Just saw the trailer for this and really excited!
I loved Once, the natural and elegant way it was made was such a breath a fresh air and not to mention the music was fantastic!
So has anyone caught some early screening of this?
How was it?
Saw it at TIFF (when it was called 'Can a Song Save Your Life?') and while it's a good movie, it is nowhere near as good as Once.
The music is good but not very memorable and engaging (with a couple exceptions) and as whole it just felt too... I don't know...Hollywood?
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-'What do you look for in another human being?'
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I've only heard keira, 29, sing in '08 "the edge of love" and carey mulligan, 29, sing in '13 "inside llewyn davis" (and I think "shame"(?)) - I think they both have nice singing voices, though I think they could both sing more strongly with more air support from their "core"/stomach area, but it takes balls to sing a solo in front of people, let alone in a film that will be seen by many people, so congrats to both of them and others willing to do that/try that :) - I believe everyone can sing (and dance, make art, etc.), I really do (unless they have hearing and/or other physical reasons why they can't) - I think keira could do with a bit more muscle on her body, same with many film/tv actresses/actors i.m.o., but hey, to each their own - I think '06 "once" benefitted from some really good songs and good singing and instrument-playing by glen hansard, 44, marketa irglova, 26 (I didn't realize he was almost 20 years older than her and they apparently dated, hmmm omg), and/or others - you can't "judge" a film before you've seen it - I still would like to see keira kiss Orlando, 37, again in a film, hehe, like Sandra bullock, 49, and Keanu reeves, 49, kissed again in '06 "the lake house" after their famous pairing in '94 "speed" and other movie couples
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it's very different than ONCE. I loved it, I was entertained and there was something very pure about it. It was really a love letter to the lower east side of NYC along with 'how a song can save your life'. In this case, the lives of several. Everyone is really good and Adam Levine's vocal talent has never been showcased like this.
I'd see it again in a minute. I don't care if it's called trite and simplistic, there should be more movies like this.
Thought it very, very similar to once in that 2 people meet, collaborate and then...ending a bit different. Begin Again's ending wasn't what I would have preferred.
shareAgree. Better story, music better integrated into the story.
shareAbsolutely, totally agree.
shareTotally agree.
shareWay better than Once
1st of all, singin in Once wuz awful...da guy can't sing
Actin wuz horrid in Once. Lez face it, they're not real actorz
Dis is a good story and very well directed. I worried a bit bec timeline wuz altered but it came 2getther in da end
Grate actin includin Levine who playz a grate dbag
Werd 2 ur mudda, bruddafcker
1st of all, singin in Once wuz awful...da guy can't sing
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First of all, I respect you opinion. However, most of the viewers would naively be taken by polished pop treatment that ‘Begin Again’ has, and ‘Once’ is mostly avoiding. Begin Again has range of songs that are much more versatile, all polished and produced and then presented as "relaxed" performance. Specially with outdoor performances, where one could be misled by polished sound, and mistaken for genuine performance.
While in the movie ‘Once’ entire foundation, or motive if you will, is targeting only one song: Falling Slowly
Once is completely humble with acting performance while no so entirely with ‘Begin Again’ where there are many scenes with slightly weak or overacting moments. Begin Again obviously has much more resources and I like outdoor performances idea. There is certain charm and refreshing part of the movie with such decision. Nice songwriting in some songs, relaxed, simple arrangements, but pleasant. But Once is much more courteous and truthful when I compare them.
There are too many controlled and forced aspects disguised in 'Once Again' as casual outcome. Not so with Once.
by mikeyflatley » Sat Jun 28 2014 02:31:09share
1st of all, singin in Once wuz awful...da guy can't sing Actin wuz horrid in Once. Lez face it, they're not real actorz Dis is a good story and very well directed. I worried a bit bec timeline wuz altered but it came 2getther in da end Grate actin includin Levine who playz a grate dbag
Soundz like another snooty review by a typical art houz movie goer
Werd 2 ur mudda, bruddafckka
Personally, I liked it better than Once. Not that Once was a bad movie, it was great, but I hated the fact that it felt like it needed to make Glen's character fall for the girl. No need for it. This fixes that. No tacked on love plot between the two main characters. They loved the music and that was their relationship.
shareNo tacked on love here but ending, to me, a bit of a sellout.
shareI love both Once and Begin Again, and while they have their similarities, I agree that they are definitely different films. As Once focuses more on the romantic relationship, Begin Again is more concerned with the shared healing their music creates, as previously mentioned.
I was quite presently surprised to see that this didn't go the typical rom-com route by the closing credits. For Dan, he is finally able to reconcile with his family, and for Greta, she could move on with her life and free herself from the toxic relationship with Dave.
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I loved that it didn't go with the typical rom-com either.
When Keira and Mark go back to her place after listening to music all night with the ear phone splitter and they almost hook up for that quick second I kept saying to myself, "don't do it, don't do it!!" and I'm so glad they didn't ruin it and have them hook up. She needed to choose herself, it was the best ending.
It's very different than Once, and I preferred this move to Once myself, probably because of the ending, as I said it my spoiler above. But these two movies are completely different, one is about a whirlwind of emotions and feelings and just trying to get a demo put together to have, and the other is about recovering from a bad breakup and trying to find yourself in the world.
Better story, worse music (ok though). No rom-com ending, which is great.
shareThe critics who are assuming Carney wanted to remake Once are mostly disliking the movie, but other than the fact that it's set in the music business, and there's a male lead and a female lead, the movies have little in common. (In fact, now that I've put it that way, I have even less respect for those critics.)
The songs aren't nearly as good. The story is much more developed. The characters are more "movie" than the absolutely real couple at the heart of Once, yet by the standards of most Hollywood films, they are unpredictable and well-developed.
As in Once, everything about the creating and playing of music is spot-on.
I have Once as a 9.8/10 and one of my fifty favorite films of all time. I have this one as an 8.9 and maybe my 5th favorite film of the year, although I doubt it will end up in the top 20 once I've seen everything. I do hope to see it again, though (since I can see it for free with my membership at the local arthouse cinema).
Bottom line is that Once was a once-in-a-lifetime stroke of genius, and this is simply a very good film completely worth seeing.
Prepare your minds for a new scale of physical, scientific values, gentlemen.share
Someone told me the other day that there was a Carney film in the cinemas this week and I was straight down to see it. Loved every minute of it, couldn't stop smiling all the way through, such a feelgood movie with some excellent performances, the next time I see James Corden or Keira Knightley on the poster I will think about watching rather than avoiding.
There were moments of tension when Gretta and Dan looked at each other, but I trusted it as a Carney film that we weren't bound to get a Hollywood ending, that the real romance in this romcom was the saggy and bruised relationship between Dan and Miriam - looking back the high spot of the movie is when Dan leaves the family home to get back in the car, he's regained the spring in his step and Miriam watches through a crack in the front door as he gets back in the car and gives Gretta the once over. Yes he's having an affair and that's ok. The other romance is between Dan and music. I don't know much about the music industry, in this film I see that its taken Dan and spitted him out and there he is in a bar, very drunk, when Gretta gets up to play.
This morning I've tried listening to the music and the Once soundtrack is back on very quickly. Once was a one-off, a great film that grabbed my heart at the time and still does, and led to a real-lie relationship between the nearly lovers of the film. Its much more than a film. Carney is to be congratulated for recreating the vibe of Once. I shall be back to the cinema to see this again before its cinema run finishes.
Holy *beep* A perfect review. I agree with every single keystroke.
shareSaw this movie today and found a lot to like but thought the music was lacking with a few exceptions. The music in Once was much better IMO. But... they are very different movies, as mentioned by others.
shareIf u loved once, u will love this one. I liked the *idea* of both but find that these song collaboration movies (as opposed to musicals) are a wee bit ehhhh...I want to love them but don't quite. That being said, I thought Ruffalo's performance nearly Oscar worthy.
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