In The Heights (2021)

[Small Man Big Horse]

Lin-Manuel Miranda's New York set musical is a mixture of romcom and slice of life stories as the various characters try to find a way to fulfil their hopes and dreams, that or they try to put their penises in to women. It's also partially a love letter to the city and the communities found within it, and it's impressively directed, you'd never guess it was based on a stage play given how the way it's edited in an energetic manner and leaps from location to location. The songs are largely pretty damn fun too, and while it's perhaps a little overlong and sags slightly in the middle it's mostly an enchanting and alluring work. 8.1/10

[phantom_power]

I am really looking forward to this, and though I have "acquired" a copy (it is "available") I will wait until the cinema to see it. It will hopefully be a proper family cinema event

[Small Man Big Horse]

I don't blame you at all, it's on at my local cinema and I thought about going too, there's a couple of song and dance numbers that would look fantastic on the big screen and the film as a whole is beautifully shot.

[Mister Six]

I know this is very unfair but the combo of Hamilton creator + director of Crazy Rich Asians makes this sound too much like a mediocre American white liberal's wet dream for me to stand watching it.

[Ferris]

I know this is very unfair but the combo of Hamilton creator + director of Crazy Rich Asians makes this sound too much like a mediocre American white liberal's wet dream for me to stand watching it.

...I feel exactly the same.

Mrs Ferris on about it yesterday, I'm sure I'll end up being sat down in front of it and eventually enjoying it[nb]see also: Hamilton[/nb], miserable old curmudgeon that I am.

[Mister Six]

Probably the same thing would happen to me, although Mrs Six has zero interest in either Hamilton or In The Heights, so likely will never find out.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

How come it's fine for Lin Manuel Miranda to cast himself in singing and acting roles, even though he not particularly good at either, but when Seth MacFarlane does the same he's an ego driven monster man?

Credit where it's due, Miranda can write a natty ditty.

[phantom_power]

He is a decent actor and singer, though a bit whiny. I think the difference might be that Hamilton was a passion project that he spent years writing and may have wanted to star in it to make sure it was performed how he wanted it to, and A Million Ways to Die in the West was a bag of cold shit

I don't know about "mediocre American white liberal's wet dream". Hamilton was fucking brilliant and loved by a pretty diverse audience. I am not sure you can criticise it for also appealing to people you have made up in your head and decided not to like.

[Small Man Big Horse]

How come it's fine for Lin Manuel Miranda to cast himself in singing and acting roles, even though he not particularly good at either, but when Seth MacFarlane does the same he's an ego driven monster man?

Credit where it's due, Miranda can write a natty ditty.

He's only got a tiny role in this mainly as while he played the lead on stage he's far too old to do so now. I quite like his singing as well, it's not perfect but he puts across emotion powerfully in Hamilton.

[Dex Sawash]

It's just piss Hamilton

[peanutbutter]

I don't know about "mediocre American white liberal's wet dream". Hamilton was fucking brilliant and loved by a pretty diverse audience. I am not sure you can criticise it for also appealing to people you have made up in your head and decided not to like.

Nah I think it's totally fair to be a bit put off by how obviously it appeals to the kind of person who'd listen to West Wing Weekly. I mean, the whole thing massively revolves around "look how amazing this man is writing all of this policy!"
It's a pretty entertaining piece of fluff, but it's definitely not gonna dispel any preconceived biases gotten from how wildly libs raved about it.



Having seen Moana since my main concern for this film is that Miranda seems to have a pretty limited songwriting range. Looking at the directors background this seems like a way better fit for him than Crazy Rich Asians was and could actually be quite well shot.