Mamma Mia reviews

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Eric
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Post by Eric »

Penelope wrote:2. One can use the word cancer, not as a joke, but as a corollary; to describe something as being a "cancer on society" has a long history. This is very different than trying to use AIDS as a cheap shot against a superfluous film.
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Post by The Original BJ »

This movie is excruciating. Take a sorry excuse for a "musical," direct things absolutely incompetently, establish no sense of tone or rhythm, instruct actors to perform to the rafters as shrilly as possible, allow Pierce Brosnan to "sing," and, voila: you've got Mamma Mia: Electric Snoozaloo. A friend in my gang -- a huge ABBA fan who has seen the stage musical six times -- stated upon exiting that this was one of the worst movies she had ever seen. (Mister Tee, if that doesn't scare you away...good luck!!)

I certainly didn't expect this to be high art, but, yikes, I thought it would be at least half-way enjoyable fun. Instead, I just felt embarrassed for everyone involved.

All of that being said, "Dancing Queen" just might be the single funniest sequence I have ever seen in a movie theater. It's that laughable. And "Money Money" is a bit of a howl too.

And if anything, this movie offers proof that, yes, with the right DP, you really can make the Greek Islands look ugly.
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Post by barrybrooks8 »

I saw it today and I loved it! The first fifteen minutes concerned me with the overly-giddiness of it all (I really didn't like Sophie's friends) but after the title song, I loved it. LOVED! "The Winner Takes It All" was definitely my favorite song and I really enjoyed Streep, Baranski and Seyfried. It was a nice topping to a week of serious movie watching (Reprise, Paranoid Park, Out of Africa, and The Dark Knight, all of which I enjoyed big time).


(A side note: I can't believe that Stop-Loss, Narnia, and The Fall have higher metacritic scores than Mamma Mia!)
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Post by Penelope »

1. I don't think Americans are the only ones who cherish their pets as part of the family; the Brits are pretty pet crazy, too. And, sorry, Marco, but I would have to insist that my dear, departed Bogart and my Emma are, at the very least, more loving and warm beings than are, say, Dick Cheney and George W. Bush (certainly smarter than the latter).

2. One can use the word cancer, not as a joke, but as a corollary; to describe something as being a "cancer on society" has a long history. This is very different than trying to use AIDS as a cheap shot against a superfluous film.

3. Momma Mia! is clearly oriented towards the audience that would most embrace ABBA in the first place: women and gay men. This is what is threatening to straight men--most of the professional critics--and that such an attitude has seeped into this board is disappointing and even heartbreaking.

No, Momma Mia! isn't great art, but it knows its audience and does precisely what that audience wants to experience: women bonding during the preparations for a wedding (for the female viewers) and shirtless men dancing around the Greek islands (for the gay male viewers).

It's thoroughly ridiculous, yet I can't recall the last time I had such a giddy, joyful experience sharing a movie with an audience; we laughed, we hummed along, we cringed in laughing horror at Pierce Brosnan's singing, we even cried during the mother-daughter bonding scenes.

Maybe I'm getting less resistant to Meryl Streep as I get older, but I loved her in this film; she's just fearless here, throwing caution to the wind to just have a good time; yet, amazingly, she manages to bring some depth to the proceedings: ya gotta hand it to a dame who can turn the already anthemic "The Winner Takes It All" and turn it into a devastating portrait of bitterness and long-simmering hurt.

Poor Pierce! His acting is adequate, and he certainly tries, but, ouch, they really shouda dubbed his singing. The rest of the cast is in fine form, especially Amanda Seyfried, who I hope continues to shine in the future.

Phyllida Lloyd's direction lurches about--sometimes it's spot on (the aforementioned "Winner," as well as "Lay All Your Love On Me" and Christine Baranski's hilarious "Does Your Mother Know?"), other times it's sloppy, too slap dash ("Dancing Queen," which should be a show-stopper, works in spite of Lloyd's restless lensing, thanks to the energetic cast).

And, really, how can one fault a film that gets an audience of Republican women in a small town in Florida to get all misty-eyed and sigh "awwwww" when two men dance shirtless, wet and in love? You can't.




Edited By Penelope on 1216434616
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Post by ITALIANO »

OscarGuy wrote:Some of us also think pets are better human beings than most human beings.
And they are wrong. Simple.
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Post by OscarGuy »

The thing about cat/dog death condolences is that many of us feel as if our pets are part of the family. We develop emotional attachments to them like they were people as many of us believe they have personalities and are capable of displaying love. Some of us also think pets are better human beings than most human beings.
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Post by Eric »

ITALIANO wrote:still they fall to pieces and send each other long, deeply-felt condolescence messages when a dog or a cat dies
I draw the line here, Italiano. Dogs and cats are to be praised and Chris Marker is on my side on this one.
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Post by Zahveed »

Thank you for your correction Italiano. I understand what you're talking about and, respectfully, would appreciate it if you didn't talk down to me. If you didn't mean it as such, then I take that back. I have a sense of humor that I believe everyone has noticed. I'm not too terribly serious in most of my posts and I don't go out of my to offend, though there is always something said that someone won't necessarily agree with.

That being said.

They also have the letter I in common.





That is all.
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Post by Reza »

ITALIANO wrote:And I will say one more thing - I've notice, on this board, that Americans love jokes about diseases, fat people, ugly people, most of them support death penalty (not on this board, thank god), wars, etc - still they fall to pieces and send each other long, deeply-felt condolescence messages when a dog or a cat dies. This should tell you alot about the country you live in, Zahveed, and make you think. One day, I hope.
I absolutely agree. Though I wouldn't restrict it to America only. I think by and large this is a universal problem with people when it comes to jokes!
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Post by ITALIANO »

Zahveed wrote:I'm pretty sure somewhere down the line someone said that a certain movie is cancer to the film industry or something along those lines. It's not disrespectful to people with cancer though is it? How about saying Good Luck Chuck was so bad it gave me mono?

Well, to be honest even these would be quite unthinkable in Italy, but I guess you find them very funny... Still at least they are more direct - they are not even "jokes", they represent a grotesque way of expressing a thought - not very funny, I repeat, at least in my opinion, but simple, easy, quick, not elaborated.

Jokes have their rules. (Please do yourself a favor and read Henri Bergson's Laughter). The words Mammia Mia and Aids have in common just one letter - the letter A which Sabin built his frail joke on - and this is not enough, not direct enough, to make it immediate, effective, and, even more important, innocent. It reveals an - unconscious, hopefully - hatred not only towards the movie (which would be very understandable, and logical even) but towards something else, which I won't go into because I'm not Sabin's psychiatrist and also because I like the guy. So it depends on the joke, on how one builds it - one can't generalize. THIS joke had a meaning that I didn't like.

But all this was probably a bit difficult to understand. So I will generalize - just for you. And I will say one more thing - I've noticed, on this board, that Americans love jokes about diseases, fat people, ugly people, most of them support death penalty (not on this board, thank god), wars, etc - still they fall to pieces and send each other long, deeply-felt condolescence messages when a dog or a cat dies. This should tell you alot about the country you live in, Zahveed, and make you think. One day, I hope.

And yes, this correction will just be from me. And this doesn't make it wrong. Not at all.




Edited By ITALIANO on 1216413979
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Post by flipp525 »

All I'll say is that if you'd ever seen someone close to you die from AIDS, you'd never even dream of making it the butt of some lame joke. If you stand by it, fine, Sabin. I stand by my assertion that it was insensitive, offensive and utterly tasteless.

Downs Syndrome, AIDS...I guess we should expect date rape and fag jokes next.




Edited By flipp525 on 1216339418
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Post by Zahveed »

ITALIANO wrote:
Zahveed wrote:So I guess that does it with any and all jokes about diseases.

Exactly, Zahveed. Especially if the joke is kind of pointless. Don´t you agree?
I'm pretty sure somewhere down the line someone said that a certain movie is cancer to the film industry or something along those lines. It's not disrespectful to people with cancer though is it? How about saying Good Luck Chuck was so bad it gave me mono? Is that offensive too? I'm sure to you it seems as if this is flying over my head, but I'm making a point. I think the joke in question was only offensive because of the make-up of this board and that's not to say it should fly, but if this were Mad Libs and that blank was filled differently then there wouldn't have been such an outcry. Please correct me if I'm wrong and with all due respect, I don't want that correction to be just from you.
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Post by Sabin »

Wow.

Um, for whatever connotation you all arrived at for what I was saying re: 'Mamma Mia!' = AIDS = gay...sorry. Wasn't going there. Literal definition of AIDS is the destruction of your immune system. Not literally like 'Mamma Mia!' but it certainly felt like there wasn't any future for me when I was sitting through that horrible play.

I think the joke got a massive overreaction and I'm standing by that. No matter how bad you think the joke is, the movie will be worse.
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Post by ITALIANO »

Zahveed wrote:So I guess that does it with any and all jokes about diseases.
Exactly, Zahveed. Especially if the joke is kind of pointless. Don´t you agree?
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Post by Zahveed »

So I guess that does it with any and all jokes about diseases.
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