On Sunday (March 2), the Oscars paid homage to the late, nice Quincy Jones by having Queen Latifah sing the long-lasting “Ease on Down The Street” from 1978’s “The Wiz.” Cynthia Erivo carried out “House” from the movie earlier within the telecast.
Now, These are each iconic songs from the movie. However can we lastly be trustworthy and admit that “The Wiz is a boring film?”
I’ve no issues with celebrating these songs. They’re legitimately nice. No argument from me on that. (Nonetheless, I do assume that the Grammys and the Oscars dropped the ball of their tributes to Q. I used to be deeply underwhelmed by each.) My drawback is with the film.
In case you’re like most millennial Black people, your aunts, uncles and grandparents had this movie on fixed rotation. And it’s comprehensible why. It stars Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Lena Horne and Richard Pryor. That could be a homicide’s row of actors for the technology that fought for civil rights and had photos of Jesus, John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. on their partitions.
However let’s lower to the chase: The film is a snoozefest, and you recognize it. Your uncle who smoked Newport Menthols knew it. Even your nana who by no means took the plastic off her sofa knew it. Y’all simply didn’t need to say {that a} film that includes these greats was, nicely…not good. The pacing of the movie will put you to sleep quicker than a Benadryl downed with a glass of pink wine adopted up with an edible. And the performing is aggressively… not good. Like, Tyrin Turner in “Stomach” form of not good.
Sure, there are wonderful musical numbers. Sure, Jackson danced and sang his ass off, and it’s true that Ross killed the singing. However it’s time we’re trustworthy with ourselves — most of us quick ahead via the movie and solely watch the musical numbers. And for those who don’t, you’re shedding at life. Don’t topic the subsequent technology to this movie. Simply allow them to watch the clips of the singing and dancing…and the scene of the flying monkeys if you wish to give them nightmares.