The Music Man (Special Edition) (1962) Review

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(More customer reviews)Looking for the musical that beat WEST SIDE STORY for the Tony Award? You've found it here, in Meredith Willson's THE MUSIC MAN -- and its appearance on DVD, in widescreen format and with all the bells and whistles, is long overdue.
Pop the disc in, and you'll immediately be taken to the "Right Here In River City" documentary (you'll have to press the MENU button on your DVD controls to get to the main menu so you can actually view the movie -- why the disc goes immediately to the documentary is rather odd). Hosted by Shirley Jones, who still looks great, the top-notch, too-short documentary is crammed with lots of good stories and bits of trivia, in the words of several of Those Who Were There. You'll find out, for instance, which segments were actually filmed first, how amazed Susan Luckey was at Robert Preston's ability to lip-synch "Trouble" during filming, and why Shirley Jones wore so many frills and flowers on her dress in the scene at the footbridge.
As for the film itself -- the print is beautiful, and as someone who had only experienced the film in pan-and-scan format, it is a delight to finally see entire dance sequences without the cropping. And you'll finally be able to see all four members of The Buffalo Bills barber shop quartet (the poor fellow singing bass could never be seen in TV-formatted versions).
There are other, smaller moments that have always cried our for the letterbox format, and if you watch both versions closely, you'll notice the real advantages in seeing the entire scene as it was shot. For example, one particularly disorienting scene in pan-and-scan format is the "Pick A Little, Talk A Little/Goodnight, Ladies" sequence, when Professor Hill is speaking with Mrs. Shinn and the town ladies about Old Miser Madison, and dismebodied voices drift in from off camera. At one point, Mrs. Shinn says, "Miser," and an off-camera voice says, "Madison," causing Mrs. Shinn to grimace. In pan-and-scan, it looks like a mistake; in widescreen format, the speaker is finally visible to Mrs. Shinn's right, bringing the scene together in a logical fashion. Sounds like a trivial moment, I know, but that scene in pan-and-scan has grated me for years!
The DVD also contains a theatrical trailer, but it's not the trailer for the original 1962 release, but for the re-release a number of years later. It's still an interesting curiosity, featuring a reworked version of the "76 Trombones" sequence with Preston signing new lyrics about the film.
If there's any shortcoming in the disc, it lies in the sound quality. You'll have to crank the volume up a bit to hear everything properly, but beware -- the moment you hit the MENU button, you'll be blasted by and ear-splitting version of "76 Trombones" on the menu screen. Ouch. Hit MUTE right before you touch MENU. You'll thank me later.
It's a worn out cliche, but they really DON'T make musicals like this any more. And if your only experience with THE MUSIC MAN has been with the pan-and-scan format, do yourself a favor and pick up either the DVD or the letterboxed VHS format. You really WILL realize what you've been missing.

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Let 76 trombones lead the big parade from the Great White Way into your home. It's the Music Man, the screen version of one of Broadway's all-time blockbusters, a skyburst of Americana as irresistible as 4th of July fireworks. Robert Preston and Shirley JYear: 1962

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Rent (Widescreen Two-Disc Special Edition) (2005) Review

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(More customer reviews)I saw the movie in a beautiful theater in downtown San Francisco on the Saturday after Thanksgiving and was surprised to find so few people in the movie theater--maybe 75 of us, and the theater could have fit 500. I wonder if some of the lukewarm reviews haven't influenced people's decisions to go to RENT. Hope not, for I'm here to tell you, this movie is dynamite and IMHO much, much better than the play. For one thing, in the movie you can hear every word, even with the increased rock instrumentation, for hundreds of sound experts have worked their magic and made sure that even people underwater could hear every single syllable; whereas on stage, it depended from night to night what percentage of the lyrics were going to be coming across the temperamental sound system of the Nederlander (NYC).
I did miss Daphne Rubin-Vega who was incomparably sexy and chilling as Mimi, but I never believed her being in love, and Rosario Dawson looked like she was just 'playing' at being bad and underneath she was ready to fall in love as soon as she saw Roger through the window. Her scenes of addiction are captured in the movie effectively, in a rpaid montage that might disconcert some rentheads but will, I think, be easily understood by those new to the show.
Yes, some of the actors looked older than 20 somethings. But we forget that most of those who died of AIDS in the 1989-90 period were actually in their 30s. What's the big deal? To me, Angel's fate is all the more sad because he seemed to be healthy for so long and then, all of a sudden, well, any more would bring me into spoiler territory.
Idina Menzel is not as over the top as she is on stage, but there's still plenty of fire power there, and she's bigger than anything in the movies since the heyday of Betty Hutton! She looks remarkably beautiful and she doesn't miss a trick; and just when you think she'll overshadow Tracie Thoms as her attorney girlfriend, Joanne, the latter pulls off some memorable comic business and signals her disappointment and regret with her expressive brown eyes. Anthony Rapp is charming as Mark Cohen, he comes off as a tiny terror, I wonder how tall he is, the constant scenes of him snarking down the streets with his fists clenched in anger at his sides, but no one else around to reveal his true proportions--the old Alan Ladd trick. And Adam Pascal is suave and tormented in equal measures as Roger. His eyelashes are so long I expected them to have a special spotlights in the credits, but no.
I have to disagree with the posters who claim that Larson wrote all the best numbers for the men in the cast. Maybe that's personal pleading, but I find the best songs pretty much divided right down the middle. Mimi's "Out Tonight" isn't as exciting as on stage, but it is much more compellingly staged, as Rosario Dawson steps out of the Cat Scratch Club after her shift only to launch into the second verse, and seems to scale the wall of the loft to get to Roger like Catwoman in the third. ("I'll let you make me . . .") "Light My Candle" suffers a little without Daphne Rubin-Vega in it, and Adam Pascal acts as though he knows he's cheating on her with Rosario Dawson. Afterwards he gets his balls back. The ensemble singing of "Will I?" and "Another Day" are perfectly staged and rehearsed, and it's there that I started to lose it. I guess I must have spent the last seventy minutes of the movie in a continual rain of tears. By the end I had to sit through all the credits in a vain attempt to gather composure. The faces of those whom I lost to AIDS flashed before my eyes. Not all of them, but some of them. I did resolve to go out and try to practice love on a grand scale. They got me this time. "No other path, no other way, give in to love or live in fear."
These sentiments are vapid and, in the daylight, seem a little silly, but the beauty and power of the movie is to convince you of their truth. Good work all around. I hope the movie's an enormous success.

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Spectacular Review

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(More customer reviews)I recorded this on DVR for us to watch, and my 5 yr old and 3 yr old ended up LOVING this movie! One of the songs I caught my 5 yr old trying to sing along with! I will definitly be buying this DVD and soundtrack. I felt like the actors did an excellant job and the songs were catchy and fun!

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Get ready to rock the house with the Nickelodeon smash original movie Spectacular! When bad boy Nikko (Nolan Gerard Funk) gets dumped by his band, he finds the path to stardom can take some unexpected twists. Enter Courtney (Tammin Sursok), a show choir girl in need of a new star front man to help her group "bring it" and snag the national championship away from her arch rival Tammi (Victoria Justice). When this unlikely duo gets together, it's a rock explosion that lights up the stage in a way you've never experienced before. Featuring 10 hot new tracks from the music team behind High School Musical and hip dance moves that will have you up out of your seat.

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Newsies (Collector's Edition) (1992) Review

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(More customer reviews)From the looks of it, I MAY be the only male reviewer posting positive for this movie, but of course I only read the first several reviews, not all 300 plus. I saw Newsies when it first came out in the movies. I believe it was a double feature, with Aladdin or something, can't remember which. I guess I was around 17. I've always been a loyal Disney fan, and I do love many musicals. This was an instant classic for me, sort of a male version of Annie, which came out a decade or so before, and is also excellent. And I seem to recall that Annie and Popeye, two faves of mine, sort of marked the end of live-action musicals. A real shame. Newsies proves that great musicals can still be made, but it also proves that it can take some time for most modern people to admit they like it. The story is about the 1899 strike of the New York paperboys. The central characters are Jack Kelly, a streetwise orphan played by Christian Bale(the main reason most females love this movie), and David Jacobs, a kid from a more stable, family lifestyle. Through the course of the strike they put on, the two boys become unlikely best friends, and with the other Newsies, learn about loyalty, friendship, and believing that they can work together to fight for a better life. The songs and music are beautiful. I'm particular about that stuff too. Don't trust professional reviewers like Leonard Maltin, whose reviews are inconsistent at best. Just when you think he's got good taste from reading one review, you lose all faith in him by reading another. Judge this movie for yourself. If you don't like musicals, don't bother. You have to love musicals to enjoy this even a little bit. And I don't mean just stuff like Oklahoma or Dr. Dolittle. If you loved Annie, this might be a good one for you. A little more adult than that, but not much. Don't expect to see many female characters though. Ann Margaret has a small part as one of the kids' few adult friends, and there's the character of David's sister, purely there to present a love interest for Christian Bale, just so someone would have a love interest. She's not spectacular, but she IS cute. Bill Pullman does a great job as a reporter trying to help the Newsies get some publicity. This was the first time I ever saw Bill since Space Balls, though I wasn't really keeping track of his career. I'm so glad to hear this will be on DVD soon. And I hope they release more of Disney's late 80's, early 90's stuff on DVD. Like Dick Tracy! A visual masterpiece! And my favorite movie of all time, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, is badly in need of a Special Edition DVD! Such a spectacular film and we didn't even get the movie trailer promised on the box! Anyway, as for Newsies, get the soundtrack too! Great music! I bought the soundtrack back when the movie came out! Unfortunately it was on tape. Gotta replace that with a CD too!

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Starring Academy Award(R)-winner Robert Duvall (Best Actor -- TENDER MERCIES, 1983) and screen favorite Ann-Margret, here's the true story of a courageous group of newsboys who become unlikely heroes when they team up to fight an unscrupulous newspaper tycoon. Determined to make their dreams come true, they find the courage to challenge the powerful! Critically acclaimed from coast to coast -- if you're looking for must-see, feel-good entertainment, NEWSIES delivers!

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