We are officially on the brink of a new year
and I'm not sure if it was just because of the hit, "Hamilton"...
or if things have just been so crazy that producer's realize,
"Ya know...maybe people breaking out in song isn't the craziest thing to happen?"
But 2021 gave probably the biggest slew
of movie musicals that I can remember to date.
What better way to celebrate
or commiserate this movie musical year
than by breaking down the 4 best and the 4 worst movie musicals of 2021.
So, let's get morbid! And let's talk about the 4th worst movie musical.
"A Week Away"
It basically follows this kid named Kevin
who gets arrested, and then he's given a choice.
Either go to juvenile detention, or go to this summer camp.
What an ultimatum!
He finds friends, family, and above all else...
love.
And you know, he doesn't get
stabbed in a prison cell.
Even though this thing is only an hour and a half, it felt a lot longer.
And the deeper that you get into it, the more you realize that it's
kind of trying to hard to be like "Camp Rock".
On the other hand,
it's trying to be like "Camp Rock."
So I couldn't fault it that much, because I mean, at least it tried.
And it was nice to see that the girl from "Bridge to Terabithia"
came back to the woods.
Considering what happened last time.
So now we're gonna jump over the best really quick!
Let's talk about the 4th best movie musical that I saw this year.
"Everybody's Talking About Jamie".
The film follows Jamie, who is a 16-year-old kid,
but he doesn't really fit in with the rest of the class
because while they're all trying to figure out what they're going to do for these traditional jobs,
Jamie wants to be a drag queen.
It's a lot more lowkey than the rest of what we're going to be talking about on this list,
but I really appreciated that.
And above all else, I love that they painted the characters as actual human beings.
So that means not one person is completely innocent,
and not one person is completely horrible.
There was a lot of complexity to the characters built in there.
Going back over to the worst!
Number 3! You know where this is going, we've talked quite a bit about it.
"Dear Evan Hansen".
So, it's based on the Tony Award Winning hit musical,
and it follows "teenager" Evan Hansen as he gets trapped into
a snowball of lies that he tells in order to comfort this grieving family,
whose son, sadly, takes his own life.
Again, the one thing that I remembered walking out of the theater
was that it wasn't as bad as I thought it was gonna be.
And that's why I couldn't put it at the top of the worst list of this year.
Because while the pacing,
the casting,
and the questionable decision to cut out some songs
were pretty bad,
there were still a lot of sections that redeemed it for me,
and I think that really comes down to how they decided to go about the two musical numbers
of "Requiem"
and the addition of "Anonymous Ones".
So, not the worst, but not the best
and say it together everybody!
Ben Platt is old!!!
Alright, going back over to the best!
The 3rd best movie this year,
"In the Heights".
This was the first movie that I saw back in theaters since the pandemic hit,
and oh my God, was it just a warm welcome back.
Two spots in particular:
"Paciencia Y Fe", the tunnel? With the lights?
Absolutely the most gorgeous shot of 2021,
and "Blackout"
with the fireworks shooting in the sky, and then
everything going on back in the apartment.
Literal goosebumps.
I've got them right now thinking about it again.
And I think what I loved more than anything is that
you can tell that Lin Manuel Miranda's fingerprints are all over it,
but he didn't feel the need to put himself in the lead role
or make himself the star of it.
Going back over to the WORST list!
Number 2: Cinderella
Oh my God.
I knew that it wasn't going to be good.
As soon as I saw this clip online at the start of the new year.
That is what cursed my 2021.
What made it even worse,
is that I didn't recognize that it was going to be a jukebox musical.
Watching this movie, it made me think of something that me and Marc from "Broadway by Ghostlight" talked about
in regard to the new "Moulin Rouge".
Yes, you want to make the songs motivated...
but in a way,
if those songs are so recognizable
it's gonna become distracting to the rest of the film.
So when they started jamming out to "Am I Wrong?"
I was distracted by the song
because instead of watching the movie
and watching what was going on in the story,
I just went, "Oh yeah!
I forgot about this! Niko and Vinz came to my college.
Man those were good times."
I think that it can be summed up in 3 "C" words.
"Corny"
"Cringey"
and "Corden".
Going back over to the BEST list.
Number 2:
"West Side Story".
If you don't know what "West Side Story" is about,
it's basically a 1960's version of "Romeo and Juliet".
While I did enjoy the original "West Side Story",
I just didn't like it as much as the new one,
because they bring such a real viciousness
to the story that
I think raises the stakes in a way the 1960s version just couldn't,
because of political stuff,
blah blah blah.
I talked about it in the video.
And as a Spielberg fan,
I admit that it was kind of cool to see those "Spielberg-isms"
make their way into the world of musical theatre.
It was like, "Woah! It's like 'Jurassic Park'!
But with S N A P P I N G!"
And now going back to the WORST list.
Number 1:
This is one that I honestly erased from my memory,
and which hopefully you did too.
"Music".
The horrible Sia movie
from earlier this year
that seems like a fever dream that this thing ever happened.
The film follows a lady named, "Zu"
who is a drug dealer
and her grandma dies
and then in her will, there's no money,
but she becomes responsible for her younger half sister?
Who's on the autism spectrum.
The decision to have Sia's go-to dancer
play a character with autism, when she's not autistic is problem number 1.
The fact that it feels like they didn't do any research,
and the way that they presented people with autism is problem number 2.
The fact that the musical sequences
and the story
don't mesh with anything else is problem number 3.
Now my mom was a special education teacher for 17 years.
A lot of my friends have autism.
As somebody who is not autistic
I can't speak for people who are on the spectrum.
But given my exposure to people with autism,
Watching through this movie, I just couldn't stomach it
Because it just didn't feel accurate.
And I think above all else, it just shows
How
still misinformed we are about autism
and how far we still have to go with reaching that understanding
But now, let's end on a happier note.
Let's talk about what I think was the best movie musical of the year!
Number 1:
"Tick, Tick...Boom!"
Did you ever have any doubt?
A film adaptation of the Off-Broadway show "Tick, Tick...Boom!"
the film follows "Rent" creator Jonathan Larson
as he tries to juggle his friendships, his family, and his love life
all while leading up to a big workshop for
his premiere musical.
Not "Rent". Something called "Superbia".
Every performance in this thing is knocked out of the park.
And the fact that you can tell that it's a movie musical made by people who genuinely love the craft
just elevates this to a different level than I think
any other movie musical this year did.
And above all else,
I think it was the best movie this year that
truly harnessed the visual medium
and used it as a way to heighten the songs and the story.
Plus, I mean, I've had "30/90" stuck in my head
ever since this movie came out.
And going back to "West Side Story",
how did that viciousness really add to this 1961 classic?
Well, click on this video essay to find out!
Special thanks to all of our patrons on Patreon!
Remember to live truthfully in those imaginary circumstances,
Chester sends his love,
and have a Happy New Year!