Musicals & Music Films > R Musicals & Music Films

I'll watch this some more!

Advantages: great family film
Disadvantages: none

...remember loving the musical film Oliver! as a child and singing and dancing along to so many of the wonderful songs that accompanied the story. I was also lucky to see the West End production many years ago, long before Andrew Lloyd Webber took an interest with his search for a Nancy and an Oliver in the great series ‘I’d do Anything’. My daughters loved watching the TV shows and started picking up the words to some of the songs. Therefore when I ...
...in our big armchair watching Oliver! Oliver! (made in 1968)is based on the classic novel of Oliver Twist that was written by Charles Dickens. It tells the story of a poor workhouse boy who had the audacity to ask for more of the disgusting gruel that was served to all the boys daily while the workhouse governors were fed roast dinners. As a consequence Oliver is sold to the local undertaker where he is teased about his dead mother. Feeling desperate, ...

kingfisher111 28.12.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Oliver! (DVD)

I want to be in America!

Advantages: great singing and dancing, plenty of extras!
Disadvantages: depending on viewer, could be too long.

West Side Story is without doubt one of the finest musicals ever! A bold statment you might think but let me convince you. From the beginning of the film you are pulled further and further in to the 1950's inner city of New York. Greeted by a gang of all singing, all dancing, disinfected youth. The 'Jets' are a local gang fed up with the increase in immigrants to the neighbourhood and they aren't afraid to voice their opinion. Natalie Wood (star ...
...young girl newly relocated from Puerto Rico with her family. Innocent to the racial divides in the community, Maria embarks on a whirlwind romance with Tony a youthful shop worker who has close links with the 'Jets'. Maria also has a brother who is the leader of a rival gang, the 'Sharks'. The 'Sharks' are led by Bernado, who has been hardened by the circumstances he has found himself in. Supported by his loving but feisty girlfriend Anita, Bernado ...

katattack3 21.04.2008 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of West Side Story (Special Edition) (DVD)

the sun will comeout tomorrow

Advantages: great songs great acting great films
Disadvantages: none

...I even named my daughter Annie (I know that's quite sad), I first saw this film when I was about 4 or 5 and I loved it, I still love it. The musical was based on Harold Gray's Little Orphan Annie comic strip. Annie first opened on Broadway in April, 1977, running for almost 2,500 performances - making it one the longest running musicals of the 1970s. The following year it opened at the Victoria Palace in London, where it enjoyed another successful ...
...Director- John Huston Plot Annie is set Manhattan in the middle of the Great Depression. Annie was found wrapped in newspaper on the doorstep of an orphanage when she was a baby. Spends the next 11 years living under the rules of the alcoholic, virgin, narcissist Miss Hannigan, hoping that her real mother will one day come and collect her. Working day and nigh cleaning, cooking and looking after the home to escape miss Hannigan's beatings Annie ...

tinac37 11.01.2007 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Annie / Oliver (Box Set) (DVD)

Gang Violence,Immigration,Doomed Love in Song

Advantages: Musical Collector's must-have
Disadvantages: can't think of any

...some you wish weren't so. West Side Story probably still tops the lot for originality and its ability to stand alone in its own right as a dramatic musical. It was nominated for 11 Oscars and won 10. Although I was only five years old when it hit the cinemas, the film and its songs are etched on my psyche in the same way as many Beatles songs are. I'm sure this is true for many of my generation. I need to watch it at least once a year and this collectors' ...
...are as follows: • West Side Memories -- 56 Minute Retrospective Documentary • Storyboard to Film Comparison • Original Theatrical Trailers • Production Designs, Storyboards, Photo Galleries The documentary is fascinating if you like the film. I've never understood why they put the trailers on these DVDs. Are there trailer anoraks out there? I have used the photo galleries to make wallpaper for my computer, and very nice it ...

bigush 26.01.2007 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of West Side Story (Collector's Edition) (DVD)

See me, feel me, touch me, watch me (for free!)

Advantages: Great soundtrack from The Who and in 5.1 - amazing
Disadvantages: Oliver Reed singing in 5.1

...The film is about Tommy Walker (Roger Daltrey) who as a child witnesses his mothers (Ann-Margret) lover killing his dad and becomes deaf, dumb and blind due to the trauma.  Meeting with such characters as the Acid Queen (Tina Turner) and the Pinball Wizard (Elton John) he grows up to become an amazing pinball player and a religious cult figure.  The entire film is set to The Who's concept album of the same name and features musicians of the calibre ...
...with extra fervour) just as Tommy is and the bombers flying overhead slowly becoming crosses is used in both movies.  Also, the idea of building a mental wall to protect yourself from the outside world sounds a little similar to the premise of 'Tommy' and his sensory abstinance.  Don't get me wrong, I love Pink Floyd AND The Who AND prefer 'The Wall' to 'Tommy' it is just that they appear to have been cut from the same cloth. The film lasts a total ...

david_1967 07.03.2008 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Tommy (DVD)