Evita

Rating:
Summary: Grand, Sweeping, and IT WORKS
Review: Who knew Madonna could pull this off? To be sure, this is an either love-it-or-hate-it film, but if you allow yourself to get swept up in the first few moments, and accept the fact that there is no dialogue, only song, you are guaranteed an almost singular theatrical experience. I was prepared to dismiss this film as another "event movie" and unexpectedly found myself enjoying every frame. Madonna proves she is more than simply capable as an actress - here, she gives a career-definining performance that few of her contemporaries could have ever delivered. Banderas is equally superb as Che, and JOnathan Pryce shines as Peron. Part history lesson, all glorious music, Alan Parker's definitive screen classic sprawls before you in an epic that cannot be dismissed. Vocally, the singing is pitch perfect, far superior to the stage version with Patti Lupone. And, far from being an excuse for Madonna to put her "Like a Virgin" days behind her, "Evita" is pure cinematic magic. It's a shame people didn't give this movie alot more credit when it was released - sure, it won the Golden Globe for best Film and Madonna was named Best Actress (deservedly.) But Oscars were denied to all but the Best Song "You Must Love Me" a plea for forgiveness that is painful to listen to, but grand nonetheless. Truly a special, idiosyncractic film that takes the breath away from anyone who allows themselves to be taken. Be taken! This is why film exists in the first place - it nutures and comforts, horrifies and excites all at once! If you give it a chance, you'll be glad you experienced it. A Winner!

Rating:
Summary: Madonna, Banderas at their best
Review: Critics have maybe unkindly lambasted Madonna in her few film roles since this one, but "Evita" easily remains her best screen performance. Adapted from famed Broadway producer Andrew Lloyd Weber's long-running stage play about Evita Peron, the charismatic late first lady of Argentina, the movie treatment attracted much casting speculation and critics wrote with some wariness at the decision to cast Madonna. But she portrays the enigmatic Evita with a magnatism that projects from the screen, and Madonna shines in conveying the emotional distance that the real-life lady apparently projected. Madonna handily earned the Golden Globe best actress award she won but was passed over, perhaps unfairly, at Oscar time. As compelling as Madonna is, though, she is nearly upstaged by Antonia Banderas in a surprisingly masterful singing role. As the narrator commenting on behalf of Argentina's devastated working class in the early 1950's, Banderas is simply astonishing. You don't have to be a Madonna or Banderas fan to appreciate this film their vocal interpretations of the songs in it, highlighted by the stirringly emotional Oscar-winner, "You Must Love Me." Visually stunning, the film's leads also pack a tremendous acting punch, and Madonna especially manages to give us a clue as to what made the real Evita tick.

Rating:
Summary: First Lady Of MTV.
Review: I've tried to watch this film several times, but I always abandon it about halfway through, from either boredom, or Madonna's irritating warbling. I finally decided to really try and get through the whole thing, and....I just can't. Madonna is probably a nice lady. She's made some very danceable songs. But, she cannot act, and, she does not have the vocal chops to pull off this role. She certainly should be credited for possessing an abundance of confidence, and she looks convincing as Eva Peron. But, it is obvious she was chosen for her popularity. This is one of those cases where they put together popular stars, big budget, and all the ingredients that should make a great film, and, they made a boring one. I really don't know who they should have chosen to play Evita, but, they needed an actress with skill, soul, and a great voice, and instead, they chose the Pop Tart Of The Century. Admit it, it may not be totally lousy, but, it should have been a whole lot better. The film that does the play justice has yet to be made.

Rating:
Summary: Flawed, but still excellent, adaptation.
Review: Watching the movie of Evita was my first real experience with the musical, and that puts it in a different light for me, I suppose, than with many others. The points I make, though, I still think are valid.

The casting of this movie was quite good...the stars of the show pulled off their roles magnificently. Antonio Banderas, in the lead as the narrator, Ché, sung surprisingly well. He also acted out the part superbly. While he's no Colm Wilkinson, there's an undeniable charm to his portrayal. Even with the abbreviated material he's given to work with, he pulls it off with style, which says something for a role with magnificent performances by Colm and by David Essex. He's not vocally better than either, but he plays the part to a T, and his songs seem HONEST. Also, he's a better Ché than Mandy Patinkin, but I suppose anybody who tried to actually play the part would be.

Madonna is the surprise of this movie. She sings quite well, and given the rock feel of the show, is fairly appropriate for the part of Eva Peron. She's also visually very similar to photographs of Eva, and looks very convincing after the scenes where she is supposed to be young. However...the point of the musical is that Eva Peron is a manipulative (rhymes with witch). Madonna scared me here by seeming VERY sympathetic to her character. Still, her performance is excellent, if not up to Antonio Banderas's. Jonathan Pryce put in an outstanding performance as Peron, too.

A caveat emptor: the musical was actually made less harsh for the movie version, so that it could be filmed in Argentina. It was very nearly worth it...not entirely, mind you, and the addition of "You Must Love Me" seemed entirely out of place in a musical about a man and a woman who mutually USE each other. Still, her "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" was manipulative to the audience just as the speech was meant to be to the crowd. And the two Ché tours de force, "Oh What a Circus" and "High Flying, Adored" are more or less in tact, and done wonderfully. The re-adaptation of "The Lady's Got Potential" was excellent, and "And the Money Kept Rolling In" was toned down a lot, but Banderas had a LOT of fun in the number.

The movie's worth seeing if you like Evita, or are thinking you might be getting into it. Don't watch for Madonna's big numbers, watch for her and Banderas performing, for once, like they really mean it.

Rating:
Summary: Don't Cry For Us at the Ocars
Review: Now first let me state that this one of my favorite movies. I have also researched into the life of Eva Peron. The movie is about 95% true. Madonna stars in movie as the title role of Evita. This movie is the story of Argentina's former first lady, Eva Peron. This film starts from the end and then goes from beginning to end. It shows how she went to Buenos Aires with a tango singer. It shows hows Eva took on lovers to get jobs, and even helped her husband, who is played by Jonathan Pryce, get the presidency for 2 terms. She and her husband did have 2 weddings, one was in a church and one was a civil ceremony. Eva also traveled while she was first lady. She got woman the right to vote. She also did start a foundation. She did help build houses, hopitals, and schools. When her husband went for his 2nd term as president, the people rallied for her to be vice-president. Eva Peron did had many Christain Dior, over 100 furs, and a jewelry collection comparable to Cleopatra's. Sadly, Evita died when she was just 33, of uterine cancer. This movie won some Acadmeny awards and a gloden globe, I believe

Rating:
Summary: A Great, Exhilarating Musical.
Review: Before Andrew Lloyd Webber and Time Rice came along and gave this story the breath of life through the rock opera medium, the life of Argentine icon Eva Peron might have never occurred to anyone as a great subject for an opera, much less a rock one. But Webber and Rice pulled it off brilliantly and Alan Parker has created the definitive film adaptation of the piece. The film version of the "Evita" musical was an idea for years, Oliver Stone was attached to direct at one point (he shares screenwriting credit) but had a falling out with Madonna and filmed "The Doors" instead. Parker picked up the project and has created a timeless, exhilarating experience of drama and music. Pop star Madonna has never been ranked with Webber stars like Sarah Brightman, but she holds her own ground here and delivers what must be her best vocal work considering the range and skill a tune like "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" requires is much more than the demands of "Vogue." She also fits nicely into the role, completely becoming the character. Antonio Banderas is a wonderful Che, his voice also delivers and he has raised the bar for future actors who take on the role. Parker has director has not made a better movie since this one. "Evita" crystalizes the best of Parker's talents, it's always a visual feast and the texture of the film is almost enough to recommend it. Those who thought "The Wall" was a disorganized acid trip will appreciate the focus and epic scope of "Evita." And of course there's the music. The songs are catchy, beautiful and classic, always going for broke. "Evita" is a grand opus, one of the great modern musicals that can probably now be seen as a precursor for flicks like "Moulin Rouge," "Chicago" and the next upcoming Webber-inspired film, "The Phantom Of The Opera." This is a movie for people who love music marching to the beat of awesome cinema.

Rating:
Summary: I love Evita and wish they had made a movie of it
Review: Madonna was excellent. Even Antonio Bandaras was good. But this version of Evita was so watered-down from the stage version, so many "objectionable" elements removed to please the Argentine authorities so they could get permission to film on location that it is a poor imitation of the original version.

The original stage version of Evita showed some things that were true about the former First Lady of Argentina. She was power-hungry. There is little evidence that Juan loved her in life as much as he loved her in death. He never even visited her after she fell ill unless he wore a mask (although it was cancer and the mask was useless).

In the movie, whole sections of songs were altered or removed to "soften" Evita from the woman who stole a great deal of the wealth of Argentina and moved it to her own accounts.

The producers even changed the role of "Che" who was the character used for the Chorus. Bandaras was not cast as a (fictional) Che, but rather as a nondescript Chorus. Not nearly as much fun.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful to watch but unfulfilling
Review: One of the interesting sidelights to this movie is the fact that Oliver Stone wrote part of the screenplay. While watching it I kept wondering what part? Stone, whose edgy, over the top indictments of oppression, corruption and especially military stupidity, wouldn't seem to be one to celebrate the elevation of Eva Peron to something close to sainthood, which is what this movie does. Maybe all his work ended up on the cutting room floor. Or maybe it was obscured by Andrew Lloyd Webber's music. Certainly we do not see the decamisados (Peron's version of his friend Mussolini's Blackshirts) torturing anyone, and although the "disappeared" are mentioned in passing, there is no retrospective that allows us to see just how widespread and horrific were the murders committed by the Peronists.

Anyway, Madonna, who certainly fits the part like a glove, stars as Evita, and she gives the performance of her life. Yet somehow it is unconvincing, or I should say, somehow the film doesn't really get to the essence of the woman who rose from poverty to the pinnacle of power in Argentina, a woman extravagantly loved by the common people of Argentina even while she was a party to the fascist oppression. I don't think this is Madonna's fault. Her voice is good, not great, of course, but her dramatic skills are very much in evidence, skills that have always been underrated, although I'm not sure why. If you watch her in this and in Desperately Seeking Susan (1985) you can see that she has a range easily exceeding that of most actresses. I think that ironically it is the very quality of common origin and common appeal that the Argentines so loved in Evita that the critics hold against Madonna.

Antonio Banderas plays Che, who narrates and attempts to objectify the events while symbolizing both Evita's alter-ego and the man who would really be her proper mate were it not for her rapacious political appetite. Che's character and his dramatic role (from the play by Tim Rice) is perhaps the most important artistic achievement of the musical after Webber's beautiful and inspiring music. Banderas is winning and enormously vivid in the part, and he sings well and expressively.

Jonathan Pryce plays Peron with more dignity and humanity than history might allow. His sensitivity as an actor combined with a modest demeanor seemed to me so unrealistic as to be almost a miscasting. Yet he is perhaps as compelling as anyone on the screen and he certainly looked the part. Interesting is Jimmy Nail as the cabaret singer Magaldi. He combines sleazy good looks with a kind of vulnerable persona that seems exactly right.

Well, what can be said about the music except that it is one of Webber's great triumphs and so very typical of his work. It is beautiful, stirring, moving, enchanting and memorable. Who can forget the haunting, plaintive refrain of "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina" or the gorgeous simplicity of "You Must Love Me"? While Madonna's voice would not fill up a concert hall or take her by itself to the Broadway stage, she does an outstanding job with Webber's songs. A natural performer (Madonna's key talent), her expressive interpretations range from the ordinary to the transfixing. I very much enjoyed her efforts and predict that critics in the future will be kinder to her than today's critics.

The ending seemed too drawn out and then when the screen faded to black and the credits began to run it seemed almost abrupt and without resolution. I also did not like the way that Madonna (38 at the time) seemed no younger in the earlier scenes with her hair dyed pitch black. I think director Alan Parker should have given us more of an illusion of youth, perhaps spared her some of the closeups and fuzzed out the lines under her eyes. Strange how the golden blonde hair and exquisitely applied makeup in the remainder of the film made her look younger. All directors should know what Madonna learned many years ago: blonde hair usually makes a woman look younger because those with naturally light-colored hair are their blondest as children. Like big eyes and relatively big heads, blonde hair is a signal of youth that arrests our eyes.

Despite the flaws this is an engrossing cinematic experience, and for Madonna fans, Banderas fans, and in particular fans of Andrew Lloyd Webber, it is a film not to be missed.

Rating:
Summary: beautiful but lacking
Review: I don't like Madonna but I have to admit she tried so hard to pull this role off and almost succeeded. Her voice is a pop voice. This role calls for a powerful singer and anyone who saw Patti LuPone do this role on Broadway will be struck with how unsuited Madonna's voice is for it. But she did try. Her dancing is fine, her look is almost right. She was too old to play young Eva and too robust looking to play sick, dying Eva but did a passable job as Eva at her height. And then there was the acting problem. Sometimes she was well grounded in the character and sometimes all you could see was Madonna just going through the motions pretending to be Evita. She and Jonathan Pryce had no chemistry at all and that was a flaw. The Perons may not have been a love match but they were a powerful team and it just didn't come across that way in the movie. The best thing about the movie is Antonio Banderas as the sarcastic, angry and ultimately shocked and heartbroken Che. He's not playing the historical Che of course but Che as a sort of smarter than the masses Greek chorus who follows Eva around pointing out the truth of her pretenions.

This was a beautiful looking movie. It's a big overgrown music video but a strangely unsatisfying effort. If you loved Evita you'll be happier just buying one of the Broadway or London recordings but avoid the movie soundtrack at all costs--with no visual distractions the shortcomings of Madonna's voice are downright painful.

Rating:
Summary: Hmm...
Review: I'm not the biggest fan of musicals. I generally find them kind of annoying and pointless. But, seeing as I had to watch this film for Spanish class, why not review it?

I didn't like this movie. Nor do I like Madonna. She has this air about her that screams "I'm here and you're not", ignoring her star status. She doesn't connect with the woman she's portraying, Eva Peron. Antonio Banderas is in a interesting situation, playing varying characters with different perspectives, but that doesn't save "Evita". I found this to be a very boring film. I don't recommend it unless you're a diehard Madonna fan or a diehard fan of musicals.