2. "Surprised by how much I liked this first part." In response to Reply # 0
Saw this shit yesterday.
I knew nothing about Wicked other than it's a beloved musical, this was another two-part adaptation, and that "Defying Gravity" is everyone's favorite song ever.
I'm not gonna shit y'all, it took me a while to get locked into this. But then it came to a specific scene with and it had me teary-eyed. And from there on out to the TO BE CONTINUED... title card it had me.
This is the best Part 1 yet. It feels like a natural break in the story. Honestly, it could've ended there and I'd be satisfied. Didn't feel the two and a half hour (2:45 with credits) runtime.
The CG is rough, but the sets and costumes in this motherfucker are amazing. John Chu is very confident in his direction here and fuck me if the cast kills this thing.
And yeah nigga... "Defying Gravity" is a showstopper.
Cynthia Erivo better be nominated man.
Gonna check this out again in 3D when the hype dies down after the first few weeks.
anecdotally, I went tonight (to see something else) and it was PACKED with girls going to see Wicked -- this theater is not normally busy on Thursdays, either
Frank Longo Member since Nov 18th 2003 87004 posts
Sun Nov-24-24 06:42 PM
8. "Great performances, great songs. Same gripes as others, though." In response to Reply # 0
I've no clue why the director was so insistent on backlighting nearly everything the whole time. A deathly effect, visually. We don't need Oz to "look real"-- we need it to look Technicolor!
There's also the tendency here to break up some of the songs with lengthy added gaps and transitions in between, which not only kills the momentum of the music at times, but also adds unneeded run time. It's insane that this is two movies-- especially given the second act of this show, which is darker and has fewer songs.
That said, my wife absolutely loved it, and the crowd cheered after each of the big songs. So this is gonna do major, major numbers.
And I do think the cast does really good work. Erivo and Grande are as good as I expected them to be-- I was caught off guard by Bailey. Why are they still looking for the next James Bond? This is the guy, man.
9. "Too “Broadway” heavy for me, though I enjoy the story" In response to Reply # 0 Fri Jan-17-25 09:15 PM by Cold Truth
I don’t like musical theater and had hoped this wouldn’t lean quite so hard in that direction. I figured it would still retain some of the Broadway stuff but I was surprised that they went all in the way they did for a mainstream movie.
There are a few musicals I’ve enjoyed but they don’t radiate the “theater kid” vibe the way this does, so that definitely dampens the appeal for me.
That said, that’s me.
I am glad this movie exists and goes so hard on the musical theater vibe, because my daughter is a theater kid through and through. She lives for this sort of thing and I’m glad someone made a major blockbuster for her and others like her.
I do enjoy the story itself, particularly as someone who genuinely loves the original Wizard of Oz book and movie. They hit some serious social commentary buttons, and I fucking love that conservative christians are melting down over it.
Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande killed it.
Galinda being played like a version of Cher from Clueless is hysterical, while Erivo is the perfect vessel to generate the necessary empathy for Elfiba, as well as giving a powerful voice for this sort of commentary.
There also a few callbacks that I appreciate.
-Sig-
“Why didn’t you do this in your own god damn country?"
-All Stah's view on undocumented immigrants wanting to be treated like human beings.
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