The 2016 Tony Awards nominations are in, and boy is it going to be a big night for Hamilton! With 16 nominations total, they have broken the record for most nominations in one year. Being this year’s “The Book of Mormon”, they are the odds on favorite to win a ton of awards, however there is a bunch of great contenders that are going to give them a run for their money. [Read more…] about The 2016 Tony Award Nominations Are In: Will Hamilton Sweep?
Michelle Williams
OZ: The Great and Powerful Movie Review
The Wizard of Oz starring Judy Garland is one of my favorite movies of all time! The story line and imagination behind that movie captivated me at a young age. Still to this day I can recite every line and sing every song. Also, recently I had the pleasure of seeing Wicked, the Broadway play about the witches of Oz and fell in love. The story was enchanting, exhilarating, and even comedic.
So when I saw the coming attraction to Oz: The Great and Powerful I was curious to say the least. This film is a prequel to The Wizard of Oz and describes how the Wizard found his way to Oz.
James Franco starts the Wizard of Oz, a mediocre carnival magician, with a habit of flirting with the wrong women. Franco’s performance was much like his characters magic tricks, dull and insipid. His portrayal of the Wizard of Oz was lifeless and monotone. I was extremely disappointed in his performance and his depiction alone ruined the movie for me.
The plot of the movie was also lacking imagination. Mila Kunis plays Theodora who starts out as a good witch but after being scorned by the Wizard turns wicked. Yet another boring performance! Kunis lacked emotion and was not the right pick for this character. Rachel Weisz takes the role of Evanora, a wicked witch right from the beginning, and Theodora’s sister. Weisz actually did an admirable job depicting this character. Her performance was believable and her character was conniving and wicked.
Michelle Williams stars as Glinda, The Good Witch. The Wizard is decieved by Evanora to believe that Glinda was actually the Wicked Witch and, in order for Oz to take his place as King of the Land of Oz, he must kill her by breaking her magic wand.
If you aren’t confused yet, just watch the movie. The plot was a little to outrageous to click with the original story line. There are too many differences that do not add up. In this film, Emerald City is controlled by the Wicked witches, and the munchkins are only a small portion of the Oz population.
Oz: The Great and Powerful was anti-climactic and unimagined. The story line was too far off from the original outline of The Wizard of Oz, and the acting was disappointing. I was really looking forward to this movie and am sad to be so let down. I suggest saving your money and going to see Wicked instead!
Beyonce SHUT IT DOWN
Boy oh boy did Beyonce have a lot to live up to last night. After being criticized since her supposed “lip sync” at the Inauguration a couple of weeks back, she knew she had to bring it hardcore to the Super Bowl. So did she accomplish that? From my point of view and several millions of people, she freaking did.
The anticipation built as the 2nd quarter ended. Coming out in a leather, dominatrix type outfit, she blew the stage up with several of her different hits from “Baby Boy” and “Crazy In Love”. It was the only time during the entire show that I actually stood close to the television screen to get a better view as to what was going on. I was HOOKED. The best part of course was when her Destiny’s Child crew, Michelle Williams and Kelly Rowland, popped out of nowhere to do “Bootylicious” and sing on her uber-huge hit “Single Ladies”. Cue to me going ballistic. Everything about the performance in itself was electrifying, as she herself is exactly that kind of an entertainer. There was really no need for a zillion backup dancers, bands, or anything else to distract from what people really wanted to see- her.
This was an improvement by a million miles from the Black Eyed Peas two years ago, and even Madonna a year ago. It seemed to flow a lot better than both of theirs and to silence her critics, she performed the whole damn thing live. That is an arena that is very tough to do so, and she did it. Freaking phenomenal.
According to ABCNews.com, she generated 5.5 million tweets (I made about 1.2 million of those), and many joked she was the one that caused the 34 minute power outage to happen as a result of how great it was. There were also rumors of the triangle finger sign she gave to the camera. Some people thought it meant illuminati (look it up), others thought it was designed for her hubby Jay-Z, who is known to make that kind of a symbol.
People who book the performers at the Super Bowl need to remember a night like tonight. Quite frankly, since the Janet Jackson one back in 2003, and perhaps the Prince show a couple of years back, the halftime shows have been a snore fest based off of what i feel of them afraid to book younger performers. There is nothing wrong with that, and there are several artists now that are an somewhat of a level that Beyonce is on and they can carry that kind of momentum. I wouldn’t mind seeing a repeat of tonight in the years to come, but Beyonce once again proved why she is queen of the castle and will stay that way for a while.