Musical

Emilia Pérez

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Emilia Pérez
  • IMDb: link

Not all of Emilia Pérez works. The film is a home run hitter swinging for the fences at every at bat. Sometimes it knocks a scene out of the park. Sometimes it strikes out on three pitches, all well outside of the strike zone. It’s a musical featuring mostly conversational songs which occasionally are unexpectedly bolstered by a full choir. It’s a story about transition and change but is highlighted by characters falling back into bad habits which question how much people actually change. And it’s a tale of characters struggling with real emotional turmoil in a plot that is more interested in melodrama.

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Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas
  • IMDb: link

Released in 1977, Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas introduced us to the struggling family of Emmet (Jerry Nelson) and his mother Alice (Marilyn Sokol) who have been scraping by since the death of Emmet’s father. As Christmas rolls around both struggle to get the other a gift. Each separately latches on to the idea of earning money by winning the local talent contest. However, to meet the needs of the show, each must trade the other’s prized possession with Alice hocking Emmet’s toolbox and Emmet putting a hole in his mother’s washtub.

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Moana 2

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Moana 2
  • IMDb: link

Offering more of what was delivered in Moana, albeit without a memorable musical number, Moana 2 delivers more adventure for the titular character in continuing her journey into the wider world. After bringing her people out of isolation and back to the ocean, Moana (Auli’i Cravalho) continues to search for other people leading to her next quest following the footsteps of her ancestors’ greatest wayfinder Tautai Vasa in searching for the lost island capable of reuniting the people of the ocean.

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Wicked

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Wicked: Part I
  • IMDb: link

Mean Girls with a side of fantasy? Adapted from first act of the Broadway play, Wicked: Part I covers the childhood of Elphaba Thropp (Cynthia Erivo) and her enrollment at Shiz University where she’ll be partnered with the mean but popular Galinda (Ariana Grande). It’s also where Elphaba will discover that her magical ability is even rarer than her bright green skin eventually leading to trip to the Emerald City and an audience with the Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum).

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Sing: Thriller

/ / Short Films
  • Title: Sing: Thriller
  • IMDb: link

Sing: Thriller

Given the multiple allegations of the singer sexually abusing children, one could argue on whether or not creating a children’s short around one of Michael Jackson‘s most famous songs is in good taste. That said, judging the short on its own, Sing: Thriller offers a simple setup to allow the cast of the Sing films to perform “Thriller” twice, first on-stage as part of their latest show and later in Buster’s (Matthew McConaughey) hallucination with each casting the regulars as zombies dancing to the music. Both offer a fun Halloween kid-level creepiness which has the benefit of bringing in both fans from the animated films and those seeking a bit of 80s nostalgia as well.

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