Chicago [RSC Film Club 02]

[Con 5,719]

On 3/24/2019 at 10:37 AM, LimeGreenLegend said:

@Con you built up the nerve to watch this yet  

Watched it last night. Gonna gather some thoughts throughout the day and hopefully have a review up in a few hours.

[Con 5,719]

Musical March: Chicago

The outstanding cinematography and production designs did a tremendous job of making sure I kept watching once I tuned out of listening to the longer songs. I felt the cinematography really did a great job giving us the cinematic elements needed to keep this from just being a runaway musical which is what I was fearing, a color-by-numbers musical and this is certainly not one of those. I was not expecting story or character exposition through song lyrics -- which was great and really, really went a long way towards keeping me entertained during the singing. The story minus the singing and dancing was interesting and I enjoyed the prison moments the most and is where I mostly wished the movie was a standard film and we could just follow the story without interruptions (I could not help but feel that story details had to be sacrificed in order to make room for the musical performances), as I really kept saying, "you know there is a real cool women's prison story in there somewhere, Oh well." I was also blown the hell away by the 'Press Conference Rag' number thanks to the visuals and direction in that scene. I mean, there is so much to digest in it that I don't know where to begin, I will start with the fucking absolutely amazing set piece and creativity of turning the press conference into a ventriloquist performance, as the scene went on I found myself saying, "wow the visuals are only getting better in this song and dance number." I can not express enough how clever I felt that entire number was with its complex choreography and the puppeteer analogy with brilliant juxtapositioning of both worlds as we see reporters ask  questions and then intercut to the answer being given in the stage fantasy world. There were moments that gave me genuine giggles, like when Matron Mama Morton (Queen Latifah) changes her hair style, I spit popcorn all over the place because it was just so good and unexpected, and that is one of the things I really enjoyed throughout, those unexpected moments of visuals or dialogue that made me laugh. Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones) was spectacular with her spot-on dance moves and vivid portrayal of her character and for me came across the least as a caricature. CZJ's 'Can't Do It Alone' number oozes with the desperation we are promised and I found it to be one of the more poignant and powerful performances just edging out the 'Mr. Cellophane' number.

The cast was fabulous and I was fascinated by how talented these actors truly are I mean, the 'Mr. Cellophane' number by Amos Hart (John C. Reilly) impressed me with how much it moved me to feel pity for his character and it is also one of the few songs I still remember and that is probably because i found it so haunting and depressing mainly thanks to the actor's dancing gestures. I enjoyed putting the visual clues together, what I mean is noticing how the real world is full of muted colors and grays as the real life scenario should be with the threat of "hanging" as punishment for the crimes, while the fantasy world is filled with color, glitter, costumes, audiences, and glamour. Also small cool visual things like flashlights in cop hands turning into the spotlight at the Onyx Club, I think that's what it was called. Another great visual moment comes in the 'Roxie (the name on everyone's lip)' performance, where Roxie Hart (Renee Zellweger) dances in the dark alongside mirrors, I couldn't help but focus on just how much work must have gone into lighting and blocking that scene and the song really goes a long way into showing how deep Roxie's delusion of fame really is as she sings about the fame, love, and admiration coming to her, despite that she is only famous because she murdered someone and it is manufactured sympathy and not proof of innocence that has people supporting her. I didn't look at the cast list before watching this and was pleased with the cameos such as Mona (Mya Harrison) and Kitty Baxter (Lucy Liu) and only wish they had more material. 

Twelve musical numbers...that was a lot for me but have to say felt grateful when the singing served to tell parts of the story that came before and of things to come. I didn't feel the story was strong as I would have preferred Roxie getting public sympathy because say, Velma Kelly paying inmates to rip Roxie's court appearance clothes or just having Roxie getting beat up. I had a bit of hard time just accepting that every member of the media would get behind Roxie out of sympathy and paint her with brushes of innocence. This media beehive-mentality prevented me from ever feeling that Roxie was ever in danger of being found guilty, never mind being executed and by the way, she killed a man who was a father of five. Yes, I know the entire thing was satirical but I felt that aspect was cartoonish.  Again,  just my opinion as I do know this is based on a play written in the period portrayed in the story and is why it probably stays close to the original and doesn't veer too much off course even if some things had to be altered to make it cinematic. 

Normally lack of story would be the reason I would not rewatch this and give it a low to medium score but I have to keep in mind the spirit of the film being a musical and people paid to go see singing and dancing breakout at any moment and story will get sacrificed to fit the performing numbers. As I am not familiar with this genre at all, I have a tough time finding something really negative to say about Chicago, what im trying to say is that I did not find anything to hate about it and saying singing and dancing is what I disliked would make me look silly considering the material. 

I was entertained by the way the songs were interwoven with the narrative and naturally captured me, especially early on as we are meeting the characters that we would take this adventure with. I can honestly say that this film did not suck and most of the songs were tolerable because the performers really cared about the product they were creating and it showed as I watched some B-Roll and behind the scene footage and you can see how much enjoyment there was in just the dance and song rehearsals and practices. Trust me non-musical fans and even haters, I honestly expected to mock this genre but Chicago kept me engaged to the end. Going into the viewing I figured I would FF the singing scenes but as the 'Funny Honey’ song starts and transforms into actual storytelling and not just a song, I knew this wasn't going to be the standard movie musical I usually envision in my head. Just because I dont watch musicals doesnt mean I dont admire people that can dance and sing. I just dont prefer my movies interrupting for song and dance.

If you like the occasional musical and have not watched Chicago, I would highly recommend it because I think you might be impressed by the spectacle and amazing direction and editing. A lot of work was put into making this and while I personally would not have given Chicago the Best Picture Oscar over The Pianist with Adrien Brody, I'm not mad because Chicago deserved the other five categorical Oscar statues it won. If you don't like musicals but are a scene analyst or love the craft of filmmaking, I would recommend you watch this because of the amazing creativity in the Direction. 

Final Verdict....4/5...for the passion on display by all involved in the making of this film and its different take on the standard act-stop-sing-a-song formula. I have a feeling that a musical like "From Justin to Kelly" would've had me stabbing my eyes and ears with forks by the second act but Chicago made me say, “not bad you tricky musical”. It still had me sit through twelve songs but I was given plenty of visuals, edits, and camera angles during the dance and song moments to keep me in appreciation of the craft applied to what I was watching.

Edited March 31, 2019 by Con

[Con 5,719]

I’m just starting to read the thoughts already posted and found it interesting that Fido hated the dance numbers I thought were my fave and loved the Cell Block Tango which is probably the one I rolled my eyes at to hurry up and finish.

[LimeGreenLegend 4,295]

All you guys saying you don’t like musicals but seem to like this enough  

[Con 5,719]

1 hour ago, LimeGreenLegend said:

All you guys saying you don’t like musicals but seem to like this enough  

Yeah I enjoyed it because my expectations were so bad and is why I waited so late in the month to watch it. I think one of its strengths for me as far as the music was concerned, was that I had never heard the songs before, had they been singing billboard hits, I might have not been as engaged, for example it wasn’t Richard Gere singing Cher, not that there would be anything wrong with that, just would have made me check out instead of keeping me curious about what was being sung. 

Cheers to jazz and liquor and April’s upcoming pick!!!! 

Edited March 30, 2019 by Con

[LimeGreenLegend 4,295]

8 minutes ago, Con said:

Yeah I enjoyed it because my expectations were so bad and is why I waited so late in the month to watch it. I think one of its strengths for me as far as the music was concerned, was that I had never heard the songs before, had they been singing billboard hits, I might have not been as engaged, for example it wasn’t Richard Gere singing Cher, not that there would be nothing wrong with that, just would have made me check out instead of keeping me curious about what was being sung. 

Cheers to jazz and liquor and April’s upcoming pick!!!! 

I’ve never been a fan of “jukebox musicals” either, write some original songs for your film damnit!    

[Fido_le_muet 5,198]

@Con Definitely not my favorite songs these two but they were very well done indeed. Mr Cellophane made me feel so much pity for Amos but as you said, John C. Reilly's interpretation was very moving.

The puppet act was creepy to me because puppets and dolls and old toys like that creep me out  but it was visually stunning and perfectly fitted the story with the lyrics and imagery. 

Now I'm curious to see what April has in store for us but since the film club is basically the 3 of us...  

[Con 5,719]

6 hours ago, Fido_le_muet said:

Now I'm curious to see what April has in store for us but since the film club is basically the 3 of us...  

Don’t forget Spinakker!! He really loves film too!!! DJ also watched it early on and shared his thoughts, he wasn’t too impressed. 

 And I’m guessing Danielle and May will eventually give us their thoughts since one gave us the genre and the other submitted Chicago.

Edited March 30, 2019 by Con

[Spinnaker1981 974]

9 hours ago, Con said:

Yeah I enjoyed it because my expectations were so bad and is why I waited so late in the month to watch it. I think one of its strengths for me as far as the music was concerned, was that I had never heard the songs before, had they been singing billboard hits, I might have not been as engaged, for example it wasn’t Richard Gere singing Cher, not that there would be anything wrong with that, just would have made me check out instead of keeping me curious about what was being sung. 

Cheers to jazz and liquor and April’s upcoming pick!!!! 

Still, be honest.... Five. Six, Seven, Eight...

 

 

 

 

 

did you hear the start of All that Jazz in your head? ?

[Con 5,719]

16 minutes ago, Spinnaker1981 said:

Still, be honest.... Five. Six, Seven, Eight...

did you hear the start of All that Jazz in your head? ?

The only song still stuck in my head is Mr. Cellophane.  

i do have a question...after Roxie is released they show her at the audition and we see Taye Diggs playing the piano, was this meant to imply that she revisited an old audition site and is why we see Taye as the Bandleader in the fantasy stage pieces throughout the film?

Edited March 30, 2019 by Con

[Spinnaker1981 974]

Cos you can look right through me

Walk right by me

and never know I am there... 

 

 

I guess taye is just the “face” of all the band leaders as well as the voiceover in several scenes...

[LimeGreenLegend 4,295]

Yeah, I saw the bandleader in a kind of Greek chorus role, but instead of singing he was conducting the band.

[Spinnaker1981 974]

11 hours ago, Fido_le_muet said:

@Con Definitely not my favorite songs these two but they were very well done indeed. Mr Cellophane made me feel so much pity for Amos but as you said, John C. Reilly's interpretation was very moving.

The puppet act was creepy to me because puppets and dolls and old toys like that creep me out  but it was visually stunning and perfectly fitted the story with the lyrics and imagery. 

Now I'm curious to see what April has in store for us but since the film club is basically the 3 of us...  

Yeah, thanks a lot @Fido_le_muet !!! ??

[Fido_le_muet 5,198]

25 minutes ago, Spinnaker1981 said:

Yeah, thanks a lot @Fido_le_muet !!! ??

Sorry mate ! It's just those two, they steal all the spotlight. They're the Velma and Roxie of XDBX ! 

[Spinnaker1981 974]

Yes, I am amos... I know... ?

[Con 5,719]

6 hours ago, Fido_le_muet said:

Sorry mate ! It's just those two, they steal all the spotlight. They're the Velma and Roxie of XDBX ! 

 

3 hours ago, Spinnaker1981 said:

Yes, I am amos... I know... ?

Pretty sure you can find "Mr. Cellophane" style gloves in the Los Santos clothing stores. Lmao. 

[Spinnaker1981 974]

8 hours ago, Con said:

 

Pretty sure you can find "Mr. Cellophane" style gloves in the Los Santos clothing stores. Lmao. 

That is a wonderful Idea... I am going to use that tonight on SRL.

[Con 5,719]

Ahem...still waiting on @punkbish85 to review the film from her winning genre pick.