by Nathaniel R
I’m back! Well, not quite but working towards it. We're going to do an 80s theme in early November, okay? But let’s start with a question and a list to prove that I have actually been watching movies (and am alive) though I’ve rarely been writing and miss it terribly.
Has it been a good, bad, or ugly year for the always threatened Movie Musical genre?
The greatest of all movie genres is always threatened with extinction but it's also resilient and still with us almost a century after its debut. The year isn't over so the initial bolded question is premature. Mean Girls was a dud early in the year and the highly anticipated Joker Folie A Deux is currently flopping which serves it right for sidelining Lady Gaga (of all people) and being so uncomfortable about calling itself a musical. But we've still got one famous stage adaptation (Wicked), two experiments (The End, Emilia Perez), one animated adventure (Moana ), and three musician biopics (A Complete Unknown, Maria, and A Better Man) arriving before year's end so there's still hope.
Here are ten movies from 2024 that could have been musicals with a few tweaks or even more insanity from their auteurs. Consider...
THE SUBSTANCE © MUBI
10 The Substance
Kind of joking with this one. Or am I? Coralie Fargeat seems willing to embrace any urge in this purposefully gonzo body-horror Hollywood satire. The only reason we're including it in this pseudo would-be musical list is because of the insanity of the centered TV show wherein Demi Moore is doing something like Jane Fonda in the 1980s but than it becomes some sort of horny booty-shaking 2020s version of "Solid Gold" once Margaret Qualley plops out of Demi. What is this show? And can we watch a whole episode of it?
09 The Bikeriders
Jeff Nichols 60s drama about motorcycle gangs leans hard into its retro hit parade. But with Elvis Presley (Austin Butler) and George Jones (Michael Shannon) n the cast list, I longed for actual musical numbers. Especially since lead actress Jodie Comer seems down for anything that gets thrown at her.
FLY ME TO THE MOON © Sony Pictures
08 Fly Me to the Moon
What is the most underrated general audience movie of the year and why is it Fly Me to the Moon? Woody Harrelson sings the Frank Sinatra classic near the end which only reminded us that this movie would have been even better as a full musical. Scarlett Johansson can sing and Channing Tatum can dance, so why not? Everyone seems to have just shrugged when this high concept romcom appeared. Still, it feels like the kind of thing that would have been a big hit in another decade, when people were more flexible about what kind of movies they would buy tickets to. It sports two movie stars in peak beauty (Scarlett is so underrated in general, despite her massive fame), it’s got a lively supporting cast, it’s consistently amusing if not laugh out loud funny, and the eye-candy techs are pleasing, too (hat tip: Darius Wolski, Mary Zophres, Shane Valentino, etcetera).
07 Deadpool and Wolverine
The smash hit superhero team-up thoroughly abuses its Madonna and N'Sync privileges and wastes them beyond twisted brand-recognition yuks and nostalgia. Still, the movie has so much showboating energy, it’s practically Jazz Hands: The Movie... if Jazz Hands were blades and dance was a bloodsport.
THE IDEA OF YOU © Amazon
06 The Idea of You
Romcoms are often built on outlandish premises but suspension of disbelief is part of the appeal. Michael Showalter better-than-it-needs-to-be romp, has fun with its pop star adjacency as Anne Hathaway's newly 40 gallery owner falls for Nicholas Galatzine's 20something boy band star. Anne Hathaway powers the movie with her highly dependable star wattage but what's happening onstage isn't bad either. Galatzine is a believable boy band hearththrob and the songs by Savan Kotecha are fun.
05 Challengers
The sound mix and soundtrack of Challengers wants you in da club… er, on da court. "Come on!"
04 Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Tim Burton's legacy sequel ignores that the original has already become a musical. To its credit, though, it does seem fully cognizant that everyone remembers/cherishes the “Day-O” sequence.
SATURDAY NIGHT © Universal Pictures, Sony Pictures Releasing
03 Saturday Night
Two of the comic highlights of Jason Reitman's hyper focused SNL origin story are song/sound checks the stuffy executives did not see coming: Andy Kauffman's (Nicholas Braun) classic "Mighty Mouse Theme" lipsynch and Garrett Morris (Lamorne Morris) hostile "Kill all the Whiteys" surprise. Bonus points for the brief mellow aside to musical guest Janice Ian (Naomi McPherson) which provides a slight breather amidst all the chaos of the countdown tension.
02 The Fall Guy
This action comedy romcom has real movie musical energy (dont ask me to explain; this is already too long). Unfortunately director David Leitch and editor Elisabet Ronaldsdottir don't capitalize on it. It's a great popcorn movie, don't get me wrong, but their one significant blunder is cross-cutting away from the built-in and built-up comic highlight of a karaoke night with Emily Blunt. What were they thinking?
Here's the biggest surprise on the list to prove the point that all movies should lean harder into their inner movie musical urges...
01 Blitz
As shocking as this will sound to anyone who hasn't seen it yet, I'm almost tempted to refer to Steve McQueen’s new World War II drama as a musical. It's not even close to that in a traditional sense, no, but the structure and pacing beats for it are right there. The story revolves around a young boy (newcomer Elliott Heffernan) and his mother (Saoirse Ronan) who are intentionally separated in the Blitz when children are being shipped away en masse from bombed out London. The strong willed quiet boy won't have it and leaps from his train and his solo odyssey back to his mother begins. The drama has not one, not two, not three, not four, but… I’m not joking… five sequences in which someone sings or dances, including Saoirse Ronan singing the lovely Best Original Song hopeful "Winter Coat" which was co-written by Oscar nominated composer Nicholas Brittel and McQueen himself.
What movie this year made you feel like singing or dancing?