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oiranWatched Chicago last night, finally. I love Bob Fosse's work, and so I wanted to see this long ago...but I dislike(d) all three stars: Renee Zellweger, Richard Gere and Catherine Zeta-Jones are among my least favorites, for reasons that have less to do with their acting and more with their public personae. Smugness, especially with RG and CZJ.
Well, damn. I really loved it. And I thought Rob Marshall's directing was great--another reason I'd hesitated to watch it was because I was afraid it wouldn't look like Fosse's direction (which is really unfair of me, I know), but it actually did look very much like something Fosse would have done (cuts, angles, etc.) and I wish I knew more about staging and film production so I could articulate this properly. One of my favorite movies ever (and the one I usually give as my all-time favorite) is All That Jazz for so many reasons, but when I was 13 and saw that film in the theater, I was introduced to the idea of editing as an art, and it stuck with me. And this movie had that, too.
And I loved CZJ, even if she does have the horrible bad taste to mate with Michael Douglas in her offscreen hours. She looked great, sexy, but also kind of rough, very much the trouper. Mr. Glove, whose mother is/was a dancer, said (admiringly, not unkindly), "Wow, she's kind of a battle axe, isn't she?" and he's right. She definitely knows how to dance, but she's not the young, lithe creature usually associated with the notion of "dancer." I was kind of surprised in the featurette about the making of the film where she's shown next to RZ, and she's literally twice the size of her kewpie doll co-star. Velma Kelly is the girl you want on your side in a fight.
I don't know why I want to dislike RZ. I liked her in Nurse Betty and, of course, Bridget Jones. She always looks lovely at awards shows. I do remember there was a lot of hubbub about her weight gain to play Bridget, and how she made it sound like Bridget was some sort of obese cow, and then Bazaar wouldn't put her on the cover until she lost 20 lbs. and it was just really insulting to everyone over a size 2, even if it wasn't all her fault. But she was great and horrible and unsympathetic and vile. I thought the Velma character's reasons for killing made a weird, no-impulse-control kind of sense, but Roxie was just a monster.
And RG is forever having to prove himself after the travesty that was Pretty Woman. I really hate that movie. However, the craven attempt to "recreate the magic" that was Runaway Bride was even worse. Oddly, though, I am probably one of a few dozen people who actually liked Dr. T. and the Women, considering that it sounded like it would be the Worst Movie Ever. He was likeable in that, so I tried to put it out of my mind. He will never be forgiven for Pretty Woman, never. And neither will Julia Roberts. As My Secret Husband, Jon Stewart, says: "That Julia Roberts! I'm so f*ckin' sick of her!"
Oh, but wait. She wasn't in this movie anway.
John C. Reilly's rendition of Cellophane is so beautiful.
I loved, loved, loved Latifah. Her voice is just amazing. I'd love for her to do an album of just this kind of thing, show tunes and standards.
Early on, as Roxie is being led into prison, I decided that I have a new kink: I want to go to 1920s dance jail, and once I'm there, I want to be someone's bitch. Please.
Why didn't I watch this when it was new, when the rest of you did? Stupid me. It's going on the wishlist, definitely.
Well, damn. I really loved it. And I thought Rob Marshall's directing was great--another reason I'd hesitated to watch it was because I was afraid it wouldn't look like Fosse's direction (which is really unfair of me, I know), but it actually did look very much like something Fosse would have done (cuts, angles, etc.) and I wish I knew more about staging and film production so I could articulate this properly. One of my favorite movies ever (and the one I usually give as my all-time favorite) is All That Jazz for so many reasons, but when I was 13 and saw that film in the theater, I was introduced to the idea of editing as an art, and it stuck with me. And this movie had that, too.
And I loved CZJ, even if she does have the horrible bad taste to mate with Michael Douglas in her offscreen hours. She looked great, sexy, but also kind of rough, very much the trouper. Mr. Glove, whose mother is/was a dancer, said (admiringly, not unkindly), "Wow, she's kind of a battle axe, isn't she?" and he's right. She definitely knows how to dance, but she's not the young, lithe creature usually associated with the notion of "dancer." I was kind of surprised in the featurette about the making of the film where she's shown next to RZ, and she's literally twice the size of her kewpie doll co-star. Velma Kelly is the girl you want on your side in a fight.
I don't know why I want to dislike RZ. I liked her in Nurse Betty and, of course, Bridget Jones. She always looks lovely at awards shows. I do remember there was a lot of hubbub about her weight gain to play Bridget, and how she made it sound like Bridget was some sort of obese cow, and then Bazaar wouldn't put her on the cover until she lost 20 lbs. and it was just really insulting to everyone over a size 2, even if it wasn't all her fault. But she was great and horrible and unsympathetic and vile. I thought the Velma character's reasons for killing made a weird, no-impulse-control kind of sense, but Roxie was just a monster.
And RG is forever having to prove himself after the travesty that was Pretty Woman. I really hate that movie. However, the craven attempt to "recreate the magic" that was Runaway Bride was even worse. Oddly, though, I am probably one of a few dozen people who actually liked Dr. T. and the Women, considering that it sounded like it would be the Worst Movie Ever. He was likeable in that, so I tried to put it out of my mind. He will never be forgiven for Pretty Woman, never. And neither will Julia Roberts. As My Secret Husband, Jon Stewart, says: "That Julia Roberts! I'm so f*ckin' sick of her!"
Oh, but wait. She wasn't in this movie anway.
John C. Reilly's rendition of Cellophane is so beautiful.
I loved, loved, loved Latifah. Her voice is just amazing. I'd love for her to do an album of just this kind of thing, show tunes and standards.
Early on, as Roxie is being led into prison, I decided that I have a new kink: I want to go to 1920s dance jail, and once I'm there, I want to be someone's bitch. Please.
Why didn't I watch this when it was new, when the rest of you did? Stupid me. It's going on the wishlist, definitely.
