The Latest on DVD: Desperate Living

This week's new DVD releases:

Featured Titles:

• Desperate Housewives: The Complete Third Season- Highlights include a gun-toting Laurie Metcalf and Dixie Carter as a murderous mommie dearest. Also available in a Spanish version.
• A Special Day- While Mussolini meets Hitler, Sophia Loren bonds with her gay neighbor Marcello Mastroianni (in an Oscar nominated performance).
• Bosom Buddies - The Second Season- Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari are Kip and Henry, a.ka. Buffy and Hildegard, in this cross-dressing sitcom favorite. Also available, along with the first season, in a complete series box set.
• Stranger Than Paradise- Jim Jarmusch’s influential indie gets the Criterion treatment in this two-discer.

What Else is New:

• Georgia Rule- Jane Fonda, Felicity Huffman and the infamous Lindsay Lohan star in this inter-generational dramedy.
• The Wind That Shakes the Barley- Cillian Murphy stars as an Irish freedom fighter.
• Night on Earth- Another Jim Jarmusch classic on the Criterion label, starring Gena Rowlands, Winona Ryder and Rosie Perez.

From the Vaults:

• Alibi- This early Best Picture nominee stars Chester Morris as a prohibition-era gangster accused of killing a policeman.
• Be Yourself!- Fanny Brice stars as a nightclub singer who helps her boxer beau.
• The Lottery Bride- Jeanette MacDonald is caught between two brothers, each vying for her love, in this musical romance.
• Movie Songs Live- TCM's Robert Osbourne hosts a look at your favorite movie music memories, including songs from Grease, Saturday Night Fever and Dirty Dancing.

TV on DVD:

• 30 Rock: Season 1- Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin and Jane Krakowski star in this Emmy-nominated comedic look behind the scenes of a TV show. Also available in two separate volumes.
• The Office: Season 3- Steve Carell stars in another Emmy-nominated, workplace-set comedy.
• Prison Break: Season 2- Hotties Wentworth Miller and Dominic Purcell are cons on the run in this dramatic thriller.
• Nip/Tuck - The Complete Fourth Season- More hotties: Julian McMahon and Dylan Walsh get down and dirty as Miami's best plastic surgeons. Also available in HD-DVD and Blu-ray.
• Dirty Jobs: Collection 1- And the hotness never stops: hunky Mike Rowe hosts this always entertaining look at the worst jobs in the world.
• I Dream of Jeannie - The Fourth Season- Sorry, Larry Hagman and Bill Daily (ew), but the hotness stops there.
• Original Television Christmas Classics Sing-A-Long - And finally, get your Christmas spirit started early with this collection of holiday TV tunes such as my personal faves, "Holly Jolly Christmas" and "Put One Foot in Front of the Other".

Click on the individual links to purchase the DVDs at Amazon.com.

Nothin' But a Hound Dog

It's a lazy Labor Day, but I had to share this adorable video clip that will surely be making the rounds like the 'Dramatic Prairie Dog' and the "Thriller" dancing prisoners.

Although it has nothing to do with movies, it did remind me of Copper ("I'm a hound dog!") from Disney's The Fox and the Hound. And it' just so darn cute. Enjoy!

Link via YouTube.com and Imdb.com.

Cinematic Crush: Clive Owen

A consummate dramatic actor who nevertheless has no qualms with taking on more action-orientated roles, Clive Owen has caught our collective eye on more then one occasion, and not just for his smoldering good looks.

Owen first drew critically attention for his impressive lead performances in Bent (playing a gay Nazi concentration camp prisoner) and Croupier, and he stood out in the crowd that was Gosford Park. Starring roles followed in two films (Beyond Borders, with Angelina Jolie, and King Arthur) that, although they ended up failing at the box office, did up his profile enough for him to be on the shortlist to replace Pierce Brosnan as super spy James Bond.

We all know that didn't happen, but Owen found consolation when he won the Golden Globe and BAFTA awards, plus an Oscar nomination, for Mike Nichols' Closer. Owen pretty much stole that movie away from stars Julia Roberts and Jude Law, as he later did to Denzel Washington in Inside Man. Before that one, though, he went badass in the graphic novel-brought-to-life Sin City; he'll reprise his role in the sequel (when/if it is ever made).

Last year, Owen turned in his finest performance to date as the reluctant hero of Children of Men. His Theo is a character whose haunted past simmers just below the surface; you can see it clouding his eyes. He aches for redemption, yet is afraid of it; every movement, every gesture that he makes is racked with the guilt of loss and lost opportunities.

Owen's next two films show further proof of his range: first, he'll be seen in another shoot 'em up role in the appropriately titled Shoot 'Em Up (opening this Friday); next, he'll don the period attire of Sir Walter Raleigh in the historical epic Elizabeth: The Golden Age. No matter the role, we'll still keep an eye on him.

Click here for Owen's recent interview with Details Magazine.

Links via Imdb.com and Men.Style.com.

The Latest on TV: Oscar Wild

Notable movies and other programs on TV for Monday September 3 to Sunday September 9:

Turner Classic Movies will run a mini-marathon of movies on Saturday based on the works of Oscar Wilde, including The Importance of Being Earnest, An Ideal Husband and The Picture of Dorian Gray. Meanwhile, Stephen Fry stars as Wilde himself on LOGO Wednesday.

TCM will air a 24-hour tribute to the Telluride Film Festival Monday, with films ranging from 1941's Babes on Broadway to 1965's Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!

Plus, each Tuesday this month TCM will present the movies that made our favorite stars, well, stars. This week's spotlight shines on the breakthrough roles of Greta Garbo, Elizabeth Taylor, Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers, Rita Hayworth and Rosalind Russell.

Also on LOGO, Daphne Du Maurier, the author of Rebecca and The Birds, gets the biopic treatment in the TV movie Daphne, airing Tuesday. The channel explores the Butch Mystique of African-American lesbians in a documentary on Saturday, followed by Rock the Boat, another doc centering on 11 HIV-positive sailors in a 2200-mile yacht race.

AMC kicks off the month with a John Wayne marathon Monday, airing such classics as Sands of Iwo Jima, The Quiet Man and Rio Bravo. Saturday on the channel brings an hour-long Backstory of Halloween, while Sunday has another edition of Movies That Shook the World.

And finally: Fox Movie Channel will air the Oscar-winning Cavalcade (not on DVD) on Thursday, and Friday's "Fox Legacy" takes a look at Tom Hanks' Big.

Click on the network links to find the show times in your area. All programming is subject to change.

Links via TCM.com, LOGOOnline.com, TellurideFilmFestival.com, AMCTV.com and FoxMovieChannel.com.

Back to School

The leaves are changing, signaling the arrival of autumn, which means a return to school for students of all ages.

However, for those of us who's school days are but a distant memory, we are left to await the imminent arrival of High School Musical 2 on DVD (and Blu-ray!) and pray that Zac and Vanessa will return for the big screen sequel.

High School Musical 3 will reportedly show all the events of the East High Wildcats' senior year, such as prom and graduation and ... maybe even the actual high school musical! In the meantime, we can bide our time with our favorite pastime: looking at pictures of Zac Efron! (UPDATE: And here's some more!)

Or if you like your high school movies with more of a retro feel, head over to Moviefone to peruse their list of the best in the genre, topped by Ferris Bueller's Day Off, which may actually be getting that long-rumored sequel after all these years. "Save Ferris" indeed.

Click here to pre-order High School Musical 2on DVD and Blu-ray from Amazon.com.
Links via TVGuideOnline.com, MSNBC.msn.com, DotSpotter.com, Televisionista.blogspot.com, Movies.AOL.com and Blogs.TampaBay.com.

Oh, Mamma Mia!

This week's From Screen to Stage kicks off with two of the biggest mothers to hit Broadway:

- Yes, that is the first look at Meryl Streep in the upcoming movie version of Mamma Mia! As for the other "mamma" pictured? It is none other then Michael Ball as Edna Turnblad in the long-awaited London production of Hairspray.

Speaking of Hairspray, the tuner just celebrated its fifth anniversary on the Great White Way, and current Corny Collins Lance Bass will host the annual "Broadway on Broadway" concert in Times Square.

- After Variety chipped in with its two-cents, the sharks (namely, the New York Post) started circling Disney's The Little Mermaid.

- Elsewhere on the road to New York, Young Frankenstein gets some love from the Seattle Gay News prior to closing its pre-Broadway run.

- In tour news, Chicago ends its long trek as The Wedding Singer begins theirs; and legendary movie muse Marni Nixon joins My Fair Lady.

- Broadway.com shines the spotlight on three recent hits: Legally Blonde, The Lion King and Monty Python's Spamalot.

- Can't make it to New York to see Cheyenne Jackson and Kerry Butler in Xanadu? BroadwayWorld.com has an exclusive video preview just for you.

- Start that clock: Dolly Parton herself says the 9 to 5 musical will hit Broadway in 2009.

- Harvey Fierstein talks all about his Catered Affair.

- Everyone's favorite 70's sitcom neighbor Valerie Harper stars in the movie adaptation of Golda's Balcony.

- All About My Mother premieres in London, while the American musical Chaplin finds new life elsewhere in England. Plus: is it rumor or real -- a Harry Potter musical to fly onto the West End?

- In the works: stage musical versions of The Three Musketeers, Mask (the Cher movie, not the Jim Carrey one), To Kill a Mockingbird and The Grapes of Wrath, which is actually an opera.

- And finally: The latest incarnation of Forbidden Broadway (the twenty-fifth!), subtitled Rude Awakening, is now up and running, complete with spoofs of Grey Gardens, Mary Poppins, Legally Blonde and (easy target) Grease: You're The One That We Want.

Links via USAToday.com, MichaelBall.co.uk, Playbill.com, Variety.com, NYPost.com, SGN.org, Broadway.com, BroadwayWorld.com, SundayMirror.co.uk and Imdb.com.

Potent Quotables: Beverly Sutphin on Seasonal Fashion

In honor of the Labor Day weekend, this timely quote from John Waters' Serial Mom:

[Juror #8 (Patricia Hearst) is talking on a payphone, when Beverly Sutphin (Kathleen Turner) comes from behind and grabs the phone from her.]

Beverly Sutphin: You can't wear white after Labor Day!
Juror #8: That's not true anymore.
Beverly Sutphin: Yes it is! Didn't your mother tell you? [She smacks her in the face with the phone.]
Juror #8: No! Please! Fashion has changed!
Beverly Sutphin: No ... it hasn't. [She hits her again.]

Click here to purchase Serial Momon DVD from Amazon.com.
Link via Imdb.com.