MEOW!
And all that jazz...
Nostalgic Insights: The first time that I saw Chicago in its entirety was when I was a ninth-grader at Rockville High School, and despite not entirely understanding the overall story and its characters, I still loved the film quite a deal. It had a robustly entertaining score, some wonderful performances, and absolutely FANTASTIC choreography/direction by Rob Marshall. While I didn't think it was my favorite movie musical, it was quite up there, and it was easy to see why it won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2003.
So, what do I think of this film today when compared to four years ago?
Critical Insights: I'm starting this review off with a message to Bob and Harvey Weinstein, two executive producers who seem to win every Academy Award for Best Picture, ahem, nowadays: You win. BIG TIME. From start to finish, Chicago is an exhilarating movie musical--brilliantly directed and choreographed by Rob Marshall, wonderfully acted and sung (WRECK-IT RALPH CAN SING), superbly told and written with biting satire; this is one of the best movie musicals I've ever seen, and it is one of the few Oscar-winning pictures that is actually worthy of a Best Picture medal. Er, I mean Oscar. Sorry, Wreck-It Ralph is in this film. I had to.
Movie-Musical-Chills GALORE in this film, and the stand-outs make even more of an impact. The opening number, "And All That Jazz," is one of the most energetic opening numbers I've ever heard and seen in a movie musical; it's a marvelous marriage of film-making and performances that sucks us into a world of scandal and intrigue. So I figure, meh, how can they top that with a top hat? Believe it or not, they do. "Cell Block Tango" is not only a sensational musical number on its own, but the brilliant use of editing and fast cutting also enhances the storytelling and its entertainment value. Plus, Velma Kelly is excellent in pronouncing the word 'Cicero.' Wow, now how can they seriously top that with another top hat? Oh...they most certainly do. "We Both Reached For The Gun" is a masterpiece in of itself. Again, it's an infectious song on its own, and you will probably be humming it for the next couple of months, but my god... how they interpret that song is so ingenious that I will dare not spoil it for you; it's one of my favorite moments in movie musical history.
Moving on to the actors. Everyone performs as if they were musically trained from the very beginning (a couple of them are, and some of them are taking a bold leap in a new genre). Renee Zellweger fits the bill as Roxie Hart, who will do anything to get out of a crime with some help from Billy Flynn, played with a pinch of "razzle-dazzle" by Richard Gere. When you're good to mama, mama's good to you, and in the case of Queen Latifah's performance, she is absolutely GREAT to all. Catherine Zzzzzzzzzeta-Jones (Thank You, Doug Walker) is just...she's just...well, she didn't win the Oscar for nothing, ya know. She's absolutely fantastic, and is responsible for some of the best moments of the film, ESPECIALLY "And All That Jazz." Taye Diggs does a great job being the announcer before every musical number. Well, with the exception of "Mister Cellophane." Speaking of which, WRECK-IT RALPH CAN SING! John C. Reilly is wonderful as Amos Hart, with "Mister Cellophane" being one of the highlights of the film; he brings much needed emotion to what is essentially a satirical musical comedy. Good job, Ralph. You deserved that Medal, er, I mean, Oscar nomination back in 2003.
The real stars of this film, however, are choreographer/director Rob Marshall, and screenwriter Bill Condon. It was said that the film was unfilmable before production began, but both of them looked at society straight in the eye, and said "Guess what? Let's do it!" And for what we got, I honestly can't think of a better interpretation. I just love how the film switches back and forth from the fantasy of its musical sequence, to the reality of gritty ol' Chicago. Most of that comes from an intelligently crafted screenplay adapted by Bill Condon; he does a great job adapting an "unfilmable" script about how fame can be created by criminals behind bars. He also does an excellent job creating refreshing ways for Marshall to visualize how to interpret those musical numbers. And yeah, how about the re-interpretations of those musical numbers? How about the re-interpretation of "We Both Reached For The Gun?" I'm still not even sure whether or not those are the actors, or the marionettes of those actors. Was that all in the script? Was that all in the vision of its director? Should I even care? Oh garsh, I need to stop gushing over that scene.
I hear that Chicago is suffering from an unnecessary backlash due to winning the Academy Award for Best Picture, just like Brave winning the Best Animated Feature Oscar over Wreck-It Ralph (Okay, bad comparison, but I'm still upset that happened. In fact, I'M GONNA WRE--wreath it). In my eyes, it's too good to deserve such a harmful response. Chicago is not only one of the best movie musicals I've ever seen; it has all of the requirements that I need for it to be considered a perfect film, from the brilliantly artistic direction from Rob Marshall, down to the intelligently crafted screenplay by Bill Condon, who will also continue on to direct another movie musical I'll review later. For now, Chicago is everything you can want out of a movie musical and all...that...yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeah...
I mean...Jaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazz. Out of five Catherine Zzzzzeta-Jones', I give Chicago....
This film is so good that the five Catherine Zzzzzeta-Jones'es(?) couldn't fit into one row!
Until next time,
DR. HORRIBLE'S SING-A-LONG BLOG
and MEOW of course...
and all that ja--brick thrown at writer--zzzzzzz
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