The story stagnates and the numbers have no energy. Only real qualities are a decent, if unexceptional collection of standards and the two lead women. Can’t stand Sinatra, not as much because of his acting as his singing. His larynx goes up into his brain whenever he tries to sustain a note over 2 seconds and tongue gets tight anywhere above his 5 note middle voice. He doesn’t exactly know how to manage his lower register either, it disappears in relation to his middle voice — and he isn’t intelligent enough to recognize that and phrase accordingly. His phrasing isn’t bad in terms of intention, but that doesn’t matter much when he struggles to put together a line. Maybe that’s because he covers far too much considering his natural talent, which is just making singing these ballads in his voice more difficult. In so many words, Sinatra’s popularity as a singer has always puzzled me, but I guess I just get too focused on technique and am missing some secret quality that appeals to most people. I don’t know. Point is that any movie with 20% of the runtime dedicated to his voice is rough going for me — not that this would be good regardless.
The story stagnates and the numbers have no energy. Only real qualities are a decent, if unexceptional collection of standards and the two lead women. Can’t stand Sinatra, not as much because of his acting as his singing. His larynx goes up into his brain whenever he tries to sustain a note over 2 seconds and tongue gets tight anywhere above his 5 note middle voice. He doesn’t exactly know how to manage his lower register either, it disappears in relation to his middle voice — and he isn’t intelligent enough to recognize that and phrase accordingly. His phrasing isn’t bad in terms of intention, but that doesn’t matter much when he struggles to put together a line. Maybe that’s because he covers far too much considering his natural talent, which is just making singing these ballads in his voice more difficult. In so many words, Sinatra’s popularity as a singer has always puzzled me, but I guess I just get too focused on technique and am missing some secret quality that appeals to most people. I don’t know. Point is that any movie with 20% of the runtime dedicated to his voice is rough going for me — not that this would be good regardless.
