I loved NBC’s weird little jukebox musical show. Buried as a midseason replacement then rolled out strangely with the pilot dropping long before the actual series launch, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist was easy to miss. Even I missed most of it and had to go back and catch up after weirdly seeing episode ten before episodes […]
Hello, Fellow Social Isolators! Like you, we’re determined…
Paramount’s Rocketman is a bold, sentimental, messy, complex, obvious, colourful contradiction. If that sounds to you like a bad movie, you normally wouldn’t be wrong. But this is a movie about Elton John so bold, sentimental, messy, complex, obvious, colourful, and contradictory is just about right. The first place the film goes right is in […]
That’s right, I’m talking about Mirvish’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory musical and Tarragon’s Marshall McLuhan one-act in one article. They’re both terrible- dull, simplistic, varying degrees of ridiculous- and they’re playing in Toronto at the same time, but the two have more in common than just ruining my Wednesday nights. In Jason Sherman’s The […]
I am a straight up sucker. Just take my money. Seriously. Take my money. This is the dark truth of my movie consumption habits. A fatal flaw I’ve had to accept in my nearly 30 years of vociferous cinematic devouring. When people decry audience “sheep” who will see anything – I’m the sheep! I am […]
The second season of this wacky medieval musical came as a surprise to everyone, most of all the show’s creators who proceeded to pepper those unexpected 10 episodes with references to the fact that they assumed they were dead before being quite randomly revived (at one point they literally killed their title character and brought […]
Was that the most fun I’ve had watching television in a really long time? Honestly, maybe. I usually don’t watch the NBC live musicals because the little I’ve seen of them has trended disappointing with too much stunt casting and boring musical choices (not only was Carrie Underwood terribly suited to Maria but The Sound […]
For the past three years, I’ve been ranking every film I see- just the new releases, from January 1st to December 31st. The rankings are subjective, based entirely on how much I enjoyed and/or connected with or appreciated the film rather than on some sort of objective artistic criteria. Basically, this is a list of […]
For the past two years, I’ve been ranking every film I see- just the new releases, from January 1st to December 31st. The rankings are subjective, based entirely on how much I enjoyed and/or connected with or appreciated the film rather than on some sort of objective artistic criteria. Basically, this is a list of […]
*Originally Published: Sept 10, 2014* Director Richard LaGravenese did right by Jason Robert Brown and his off-Broadway masterpiece The Last Five Years. From casting to small script additions to keeping Hollywood out of it and presenting the original songs and structure fully in tact, LaGravenese made a lot of smart calls that make The Last […]
For the past two years, I’ve been ranking every film I see- just the new releases, from January 1st to December 31st. The rankings are subjective, based entirely on how much I enjoyed and/or connected with or appreciated the film rather than on some sort of objective artistic criteria. Basically, this is a list of […]
ABC’s wonderfully weird musical comedy has wrapped up its first season. It’s unclear if it will be renewed – although it should. Galavant might not have been a smash ratings hit (and with how niche of a show it is, and the fact it was aired Sunday nights during the traditional winter hiatus period, did […]
I started this last year, keeping a list of every movie I see all year (just the new releases) in order to form a definitive set of personal rankings come the following January. My 2014 list started on February 9th when I saw That Awkward Moment starring Zac Efron, Miles Teller and Michael B Jordan […]
ABC’s Galavant is completely and utterly absurd, ridiculous, and a whole lot of fun. It’s certainly the finest medieval musical comedy on TV right now. While not without its faults, Galavant is a fun romp, taking full of advantage of its charming cast and the talents of veteran songwriters Alan Menken and Glenn Slater. The […]
I saw 90 movies in 2013 (or shortly thereafter, if we’re being honest- I don’t know how anyone is expected to see all the Christmas releases in one week!). 90 is a lot of movies, or at least it is for me (I head up My Theatre and My TV, My Cinema is Rachael’s problem). […]
A lot of think pieces have been written about the declining necessity of movie theaters. They make my blood boil a little bit. I love the movie theater. Basically, every time I sit down in a movie theater feels like the goofy, pre-AMC-movie video where the kids are transported into a magical world while still […]
There are few feats of artistic creation more stunning than the stage musical version of Les Miserables. From Hugo’s thrilling original storytelling and Schönberg & Boublil’s adapted musical book, to the way that Schönberg’s stunning melodies circle thematically back on themselves to the lush orchestrations and groundbreaking rotating-stage direction, iconic costumes, and hundreds upon hundreds […]
Chicago is the best movie-musical ever made, Singing in the Rain is my favourite classic and I will always have a special place in my heart for the underrated gem that is the Madonna-Antonio Banderas-Jonathan Pryce version of Evita. But there’s only one film that’s “The most successful movie musical of all time!” and that’s […]