The Phantom of the Opera. I had sort of put off seeing this because I had done it to death around the time I saw the Toronto stage premiere in 1989--although that was cool; I even had chandelier earrings for the occasion (hey it was the 80s). So here we have Gerard Butler (of 2005 Beowulf and Grendel and 2006 300 fame, both good in their own weird ways) playing the tortured phantom of the opera house--they actually did manage to ugly him down. Then we have this chicky who honestly looks like a muppet half the time playing the apparently oscillating innocent waif/object of lust figure. I could go on about the cheating in set design, the continuity issues, the (in my opinion) not-up-to-scratch singing for pete's sake, the synchronization problems and the absolutely schlocky graveyard scene with anachronistic sculpture, etc etc but I won't.... Leonard Maltin gave it 2 1/2 stars, with good reason. The only fun bit is Minnie Driver playing the impossible Carlotta. Skip the 2004 Joel Schumacher and put on the cd if anything.
Okay, the next one rates popcorn but hold the butter. Conversations with God was extremely hard to watch but that's not the problem. I'll get to that later. This 2005 film by Stephen Simon, filmed in Oregon, was about an average Joe who ends up homeless through a series of circumstances beyond his control: there but by the grace of God go I. Watching the pain of his humiliation was terribly difficult, testimony to Canadian Henry Czerny's acting. One cries along with him and rejoices with his tiny victories and steps forward. Then a bad thing happens: the movie gets happy. More specifically, the main character, who is based on real life author Neale Donald Walsch, is suddenly inspired by God/the Holy Spirit? to write bestselling Answers to Life, becomes a millionaire and then when he has an apparent revelation bordering on paranormal access, I got very uncomfortable. It went from real life to puh-lease! So here's my snack bar recommendation: use the first 2/3 of the movie to spark a youth group service project or bible study conversation, then skip the dumbness at the end. Other than that, it's a great story about tenacity, faith and transformation. Bring kleenex.
1 comment:
watched Conversations with God recently, i appreciate the point that Neale Donald Walsch makes about having freedom to admit that he's not perfect so he can move on from where he is at that point.
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