Posts Tagged ‘movie musicals’

With “High School Musical 3: Senior Year” setting a box office record opening for a musical with $42 million last weekend, it doesn’t look like movie musicals are dead.

The all-time best movie musicals like “The Sound of Music,” “The Wizard of Oz,” “Grease,” and “West Side Story,” thrived in the 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s; but, that doesn’t mean there haven’t been any movies worth singing about lately. Read on for the best movie musicals to be made within the last decade.

5. Sweeney Todd (2007) Sure most musicals are uplifting, but Sweeney Todd does not lack in musical quality. Based on the Broadway musical, Tim Burton’s dark drama set in Victorian England about a murderous barber out to revenge the man who exiled him and stole away his wife and daughter boasts soaring, melodramatic songs sung by Johnny Depp whose singing is as good as his acting.

4. Walk the Line (2005) Not only does this biography of Johnny Cash tell a moving story, it has the music to match it. Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon – as Johnny and June Cash – not only portray the country duo to a hilt; they perfectly capture their singing styles. All together this makes great storytelling and a great soundtrack. Witherspoon won an Oscar for Best Actress.

3. Once (2006) This low-budget film starring real life performers, rather than professional actors, wasn’t a hit at the box office, but the Academy noticed it. Earlier this year, Markéta Irglová and Glen Hansard were awarded with Best Song with the titular “Once.” It’s a simple film that tells the love story of two characters who aren’t even given names through the songs they write, rehearse and record in the course of a week.

2. Moulin Rouge! (2001) Unlike “Once,” this movie musical is stylish, glitzy, and over-the-top, which is what makes it so much fun. Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor play star-crossed lovers in 1899 Paris. Kidman is Satine, a prostitute at the underworld night club (the titular Moulin Rouge) and McGregor is the idealistic, romantic poet who sings beautifully heartbreaking songs to his beloved Satine in a film reminiscent of “Romeo & Juliet.”

1. Chicago (2002) One of a handful of movie musicals to win Best Picture, “Chicago” boasts an all-star cast of Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere, John C. Reilly and Queen Latifah; spectacular, jazzy songs and dance numbers, and an intricate, tantalizing story of love and murder set in 1920s Chicago. Zeta-Jones won Best Supporting Actress.

This summer saw the release of another Hollywood adaptation of a Broadway hit.  Following in the leotards and tap shoes of Hairspray and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, this summer saw the release of Mamma Mia!

Now, Mamma Mia! has been thrilling audiences worldwide for several years now.  For those that don’t know, the show is a jukebox musical. Meaning, all of the songs used in the film are from the cannon of a particular artist.  Most of these end up flopping…but not Mamma Mia!

I’m sure by now you’ve heard how bad Pierce Brosnan is and how wishy-washy the story is.  Well, yes Pierce is no Frank Sinatra.  And the story isn’t Gone with the Wind.  But who cares!

The movie is fun and light-hearted and doesn’t take itself  too seriously.  I mean, it’s a musical with all disco songs—can it take itself too seriously?  Also, Meryl Streep lends the film some serious street cred.  Unlike most, she knows how to ACT a song.  She doesn’t just sit there and sing inviting all to bask in the golden sounds from her voice.  No, she takes a song, finds out the meaning behind it for her character, the motivation behind it and BAM there it is.

So, will this be up for any awards like Chicago?  No.  Not even a technical or artistic Oscar like Sweeney Todd.  But so what?  Go out, see the film, let loose and let your inner Dancing Queen come out and play!