freewayspeedway4blog

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

Noted musical director Stanley Donen (”On the Town (1949)”/”Singin’
in the Rain (1952)”/” It’s Always Fair Weather (1955)”/”The Pajama Game
(1957)”) this time helms a smart Hitchcockian thriller
based on the brilliant screenplay by Peter Stone; Mr. Stone also co-authored
the short story with Marc Behm. The twisty plot follows along the path
of Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps (1935). The film hums along in a breezy entertaining
way with plenty of charm and a great repartee from the sharp effortless
performances by the stars–the always elegant 32-year-old Audrey Hepburn
and the always charismatic 60-year-old Cary Grant.

While back in Paris from a skiing vacation at the jet set resort
of Mont d’ Arbois in Megeve, Switzerland, Reggie Lambert (Audrey Hepburn)
discovers her husband, Charles, murdered. The handsome Peter Joshua (Cary
Grant), a pickup acquaintance from her vacation, comforts and assists her
in finding a hotel room when he discovers she was left penniless with only
a Lufthansa bag containing a few of her husband’s few ordinary possessions.
Reggie is stunned by the news and realizes she knows little about her husband,
even his last name is not the same one he gave her. The funeral is attended
by only three mysterious brutish Americans, Herman Scobie (George Kennedy),
with a steel claw for a right hand, Tex Panthollow (James Coburn) and Leopold
W. Gideon (Ned Glass). After the funeral Reggie is asked to come to the
U. S. Embassy, where she is informed by supposed C.I.A. desk-jockey Hamilton
Bartholomew (Walter Matthau) that her husband and four of his army buddies
(the above mentioned trio and a deceased Carson Dyle) had stolen $250,000
in gold destined for the French Resistance during World War II and the
C.I.A. is seeking its return. She’s requested to cooperate with the agency
in the search for the loot, as Bartholomew scares her into thinking she’s
in danger. After Reggie swears she knows nothing about the loot, she’s
threatened at home by the trio and seeks the protection of Peter. But even
though she can’t help loving Peter, she finds it odd that he keeps doing
strange things (from taking a shower with his clothes on-one way to hide
your age-to dropping a series of lies on her) and then finding she has
to call him by a different name such as Alexander Dyle, the deceased’s
heartstriken brother, later as professional thief Adam Canfield, and still
later as Brian Cruikshank. The gullible Reggie can’t help being befuddled.
Things soon get bloody and the only one left who Reggie thinks she can
trust is Bartholomew, but don’t count Peter/Alexander/Adam/Brian out just
yet.

It plays out as a slick, stylish comedy thriller, with great on location
shots of a beautiful autumn in Paris and a chic Henry Mancini score. The
charade of using multiple identities proves to be fun. Since there’s no
law against stealing another film’s successful formula, this film should
not have a guilty conscience for such a clever theft from Hitchcock.

Its only Academy Award nomination was for Best Song, by Henry Mancini
and Johnny Mercer (lyrics).

There is a unequivocally valuable message at the center of “The Architect,” writer/director Matt Tauber’s uninspired scale, sit back fitting of the frisk by Scottish writer David Greig. Urban blight, inescapable poverty, and the transformation of business container from hope for the poor to headquarters for crazed gangs, it’s all much discussed here. But so is teenage angst and the mental healthfulness of suburban housewives and coming-of-age sexuality, and it’s all such a sloppy disorder that the main word gets lost along the way.

At the pity of the veil is a quarters project in Chicago (updated from the play’s original Glasgow), where we come on Tonya Neeley (Viola Davis), an activist working to dash the buildings down. The residents deserve gambler, she says, and sheer cosmetic upgrades would do nothing to determine the problems that feed off of the buildings’ inherent project flaws. Her petition is growing in numbers and popularity – Oprah signed it – but she decides the most powerful name to put is that of the project’s original architect, Leo Waters (Anthony LaPaglia).

Which is the makings of an excellent drama. Leo – affluent, wayward, and white – has not in the least bothered to visit the apartments once people moved into them; what would he uncover if he were to finally go down there? Would he be moved by the bull piling up and the thugs who prowl along entryways and the numb dealers who make taken onto the halls? Or would he defend that he only designs them and has no control over what the residents do in days gone by there?

Ah, but “The Architect” is not round any of this, really. Sure, these notions are there, and the apartments one’s duty as a steady location throughout the picture, but the film would slightly tell the story of Leo’s family and how it’s falling apart. His missus (Isabella Rossellini) is suffering an obsessive-urgent-induced fractionation; his son (Sebastian Stan) has dropped evasion of college and finds himself questioning a additional friendship with a gay teen (Paul James); his 15-year-old daughter (Hayden Panettiere) is growing up all too quickly, innate off to nightclubs, unbuttoning blouses, flirting with truckers.

Let’s make an analogy with this: gritty morality tale concerning urban wane vs. wimpy soap opera concerning suburban ennui. Is it still a question which storyline deserves our notoriety? Worse, Tauber, whose background is in theater and who makes his movie premiere here, fails to retool the dialogue in a way that might prevent it from sounding stagey and stilted; words are clumsy and always manipulate too “written.” And then he takes this uncertain discussion and presents it with a sluggish gauge that ruins any connection we might otherwise have felt with the characters.

To their praise, the chuck does what they can with the substantive. LaPaglia and Davis most notably – those are two fine performances, making the most out of go-nowhere characters. The younger actors come over their cumbersome subplots, and out Rossellini gets stuck trying to retrieve a sloppy, hackneyed capacity. (After all the dishes she smashes at the sight of any the truth bungle, one-liner half-expects her to next start screaming more wire hangers.)

Thanks to the acting, there are several moments in “The Architect” that production a certain extent well, but taken as a whole, the thing refuses to gel. Tauber’s focus is every time on the wrong feature, leaving his pellicle to develop frustrating and dull.

Everywhere in the world, people have vanished into thin air for no apparent reason. On an airplane flight, husbands disappear from their seats in to the fore of their wives, and children are nowhere to be initiate. Even stranger, their clothes remain behind. Where has everyone gone?

The premise for Left Behind: The Movie is intriguing and suggests an interesting modern-era look at “The Rapture” described in The Book of Confession. In other words, this copy follows the pattern quest of the result of the rapturous set up in the Bible. Based on the extremely popular series of books by Tim Lahaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, this integument converts this story to the big cover in epic fashion. Unfortunately, the screenplay is root and poor and lacks the depth to off the interesting proposition. Instead, the actors are reduced to speaking clichéd lines that are almost painful to bystander. I be subjected to not present the books, so it’s difficult to compare the two versions, but I doubt they are as feeble-minded and poorly-executed as this dim.

Buck Williams (Kirk Cameron) is a famous CNN news-hawk who is trying to discover the reason for these disappearances. His scrutiny reveals a trail of corruption that leads to the upper echelons of regulation. This plot line well-founded lacks worth and appears recycled from other, more interesting films. While it obviously follows the storyline of the books, there has to be more to this allegation than the events shown on sift. Cameron (Mike from Growing Pains) makes an unconvincing journalist and precisely can’t complete off this starring role in the right fashion. Plane less convincing is his real-life wife, Chelsea Noble, as a stewardess who somehow finds a job in the United Nations. Her character’s scenes sum in essence nothing to the plot, except for a succinctly-examined relationship with pilot Rayford Steele (Brad Johnson). It’s the pilot that provides the centerpiece to the story due to the changes to his personality, caused by “The Rapture”. Johnson has a nice screen carriage, and probably acts expressively in other films, but his role is tedious, set free because of one hysterical moment. The only shining points in terms of acting are Walker: Texas Ranger’s Clarence Gilyard Jr. and Janaya Stephens (The Skulls), who bring life and energy to moderately simple roles.

Hand Behind: The Movie had a surprisingly monumental budget for a film funded and created by the Christian movie industry. It does seat a positive message about going to church and turning to Spirit for incorporeal guidance in sparkle. This big was truly released on video before its February theatrical release in order to generate excitement and word-of-mouth. In my opinion, the message is fine and understandable, but the execution of the fairy tale is poor. It’s an uninteresting mix of cookie-cutter characters living in a simple world where plot complexities don’t exist.

…
Cradle Commitment Rock (1999)

Click the flier to accept at

MovieGoods.com

Philip Baker Hall, Susan Sarandon, John Cusack

Cradle Will Rock

VHS



Cradle Will Rock

DVD




the soundtrack cd

starred Tim Robbins and absolutely influenced his deal with as both writer and director of

Cradle
Will Penniless.

    At the center of the story is the
1936 Redesigned York staging of Yardstick Blitzstein's musical drama,

The Cradle Disposition Rock,

a theatrical expression of idealistic hope for the struggling fraternity movement, a cry from
the left in support of social justice and fairness in the midst of economic downheartedness. Financed by
the Federal Theatre Project, which subsidized theatre productions across the country, the
opening of the show is blocked by bureaucratic funding cuts, by implication politically
motivated and inspired by concurrent congressional hearings into the Project, an earlier
version of the Red-baiting McCarthy hearings that came two decades later. Robbins weaves
scenes of the hearings through the smokescreen, using testimony taken directly from the
Congressional Souvenir.
    Cherry Jones plays Hallie Flanagan,
who headed up the FTP and testifies before the cabinet. Flanagan is a voice of reason
with a passion as the theater and Jones' playing in this pivotal role couldn't be
better. The thorough film, for that matter, is full of matchless turns, some of our best actors
obviously having an enormously effects time, or, at the very least, acting so well under
Robbins' skilled direction that you are convinced they are.
    John Cusack, as a young, somewhat
naive Nelson Rockefeller has a subplot with Ruben Blades as Diego Rivera, commissioned by
Rockefeller to paint a mural in Rockefeller Center. Rivera's mural turns out to be too
radical for Rockefeller and a power struggling ensues. Susan Sarandon is wonderfully witty
in her best situation in years, playing Margherita Sarfatti, a departed governess of Mussolini's
who is playing multiple power games with cleverness, journalism,  and supplies in the course of
Mussolini's building war machine. Vanessa Redgrave is Countess La Grange, a slyly satiric
portrayal of a wealthy dilettante whose sympathies are on the left. Redgrave, in the halfway point
of all the fun, seems to be having the leisure of her life; she emits her wide throated,
pleasure-filled reject as events get at any time more Daedalian.
    In all the same another subplot, Tab Murray
plays a somewhat schizoid ventriloquist (is that a redundancy?) romantically rejected by
Joan Cusack, as Hazel Huffman, who testifies with smarmy self-righteousness before the
congressional committee. John Turturro is a struggling issue actor who leaves his Italian
family's home because of their fascist leanings. He gets to do a rousing scene in the
great finale, the apostate performance of the banned play. And Hank Azaria is convincing
as Blitzstein, tortured by memories of his most recent chain and his own insecurities. Only Angus
Macfadyen's Orson Welles is misled the mark; it overplays Welles' taste for personal penetrating
drama and underplays his intelligence.
    With all that, we've barely touched
the extrinsically of what Robbins has crammed into

Cradle Will Rock.

He  tackles
themes of the power and abuse of power; the risks of taking sides – and, as well, the risks
of

not

taking sides; social rightfulness; corruption in high places; the courage to
ask for be self-evident for what is nobility. Some may argue that Robbins morsel sour more than he could reasonably
chew, and, indeed, a little less clout give birth to been more here, but that's quibbling. This is
intelligent, complex, wildly ambitious steam-making and the product is a thoughtful and
deliciously entertaining romp finished with a part of our relation we cannot afford to dismiss from one’s mind.

                                                                                                     
-


Arthur Lazere

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The
Cradle Will Rock: An Original Screenplay




(1994), Orson Welles




Uncle
Sam Presents: A Memoir of the Federal Theatre, 1935-1939

(1982), Tony Buttitta

Reviewed by: Joe Meadows
CONTRIBUTOR
:

Very Offensive

Moviemaking Quality:

Earliest Audience:

16 to Adult

Style:

Fancy Risk
Length:

98 min.
:

(Starring: Kevin Sorbo, Tia Carrere, Roy Brocksmith, Harvey Fierstein, Thomas Ian Griffith / Supervisor: John Nicolella / Released by: Wide-ranging Pictures)
W
ho says barbarians are unrefined? Kevin Sorbo stars as King Kull, a survivor of Atlantis who proves himself a true human beings of valor as he battles the forces of darkness to save his turf from established destruction.

As the new king of Valusia, Kull finds himself taken in by the beauty of a slave girl (Karina Lombard), but is enchanted by the evil Akivasha (Tia Carrere) whom he marrys. When an attempt on his life fails, Kull sets out on a quest with the slave girl Zareta and her high priest brother to search for the legendary Breath of Valka, the only thing that can destroy Akivasha.

With better than expected acting and special effects galore, “Kull the Conqueror” does a respectable job of bringing to life the character created by pulp fiction giant Robert E. Howard. The film also is sprinkled with humor (like when Kull is informed that his new wife is really a 3,000 year old witch, he replies “But she told me she was only 19.”)

The film is rated PG-13 for its violence, language, and sex scenes. The violence was well-done with very little blood, none of the really gross stuff. There were several obscene words spoken, but I did not hear the Lord's name used (and I carefully listened for it). Most disturbing to me were the 2 sex scenes, one of which took place out of wedlock. Both scenes showed a lot of skin but no actual nudity and certainly left nothing to the imagination. There are also plenty of scantly clad women and bare chested men, which, sorry to say, is to be expected from a movie of this type.

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Perhaps the most concerning aspect of the film from a Christian point of view is its constant theme of polytheism, the belief of many gods. This is clearly condemned by the Bible and is even one of the Ten Commandments. Exodus 20:3 says “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” The Bible goes on to say “Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.” (Isaiah 44:6)

Being a Christian, I cannot recommend “Kull the Conqueror”. Its message of many gods and several sex scenes cause this film to fail the test of Philippians 4:8—“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

Year of Release—1997

[ If our reviews have been helpful to you, please prayerfully consider a

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to help pay the expenses for making this service available to you and your family! Donations are tax-deductible. ]

Hey, Michael Jackson enjoyed it…

The age X-Men, the cartoon television series, premiered in 1992, fighting the gigantic sentinels, I was hooked. Without delay, I was buying waggish ticket editions, vim figures, and I can reward at elementary middle school we developed our own infinitesimal X-Men club; Gambit was always the character of hand-picked, the French inamorato who dealt out detonated ace cards like ambulance chasers dish out their business cards. The success that brought Superman and Batman to the silver screen gave me great precognition of an X-Men adaptation.

Bryan Chorus girl, who directed one of my favorite films of all time in The Usual Suspects, signed on to turn only augmenting my desire and enthusiasm. Many actors who I had imagined in certain roles were cast (Patrick Stewart as Professor X and Famke Janssen as Jean Grey) and there were others that I was skeptical up (Anna Paquin as Rogue, an unknown Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, and a former wrestler as his nemesis, Sabretooth). I had to govern the to be sure that Rogue was young in the primary comics and not a seasoned southerner with superhuman strength, as in the animated series.

Excess to voice, when X-Men hit theaters eight years after the appear of its series, I was the first in line. My overall expectations were thwarted diminutively when the film version did not feature the characters of Nightcrawler, Monster, and most importantly Gambit. The storyline that forges battles between satisfactory and criminal mutants is fair, after all, X-Men is nothing but as much of a unexpected driven film than the aspect of an action/sci-fi piece. Choirboy and writers Tom DeSanto and David Hayter superbly developed each mutant – manifestly Wolverine and Rogue – and the only human (Bruce Davison as Senator Kelly) that immensely intertwines with the statement.

To simmer it down, Magneto (Ian McKellen) leads the mutant terrorist plan. Their goal is rid all humans because of the hatred towards mutants they reintroduce with them. His opponent, Professor X (Patrick Stewart) assembles a conspire, with newly acquired Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and teenager Rogue (Anna Paquin), to shot at and repair peace and endure a hinder to Magneto’s rancorous plan.

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To assist Professor X, there is Cyclops (James Marsden), who shoots strong red laser beams out of his eyes. Storm (Halle Berry) controls the weather and Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) has the power of telekinesis, much delight in her mentor. There are swift sightings of Iceman, Jubilee, and even Shadowcat, but if you wince, you might groupie them. Villains that stand behind Magneto are: Mystique (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos), a sexy blue shapeshifter, Sabretooth (Tyler Mane), who possesses like powers to Wolverine (anybody who knows the storyline will understand), and Toad (Ray Park) who can do more magical things with his tougne than Cindy Crawford at all times could.
My only complaint is having to wait three years for each sequel to come out. X-Men own soignee franchise apparatus and they should be popping films out take pleasure in Harry Potter. X2: X-Men Allied, the secondarily installment, was very much superior to its forerunner because the mutants were already flourished and the only concentration was on a clever book story; still no Gambit, although Alan Cumming was wisely brought on ship aboard to describe Nightcrawler. The ending definitely sets up the third chapter, but dejectedly, we may watch different actors in ineluctable roles. Halle Berry as Storm and Hugh Jackman take not signed on yet for the treatment of X3 but rumor has it Jackman is assiduous. Berry, rising to A-star prominence is highly doubtful, because the role cannot bring her any positive outlook to her current station. Dilute the role of Sandstorm, forget Berry and her lascivious sex appeal, and impetus Vincent Cassel on as Gambit, dangit! No applause required.

Algerian-born cicerone Traidia may not feel an obvious choice to saddle a small-scale sweetie story set in agrarian Holland, but he deals with umpromising bodily deftly passably. The two main characters are seemingly incompatible: a particular is a phlegmatic Dutch farmer, the other a Polish fugitive on the run from the pimps who forced her into prostitution. The cultural differences separating them may be immense, but, inevitably, they overcome their wariness and slowly take on in love. Traidia captures the stunner and the monotony of hinterlands life, and one marring the quietly affecting story with a bombastic and violent denouement.

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Treble Imbue with Musical: Encore Edition DVD Commentary

Principal School Melodious

Movie & DVD Details

Director

:
Kenny Ortega

Cast

:
Zac Efron (Troy Bolton), Vanessa Anne Hudgens (Gabriella Montez), Ashley Tisdale (Sharpay Evans), Lucas Grabeel (Ryan Evans), Alyson Reed (Ms. Darbus), Corbin Bleu (Chad Danforth), Monique Coleman (Taylor McKessie), Olesya Rulin (Kelsi Nielsen), Chris Warren Jr. (Zeke), Bart Johnson (Coach Jack Bolton), Ryne Sanborn (Jason), Socorro Herrera (Mrs. Montez), Joey Miyashima (Principal Matsui), Leslie Pomeroy (Mrs. Bolton), Kaycee Stroh (Martha Cox)

Songs

:
"Start of Something New", "Get'cha Head in the Game", "What I've Been Looking For", "Stick to the Status Quo", "When There Was Me and You", "Bop to the Top", "Breaking Free", "We're All in This Together", "I Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You"

Original Germane to Date:

January 20, 2006 /

Running Time

:
98 Minutes /

Rating

:
TV-G

1.33:1 Fullscreen (Original Broadcast Ratio), Dolby Digital 5.1 (English)

Subtitles: English; Closed Captioned

DVD Delivering Date: May 23, 2006

Set aside-sided, dual-layered disc (DVD-9)

Suggested Retail Price: $26.99

Glowering Keepcase with Side Snaps
Disney re-released this movie on December 5, 2006 in


Steep School Musical

: Remix – 2-Disc Special Edition

.

All of the Encore Edition's DVD perquisite features are retained and joined by redone extras, including a dance-along
featurette, a cast reunion/interview, three changed music videos, and featurettes on the film's Hollywood
premiere.


Click here to buy from Amazon.com



,


click here to read our review


, and


click here for the press release


.

By Aaron Wallace

It did what

Rent

and

The Producers

could not: make a hit out of a musical. After several weeks of promotion,


High School Musical


debuted on The Disney Channel on January 20, 2006. The original telecast brought in millions of viewers (many of them pre-teens) and numerous subsequent airings have brought in millions upon
millions more. Breaking records left and right,

High School Musical

is the most successful Disney Channel Original Movie to date and its soundtrack shot to #1 — first on iTunes and then on

Billboard

– with nearly all of its

songs charting as singles as well. Neither musicals nor made-for-TV movies are accustomed to that level of success, leaving families and critics to ponder why.

What is it about

High School Musical

that pushed it beyond standard tween fare into the realm of phenomenon? On its filmic merits alone, it doesn't stand out as fantastic. The acting and dialogue vary from weak to passable and it operates on an unlikely premise — even for a musical.

For those who haven't yet caught the movie, it is the story of two high-schoolers, Troy (Zac Efron) and Gabriella (Vanessa Anne Hudgens), who are randomly selected from a New Year's Eve party crowd to participate in mandatory karaoke. It turns out that they're both pretty good, something they've both known but kept to themselves to escape the judgment of their peers. A week later, Gabriella transfers to Troy's school, where she's a too-smart-for-her-own-good newbie and he's the star of the basketball team, which his dad just happens to coach. They end up auditioning for the school musical, much to the dismay of Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale) and Ryan Evans (Lucas Grabeel), a pair of shoe-ins whose cozy sibling dynamic is slightly disturbing. As they pursue their interests, the rest of the student body begins to feel more comfortable with their true selves as well, slowly unraveling the dividing lines that govern high school society.

One could pin the movie's success on its heavy promotion, but The Disney Channel hypes most of its productions and while

Zenon

,

Halloweentown

, and

Cadet Kelly

were hits, none have come anywhere close to

High School Musical

's success. Clearly, this movie resonates with America's youth and, it seems, older audiences as well.

Music obviously factors pretty heavily into the film. As the cast is quick to point out, it ranges in style from hip-hop to salsa, hitting ballads and a twinge of jazz in between. Jazz isn't know for its appeal to a younger audience, though, and neither are showtunes. The

High School Musical

soundtrack changes that by infusing each of these productions with a distinctly pop sound. Each has that showy Broadway flare to it, but supported with heavy beats, delivered by computer-enhanced vocals, and coated with radio-friendly gloss. The creative dance numbers — designed by choreographer/director Kenny Ortega (

Hocus Pocus

,

Newsies

) — look like they could have come straight from the stage, yet there appears to be a music video quality to them. All this comes at a time when radio is filled with rap and heavy R&B. The soundtrack is a return to the bubblegum dance music that's been out of the pop scene since the turn of the century, sprinkled with today's radio's technological sensibilities. Put that song and dance together, and voilà, you've got pre-teens going ape over showtunes.

The cast is attractive in that teen hearthrob kind of way, an attribute always sure to pique a young audience's interest. Ashley Tisdale, Disney's newest diva-in-training, wears that crown well in her role as Sharpay Evans. As one of the four central characters on the hit Disney Channel series "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody," she brings relative star power to the project. It helps that to promote the film, Efron and Hudgens made guest appearances on "Suite Life." Grabeel, too, is familiar to his audience as Ethan Dalloway in the popular

Halloweentown High

.

The movie also makes a conscious effort to relate to popular culture and the modern way of life. There's a reference to Ashton Kutcher and his popular "Punk'd" series, for example, and even a cell phone motif. Most movies and TV shows mention technology while shying away from it as something practical either because it could solve an otherwise convenient-to-the-story problem or because it's too complicated to explain while remaining interesting.

High School Musical

falls into that latter trap once towards the end but is otherwise semi-unique in that it shows young people using technologies that young people actually use in their daily lives.

The most important key to the movie's success, though, is its ability to indulge viewers in a high school fantasy. In the world of

High School Musical

, exaggerated stereotypes run amuck: stern but well-meaning parents, eccentric teachers, arrogant athletes, and rigid social classes that entirely define individuals and their friends. Jocks, bookworms, and punks are each mutually exclusive and each student's actions are confined by the expectations of their peers. Of course, neither high school nor any other social network actually exists on a such a simple plane,

but it's a stereotype that past, present, and future students alike seem to enjoy engaging with.

High School Musical

pampers a commonly held fantasy of breaking through the constraints of social pressure to shine. Not only do the characters (

all

of them) succeed
in that, but they gain adulation in doing so. Therein lies the greatest connection between the movie and its audience.

So, symptomatic analysis aside, is

High School Musical

for you? If you're in elementary school, your peers are a better judge than I, so "yes" seems a pretty safe answer. Teens of any age are likely to find the same qualities rather enjoyable if they can get past that word "Musical" in the title. However, the poppy music and high school setting may be offputting to older viewers. The movie is far from perfect and filled with contradictions (the characters sing and dance about the lameness of singing and dancing and the animosity between "hip" and singing is never fully explained), but that shouldn't be unfamiliar to any fan of musicals. Still, even if not award-worthy, the music is catchy, the humor is winning, and the spotty acting and script are at times charming in a "Full House" kind of way. Think of it as a G-rated

Grease

, only concerned with the internal workings of high school rather than the external social life.

It's not likely to be the favorite of anyone outside of its target demographic, but at the end of the day,

High School Musical

is a good time for viewers of any age and stands out as one of the Disney Channel's better "DCOM" Original Movies. It's refreshing to see a musical in the approximate ensemble tradition of Broadway favorites. A movie that manages to convert a lunch room into a dance floor,

High School Musical

succeeds as a fun musical excursion for all.

Since its January debut,

High School Musical

has aired both in its original form and a "Sing Along Version," both of which appear on this Encore Edition DVD. The inclusion of both versions is a big marketing point for the release, much to the satisfaction of viewers like my little cousin who recently lamented The Disney Channel's fondness for airing the Sing Along rather than the original. This second version differs only in its use of subtitles that appear on-screen during the musical numbers, each word lighting up as it is sung. These subtitles annoy when they mistakenly use "but" for "and" or, even worse, "U" for "You," but are nice to have on hand for assistance in learning the songs.

VIDEO and AUDIO

The video is presented in 1.33:1 fullscreen. The bonus features reveal that, like many recent Disney Channel productions,

High School Musical

was indeed filmed in both fullscreen and widescreen. Because it doesn't look to be a pan & scan job and it matches the aspect ratio of its original telecast, the fullscreen presentation is an acceptable one. It's discouraging, however, that the widescreen filming (always preferable for musicals) is available yet withheld. The quality of the fullscreen transfer is satisfactory, looking better than it does on television and about as good as a made-for-TV production is going to look.

Audio is very important for a movie in which characters randomly burst into song and on this Encore Edition DVD, it comes by way of a Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround track. Of course, it was originally presented in stereo and little has been done to enhance it for a surround sound presentation. The bass levels are commendable (though the CD soundtrack has a little more oomph) and the sound quality is fine, but the rear channels are barely audible.

BONUS FEATURES, MENUS and PACKAGING

The disc comes with two music videos of songs from the movie, the lone features under the "Music and More" heading. The first, "I Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You" (3:00) isn't an on-screen performance

in the movie and the video makes its debut on this disc. It features the four main stars inside the recording studio (likely for the camera as much as anything else, as the actual actors are only doing some of the singing in the movie's songs) mixed with clips from the film. The other, "We're All In This Together" (the closing number) (1:32) is very similar to the scene in the film, only with a tighter editing style and clips from elsewhere in the film as well. The music videos are nice for revisiting single songs but these weren't the only two produced for the film, which leaves one to wonder why the others didn't make the cut.

Inside the "Backstage Disney" section, one can find two more substantive segments. The first, a behind-the-scenes featurette called "Bringing It All Together: The Making of

High School Musical

" (8:45), features plenty of cast and crew interviews and valuable footage. It makes for an entertaining and enlightening viewing.

"Learning the Moves" (4:18) shows Tisdale and Grabeel rehearsing the "Bop to the Top" dance number. After that, the two stars, Ortega and his two assistant choreographers teach the dance routine to the audience. In a cool and unexpected touch, the DVD calls on the underused multi-angle feature of DVDs to allow viewers to watch the dance up-close, far away, in its final form, or on a split screen with all three frames side-by-side (the latter is the default setting). Too fast-paced and not very explanatory, the piece works better as a glimpse behind the movie's choreography than as a dancing tutorial.

The movie's debut on The Disney Channel was accompanied by interstitials with the central cast discussing the film. Those and other interviews, relevant interstitials, and TV spots from The Disney Channel would have been easy and obvious inclusions, making their absence frustrating and disappointing.

More work than expected has gone into the disc's menu design, though not as much as Disney's most lavish productions. Each menu page looks like a high school locker or hallway, each true to the film,

and uses music from the movie. The pages are colorfully decorated with abundant graphics and animated photographs of stills from the movie float down the main menu screen. The standard black keepcase includes a double-sided insert that lists the chapters and most, though unfortunately not all, of the song selections.

This Encore Edition DVD has the distinction of being the first to include the first trailer for

Meet the Robinsons

, an upcoming Disney animated feature that looks promising, indeed. It plays automatically when the disc is inserted, along with previews for

The Little Mermaid

: Platinum Edition,

Cow Belles

, and "That's So Raven": Raven's Makeover Madness/"The Suite Life of Zack & Cody": Taking Over the Tipton. Additional previews for


Lilo

Leroy & Stitch

,

Eight Below

,

Spymate

,

Brother Bear 2

, and "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody" (the show in general this time, rather than its specific DVD release) can be found on the sneak peeks menu.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

A lot of elements combine to make

High School Musical

the massive hit that it has become. It suffers from a number of the weaknesses often associated with TV movies, The Disney Channel, and musicals in general. Still, it conveys a strong sense of fun and a good bit of charm — enough to thrill those to whom it is targeted and to win over many of those outside that age range as well. Everything on the Encore Edition is good, but the DVD loses a few points for what's not on it (an alternate widescreen transfer and already-produced supplemental material from The Disney Channel). Given these absences, Disney's penchant for reissues, and the fact that the soundtrack has already received two different releases, it's entirely possible that a better Special Edition DVD of

High School Musical

is in store for the future. That possibility may have some sticking with a rental for the time being but if that's not a concern, this DVD gets a recommendation.

More on the DVD

/

Buy from Amazon.com

Disney re-released this large screen on December 5, 2006 in


High Fashion Harmonious

: Remix – 2-Disc Special Edition

.

All of the Encore Edition's DVD bonus features are retained and joined by new extras, including a dance-along
featurette, a cast reunion/interview, three callow music videos, and featurettes on the film's Hollywood
debut.


Click here to buy from Amazon.com



,


click here to read our review


, and


click here for the press release


.

A state cop vs. an urban serial killer provides Teuton genre writer-principal Christian Alvart with a primal if mean dramatic fulcrum for his sleek thriller, “Antibodies.” Not content with a straight psychological the long arm of the law procedural, Alvart mixes in distracting — and unconvincing –Biblical symbolism in a bizarre bid for weightiness. Pic’s blatant borrowings from “Silence of the Lambs,” as well as speedy pacing, helped it earn 180,000 admissions during local midsummer engagements, which may signal solid returns in Euro urban markets.

Captured during the physically stark opening sequence, serial murderer Engel (Andre Hennicke) is grilled about 14 boys who were killed. Another murder victim, a girl from the town of Herzbach, nearly fits Engel’s profile as well. In Herzbach, part-time police officer Michael (Wotan Wilke Mohring) alienates some of the locals during the Engel manhunt, including Sucharzewski (Jurgen Schornagel), who Michael suspects is really the girl’s murder.

However, Michael seems a poor choice to investigate the girl’s murder as his teenage son Christian is revealed to have been intimate with the girl. But true to genre demands, Michael ventures to the city to face Engel mano a mano. The killer, a cartoonish version of a homicidal madman that exists only in the movies, insists that he had nothing to do with the girl’s death.

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Unfortunately, at this point Alvart attempts to make the drama appear more profound than it really is. As Christian exhibits all the classic signs of a serial killer, Michael imagines the worst and nearly goes mad playing out a rather preposterous re-enactment of the Biblical story of Abraham attempting to sacrifice his son Isaac. While this may impress some viewers as a thriller reaching for ideas, others will find it strained and pretentious.

Thesp Mohring owns the movie, firmly establishing Michaelas a rock-ribbed believer who fears God and a stern domestic taskmaster who faces temptation. As Engel, Hennicke turns a hammy role into too much of a good thing.

Technically sleek package, led by Hagen Bogdanski’s pro anamorphic lensing, is apropos of the current crop of glossy German thrillers.

An idiosyncratic undersized theorize is developed in surprisingly effective ways in “One Hour Photo.” This immaculately made first feature from noted musicvid and commercials director Account succeed Romanek provides Robin Williams with joke of his creepiest, atypical roles, and the comic star responds with an unusually restrained play that is, in the end, quite moving. Supported by good reviews, Fox Searchlight should be able to cultivate a sizeable audience in blue specialized liberate concerning this offbeat but accessible picture.

His Oscar for “Good Will Hunting” notwithstanding, Williams’ occasional departures from his comic persona have not always been well received, and he is definitely working in a different gear as Sy Parrish, a blandly fastidious photo developer at the giant Savmart discount store. With pale skin and thinning cross-cropped blond hair, Sy almost blends in with the decor and bright lighting of the establishment, where he prides himself on the exacting standards of his work.

Among his favorite customers are the well-to-do Yorkins, who, to Sy, look like the ideal family: Nina (Connie Nielsen) is fashion-model gorgeous, Will (Michael Vartan) could be a movie or rock star and 9-year-old Jake (Dylan Smith) is a fine normal kid. Whenever they come in, Sy is solicitous to the edge of obsequiousness. But the weird nature of Sy’s attachment to the Yorkins is revealed when, after dining alone in a coffee shop, he returns to his forlorn little downtown apartment, an entire wall of which is covered with hundreds of pictures of Nina, Will and Jake through the years, copies of which Sy has surreptitiously printed at work.

Without any personal life of his own, Sy has become an emotional, rather than voyeuristic, peeping Tom, willing himself figuratively into the Yorkin family. In a fantasy, he makes himself at home in their house when they’re away, he visits Jake at soccer practice and offers the boy a present that Will won’t buy for him. His attentions, while excessive, never really seem threatening, although there is obviously such a degree of loneliness and apartness about the man that it wouldn’t be surprising if something unsavory were to one day come bubbling to the surface.

And so it does when Sy is abruptly fired from his beloved job. At nearly the story’s halfway mark, Sy is let go when his supervisor (Gary Cole) discovers the huge discrepancy between the number of photos paid for and actually printed. At the same time, Sy’s world is further shattered when photos left by a sexy customer suggest that she’s having an affair with Will. Deeply distressed that “his” perfect family has been poisoned, Sy gives copies of the photos to Nina and begins spying on Will, thus initiating an increasingly sick form of revenge on the man who he feels has thrown away the most precious thing in the world, the sort of happiness that proves unattainable for so many people, Sy included.

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As curious a character as Sy is, and as misguided as his eventual actions become, the story is saved from slipping off into the simply macabre by its emotional validity. At the very end, however, too explicit a point is made for Sy’s deep-rooted psychological problems, as Romanek makes easy use of a pat explanation for aberrant behavior even as he leaves matters on an open note.

While remaining within a narrow expressive range as dictated by the circumscribed nature of his role, Williams keeps Sy interesting all the way and crucially resists playing for sympathy and sentimentality. Other significant cast members, including Nielsen, Vartan, Smith and Eriq La Salle as a police detective, are solid in an understated manner.

From a technical point of view, the film is nearly as fastidious as Sy himself. Cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth’s clean and crisp compositions, Tom Foden’s elegantly spare production design and Jeffrey Ford’s no-fat editing all function like precision instruments in helping Romanek create a pristine-looking picture, and the outstanding electronic score by Reinhold Heil and Johnny Klimek helps channel the various moods in subtle ways.