Mamma Mia (2008)

Mamma Mia! (promoted as Mamma Mia! The Movie) is a 2008 stage-to-film adaptation of the 1999 West End musical of the same name, based on the songs of successful pop group ABBA, with additional music composed by ABBA member Benny Andersson. Produced by Universal Pictures in partnership with Playtone and Littlestar,^[2] it became the highest-grossing film musical of all time. The title originates from ABBA's 1975 chart-topper "Mamma Mia". Meryl Streep heads the cast, playing the role of single mother Donna Sheridan. Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, and Stellan Skarsgård play the three possible fathers to Donna's daughter, Sophie (Amanda Seyfried).
On August 29, 2008, Mamma Mia!: The Sing-Along Edition, with lyrics to the songs highlighted on the screen, was released in selected cinemas.^[3] On December 15, 2008, it was announced that Mamma Mia! had become the highest-grossing film in the United Kingdom of all time. The previous record was held by Titanic, which was released in the UK in 1998

Plot

On the Greek island of Kalokairi, 20-year-old bride-to-be Sophie Sheridan (Amanda Seyfried) posts three wedding invitations ("I Have a Dream") to three different men. From across the globe, they set off for the wedding.
Sophie's two bridesmaids arrive and she reveals that she found her mother's diary and learned she has three possible dads: New York-based Irish architect Sam Carmichael (Pierce Brosnan), Swedish adventurer and writer Bill Andersson (Stellan Skarsgård), and British banker Harry Bright (Colin Firth). She invited them without telling her mother, believing that after she spends time with them she will know who her father is ("Honey, Honey").
Villa owner Donna Sheridan (Meryl Streep) is ecstatic to reunite with old friends and former Donna and The Dynamos bandmates, wisecracking author Rosie (Julie Walters) and wealthy multiple divorcee Tanya (Christine Baranski), and reveals her bafflement at her daughter's desire to get married. Donna explains her precarious finances to Rosie and Tanya ("Money, Money, Money").
The three men arrive, and Sophie smuggles them to their room and explains that she, not her mother, sent the invitations. She begs them to hide so Donna will have a surprise at the wedding: seeing the old friends of whom she "so often" favorably speaks. They overhear Donna working (humming "Fernando") and swear to Sophie they won't reveal her secret.
Donna spies them and is dumbfounded to find herself facing three former lovers she could never forget ("Mamma Mia"), and is adamant that they leave. She confides in Tanya and Rosie ("Chiquitita") a secret she has kept from everyone — she is uncertain which of the three men is Sophie's father. Tanya and Rosie rally her spirits by getting Donna to dance with the female staff and islanders ("Dancing Queen").
Sophie finds the men aboard Bill's yacht, and they sail around Kalokairi ("Our Last Summer") and tell stories of Donna as a carefree girl. Sophie musters up the courage to speak with her fiancé Sky (Dominic Cooper) about her ploy, but loses her nerve. Sky and Sophie sing to each other ("Lay All Your Love on Me"), but are interrupted when Sky is kidnapped for his bachelor party.
At Sophie's bachelorette party, Donna, Tanya, and Rosie perform as Donna and The Dynamos ("Super Trouper"). Sophie is delighted to see her mother rock out, but becomes nervous when the festivities are interrupted by the arrival of Sam, Bill and Harry. She decides to get each of her three prospective dads alone to talk.
While her girlfriends dance with the men ("Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)"), Sophie learns from Bill that Donna received the money to invest in her villa from his great aunt Sofia. Sophie guesses she must be her namesake and Bill is her father. She asks him to give her away and to keep their secret from Donna until the wedding.
Sophie's happiness is short-lived as Sam and Harry each tell her they must be her dad and will give her away ("Voulez-Vous"). A shocked Sophie can't tell them the truth and, overwhelmed by the consequences of her actions, faints.
In the morning, Rosie and Tanya reassure Donna they will take care of the men. On Bill's boat, Bill and Harry are about to confide in each other, but are interrupted by Rosie.
Donna confronts Sophie in the courtyard, believing Sophie wants the wedding stopped. Sophie says that all she wants is to avoid her mother's mistakes and storms off. An upset Donna is accosted by Sam, concerned about Sophie getting married so young. Donna confronts him and both realize they still have feelings for each other ("SOS").
Down on the beach, Tanya and young Pepper (Philip Michael) continue their flirtations from the previous night ("Does Your Mother Know").
Sophie comes clean to Sky and asks for his help. He reacts angrily to his fiancée's deception and Sophie turns to her mother for support. As Donna helps her daughter dress for the wedding, their rift is healed and Donna reminisces about Sophie's childhood and how quickly she's grown ("Slipping Through My Fingers"). Sophie asks Donna to give her away. As the bridal party walks to the chapel, Sam intercepts Donna and begs her to talk. She reveals the pain she felt over losing him ("The Winner Takes It All").
During the wedding, Donna tells Sophie that her father is present but he could be any of the three candidates, whom Sophie admits to inviting. Sam reveals that although he left to get married, he didn't go through with it and returned, only to find Donna with another man, so he married his former fiancée (and later divorced her). Harry confesses that Donna was the first (and last) woman he loved as he is gay. The three men concur that they would be happy to be one-third of a father for Sophie. She tells Sky that they should postpone their wedding and travel the world as they have always wanted. Sam suddenly proposes to Donna ("I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do"). She accepts and they are married.
At the wedding reception, Sam sings to Donna ("When All Is Said and Done"), which prompts Rosie to make a play for Bill ("Take a Chance on Me"). All the couples present proclaim their love ("Mamma Mia" reprise). Sophie and Sky bid farewell to Kalokairi and sail away to a new life together ("I Have a Dream" reprise).
During the principal credits, Donna, Tanya, and Rosie reprise "Dancing Queen", followed by "Waterloo" with the rest of the cast. Finally, Amanda Seyfried sings "Thank You for the Music" over the end credits.

Cast

• Meryl Streep as Donna Sheridan, Sophie's mother, owner of the hotel Villa Donna. Wife of Sam at the end.^[5]
• Amanda Seyfried as Sophie Sheridan, Donna's daughter and Sky's fiancée.^[6]
• Julie Walters as Rosie Mulligan, one of Donna's best friends, an unmarried fun-loving author.
• Christine Baranski as Tanya, the other of Donna's best friends, a rich, three-time divorcée.
• Pierce Brosnan as Sam Carmichael, Sophie's possible father, husband to Donna, and an American architect.^[7]
• Colin Firth as Harry Bright, Sophie's possible father and a British banker. Based on "Our Last Summer", which he sings at one point.
• Stellan Skarsgård as Bill Anderson, Sophie's possible father, a Swedish sailor and travel writer.
• Dominic Cooper as Sky, Sophie's fiancé, designing a website for the hotel.
• Philip Michael as Pepper, Sky's best man who likes Tanya.
• Ashley Lilley as Ali, a close friend of Sophie and one of her bridesmaids.
• Rachel McDowall as Lisa, a close friend of Sophie and one of her bridesmaids.
• Benny Andersson (cameo) as Piano player during "Dancing Queen"
• Björn Ulvaeus (cameo) as Greek god
• Rita Wilson (cameo) as Greek goddess
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mamma_Mia!_(film) 

Author's Note:
Since Abba is one of my favorite band and the whole show seems to be best then I can say that this is a recommended movie for those who wants to laugh, inspire and reminisce.

Dreamgirls (2006)

The film begins in Detroit, Michigan in 1962, as an amateur African-American girl group known as The Dreamettes enter a talent competition at the Detroit Theater. Backstage, the three girls — full-figured lead singer Effie White, Deena Jones and Lorrell Robinson — meet Curtis Taylor, Jr., an ambitious Cadillac dealer with plans of breaking into the music business. Placing himself as their manager, Curtis arranges for the Dreamettes to tour as backup for a regional R&B star, James "Thunder" Early. The tour takes the company - also including Effie's songwriting brother C.C. and Jimmy's manager Marty - across the country on the chitlin' circuit.
Hoping to help Jimmy and the girls cross over to mainstream audiences, Curtis starts his own record label, Rainbow Records ("The Sound of Tomorrow"), out of his car dealership's office, and makes C.C. his head songwriter. However, when Rainbow's first single fails after a white pop group releases a cover version, Curtis and his sidekick Wayne turn to payola. By paying the right people, Curtis manages to get Jimmy and the Dreamettes to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 and into a headlining gig at the Apollo Theater. Offstage, Effie is quickly becoming infatuated with the slick-talking Curtis, and Jimmy - a married man - begins an adulterous affair with Lorrell, who becomes equally as lovesick as Effie.
Marty grows weary of Curtis' plans to make Jimmy's image and sound more pop-friendly, to the point that he walks out on Jimmy, both his client and best friend. However, when Curtis finds that he cannot completely remake Jimmy Early into a pop act, he shifts his attention back to the Dreamettes. Feeling that Effie's voice is too "special" and her figure too large to attract white audiences, Curtis appoints the slimmer Deena as the lead singer of the Dreamettes. Though both Effie and Deena are disapproving of the change at first, they both learn to accept it.
With the aid of new songs and a new more glamorous image, Curtis and C.C. transform The Dreamettes into The Dreams, a top selling pop act whose popularity comes to rival that of The Beatles by 1965. However, the betrayed Effie does not take kindly to being reduced to Deena's backup, and begins acting out, becoming even more unruly when Curtis' affections also turn towards Deena. When Effie, feeling ill, does not turn up to rehearse for the Dreams' debut in Las Vegas on New Year's Eve 1966 , Curtis replaces Effie with his secretary, Michelle Morris. Effie, who has just learned she is pregnant, arrives at the Caesar's Palace venue just as Michelle does, and after a nearly violent argument, finds herself without her group, without her brother, and without Curtis.

 

Eight years later, in 1973, Effie has become a depressed but caring welfare mother, and her career in music is over. She and her nine-year-old daughter Magic live alone in the burnt-out inner city of Detroit with only Effie's father Ronald to look in on them. On the other hand, Rainbow Records has moved to Los Angeles, where it prospers with Deena Jones & the Dreams and many other pop acts. Wanting to expand his empire into film, Curtis plans to have an unwilling Deena, now his wife, star in a blaxploitation musical version of Cleopatra.
Though still part of the Rainbow roster, Jimmy Early's stardom has long faded, and Curtis has little interest in revitalizing his career. Unsatisfied with both his wife Melba and his long-term mistress Lorrell, Jimmy turns to drugs for affection. Meanwhile, C.C. continues to reach out to Effie, who stubbornly ignores the letters and money he sends. Eventually, Effie swallows her pride and, with Marty as her manager, returns to singing and secures gigs at a small Detroit club.
In 1974, Rainbow Records hosts a tenth anniversary TV special. Midway through his set, Jimmy decides that he cannot sing any more "sad songs", so he breaks down onstage and launches into a wild James Brown-type funk number. The audience seems to love it, but the act goes too far when Jimmy drops his pants on live television. Curtis consequently terminates Jimmy's contract, and Lorrell reluctantly ends the eight-year affair.
Shortly after the special, Deena meets with a film producer and writer in an attempt to get a role in a grittier film than Curtis' glossy Cleopatra update, and after some negotiations they agree to give her the film role. Back at Rainbow Records, C.C. walks out on Curtis and the label after learning that Curtis has taken C.C.'s latest composition and turned it into a rhythm-heavy dance track (identifiable as early disco). His resignation is interrupted, however, by the news that Jimmy Early has been found dead at an L.A. hotel from a heroin overdose.
C.C. leaves L.A. and Michelle, now his girlfriend, to return to Detroit and find Effie. The two siblings reconcile and work together to produce Effie's comeback single, "One Night Only". Just as the record begins gaining radio play in Detroit, however, Curtis strikes. Using payola, he forces radio DJs to play a disco cover of "One Night Only" by Deena Jones & the Dreams instead of Effie's original, and the Dreams' version becomes a major hit in early 1975.
Curtis has also learned of Deena's covert meetings with other film producers and asserts his control over his wife. Rebuffed, Deena sneaks into Curtis' office, where she discovers evidence of Curtis' payola schemes and a copy of Effie's version of "One Night Only". She calls Effie and C.C., who arrive at the Rainbow offices with Marty and a lawyer. As Deena and Effie reconcile, Curtis works out a deal with the lawyer to avoid being reported to the FBI for payola: Rainbow Records will fund a new label for C.C., which will allow Effie's record national distribution. Curtis then confronts Deena, only to find that Effie's victory has inspired Deena to leave him and make it on her own.
As a result, Deena Jones & the Dreams give a farewell performance at the Detroit Theater. At the conclusion of the concert, Effie joins Deena, Lorrell, and Michelle onstage and the reunited Dreams give one final performance of their signature song, "Dreamgirls", with Effie singing lead. As the concert ends, Curtis notices Magic in the front row and seemingly realizes that he is the girl's father.

 

Cast

• Jamie Foxx as Curtis Taylor, Jr. Based upon Motown founder Berry Gordy, Jr.,^[4] Curtis is a slick Cadillac dealer-turned-record executive who founds the Rainbow Records label and shows ruthless ambition in his quest to make his black artists household names with white audiences. At first, he is dating Effie and later becomes attracted to Deena and breaks up with Effie and kicks her out of the group. He eventually marries Deena also. Father to Magic.
• Beyoncé Knowles as Deena Jones. Based upon Motown star Diana Ross,^[5] Deena is loving toward her Dreamgirl "sisters" and very beautiful, but is a sheltered girl who allows her husband Curtis to transform her into the Dreams' lead singer and Rainbow's biggest star all because of her looks and voice and it causes her mother to realize that Curtis is using her as a product. Knowles was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for her performance.
• Eddie Murphy as James "Thunder" Early. "Jimmy" Early, inspired by R&B/soul singers such as David Ruffin, Jackie Wilson, and Marvin Gaye,^[4] is a raucous performer on the Rainbow label whom Curtis attempts to repackage as a pop-friendly balladeer. Murphy won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in the film.
• Jennifer Hudson as Effie White. Inspired by Supremes member Florence Ballard^[5] and soul singers Etta James and Aretha Franklin,^[4] the plus-sized Effie is a talented yet temperamental singer who suffers after Curtis, the man she loves, replaces her as lead singer of the Dreams with Deena and later drops her altogether. Mother of Magic.Hudson won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe, among many other awards, for her portrayal of Effie.
• Anika Noni Rose as Lorrell Robinson. Lorrell, inspired by Supremes member Mary Wilson,^[6] is a good-natured background singer with the Dreams who falls deeply in love with the married Jimmy Early and becomes his mistress. She is slightly naive and her soul singer sisters are protective of her.
• Danny Glover as Marty Madison. Jimmy's original manager before Curtis steps into the picture, Marty serves as both counsel and confidant to Jimmy, and later to Effie as well.
• Keith Robinson as C.C. White. Inspired by Motown vice president, artist, and songwriter Smokey Robinson,^[7] Effie's soft-spoken younger brother C.C. (Clarence Conrad) serves as the main songwriter for first the Dreamettes and later the entire Rainbow roster. Uncle to Magic.
• Sharon Leal as Michelle Morris. Michelle, based upon Supremes member Cindy Birdsong,^[8] replaces Effie in the Dreams and becomes C.C.'s love interest.
• Hinton Battle as Wayne. Wayne is a salesman at Curtis' Cadillac dealership who becomes Rainbow's first record producer and Curtis' henchman.

Dreamgirls also features supporting performances from Mariah I. Wilson as Magic, Effie's daughter; Yvette Cason as May Jones, Deena's mother; Ken Page as club owner Max Washington; and Alexander Folk as Ronald White, Effie and C.C.'s father. Cameo appearances in the film are made by John Lithgow and John Krasinski as a film producer and his screenwriter, Jaleel White as a talent booker at the Detroit Theater, Dawnn Lewis as Melba Early, Jimmy's wife, and Loretta Devine, who originated the role of Lorrell on Broadway, as a jazz singer in Max Washington's club who sings "I Miss You Old Friend". Laura Bell Bundy, a Broadway veteran featured in such musicals as Legally Blonde and Hairspray, plays one of the sweethearts featured in the "Cadillac Car" reprise.
Throughout the film, a number of other musical acts depicted as allusions to or analogues of real-life R&B performers appear, among them Little Albert & the Tru-Tones (Little Anthony & The Imperials), Tiny Joe Dixon (B. B. King), The Family Funk (Sly & the Family Stone), and The Campbell Connection (The Jackson 5).