bobilene

Having seen the stage production on Broadway, my expectations were high and I was mildly disappointed. The movie does excel in 3 places. The Greek Island Location, The wonderful ABBA music and Merril streep.Merril's voice is so good, especially with "the winner takes it all" one just can easily ignore the obvious point that she simply looks to old for the part. At the end of the stage performance, the audience was dancing in the aisles. This after standing ovations after each number. Just didn't happen with the movie. And Pierce Brosnan, come on. Go back to being James Bond. This is worth seeing if only for ABBA's music. In checking out the trivia in IMDb, I was amazed that Mz Streep did the winner takes it all in one take. Hard to believe. You have to be quick to catch the two ABBA original cameos.

Having seen all the Superman movies, I would have to rank it somewhere behind 1 and 2. The positives are fantastic special effects, Kate Bosworth's very good Lois Lane and an adequate Superman. Kate is so much better than Margot Kidder's Lois yet it just doesn't save the film. Kevin Spacey's portrayal of Lex Luther doesn't have the comedic affect of Gene Hackman's Lex. The worst of this film though is the child of Lois and Superman. One gets the impression the director is trying to show his frustrations and confusion because of special powers he just doesn't understand he has. The film dies when the primary focus is the child. His performance is bland and boring. If you got nothing else to do, the film is worth seeing if only for the special effects.

Having seen this performance live in Atlantic City, I was anticipating a very good DVD. Having recently watched it again Its absolutely fantastic the way the producers packaged this performance. Sarah is at her best. The closeups, the expanded scenes, etc. are brilliant. Just watching Sarah strut down the ramp prior to her singing "What a Wonderful World" high up on a swing is worth the price of the video. This wonderful performance should be shown to anyone who has not seen or heard Sarah Brightmans beautiful voice. Only she can reach the heights of operatic magic and come off brilliantly with her version of "Dust in the Wind". Other reviewers might have watched the wrong DVD. The only appearance of Phathom music was a brief lead in to "wishing you were here again". Her mixture of soprano and pop was just perfect. This DVD is one that can be watched over and over. Recommended very highly.