The Phantom of the Opera (2004)

Dir. Joel Schumacher's filmed version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical version of Gaston Leroux's famous French novel (1910). I'd hoped for drama, theatrical, fantastical and fraught with emotions, but what I got was half-hearted at best and Baz Luhrmann-esque at worst. There are some neat cinematic tricks on offer, but overall it's not very exciting.
Emmy Rossum (great hair) does okay, and she sure can sing, but, surprisingly, it's Butler that comes closest to displaying any hint of passion, albeit minor; most everyone else is just there, in costume but not so much in spirit.
The memorable part for me was the first half of the cemetery scene that comes late in the running time; the swamped in dry-ice set was beautiful.

2½ strange duets out of 5

BEAUTIFUL CREATURES [2013]

The comparisons to the more popular supernatural teen romance franchise are inevitable with The Fisher King writer Richard LeGravenese's Beautiful Creatures.
Only what we have here is something much more enjoyable than sparkly vampires with a story that can easily be predicted by the first 5 minutes but it doesn't really matter.  The characters are more interesting, the dialogue is punchier & funnier and the actors are far more appealing, including Jeremy Irons, Emma Thompson and Emmy Rossum turning in some delightful hammy and diabolical performances.  All in all, if there were a franchise, I'd have no problem watching more.

3 three dimensional movies out of 5