Musicals
As soon as sound was introduced to the movies, the movie musical was born. The musical was one of the most popular movie entertainments from the 1930s through to the 50s, before falling out of favour at the end of the 60s for audiences now being weened on Vietnam, race riots, political assassinations, flower power and psychedelia. The musical still continued onwards, albeit in a different form, with various efforts such as "Cabaret", "The Rocky Horror Picture Show", "Grease", "Hair", "All That Jazz" and "The Blues Brothers" appearing over the next decade. More recently, "Moulin Rouge" and particularly "Chicago" hark back to the glory days of the musical.
Right: Liza Minnelli does "Cabaret"
Romance and Cigarettes (2005)
Director: John Turturro
Starring: James Gandolfini, Susan Sarandon, Kate Winslet, Steve Buscemi, Mary-Louise Parke...
Writer/director John Turturro sets his ambitious musical in Queens, New York, where the marriage of working-class couple Nick Murder (James Gandolfini... Read more
Ray (2004)
7.7/10
Director: Taylor Hackford
Starring: Jamie Foxx, Kerry Washington, Clifton Powell, Harry Lennix, Terrence Howard, Lar...
Jamie Foxx stars as the one-of-a-kind innovator of soul who overcame impossible odds to become a music legend. "Ray" is the triumphant and remarkable... Read more
Two Sons of Francisco (2005)
6.9/10
Director: Breno Silvera
Starring: Dira Paes, Angelo Antonio, Marcio Kieling
The incredible true story of Brazil's leading country music duo. Starting out a very long way from stardom, their father was not the first to pressure... Read more
Crazy (2007)
7.1/10
Director: Rick Bieber
Starring: Waylon Payne, Ali Larter, Lane Garrison, Scott Michael Campbell, David Conrad, J...
The true story of one of Nashville's most innovative instrumentalists comes to the screen in this bio-pic based on the life of Hank Garland. A gifted... Read more
Cold War (2018)
7.7/10
Director: Pawel Pawlikowski
Starring: Joanna Kulig, Tomasz Kot, Agata Kulesza, Jeanne Balibar, Cedric Kahn
A passionate love story between two people of different backgrounds and temperaments, who are fatefully mismatched and yet condemned to each other. Se... Read more
Annie (2014)
5.3/10
Director: Will Gluck
Starring: Rose Byrne, Jamie Foxx, Quvenzhane Wallis, Bobby Cannavale, Cameron Diaz
Academy Award® nominee Quvenzhané Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild) stars as Annie, a young, happy foster kid who's also tough enough to make her w... Read more
Happy Feet Two (2011)
5.9/10
Director: George Miller
Starring: Anthony LaPaglia, Brad Pitt, Elijah Wood, Hank Azaria, Hugo Weaving, Magda Szuba...
Toe-tapping follow-up to the animated hit returns to the Antarctic, where penguin protagonist Mumble (voiced by Elijah Wood) has grown up to be a dad.... Read more
Oh! What A Lovely War (1969)
7.2/10
Director: Richard Attenborough
Starring: Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson, Ian Holm, John Gielgud, Kenneth More, Jack H...
Based on a 1963 stage show by Charles Chilton, lampooning World War I and war in general, and focused on the Smith family who have five sons to send o... Read more
Flight of the Conchords: Season 2 (2008)
8.6/10
Starring: Jemaine Clement, Bret McKenzie, Rhys Darby, Kristen Schaal, Arj Barker
Bret and Jemaine came home to Wellington to write new material for the second season of their hit HBO show; shorter than the first, it is rumoured to... Read more
Rock of Ages (2012)
5.9/10
Director: Adam Shankman
Starring: Alec Baldwin, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Tom Cruise, Paul Giamatti, Malin Akerman, Ru...
From choreographer-turned-director Adam Shankman (A Walk to Remember, Hairspray) comes the story of small town girl Sherrie and city boy Drew, who mee... Read more