Spoilers a spoilin’.
“What’s the matter, Glinda? Out of bubbles?” The verbal b—h slap delivered to Glinda the Good from Evandora the not so good has to go down in the history of best catty lines ever!
As an out and proud gay man, I am contractually obligated to worship The Wizard of Oz, so it would stand to reason that I would in turn like Oz The Great and Powerful. Well, I didn’t like Oz The Great and Powerful– I LOVED IT!!! I remember seeing the posters months ago. Sam Raimi? Oz? Sign me up!
In the day and age of remaking films that are younger than I am (Don’t ask don’t tell that number!), I was pleased to learn that Oz wouldn’t be a remake but rather a prequel. Thank sweet baby Jesus! It would be suicide to remake The Wizard of Oz as you shan’t mess with perfection. That would be tantamount to buying a knock off of the Shroud of Turin from the gift shop at the Vatican. Speaking of gifts, Oz is the gift that keeps giving. From the opening credits to the fantasy sets and characters with a few Easter Egg nods to the Oz classic all the way to the closing credits, this is one enjoyable film.
James Franco did a fine job as the deceitful con artist turned wizard with a heart of gold. I adored ‘China Girl,’ and Zach Braff as the voice of the flying monkey companion to James Franco was a delight. Let me say that I absolutely adore Mila Kunis. I was okay with the sexier witch. I found the Jay Leno chin a little distracting, but not as distracting as only being able to hear Meg from Family Guy whenever she spoke. That said, she did a hell of a job, and I would be happy to see her reprise the role in any future installments. They did a good job of setting up the sequel retroactively. There was one part that looked a little fake- like they were on the set of ‘Hee-Haw’, but it’s all good. I kept forgetting Sam Raimi directed it. He has earned his redemption from Spider-Man 3, a.k.a. Psycho meets Saturday Night Fever. (Shudder!)
Oz the Great and Powerful is in theaters now.
Michael Troy is a deeply superficial person. Born in the midwest in the ’70s, Michael came to Los Angeles to pursue his bi-polar career path as an actor and artist. 2005 saw the release of Michael’s first published book, Homo-Hero’s Big Book of Fun and Adventure (www.greencandypress.com). Michael has contributed to the Lady Gaga comic book from Bluewater Productions and has his hand in various other upcoming projects. Michael has performed stand-up comedy at all of the major comedy clubs in Los Angeles and is making his triumphant return to the main stage of The Comedy Store in September. Michael offers an off-beat sense of humor as the star of such youtube cult classics As The Gays on Film (www.youtube.com/fullfrontaltv), A Minute With Margot, a loving tribute to Superman legend Margot Kidder (http://www.youtube.com/user/rktcommander), and currently hosts a vlog style series Lethally Blonde over at www.monsterburg.com. Sitting alongside industry heavyweight Phil Jimenez at the “Divas and Lassoes” panel for the 2010 San Diego comic-con, Michael maintains and cherishes his “underground” status. A staunch believer in Blonde Ambition, Michael hopes his new comic about shallow blonde super heroes in Los Angeles, The Blonde Squad, will set the world on fire (or at least brighten it a bit). Check out Michael Troy and Lethally Blonde updates here!!!
