The Napa Movie Marathon Part Three

Hey folks,

Before we get to today’s reviews, I just want to pass on the cancellation notice for Showtime’s original series Dead like Me. After two seasons and twenty-nine episodes, this wonderfully quirky show gives up the ghost. Luckily it went out with an episode that could be a good closer if need be as most “questions” seemed answered. It will be missed. Chalk another stupid move up to the cable network that can’t hold a candle to HBO in the original series department. It may even be time to cancel those Showtime subscriptions (what other purpose does the channel serve after their mishandling of both Dead like Me and Jeremiah).

Gaston Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera is one of those novels that I think everyone knows, but no one’s actually read…so they don’t really know the story (and quite frankly, having read it, it’s kind of boring). What they do know has either been colored by the 1925 Lon Chaney film, the 1942 Claude Rains film or Andrew Lloyd Weber’s lavish musical. It is this latter version that has finally reached the big screen and just in time since the movie musical is making a noble attempt at resurrection. Unfortunately, this film is more of a detriment to the genre.

Lloyd Weber’s stage show is the longest running show currently still running on Broadway. I tend to divide his work into two groups: the shows he wrote with Tim Rice (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita) and the shows he wrote without Tim Rice (all the rest). Of this second group, it’s a toss-up as to whether Phantom or Sunset Boulevard are the best…but when you’re in the company of over-produced spectacle like Cats and Starlight Express you’re not really playing on a scale of one to ten…it’s more like one to two. The stage version is all style and little substance as it boils down Leroux’s novel to some vague basics and crafts on a story that mirrors Lloyd Weber’s relationship with Sarah Brightman (who starred in the original version as Christine opposite Michael Crawford’s Phantom). I’ve always thought that Lloyd Weber really wanted to write this as a rock opera and got side-tracked (witness the title song that sounds like it’s from a rock opera while everything else is more melodic). And while some of Lloyd Weber’s music is very nice and a few of the lyrics also nice, on the whole it’s a rather over done affair.

The movie is a very faithful rendition of the stage show down to even incorporating elements that just look silly on film (like the candelabras that rise from the water during the boat journey to the Phantom’s lair). But, like the stage show, it’s all style and no substance. It’s an amazing film to look at. The sets, costumes, photography are all simply grand and amazing. But that alone doesn’t help weak material. And some of the choices are odd at best (during the Masquerade sequence where one of the lyrics mentions all the colors that can be found in costumes we only see black, white, gold and silver as no one is dressed in any other color).

The acting is actually pretty good as is the singing. Minnie Driver steals the film as opera diva Carlotta. She’s hysterical every time she’s on screen and lucky for her, she’s got plenty of sumptuous scenery to chew on. Gerard Butler does a decent job as the Phantom, but his motivations are lacking (you could drive the plot holes of Ocean’s Twelve through the character motivation holes in this film) and when we finally see him unmasked towards the end, we wonder why he bothered to wear one in the first place if all he was covering was a bad sunburn. Emily Rossum is a very appropriately young Christine with a beautiful voice. Her only problem is that while her singing is very passionate, her facial expressions are dead (I’ll assume this is due to pre-recorded tracks being dubbed over the on set vocals during editing…a normal practice for musicals).

I’d like to lay all the blame for this dull and stolid affair at the feet of the man who killed Batman, Joel Schumacher. But, quite honestly, aside from pacing issues and a screenplay by co-credit, I don’t think this film is his fault. While the film is simply entitled The Phantom of the Opera on screen, all of the advertising calls it Andrew Lloyd Weber’s The Phantom of the Opera. The man is also credited as producer and co-screenwriter. So as far as I’m concerned, it’s his fault. Like George Lucas, it’s a bit obvious no one knows how to tell this Napoleon “this doesn’t work”. What could have been another rung on the ladder to raising the movie musical out of the grave and back into the light where it belongs becomes two steps back. Anyone up for viewing Chicago again?

I love movies that make me cry. I mean really cry. Not just watery eyes, mind you, but honest to god tears streaming down my cheeks. It’s rare that movies do this. I can only think of a handful (including Glory, Schindler’s List, Field of Dreams and The Shawshank Redemption) and it has been about ten years since the last one. We can now add Finding Neverland to this list.

I’ve always been a big fan of J.M. Barrie’s classic “children’s” story Peter Pan. Regardless of the version, I always enjoy the story of the boy who wouldn’t grow up. So this film about Barrie’s creation of the story interested me quite a lot. I won’t get into much about the reality versus the film, but it truly is a lovely story. Barrie, suffering in a marriage that has turned somewhat dull and sour, strikes up a friendship with a woman and her children. Through them he finds his inner fire and begins to craft an amazing tale. While all this is going on, they must suffer the scorn and innuendo of their peers (and the woman’s mother-in-law) and the pressure of Barrie’s producer who is thirsty for another hit.

Johnny Depp proves once again that he is one of the greatest actors currently working in film today. The supporting cast includes Kate Winslet and Dustin Hoffman as well as a number wonderfully real boys who act just like real boys given their situation. The film is a marvel to look at as we travel back and forth between the “real” world and the way Barrie imagines things as he tells stories. This is an amazing film and one of the best of the year. To say more would spoil it.

Our last review for today is Sideways. This latest film by Alexander Payne (Election and About Schmidt) is a very nice character piece about two friends who take a week’s journey to California wine country to give one of them a send off the week before his wedding. Along the way they meet two women and well…I won’t spoil anything else. Suffice it to say that anyone who’s ever been friends with someone they really shouldn’t be friends with will probably really relate to this film. I know I did.

It’s the acting and the writing that really propel this film. Paul Giamatti plays Miles, the schlub of a writer/wine connoisseur, perfectly. He’s the driving force here and he really brings this character to life. Thomas Haden Church is also perfect as Jack, the friend who’s getting married and is treating this last week of freedom as if it’s his last week of freedom. Virginia Madsen is Maya, the woman who intrigues Miles and Sandra Oh plays her friend Stephanie who hooks up with Jack. Everyone does a great job in this slow boil film that really gets us into Miles’ head and takes us on a really nice journey of exploration with him. It deserves most of the accolades it has been getting.

Anyway…that’s all for today…next time…more movies…

Be seeing you.