Hunt's Film Reviews, Should You Choose to Accept Them

  A few things to get us started. I have been a fan of The Wizard of Oz for as long as I can remember. Even with being such a fan of The Wizard of Oz , I have never seen the Broadway musical Wicked . Naturally, I was cautiously optimistic about the film adaptation of Wicked . I knew some things to expect and recognized how the story of Wicked lines up with The Wizard of Oz . Any hesitations I had about Wicked flew out the window like one of the flying monkeys. What a spectacle and cinematic experience this movie is. There are a lot of aspects of Wicked to talk about. Every song has a purpose and hits the emotional/story notes needed. In talking to my wife after the film I had a tough time selecting a handful of favorite songs since they are all so good. The acting is on point and all the major players were cast correctly. The dynamic between Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and Galinda/Glinda (Ariana Grande-Butera) is believable and well-executed. We as the audience understand how their rel...

  We're getting close to the holiday season, so I thought it was time for a review of a Christmas movie. I wait until after Thanksgiving to put up the Christmas tree, but a review isn't a tree. Let's talk about the new release The Best Christmas Pageant Ever . The Best Christmas Pageant Ever surprised me. My expectation was the film would be an average Christmas flick. The movie hits a lot of important notes and I believe that it's accessible to just about any audience member. Younger viewers, older viewers and anyone in between can relate to what happens in the story. The film contains a lot of good humor and handles the emotional beats quite effectively. Without giving anything away, I appreciate how the movie ended. The filmmakers could have gone down a different path that would have resulted in a less impactful ending, so I will give credit where credit is due. Please don't take this short review as a sign that there is little to say about The Best Christmas Pag...