[I review the Oscar-nominated movies "Wicked," and "Anora," as well as Clint Eastwood's latest movie "Juror #2," and "The Critic" starring Ian McKellen]
Wicked (2024)
Here is the backstory on why the Wicked Witch of the West from "The Wizard of Oz," became "wicked."
[Note: If you are a big fan of this movie, then probably best if you cover your eyes now and scroll down to read the rest of my trenchant reviews, because I was not a fan of this film.]
Let me say at the outset that I started watching this film with a rather jaundiced view.
First of all, this is not one of my favorite musicals. I am more of a classic musical girl - "West Side Story," "Singin' in the Rain," "My Fair Lady," you know, those oldies but goodies. Though I have been known to love some newer ones like "The Book of Mormon."
But secondly, and more importantly, I am not a fan of these Part 1 and Part 2, etc. movies, a pattern which seems to be happening more and more ("Dune" and "Mission Impossible," do you hear me?), and it is especially a problem in this case, when Part I is just the first act of the play and that one act is almost THREE HOURS LONG! That's longer than sitting in a theatre for the entire play which runs for less than three hours and with a 15 minute intermission! If the movie industry is worried about getting people into the theatres, then it needs to stop trying to wring as much money out of us by making us not only wait for Part II of movies, but making us pay twice to see the entire story.
And if you want to see Part II of "Wicked," you will have to wait until November!
I started this blog over ten years ago and for all of that time I went to the theatre every Friday. But now I have a 75" TV at home, I can rent movies soon after their release for what it would cost me and my significant other to go to the theatre, and I don't have to put up with people talking behind me and crinkling their candy wrappers in the theatre, so why wouldn't I stay home with a glass of wine to keep me company? Wine doesn't talk or crinkle. The movie industry needs to figure out how to get this movie fan out of the house and back into the theatre, and making overlong movies, where I have to wait a year to see Part II, is not the way to do it.
But that said, I like director, Jon M. Chu, I liked his "Crazy Rich Asians" and his memoir, "Viewfinder," so I decided to give this the benefit of the doubt.
The film (screenplay by Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox) begins with Glinda the Good (Ariana Grande) in Munchkinland celebrating the death of the Wicked Witch of the West. A child asks Glinda why wickedness happens and she tells the story of Elphaba Thropp (Cynthia Erivo), who sadly, was born with green skin and rejected by her parents. She was also ostracized because of that, and also, because she just happened to have uncontrollable magical abilities. Turns out Glinda and Elphaba had known each other.
They met when Glinda was actually Galinda and Elphaba had accompanied her younger sister, Nessarose (Marissa Bode), to Shiz University. Nessarose was wheelchair bound and Elphaba was helping her get situated. While there, Elphaba had an unintentional release of her powers, and it was witnessed by Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh), the Dean of Sorcery Studies. Intrigued, Madame Morrible offered to enroll Elphaba and tutor her privately. Elphaba accepted in the hopes that she would meet the Wizard of Oz and he would "de-greenafy" her. Turns out, Elphaba's roommate was the bubbly Galinda and let's just say they didin't get along. In fact, Galinda was kind of a mean girl and her friends were not very nice to Elphaba either.
Shiz University was not your everyday college. It employed talking animals as teachers but when Elphaba arrived, the animal teachers were facing discrimination, especially the popular Dr. Dillamond, a talking Goat (voice of Peter Dinklage). Elphaba tells him that the Wizard can help. But things get worse for the animals.
But happily, Elphaba receives an invitation to meet the Wizard who has heard of her powers. By this time, Galinda has changed her name to Glinda and she and Elphaba have become friends. She accompanies Elphaba to meet the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) where things don't go as planned. Elphaba leaves Shiz University on a broomstick singing the classic "Defying Gravity." Also, many song and dance numbers took place before that. Because, hey, it's a musical!
And that's the end of Part I. Actually, the end of ACT I. Three hours for just Act I of the play, a play where you can watch it in its entirety in less than three hours!
Okay, so I gave it the benefit of the doubt and...sorry, for me, the movie was a snooze fest. When you take a three hour story and turn it into a six hour story, there is bound to be a LOT of down time. I confess that I had to fast-forward through some of it (yet another reason to watch at home)!
But I want to stay positive, so here is what I liked:
- Though I expected that Cynthia Arivo would be good in this because she is a theatre kid and a great singer, Ariana Grande was a revelation. Who knew she could sing like an operatic soprano? And she can act too. She was my favorite thing about the film.
- The set design and cinematography were first rate, and the film has an epic feel. It's beautiful to look at.
What I didn't like:
- As I said, this is not one of my favorite musicals. I can sing at least 3-5 songs from the classic musicals like "South Pacific," "Oklahoma" and "West Side Story." I challenge you to sing even one other song from this musical besides "Popular" and "Defying Gravity." If you don't leave the theatre humming the tunes, what's the point of seeing a musical?
- I won't rant about the Part I and Part II thing again, because you already know.
- And for some reason, I don't like Michelle Yeoh.
But it looks like I am alone in my disappointment, though I do have friends who are fans of the musical play, who said they didn't recognize much of what was going on in this Part I. Duh...no offense to my friends, but that's what happens when you turn a two-and-a-half hour play into a six hour movie in two parts. There has to be a LOT of padding.
However, the movie was named one of the best films of 2024 by the American Film Institute and won best film at the National Board of Review. It has ten Academy Award nominations (including Best Picture, Best Actress for Erivo and Best Supporting Actress for Grande) and a record-tying five nominations at the 31st Screen Actors Guild Awards. It also won Cinematic and Box Office Achievement at the 82nd Golden Globe Awards. It has grossed $718 million worldwide on a $150 million budget, becoming the highest-grossing musical film adaptation of all time, and the fifth-highest grossing film of 2024.
So, okay, I am in the minority about this film.
Will I watch Part II? I probably will because hardly anything happened in Part I, but I will watch at home where a glass of wine will help numb my jaundiced view and disappointment.
Rosy the Reviewer says...despite the accolades, I can't recommend this. It was not "popular" with me. (for rent on Amazon Prime).
Anora (2024)
Anora "Ani" Mikheeva (Mikey Madison) is a 23-year-old stripper living in Brighton Beach, a part of Brooklyn with many Russian residents. She is a sweet girl who lives one life at home and one life at the clubs, but she is also a "boss girl." Don't mess with her. She speaks Russian, and because of that, her boss introduces her to Ivan "Vanya" Zakharov (Mark Eydelshteyn), the 21-year-old son of a wealthy Russian oligarch, Nikolai Zakharov (Aleksey Serebryakov). Vanya is supposedly in the United States to study, but prefers to party and play video games in his family's mansion.
Vanya hires Ani for $15,000 to stay with him for a week. Vanya asks Ani to marry him so that he can obtain a green card instead of returning to Russia to work for his father. Although Ani is skeptical, Vanya insists his love is genuine, and they elope to Vegas. Ani quits her job and moves in with Vanya, but when Vanya's parents find out about the wedding, Vanya's mother, Galina (Darya Ekamasova), orders Vanya's Armenian godfather, Toros (Karren Karagulian), to find the couple and arrange an annulment while she and her husband fly to the US.
Toros sends his henchmen, Garnik (Vache Tovmasyan) and Igor (Yura Borisov, who has an Oscar nod for this role), to the house. When they inform Vanya that his parents are planning to take him back to Russia, he promptly does a runner, leaving Ani behind. But Ani is no shrinking violet. When they call her a prostitute, she attacks them, throws things and rages around the house until they have to tie her up. She finally agrees to help them find Vanya when Toros offers her $15,000. The rest of the film is a crazy night of driving around New York looking for Vanya and a plane ride to Vegas with Vanya's parents to get the marriage annulled. It ends with a poignant moment where we understand that perhaps Anora isn't such a "boss girl" after all.
Written and directed by Sean Baker and billed as a comedy/drama, this film is more drama than comedy but some of the characters and situations are indeed comical such as older Russian hard men trying to navigate the Gen Z world. It's a little bit "Pretty Woman," a little bit comedy of errors with a Woody Allen feel, and, if you remember that movie, a sort of Russian version of "Adventures in Babysitting," but with lots of sex and nudity. The film has six Oscar nominations including Best Picture, Best Director and a well-deserved Best Actress nomination for Madison. This film is a riveting and wild ride with an amazing performance by Madison and it deserves to be seen.
Rosy the Reviewer says...you won't be able to take your eyes off of this film and the amazing Mikey Madison, who deserves her Best Actress Oscar nomination. (In theatres and for rent on Amazon Prime and Apple+)
Juror #2 (2024)
What do you do if you are serving on a jury and realize you have information that could save the defendant but it would implicate you?
Clint Eastwood may be 94 but that is not stopping him from continuing to make really good movies. His latest directorial effort has produced the same level of excellence we have come to expect from the director of "Mystic River," "Unforgiven," "Million Dollar Baby" and so many more. What keeps him going? He has stated that "I don't let the old man in."
Journalist and recovering alcoholic, Justin Kemp (Nicholas Hoult), is called for jury duty in Savannah, Georgia. It's a high-profile murder case. A year prior, a young woman named Kendall Carter (Francesca Eastwood who just so happens to be Clint's daughter) was found dead under a bridge. Because witnesses saw her having a fight with her boyfriend, James Sythe (Gabriel Basso), at a local bar, he was arrested, charged with murder and is the defendant.
There is evidence against Sythe. Witnesses say he was drunk and disorderly on the night of Carter's murder and that he followed her when she left the bar. Additionally, the coroner testified that her injuries were consistent with the blunt force of being thrown off a bridge and an eyewitness claimed to have seen Sythe near the bridge.
So sitting in the courtroom, Justin hears all of this and recalls that night. He was in the same bar as Carter and Sythe, trying not to relapse. When he left the bar, he hit something with his car. Thinking it was a deer and unable to find it, he went home.
OMG...what if he had hit Carter and Sythe is innocent? But if he comes forward, would anyone believe he wasn't drunk when he hit Carter? He has had prior DUIs. And the prosecutor, Faith Killebrew (Toni Collette), is hell bent on getting a conviction because she is running for reelection and has said she will try this case as many times as needed to get a conviction, so forcing a mistrial will not save Sythe.
What should he do? What will he do?
Holt is wonderful as he struggles with Justin's dilemma and the supporting players that include J.K. Simmons, Zoey Deutch and Kiefer Sutherland, are also all first-rate. And this is a first-rate film.
With great acting, a compelling screenplay by Jonathan A. Abrams and the expert direction we have come to expect from Eastwood, this courtroom drama is like a John Grisham novel come to life with many twists and turns as Justin wrestles with his conscience.
Rosy the Reviewer says...a fast-moving courtroom drama that will have you on the edge of your seat and one of the best films of the year that was, sadly, snubbed by the Oscars. (streaming on Max).
The Critic (2023)
A powerful but aging London theatre critic is fired and creates a web of deceit, blackmail and eventually murder to get his job back.
It's 1934 London and Jimmy Erskine (Ian McKellan) is the film critic for the Daily Chronicle. Jimmy is not a very nice man. He is haughty and arrogant and delights in writing bad reviews when a play or actor doesn't live up to his standards. No one is safe. But Viscount David Brooke (Mark Strong) has inherited the paper after the death of his father, and he does not delight in Erskine's vitriolic reviews and asks him to tone it down. But when Erskine and his secretary lover, Tom Turner (Alfred Enoch) are arrested for homosexuality (yes, it was against the law in England), Brooke has an excuse to fire him. But Erskine will not go quietly.
When Erskine discovers that Brooke is a secret admirer of Nina Land (Gemma Arterton), an actress that Erskine has repeatedly dismissed and brutally reviewed, Erskine convinces her to seduce Brooke so that he can blackmail him into giving him his job back. In return, he promises to give her glowing reviews.
But as these things go, nothing goes to plan and it all goes very dark and then even darker.
Based on the book "Curtain Call" by Anthony Quinn (adapted by Patrick Marber) and directed by Anand Tucker, this is not a very complimentary portrait of a critic (some of us aren't so bad), but it's a compelling drama, though dark, with a wonderful ensemble cast, including Leslie Manville as Nina's mother, who doesn't have much to do here but I always enjoy her work.
But this is all about McKellan doing his thing and showing why his acting career has lasted for sixty years. He is wonderful but one expects that. It's nice that he gained fame for his role in "The Lord of the Rings," but he was an acclaimed actor for forty years before that. He has been nominated for two Academy Awards; he has won a Tony Award, seven Laurence Olivier Awards, a Golden Globe, four BAFTAs, and five Emmys.
Rosy the Reviewer says...I would watch McKellan recite the alphabet. He is one of our greats (for rent on Amazon Prime).
See You Next Time!
