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WICKED: FOR GOOD MOVIE REVIEW
The most anticipated movie of the year (by studios hoping to pay for the rest of the year’s screwups by this paying for it) is here. The celebrated musical adapted from a book which was a reimagining of the movie which was based on a book has now concluded (?) and you probably already can name at least three people in your life that have opening day tickets. Cynthia Erivo returns as Elphaba aka The Wicked Witch of the West and Ariana Grande as Glinda the Good, two former students at a magic academy who became close friends, despite having very different backgrounds and public perceptions. Everything thinks Elphaba is a mutant (or something) because of her green skin and extreme predilection for magical ability, despite that in Oz the color green is worshipped and magical ability treated as the highest honor…this part never made sense to me. Now, she’s had it and is willing to be the wicked witch everyone thinks she is, and the Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum) and his Stephen Miller, Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh), are leaning into it hard. But Glinda and their school friend/now ostensibly Glinda’s fiancee Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey), are not buying it, despite having to keep up appearances in the now Orwellian land of Oz. With the film and audience firmly on Elphaba’s side, how will she triumph over this fascist coup of magicland given what we already know happens in The Wizard of Oz? Stay tuned folks as Chris, Wright, Kate, and Frank are gonna get into it with their review of Wicked: For Good, part two of the Oz…saga? Be warned, this review gets a bit spoilery.
DIRECTED BY: Jon M. Chu
STARRING: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Scarlett Spears, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Marissa Bode, Ethan Slater, Michelle Yeoh, Bowen Yang, Bronwyn James, Colman Domingo, Sharon D. Clarke, Dee Bradley Baker, Keala Settle, Adam James, Alice Feam, Kerry Ellis, Bethany Weaver
YOUR REVIEWERS
Christopher Lawrence Cox (Founder, Da Boss, Digital Noise, Highly Suspect Reviews, Screener Squad, Deliberations of Doom)
Born in the wilds of northern Virginia, Chris managed to put all of his survival skills to use and barely escaped with his life to Austin Texas in 1992 where ever since he’s dabbled in everything from plumber’s assistant to sandwich maker, from band to bar and theater management. An opportunity to see theatrical release films for free by becoming a critic on a local public access show called “The Reel Deal” turned into a full-time job when Chris and his friends decided to take it to the internet. They built the site Spill.com, adding multiple podcasts and animated features, to no small amount of success. During this time, a fortuitous friendship sprung up between Chris and young Brian Salisbury, who was also a local film critic, and they merged their forces of will, and their laundry list of ideas for shows, to eventually build this community of critics. While Brian eventually followed his heart to a new family, Chris continues on with a cast of colorful folks from all over the country (and a few others).
Wright Sulek (The Other Boss, Trash in the Can, Digital Noise, Highly Suspect Reviews, One Man’s Trash, Screener Squad)
Wright hails from the northern suburbs of Dallas, Texas. His passion for filmmaking brought him to Austin to study and make movies. Since then he’s had his hand in acting, writing, and directing his own short films with numerous like-minded film geeks he’s met along his journey. His newest interest has brought him into the podcasting world. He co-hosted a few different movie related podcasts such as ‘And Now This’ and ‘The Match Cut’. He currently co-hosts with longtime friend, Eric Samaniego, where they talk shop about the grimiest, trashiest, lost gems of movies on their show, ‘Trash in the Can’. Wright also guests and hosts reviews on Screener Squad and Highly Suspect Reviews as well as co-hosts Digital Noise with Chris Cox. As of 2024, Wright has now been inducted into the Austin Film Critics Association as well as co-owns the One of Us network with Chris Cox.
Frank Calvillo (Highly Suspect Reviews, Screener Squad, What Ever Happened to Bette & Joan?)
Born and raised in South Texas, Frank currently lives in Austin and has been in love with movies ever since his father showed him some Three Stooges shorts when he was five years old. Today he loves all kinds of film, regardless of era, country, budget or genre. He believes every film has an audience and is at least one person’s favorite movie. After writing for Sight & Sound and Slackerwood, he now writes for Cinapse where his increasingly random taste in all flavors of cinema (from Rashomon to Mars Attacks!) continues to thrive. His ultimate goal is to write a script for his boyhood crush, Michelle Pfeiffer.
Kate Chambers (Highly Suspect Reviews, Screener Squad)
Kate is a certified horror fiend and Horse Girl™. Her name isn’t short for anything. A native Austinite, she graduated with a BFA in Film Production from the University of Colorado Boulder then returned to the Lone Star State to make her home amid the cinephiles of the Alamo Drafthouse and the Austin Film Society. In her spare time, you can find her either down at the barn with her noble steed Jazz, watching as many movies as possible (often at work), cuddling with her pair of black cats and writing horror scripts, or nursing a beer in any available body of water… or doing Duolingo, where she’s currently on a 1000+ day streak.
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