One Sentence: The Musical choice for the season.

Rated: PG

Nudity: None

After Credits: None

Well there are two musical choices for the 2014 Christmas Season.  Into The Woods and Annie.  One is a good movie, the other one, Into The Woods is a good movie and musical.  So if you are dying for songs that tell stories and are not horribly auto tuned, then Into The Woods is the movie to pick this year.

Into The Woods was not a musical I was familiar with or one where I had heard any of the music from.  So that led to the discovery of some amazing songs, and a very solid musical.  Comedy elements, good singers, amazing sets and costumes, and everything that Disney has been doing right lately was all bundled up into this fun fairy tale  musical.  I wasn’t weighed down by time changes and expository lyrics like I am in a lot of musicals.  It was fun, and light while carrying multiple story lines through the woods.  Even the more reflective songs felt fun, and when it was a heavier time in the movie I was still having an amazing time.

The cast was wonderful and all the singing if it was done by the actors was amazing.  Everyone carried their own weight and gave it all they could to keep this movie above the fray of witches and bakers singing about cows and giants.  The children who played Jack and Red Riding Hood were especially amazing, having the most complex songs and handling them with amazing skill.  The only song which was better than the young ones, was Chris Pine’s and Billy Magnussen’s number which was amazing in spectacle while making the audience die with laughter.

There is nothing to complain about with Into The Woods, and compared to Annie which was a musical tragedy.  Into The Woods was a pleasant surprise.   Disney live action has delieverd another family hit, that everyone will  have a fun time talking about after Christmas Dinner.

One Sentence: It’s an opera not a musical.

Rated: PG-13

Release Date: 25-Dec-2012

Nudity: None

About 1 minute before the movie started, the announcements came about the movie.  The announcer said one thing about the movie that stuck out, “This is a musical where all the words are sung.”  I have never seen Les Miserables, and really knew very little about it, one of the things I did not know is that it is not a musical, it is an opera.  Where music is the driving force of the story, not the words.  I slunk down in my seat, I already knew it was 2 hours and 40 minutes long.  I just found out however that all the words will be sung.  I personally have never liked opera sung in English.  However I was going to give this one a try.

Les Miserables is a beautifully shot movie, with the amazing work of some amazing singers and actors evoking emotion though song and pain.  It is powerful, beautiful, and an amazing film epic.  It is also a 2 hour and 40 minute movie that is completely sung.   There are conversations where they are going back and forth in song, like it should be a conversation, but they are running the words with the music and it takes FOREVER.

I am having a hard time with “Les Mis,” because it was amazing.  The way it was shot, the costumes, the music, the acting, everything was truly top notch.  I would expect some Academy Award nominations, and it already has some Golden Globe nominations.  It was all very good, but I wanted for it to end so badly.  It just kept going, and it felt so slow and long.  Things kept going through my head, like how many acts is this, I get why they have intermissions in Broadway my ass is killing me, and another chorus?  How much longer can this movie go?

So I don’t know what to tell you.  I don’t know how many people have any experience at all with English opera, and Les Miserables might be a little too much for them to start out.  I knew what I was getting into and it felt long to me.  I would say if you sound like you can handle it, then it is worth seeing.  If 2 hours and 40 minutes of non-stop music sounds like too much for you, it probably is so stay away.

One Sentence: Not the new best 3-D movie ever made.

Rated: PG-13

Release Date: 27-Jul-2012

Nudity: None

If you do not know I love the Step Up movies.  I think they are well shot, little escape pieces that entertain all while not weighing you down with all those heavy things like acting and plot.  I go into these moving knowing those things do not matter, that isn’t what these movies are about.  They are about color, style, music, cinematography and dancing.  You can have an awful acting and plote and as long as you get those things right, you will be making me happy.  The last one, Step Up 3-D I still maintain is the best usage of 3-D in a movie.  I was hoping Step Up Revolution would continue the trend.  Sadly, Step Up Revolution failed on all of those important things.

The number one thing I hope is not the fault of the theater, but there was no bass in this movie.  When you are dropping dubstep remix tracks to emphasize movement, I want to feel the bass in my soul.  I felt like they muted it, flattened the bass, it was awful.  This along with bad cinematography, and meidocre dance scenes really let me down.  No one from the last 2 Step Up Movies were a part of this movie and it shows.  It was just badly put together.  They don’t have a lot they have to get right for me and they missed the mark on all of those things.  When just bums me out because usually I have a great time at these movies.

So I am saying skip this one completely.  The 3-D didn’t save it, and they did nothing cool with it.  If this is the direction they are going with the series, then I think it is time to hang it up.  This was no revolution.

Rated: R

Running Time: 98 Minutes

Year: 2008

Nudity: None

One Sentence: The best goth opera you will see this year. 

I now that you have too many goth opera's starring Paris Hilton, Paul Sorvino, Sarah Brightman and Anthony Head in them to pick form coming out in theaters this fall and winter, but this is the one to watch.  Yes everything written in the last sentence is true.  There is a gothic operah coming out, it does have Sarah Brightman, Anthony Head (Giles from Buffy), Paul Sorvino and Paris Hilton in it, and it is an opera (almost every line in the movie is sung). That right there almost sounds like it's worth the price of admission, right.  Weird thing about this one, however it is actually good as well. 

This movie which looks like it is a cross between, Rocky Horror and The Matrix, is an amazing attempt at something that is not going to fit into the main stream, and it is so worth watching.  It is literally a opera about a giant genetics plant run by a man, and his children, and the people surrounding and hurt by the genetics plant, and the reposessors who take back implanted body parts. It is quite the monumental undertaking and even having read about it in the Fantastic Fest book, I was not sure about this one, but after having seen it, I can say that something like this can work. 

The whole cast is amazing, Paris Hilton was wonderful, amazingly wonderful and you should go and check her out.  Paul Sorvino is traditionally an opera singer, and well it's just a delight to watch him.  Anthony Head brings back all the wonderful parts from Once More With Feeling and makes you miss him and you can't get enough of him.  

This movie is something that if you think it sounds good to you, go to the website and support. http://www.repo-opera.com/  These types of movies need support to make it and if they are going to make more of them, then it has to make money.  So check out the website, go see the movie and do whatever you can if you are in support of more movies like this.  I think it is worth the effort, becuase the movie is just so much fun. 

Rated: R

Running Time: Almost 2 Hours

Year: 2007

Boobs: Zero

One Sentence: Have a very bloody Christmas.

Lately Tim Burton has been a total let down.  Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was horrible, Planet of the Apes might have been even worse, and I personally didn't like Big Fish.  I know a lot of other people did however.  So when you have a musical, horrorish movie come out based on a Broadway musical, there is going to be some questions about if he can direct this type of film, and the actors can sing this type of film. 

The previews look stunning with Johnny filling the shoes of Sweeny Todd as well as anyone could.  A supporting cast of Helena Bonham Carter, Sasha Baron Cohen and Alan Rickman make for a weird back up to the king of character acting.  They all together do not seem like they could carry a tune, let alone be able to execute the power and emotion needed for this type of movie.  It seems like the only thing going for it is Tim's ability to pull in the darkness and wonderful art direction into something visually amazing.  

So how was it?  Bloody, funny, dark, and sung in an ok way.  This is no Chicago, it is not even a Hairspray as far as quality of music, and power of presentation of that music, but where it lacks in those parts it makes up for in other areas.  Turn of the century London is a visual masterpiece.  All characters and casting was perfection, each character brought their part of the story together and made it work, even without the music.   The dark character Sweeny Todd, and his bloodlust are portrayed perfectly by Depp, and I could not ask for anything more.  

Oddly the movie is at times tounge and cheek.  It is humorous in it's darkness.   We are met with scenes of death that will actually make you laugh out loud.  I am not sure if this was intended, but in the end we are not as weighed down with the tragic story, because getting to the end at times, was quite funny.  I think however this movie is going to be lost on the mainstream audience.  I think it is a good movie, but I am not sure that you want to go see it.  This one is up to you.