Anna Kendrick in Pitch Perfect.
On this week's Voice Film Club podcast, Voice film critic Stephanie Zacharek returns from the Berlin Film Festival and joins the group to discuss the state of the movie musical.
From there, While Voice film editor Alan Scherstuhl, Zacharek, and L.A. Weekly film critic Amy Nicholson do their best to prolong that conversation for as long as possible -- including a plea for Hollywood to produce a musical that pairs Joseph Gordon-Levitt (500 Days of Summer) and Anna Kendrick (Pitch Perfect) -- but our critics general ambivalence toward the industry's recent musical output forces the discussion to veer into the past: The three critics proceed to name some of their favorite movie-musicals of all-time, with selections including The Pajama Game (Scherstuhl), The Band Wagon (Zacharek), and Pennies from Heaven (Nicholson).
We love this musical scene in 500 Days of Summer.
To wrap up, each critic offers a new-release recommendation. Scherstuhl opts for the new documentary Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me, which he praises on the basis of it being "80 minutes of Elaine Stritch yelling at people."
Zacharek endorses Scott Coffey's Adult World, reserving special praise for the film's performances (Emma Roberts, John Cusack) and editing (David Heinz, Gina Hirsch). Nicholson, meanwhile, offers an Olympics-themed recommendation in the form of the 30 for 30 documentary The Price of Gold.
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