Film Fest – Music
Here are 5 brief reviews of music heavy films I watched recently. They include The Greatest Showman, La La Land, Chicago, The Zombie Horror Picture Show, and Heavy Metal 2000.
The Greatest Showman
2017, 1h 45m
The Greatest Showman is one of my favorite musicals because the songs are catchy (singing along during the first viewing), the cast is great (lead by Hugh Jackman), and I was entertained the entire film. Also starring Michelle Williams, Zac Efron, and Zendaya, the film is about the creation of show business and more specifically, the P.T. Barnum Circus. First time feature director Michael Gracey shot the film in New York City and used a screenplay by Jenny Bicks (Rio 2) and Bill Condon (who also wrote Chicago). It was a passion project for Jackman who had been working on the role for years but in addition to Jackman, the film also spread enjoyable music throughout the whole cast thanks to original songs by the La La Land team of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. Although based on true events, the film does make cinematic edits to history (have fun fact checking afterwards) but this is a musical meant to entertain- and it does!
La La Land
2016, 2h 8m
La La Land surprised me with an experiment of colors (especially the fashion), lighting (shaping our viewing area and directing our attention), and fantasy (most do I suppose). Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone lead this jazz heavy romantic tale about a musician and an actress who cross paths at pivotal moments in their careers. The film won 6 Oscars of the 14 it was nominated for (Chicago won 6 of 13 it was nominated for), for Leading Actress Emma Stone, Director Damien Chazelle (32 years old, the youngest ever to win this award), Cinematography, Original Score by Justin Hurwitz, Original Song, and Production Design. Writer and director Damien Chazelle previously made Whiplash, shot this movie in California, and Gosling learned to play piano so they would not need a hand double or CGI. I enjoyed how much care and attention the film took into shaping how I viewed and heard each scene, it was well planned.
Chicago
2002, 1h 53m
Chicago was a fun musical as well, putting on display the talents of Renée Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Richard Gere was also in it. The movie won 6 Oscars for Best Picture, Supporting Actress Zeta-Jones, Art Direction, Costume Design, Editing, and Sound. A pair on death row try to become famous enough to avoid consequences in 1920s Chicago. Director Rob Marshall, first time directing here, has gone on to make Nine, Into the Woods, and his next is Mary Poppins Returns starring Emily Blunt coming out later this year. Chicago was originally a play released in 1926, then it became a stage musical in 1975, this film is more based on the musical, and it was filmed primarily in Ontario. I liked the drastic changes of tones between scenes, the performances of the two leads (Jones would sing again in Rock of Ages, Zellweger will again in Judy), and the production of the time period is enough eye candy worth a viewing.
The Zombie Horror Picture Show
2014, 1h 21m
Rob Zombie has always been one of my favorite artists, in this case he both performs his music and directs this video release. It shows that care has been taken to put together a great concert Blu-ray as the editing compliments the visuals on stage and the pace of the soundtrack. Having been to one of his concerts (only 3 years prior to this film) I can vouch for this being as close to capturing the excitement his extravagance delivers. Blasting metal rock at a quick pace, singing about the supernatural, and encouraging mature content at his shows (all captured here) is what Zombie is great at. That and check out his scary pants (images of Universal monsters like Dracula). I really appreciate his choices of visual effects, fireworks, videos, dancers, wardrobes, and of course, the tunes.
Heavy Metal 2000
2000, 1h 28m
I am a big fan of the original Heavy Metal (1981), so I looked forward to seeing another one, and while it had similar elements, it did not come close to the original’s delivery. Gone was the anthology style replaced with a tale about an evil guy (voiced by Michael Ironside) seeking immortality and the one hero (voiced by Julie Strain) in the universe that can stop him. This film took shortcuts to getting to mature content (making it feel cheap like most of the jokes), did not balance well with how over the top or how serious to take the film, and did not allow for enough of the heroine’s character to be on display (everything else was on display). Check out the soundtrack if you like metal as it contains a lot of titles from the time period or watch the series if you like the animated Aeon Flux. Heavy Metal 2000 was directed by Michael Coldewey (who moved onto visual effects for Marvel Studios) and Michel Lemire (who later made the series Tripping the Rift).