“In a way, the world in this past year has gone through the most isolating, difficult time imaginable. What better guides out of the darkness and back into the light than the people of Washington Heights?”
– IN THE HEIGHTS director Jon M. Chu

In the Heights is an epic celebration of humanity I’ll be thinking about for the remainder of 2021.

Murphy’s joy in slapping me silly for every second of The Prom’s laborious 130 minutes was more than I could take, this laudably inclusive LGBTQ high school musical a celebratory dance I’d rather not have been invited to attend.

This Valley Girl musical remake was a lot easier to watch the second time around. I’m still a little frustrated by the film, but not nearly as egregiously so as I was earlier this year.

The High Note is so much fun to watch any issues I have keep evaporating into the ether almost as if they never existed in the first place.

Cattaneo’s latest was a balm for my soul, injecting a dollop of joy into my heart while a happy tear or two ran down the side of my cheek. I liked Military Wives, and I’m happy to sing its praises as vociferously as I can.

I found Valley Girl, like, totally disappointing, an unexpected turn of events that’s grody to the max, for sure.

Trolls World Tour rarely allowed me to catch my breath. It even more seldomly put anything that was happening into coherent perspective.

Cats might be a mess, but it’s a one-of-a-kind incredibly memorable mess (for better and for worse), and for all I know that’s entirely by design.