Friday, March 23, 2018

chicagNO-Tommy Avila

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The movie Chicago is a 2002 Academy Award-winning film made by Rob Marshall and stars [shift in tense] Renée Zellweger as Roxie Hart, Richard Gere as My personal favorite character Billy Flynn, Cathernine Zeta-Jones as Velma Kelly, and John C. Reilly as Amos Hart

The film starts out in a club [The Onyx] with a woman rushing to get on stage after they can't find the second part of her act (Hher sister). The show goes on anyway, and it shows a woman in awe with a man by her side. The man convinces her that he has connections to the club and can get her on the stage. She believes him so she can follow her dream, and she sleeps with him. After she keeps pestering the man named Fred Casely he reviles [reveals] that he doesn't know anyone in the club and doesn't have a connection. After woards she gets thrown he pushes her into a dresser, and Roxie Hart grabs a gun from her dresser and shoots Fred Casely. Roxie is then interrogated and tells her husband whom she was cheating on to lie for her [this is confusing as written]. Eventually she breaks and the husband snitches. Roxie is then taken away to prison and makes headlines. 

In the prison she meets other prisoners who are there for the same [similar would be more precise] crime. They all killed their husbands for certain reasons but the most important one is the singer Velma Kelly because Roxie Hart looks up to her as a performer and was there at the club the day she was arrested. 

I don't remember why Velma killed her husband, but I can only assume that he cheated on her. During this time Amos is trying to get a lawyer and Roxie finds out about Mr. Flynn who has never lost a case. Amos then gives him all the money he has, and Mr. Flynn takes the case. At first Roxie wanted all the attention and Mr. Flynn realized he could capitalize on her looks and singing for media exposure to tip the case in his favor. He tells Roxie to listen to what he says and follow all his steps. She is essentially a puppet, and the film in its strongest and most entertaining musical number shows this quite literally in one of the songs where - they make a cover story that she was defending the house, and they both "Reached for the gun." After this the media in Chicago eats it up, and they all love Roxie. 

Eventually she starts falling off and needs more attention so she can get her lawyer back and get her spotlight to keep her newfound fame. She pretends to feint [spelling  -  also a great opportunity for both alliteration and pun  -  she feigned a fainting spell LOL] and says"I hope I didn't hurt the baby!" Everyone eats it up. Eventually she gets her case and the Lawyer Flynn makes a fake diary and writes phrases that sound like the apposing lawyer is tampering with evidence. The case is won and he is held with contempt.In the very end Roxie and Velma start a two woman show and the movie closes .

Personally I thought the movie was ok but a lot of the songs felt like filler and had no place or structure. the movie is structured like a play or musical and while I am fine with that the movie seems to cut corners in the music department making it unbearable for me to hear. 

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