Jon M. Chu | Scott's Film Reviews-1,450 + Reviews posted!!! COMING SOON-MY NEW TOP 250 FILMS!!

Wicked: Part I-2024

Director Jon M. Chu

Starring Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande-Butera, Jonathan Bailey

Scott’s Review #1,453

Reviewed December 1, 2024

Grade: A

The extravagant Broadway musical Wicked (2024) is brought to the silver screen with beautiful results. Overtaking the nation in hefty box office returns with many donning witch hats for the event, the production has enough substance to justify the craze.

It is the first of a two-part film adaptation of the stage musical of the same name, loosely based on the 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire, which in turn is based on L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, its sequels, and its 1939 film adaptation.

Part II will emerge in late 2025.

Powerhouse Cynthia Erivo leads the charge as Elphaba, a young woman misunderstood because of her unusual green skin who has yet to discover her true power. When conceived, Elphaba’s mother and her secret beau drank a mysterious potion assumed responsible for her nature.

Elphaba is noticed by Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh), the Dean of Sorcerer Studies, and welcomed at Shiz University. Her disabled younger sister Nessarose (Marissa Bode) is a new student there.

Ariana Grande plays Glinda, a privileged and ambitious young woman who is jealous of yet enamored with Elphaba and yearns to discover her talent and powers.

Elphaba and Glinda forge an unlikely but powerful friendship. After encountering The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, their friendship reaches a crossroads, and their lives take very different paths.

The film begins with Glinda (the Good Witch of the North) recounting their relationship as Elphaba (or The Wicked Witch of the West) has just died to much celebration.

Whether viewers are familiar with the novels, the 1939 film, or the stage version, the rich history is well-combined.

The colorful sets and visuals are marvelous, with luminous greens encompassing the shimmering Emerald city. The Shiz University is more pastel with muted blue and pink colors.

Aside from the story, there is so much to look at visually. Be sure to glimpse background activity during dancing or celebration scenes to notice even more particulars.

Hints of what’s to come (the Cowardly Lion, a broomstick) also can be noticed.

The second half is the better portion when the action takes off and gets to a darker place. The colors are also darker than in the first half.

Watching the monkeys start to transition and grow wings painfully is a bit scary, especially for younger children.

The side story of animals losing their rights and being caged in the beginning, when they speak and even teach university, is complex to watch and represents the current state of the United States.

Director Jon M. Chu and screenwriters Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox wisely replace humans with animals as they remind audiences of groups of people (immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community) targeted by hate.

Sadly, the world needs an ‘other,’ as the Wizard of Oz and Madame Morrible remind Elphaba. The parallels between animals and humans are readily apparent.

Perhaps to combat the hate, Chu includes gay actors Jonathan Bailey and Bowen Yang in prominent roles.

Chu, most notable for Crazy Rich Asians (2018), delivers a stunning product filled with glamour, bravura, and necessary female empowerment.

The dynamic between Erivo and Grande-Butera is strong, making their rivalry/friendship believable and layered. Erivo gets the showier, albeit in a less attractive role, but she powerfully uses her voice to her advantage.

‘I’m Not That Girl’ and ‘Defying Gravity’ have quickly become favorites.

Wicked: Part I (2024) is an intriguing and spectacular production dotted with societal questions that must be discussed further. Whether marveling at the visuals or diving deeper into gender and repression, the film has something for everyone.

Crazy Rich Asians-2018

Director-Jon M. Hu

Starring-Constance Wu, Henry Golding

Scott’s Review #860

Reviewed January 26, 2019

Grade: B+

Crazy Rich Asians (2018), the romantic comedy smash of 2018 is a fun romp that is memorable because it centers on the Asian population, shamefully underrepresented in mainstream American cinema.

For this point alone, the film is recommended and worthy of praise but otherwise is a standard genre film with gimmicks and stock characters galore and a predictable conclusion.

A mention must be made for the numerous cultural tidbits included which rises the film above mediocrity.

Rachel Chu (Constance Wu) and Nick Young (Henry Golding) are a happily dating New York City couple, she is a New York University college professor, and he is an entrepreneur.

They fly to Singapore to attend Nick’s best friend’s wedding resulting in antics and anguish. Rachel realizes that Nick comes from an extremely wealthy family and is Chinese royalty owning a multitude of lavish hotels and real estate.

Most of Nick’s family, especially his traditional mother Eleanor (Michelle Yeoh), disapprove of the pairing viewing Rachel as a typical American placing passion over family.

Nick is a sought-after commodity among the single women of Singapore as Rachel is forced to endure harassment and mockery at every turn. Her allies are Nick’s kind sister Astrid (Gemma Chan) and Rachel’s outrageous college pal Peik Lin (Awkwafina) and her equally garish family.

The plot thickens when Nick’s scheming mother does a background check on Rachel and discovers a family secret.

Crazy Rich Asians is a formulaic romantic comedy with the standard types of situations and characters expected of a genre film. The rivalry between the good girl and her boyfriend’s domineering mother, the comic relief of the gay sidekicks as Peik Lin and another friend of Rachel’s provide.

The caricatures of Peik Lin’s wild family, her unattractive brother fond of taking secret photos of Rachel, and Eleanor’s snooty judgmental circle of female friends are all well cast yet one-dimensional.

Perplexing is why the filmmakers decided to make Nick only half Chinese rather than authentically Asian. Sadly, this may have been a reassurance of making the film more marketable to mass audiences.

The film is presented as an Asian film, but it is an American film.

The storyline justification is that Nick’s father (surprisingly never seen) is British and that he and Eleanor met in college- only she being Chinese. Nick and Astrid’s English accents gnawed at me throughout the film.

Despite the myriad of cliches and manipulations Crazy Rich Asians have a nice flow and offer a fun two hours. The film is flavorful with bright colors and visual spectacles of the stylish and sophisticated Singapore and its modern and sleek nuances.

I adored the locales featuring the skyline and a rich overview of the robust and relevant city/country.

Fantastic is how the filmmakers add spices of traditional Chinese culture throughout the telling of the film quickly becoming more of an ode to the good history. Nick’s grandmother Su-Yi (Lisa Lu) takes pride in her wonderful and artistic flowers and Rachel is introduced to the art of dumpling making.

Crazy Rich Asians introduce a history lesson for those unfamiliar with ancient Chinese customs.

Flavorful inclusions of Mandarin Chinese language versions of American pop hits are also nice additions, so the film has some tidbits to revel in other than the story.

Most of the songs offer a reference to money such as “Money Honey” by Lady Gaga and “Rich Girl” by Hall & Oates.

The pacing of the film is nice with never a boring or dragging moment and a nice balance of comedy and drama results. Humorous is when Peik Lin provides Rachel with a costume makeover ensuring she looks dynamic for the grand wedding as she convinces her to fight Eleanor with fire.

Drama ensues when someone casts a dead fish on Rachel’s bed and Eleanor spits that Rachel will never be enough for her son.

Predictable is the film’s conclusion resulting in a marriage proposal aboard a jet heading from Singapore to New York City. With a film like Crazy Rich Asians, it is guaranteed that the couple lives happily ever after riding off into the sunset in great defiance of Nick’s roots.

Due to the success of the film a sequel is a solid bet though I am also not betting the follow-up will be any good. Are romantic comedy sequels ever decent?

Filled with cliches, but satisfying most mainstream film-goers, Crazy Rich Asians (2018) creates a film with enough shards of Asian culture to at least get the Asian population on the map with a Hollywood production.

Containing a polished look and some stereotypes the film breaks no new ground other than good inclusion and that is a start.