Wicked

My View: Wicked  (2024) PG Wicked is about Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), a misunderstood young woman who has been looked down upon because of her green skin. Glinda (Ariana Grande) is a spoiled rich girl who is a little boy crazy. At Shiz University in the Land of Oz, they find themselves becoming unlikely friends. We are about to learn that there are always two sides to a story. Wicked is a perfect example of what film can do with an adaptation of a Broadway musical. Take the music and story from the stage and flesh the story out, giving us more about the characters than what we get just from a song. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande shine in this adaptation of the beloved Broadway musical. Both are award-worthy performances and, like the two characters, the performances of Erivo and Grande are different but still both fantastic. Grande is perfect as the vain Glinda (pronounced with a hard G, by the way), who knows she is something special and loves the attention she gets just walking in the room, always looking perfect. Grande shows impressive range in her songs and commands the screen in every scene she is in, which is hard when your cast-mate in many scenes, Cynthia Erivo is equally compelling and commanding. Wicked is Elphaba’s story, and Erivo runs with the role, making us fall in love with her character from her first song. It’s an impressive and multi-level performance that gives us insight into what Elphaba thinks and feels as she discovers she isn’t a freak with green skin but someone who can have friends who care about her. The musical numbers range from some solos for both Erivo and Grande to big production numbers that are inventive and fun to watch. The musician number which takes place in the school’s library where the love interest of the film, Jonathan Bailey, as Prince Giyero, does a rousing number that has people dancing upside down that will blow you away. For fans of the Broadway musical, this will be a wonderful addition to a story they love. To the rest of us who haven’t seen it, it’s a beautiful film anchored by two terrific performances and a set design that is truly out of this world. I don’t know if there are any songs you will be humming as you walk out the theater door, but I know that you will be looking forward to part two.  My Rating: I Would Pay to See it Again.  Wicked Website Now playing in theaters nationwide, including 3-D. 

My View:  Gladiator II  (2024)  R    Gladiator II tells the story of Lucius (Paul Mescal), who, after his home is conquered by a Roman army led by Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal), is captured and taken to Rome to become a Gladiator to fight in the Colosseum. Lucius vows revenge and looks to his past to find the strength to return the glory of Rome to its people. Gladiator II takes place fifteen years after the first film, and the son of Lucilla (Connie Nielsen), Lucias, is living a good life with his loving wife, Arishat (Yuval Gonen), in Numidia. That city is attacked by a Roman force led by General Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal), who conquers the city. Lucius’ wife is killed, and he is forced into slavery, where he is spotted by Macrinus (Denzel Washington), who hand-picks Lucius to become a gladiator. Lucius vows to kill Marcus Acacius and anyone who gets in his way. The reason Gladiator was such a fantastic spectacle of a movie was because of the star power of Russel Crowe, the absolutely bonkers performance of Joaquin Phoenix and the incredible fighting sequences (including tigers). Now we have Gladiator II, which is still worth the price of admission because director Ridley Scott knows how to bring something this big and magical to the screen. However, there are some problems with this film that the first film didn’t suffer from. First is Paul Mescal doesn’t have the star power to play this part. I love him in smaller films, but this role needed a commanding presence that when he walks into any room, people will follow him to the death because of his charisma and star power. Russel had it. Even going back to Kirk Douglas in another gladiator genre film, Spartacus, had it. Mescal doesn’t. He is too soft- spoken and not charismatic enough for the role. In fact, I think the film might have been better if Mescal and Pedro Pascal had switched roles. The second problem is the CGI is not worthy of a movie that cost 250 million to make. Some of the CGI effects look like they didn’t go through a final process, making the film, at times, lose some of its impact. However, some of the battle sequences are fun to watch, and then there is Denzel Washington. Washington has a blast playing the string pulling Macrinus, who plays people like they are pieces on a board game. Washington does what few can do, chew up scenery and still make it look like a master class in acting. Watching Washington act on screen makes up for any fake-looking CGI severed head any day. So, pay tribute to Maximus and the past with a new adventure in the land of sandals, blood, and sweat. We are entertained. Just not as much as the first one.  My Rating: Bargain Matinee Gladiator II Website  Now playing in theaters nationwide.

My View:  Bread & Roses  (2023)  Bread & Roses is a documentary that follows three women living in Afghanistan after the Taliban’s 2021 takeover of Kabul. The documentary is a heartbreaking and powerful film about women at great peril fighting for their rights. The film is shot by the women on their phones as we see the fall of Kabul and how the Taliban started taking away the rights of women. One of the women, Dr. Zahra Mohammadi, is an outspoken dentist who has her own successful practice. She is vocal in street protests, constantly having meetings in her dentist offices, and is arrested several times during the film. Her practice is shut down, and she can no longer even take a taxi alone on the streets of Kabul. As the film progresses, we see the bravery of these women who keep speaking up, even when threatened with imprisonment and beating. The film shows the bravery of these women, as we see scene after scene where their protests are shut down with violence and arrests. In one shocking scene, after being arrested and put in a police car, the women are told that if they don’t shut up, they will be killed. A woman in the car dares the officer to kill her. Bread & Roses is a film that puts you right in the middle of a fight for basic human rights, where women are fighting against a regime of tyranny. Bread & Roses has gotten some publicity because of actress Jennifer Lawrence and activist Malala Yousafzai (who, as a teen, was shot in the face by the Taliban), but the focus should be on the film and the women who put their lives on the line to protest the ceasing of women’s rights at great peril.  My Rating: Full Price Bread & Roses Info  Now playing on Apple TV. 

My View:  The Piano Lesson  (2024) PG-13    The Piano Lesson focuses on the Charles family in 1936 Pittsburgh during the Depression and their conflict over what to do with a treasured heirloom piano, a legacy of their enslaved ancestors. This is another film produced by Denzel Washington that is based on a play by the legendary playwright August Wilson. The film is directed by Malcolm Washington (Denzil’s son), who co-wrote the screenplay with Virgil Williams, who was nominated for an Oscar for his screenplay Mudbound, which he co-wrote with Dee Rees. Another Denzel son, John David Washington, stars as Boy Willie Charles, who comes into town and into the lives of his sister Berniece (Danielle Deadwyler) and their uncle Doaker (Samuel L. Jackson). Boy Willie is there to claim his inheritance, a piano carved by a relative, a slave at the time, who carved the Charles family’s faces and scenes from their life into a piano owned by their slave master. Boy Wille’s father, who lost his life in the heist, stole that piano, and Boy Wille wants to sell the piano to buy some farmland. His sister is dead set against selling the piano and is convinced that ghosts are protecting it from being taken. Most of the film, like the play, centers on a couple of rooms in the home, as characters talk and drink, debating if the piano should be sold and if the ghosts of the dead are still around to protect it. There is a show-stopping scene in the middle of the film when the men are all drinking late one night and start a work song from the past that they sing with their hearts. The Piano Lesson is a film filled with powerful performances and always with August Wilson’s work, some fantastic speeches that seem to fill the air with those ghosts from the past. My Rating: Full Price The Piano Lesson Website  Now playing on the Netflix platform. 

Forgotten Film:  The Comedians  (1967)  A Welsh hotel owner (Richard Burton) secretly romances a diplomat’s wife (Elizabeth Taylor) while the harsh and violent reign of the despot ‘Papa Doc’ Duvalier brings a country to its knees. The Comedians isn’t a great film, but it has a ton of star power from the 60s. Taylor and Burton were at the height of their fame and relationship, and they bought the rights to the book by Graham Greene as a vehicle for them to work together on. No matter that the wife in the book is barely in the film, Graham Greene wrote the screenplay and put Taylor in a scene every ten minutes to satisfy the couple and ensure the check would clear. Besides the power couple (Taylor looks terrific in the film), we have a cast that includes Alec Guinness, Peter Ustinov, Lillian Gish (great performance in a sea of bad ones), James Earl Jones, Cicely Tyson, and Paul Ford. The Comedians is worth watching to see a great example of Hollywood of the 60s trying to find things for the world’s most famous couple and failing.  My Rating: Bargain Matinee The Comedians Info  Available to rent/buy on Amazon.

Weird Credits:  From the credits of Gladiator II: Shooting Electricians

Coming Soon to a Screen Near You:  Mufasa: The Lion King  (2024)  PG  Mufasa is a cub who is lost and alone. He meets another cub named Taka, who is heir to a royal bloodline. They become fast friends, and with Taka’s help, along with some new friends, Mufasa might survive in this savage and beautiful world. The film is from Barry Jenkins, the Academy Award-winning director of Moonlight. Mufasa: The Lion King Website The film will be released on December 20, 2024, 30 years after the original The Lion King was released. 

Until Next Time!