Posts Tagged ‘backstage’

Muppets Take Manhattan, The (1984)

Wednesday, June 10th, 2009
Genres: Comedy | Family | Musical | Romance
Countries: UK | USA
Actors: Henson, Jim
Directors: Oz, Frank
Download: DivX iPod 

The Muppets are back in a brand-new full-length musical comedy! After graduating college, the Muppets travel to Manhattan to have someone produce their musical “Manhattan Melodies”. When it doesn’t happen, the gang splits up. Kermit makes friends with Jenny (Juliana Donald) and Piggy is jealous, thinking that Kermit found a new girl. Now Rowlf is a vet secretary, Fozzie’s living in a cave, and Piggy is working at a hotel with her partner, but apparently they get fired and now Piggy lives next door to where Kermit works at Pete’s with Jenny. When Jenny and Kermit find producer-in-training Ronny Coleman (Lonny Price), he promises to produce their show. The gang returns to Manhattan, but after getting hit by a car in joy, Kermit gets amnesia and now finds work making ads with other frogs. When Kermit is found at Pete’s, they try to restore his memory.

Team America: World Police (2004)

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009
Genres: Action | Adventure | Animation | Comedy
Countries: Germany | USA
Actors: Stone, Matt
Directors: Parker, Trey
Download: DivX iPod 

Team America follows an international police force dedicated to maintaining global stability. Learning that power hungry dictator Kim Jong Il (Parker) is out to destroy the world, the team recuits Broadway star Gary Johnston (Parker) to go undercover. With the help of Team America (Stone, Miller, Masasa, Parker, and Norris), Gary manages to slip into an arms dealer’s hideout to uncover the plan to destroy the world. Will Team America be able to save the world?

Chariots of Fire (1981)

Thursday, May 14th, 2009
Genres: Drama | History | Sport
Countries: UK
Actors: Farrell, Nicholas | Havers, Nigel | Charleson, Ian | Cross, Ben | Gerroll, Daniel | Holm, Ian | Gielgud, John | Anderson, Lindsay | Davenport, Nigel | Campbell, Cheryl | Krige, Alice | Christopher, Dennis | Davis, Brad | Magee, Patrick | Egan, Peter
Directors: Hudson, Hugh
Download: DivX iPod 

The story, told in flashback, of two young British sprinters competing for fame in the 1924 Olympics. Eric, a devout Scottish missionary runs because he knows it must please God. Harold, the son of a newly rich Jew runs to prove his place in Cambridge society. In a warmup 100 meter race, Eric defeats Harold, who hires a pro trainer to prepare him. Eric, whose qualifying heat is scheduled for a Sunday, refuses to run despite pressure from the Olympic committee. A compromise is reached when a nobleman allows Eric to compete in his 400 meter slot. Eric and Harold win their respective races and go on to achieve fame as missionary and businessman/athletic advocate, respectively.

Center Stage (2000)

Thursday, May 14th, 2009
Genres: Drama | Music
Countries: USA
Actors: Schull, Amanda | Saldana, Zoe | Pratt, Susan May | Gallagher, Peter | Murphy, Donna | Monk, Debra | Stiefel, Ethan | Radetsky, Sascha | Kent, Julie | Kulik, Ilia | Bailey, Eion | Evans, Shakiem | Hubbard, Elizabeth | Anthony, Victor | Dunham, Christine
Directors: Hytner, Nicholas
Download: DivX iPod 

After auditions, 12 young dancers make it to the American Ballet Academy. They’ll prepare for the student showcase to determine who will be asked to join the American Ballet Company. Tensions mount between Jonathan, the company’s aging choreographer, and Cooper, his best dancer, who also wants to choreograph. The brilliant Maureen seems poised for success, but she discovers that life is passing her by. Jody, whose body may be the wrong type and whose technique is ragged, elicits Cooper’s interest. The edgy, smart-mouthed Eva loves to dance but seems destined to be stuck in the back of the chorus. The showcase will decide their fates.

Sting, The (1973)

Wednesday, May 13th, 2009
Genres: Comedy | Crime
Countries: USA
Actors: Newman, Paul | Redford, Robert | Shaw, Robert | Durning, Charles | Walston, Ray | Brennan, Eileen | Gould, Harold | Heffernan, John | Elcar, Dana | Kehoe, Jack | Arliss, Dimitra | Jones, Robert Earl | Sloyan, James | Dierkop, Charles | Paul, Lee
Directors: Hill, George Roy
Download:  DivX iPod 

Johnny Hooker is a young con-man who is being taught by Luther. One day they pull one of their con jobs and net themselves a huge roll. What they don’t know is that the man they conned is the courier for a numbers runner. And it turns out that the boss, Doyle Lonigan, considers it an attack on him and orders all the people involved terminated. Hooker is shaken down by a crooked cop, Snyder, who threatens to turn him over to Lonigan unless he pays him off. Hooker pays him, he then tries to warn Luther but is too late. He then goes to see Henry Gondorf, a friend of Luther’s and a one time great con-man, who has had a bit of bad luck. After hearing what happened to Luther and seeing how hungry Hooker is for payback, he assembles a gang and decides to con Lonigan. While everything seems to be going ok, there is just the problem of the hit on Hooker and Snyder, whom Hooker paid off with counterfeit money.

Chicago (2002)

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009
Genres: Comedy | Crime | Drama | Musical
Countries: Germany | USA
Actors: Diggs, Taye | Saunders, Cliff | Zeta-Jones, Catherine | Zellweger, Renée | West, Dominic | Gere, Richard | Eastwood, Jayne | Beaton, Bruce | Baranski, Christine | Podhora, Roman | Reilly, John C. | Feore, Colm | Smith, Rob | Wayne Doyle, Shawn | Behal, Steve | Rox, Robbie | Rivera, Chita
Directors: Marshall, Rob
Download:  

Fame hungry Roxie Hart dreams of a life on the Vaudville stage, and spends her nights jazzing it up in the bright lights of Chicago, continually hoping that she’ll find her lucky break, and be shot into 1920’s stardom, so able to flee her boring husband Amos. In awe of seductive club singer Velma Kelly (who is subsequantly arrested for the murder of her husband and sister - after discovering their affair), Roxie meets Fred Cassely a man who convinces her he can ‘make her showbiz career take off’. However after Roxie has undergone the ‘casting couch’ treatment, and Fred has had his wicked way with her, he reveals that he has no more connections in showbusiness than she does. This is the final straw for Roxie, and her constant anger at rejection explodes. She shoots Fred Cassely and kills him. Upon discovering her infidelity, Roxie’s husband Amos refuses to take the blame for the murder and Roxie is sent to jail, pending hanging. In jail she finally meets tabloid darling Velma Kelly, currently receiving huge media attention for the double murder she committed earlier in the tale. Sharing the clink with Velma, are a collection of other sly females, all awaiting trial for the murders of their own partners. Velma is aloof to Roxie, however the prison Warden Mrs Morton offers Roxie the opportunity of representation by slick Chicago lawyer Billy Flynn. Billy is more a showbiz P. R agent than a legal lawyer and minipulates the tabloids into thinking Roxie is no more than an innocent ‘good time girl’ who took the wrong path, than a scheming murderess. The tabloids go crazy for the new girl on the cell block, and Roxie finally becomes a star. However due to Roxie’s new found fame, Velma is forgotten about. She is forced to approach Roxie with an offer of a part in her Vaudville act (filling the gap left by her murdered sister), but Roxie turns down her offer flat, thinking she needs no support in topping the bill. However, just as Velma’s star fell, so does Roxie’s, when Go-to-hell Kitty arrives at the jail on a multiple murder charge, the press forget Roxie and now she and Velma are in the same boat. With one more trick up her sleave Roxie manages to bring the media attention back onto her, and her day in court arrives. Billy is now ready to play the ultimate showman!

Designing Woman (1957)

Friday, January 16th, 2009
Genres: Comedy | Romance
Countries: USA
Actors: Peck, Gregory | Bacall, Lauren | Gray, Dolores | Levene, Sam | Helmore, Tom | Shaughnessy, Mickey | White, Jesse | Connors, Chuck | Platt, Edward | Moore, Alvy | Veazie, Carol | Cole, Jack | Arvan, Jan | Bell, Rodney | Bigelow, Otis
Directors: Minnelli, Vincente
Download: DivX iPod 

On a vacation, sports journalist Mike meets designer Marilla. They fall in love and marry right away. However back at home they realize that they’re living in different worlds and know nothing about each other and exes and angry mobsters get in the way of their happily ever after though.

Flower Drum Song (1961)

Monday, January 5th, 2009
Genres: Comedy | Musical | Romance
Countries: USA
Actors: Kwan, Nancy | Shigeta, James | Fong, Benson | Soo, Jack | Hall, Juanita | Sato, Reiko | Adiarte, Patrick | Tong, Kam | Yung, Victor Sen | Yong, Soo | Lee, Ching Wah | Hong, James | Umeki, Miyoshi | Chakiris, George | Chan, Eugene
Directors: Henry Koster
Download: DivX iPod 

A Chinese woman and her father illegally enter San Francisco to marry her fiance. While in San Francisco, she meets another man and falls deeply in love with him and the American way of life; to her father’s disapproval.

42nd Street (1933)

Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008
Genres: Drama | Musical | Romance
Countries: USA
Actors: Baxter, Warner | Daniels, Bebe | Brent, George | Keeler, Ruby | Kibbee, Guy | Merkel, Una | Rogers, Ginger | Sparks, Ned | Powell, Dick | Jenkins, Allen | Nugent, Edward J. | McWade, Robert | Stone, George E. | Akst, Harry | Clark, Wallis
Directors: Bacon, Lloyd
Download: DivX iPod 

The source from which all modern musicals flow: An ailing Broadway director returns to produce one final show, but his leading lady is injured and must be replaced by a novice. Call it dated, but it’s aged to perfection, and the final twenty minute sequence will leave you tapping your toes, with a smile on your face and a song in your heart. Movies—never mind musicals—just don’t get any better than this.

Raging Bull (1980)

Friday, December 12th, 2008
Genres: Biography | Drama | Sport
Countries: USA
Actors: De Niro, Robert | Moriarty, Cathy | Pesci, Joe | Vincent, Frank | Colasanto, Nicholas | Saldana, Theresa | Gallo, Mario | Adonis, Frank | Bono, Joseph | Topham, Frank | Flax, Lori Anne | Scorsese, Charles | Dunphy, Don | Hanrahan, Bill | Bennett, Rita
Directors: Scorsese, Martin
Download:  DivX iPod 

When Jake LaMotta steps into a boxing ring and obliterates his opponent, he’s a prizefighter. But when he treats his family and friends the same way, he’s a ticking time bomb, ready to go off at any moment. Though LaMotta wants his family’s love, something always seems to come between them. Perhaps it’s his violent bouts of paranoia and jealousy. This kind of rage helped make him a champ, but in real life, he winds up in the ring alone.