This week I watched Into the Woods, Peter's Friends, The Palm Beach Story and Calvary.

This week I watched Used Cars and The Guest.

I'm not going to be able to see the movie until January 8th (damn NZ release dates), but I've read part of the screenplay (I decided to stop when I realised they were basically putting the stage show on screen) and listened to about half the new recordings. I really wish they hadn't made the orchestrations so big -…

The latest revival of Follies begs to differ…

All those pointless dissolves, and multiple soundtracks overlapping do get pretty distracting.

I don't know about this show. The pilot really pissed me off, mostly because the idea of portraying classical musicians as trendy NYC hipsters struck me as completely wrong. It could have been a case of the pilot just trying too hard, but I don't think it was.

I wonder if Sunday can be done, given that Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters are far, far too old for the roles. Obviously other people have played the parts, and I've seen a few on YouTube, but no one really comes close to doing it as well.

This week I watched Bad Words and The Immigrant.

You'd have to take out all the references to other musicals, though. Which would deprive us of the comedy of Jack Black-ish playing some of the great roles of musical theatre.

This is actually way better than looking at the larger list, because each one is idiosyncratic, and the reader can actually start to get a handle on the individual tastes of each critic. The various jabs by people at movies on other peoples lists was fun too.

I think the theory is that it's one of the most family-friendly shows around. I saw a touring production this year, and I found it well-crafted if a bit empty. Strouse came up with some nice tunes though, if not the best he's ever written, and Charnin's a pretty good lyricist. I really like I Don't Need Anything But…

This week I watched Nightcrawler, Safe and re-watched As Good as it Gets.

So have I, though at least one of them was recorded by Ralph Blane. I think it's a great lyric, too, much better than the replacement lyric.

I feel your pain. I'm working at a McDonalds, and all I hear are awful pop remixes of the Christmas song dregs (All I Want For Christmas Is You)

I'm not overly fond of the movie, but I do really like this scene. Minnelli I find is a bit overrated as a director of musicals, though he was a terrific director of melodrama and romance (two key elements of musicals), but the understated simplicity of this number really works.

This week I watched Hellzapoppin'. It was awesome. The constant insane inventiveness and breaking down of film conventions was great, plus a non-stop barrage of great (and rather risqué) vaudeville jokes kept me laughing from beginning to end. The first reel was unbeliveable, but the rest of the movie was a pretty…

It's interesting that there was tension between the director and the cinematographer, because I thought the movie looked great, with really interesting and expressive lighting that set it apart from a lot of other schlocky '80s horror movies.

So it's not just me. I remember watching it with my parents (who raved about it) and getting a very similar feeling. There's some terrific set-pieces, but what I mostly remember is the slowness and boredom.

My entry point into Jazz was the '30s swing band stuff. I know that they sometimes seem tacky, but I really like them.

I have the opposite problem. There are a number of Jazz instrumentalists I love, but actual Jazz vocalists (as opposed to pop like Sinatra or Crosby) are few and far between. Ella Fitzgerald is the main exception, particularly her Great American Songbook albums. I hate the way they push and pull the rhythms and…