Dogs Bark

Vissi D'arte - - Maria (2024, Multi-national, Color, 124 min) - - 20 December 2024

Recommended. Maria is the most sensual movie of the year. It’s not the best . . . but the combination of María Clallas’s (Medea) passionate voice and Angelina Jolie’s (Maleficent) unearthly face, is something to witness. Supposedly, Jolie learned enough operatic technique to blend her voice with La Callas. But as opera is the most demanding performance art, singing is only the most important part of the job. Jolie doesn’t recreate Callas, she performs her  . . . a heightened version worthy of its own opera. Maria is part three of director Pablo Larraín’s trilogy of remarkable women (Jackie, Spencer) and covers - - with flashbacks - - only the finale of Callas’s amazing life. Just as Callas is idealized, the supporting cast is also, including, less successfully, Aristotle Onassis. Of course, a glamorous movie relies on costuming (Massimo Cantini Parrini, Cyrano), makeup/hair (Adruitha Lee, I, Tonya and Pamela Goldammer, Border), and cinematography (Edward Lachman, Carol). All are Oscar-worthy.

There’s No Place Like CGI - - Wicked (2024, USA, Color, 160 min)

Recommended. Can you love a movie but still have issues? Of course. But let’s start with the good news. Ariana Grande (Don’t Look Up) can act! Enough such that her Broadway voice and dancing in Wicked are joyous. And she’s funny . . . mugging up Glinda the Good Witch like she’s waited for the part all her life (she has!) And, given Harriet, we (and the Academy) know Cynthia Erivo can really act. She also dances, is funny, and makse the finale song, Defying Gravity, SOAR. The rest of Wicked is tolerable. Too long and glitzy . . . the long attributable to its Part 1 status. Jeff Goldblum (Jurassic Park) was surprisingly inoffensive, but the talking animals and most of the other supporting actors are forgettable. The flying monkeys were not as deeply disturbing as in The Wizard Of Oz. Despite all this - - if you love Oz, or the stage musical - - you’ll love Wicked.