"I wanna be a producer..."

Advantages: Strong vocals and musical leads
Disadvantages: Missing a certain sparkle

...The Producers is one of those films that I've wanted to see for a long time. I can't to be honest think why this is the case but it is and so when I noticed it whilst out shopping the other day I simply had to buy it. Now I knew upon purchasing the film that I was going to be a musical style film with a good helping of humour and to be fair that is what I received. I must say however, and this is reflected in my rating of the film, that I was expecting something else. Now what this something else is I don't know either but all I can tell you is that I was expecting a little sparkle that just wasn't there. The Producers tells the story of Leo Bloom an accountant and a down on his luck producer Max Bialystock who despite Leo's initial reluctance plot a somewhat bent get rich scheme. This scheme however will only succeed if the play...

MI9to5 23.09.2008 · Read review
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Review of The Producers (DVD)

Producing a flop or a hit?

Advantages: Encouraged me to see the stage play
Disadvantages: A bit too theatrical for a film

...Max Bialystock is a producer, but not a very good one. After another flop, he is ready to give up. That is, until he meets shy accountant, Leo Bloom, who suggests that they raise the cash for a play that they know will be hugely unpopular, then pocket the surplus cash once the play has closed. And they think they have found their perfect potential flop in 'Springtime for Hitler', written by Franz Liebkind, a Nazi. Will Bialystock and Bloom be successful in their attempt to fail? Will Bialystock be as rich as he has dreamed of? And will Leo Bloom finally find happiness and a woman to love? I should mention before I go any further that I have not seen the stage version of The Producers, or the original film written and directed by Mel Brooks back in 1968, and so cannot comment on the similarities/differences between them. Nathan...

sunmeilan 12.09.2008 (13.09.2008) · Read review
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Review of The Producers (DVD)

I Want to be a Producer

Advantages: Great song and dance routines and a marvellous central performance from Lane
Disadvantages: A touch too stagey and a less endearing turn from Broderick

...Unscrupulous Broadway producer Max Bialystock discovers he can make more money with a flop than a hit. So with bumbling accountant Leo Bloom, he sets about finding the worst play in history, planning to pocket all the money the moment it closes. Luckily he finds "Springtime for Hitler" - the most tasteless musical ever created. But even with a hopeless cast he finds himself with an unexpected hit on his hands. What's a dishonest man to do to make a little cash? The remake roundabout makes a convoluted stop with a film remake of a stage musical of a film. Broadway director Susan Stroman makes her movie debut with this adaptation of the play that made her name. She feels far too attached to the stage conventions of the piece. Instead of making the most of what film can offer her, she is intent on keeping everything as close to...

afy9mab 22.04.2006 · Read review
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Review of The Producers (DVD)

The Producers - Hit or Miss?

Advantages: Light-hearted, brash, funny in places - great for fans of musical theatre
Disadvantages: Over-acted, poor soundtrack, too long

...Sad to say this film didn't stand much of a chance following as it did my viewing of the outstanding 'Brokeback Mountain' (also reviewed on Ciao by myself). I was hoping for a laugh-out-loud comedy to lighten the mood after feeling fairly crushed from the forementioned film, and lighten the mood this film certainly did. However, laugh-out-loud it was not, and coupled with other short-comings it proved to be a disappointment all round. Written by Mel Brooks and based on the original award-winning musical, 'The Producers' charts the ups and downs (mostly downs) of has-been Broadway producer Max Bialystock (Nathan Lane), and his unlikely partnership with OCD-riddled accountant Leopold Bloom (Matthew Broderick), following a visit by Bloom to look at Bialystock's rather corrupt accounts. The story evolves when during his accounting...

katyparles 05.05.2006 · Read review
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Review of The Producers (DVD)

The Producers Produce a Musical Performance

Advantages: Catchy songs, funny moments, Enjoyable
Disadvantages: Not to everyones taste, not the world's best acting

...I seem to be making a habit of watching films that I have no idea what they are about and The Producers was no exception. My husband had added it to the rental list on Amazon and when we sat down to watch it last week I had no idea what it was about or who was in it. So imagine my surprise when I discovered it was in fact a musical. The film features the actors Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick (Sarah Jessica Parkers husband) and Uma Thurman amongst others. The film was originally produced in 1968 and this is a re-make of the original film and was released in 2005. The original film was made into a Broadway production before the release of this second film. I believe that Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick both appeared in the Broadway musical production before filming this version. The basic plot of the film is that Max...

AJ26 23.06.2007 · Read review
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Review of The Producers (Rental) (DVD)

The Producers: Keeping it Light, Bright and Gay

Advantages: Funny, good acting, good singing.
Disadvantages: More swearing than expected, slightly tasteless show within a show.

...The Producers first opened on Broadway in 2001, and since then has been playing to packed audiences across the world. It came to the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London in November 2004. The only question is...will it flop or will it go? Plot Summary: Max Bialystock is in trouble. His productions are closing on opening night, and things are looking bad. Accountant Leo Bloom turns up to do his books, and makes passing reference to a way where flops could be more profitable than hits - and Max's brain starts to work. What follows is Leo's move from accountant to Broadway producer, Max's epiphany, and a realisation that friendship matters more than almost anything else. This realisation goes via the worst play ever written ("Springtime for Hitler") and the worst director ever born (Roger DeBris). If there's any justice in...

xalala 16.05.2005 · Read review
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Review of The Producers - Musical

The Producer

Advantages: Good fun music, cheap to buy
Disadvantages: Some lame songs

...I'm going to over-simplify some history here regarding SAW. Mike Stock and Matt Aitken did the music and tunes essentially and Pete Waterman did the overall producing and yet this "Hit Factory" album is called "Pete Waterman's Greatest Hits". To be fair, a lot of the material on this album happened after the rather acrimonious SAW split so that's ok. However some of the songs are real SAW efforts and others only have very loose connections and were only on the PWL label. This doesn't mean Waterman produced them though. Here's a track listing and then I'll go through each song and what I like/dislike about it. SIDE ONE 1. I Should Be So Lucky - Kylie Minogue 2. Never Gonna Give You Up - Rick Astley 3. Too Many Broken Hearts - Jason Donovan 4. Venus - Bananarama 5. Respectable - Mel & Kim 6. The Harder I try - Brother...

Mel27 08.09.2004 (21.07.2005) · Read review
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Review of Hit Factory, The (Pete Waterman's Greatest Hits) [ECD] - Various Artists

Nazi pigeons and tap dancing Zimmer frames.

Advantages: Very funny
Disadvantages: None really

...Just so there is no confusion from the start this is a review of the theatre production of Mel Brooks, The Producers, currently showing at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, Covent Garden and not the film that is probably showing at a cinema near you. It had been a few years since I had been to see a West End musical as I had become a bit jaded over what was on offer however last summer I took the kids to see their first musical, We Will Rock You" and I enjoyed it so much I decided to treat my mother to tickets to The Producers for her Christmas present. The Plot Max Bialystock is a Broadway Producer who is down on his luck, former top dog nowadays opening night for one of his musicals often coincides with closing night as the critics slam dunk his work often leaving at the end of the first act. He has been reduced to seducing old...

atticusuk 19.01.2006 · Read review
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Review of The Producers - Musical

Magicard produces Magic results

Advantages: Reliable, high quality outputs
Disadvantages: 30 seconds per badge, a little noisy

...Background We have used Magicard badge printers for approximately 5 years now to produce ID badges for staff and students alike. We started off with a couple of the original white RIo printers and upgraded to the Rio 2 model 3 years ago. Since then we have bought 7 of these devices for our various campuses and print out on average 10, 000 cards per year. As well as standard printing, there are various other clever functions these printers can do such as produce holograms, write to magnetic strips should your cards have them and produce bar codes. Whats in the box These things are not small and are also quite heavy. They come extremely well packed with thick polystyrene padding. As well as the printer, you get the mains lead, a parellel cable AND a USB cable, a drivers CD which also contains the user manual...

craggybuk 05.09.2007 (31.08.2009) · Read review
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Review of Magicard Rio 2

Pocket-sized Panasonic produces perfect pictures.

Advantages: Too many to list, please read review.
Disadvantages: Poorly situated controls.

...not so if you are a novice or just want to capture great pictures without having to think about settings then this unit is going to get it right where many other compacts fail to do so. The built in optical image stabilisation or (OIS) for short, works wonders on this camera and you can get hand held blur free shots in situations that would otherwise be impossible, even in poor light at dusk and with the zoom at maximum I was able to hand hold for blur free images of passing trains, most compacts could not have gotten near the clarity of image that this unit produced in such circumstances. Ok so with everything going so well this review was going to be like it had been written by the rep himself and not at all a balanced independent appraisal like the ones you have come to expect from me so I was glad when I found t least a couple...

thebigc1690 18.09.2009 · Read review
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Review of Panasonic Lumix DMC-FT1