10th Anniversary TLDR: Annie (2014)
The sun'll come out tomorrow.
Plot: Originally left by her parents as a baby with the promise that they’d be back for her someday, it’s been a hard knock life (for Annie) with her mean foster mom Miss Hannigan. But everything’s about to change when the hard-nosed tycoon and New York mayoral candidate Will Stacks makes a thinly-veiled campaign move and takes her in. Stacks believes he’s her guardian angel, but Annie’s self-assured nature and bright, sun-will-come-out-tomorrow outlook on life just might mean it’s the other way around.
Direction: After Anyone But You, Easy A, and now this, Will Gluck is, according to Letterboxd, one of my most watched directors this year. It seems like he makes really good bad movies. Should I watch Peter Rabbit? Fired Up!? Probably not...
Adaptation: I saw Annie for the first time earlier this year and was surprised by how much I enjoyed myself. My biggest complaint (see: that review) is that the now almost century-old setting felt like homework. I like almost all of the changes they made to put this movie in the modern day. That also seems to be the biggest complaint of the reviews from the time. For example, Vox ran the headline "The remake of Annie really, really wants you to think it’s cool" and that's just so snobbish. It is cool! New York is cool! Hip hop is cool! Musicals are cool!
Music: Sia and Greg Kurstin rearranged the original Broadway score by Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin and did a pretty good job if you ask me. It feels authentic. Well, Hollywood authentic. Luckily for them, "It's the Hard Knock Life" and "Tomorrow" were certified bops for decades before they got to them.
Performances: February 2013 was a big month for Quvenzhané Wallis. She was nominated for the Oscar for Best Actress for her performance in Beasts of the Southern Wild. She was (and still is) the youngest-ever Best Actress Nominee, the first African American child, and the first person born in the 21st century to earn an Oscar nomination. It's no wonder she got the title part in Annie around that time. Jamie Foxx is perfect casting, but Daddy Warbucks is a better name than Will Stacks. Cameron Diaz was miscast, but she didn't have to disappear for ten years (she's coming back later this year!) Any film that lets Rose Byrne keep her Australian accent earns an extra half-star. If I were Bobby Cannavale, I would also try to make all of my movies with her. Oh! And don't forget Mike Birbiglia as "Social Services Inspector."
Best Moment: Anytime the dog is on screen.
Fun Fact: I once bought this movie from a DVD bootlegger. I remember buying two discs, but I'm not sure what the other one was...
Actual Accolade This Won: The Alliance of Women Film Journalists awarded the 2014 EDA Female Focus Award for Actress Most in Need of a New Agent to Cameron Diaz (Annie, Sex Tape, The Other Woman). She also won in 2013 for The Counselor. I wonder if any of them felt bad when she disappeared after this? Probably not.
Everything is too long! Is it too long? 118 minutes is really good for a musical.
Rating: Inappropriately trashed. Well, except for the Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher cameo.
Credit: Plot synopsis from Letterboxd via TMDb.
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