The Ultimate Movie Musicals Bracket - Round One, Day Two

Well, did you evah...

Good morning, everyone! I hope you’ve all had a suitable amount of time to process the entirety of the Ultimate Movie Musicals Bracket, which I’m sure is not causing any grief to anyone out there. No need for additional preamble — let’s dive into today’s matchups!

(8) Once vs. (57) Bugsy Malone: The film Bugsy Malone is a strange one, even just from being vaguely aware of its setup. (Yes, sadly, it’s one of the musicals in the bracket I have not seen.) A musical in the world of mobsters is, in and of itself, not a huge shock, but a musical in the world of mobsters with teenagers playing the roles…well, that’s a weird one. (Since once of those teenagers is a pre-Bob Loblaw and a pre-everything-else Scott Baio.)

Anyway, while it is possible that had I seen the Alan Parker-directed, Jodie Foster-starring musical (two more details that make it weird!), my preference would be different…well, I have seen Once, and I love it. One of the sweetest, saddest, most powerful musicals there is.

Once

Bugsy Malone

(25) Holiday Inn vs. (40) High Society: Ah, der Bingle. (What, you all don’t call Bing Crosby that name? You should.) The good news, as I like to say when the occasion strikes, is that one Bing Crosby musical will survive this matchup! While the notion of remaking The Philadelphia Story into a musical may seem a little risky (or may have at the time), I will be voting for High Society, in no small part because of the clip shared below. Bing, Frank, perfection.

Holiday Inn

High Society

(9) Inside Llewyn Davis vs. (56) Rent: Inside Llewyn Davis is arguably one of the best films of the 21st century and one of the best films from Joel and Ethan Coen. This means that a) obviously I would tell you to vote for it here, and b) very few films in this kind of matchup would have a chance against it. Certainly that’s the case for Rent, which is a pretty rough sit. I have no doubt that the Broadway show is or at least was electrifying, and I get the value of keeping most of the original cast, but Rent seems very much a product of its time, and so making the adaptation 10 years later just doesn’t work.

Vote Llewyn.

Inside Llewyn Davis

Rent

(24) Tick, tick…boom! vs. (41) Oliver!: But have no fear, fans of Jonathan Larson. I am not here to tell you he’s without talent or artistry, because in this matchup…I would very much vote for Larson, via the Netflix adaptation of tick, tick…boom!, grammar hell aside. (Fun fact: lots of musicals have exclamation points at the ends of their titles. I didn’t not realize this before, but man, when you list out 128 titles for a movie-musical bracket, you start to notice patterns more than you ever expected.) I like little bits and pieces of Oliver!, including Ron Moody’s performance as Fagin, but tick, tick…boom! is a very powerful and effective film anchored by a remarkable Andrew Garfield performance. Easy pick here.

Tick, tick…boom!

Oliver!