Chicago

The oscar phenomenon that is Chicago is a very difficult film to review. If every critic on the planet was completely honest with themselves, they would have to come to the conclusion that Chicago is actually not that much of a movie. But it is a fabulously entertaining piece of theatre, caught on film. The stirring musical that was Chicago on broadway was a fantastic show to see live, the film catches all of that onto film, with the help of perfectly cast actors and actresses. I normally despise jazz music myself, but the score and original songs (All That Jazz, Razzle Dazzle, and Mr. Celephane) all got me out of my seat dancing. Director Rob Marshall has absolutely no job as a director, mainly just as a coreographer. But he does it fabulously, definitely oscar worthy but not as good as Peter Jackson's job in the Lord of the Rings or Roman Polanski's the Pianist. The real star of Chicago is the flawless performances by all the cast, Renee Zellwegger probably deserved the academy award for her performance, although I have not yet seen Nicole Kidman in the Hours. Catherine Zeta-Jones has unbelievable energy in her role as Velma Kelly and will blow you out of your seat. Richard Gere certainly deserved at least an oscar nomination for best actor, delivers a hilarious and witty performance as Billy Flynt. Queen Latifah in her first serious film delivers quite the performance, but is overshadowed by the rest of the cast. And undoubtebly the most underappreciated actor of the group. He delivers a brilliant character to us, definitely better than Chris Cooper in Adaptation, and perhaps even superior to Christopher Walken in Catch Me If You Can. And who can possibly forget the Canadian contribution, Colm Feore who's real and astounding performance as the bad guy in the film brings the film to a better level of reason. Do not miss this entertaining and jubulious film, definitely the best musical to hit the screen in years, and one of the best films of the year.