tick tick BOOM!

 

    Foremost, let's get this out of the way: I don't really enjoy musicals, Broadways, and such. I also have a deep sense of hatred towards Lin Manuel Miranda. Why? Honestly, he just has a really annoying voice. Good thing for us, that he does not act/sing in his directorial debut. The result of his off-screen contributions is this beautifully made movie about Jonathan Larson (a guy I have never heard or given a crap about before this movie). 

    This gem of a movie stars the one and only Andrew Garfield. He is frankly the main reason I watched this movie. Andrew Garfield has a way of making me interested in whatever character he plays. I first saw him in the amazing Spider-Man. Hate this movie all you want, but I think it's a fun time. This movie stars a couple other amazing actors such as Vanessa "people are gonna die" Hudgens and Alexandra Shipp from the painfully mediocre Love, Simon. (which, by the way, did more damage than good when it comes to queer cinema. Have you ever seen those preformative pride merch big companies put out during pride month to profit off gay people? Love, Simon is exactly like those companies in a movie form. There are many other films that normalize queer stories without feeling cringy and performative that need more recognition.  Movies such as mid-90s, portrait of a lady on fire, but I'm a cheerleader, and so on)

   Either way, I really liked this movie. It was so beautifully shot and edited. (they were totally snubbed from the Oscars. Plus, Dune is such a pretentious movie. It really insisted upon itself and I hate it. It tried SO hard to be artsy-fartsy, and it makes me want to throw up and die. Call me a hater if you want, but deep down you know I'm right.). The soundtrack was also amazing. Boho Days, 30/90 (this song and 30 by Bo Burnham are two sides of the same coin and I absolutely love that for them) and Green Dress were so good, and they work as stand-alone tracks so well. 

    At the end of the day, this movie was a roller coaster of emotions and I can't lie, it made me shed a couple of tears. It made me appreciate musicals and all the artists that try hard to bring their vision to life. It talks about important topics like AIDS, being broke, artistic block, and death without sounding pretentious (unlike SOME other movies. Ugh I hate dune). 

5/5: keep Lin Manuel Miranda behind the screens!!