tick, tick... Boom!

If you enjoy reading my Spoiler-Free thoughts, please follow my blog to read my full review :)

"tick, tick...BOOM! Is one of my favorite movies of the year! Boasting memorable, addictive, first-rate music performed by astonishingly talented actors, Lin-Manuel Miranda delivers one of the best musical films of the century.

From the absolute standout, "30/90", to the highly satisfying payoff, "Louder than Words", the vast majority of songs serve a necessary purpose, moving the plot forward in an entertaining manner while also developing the compelling characters.

Andrew Garfield delivers one of the best performances of his career, demonstrating his impressive emotional range and artistic skills, both as an actor and a performer. Technically, no fault to point out whatsoever.

Do NOT miss this work of art!"

Rating: A.

A very heartfelt, inventive, and inspirational musical about the creative process that is expressed through memorable music. Andrew Garfield was the standout, he brought the story to life and oh my I would never have thought he could sing.

Correct me if i'm wrong. I've seen so many actors in their respective movies and also off-screen (i.e., just in interviews, not in flesh), this guy is charming on & off-screen. I mean, his acting is so unique and incredibly realistic. He provides extra details and mentions more than required crew members and respects them. I just hope people would give good reviews for this excellent movie.

Although everyone knows and admires Andrew Garfield thanks to the big screen, especially Spider-Man, he has always been a theater lover. Garfield becomes a giant in this movie, which combines the theater stage he loves so much with the big screen. If Steven Levenson had watched it, he would have loved this movie and Garfield.

"I'm the future of musical theater." Jonathan Larson (Andrew Garfield)

Director Lin-Manuel Miranda (Tony and Pulitzer-winning creator of Hamilton) shows his genius was not a just one-off. In tick, tick . . .Boom! Hamilton revives the memory of Jonathan Larson (Andrew Garfield), the creator/composer of Rent, a contemporary rock musical that inspired a new generation of shows for Broadway.

That Larson should die at 35, the night before the preview of Rent, lends a melancholy air to this adaptation of his autobiographical musical and this film's influence by his first failure, Suburbia, inspired by Orwell's 1984.

Tick shows the evolution of Larson's signature realism, a fulfillment of his agent Rosa Stevens's (Judith Light) exhortation to write about what he knows. Poverty, paying rent, facing down rejection, protesting for justice, and HIV friends dying in droves are issues he knows and will exploit in his iconic musical.

Yet for this film, he is promoting his tick . . ., and while the lyrics are uneven and scattered but generally first-rate, it involves a too-large cast including aliens. Although Garfield is gawky and endearing in equal measure, Larson's work has the mentoring of Stephen Sondheim (Bradley Whitford), who I understand, knows something about musicals. Whitford, by the way, does a credible, impressive imagining of Sondheim.

The ticking boom of time in the title has several reference points, not just Larson's impending death but the dynamic change of Broadway Larson ignited. Andrew Garfield does a yeoman's job of giving life to Larson, who has a naivete, energy, and self-centeredness that bespeak the lasting influence he has had on the modern musical.

In some ways, Miranda has done that himself with this exciting, melancholic musical about musicals and the geniuses who lose their lives creating them. Netflix.