The Hunchblog of Notre Dame

11Apr 2015

Musical Petition

by jess

Ciara Renee and Micheal Arden in the Jolla Production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame

I thought the point of the musical performance at La Jolla and Papermill was a Broadway preview there is a petition for a Broadway version.

Sign the Petition Here , I did.

EDIT – Ok, I found the reason for the petition. According to an article on Playbill that cited Patrick Page a.k.a Frollo, the show was NOT going to be transferred to Broadway hence the petition. Read article here.

Also I just watched a video of Someday, got say I wish they had kept the song going up till Esmeralda goes to the pyre, it was just so powerful in Glockner but maybe they didn’t want to wait the epic music.

09Apr 2015

Stardust Review; Where Shinies Save the Day

by jess

Stardust

Stardust is a big-budget movie based on a book by Neil Gaiman from 2007. This is one is special. I say that because this one of the very and I do mean very rare cases where I read the book before I saw the movie, however I don’t remember the book, I remember it was good though but we’re here to talk about the movie and it’s alright.

Claire Danes as Yvaine

The movie is set in the Victorian period in England. Young Tristan lives in a village near a wall that beyond has whole another world of fantasy things. In this fantasy world, there is the kingdom of Stormhold, where the king is dying. And much like the highlander there can be only one heir, so the seven princes have kill each other but they also have to find some gemstone and return it’s color to it or something. The king sends it so high that it knocks a star out of the sky and to earth. Tristan sees it and decides to the he will get the star and bring it back to a girl he likes. Then it a race to get the star as witches are after her too for immortality and there are also sky pirates. Hooray! Oh and Tristan is really the son of the princess of Stromhold which mean he is crown king and he marries Yvaine a.k.a the star.

Charlie Cox as Tristan and Claire Danes as Yvaine

I left a TON out because it would have taken FOREVER. The plot is interesting but it is overly complex for what is supposed to be a fun fantasy adventure with fairy tale elements. I don’t mind complexity but there are a lot if thing working against this movie that makes the plot just go on and on. Though it all does come together nicely though that is the book’s work and not really the movie.

Michelle Pfeiffer as Lamia and Claire Danes as Yvaine

My main issue with this movie it the pacing. Some parts are like super rushed and some part drag on and on. Like that final fight, some parts were cool but it went on too long. Like why did Lamia (main witch villain lady) do a fake out? What was the point? I just found myself bored.

Charlie Cox as Tristan, Claire Danes as Yvaine, and Robert De Niro as Captain Shakespeare

The timing and pacing problems might have been okay to deal with if the characters were better. Tristan is just kind of boring. Yvaine is just sort of mean and not very charming. Lamia and the Sky pirate captain, Shakespeare are sort of enjoyable but you can tell the actors are hamming-it-the-fuck-up. I did like the dead prince ghost party. But the the bad princes who kills all his brother save for like one, Septimus, looked and acted like Richard Armitage from the BBC version of Robin Hood. It was really uncanny.

Michelle Pfeiffer as Lamia

So we’re left is an overly complex plot that is fairly enjoyable and the technicals. The technical are okay at best. The sets, costumes and camera work are all good, not amazing but solid but the CG work is hokey. Like really cheesy. I was not a fan and it’s a fantasy movie that was operating that it had impressive special effects.

Charlie Cox as Tristan and Mark Strong as Septimus

Despite its flaws, Stardust is okay. I just wish the main characters were more charming or not so over acted but the overacting helped with the fun quota so I guess it’s forgivable.

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08Apr 2015

Ciara Renee singing God help the Outcast

by jess

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQBAVC1tdjk&spfreload=10

Ok a few things, first off I really like the costume. I like Esmeralda is blues but you can see the Disney inspiration but it doesn’t feel tacky or cheap, it feels right.

Second, I want to thank the person who gave this song back to Esmeralda. In the German version they made this song a duet with Quasimodo, which sure that is was quiet lovely but she didn’t get any other solo and even Phoebus got a solo number and he didn’t even sing in Disney version despite the fact that Kevin Kline can sing (he sings in my new favorite song Electric Love,*) not that really makes a different as Demi Moore didn’t sing for Esmeralda either.

And finally speaking of Esmeralda’s singing, I really like Ciara Renee’s voice for the role. She has a similar voice to Heidi Mollenhauer which is in turn similar to Demi Moore. A voice which has dark, almost smokey tone but with a lot of warmth.

I also think it’s interesting that Frollo is taking the Archdeacon role here which is similar to Frollo from 1982 and 1939 version. Not sure it because of this influenced by the movies or not just interesting.

Anyway what do you think?

(I might talk about this show more if I ever do posts on other works by Hunchback actors ^_~)

Oh and Kevin Kline is going to be in the new Beauty and Beast movie as Maurice, Mind-Blown

07Apr 2015

Songs of Notre Dame de Paris Part 1

by jess

I might discuss aspects from other casts but I’m going to keep it to the original cast.

Le Temps des CathÃ©drals (The Age of Cathedral)

Bruno Pelletier as Gringoire singing Le Temps de Cathédrales

This is the first number of the show. It’s sung by Pierre Gringoire who acts mainly as a story teller. The song tells us about the changing times and how teh Cathedral once prominent and important to society is falling away and that population is changing too as people seek refuge in Paris.

The song itself is very mysterious with a touch of bittersweetness. The songs also have a great build and there is a nice reveals of the stage as the song builds. It starts with a bare stage and Gringoire but slowly layers of screens are pulled back to reveal the set pieces.

Le temps des cathÃ©drales is also a great showcase for Gringoire’s voice. Bruno Pelleteir has such an expressive voice. Also with all the power and build up and the enegry Gringoire to into the song it transition to the nest song very nicely.

Les Sans Papiers (Those without Papers)

Luck Mervil as Clopin singing Le Sans Papiers

Just a little clarication papers meaning without passport, or without legal documentation which I don’t think they would have had in 1482, could be wrong but it a big deal these days and the Refugee were a big issue in France at the time this musical came out so it’s topical.

So what is interesting about Notre Dame de Paris is that even though they didn’t start it the same way as the book they do introduce the characters at roughly the same points. This songs in Clopin asking for refuge for his people. There is also the same tone of change.

There is a great power and darkness to Le Sans Papiers. It’s interesting that a song that is basically begging would have such a forceful tone to it. There is also a menace and urgency that makes this song exciting by the end.

It also the first number with dancing. Notre Dame de Paris has a lot of dancing. For this particularly number the dancing is a little weird. I don’t know a ton or anything about dance, heck I was run out of tap dance class at the age of six, I’m the last person who should critic dance but while I think the dancing in this number is effective to the tone and mood of the song I don’t care for it. Some of it look like spazing out, which I excel out. I did like that walk out and throw down move.

Also during this song you can see Frollo looming in Notre Dame, as played by a rock climbing wall. And as indicated by the next song, this song did not melt Mr. Frollo’s icy heart.

Intervention de Frollo (Intervention of Frollo)

Daniel Lavoie as Frollo singing Invention de Frollo

This is the first song that is a little different between the cast version. Frollo commands Phoebus to arrest the people and he complies. In the original cast he tries to arrest Esmeralda and is taken with her. In other versions, after getting the order Phoebus finds Esmeralda dancing and is taken. It’s both a HUGE difference and not. With her dancing it clarifies Esmeralda as a dancer but the transition is not smooth. With the arrest we lose her a bit as dancer but it makes for a better transition. Though it’s a transition that exist within the song.

As bridge song, Intervention de Frollo is okay. It’s very staccato but gets the point across of Frollo authority and coldness and Phoebusâ€˜ conformity and interest in pretty girls.

*I might translate these with crummy translations or go by the English titles. which can also be crummy.

GET THE WHOLE GLORIOUS ALBUM
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06Apr 2015

The Man who Laughs Part II: Book I: Chapter 6-8

by jess

Part II: Book I: The Everlasting Presence of the Past

Part II: Book I: Chapter 6: Barkilphedro
Ok, I’m REALLY disappointed that Barkiphedro isn’t a puppy-dog. Instead he is old guy who is a spy for Queen Anne on her bastard half sister Josiana and her fiancee. And goody more talk of the ocean. Basically Barkiphedro gets Josiana to get him a job at the admiralty.

Part II: Book I: Chapter 7: Barkilphedro Gnaws His Way

So Barkiphedro is a jerk-face power hungry dude who dislikes Josiana. He is kinda Frollo-y in the way that he prides himself on his vitures which include self-control. Frankly I skimmed this one, Barkiphedora could be interesting but I’m still mad that he’s not a dog, though he is an awful person so it’s probably a good thing he isn’t a dog but that name, how could you not think it was dog? I suppose it being a classic novel is a good indication.

Part II: Book I: Chapter 8: Inferi
This chapter explains court hierarchy, much like school cafeteria and teenage girls. You have the super popular ones who are simply rich and pretty and then you have the type who befriends them by using evil cunning, they’re are the bitches who have the real power through manipulation of the super popular ones.

03Apr 2015

Disney Live-Action Remakes

by jess

On March 31st it was announced that Disney is planning on making a Live-Action Mulan movie, Source. This adds to number of Live-ation remakes following Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Dumbo and I guess Maleficent is in the mix too.

Really we all know what they are doing, these movies are clear cash grabs on popular properties. Though why Dumbo I don’t know. I mean I loved Dumbo as a kid, I still do but it’s kinda of the odd one out. You would think Snow White or the Little Mermaid over Dumbo but whatever, I’m not a studio executive nor did they ask me my opinion, I mean the should have but whatever.

But the question I have to force myself to ask, will Hunchback get this treatment? I’m going on the offence here and say probably not as Disney likes to forget that movie existed though not as much as The Black Cauldron. However unlike The Black Cauldron, which could be awesome as a live-action movie, Hunchback did get a musical which is getting a TONS of praise and does have a fan base. So it COULD maybe happen, like 0.05% chance.

Personally for me, I would love a new movie version, bad or good. And Hunchback makes more sense than a Live-Action Dumbo movie that will be mostly CG anyway so the Live-action in a misnomer. But do you think would you like Disney Hunchback live-action movie and do you even want one?

02Apr 2015

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister Review; Telling it both ways

by jess

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister

The first Live action movie we’re going to look is the 2002 TV movie Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister. It’s a retelling of Cinderella This was an interesting movie, first off notice how it’s ugly and not wicked, this is because the main is one of the step sister and not so much Cinderella.

Azura Skye as Iris with Matthew Goode as Casper

The step sisters, Iris and Ruth flee England with their mother, Margarethe to Holland. They are poor so they start living with an artist. The artist uses Iris as a model and his apprentice, Caper takes a liking to Iris. They get in with a wealthy merchant who has a lovely daughter named Clara who is scared to leave her house as she was kidnaped when she was child.

Margarethe is a greedy women who wants to be rich so she uses her knowledge of potions, which is why she left England, to win the affections of Clara’s father and marries him. The merchant loses his fortune. Margarethe hears that there is a ball where the Prince will pick a wife and and is determined that Clara should win his attention with her superior beauty. Clara says she won’t do it and become the kitchen maid so she be alone and coins Cinderella as her name. Margarethe then decides that Iris is her best bet. However Clara then decides she will go to the ball as Iris loves Casper and she wants Iris to be happy. Margarethe however forbids it and burns Clara’s gown.

Clara goes to the ball with the help of her Godmother which was a woman that stalked her and scared her. She tell Clara that there is a dress in attic and she turns a rat into her slippers.

At the ball Iris does managed to charm the Prince with talk of art but the Prince falls for Clara’s beauty. And the next day he comes to their house with the slipper. Before Clara tries the slipper on Margarethe asks her to take care of Iris and Ruth but in the end Clara says that she will look after Margarethe too and yay happy ever after.

Jenna Harrison as Clara

My biggest issue with this movie is that there is great sense of realism that gets muddled towards the end. Like the slipper is made from magic but there is no other magic in the movie. It just doesn’t fit. Also the prince and Iris had great scene where they discuss art. It gave the impression that the Princes was interesting but when he saw Clara all that went out the window and he just based his love of looks but before that there was a set-up that he was above that. They should have just had a scene where Clara and the prince find a commonality but they really didn’t.

Azura Skye as Iris

I did find the characters interesting. Margarethe was greedy but she valued courage which is why she doesn’t like Clara. Clara is sheltered, scared and introverted which isn’t something you see a lot of in stories especially for a character is that pegged as a nice beauty. Iris, the main character has the whole beauty on the inside though the actress playing her is quiet pretty so it a hard sell that people called her ugly or at least not that pretty. Though she meant to be talented, smart and witty whereas Clara isn’t as much. Which is sort of an interesting counterpoint. The rest of the character are likable.

Jenna Harrison as Clara

The technical are meh but it’s a TV movie. The costumes are alright but I do appreciate that they did get the Holland fashion at the time, black with white lace look. But it was just meh.

Azura Skye as Iris

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister is okay. It an interesting take on the classic Cinderella story but I found the plot kind of overly complexed and I wish they kept it more real as that was its intent. But I bet this it could have been worse.

The Book version

01Apr 2015

A Movie that Takes After the Hunchback’s Spirit

by jess

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a story that has inspires some other great work of cinema. Some movie makers opt to take this story and adaption from its original novel and transform it into a movie, it’s boring path, anyone can adapt a book to a movie. Some other people however take this story use its core essence make a movie. Most of the movies however aren’t worth the resources they wasted, they mock the glory of the Hunchback tale but there is one movie. There is one movie that takes the story of Hunchback and makes it shine through the celluloid, a movie that truly understand, a genius movie.

It’s a story about a group of people whose way of life is being threaten and they much work together to brave the storm and silence those who would judge them. The heart of this movie lies in the relationship of a ugly social recluse who wants both to be loved and to earn the respect of a beautiful young lady who is being lusted after by a shady guy.

What glorious movie is this? Can you guess? Or Click here to reveal this masterpiece’s identify.

31Mar 2015

Before we start with the Songs of Notre Dame de Paris

by jess

Gringoire spotting Quasimodo during the Feast of Fools

Before we start tearing the songs of Notre Dame de Paris a new one, or unabashedly praising them, somethings to keep in mind.

Number One – since there is like fifty songs in this musical, I’m going to take a few at time because while I do like stretching out content longer than I should, I don’t want to spend a year on the songs. So it will be like three to four on average and maybe some songs will get it’s own, like Belle.

Second, the songs in Notre Dame de Paris are really, REALLY repetitive. So I’m getting that out now. I’m not going to keep say that over and over for every songs.

So next week we’ll start properly as I like just starting things at the beginning on months.

30Mar 2015

The Man who Laughs Part II: Book I: Chapter 1-5

by jess

Part II: Book I: The Everlasting Presence of the Past

Part II: Book I; Chapter 1: Lord Clancharlie
Part II: Book I; Chapter 2: Lord David Dirry-Moir
Part II: Book I; Chapter 3: The Duchess Josiana
Part II: Book I; Chapter 4: The Leader of Fashion
Part II: Book I; Chapter 5: Queen Anne

We’re doing something a little different, instead of me going by chapters I’m just going to do it all at once. Why? Well for one thing one these chapter are broken into four parts making them too long and second I’m not sure about these chapters. They have some mild interest like the history and Josiana was amusing but I scarily recall anything work talking about.

I will say some parts remind me of Hunchback, like Josiana being a prude and proud. Though she is not all that much like Esmeralda. Though what REALLY stood out that was like “Hello, I’m Victor Hugo and I wrote Hunchback” were Josiana’s fiancee, Lord David, belonging to a club where they discuss ugly men, oh if only they could have seen Quasimodo. He also belongs to teh Hell-fire club, (snickers). But what really caused he to stop was in the Queen Anne chapter when it said and I quote;

“She rather liked fun, teasing, and practical jokes. Could she have made Apollo a hunchback, it would have delighted her.”

Just in case you didn’t know Phoebus is another way to say Apollo. Anyway I hope these chapter add to the plot because true be told I would rather read about Lady Josiana and he court pals and shenanigans that starving freezing child who don’t have names and certainly over descriptions of the ocean. If I wanted to read about the ocean I will read Oceans (Ecosystems (Facts on File)) or I will continue reading Your Inner Fish
which is more about evolution but specific about ocean are mentioned albeit frozen ones but it’s very interesting.

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