Life After Tomorrow

• Life After Tomorrow reunites more than 40 women who played orphans in the Broadway production of "Annie" and reveals the highs and lows of their experiences as child actresses in a cultural phenomenon. Once the curtain came down, many found it could be a hard-knock-life, fraught with out-of-control stage mothers, separation anxiety, and worst of all, pubescent growth spurts that could find

For over three decades, there's been one singular sensation: A Chorus Line, the groundbreaking hit musical inspired by the emotional lives of dancers during the audition process. Now the story comes full circle as a new documentary offers a revealing, unprecedented look at the auditions for the Broadway revival of the perennial classic, including interview footage with Bob Avian, Michael Bennett, Charlotte d'Amboise, Marvin Hamlisch and Donna McKechnie to name a few. The music, the moves and the real-life d! rama - they're all here in a documentary that brings you closer to the footlights than you ever thought possible.The engaging documentary Every Little Step threatens to be woefully insular--after all, it's about dancers auditioning for a Broadway revival of a musical about dancers auditioning for a musical. But what makes the musical A Chorus Line work--aside from memorable songs and topnotch choreography--is that while not everyone wants to sing and dance, everyone has had to apply for a job. So everyone can identify with the emotions applying for a job evokes. Similarly, viewers who don't even sing in the shower will understand the chaotic mix of ambition, anxiety, hope, and resentment that's churning in these very talented performers as they go through their paces. Balancing the audition process are interviews with performers from the original production and the creative team who crafted A Chorus Line from stories told by many of those original perfo! rmers. The one missing voice is that of Michael Bennett, who o! riginate d the idea, shaped the process, and choreographed the dancing; fortunately, he's represented not only in affectionate anecdotes but also archival footage, including his touching acceptance speech when he won a Tony award for the show. Fans of A Chorus Line will find Every Little Step to be essential, but even the casual theatergoer will enjoy this backstage peek. --Bret FetzerMichael Douglas stars as a choreographer who subjects 16 dancers to a grueling audition in this Academy AwardÂ(r)-nominated* adaptation of the landmark Broadway musical. Featuring Marvin Hamlisch's OscarÂ(r)-nominated* music and Jeffrey Hornaday's (Flashdance) sizzling choreography, this thrilling portrayal of life behind the velvet curtain is truly "One Singular Sensation"! After narrowing down hundreds of Broadway hopefuls, Zach (Douglas) leads a select group of dancers on the tryout of their lives. In an audition twist, Zach asks each performer personal and intimate questionsw! ith results that powerfully affect not only the young performers but the hardened stage veteran as well. *1985: Original Song, Sound, Film EditingIf you've never seen this popular production performed on stage in its original form as one of the longest-running musicals in Broadway history, the movie version is probably your next best option--heck, it's your only option! But beware the major difference between the experience of stage and screen, because A Chorus Line is a perfect example of a show that doesn't translate well from one medium to another. Director Richard Attenborough gives it his best shot, cutting some of the production numbers and adding new ones while "opening up" the show to explore the off-stage lives of struggling performers as they prepare for another grueling audition. Michael Douglas plays the harsh, workaholic director who puts the auditioning "gypsies" through the paces, winnowing a large group of hopefuls down to eight lucky cast members fo! r his next big show. There's a subplot about the director's fo! rmer gir lfriend, who returns for the big audition, and along the way the other hopefuls sing and dance while revealing their various hopes and fears. On screen, the musical works best when focused on its dramatic passages; otherwise it's impossible to escape the fact that this material is best suited to live performance. --Jeff Shannon The engaging documentary Every Little Step threatens to be woefully insular--after all, it's about dancers auditioning for a Broadway revival of a musical about dancers auditioning for a musical. But what makes the musical A Chorus Line work--aside from memorable songs and topnotch choreography--is that while not everyone wants to sing and dance, everyone has had to apply for a job. So everyone can identify with the emotions applying for a job evokes. Similarly, viewers who don't even sing in the shower will understand the chaotic mix of ambition, anxiety, hope, and resentment that's churning in these very talented performers as t! hey go through their paces. Balancing the audition process are interviews with performers from the original production and the creative team who crafted A Chorus Line from stories told by many of those original performers. The one missing voice is that of Michael Bennett, who originated the idea, shaped the process, and choreographed the dancing; fortunately, he's represented not only in affectionate anecdotes but also archival footage, including his touching acceptance speech when he won a Tony award for the show. Fans of A Chorus Line will find Every Little Step to be essential, but even the casual theatergoer will enjoy this backstage peek. --Bret FetzerThe award winning Life After Tomorrow, a film by Julie Stevens and Gil Cates, Jr., reunites more than 40 women who played orphans in the original Broadway production of Annie and reveals the highs and lows of their experiences as child actresses in a cultural phenomenon. Once the curtain came d! own, many found it could be a hard-knock-life, fraught with ou! t-of-con trol stage mothers, separation anxiety, and worst of all, pubescent growth spurts that could find the moppets being replaced by smaller, younger editions just waiting in the wings. As one cast member in the film remarks, The younger ones are coming to take your place and you're 12. It's not like you are getting downsized at 50...you're 12!. While their lives moved on, the impact of the experience remains. Features behind-the-curtain footage from the original Broadway production and performances with the re-united orphans.

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The Dark Knight (+ BD Live) [Blu-ray]

• Condition: New
• Format: Blu-ray
• AC-3; Color; Dolby; Widescreen

When a Medieval World theme park worker (Lawrence) is magically transported back to 14th century England, he must do battle with an evil king, deadly assassins - and really bad plumbing!In Black Knight, Martin Lawrence plays an amusement park employee who is magically transported back to medieval times and helps return a queen to her rightful throne (while learning some valuable lessons along the way). Despite the script's lack of logic and originality, Lawrence is an engaging performer, with a loose-limbed amiability that makes him most enjoyable company, even if he's not necessarily a better actor than most comedians. If Lawrence ever does a movie with a decent script, he might really have something; as it is we'll have to settle right now for the cheesy yet funny sight of Lawrence teaching a medieval band ! to play some Sly and Family Stone. --Bret FetzerThe follow-up to Batman Begins, The Dark Knight reunites director Christopher Nolan and star Christian Bale, who reprises the role of Batman/Bruce Wayne in his continuing war on crime. With the help of Lt. Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman sets out to destroy organized crime in Gotham for good. The triumvirate proves effective, but soon find themselves prey to a rising criminal mastermind known as The Joker, who thrusts Gotham into anarchy and forces Batman closer to crossing the fine line between hero and vigilante. Heath Ledger stars as archvillain The Joker, and Aaron Eckhart plays Dent. Maggie Gyllenhaal joins the cast as Rachel Dawes. Returning from Batman Begins are Gary Oldman as Gordon, Michael Caine as Alfred and Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox.The Dark Knight arrives with tremendous hype (best superhero movie ever? posthumous Oscar for Heath Ledger?), and incredibly, it lives up to all! of it. But calling it the best superhero movie ever seems lik! e faint praise, since part of what makes the movie great--in addition to pitch-perfect casting, outstanding writing, and a compelling vision--is that it bypasses the normal fantasy element of the superhero genre and makes it all terrifyingly real. Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) is Gotham City's new district attorney, charged with cleaning up the crime rings that have paralyzed the city. He enters an uneasy alliance with the young police lieutenant, Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman), and Batman (Christian Bale), the caped vigilante who seems to trust only Gordon--and whom only Gordon seems to trust. They make progress until a psychotic and deadly new player enters the game: the Joker (Heath Ledger), who offers the crime bosses a solution--kill the Batman. Further complicating matters is that Dent is now dating Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal, after Katie Holmes turned down the chance to reprise her role), the longtime love of Batman's alter ego, Bruce Wayne.

In his last completed role before h! is tragic death, Ledger is fantastic as the Joker, a volcanic, truly frightening force of evil. And he sets the tone of the movie: the world is a dark, dangerous place where there are no easy choices. Eckhart and Oldman also shine, but as good as Bale is, his character turns out rather bland in comparison (not uncommon for heroes facing more colorful villains). Director-cowriter Christopher Nolan (Memento) follows his critically acclaimed Batman Begins with an even better sequel that sets itself apart from notable superhero movies like Spider-Man 2 and Iron Man because of its sheer emotional impact and striking sense of realism--there are no suspension-of-disbelief superpowers here. At 152 minutes, it's a shade too long, and it's much too intense for kids. But for most movie fans--and not just superhero fans--The Dark Knight is a film for the ages. --David Horiuchi

On the Blu-ray disc
Th! e Dark Knight on Blu-ray is a great home-theater showoff ! disc. Th e detail and colors are tremendous in both dark and bright scenes (the Gotham General scene is a great example of the latter), and the punishing Dolby TrueHD soundtrack makes the house rattle. (After giving us only Dolby 5.1 in a number of big Blu-ray releases this fall, Warner came through with Dolby TrueHD on this one.) One of the most interesting elements of The Dark Knight was how certain scenes were shot in IMAX, and if you saw the movie in an IMAX theater the film's aspect ratio would suddenly change from standard 2.40:1 to a thrilling 1.43:1 that filled the screen six stories high. For the Blu-ray disc, director Christopher Nolan has somewhat re-created this experience by shifting his film from 2.40:1 aspect ratio (through most of the film) to 1.78:1 in the IMAX scenes. While the effect isn't as dramatic as it was in theaters, it's still an eye-catching experience to be watching the film on a widescreen TV with black bars at the top and bottom, then seeing th! e 1.78:1 scenes completely fill the screen. The main bonus feature on disc 1 is "Gotham Uncovered: The Creation of a Scene," which is 81 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage about the IMAX scenes, the Bat suit, Gotham Central, and others. You can watch the film and access these featurettes when the icon pops up, or you can simply watch them from the main menu. A welcome and unusual feature is that in addition to English, French, and Spanish audio and subtitles, there's an audio-described option that allows the sight-impaired to experience the film as well.

Disc 2 has two 45-minute documentaries on Bat-gadgets and on the psychology of Batman, both in high definition. They combine movie clips, talking heads, and comic-book panels, but aren't the kind of thing one needs to watch twice. More engaging are six eight-minute segments of Gotham Central, a faux-news program that gives some background to events in the movie, plus a variety of trailers, poster art, and more. The! BD-Live component on disc 1 is more interesting than on some ! earlier Blu-ray discs, which could be simply a matter of the content starting to catch up with the technology. There are three new picture-in-picture commentaries, by Jerry Robinson (creator of the Joker), DC Comics president Paul Levitz, and Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.--he's a Batman fan who's made some movie and TV cameos), plus you can record your own commentary and upload it for others to watch. There are also three new featurettes ("Sound of the Batpod," "Harvey Dent's Theme," and "Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard") and two motion comics ("Mad Love," featuring Harley Quinn, and "The Shadow of Ra's Al Ghul"). No longer available is the digital copy of the film (compatible with iTunes and Windows Media, standard definition, download code expires 12/9/09). --David Horiuchi

Product description
The follow-up to Batman Begins, The Dark Knight reunites director Christopher Nolan and star Chri! stian Bale, who reprises the role of Batman/Bruce Wayne in his continuing war on crime. With the help of Lt. Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman sets out to destroy organized crime in Gotham for good. The triumvirate proves effective, but soon find themselves prey to a rising criminal mastermind known as The Joker, who thrusts Gotham into anarchy and forces Batman closer to crossing the fine line between hero and vigilante. Heath Ledger stars as archvillain The Joker, and Aaron Eckhart plays Dent. Maggie Gyllenhaal joins the cast as Rachel Dawes. Returning from Batman Begins are Gary Oldman as Gordon, Michael Caine as Alfred and Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox.

Stills from The Dark Knight (click for larger image)

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