Music Review: The Music Man (2003)

The Wonderful World of Disney: The Music Man (2003)

Happiness is listening to Kristen Chenoweth sing, and she plays Marian in this version.  She has a beautiful voice, and Mathew Broderick who played Harry Hill also does well.  However, you have to wonder if he wasn’t a bit self conscious singing opposite Chenoweth. 

This is the C.D. of the music which was very well done.  The energy between Hill and Marian is evident even without they video or the entire performance.  I really like “Goodnight, My Someone” which is beautiful in its simplicity.  Chenoweth sings this beautifully.  Also Broderick singing “You Got Trouble” is very pleasurable, and the story and con comes over so plainly.  “Till There was You” is the climax of this show, and it is so well done it gives me chills. 

This was an excellent listen, and I plan on enjoying it for a while.

Movie Review: ****^Ladyhawke (1985)

This is one of my favorite movies ever.  It portrays the story of a couple Navarre and Isabeau (Rutger Hauer and Michelle Pfeiffer), who have secretly engaged themselves to be married because of their love.  They confess this love to a local monk (Leo McKern) who unwittingly divulges this to the bishop, and Isabeau's guardian, who, when he hears of this, becomes jealous, putting a course on the couple.  As such, he is a wolf by night, and she is a hawk by day.  They are always just passing each other, but not quite able to touch.  When Gaston (Mathew Broderick) escapes from the bishop's prison, Navarre decides it is time to act, and recruits Gaston to help him break into the bishop's castle, so he can kill the bishop. 
A wolf hunter is sent to capture Navarre, but he evades capture.  The hawk is wounded, in a scuffle with the bishop's guards.  They flea to the monk's monastery for refuge.  The monk has discovered a way he can be redeemed, but Navarre is just intent on revenge.  In their journeys, the wolf falls through the ice of a lake, and Gaston is scratched trying to rescue him.  They do make it to the city, Navarre with his hope of revenge, and the monk with his hope of redemption.  Great sword fight between Navarre and the Captain of the guard (Ken Hutchinson).  I love the action, the sword play, and the mysterious things surrounding this couple.  Very well done.

Christmas Music Review: ***^Deck the Halls (2006)

When a new family moving into the neighborhood, the men feud over the Christmas decorations. This feud comes out in their Christmas lights.  They each want to do something meaningful, and one neighbor has a goal to make his house so  bright it can be seen from space.  Of course the neighbors have some issues, and he is noisy at night.  It seems everything he does disrupts the Christmas of his neighbor, and both men begin focusing on theirselves and they forget their families in the process.  When the women call them out, and both leave, the men have a chance to rethink things.
This movie has a very good cast, and it is the cast that make it work.  Danny Devito is the new neighbor and his wife is played by Kristen Chenoweth, Mathew Broderick the old neighbor and his wife Kristin Davis.  Jorge Garcia plays a townsman.  I found myself laughing at a scene where the neighbors are competing at the toss game, and a neighbor winds up and hits a lady walking by.  There are many other humorous scenes.