Ron Howard

CHICAGO – “The Music Man” is alive in a way few Hollywood musicals ever are. Its big numbers often grow organically, allowing melodies to emerge from the rhythm of speech, overlapping action or the seemingly mundane movement of characters across the frame. In the exuberant world of this ageless classic, music is less of a self-conscious construct than an irresistible life force infiltrating the cadence of everyday life.

CHICAGO – “Where were you in ‘62?” was the tagline for the popular 1973 film “American Graffiti.” The Hollywood Celebrities Show had most of the cast there – Cindy Williams, Charles Martin Smith, Paul LeMat and Candy Clark.

CHICAGO – Give Ron Howard an intimate character study like “Frost/Nixon,” and he’ll knock it out of the park. Give him a sprawling plot-driven thriller like…well, let’s face it: anything written by Dan Brown, and he’ll be consumed by the enormity of his subject. Yet while Howard’s “The Da Vinci Code,” failed on a human level, it did succeed in highlighting the tantalizing questions raised by Brown’s text, particularly the implications of historical distortion throughout the centuries. When the characters were allowed to simply analyze the story’s inherent mysteries, the film took flight.

CHICAGO – Just weeks before the opening weekend of Jim Carrey’s new “A Christmas Carol,” Universal has released a Blu-Ray + DVD combo pack of the nearly decade-old “Grinch” remake, featuring Carrey as the infamous Seussian Scrooge. The combination of Carrey’s star power and Theodor Geisel’s beloved source material assured the film’s massive box office success.

CHICAGO – When Marc Fienberg, first time director/writer of ‘Play the Game,’ was casting the role inspired by his grandfather, little did he know he soon would be working with the film and TV legend Andy Griffith.

Rating: 1.5/5.0

CHICAGO – Ron Howard’s “Angels & Demons,” the sequel to “The Da Vinci Code,” is an absolute mess, a film that tries hard to break free from the dull tone of its predecessor but ends up even more ridiculous, frustrating and generally worthless.

Blu-Ray Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGO – One of the biggest movies of the summer is sure to be Ron Howard’s “Angels & Demons,” the sequel to 2006’s massively successful “The Da Vinci Code,” a Tom Hanks film that left most critics cold but ended up making a stunning quarter-of-a-billion dollars worldwide by the time its theatrical run ended. Before you talk to the “Angels & Demons,” catch up on your mythology with “The Da Vinci Code: 2-Disc Extended Cut” on Blu-Ray.

Blu-Ray Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGO – I want to love “Frost/Nixon”. I’m generally forgiving of historical dramas, especially ones that paint Richard Nixon in a bad light. And I think the world of Michael Sheen, Frank Langella, Sam Rockwell, Rebecca Hall, and Oliver Platt. But “Frost/Nixon” is a good movie that was too commonly praised as a great one because of its subject matter and pedigree. Worth a rental? For sure. Worth a purchase or its Best Picture nomination? I don’t think so.

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President-Elect Barack Obama and Michelle Obama at We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration At The Lincoln Memorial presented exclusively by HBO on Sunday January 18th 2009.

CHICAGO – This 39-image slideshow contains a selection of official press images from HBO’s “We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial,” which took place on Sunday, January 18th, 2009 in Washington, DC.

CHICAGO – Peter Morgan’s play “Frost/Nixon” was a searing portrait of two men trying their best to change their image and their future. It was a head-to-head battle between a celebrity interviewer whose reputation was on a steady decline and the man credited with bringing shame to the White House.