June 20, 2005
The Phantom of the Opera
So just a little movie review here. I watched Phantom of the Opera the other night. I had heard a lot of mixed reviews, but like any musical movie I got excited. Before I get started I think I should look at it from a producer stand point to decide what the movie needed.
1. I would hire a director who was proficient in both theatre and film. I think a theatre director would be inclined to incorporate a lot of the theatrical aspects that actually made Phantom famous.
2. After hiring a theatre director I would hire a top notch creative director of photography. Someone who could take a theatre production and make it interesting cinematically. I would have probably looked into the guy who did Moulin Rouge.
3. I would choose an established cast who could not only bring the magic of the stage production but would look good on camera as well.
These are the 3 most important things I would have addressed. Now looking at the actual film... #1 finding a good director. Joel Shumacher is actually a very good director and writer and costume designer. Strong theatre background. They hit a home run getting Joel to direct the film. #2 They got John Mathieson to be cinematographer. He's best known for Gladiator, K-Pax, and Matchstick Men. Someone who has come into his own over the past 5 years. A definite A-list guy. I don't know if he would have been my first choice but I would have been happy nonetheless. And given what the final product looked like... I thought he did a superb job. I was very happy with what he did. It was both theatrical and cinematic. And now for #3...getting a good cast. I think this is where the film went most horribly wrong. First of all, lets start with the Phantom. Why not get Michael Crawford? Phantom was the pinnacle in this guys career. Ok, so he's old but isn't the Phantom suppose to be ugly? And given the fact that he has become a genius of the theatre and has established this underground lair and such... wouldn't he be some what older? I think his presence alone would have made the film 100 times better. But ok, lets say they couldn't get him... given what I said about ugly and older... why would anyone go out and get a hot young Phantom? I thought he charmed Christine with his words and music... I didn't know she found him hot? I found this totally absurd. That's just me though. Phantom was the one character that you would want someone that was a step above the rest, but they settled for a guy who's career highlight has been in Lara Croft-Tomb Raider. Christines role was fine... any cute naive girl that can sing can do this role. The other important role would be for casting the part of Carlotta. I would think one would need a past her prime over the top annoying opera diva for this part. I mean isn't that the whole point for her to be the evil opposite of Christine? So, whose idea was it to hire Minnie Driver? Don't get me wrong I thought she did a great job, but she was soooo very wrong for the part. So miscast it made me sick... well almost. So the one person I point my finger at for this being a sub par production is David Grindrod the casting agent. Ok, that might be a bit hard... he didn't actually hire the people... the producers did. And sadly enough Andrew Lloyd Webber was one of the producers. How could he let this happen? Oh well, in conclusion I gave the movie 2 stars out of four. I enjoyed it because its Phantom but hated it because of the casting. Having said that... I am so excited that Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane were brought on to do the movie version of The Producers. That should be a good movie!
June 02, 2005
Switzerfrance!
Ok, I keep putting this blog thing off. I started it a year and a half ago and this will be my 108th posting. Not too shabby! I have had 365 comments too. Not too shabby for you guys either. Anyhoo, the reason I wanted to post this week is primarily to post a few snapshots of our recent trip to Switzerland to visit Julie's Irish friends who live in France. Did you follow that? We spent a day in Geneva and a day in a very cool French mountain town called Annecy. Geneva is pretty modern with just a flare of European architecture so it wasn't all that charming but still very cool. Annecy was stereo-typical old Europe on a crystal clear lake so needless to say had a lot more charm. Ella seemed to like the trip, though I seriously doubt she had any idea where she was. :) I did post some photos on her web site as well. It was a quick little trip that was a lot of fun. Julie's friends were very cool and they had a 5 month old son to play with Ella. Well, fun meaning laying there and drooling over each other. Hmmmm... no matter how old you get that never seems to change does it?
On personal fronts I have just signed up to take a 3D animation course at Escape Studios. 12 weeks at 7 hours a day to study the program Maya. It's the same program that was used to do a lot of the Lord of the Rings stuff plus countless other animation films. It's also a key program in doing 3D rendering for video games. I figured it was time to combine my background in film and photography with my hidden passion of being a computer geek. I'm really excited about it. It doesn't start until July 4th so I have a little time to get prepared. Other than that, not much going on these days. So without further ado... here's some photos of last weekend trip. Enjoy!
P.S. Happy Birthday DeDe!!!
Geneva, Switzerland
Annecy, France