Andrew Lloyd Webber's rock opera about one-time Argentinian first lady Eva Peron gets the big screen treatment, and turns out to be about as good as any movie based on this material was ever going to be.
Director Alan Parker doesn't create a movie so much as an extended music video -- the star of the film is the film editor, who works overtime to assemble a non-stop assortment of songs into a narrative that works cinematically. The movie looks extraordinary, a feast for the eyes, and the music sounds great too.
People slobbered over Madonna and Antonio Banderas at the time, and there was actually the sense that Madonna was robbed when she wasn't nominated for an Academy Award. But in retrospect, the Academy made a wise decision. Neither of them really acts so much as strike poses -- Madonna looks beseeching and Banderas lowers his head and glowers. But the two of them have tremendous chemistry, and the first time they appear on the screen together created an almost physical jolt of electricity that I could feel in my seat.
This is a diorama, not a movie, and it shouldn't be mistaken for history, but it's entertaining for what it is.
Grade: B+
Director Alan Parker doesn't create a movie so much as an extended music video -- the star of the film is the film editor, who works overtime to assemble a non-stop assortment of songs into a narrative that works cinematically. The movie looks extraordinary, a feast for the eyes, and the music sounds great too.
People slobbered over Madonna and Antonio Banderas at the time, and there was actually the sense that Madonna was robbed when she wasn't nominated for an Academy Award. But in retrospect, the Academy made a wise decision. Neither of them really acts so much as strike poses -- Madonna looks beseeching and Banderas lowers his head and glowers. But the two of them have tremendous chemistry, and the first time they appear on the screen together created an almost physical jolt of electricity that I could feel in my seat.
This is a diorama, not a movie, and it shouldn't be mistaken for history, but it's entertaining for what it is.
Grade: B+