A dreary extravaganza that only the Academy (and like minded) could fall for. Overlong and over everything - saddled with some of the most forgettable songs in a long memory. Why waste so much talent on so little substance? Looking at the box office returns the public must have smelled a BOMB or word-of-mouth headed them off at the pass...before they sacrificed their time and money. Disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein, would have liked being involved with this debauched debacle especially if they let him anywhere near the casting sessions!. Director Rob Marshal tried for another attempt at the success of "Chicago" but came unstuck BIG time. The movies this farce is based on, belong to those groups of pretentious works that were carefully groomed as 'products' - to be promoted as 'art' - along with a group of artists the informed public had little time for - till, the world 'Money Machine' got behind them and made it impossible not to notice them. From there, it became very difficult for honest critics to speak out against them for fear of being ostracized by the 'in-crowd'. Some will enjoy this movie, many more won't.

Nine (2009) is the film version of the famous Broadway production of the same title. The story centers around a famous Italian film director (Daniel Day Lewis). This movie is all about him trying desperately to find direction in his life. He is surrounded by different women, from his wife (Marion Cotillard), his mistress (Penelope Cruz), and his "muse" (Nicole Kidman), plus more. Daniel Day Lewis's character is very much lost, he loves his wife, yet he hungers for more. He never seems to be satisfied. He seeks inspiration from his muse, yet he cannot seem to get inspired to write this new movie. He sees his mistress, even though he still loves his wife. Basically, his whole life is a mess in this movie. I'll start with the things I liked in this film. I loved most of the acting and casting. I absolutely adored Daniel Day Lewis in his starring role, not only does he look the part, but he also commands the part. I felt his pain and his emotion through his strong performance. I loved Marion Cotillard in her role as his wife. She deserved the academy award nomination instead of Cruz if you ask me. Her singing scenes are a couple of my favorite scenes in the entire film, she is not only a fantastic singer, but she is also able to pull the viewer into that scene and make them relate to what she's feeling. I liked Nicole Kidman. Her role is less substantial, but she still plays it well and I liked her singing. Fergie's "Be Italian" was just fantastic, I adored her commanding singing voice and that whole scene in general was a complete show stopper. The writing was overall good I'd say, it wasn't as solid as I've seen in other musical films though. I loved Judi Dench in her role, she commanded it and showed off her the obvious talent. Another big positive was the costuming and makeup. It was dazzling, graceful, and just breathtaking in general. Now for the negative aspects of the movie. Kate Hudson. Now normally I just love Kate Hudson. Loved her in how to lose a guy in 10 days, almost famous, and other movies, but she was fundamentally wrong for this role. First of all, her role was pretty unnecessary, and she didn't sell it at all. Her singing scene looked great, but her singing wasn't that good and I didn't feel any impact at all from that performance she headlined. Also, there was a section of the movie, in the middle, where I felt it was kind of disjointed. I think the beginning was strong and the last about 50 minutes was solid I felt, but in the middle, I think it could've and should've been stronger. Overall, if you like musicals I'd say it's not the greatest musical movie ever, but it's good overall and you'll enjoy it. But if you do not enjoy musicals, then I'd say skip it. Personally I really enjoy musicals, and I personally recommend it, even if it does have its flaws. 7/10 for Nine.

This is awful. Chicago was horrible but this is horrific. The singing is rubbish, the acting terrible and the filming absolutely atrocious. The terrible fake Italian accents put me off from scene one, and got progressively worse from then onward. THe singing was possibly even worse than the accents.Daniel Day Lewis and Judi Dench were the worst but the others not much better.I was hoping that at least the cinematography would make up for the weak plot and non-existent storyline, but alas it was not to be. False backgrounds and unrealistic shots of Rome and Italy were the final straw for me. I won't even comment on the lighting, it is not even worth mentioning.I cannot fathom how this movie got nominated for four Oscars. Just awful.

"Nine" is the story of a man whose love-interests include both Nicole Kidman and Penélope Cruz. And no, it's not a filmed biography of Tom Cruise. It started life as a stage musical suggested by Federico Fellini's semi- autobiographical film "8½". The film version was directed and produced by Rob Marshall, who also made "Chicago", another twenty-first century film based on a stage musical, something much rarer today than it would have been fifty or sixty years ago. The main character is Guido Contini, an Italian film-maker obviously based on Fellini himself. The action takes place in the Italy of the early sixties, with occasional black- and-white flashbacks to earlier periods in Contini's life. The plot concerns Contini's efforts to overcome writer's block and to complete his latest film "Italia", and also his relations with the various women in his life. These include his beautiful wife Luisa, his equally beautiful mistress Carla, his leading lady Claudia Jenssen, his mother, his costume designer Lilli and Stephanie, an American journalist trying to interview him. Contini is also influenced by memories of Saraghina, the prostitute to whom he lost his virginity. Daniel Day-Lewis is possibly the most talented actor currently working in the cinema. He is certainly among the most versatile. What impresses me about his work is that every character he plays seems so completely different from every other character he has played. He has been equally convincing as the disabled Irish writer Christie Brown in "My Left Foot", as the frontiersman Hawkeye in "The Last of the Mohicans", as the upper-class Victorian gentleman Newland Archer in "The Age of Innocence", as the thuggish Bill the Butcher in "Gangs of New York", as the tormented Daniel Plainview in "There Will Be Blood" and as President Lincoln. Interestingly, although Day-Lewis is English by birth, most of his characters have been American or Irish; Cecil Vyse in "A Room with a View" is a rare example of him playing an Englishman."Nine" represents a new departure for Day-Lewis in two ways; it is his first musical and the first film in which he plays an Italian. (He learned to speak Italian for the role, even though most of his lines are in English). As far as his acting is concerned he is as good as ever, making the smooth, charming playboy film director Contini yet another in his gallery of memorable characters. I have to say, however, that he does not have the world's best singing voice; great actors are not always great singers, as we found out when Meryl Streep, who in her talent and versatility can be regarded as a female version of Day-Lewis, tackled a musical with "Mamma Mia!" (To be fair I should also point out that the reverse also holds true; great singers are not always great actors). On the female side, however, the singing is generally very good. Stacy Ferguson, of course, is a professional singer, but most of her co-stars are actresses whom one would not automatically associate with musicals. (Stacy is here billed simply as "Fergie" but I use her full name lest any British readers should be misled into thinking that our former Duchess of York should have commenced an acting career playing an Italian prostitute. A frightening thought). Marion Cotillard as Luisa has a particularly melodious voice. Kidman is much better here than she was in her previous musical, the dreadful "Moulin Rouge", although I was surprised she won the role of Claudia ahead of Catherine Zeta Jones who was so good in "Chicago". Cruz is excellent as Carla, both as singer and actress, and Sophia Loren's voice is remarkably good for a woman who was in her mid seventies when she made the film, although she looks considerably younger. (She does not look old enough to be Day-Lewis's mother, although in reality she would have been 23 when he was born. Perhaps her scenes are meant to reflect Contini's memories of his mother at an earlier period of her life). The musical numbers are all very professionally done and reminiscent of Marshall's work on "Chicago". Unlike "Chicago", however, which was largely jazz-based in keeping with its 1920s setting, "Nine" uses a variety of different musical styles; some songs are reminiscent of jazz, some of sixties pop, some of the traditional Broadway musical. All the cast enter into the spirit of the film, and I think that it is this spirit which makes the film so enjoyable. The film has a stylishness and an irresistible vivacity about it, qualities which carry us along and make us forget about the flimsy plot or the fact that Day-Lewis is unlikely ever to be crowned as the new Pavarotti. It is perhaps appropriate that one of the film's liveliest numbers is titled "Be Italian!", and another one "Cinema Italiano", because it reminds us of the vogue for all things Italian- Italian films, Italian fashions, Italian design- which prevailed in Britain, America and other countries in the late fifties and early sixties. Italy- and especially Rome- was seen as the place to be. It is the spirit of this time and place which the film celebrates- the spirit of La Dolce Vita. 8/10