Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Jersey Boys (2014)

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Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 06-22-2014, 03:50 PM:

CINEMA: Cinemark West Valley City and XD, West Valley City, UT
AUDITORIUM: 8
PRESENTATION: Mystery Meat Digital
PRESENTATION PROBLEMS: None [Cool]

RATING: Two stars (out of four)

The biggest revelation about this two-week old 10-plex is that it does NOT have a self-serve concession, and the lobby is on the end of the building, not in the middle. It's laid out like Hollywood builds under Wallace. There's some decor style modifications, but it still looks like a Century-Cinemark hybrid. They still use Century murals over the concession counter.

THE PLOT: Jersey punks go national. Wackiness ensues.

Based on the musical, this...isn't a musical. At all.

It has music, of course. Live performances and studio recording snippets. But it's not a musical until the end credits.

What happens between the music bits is Lifetime TV movie quality scenes. It's not even on the level of "That Thing You Do!", which I consider a guilty pleasure at best.

This could have been really good with a grittier presence. They seriously blew this.

Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 06-22-2014, 07:51 PM:

Well, the mikes were date correct. The tape carts and green Altec transistorized amps were not only too late for the time period, but were set up for Dolby theatre playback.! Louis

Posted by Terry Monohan (Member # 8285) on 06-23-2014, 09:46 PM:

Did not need to rated R. Very few F words or sex. I have told my friends that are playing this in single screen theatres to put up on the marquee if room THE 4 SEASONS 'Jersey Boys'. The new young people today have no idea about this great music in the film from the 60's that the 4 Seasons recorded. At least some of the older people will connect with the name 4 Seasons that don't know about the play Jersey Boys. When Jersey Boys the stage musical played in SF many seniors got up and left after the intermission because of all the bad language. At least Clint cleaned It up for the movie version and did a great job with the music part of the story. The stereo surround worked great for me.

Posted by Mark Lensenmayer (Member # 134) on 06-24-2014, 08:24 PM:

First, the Ohio State Fair is in COLUMBUS, not CLEVELAND. Never has been in Cleveland. And, no Ohio State Police...it's the Ohio Highway Patrol.

OK, now about the movie.

Things were good until "My Eyes Adored You". I'm thinking, that's from the late '70's, why have it so early in the movie. Things went downhill from there. Story of daughter really dragged things down. Movie seemed too long and too much like a stage play. There was even an unnecessary "curtain call".

Singing was good. John Lloyd Young is terrific as Frankie, but the movie seemed to be more about Tommy than Frankie.

Sound at the Marcus Ultrascreen DLX in ATMOS was excellent. This room is very comfortable with the recliner chairs (I'm avoiding any theatre that doesn't have these.) I did notice one odd thing: when I put my head back against the headrest, there was a very slight increase in the mid-range from my head in a more upright position. Never heard that in a traditional theatre.

Not Clint's best work...I think he should have stopped with GRAN TORINO.

Rating: C

Posted by Terry Lynn-Stevens (Member # 7349) on 06-24-2014, 08:35 PM:

Mark, is the movie a musical like "Mamma Mia" or no?

Posted by Mark Lensenmayer (Member # 134) on 06-25-2014, 06:58 AM:

In a musical, the songs move the story or characters along. In this movie, the music just illustrates what is happening at the time. The only thing like a musical is the final curtain call. The movie would have been better with more 4-Seasons music in the second half.

Posted by Terry Lynn-Stevens (Member # 7349) on 06-25-2014, 08:53 PM:

quote: Sam Graham
Lifetime TV movie quality scenes

Sad to see what type of movies Clint Eastwood is churning out these days. All of his familiar crew (cinematography, producer, editor) are all there but man this movie is bad. This movie would never of made it to cinemas if Eastwood's name was not attached to it.

I walked out 25 minutes into the movie and saw something else.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 06-25-2014, 11:10 PM:

quote: Terry Lynn-Stevens
this movie is bad.

quote: Terry Lynn-Stevens
I walked out 25 minutes into the movie

The second quote makes the first one completely worthless. You haven't seen the movie so how do you know it's bad? That's like watching only the first 15 minutes of "The Wizard of Oz" and saying the cinematography is terrible.

Posted by Stu Jamieson (Member # 4626) on 07-12-2014, 09:02 PM:

Jersey Boys is Clint Eastwood's film adaptation of the hit stage musical of the same name. It should be noted that Eastwood's film is not a musical but rather features performances of The Four Seasons' music to signpost defined periods within the band's chronology. Correspondingly, the film is perfectly suited for those who love The Four Seasons music but do not possess a commensurate love of musicals (like me!) and as such appeals to a slightly different market. A smaller market it would seem given the film does not appear to be as successful as it's theatrical predecessor.

John Lloyd Young reprises his Broadway performance and is a good choice. He sounds much like Frankie Valli and he delivers an excellent acting performance as well. Admittedly he is restricted somewhat by his baby face - he still looks like a kid as he gets older - but the changes in his personality as he ages is well defined and well delivered.

Performances by the other band members, Vincent Piazza, Michael Lomenda and Erich Bergen are also good. And local don Christopher Walken is, well, an icon. Enough said.

Eastwood takes ample artistic licence with the presentation of the songs. Songs are, at times, used to reflect the feelings of the band members rather than the precise timeline in which they featured. Indeed the timeline generally can be difficult to pinpoint. Few dates are given within the film, instead we're left with mostly style cues to roughly determine the time period where each event takes place. This is smart as it helps guide us through the emotional narrative of the film but a documentary this is not.

Curiously, what is probably The Four Season's most enduring hit, "December, 1963 (Oh What a Night)", is not featured within the narrative of the film - though it is included as part of a whole-cast musical reprise at the film's conclusion. Presumably this is because that song was recorded in the mid 70's by a different Four Seasons line-up than is the focus of Eastwood's film and Valli only sings but a portion of that song. So, again, this is probably a smart decision.

Jersey Boys is one of those stories where looking from the outside you think, "wow, these guys had it so great", only to find that underneath it all it was actually a bit shit. In this regard the story is life affirming insofar as it reminds most of us how good our relatively boring lives really are. But beyond the darker side of the story presented, Jersey Boys remains a fun toe-tapper; a reminder of great music passed; and a reminder of fun times in our youth.

8 out of 10

Posted by Jonathan Goeldner (Member # 4854) on 07-12-2014, 11:00 PM:

the pacing of the movie was dreadful - even though with the movie's running time closing mirroring the play's incarnation - the play had energy - here, though, it felt lacking.