Ben O'Shea: There's Just No Showstoppers

Ben O'Shea was back in the hotseat, this time to review the latest Wicked instalment Wicked: For Good. Ben reckoned one of the cast could be up for a Oscar, tune into find out who.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Great per flick with Benoshe.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
A lot of songs in this, I guess Ben yes.

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Oh yeah, lots of songs in Wicked for Good, the
sequel and finale to last year's Wicked adaptation. So the
actual stage musical second most popular musical ever in the
world in terms of box office. He's so successful, overtook
The Lion King, sort of just behind the Lion King.
And so last year's movie starring Cynthia Erevo as Alphaba,

(00:29):
the green wicked Witch of the West, who's not that
wicked really, it's an origin story. You realize she's actually lovely,
and Arian understood, well, we'll get onto that. And then
you've got ariana grande pop star as Glinda the Good
who she's fantastic. She was so hilarious and you watch
and you know it. She's actually a really funny actress.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
She is funny.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
That's so funny. And you had Michelle Yo as Madame Morrible,
the sort of the head mistress of the school, and
the great Jeff Goldblum as the Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Yes,
and so that was the first movie. It made one
more than one point one billion dollars at the box office.
And here in Perth. On opening weekend alone last year,
sixty thousand people bought tickets to this movie. So it

(01:11):
is incredibly popular. And the film went on to be
nominated for ten Oscars. One two Cynthia and Ariana both
nominated for Oscar's Best Picture, got a nomination if there.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
Was a category for you know, promotion of a movie.

Speaker 1 (01:25):
Oh my gosh, do you remember Ariana holding Cynthia's finger
and the holding space memes and talking about how much
they loved each other? It got weird, but anyway, so,
needless to say, the expectations for movie number two are
through the roof. Need you need a magic broom to
fly up to those expectations. That's what the altitude of

(01:46):
the bad pressure. It's disappointing. Oh it disappointed. It didn't
live up to the expectations. Unfortunately. I hate to break
it to everybody out there. And the reasons why actually
make a lot of sense. So the first movie was incredible,
the sets, the costumes, The wow factor was through the
roof is so straight away you don't have that wow factor.

(02:09):
That is just unfortunate. That's a reality. Uh. And the
other unfortunate reality of this movie is in the stage musical,
the first act is so much better than the second act.
The second act has the conclusion and the consequences and
all this sort of stuff, But the first act has
all the good songs.

Speaker 3 (02:24):
So is it kind of like? So is it kind
of like just stretching the story too far? Basically, it's
like when they got to Police Academy six, you know
they lost?

Speaker 1 (02:32):
Yeah, I like that, you say six six was the
one where they went too far. Five was still totally
on board with what they were doing. But no, so
even in the musical, you go and watch the musical,
the second act is just not as good as the
first act. The first act has all the showstoppers, define gravity,
popular amazing song, no one mourns a wicked all that

(02:55):
sort of stuff. The second act there's just no show stoppers.
That's just that's just how it is. Unfortunately, so the
film suffers because of that. What I will say, though,
are in a grande like pencil her in for an
Oscar nomination again. She is even better. She steals the show.
This is the best thing I've ever seen her do.
She she's better than Cynthia Ravo as the main character.
I think I think Cynthia will miss out on an

(03:16):
Oscar nomination. I think Ariana will get one.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
They both get nominated supporting.

Speaker 1 (03:21):
One, Cynthia for lead and Ariana for reporting. This time,
I think Ariana definitely for supporting I could win it.
I don't know. It depends on what else happens. But
so she is fantastic.

Speaker 3 (03:32):
But it's just it just.

Speaker 1 (03:34):
Honestly, it feels like a chore at times. Sorry, hang on,
and it's long, isn't it.

Speaker 2 (03:40):
It's really long.

Speaker 3 (03:42):
I'm getting a word here from the makers of the
second Wicked movie too.

Speaker 1 (03:50):
Which is not that long compared to a lot of
movies these days, but it feels long.

Speaker 2 (03:53):
Well, how many were not in Kansas? Now, totos? Are
you giving it well?

Speaker 1 (03:57):
Because of Ariana and the amazing technical achievement of the
set and the costumes and the visual effects and all
of those people that work really hard. Three giving it three?

Speaker 2 (04:04):
Three?

Speaker 3 (04:05):
Well, that's better than I was expecting. You're going to
give you that sort of.

Speaker 1 (04:08):
Yeah, it wasn't for all of that disappointing easily easily
it could be two.

Speaker 2 (04:13):
And a half.

Speaker 3 (04:14):
All right, Okay, there you go. We'll get a new movie. Hopefully.
That positive review next week,