Archive for Tag Musical

  • Cry-Baby

    I though the Hairspray remake was wild, but this is the raw deal, albeit slightly neutered. What the hell is this cast. Iggy Pop taking a bath in a metal can? Patty fucking Hearst is a traffic cop, and her daughter is Tracy “Blade” Lords.

  • The Blues Brothers

    I have to admit, future killer Landis Senior can direct some batshit insane stunts in the heart of Chicago, with a framing musical around it. Seriously, those final scenes are truly great.

  • Babylon

    Those first 30 minutes are insane, but it cannot sustain it for all the 180 minutes. The soundtrack is bitching, you gotta hand it to these musical fellows.

  • Last Night at Soho

    A nice little musical horror. Falters towards the end, but it does not drown in a pool of its own blood, it only has some scars from deep knife cuts.

  • Sinners

    Is this… O Brother, Where Art Thou meets Carpenter’s Vampires, with just a dash of The Banshees of Inisherin? A smashing combination, another great bona fide musical.

  • The Rocky Horror Picture Show

    Ah, this is a musical version of Ed Wood, except weirdly sexual and extremely campy, to the point of parody. I can see why this is such a classic, it’s like the pop song version of musical theatre.

  • The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Do The Time Warp Again

    A PG-13 version of the original. What was edgy and cool, is now banal and mainstream (after Hairspray). Emotionally worse, even thought it’s a mostly faithful remake better in all possible ways: it’s nicer looking, the music is better arranged, the actors sing their own songs.

  • Inside Llewyn Davis

    A bona fide musical and a Bob Dylan fictional biography at the same time. Top that, future Timotheé Chalamet biopic, I bet it’s going to be worse than this.

  • Hudson Hawk

    This is an incredible mix of musical, stereotypical James Bond flick, and noir adventure, in that order. Mamma mia!

  • Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit

    Back to the convent she goes, this time to teach a group of unruly inner city kids what life is all about: bust your ass for a possibility of an education, while external consultants suck the school money into their pockets, until they close it down and earn passive income from the capitalist leeching.

  • O Brother, Where Art Thou

    This is almost a variety act: singing and dancing is the bulk of it, but there’s also some drama, theatricals, and even space for political points (either more towards philosophy, or straight up politicking).

  • Frozen

    Another competent musical from the Disney assembly line. Professionally Formulaic.

  • Sister Act

    Hallelujah! Another cool musical. I was nun the wiser they existed.

  • Guys and Dolls

    A filmed Broadway play that makes for a good musical but a not-so-good film.

  • Footloose

    For a musical about organising a dance off, there’s less dancing than you would expect. It’s more ugly brawls, sermons and grieving over dead loved ones.

  • Beauty and the Beast

    Following all Disney properties, this is a completely safe film, all the rough edges sanded out, which turns a supposedly magical story into an anodyne cultural artefact. A mere husk, dead on the inside.