Film Junk Poll: What is the Best Modern Musical?

Posted by on May 14th, 2013   Filed under: Polls

pollmodernmusical

Although Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby isn’t really a musical, I figured a poll about musicals might spark some interesting discussion, especially since we don’t give them all that much attention here on Film Junk. Of course, the problem is that there are so many classic musicals that it kind of renders the more recent ones irrelevant. For the purposes of narrowing down the discussion, I thought we could focus on “modern” musicals, which I define as being anything released after the year 2000 (ie. the new wave of musicals ushered in by Moulin Rouge). Arbitrary? Absolutely. But hey, you have to draw the line somewhere. What do you think is the best modern musical? Cast your vote in this week’s poll and then sound off in the comments below!

What is the Best Modern Musical?

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  • Steve

    Where is “Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny” and “South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut”? Not modern enough?

  • South Park was 1999 but I forgot about Tenacious D. (But we all know South Park would have won if it was on this poll.)

  • Sam

    From the list, I think Once is the clear favorite.

  • Would not consider Once to be a musical… it’s a movie about music.

  • Lior

    I have not seen anything that can match the sheer feverish brilliance of Moulin Rouge. That film is on a league of its own, and my pick.

    I’ve seen only 9 of the 15 films on the poll, but for me the second place should definitely go to Hairspray. It’s a funny, energetic extravaganza. Too bad Adam Shankman couldn’t replicate that buoyancy with Rock of Ages.

    And I love Once, but it’s not really a Musical in the traditional sense. Musicals are essentially fantasy films.

    Sean, good to see you taking some time to acknowledge this neglected Film Junk genre. :-)

  • Jim

    The best modern musical is missing from the list, High School Musical 3

  • @Colin – They brought this up on Mamo at one point, but I don’t remember what the consensus was. It’s what I voted for, anyway.

    The Muppets might take this one because in addition to the strong musical elements, it has a lot of other stuff going for it.

  • Owozifa

    Some of these are only sorta-kinda what I’d call musicals, and the list is missing Phantom of the Opera from 2004 which seems rather obvious.

    From that list I think the only one I even like is Sweeney Todd, so easy choice.

  • Paul

    I would vote for Mamma Mia, if it was included. I agree that Phantom should also be there and Once is not a musical.

  • Liney

    It’s not quite modern enough for consideration, but the answer to the question is Hedwig and the Angry Inch!

    Guess I’ll have to go with Once…

  • Bob

    AC/BC: A ROCK OPERA

    To qoute from Chris Trager “Literally the best thing ever.”

  • @Paul – I present my Letterboxd review of Mamma Mia in its original, unedited form:

    “I’m not sure what’s worse, the directing, the acting, or the singing… really, truly shit.”

    1/2 star out of 5

  • patrik

    Forgot about Once. Great movie but Moulin Rouge is still the best for me.

  • Jack

    I adore musicals… I sort of forgive any film if it has singing and dancing, it’s my biggest weakness. But out of these, I have to go for Chicago as it’s the one that made me realise that I love musicals. It was my first when I was 12, and I went back 4 more times. I still don’t know how I’m straight :P