> November 23 - Rent
>
> This year's Chicago isn't going to hold up to Chicago, which itself was no Moulin Rouge. It's hard for me to complain about anything in the renaissance of musicals, because that in itself has to be a good thing. But I'm not a fan of the show and most definitely not a fan of the director, Chris Columbus.

Believe me, when us Rentheads got wind that Chris Columbus would be directing, more than a few right eyebrows leapt clear off their foreheads. Since then, I think many of them have settled back into place. It turns out that Chris Columbus is also a fairly large fan of the show and specifically asked to take on the project. Hiring six of the eight original Broadway cast principals to reprise their roles was a good first sign, and they've done a very good job of reaching out to the fans over the course of production, most notably in the movie blog and the first teaser trailer (which probably makes the most sense to fans of the show). So I started off cautiously optimistic, and now I'm definitely looking forward seeing the film. (The movie soundtrack was also released at the end of September, so there's less surprises there.)

As for the show itself, it's a little hit and miss for people. The stage version is a bit messy and has flaws due to the circumstances around its author, and it remains to be seen how things are cleaned up in the film. For me, this show is about the music. Nothing hits me quite like these songs.



> November 29 - Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
>
> What...is this? Somebody invested in a sequel to a famous money-loser? I liked The Spirits Within, but its financial failure was the nightmare of studio executives everywhere. And let me get this straight...it's the second, not the seventh movie in the franchise? I assume it's an adaptation of the story of the FF7 game, but does it make any sense to keep the number in the title?

TD covered a few points about it. However, it's important to note that Final Fantasy 7 is the biggest and most popular game in the franchise by a fair margin. Fans have been asking for some sort of sequel or something else for a while (especially considering that FF7 has the most open-ended ending of any Final Fantasy game), and not only did Square Enix finally decide to give them this movie, but they also announced three additional games, to boot (Before Crisis, Dirge of Cerberus, and Crisis Core). So financially, this movie would be a safer bet at least for the Japanese market, and also considering that much of the R&D had already been done for Spirits Within.

It's also worth noting that in Japan the movie was released directly to DVD and UMD, and didn't stop off in theaters. And so far, it's proven successful there. It'll be harder to gauge the performance of the impending North American release, but I was under the impression that it would also be a direct to DVD deal with a few theatrical screenings at select events.