Michael Keaton

Cars (Full Screen Edition)

There's an extra coat of hot wax on Pixar's vibrant, NASCAR-influenced comedy about a world populated entirely by cars. Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson) is the slick rookie taking the Piston Cup series by storm when the last race of the season (the film's high-octane opening) ends in a three-way tie. On the way to the tie-breaker race in California, Lightning loses his way off Route 66 in the Southwest desert and is taught to stop and smell the roses by the forgotten citizens of Radiator Springs. It's odd to have such a slim story from the whizzes of Pixar, and the film pales a bit from their other films (though can that be a fair comparison?). Nonetheless, Cars is another gleaming ride with Pixar founder John Lasseter, who's directing for the first time since Toy Story 2. There's the usual spectrum of excellent characters teamed with appropriate voice talent, loads of smooth humor for kids and parents alike, knockout visuals, and a colorful array of sidekicks, including a scene-stealing baby blue forklift named Guido. Lightning's plight is changed with the help of former big-city lawyer Sally Carrera (Pixar veteran Bonnie Hunt), the town's patriarch Doc Hudson (Paul Newman), and kooky tow truck Mater (Larry the Cable Guy). The Incredibles was the first Pixar film to break the 100-minute barrier, but had enough story not to suffer; Cars, at 116 minutes (including some must-see end credit footage), is not as fortunate, plus it never pierces the heart. Trivia fans should have bonanza with the frame-by-frame DVD function; the movie is stuffed with in-jokes, some appearing only for an instant. Ages 5 and up. --Doug Thomas

From the acclaimed creators of TOY STORY THE INCREDIBLES and FINDING NEMO comes a high-octane adventure comedy that shows life is about the journey not the finish line. Hotshot rookie race car Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) is living life in the fast lane until he hits a detour on his way to the most important race of his life. Stranded in Radiator Springs a forgotten town on the old Route 66 he meets Sally Mater Doc Hudson (Paul Newman) and a variety of quirky characters who help him discover that there s more to life than trophies and fame. Revved up with a sensational soundtrack featuring Rascal Flatts Sheryl Crow John Mayer James Taylor and others plus exciting bonus features including the exclusive short movie "Mater And The Ghostlight" CARS is full of freewheeling fun for everyone.System Requirements:Running Time: 116 MinutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: CHILDREN/FAMILY Rating: G UPC: 786936708103 Manufacturer No: 5091603

Much Ado About Nothing

Kenneth Branagh's 1993 production of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing is a vigorous and imaginative work, cheerful and accessible for everyone. Largely the story of Benedick (Branagh) and Beatrice (Emma Thompson)--adversaries who come to believe each is trying to woo the other--the film veers from arched wit to ironic romps, and the two leads don't mind looking a little silly at times. But the plot is also layered with darker matters that concern the ease with which men and women fall into mutual distrust. Branagh has rounded up a mixed cast of stage vets and Hollywood stars, among the latter Denzel Washington and Michael Keaton, the latter playing a rather seedy, Beetlejuice-like version of Dogberry, king of malapropisms. The DVD release has optional full-screen and widescreen presentations, Dolby sound, optional Spanish and French soundtracks or subtitles.--Tom Keogh

Full of sparkling merriment (The Hollywood Reporter) this sexy sunny comedy positively sizzles as one set of lovers battles against a dirty trick and another set simply battles each other! Adapted by Oscar® nominee* Kenneth Branagh and featuring an all-star cast this charming romp casts the battle of the sexes in the form of an elegant dance (The New York Times).A military war has just ended but the merry war between Beatrice (Emma Thompson) and Benedick (Branagh) rages on! Can their friends trick them into making love instead? For that matter can another couple s devotion survive the evil Don John s (Keanu Reeves) vicious lies? It s up to the blundering constable (Michael Keaton) to save the day so that the course of true love may yet run smooth!System Requirements: Running Time 111 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: PG-13 UPC: 027616869548 Manufacturer No: 1002756

Johnny Dangerously

This dispensable 1984 comedy is a mostly humorless parody of '30s gangster movies, the kind of thing that might work reasonably well in a five-minute sketch on Saturday Night Live but which nearly beats a viewer to death over the course of a feature. Michael Keaton and Joe Piscopo play rival Mafia bosses, but once the novelty of that is introduced, it's already old. There's plenty of sustained effort from the rest of the cast (Marilu Henner, Danny DeVito, Maureen Stapleton), with Griffin Dunne getting special points. Amy Heckerling (Fast Times at Ridgemont High) directs as if this were indeed on television. --Tom Keogh

In Amy Heckerling's hilarious send-up of 1930s gangster films, Michael Keaton stars as Johnny Dangerously, a devoted son who turns to a life of crime in order to pay for his mother's operation. As a dapper kingpin, he manages to provide support for her never-ending medical problems while romancing a steamy torch singer (Marilu Henner), battling arch-rival Danny Vermin (Joe Piscopo) and exposing a corrupt D.A. (Danny DeVito). It's a zany, wild spoof that's riddled with as many gags as bullet holes.

Beetlejuice

Before making Batman, director Tim Burton and star Michael Keaton teamed up for this popular black comedy about a young couple (Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin) whose premature death leads them to a series of wildly bizarre afterlife exploits. As ghosts in their own New England home, they're faced with the challenge of scaring off the pretentious new owners (Catherine O'Hara and Jeffrey Jones), whose daughter (Winona Ryder) has an affinity for all things morbid. Keaton plays the mischievous Beetlejuice, a freelance "bio-exorcist" who's got an evil agenda behind his plot to help the young undead newlyweds. The film is a perfect vehicle for Burton's visual style and twisted imagination, with clever ideas and gags packed into every scene. Beetlejuice is also a showcase for Keaton, who tackles his title role with maniacal relish and a dark edge of menace. --Jeff Shannon

No Description Available.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: PG
Release Date: 15-MAY-2007
Media Type: DVD

Multiplicity

An inevitable idea: a working man (Michael Keaton) who can't meet all his professional and family responsibilities has himself cloned. It works so well having one copy of himself to take charge of matters at the office that he makes another copy who takes care of the home front. Pretty soon, different aspects of Keaton's personality are emphasized in the different clones: the laborer becomes a macho creep and the domestic god becomes rather feminine. A third clone, struck from the duplicates instead of the original, becomes like a photocopy of a photocopy: inferior. This timely comedy should be better than it is, but special-effects requirements are so labor-intensive that most scenes feel stiff and leaden. Keaton is good in all four parts, and in certain gee-whiz effects scenes, where he even high-fives himself, he pulls off a minor miracle or two. (Of course, a kid did the same thing in Disney's 1998 remake of The Parent Trap.) The DVD release includes optional widescreen and standard formats and optional French and Spanish soundtracks. --Tom Keogh

An overworked contractor has himself cloned to have more time for his work, wife, and family, with hilarious results that almost cost him his wife.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 28-AUG-2001
Media Type: DVD

The Dream Team

Mr. Mom

When Jack Butler (Michael Keaton) loses his job at an auto factory, he expects to quickly find another. But instead, his wife Caroline (Teri Garr) starts working for an ad agency and Jack ends up taking care of the house and kids. He soon runs afoul of shopping etiquette, a voracious vacuum cleaner, and he can't even drop his kids off at school properly. He starts losing his pride and letting himself go. He stops shaving, drinks at all hours, and watches soap operas. And not only does a predatory divorcée (Ann Jillian) have her eye on him, Caroline's new boss (Martin Mull) has more than business on his mind. Will their marriage survive? What makes Mr. Mom work isn't its role-reversal premise, but its clever off-the-main-plot scenes like the obstacle course at the company picnic, where a footrace with swim fins is set to a variation on the theme to Chariots of Fire; a poker game using discount coupons for money; or a traumatic, soap-opera-influenced dream Jack has when he realizes his life is going down the toilet. This is the first starring role for Michael Keaton, who went on to star in Beetlejuice and Batman; he makes the most of both its comic and sentimental side. The script, incidentally, is written by John Hughes, who later went on to write and direct The Breakfast Club and Home Alone. --Bret Fetzer

Funnyman Michael Keaton (Beetlejuice) teams with Tootsie's Teri Garr in this "fresh and funny audience pleaser" (Boxoffice) that's all housework...and no pay!Jack and Caroline Butler (Keaton and Garr) are perfectly happy with their roles in life...until a layoff makes him a househusband and her a working wife! And while she wrangles with charts graphs and an all-too-eager-to-be-wrangled boss he has to contend with their hyper kids a ravenous vacuum cleaner an angry washing machine and an oversexed neighbor (Ann Jillian of TV's It's A Living)! From late nights in the boardroom to lonely nights in the bedroom the biggest challenge for both Jack and Caroline is learning to trust one another with their reversed roles...which they'd better do quickly...before Mr. Mom becomes Mr. Single Mom!System Requirements:Starring: Michael Keaton Teri Garr Martin Mull Ann Jillian Jeffrey Tambor Christopher Lloyd Valri Bromfield Frederick Koehler and Taliesin Jaffe. Directed By: Stan Dragoti. Running Time: 100 Min. Color. This film is presented in "Standard" format. Copyright 2000 MGM Studios.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: PG UPC: 027616809827 Manufacturer No: 908098

Night Shift

Ron Howard's breakthrough film as a director launched Michael Keaton as a screen comic. In this film, he is teamed with a hangdog Henry Winkler as a pair of night attendants at a city morgue. Thinking entrepreneurially, Keaton (as the flakier half of the team) convinces a reluctant Winkler that they could kill two birds with one stone and use their quiet surroundings to start a call-girl business. The first girl in the stable of these unlikely pimps: Shelley Long, pre-Cheers. Given the rather tasteless subject matter (ever really met a happy hooker?), it's surprisingly good fun, ignited by the chemistry between the nebbish Winkler and the jet-propelled Keaton, who seized this role and used it to shoot him to stardom--and into several years of stinkers. Meanwhile, the film was supposed to help Winkler segue from the Fonz on Happy Days to a career acting in movies, but whatever happened to him? --Marshall Fine

Odd-couple partners Henry Winkler and Michael Keaton spice up the morgue night shift by running a call-girl ring. Year: 1982 Director: Ron Howard Starring: Henry Winkler, Michael Keaton, Shelley Long Special Features: Interactive menus, Scene access Video Format: A: Standard; B: Widescreen Sound: English: Dolby Surround 2.0; Subtitles: English, French Region Coding: 1 (U.S. and Canada)

Herbie - Fully Loaded

The daughter of a NASCAR driver is given the used car as a graduation present and the two set out to break racing records.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: G
Release Date: 25-OCT-2005
Media Type: DVD

The simple pleasure of watching a living car squirt oil in a villain's face just never goes away. Disney, in their effort to revitalize the Herbie franchise, has made the wise choice of not trying too hard--aside from a small bit of skateboarding action, just about every element of Herbie: Fully Loaded would fit right into the 1963 original (groovily titled The Love Bug) or its various sequels. Maggie Peyton (Lindsay Lohan, the fiery-tressed starlet of Mean Girls and Freaky Friday) wants to join her family's dynasty of race car drivers, but her father (Michael Keaton, Batman Returns) worries that she'll get hurt. Instead, as a college graduation gift, he buys her a junked-out Volkswagen Beetle--which turns out to be Herbie, a car with a mind of its own. Soon Maggie and Herbie are racing against an arrogant racing champion (Matt Dillon, Crash, There's Something About Mary) and duking it out with monster trucks, eventually hoping her father's heart will change. Herbie: Fully Loaded is formulaic fluff, but executed with cheerful enthusiasm; everyone involved has clearly embraced the mix of slapstick hijinks and light family drama. There's even a handful of cameos by NASCAR drivers. The result is every bit as ridiculous yet entertaining as its forebears. --Bret Fetzer

First Daughter

Playing the president's kin in the modern fairy tale First Daughter is the most grown-up role yet for Dawson's Creek cutie Katie Holmes. Samantha McKenzie (Holmes) has lived all her life on the edge of the political spotlight, but she hopes that she'll get away from it all when she leaves the White House for college. No such luck. Even though she's able to make friends with her roommate (singer Amerie) and meet a nice guy (Marc Blucas), security is tight in an election year, and the Secret Service follows her wherever she goes. First Daughter isn't particularly original (it was the working title for Mandy Moore's Chasing Liberty, which opened in theaters earlier the same year, 2004), but it's a chuckle-inducing girlie movie that's worth watching for Holmes. Also, Michael Keaton is especially likable as a president and dad. That's a big change for Holmes, who as Dawson's Creek's Joey Potter was a poster child for daughters with dysfunctional fathers. --David Horiuchi

"Once Upon A Time there lived a lovely girl named Samantha. She had everything she could possibly wish for, and lived in a beautiful white house. The White House Katie Holmes stars as First Daughter Samantha Mackenzie _ a sheltered young woman who just wants a normal school experience, away from the influence of her parents. Only trouble is, her dad (Michael Keaton) is the President of the United States! But nothing will stop Samantha, so, under Secret Service surveillance and a nonstop media glare, she meets _ and falls hard for _ a handsome student who has a secret existence of his own."