The most talked-about new show of the season, Glee, is coming out on DVD on December 29. The first 13 episodes will be released as Glee, Vol. 1: Road to Sectionals, and it will have all those great songs we get every week, including "Don't Stop Believing" and "Somebody to Love," plus Acafellas, Kristin Chenoweth's guest appearance as McKinley alum April Rhodes, and more. --David
The Jay Leno primetime experiment began last night, and based on early ratings has gotten off to a strong start. We'll say how it holds up as the season goes on, but the show was pretty much the same as his old show, with a monologue, guest Jerry Seinfeld accompanied by a video appearance by Oprah, the Dan Band, a couple comedy sketches (fake interview with President Obama, Leno on Cheaters), and "Headlines" now at the end instead of following the monologue (did they figure that would keep the most people tuned in?). As it turned out, also scheduled was a performance by Jay-Z, Rihanna, and Kanye West, and Kanye sat down with Leno beforehand to apologize for the Taylor Swift controversy from the previous night's Video Music Awards. He seemed sincere--watch it on Hulu below or on YouTube. --David
In case you missed the story, well, everywhere, tomorrow, 9-9-09, is the day Beatlemania hits again in music and video games. No big news on the movie front, unfortunately, but that doesn't mean we can't still enjoy a couple of my favorite moments from the Beatles' movies: the opening sequence of A Hard Day's Night (captures the frenzy of the era) and "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" from the crazy Help! movie (a great song and an odd little moment of calm in the movie; John is singing, Paul and George are making eyes at the girl, and Ringo is... disconnected). I'll also throw in "When I'm 64" from the trippy Yellow Submarine. --David
In case you missed it in the news, today is the 40th anniversary of the first day of Woodstock, the famous New York rock festival that put hippies in the spotlight and made a certain rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" famous. To recognize the anniversary, Warner Home Video has rereleased the classic documentary in a 40th anniversary Ultimate Collector's Edition on Blu-ray and DVD. The editions you'll find exclusively at Amazon have additional never-before-seen performance footage from Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and Country Joe and the Fish as well as some extra featurettes. Watch the trailer, a clip about the restoration, and some performances below. or find more music, DVDs, and books in our Woodstock store. --David
Susan Boyle, whose performance of "I Dreamed a Dream" became an Internet sensation, has made it into the finals of Britain's Got Talent. Watch her semifinal performance of Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Memory" from Cats below. --David
There's a feature here at Amazon called Movers and Shakers, which highlights the products that have suddenly jumped in sales rank compared to the previous day. One of today's DVD jumpers is Once (current rank: #43; yesterday: #389), due no doubt to Kris Allen's performance of "Falling Slowly" on last night's episode of American Idol. If you haven't seen the film--a intimate and touching story about a pair of musicians in Ireland, played by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová--you can watch how they performed "Falling Slowly" below. --David
This trailer for the new Fame movie (opening September 25, 2009) just gave me a flashback (a not-altogether-pleasant one) to many high-school talent shows I sat through in the '80s. But I do like the original movie (also trailered below) and its disco-infused score, with "Hot Lunch Jam," "I Sing the Body Electric," "Dogs in the Yard," and "Ralph and Monty (Dressing Room Piano)." ER fans may recognize the guitar-playing redhead as a young Paul "Rocket Romano" McCrane (he sang "Dogs in the Yard" and "Is It Okay if I Call You Mine" in the movie). --David
I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Barbra Streisand about the DVD release of her film Yentl, which she directed, co-wrote, co-produced, and starred in (and, I'm sure, sold the proverbial popcorn at selected showings). Hope you enjoy her discussion of how challenging it was to make the film, the songs that were cut, and why Broadway star Mandy Patinkin didn't sing at all. --David
Do you know how many minutes there are in a year? If you answered 525,600, then you probably know Jonathan Larson's musical Rent and its signature song, "Seasons of Love." I myself am a fan of the Chris Columbus movie from 2005, but I know there are others (no doubt more obsessed Rentheads than I am) who aren't. Those folks should be glad to know that Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway, which played in theaters in 2008 is now on DVD and Blu-ray. As Broadway fans know, very few stage productions are commercially released, and often the shows get made into mediocre movies that make some people wonder what the fuss is about. Face it, we're fortunate that we'll have both a pretty-darn-faithful movie and a stage production on both DVD and Blu-ray, and in my mind the fact that the movie has almost all the original principals sets it apart from most other Broadway-based movies. To see Anthony Rapp leading "La Vie Boheme," or to see the cast singing "Seasons of Love" or "No Day but Today" is incredibly moving. On the other hand, this new version gives us a talented young cast in a live stage environment, singing all the music that was cut out of the movie (watch the first 8.5 minutes below). It's an embarrassment of riches! Then again, few musicals would deserve the double treatment better than Rent, which defined Broadway for an entirely new generation. --David
What it is: The story of a recently heartbroken musician, Nick, who sets out on a quest to get over his ex (Tish) and in the process meets Norah. Over the course of one night they chase the mythical “Where’s Fluffy?” band through Manhattan while trying to survive their exes, their friends, and the madness of the city. Will Nick fall for Norah or go back to Tish? Only time will tell in Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist.
Why it's Significant: It’s this generation’s answer to teen movies infused with music. For those of us who grew up with the likes of John Hughes and Cameron Crowe, we know the importance of music in a movie. Mix tapes may have turned into burned CD’s but the sentiment remains – music moves us. With a quirky cast of characters and a unique take on the “broken heart healed” love story, this movie offers that little something special by positioning a love of music as the impetus for finding true love. Plus the soundtrack delivers on its promise with an eclectic mix of angst-ridden rock from the likes of Vampire Weekend, Band of Horses, and We Are Scientists. -- Lesley
