Can't believe that we forgot this piece of news. Universal Pictures recently announced the home video release of "Les Miserables" The film was recently nominated for eight Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, Best Actor (Hugh Jackman) and Best Supporting Actress (Anne Hathaway).

Special Features on the DVD and Blu-Ray includes Feature Commentary with Director Tom Hooper, The Stars of Les Miserables, Creating the Perfect Paris and The Original Masterwork: Victor Hugo 's Les Miserables. Also included on the Blu-Ray, Les Miserables Singing Live, The West End Connection and Les Miserables on Location. "Les Miserables" hits DVD and BLu-Ray on March 22nd.

Press Release:

The sweeping and spectacular musical extravaganza Les Miserables has been seen by more than 60 million people in 42 countries around the globe. Now the motion picture adaptation that grossed more than $340 million worldwide arrives on Blu-ray™ Combo Pack, DVD and On Demand on March 22, 2013, from Universal Studios Home Entertainment. Critically acclaimed and star-studded, Les Miserables is a stunningly realized interpretation of Victor Hugo 's epic tale of broken dreams, passion, sacrifice and redemption – a timeless testament to the endurance of the human spirit. This Golden Globe®-winning cinematic event can now be experienced over and over again on Blu-ray™ Combo Pack and DVD with more than an hour of bonus features including cast interviews. Additionally, the Blu-ray™ Combo Pack is loaded with an extra 45 minutes of exclusive content taking viewers behind the scenes of the groundbreaking production for an unmatched entertainment experience.

Directed by Academy Award® winner Tom Hooper (The King's Speech), Les Miserables features an all-star cast including Golden Globe® winner Hugh Jackman (X-Men Origins: Wolverine, The Prestige), Oscar® winner Russell Crowe (Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind), Golden Globe® winner Anne Hathaway (The Dark Knight Rises, The Devil Wears Prada), Amanda Seyfried (Mamma Mia!, Dear John), Eddie Redmayne (My Week With Marilyn, The Other Boleyn Girl), Helena Bonham Carter ( Harry Potter series, Sweeney Todd), Golden Globe® winner Sacha Baron Cohen (Hugo, Borat) and newcomer Samantha Barks .

Compelling and poignant, Les Miserables has earned kudos from critics around the world, including Vogue's Adam Green , who describes it as "a spectacular achievement" and Deadline.com's Pete Hammond , who calls it "remarkably entertaining and powerful" and praises its "stunning imagery and performance." Les Miserables dominated the 2013 awards season, garnering eight Academy Award® nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress, and sweeping the Golden Globes with awards for Jackman, and Hathaway, as well as the prize for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.

The Blu-ray™ Combo Pack allows consumers to view Les Miserables anytime, anywhere on the platform of their choice. It includes a Blu-ray™ disc, a DVD, a Digital Copy and

UltraViolet™ for the ultimate, complete viewing experience.

Blu-ray™ disc unleashes the power of your HDTV and is the best way to watch movies at home, featuring perfect hi-def picture and hi-def sound.
DVD offers the flexibility and convenience of playing movies in more places, both at home and away.

Digital Copy provides consumers with a choice of formats from a variety of partners, including options to watch on iPhone®, Android™, computers and more.

UltraViolet™ is a revolutionary new way for consumers to collect their movies and TV shows in the cloud. UltraViolet™ lets consumers instantly stream and download to tablets, smartphones, computers and TVs. Now available in both the United States and Canada.

Bonus Features Exclusive to the Blu-rayTM

Les Miserables Singing Live: The star-studded cast and production team discuss how the daunting challenge of singing live rather than lip-syncing to pre-recorded tracks ultimately gave them the creative freedom to deliver nuanced, emotionally powerful performances.
Battle at the Barricade: Director Tom Hooper wanted the dramatic building of the barricade to be as visceral and intense as possible, so he had his actors build it in real time, literally hurling furniture out of windows to construct an actual barricade. This featurette takes an in-depth look at the creation and filming of all the action on this remarkable set.

The West End Connection: Meet the "godfather" of the original stage production of Les Miserables, renowned West End producer Cameron Mackintosh , who was deeply involved in the filming, as well as former Les Mis erables, theatrical stars who were thrilled to appear in supporting roles in the current film.

Les Miserables on Location: Filming rather than staging Les Miserables presents the opportunity to shoot in real world locations: a massive dry dock on the coast of England, a beautiful underground chapel in the heart of London and the ancient city of Winchester. Members of the cast and crew talk about what it was like to find and work in these incredible locations.

Bonus Features on Both the Blu-rayTM and DVD

The Stars of Les Miserables: Director Tom Hooper talks about casting the iconic characters, and the actors discuss why it was important to them to be a part of this groundbreaking version of Les Mis erables.

Creating the Perfect Paris: Production designer Eve Stewart created a massive Paris set featuring real cobblestones and running water. Take an intricate look into the detailed recreation of these Paris streets that no longer exist in today's world.

The Original Masterwork: Victor Hugo 's Les Miserables: This mini-documentary takes a look at the historical backdrop and universal themes of Hugo's classic, and how the filmmakers mined the novel to enrich the look and feel of the film.

Feature Commentary with Director Tom Hooper

SYNOPSIS

Hugh Jackman , Academy Award® winner Russell Crowe and Anne Hathaway star in this critically acclaimed adaptation of the epic musical phenomenon. Set against the backdrop of 19th-century France, Les Miserables tells the story of ex-prisoner Jean Valjean (Jackman), hunted for decades by the ruthless policeman Javert (Crowe), after he breaks parole. When Valjean agrees to care for factory worker Fantine's (Hathaway) young daughter, Cosette, their lives change forever. This enthralling story is a timeless testament to the survival of the human spirit and "an unforgettable experience" ( Richard Roeper , RichardRoeper.com).

With “The Dark Knight Rises,” filmmaker Christopher Nolan has completed one of the greatest trilogies in cinematic history. It is a thrilling spectacle with tremendous emotional power, and I came out of it not just fulfilled but quite shaken. Regardless of whatever plot holes this movie may have or if it has one too many characters to deal with, it is still fucking brilliant like its predecessors!

Now I’ll give you more or less a brief outline of “The Dark Knight Rises” without giving away major plot points. I know you all have been seriously pissed about reviewers ruining the movie for you like Homer Simpson ruined “The Empire Strikes Back” for a crowd waiting to see it outside a Springfield movie theater during an episode of “The Simpsons,” and I wouldn’t dare to do the same thing here.

Basically, eight years have passed since Batman/Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) took the fall for Harvey Dent’s death in order to hide the murders he committed. Since then, Gotham has entered a time of peace and prosperity, all of which is based on a lie. Enter Bane (Tom Hardy), a brutal and methodical terrorist who plans to reduce Gotham to ashes slowly but surely. This brings Batman out of hiding, but he also has to deal with cat burglar Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway) who catches him off guard, a beautiful corporate executive named Miranda Tate (Marion Cotillard), and the idealistic young cop John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) whose “hot head” ways makes him much smarter than his fellow officers. So that’s it for the movie’s story.

Actually, to go into full detail over the plot of “The Dark Knight Rises” would take forever as it goes in various directions to where seeing it once is not enough to take everything in. Nolan has said that part of his inspiration for this film was Charles Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities” which is known for this famous quote:

“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.”

Now while that quote is never spoken in “The Dark Knight Rises,” it never needs to be. Nolan is fascinated with how the lie over Harvey Dent’s death and actions has helped Gotham while at the same time turned it into a prison state where freedoms are eroded. It also parallels current events in the real world by taking into account the continuing gap between the rich and the poor and how people will go out of their way to manipulate the collective anger regarding it. This movie is of course a huge action spectacle, but it has a lot of things to say about the world we live in today which makes it all the more powerful.

Many have been calling this the “darkest” Batman movie of them all, as if the two which came before it were like a sunny paradise in the realm of “Batman & Robin” (they most certainly were not). But while the movie is indeed a dark vision of a city under siege, it also has a strong ray of hope emanating from it. Bruce Wayne has always wanted to hold Batman up as a symbol to inspire people, and you revel in seeing the impact he ends up having on the characters around him.

People have also been saying that Nolan has put far too many characters into this one movie. Newsflash, Nolan has done that with each of his “Batman” movies, but what truly amazes me is how he has gotten with doing so each time. Every single character in “The Dark Knight Rises,” from Matthew Modine’s bone-headed Deputy Commissioner Peter Foley to Ben Mendelsohn’s greedy businessman John Daggett, informs the movie’s main characters and overall themes throughout. Not a single one of them feels extraneous to the plot or subplots as each illustrates examples of justice and personal responsibility and of how easily misconstrued they can end up being.

Christian Bale completes his tour of duty as Batman with a deeply felt performance. In many ways, “The Dark Knight Rises” is more about the rise of Bruce Wayne than anything else as he is forced to deal with who he is than what his alter ego can do. This character is now endowed with super powers the way Spider-Man and Superman are, and this movie renders him all the more vulnerably human as he starts off walking with a cane and dealing with injuries that are not easily healed. It’s those human flaws however that make Bale’s portrayal of Bruce Wayne all the more powerful and enthralling.

With Bane, Nolan has fashioned a villain that’s far different from Heath Ledger’s Joker which was a smart move. While the Joker was far more desirous of watching the world burn, Bane simply wants it to suffer right down to its dying breath. With Tom Hardy, Nolan has found the perfect actor to portray him as he brings to life Bane’s twisted code of ethics and his utter brutality which allows him to batter his helpless opponents with sheer efficiency. Thanks to Hardy, Bane proves to be Batman’s most formidable foe yet.

As for Anne Hathaway, she is excellent as the character known as Catwoman but who is never actually called Catwoman in “The Dark Knight Rises.” Her portrayal of Selina Kyle never invites easy comparison with the actresses who played her in the past as her version exists in the world of realism created by Nolan. Hathaway succeeds in giving this movie the feeling of exuberance and fun it needs from time to time, and she more than holds her own against acting heavyweights like Bale and Hardy. But then again, this should be no surprise to those who remember her Oscar nominated performance in “Rachel Getting Married.”

And of course you have the usual cast of supporting characters played by Sir Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, and Gary Oldman. All of them are fantastic as always and give this movie the emotional heft it calls for throughout. We also get a great bunch of franchise newcomers like Joseph Gordon-Levitt who is sensational as the intelligent John Blake, and Marion Cotillard who radiates both beauty and mystery as Miranda Tate.

Technically, “The Dark Knight Rises” looks flawless with cinematographer Wally Pfister capturing the dark corruption consuming the citizens of Gotham which they are forced and inspired to rise out of. And with Hans Zimmer (minus James Newton Howard this time around), we get another rousing and thrilling music score which keeps our adrenaline pumping along with movie’s thrilling action set pieces.

Yes, the movie has some plot holes which I’m sure you will discover for yourself. None of them however were enough to derail my enjoyment of this awesome spectacle Nolan and company have put together. I’m not sure where I would rate this in the series, but while it doesn’t best “The Dark Knight,” it still comes very close to doing so and continues Christopher Nolan’s reign one of the best movie directors working today. I don’t think I am overreacting in the least when I declare “The Dark Knight Rises” to be a fucking brilliant motion picture.

Oh yes, some will say that the movie’s final scenes seem to spell out a potential new direction for the franchise to take as if it were a set up for a sequel. I’d like to think it speaks to the influence Batman hoped to have on the citizens of Gotham, to inspire them to do good. Thanks to Nolan, Batman is a hero we can appreciate and applaud.

* * * * out of * * * *  

I am not the kind of woman who spent her childhood dreaming of and planning for her wedding. Nor do I understand the compulsion to do so. However, I can understand the desire to want something the way you want it. “Bride Wars” is the story of two women who want what they want, it just happens to be the exact same thing.

Good friends Emma and Liv have dreamed of their wedding day since they were children. They both want a June wedding at the Plaza and when both are proposed to in the Winter, they both rush to the wedding planner of their dreams. After learning there are a handful of spots open for June weddings at the Plaza, the two best friends rejoice in their good luck, and reserve their dates. This bliss is short lived when they soon learn that the dates have been mixed up, and they both are booked for the same date at the Plaza in June. Neither wants to move their wedding, and neither is willing to give in to the other. After all their years of friendship, this is the line that neither of them can keep themselves from crossing. Each one rachets up the foul play on each other’s wedding plans, while all their friends and family watch from the sidelines shaking their heads.

What I liked about this movie is that their friends and family did not get involved in the antics. No one took sides. The fight was between these two best friends and no one else. This movie could have easily veered off into slapstick joylessness, but it managed to stay on track thanks to the emotional grounding of the friends and families of the two women. That said, this movie still had its share of issues. The laughs were relatively few, and the predictability was fairly high. Anne Hathaway had some decent comic chops, but Kate Hudson still leaves me a bit cold. Although this was her best work in a long time, that does not say much. I was however pleased by the fact that the older Kate gets, the more she looks like her mother Goldie. Now if only she can get her comic chops in order and pick some decent scripts, maybe I wouldn’t groan every time I see a movie trailer with her in it.

There isn’t a lot to love here, but there isn’t much to revile either. This is the kind of movie one sees on Lifetime or on TBS on a Saturday afternoon and somehow manages to leave playing in the background why you mop the kitchen floor. It is kind of a marshmallow picture; sweet and spongy and you are not sure if you like it or not because it isn’t quite satisfying. However, for those who like chick flicks, and for those who have girlfriends and dreams of perfect weddings, this probably is the movie for you. I personally don’t get the madness, but then again, I am the kind of girl who raced home from the movies to watch football.

“a wild eyed child of the sun
and right as rain, i'm not the same but
i feel the same, i feel nothing
holding back the fool again
holding back the fool pretends
i forget to forget nothing is important
holding back the fool again”

-“To Forgive” by the Smashing Pumpkins

Reviewer’s note: I always thought that “forget to forget” was actually “forget to forgive.”

One thing I have discovered about life is that it is really easy to hate someone or be angry at them. As negative emotion as it is, there is some powerful feeling from it that really makes you feel alive. At the same time, it is much harder to forgive that person for what they have done to you. You get so sick of someone getting the best of you that you desperately don’t want to look like the fool. But at that point, what should become clear is that one person you really need to forgive most is yourself. That is even harder than forgiving someone else, but it is necessary so that you don’t sink into the hideous swamp of bitterness that eats you up inside.

But can you forgive yourself when you have done something horrible, and can you wipe away the cloud that hangs over your existence and of what you have done? I would like to believe the answer is yes, but that can be easier said than done.

“Rachel Getting Married” is a movie about forgiveness, and the rough road people travel to get to it. It is also a movie about family and togetherness, and the joy of life. It almost moved me to tears the same way “Lars and the Real Girl” did a year ago as it deals with the saddest of things while surrounding itself in an atmosphere of love and much needed togetherness. This is one of Jonathan Demme’s best movies, and it is one of the very best movies that I have seen so far in 2008. I really loved this movie and found myself wanting to hug many of its characters. It is a movie of raw emotions, and I love seeing movies with that kind of power every once in a while.

Anne Hathaway gives a phenomenal performance here as Kym, the wild child of a Connecticut family who has just gotten out of rehab for the umpteenth time, and is headed off back home to attend the wedding of her sister Rachel. It doesn’t take long to get an idea of how much of a “bad egg” she seems like to just about everyone around her. As she goes into a convenience store to get a Pepsi, the female cashier behind the counter says:

“Didn’t I see you on ‘Cops?’ ”

Kym is a full blown drug addict and has been for many years, so while her family is happy to see her again, there are also some deep buried emotions that are just simmering below the surface just waiting to come out into the open. We feel that tension from the very start of the movie, and it is illustrated in Anne Hathaway’s face as we see her feeling like the odd man out at a party. While everyone is happy for the bride and groom, she is sullen and lost in a moment she cannot escape from. As the movie goes on, we come to see the reason for her self-destructive behavior and why she acts the way she does. I will not mention what that reason is in this review, as it might take away from the emotional impact you will get from watching this movie.

This movie feels a lot different from many other movies that Jonathan Demme has made in the last few years. He filmed the movie with high definition cameras to capture the movie on a more intimate level, and it feels like he really let the actors loose on the movie they were in. It is handheld camerawork going on here, so this will probably drive those who couldn’t stand all the shaky camerawork in movies like “The Bourne Ultimatum” or “Cloverfield” among others. While some people may experience motion sickness from this (better take some medicine before going to the theater), I had no problem with it. I felt it helped illustrate the emotionally fragile ground all the characters are walking over, and how easily it could come tumbling down.

What makes Demme’s direction so great in this movie is how he makes us feel like we really are attending the wedding with these characters and sharing in the joys and sorrows of everyone involved. These families feel so real, and it is so great to see no Hollywood artifice on display here. There have been so many big Hollywood movies dealing with families and marriage, and I find myself increasingly avoiding them. But the actions in these movies never for once felt staged, and I loved that. Everyone in this movie feels like people we know from our own lives, and it connects us all the more strongly to what they go through.

“Rachel Getting Married” also, like all of Demme’s movies, has a very eclectic mix of music in it from offbeat to music from other countries. As a result, his movies don’t just have his own signature look, but their own significant sound. One character makes beautiful use of a Neil Young song as he sings it to another person. The audience I saw this with at Landmark Theaters in west Los Angeles was as silent as were the characters when that song was sang.

I also loved how the soon to be married couple is an interracial couple, and no one ever brings that up at all. I guess none of the characters see it as an issue worth discussing. Hallelujah!

The script was by Jenny Lumet, and yes, she is Sidney Lumet’s daughter, but let’s put that to the side for now. She gives her characters a vibrancy that elevates it from the kind of couple we can usually expect to see in these movies. Like I said, all the characters here feel very real, and that is in large part thanks to Lumet’s script which treads familiar scenarios and storylines of the addict trying to go straight, yet finds its own voice and way of saying things.

Demme always seems to bring out in all the actors he has ever worked with in his long career. There are many great performances to be had here, not just Anne Hathaway’s. Rosemarie DeWitt plays Rachel, and she is a wonderful and real presence to be had in this movie. She goes from being so happy to seeing her sister Kym to being utterly exasperated and strung out that she is at home. It is clear that Rachel wants Kym to be well, but she worries that she will ruin the wedding in one way or another. Both Anne and Rosemarie work really well off of each other as two sisters desperate to connect with one another despite the emotional damage between the two of them. There’s a touching moment where Kym comes back from a rough night, and Rachel washes her clean in the shower as if she is washing her sins down the drain.

I also really liked Bill Irwin as Paul, Kym and Rachel’s dad who is so happy to see his daughters under one roof, while at the same time harboring scars that will never quite heal. We also have Debra Winger, an actress we don’t see much of these days as the girls’ mother, Abby. She has great scenes with both daughters as she allows us to see beneath her seemingly calm exterior to see the distrust she has for Kym after all this time. The big scene between Anne Hathaway and Debra Wagner where the truth comes to a head is riveting and painfully raw as they each try to come to grips with what has happened to them that keeps them apart emotionally.

But let’s stop singling out individual performances for now. This movie is not just a triumph of acting, but of writing and direction. All three elements come together to create a powerfully moving film about the flawed and fragile nature of humanity, and of the struggle for forgiveness. The movie has a very improvisatory feel to it, and despite the serious nature of the film, you cannot help but feel that everyone had such a great time being in it. You feel like you are with these families every step of the way, and you revel in their celebration of the families coming together as one. The reception near the end of the movie is one of ecstatic joy and happiness, even while some have wounds that take away from the event a little.

But the person who carries this movie from beginning to end is Anne Hathaway. Many see this as her escape from those “Princess Diaries” movies and to rid herself of that ever so clean image we have of her. Truth be told, she has been doing that for a while already with movies like “Brokeback Mountain” and “Havoc” among others. All that Oscar talk she has been getting for her work in this movie is justified. Kym is not always a likable character, but Anne gives her a heart and soul and makes you care deeply about Kym all the way through. The moments where Anne does not say a word, her face does the acting and reveals a very uncomfortable soul trying to fit in to a place that was once her home. Anne does very brave and amazing work here, and she proves to be a dramatic force to be reckoned with.

“Rachel Getting Married” further shows how brilliant Jonathan Demme is in getting to the humanity of all the characters he observes. There is not one moment that is faked in this movie, and this movie never really falls victim to any sort of cliché that could tear a movie like this apart. This is another one of those movies that you don’t watch as much as experience. The movie is both an uplifting and heartbreaking experience, and one of the very best films I have seen in 2008.

**** out of ****