DISNEY ANNOUNCES "NEW TO BLU" 2012 SUMMER LINE-UP

Official Artwork for Romy and Michele's High School Reunion - 15th Anniversary Edition

Disney has just announced a whole whack of Blu-ray releases to surface this Summer and there's actually a few exciting ones in the mix, including my personal Faves - Romy and Michele's High School Reunion and Toronto-shot Adventures in Babysitting!  John Cusack Fans also will be thrilled that High Fidelity and Grosse Point Blank finally will see a Blu-ray release too.  Epic.

Check out the list below to see what might interest you:

HOME ON THE RANGE - July 3

THE HORSE WHISPERER - July 3

PHENOMENON - July 3

STEP UP - July 3

TREASURE PLANET - July 3

UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN - July 3

ROMY AND MICHELE'S HIGH SCHOOL REUNION 15th Anniversary Edition - August 7

ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING 25th Anniversary Edition - August 7

GROSSE POINT BLANK 15th Anniversary Edition - August 7

HIGH FIDELITY - August 7

THE PREACHER'S WIFE - August 7

ARACHNOPHOBIA - September 4

COLD CREEK MANOR - September 4

THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE 20th Anniversary Edition - September 4

HOCUS POCUS - September 4

GHOSTS OF THE ABYSS - September 11

(Photo credit: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Canada)

DVD REVIEW: CÉLINE THROUGH THE EYES OF THE WORLD

Although I've reviewed the theatrical release of Céline Through the Eyes of the World previously, I want to draw your attention to how fantastic a release this is.  The DVD version of the documentary adds a bonus hour of footage not seen before as the Canadian diva goes from city to city on her worldwide Taking Chances Tour.  I regret sincerely not having gone to this tour as the footage seen in this documentary is absolutely stunning.  Dion puts on a fantastic, tightly-tuned show.  On the DVD you see Chinese fans serenading her with To Love You More on the street, Dion singing in Japanese, additional interviews with foreign media and more of her interacting with her crew and fans.  Completely and utterly boring on paper, but remarkably mesmerizing on your TV screen. In case you don't have three hours to sit through this DVD, you have the option of scrolling by country to get to the bits you love most. How thoughtful.

Interestingly this release is made available through Sony Music and not its Home Video division.  Stéphan Laporte's Céline Through the Eyes of the World is now in stores and available separately is the actual Taking Chances Tour CD/DVD set.  Grade: A

DVD REVIEW: NINE

Just shy of five months since its theatrical release, Rob Marshall's NINE finally surfaces on DVD. The musical, nominated for five Golden Globes and four Oscars, unjustly was panned overall by critics and above this was released on a very competitive Christmas Day which saw the monster known as Sherlock Holmes steal just about everyone's thunder. Unfortunately, it performed well under its $80 million budget domestically earning $19 million only. Overseas it has fared much better, bringing its worldwide gross to $52 million. That's still a loss of over $30 million for its backers, The Weinstein Co. And this is hopefully where it will recoup more of its losses. I hope my one DVD sale helps.  Read my original review of the film here.

For fans of the film, the DVD offers a very generous helping of Special Features. In addition to a Commentary by Marshall and his romantic partner/Producer John DeLuca, there are a total eight Featurettes. You can learn about the recording of some of the film's key musical numbers and the filming of the scenes they are associated with, plus all about the Costumes and Choreography too. You also learn about the casting of the film's seven female stars and apparently during the casting stages of the film, Marshall saw just about every leading actress in Hollywood - actresses who normally don't have to audition.  He made his choices based on who he felt he would be able to work best with after getting to know them personally. The chosen actresses all attended eachother's rehearsals during filming, offering moral support to one another and became like a family.   They would work together, eat together and party together.  To this day, Sophia Loren claims they all exchanged numbers and still keep in touch with one another.

REVIEW: MADONNA - STICKY AND SWEET TOUR CD/DVD

How much you like Madonna's Sticky and Sweet Tour CD/DVD set is very much dependent on how much you liked her Hard Candy album.  I didn't particularly find the 2008 album memorable, hence the thirteen track audio disc in this set didn't leave much of an impression on me even after seeing the show live.  Although musically is it interesting to hear some of the more sparse album edits amped-up with a full band, it's still not enough to save the weaker material.  

Madonna has a few interesting tricks up her sleeve here though including the not-often performed enough Human Nature where she randomly blurts out statements like "Fuck the rain!!!" and "I'm so not sorry!!!", seeming a little out of context without the visual pairing.  She takes her 1990 classic Vogue and skilfully mashes it together with more recent 4 Minutes, which proves very entertaining.  She's Not Me not-so-subtly targets a woman whom Madonna expresses feelings of being threatened by, asking the audience "Ladies, have you ever had a best friend that wanted to do everything you wanted to do?  Including fuck your boyfriend?!?".  God bless Her Madgesty.  How embarassing.

PRODUCT WATCH: GLEE SEASON 1, VOLUME 1 - ROAD TO SECTIONALS

Yes!  It's finally out. If you've been watching it on and off or not at all,

now is the perfect time to catch up on the greatest hour in television.  EVER.

xW$LL

REVIEW: GEORGE MICHAEL LIVE IN LONDON DVD

Well, how's this for a surprise? I had no idea that George Michael was releasing his 2008 25 Tour on DVD until I was casually browsing the Music DVD section at HMV the other day. I had to have it.

The two-disc DVD set titled George Michael Live in London documents the pop legend's final London show at Earls Court in 22 tracks on the first disc and behind-the-scenes documentary and three bonus performances on disc two. Having attended his Air Canada Centre show in Toronto, I can say that this recording of the show is possibly even better than the actual performance I saw. The downside however, is that his 25 years of hits which was originally presented in a two act, 150 minute long show, has been pared down significantly for this release.

Michael makes no mistake about making a grand entrance, starting the show on a high note with Fastlove, followed by I'm Your Man from his Wham! days and then more recent hit Flawless from 2004's Patience album. He also updates the classic Everything She Wants in an age-appropriate manner, illustrating why his melodies have stood the test of time.

Although for me, Michael's dance material has always been his strength, his career is marked by many, many outstanding ballads. Father Figure, One More Try and A Different Corner have a very strong presence on this disc. He devotes a good portion of his show to some of his more jazzy material, which seems to have been more of a focus in recent years, including covers of Feeling Good (Nina Simone) and Roxanne (The Police) and his own Spinning The Wheel, which transforms into a big anthemic dance mix. Even though his voice has deteriorated slightly since his prime, having lost a bit of his upper range he once had, Michael's amazing talent cannot be denied still.

REVIEW: JULIE & JULIA DVD

This is the movie which inspired me to blog and although I don't intend to review many DVDs here, I will make an exception for this one. Julie & Julia, directed by Nora Ephron, is something special. Based on the novel Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously, this film intertwines the real life stories of celebrity chef Julia Child and blogger-turned-author Julie Powell.

We are introduced to Child (Meryl Streep) who relocates to Paris with her husband Paul Child (Stanley Tucci). Having worked a government job in America previously, Child has no other real passion in life other than eating. She decides to take cooking lessons at one of the finest culinary institutes in Paris, starting off on shaky ground. Determined not to be a "frivolous housewife looking to kill time", Child soon proves that with determination and some elbow grease, she too can chop an onion and debone a duck with the best of them. One thing leads to another and she finds herself developing the first ever English language French cookbook. But of course, Child is not met with her share of rejection and opposition along the way.

Simultaneously, we learn the story of Powell (Amy Adams) who worked at a crisis-counselling Call Centre after 9/11. Miserable and uninspired, she finds passion and inspiration in Child's famed The Art of French Cooking. Hungry for a challenge, she makes it her goal to prepare each and every one of the 524 recipes from that cookbook within one year. To document the journey, she launches a blog where her readers lend their encouragement as she sets out to reach her ultimate goal, successfully deboning a duck. In the process of emulating her idol, Powell encounters some roadblocks in mastering Child's recipes. The unwavering dedication she places on her culinary craft leads to mounting tension between her and amazingly supportive husband Eric (Chris Messina). Powell's blog becomes wildly successful, generating much media interest. We learn that even she manages to the catch the attention of her beloved idol in the process of becoming a successful author.

REVIEW: BEYONCÉ - I AM... YOURS - AN INTIMATE PERFORMANCE AT WYNN LAS VEGAS

I was fortunate enough to attend Beyoncé's Molson Amphitheatre show in Toronto this past July and it was definitely one of the best concerts I've ever witnessed. The choreography, the singing, the tight musical direction, the lighting... everything was on-point. For some odd reason though this just doesn't translate on the just-released CD/DVD set I Am... Yours - An Intimate Performance at Wynn Las Vegas.

On the two audio disc/one DVD set, you get a career-spanning selection of Beyoncé's best work from condensed versions of her Destiny's Child work to her Grammy-winning work from her three solo albums to-date. One crucial mistake made on this recording of the show is track order. Although we learn in the behind-the-scenes portion of the DVD titled What Happens In Vegas, that it was Beyoncé's intention to create an intimate, all-bout-the -music atmosphere with this show, the first half of the concert simply is too cluttered with ballads. Don't get me wrong because I love Halo, Irreplaceable, If I Were a Boy and Satellites. I just don't want them back to back to back for 50 minutes. The arena version of the show I saw kicked off with a bang starting with mega-hit Crazy in Love opening the show on a high note. On this DVD though, the fun stuff including the ultra-catchy Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) is saved for the ending. Baffling.

At this Las Vegas show, fans were also treated to a segment customized for the intimate atmosphere. Déjà Vu was given the jazz treatment complete with a couple minutes' worth of scatting from Beyoncé, which for me was neither here nor there. She did make an effort though and I will give her credit for this.

REVIEW: TINA TURNER - TINA LIVE

Although it went completely under my radar, the release of TINA Live is a wonderful surprise. Having seen Tina Turner's final tour last December, I can say that I have witnessed her greatness firsthand and to have a copy of it documented onto something I can hold onto and relive over and again is delightful. Turner is cut from a completely different cloth from this generation of female vocalists. She sings with utter conviction and when she delivers a song about pain, it isn't about that superficial level of hurt you get when you don't get called back by that hook-up you had two weeks ago. Turner taps into a well of gut-wrenching pain that very few can express, but many can appreciate as onlookers.

What makes this release so positively amazing is that it is a combination DVD and CD. You can imagine my surprise when loading Disc One onto iTunes and scratching my head profusely in figuring why the program wouldn't recognize the disc. I then scanned the back of the collection and realized that it was actually the full TINA Live concert on DVD. It is the second disc however, which features audio highlights recorded from her show at GelreDome in Arnhem Holland last year. Turner indicates that she chose this show to record in particular because she recalled her fans being most enthusiastic here. This DVD and CD format has proven very successful in parts of Asia where it is very common for artists, but still underused generally in North America.

Disc One is mesmerizing. It is 26 tracks spanning the career of Turner. Her vocals are on-point from beginning to end despite her very challenging repertoire. She shows no signs of wear and tear nor does she show any hint of fatigue throughout the show. The concert starts off on a sultry note with Steamy Windows, then followed by Typical Male and a slightly slowed-down but still amazing delivery of the classic River Deep Mountain High. Better Be Good is sped-up for this show, but believe me, Turner can keep up without breaking a sweat. She then divides the men and women up in a battle of the sexes on What's Love Got To Do With It to see which is able to sing the chorus with the most passion. She struggles slightly on Private Dancer where she falls a little flat on the higher notes, but nonetheless she puts on a very good performance. And wait til you see the headgear and wig Turner dons in her rendition of We Don't Need Another Hero. Money can't buy the hours of entertainment one can get from that.

Later in the show, the audience is given a string of cover versions with Let's Stay Together (Al Green) reigning finest of all, while her cover of Addicted to Love (Robert Palmer) is also a rockin' good time. The biggest highlight of the show however, is her performance of The Best, one of my favourite Turner tracks. Proud Mary is the stuff of legends and she replicates the choreography we've all seen on television with her team of female dancers who look absolutely thrilled to be on stage with her. The show ends on a high note (literally, as she is propelled over the audience on a crane) with self-penned Nutbush City Limits and lastly, Be Tender With My Baby.

REVIEW: MADONNA - CELEBRATION THE VIDEO COLLECTION

Although I have my reservations on the necessity of yet another Greatest Hits CD from Madonna, I have no hesitations in saying that a Greatest Hits Video Collection is long overdue. Celebration The Video Collection recaps her massively successful years under Warner Bros. Records from 1983 to 2009. The two-disc DVD set features 47 of Madonna's best videos with a few crucial omissions including Holiday, Bad Girl, This Used To Be My Playground, Me Against The Music, You Must Love Me and Dress You Up.

It cannot be disputed that Madonna has revolutionized and shaped the art form of the Music Video as we know it today. She remarkably has remained relevant as one of the key forces of the MTV era, which saw many stars rise quickly and fade just as quickly. In her earlier videos like Burning Up and Borderline, one sees very simplistic plot lines and a focus on vanity. Like a Virgin and 1985's MTV Best Female Pop Video Material Girl still retain a classic quality thanks to masterful direction from Mary Lambert. This timelessness clause however, does not apply so much to videos like Crazy For You, Live To Tell and Into The Groove. These videos feature vignettes of the films from which they were theme songs, a telltale sign that dramatic advancements have been made since the mid '80s in terms of video editing.

I must admit that as a child, I never fully grasped the magnitude of Papa Don't Preach. This is Madonna's first video to really deliver a real social message. Watching it today as an adult, I can appreciate Madonna and director Peter Percher's bravado in tackling the issue of abortion and the song's pro-choice leanings through popular culture. The video also has an emotionally resonant father-daughter storyline which is as poignant today as it was in 1986. Percher truly brought out the best in Madonna.