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High School Musical 2 (Extended Edition)

What time is it? Time for High School Musical 2, the sequel to the Disney Channel smash that aired on Aug. 17, 2007 and became the most-watched basic-cable show ever. School is out, and Troy (Zac Efron) and Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens) are looking forward to a summer to remember, but Troy also needs to make bank so he can go to college. As it turns out, Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale), the self-proclaimed primo girl of East High, has her eye set on primo-boy Troy, and gets him a job at the country club her parents own. It looks great for Troy when Gabriella and the rest of the Wildcats are hired also, but when he gets preferential treatment from the club manager (Mark Taylor) and others, it puts all of his relationships in hot water.

Everyone's back from the original movie, including Zac's buddy Chad (Corbin Bleu), Sharpay's brother Ryan (Lucas Grabeel), and Gabriella's friend Taylor (Monique Coleman). And the songs on the hit soundtrack often parallel the originals and are just as catchy: the Troy-Gabriella duet ("You Are the Music in Me," which is later Sharpay-ized into a rock version), the sports-flavored hip-hop number ("I Don't Dance," but this time on the baseball diamond instead of the basketball court), the Gabriella lament ("Gotta Go My Own Way"), the climactic stage duet ("Everyday"), and the mass-ensemble closer ("All for One"). But the sequel doesn't just stick to the status quo. Other songs include a flashy opener ("What Time Is It"), Sharpay's poolside feature ("Fabulous"), a percussive ensemble number ("Work This Out"), and Zac's solo ("Bet On It"), and the dances are even bigger this time around, relentlessly high-energy and often spectacular. In addition, the "let's put on a show" angle ! is only a subplot and the romance is now front and center--which means High School Musical has lost a bit of its innocence. But it's still wholesome viewing for tweens of all ages. Sharp-eyed Disney Channel fans will spot Miley "Hannah Montana" Cyrus as an extra. --David Horiuchi

On the DVD
The extended-edition DVD adds one new scene, in which Sharpay and Ryan perform the Hawaiian-themed "Humuhumunukunukuapua'a," which not only is fun but adds a bit of character development for Ryan. This number (which was on the CD as a bonus track) is incorporated into the movie and also accessible from the bonus-features menu, along with a four-minute blooper reel and music videos for "You Are the Music in Me" (one U.S. version and a Mexican version with Paulina Holguin and Roger) and "Gotta Go My Own Way (Canadian versions in French and English, both with Nikki Yanofsky). A "dance rehearsal cam" shows the choreographers and cast working on nine numbers (36 minutes total). Director-choreographer Kenny Ortega coaches, offers pep talk, and declares, "If it wasn't for Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon, we wouldn't be here!" There are two sing-along options, one with English subtitles and a "karaoke" version with English subtitles but no vocals. --David Horiuchi

Beyond High School Musical 2

Our High School Musical Headquarters	High School Musical 2 on Blu-ray	High School Musical 2 soundtrack
High School Musical	High School Musical (Remix Edition)	High School Musical, The Concert: Extreme Access Pass

It's time to sing and dance because there's so much more to celebrate in HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 2: EXTENDED EDITION. Experience the movie in a whole new way with a never-before-seen music sequence and rehearsal footage plus sing lead vocals with High School Karaoke. The East High Wildcats are gearing up for big fun as they land the coolest summer jobs imaginable. Troy (Zac Efron) Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens) Chad (Corbin Bleu) and Taylor (Monique Coleman) have scored sweet gigs at the Lava Springs Country Club owned by Sharpay and Ryan's family. Sharpay's first rule of business: Get Troy. As Troy experiences a life of privilege he's never known will he give up the Wildcats and Gabriella to rise to the top? Featuring an all-star cast exclusive bonus features hot new songs and awesome dancing HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 2: EXTENDED EDITION is way 2 good 2 miss!System Requirements:Running Time: 111 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: MUSIC DVD/DOCUMENTARY Rating: TV-G UPC: 786936740370 Manufacturer No: 05504100

Death at a Funeral

Though it doesn't hit the same comic heights as Bowfinger, Death at a Funeral is a fun little romp. Granted, not all of the characters are meant to be humorous, like Daniel (Matthew Macfadyen, Pride & Prejudice) and his wife, Jane (Keeley Hawes, Tristram Shandy), straight-faced foils for the more over-the-top performers. After Daniel's father passes away, the couple offers to host the funeral, so all his relatives descend on the family abode, including Daniel's estranged brother, Robert (Rupert Graves, V for Vendetta). The mood is already tense when their cousin, Martha (Daisy Donovan), arrives with her nervous fiancé, Simon (Alan Tudyk, Serenity). On the way over, Simon takes a Valium that's actually a hallucinogenic concoction cooked up by Martha's pharmacology student brother. By the time they arrive, Simon's inhibitions are gone with the wind. Other guests include Uncle Alfie (Peter Vaughn) and an uninvited American mourner (Peter Dinklage). By the end of the movie, one of these individuals will be dead. Though he's worked in the States for several decades, director Frank Oz was born in the UK, and Death at a Funeral feels like the work of a British filmmaker. As drawing room comedies go, it may not rival Arsenic and Old Lace, but it's still funnier than most. If the film has a flaw, it's one misjudged moment of scatological humor, which is sure to induce more cringes than giggles. Fortunately, it's over quickly, and Tudyk's hilarious performance provides ample compensation. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Beyond Death at a Funeral

More from Frank Oz

More British Comedies

More from MGM

Stills from Death at a Funeral

From acclaimed director Frank Oz (In & Out Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) comes "a fast furious and riotously funny farce" (Maxim) that'll have you dying with laughter!As the mourners and guests at a British country manor struggle valiantly to "keep a stiff upper lip" a dignified ceremony devolves into a hilarious no-holds-barred debacle of misplaced cadavers indecent exposure and shocking family secrets. Packed with extras including audio commentaries and an uproarious gag reel Death at a Funeral blows the lid off the proverbial coffin as "the film's delicious comic flourishes... sight gags slapstick flawless timing... are served up by an outstanding cast" (O The Oprah Magazine).System Requirements:Running Time: 91 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY/FAMILY GATHERINGS Rating: R UPC: 883904100287 Manufacturer No: M110028

Newsies (Collector's Edition)

Except for feature-length animation, the musical has gone the way of the dinosaur. The Walt Disney company took a stab at reviving the live-action musical in 1992 with Newsies, a throwback picture with a curious subject. In 1899, the pint-sized newsboys delivering the New York papers go on strike against the unfair practices of news magnates Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst. The production is heavy on kiddie humor, although Christian Bale (the child star of Spielberg's Empire of the Sun) is charismatic as one of the older leaders of the revolt. The adult stars don't fare as well, with Robert Duvall doddering around as Pulitzer and Ann-Margret and Bill Pullman doing decorative duty. The film was not well received when first released, but hindsight reveals its charm (and allowed the young target audience to catch up with the picture on video). The first-time director is Kenny Ortega, the choreographer of Dirty Dancing, who brings plenty of energy to the action. --Robert Horton

Starring Academy Award(R)-winner Robert Duvall (Best Actor -- TENDER MERCIES, 1983) and screen favorite Ann-Margret, here's the true story of a courageous group of newsboys who become unlikely heroes when they team up to fight an unscrupulous newspaper tycoon. Determined to make their dreams come true, they find the courage to challenge the powerful! Critically acclaimed from coast to coast -- if you're looking for must-see, feel-good entertainment, NEWSIES delivers!

High School Musical (Encore Edition)

A shy, bookish student and the captain of the basketball team secretly audition for the school musical leads.
No Track Information Available
Media Type: DVD
Artist: HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL
Title: HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL
Street Release Date: 05/23/2006
Domestic
Genre: MUSICALS (THEATRICAL)

The Disney Channel Original Movie High School Musical is a combination of backstage action and Grease without the unwholesome habits. Scoring record ratings at the time of its January 2006 broadcast, it's a smash hit with tween audiences (ages 6 to 10), but appealing for all ages. At a New Year's Eve party, Troy (Zac Efron of the WB's Summerland) has a chance meeting with Gabriella (Vanessa Anne Hudgens) when they share a karaoke song. Lo and behold, when school resumes, they discover that Gabriella has just transferred to Troy's East High School, a campus divided into tight cliques of jocks, cheerleaders, brainiacs, and skater dudes. Eager to recapture the magic they'd discovered during karaoke, Troy and Gabriella consider auditioning for the school's upcoming musical, much to the dismay of the school's frost queen/theater goddess, Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale of The Suite Life of Zack and Cody). Problem is, Troy is also the star of the basketball team and Gabrielle is being recruited to compete in the Scholastic Decathlon. Will they give up their cliques to start something new, or will they do as the show's first big anthem urges and "Stick to the Status Quo"? Well, this is a Disney movie, so maybe the sacrifices won't be that hard, and even the hints of romance are mild.

The bestselling soundtrack is catchy in that Disney-pop kind of way, mixing in a dash of hip-hop ("Getcha Head in the Game," punctuated by squeaky basketball shoes and other sound effects), salsa ("Bop to the Top"), and the endearingly hammy ("What I've Been Looking For" performed by Sharpay and her brother, Ryan, played by Lucas Grabeel). It's not hard to imagine High School Musical becoming a semi-staple for high school groups to perform themselves. DVD bonus features include sing-along subtitles; a 9-minute featurette discussing casting, recording sessions, and rehearsals; a multi-angle look at a rehearsal of "Bop to the Top"; and music videos for "We're All in This Together" and a song that didn't make it into the final film, "I Can't Take My Eyes Off of You," performed by Efron, Hudgens, Tisdale, and Gabreel. --David Horiuchi

Cannon: Season One, Vol. 1

The weekly adventures of Frank Cannon an overweight balding ex-cop with a deep voice and expensive tastes in culinary pleasures who becomes a high-priced private investigator. Since Cannon's girth didn't allow for many fist-fights and gun battles (although there were many) the series substituted car chases and high production values in their place.System Requirements:Running Time: 615 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 097368924246 Manufacturer No: 892424

Hocus Pocus

You're in for a devil of a time when three outlandishly wild witches -- Bette Midler (BEACHES BIG BUSINESS) Sarah Jessica Parker (HONEYMOON IN VEGAS) and Kathy Najimy (SISTER ACT) -- return from 17th-century Salem after they're accidentally conjured up by some unsuspecting pranksters! It's a night full of zany fun and comic chaos once the tricky 300-year-old trio sets out to cast a spell on the town and reclaim their youth -- but first they must get their act together and outwit three kids and a talking cat! Loaded with bewitching laughs HOCUS POCUS is an outrageously wild comedy that's sure to entertain everyone!Bonus Features Producer David Kirschner came up with the idea for the movie one night while he and his young daughter were sitting outside and his neighbor's black cat strayed by. Kirschner began to unspool a narrative of how the cat was once a boy who was changed into a feline 300 years ago by three witches.Actress Kathy Najimy described her character Mary as "Eddie Haskell as a witch" referring to the character on the classic TV series "Leave It To Beaver." "She sucks up to Winifred [Bette Midler's character] every chance she gets. She wants to be part of the power club and Winifred's got the power." To create the costumes designer Mary Vogt read many historical books about Salem Massachusetts. "I even read diaries of women who were hanged as witches" she says.System Requirements: Runing Time 96 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: CHILDREN/FAMILY Rating: PG UPC: 717951003584 Manufacturer No: 01775800

This big, fat theatrical bomb has a lot going for it. There's the three leads, Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, and Sarah Jessica Parker, playing three resurrected witches who wreak havoc on Salem, Massachusetts, 300 hundred years after they were hung. There's music, special effects, and magic. There's a surprisingly horror-filled plot. Whoops, hold up on that last one. It's probably the extremes that this film goes to (displaying a Disney label), such as the witches sucking the life out of a little girl in the first five minutes, that put the brakes on any success for Hocus Pocus. Older children, however, in the 8 and up range should get a kick out of all the weird goings-on. It's a good measure of Halloween thrills and chills. --Keith Simanton

Little Shop of Horrors

Hilarious, cheapie black comedy from 1960 that may be the best film by B-picture master Roger Corman, other than Bucket of Blood, made about the same time with the same writer, Charles Griffith. Seymour (Jonathan Haze) is an assistant in a skid-row flower shop who's on the point of losing his job when the unusual plant he's developed turns the store into a major attraction. The only problem is that the plant needs human blood to live, all the while crying, "Feed me! FEED ME!" Luckily, Seymour causes a series of inadvertent deaths that more than make up for the food shortage. Jack Nicholson provides a comic sidebar as a nutjob masochist visiting a dentist's office. Giggling and wild-eyed from the same impulse that might lead others to read scandal sheets, he can be seen in the dentist's waiting room reading aloud from Pain magazine. Famous for having the shortest shooting schedule on record (two days and a night), The Little Shop of Horrors spawned an off-Broadway musical that was in turn made into a successful film in 1986, starring Rick Moranis and Steve Martin. It was in just this quick-shoot atmosphere that Corman nurtured the careers of many of America's most celebrated film directors; this little shop of honors included Francis Ford Coppola, Peter Bogdanovich, Martin Scorsese, and Jonathan Demme. The DVD has optional Japanese subtitles, very generous bios of the stars and filmmakers, and a clean, crisp transfer. --Jim Gay

A skid-row florist's "mean green mother" of a monster plant is the center of "the looniest nuttiest most outrageous movie musical comedy in years" (Jeffrey Lyons Sneak Preview). Rick Moranis Steve Martin Ellen Green Billy Murray and other comedy greats star.Running Time: 95 min.System Requirements:Running Time: 94 Min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: PG-13 UPC: 085391832522 Manufacturer No: 18325

What About Bob?

Murray plays a therapy patient who won't leave his therapist alone, even when the therapist goes on vacation.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: PG
Release Date: 1-JUL-2003
Media Type: DVD

The Dark Crystal

The Dark Crystal is a masterful live - action fantasy starring some of Jim Henson s most imaginative creatures ever! Directed by Jim Henson and Frank Oz and produced by Gary Kurtz the Dark Crystal brilliantly weaves a timeless myth of Good and Evil!In another time The Dark Crystal - a source of Balance and Truth in the Universe - was shattered dividing the world into two factions: the wicked Skeksis and the peaceful Mystics. Now as the convergence of the three suns approaches the Crystal must be healed or darkness will reign forevermore!It s up to Jen - the last of his race - to fulfill the prophecy that a Gelfling will return the missing shard to the Crystal and destroy the Skeksis evil Empire. But will young Jen s courage be any match for the unknown dangers that await him?System Requirements:Directed By: Frank Oz and Jim Hensen. Running Time: 94 Min. Color. This film is presented in "Widescreen" format. Copyright 1999 Columbia TriStar Home Video.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: SCI-FI/FANTASY Rating: PG UPC: 043396028494 Manufacturer No: 02849

Jim Henson's fantasy epic The Dark Crystal doesn't take place a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, but like Star Wars it takes the audience to a place that exists only in the imagination and, for an hour and a half, on the screen. Recalling the worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien, Henson tells the story of a race of grotesque birdlike lizards called the Skeksis, gnomish dragons who rule their fantastic planet with an iron claw. A prophecy tells of a Gelfling (a small elfin being) who will topple their empire, so in their reign of terror they have exterminated the race, or so they think. The orphan Jen, raised in solitude by a race of peace-loving wizards called the Mystics, embarks on a quest to find the missing shard of the Dark Crystal (which gives the Skeksis their power) and restore the balance of the universe. Henson and codirector Frank Oz have pushed puppetry into a new direction: traditional puppets, marionettes, giant bodysuits, and mechanical constructions are mixed seamlessly in a fantasy world of towering castles, simple huts, dank caves, a giant clockwork observatory, and a magnificent landscape that seem to have leaped off the pages of a storybook. Muppet fans will recognize many of the voice actors--a few characters sound awfully close to familiar comic creations--but otherwise it's a completely alien world made familiar by a mythic quest that resonates through stories over the ages. --Sean Axmaker

Housesitter

No Description Available.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: PG
Release Date: 3-JUN-2003
Media Type: DVD

The teaming of Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn would seem to have been sure-fire casting, but Housesitter's writing is never strong enough to sustain it and the film's hit-and-miss quality has more misses than hits. Martin plays an architect who builds his dream house for his high school sweetheart (Dana Delany), then surprises her with a marriage proposal--both of which she rejects. Distraught, he goes back to New York and pours out his heart to a woman he meets in a bar and beds (Hawn), not realizing she is a flaky con artist. She knows a good thing when she hears it and heads for his hometown, moves into the empty dream house, and begins passing herself off as Martin's new wife. Though the writers build in a variety of complications (involving Delany, as well as Martin's parents and boss), the film finds its jokes only in fits and starts, though Martin has a particularly hilarious moment when he must sing to his father in front of a crowd of strangers. --Marshall Fine