Any die hard movie musical fan knows that MGM produced most of the greatest musicals of all time in the 1950s. The Arthur Freed Unit became the touchstone of musicals with productions ranging from The Wizard of Oz in 1939 to Bells Are Ringing in 1960. While the 1940s was a productive decade for Freed, the 1950s gave us some of the most beloved, classic musicals of all time.

Now, Warner Brothers Home Entertainment has taken two of these MGM classics, plus one from the Warner Brothers library, and has given them a good scrubbing for Blu-ray and the results are astonishing. Best of all, you can purchase your favorite film as a stand-alone disk or get them all in the new Musicals: 4-Movie Collection. The three new titles are The Band Wagon, Calamity Jane, and Kiss Me Kate. Warners has added Singin’ in the Rain as a bonus to the 4-disk set.

The first movie in the collection is The Band Wagon (1953) starring Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Nanette Fabray and Jack Buchanan. The story follows a nearly washed up Hollywood actor (Astaire) who decides to head to Broadway to see if he can untarnish his star in a big stage musical (shades of the Oscar-winning Birdman!). An egotistical director hijacks the frothy musical and turns it into a depressing version of Faust, ensuring a huge flop but the cast bands together to save the show.

The film is very entertaining, and it allows Astaire to take on a different character than we’re used to seeing from him. No top hat and tails this time around, but his dancing is still on point, especially in the scene where he dances with a shoe shine man (who was a real shoe shine man in New York). Cyd Charisse is stunning as always and is simply magnificent to watch in what was her first real starring role. The film also introduced Broadway star Nanette Fabray to movie audiences in what was, surprisingly, her only MGM musical. The movie also has a great score, but it’s most well-known for introducing “That’s Entertainment” as THE song about showbiz, supplanting the standard “There’s No Business Like Show Business.”

The film looks terrific on Blu-ray. The image is bright and colorful but still has a film-like quality to it with an appropriate amount of film grain. The 1080p image(presented in its original 1.37:1 aspect ratio) has not been completely scrubbed of any detail, and the soundtrack has been given a nice DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 remix that keeps the dialog and singing front and center, allowing the orchestra to swell, but never overwhelm, from the surrounds.

Bonus features include:

• Commentary by Liza Minnelli and Michael Feinstein
• Get Aboard! The Band Wagon (37:09) — A vintage “making of” looking at the production of the film with many behind-the-scenes anecdotes from the film’s stars, crew and family members.
• The Men Who Made the Movies: Vincente Minnelli (58:25) — An episode of the WNET series focusing on Minnelli.
• Jack Buchanan with the Glee Quartet (6:00) — Comedic musical short film starring Band Wagon c0-star Buchanan.
• The Three Little Pups (6:46) — MGM cartoon featuring Droopy Dog in a variation of The Three Little Pigs.
• Theatrical Trailer (3:14)

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The original 1966 Batman TV series took decades to see a release on DVD and Blu-ray, but the wait was definitely worth it! The first 30 episodes from the series’ second season are now available on DVD and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment graciously provided a copy for my review for this Throwback Thursday installment.

I grew up watching the original Batman series in reruns on cable television. It was always one of my favorites because it was so wondrously colorful and wacky. Everywhere you look in any given screenshot, your senses are bombarded by psychedelic, eye-popping costumes that only a 1960s series could pull off so well. It’s like a live-action cartoon with campy music, zany guest stars and playful puns and punches flying left and right. Don’t get me started on the delightful variety of villains the series also offered! From familiar comic book favorites like The Joker, Penguin, Catwoman and Mr. Freeze to crazy, new villainous concoctions such as Egghead, King Tut, The Clock King, The Archer and The Minstrel, the second season is full of fiendish foes and perilous plots. I’m having trouble deciding which villain is my all-time favorite because they’re all so interesting and diabolical in their own unique way!

The Second Season, Part One has many big-name guest stars, including Cesar Romero, Julie Newmar, Burgess Meredith, Vincent Price, Van Johnson, Art Carney, Shelley Winters, Liberace, Walter Slezak, Carolyn Jones, Victor Buono and Cliff Robertson. One interesting thing about the series was that they used various actors to play the same villain from season to season. Season two features Julie Newmar as a purrrrfect Catwoman and Otto Preminger as a space cadet-looking Mr. Freeze with a ray gun. In addition to the main guest stars, there are also numerous cameos from other notable stars, including Dick Clark, Sammy Davis, Jr., Werner Klemperer (Colonel Klink from Hogan’s Heroes), Ted Cassidy (Lurch from The Addams Family) and musical group Paul Revere and the Raiders among these episodes. Just don’t blink, or you’ll miss ‘em!

Egghead (Vincent Price) is the only villain I remember being smart enough on the series to almost figure out that Bruce Wayne was Batman, so that makes him credible in my book (despite all of his “eggs-cruciating” puns every five seconds). The Archer (Art Carney) is awesome because he steals from the rich and gives to the poor a la Robin Hood and his Merry Men, while The Minstrel (Van Johnson) oozes charm and romantic lyrics that make you fall in love with Van Johnson and his velvety voice all over again. Not only is The Minstrel a musical genius, but he’s also equally versed in electronics and probably the only villain worthy of facing Batman in a technological showdown of wits.

I was delighted to discover that one of the most memorable episodes from my childhood was included in this set — “The Spell of Tut” — the one in which King Tut (Victor Buono) tries to resurrect ancient Egyptian scarabs to wreak havoc upon Gotham City’s water supply. Also look for horror icon Sid Haig as the Royal Apothecary in the King Tut episodes. Another old favorite of mine, “The Greatest Mother of Them All,” featuring Shelley Winters as criminal matriarch Ma Parker and her gang, is also included. The Parker clan has always reminded me of the Beagle Boys on Duck Tales, another beloved show from my childhood and perhaps the subject of a future Throwback.

An unexpected surprise was seeing footage from the Indianapolis 500 used as a racing event held in Gotham City in “Come Back, Shame,” an episode with Cliff Robertson as Shame, “The Conniving Cowboy of Crime,” a cowpoke/car thief who looks like he was lifted out of a spaghetti western complete with his sidekick Okie Annie (Joan Staley from The Ghost & Mr. Chicken fame). Of course, Shame and crew don’t look quite as tough as your traditional cowboys with their polka dot handkerchiefs and etc., but that’s beside the point when you can “get angrier than a hyena with laryngitis.” Another hidden gem was “Hizzonner The Penguin,” an episode in which Penguin runs for Mayor of Gotham City against Batman. It was the weirdest political debates I’ve ever seen, but I’ll be damned if I didn’t want all of Penguin’s cute, clever campaign paraphernalia. He had lovable, furry penguins all over his campaign buttons, posters, stickers, etc. I wonder if anyone ever made any of that stuff collectible because I would buy a lot of it for my personal collection of pop cultural oddities!

All of Batman’s gadgets in the Bat Cave, Batmobile and utility belts have never looked better — every detail has been completely remastered in this DVD box set. While reviewing the set, I realized that there are two types of people in this world — those who can appreciate the campiness of this series and those who simply cannot. Neither my mother or boyfriend could make it past more than a handful of episodes before they were begging me to turn it off, but I could have gone on for hours (the set has a total running time of 755 minutes), and my 21-year-old brother and his friends seemed amicably interested as well.

Every “Splatt!,” “Pow!,” “Biff!” and “Zok!” (yes, you read that right: Zok!) practically pops out of the screen at you in amazing comic book color as do the fabulous glittering outfits worn by Chandell (Liberace), and I had a lot of fun reviewing this set. The Season Two, Part One DVD box set features beautiful artwork from the eye-catching covers to the four discs depicting the iconic ’66 Batman logo on each. The only disappointment I had with the set was its lack of bonus features, but that’s what the expensive, all-inclusive Blu-ray collector set is for I suppose. I’ve read the Blu-rays come with an episode guide, Adam West scrapbook, vintage trading cards, digital copies of the episodes and an exclusive Hot Wheels replica of the Batmobile. The discerning collector would be better off saving their pennies for the Blu-ray set, but if you’re yearning to get your hands on some of the episodes in the meantime or if you’re introducing the series to a new generation of fans, this box set is a good starting point. If I’m ever lucky enough to review another Batman set, I’ll catch you at the same Bat time, same Bat channel.

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The Wachowski’s have had a varied and checkered career, bursting onto the cinema landscape with the groundbreaking The Matrix and then nearly crashing and burning with two Matrix sequels and Speed Racer. The siblings redeemed themselves (or not) with the outstanding Cloud Atlas, and now they are back with another stunning piece of work, Jupiter Ascending.

The question is, are viewers going to be stunned in a good or bad way? The film is definitely taking its hits already from critics and advance screening audiences, but I’m not going to be quite as harsh on the film as many people are.

The story itself goes something like this: Chicago resident Jupiter Jones (Mila Kunis) finds herself in the middle of an intergalactic tug of war when the Abrasax siblings squabble over which of them has the rights to harvest the Earth (and by harvest, they mean humans not crops). It turns out, however, that Jupiter is somehow genetically related to the Abrasax family, a reincarnation of the siblings’ mother. This “recurrance” gives her the rights to Earth and each of the siblings woo her in such a way as to trick her out of her property, with Balem (Eddie Redmayne) going so far as marrying her … so he can kill her and inherit the planet. But why do these people actually need to harvest humans?

The plot sounds very straightforward, but the film is defiantly not so, throwing everything AND the kitchen sink into the works. Jupiter’s protector is a human/wolf “splice” named Caine Wise (Channing Tatum), who may be unwittingly helping the bad guys. The film is also filled to the brim with other spliced humanimals, from a rat man to an absurd elephant man creature. And there are the big talking lizards as well as the tiny grey aliens. It seems that they’ve spent so much time on making each creature different that the story got lost amidst all the spectacle.

While they get so much wrong in the storytelling, the Wachowskis can always be counted on to do something right and that is definitely in the spectacle, the minute details on all of the space vehicles and planets, the kingdom hidden behind the clouds of Jupiter, and all of the various makeups and costumes. A few of the CGI shots are not quite up to snuff, but 99% of what’s on screen is just mind-blowing.

As your senses are about to overload, you start thinking about the story again and realize you have no idea at all what is going on. Most of the scenes are filled with exposition, with characters trying mightily to tell us what’s happening but in most cases it’s all for naught. Jupiter is first taken to the Abrasax sister Kalique (Tuppence Middleton in some cringe-worthy middle-aged makeup) who shows her the wonders of a special mineral bath, then she’s whisked off to meet younger brother Titus (Douglas Booth), who explains more about his nefarious siblings (but he’s still not quite coming clean with her about why Earth is so important to them).

By the time she gets to Balem and discovers the truth, you’ve pretty much given up on really understanding anything, especially as Jupiter seems to switch from one emotion to another within the same scene. One minute she’s talking to Caine, the next minute she’s got dreamy eyes and wants to make out with him. Like, out of the blue. No lead up, no banter, no sexual tension. And ignoring the fact that he’s half dog. It was very odd. And speaking of odd, I don’t know whose idea it was for Freddie to whisper all of his lines, except for when he got VERY ANGRY, but it was a very weird, unintentionally hilarious character trait. Freddie is nominated for an Oscar this year as Best Actor (The Theory of Everything) and he could very well get a Razzie nomination next year for this.

Much has been said about Tatum’s performance, that he looks bored or just disinterested but I didn’t find him to be that way at all. I think he might have been thinking he had some ridiculous dialog to recite, but he carries himself well in the big action scenes. Kunis seems too restrained, like she really should be in another movie, and in fact that other movie is actually contained within Jupiter Ascending. The Wachowski’s are huge fans of Terry Gilliam’s Brazil, so much so that there is an entire, elaborate sequence that pays homage to the bureaucracy that Brazil pokes fun at. This one sequence is a comedy set-piece capped with a cameo by Gilliam himself, and it shows that the rest of the movie is taking itself way too seriously. Had the entire film been an absurd satire, I think Kunis and Tatum would have been able to loosen up more.

As it is, Jupiter Ascending is just a mish-mash of other, better (or just plain campy) sci-fi flicks like The Fifth Element, The Chronicles of Riddick and Flash Gordon, and it desperately needed more cohesion and more camp to make it something really special. We’re left wondering if the long release delay was truly to hone the effects, or if perhaps the studio imposed a lot of editing that left a potentially great movie on the cutting room floor.

This year ABC is doubling down on the winter mini-season, launching two high concept niche shows over what is normally, for most networks, a break from new content. Both Galavant and Marvel’s Agent Carter are period pieces consisting of 8 episodes each. However, for some reason, ABC decided to air Agent Carter over eight weeks while doubling up on Galavant’s shorter thirty-minute episodes over four. In this age of fewer summer reruns and little chance of syndication for a shorter run leads us to believe that the original plan was to air the show over eight weeks as well — otherwise why not just produce four-hour long installments? Maybe they thought stretching it out over eight weeks would lose too many audience members.

Regardless of whether ABC had faith in Galavant or not, the end result is a delightfully cheesy show, a dash of Disney, a pinch of Monty Python, with a side of The Princess Bride. Composer and Disney golden boy Alan Menken, along with the team behind Tangled, have created a fun world in which characters can turn from wholesome to risqué on a dime. With a relatively unknown cast save for former Psych cast member Timothy Omundson and go-to baddie Vinnie Jones, along with a few funny cameos, Menken and Co. have managed to make something that feels original yet familiar at the same time. The lead actors have wonderful chemistry and even Vinnie Jones, who has become almost a parody of himself at this point, works wonderfully as a gruff thug in contrast with Omundson’s prissy king.

The biggest complaint you could make about Galavant is it could have used a one or two more memorable songs. While the majority of the songs were fantastic and almost too catchy for their own good (the title song alone will be bouncing around your head for hours after), several songs throughout the season were less than stellar, there more to drive the plot or serve exposition. Admittedly, these only stick out because we’ve been so spoiled by some of the standout numbers: the pirates’ “Lords of the Sea” along with “Hey Hey We’re the Monks” being two prime examples. Some people will be turned off by the musical aspect of the show but frankly anyone who doesn’t like musicals should stay clear. Galavant doesn’t shy away from the cheesy, flamboyant nature of an old-fashioned musical. If anything they turn hard into the skid. Many of the musical numbers demand repeat viewings and you can’t help but laugh at some of the ridiculous antics that take place.

Plot and writing-wise there were weak points scattered throughout the season. A few parts of our heroes’ journey felt a bit glossed over while others felt like they went on longer than necessary. The pirates we meet in episode four are so funny and offbeat you could easily see multiple episodes dedicated to the adventures they had together on their way to Valencia. It’s a shame they weren’t kept in the mix.  The finale also had some awkward moments that didn’t seem to fit the rest of the season: Princess Isabella went from a strong independent woman to a more traditional damsel waiting to be rescued, and Galavant’s plan to get King Richard drunk to go after his brother seemed unnecessary — though it did lead to one of the best musical numbers, “We’re Off on a Secret Mission.” The biggest surprise that came out of Galavant‘s season finale is that it wasn’t a series finale, we’re left with all our characters in precarious situations and our story draws to a close on a cliffhanger. It seemed like this was a one season and done situation so the fact that we now have to hope for a second season to get any kind of resolution was a real shocker. Though after seeing how fun King Richard and Galavant are together, the promise of more of their growing bromance is exciting. With the way everyone is left at the show’s close, there’s a lot of potential for new settings, situations, and some dynamic pairings of characters. Hopefully these will lead to some great songs as well.

Whether or not we get another season, Galavant was different from the rest of the pack, it did something unique and will no doubt have fans and detractors both in abundance. But for those of us who love musicals and can appreciate the show for the funny, cheesy, self-aware approach it takes, Galavant is a welcome addition to the television landscape and here’s hoping we can have at least one more season of humming that damn catchy titular song over and over again.

Another season of American Horror Story has come to an end. This year’s Freakshow continues a steady decline that began last season. The show still has its quirks, its moments that makes it fun, trashy television but this year felt slightly neutered. Whether this was through the budget or just storytelling is hard to tell. The season started off promising enough with Sarah Paulson playing the two-headed Bette/ Dot and John Carroll Lynch (who I will always see as Drew Carey’s cross-dressing brother from The Drew Carey Show) as the bed-wettingly scary Twisty the Clown. This year had the potential to be something truly dark and deserving of the “horror” moniker. Even the musical number that began this season (David Bowie’s “Life on Mars”) was fun and didn’t seem as forced as last year’s weird Stevie Nicks music video. Somewhere between that enticing start and this week’s finale the show lost its way.

Where last season people said the show lacked any real consequences, once multiple characters have come back from the dead it is hard to care about what happens to them, this season seemed to over correct by killing someone every episode. The problem though was the writers never took the time to let us like any of these people before they killed them off. Generally the characters this season were by and large terrible people. Just about everyone either murdered or aided in the murder of someone over the course of the show but no one ever showed any remorse or regret over it. When those same people meet a bloody, violent death it’s hard to feel sorry for them.

A few times we’re given people to feel bad for but here again, they aren’t fleshed out, they’re two-dimensional props and we are being forced to care about them. Two examples of this were Meep “the geek” and Ma Petite, the “worlds smallest woman.” We were supposed to care about these two because they’re weak, they’re cute, and they … well we never really knew anything else about them so that’s it. The show used their characters as superficially and selfishly as a freak show would. Maybe if we had gotten some real back story or some more interaction it would be easier to care for them instead of because we’re told to do so. While we weren’t getting background on characters who were important to the plot, the writers were busy tying past seasons into this one. For the first time this year we have confirmation that all the seasons take place in the same world. One of the Nuns from Asylum came and we see how Pepper the pinhead ended up there. So now that we’ve had “Pepper Begins,” an Avengers-style crossover must be next right? But really unless there are further plans to expand on this, what was the point other than to confuse people while taking important time away that they could use to flesh out their characters?

It wasn’t just the lack of connection to characters that took away this year; the effects work was all over the place. The “twins” Dot and Bette were especially hit and miss, while having a two-headed character is going to be challenging, and to their credit many different methods were employed to achieve it, the results were mixed. Moments where they shot the heads separately juxtaposing their personalities to one another started off as clever, even entertaining, but there’s only so many scenes you can have ping ponging between shots of two heads coming from the same torso before it gets tired. Scenes that used CG and practical effects went from the completely convincing to laughably bad, more than once a shot from behind clearly showed one head bobbling on a rubbery neck.

On a more positive note there were some great visuals this season. The freak show itself came off like a Tim Burton fever dream and the opening credits sequence this season might be the creepiest yet. The aforementioned Twisty was a terrifying clown design and whenever he was on screen he stole the show. The only negative was how quickly they resolved his story. It would have been nice to have him throughout the season. Then there is Dandy the rich psycho. He was basically a murderous seersucker wearing  version of Blaine from Ryan Murphy’s other show “Glee.” If any one character had to be labeled this season’s “Big Bad” it would probably be him. He got to be the creepy momma’s boy, a psychotic apprentice, as well as a spoiled brat. Outside of freak show owner Elsa Mars, Dandy is probably the character we spend the most time with and learn the most about this season. It would be surprising if Finn Wittrock, who plays Dandy, doesn’t become one of their recurring actors in future seasons after such a strong performance this year.

So many good ingredients make it such a shame that the end product was so lacking. A fantastic cast, great guest stars, plus a weird twisted setting but there just wasn’t enough focus to have things come together. As quickly as plotlines and characters were introduced another plot is wrapped up neatly and another character is killed. One week the local townsfolk hate the freaks, the next week they cheer one as a hero, but wait! The week after that they hate the freaks again. Last season might have been a little too generous on resurrections but it still had fleshed out characters who felt like real, though out there, people.

Seasons one and two of American horror Story were fantastic,  season three was pretty damned good, and now season four is just ok. Hopefully next year creators Falchuk and Murphy can stop or reverse the drop in quality or else American Horror Story will end up like their other collaborations Nip/Tuck and Glee, shows that peaked early but then dragged on until they became parodies of themselves. It’s still fun to watch, which is more than can be said of a lot of shows, but where it used to be well written trashy fun it’s just plain trashy fun now. With the format of a new story and set of characters every year, a turnaround is easy to manage. Let’s just hope they can make a return to form next year.

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As we come to the end of the holiday season, the winter breaks for many of the current season shows has given us time to perhaps catch up on some of last season’s shows that Santa may have left under the Christmas tree. Or you may be considering a purchase with some cash or gift cards you received. If you’re a fan of television – and you probably wouldn’t be here if you weren’t – we have some reviews/suggestions of a whole crop of last season shows that might be worth your interest.

The Vampire Diaries: The Complete Fifth Season

After a sizzling summer with Damon (Ian Somerhalder), Elena (Nina Dobrev) leaves Mystic Falls and moves into a dorm with her roomie Caroline (Candice Accola), ready for new adventures and new friends. But dark thoughts gnaw at Elena, and soon familiar faces are back in the girls’ lives. There’s Stefan (Paul Wesley) with his shadow self Silas, plus Katherine, with a diabolical agenda and a jaw-dropping transformation. As the Doppelgangers test destiny, tearing lovers apart and pitting the Salvatore brothers against each other, the student body count rises, evidence of powerful forces on campus. Anchors, Rippers, Passengers and Travelers struggle to survive alongside witches and werewolves, teaching our favorite vampires painful lessons along the way.

Season Five of The Vampire Diaries arrives from Warner Home Video in a deluxe Blu-ray/DVD combo package that also includes a Digital HD version of the season. If you’re a fan of the show, you know the formula and season five is sure to not disappoint. The Blu-ray image is sharp and clear, looking as good if not better than the broadcast version with an outstanding DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround audio track. Dialog is clear, and surrounds are used to envelop you in the scene.

The 22 episodes are spread over 4 discs (5 on DVD). Disc 1 contains episodes 1-6, deleted scenes for episodes 2 and 5, and a 30-minute video presentation from the 2013 Comic-Con panel featuring the cast and creator Julie Plec.

Disc 2 contains episodes 7-12 and deleted scenes for episodes 8, 11 and 12. Disc 3 contains episodes 13-18 and deleted scenes for episodes 14 and 18. Disc 4 contains episodes 19-22 and the bulk of the sets Special Features:

• “I Know What You Did … In the Last 100 Episodes” (10:15) — The cast, producer and writer play a fun game of trivia to see how much they don’t know about the show capped by a thank you to the fans for watching.
• “The Vampire Diaries: To the Other Side and Back” (10:35) — Featurette exploring the mythology of “the other side.”
• “A Day in the Afterlife with Kat Graham” (7:02) — Kat Graham escorts viewers through a day on set.
• “Second Bite” (5:03) — Gag reel

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Big, expensive, all-star Biblical epics were all the rage back in the late 50s and early 60s, most likely due to the fact that Cinemascope was the new thing in movies to bring couch potatoes, who had become fixated on their newfangled television sets, back to the theaters. The first widescreen epic was, in fact, a Biblical movie, The Robe (1953), and the fad had reached a climax with Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments (1956).

Since then, television has done more with Bible stories – most notably the History Channel mini-series The Bible and it’s upcoming sequel, A.D., on NBC – but now director Ridley Scott feels it’s time to tackle the story of Moses once again in his new film Exodus: Gods and Kings starring Christian Bale as Moses and Joel Edgerton as Rhamses.

In Scott’s film, we forego the whole baby floating down the river to be found in the bullrushes, instead meeting Moses and Rhamses as grown men, only knowing each other as brothers. A prophecy foretells that one of them will face death in battle but the other one will save him and take Pharaoh Seti’s throne. This doesn’t sit too well with Rhamses, but Moses assures him he has no desire to become the ruler of Egypt. Just the same, Rhamses tells him not to save his life as they head into battle. Moses does, which freaks Rhamses out just a bit, and then Moses finds out something about himself … he’s actually Hebrew.

Spies overhear this news, take it to Rhamses and thus sets the stage for Moses to want to free his people from slavery. Rhamses refuses and, well, if you’ve seen The Ten Commandments then you know the rest. Seven plagues, Passover, the Red Sea … all the greatest hits are on display with the best digital effects money can buy. Scott changes things up from the way we’ve always known them to be (at least from the movies) by not having Moses use his staff to turn the river to blood or part the Red Sea! It just kind of recedes until the Egyptian army shows up.

But even with touching on all of these things that scream “SPECTACLE!” the film feels like it’s missing quite a bit, especially since there is never any real denotation of time passing except for once or twice at the beginning of the story. When Moses finally goes up to Mount Sinai to receive the commandments (which he chisels himself as a vision of God watches), he’s middle aged. By the time he comes down a few minutes later, he’s old and gray and we have no idea how much time has passed (unless you really know your Bible) … and then it feels like there’s more story to tell but Scott refuses to give it to us. The whole worshiping of the golden calf barely registers.

Exodus: Gods and Kings is a very well-made movie, to be sure, and it looks epic with some truly astounding effects sequences (the mountainous road scene is particularly harrowing). The 3D process also looks sharp and clear, and while it gives depth to the scenery, there’s not really much use for it (except for those pesky seagulls which make you go a little cross-eyed when they pop off the screen). The casting of the film has been controversial with Caucasian actors playing Egyptians (and black actors playing slaves), but I didn’t have a problem with that. It just made it feel more like an old-fashioned Biblical film where all the Middle Eastern characters spoke with British accents.

Christian Bale is fine as Moses, working to the best of his ability with what he’s given, bringing some realism to the scenes where he’s conversing with God, whom only he can see, and taking on the role of action hero once again. Edgerton has a little more to sink his teeth into as he goes from loving brother to sworn enemy of Moses, stopping at nothing to destroy him. It was strange seeing John Turturro as Seti, taking several minutes to even recognize him with his bald head and guyliner, and if you blink you’ll pretty much miss Sigourney Weaver who is in the movie for maybe five minutes and has two lines.

Exodus: Gods and Kings is a movie with good intentions, and it’s not a bad movie by any means. Its cardinal sin is just being adequate. The Ten Commandments was interesting, at the time, because of the huge cast of stars that populated the film and the, for the time, state of the art special effects. Over time, it’s become a bit campy mainly because of the casting (Edward G. Robinson’s thick New York accent is hilariously out of place), but even at almost 4 hours it still manages to be entertaining even all these years later. Exodus: Gods and Kings takes itself much too seriously, and while it’s good, I don’t think it will stand the test of time with its Biblical predecessors.

Now this is a Broadway musical in every sense of the word. And who would have ever thought that Disney’s flop musical movie from 1992 — starring an 18-year-old Christian Bale in only his fourth theatrical film — would have developed such a cult following that the studio saw enough potential in it to bring it to the stage? Adding music by Alan Menken and Jack Feldman, who wrote six new songs for the show while keeping several from the movie, and a book by Harvey Fierstein helped shape the film into the stage extravaganza that has wowed audiences since its Broadway debut (the show was intended to run for only 101 performances, but demand kept it going for 1005).

The story of Newsies is based on an actual event: the “Newsboy Strike of 1899″ which saw a band of orphans and runaway newsies (the kids who sold newspapers on the streets for the major publishers) go on a two week strike against publishing giants Pulitzer, Hearst and others in New York City. The show tells the story of the fictional Jack Kelly, the leader of the ragtag group of newsies, who dreams of a better life in Santa Fe. When Joseph Pulitzer raised the distribution prices on the newsboys in order to sell more papers, Jack rallies the newsies from across the city to strike for what’s right … even when romance, double-crosses and a sweet deal get in the way.

The moment the orchestra hits its first note, you know this is what a big Broadway musical is all about, and when the massive cast of “newsies” takes to the stage and raises their voices together in perfect harmony, it is one of the most beautiful sounds in the world. Add to that the acrobatic choreography by Christopher Gattelli and you have something magical taking place before your eyes.

And the cast is massive, led by Dan DeLuca as Jack. DeLuca can put on a tough exterior when dealing with the newspaper people, but he shows us his heart too when he’s trying to look out for his boys. He has a real soft spot for Crutchie (Zachary Sayle), and you believe their brotherly relationship. DeLuca also has a wonderfully unique voice full of emotion and power, depending on the situation. Sayle, whose character sadly disappears for much of the second act, is the show’s bit of comic relief as he has to navigate the stage dragging his leg and hobbling with a crutch (hence his name). But when he’s attacked, we also feel for him because he can’t defend himself. That’s the proof of a good performance.

But it’s not all men on stage all the time. Stephanie Styles, as a girl reporter who butts heads with Jack and then begins to fall for him, has the perfect pluckiness for the part and a powerful voice as well. Angela Grovey, as cabaret owner Medda Larkin, pretty much steals any scene she’s in (unfortunately, not many) and her one musical number, “That’s Rich,” is a showstopper. Steve Blanchard also stands out as Pulitzer with his deep, powerful voice whether speaking or singing.

Towering over everyone is a wondrous set consisting of three 24-feet towers with three levels that are fully automated and can move 14 feet up and down the stage, rotate 350 degrees and reconfigure to create tenement fire escapes, a theatre’s backstage, the Brooklyn Bridge and the basement of Pulitzer’s building. The towers also have screens which raise and lower for the lighting and special projections that help set the scenes. The 33 cast members run up and down the stairs to perform on any and all of the three levels throughout the show, making this one of the most physical productions I’ve ever seen. It really is a wonder they’re all not exhausted by the end of the first act.

If you like your Broadway musicals big and flashy, then Newsies is the show for you. Great story, great performances, great singing and dancing, great production all around, this is the show to see when it comes to your town. Newsies is at Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre through Sunday, December 7 (it will be in Washington, D.C. June 9-21) and will hit major cities across the country including Chicago, Atlanta, Orlando, Charlotte, Miami, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Dallas and more (alas, not Santa Fe). To get more details about the show and ticket information, click on the banner below.

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Music is such a powerful entity. There are songs you associate with certain people, places and moments in your life that stick with you as long as you live. Sometimes those songs are associated with a film because it’s so ingrained in its soundtrack that you can’t help but make the mental association between the two whenever you hear it. For what is Pretty in Pink without Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark’s “If You Leave” or Wayne’s World without Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody?” As soon as I heard the hauntingly familiar strains of Apache Indian’s “Boom Shack-A-Lack” at the beginning of Universal Pictures/New Line Cinema’s Dumb and Dumber To, I knew this was going to be a fun, nostalgic ride for me with my favorite feebleminded pals, Lloyd Christmas (Jim Carrey) and Harry Dunne (Jeff Daniels), once more behind the wheel.

With that song playing over the credits, I was immediately transported back to 1994-95 and the first time I glimpsed Lloyd behind the wheel of the limo and Harry behind the wheel of the Mutt Cutts van as that same song played over the credits, and all these powerful feelings washed over me. I know what you’re probably thinking – fond feelings for a film with the words Dumb and Dumber in the title? When the first film came out, I was 12 and an impressionable youth in middle school. Jim Carrey was suddenly a comedic tour de force that was present – and seemingly relevant – everywhere in my world. He made his ass talk as Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. He was ssssmokin’ in The Mask. And he was the endearingly dim-witted, chip-toothed Lloyd Christmas in Dumb and Dumber. All of my friends – and even a few of my crushes – were discussing him and his zany antics both inside and outside of the classroom. And my 12-year-old heart was smitten with a fervent adoration that has never quite left me no matter how much older I get or what real boyfriends have miraculously come – and regrettably gone – in my life since.

My love for Jim Carrey has certainly had its peaks and valleys within the past 20 years, but that’s to be expected with any relationship, whether real or imagined. When I heard they were making a second Dumb and Dumber film, I knew two things. First, it was good to see Jim Carrey not taking himself too seriously and returning to a role that made him a bona fide star. He’s already proven how versatile he can be by taking on various roles that required more emotional depth of him throughout the past two decades, including Andy Kaufman in Man on the Moon, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Truman Show and The Majestic. But there is something irresistible about Lloyd Christmas that makes him one of Carrey’s best beloved characters and a fan favorite among many. Secondly, it was good to see Carrey appearing in a film, period. It feels like he’s been taking longer breaks in-between films since he became a grandfather and a published children’s book author.

And the fact that he was reuniting for a sequel just because he enjoyed making the first one so much and because he knew it would mean a lot to the fans? Well, that just makes me love him all the more. I enjoyed following the social media and seeing behind-the-scenes photos from the set during the production phase. It allowed me to have a more personal relationship with Lloyd and Harry – a fan could not ask for more. And I recently read that the Farrelly Brothers couldn’t get in touch with Brady Bluhm to reprise his role as Billy, the blind kid with the pretty bird, for the sequel until they found him through Facebook and asked him to come back that way. A lot has certainly changed in 20 years!

While it was panned by many film critics as being too sophomoric in its content, Dumb and Dumber was a film that spoke to my generation. While the humor is decidedly crude at times, it made no pretenses to be anything else. After all, the word dumb is right there in the title for the naysayers. But that “dumb” little movie had a lot of heart. There was a strong bond of friendship between Harry and Lloyd that you just don’t see every day. And the laughs kept coming! Jim Carrey’s unique physicality and brilliant improvisational abilities paired with his natural chemistry with Jeff Daniels allowed the film to reach a different stratosphere than it would have with anybody else in the lead roles. With so many memorable one-liners, many of us in our 30-somethings still find ourselves quoting it to this day.

I think it’s a gross understatement for me to say it was good to see Harry and Lloyd reunited on the big screen for Dumb and Dumber To. I know 20 years have passed and we’ve all gotten older, but they really don’t look it. Harry and Lloyd look almost identical to how they looked when we last saw them. The laughs may still be crude, but they’re definitely still there in spades. For example, there’s a scene in which they are driving down the highway in a hearse and they pass a bus full of children and Lloyd smears a jelly donut’s powder and red jelly all over his face and he peeks out at the kids from the back of the hearse like he’s a zombie. I also couldn’t stop chuckling when they addressed Katherine Turner as a “sir.” You will find yourself laughing at the dumbest and most unexpected things in the sequel, just like you probably did when you saw the original film, and I think that’s a beautiful thing.

The plot is not very far-removed from the first one, and overall, it’s an enjoyable romp through familiar territory with some new friends along for the ride, including bad guys Laurie Holden and Rob Riggle, and Rachel Melvin as the adorable but dumb Penny, who’s supposed to be Harry’s daughter after a one-night stand with Fraida Felcher (Kathleen Turner). There are also some unexpected fun cameos along the way (Mama June from Here Comes Honey Boo Boo and Bill Murray as Ice Pick … who knew? But that’s what IMDb reports, although they still have Jennifer Lawrence listed too, so I take that with a grain of salt until I can watch it again.) A word to the wise: Be sure to stay past the credits for a special bonus scene: “Kick his ass, Sea Bass!”

While I wouldn’t go out on a limb and say the sequel is better or funnier than the original, it was better than I honestly expected it to be. It’s obvious Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels had a blast filming it, for they both radiate a pure, unadulterated joy from the beginning to the end, which is not only necessary for their characterizations but is also definitely not something you observe every day. I read somewhere that the word nostalgia is made up of two Greek words meaning “return” and “suffering,” so it really means a suffering caused by an unappeased yearning to return to something. In the case of Dumb and Dumber To, I believe my yearning to return to the Golden Age of Jim Carrey has been appeased. I don’t really care what the other critics have to say. It’s like a childhood dream just came true for me being able to see Carrey’s Lloyd Christmas up on the big screen and being able to write about him now that I’m an adult with a more compelling voice. Thanks for making this, Farrelly Brothers (and for making it better than the excruciatingly painful film that was Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd), and thanks for indulging the inner kid in me. “I like it a laaht!”

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Big Hero 6 is the funniest movie I’ve seen all year. I love throwing down statements like that; they can be challenged, to be sure, but it’s all subjective opinion, right? The semantics really don’t matter. Big Hero 6 is the kind of film that sneaks up on you; like Toy Story and Finding Nemo before it, children will drag their parents to theatres only to watch their parents laugh at humor that exists appropriately above their head. There’s nothing like sitting in a theatre full of kids and hearing the parents laughing harder than the young ones (though I always love it when the row of film critics sitting in a row are the only ones laughing).

If you have smiled or laughed in your lifetime, you’re going to find something to love in Big Hero 6. It might just be one of these six things that I found particularly awesome.

1. It’s a superhero story you’ve never seen before. Disney Animation Studios wanted to do a big comic book movie, and had the entirety of the Marvel catalog to choose from. That they didn’t choose a super-familiar property was a brilliant decision. The comic version of Big Hero 6 has been in publication since 1998, but it is an obscure enough title that audiences – at least domestically – aren’t going to be familiar with it. Plus, while many of the characters have direct counterparts from the source material, more looks to be changed than the same.
2. Baymax is going to steal your heart. Disney has a long history of creating characters you instantly love: Mickey Mouse, Mary Poppins, Simba, Ariel, Elsa. Now you’re kids (and you, lets be honest) are going to fall in love with an inflatable healthcare companion robot. He’s the best thing in a film surrounded by best things.
3. It’s a vision of the future we don’t have to be afraid of. Sure, there’s an antagonist that is terrorizing San Fransokyo, but the city itself and the world it exists in doesn’t seem so bad. Future worlds in science fiction seem to drift in one of two directions: dystopian or utopian. It was refreshing to see a future that felt normal. The city’s name and its culture are all representative of melting pot ideals. At the same time, though, things aren’t perfect; this is a future we can actually believe.
4. Honey Lemon has the coolest tech ever. Or put it another way: Hooray science! While I think making the device a purse was a bit much (though that is lifted directly from the source material), the idea of mixing different elements to make cool (fake) sciencey weapons is just plain fun. It’s the kind of thing that you hope exists some day, just so you can throw at your little brother … even though he’s in his 30s and owns his own business.
5. This film is full of sci-fi pop-culture references. In a flick like this, animators are always going to fill in a bunch of visual references to other movies. At some point, what you think might be references/homages are completely accidental (I doubt they were going for Contact or Star Trek: The Motion Picture, but I definitely saw them in there).
6. I can’t tell you number six. There’s a running bit in the flick that I think will lose its humor if you know anything about it before you see it. In today’s internet-based society, it will probably be made into a meme before you get home from the theatre. It’s Big Hero 6’s “Just Keep Swimming” (Or Dory speaking whale if that’s your kind of thing, Mom!) from Finding Nemo. This is all I’m giving you: B********a.

And a bonus, just because I love you all:

7. Feast, the short before the film, was totes-adorbs. I really liked Paperman that played before Wreck-It Ralph last year, but it is nothing compared to the wonderfulness that was Feast. I’d be lying if the dog Winston didn’t remind me more than a little bit of my dog Gibbs when he was a wee pup. Regardless, there is more heart in the five or so minutes than there are in most flicks you’ve seen this year.

Editor’s note: Do yourself a big favor and stay for the post-credits scene!