Top 5 Thursday: Songs from Movie Musicals

They’re my guilty pleasure: musicals. I visit musicals, but I also love movie musicals. I picked my five favorite songs from movie musicals.

5. One Song Glory (“Rent”)

"Rent" is not one of my favorite musicals, but this song impressed me so much when I first heard it. It's such a powerful song!

 

 

 

4. Belle (“Beauty and the Beast”)

This is my favorite Disney movie and most people would go for songs like "Be Our Guest" or "Beauty and the Beast". I always loved the opening song from the film, it makes me sing and dance myself.

 

 

3. Circle of Life (“The Lion King”)

I still remember when I first saw this movie and I was mesmerized. This is one of the best openings of a movie ever and I just love this song. It still gives me the chills.

 

 

 

2. Singin’ in the Rain (“Singin’ in the Rain”)

The movie that Always makes me smile! "Make 'em Laugh" is off course a good second, but I had to go for the title song. This is why I love rain myself, I wish I could this too.

 

 

1. On My Own (“Les Miserables”)

This is the best musical I saw live, this movie version might not be one of the best movie musicals, but this song is just so beautiful. This always makes me wonder why Marius is in love with Cosette instead of Éponine.

 

 

 

They Almost Made the Top 5: Music of the Night (“Phantom of the Opera”), Make ‘em Laugh (“Singin’ in the Rain”), Maria (“West Side Story”), Life’s a Happy Song (“The Muppets”)

In the Picture: The Characters from "Les Misérables"

Because I recently both saw the movie and read the book, I think it's about time to take a look at all the characters from the marvelous story.

Jean Valjean
Played by: Hugh Jackman
Jean Valjean is a Frenchman who was in prison for 19 years, for stealing a loaf of bread, and finally released. Years later he has made a name, but he has broke parole and is still hiding under a false name. Valjean takes care of Cosette, who he adopted and now raises as his own daughter.

Javert
Played by: Russell Crowe
Javert is a police inspector. His whole life is dedicated to finding Valjean and imprisoning him once again. Nothing holds him back.

Fantine
Played by: Anne Hathaway
Fantine is a struggling factory worker and the mother of an illegitimate child called Cosette. She is fired from the factory, owned by Valjean, and is forced to sell her own hair and her body for money in order to keep her daughter alive. After Fantine passes, Valjean takes Cosette under his wing.

Cosette
Played by: Amanda Seyfried
When her mother is still alive, Cosette lived with an innkeeper and his wife. They didn’t care for her and treated her badly. After Fantine died, Valjean takes Cosette with him and she lives a safe life with him. When she’s older, she meets Marius and falls in love with him.

Marius Pontmercy
Played by: Eddie Redmayne
Marius is a student revolutionary. He lives for his live as a revolutionary, but when he meets Cosette he changes his priority. Marius wants to find her, whatever it takes.

Éponine
Played by: Samanta Barks
Éponine is Marius friend and follows him in everthing. Marius doesn’t know that she is in love with him, but Éponine is heartbroken when she realizes Marius has already fallen in love with an other woman. Éponine is the daughter of the Thénadiers, the innkeepers that used to take care of Cosette.

Thénadier
Played by: Sacha Baron Cohen
Thénadier is an innkeeper and also a fraud. He steals from his customers and lies about everything just to get money. He sold Cosette to Valjean.

Madame Thénadier
Played by: Helena Bonham Carter
She is Thénadiers wife and just as contrived. Madame Thénadier can put up an act, she can manipulate you. She pretended to care for Cosette so Valjean would pay her more money.

Enjolras
Played by: Aaron Tveit
Enjolras is the leader of the revolutionaries, and Marius’ companion. He has one goal and hates the fact that Marius isn’t all in anymore after meeting Cosette.

Favorite Character: Éponine

50 Books Challenge 2013 - # 4: Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

Title: Les Misérables
Author: Victor Hugo
Story: It is among the best-known novels of the 19th century. It follows the lives and interactions of several French characters over a twenty year period in the early 19th century that includes the Napoleonic wars and subsequent decades. Principally focusing on the struggles of the protagonist—ex-convict Jean Valjean—who seeks to redeem himself, the novel also examines the impact of Valjean's actions for the sake of social commentary.
Start: february 1st 2013
End: february 8th 2013
Comment: I saw the musical years ago and I recently saw the movie, starring Hugh Jackman, Russel Crowe and Anne Hathaway. When reading this book, there were a lot of moments of recognition. Characters I know from the musical, scenes I know by heart and parts that make me cry, just like when I saw it in theatres. I just missed the songs. The story is beautiful, very dramatic and heavy. Never boring. As for the characters, Eponine has always been my favorite. I never got why Marius never saw her, the way she saw Marius. I also don't get how it's possible that after just one glance of Cosette he can already not live without her. Jean Valjean is an amazing protagonist, running from his past but it always haunts him. He has a good heart and doesn't mean any harm. Javert is a great antagonist. He doesn't stop untill he gets his hands on Jean Valjean. "Les Misérables" is a good book, better then it's 2013 film version, but I prefer the musical.
Rating: 3,5/ 5

Movie Trailer Sunday (40)

This weeks trailers are about gambling, Les Miserables, the expendables, a waiter pretending to be an author and a supernatural presence.

Lay the Favorite
Description: We follow unpredictable dreamer Beth (Rebecca Hall) as she goes from in-home stripper in Tallahassee to gambler's assistant in Las Vegas, working for Dink (Bruce Willis), one of the most successful sports gamblers in the business. She takes to the work like a natural, but makes the risky bet of falling for Dink, much to the chagrin of his retired showgirl wife Tulip (Catherine Zeta-Jones). That bet goes south, and a triangular war ensues. Against Dink's protests, Beth goes to work for the flamboyant, unstable Rosie who runs a less-than-legal operation in New York City, then for his doomed hyper-speed online sportsbook in the betting Babylon that is Curacao. When Beth's risky gambles result in her innocent boyfriend Jeremy (Joshua Jackson) threatened with prison, she must reunite with Dink, face up to the fearsome Tulip, risk jail, and return to New York City to confront her responsibilities. Can she beat the odds and win the day?
Director: Stephen Frears
Starring: Bruce Willis, Rebecca Hall, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Joshua Jackson
Trailer: Trailer "Lay the Favorite"

Les Miserables
Description: Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) is hunted for decades by the ruthless policeman Javert (Russell Crowe) after he breaks parole. When Valjean agrees to care for factory worker Fantine's (Anne Hathaway) young daughter, Cosette, their lives change forever.
Director: Tom Hooper
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Helene Bonham Carter, Sasha Baron Cohen
Trailer: Trailer "Les Miserables"
Comment: Super excited about this film. Maybe the best best musical I ever saw live

The Expendables 2
Description: Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone), Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), Yin Yang (Jet Li), Gunnar Jensen (Dolph Lundgren), Toll Road (Randy Couture) and Hale Caesar (Terry Crews) -- with newest members Billy the Kid (Liam Hemsworth) and Maggie (Yu Nan) aboard -- are reunited when Mr. Church (Bruce Willis) enlists the Expendables to take on a seemingly simple job. The task looks like an easy paycheck for Barney and his band of old-school mercenaries. But when things go wrong and one of their own is viciously killed, the Expendables are compelled to seek revenge in hostile territory where the odds are stacked against them. Hell-bent on payback, the crew cuts a swath of destruction through opposing forces, wreaking havoc and shutting down an unexpected threat in the nick of time - six pounds of weapons-grade plutonium; enough to change the balance of power in the world. But that's nothing compared to the justice they serve against the villainous adversary who savagely murdered their brother.
Director: Simon West
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Bruce Willis, Terry Crews, Randy Couture, Liam Hemsworth, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jean-Claude van Damme, Chuck Norris
Trailer: Trailer "The Expendables 2"

Lila, Lila
Description: David (Daniel Brühl), a waiter, finds an unpublished manuscript in a dresser drawer. To impress a girl, he claims to be the author. When the novel becomes a best-seller the real author introduces himself in his life and begins to take-over David's life.
Director: Alain Gsponer
Starring: Daniel Brühl, Hannah Herzsprung, Henry Hübchen
Trailer: Trailer "Lila, Lila"
Comment: I really like Daniel Brühl!

The Apparition
Description: A couple are haunted by a supernatural presence that is unleashed during a college experiment.
Director: Tod Lincoln
Starring: Ashley Greene, Tom Felton, Sebastian Stan
Trailer: Trailer "The Apparition"