The Ultimate Movie Musicals Bracket - Round Two, Day One

I don't see a lot of money here.

Hello, friends! Yes, it’s just a Thursday, but it’s not just any Thursday. It’s the day that we enter the second round of the Ultimate Movie Musicals Bracket! We started with 128 seeds, and now we’re down to the more standard and familiar 64 seeds. You’ve already had to make some tough decisions, and/or made some choices I was not expecting.

You’ve also weighed in — well, some of you have, at least — to take issue with some of the films in this bracket and whether or not they count as musicals. As always, I will remind you that I, like Loki, am a trickster. And like Agatha, I am an agent of chaos. And those are the only Marvel references I will make today. (I’m not even sure if Agatha is an agent of chaos, but I feel like that was the subtitle for her Disney+ show, which is definitely going to be great and not too much of a kind-of-good thing!)

Kidding aside, my definitions of a musical may be stretchier than yours are, but they all feature songs and characters singing those songs, and…y’know. I like what I like! I choose what I choose! But now you must choose, so let’s dive into the first set of second-round matchups.

(1) Singin’ in the Rain vs. (33) Hamilton: It’s a good meme, right? Solid joke inspired by the Disney+ presentation of Hamilton, which is still very much a movie. But against Singin’ in the Rain, there is no chance that this Founding Father can or should win. Vote for dignity. Always dignity. And always Singin’ in the Rain.

Singin’ in the Rain

Hamilton

(16) Little Shop of Horrors vs. (17) Royal Wedding: Hey, what a timely vote this is! It turns out that, in between the last match and now, Little Shop of Horrors got itself wound up in a brief kerfuffle, and due to the song clipped below. I have no solid take here aside from thinking that both Steve Martin and Miriam Margolyes are very talented, and that if you have ever watched the latter on The Graham Norton Show, you know she does not hold back whether or not her opinions seem fair. (I recall one clip where she told Matthew Perry to his face that the creators of Friends were horrible people. OK then!)

Anyway. Fred Astaire dances on the ceiling and all, but Little Shop of Horrors, controversy or no, gets my vote today. How about you?

Little Shop of Horrors

Royal Wedding

(8) Once vs. (40) High Society: Yeah, I gotta give this one to Once. Two very different films from different eras of filmmaking, but the tenderness and emotion of Once is impossible to turn down. What do you think?

Once

High Society

(9) Inside Llewyn Davis vs. (24) Tick, tick…boom!: Ah, here we have our first “But is this really a musical?” debate. (I know how some of you feel here, trust me.) Inside Llewyn Davis may not be anywhere close to a traditional musical, but there’s, like, 10 songs performed by characters within the film. I call it a musical! I also call it one of the very best films of the 21st century, so I would vote for Llewyn, not Larson. What do you say?

Inside Llewyn Davis

Tick, tick…boom!