Mamma Mia (movie sequel)

Hollywood loves a sequel..

 

I saw both of those Broadway shows and they were excellent. I also so both movies and they were not! But I am all for anything that shines a light on Abba's great music.

 

Can I gratuitously boast that someone in a lesser role, but still on the list of who-sang-what further up the thread, was, until earlier this year, the singer in my band?

Shameless. But yay! Top person, too.

 

...and still starring Allentown's Amanda Seyfried. Interesting to me that her first film role was in Mean Girls,written by Tina Fey,who has roots in the Philly suburb,Upper Darby,where I grew up.
Reading the current Wiki about the Mamma Mia sequel, Streep is back with no mention of just using footage from the first movie. Also,just because there are only three "confirmed' ABBA songs,does not mean that more are not coming. Filming wrapped just three weeks ago.,with a July 20th date,so they aren't burying this at a slow cinema cycle. No matter what anyone thinks about the first movie,it grossed 10 times its investment and seemed to be the chick flick du jour that continued at home video purchases. Even my wife,who had no interest in anything ABBA,enjoyed the film.
Comcast has been having a pretty good track record recently($4 billion global box office in the quickest time in history) and they just got the net neutrality thingy tossed the way they wanted from the corrupt FCC,new tax laws in their favor and they just raised cable rates-Happy 2018 for Comcast! Not so happy if you use them as a provider. Comcast-uggh-a Philly connection that is an embarrassment.

 

The movie version of Mamma Mia was better than I had expected. Of course the stage version is better because it's live and immediate. Rarely will a film version of a musical have the same power of a live performance.

Was it self aware? Absolutely and it was meant to be a big giant wink. You either go with it or you don't. This kind of set up works best with a live cast but I found it charming in the movie too. The cast wasn't perfect but that is always subjective.

It's not a movie musical classic but it is a fun visit, at least for me. I don't have a lot of faith in a sequel but, hey, I'll still go see it!

 

Oh God! Please don't let him sing again!!!

 

I saw the sequel today and loved it!

I also loved the original, Pierce Brosnan’s bad singing and all. He is back for more in the sequel.

I thought Lily James was great. Cher looked like she was channeling Lady Gaga, and at times looked like she was having difficulty moving around (??).

This is definitely a summer fluff movie, but somtimes that is a very good thing. It’s beautiful to look at, funny, and touching at times. And Dancing Queen has an uncanny ability to send chills down my spine when performed as a big production number. *laughs* For what it’s worth, I’m not a huge ABBA fan, but there is no denying how catchy and pleasing to the ear those songs are.

 

I saw the sequel today too and loved it. Just like the first one I cannot believe how good the music sounds, it is crystal clear, it just shows you when you have talent like Benny and Bjorn it doesn't matter what decade it is, they can do it like they always did. I love When I Kiss The Teacher, Angel Eyes has always been my favourite Abba song, Cher's version of Fernando is amazing infact I think it was Benny that said Cher's version is the definitive version and the music for that too is oustanding.


One thing that I was surprised by and it was a pleasant surprise was how many of the songs are actually sung by different actors in the movie compared to the soundtrack, a lot of it is live singing and also the way many songs begin and end, Angel Eyes for instance is completely different from the version on the soundtrack and I liked that despite loving the soundtrack version. One Of Us is another great song, another favourite of mine and vocally is completely different in the film. One Of Us is also one of those songs that when you hear it, it's very 80's, the drums, the bass, the plucked guitars and swirling synths and yet in this film and on the soundtrack they recreate it so well and it sounds so high quality you really do think why is no one else doing that? You can talk about 50's Rock and Roll and the 60's and it's creativity, the 70's disco and the loud 80's sound but these guys aren't just recreating what they did and it's a sound alike, this again like the first film is spot on. You would never know that these songs were recorded recently and what it also does for me is it lets me hear what Abba would sound like today. This is what it would sound like and it sounds amazing.

 

Here's what my friend thought of it.

 

me wife loves ABBA. going to see it tonight. at least i managed to negotiate meeting up at a place that serves alcohol directly prior.

 

This a great review and pretty much echoes my own feelings.

I agree that it is a very heartwarming movie, moreso than the original. I was getting choked up near the end!

 

I like ABBA. But I have no time for musicals.

As I have said elsewhere, I expect this is more dross about a bunch of halfwits singing off key whilst running around a Greek island. Whilst pissed.

Still, it doesn't matter what I think. As I have also said elsewhere, this film's box office takings will be equivalent to the GDP of a medium sized country.

 

Me too

 

This was SOOOOO much better for me than the original. The song selections were tailored much better to the performers strengths than the first film. Whoever chose what vocal parts to give Pierce Brosnan in this should get a nice bonus. He comes off a more passable vocalist this go around. It was also nice to hear Cher not drowning in Auto-Tune like she's been since "Believe."

The story time line gets a little wonky. Ignoring the 4 year age difference between Cher & Meryl, the events of the story start in 1979 which puts Sophie's birth in 1980 and Amanda Seyfried is definitely not playing 38 in this. There are other age holes as well I won't bring up as they would spoil things but I'd recommend seeing it. It's shot much better and the transitions between the present and '79 are mostly flawless. I didn't mind the reuse of some tunes from the first film like I thought I would and the deep cuts were mostly savvy choices.

 

Were any animals harmed in the making of the sequel?

 

Humans; the audience?

 

It's hard, I agree...... Big smile, yo ho ho happy nature..... Think nice thoughts......

 

My parrot was appalled when he watched it.

 

my wife's a big fan of Abba in general, and the first Mamma Mia movie in particular, so we saw it Friday night. not a movie i'd have any interest in seeing on my own, but to my surprise, I enjoyed it. Lily James gives an impressive performance, Pierce Brosnan really cracked me up--he seemed to be having the time of his life, and added several goofy flourishes. I enjoyed it right up until Cher's entrance, at which point I started covering my eyes. Plastic surgery gone terribly, terribly wrong, and I also found myself wondering if it was affecting her voice. Her face looks so rubbery and mask-like that it seems like she can barely move her mouth.

 

I thought that the original was terrible, and it ended up being the highest grossing live action musical of all time (at the time). The sequel is getting slightly better reviews and opened with a $76 million worldwide gross, which isn't great, but probably good enough. The first one had really strong "legs" at the box office and that might prove true of the sequel as well. Well, if nothing else, it introduces one of the greatest pop music catalogues of all time to a new generation of teenage girls.

Also, the fact that this is not necessarily targeted to first generation fans means that they can go deeper into the catalogue - beacause 13-year olds don’t know or care what was a hit in 1975.

 

You all really need to watch this review to the end

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10156780552069497

 

I loved that review!

 

The Onion. Always there for us when fakenews lets us down.

 

I think this time none the original 3 men that could have been her father were & now there is a further 10 possible biological fathers.