into the woods, magical, musical

Even better than I imagined, Into the Woods is the perfect holiday film. Full of wonderful music by Stephen Sondheim, a cast that is not only stellar, but can sing well, and enough joy and gloom to balance out the roller-coaster emotional terrain that accompanies the holiday season. And if there was any doubt that the movie was a hit with my ten year-old daughter, the evidence was her singing the songs in the car on the ride home, and her ultimate thrill when looking up the lyrics on the internet to discover that I had downloaded the soundtrack from iTunes for her continued enjoyment. How cool is that?

The movie, directed by Rob Marshall (Chicago, Memoirs of a Geisha), is great to look at, and uses its CGI to wonderful effect, just to add a little magic when needed. Hollywood, take note, CGI should be used as a tool, not an excuse for a whole movie. But what really enchants are the songs. The original fairytale mash-up, Into the Woods loosely follows the stories of Cinderella (Anna Kendrick), Rapunzel (MacKenzie Mauzy), Jack and the Beanstalk (Daniel Huttlestone) and Little Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford), while introducing a couple that yearns for a child, The Baker (James Corden) and his Wife (Emily Blunt), who, may see their wish to become parents granted if they can help reverse a curse by the local witch (Meryl Streep).

Meryl Streep makes a wonderful Witch

Emily Blunt is a stand-out, her performance shining whether she is singing or speaking. Johnny Depp delivers an (appropriate for a change) over-the-top cameo as The Big Bad Wolf ("Hello Little Girl"). But Streep is also wonderful, and aces all of her songs, especially "Children Will Listen." She brings a touching quality to her Witch, who is not quite wicked, if not entirely nice, either.

Everyone in the cast shines. An especially fun surprise is Chris Pine as Cinderella's prince, who states, in maybe his only honest moment, "I was raised to be charming, not sincere." He takes preening and posing to a whole new level, to hilarious effect. His duet mid-way, with his equally humble-brag brother (Billy Magnussen, who has eyes for Rapunzel), "Agony," energizes the film and provides the first clue to the uninitiated that this won't be a completely traditional take on fairy tales. The kid sang "Agony," her favorite number, as we walked out of the theater — for quite a while before asking me what "agony" meant. "Oh! That makes sense!"

[Cinderella's Prince]
Did I abuse her
Or show her disdain?
Why does she run from me?
If I should lose her,
How shall I regain
The heart she has won from me?

Agony!
Beyond power of speech,
When the one thing you want
Is the only thing out of your reach.

[Rapunzel's Prince]
High in her tower,
She sits by the hour,
Maintaining her hair.
Blithe and becoming and frequently humming
A lighthearted air:
Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-

Agony!
Far more painful than yours,
When you know she would go with you
If there only were doors.

The Baker and his wife bargain with Jack for his cow

Parenthood, especially motherhood, is a theme that twines through the story, from the Witch's strange interpretation of a doting parent - kidnap a beautiful child and lock her up in a tower away from the world — to The Baker and his Wife being willing to do anything to become parents — to Jack's abusive mom (Tracey Ullman) and the few fleeting moments he feels of love in a Giantess's embrace, as he tells the Baker in "Giants in the Sky."

A big tall terrible Giant at the door,
A big tall terrible lady Giant
sweeping the floor.
And she gives you food
And she gives you rest
And she draws you close
To her Giant breast,
And you know things now
that you never knew before,
Not till the sky.

There are many wonderful set pieces, from Cinderella's freeze-frame number "On the Steps of the Palace" to the cast singing "No One is Alone" and the title song. But it is Blunt's Baker's Wife who touched me most deeply, especially in "Moments in the Woods."

Just a moment,
One peculiar passing moment...
Must it all be either less or more,
Either plain or grand?
Is it always "or"?
Is it never "and"?
That's what woods are for:
For those moments in the woods...

I have yet to see the play in live performance, but I have seen a filmed version, featuring original Broadway cast members Bernadette Peters (Witch) and Joanna Gleason (Baker's Wife), which was aired originally in 1991 on American Playhouse. It was very good, and I loved the music, but I found it a bit more sarcastic in tone and the characters not as sympathetic. Big screen close-ups probably help create a more intimate atmosphere in this current version, as do a few judicial trims of reprises, etc. that would work well on stage, but not necessarily on film.

Red on her way to Grandmother's house ...

The woods are a magical place, where anything, good or bad, can happen to these characters, and to the lucky audience. Can't wait to see Into the Woods again.

wolf man slack

The Wolfman was so universally panned when it came out that I never got around to seeing it. So when I came across it the other night I figured I'd give it a try, with my expectations low. I can't say that the movie confounded those expectations. All in all it was pretty bad. Funny in all the wrong places, serious—ditto, and obsessed with phony flesh-tearing gory special effects that were just—gross. But it made me think—not about the plot, but about all the hard work going on behind-the-scenes—while I was watching it. I was able to separate myself from all of the failed aspects of the film, while wondering about some of stellar ones, and there were a few.



How disappointed an artisan must be. Spending months on location or in the studio, utilizing their particular skill to get something—the costumes, the light on an actress or the furniture, the exterior landscaping of a building—just right. Do they know while they are watching it that the actors or director are not doing it justice? Do they hope it can all be fixed in the editing room? Or are they just jurneyman, there do the best job possible?

The look of the thing. Whether the crew of The Wolfman knew where the production was headed or not, they definitely delivered a gorgeous film. When many folks watch the Oscars, categories like set design and the like are usually only appreciated by film nerds while the rest of the audience is itching for the producers to get on with it. I can be in either camp, depending on my mood, or interest in the nominees. But while watching The Wolfman I got seriously caught up in the fabulous set design. So much work and detail went into the interiors of Anthony Hopkins's manse and Emily Blunt's curio shop.

The locations were gorgeous and gorgeously-filmed. The costumes were impeccable. Not flashy, but era-appropriate. They looked like real clothes, not too new or not too grubby—many costume pictures send a false note when they get this important detail wrong. When it wasn't over-busy with entrails and decapitations, The Wolfman was lovely to look at.

The supporting cast. Geraldine Chaplin was minimally used as head gypsy, but she was still great and it's always fun to see her. Hugo Weaving obviously had a blast. The man simply does not get enough work. Or I need to look out for his movies more diligently. I was honestly more interested in his character after five seconds onscreen than anyone else in the film.

One plot/structure change could have made the entire film so much better. More updated, more meaningful. If the movie had been told from Emily Blunt's character's point of view it could have been turned into a gothic paranoia classic, a la The Others. There were germs of this, especially in her late-in-the-movie horseback ride-to-the-rescue at the end of the film. Truly a missed opportunity. It could have been Emily Blunt, Werewolf Hunter. If I ruled the world ...



Two more observations. Anthony Hopkins has been over-chewing the scenery for so long, that it is hard to know how to take him in any role anymore. Funny on purpose? There for a paycheck? He is so ham. But his presence was also strangely comforting. Benicio Del Toro was so completely miscast it was painful. I love me some Benicio. At first I thought maybe the problem was that he hated what he got himself into, but he was also a producer and apparently a big Wolfman fan

... a fan of the original and collector of Wolf Man memorabilia in the lead role. Screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker was attached to the screenplay, developing the original film's story to include additional characters as well as plot points that would take advantage of modern visual effects. Del Toro also looked towards Werewolf of London and The Curse of the Werewolf for inspiration.—Wikipedia

No matter his Wolfman fandom, his method/interior work style of acting was not a good fit for this monster flick. As I was watching him suffer, maybe it was the Danny Elfman music, but I suddenly thought, "Too bad that he and Johnny Depp couldn't have changed places." Depp would have been well-suited, I think, to this role. He would have been better able to emotionally connect with Blunt and the audience as man and beast. And Del Toro would make a fabulous Barnabas Collins. He might even temper the wackadoodle collaborative thing Tim Burton's got with Depp. I have real fears for the upcoming Dark Shadows.

[According to] Rick Baker [who] created the make-up for The Wolfman ... Going from Benicio to Benicio as the Wolf Man isn't a really extreme difference. Like when I did An American Werewolf in London, we went from this naked man to a four-legged hound from hell, and we had a lot of room to go from the transformation and do a lot of really extreme things. Here we have Benicio del Toro, who's practically the Wolf Man already, to Benicio del Toro with more hair and bigger teeth.—Wikipedia

I'm not sure that's anything to brag about. Isn't the underlying werewolf myth all about transformation, from a man into an animal, into our basest desires? Categorizing Benicio as uber-hairy is overstating it. He's dark-haired and swarthy, maybe.




One more observation. What the hell was going on with all the gore? Did the filmmakers think that was going to make the movie scarier? It was just silly. Why were these werewolves so angry and flesh-hungry? A little lore might not have hurt the proceedings. The wolfmen tore through twenty people a night. Talk about hunting and wasting the resources.

There is just something intrinsically goofy about a guy, still in his clothes, running around in the woods as The Wolf Man. If you don't find the right note, the suspension of disbelief just kills the whole thing. What happens to the Wolfman's torn and bloody clothes post-transformation is always an issue, or at least confusing to me. An American Werewolf in London handled the dilemma humorously by having David Naughton creatively cope with his naked post-werewolf state. Now that's a werewolf movie to check out. Or even Teen Wolf.

Movie production stills from Universal.

Related articles

• Benicio Del Toro and Gaspar Noe Directing Segments in Omnibus Film '7 Days in Havana' (slashfilm.com)

movie marathon continues

Emily Blunt is a delight (and has some of the best lines) in this Meryl Streep-fest...

Emily: Andrea, my God! You look so chic.

Andy Sachs: Oh, thanks. You look so thin.

Emily: Really? It's for Paris, I'm on this new diet. Well, I don't eat anything and when I feel like I'm about to faint I eat a cube of cheese. I'm just one stomach flu away from my goal weight.