41.) Sing Street [7/10/2016]

There is a genre of movie that exists somewhere between a musical and a drama--a sort of extended music video, in which the characters are part of a band, they write music (which often deals with the lives of the songwriters), and the narrative strings together these songs in a loose story. See also: Once, Begin Again, and August Rush. Sometimes, the whole thing holds together (Begin Again, School of Rock), sometimes the music is so good it doesn't matter (Once), and sometimes the whole thing is just bad (Song One, August Rush). Sing Street is the third music-video movie from John Carney (Once and Begin Again) with the songs coming from the UK synth-pop of the 1980s set against a backdrop of Dublin, which was under a pretty severe economic depression and faced a drain of citizens fleeing to London. 

This movie was pretty great. The songs were great, the story was well-developed, and the kid actors were surprisingly nuanced. It helps that Gary Clark an Glen Hansard (also from Once) helped to write the songs, giving them a distinct Irish-pop feel. It certainly doesn't need to be seen at the theaters, but I would recommend Sing Street to anyone looking for a feel-good movie with some awesome tunes.