Tag: James Corden

[#2015oscardeathrace] Begin Again (2013)

beginagain2013a

Director: John Carney

Cast: Keira Knightley, Mark Ruffalo, Hailee Steinfeld, Adam Levine, James Corden, CeeLo Green, Catherine Keener

Screenplay: John Carney

104 mins. Rated R for language.

  • Academy Award Nominee: Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song (“Lost Stars” by Gregg Alexander, Danielle Brisebois) [Awards Not Yet Announced]

In Begin Again, Dan (Mark Ruffalo, The Avengers, Foxcatcher) is an recently unemployed music producer who has just discovered Gretta (Keira Knightley, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit), a young woman with a rare voice who isn’t interested in pursuing a character. Dan has a strained relationship with daughter Violet (Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit, Pitch Perfect 2) and her mother Miriam (Catherine Keener, Captain Phillips, Enough Said), but not Gretta provides a much-needed inspirational boost to Dan who wants to use her to get back in the game.

beginagain2013b

Begin Again is little more than a cheese-filled sandwich trying to disguise itself as a movie of substance. These characters are flat and uninspired and there are better versions of them sprinkled throughout better films. I found myself checking my watch out of boredom several times here.

The film is almost completely improvised and it proves one thing very well: these actors should not improvise lines. There are entire sequences of uninspired and uninteresting exchanges between the characters.

As for the Oscar nominated son “Lost Stars” from Gregg Alexander and Danielle Brisebois, it isn’t that bad. A nice song sung in several different ways throughout the film. Not deserving of the award, but perhaps worth the nomination.

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Begin Again is a carbon-copy of so many other films just like it, with one exception: somebody smudged this copy somewhere along the line. Just keep in mind: there are better films about the music industry. Many.

1.5/5

-Kyle A. Goethe

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[#2015oscardeathrace] Into the Woods (2014)

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Director: Rob Marshall

Cast: Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, James Corden, Anna Kendrick, Chris Pine, Tracey Ullman, Christine Baranski, Johnny Depp

Screenplay: James Lapine

125 mins. Rated PG for thematic elements, fantasy action and peril, and some suggestive material.

  • Academy Award Nominee: Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role (Meryl Streep) [Awards Not Yet Announced]
  • Academy Award Nominee: Best Achievement in Production Design [Awards Not Yet Announced]
  • Academy Award Nominee: Best Achievement in Costume Design [Awards Not Yet Announced]

 

I truly enjoy Stephen Sondheim’s work, especially Sweeney Todd and Into the Woods. However, do I truly enjoy Disney’s Into the Woods adaptation from director Rob Marshall (Chicago, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides)? The answer is quite simple: No, I did not.

INTO THE WOODS

Several classic fairytales come to a head as these classic characters enter a magical wood. A mysterious Witch (Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada, The Giver) has sent a cursed Baker (James Corden, Begin Again, The Three Musketeers) on a mission to collect several magical items to lift a spell that causes him to be infertile, as his Wife (Emily Blunt, Edge of Tomorrow, The Wind Rises) follows in tow. One of the items is a slipper that belongs to the enchanted Cinderella (Anna Kendrick, Pitch Perfect, Cake). Another is a cow belonging to Jack, a boy who needs to sell the cow at market for more than mere beans. Then there is the red cloak belong to Little Red Riding Hood. Finally, hair belonging to Rapunzel. As each tale interweaves with the others, tragedy seems likely to follow.

First of all, I want to discuss the plot and the changes made to it. It hurt. It hurt the film badly. Needless to say, it makes some characters entirely useless. Literally, Rapunzel’s story could have been wiped away without any recognizable notice, other than the loss of a great song featuring Rapunzel’s Prince and Cinderella’s Prince (Chris Pine, Star Trek, Horrible Bosses 2). The story just kept going without any of the intensity of the original musical. Characters are written away in unseen ways and have no consequence on the film. I hate that many of the darker elements completely disappear while others are handled so haphazardly that it gnawed away at me for the entirety of the film.

Meryl Streep gives an insanely wild performance as the Witch, breaking the actresses’ “No-Witch Policy” for the sake of being one of the most fun characters in the ensemble. Emily Blunt is fun and fantastic but underutilized. James Corden is terrific as the Baker. Chris Pine works hilarious magic, as is Johnny Depp (Edward Scissorhands, Mortdecai) as the Wolf following Red Riding Hood.  Anna Kendrick, while usually great, is horribly miscast as Cinderella. I think the cast here has done good work but can’t seem to get in the correct tone for the film, which is ultimately what the changes to the film caused.

I disagree completely with Oscar Nomination for Production Design. The wood scenes all look so much alike that it is hard to place any of the characters in their current positions. The costumes are nice but the sets all look like they came out of a Lifetime movie (not a compliment).

The pacing here just felt like the story had too many endings due to the plot and tone shifts.

The music had a few great arrangements to it, but many songs fall flat with no clear-cut direction anymore.

INTO THE WOODS

Sadly, Into the Woods is too many good qualities shaped and shifted by Disney to fit a particular mold, and it softens the impact completely. For your money, see the original musical live and enjoy what this story is actually about, rather than a Disneyfied pile of “stuff.”

 

2/5

-Kyle A. Goethe

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