Tag: Review

The Greatest Showman

Rating:

Let me begin this by explaining one thing about myself. I am a theater geek, particularly for “The Phantom of the Opera” and “Lestat.” I’m friends with actors, I used to go to the Broadway Annual Flea Market each year when I lived in NJ, I’ve seen “Phantom” about six times on Broadway. I’m a geek.

So when I say “The Greatest Showman” is amazing, I mean it. Once I heard it was a musical, I needed to see it. I was slightly skeptical, because I was so far from a fan of Hugh Jackman’s performance in “Les Miserables.” I hated his performance. Still, I needed to see the movie.

I did not get the chance to see it in theaters, which bummed me out, but it takes time and money to go to the movies, and I don’t like to go out a lot. So my first exposure to the movie was hearing the songs play on Adele’s Pandora station (of all places). The first song I heard was “This Is Me,” which I thought was okay. I mean, now that I’ve heard it more I love it, but at the time it was not my favorite (which could also be attributed to the fact that I listen to Adele Pandora at work, so I couldn’t hear the whole song). Then someone on Facebook posted a video clip of “Never Enough,” and I was hooked.

That’s one thing you can certainly say about the movie’s soundtrack. It digs into your brain and sticks. I have had “Rewrite the Stars” in my head for over a week. I absolutely love the music, and am excited whenever one of the songs comes on at work.

The story was a very good one. Everyone loves a good underdog story, but P.T. Barnum didn’t seem to be an underdog to me. He was always determined to fulfill his dreams, and he did. I loved the love story between he and his wife Charity. She loved him despite the fact he was not her equal in rank and standing. She always made it clear that she would support and love him in anything he chose to do, no matter what. We need more love stories like that.

The main threat to their love story is Jenny Lind. At one point, Jenny kisses Barnum, though it was not reciprocated. The story gets back to Charity. When Barnum talks to her about it, she stated that she wasn’t upset at the kiss, she was upset that he didn’t trust her with a business dealing that led to them losing their house. I absolutely loved this, because she trusted her husband with a beautiful singer, but faltered when he hid the truth. Too often we see couples in movies broken up by kisses, even if the one party did not consent.

The actors were all superb. As I stated, I was worried about Jackman, since he seemed to sacrifice his singing for his acting in “Les Mis,” but that’s not so in “The Greatest Showman.” His singing is as good as his acting, and he did not sacrifice one for the other. I was pleasantly surprised by Zac Efron. I know he’s done musicals before, but they were all juvenile. He was definitely perfect for his role. All of the others performed as well as I had hoped they would. I was slightly saddened that Rebecca Fergusen did not do her own singing as Jenny Lind, but the woman who they picked to dub over was phenomenal.

I can’t really say anything bad about this movie. I loved the story, the acting, and the music. It has to be one of my favorite musicals. I’m absolutely addicted, and you will be too.

 

 

You can get “The Greatest Showman” here.

hugh jackman, lestat, michelle williams, movie, musical, phantom of the opera, rebecca fergusen, Review, the greatest showman, zac efron

“Wonder Woman” (2017)

Rating:

Hey guys! So, I decided to jump on the bandwagon and watch “Wonder Woman,” starring Gal Gadot and Chris Pine. Even though everyone said it was amazing, I went into it with a sense of reluctance, because, after all, it is a DC movie. Not only that, but it’s a female-led DC movie. I expected them to make her dependant on a man, make her sexy, and make a two-hour long movie catered to male fanboys.

Luckily, I was wrong.

“Wonder Woman” is the story of Princess Diana (not that one) of Themyscira, which is an island of Amazons. They specialize in fighting with spears, bows, and swords. Diana grew up hearing the story of how she was given life by Zeus after her mother created her out of clay. As the only child on the island, she is very precious, but she still wants to learn how to fight. Eventually, her aunt convinces her mother to let her train. She becomes a great warrior, but you can tell something is different about her. One day, she sees an airplane materialize in the sky and crash into the water around the island. She rescues the pilot Steve, played by Chris Pine. He tells her and the Amazons of the “war to end all wars,” World War I. Diana believes that this war is caused by the god Ares, and leaves with Steve to go kill Ares, armed with the sword “God Killer.” She meets Sir Patrick, played by David Thewlis of “Harry Potter” fame. He gives Diana and Steve permission to go to the front, where Diana believes the Germans are being influenced by Ares. To avoid spoilers, I’ll leave it at that. Trust me, you need to watch the movie. The twist is crazy.

I loved seeing Diana’s backstory. That is one thing that isn’t often touched upon in Marvel movies (at least, not to the extent of “Wonder Woman.”). Seeing her grow up and learn why she is the way she is, and why her convictions are so strong, makes me connect more with the character. I loved that they showed her as learned, with her having read books and knowing multiple languages. I love that she never needed anyone’s help (except the one point of using her companions as a springboard). She takes on Ares without any help. She’s strong, independent, and smart. And while her clothes are stated to be “indecent” (which, to be fair, they are by WWI standards), she isn’t sexualized. Her armor serves a purpose. For the first time, a female superhero was done correctly.

The only thing I had a little issue with is the casting of David Thewlis. He seemed awkward and ill-placed. While I understand why they cast him, I just couldn’t find his character believable. However, Gal Gadot’s performance made up for his by far.

If you want to have a good role model for your daughter (or son), watch this movie with them. If you want to see a very well-done female superhero movie, watch this. Hell, if you just want to watch a good movie, watch this. You won’t be disappointed.

 

 

You can watch or purchase “Wonder Woman” here.

Amazonian, chris pine, david thewlis, dc, gal gadot, Marvel, movie, Review, superhero, wonder woman

The Other Boleyn Girl (Movie)

Rating:

So, you all know that I love me some Philippa Gregory. I’ve read all of her books about the Tudors/Wars of the Roses/Elizabeth I. Heck, most of the reviews I’ve posted are related to her.

The other day, after I finished “The White Princess” book, I realized I haven’t read my first Philippa Gregory novel in a while. That novel is “The Other Boleyn Girl.” It was my first foray into the world of Historical Fiction, and I loved it. Now, after having read so many novels regarding Anne Boleyn, I see how flawed the novel really is. But I digress. This review is about the movie. Now, this is not the first time I’ve seen the movie, but it is the fist time since I’ve read many books on the subject.

The movie stars Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman, and Eric Bana. Johansson plays Mary Boleyn, who is the younger Boleyn daughter (though there are some who think she was really the oldest), Portman plays Anne Boleyn, and Eric Bana plays Henry VIII. Now, my first impression was that it was sorely miscast. Natalie Portman is more innocent, whereas Scarlett Johansson is the “sexier” of the two. I figured that Johannson should play Anne and Portman play Mary, but it’s very much the reverse. And while Bana is no Johnathan Rhys Meyers (who is the perfect Henry VIII), I did find that Bana’s quiet anger fit more for Henry. I was also surprised to see Benedict Cumberbatch and Eddie Redmayne in the movie, but I don’t know them well enough to know their IMDB profile beyond their most famous roles.

The plot of the movie is standard “Tudor” storytelling. Henry is married to Katherine of Aragon, has an affair with Mary Boleyn, who has two of his children (one a boy), falls for Anne Boleyn. Anne forces him to put aside Katherine, as she would not sleep with him unless they were married. Since the pope wouldn’t grant a divorce, Henry split and created the Church of England, of which he was the Supreme Head. This allowed him to grant himself a divorce under the pretext that he and Katherine married against the teachings of the bible, which was evidenced at their inability to conceive an heir (as they only had Princess Mary). After Henry marries Anne, she too is unable to conceive an heir (save for Princess Elizabeth). Henry believes that she is guilty of witchcraft, incest, and cuckolding him, so he puts her on trial. She’s found guilty and is beheaded. The movie ends with Mary taking Elizabeth to the country to raise her with her own children.

Now, I have many problems with this movie. For one, they depicted Mary as married to Henry Carey. Later, they show her married to William Stafford. They don’t tell what happened, which is very confusing. There is a deleted scene which shows Carey dying of the Sweat, but they left that out of the final film. They could have made an offhand mention of her husband dying, but the way they have it is just confusing.

I also have issue with the fact that they only show Mary giving birth to one child, her son Henry. In reality, Mary gave birth first to Catherine, then later gives birth to Henry. Where this would just be a historical inaccuracy, it’s troublesome because they show both of her children playing with Elizabeth at the end of the movie, with the daughter clearly being the older of the children. While this could easily be dismissed as the girl being just another child, as someone who has read many books about this era, it’s just strange.

The acting is okay. While I believe it was miscast, I found that only Bana’s performance was believable. I would love to have seen a version with the girl’s roles reversed. I also would have liked to see a little bit more of Stafford and Mary’s relationship. The movie doesn’t really discuss how they came to be together, which is a shame because their story is very sweet. He was one of her uncle’s men and she gave up quite a lot to marry him for love.

As for the claim that Anne had an incestuous relationship with her brother George, I like how the movie handled it. The movie has Anne vehemently denying that any such thing took place, where the book insinuates that it most certainly did. I think that this is one of the movies few redeeming features. I don’t believe that the incest happened, as do many historians. While it does seem like George and Anne were very close, incest just seems like they needed to add another charge with which to arrest Anne.

I do realize that often the book is different than the movie and that they have to cut out a lot for runtime and other reasons, but this movie does it very poorly. It leaves out a lot of important points which could have easily been addressed with an additional half hour of runtime. I think that it would have benefitted from the extra time, but alas, we have what we have.

 

 

If you wish to purchase or stream “The Other Boleyn Girl,” you can find it here.

Anne Boleyn, book, film, Henry VIII, historical fiction, Mary Boleyn, movie, Philippa Gregory, Review, The Other Boleyn Girl

Hey guys!

I hope you all liked the Dacre Stoker interview! I was so nervous interviewing him, but it was so much fun. I hope to have the opportunity to interview more authors in the future.

We are still working on a few chapters of “Uncovering the Phantom.” We want to have a few chapters done so that if life interferes (as it has the past few weeks), we still have content for you guys. That being said, what kind of content would you guys like to see? Do you like the blog posts and reviews? They’re always fun to write. Are there any specific reviews or blog posts you guys would like to read? We’re always up for suggestions!

Let us know what you want to see in the comments. We are always happy to oblige.

blog, content, dacre stoker, interview, Review, story, uncovering the phantom

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