fact. They made him out to be a charitable icon and a lovely man, which he wasn't, but simultaneously failed to convey any of the actually nice things about him. He paid his "freaks" very well and treated them as equals, so naturally they neglected to mention any of that, and had the only sour aspect of an otherwise wonderful person be that he was secretly ashamed of them - which naturally they forgave him for as soon as the plot required them to. The whole "freak" angle was far better explored in the Freak Show American Horror Story season, and at least in that some of the characters were given a non-Disneyfied personality.
Zac Efron's character didn't exist in real life, unless they were attempting to severely misrepresent James Bailey, which I could have forgiven if he'd had any real purpose in the story beyond feeling sorry for himself and having awful parents. The performances weren't dreadful but the script gave them nothing to work with. Keala Settle was the obvious stand-out, and This Is Me stole an otherwise mediocre show.
Pasek and Paul's score was quite nice, as has been mentioned before they've created some strong stuff in the past but seem to have settled into this substance lacking pop vibe recently. All of the songs were quite catchy and they were probably the most profound part of an otherwise vacuous storyline, but I was crying out for a gritty, powerful number that said something, anything, except "here's a lazy and shallow point about self-identity that we're going to make over and over again".
It wasn't the hit of the year, put it that way, but provided you don't know the much stronger story you aren't being told, it's probably an entertaining enough way to waste a couple of hours.
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3,057 posts
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Post by ali973 on Jan 4, 2018 7:44:33 GMT
"Never Enough..Never Enouughhh". Never enough are the unnecessary key changes and octave progressions in this song, and the other overproduced pop trash numbers.
It's not not entertaining, but as my friend whispered to me when the circus burns down, "they better wrap it up with a happy ending in the next fifteen minutes with a big show stopper."
I with a full review blurb, so here are a few observations:
*The choreography and dancing are fabulous. *The jump of Barnum and Charity from childhood to adulthood is hilarious. Are they supposed to be in their 20s or 40s? If 20s, they both looked too old for the young love display. If 40s, what were doing once they finished their education? *This is Michelle Williams' second role as the g supportive housewife married to philandering gay man. *I thought Rebecca Ferguson was Wellemijn Verkaik. *The Jenny Lind plot was laughable. When did they fall in love, why did they fall in love, and how deep was this love for her to be such a big bitch, and why did she disappear so suddenly, and if Charity was convinced he cheated, why did she forgive him just like that? All of this was nonsense, but we went with it. *Hugh Jackman is #daddygoals and Zak Efron is very pretty. *This seems ripe for the stage, but I'd dial up the critic's role as Barnum's nemesis and give him more musical material.
It's all nonsense, but it was entertaining and visually captivating.
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Post by anthony40 on Jan 4, 2018 9:03:11 GMT
*This is Michelle Williams' second role as the g supportive housewife married to philandering gay man. *I thought Rebecca Ferguson was Wellemijn Verkaik. Eh? Philandering gay man. Where did that come from? Possibly you were seeing something that neither myself or my sister saw when we watched it. I can see why you thought Rebecca Ferguson was Wellemijn Verkaik. I actually thought she also looked like Elena Roger.
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Post by ali973 on Jan 4, 2018 9:51:33 GMT
I was just being snarky and alluding to the silly rumors that Hugh Jackman is a gay man. She was married to a gay man in Brokeback Mountain.
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Post by anthony40 on Jan 4, 2018 11:01:51 GMT
I was just being snarky and alluding to the silly rumors that Hugh Jackman is a gay man. She was married to a gay man in Brokeback Mountain. Ah, I see
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Post by vabbian on Jan 4, 2018 11:55:47 GMT
the duet between Zac and Zendaya (Rewrite the Stars) is DIVINE
I love how they are singing whilst swinging and backflipping all over the f***ing place without pausing for breath
divine.
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Post by spendleb on Jan 4, 2018 13:41:34 GMT
Absolutely brilliant movie, film of the year for me, you'd have to be dead inside not to enjoy this, we need films like this now more than ever, so what if it's not historically accurate, we need escapism !!
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Post by anthony40 on Jan 4, 2018 17:45:44 GMT
Absolutely brilliant movie, film of the year for me, you'd have to be dead inside not to enjoy this, we need films like this now more than ever, so what if it's not historically accurate, we need escapism !! Thank you spendleb
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Post by The Lost on Jan 4, 2018 22:37:19 GMT
"Never Enough..Never Enouughhh". Never enough are the unnecessary key changes and octave progressions in this song, and the other overproduced pop trash numbers. I actually thought that was probably the best number of the lot, but apparently it wasn't even Rebecca Ferguson singing it, so that kind of ruins it.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2018 22:57:20 GMT
"Never Enough..Never Enouughhh". Never enough are the unnecessary key changes and octave progressions in this song, and the other overproduced pop trash numbers. I actually thought that was probably the best number of the lot, but apparently it wasn't even Rebecca Ferguson singing it, so that kind of ruins it. I agree, it felt like the real showstopper of the film for me, alongside This is Me. But its true, Rebecca was the only one of the leads who didn't sing her own part.
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Post by The Lost on Jan 5, 2018 0:24:48 GMT
I actually thought that was probably the best number of the lot, but apparently it wasn't even Rebecca Ferguson singing it, so that kind of ruins it. I agree, it felt like the real showstopper of the film for me, alongside This is Me. But its true, Rebecca was the only one of the leads who didn't sing her own part. Yes, I think those two were the strongest, I think they dubbed whoever did Rebecca's bit very well, I wouldn't have known it wasn't her but it's a shame they couldn't have cast an actual musical theatre performer who could have done it in their sleep.
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Post by ada92 on Jan 6, 2018 9:17:21 GMT
Absolutely brilliant movie, film of the year for me, you'd have to be dead inside not to enjoy this, we need films like this now more than ever, so what if it's not historically accurate, we need escapism !! Thank you spendleb Fabulous film - knocked spots off Lala land which I really didn't like at all. The dance numbers were long enough to get going and the mixture of modern songs with that era really worked somehow. And it had a story!!!
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Post by robertb213 on Jan 6, 2018 15:19:22 GMT
Enjoyable film with catchy songs - I did find myself wishing it sounded less vocoded/autotuned/computery and more like a proper musical recording but I guess that's just how things are these days. Still, great to see musicals being made in any form and I'm more than happy to support them 😁
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Post by danb on Jan 7, 2018 11:28:43 GMT
Enjoyable film with catchy songs - I did find myself wishing it sounded less vocoded/autotuned/computery and more like a proper musical recording but I guess that's just how things are these days. Still, great to see musicals being made in any form and I'm more than happy to support them 😁 My son just started singing ‘Waving Through A Window’ over ‘The Other Side’ with far too much success. 🙄
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Post by peggysue on Jan 7, 2018 11:43:43 GMT
Thoroughly enjoyed this film. Great songs and great cast. I agree with poster above about it being so much better than La La Land. The soundtrack of the film has even reached no 4 in the charts which is fantastic. It's not very often you see musical soundtrack from film or show in the charts. Highly recommended.
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18,698 posts
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Jan 7, 2018 11:51:26 GMT
Oh god, I obviously going to have to see this after deciding it looked dreadful from the many many many trailers I’ve been seeing at the cinema for what seems like about a year (this and that Winston Churchill film, overexposed or what?).
However you’re changing my mind, so it better be good! 🤨
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Post by danb on Jan 7, 2018 12:34:13 GMT
Oh god, I obviously going to have to see this after deciding it looked dreadful from the many many many trailers I’ve been seeing at the cinema for what seems like about a year (this and that Winston Churchill film, overexposed or what?). However you’re changing my mind, so it better be good! 🤨 You really do! Get a scrap of paper and write down exactly what you think will happen...it will! It isn’t good, its entertaining and the perfect antidote to our Trump terrorised times. I am a bit sick of people gushing over the bearded lady’s empowerment anthem, as if it was written just for them🙄 We are all ‘me’ and feel misunderstood and lost at times, you don’t have to be gay/of colour/disabled/a circus freak etc to be searching for your place in the world. That isn’t to take away from anyones struggle; it’s just that they seem to fill our every waking media moment these days. I went to buy the cd (whooooo?) so the wife could have it in the car, but it was sold out everywhere and has a fortnights lead time on amazon so this is obviously catching the attention of the ‘Brothers in Arms’ buying generation! I made do with downloading it and put it on her phone...great earworm tunes and the couple of obligatory duffers.
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Post by anthony40 on Jan 7, 2018 12:58:51 GMT
Oh god, I obviously going to have to see this after deciding it looked dreadful from the many many many trailers I’ve been seeing at the cinema for what seems like about a year (this and that Winston Churchill film, overexposed or what?). However you’re changing my mind, so it better be good! 🤨 Well (as per my review) I think it was brilliant BurlyBeaR
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Post by poster J on Jan 7, 2018 16:22:57 GMT
Oh god, I obviously going to have to see this after deciding it looked dreadful from the many many many trailers I’ve been seeing at the cinema for what seems like about a year (this and that Winston Churchill film, overexposed or what?). However you’re changing my mind, so it better be good! 🤨 It's not brilliant but it is a bit of harmless escapism. I much preferred La La Land.
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Post by Jon on Jan 7, 2018 16:45:33 GMT
(this and that Winston Churchill film, overexposed or what?). I'm looking forward to Darkest House but I'd like to have no more WWII movies for a while.
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Post by Steffi on Jan 7, 2018 20:55:39 GMT
Watched this tonight and loved it. Just brilliant entertainment with great music. It’s certainly not a truthful biography but it’s uplifting and pure joy to watch. I am a big Hugh Jackman fan and I’m glad to see him in an on screen musical that really suits his talents (I didn’t find him terrible in Les Mis but the songs just didn’t suit his voice). I think the soundtrack will replace Hamilton in my car in the near future.
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Post by Being Alive on Jan 7, 2018 22:28:06 GMT
I really enjoyed it this afternoon.
Pasek and Paul have written a wonderful score, with some genuinely lovely songs. My personal favourite were This Is Me (which I think Keala sings fantastically) and Never Enough.
Thought Hugh was pretty great as Barnum (I can’t really imagine anyone else playing him if I’m honest). Adored Michelle Williams, but they didn’t develop Charity enough, so she didn’t get to do a lot with the character. Zac Efron was better than I expected, and managed to keep up with Hugh, and I thought Rebecca Ferguson was a wonderful addition as Jenny Lind (even if she didn’t sing herself!)
I’d give it 4 stars. Whether I preferred it to La La Land I’m not sure...
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Post by Deleted on Jan 8, 2018 2:35:06 GMT
Wellnthere you go, unsurprisingly Pasek and Paul walk away with their second consecutive Golden Globe for Best Original Song for "This is Me". Theycould well garner their second consective Oscar win for the same song, they will at leadt get their third nomination. Congrats!
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Post by HereForTheatre on Jan 8, 2018 18:53:31 GMT
Is this a proper musical movie, as in are all the songs are performed in full? Or are songs just played over things?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 8, 2018 18:56:03 GMT
Is this a proper musical movie, as in are all the songs are performed in full? Or are songs just played over things? It's a musical proper. Song, chat, song, chat, song etc. Characters singing.
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Post by justfran on Jan 9, 2018 12:39:50 GMT
Apparently the soundtrack is number 1 in America now. Nice to see a musical doing so well. I enjoyed the film, Hugh Jackman has obviously put a lot of heart into it. In terms of comparisons, I think it’s very different to La La Land (which I personally preferred). Similar in style to Moulin Rouge but Showman was better than that for me.
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