but RW's always miscast and overbearing in nearly everything he's in.

Did you bother to read my replies?

I remember an ad in the program for Les Miz when I saw it, oh 1991, 1992-ish that said something like "In 1994, Cameron Mackintosh and (movie studio I can't remember) will bring "Les Miserable" to the screen. And it had the poster photo of Cosette holding movie tickets, which is the only reason I remember it. I always wonder what happened to that.

I'm not a huge fan of this show, mostly because I think the songs are shoehorned in too much. I mean, "Gimme Gimme Gimme, A Man After Midnight" is about her finding her father. That's just...creepy.

I'm a big ABBA fan, but this really isn't doing anything for me. And I'm a big fan of "Hairspray," "Dreamgirls," and "Chicago" as far as musical-to-screen adaptations go. Not to mention "Little Shop of Horrors," which, ending aside, is the best of these of all time.

usually when they make broadway musicals into movies they turn out great (chicago, the producers, hairspray) so i think this one will be a hit too. when is it set for release?

I have a feeling the budget would be too high. It would be an epic period movie with battle scenes, but with the musical aspect that could limit its box office. Maybe now it would be more feasible due to cgi, but they'd still need a lot of extras and location shooting and/or expensive sets. It would certainly be a gamble.

The movie is being released on July 18th and going by the movie soundtrack, most of the actors do a good job singing especially Meryl Streep and Amanda Seyfried.

I know, right? Who knew Meryl Streep had that voice in her?

Before someone says "anyryone who saw A Prairie Home Companion", that is wrong. No-one has ever seen A Prairie Home Companion.

He doesn't seem fond of being present at all, which is the vibe I get from his interviews. Conan asked him about it, got a response and said something like "you're kinda sucking at promoting your movie!"

And (cough) a wedding.

I saw it.

I knew she could sing since seeing Postcards From the Edge (1990).

I saw A Prairie Home Companion too. Very good film.

And let's not forget her hilarious opening number in Death Becomes Her.

Hey,

I haven't watched any Meryl Streep movies where she sings so I didn't know, okay.

Yahoo movies has clips of the movie songs in which you can check it out...

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809902249/video

I must be one of the few people anticipating this movie since it's being released on the same day as the Dark Knight.

That's silly. I guess he was just after the paycheck.

Ooops. That too!

Meryl also sang in the production of 'Mother Courage' - she's actually good

was listening to her rendition of 'Mamma Mia' in the car heading to work this morning (the album was released yesterday) and she's great!

I like ABBA music, and the trailers show Amanda Seyfried bouncing around in skimpy outfits. But I got to play it cool and pretend to my wife that I'm "taking one for the team" and "reluctantly" accompany her to see this.

Years before Madonna got it, Streep was up for the part to play Evita Peron. But that movie changed stars and directors so many times before it was actually made.

saw on Access Hollywood, Meryl actually trained early on to become an Opera singer so that may explain her pipes.

Pip slip?

Is Pierce singing in this thing? There's an evil part of me that hopes he sings something written for this movie that winds up Oscar nominated so he'll have to preform at the Kodak theater at next's years ceremony.

The songs and acting were great...but the direction was visionless, the 'staging' of scenes was terrible made worse by editing that never works and makes most numbers a mess of 'who is where and doing what?'. Compared to recent movie musicals, the lackluster direction and editing make this seem really low rent... the charm of the cast and songs carry it a long way, but I was stunned at the ineptitude of the direction.... seriously brutal. As 'The Producers' proved, a good theatre director doesn't always translate into a good film director...Good but with a more talented helmer, could have been great. 3/5

Meryl Streep can do anything. ANYTHING! Haven't you guys realized that by now?

I'm actually surprised at how much I'm looking forward to seeing this one. Is it more anticipated than The Dark Knight? No. But from the previews it looks like it will at least be a fun movie.

Now that I've seen The Dark Knight, Mama Mia is probably next in line!

In the play, and presumably the movie, "Gimme Gimme Gimme" backgrounds a bachlorette party thrown for the lead character. It's not about her finding her dad, even though all three show up to the party and it plays an important in the overall play. The song isn't creepy. It's fine.

I pretty much agree with you. Many of the songs, or parts of them, were either too "stagy" or too "cinematically opened up," some numbers being at times both. The director did not seem to be able to figure out how to find the balance of turning a great play into a great movie. The choreography was strangely weak.

I know many will disagree with me but I thought Chicago, probably an inferior play (although I never saw the play) to Mamma Mia!, was turned into a virtually flawless and brilliant film musical. Both were first time directors but what a contrast.

I have seen Mamma Mia! the play and the silly fun always seemed effortless and natural. In the film they seemed to be trying to tell us how much fun it was but it often seemed forced and as if everyone was trying too hard. It was only after the end, during the credits when the cast did two "encores" that it seemed like they were actually having fun rather than trying to convince us that they were having fun.

Pierce Brosnan can't sing a lick but he obviously knows that and tried so charmingly and good-naturedly that I sort of liked it. The entire cast was quite good.

All in all I enjoyed it but not nearly as much as the play.

**¾/****

You know, I really don't understand; The Phantom of the Opera and Rent had the same problem. Yet they are both based on Tony-award winning shows that have run quite successfully for many years on Broadway and the West End. The staging is there, the directing is there, the show works great the way it is. Why do you have to mess with it by taking songs out, changing singing in to spoken dialogue, etc? It just makes for painful, awkward scenes in movies.

The whole idea of trying to make it more "realistic" by having the characters talk more and not constantly break out into song is ludicrous. They DO break out into song at some point; hello, it's a MUSICAL! Is it that hard to take the stage show and FILM IT? I think The Producers did it best. The director basically took the stage show, made the sets bigger to fill the 'big screen', and filmed it. Same original actors, same staging, same songs, same direction, everything. Is that so hard???

unfortuantely yes... I have yet to see the film but on the film's soundtrack his take of 'SOS' is cringe worthy.