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Chicago (Widescreen Edition)

Chicago (Widescreen Edition)

List Price: $19.99
Your Price: $14.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: La,la,la
Review: Frist of all I don't think musicals should hit the big screen, I gave three stars for Richard Gere, Catherine Zeta Jones, Queen Latifah and Rence Zellweger for taking the parts and doing the best they could , good Effort.But the story itself was draining and painful to watch.You may catch yourself fast forwarding this one to see the story , but i guess you have to like Musicals to follow this one , I rather watch The Sound of Music with my sister than watch this .You need to like Musicals for the third time . Enjoy if you can!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Lights, Camera, CHICAGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: Okay I should'nt even write a review for this movie. I mean dont the awards tell you all. This movie was very good. This is like a chicks movie. The songs wonderful, made me just want to get up and start dancing. The songs are catchy, the movie is wonderful, and very sexy. Watch the movie, enjoy it, sing & dance. If you like the whole Moulin Rouge type movies then watch this movie because it is ten times better...i give this movie 5 stars. Even though there was only 3 shining stars in the movie.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Love it Love It
Review: It's just so musically & theatrically brilliant the way they put the music together with the story...just love it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: SUPERB!! Absolute best musical-play put on film EVER!
Review: This movie is an EXCEPTIONAL piece of art; it maintains original storyline of the Broadway musical yet gives it a modern feel with these fresh, overly-talented actors & if you can catch it, some sarcastic humor & artistic vision & metaphor!! I hardly ever agree with "the Academy", so I didn't see this until my mom rented it, (before this my favorite musical was RockyHorror, so I'm not really what you'd call 'mainstream'). I was BLOWN AWAY! So, ok, great movie-making, but then to realize that the actors do all of their own singing & dancing? It's amazing!

The storyline is: We open on prima-donna starlett Velma Kelly, (Catherine Zeta-Jones), who gives a whole new meaning to "All That Jazz", she is supposed to be a sister act with Veronica who's missing at this point...in the audience is fresh-faced young Roxie Hart(Renee Zellweger), a girl with so many stars in her eyes she can't see reality and will do just about ANYTHING to ensure her place in Vaudeville. From this point its a fast-paced, intelligent, wryly humorous & on-key ride as everyone attempts their proverbial 15 minutes (and hopefully more) of fame, no matter who gets shot in the process. Velma is accustomed to being famous & worshipped & therefore getting her way, so she's a bit of a wench, whereas Roxie tries to catch the flies with honey & is fairly naive, but as the story progresses, you see her learn quickly & surpass others at getting AND KEEPING the attention. Billy Flynn,(Richard Gere),is the sly, sarcastic, silver-tongued lawyer hired to help the 2 girls...

Catherine Zeta-Jones has a musical & theater background and it is very obvious as she showcases her many talents: she can sing, dance, act, acrobat, whatever. She's beautifully lethal, charming, and full of class, charisma & hard work. Renee Zellweger, on the other hand had never sung or danced before, yet she plays with the best and DEFINITELY holds her own. She is VERY talented & its almost more endearing that this was her 1st venture into a musical-theatre-type of arena. No one can just be trained to sing that well, they merely work with what's already there....Richard Gere has never been one of my favorites but I now really respect and admire him, he is also full of talent and surprises. Queen Latifah hits the screen and you know she's serious, seriously funny & talented! Also a surprise cameo by Lucy Liu, it also has John C.Reilly, Christine Baranski, Taye Diggs & popstar Mya.

One last point is this: These 3 stars, Catherine, Renee, & Richard were big stars already and in their own right, this was not needed to push them in better, they did it because they rose to the challenge & were perfectly cast. No one could have done better! This is not just the movie of the year, but of the last few decades, not since Cabaret have I seen a musical put on film & done right & this one's better!! It deserved every acclaim it got--these people worked HARD...(I've seen it 100 times & can't find 1 mistake). CHEERS!! Here's to Nowadays...enjoy it while it lasts cuz in 50 years or so it'll change, you know... :)

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: WISH I COULD GIVE IT A ZERO
Review: Oh man, this movie almost made me puke my guts out. This movie is so awful. I regret ever renting it. It was a complete waste of my 3 bucks. I tried hard to finish it & I did, now I feel sick. The music is really horrible. I think Zeta Jones really made the movie stink even more than it already did. HORRIBLE I DO NOT RECOMMEND!!! (0)STARS !!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Simply Stunning!
Review: In the late 1930s in Chicago, Crime and entertainment were bland. A lovely nightclub songbird named "Roxie Hart" ( Rene Zellweger) with Velma ( Catherine Zeta Jones) are both in jail accused of a murder they both didn't commit. They hire the same lawyer ( Richard Gere) to help them clear their names.
An entertaining, well acted and electrifying musical with spectacular scenes, Queen Latifia and Lucy Liu as the supporting cast and it's all around good fun.
Highly recommended!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Sexy, entertaining, funny!
Review: A must see. QL and Renee really spice up the magic to weave this twisted tale. The story is stick to your ribs stuff!
www.jafguitar.com

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Eh...
Review: A bunch of crooks hang around in dark prisons and clubs. A bunch of people dance around half naked, singing about the details of killing their husbands. The cynical manipulators walk away with the happy endings. "Chicago," while beautifully photographed and featuring one or two catchy songs, is a dark, dank film version of a mediocre musical, featuring no appealing characters and not much genuine comedy either.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Zeta steals the show!
Review: In Brief

Roxie Hart (Zellweger) dreams of singing and dancing in the vaudeville shows of a 1929 Chicago like her idol Velma Kelly (Zeta-Jones). Yet a few wrong steps lead to Roxie living her life on murderers row in the Cook County Clink. A grim dank lock up she finds herself under the crooked care of the prison Matron Morton (Latifah), who puts Roxie in touch with the legendary lawyer Billy Flynn (Gere). Milking her husband (Reily) for Flynn's fees, Roxie soon finds herself shot into the limelight created by the media frenzy surrounding her case. With her career exploding her fellow inmate & former idol Miss Kelly is less than impressed, but need she be worried or will the flavour of the month soon shift once again.

Review

This is not Moulin Rouge and that's neither a good or bad thing as this is Chicago. One of the biggest hits of the West End & Broadway hits the silver screen with a bang, yet this not just the stage show, this is pure genius. Taking the song and dance show from the stage was never going to be easy and indeed it has been attempted numerous times in the past but never made it into production. The problem has always been that Chicago is a theatrical show of pure vaudeville and that wont translate to the cinema, but one day when he was meant to be promoting the conception of the film of Rent to Miramax honchos, director Rob Marshall suddenly had an epiphany regarding Chicago where all the musical elements would take the form of asides or exist as pure fantasy primarily through the mind of Roxie Hart.

A simple premise becomes a stroke of genius, as the audience becomes drawn into a world that quickly sets up its own conventions of communication. The ease with which this is done demonstrates an understated talent that can only be highlighted here. One quickly finds the musical elements of the film are never out of sync with the timing of the narrative, lend both poignancy & humour to the film, while always leaving you wanting more each time a number ends. Indeed one can't help but feel that Marshall is the Billy Flynn we never see, as he razzle dazzles us and gives us our own "show that is so spendiflorus."

So what of the singing? Well like the strength of the cast it can't be faulted as each seems to meld their persona so well into their performance. Indeed the cast is solid throughout and the cameos by Mya and Lucy Lui are lovely. One could question the highness of Gere's tone but that aside the stand out performer is without a doubt Zellweger who is both stunning & glamorous, yet vulnerable & fragile which she can communicate through not only acting but also song thus displaying sheer brilliance on her part. A special mention should also be made of John C. Reily's Amos, never before has anyone captured Mr. Cellophane with such heart. If you leave this film without feeling higher than you when you came in check your pulse as this had me singing along to the Cell Block Tango and definitely had all that jazz!

The Verdict

If the dance numbers that are both a combination of traditional Fosse and more contemporary styles don't impress you, the melding of story and musical into the narrative certainly will. Yes this is a musical but suspend your disbelief and let Chicago tempt you with the darkest story of treachery, betrayal and murder you'll ever see twisted into a song and dance show.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A surprise!
Review: I'm a 14 year old male and i listen to rock music and watch tv shows likes the simpsons and watch funny movies. Im not much into musicals at all but i actually enjoyes this movie. I was kind of forced to watch it too. The songs were pretty catchy and some were funny.Great!


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