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Starring: Kherington Payne, Anna Maria Perez de Tagle
Director: Kevin Tancharoen
Category: Music & Musicals
Rated: PG

“Fame” soars even higher with the Extended Dance Edition of the film, featuring over 15 minutes of thrilling dance footage you couldn’t see in theaters! Passions will be tested. Hearts will be broken. Talent, dedication and hard work will triumph! “Fame” is the inspiring story of a group of dancers, singers, musicians and actors at the New York City High School of Performing Arts, and their spirited drive to live out their dreams of stardom. In an incredibly competitive atmosphere, each student must shine amidst the tumult of school work, deep friendships, budding romance and self-discovery. Debbie Allen, Charles S. Dutton, Kelsey Grammer, Megan Mullally and Bebe Neuwirth co-star along side a group of gifted young performers in this soaring reinvention of the Oscar winning hit film.(Publisher)

Summary of critic reviews:

Chicago Tribune: **1/2 (out of four)
USA Today: ** (out of four)

Overall: **1/2 (out of four)

Starring: Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan
Director: Phyllida Lloyd
Category: Music & Musicals
Rated: PG-13

Join the music, laughter and fun of the irresistibly charming “Mamma Mia! The Movie”. Academy Award-winner Meryl Streep leads an all-star cast, including Pierce Brosnan and Stellan Skarsgard – as well as up-and-comers Amanda Seyfried and Dominic Cooper in this musical celebration of mothers, daughters and fathers, true love’s lost and new one’s found. Based on the Broadway smash-hit and filled with ABBA Songs you know and love, it’s the feel-good experience that will have you singing and dancing over and over again. (Publisher)

Summary of critic reviews:

Chicago Tribune: ** (out of four)
New York Post: *** (out of four)
Rolling Stone: ** (out of four)
USA Today: *** (out of four)

Overall: **1/2 (out of four)

Starring: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards
Director: Martin Scorsese, Albert Maysles
Category: Music & Musicals
Rated: PG-13

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Martin Scorsese and the world’s greatest rock n’ roll band, The Rolling Stones, unite to bring audiences the year’s most extraordinary film event, “Shine A Light.” With special appearances by Christina Aguilera, Jack White and Buddy Guy, and four Rolling Stones performances not seen in theaters, “Shine A Light” is a must-own for rock n’ roll fans across generations. (Publisher)

Summary of critic reviews:

Chicago Tribune: ***1/2 (out of four)
USA Today: ***1/2 (out of four)

Overall: ***1/2 (out of four)

Starring: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter
Director: Tim Burton
Category: Music & Musicals
Rated: R

Johnny Depp and Tim Burton join forces again in a big-screen adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s award-winning musical thriller “Sweeney Todd.” Depp stars in the title role as a man unjustly sent to prison who vows revenge, not only for that cruel punishment, but for the devastating consequences of what happened to his wife and daughter. When he returns to reopen his barber shop, Sweeney Todd becomes the Demon Barber of Fleet Street who “shaved the heads of gentlemen who never thereafter were heard from again.” Joining Depp is Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Lovett, Sweeney’s amorous accomplice, who creates diabolical meat pies. The cast also includes Alan Rickman, who portrays the evil Judge Turpin, who sends Sweeney to prison and Timothy Spall as the Judge’s wicked associate Beadle Bamford and Sacha Baron Cohen is a rival barber, the flamboyant Signor Adolfo Pirelli. (Publisher)

Summary of critic reviews:

Chicago Tribune: ***1/2 (out of four)
New York Post: ***1/2 (out of four)
Rolling Stone: ***1/2 (out of four)
USA Today: ***1/2 (out of four)

Overall: ***1/2 (out of four)

Starring: Evan Rachel Wood, T.V. Carpio
Director: Julie Taymor
Category: Music & Musicals
Rated: PG-13

“Across The Universe,” from director Julie Taymor, is a revolutionary rock musical that re-imagines America in the turbulent late-1960s, a time when battle lines were being drawn at home and abroad. When young dockworker Jude (Jim Sturgess) leaves Liverpool to find his estranged father in America, he is swept up by the waves of change that are re-shaping the nation. Jude falls in love with Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood), a rich but sheltered American girl who joins the growing anti-war movement in New York’s Greenwich Village. As the body count in Vietnam rises, political tensions at home spiral out of control and the star-crossed lovers find themselves in a psychedelic world gone mad. With a cameo by Bono, “Across The Universe” is “the kind of movie you watch again, like listening to a favorite album.” (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times). (Publisher)

Summary of critic reviews:

Chicago Tribune: *** (out of four)
New York Post: **1/2 (out of four)
Rolling Stone: **1/2 (out of four)

Overall: **1/2 (out of four)