Musical movies

Can't Stop the Music: love and friendship, and why this 1980 movie still matters.

Coal Miner's Daughter: family and parents protecting their children, and why this 1980 movie still matters.

Fame: family and corporate power, and why this 1980 movie still matters.

Popeye: family and parents protecting their children, and why this 1980 movie still matters.

The Blues Brothers: authority and freedom, and why this 1980 movie still matters.

The Competition: family, and why this 1980 movie still matters.

Xanadu: love and family, and why this 1980 movie still matters.

The Great Muppet Caper: authority and the safety of home, and why this 1981 movie still matters.

Annie: family and freedom, and why this 1982 movie still matters.

A rock-star unravel on film: loud, strange and still oddly intimate.

The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas: love and our relationship with technology, and why this 1982 movie still matters.

A clever musical about disguise, showbiz and the friendships that make it bearable.

Flashdance: family and mortality and lifespan, and why this 1983 movie still matters.

A very British banquet of bodily comedy, institutional savaging and one famously explosive dinner.

A funeral, a stack of records and a weekender where old promises get examined.

Yentl: family and love, and why this 1983 movie still matters.

A tale of genius through the jealous eyes of a faithful man — and a confession that never lets you look away.

Breakin': friendship, and why this 1984 movie still matters.

Teen rebellion, a ban on dancing and one determined outsider — Footloose still kicks up dust.

One musician, First Avenue and a mess of ambition — Purple Rain still hums.

Streets of Fire: courage and authority, and why this 1984 movie still matters.

The Muppets Take Manhattan: family and friendship, and why this 1984 movie still matters.

A Chorus Line: love and memory, and why this 1985 movie still matters.

Girls Just Want to Have Fun: family and friendship, and why this 1985 movie still matters.

A teenager, a goblin king and a maze that asks you to grow up.

A doo‑wop musical about bad decisions, worse plants and one man’s awkward climb out of obscurity.

Sid and Nancy: love and friendship, and why this 1986 movie still matters.

A refugee, a single extravagant dinner and the curious way generosity becomes a kind of worship.

Dirty Dancing: family and love, and why this 1987 movie still matters.

The Brave Little Toaster: family and parents protecting their children, and why this 1987 movie still matters.

The Chipmunk Adventure: family and parents protecting their children, and why this 1987 movie still matters.

Hairspray: family and parents protecting their children, and why this 1988 movie still matters.

Oliver & Company: family and greed, and why this 1988 movie still matters.

The Fabulous Baker Boys: family and love, and why this 1989 movie still matters.

The Little Mermaid: humanity and love, and why this 1989 movie still matters.

Teenage rebellion, a single teardrop and a lot of 1950s cheek — Cry‑Baby remains a small, sharp wedge of John Waters mischief.

Bookish bravery, an enchanted rose and a ballroom everyone remembers.

Transcendence, tantrums and the theatre of Jim Morrison.

A nightclub singer in a habit who turns a sleepy convent into a choir — and makes you clap.

Scrooge, the Muppets and a surprisingly sombre Christmas tale — all in eighty-six minutes.

A stop‑motion holiday mash‑up about a restless skeleton who mistakes enthusiasm for understanding.

A coming-of-age fable with a roar — and a few songs you’ll still hum in the shower.

A Disney musical about curiosity, conflict and a face-off between trees and treasure.

A missing princess, a scavenged past and a heroine who refuses to be written for her.

A story about duty, disguise and a young woman who refuses to be what everyone expects.

A biblical blockbuster that thinks like a coming-of-age story — and still asks who we are when everything we know is taken away.

A coming-of-age in the canopy: family, belonging and a very particular kind of loyalty.

A coming-of-age road trip where rock stardom and honesty collide — and a fifteen-year-old is the heart of the whole racket.

An entitled emperor, a patient villager and a llama-shaped lesson in humility — still hilarious and oddly wise.

A tiny, gothic love story where vows, class and an accidental wedding ring decide who gets to be alive.

A princess in a big city: earnest fairy-tale heart meets 00s self-aware sparkle.

A wedding, three possible dads and an entire soundtrack answering questions you didn’t know to ask.