Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 21st, 2007
Prepare to take a journey behind the curtain, with the all-access pass that is Show Business: The Road to Broadway, a documentary chronicling the fates of four musicals that beat the odds to reach theatre's "big show."
That's the premise for Show Business, and it certainly does get behind the scenes with Wicked, Avenue Q, Taboo and Caroline, Or Change, showing how they made it to Broadway, and then how they vied for the big prize: the Tony Award for Best Musical. Hardcore musical fans may not learn anything new here, but the average viewer will likely be enlighted considerably. At the same time, theatre buffs will likely be much more excited than most viewers about seeing stuff like rehearsal footage and interviews with show creators.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 21st, 2007
A remake of writer/director John Waters' 1988 cult hit, Hairspray is an exhuberant movie musical that builds off the smash-hit Broadway production to recreate the excitement on film for a new generation. Whether it's bigger and better than previous iterations, I can't say, because this DVD release marks my first Hairspray experience. What I can say is if Waters' original and the Broadway show are even half as good, they're definitely worth your time.
If that doesn't convince you, this Hairspray also presents John Travolta as an obese, middle-aged woman — a transformation that required plenty of make-up and, more importantly, allowed Travolta to finally reveal his true self for all to see.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 21st, 2007
A remake of writer/director John Waters' 1988 cult hit, Hairspray is an exhuberant movie musical that builds off the smash-hit Broadway production to recreate the excitement on film for a new generation. Whether it's bigger and better than previous iterations, I can't say, because this DVD release marks my first Hairspray experience. What I can say is if Waters' original and the Broadway show are even half as good, they're definitely worth your time.
If that doesn't convince you, this Hairspray also presents John Travolta as an obese, middle-aged woman — a transformation that required plenty of make-up and, more importantly, allowed Travolta to finally reveal his true self for all to see.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 16th, 2007
Despite its lame title, I've been excited about seeing Live Free or Die Hard since it was announced. The Bruce Willis franchise has been a favourite of mine for a long time, thanks to the original Die Hard which stands as one of the greatest action films of all time.
Willis reveals in the commentary that he and director Len Wiseman (Underworld) set out to make a Die Hard movie that surpasses the middle two in the series and is as good as the first. While Willis apparently feels they succeeded, I beg to differ. Live Free or Die Hard is certainly a good action flick, but nothing can ever surpass Die Hard in my book. Opinions of the film aside, this DVD set is sure to satisfy John McClane fans of any stripe.
Posted in: News and Opinions by Archive Authors on November 16th, 2007
A discovery made by a kung fu obsessed American teen sends him on an adventure to China, where he joins up with a band of martial arts warriors in order to free the imprisoned Monkey King.
Posted in: News and Opinions by Archive Authors on November 15th, 2007
From Tech Crunch:
The DRM camp is now saying that copying is good—to a degree. The upcoming DVD release on November 20 of Live Free or Die Hard will be the first to allow digital copies to your PC and one other USB-attached device. That’s two copies for the price of one DVD. The folks at Fox are calling this a Fox Digital Copy, and plan to roll it out with future DVDs as well. The catch: any device you put it on needs to be compatible with Microsoft’s PlayforSure DRM technology. That excludes all iPods, Sony PSPs, and even Zunes.
Posted in: News and Opinions by Archive Authors on November 15th, 2007
According to Game Informer magazine(December issue) Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis have all come together and started work on a Ghostbusters video game. The story will take place after the events of Ghostbusters 2. The game is being developed by Zootfly(primarily a strategy game maker). Earlier reports from Dan Akroyd said the game would play like Gears of War with a very gritty feel to it. The game should release sometime next year for all major game consoles. The screenshot featured is on the cover of Game Informer.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 15th, 2007
I only know Tea Leoni for a couple of things, the big thing being that she married David Duchovny (The X-Files) and grew a couple of demon seeds with him. But I guess she was bored and inexplicably took on the role of producer and actress in a film starring an Oscar winner, Sir Ben Kingsley (Gandhi), in a low budget independent film named You Kill Me, which was a script that had been kicked around Hollywood for a few years.
Written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (The Chronicles of Narnia) and directed by John Dahl (Rounders), Kingsley plays Frank, a hitman for a Polish crime family in Buffalo. He is quite the drinker, and drinking has been affecting his work lately. He sleeps through a job where he is supposed to off a rival crime boss (played by Dennis Farina, Midnight Run), so he is banished to San Francisco to dry out. A shady real estate agent named Dave (Bill Pullman, Independence Day) sets him up with an apartment and a job (dressing bodies at a funeral home), but at one of the services, he meets Laurel (Leoni), and decides to go to Alcoholics Anonymous, where he finds a sponsor named Tom (Luke Wilson, The Royal Tenenbaums) who helps him get started on the rehab process.
Posted in: News and Opinions by Archive Authors on November 14th, 2007
Well fret not. Almost everyone involved with the old sci-fi channel mainstay has moved to continue the shows tradition in some way.
First, there's Rifftrax, created by Mike Nelson the second host of MST3K. Rifftrax is a series of downloadable commentaries for ever growing collection of movies. Each commentary stars Mike himself and usually accompanied by 1-2 guest stars. These stars are usually his fellow comrades Kevin Murphy(2nd Voice of the robot Tom Servo) and Bill Corbett(2nd voice of the robot CROOOOOOOOOW!). Some of the special guest stars have been Sean Patrick Harris(Doogie Hauser) and Fred Willard. Each commentary features the same quality rapid fire puns, insults and meanderings that made MST3K such a hit with movie buffs.
Posted in: News and Opinions by Archive Authors on November 14th, 2007
Tonight on HDNET movies, 10:15 PM ET and again at 12:00AM ET. This is an exclsuive sneak peak. HDnet movies is included with most Dish network HD packages. Check with your provider to see if you can get HDnet movies by tonight. Note: The DVD will be available from Magnolia films online in a couple of weeks.
