Two youngsters from rival New York City gangs fall in love, but tensions between their respective friends build toward tragedy. Ok, I’m going to be completely honest: I do not like West Side Story. It is my least favorite movie musical, possibly of all time (right up there with Annie). But, seeing as the film comes in at number 51 on this list, I had … Continue reading 51. West Side Story (1961)
I remember watching Arachnophobia when I was a child. Specifically, I remember watching the shower scene and being absolutely horrified. It turns out that, as an adult, that scene is still pretty horrifying. 1990’s Arachnophobia is not necessarily a good film nor is it paced very well. The film feels like it takes forever before it really gets going. We spend far too long in … Continue reading 90s Flashback: Arachnophobia (1990)
Rocketman is a film starring Taron Egerton, playing Sir Elton John, in a biopic about his life. A biopic, however, is not quite what this feels like. Egerton does a phenomenal job, but that doesn’t stop this film from being a musical ego project. I feel deeply that this film has been misrepresented in its advertising. If you’ve been with me for a while, you … Continue reading Rocketman (2019)
An in-depth examination of the ways in which the U.S. Vietnam War impacts and disrupts the lives of people in a small industrial town in Pennsylvania. At the start of The Deer Hunter, we hear a beautiful melody that sounds too content, too happy, and too sweet to possibly be the theme to a film about the horrors of the Vietnam War. However, the film … Continue reading 53. The Deer Hunter (1978)
Let’s begin this with a little anecdote: Once, in my Movie Musical class in college, we were discussing animated Disney films, as they dominated the movie musical genre in the 1990s. My teacher made a comment about Pocahontas not being a good film. And I have never seen a class turn on a teacher so fast in all my life. All of us, as a … Continue reading Revisiting Disney: Pocahontas (1995)
I am a big fan of Nora Ephron (RIP) and her writing. I feel like I always have been. As many of you know, When Harry Met Sally is one of my favorite films and it is one that I can recite, verbatim. Now, that being said, You’ve Got Mail is not her best executed film. I still love it, though. This film is a … Continue reading 90s Flashback: You’ve Got Mail (1998)
If you know me at all, you know that one of my favorite films is 1964’s Mary Poppins. I put off watching Mary Poppins Returns for ages because I just had a feeling that I would be disappointed. Then, one day, the movie arrived at my door because I, stupidly, forgot to decline it from the Disney Movie Club. I realized, realistically, I was never … Continue reading Movie Musical Monday: Mary Poppins Returns (2018)
There are few Disney Animated films that are as breathtakingly beautiful as 1998’s Mulan. The only one that comes to mind from that same era is Pocahontas in 1995. The studio had been in a bit of a slump before Mulan, having put out very strong films in the early 1990s and then churning out some that weren’t as well received. Mulan helped to restore … Continue reading Revisiting Disney: Mulan (1998)
I love a good documentary and this, my friends, is a good documentary. Three Identical Strangers is a film about three identical brothers who were separated at birth. Each was adopted and lived within 50 miles of each other. One went to a working class family, one to a middle class family, and one to an upper class family. They didn’t meet until 1980, when … Continue reading Three Identical Strangers (2018)
Whenever I want a good laugh, I turn to this film. Directed by David Mirkin and starring Lisa Kudrow and Mira Sorvino, Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion is a comedy about two friends who come to the conclusion that they haven’t amounted to much since high school, just before they are about to attend their ten year reunion. We see their lives now, and … Continue reading 90s Flashback: Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion
