Stand by your man...

That trailer is pretty sweet. Very excited for this movie.

I wouldn't consider Carlotta the best singer by any stretch. In the show, she is pretty much upstaged by Christine. Christine will be the one I'm really concerned about. Sopranos that can sing those notes are usually screechy. I hope they get someone like Sarah Brightman for it.

And I wasn't too turned off by the male lead. His rendition of "Music of the Night" on the trailer wasn't that bad, IMO.

X

Its on the same side. That is a reflection.


I think it looks very good. This is a musical right? I'm surprised it took so long for there to be a film version considering how popular it is. Now if only they would make a movie about that other broadway hit, Lion King.

Not the reflection, there are a couple of quick shots where the mask is flipped. One is when the Phantom is putting Christine down on the bed (or couch). There is another quick one during the swordfight montage. Yes, I know I am being an idiot about this.

No, it shows him from the backside and it is clearly on the opposite. Unless, the entire frame is from "a reflection"? which would be weird...

In other news, does anyone else find the Crawford love to be ridiculous? Seen him twice and never found it to be that great.

I think this might turn out to be decent, but I won't shower praise on a Joel Schumacher movie until I see it. Over-the-top, extremely lavish sets, okay. I expected that. But let's hope this doesn't turn into shit like most of his other films.

I'm no Joel Schumacher fan, but I will admit that this movie does look great. I'm not too impressed with Gerard Butler's singing, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for now as I've yet to hear it in the movie. Also, the cinematography looks absolutely gorgeous! If nothing else, the movie will make excellent eye-candy. Joel definitely made a wise choice in hiring John Mathieson as his DP.

amen.

Soundtrack for the movie up on Itunes now...

LOVE LOVE LOVE the new rendition of the title song (best version yet Im not kidding), as well as "the Point of No Return", and "Prima Donna"

"All I ask of You" is kind of take it or leave it in this version.
"Music of the Night" gets a resounding "leave it" from me, but I'll reserve final judgement till I see it acted out...

-Brian

I got the deluxe version, and it seems like they actually took the entire audio recording from the movie and sold it. Not that I am complaining, but there are very long stretches of dialogue without music.
I can tell they have moved some material around to accomodate the movie version.
I really have to give kudos to Emmy Rossum, that girl can sing! Gerard Butler on the other hand, well, I must reserve judgment till I see him on screen. However, when casting a musical, the lead must be able to sing, or at least get Michael Crawford to dub the voice. Butler has too much bass.

EDIT: Okay, I don't know if it's because I am so used to Crawford's version, but listening to Butler is a trying experience. It's a damn shame, because everyone else on it is top notch. I would like to think the critics won't tear the movie apart because of his lackluster vocal ability, but I think they will. Then again, they kind of deserve it, because he honestly sounds like some guy doing karaoke of Phantom. Maybe Webber and Schumacher went deaf in his scenes or something.

Oh well, I remember when I first saw Phantom on the stage and being somewhat disappointed with the actor because he wasn't as great as Crawford. But then again, who is?

I have never seen the musical, but I like what I see.

Also, through the trailer, I believe I know what lies beneath the mask and that makes me feel sorry for the Phantom (even if he is supposed to be a murderer).

Love (and a facial disfigurement) make you do some pretty crazy things.

Emmy Rossum

After listeneing to the soundtrack, I'm definately not a huge fan of the male lead either ....

or even Patrick Wilson's Raoul - he seems so fey (in both appearence and voice).

I cringed at the title song on the sountrack: "Phantom of the Opera" that tinged eighties electric quitar/synthesizer moment stood out like a sore thumb.

Saw the trailer before the showing of "Alexander" the other day, and it just made me cringe.

Also saw the trailer before Alexander - it was one of about 8 trailers, and was the only one that stopped the murmuring in the audience and grabbed their attention.

it was the intoxicating power of the Phantom. (wahahaha)

not but seriousily, talking about "Alexander". For a nearly 3 hour film, the number of trailers before the film was almost a half an hours worth. Thankfully, I saw it a Regal and all the commercials were in the "Twenty" prior to the actual starting 'time'.

anyway back to the original topic, as to the soundtrack, I can't wait to hear how this film sounds in Digital 5.1 surround sound, "Phantom" is my favourite Andrew Lloyd Webber musical and to hear the songs remixed to film quality standards is quite exciting.

The problem with Gerard's voice IMO, is that he strains and over punctuates words in his songs, his voice is simply never consistent. I read somewhere that he actually sang in a rock band, or something to that effect, so it's not unreasonable to think that this actor can't sing. It however becomes very apparent that the songs and technique he tries to use in this character is just not within his range.

Crawford has a stunning voice, on his CD: Michael Crawford Performs Andrew Lloyd Webber the stand out song, IMO is not from Phantom but from Lloyd Webber's "Jesus Christ Superstar" and his version of "Gethsemane" - unfriggin amazing, wow!

someone refresh my memory, the CD credits/linear notes actually denote that Carlotta's voice isn't actually Minnie Driver's but another singer's, right?

Having seen the trailer I'm actually looking forward to watching this movie.

I agree that Butler's voice is nowhere near Crawford however, I don't think that he embarrass himself in the role of the Phantom. Would you have liked Antonio Banderas in this role as originally planned?

My big surprise is Emily Rossum. I did not know that she could sing as she has some big shoes to fill. If she's able to do half the job that Brightman did, I'll be happy. Is this the same girl that played the love interest of Jake Glyllenhall in Day After Tomorrow? Shocking.

The cinematography seen in the trailer is excellent so far and carry out the stage setting to the "outside" very well.

BTW, I have seen Phantom during its Toronto run with Paul Stanley as the lead role so I won't be as hard on Butler as some of you that seen it on Broadway with Crawford and Brightman.

I'm looking foward to this very much, mostly because of Patrick Wilson. He's one of Broadway's biggest talents, and I know he won't disappoint here. I think he sounds lovely on the recording--if you want to hear him sing more like a "man", Giles, you should check out The Full Monty. I'm SO happy to see that his career is taking off.

As for Butler, I like how expressive his singing is. He may not have the strongest pitch or most beautiful tone, but it sounds like he acts the hell out of some (let's face it) not-so-great lyrics and dialogue. I have high hopes for his performance on screen. Rossum has a great lower register and she sounds FANTASTIC on a few songs, but there are moments (especially in Think of Me and All I Ask of You) where her soprano sounds very thin. There are a few bad notes that I really wished they had fixed in Think of Me, but they sound fine after listening to it a few times. In any case, I absolutely prefer her over Sarah Brightman (who I honestly can't stand to listen to for more than a few minutes at a time)...as sacreligious as that may sound to some. Can't wait to see this movie.

Interesting that we have less than a week until the movie opens and I have yet to see a single TV spot for it. Aside from its Golden Globe noms., I haven't seen this getting much publicity lately.

I enjoy the Robert England version of Phantom the best.....

Who's stringing the cat?

Seriously? I think I was watching Bravo (Christmas Special of Christmas Specials or Queer Eye maybe) and they had a preview for this about every break. Looks cool to me.

X

I think it is only a very limited release in a week ... I think those of us in the boonies have to wait until late January.

I think that it will get a somewhat decent release on Christmas Day. Knoxville is allegedly supposed to get it on the 22nd, but I'll believe it when I see it.

are there nipples on the mask?