Dancer In The Dark

Rating: R

Movie Release Date: September 8, 2000 (Denmark/Finland/Norway/Sweden) / October 6, 2000 (USA)

DVD Release Date: March 20, 2001

Plot 411: A woman makes the ultimate sacrifice to ensure her sun has a bright future.

Review: Selma (Bjork) and her son are immigrants from Czechoslovakia living in the US in this bittersweet musical. She works in a factory and rents a little trailer outside of her landlord's home. Unfortunately, an eye disease runs in her family and she's slowly losing her sight. She is saving her money so that her son can get surgery to prevent blindness. When she confides in her landlord about this secret, events unfold that bring even more hardship upon her. This movie started really slow, and I found my attention wandering. However, the drama really picked up and Bjork's performance was amazing. The singing and dancing throughout the film was a little odd as I somehow only connect musicals with happiness. This movie had very little happiness in it. I think this would've worked better without the musical aspect by presenting an even bigger impact because the music and dance distracted from the emotional mother/son relationship and all the sacrifices that were made. Another unique aspect about this movie is the various camera angles. They really served to add perspective and emotion to the movie, especially when they represented Selma's point of view. Bjork's voice fluctuates between haunting and sweet as she sings. I think this is perfect for the role of Selma. Also in this film are Catherine Deneuve, David Morse and Peter Stormare.

Watch It: For a heart-wrenching story about love and loss. It's sorta like Chicago but not as glamorous and sparkly.

Skip It: Because it's pretty weird and definitely not for everyone.

Chicago

Rating: PG-13

Movie Release Date: December 27, 2002

DVD Release Date: August 19, 2003

Plot 411: After shooting her lover, Roxie reaches for stardom to save her from the gallows.

Review: This musical stars Renee Zellweger as Roxie Hart, a 1920s housewife who is having an affair with Fred (Dominic West) to increase her chances of starring in a vaudeville show. When he reveals that he has no connections to showbiz, she kills him. Roxie tries to convince her husband (John C. Reilly) that she's innocent but is put in jail anyway. In the slammer, she meets a real vaudeville star named Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones). Velma's lawyer Billy (Richard Gere) takes on Roxie's case and both women become newspaper darlings, especially when gossip reporter Mary Sunshine (Christine Baranski) writes up their stories. They fight each other for the front page and celebrity in an effort to become so famous that they can't be executed. They will stop at nothing to make headlines, including falsifying a pregnancy. The musical is a comment on society's unhealthy attraction to fame and how it can cause corruption in the system. I don't think this only applies to the '20s when journalism was pretty unethical anyway. I mean, look at all the tabloids and blogs catering to this type of news nowadays. The individual performances (both singing and dancing) by the cast is amazing. Who knew Richard Gere could sing? My favorite number is definitely Mr. Cellophane by John C. Reilly though. Queen Latifah also has a hand in this film as Mama, Roxie and Velma's warden. They did a really good job of transferring a stage production to film, and I liked how they kept some of the set pieces to make it look like a stage show.

Watch It: For really great singing and dancing numbers. They don't make musicals like this anymore and it makes me long for a musical revival. Bring back the Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire flicks!

Skip It: If musicals aren't your bag of tea because this is fully a musical. There are dream sequences especially so the actors can break into song.