Ardolino, Emile

Dirty Dancing (Ultimate Edition)

An innocent young girl is introduced to the sensuality of dance when she meets the dance instructor at her resort hotel.
Genre: Musicals
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 9-DEC-2003
Media Type: DVD

As with Grease (1978) and Footloose (1984) before it, Dirty Dancing was a cultural phenomenon that now plays more like camp. That very campiness, though, is part of its biggest charm. And if the dancing in the movie doesn't seem particularly "dirty" by today's standards--or 1987's--it does take place in an era (the early '60s) when it would have. Frances "Baby" Houseman (Jennifer Grey, daughter of ageless hoofer Joel Grey) has been vacationing in the Catskills with her family for many years. Uneventfully. One summer, she falls under the sway (as it were) of dance instructor Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze). Baby is a pampered pup, but Johnny is a man of the world. Baby's father, Jake (Law and Order's Jerry Orbach), can't see the basic decency in greaser Johnny that she can. It should come as no surprise to find that Baby, who can be as immature as her name, learns more about love and life--and dancing--from free-spirited Johnny than traditionalist Jake.

Dirty Dancing spawned two successful soundtracks, a short-lived TV series, and a stage musical. It may be predictable, but Grey and Swayze have chemistry, charisma, and all the right moves. It's a sometimes silly movie with occasionally mind-boggling dialogue--"No one puts Baby in a corner!"--that nonetheless carries an underlying message about tolerance and is filled with the kind of exuberant spirit that's hard for even the most cynical to resist. Not that they'd ever admit it. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Chances Are

Cybill Shepherd plays a pregnant woman whose husband is killed before their baby is born; once he gets to heaven, he begs for a chance to come back to her and his unborn child. The twist is that he returns in the form of Robert Downey Jr., boyfriend to Cybill's daughter (Mary Stuart Masterson). When the daughter brings him home from college, he gets his memory back--and starts coming on to her mom. Sounds like a Jerry Springer show--"Help! My dad has been reincarnated as my boyfriend!"--but this Emile Ardolino film actually has a passable amount of charm and wit, once it gets into gear. It gives you a sense of just how funny and charming Downey can be, given the right material. --Marshall Fine

Gypsy

It's multi-award winner Bette Midler in the role she was born to play. This Emmy winning superstar delivers a "standing room only" performance as Mama Rose the ultimate vaudeville stage mother. Rose's ambition for her two daughters forces one to desert her and the other to emerge as the world's most famous striptease artist-Gypsy Rose Lee.System Requirements: Running Time 150 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: MUSICALS/MUSICALS Rating: NR UPC: 707729172062 Manufacturer No: 17206

This faithful broadcast TV remake of the classic Jule Styne/Stephen Sondheim musical looms as a career triumph for top-lined Bette Midler--and a bittersweet measurement of how far mainstream film and TV have retreated from the glories of musical theater. By the time Midler, as the mother of all stage mothers, observes, "I was born too early and started too late," it's only too obvious that the star's words are an ironic inversion. Had Midler been born earlier, she certainly would have reigned as a major musical comedy star. In a role form-fitted to Ethel Merman's brassy persona and brassier voice, Midler more than holds her ground musically and, especially, dramatically.

Titled partly for its source, the life of stripper Gypsy Rose Lee, Gypsy alludes as well to the itinerant life of her family. The show's focal point isn't the titular character, but rather her manipulative mother, Mama Rose (Midler), who channels her own frustrated dreams of stardom into Baby June, the curly blonde daughter who always eclipses sister Louise. The story follows Rose's machinations as she tirelessly reinvents June to defy the passage of time and even puberty itself. By the time Louise herself conquers the marquee as Gypsy Rose Lee, Rose's single-minded focus has alienated her long-suffering lover and agent, Herbie (a well-cast Peter Riegert), and surrendered to the inherent compromise of burlesque.

Midler's Rose reveals glimpses of vulnerability and a delusional monstrousness that provide a dark, gritty subtext. Studded with wonderful songs, the Styne/Sondheim score underlines those themes deftly, especially in Sondheim's multileveled lyrics. This Gypsy also benefits from uniformly nifty casting: in addition to Reigert (Crossing Delancey, Local Hero), Cynthia Gibb slowly blooms as Louise, and Jennifer Rae Beck, Andrea Martin, Christine Ebersole, and erstwhile new-wave singer Rachel Sweet are delights. --Sam Sutherland

Three Men and a Baby / Three Men and a Little Lady

THREE MEN AND A BABY:Take three of Hollywood's hottest starts (Tom Selleck Steve Guttenberg Ted Danson) add one adorable baby girl and the result is the funniest blockbuster comedy hit of the year! Three handsome Manhattan bachelors find their dating and mating rituals irreparably damaged when an unexpected new roommate -- complete with crib pacifier and dirty diaper -- shows up on their doorstep.THREE MEN AND A LADY: The comic hijinks of Tom Selleck Steve Guttenberg and Ted Danson -- three carefree bachelors turned doting dads -- delighted audiences in the #1 box office smash THREE MEN AND A BABY! Now this handsome threesome is back in the critically acclaimed and equally charming sequel! The hilarity soars to new heights as the trio continues to bring up baby Mary who is now an adorably curious 5-year-old. All is well until Mary's mother accepts a marriage proposal and permanently relocates to England -- taking Mary with her! The ex-dads quickly discover how empty life is without their little lady and go to outrageous lengths in their efforts to win her back!Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY/FAMILY GATHERINGS UPC: 786936758337 Manufacturer No: 05673600

Sister Act

A lounge singer witnesses a mob hit and must hide out until she can testify against the killers. The police put her in the custody of a convent, where she soon begins to transform the sisters.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: PG
Release Date: 1-JUN-2004
Media Type: DVD

Whoopi Goldberg plays a Reno lounge singer who hides out as a nun when her villainous boyfriend (Harvey Keitel) goes gunning for her. Maggie Smith is the mother superior who has to cope with Whoopi's unorthodox behavior, but the cute script turns the tables and shows how the latter energizes the stodgy convent with song and attitude. A real crowd-pleaser and a perfect vehicle for Goldberg, this is a happy experience all around. --Tom Keogh

George Balanchine's The Nutcracker

Tchaikovsky's timeless Yuletide ballet is presented in an all-new movie version with as much eloquence as one would find in a live stage production. Replete with gorgeous costumes and scenery, George Balanchine's production, adapted by Peter Martins, features the New York City Ballet with narration by Kevin Kline. From the moment the Nutcracker prince winds toymaker Drosselmeier's life-sized dolls, viewers are ushered into the captivating story of a little girl's Christmas Eve fantasy of beauty, magic, and sugarplums. While several versions of this beloved tale are available in video, this one is distinguished for the magnificent performances of a large cast of young ballet dancers from the School of American Ballet. While Culkin lends his star-studded name, that is all he lends in what is mostly a wooden performance (he often appears on the sidelines looking quite blasé and detached). More deserving accolades go to Jessica Lynn Cohen as Marie, whose genuineness never wanes and dance steps never falter. Bart Robinson Cook is wonderful as the playful Herr Drosselmeier, and Darci Kistler is the graceful Sugarplum Fairy. Mostly this film belongs to children--both on the stage and in the audience. What is lacking in spontaneous energy of live theater is made up for in a perfectly polished performance. The only thing missing is the well-earned applause. --Lynn Gibson

Angels and sugarplums. Candy canes and ice. A magic prince, a dreamy young girl, a mysterious old man and a Christmas tree that grows sky high. Enter the world of George Balanchine's The Nutcracker, featuring the New York City Ballet, and let this all-new movie version of a timeless Yuletide fantasy, narrated ny Academy Award(R) winner Kevin Kline, draw you under its spell. Starring Macaulay Caulkin, Darci Kistler and Bart Robinson Cook. Year: 1993 Director: Emile Ardolino Starring: Bart Robinson Cook, Macaulay Caulkin, Darci Kistler, Damian Woetzel

Baryshnikov Dances Sinatra and More, a.k.a Baryshnikov Dances Tharp/ Baryshnikov, American Ballet Theatre

The three ballets on this remarkable DVD tell no stories, but they are full of human drama. In one sense, they all tell the same story--of the vitality, daring, intelligence, and emotional depth that a great dancer possesses.They are also about a brilliant choreographer's vision of that dancer and of dance itself. As Mikhail Baryshnikov says in the breezy commentary that links the ballets, Twyla Tharp is "classical but in a new way." She has the classical artist's regard for form and technique and a musicality that some compare to that of George Balanchine, but her approach is always personal, radical and contemporary ."THE LITTLE BALLET" Music: Alexander Glazounov. Cast: Mikhail Baryshnikov, Deidre Carberry, Elaine Kudo, Amanda McKerrow, Nancy Raffa The Little Ballet, to music by Alexander Glazounov, offers Baryshnikov, Deidre Carberry, and three other American Ballet Theatre dancers in a sweet-tempered, fluid work that makes subtle allusions to the dreamer-hero-elusive-heroine ballets of the 19th century. "SINATRA SUITE" Performed to the music of Frank Sinatra. Cast: Mikhail Baryshnikov, Elaine Kudo In Sinatra Suite, Baryshnikov and Elain Kudo express the less innocent world of Sinatra's moody, bittersweet voice -from the tender "Strangers In The Night" to the tough and contentious "That's Life. ""PUSH COMES TO SHOVE" Music: Joseph Lamb, Franz Joseph Haydn. Cast:Mikhail Baryshnikov, Elaine Kudo, Susan Jaffe, Robert LaFosse, Cheryl Yeager and Members of American Ballet Theatre. Choreography: Twyla Tharp. Push Comes To Shove, created by Tharp in 1976 for American Ballet Theatre, can be seen as a witty and affectionate tribute to a major ballet company - its casual rehearsal behavior and backstage commotion, as well as its traditional grandeur and polished performing. - Deborah Dewitt, Village Voice

Dirty Dancing (Collector's Edition)

As with Grease (1978) and Footloose (1984) before it, Dirty Dancing was a cultural phenomenon that now plays more like camp. That very campiness, though, is part of its biggest charm. And if the dancing in the movie doesn't seem particularly "dirty" by today's standards--or 1987's--it does take place in an era (the early '60s) when it would have. Frances "Baby" Houseman (Jennifer Grey, daughter of ageless hoofer Joel Grey) has been vacationing in the Catskills with her family for many years. Uneventfully. One summer, she falls under the sway (as it were) of dance instructor Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze). Baby is a pampered pup, but Johnny is a man of the world. Baby's father, Jake (Law and Order's Jerry Orbach), can't see the basic decency in greaser Johnny that she can. It should come as no surprise to find that Baby, who can be as immature as her name, learns more about love and life--and dancing--from free-spirited Johnny than traditionalist Jake.

Dirty Dancing spawned two successful soundtracks, a short-lived TV series, and a stage musical. It may be predictable, but Grey and Swayze have chemistry, charisma, and all the right moves. It's a sometimes silly movie with occasionally mind-boggling dialogue--"No one puts Baby in a corner!"--that nonetheless carries an underlying message about tolerance and is filled with the kind of exuberant spirit that's hard for even the most cynical to resist. Not that they'd ever admit it. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Three Men and a Little Lady

Three bachelors seek to continue caring for their 5 year old charge.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: PG
Release Date: 1-JUL-2003
Media Type: DVD

Dirty Dancing (Collector's Edition) [Blu-ray]

As with Grease (1978) and Footloose (1984) before it, Dirty Dancing was a cultural phenomenon that now plays more like camp. That very campiness, though, is part of its biggest charm. And if the dancing in the movie doesn't seem particularly "dirty" by today's standards--or 1987's--it does take place in an era (the early '60s) when it would have. Frances "Baby" Houseman (Jennifer Grey, daughter of ageless hoofer Joel Grey) has been vacationing in the Catskills with her family for many years. Uneventfully. One summer, she falls under the sway (as it were) of dance instructor Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze). Baby is a pampered pup, but Johnny is a man of the world. Baby's father, Jake (Law and Order's Jerry Orbach), can't see the basic decency in greaser Johnny that she can. It should come as no surprise to find that Baby, who can be as immature as her name, learns more about love and life--and dancing--from free-spirited Johnny than traditionalist Jake.

Dirty Dancing spawned two successful soundtracks, a short-lived TV series, and a stage musical. It may be predictable, but Grey and Swayze have chemistry, charisma, and all the right moves. It's a sometimes silly movie with occasionally mind-boggling dialogue--"No one puts Baby in a corner!"--that nonetheless carries an underlying message about tolerance and is filled with the kind of exuberant spirit that's hard for even the most cynical to resist. Not that they'd ever admit it. --Kathleen C. Fennessy