Evita

Rating:
Summary: Avoida
Review: She can't sing. She can't act. She can't dance. All she can do is market herself and talk about her "art," something genuine artists almost never do. I will throw her this one tiny crumb: she should wear the brown contacts more often.

Rating:
Summary: Great Story, Great Star!
Review: "Evita" is a rare find. Also check out "The Next Best Thing." This movie has great acting. Warning: if you do not like musicals, you will be strongly dissapointed. It is almost all music. So if you like Madonna get this geniusly made film.

Rating:
Summary: A remarkable musical.
Review: It's probably safe to say that when a musical is made into a movie, there's going to be problems. Yet it's done remarkably well here. Evita tells the story of Eva Peron who rose from poverty to become the most adored woman in Argentina during the 40's. The musical score goes well with the movie and the era is made authentic from the costumes and the sets. Wonderfully made and well paced, Evita is one of those rare movies that comes along and surprises you.

Rating:
Summary: Good music, made poorly
Review: I enjoy the music from Evita very much, but the movie gets really boring aftet the first 1/2 hour. It is well cast, but the things like the sung dialouge really are a hurt to this could be good moive. Actually this is probably and excellent adaptation of the stage show to the screen. The show isnt that good anyway.

Rating:
Summary: VIVA EVITA!
Review: Amazing! The best film I've seen out of all the webber ones. Evita or Eva starts out as a poor girl and gets to know a man who leads her into being a star. She then meets Peron, a man trying to become president. They fall in love and marry. Peron is made president and Evita helps countrys worldwide but her biggest battle it yet to come.

This tape is a must have, the music and songs are brillient and Madonna sings it perfectly.

Rating:
Summary: The Sound Track, Lovely. The Movie... well
Review: You gotta give it up for Madonna. The girl goes from sex/pop icon to mom to "The Saint Of Argentina." She gives a stable enough preformance, I actually forgot this was the same woman who sang "Like A Virgin" as she lay as Evita on her death bed. But then her limited vocal range brought me back as she passionatly, yet flatly cheeped out "You Must Love Me." Antonio Banderas I'm sorry to say was rather overratead, he started out as a Che, a bitter Argentinan who happened to express himself by singing but by the end of the movie he was just Antonio Banderas trying to hard to act. Thank God for Jonathan Pryce, the man has an amazing screen presence as Peron and carries the movie from the moment he enters.

The movie starts with a long SLOW funeral scene where Antonino Banderas sings, save 10 minutes and fast forward. The story truely begins with Eva Duarte, a girl who leaves the small town to make it big in New York... I mean Buenos Aires. It goes on to tell how she becomes famous by (ahem) using men of higher and higher status until finally she winds up marring the soon to be dictator of Argentina by telling him that she will be "good for him." And the rest is history. Not to morally judge the story but no wonder the girl died of cervical cancer.

The begining of the movie is slow and Alan Parker does a poor job of protraying the state of the people in Argentina (hey, I can only watch Banderas get beat up so many times.) The movie did not visually support the amazing soundtrack. I was left bored, confused and unsatisfied. But the soundtrack is great (you can do other things while listening so it doesn't waste your time) and I give it two star ONLY because of Pryce's preformance.

Rating:
Summary: Evita never sounded better!!!
Review: I never saw the stage version of Evita. I did listen to the Broadway CD and couldn't get hooked until I saw the movie. And what a movie.

Madonna gives a fine performance in this role, and I honestly can't think on an actress out there that could have given a better performance as Evita. I think Alan Parker intentionally took advantage of Madonna's experience in music video to make the movie version of Evita as fast paced as a music video album - and it works remarkably well. No, it isn't the stage version. This movie stands on its own. Yeah, Madonna is emotionally distant, but she was obviously playing up the real character's narcissistic qualities to the hilt. I think the emotional distance let's you understand how corrupt and manipulative the Peron's really were. You are fascinated by Evita and admire her drive, but see a balanced picture of her - not a saint by any means.

Besides the great photography and editing, the sound of the DVD version of this film is something worth going out and buying a surround sound system for. The songs have never sounded better, the orchestra is wonderful, and there are moments in the soundtrack that make your hair stand up on edge.

Parker slowly builds up to the famous balcony scene where Evita sings "Don't Cry For Me Argentina." I have never really liked that song, but Parker and Madonna put it in a context where you almost want to stand up and cheer. Suspend disbelief is an understatement. Parker gets the audience caught up in the spirit of revolution, of Argentina, and of the masses. I haven't experienced anything like that since seeing a live performance of Les Miserables.

My only criticism of the movie would be that Parker failed to take advantage of putting any real dance sequences in the film. Most significant was the Buenos Aires sequence where we see Madonna riding a train when she should have been dancing her brains out.

Madonna helped mix the soundtrack - she should have won on Oscar or Grammy for that alone. The big surprise was how well Anthony Banderos sang as Che. His voice stands up to any singer on Broadway. Jonathan Pryce give a fine performance as Juan Perron. There are no real special features to speak of, which is a real disappointment. But I can give this five stars with a clear conscience because of the fine performances, the stunning widescreen presentation, the quality of the video, and great mix of the soundtrack. This is the best screen version of any of Andrew Lloyd Weber's work to date.

Rating:
Summary: To be enjoyed over and over again
Review: Evita is a favorite show of mine. This is a fantastic story of a fantastic woman. The movie has been done very tastefully. Madonna has portrayed the part wonderfully. The music is superb. This is one DVD that one would enjoy over and again. It is a pity that Madonna did not get an academy award for this movie.

Rating:
Summary: A luscious film version of "Evita" well worth the wait
Review: "Evita" is more of an opera than it is a musical, which is to say that unlike "The Sound of Music" or "Fiddler on the Roof" you do not have any scenes with spoken dialogue. Such scenes are important in those particular film versions because it is through dramatic action rather than songs that the seriousness of the Nazi occupation or the Tsar's pogroms are brought home to the audience. But even without such opportunities Alan Parker's film version of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's "Evita" is a beautiful spectacle that is as well grounded in history as it is in the songs. Darius Khondji's luscious cinematography is as much the star of the show as the music, whether he is depicting the grand pageantry of Evita's funeral or the stark figures of two people dancing a confrontational waltz. You will want the widescreen version of this film.

The real Evita Peron has always reminded me of Marilyn Monroe, in that I never really thought either woman was particularly attractive in the photographs I saw of them. But when I saw actual film footage of either Evita or Marilyn (the original stage production of "Evita" did this especially well in the Rainbow Tour sequence) I could immediately tell these women had "it." By such a standard Madonna is an apt casting choice. Her singing is not quite up to the score, but it is up to the character of Eva Peron. Besides, the fact Madonna managed to convince the President of Argentina to let her sing "Don't Cry For Me, Argentina" from the balcony of the Casa Rosada pretty much tips the balance of judgment in her favor as far as I am concerned.

Ironically, given that I insist on characterizing "Evita" as an opera, I am arguing that unlike a performance at the Metropolitan Opera the voice is not the primary consideration in evaluating the performances. Antonio Banderas is certainly the most pleasant surprise in the film, and his performance as Che Guevara needs to be seen as well as heard because it is more a matter of the actor's attitude than his more than adequate singing voice. Jonathan Pryce underplays the role of Juan Peron more than his theatrical counterparts, but that is certainly more in keeping with the tone and tenor of the film.

Alan Parker was the perfect choice to direct this film, since his resume includes both reality based musicals ("The Commitments," "Fame") and dramas ("Mississippi Burning," "Midnight Express"). The controversy over how much credit Oliver Stone deserves for his screenwriting aside, the adaptation of the stage version is superb. The use of two "new" songs (one is from the original studio album with the lyrics changed to cover the growing unrest in Argentina instead of Che's dream of inventing a new insecticide) helps to transform "Evita" from a theater piece into a cohesive film. Critics of the musical have argued "Evita" is a glorification of fascism, but there is less reason to make such a charge against this movie, where political slant of the film slowly but surely strips away the pretense of the rags to riches story.

The DVD version, while as excellent a pairing of picture and sound quality as you are going to find, has el zippo grande in the way of extras, which is an absolute shame. It took longer for the film version of "Evita" to be made than it did "Gone With the Wind" and the story behind the making of this film is almost as interesting. There will features about the making of "Evita" that could have been included, as well as the music videos or some mini-documentary on the real Eva Person, and certainly the commentary of the director would have been especially interesting given the storied history of this production. Hopefully we will see such treats down the road.

Rating:
Summary: Favorite Film
Review: This is my favorite film. I thought Madonna was amazing in her portrayal of Peron. Her body language matched her character's emotions, her eyes were shy or seductive, depending on the moment, and her voice is strong throughout. I couldn't imagine anyone else playing Peron; based on the documentaries that I've seen, Madonna was made to look identical to the real Eva Peron. I love the songs and the melodies, and find the lyrics to be very clever. I really like how the melodies are carried throughout the entire musical, so that there are only really a few melodies that are played in different ways, bringing a theme of commonality to the entire production.