tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18439960.post8061929633695387436..comments2024-03-23T21:46:50.843-04:00Comments on the passionate moviegoer: hearsayjoe baltakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11467420961490314339noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18439960.post-40694289973725970442008-08-11T14:28:00.000-04:002008-08-11T14:28:00.000-04:00I love your line about critics writing with "empty...I love your line about critics writing with "empty authority." That says it all. Whenever a critic references an old film in a column or review, I can always sense if he or she actually saw the film being quoted or if they are just repeating what they heard from other movie critics or in film school.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18439960.post-62084312602239371292008-08-11T14:14:00.000-04:002008-08-11T14:14:00.000-04:00Darly--Thanks, as always, for providing some fasci...Darly--<BR/><BR/>Thanks, as always, for providing some fascinating history. I, for one, assumed that Tandy must have been great on stage and slighted by the filmmakers. (Jeez, I'm doing what Merman's camp has been doing for 40 years!) It's nice to know something closer to the truth.<BR/><BR/>Jay--<BR/><BR/>Yeah, the piece was a real hack job and yet someone at the Times saw fit to not only put in on the front page but also jump it to a full page. And the photo of Liza was so predictable.joe baltakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11467420961490314339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18439960.post-27464707697370895802008-08-11T13:03:00.000-04:002008-08-11T13:03:00.000-04:00It's been a few days since I read the article, but...It's been a few days since I read the article, but didn't they even trot out the chestnut about the realism of film making it harder to accept scenes in which people break into song and dance? Sheesh.<BR/><BR/>I have to admit though that Mamma Mia didn't work too well for me. I love ABBA and musicals and Meryl Streep, but the movie was an odd experience -- had me almost simultaneously smiling and cringing for the entire running time. Wall-to-wall ABBA helps, but it can't fix everything. And Streep attacks her role with so much gusto, I didn't know whether to cheer or pick her off with a trank gun. I had some fun with it, but overall I was disappointed.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18439960.post-35635303938962205682008-08-11T12:36:00.000-04:002008-08-11T12:36:00.000-04:00No time to comment at length, but have to agree to...No time to comment at length, but have to agree totally. Theater history is built up of such "common wisdom"... but if you actually ask people who saw those productions....<BR/><BR/>Here is a great example: Jessica Tandy's performance in A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE was a compromise. There were actresses who were signed who left (because of Tennessee Williams' personal taste), they approached several actresses who refused (the material seemed sordid) and Jessica Tandy (for better or worse) was the compromise candidate. <BR/><BR/>But as Elia Kazan noted, Jessica Tandy never quite got the sexuality. (Jessica Tandy was many things, but no one ever accused her of being a sex bomb.) But now it's part of the public record, since that production is legendary (for making Marlon Brando a star and establishing Williams as one of America's great playwrights), that her performance must have been perfect. At the time, nobody thought so. But now we're left with this myth....Daryl Chinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13371258313590183345noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18439960.post-8026407171845008052008-08-10T20:44:00.000-04:002008-08-10T20:44:00.000-04:00Couldn't agree more. I am a big "Mamma M...Couldn't agree more. I am a big "Mamma Mia!" fan (the music, the show, & the movie), and I find some of the comments I read in the NY Times truly petty and weird. Why can't it just be a fun musical, a summer treat? Why does it have to achieve some lofty goal? <BR/><BR/>Both the NY Times' theater and movie critics have made gratuitous comments about specific ABBA lyrics. Hey, don't take it so seriously - it't not Shakespeare nor is it meant to be.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com