Chicago (2002)

Murdering Floozies, Booze & Jazz

This Broadway musical adaptation looks like a typical party thrown by the Weinstein brothers. There is booze, music, dance, and of course heaps of Oscars (6 to be exact). Chicago takes you back to the roaring 20s in the jazzy capital of crime. I rank this movie among the best musicals ever made and it will be hard to top it. Watching it is like taking this flamboyant ride to a colorful and corrupted past. Call me a kiss ass but I can shout loud and proud that Chicago is practically perfect in each and every feature. Blazing humor? Check. Splendid cinematography? Check. Mind-blowing choreography? You got it too (my personal favorite bit being the Cell Block Tango). Renée Zellweger is a good Roxie Hart but I personally root for Catherine Zeta-Jones who is the one to stand out among her fellow cast members. She is magnificent in the role of Velma Kelly: raw, sarcastic, sexy... She has it all and shatters the big screen with talent. She gets the Academy Award to prove it. I'm carried away in the girl power whirlwind every time I watch it or listen to the soundtrack. Chicago is bold because it dares underscoring societal issues behind its glitter and idealism. Death penalty, crooked justice system, the run to fame (its rivalry and irrelevance)... I find magical how Chicago can switch from a furtive shooting to a megalomaniac staging every other frame. This musical is all you've ever dreamed of. Where else can you see Richard Gere tapdancing and Queen Latifah as a jail guard?

1 reason to watch: I'll give you 6! Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress, Best Art Direction,  Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, & Best Sound Mixing.

Carnage (2011)

4 neurotic parents trapped in a Brooklyn apartment reveal their true self under their respectable yuppy covers in order to defend their son's honor.

I wanted to watch Carnage because I usually like when Roman Polanski makes movies behind closed doors. And of course, I couldn't wait to see this impressive cast trapped in a Brooklyn apartment: Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz, and John C. Reilly. Sorry Seth (MacFarlane and his tribute song to actresses' upper parts from the 2013 Oscars ceremony), you won't see Winslet's boobs in this movie! Waltz' character is a first class a-hole and Foster's is totally nuts. Carnage is the story of 2 couples dealing with their sons' fight and its consequences. I was honestly a bit disappointed with the movie. It's not as subtle as I hoped it would be (when Winslet pukes on Reilly and Foster's hardwood floor I wondered 'who does that? You feel like throwing up and you don't run to the bathroom? You stay here in the living room and puke on the books?). Plus, it hardly comes to a conclusion. The characters are complete unbridled maniacs from the start. It made me laugh a few times as it underscores the ridicule of those neurotic yuppies. Carnage is based on a play and it's often the case for characters to be infinitely more intense and overplayed on live theater. I would have liked Polanski to re-work the screenplay entirely to adapt it more easily to the different feel of cinema. If you want a much better Polanski claustrophobic piece, I'd recommend you watch Death and the Maiden (with Sigourney Weaver and Ben Kingsley): on a stormy night, a man has to find shelter at a neighbor's whose wife is convinced the man once tortured her while playing Schubert.

1 reason to watch: the incredible cast

1 reason NOT to watch: you'll find much better Polanskis