- Murder She Said (1961): Margaret Rutherford's debut as Agatha Christie's Miss Marple Murder at the Gallop (1963): Murder and mystery start with a funeral Murder Most Foul (1964): Miss Marple joins a theatrical troupe whose specialty is death scenes. Murder Ahoy (1964): Miss Marple takes the helm in a seagoing whodunit Format: DVD MOVIE Genre:Â MYSTERY/SUSPENSE Rating:Â NR Age:&nbs
How She Move is an energetic, gritty and ultimately inspiring coming of age tale about a gifted young woman who defies all the rules as she step dances her heart out to achieve her dreams. Featuring a fresh cast of new discoveries, this Sundance Film Festival hit marks the feature film debut of the electric RUTINA WESLEY, with street-style step sequences by top choreographer Hi Hat and special appearances by R&B singer-songwriter Keyshia Cole and comedian DeRay Davis. Bursting with raw talent and intelligence, Raya ! Green (WESLEY), the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, has always been the family’s one great hope. She won the rare chance to break out of their drug and crime-infested neighborhood when she was accepted into the exclusive Seaton Academy. But when her sister dies of an overdose, the family is shattered and Raya is forced to return to the place she tried so hard to escape.Dare you to keep your feet still while watching
How She Move, a rip-roaring salute to Jamaican-influenced step-dancing with an infectious backbeat. The film will appeal to fans of other dance tributes like
Stomp the Yard but also to fans of
High School Musical,
Bring It On and other teen let's-put-on-a-show empowerment films. The story is set in Toronto's thriving Caribbean-immigrant community, though there are nods to American 'hoods as well. While the drama is a bit short on plot, there's no shortage of action or star power. The film's lead, the dynamic Rutina Wesley, plays Ra! ya Green, an honors student whose life is shattered by the dea! th of he r sister, and by her unwilling return from her private school to her urban neighborhood. But young Raya's spirit is indomitable, as shows the tough neighborhood boys she's every bit a dance force to be reckoned with as they are. Her dancing gives this film its sweet patina of grrl power on top of its fabulous choreographed moves. Also don't miss the great soundtrack, featuring Missy Elliott and Busta Rhymes. How she move? Pretty darn great. --
A.T. HurleyFrom producer Jennifer Lopez comes a danceable, dynamic story about the unifying power of the music within us all. When life in the South Bronx gets too hot for rapper Rob (Omarion Grandberry,
You Got Served), he flees to Puerto Rico and a father he never knew. After half-brother Javi introduces Rob to the seductive rhythms of Reggaeton, the two find that their music, and cultures, have more in common than they ever imagined. But to bring their musical hybrid to the world, can they survive the grudges and gunpla! y that await them back in New York City? To find out, grab the disc, watch the film and
Feel the Noise.
Feel the Noise fits in with other dance-heavy films such as
Stomp the Yard,
Step Up, and
You Got Served. The young hero in this film (which comes courtesy of Jennifer Lopez's Nuyorican Productions) serves up former B2K heartthrob Omarion Grandberry as Rob, a fledgling rapper who gets into trouble in New York. Fearing for her son's life, his mother ships him off to Puerto Rico to live with his father Roberto(Giancarlo Esposito) and half brother Javi (Victor Rasuk). Rob and Roberto have a strained relationship, but the two half-brothers quickly bond over their love of music. With the help of a girl Rob is sweet on, the two find themselves on the brink of a bonafide music career--that may bring Rob back to Harlem. Set against a backbeat of reggaeton music (which combines elements of reggae, hip-hop, and salsa), the film has its work cut out.! The genre is little known to much of the film's demographics ! (teenage rs), and Grandberry is likeable, but he's not a convincing leading man. His role requires simmering sexuality; he provides adorableness, but the moviegoer is never convinced that he is anything but a nice boy. Zulay Henao is lovely as Rob's sexy and sweet girlfriend, but the two actors don't share much chemistry. Lopez makes a blink-and-you-miss-it cameo near the end of the movie, which has one misstep too many to be anything more than a guilty pleasure.
--Jae-Ha KimSay "I do" to "madcap comedy" (Box Office) and "exuberant farce" (Film Daily) in this feel-good romp about one groom, two wives and one delightfully daffy honeymoon! Starring Doris Day, James Garner and Polly Bergen, Move Over, Darling is "a funny, funny film!" (Hollywood Citizen News) that's the perfect union of "humor, romance and heart" (The Hollywood Reporter)!
Five years after losing his first wife Ellen (Day) at sea, Nick (Garner) is finally ready to have her declared legally dead, get remarried ! and settle down to a peaceful second marriage! But wedded bliss becomes marital mayhem when Ellen turns up alive -- with a hilarious, hair-brained scheme to win back her husband, put a stop to the honeymoon and give first love a second chance-at happily-ever-after!Doris Day, the perky, chaste adult star of an odd collection of winking 1960s sex comedies, takes the Irene Dunne role in this remake of the comedy classic My Favorite Wife. As the survivor of a five-year ordeal on a desert island, she returns home the very day her husband has remarried. James Garner, trading his Maverick impish humor and con man cool for a mugging performance of double takes and pratfalls, is her overjoyed husband who is too cowardly to tell his neurotic bride (Polly Bergen). All of this, naturally, leads to a ridiculously complicated plot that combines door-slamming sex farce with mistaken identities (Day poses as a Swedish masseuse) and a goofy sped-up car chase. Chuck Connors, wh! o costars as Day's hunky, he-man island mate "Adam," leads a t! opnotch supporting cast that includes sassy Thelma Ritter as Garner's no-nonsense mother, Don Knotts as a nervous shoe salesman enlisted by Day to impersonate Adam, Fred Clark at his indignant best, and John Astin and Pat Harrington in early roles. Edgar Buchanan practically steals the film as a gruff, irascible judge who growls through the legal circus that forms the film's chaotic climax. The cast for the most part rises above the tepid script and bland direction and Day sings two songs. Interestingly, this remake was originally developed for Marilyn Monroe and Dean Martin as the never completed Something's Got to Give. --Sean AxmakerMurder She Said (1961): Margaret Rutherford's debut as Agatha Christie's Miss Marple Murder at the Gallop (1963): Murder and mystery start with a funeral Murder Most Foul (1964): Miss Marple joins a theatrical troupe whose specialty is death scenes. Murder Ahoy (1964): Miss Marple takes the helm in a seagoing whodunitNever mind purists w! ho bemoan Margaret Rutherford's incarnation of Agatha Christie's celebrated spinster sleuth. These four British films, produced between 1961 and 64, are jolly good, regardless of their tenuous connection with Miss Marple as written, or with Christie herself. One of the films, in fact, Murder Ahoy, is an original screenplay credited as "an interpretation of Miss Marple." And two others, Murder at the Gallop and Murder Most Foul were based on books featuring Christie's other famed detective, Hercule Poirot." But no matter. The redoubtable Rutherford indelibly makes Marple her very own, or, as she proclaims to Inspector Craddock (Charles Tingwell), with whom she locks horns throughout all four films, "I am always myself." Rutherford makes a formidable first impression in Murder She Said, based on Christie's 4:50 from Paddington, in which the armchair sleuth goes undercover as a servant after witnessing a murder on a train. In Murder at the! Gallop, based on After the Funeral, where there's ! a will, there's murder. In Murder Ahoy, Marple discovers a ship of thieves. In Murder Most Foul, Marple deadlocks a jury and joins a theatrical troupe to prove the defendant's innocence.
The Marple films are endearingly modest productions, redeemed by peerless performances and mostly sharp scripts. Ron Goodwin's theme music used in all four films is an irresistible piece of '60s symphonic pop that's a classical gas. None of the actors are suspect. Rutherford gets able support from her real-life husband, Stringer Davis, who portrays Marple's Watson-esque sidekick. Venerable character actors Robert Morley and Ron Moody enliven Gallop and Foul, respectively. And in Murder She Said, that's Joan Hickson, who would go on to acclaim as Miss Marple in the celebrated BBC series (also available on DVD). But it's tough to steal a scene from Rutherford, whose Marple displays a keen mind, and, in Ahoy, surprising prowess with a sword! --Donald Li! ebenson
