Post by Mark T. Locker.

This is the first movie I have seen all the way through since hobbling my way through The Hobbit back in December. My wife is a huge fan of the music and was needless to say eager to watch this together. The only musical I really enjoy is Singin’ in the Rain, which has amazing tap dancing and Gene Kelly is so handsome and Debby Reynolds is just cute as a button!

Neither Hugh Jackman nor Russell Crowe could be described as cute as a button. Some may describe Anne Hathaway as such, but not me. What Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway are, however, are outstandingly talented singers and actors. It’s hard not to choke up seeing Anne’s rendition of “I Dreamed a Dream”. It’s also even more difficult to watch Russell Crowe bleat out his lines. I don’t know who cast him in this movie, but it was an unwise decision. He very nearly manages to ruin the movie.

But he doesn’t, thank goodness!

It is a very sad, dark, intense movie, so it may give you sad, dark, intense dreams. It certainly did me. But more than that, it gave me lots of dreams about “I Dreamed a Dream.” If I had one criticism of the movie (besides Russell Crowe) it’s that that song gets stuck in my head, and I don’t know the lyrics so I end up making up my own lyrics. Happily, mine are less heartbreaking and tend to be about monkeys and sausages.

So, go rent this if you haven’t seen it.