A Cinderella Story (Widescreen Edition)
by Mark Rosman
from Warner Home Video
If you are one of Hilary Duff's most ardent pre-teen fans, chances are you'll find something to enjoy in A Cinderella Story, but everyone else should proceed with caution. It's an updated fairy tale for the age of instant messaging, which is how Sam (Duff) develops a crush on Austin (Chad Michael Murray) before realizing that this Tennyson-quoting poet-at-heart is actually her San Fernando Valley high school's star quarterback and most desirable hunk. In a role that squanders her proven comedic gifts, Jennifer Coolidge is Sam's Botox-injected evil stepmother, and lame attempts at comedy turn her dimwitted stepsisters into buffoons, like many of the other cast members who struggle to find anything funny in the screenplay. So we're left with the bland, blonde charms of Hilary Duff, who fared better in The Lizzie McGuire Movie, but manages to salvage her mainstream appeal in a comedy for which "cute" is not necessarily a compliment. --Jeff Shannon
Meet high school student Sam (Hilary Duff), who scrubs floors at a diner, copes with her wicked stepmother and stepsisters, and all the while dreams of Princeton (the perfect spot for a would-be princess to find a prince). But maybe she has a Prince Charming already: her anonymous e-mail buddy (Chad Michael Murray), who arranges to meet her at the Halloween dance. Sam panics when Mr. Anonymous turns out to be the coolest guy on campus. Can he love a girl who isn't part of the in crowd? Can fairy tales come true? Sure - but only if Sam stands up for herself and turns her dreams into reality.
DVD Features:
Additional Scenes
Audio Commentary:Hilary Duff and other castmembers
Challenges:Find Your Prince/Princess Challenge: See video clips and answer questions to see who your true love is.
Featurette:Cinderella Couture: The Making of a Fashionably Modern Fairytale: A featurette on the costumes and makeup that at first "made under" and later made over Hillary Duff.
Music Video:"Our Lips are Sealed" by sisters Hilary and Hallie Duff
Other:PRE-SELL DATE TBD
The Hand That Rocks the Cradle
by Curtis Hanson
from Walt Disney Video
A potboiler featuring a demented caretaker and a seemingly hapless suburban family, this is The Nanny of the 1990s. However, it is much more predictable than that 1965 Bette Davis psychodrama, and more graphic. It works only because Rebecca De Mornay makes us intensely uncomfortable as the disturbed au pair who wants to take care of much more than her employer's well-being.
Annabella Sciorra plays the perfect mother of a flawless family. Her obstetrician, however, is less than wonderful, having enjoyed her examination much more than he should have. When she files sexual harassment charges against the repugnant doctor, he loses face--literally--after shooting himself in the head. Several months later, an ideal nanny shows up at her home. You guessed it--she's the doc's widow.
The movie follows a tried and true formula, with the audience in on everything. However, the story does surprise us in intense and intimate ways. The visit to the obstetrician is one of the creepiest moments in the film. You definitely hear the voice of writer Amanda Silver in a plot concerned with the vulnerabilities of a family, a newborn, a marriage.
Since we know so much up front, there is an overall lack of inventiveness in the plot machinations. It may not jolt us, but De Mornay does. It's unsettling to watch someone who appears so attractive and who behaves so kindly suddenly reveal hideous psychopathic tendencies. Restraining herself from going over the top, she instead oozes such malevolence you'll want to shudder. --Rochelle O'Gorman
Get ready for edge-of-your-seat excitement with the hit that rocked the nation! In this entertaining thriller, Claire Bartel (Annabella Sciorra -- THE HARD WAY, INTERNAL AFFAIRS) has the perfect life and family -- and exactly what Petyon Flanders (Rebecca De Mornay -- RISKY BUSINESS) desires desperately. But once Peyton deceptively becomes the Bartels' live-in housekeeper, how far will she really go when the life she wants belongs to someone else? From absorbing start to heart-stopping finish, this critically acclaimed winner delivers a lively mix of thrills, chills, and surprises equaling 100% fun!
Legacy
by Irving Rothberg
from The Weinstein Company
When a geeky, overweight rushee is found dead at the hottest sorority on the campus, the three most popular girls of the house are prime suspects.
A Cinderella Story (Full Screen Edition)
by Mark Rosman
from Warner Home Video
If you are one of Hilary Duff's most ardent pre-teen fans, chances are you'll find something to enjoy in A Cinderella Story, but everyone else should proceed with caution. It's an updated fairy tale for the age of instant messaging, which is how Sam (Duff) develops a crush on Austin (Chad Michael Murray) before realizing that this Tennyson-quoting poet-at-heart is actually her San Fernando Valley high school's star quarterback and most desirable hunk. In a role that squanders her proven comedic gifts, Jennifer Coolidge is Sam's Botox-injected evil stepmother, and lame attempts at comedy turn her dimwitted stepsisters into buffoons, like many of the other cast members who struggle to find anything funny in the screenplay. So we're left with the bland, blonde charms of Hilary Duff, who fared better in The Lizzie McGuire Movie, but manages to salvage her mainstream appeal in a comedy for which "cute" is not necessarily a compliment. --Jeff Shannon
Meet high school student Sam (Hilary Duff) who scrubs floors at a diner copes with her wicked stepmother and stepsisters and all the while dreams of Princeton (the perfect spot for a would-be princess to find a prince). But maybe she has a Prince Charming already: her anonymous e-mail buddy (Chad Michael Murray) who arranges to meet her at the Halloween dance. Sam panics when Mr. Anonymous turns out to be the coolest guy on campus. Can he love a girl who isn't part of the in crowd? Can fairy tales come true? Sure - but only if Sam stands up for herself and turns her dreams into reality.Running Time: 95 min.System Requirements:Run Time: 95 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: PG UPC: 085393145323 Manufacturer No: 31453
Second Chances
The Sandy Bottom Orchestra
by Bradley Wigor
from Showtime Ent.
The young-adult novel by Garrison Keillor and Jenny Lind Nilsson gets a lively update in this Showtime feature about an unusual family in Sandy Bottom, Wisconsin. The Greens share musical aspirations, but daughter Rachel (Madeline Zima), a talented violinist, is the one most likely to achieve them. Norman (Tom Irwin) is a dairy farmer and Ingrid (Glenne Headly) is a choir director who abandoned the piano when she married and settled down, but the Greens are a happy family, for the most part. The trick is finding a way to reconcile their dreams with a reality that may hold more riches than they realize. When Norman gets a chance to conduct the local orchestra for the Dairy Days celebration, it's an opportunity for the family to come together, not just with each other, but with a community they had never fully appreciated. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
A Cinderella Story (Mini-DVD)
by Mark Rosman
from Warner Home Video
If you are one of Hilary Duff's most ardent pre-teen fans, chances are you'll find something to enjoy in A Cinderella Story, but everyone else should proceed with caution. It's an updated fairy tale for the age of instant messaging, which is how Sam (Duff) develops a crush on Austin (Chad Michael Murray) before realizing that this Tennyson-quoting poet-at-heart is actually her San Fernando Valley high school's star quarterback and most desirable hunk. In a role that squanders her proven comedic gifts, Jennifer Coolidge is Sam's Botox-injected evil stepmother, and lame attempts at comedy turn her dimwitted stepsisters into buffoons, like many of the other cast members who struggle to find anything funny in the screenplay. So we're left with the bland, blonde charms of Hilary Duff, who fared better in The Lizzie McGuire Movie, but manages to salvage her mainstream appeal in a comedy for which "cute" is not necessarily a compliment. --Jeff Shannon
The Big World of DVD Just Got Smaller! Introducing the new, evolutionary personal Mini-DVD player from CyberHome; the CH-MDP 2500 uses a 3-inch Mini-DVD disc that will enable you to enjoy DVD on the go with unprecedented portability and ease of use. Weighing only twelve ounces, it's small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, a backpack or in your pocket! In addition, the Mini-DVD discs are compatible in standard tray-loading DVD players! And there's more - it also comes with a rechargeable Lithium Ion battery pack for up to 3 hrs of running time and a charging cradle so you'll never have to buy batteries! Great for long trips or quiet time, the CyberHome CH-MDP 2500 is a personal, portable, and easy to use Mini-DVD player wherever you or your family goes. Substitute a cell phone for a glass slipper, a convertible for a two-door pumpkin, and an L.A. suburb for a kingdom far, far away and what do you get? A happily-ever-laughter twist on the Cinderella tale! Sam (Hilary Duff) scrubs floors at a diner, copes with her wicked stepmother and stepsisters, and dreams of going to Princeton (the perfect spot for a would-be princess to find a prince). But maybe she has a Prince Charming already: her anonymous e-mail buddy (Chad Michael Murray), who arranges to meet her at the Halloween dance. Sam panics when the mystery man turns out to be the coolest guy on campus. Can he love a girl not part of the in crowd? Can fairy tales come true? Only if Sam stands up for herself and turns her dreams into reality.
'Til There Was You
by Scott Winant
from Paramount
Television director-producer Scott Winant (thirtysomething) made his feature debut with this predictable romantic-comedy about two people destined to meet and fall in love--though it takes 20 years for their lives to intersect. A good idea done before, the film doesn't have anything new to offer, and the excessive sweetness of Winant's approach can't mask the lack of originality. Still, it boasts a very attractive cast, and it's fun watching these actors work together. --Tom Keogh
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