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| Official Mamma Mia!: The Movie thread! | |
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| Topic Started: Jul 2 2008, 12:56 PM (1,454 Views) | |
| Riverwide | Jul 2 2008, 12:56 PM Post #1 |
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http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article4245117.ece **** out of ***** Musicals are bonkers, Mamma Mia! perhaps more than most. It has an Italian title but is set in Greece and it centres on songs written by a pair of Swedes. But we aren’t allowed to care about that. Meryl Streep plays a single mum who is the impoverished owner of a dilapidated island taverna, about to celebrate the wedding of her only daughter. This daughter (Amanda Seyfried) wants her dad to take her down the aisle but because Meryl was once the island bike she doesn’t know who the father is. Anyway, the daughter invites all the possible candidates (Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgård), while her mum invites her two best friends (Julie Walters and Christine Baranski) for a bit of (im)moral support. Throw in a groom, bridesmaids, a vicar and a chorus of picturesque Greeks and you have an awful lot of people who need to say exactly the right thing at exactly the right time in order to have just the right excuse to break into the right song, which is barely in English anyway. It should be beyond bonkers. It should be a mess. It isn’t. They’ll probably revoke my membership of the Straight Men’s Sneering Association for this, but Mamma Mia! is actually rather wonderful. It is sharp, hilarious and so beautifully shot that you can almost smell the Ambre Solaire. Streep slams wonky, wooden shutters and leads her mob of bridesmaids, ageing sluts and lumpy Greek peasant women on a rampage through that sleepy village like a sun-kissed, middle-aged parody of Cyndi Lauper. Walters cackles away like the old pro she is, and even though Colin Firth is in full Bridget Jones awkward mode, you never properly want to beat him to death with an oar. Streep is the real star here, and she does serious acting, too, investing a cliff-top rendition of The Winner Takes It All with far more teary gravitas than should be possible for a song that contains the line: “I figured it made sense/ building me a fence”. Brosnan, meanwhile, is at his funniest and most unBondish. Bless him, but the man cannot sing at all. It’s not that he can’t hold a tune, exactly, more that you can really hear him trying. I hope he is in on the joke. Maybe it is the mature cast that makes Mamma Mia! work so well. The film is hectic but relaxed. It doesn’t take itself too seriously. Every act of breaking into song is a gag and every dance move an undignified scramble. In the right sort of way, it is also gloriously subversive. Three sexual partners in a week is a bit of a laugh and the older a woman gets, the more likely she is to drink, leer and lust. With the exception of Baranski’s rather gruesome duet with a young barman on Does Your Mother Know? the film is almost completely without campery. For a musical full of Abba songs, that is truly remarkable. There is, however, an important caveat to make here before I get carried away, and that is to admit that I saw this film in a little screening room in Soho. In your average multiplex you’ll have people twirling and singing along, which may, if you are of a certain bent, spur you to murder. But even so, if you can resist a smile as 30 muscular chaps in tiny Speedos and huge Technicolor flippers bop away to Dancing Queen on a rickety Greek pier, then you are a straighter, even more sneering man than I ever was. |
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| johnnox | Jul 2 2008, 03:47 PM Post #2 |
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I think I will take my mum to see this like I did with Sex and the City. Could I BE any gayer????? |
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| Riverwide | Jul 2 2008, 04:30 PM Post #3 |
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Fellating Graham Norton may possibly make you gayer, but aside from that...no. |
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| johnnox | Jul 2 2008, 04:43 PM Post #4 |
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How about if I was carrying a photo of Bradley? would that make me gayer? |
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| Riverwide | Jul 2 2008, 09:39 PM Post #5 |
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"...if you can resist a smile as 30 muscular chaps in tiny Speedos and huge Technicolor flippers bop away to Dancing Queen on a rickety Greek pier..." I'm looking forward to this bit...
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| FuckBuddy | Jul 2 2008, 11:31 PM Post #6 |
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i'm so looking forward to seeing the film tomorrow. it'll be great exposure for the island of skiathos, too. the natives even refused to get paid for taking part in it. thank god tom hanks and his wife of greek origins were the producers and insisted the movie should be filmed in greece and nowhere else.
Edited by FuckBuddy, Jul 2 2008, 11:32 PM.
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| Riverwide | Jul 3 2008, 09:15 AM Post #7 |
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You're getting to see it tomorrow??? It doesn't open here for another week!
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| Deleted User | Jul 3 2008, 06:05 PM Post #8 |
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in Greece it opens 1 week earlier than UK |
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| Jimmy Mack | Jul 3 2008, 08:48 PM Post #9 |
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I adore ABBA, I adore Meryl Streep, and I adore Julie Walters. But still you couldn't pay me to sit through this. |
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| Deleted User | Jul 3 2008, 09:20 PM Post #10 |
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But wasn't Mamma Mia inspired in that Australian film? And now the musical is inspiration to a movie? So it's a remake of that other movie os it's a brand new script? This is so weird. |
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| FuckBuddy | Jul 3 2008, 11:24 PM Post #11 |
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i wasn't able to book decent seats for tonight, but i'm definitely seeing it over the weekend. i guess the early opening in greece is linked to the movie being filmed here. |
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| Deleted User | Jul 3 2008, 11:25 PM Post #12 |
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it is EXACTLY the same as the musical...very minor differences between the 2...they even use the same lines... |
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| Deleted User | Jul 4 2008, 12:49 PM Post #13 |
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I'm butch me!!
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| Vancho | Jul 4 2008, 04:36 PM Post #14 |
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Mature
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Ooh where's Agnetha
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| Riverwide | Jul 5 2008, 11:47 AM Post #15 |
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Abba quartet at Mamma Mia showing![]() Faltskog (centre) and Lyngstad (right) attended with Meryl Streep (left) The four members of pop group Abba have attended the Swedish premiere of Mamma Mia, the film which features 22 of their songs. Several thousand fans cheered as Benny Andersson, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Agnetha Faltskog walked down the red carpet in Stockholm. Lyngstad and Faltskog also embraced Meryl Streep, one of the movie's stars. The group had not met up since the original Mamma Mia musical opened in Sweden in February 2005, Lyngstad said. And they have not performed in public since 1986, 12 years after shooting to fame by winning the Eurovision Song Contest with their track Waterloo. Earlier, former James Bond star Pierce Brosnan, who is heard singing hits including Waterloo in the film, said he "kind of rather enjoyed" wearing tight costumes for his role. "The Spandex was a bit of a challenge and the boots were [too]," he told reporters. "But I had the time of my life making this movie." Streep said the prospect of singing had excited her since performed in school musicals such as Oklahoma!. Pierce Brosnan had attended the film's world premiere in London on Monday "That was my beginning so it was kind of like coming home to the thing that I loved very, very much," she said. But she declined to reveal the Abba song she liked best, saying it was "like saying which of your children is your favourite". She added: "I don't think of it in sports terms like that." Ulvaeus praised the actors' vocal talents in the film, which has been adapted from the hit stage musical. "Most of them don't think they can sing, but they can, I assure you," he said. |
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| Riverwide | Jul 5 2008, 09:26 PM Post #16 |
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Poor review from Entertainment.ie: As someone who likes Abba, loves Greece but has a consistent dislike for musicals, I had mixed feelings about this venture. The 'plot' sees the pretty Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) prepare for her wedding on a quaint Greek island with help from bohemian mum Donna (Steep). Curious as to which of three men Donna slept with is her father, Sophie invites Sam (Brosnan), Harry (Firth) and Bill (Skarsgard) to the wedding, secure in the knowledge that when she sees him she'll know which one it is. That plan doesn't work out, however, and Donna is lumbered with three former suitors on the day of her daughter's wedding. Having not seen the stage version, the idea of having a plot set to Abba tunes sounded at best fun and at worst ridiculous. Let's get something right from the off - the plot is not based on or around Abba tunes; the first line of the song (different versions it must be noted) is indeed a kick-start from what someone has just said, but the rest of the song's lyrics do not fit. There's no finer example for this than the showstopper The Winner Takes It All: Brosnan wants to talk about his potential parentage with Streep but she responds, 'I don’t want to talk' and cue song. That's all fine and well - a competent segue way - but when it gets to the chorus the song makes absolutely no sense at all. We're watching Brosnan standing there, thinking 'Eh, what's all this about winners, losers, gods, dice and taking it all? I just want to find out if I'm Sophie’s dad.' The nonsense doesn't stop there: There's no chemistry between anyone, the whole cast looks like they're being forced to have fun (like a hen night in Temple Bar) and they managed to make a beautiful location look fake. It's a waste of time and money - but it doesn't have to be your time and money. |
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| Riverwide | Jul 6 2008, 11:34 AM Post #17 |
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Great review from The Hollywood Reporter: Film Review: Mamma Mia! Bottom Line: My, my, clear the aisles. This is the winner that will take it all! By Ray Bennett Jun 29, 2008 Opens: July 4 in the U.K.; July 18 in North America (Universal Pictures) LONDON -- No matter how many blockbusters there are, Universal Pictures' screen version of the global hit stage musical "Mamma Mia!" is the most fun to be had at the movies this or any other recent summer. Teenage boys may be glued to the latest action adventure, but the rest of the family will be having a rollicking good time and dancing in the aisles to Swedish pop group ABBA's irresistible songs. It's a delightful piece of filmmaking with a marvelous cast topped by Meryl Streep in one of her smartest and most entertaining performances ever. After its world premiere in London on Monday, the film opens in the U.K. on July 4 and in North America on July 18. It will surely follow the stage show around the world in pleasing audiences and coining what one of the infectious songs celebrates: "Money, Money, Money." Credit goes to the original show's creators, producer Judy Craymer, director Phyllida Lloyd and writer Catherine Johnson, for seeing their vision through to such a polished and enjoyable picture. Hanging a tale of a woman whose daughter might have been fathered by one of three attractive men on a bunch of ABBA songs sounds simple, but its simplicity is as deceptive as the masterfully crafted songs themselves. Click Here Streep plays Donna, a former singer, who has raised daughter Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) alone at a fading resort on a remote Greek island. Sophie finds her mother's diary from 20 years earlier and discovers that there are three men who might be her father. About to be married to boyfriend Sky (Dominic Cooper), she sends invitations to the celebration to all three on behalf of her mother but without telling her. Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgard, as the possible dads, show up on the island where Donna is readying the wedding, helped by her two best pals (Julie Walters and Christine Baranski). The scene is set for songs, dancing and romance, all staged brilliantly, with many energetic and colorful performers, and beautifully shot. The Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus songs have memorably sturdy lyrics that the filmmakers weave with great skill into their story. All of the players perform with gusto including Skarsgard, ex-007 Brosnan and noted Mr. Darcy Firth who, far from embarrassing themselves, sing well and deserve high praise for being such good sports. Seyfried (from TV's "Big Love") and Cooper ("The History Boys") make appealing juvenile leads while Walters and Baranski contribute greatly to the film's good-natured comedy. Each has a big solo number with Baranski belting out "Does Your Mother Know?" to a randy beach bum and Walters entreating a reluctant groom with "Take a Chance on Me." Streep is sensationally good in rendering the whole yarn credible and in making dramatically moving songs such as "Slipping Through My Fingers," sung to her departing daughter, and "The Winner Takes It All" to a lost love. It's no stretch to think of her performance in Oscar terms, ranking with previous musical winners such as Liza Minnelli, Barbra Streisand and Catherine Zeta-Jones. And when Streep teams with Walters and Baranski for dynamic and crowd-pleasing numbers such as "Mamma Mia!" "Dancing Queen" and "Super Trouper," there's not an audience anywhere that won't be smiling. |
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| bulgar | Jul 6 2008, 05:57 PM Post #18 |
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OMGGGG, I CANT WAITTTT!!!!!!!! |
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| Riverwide | Jul 6 2008, 05:58 PM Post #19 |
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I really wanna see this too. Shall we go together? |
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| bulgar | Jul 6 2008, 06:01 PM Post #20 |
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6:49 AM Jul 13
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You're getting to see it tomorrow??? It doesn't open here for another week!




6:49 AM Jul 13