The Ultimate Movie Musicals Bracket - Round Two, Day Seven
Friends, we are inching ever closer to the third round of the Ultimate Movie Musicals Bracket, and a whole new slew of “Josh, your definitions of musicals and/or your opinions on the films in this bracket are truly insane” comments to come! (Please know that I shrug a la Elmo himself when I see those comments. I am what I am!)
But today marks the penultimate set of matchups in round two, so let’s get going!
(2) An American in Paris vs. (34) Walk the Line: This is a no-doubter for me. An American in Paris may not be my favorite Gene Kelly film, but it is still an excellent picture. (“And it is a true musical,” I hear some of you muttering to yourselves.) Sorry, Joaquin. Walk the line elsewhere.
An American in Paris
Walk the Line
(15) A Star is Born (1954) vs. (18) The Muppets: I feel like The Muppets may win here, but I’m voting for A Star is Born, in part because I am voting against the 2011 film. I will write at further length about that film — for paid subscribers, of course — in a few months, but the teaser is this: while I like some of the songs Bret McKenzie wrote, a few of them are true whiffs, including “Me Party,” which may be the most egregious waste of Amy Adams’ talents to date.
What do you think?
A Star is Born (1954)
The Muppets
(7) Grease vs. (26) Oklahoma!: This is a tough one for me. I already spoke in the last round about how problematic and frustrating Grease is, and Oklahoma! is sadly no slouch in that arena either. (Eddie Albert was a fine actor, but Ali Hakim is not one of his finest performances.) I will lean towards Oklahoma!, in part because the songwork by Rodgers and Hammerstein is just too catchy. It’s not that Grease is lacking in earworms, but the classical style evinced by R&H is what I prefer. But what do you think?
Grease
Oklahoma!
(10) West Side Story (2021) vs. (42) Bedknobs and Broomsticks: I enjoy many aspects of the Disney film Bedknobs and Broomsticks, a movie I watched often as a little boy who wanted to be a big boy. But Steven Spielberg directing a musical turned out to be as thrilling as the idea itself. West Side Story all the way.
West Side Story (2021)
Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Once again, recency bias rears its ugly head (all right, not for Walk the Line, but as we all know, that's not a true musical. lol.) I enjoy the 2011 Muppets as much as anyone, but ultimately it's just a pretty good movie. A Star is Born is Judy's best performance. It should move on on the basis of this scene alone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWO9IHzzfRA
Also Grease sucks and should lose to Oklahoma, but I care less about that.
OK. What am I missing about the 2011 Muppets? I saw it and enjoyed it. It's fun and breezy. But Judy bares her soul repeatedly throughout that movie as James Mason destroys himself. On the basis of her performance of The Man That Got Away - arguably the greatest torch song of all time - this movie should win. Good grief.
I'm gonna go listen to Judy Live at Carnegie Hall and wallow.