The Wild Blog in the West

I decided to watch this version of Annie as a refresher in case I felt like seeing the new one due out this month.  (I'm wavering: on the one hand, Quevenzhane Wallis was adorable in Beasts of the Southern Wild , but on the other hand, clips of Cameron Diaz as Miss Hannigan were disturbing.) When I was little, I adored Annie .  Adored it.  Some of my earliest drawings were of blank-eyed, curly-haired Annie from the comics and her pointy-eared canine friend, Sandy.  I was Annie for Halloween.  I listened to and sang all of the songs all the time for what seemed like two years. Then when I watched it again a few years ago?  Eh.  Looking back, I think what really drew me to Annie was aspiration.  Who wouldn't want to be a plucky orphan living in luxury with her adoring "Daddy" Warbucks?  Then there were the songs, the colors, those dance numbers.  In many ways, Annie  was an antecedent to Punky Brewster , which premiered a few years later and also featured a pluc

Okay, it was finally available On Demand, so I watched it.  My impression was the same as when I saw the stage musical: Eh. Though at least Jersey Boys the stage musical had color, an infectious energy, and a lot of songs from the Four Seasons and Frankie Valli catalogue.  At times, it gave hints of attempting to be more serious, but then was like, "Nah!  Time for the next hit number!"  The movie (directed by Clint Eastwood), by contrast, tries to be dramatic and meaningful, but ends up flat. Plot Synopsis For large stretches, Jersey Boys seems to think it's Backbeat , the gritty story of an up-and-coming band, only in this case, a band that is far less musically interesting and consequential.   Jersey Boys follows the formation and breakup of the Four Seasons in the 50s and 60s, a band consisting of Tommy DeVito, Nick Massi, Bob Gaudio, and Frankie Valli, aka "the Special One."  Tommy, Nick, and Frankie are blue collar Italian boys living in "Jois

I had no special reason for posting this, except that I decided this past weekend to rewatch the Les Miserables  movie, having not watched it for a while.  I was curious to see whether my impressions of it have changed. Overall, while I'm not as wildly over the moon about the Les Miz  movie as when it premiered, I still find it to be a worthwhile production.  Several have criticized Tom Hooper for failing to go larger than life with it, like in the stage production, with a barricade the length of a football field.  However, I think his choice to make it gritty and closer to the source material is commendable.  It would have been easy to follow the blueprint of the glossy costume musical, where the peasants' clothes glow brightly, there is not a speck of mud on the ground, and the players mime along to lyrics during elaborate dance numbers.  Hooper made some notable deviations, and they mostly paid off.  If his choices aren't better valued, it may be for the reasons I cr

I'm cheating a little here.  I had said that (except for The Sound of Music ) I would stick to reviewing movie musicals produced in the last 15 years.  I had intended my next Movie Musical segment to be about Jersey Boys .  But I just haven't been able to get out to see it.  My "meh, why bother" attitude reflects what I felt when I saw Jersey Boys  the musical, and also the movie's general reception.  I do intend to review it before it leaves the theatres, but a  Les Miserables  movie event it is not. Then recently, I saw the 1972 movie Cabaret on television, the first time I was able to watch it the whole way through.  Figuring that I would just forget the details if I waited until after reviewing the post-2000 movies, I decided what the hell. Cabaret  is in the Right column because I couldn't justify putting it in the Wrong column, but it's a much more tepid Right than I ever imagined it would be.   Cabaret the movie and stage musical alike are wi

It's a bit of a stretch to call Pitch Perfect a musical, though you could argue it has just as good a claim as jukebox musicals like Rock of Ages .  Or better, since it was actually, you know, worth watching. Pitch Perfect  shouldn't work nearly as well as it does.  In most respects its "edginess" has a sanded-off quality: it's the type of movie where having slightly heavy dark eye makeup makes you an alternative freak.  Where deep inner meaning can be found in The Breakfast Club  ending.  Where a Mylie Cyrus song is "cool" and "now." Virtually everything about Pitch Perfect  you have seen before.  In fact, I consider it to be Bring It On  with a capella singing instead of cheerleading.  Both feature situations where characters assume the mantle of leadership, which includes steering the group to a championship.  Both have the "alternative" character who was reluctant to even join, but who soon schools the rest of the group.  

Okay, I jumped the gun a little.  I was going to wait to review classic musicals after I finished with the most notable musicals from the past 20 years.  However, the recent Carrie Underwood take , plus the movie's annual pre-Christmas airing, left The Sound of Music  (1965) fresh in my mind.  So what the hell?  Why not write about my favorite movie musical while it is still fresh? The Sound of Music was adapted from the 1959 stage musical of the same name, which itself was (loosely) based on real life events.  In real life, 18-year-old Maria Augusta Kutschera entered Salzberg's Nonnberg Abbey as a postulant, hoping to become a nun.  Having trained as a school teacher, she accepted an assignment to teach one of Captain Georg von Trapp's seven children.  Captain von Trapp fell in love with Maria, and Maria married him more out of love for his children than for him.  They eventually had a few more children of their own.  Captain von Trapp then lost most of the family fort

Ah Les Miz , it seems like only yesterday I was anticipating you the way I once anticipated gifts from Santa.  Then you arrived and all was well.  Then you came out on DVD, and I watched you more times than was probably good for me. Since then, things have been a little quiet.  A new Broadway production of the stage play is set to open in 2014, and I hope to be able to see it.  However, there has been no mention of an extended cut.  Hopefully Hooper and company will produce one for the 30th Anniversary just two years away. So in honor of Les Miz 's release a year ago, and to relive the excitement of those days, have a look at the series that chronicled the film's journey: Les Miz Is Coming!  Les Miz Is Coming!  " Yet for years, it remained a mystery as to whether the musical could ever be made into a decent screen adaptation.  After several aborted attempts, it looks as though they have finally succeeded." Les Miserables the Movie Part One: Rumors  " W