The Greatest Showman

"This is the greatest show". This was one of those movies that really told the story of Phineas T Barnum while making it entertaining. Though I have heard it is relatively inaccurate to the true story, it portrays a fantasized version of the people involved in his story.

This film had a star-studded cast, starring Hugh Jackman as the ambitious showman, PT Barnum, Zac Efron as Phillip Carlyle, and Zendaya as Carlyle's love interest and trapezee artist in Barnum's circus. It had a production budget of $84 million US dollars, and managaed to gross $459 million worldwide. It was nominated fror Best Musical/Comedy Motion Picture and Best Musical/Comedy Actor at the 75th Golden Globes and has a widely-regarded soundtrack that brought the film to noteriety.

The film starts following a young Phineas, who is the son of a tailor. He falls in love with Charity, the daughter of a wealthy family. They are separated by Charity's father, but they write letters to each other. Phineas grows up and marries Charity, and they have two daughters. Phineas loses his job and decides bet on himself and start a circus. He hires people who are seen as different or freaks at the time, such as a bearded lady, a dwarf man, and an astronomically tall man.

To help generate buzz about his circus, he recruits the help of playwright Phillip Carlyle to help publicize his act. The circus booms, and he becomes famous.

However, the fame gets to him. He recruits famous Swedish singer Jenny Lind to tour America with him, leading to him forgetting about where he came from, using this new found fame as a pedestal to stick it to Charity's father. He leaves Charity, his kids and the circus behind, until Lind admits she is in love with him, which he declines. In her final show, she kisses him in front of a live audience, saying "this is goodbye", killing the tour and forcing him to return home.

He returns to find his circus burned down, and his family gone. He steps back, realizing how he has lost everything. His mansion foreclosed, Charity was leaving, the tour was over, and the circus burned down. He goes to the local bar to wallow in his sorrows and his troupe finds him there. They say that even though he messed up bad, they were still a family. he decideds to rebuild what was lost, this time promising to not be consumed by ambition. Barnum and Charity make amends, and Phillip agrees to be his partner in the rebuild, rather than being just his apprentice. The movie ends with Barnum passing the torch off to Carlyle and decides to spend time with his family.

La La Land

La La Land is a musical that tells the story of two people who are trying to make it in Hollywood. Mia is an aspiring actress who works as a barista, and Sebastian is a jazz musician who plays at a restaurant. They meet and fall in love, but their relationship is tested by their careers. I personally really enjoyed this movie and the emotions that were portrayed, I felt. The part that hit the hardest was how the only way they could both be happy and successful was if they let each other go. They were both trying to make it big, but the only way they could do that was by letting each other go.

My favorite horror movie! To be honest, before watching it, I thought it was heavily overrated, and I actually fell asleep before the ending the first time around. But when I watched it the second time (and watched a few film reviews), I realized just how good the movie was.

This movie follows two people, Mia and Sebastian, with heavy aspirations to make it big in Hollywood. And we actually get their first interation right as the movie starts, when Seb road rages at her amidst the busy LA traffic. They then run into each other again at Sebastian's work when he improvs with jazz, and gets fired for it. In typical Hollywood movie fashion, they run into each other again at a party. This time, it was fate and it began an ongoing chemistry between the two.

They spend the day together, discussing their dreams, watching a movie and sharing a romantic moment at the Griffith Observatory. They begin to date, but this is when things start going south. Mia wants to write a one-woman play while Sebastian is invited to perform in a jazz-pop band, which though went against his beliefs towards jazz, he accepts to make Mia's mother think more of him. Neither of them become happy because they can't seem to find time to make things work. They are pursuing two very different careers. They realize they will never become happy and pursue what they truly want unless they let each other go.

The movie ends with Mia, now with a new man, ending up in a quaint jazz bar, except she sees the logo and realizes it was the one she had made for Sebastian all those years ago. He notices her in the crowd and plays their theme song, showing what could've been.

Overall, the balance between the music and the story is what truly makes this movie thrive. Mia and Sebastian's Theme is a staple for those who have watched the movie and want to feel something, and it brings to light that sometimes the only way you can love someone is to let them go and move on.

Les Miserables

In my opinion, Les Miserables is heavily slept on when it comes to the overall world of musicals. It is the cinematic adaptation of the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo, and though I have not read the book, from what I've heard, they pretty accurately depicted it.

This movie takes place in 19th century France and follows convicted felon Jean Valjean (played by Hugh Jackman), who is serving a 20 year sentence for stealing bread. He is heavily pursued by police officer Javert (played by Russell Crowe) for breaking his parole, but seeks redemption, becoming the mayor of a town. aljean's life intertwines with Fantine, a factory worker who falls into poverty and turns to prostitution to provide for her daughter, Cosette. Before Fantine dies, Valjean vows to care for Cosette, adopting her and fleeing from Javert.

Years later, a now-grown Cosette falls in love with Marius, a revolutionary involved in a student uprising. Valjean risks everything to protect Marius during the rebellion while grappling with his own past. Meanwhile, Javert's unyielding sense of justice leads him to a moral crisis, ultimately ending in tragedy.

The film concludes with Valjean's redemption and peaceful death, as he is reunited in the afterlife with Fantine and other characters who fought for justice and love. The story highlights themes of love, sacrifice, and the fight for freedom.

Overall, though I do not feel the same emotions that I felt with the Greatest Showman and La La Land, I believe that the directors did a phenomenal job of turning this classic novel into a musical masterpiece. They did a great job at allowing the viewers to build connections with the people in this musical, though for many, those connections were shattered by the end of the film. The music is masterful and fits very well. I would highly recommend this film.