Nine
First of all, let me be clear. I’m talking about Nine the musical, not 9 the weird animated movie. That movie was seriously weird and not that good. Rob Marshall, the same guy who did Chicago brilliantly, also directs Nine, which is a musical about a famous Italian director (Daniel Day-Lewis) who is trying to film a movie called Italia and at the start of the film there is no real script or creative vision. You realize the whole movie is going to be about him and his relationships between all these women – his wife, his mother, his mistress, his muse. The cast is a little weird, but there are some big names: Nicole Kidman, Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Fergie, Kate Hudson, Sophia Loren (who, by the way, needs to lay off the face lifts), Marion Cotillard. Somehow, Fergie comes across a little chubby, which is weird and doesn’t make much sense – maybe she put on some weight for the role or something. Anyway, so the movie starts with a song introducing all the major characters in wordless song – but it turns out it was just Daniel Day-Lewis’ thoughts or something. Weird. But you know how when Chicago started you just knew it was going to be awesome? Nine isn’t like that, unfortunately.
The film he is making stars Nicole Kidman, which makes sense because I bet she’s the only one who can sing well. His mother is Sophia Loren – duh. Penelope Cruz is up for a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award, and Nine is also nominated for Oscars in Art Direction and Costume Design and Best Song (”Take It All”). Interestingly, Javier Bardem (the creepy guy from No Country for Old Men) was supposed to play the title role, but dropped out due to exhaustion and Daniel Day-Lewis stepped up. He doesn’t have a terrible voice, but he doesn’t really have that spark that makes him watchable – like John C. Reilly, you know? Unbeknownst to me, Nine is actually a pretty famous Broadway musical – but when they make a film out of a not so well-known to the general public musical, it’s no wonder nobody went to see it.
The songs are okay, nothing special. I like the All That Jazz aspect of it that he’s going pretty crazy and the songs are mostly his thoughts. That makes it interesting, but the casting just doesn’t seem right. He’s having an affair with Penelope Cruz – who is adorable but not a great singer. I mean, okay, she’s not bad or anything, but it’s nothing special. So, while her costumes are great and she is cute, her acting also leaves much to be desired. The costumes are probably only good though because it’s set in the 1960s. Daniel Day-Lewis, which maybe a crappy singer, is a great actor, and the scenes between him and Judi Dench are great and compelling – but sparse. Judi Dench’s song was interesting because it’s an example of exactly what I was saying before – she might not be an amazing singer, but she’s got that “it” factor that makes her watchable.
One of the best performances for me was Fergie – and I usually don’t like her – but that was a good choice for casting I think. She really only had the one song, but I liked it a lot. I’m sure you can youtube “Be Italia” and watch it. I’m not sure that anything else is worth seeing. We will see. His wife, Marion Cotillard, is a great French actress and has a watchable quality, but her songs were… meh. Kate Hudson, while also cute and fun to watch, is neither a good actress nor a good singer. Again, the costumes were great, but I credit the 60s more than anything else really.
Finally, in the last 30 minutes, they show Nicole Kidman. Maybe if they had used her more the movie would have been more tolerable. The song nominated for the Oscar wasn’t even that good. I don’t know. Maybe Rob Marshall lost his touch or something – but maybe not. I think the musical maybe just sucked – he did what he could. It was just a bad choice to make a musical out of. Honestly? The best part of the movie was the closing credits where they showed clips from rehearsals. Ugh. Go ahead and skip this film.
The film he is making stars Nicole Kidman, which makes sense because I bet she’s the only one who can sing well. His mother is Sophia Loren – duh. Penelope Cruz is up for a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award, and Nine is also nominated for Oscars in Art Direction and Costume Design and Best Song (”Take It All”). Interestingly, Javier Bardem (the creepy guy from No Country for Old Men) was supposed to play the title role, but dropped out due to exhaustion and Daniel Day-Lewis stepped up. He doesn’t have a terrible voice, but he doesn’t really have that spark that makes him watchable – like John C. Reilly, you know? Unbeknownst to me, Nine is actually a pretty famous Broadway musical – but when they make a film out of a not so well-known to the general public musical, it’s no wonder nobody went to see it.
The songs are okay, nothing special. I like the All That Jazz aspect of it that he’s going pretty crazy and the songs are mostly his thoughts. That makes it interesting, but the casting just doesn’t seem right. He’s having an affair with Penelope Cruz – who is adorable but not a great singer. I mean, okay, she’s not bad or anything, but it’s nothing special. So, while her costumes are great and she is cute, her acting also leaves much to be desired. The costumes are probably only good though because it’s set in the 1960s. Daniel Day-Lewis, which maybe a crappy singer, is a great actor, and the scenes between him and Judi Dench are great and compelling – but sparse. Judi Dench’s song was interesting because it’s an example of exactly what I was saying before – she might not be an amazing singer, but she’s got that “it” factor that makes her watchable.
One of the best performances for me was Fergie – and I usually don’t like her – but that was a good choice for casting I think. She really only had the one song, but I liked it a lot. I’m sure you can youtube “Be Italia” and watch it. I’m not sure that anything else is worth seeing. We will see. His wife, Marion Cotillard, is a great French actress and has a watchable quality, but her songs were… meh. Kate Hudson, while also cute and fun to watch, is neither a good actress nor a good singer. Again, the costumes were great, but I credit the 60s more than anything else really.
Finally, in the last 30 minutes, they show Nicole Kidman. Maybe if they had used her more the movie would have been more tolerable. The song nominated for the Oscar wasn’t even that good. I don’t know. Maybe Rob Marshall lost his touch or something – but maybe not. I think the musical maybe just sucked – he did what he could. It was just a bad choice to make a musical out of. Honestly? The best part of the movie was the closing credits where they showed clips from rehearsals. Ugh. Go ahead and skip this film.
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