10 of my favourite movie musical numbers

Some time ago I made a list of my favourite musical moments in non-musical movies. So this list is a natural follower! It also happens to match the first challenge in the new Movie Monday blog. (Note: no animations accepted on the list! Why? It would be filled with Disney songs, and I already made that list.)
 

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10. Time Warp in The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

This movie is so insane. It doesn't have a sensible moment in its running time! And I appreciate and respect that. Time Warp is the catchiest and thus my favourite song in the musical, so it has the honour to inhabit the last but not... well, yes, the least position on the list. In a list ranking songs according to their ability to get stuck on your head, this would be number one by a bullet! ... Aaaand just when you thought I would get through with this without mentioning the Glee version, I go and mention the Glee version. Because it's brilliant and Kurt is brilliant and so on and so forth.




 9. My Favourite Things in The Sound of Music (1965)

It's just so very sweet, okay? And so is Julie Andrews, ah!




8. Greased Lightning in Grease (1978)

 I used to love Grease, but then I watched it too many times and now I just kind of unactively like it for the nostalgic value. Still, there's no denying the entertainment value of John Travolta's hips and the always-makes-your-feet-restless value of the beat in Greased Lightning.

7. Good Morning in Singing' in the Rain (1952)

I could've and maybe should've chosen the most iconic musical scene in the history if cinema, but decided to go with this one instead without much ado. I just like the melody and the enthusiastic and cheerful mood of the scene. And the tap dance. Oh, the tap dance.

6.  Can I Have This Dance in High School Musical 3 (2008)

Haha, I think it's appropriate to talk about a black sheep here. Me and High School Musicals go way back, and it would've been unfair and evasive to ignore that fact when making this list. Now, about this particular song and scene. Sometimes I've been joking that I want to dance to this at my wedding, and unfortunately it wasn't always pure joking. I have now accepted that this song will indeed have nothing at all to do with my wedding, whatsoever, but while I'm beginning to forget the lyrics to all the other HSM songs, I still find myself listening to this once in a while. It's quite nice, really. And not half as cheesy as it could be.




5. A Little Priest in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)

 Well, first, if there's Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and singing involved, it can't end up being nothing too bad. Sweeney Todd is pretty great, and I chose this scene for its quirkiness, its relevance to the plot, and for the pure joy of watching Johnny and Helena work their magic together.




4. Cell Block Tango in Chicago (2002)

Chicago is sexy and chic and just unresistable. It has many, many awesome musical numbers, but Cell Block Tango is hands down my favourite. Those murderesses just kick ass! After this, no one can say that murder is not an art.




3. Somewhere Over The Rainbow in The Wizard of Oz (1939)

It doesn't get much more classic than this. Judy Garland, stuck in the dull, colourless Kansas, dreams of a better place somewhere over the rainbow, not knowing that's exactly where she will end up soon enough. Oh, I adore this song.

2. Dancing Queen in Mamma Mia! (2008)

This movie is such a joy. It's the ultimate pleasure without a single drop of guilt. Meryl Streep and the girls dancing around a beautiful Greek island, singing this timeless, feel-good ABBA song, is so much fun - just a thought of it is somehow uplifting and makes a smile sneak up on your face. The best thing is, you don't necessarily have to be young and sweet, only seventeen, to a be dancing queen. It just takes some growing back down.




1. El Tango De Roxanne in Moulin Rouge! (2001)

Moulin Rouge! had to be number one, of course. Deciding on just one song, scene, number, was a much trickier job to do. Your Song, Elephant Love Medley and Come What May finally lost, though only by inches, to the dramatic, thrilling, flamboyant, goosebumps-quaranteed El Tango De Roxanne. Oh, how vividly we feel the heart-rending pain of Ewan McGregor. You just want to give him a big hug. But only after he's stopped singing! Don't you dare interrupt the magic in action.

London in films: My Top 5 Favourites

In Robin Hood they made a quick stop at the medieval London (too quick, for me!). That's what gave me the idea for this list. London is the setting for numerous movies, and I'll give you five of my favourite portrayals of the city that stole a part of my heart many years ago. (Alright, only four, to be exact...)

I haven't had a chance to travel as much as I'd prefer, but of the places I've visited so far, London is no doubt the number one. I might be biased, as I lived an hour from London for seven months, and have also visited the place before and after that, but I can't get enough of it! I could babble about London all day, but let's move on to the list.

5. Children of Men (2006)

In 2027, no child has been born in 18 years, and alongside of the rest of the world, London is in chaos. Future in films in always somehow pessimistic - usually the world is coming to its end or the machines have taken over. Or both. London in Children of Men is both fascinating and scary. At first glance it might seem like the normal, modern London, but then you notice the full garbage bags and general dirtiness, the gloomy expressions on everyone's faces and well, the exploding cafés.

I sure hope this is not what London will look like in 17 years. Let's keep making babies, shall we!


4. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)

Harry Potters are my favourite books, but the films are a bit... meh. I like The Half-Blood Prince the most so far (I've got quite big expectations towards The Deathly Hallows... Better not disappoint me!), partly because they showed more of London than before! And what's more, it wasn't Hogwarts and Diagon Alley that looked alien and weird, but Trafalqar Square and the office buildings the subway did - maybe because I'm not used to seeing so normal things in a Potter film. I loooooved the run-through of London in the beginning. ("Ooh, I've been there! There I sat drinking that delicious 600-calories-only Frappuccino from Starbucks! That's where we took those dumb pictures!")

And the subway scene... They made it look quite dream-like and the contrast between Dumbledore and a perfume advert is just great. And yet there's one thing they share: magic.

3. Sweeney Todd: The Devil Barber of Fleet Street (2007)

There's a hole in the world like a great black pit and it's filled with people who are filled with shit and the vermin of the world inhabit it... And it goes by the name of London, according to Mr. Sweeney Todd, previously known as Benjamin Parker, who isn't exactly in love with his hometown.

I've only driven past the shady alley on Fleet Street, where the the infamous barber supposingly practiced his noble profession, but I was a little disappointed, because it looked so... ordinary. London in Sweeney Todd is wonderfully Burton-y. It's dark and gothic and gloomy - fitting perfectly in the story of Sweeney. I guess that's what I expected to see on Fleet Street.

Plus one picture of Brighton, Burton style! Mrs. Lovett dreams about a better tomorrow by the sea, and it looks terrifically out of place! One of my favourite music sequences...

2. A Hard Day's Night (1964)

This one is a bit different from the others on the list, because there are no evil barbers or wizards in this London (not that I know of, at least). It is just London in the 60s. I had to take this on my list, because I love this film and if someone invented time travel, this is where I'd go first: in the middle of the craziest Beatlesmania!

That's all.

(I'm planning a re-watch some day now, so I save my praise for that post.)


1. Sherlock Holmes (2009)

I had to make this number one, because the movie is just fantastic. And London looked so charming, really! It wasn't über dark like in Sweeney, but realistically grim, like a place where you don't want to walk alone after dark. The horses and the carriages and the CLOTHES, accompanied by Hans Zimmer's BRILLIANT music, and there you go, that's the number one.

I also liked how they used London's famous landmarks, especially the unfinnished Tower Bridge was just splendid!

(And I refuse to think RDJ had anything to do with this choice. No no no. My subconscious is not like that. No no.)

There. Other nominees for the list were 28 Days Later, Shakespeare in Love, The Prestige and so on. Better luck next time!

Finally, a honorable mention for those films portraying the normal, modern London, just the way it is - Love Actually, About A Boy, Notting Hill, to mention a few. (Oh and mustn't forget the ever so awesome Spice World! GIRL POWER FOREVER!!!) This is the London I fell in love with, and that's the way I like it the most - without global catastrophes, zombies, death eaters and gothic serial killers. Wouldn't mind a Sherlock Holmes, though...

Here's a few more pictures.

I basically had to eat my hands off to stop myself from adding twenty more. Now, let's go enjoy the sunshine! This took me longer than I expected, where has the day gone...


(The four pictures of "real" London taken by me.)