A great musical can make an audience’s spirit soar and get their feet tapping right in the theater, creating fantastical memories that can last a lifetime. With no effort at all, most people can conjure up memories of Gene Kelly dancing with an umbrella in “Singing in the Rain,” of Julie Andrews running through mountain fields at the beginning of “The Sound of Music,” or Frank Sinatra and Kelly literally bringing New York City traffic to a halt while dancing in the streets for “On the Town.”

Sadly, the new musical “Nine” – despite having a stellar cast of multiple Oscar winners including Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz and Nicole Kidman – won’t be burning itself into film fans’ collective memory. Despite an $80 million budget, spectacular Italian scenery and zestily performed choreography (including an unbelievably sexy number by Cruz – ok, that one might stick in the brain), the film is packed with characters, situations and song topics that are unrelatable to most people and often downright unlikable. (more…)

Here at Big Hollywood, the film folks get all the fun by previewing film trailers in their posts.  But, since the upcoming “Nine” is a film adaptation of a Broadway musical, I’m claiming this one! 

Directed by Rob Marshall, who did a pretty good job adapting a little show called “Chicago” to film, “Nine” is set for a Fall opening which usually means the studio has Oscar hopes.  “Nine” was a musical adaptation of Federico Fellini’s masterpiece “8 1/2″ and was staged by Tommy Tune in 1982 starring Raul Julia as Italian film director Guido Contini.  For that incredibly demanding role in the film, we get Oscar winner Daniel Day Lewis.  The cast includes Penelope Cruz, Kate Hudson, Nicole Kidman, Fergie, Judy Dench and none other than Sophia Loren! (more…)

Too much information about an actor’s life breaks the ability for the viewer to believe the character the actor is playing. Daniel Sunjata is one of those actors I wish I knew less about. He’s one of the stars of the hit show “Rescue Me,” and after reading of his beliefs that 9/11 was an inside job, I find it difficult to see his character Franco, as real. Good thing for him the producers decided to write his conspiracy theories into the show so now his acting won’t be a stretch. In fact it won’t be an act at all; it’ll be his truth, which leaves me seeing just another vapid Hollywood actor looking to push the envelope of their stupidity instead of minding to their craft.

Two of the greatest actors of our time, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Daniel Day Lewis are the sort of actors that truly let me enjoy their work because I know next to nothing about who they are as people. And I don’t want to know about them, I just want to experience the joy of their craft.

Daniel Sunjata has been quoted as saying “There’s alternative theories about what really happened on 9/11,” he told TV critics in January. “They’re not discussed a lot in the press … I’m really gratified that they allowed that to be focused through my character, because I happen to subscribe to a lot of those theories and beliefs that 9/11 was an inside job.” Daniel, they’re not discussed, because they have no foundation in reality. (more…)

Hollywood execs seem to be waking up to the power of women at America’s multiplexes. The success of He’s Just Not That Into You (Warner Bros) and this weekend’s Confessions of a Shopaholic (Disney) can be traced to Meryl Streep’s witty riff on the tyrannical Anna Wintour in The Devil Wears Prada in the summer of 2006. Prada opened to a $27.5M weekend on its way to a $124.75M domestic cume (Streep also earned an Oscar nomination).

Then in July of 2007, New Line grabbed an almost identical $27.47M with the opening weekend of the female-skewing Hairspray, translating to $118.87M domestic. Also Enchanted, starring Amy Adams, was a hit for Disney over the holidays reaching $127.8M domestic.

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