Hi, movie fans!
Something “Wicked” this way comes. (Sorry I couldn’t resist.) That’s right, it’s the much-awaited “Wicked: For Good,” the conclusion to the two-part musical adaptation overtaking theaters this weekend. After a seemingly never-ending press tour, the movie is expected to make major bank at the box office, which I’m sure will be welcome news to Hollywood after a rough couple of months.
But what about the movie itself? In her review, Manohla Dargis, our chief critic, writes that Part 2 is “less frenetic, more downbeat,” even if the film “does everything it can to accentuate the positive.” It’s also, she writes, a showcase for Ariana Grande, who plays the ostensibly good witch Glinda to Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba. Though it’s not quite a rave or a pan, the review concludes that the film “is finally most convincing as a story of an intense, soulfully nurturing female friendship.”
(By the way, you might have read that the film has two additional songs that weren’t in the original Broadway musical. Find out how those songs came to be.)
If “Wicked” isn’t your thing, we have several critic’s picks for you, starting with “Train Dreams,” starring Joel Edgerton as a laborer in the early 20th century. It’s a “luminous adaptation of Denis Johnson’s 2011 novella,” writes our critic, Alissa Wilkinson. There’s also “Cutting Through Rocks,” an illuminating documentary about the first woman elected to the council of her Iranian village, and “Cactus Pears,” an understated Indian drama about a closeted gay man finding romance. Or try the slippery “Zodiac Killer Project,” about the true-crime genre. Is it a tribute, a takedown or an analysis? Yes.
Whatever you decide to watch, enjoy the movies!
