The Ultimate Movie Musicals Bracket - Round Two, Day Eight

Hi, Judy!

I have good news and I have important news. The good news is that today marks the end of the second round of the Ultimate Movie Musicals Bracket! The important news is that today is also my birthday, which means you are all legally required to not mention in the comments that you take umbrage with the presence of films you may not consider musicals. I have double-checked the laws, both federal and local, and that’s what it says! No bracket critiques on my birthday!

Anyway. Let’s vote.

(3) Meet Me in St. Louis vs. (30) Hello, Dolly!: Two iconic chanteuses here, but to me, the vote is very easy. I have to imagine that the people involved in Hello, Dolly! thank their lucky stars that Pixar revived its existence through WALL-E. I’m not suggesting the film would be memory-holed otherwise, but I do think it pales in comparison to Judy Garland, “The Trolley Song,” and Meet Me in St. Louis.

Meet Me in St. Louis

Hello, Dolly!

(14) New York, New York vs. (46) Evita: It’s Scorsese vs. Stone! Oliver Stone, that is. Kind of! (Did you know he produced Evita? And was initially in the mix to direct a film adaptation?) While I do enjoy Evita, and I know that may horrify those of you who saw a Jacques Demy film fall to Madonna in the last round, it’s got to be New York, New York here. Though it may not come up in the conversation as Scorsese’s best or one of the top five of his filmography, it is arguably underrated, complex, and better than its reputation.

How do you vote?

New York, New York

Evita

(59) Rocketman vs. (27) Cabin in the Sky: I think Taron Egerton is well cast as Elton John, he sings well enough, and a few pieces of Rocketman are effectively staged. But as a whole, I’m not a huge fan of the film. So if nothing else, it’s an easy swing to me to vote for Cabin in the Sky in part because the competition is so meager.

But I get the sense that the man who would be Elton may move to the next round anyway. How do you vote?

Rocketman

Cabin in the Sky

(11) A Mighty Wind vs. (22) Stormy Weather: Again. I know how you feel about A Mighty Wind, and I accept that we disagree. But while Stormy Weather does boast one of the most jaw-dropping dance sequences you’ll ever see, I’m not going to go strongly to bat for the film surrounding that sequence. It’s fine! It’s OK! But it’s not A Mighty Wind, which is both enormously funny and enormously catchy. An easy vote for me.

A Mighty Wind

Stormy Weather