The Blair Witch Musical

No, I'm not referring to a harebrained (although given the reality of Shrek the Musical, not altogether unfathomable) scheme of some opportunistic yet artistically bankrupt producer, but rather to the camera work of the otherwise FABULOUS Mamma Mia. First off, a pox on critics!!! The vehemence of most of the reviews I've read has been staggering, yet the same critics who have it in for this warm and fuzzy feel-good family movie raved about the ultraviolent Dark Knight. Now, I'm all for ultraviolence in my movies, but, as evidenced by the strong box office returns for MM, there is certainly more than enough room for both in an opening weekend. One of the common themes of all the reviews was mediocre to incompetent directing and cinematography. Now, we all know my feelings about creators of stage versions being allowed to create the movie version (other than Sondheim, who was limited to approval or disapproval, no one from any of the stage incarnations was involved in Sweeeney and that turned out to be a classic while meddling from Andrew Lloyd Webber ruined Phantom and Evita, and JC Superstar for that matter, and the less said about Susan Stroman's film version of her The Producers the better, and even Hairspray didn't fully live up to i's potential), but other than some very shaky camerawork designed to give the illusion of being on a yacht, I thought it was very well done. The cinematography was anything but dingy as all the reviewers complained, everything was well framed, the only problem was the insistent camera jerking throughout the first half of the movie. I know Phyllida was probably trying to avoid the cardinal sin of movie to musical adaption of simply focusing the camera on a single point and filming the scene as it was happening on stage, but she went a little too far in the other direction. I should have brought my leftover dramamine patch from the cruise, at least it's a good thing I didn't eat beforehand. However, everything else about the movie works so well it really doesn't even matter. Again, ignore the reviewers, while Meryl is superb, she is not the only one. Of course Christine Baranski is fabulous as is Julie Waters, Amanda Seyfreid (if a little too wide-eyed innocent at times) and all the men. Speaking of men, the strength of the show is that it knows its audience, and this is where having Phyllida helm the movie after having created the stage show was a good idea. While it takes a little longer, there is just as much gorgeous island boy eye candy in the movie as there is on stage, and the gay reveal at the end is ramped up a notch in a very definite nod to the core audience that has kept the show so successful for so long. Good for you Phyllida! Also as with the stage show though, it takes about 20 minutes for the story to really get going, and apparently trying to be 100% opposite of Lord of the Rings, there are about 8 or 9 false starts in that 20 minutes where someone says something a little over the top, the music picks up, and then all of a sudden we cut to another scene without a song. However, once they finally get to the Chiqitita/Dancing Queen number, the movie takes off like a rocket. I dare you not not applaud after Dancing Queen. The movie flies by and works as a whole, avoiding the other big stage show to movie sin, maintaining two separate story arcs of the first and second act but cutting out the intermission, causing a mid-movie lull as the first arc winds down and the second has to pick up. Yes, Sound of Music and West Side Story did have intermissions, so their two act arc worked, but Evita really got bogged down at the moment it should have soared with Don't Cry For Me Argentina, and Phantom fizzled as soon as Masquerade stole All I Ask Of You's thunder, the retiming of the chandelier crash notwithstanding. Then there was Dreamgirls which got so stagebound but we're not going there. Think Chicago, Sweeney, and even Hairspray, all of which told one continuous story from beginning to end. Anyways, it's a fabulous movie and I see a few more trips to the theatre over the summer for me. Oh, and by the way, I am now the proud owner of a brand new Toyota Yaris. They finally called me on Friday and said it had arrived, which of course was horrible timing (I would have just gone to see Mamma Mia Friday night if I had known, but having bought the ticket for Sunday on Thursday night, there was nothing I could do). I went out and got it after my clients on Saturday, and the only even slight letdown was that I got my second choice color, so instead of a Tobias, I have a Lucille (I still had to go with an Arrested Developoment theme, and I felt that the Jessica Walters and Liza Minnelli characters would be an appropriate name, and I can nickname her Gangy as well, maybe when my companion gets back from Europe I'll have Pop-Pop in the car too). Anyways, time to get back to work, I've still got papers and disucssions do before heading of to Montreal for the weekend.