"Chicago" the movie--Spoilers!!

Cafe Society
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I saw the movie Sunday. It was a truly bizarre experience seeing a movie about women on trial for their lives in Illinois the day after the governor of Illinois commuted all the death sentences in the state.

I’ve never seen the stage show so had no basis of comparison. I liked it all right. I wasn’t wowed by it the way I was wowed by Moulin Rouge. I wouldn’t seek out the movie again or buy the DVD, although I might buy the soundtrack.

Agree with everything that’s been said about Christine Baransky. I’ve been a fan of her’s since she appeared on a couple episodes of Law and Order back in the day. She needs to get some roles where she’s in full-support mode rather than these one-step-above bit parts.

I about fell out my chair at the lyric “I fired two warning shots…into his head.” I first heard the lyric in an East German industrial song and had no idea it had been cribbed from Broadway.

No one ay the theatre applauded, but I think it’s odd to applaud a movie anyway unless the cast and/or crew is there to hear it.

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Heck, we yokels (no, I don’t really mean that) here in St. Louis’ll applaud at anything. I remember a month or two back reading a newspaper editorial from a performing arts critic suggesting that townsfolk need not give standing ovations for every single performance, as it rendered the standing O meaningless.

Don’t think it worked, though.

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Saw it yesterday here in Las Vegas…loved it.
It was a Tuesday afternoon showing in a local casino multiplex, with 4 screens showing the film but the theater was probably 1/3 full - not bad for that time of day, during the week.
I have no real complaints at all, but I am surprised by the people who liked J. Reilly’s song…I thought that was the low point of the whole film - I mean, it wasn’t horrible, it just wasn’t very good IMHO.
I think it is a safe bet this film will do well at the Golden Globes on Sunday, and I don’t think I am going out on a limb predicting it will also be nominated for an Oscar for Best Film.

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Finally saw it tonight.
Overall, I liked it.

Catherine Zeta-Jones and Queen Latifah were wonderful.

I was ok with Renee Zellweger (her mannequin dance was very well done) and I finally saw a movie where I didn’t hate Richard Gere (I didn’t like him, but his fame and alleged appeal seemed like only a slight mystery rather than a complete and total enigma).

The Cell-block Tango was wonderful… I loved the way they did that.

My complaint - probably not a spoiler, but just in case [spoiler]I’m used to seeing Roxie as much less naive and much harder, tougher than they had her in the movie. And I didn’t like the movie Roxie as much.

They also cut the: “No, her husband is not at home” line. Which is kind of part of that.

I also missed “I’m gonna get me a whole bunch of boys!”[/spoiler]
Still, excellent job!

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another

I also don’t get why they changed it from “Hungarian Rope Trick” to “Hungarian Disappearing Act.” But that was very well done.

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Did anyone else watch “Roxie Hart” last night on Fox Movie Channel? I tuned in out of curiosity as to how similar it would be to “Chicago” and thoroughly enjoyed it. Ginger Rogers was a treat as Roxie. I didn’t know the history of the story. “Chicago” was originally a non-musical stage play and was first filmed as “Chicago” in 1928. I was fascinated at how much of the dialog (presumably from the original play) survived both into “Roxie Hart” and the new “Chicago.” There’s no Velma Kelly at all in RH. Does anyone know if Velma was in the original play? I also loved how Roxie, Billy, the prosecutor and the judge would all pose for dramatic photos right in the courtroom in the middle of her testimony. Also interesting in this version was that Roxie actually didn’t do it. Anyone know if in the original play she was innocent and this was a Hayes office-mandated plot change? I’m also assuming that Roxie’s “punishment” for her adultery was being stuck with a busload of kids at the end, which if correct is an interesting take on that particular Hayes mandate.

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Outstanding musical. Brilliant staging, wonderful casting. Best movie I’ve seen in a few years.

But didn’t anyone else notice that Richard Gere has come to look exactly like Eli Wallach?

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So is three Golden Globes considered a sweep? I don’t care much for awards shows (other than the Oscars of course) so I didn’t watch, just read the news story about it this morning. I was mildly disappointed that Queen Latifah didn’t win but really, the screen time wasn’t there despite her making the most of every second of it.

I read a blurb in Genre magazine last night from Christine Baransky who said of her portrayal of Mary Sunshine that she felt a little guilty for taking a role away from a drag queen so she made Mary a lesbian. “That was my own little secret, she’s one of those fabulous 20’s lesbians!”

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Ohh…someone remembered my old thread! Wait a minute, Jomo, you’re the one who helped me out and told me what the translation was. Thaaat’s why you were linking to it! :wink:

The Hungarian Disappearing Act was pretty disturbing in the movie. And one of the few things the movie version did better than the stage one. It was good how they switched back and forth between the musical numbers and the “real life” things- this in particular. After you translated that for me, Jomo Mojo, I just always assumed that Hunyak really was innocent…which I suppose the director of the movie also realized.

I just saw the movie tonight. I still think Bebe Neuwirth would have been a much better Velma than Catherine Zeta-Jones. I also didn’t like how they cut songs- “My Own Best Friend,” “My Baby and Me,” one I think is called “I Know A Girl” and the song where Velma is demonstrating what she’ll do on the witness stand.

I also noticed they really developed Roxie’s character a lot more. To make up for the fact that Renee Zellwegger can’t dance/sing as well, most likely- she doesn’t do nearly as much dancing as her character should. And as posters have said, she’s more sweet and naive in the movie.

But on the whole, it was pretty enjoyable.

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i’m curious now…it just came out where i live…

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I loved it, and plan to see it again.

The only major complaints I’d heard before going in were about Richard Gere, so I was ready to cringe when “All I Care About” started. But I really liked him, at least as much as Billy Zane (Zane was playing Billy Flynn when I saw the stage production in New York).

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My friend Cassie and I drove an hour into the city to see this last Friday. After much waiting [we bought our tickets an hour early] and a near-heart-attack when the usher tried to card us, we finally got into the theatre.

And. It. Was. Brilliant.

Sure Richard Gere can’t sing. Or dance. Or even act. But somehow he made Billy Flynn a loveable freak. Heh.

I really don’t mind Catherine Zeta-Jones as Velma Kelly [liked her a lot, actually], although through most of the film I just wanted to club Renee Zellwegger over the head. She’s made one film that I’ve liked her in [bridget jones’s diary, if you’re wondering] and as Roxie, an already frustrating character, ugh.

The casting of Dominic West as Fred was really a good choice. He plays a convincing bastard, I’ve found.

The Cell Block Tango was wonderful.

The Hungarian Rope Trick was the most disturbing thing I’ve seen in a film since Schindler’s List.

So, final notes? I loved it. It was surreal. We laughed and cried and then laughed again and cried again and . . . well, you get the point.

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I haven’t seen the play so I only have the movie version to go by. I thought the film portrayed Roxie as a character with plenty of ambition and short on talent so it made sense to cast an actress with no voice or dance training.

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Finally saw it last night – I made my bf go over in the afternoon to get tickets (no online sales at that theater) because it was sold out the first time we tried to go.

LOVED it.

I’ve never seen the play, so came to the story, etc., pretty naively – knew a couple of the songs, knew the broad outlines of the story, etc., but had been ducking a lot of the coverage. (I’ve been sitting on that issue of Entertainment Weekly for damn close to a month – and have been skipping this thread religiously.)

The tango number was wonderful, as was the disappearing rope trick (which reminded me of the end of Dancer in the Dark), but my favorite was the marionette number.

I was so glad I saw it on the big screen – I’m still kicking myself for not going to see Moulin Rouge, which I adored, in the theaters. I agree with all of you who disliked the choppy editing – Astaire had it in his contracts that they had to film him head to toe at all times, Og bless him – it reminded me of Stayin’ Alive, the last film to be that annoying on the editing.

I definitely agree with Grace that the limited talents of Renee Zellweger match the limited talents of Roxie quite well – and, contrariwise, the more polished skills of C. Z.-J. suited Velma much better.

The opening and closing numbers were so great!

I loved the homage to Fosse in the opening number, and the extent to which they kept his style, on the one hand, and updated it, on the other. The way they treated all of the musical numbers (after the first) as just Roxie’s fantasies was extremely effective, IMO.

I’m going to wait to see if I get the soundtrack for Valentine’s Day before I go out and buy it – if any of you were hearing thudding sounds from the Philly area last night or this morning, it was me dropping big ol’ hints about that.

(BTW, the bf, a self-proclaimed hater of musicals, was laughing throughout, and had to admit that “some of the numbers were pretty cool.” In other words, he liked it a lot, but can’t admit it, lest the karmic advantage we’re pretending he has for suffering through this be dissipated.

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The closing number was great–and I can’t figure out how they got that mild strobe effect, but it really gave the scene a lot of pop.

CZ jones is a beautiful woman, but she’s a bit too heavy to be a professional dancer and the dancing itself, though good for a non-pro, seemed largely a triumph of editing.

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Me and the sweetie saw it last night. What a blast! Having been raised on the “Oklahoma!” school of musicals, I’m not used to seeing musicals that are so damn cynical. But I loved it. Queen Latifah absolutely stole the show.

The quick-cut editing bothered me as well. But Zeta-Jones is too heavy to be a professional dancer?! The pros must look like famine victims, then.

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I’m still thinking about this movie!

The other place where they did the heavy Fosse homage, in addition to the opening (“Cabaret” homage), was in the closing number (cf the “All That Jazz” finale – interspersing the shots of the other characters in the “audience”).

I’m with burundi on the WTF re: C.Z.-J.'s weight. Admittedly she’s a lot more womanly than a lot of dancers, but not by any stretch of the imagination to a degree that disqualifies her as a dancer. Due to the choppiness of the editing, it’s damn close to impossible to tell whether she’s a good dancer or not – but certainly in the opening number she seemed to know what she was doing, and I seem to recall her doing at least one kick of the “hit your nose with your knee” variety.

BTW, during those interminable credits, I esp. loved “Richard Gere’s singing and dancing was done by Richard Gere; Renee Zellweger’s singing and dancing was done by Renee Zellweger; Catherine Zeta-Jones’s singing and dancing was done by Catherine Zeta-Jones.”

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You’ve obviously never heard of the Beef Trust Chorus.

I have no idea where you get the idea that CZJ is too heavy for any role other than perhaps Peter Pan.

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Especially for a Fosse style musical.

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I loved the movie overall, but Richard Gere - WOW! I thought this was the first movie where he looked like he was having fun versus his usual smirky/bad acting routine.

Oscar nominations for everyone!