Customer Reviews

Chicago - The Razzle-Dazzle Edition

5 star:		(180)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

A great piece of musical theatre put to the big screen. Richard Geere is a surprise in the movie, who knew he could sing and dance his way through a film with such great success.

The story of Roxie is a reflection of our culture and our obsession with celebrity. Rene Zellwigger is a convincing "victim" of the celebrity obssessed time. The screen lights up with her beauty and excellent acting ability.

Queen Latifah justly deserved the Academy Award nomination (I can't remember if she won or not)
Lots of talent packed into this movie.
Highly recomended for those who are musical theatre fans.

Catherine Zeta-Jones looks superb and gives a sterling performance in her role as one half of a vaudeville act with her deceased sister (whom she killed because she caught her sleeping with her husband). Renee Zellweger is captivating as the young wannabe who aspires to be something like what Zeta-Jones is in the movie. They both meet up in jail however, because Zellweger kills the man whom she ends up hating, and Zeta-Jones is in jail for killing her sister. They both employ the assistance Richard Gere, the expensive fast-talking successful lawyer, to get out of jail. In the process, they each try to win the favours of the media and grab the headlines of the papers.

First, the score, the singing, the dancing are so good that I can watch each scene over and over and still feel the magic in it! Secondly, the acting of course, by each of the actors featured in the movie, is superb. Thirdly, the set production and the costumes were dazzling and so well-coordinated. The director evidently put in a lot of hard work into this and it pays. This is no Moulin Rouge. In this film, the director has done to me what I think Baz Luhrmann couldn't do in Moulin Rouge - which is to successfully blend aspects of film with aspects of musicals seamlessly. The acting is dramatic but each actor fits the role so perfectly that you hardly suspect they're acting... you'd think they are really like that in person! And the music is so well-composed and played, that anyone who watches this will want to dance to it. My daughter is barely 2 years old, and she loves this film like she loves the other film about dancing : Strictly Ballroom. Great entertainment! (unless you're not into musicals...)

I thought this movie was great! I think the actors were well suited to their roles. The musical numbers are terrific and they get stuck in your mind for days. All the actors showed their talents in areas beyond just acting. Of course, all the women commit a "sure I did it, but can you blame me" type crime. It's just a fun movie to watch. Get it, you won't be disappointed.

I love the show "Chicago"; however this is horrible! Renee cannot sing or dance! Putting men into the number "Cell Block Tango"?! - Fosse didn't and he should know! Also SIX (count 'em) SIX songs were left out. The best thing about this movie was that Marc Calamia (hot!) is in it as a dancer (from the Broadway cast) but all too briefly. Buy or rent "Fosse" if you want to see more (almost ALL of!) Marc and some REAL dancing!

This is a fantastic musical. From the beautifully designed sets, to the period costumes, to the show-stopping song and dance numbers, it will simply razzle-dazzle the viewer. The director and his singing and dancing troupe of stars simply pull out all the stops in this brilliantly executed musical.

The film, which provides a cynical and satirical look at fame and fortune, centers in nineteen twenties Chicago around two murderesses, Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and Roxie Hart (Renee Zellweger). Velma, who together with her sister, was a dance hall success, killed her husband and her sister when she caught them together en flagrante delicto. True to the maxim, however, that the show must go on, she goes on stage immediately after dispatching the two lovers, where she is promptly arrested.

Roxie Hart, an admirer of Velma Kelly, is married to Amos Hart (John C. Reilly), a good-hearted, regular Joe, but she longs for tabloid fame and fortune. She begins to have an affair with a man who promises that he could get her a stage gig only to find that he lied just to get her in bed. So, she ends up killing him. Her long suffering husband stands by his little woman as she is trundled off to jail to await trial. There, she meets her idol, Velma Kelly, who finds her hero-worship annoying.

In the jail, Matron "Mama" Morton (Queen Latifah) reigns supreme over the inmates, accepting bribes for favors. Velma Kelly, represented by star defense attorney Billy Flynn (Richard Gere), is in tabloid heaven. Roxie Hart, longing to be in tabloid heaven as well, gets her husband to retain Billy Flynn on her behalf. Before she knows it, she, too, is in tabloid heaven, playing the media like a violin.

The legal profession also gets a cynical slap in the guise of the slimy, fast talking Billy Flynn, who looks for the best selling point rather than for the truth. He understands the thirst of the media for the perfect sound-bite and he gives it to them. Guilty or not guilty, it doesn't matter. What matters to him, as a hired mouthpiece, is the media mileage he can get for his client, as well as for himself. To that end, he is the ventriloquist, and his client is no more than his dummy.

The razzle-dazzle musical numbers move the story along. Catherine Zeta-Jones is terrific, looking impossibly beautiful and showing off her musical theatre background to great advantage with "All That Jazz" and "Cell Block Tango". Queen Latifah is outstanding as the sly and voracious Mama Morton, who goes whichever way the wind is blowing. She also has a show-stopping musical number, "When You're Good To Mama" that is simply memorable. Renee Zellweger, though not a professional singer or dancer, shows that she can sing and dance with the best of them.

The men also shine in this musical. John C. Reilly, as Roxie's long-suffering husband, also has a terrific number, "Mister Cellophane", that is truly heart rending and poignant, as well as metaphoric. Richard Gere gamely rises to the occasion in his first musical, making the slick Billy Flynn character an integral part of the film with his "Razzle Dazzle" number and his tap dancing.

I love this top notch, clever film, finding it hugely entertaining. It deserves every one of its six Academy Awards, including that for "Best Picture". Director Rob Marshall deserves kudos for this brilliantly directed, seamlessly edited, musical masterpiece. While it is a fairly faithful screen adaptation of Bob Fosse's Broadway musical, it has Rob Marshall's contemporary imprimatur on it. It is a film of which he can be justly proud. Bravo!

It is an excellent broadway musical movie I have ever seen in my entire life. It is an excellent performance I have ever seen. The costumes are excellent and Queen Latifah can sing like an opera star. Even I think Renee Zellweger should do more broadway musicals in real life.

"Captain Kirk, the approaching probe will destroy Earth if we do not respond with whale sound!" "O.K., send them some." "The sounds will be real but it will just be gibberish." "Well people watched `Chicago'; what make you think the probe is any more discerning?"

The plot line by (Maurine Dallas Watkins) is a killer; it is all about the whimsical world of killing. Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones) killed her husband and sister. Roxie Hart (Renée Zellweger) shoots her boyfriend Fred Cassely (Dominic West) dead. And a whole bevy of sleazy babes that killed their significant others. They kill a few songs. And the plot was never alive.

It is possible that the play may have had some redeeming social value. However by the time it was hacked up for this movie the only thing of value is the fast forward button. And again just because the movie has the appearance of a play does not give it any virtue.

If you do like murder and music then you may prefer "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" (1982)

The Phantom of the Opera [Blu-ray]

I've seen this movie 80+ times, guarenteed!! It's my most played DVD by far!! (Also my most listened to soundtrack!) This is Catherine Zeta-Jones at her finest!! Renee Zellweger and Richard Gere are good as well!! It's a timeless classic! Can't...Stop...Watching...Chicago!!

This movie had every right to the best oscar award when it won it in 2003. Besides Zellweger, every person in this cast gave the performance of their life. Zeta-Jones overpowered in this to prove her magnificent voice, and Gere was surprising good as well. Even the smaller roles of Latifya and Reilley gave a powerful perfomance to really prove their stuff. Anyone who says that Moulon Rouge was a better movie has very bitter taste and must have fallen asleep in both or are deaf. Rouge was a horrible movie with weak acting, while Chicago was the easily the best musical in the last couple decades.

Je n'ai rien à redire contre le film. Surréaliste, flamboyant et merveilleusement interprété, c'est l'un des meilleurs films de la dernière année, juste derrière Moulin Rouge. Catherine Zeta-Jones, en femme fatale déchue, nous montre des talents surprenants de danseuse et de chanteuse, et Renée Zellweger, si elle n'a pas le physique et la voix de sa partenaire, parvient à rendre attachant un personnage de femme-enfant ambitieuse, menteuse, égoïste et ingrate. L'ambiance "années folles" des numéros musicaux contraste étonnament bien avec la misère du milieu carcéral. Certains ont critiqué le réalisateur en disant que son procédé (alternance entre vie réelle et numéros spectaculaires sortis de l'imagination des personnages) était directement copié sur "Dancer in the dark", mais avec une telle histoire, je ne vois pas comment on aurait pu le raconter autrement. Et que dire des costumes, et de la musique!! All that Jazz, Cell Block Tango et le numéro du ventriloque sont des petits bijoux. Le film provoque de plus une intéressante réflexion sur le système de justice et la manipulaiton des médias. Seuls les éternels réfractaires aux comédies musicales n'appécieront pas.

Seule condition: il faut absolument le regarder en anglais. Le doublage en français n'est absolument pas à la hauteur. Les dialogue perdent beaucoup de leur saveur, les voix ne transmettent pas du tout la même intensité; quant aux chansons, elles deviennent banales et caricaturales. La reprise des chansons anglaises avec ajout de sous-titres français, comme on l'avait fait dans Moulin Rouge, aurait été préférable.

La version DVD, malheureusement, laisse, beaucoup à désirer. C'est ce qui m'a obligée à baisser ma cote. Pour mettre en valeur ce grand film, lauréat de nombreux Oscars, on ne retrouve qu'un seul misérable documentaire sur le tournage, pas très long d'ailleurs, et quelques trailers promotionnels de films à venir. Pas d'entrevues avec les acteurs, pas d'infos supplémentaires sur la comédie musicale originale, sur son auteur, pas de galleries de photos. "Chicago" méritait un meilleur traitement. Il est à souhaiter qu'une édition spéciale soit préparée bientôt, même s'il s'agit d'un procédé de marketing détestable.