Wicked

[WineAllWine]

I have spent a lot of time going to see musical theatre and reviewing musical theatre. I tell you this now, not to impress you; but to advise:

Wicked is a good film and you should see it. The rest of this post will be musical theatre crritique.

A common issue when a musical is translated for film is that it was trying to still be a musical (Looking at you, Tom Holland!); but Wicked does not do that It almost perfectly transliterates the story from stage to screen as best as one could ask for.

Ariana Grande is the perfect cast for Glinda the Good Witch,
I would likely love Michelle Yeoh in anything because she's a goddess but she is perfectly cast here.

[Bepis]

so you're saying it's more than nostalgia bait? it's not my jam but I like being able to recommend shit to my friends

[TheSmallBlue]

Honestly I've never watched Wicked (The musical) but I have watched Twisted (The musical) which is a parody of Wicked (The Musical) made by the same people that made The Guy That Didn't Like Musicals (The musical) and I liked it a lot it's really good so Wicked (The musical and movie) are also probably really good.
Twisted (The musical) has a pro-shot version released on YouTube that you can watch for free it's really really good you should watch Twisted (The musical)

[bingusdingus]

I dunno musicals for me are more about the experience of being in the theater and seeing the actors on stage, hearing the orchestra pit, and appreciating the work the crew puts in to make the whole thing run smoothly. There is still a connection between the audience and the people running the show, performances can vary from night to night. I never like movie adaptations of musicals because it just feels like that experience but cheaper. Hollywood actors that had a studio pay to give them whatever skills they need for a role just aren't the same as a good theater performer. It takes a certain kind of skill to be able to do the same show night after night and nailing it every time, instead of just redoing it for the best take, then editing everything with CG to be the absolute perfect performance in a way that feels even more surreal even by musical standards. Making a movie with the intent of being a musical is fine like La La Land and High School Musical, At least it isn't bastardizing something that the artist's original intent. At least involve that artist in the process of the adaptation, but that can't always be done with shit because the original artist could be long gone.

It's just another symptom of the abject creative bankruptcy that Hollywood is experiencing. No originality, just pick the oldest, most popular thing from the archives and recreate that because it's easier. I can only hope that artists will be more cognizant of the penchant that studios have for reusing shit, so they may actually be much more protective of their rights going forward to prevent their creative property being resurrected ad nauseum long after they die. Just to enrich some suit, or their estate, that never cared for the work in the first place. It may be a boomer take, but live performance is the way it's meant to be, humans performing for the entertainment other humans is a concept as old as humanity itself. We are hard wired to have our brain tickle when we see art because we love seeing and hearing novel patterns, they want to dilute and commodify this quintessential human experience. They're removing the human element from art so they can use it as a vehicle for profit, and technology is facilitating this in the worst ways. Film is a good medium, don't get me wrong, but its ubiquity and technological leaps made in such a short period of time has been overall detrimental to art in my opinion. Alas, historically, media in general lives to be exploited by people with the means to do so. The printing press wouldn't have been so hot if it wasn't for the overwhelming desire for people to spread religion. Maybe in a similar fashion, film will eventually even out after the tech slows down and something else more profitable replaces it like VR experiences.

Sorry talking about the consequences of human greed on art must have triggered a fugue state. What the fuck is a Wicked? What forum even is this?

[FantasticFwoosh]

I can't take it seriously when the lead actors are just straight up weirdos, and it doesn't make me want to watch or engage with it any more than being tricked or to presumably go with someone else from what i've been told to watch a ok film that'd be too overwhelming to a shallow depth musical watcher.