| re: No rest for the 'Wicked' director: Jon M. Chu reacts to his movie's 10 Oscar nominations | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 01:52 am EST 01/27/25 | |
| In reply to: re: No rest for the 'Wicked' director: Jon M. Chu reacts to his movie's 10 Oscar nominations - WaymanWong 06:51 pm EST 01/26/25 | |
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| No, you don't need to list those because not a single one is the same circumstances or conditions of current success, zeitgeist, social media impact, etc, as Wicked. It is set up to success with a built in audience in a way and a timing and in a world I don't think any other musical, including the massive blockbusters that have been made into movies, have been. That doesn't mean it was going to be a hit as a movie but it's not as if we got some wildly different or even visionary new cinematic creation from this, it's basically a very expected vision of a movie of Wicked, done very well overall, with a great cast (including one of the biggest pop stars currently alive, which doesn't hurt) and a great team. I think in some ways the movie rises above the material and in many cases I think the material drags it down, and I also think the movie, good as it is relatively speaking, does no service to the material by doubling the length, cutting it in half, adding no new songs so there's even more weight on the often bad lyrics and mediocre songs that make up half the score than there ever is on stage. Being far better than expected doesn't make it perfect. I'm glad it's as good as it is. Nonetheless I don't think it's as good as most of its fans say it is. No movie's success is guaranteed. But I think the movie could have not been a big hit but have been really well made and people would recognize that the two can be true. Case in point, his movie of In the Heights... which I think is just as good in terms of his direction as Wicked, maybe better because I don't remember being as bothered by certain things. It's a very solid high quality and popular musical, it won all the awards, had a healthy long run... it should have been a summer hit or at least done respectably, and the timing just wasn't right because it flopped. Chu was absolutely not blamed for that, as he would not have been if Wicked had not done big BO numbers, assuming the filmmaking was largely regarded as good. Sure if critics and audiences thought the movie was bad or did big disservice to the musical too, AND it didn't sell tickets, he'd have been given a lot of the blame. But that's not how the movie turned out. I did not say he wouldn't get blamed for it being bad if it was bad, but if it was good and it didn't do well, no, he wouldn't get blamed. This isn't his baby or brain child. The one thing he'd be blamed for if it were good but didn't do well was the decision to make the film two films and make a 2 hr 20 min musical into a 4 hour+ double feature coming out with a year gap in between. Which seems to have been a good financial decision in terms of box office and buzz, but I still think a bad decision artistically on several levels. But by mentioning the '25-50+ producers, etc.'' I wasn't saying they are in charge as much as he is, in fact I was very careful to discuss them in context or working to service his vision, you know what I was saying because I said it right there in response to what you said, specifically pushing back on the idea that he "coordinated all that". Don't give me "actually no"... I literally qualified it with exactly what you're saying. Are you telling me you think what I meant is that the director is LITERALLY nominated if the film is, even if they aren't a producer? You know very well that what I'm saying is that if you direct a movie to a Best Pic nomination (or win), it is UNOFFICIALLY but indisputably a nom/award for your work. No movie is nominated for Best Picture in spite of the direction. Further, there is no picture without a director. Argue semantics all you want, I already said I don't mean it literally. I genuinely like debating and sharing opinions with you when we agree or disagree, but it's exhausting when you pick things to reply to as if I didn't say more, give context, qualify, etc. You take things I say and object as if I didn't say nearly the same thing you're replying TO say right there with the thing you're quoting. I don't know why. Anyway, I liked Chu's In the Heights more. And I'm glad we agree he's very talented. |
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