Film: Wicked

 

GENRE: Musical
RATING: PG for thematic material
RUNTIME: 2 hours and 40 minutes
PLATFORM: Movie Theatre
STARRING: Cynthia Erivo (The Outsider, Pinocchio, Genius, Harriet)
Ariana Grande (Hairspray Live!, Don’t Look Up); Jonathan Bailey (Bridgerton)
DIRECTOR: Jon M. Chu (In the Heights, Crazy Rich Asians)
WRITERS: Winnie Holzman (Wicked original musical, My So-Called Life)
Dana Fox (The Lost City, Cruella, Isn’t it Romantic, The Wedding Date)
PLOT: Elphaba, the green witch, and Glinda becomes friends at school long before Dorothy arrives at Oz.    

FULL DISCLOSURE: I’ve seen the Broadway musical six times.

STORY STUFF: I was a little worried going in. This film has been so overblown in its marketing that I was skeptical that it could live up to the hype. I was more than pleasantly surprised. This film does an outstanding job of capturing all the cleverness and amazingness of the stage musical and kicks it up a notch with awesome production design and fun add-ons. Be aware that this is just part one, so it ends when the intermission would happen, which happens to be ‘Defying Gravity’, one of the best act one closing numbers (behind Les Mis’ ‘One Day More’). Despite my love of the songs ‘Popular’ and ‘Defying Gravity,’ I would say my favourite performance is ‘What Is This Feeling?’ which involves the classmates and a lot of great back and forth. While I think the running time is long, I’m not actually sure what I would cut out of this adaptation. You could shave a lingering moment here and there but not much more. My bigger concern is that this first half of the musical is far better than the second half as it has a lot more catchy songs. I hope they can wow me with the second half.  

ACTING STUFF: Not surprisingly, Ariana Grande is perfectly cast as Galinda or later Glinda. She has the singing chops and tosses her hair like a pro. She is mesmerizing and I hear may get an Oscar nomination for her efforts. Erivo also has an amazing voice and plays Elphaba well although I wish there was a bit more apprehension with her friendship with Glinda. The rest of the cast is dynamite and show their enthusiasm on the screen. Jeff Goldblum is fun as the wizard. I always enjoy Bowen Yang (SNL). There is also a wonderful cameo moment I won’t spoil but you can probably guess.

ARTISTIC STUFF: Production design is amazing with it’s beautiful architecture and intricate design. It is a feast for the eyes. It is definitely needed to be seen on the large screen. The costumes match the beauty and weirdness of the stage production. The singing is incredible although I wish my theatre had more surround sound.  

VERDICT: Five stars out of five
SEE IT IF: You’ve seen the musical or haven’t but wanted to
UPCOMING REVIEW:  Gladiator II

Film: Here

 

GENRE: Drama
RATING: PG-13 for brief language and thematic material
RUNTIME: 1 hour and 44 minutes
PLATFORM: Movie Theatre
STARRING: Tom Hanks (Forrest Gump; A Man Called Otto; Big, Sully)
Robin Wright (House of Cards; Gump); Paul Bettany (Da Vinci Code)
DIRECTOR: Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump; Back to the Future)
WRITERS: Eric Roth (Gump; Dune: Part One; Ali; A Star is Born)
Zemeckis (Back to the Future; Polar Express; The Walk; Pinocchio)
PLOT: A generational story centered on a place where life happens.   

FULL DISCLOSURE: The experimentation intrigued me.

STORY STUFF: While I liked the concept; the writers squandered so many opportunities in this film. Don’t get me wrong, there are a number of great scenes and clever through-lines but there is also a lot missing. The idea of illness that permeated all the generations was well placed. There is a moment where black parents are giving their child precise instructions on what to do if they are pulled over by a cop. This is done well but would have had more impact if we saw other families giving parental advice to their children also. We get snap shots and drive-by lines to tell the story where a longer scene could help me get more invested in the lives of the characters. There’s a lot more things that could happen in a living room. I also did not believe that no one in the house cared that The Beatles were on Ed Sullivan.

ACTING STUFF: The acting is fine. I was not impressed with any performance in particular. Again this may be because I wasn’t given enough time to fully appreciate each moment in this house.            

ARTISTIC STUFF: I did enjoy the experiment. The camera is locked in place for the entire film; it did not bother me in the slightest. I liked the box-y editing of time switches. I was interested as a video editor. The set dressing was amazing with all the different times represented. I guess you could say the same for the costuming, although Hanks had bad style throughout. The music was a bit overdone at times although I did move my head to a couple of song choices.

VERDICT: Three stars out of five
SEE IT IF: You are interested in the experiment
UPCOMING REVIEW:  Red One; Wicked