I just watched Chicago on DVD - this movie won an Oscar???!!!!

I mean, it really wasn't that good. Of course I just watched "The Hours" on PPV yesterday (which was incredible) and I've seen "The Pianist" (which I bawled my eyes out it was so good). Someone please explain to me how the hell did Chicago win best picture and Catherine Zeta-Jones was Best Supporting Actress (I thought Julianne Moore gave a much more stellar performance in "The Hours" but then again Ms. Moore doesn't have Michael Douglas out there spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to bribe academy judges to vote for her). The only thing good I can say about Catherine Zeta-Jones is at least she looks like what a woman is suppose to look like, with some curves to her body and all. Someone please feed Ms Zellwinger a carrot stick or croton or something. She looked much prettier and alot healthier pre-Bridget Jones.

it was actually kind of gross

I watched it last week and I kept thinking "This film is terribly miscast"

I didn't find any bonding with the characters at all!

Plus the fact that the 70% of the dancers looked like they had come out of a concentration camp.

All in all, I'd give it a C+ for effort....but Oscars?..HA!!

I remember thinking that the cast sounded scary before seeing it...

Richard Gere and Catherine Zeta-Jones have a history of working in musical theater... Zellweger was the weakest link, but I thought even she did pretty well.

Maybe I need to see it again.

Some of the dancers were really gross though--in "Cell Block Tango", that one came out and the ribs were popping out! Disgusting!

playing the role was the person on the screen...although I will admit that the dance (tap) scene was great.

And Catherine Zeta Jones was good, just not "Oscar-Winning Performance" good. It's well know she got that Oscar because of all the lobbying and money spending her husband, Michael Douglas, did on her behalf. When it comes to the Academy Award it isn't the talent you have but the talent of sharing the money around.

Yeah, I saw the ribcage dancer in that Cell-Block Tango. Renee just looks awful throughout the whole movie and I really thought she was a pretty actress. But that was Jerry Maguire when she was at her original weight. Now she's obsessed about being too thin and it showed in that movie. I thought she looked 2000 times better in Brigit Jones than she did in Chicago.

scene and he wasn't even nominated for an award! Now that was acting!


I love musicals and am glad to see them making a return but I liked "Moulin Rouge" much much better than "Chicago"!

I also saw the other movies that you saw..."The Hours", and "The Pianiast" and thought they were both Excellent!

Julianne Moore, definetly, was Oscar calibre!

It was poignantly beautiful!

And Nicole Kidman rocks! As well as Ewan McGregor!

Chicago had excellent cinematography, excellent costumes, excellent performances, etc. I think if you remove yourself from just the story and the acting, there are plenty of technical pluses to Chicago which were really something. The Hours, or even the Pianist, had no dance sequences to film, no use of color, very basic camerawork. And that scene with Zellweger as the puppet? Come on, LOL. That was some pretty good cinema.

As for Zeta-Jones vs. Julianne Moore.... the award isn't so much for acting as it is 'stand out performance in the film'. This is why Judi Dench won for her 8 minutes in Shakespeare in Love, Whoopi Goldberg won for Ghost, why Marisa Tomei won for My Cousin Vinny. Etc.

Good doesn't always have to mean dramatic, too.... maybe you just don't care for musicals? I thought it was terrific, and that CZJ earned that Oscar (the Douglas thing didn't hurt). The Pianist was excellent (Adrien :loveya:), the Hours had a great story.... but I do think Chicago was the best done picture of the year.

and the Fosse choreography. I heard that the movie didn't stay true to Fosse's work. So I couldn't bring myself to see it.

I am SO JEALOUS you got to see Bebe--I've only heard the soundtrack with she and Reinking, and MAN, she really spoiled me because I think everyone screws up "All that Jazz" compared to her. She really nails it and everyone else is a disappointment, even when they're good.

There's no beating Fosse, and I don't know why they just didn't leave it alone as much as they could... but Marshall did alright, considering the medium he was working with. People who don't know dancing would think it was good, and it was....but Fosse, geez.

That said--you might be interested to see how it translated to film... the Cell Block Tango looks great, so does We Both Reached for the Gun...

even to my untrained eye, the choreography was pretty sloppy. Not very well synchronized, etc.

And there wasn't very much else worth watching--it was supposed to WOW everybody with the singing and dancing.

Well, at least is wasn't as bad as "Moulin Rouge". Now THERE'S a pile of puke!

Well, that teaches me not to speak for others, LOL.

I thought Marshall's choreography was good for what it was. It's very hard to do dance on film because it will never look right.

But, Moulin Rouge! I tried to watch that thing over and over again...ugh. Ewan Macgregor was a delight as usual, even Kidman was okay (for me,that's saying a lot, I can't stand her)... but it was weird, and I felt like I should have been coked up to see it. Weird just for the sake of being weird. Weird I can do, but some of those characters were plain nightmarish to me, and I'm finding that I really, really don't like John Leguizamo.

who come on stage and you can not look at anyone else.

I met her once. She was already on Cheers, but she was doing Anything Goes in Miami. She was rehearsing a big dance number Buddy Beware and a friend of mine was rehearsal pianist. She came to sit down on her hour break and just started talking about a mile a minute.

No better "Keeper of the Fosse Flame" than she.
Saw her close "Fosse" in August,2001, with Ben Vereen. What a night!
Followed by supper at Sardi's:party:="Old NYC"

and was very disappointed. I wanted to see the dancing, but the way the dancing was filmed, it was just a bunch of poses. There were so many cuts, it didn't look like anybody was really dancing. Like how you would film if you wanted to make non-dancers appear to be dancing. And the story was just damn stupid. Not that the story in musicals has to be great, but this musical didn't make up for it in other ways.

And I agree that Zellweger was better looking before she slimmed down to her bones. Of course, that could be said for most of the actresses now in Hollywood.

...than the "important" dramas that always get put out at the end of the year.

CHICAGO was well-crafted, smart, and a lot of fun...and THE HOURS was well-crafted, smart, and fucking depressing.

I highly recommend it though I wouldn't put it in my top 25 favorite films of all time.

I suspect it doesn't translate well to the small screen.

Personally I thought the opening number alone was worth the price of admission.

Both of my teenage sons, who both normally despise musicals, loved "Chicago" because the songs actually advanced the plot.

...music. I know that's why I went!

I suspected I would HATE this...you've convinced me....

I admit that I don't like musicals, but I like the type of music in Chicago and the story sounded ok so I thought I might like it. Wrong! I hated it! And I was really pissed when it pretty much swept the Oscars. I was rooting for Gangs of New York. I liked the choreography of the riot/fight scenes in that better than the dancing scenes in Chicago.

As I mentioned earlier, Richard Gere did suprisingly well and I thought Queen Latifah and John C. Reilly did well (Ironically John C. Reilly was also in "The Hours" and played the husband of Julianne Moore's character).

I just thought Zeta-Jones was ok and Zellwinger was really bad. What can I say???!!!!

played Johnny.

and when I see C-Z-J in that black outfit on stage,
all I can think is "they're ripping off Liza!"

D

Thanks Lynne,
I honestly thought I was the only one who hated this movie. Glad to see there are other people who felt the same way.
I love musicals....Brigadoon, The King and I, Gigi and Jesus Christ Superstar are some of my very favorites.
As I sat watching Chicago, I kept wondering the very same thing you did.....'THIS won best picture?????' I guess I just figured my radar was off or something on this one. I loved Moulin Rouge and saw it as a good sign when Chicago was released that maybe, finally musicals might find their audience again.
I guess its possible that Chicago winning best picture is a good omen for musicals overall, but it certainly didnt deserve it as far as I'm concerned.

-chef-

How could this have won?

I enjoy musicals as much as the next gal but not this one!

As my Big Brother(in the bidness) constantly scolds me:
"The Academy is like a Political Convention,a finite number of votes-split five ways".

I thought Gere was great (all though Jerry Orbach was a better Billy Flynn in '76).

I think the Academy was paying homage' to the "Return of the Screen Musical".

Comparing "The Hours" (Nightnurse's fav movie of the year) with "Chicago" is like Sirloin steak Vs. a hunk of wedding cake...not comparable-and the Movie folks won't take a tip from the BEST Awards Show-The TONY's.


:loveya: take care,Lynne!
Your Man on Broadway:party:
GalleryGod

and had to watch it OVER and OVER on a flight from london.

she looked good and sounded good as well...

the music was good; Jon C Reilly's number was good. Richard Gere was better than I would have guessed he'd be.

I have a hard time with C-Z-J - I'm instinctively opposed to her, but having seen her in a few things, I'm starting to think she has some acting talent.

Renee Zellwegger - how does this person keep getting roles? I like her less every time I see her.


I haven't seen The Hours.

I saw The Pianist, and I didn't like it as much as most folks around here did. Not bad, but not as good as Schindler's List. Brody, I think was better in Summer of Sam.

I think the Two Towers was better and shoulda won the Oscar..I thought Chicago was good and thats saying alot beacuse ive never been a musical guy

I played for a production of "And The World Goes 'Round: The Songs Of Kander and Ebb". These guys write some amazing stuff. If you ever get a chance to see this review, do it.