KEN RUSSELL’S ADAPTATION OF THE WHO’S ROCK OPERA. SPECIAL FEATURES: FULL SCREEN AND WIDESCREEN VERSION, 2-CHANNEL DOLBY SURROUND SOUND OR DOLBY DIGITAL 5.0, SUBTITLES: ENGLISH, FRENCH, SPANISH, TALENT FILES, AND AUDIO RESTORATION PRODUCTION NOTES.
Studio: New Video Group Release Date: 05/30/2006
Big-screen version of the hit broadway musical starring frank sinatra rita hayworth and kim novak. Special features: full screen and widescreen versions mono sound subtitles: english spanish portuguese chinese korean thai vintage advertising talent files original hep cat theatrical trailer and more. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 05/13/2008 Starring: Frank Sinatra Kim Novak Run time: 109 minutes Rating: Nr
In the tradition of This Is Spinal Tap comes this hilarious comedy about the greatest rap group that never was. This slyly subversive satire smashes racial stereotypes while it skewers the entire world of Gangsta Rap. Chronicling the controversial career of bad boys N.W.H. (Niggaz With Hats), this uproarious ‘mockumentary’ lampoons all of hardcore rap’s hot-button issues: violence, censorship, white rappers and ruthless record industry types. Through the guerilla lens of writer/director Rusty Cundieff, this underground laugh riot recounts the rise, fall and resurrection of a clueless bunch of would-be rappers Ice Cold, Tone-Def Tasty Taste performing as N.W.H. Fear Of A Black Hat is a cult classic that critic Roger Ebert calls “funny and fresh.” Features include: Audio Commentary by Director Rusty Cundieff; Original Theatrical Trailers; Music Videos; Deleted Scenes; Cast Interviews; Widescreen Format (Aspect ratio 1.85:1)
06
Jul
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Full Screen Edition)
Author: Music Lover // Category: Musicals on DVD
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls start your engines. You’re about to take an incredible ride with one of the most wonderful family films of all time! Now celebrating its 30th anniversary, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang has never looked or sounded better. Dick Van Dyke stars as eccentric inventor Caractacus Potts, who creates an extraordinary car called Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. It not only drives but also flies and floats as it leads him, his two children and his beautiful lady friend, Truly Scrumptious (Sally Ann Howes), into a magical world of pirates, castles and endless adventure.
Disney makes this beloved musical more magical than ever with an all-new, feature-length production! Featuring an all-star cast and new choreography, this charming tale of an adorable orphan named Annie captures all the fun of the original, but adds an unmistakable Disney touch! For a young girl living a “hard-knock” life in a children’s orphanage, things may seem pretty bad — especially at Christmas. But feisty Annie carries a song in her heart and hope in her locket — the only thing she has from her parents. One day, fed up with the dastardly Miss Hannigan (Academy Award(R)-winner Kathy Bates), Annie escapes the rundown orphanage determined to find her mom and dad. Her adventure takes her from the cold, mean streets of New York to the warm, comforting arms of bighearted billionaire Oliver Warbucks, with plenty of mischief and music in between! Filled with memorable songs and magical moments, Disney’s ANNIE brings this heartwarming story to a whole new generation. And now you can relive the magic over and over again!
This pop-cultural phenomenon has been performed on stage for more than 50 million patrons in 26 countries for almost 18 years, churning more than $2 billion in ticket sales. Now that Cats has finally made it to the small screen, attention must be paid not just by fans of this critic-proof show, but also by those entertainment mavens who have somehow avoided Cats until now. The video version has been restaged but, alas, not really reconceived for its new medium.
The video cast, assembled from London, Amsterdam, and New York productions, is competent. Ken Page as Old Deuteronomy, Jacob Brent as Mr. Mistoffelees, and Elaine Paige–the original London Grizabella, the Glamour Cat well past her prime–are a great deal more than that. Paige has toned down her theatrical belting of her big number, “Memory,” and allowed the faded ruin of her character’s soul to prevail in close-up. For all the “covers” of her signature song, Paige’s version remains definitive. The video is, by definition, more intimate, not always a good thing: costumes are even more Halloweeny in garish close-up, the cats less cuddly without that all-important interaction, the stage’s appropriately midnight lighting transmuted to a Las Vegas neon. And the chorus of cats in production numbers is even clunkier and more amorphous in two- and three-shots.
The one complete newcomer to the cast is the 90-year-old icon among English actors John Mills, a delight as Gus the Theatrical Cat. Sir John and his character show the youngsters how it’s done in close-up, largely behind the eyes, abetted by a heart-tugging delivery of his one song. Yet virtually all of the songs are lip-synched, further robbing the video Cats of its onstage seeming spontaneity. It’s clearer than ever that Lloyd Webber’s music is mostly twaddle, with the important exception of “Memory,” which instantly and rightly became one of the genuine theater standards not dependent on context, in the vein of Stephen Sondheim’s “Send in the Clowns.” On the plus side, most of the Cats characters and lyrics, from T.S. Eliot’s 14-poem Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, are far better defined and understood from the video version. –Robert Windeler
Studio: Mpi Home Video Release Date: 08/26/2008 Run time: 575 minutes Rating: Nr
Elvis Presley is at the wheel and headed for a romantic Spinout! The renowned pop icon plays a racecar driver who aims to keep his eyes on the road instead of the ladies. But dangerous curves are ahead in the persons of three lovely, marriage-minded women (including Shelly Fabares). Songs: Stop, Look, Listen plus eight more. In Double Trouble, Presley portrays a singer who discovers two intriguing beauties are tailing him during his European tour. But they aren’t the only people following him after a stash of hot diamonds ends up in his suitcase. Songs include the very lively, very Elvis Long Legged Girl. Have fun!
This visual and musical masterpiece features Yul Brynner’s Academy Award(r) winning performance, an inforgettable Rodgers and Hammerstein(r) score, and brilliant choreography by Jerome Robbins. It tells the true story of an Englishwoman, Anna Leonowens (Deborah Kerr), who comes o Siam as schoolteacher to the royal court in the 1860’s. Though she soon finds herself at odds with the stubborn monarch (Brynner), over time, Anna and the King stop trying to change each other and begin to understand one another.