where: CENTURY 14 VALLEJO in Vallejo, CA
when: Tuesday, January 5th, 2010
show: 4:10 p.m.
costs: $7.25 Ticket + $3.75 small Diet/Zero ( w/ Barq's & Cherry flavors ) Coke + $1.00 dark chocolate Cookie Dough ( bought at Dollar Tree & smuggled-in ) = $12.00
auditorium: 3
seat: 3rd row, 7th column
synopsis: A famous Italian director of movie musicals, Guido Contini ( Daniel Day-Lewis ), in the '60s is staging a big comeback, only to have demands placed upon him by his producer, the press, and the various women in his life. As his adoring public waits with 'bated breath, will his muse consent to inspire him?
noteworthy scenes: 1.) The women of his life; 2.) News conference; 3.) Bellavista Hotel; 4.) Open wide; 5.) Lovers' game; 6.) Production set; 7.) Folle brassiere; 8.) Imagination, God's garden; 9.) Flashback; 10.) Luisa Contini's ( Marion Cotillard ) song; 11.) Absurdity of being you; 12.) Cinema Italiano; 13.) Not bound by morality; 14.) Guido and Carla's husband; 15.) Costume shoot; 16.) The fountain; 17.) Screen test; 18.) Burlesque dance; 19.) No movie; 20.) Walk in the park; 21.) Nine; and 22.) Ending credits.
audience reaction: A couple of girls in the audience ( there were only about a half dozen of us in the auditorium ) laughed at some of the quips.
recommendation: This movie is strictly for those who are into musicals. It's also for those horndogs out there who are into watching scantily-clad beauties dance in a sexually provocative manner.
spoiler alert! This really is not a musical in its strictest sense. It is, rather, a behind-the-scenes look at the making of a musical, i.e. the conflict of interests, the clash of egos, the high expectations, the time constraints, the sundry pressures--and pleasures, etc. The ending was rather vague in the sense that the women returned into his life as if to let the audience know that it will be "the same old story" all over again, that he'll never make a big comeback. Guido didn't go around pinching girls' butts even though Italian men are famous for it!
fyi: I believe that the movie title, NINE, refers to the nine daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, the muses named: Calliope, Clio, Erato, Euterpe, Melpomene, Polyhymnia, Terpsichore, Thalia and Urania.
I cringed at the scenes where Guido was driving around in a convertible which had no head rests and no roll bars because I'm deathly scared of riding in such things.
Carla's ( Penelope Cruz ) solo act is the stand-out best Song and Dance scene in this movie--horndog approved!
I wanted to make this the last movie that I saw in 2009. But I didn't go to the 10:00 p.m. show on December 31st because I was sick with a cold and fever.
word of advice: Don't lie/cheat your way into someone's heart.
Get everything down on paper, first.
tidbits: Before going to see this movie, I went to CSAA to pay on my membership. As I waited in line, a woman came in and stood directly behind another woman that was being served at the counter by the second of two clerks. I was next in line so I waited to see if she would cut in front of me because I was getting ready to rain down curses, swear words, and insults at her should she be foolish enough to think that I would just let her cut in front of me. After all, if they believe in equal rights then they had better put in their equal share of waiting in line. Luckily for her, another clerk--who probably noticed what was happening--took me to her counter. But, all that time that I was being served, I would on occasion cast glares at the woman from clear across the room in a way that you could have cut the air with a ( misogynistic ) knife.
After the movie, I went to 99 Cent Only Store to buy-up all of their stock ( 33 pieces at 3 for 99 cents ) on a health bar by MLO Products: chocolate mint flavored Xtreme Bar. Now I'm set for the next two or three months for my lunch break at work--sweet!
