In this week’s post, two of the movies share a trend that has grown in the last few years: adapting Broadway musicals into movie musicals. We got a couple straight pro shots of musicals (Hamilton and Come From Away), but the majority are bigger adaptations of the stage version. Sometimes it works (Into the Heights) and sometimes it very much doesn’t (Dear Evan Hanson). My wish though is we would get new musicals in theaters, and leave the stage versions where they work the best. Won’t be soon though. Wicked ends the next two years in the theaters. On to the reviews.

#3 Screen Unseen – Origin

This film was a Dementor of a film. Yes, I mean the joy-sucking creatures from Harry Potter. For the topic in the film, I am not saying it should’ve been fun, but man. The film has no plot. It is just an author getting info for a book. What is the (real) book about though? That in history there has been people who always thought to be less people. The author uses the Holocaust, Dalits in India, US slavery/Jim Crow era, and for some reason, the Trayvon Martin case to make her point. The Nazi part is the one I just didn’t see her side on. The film is saying the Nazis used the Jim Crow rules to shape the Holocaust. There is one part where a German tells our author that Holocaust wasn’t like US slavery, because the Holocaust was about exterminating the Jews, while slavery was just about using people to make more money. Right after that part, we see the author talking to her cousin on the phone about being so mad that the German said that. So, the film is telling us the German is wrong, and in my mind she wasn’t. Also, in this film we spend an hour and 45 minutes just hearing all these stories, and the film leaves it to us to imagine what was happening at those times. Then, in the last 30 minutes, it just shows us all that stuff just to make you feel worse. I just wanted the movie to end and it just wouldn’t. The people this film is hoping to see it to make the world better place though will never see this movie, so I don’t really know who this is really for. 2.5 out of 5 People Crying

#4 The Color Purple

We didn’t have too many musicals in 2023. To my count, there were only four. While Flora & Son was a subtle one, and Little Mermaid and Wonka were normal ones, Color Purple was one in a big way. Based on a Broadway musical based on a 1985 film, based on a 1982 book, this version really feels like you’re watching a Broadway film. Most of the songs look like they took what they had on the stage and made it so much bigger. That isn’t a bad thing. The cast was great, starting with Barrino and Brooks, who are reprises their roles from the 05 musical. Both are in the Oscar talk, with only Brooks really in the running if she can get past the Randolph train for Supporting Actress. As for the others, Domingo, Bailey, and Henson all are excellent in this. The songs are all great, but I could have lived without 3 or 4 of them. It also didn’t really have that one song that stays with you after the movie is over. While I enjoyed the movie, I’m not sure come back to it. 3.5 out of 5 Hidden Letters

#5 Mean Girls

20 years ago, the original Mean Girls came out. Then, in 2018, the musical version premiered on Broadway. Now, in 2024, we get the movie adaptation of the musical based on the original movie. Basically, what The Color Purple just did, just with a much closer original movie to today. So how did this version do? Well, in a nutshell, it isn’t the original. The original had a bit of a mean streak to it that really worked. In this one, the jokes are pretty much the same, but either they were softened, or after watching the original so many times, they just seem boring to me now. Of the Plastics, only Regina really works here. She plays it a lot more like an actual high schooler than McAdams did in the original. It’s Karen and Gretchen that just feel off. I think my issue with Gretchen is they flesh out her character more, and that isn’t a bad thing. I just didn’t like her song. As for Karen, the Seyfreid version wasn’t the brightest, but man, I think they made her dumber in this one. 

On the flip side, Janice and Damien are lot better in this one. Janis’s song toward the end “I’d Rather Be Me” is the best song in the movie. The biggest issue with this though was Cady. Part of what made the original such a great movie was it was a peak of Lohan’s era. She really made the movie. While Rice is good in this one, I just couldn’t imagine Lohan saying the same things. That is my problem though. I felt that way through a lot of this. This movie just fall in to what I think about the Disney remakes. In a bubble, they are pretty good. However, the originals are there and floating in the background. They are hard to ignore too.  3 out of 5 Burn Book Entries

#6 The Beekeeper

This new Statham movie really had little going for it. He worked previously for some shadow organization (the Beekeepers), something bad happens that causes him to want revenge, and he tears through everyone like tissue paper. If you want context without watching the movie, just watch the trailer. It gives away 95% of the plot. The only things it keeps secret for the actual movie is the significance of Hutcherson and Raver-Lampman’s characters, and who they are related to in the story. Everyone just feels wasted in this. Irons is trying, but why is Minnie Driver in this at all? She has about 90 seconds of screen time, and her character could have easily been cut out. Also, the fact Statham only has one difficult fight at the end was a letdown. This was a shut your brain off type of movie that fits in well during Dumpuary, and I’ll probably forget it by the time you are reading this. 2.5 out of 5 Honey Explosions

Dumpuary is in full swing, and for every awards contender, there are 3 or 4 mediocre ones that studios just want to throw out to the masses. Happens every year. Next week, the streaming options start, and I continue my patient wait for Zone of Interest to finally have showtimes around here.