Nine: Musical Hell Review #48

[@PassTheMarmalade1957]

I'm really done with artsy films about a tortured genius who has gorgeous women falling all over him and treats them all like crap.

[@disgruntledcashier503]

Arthur Miller marrying Marilyn Monroe set unfair standards for all the tortured geniuses of the world

[@tatehildyard5332]

Phantom Thread I feel is actually a film that utilizes this concept correctly and it also has Daniel Day Lewis which is never a bad thing.

[@TheHeroOfTomorrow]

When it comes to movies called "Nine" I'll take the CGI one about post-apocalyptic dolls.

[@ASProductionsLLC]

On a scale of one to ten, this "nine" doesn't even rank that high.

[@vcabrera5396]

Omg, you're the only person I've found who actually knows about that movie!

[@bunnyboyking5215]

TheHeroOfTomorrow I saw commercials for that but never got around to watching it.

[@ConnorTheUndying]

I loved that movie. It's so dark for a kid's movie, and it's completely fucked up.

[@mimsilvernote]

TheHeroOfTomorrow I love that movie

[@jackmonaghan8477]

At least Dench is doing her musical number without a ghastly Snapchat cat filter that wants to eat your soul.

[@kjanikova6731]

I found your channel by complete accident while looking for some Hamilton info and I'm not leaving. You're good!

[@EYTPS]

OMG, Fergie sings "Be Italian" so god damn well. Why couldn't she sing the national anthem that good at that basketball game?

[@ImissZayn]

Not every singer keeps the same vocal range as when they were younger plus health happens sometimes so who cares that she doesn't sing as well anymore; if you don't like it, don't listen

[@gregorywiederecht]

Basically, she was performing as a character in this movie. So, she was limited in what she could and could not do with the song. With the national anthem, she pretty much had free reign to do whatever the hell she wanted, and so she sang the most self-indulgent version she could

[@antonspivack3928]

What's Italian for "lovely lady lumps?"

[@xxkewldudexx]

@@antonspivack3928 Hahahaha

[@antonspivack3928]

@@xxkewldudexx LSP: Lovely lady lumps? No lumpin' way! My lumps are way hotter than hers!

[@sewthernbelle]

You know what could have made this movie work better? Start the movie with the ending where Guido is shooting his new movie. Then when we get to the end where we realize it’s a movie about a man getting his wife back and suddenly the songs not told from his point of view make sense because he’s examining his own life and mistakes through the eyes of the women in his life.

[@roberttreacy8271]

That sounds a lot better.

[@RITardNation]

"Priest in a Hot Tub" would be a great cocktail tbh

[@grace19917]

Priest in a Hot Tub 2oz Cointreau 1.5oz maraschino syrup 2oz Whiskey of choice Shake it with ice strain it over fresh ice. Top it with spritzer and garnish with a cherry

[@CrazyRoundMan]

The ideal cocktail would have some kind of white ring at the top to emulate the collar

[@Tanyableu]

@@CrazyRoundMan Be cool if it was a black color....like maybe a black cherry...then it would look like he melted in said hot tub lol

[@tristanhartup4936]

"Excuse me, bartender, I'll have two white Russians and a priest in a hot tub, please."

[@giuseppeianniello1998]

My review of Nine Pros • The acting from Penélope Cruz, Marion Cotillard, Nicole Kidman, Sophia Loren and Fergie are very good (Cruz was nominated for an Oscar for this) • Speaking of Fergie, her musical performance of Be Italian is a marvel to look at: the tambourine choreography and Fergie’s voice makes it the memorable part of the movie • The visuals reflect perfectly my home country of Italy and is shot in very beautiful locations Cons • The screenplay, tone, pacing are inconsistent • I think Daniel Day-Lewis is a great actor, but his performance as Guido Contini is awful: he doesn’t capture the essence of the character and is not very well defined. I’m like: what do i see in him? I’m confused! • Some of the musical performances have mixed results (especially the first one, that was the worst piece in the soundtrack) • And of course: it doesn’t compare to the original 8 and a 1/2 by the legendary Federico Fellini, The movie and the musical are masterpieces. Final Rating: 6,5/10

[@donlevy8960]

I hated this film too. I agree the best number is "Be Italian ". I think there is no reason for anyone to care about Guido more than he does. I was very disappointed in this film.

[@DavidRigano]

The opening was so promising. I still watch it sometimes because it's so beautifully shot. I even liked the press conference and Guido's Song. But it went downhill when they scrapped the plot of the original and replaced it with... no plot whatsoever. Be Italian, of course, was the other highlight. But cutting Bells of St. Sebastien and Getting Tall were the two biggest sins for me.

[@sweeney60]

I have been waiting for this review ever since you started the show. So glad to finally see it. And I totally called that Be Italian would be your saving grace. Who knew the best thing is a Rob Marshal musical would one song with Fergie, but Goddamn it works! I could watch that number a million times and never get sick of it.

[@MusicalHell]

Credit where it's due; few directors know how to stage a song on film like Rob Marshall. He understands how to use the medium to emphasize the dramatic impact of the number very well--Chicago's "Cell Block Tango" remains my favorite bit of film choreography in the 21st century.

[@sweeney60]

Oh I am not dissing Marshal at all. Talented people make mistakes but give the talent due. I would argue that I think what went wrong with this movie is twofold: one he tried to use the same concept from Chicago and it wasn't needed for this film and two he tried to make it too much like the original 8 and a half movie when he should have just tried a straight adaptation of the play.

[@milesbrad9975]

People have said that the film 'Nine' was created (and failed) to be Oscar bait. Do you think that's true?

[@MusicalHell]

It certainly has a lot of the hallmarks about it: prestige cast, notably inspired by an earlier Oscar winner, late December release. I don't know if I'd say it was created specifically with the Oscars in mind, but certainly the producers had aspirations in that direction.

[@josephhillyard3040]

Musical Hell Hey love your channel!! Just discovered it. But I’ve got to disagree about Take it all. You do have a valid point about objection in film,but the symbolism of the scene is what saves it from falling into that category. Similar to the fantasy sequence in 8 1/2 the scene displays what’s wrong with Guido. The stripping of her clothing symbolizes how she has slowly been stripped of her freedom and independence by Guido. With the seductive dance empathizing how he sees her as an object of desire.

[@giuseppeianniello1998]

It garnered 4 oscar nominations sooo…

[@fozzieatdetourbillnye5514]

@@giuseppeianniello1998 Seriously it did?

[@giuseppeianniello1998]

FozzieatDetour BillNye Yes, it did. It was nominated for: • Best Supporting Actress for Penélope Cruz • Best Production Design - John Myhre and Gordon Sim • Best Costume Design - Colleen Atwood • Best Original Song - Take It All It did not win any

[@elphaba4674]

That Audrey 2 cameo was perfection.

[@bubblebriarrose]

I'm so happy Be Italian got a Saving Grace

[@houst7584]

The whole Folies Bergere song was so pointless in this movie too because they completely change Lilly’s character in the movie. In the musical she was the critic who was going off on Guido and telling him that musicals are better then movies since in the musical Guido had drunkenly agreed to her that he would make a musical. But now like half the song is cut out because we don’t have that now. This movie was more of an adaptation of 8 1/2 with the songs of Nine thrown in there than an adaptation of Nine. Which is an important distinction seeing how a lot was changed about 8 1/2 to make it work on stage.

[@dunes8817]

Ah yes, Glitter. An 80s period piece that doesn't feel like an 80s period piece.

[@23Koneko]

After watching some of Take it All, because it was just too weird that she would sing in the burlesque style at this moment, it might have worked better as a torch song that gradually morphed into burlesque as the number progressed and the audience, who are all Guido, was pawing at her and ripping off her clothes.

[@masterof4elements826]

I think this movie's biggest mistake was not being released on September 9.

[@jasminnemcdonald94A]

You mean, 9/9/2009?

[@jamespolk5428]

Your videos have showed me how the "thousand cuts" can really affect the whole effect of a film, not simply a foundational issue. Thanks!

[@catherinelempke8451]

Man, I remember seeing the trailer for Nine and being so excited (Judy Dench! In a musical!) and then watching it and being so so sad. :(

[@tatehildyard5332]

Same. I'm so bummed because the cast and visuals are wasted on a script that's BORING AS HELL! You can have great visuals with a bad script and still have it be a good movie but something still has to be interesting in the script to keep your attention.

[@fozzieatdetourbillnye5514]

True story. I only considered seeing this because it has the same name as a CGI movie and I was kind of like 2 films with one name. I want to see one. I dodged the bullet an watched the cartoon instead. Actually pretty good.

[@alisaurus4224]

Should i ask how you feel about Dame Judi in Cats?

[@ThatGuyLondon]

I watched this movie once... but listened to watched "Be Italian" ..hundreds of times. Fergie was waaaaay better than I would've expected. I would love to see her in another musical..stage or screen. The entire number just felt out of place because it was one of the few scenes that worked with the "its all in hid head" concept..and the tambourine sand section was so complex and perfect. I don't even remember the rest of the movie..other than loving the whole concept of a man and the women in his life...and "Be Italian"

[@sewthernbelle]

I think the movie version was from Guidos point of view from the end of the movie, after he's examined himself and his relationships between women and the movie we see him making at the end is the movie we just saw...that's why he can imagine the women in his life singing about their feelings about him. At least what they were going for anyway...

[@EricMontreal22]

Being a fan of the original production (I do think the show needs Tommy Tune to really make it work the way another Fellinni adaptation, Sweet Charity, never seems to work without Fosse's production) one issue I have is Marshall really seemed to want to make his own adaptation of 8 1/2--NOT an adaptation of Nine, if that makes sense. The fact that he cut many of the key songs (Getting Tall, Bells of St Sebastian) also make me think that (and I do think the score is terrific, and I say that as not much of a Yeston fan elsewhere).

[@MikeEZ]

6:44 Im highly convinced that Judi Dench's tagline should be "Judi Dench: Im the Morgan Freeman of all of these bytches!!"

[@TheBattlesword]

Ok, infinite respect to you and what you do and I know you didn't know who she truly was yet, but it really makes me uncomfortable to see Ursa talk about ok depictions of women before she came out as an anti-trans bigot.

[@DrGregoryHouseIT]

I think they changed it to 'Contini' because it's got an assonance with 'Count' the verb. DDL's accent in that opening song is pretty damn awful. It's comforting to know that 'Nine' (where does the remaining half come from, since the 8 & 1/2 title isn't related to the movie at all, but the fact that it was literally the 8 & 1/2th movie Fellini made?) works better on stage.

[@MusicalHell]

In the movie (I can't remember if the stage version is the same), the film Guido is working on is his ninth, and also his younger self is nine years old.

[@DrGregoryHouseIT]

Musical Hell Thank you.

[@MrGabeanator]

Maury Yeaston man why do Alan Menken's friends keep showing up in your reviews

[@alexmeyer5260]

When the original stage version of Nine won Best Musical at the Tonys, it was one of the biggest upset wins of all time. It competed against the original production of Dreamgirls, which was seen as the overwhelming favorite to win due to the fact that Michael Bennett, the creator of A Chorus Line, directed the show, and it had far more critical acclaim than Nine, which went through numerous production nightmares and received mixed reviews at best.

[@litlblkhouse]

Exactly. Besides, Dreamgirls had a better film adaptation anyway ;)

[@clydejohnson2931]

This is all so true. Nine is my favorite musical and it saddens me that the movie is so bad.

[@mimkyodar]

This film has nothing to do with the original. There aren't any post apocalyptic sack-dolls anywhere.

[@planclops]

First time commenting! Yay! Cinema Italiano really emphasizes all the weak points in this movie for me. I respect Rob Marshall for bringing film musicals more respect but I think he works best when he has solid, conventional plot to work around (like Chicago and Pirates of the Caribbean 4). The source material from both the original musical and film is abstract and meandering and I think Marshall decided to focus too much on the glitz and glamour of Italy/Hollywood rather than...well...characters. On a different note, I just found Ursa's channel! I will have to check her site out. Thanks for the recommendation!

[@MusicalHell]

I think it's very telling that a several critics misinterpreted that particular song--it's supposed to be implying that Stephanie doesn't know what she's talking about, but that's not really indicated in the context so people just assumed that Yeston/Marshall didn't know what he was talking about.

[@planclops]

That makes a lot of sense!

[@petehill7280]

Have you considered reviewing the Halas-Batchelor animated adaptation of Ruddigore?

[@monkeymouse]

The Problem with Accents: Guido's wife sings that she has "drims".

[@jesusrox4u]

Thanks for this awesome review.

[@TalysAlankil]

8:17 I spot Within Temptation! Do you know them, or did you get a random band for the joke? Just curious ^^

[@MusicalHell]

Yep, I know them--love Silent Force, The Heart of Everything, and Hydra in particular.

[@jthatsit1294]

No offence Diva but I don't really want think of you as my inner child

[@LadyBloodyWrists]

So, this was basically a celebration and idealization of infidelity which is literally abuse while trying to "reedem" the enabler of his abuse, a.k.a. his mistress who is well aware he is married. Actually, "Guarda La Luna" is my favourite part of the film and one of my favourite songs to sleep to.

[@litlblkhouse]

My thoughts exactly. Chicago was the first thing I thought of when I read this film's synopsis.

[@Coal_minerals]

Oh I did a project on these films (nine & eight and half) for my film and video class my essay was on how eight and half was more about the characters while nine takes the art cinema roots of eight and half and streamlines that plot to make it shorter. Eight and half is an art cinema film and they often don’t make any god damn sense but it’s based off of the life of the director. I did enjoy the soundtrack (the broadway cast of course) my essay was mostly on how Hollywood demands to have a clear ending going against what the creators of art cinema believed in

[@leadingblind1629]

Maybe the Phantom of the Opera SHOULD have come waltzing through that one scene. Random shit like that can be what make movies worth watching. Have you SEEn the ALW mashup??

[@embroideredragdoll]

Out the same year as the animated film 9.

[@michaelnewman993]

I agree with all of your reasons on why this movie doesn't work - but I still really like A Call From The Vatican, Be Italian, My Husband Makes Movies, and Unusual Way. I think for me, the saving grace would be the casting of great actors and actresses who can also sing. Too bad they had to deal with the script and direction.

[@MusicalHell]

Yes, vocally the cast is passable-to-good, so there's that.

[@josepablomartinez-rendon9484]

+Musical Hell I listened to a bit of the original cast album and my favorite song is My Husband Makes Movies Also what do you think of Next to normal?

[@MusicalHell]

I think it's one of the most heartwrenching things written in the past ten years.

[@josepablomartinez-rendon9484]

+Musical Hell What about Pippin? I had seen a production at my school hosted by a performing arts center. I thought it was really good! But what I hadn't expected were the endings (mostly the revival ending) in which either: 1. Pippin defies the script and says he is "trapped but happy" 2. the in the revival in which crisis at the heart of the play is continued with Theo as his replacement as he falls into a world of "magic shows and miracles"

[@MusicalHell]

I really enjoy Pippin as well! The recent revival was very well done with the circus theme. And the revival ending ranks next to Cabaret on the "huge gut-punch finale" scale.

[@jhhone]

I know why Marshall did not cast Chita Rivera as Velma Kelly because she was to old but he could have had her recreate her Broadway role as Lilly

[@morningowl43]

If you haven’t seen the original 8 1/2 please do yourself a favor and watch it, it’s one of the greatest films of all time

[@MrKlausbaudelaire]

oh I remember when I watched this movie. The name "Chicago" got my attention so I though the movie would have some of it's quality. So...... I was bored to death. The movie's pretentiousness and Guido's egocentricaly written "angst" got me really annoyed. The only moments of enjoyment came from "Be Italian" (which my sister later took part of in a musical herself) and "Cinema Italiano" which I found catchy as Diva's home. Other than that, I liked the similarity with Chicago of having the musics being in a separated setting instead of mixed within the narrative's location, and all of them being in the same set but they don't look the same since they use a lot of different angles and lights. (also, I kinda felt like Be Italian drew inspiration from "They had it coming", maybe thats why it was so good)

[@Ok-ge1od]

She said that in the broadway show Guido is the only male but there is little/young Guido

[@MusicalHell]

Bit of verbal trickery there: I said Guido was the only male character, since both actors are playing the same person.

[@Ok-ge1od]

Oh I see hahaha

[@xak999]

There were 4 little boys, including young Guido.

[@vivilore677]

Idk, i personally liked that last part with him getting back to directing

[@jacobbelow4136]

Giving Marshall over to Cirque du Soleil, huh? I'll bet that's an experience he won't soon forget! Whenever I draw women, my natural instinct is to give them a Sophia Loren-like figure. Just something I thought I'd throw out there. Also, am I the only one who thinks that the actress playing Louisa bears a striking resemblance to Audrey Hepburn?

[@stefanfilipovits9221]

New musical hell episode!!!!!!! Life is good, let the good times roll!

[@CAMarino92]

So you're doing Glitter next? This is gonna be good

[@ASProductionsLLC]

I hope the docket includes the made for TV South Pacific, NBC's 2014 Peter Pan and Bye Bye Birdie (with Ann-Margaret).

[@jhc1971]

Mmmm,Ann-Margaret.

[@jhc1971]

Hated Birdie. Just in love with her.

[@ASProductionsLLC]

And for the holiday season, how about the 1986 Babes in Toyland with Drew Barrymore or Eight Crazy Nights?

[@sweeney60]

Dont forget that Janet Leigh's character was supposed to be Puerto Rican. Seriously racist casting.

[@Chromaggia]

8:17 I just had to pause and rewind, like "Is that Within Temptation? Holy fuck, that's Within Temptation." In other news, Within Temptation is now officially to be called Priest in a Hot Tub

[@gentlerat]

Mr. Cellophane wasn't from Roxy's perspective and couldn't be.

[@davidojo6830]

You’ve had longer videos with less sins so I’m just assuming that you gave up on this one and sinned everything that slightly annoyed you. (It deserves it)

[@cooperwesley1536]

DDL is my favorite actor, but he is not a musical performer and never should have been cast. What's worse... he agreed to it. (Know your limits, people!) I was never a huge fan of the stage musical... the film only made things worse. That being said, it's a VERY stylish looking film, so it has that going for it... I guess.

[@brandyloutherback9288]

So this is basically a musical Madmen?

[@edienandy]

Brandy Loutherback Sweet baby Beelzebub delete this comment before somebody decides a musical Mad Men is a good idea.

[@Ubermensch9240]

12:04 You apparently have never heard of Lord Byron.

[@dogvom]

But mostly, why in hell did Daniel Day-Lewis adopt that phony-sounding Italian accent?Presumably he's speaking his native language, in which he would not have a foreign accent.

[@dunes8817]

This is one of the musicals you've covered that I hadn't heard of previously.

[@ShyyGaladriel]

Hm. I’ll give the original film a watch.

[@Metzli]

I really like the "Take it All" song though

[@garnetshines9341]

Take It All and Cinema Italiano are like the worst, Take It All replaces Be On Your Own (which is a much better song and scene) because "guys I promise, this movie doesn't have enough sexy uptempo numbers :(" and Cinema Italiano takes Stephanie and basically takes anything interesting about the character from the musical and makes her a vapid fangirl.

[@BurningAzure]

0:27, Oh hi "The Producers"

[@bloodrunsclear]

I didn’t even know this was a musical from the trailer O_o

[@nickkurtz512]

I remember seeing this movie when it came out when I was 13. I loved the movie a lot because I was and am a huge musical and movie fan boy but even at 13 there were only two things I didn't like about it. Kidman and Hudson. I didn't like there characters in this movie, they were pretty bland to me. I was so excited to see this movie because it's both a musical and talks about movies which i want to get into.

[@tatehildyard5332]

Same. How does Kate Hudson get to keep starring in movies? She's just a mediocre rom com blonde. She doesn't do anything that Meg Ryan, Julia Roberts, Jenifer Aniston, Blake Lively, Katherine Heigel, and Natalie Portman haven't already done but better (maybe not Katherine Heigel).

[@roadbreach]

And I thought Super Mario had affairs all over the place.

[@soaribb32]

I like it even though I know it's bad

[@johnvinals7423]

Giulia Contini, famous Italian film director, has turned forty and faces double crises: she has to shoot a film for which she can't write the script, and her wife of twenty years, the film star Luisa del Forno, may be about to leave her if she can't pay more attention to the marriage. As it turns out, it is the same crisis. Luisa's efforts to talk to Giulia seem to be drowned out by voices in her head: voices of women in her life, speaking through the walls of her memory, insistent, flirtatious, irresistible, potent. Women speaking beyond words (Overture delle Donne). And these are the women Giulia has loved, and from whom she has derived the entire vitality of a creative life, now as stalled as her marriage. In an attempt to find some peace and save the marriage, they go to a spa near Venice (Spa Music), where they are immediately hunted down by the press with intrusive questions about the marriage and-something Giulia had not told Luisa about-her imminent film project (Not Since Chaplin). As Giulia struggles to find a story for her film, she becomes increasingly preoccupied-her interior world sometimes becoming indistinguishable from the objective world (Giulia's Song). Her mistress Carla arrives in Venice, calling Giulia from her lonely hotel room (A Call from the Vatican), her producer Liliane La Fleur, former vedette of the Folies Bergeres, insists she make a musical, an idea which itself veers off into a feminine fantasy of extraordinary vividness (The Script/Folies Bergeres). And all the while, Luisa watches, the resilience of her love being consumed by anxiety for her wife and a gathering dismay for their lives together (My Wife Makes Movies / Only With You). Giulia's fugitive imagination, clutching at women like straws, eventually plunges through the floor of the present and into her own past where he encounters her mother, bathing a nine-year-old girl-the young Giulia herself (Nine). The vision leads Giulia to re-encounter a glorious moment on a beach with Saraghina, the sex worker and outcast to whom she went as a curious child, creeping out of her Catholic boarding school St. Sebastian, to ask Saraghina to tell her about love. Her answer, be yourself (Ti Voglio Bene / Be Italian), and the dance she taught Giulia on the sand echoes down to the forty-year-old Giulia as a talisman and a terrible reminder of the consequences of that night-punishment by the nuns and rejection by her appalled mother (The Bells of St. Sebastian). Unable to bear the incomprehensible dread of the adults, the little girl runs back to the beach to find nothing but the sand and the wind-an image of the vanishing nature of love, and the cause of Giulia Contini's artistry and unanchored peril: a fugitive heart. Back into the present, Giulia is on a beach once more. With her, Claudia Nardi, a film star, muse of her greatest successes, who has flown from Paris because Giulia needs her, but this time she does not want the role. Giulia cannot fathom the rejection. She is enraged. She fails to understand that Claudia loves her, too, but wants her to love her as a woman 'not a spirit'-and Giulia realizes too late that this was the real reason that Claudia came-in order to know, and now she does. Giulia cannot love her that way. Claudia is in some way released to love Giulia for what she is, and never to hope for her again. Wryly Claudia calls Giulia "My charming Casanova!" thereby involuntarily giving Giulia the very inspiration she needs and for which she has always looked to Claudia. As Claudia lets him go with "Unusual Way," Giulia grasps the last straw of all-a desperate, inspired movie-a 'spectacular in the vernacular'-set on "The Grand Canal" and cast with every woman in her life. The improvised movie is a spectacular collision between Giulia’s real life and her creative one-a film that is as self-lacerating as it is cruel, during which Carla races onto the set to announce her divorce and her delight that they can be married only to be brutally rejected by Giulia in her desperate fixation with the next set-up, and which climaxes with Luisa, appalled and moved by Giulia’s use of their intimacy-and even her words-as a source for the film, finally detonating with sadness and rage. Giulia keeps the cameras rolling, capturing a scene of utter desolation-the women she loves, and Luisa whom she loves above all, littered like smashed porcelain across the frame of his hopelessly beautiful failure of a film. "Cut. Print!" The film is dead. The cast leaves. They all leave. Carla, with "Simple"-words from the articulate broken heart, Claudia with a letter from Paris to say that she has married, and Luisa in a shattering exit from a marriage that has, as she says, been 'all of me' (Be On Your Own). Giulia is alone. "I Can't Make This Movie" ascends into the scream of "Giulia out in space with no direction,' and she contemplates suicide. But, as the gun is at her head, there is a final life-saving interruption-from her nine-year-old self (Getting Tall), in which the young Giulia points out it is time to move on. To grow up. And Giulia surrenders the gun. As the women return in a reprise of the Overture (Reprises), but this time to let her go, only one is absent: Luisa. Giulia feels the aching void left by the only woman she will ever love. In the 2003 Broadway production, as the girl led the women off into her own future to the strains of "Be Italian", Luisa steps into the room on the final note, and Giulia turned toward her-this time ready to listen.

[@soaribb32]

Fergie, those were good times...

[@Eviltwin531]

It's so interesting to me she was able to steal the show away from a talent pool with a combined twenty-five Oscar nominations among them. I mean, on one side it makes sense since she's a performer and big musical numbers are basically what she does for a living, but on the other, it was also a film, and that's what all the others did for a living, too.

[@josepelaez3223]

The main problem I have with the movie is Daniel Day Lewis- he simply lacks the charm to play Gudio- I do like the "Cinema Italiano" number

[@jordangreen9201]

🙌 Whoop whoop!! it's Diva tiiiiimmmeee!!

[@jamesa.fitzpatrick1566]

Yes, go straight to the stage version.

[@thema1998]

For the first time since March 21, 2020, I'm about to rewatch the "Nine" episode. EDITS- 7:14 P.M.: *finishes episode 21 minutes later* This movie somehow managed to get nominated for *four* Oscars! 7:18 P.M.: What did The Academy see in this movie?! 😆

[@YamishiMizuandDracus]

Oh my Yog'Sothoth. There needs to be a cocktail called Priest in a Hot Tub.

[@danthefan28]

6:51 That should be the name of her memoir.

[@gingergoddess8953]

Fantastic review, as always. You should do Teen Witch. Yes, it counts. It's awful, and it counts.

[@tatehildyard5332]

"I like boys!!!!"

[@eamonndeane587]

Tate Hildyard "Top That".

[@tatehildyard5332]

"Supersonic idiotic disconnected not respected who would ever really want to go and top that?". The rapping must be a saving grace.

[@bardlover6]

I've never been interested in watching this musical. That's always a bad sign

[@GamingSaturnMoonManBoy]

Probably Daniel Day-Lewis’s worst movie he did

[@kyleshiflet9952]

They made a musical version of 8 1/2 oh God what's next a musical in Europa

[@alexthelizardking]

speaking of movies that become musicals which become movie musicals, please review High Society

[@BigtheCat]

Be Italian sounds AWESOME at 2x the normal speed.

[@maeveniacal]

This is driving me crazy -- what's the theme/credits music playing?? It's familiar but I can't put my finger on what it is...

[@MusicalHell]

"Danse Macabre" by Camille Saint-Saens.

[@josepablomartinez-rendon9484]

+Musical Hell Hey Diva what do you think of the Little shop of horrors movie?

[@VincentMariethe4th]

(Looks up info on the movie's production) Hoo boy...😬 Not to oversimplify, but I think I found the cause for everything wrong with this movie: Produced by the Weinstein Company.

[@fairamir1]

They cut " Getting Tall" at the end...ruined it for me

[@dinacox1971]

so you were not a fan?

[@EYTPS]

Fergie is in this fucking movie

[@wormswithteeth]

Class was removed from Chicago because they say "twat", no?

[@MusicalHell]

Mostly it was removed because it's a scene in which Roxie doesn't have a viewpoint, so it didn't quite fit with the concept of the musical numbers being her fantasy world.

[@wormswithteeth]

I see. It's a shame, as it is a lovely song.

[@gentlerat]

@@MusicalHell but Mr. Cellophane doesn't fit either then.

[@MissCaraMint]

Why is there so much auto tune in this movie? Just in the few clips shown it sounds awfully tinny and metallic. Some of these people can actually sing so why, just why?

[@o6crepuscular9x]

Glad to know the stage version is a jump in quality because I despise this film and central character with a burning passion. (The saving grace for me personally was My Husband Makes Movies.)

[@ASProductionsLLC]

I wasn't sure what you'd say about Be Italian, it was a great number but I'm not sure Fergie was right for the part. Who knows how to say "lovely lady lumps" in Italian?

[@MusicalHell]

I think the thing that bothers me the most about Fergie's casting is that it glamorizes the character of Saraghina too much. In the Fellini film, she is certainly a compelling and sensual character, but is hardly conventionally attractive.

[@ASProductionsLLC]

Indeed. Saraghina was originally large and grotesque. And I did like Cinema Italiano but it really didn't belong, it's too anachronistic. I'm surprised Take it All got an Oscar nod. I was hoping to see more of the musical's songs, such as "The Bells of Saint Sebastian." That number, originally the Act 1 closer, deepens Guido's Catholic guilt, as well how the women in his life pertain to the Madonna/whore dichotomy ingrained in him.

[@Arachnes_Corner]

I fell asleep listening to this and dreamed of my own movie where all the women teamed up to murder him and hide the body. I guess this means I don't like Guido?

[@shmee123ful]

Hay I thought this was the movie with the cre3py dolls

[@brandyloutherback9288]

Yup, that's what I got out of it!

[@valmarsiglia]

Ugh, I wouldn't be able to get past DDL's "That's a spicy meat-a ball!" accent, and his singing is dull and flat. You can really hear the difference between a real singer and actors trying to sing with "Be Italian."

[@fozzieatdetourbillnye5514]

The verdict should be to watch this piece of shit film on repeat until an SNL alumni wins an Oscar. Eddie Murphy is rumored to be a contender so if that happens soon, watch until Yoko Ono wins a Grammy

[@jamesn.osullivan4320]

Sorry. I really liked this video. UNTIL you counted "Take It All" as a sin. No. No. NOOOO. This scene has so much of a point to make, and it can be found in the last line of the song. "You wanted everything, my friend, but can't you see that in the end, there will be nothing left of me.". The strip is a representation of him pushing her and pushing her, much like patrons at a strip club egg and persuade a girl to give them everything (be totally nude). And at the end where she takes her top off, it signifies a breaking point - he's finally taken everything from her, and there's nothing left to give. It also serves as nice little side-purpose that it bothers him to see her with all these men, but he doesn't see how it bothers her to see him with all of his women.

[@MusicalHell]

I am not questioning the purpose of the number, but whether the way it is filmed fulfills that purpose or contradicts it by indulging in the very exploitation Louisa is railing against.

[@jamesn.osullivan4320]

But the point of the scene is that this is the toll of Guido's mistreatment of her shows itself in what Guido fears the most - losing her. The point of the scene WAS to exploit Luisa - all of the men in that scene are representations of Guido. As Guido misuses Luisa, so the men at the strip misuse Luisa. The punishment for Guido is that he has to watch. He has to look on in horror and realize that everything that's happening to Luisa is because of him. That's what ultimately drives him to his breaking point.

[@MusicalHell]

You are still missing my primary issue, which is that a film cannot effectively criticize exploitation when it appears to be actively participating in that exploitation at the same time, and that view is further muddied by using Louisa's suffering as an emblem of Guido's own. "Be On Your Own" from the stage version is a much more effective way of telling him off, because Louisa is giving him what he has wanted (his freedom) in a way that makes him regret it (losing her presence, which he has until then taken for granted).

[@jamesn.osullivan4320]

+Musical Hell I mean, ultimately, it's your channel, your review, and your opinion. I think it was still effective, but I defer to the superior knowledge of the Infernal Court! :)

[@morley364]

@@jamesn.osullivan4320 I think maybe the issue is that it's filmed in a way that seems borderline exploitative, so it undercuts any criticism of Guido being exploitative. Yes, the point was to exploit her and show that, but if the film itself as a separate entity is exploiting her, it pushes the audience to enjoy the exploitation rather than see it as the problem. I've seen similar discussions of rape scenes being shown from the rapist's point of view, in a manner that's too titillating- the filmmakers are trying to critique rape, but even if it's unintentional, they're painting it in a way where the audience might be more likely to see it as a turn on.

[@arielfangirlmendez]

Well aleash high school musical was popular

[@blaa6]

Disney's Into the Woods sucks.

[@ElVlogdeBob]

This movie was a bore. I bet the play was fun to watch. But this movie just never reaches what it intends to do or show. I liked 8 1/2 a lot, thought.

[@Fenomka]

the "Take It All" scene is one hill on which I will stand - I believe that by the feeling of not being able to tell what is consensual and what is assault is a representation of this woman trying to express that her entire relationship with this man has been her trying to take back her feelings and make the situation make sense, while still feeling like she's never quite in control, and that no matter how she tries to feel like his partner, she perpetually feels more like his victim, and that's part of why she's leaving. It being viewed from his perspective feels like he is finally being forced to try to understand what he has done to her due to her decision to leave. He's being forced to "watch" her struggle between feeling empowered and powerless in this situation, even though she knows she put herself there, and that regardless of consent, that doesn't make it okay.

[@huguihugh9803]

too indulgent with Daniel Day Lewis voice, weaker than Brosnan, and at least Pierce wasn't the lead.-

[@noicecream2335]

awsome

[@Laceykat66]

Wow, so YOU were the other person who actually saw this in the theater. I wondered who that was five rows ahead of me. And I see that you seem to have missed the point of the story. A point that a lot of people missed so they did not see this very well done homage to Fellini AND the era. 5:30 - Yes, you CAN. That is the point of most stories. To show the growth and self-doubt of your bombastic character. It worked here. It is reality or another POV encroaching on the "God-King" protagonist. Isn't that the growth you want from your pasteboard character? 7:57 - RIGHT !!! Bravo !!! You got the idea of a Fellini film and the era they came from. You have hit the nail on the cinematographic head. 10:45 - I will debate you on a college stage on which song is the best in this movie, Be Italian or Cinema Italiano, AND I will demonstrate how THESE two songs are the essence of the story. The song refers to everything 1960s America if not the whole world, associated with Italy. True or false (it was the 60s after all) we bought the wine, the cars, the pants, the styles, the movies, AND the sunglasses JUST because they were Italian. A very "superficial" reason to adore something, don't you think? 11:30 - Um, in light of what we know about the character, yes. It is the number of conquests and not the quality of them. That has been the point of the story so far. 12:21 - Odd, everyone seemed to like that in "The Phantom Thread." 12:50 - OK, you KNOW why Sophia Loren is in THIS movie, right? I mean, you KNOW who these women are supposed to be, correct? 18:50 - Wait, Into the Woods? You are giving Rob Marshall kudos for that but NOT this? May I respectfully ask that you watch them again?