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• A contemporary, urban retelling of theic story, Carmen: A Hip Hopera follows the life of a police sergeant whose world is turned upside down when an irresistible woman enters his life. Through song, the star-studded cast tells the tale of their passionate romance and tragic demise. It's Moulin Rouge done hip-hop style!Running Time: 88 min. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: MUSICALS Rating: 

OBSESSED - DVD MovieObsessed is one of those movies best described as “a stylish thriller”: the characters are mostly young and gorgeous, with their white-collar gigs, designer duds, and fancy cars, and if there’s not much of substance to be found beneath those sleek, polished surfaces, well, who says a story must have a message to be entertaining? The comparisons to Fatal Attraction (with its jilted would-be lover going all psycho on the object of her, uh, affections) and Disclosure (with its reverse sexual harassment) are apt enough, but Obsessed is a little different. For starters, unlike the character played by Michael Douglas in Attraction, this film’s Derek Charles (Idris Elba) does little to encourage Lisa Sheridan (Ali Larter), the temp worker at his asset-management firm who gloms onto him like a lamprey sucking on its unwilling host; for another, Derek’s wife, Sharon (Beyonce Knowles), is no wallflower who stands idly and ignorantly by while her life is shredded by her hubby’s evasions and the increasingly crazed tactics of the woman who’s stalking him (it’s to the credit of director Steve Shill and screenwriter David Loughery that nothing whatsoever is made of the fact that Derek is black and Lisa is white). Still, the holes in the plot are big enough to drive several Mercedes sedans through. For one thing, Lisa’s fixation on Derek seems to come out of nowhere (if she has a past, we’re not told about it); w! hat's more, even if Derek has broken his deal with Sharon not ! to have any female assistants (she was once one herself), it seems mighty extreme for her to kick him out of the house for three months simply for not coming completely clean about his mostly-innocent dealings with Lisa. Still, the film manages to make the viewer feel Derek’s helpless desperation at being targeted by this manipulative nut job, and when Sharon finally confronts her family’s tormentor at the end (“You think you’re crazy? I’ll show you crazy!”), the result is silly but somehow satisfying. --Sam GrahamA contemporary, urban retelling of the classic story, Carmen: A Hip Hopera follows the life of a police sergeant whose world is turned upside down when an irresistible woman enters his life. Through song, the star-studded cast tells the tale of their passionate romance and tragic demise. It's Moulin Rouge done hip-hop style! Recasting Bizet's classic opera as a musical tale in the 'hood, Carmen: A Hip Hopera proves that the plot's not t! he thing. By retaining the story but jettisoning Bizet's individual musical numbers that propel the tragedy to its inevitable conclusion, this Carmen founders on familiarity: it's just another soap opera about two lovers whose tryst proves fatal. Occasionally, the music quotes Bizet's famous themes, but most of the rapping and singing sound interchangeable. What makes this Carmen worth seeing, however, is the scintillating performance of Beyoncé Knowles (of the trio Destiny's Child) in the lead role. From her first entrance in a dazzling red gown, Knowles shows off a vibrant, magnetic personality; the camera loves her, as her group's many music videos have shown, but they only hint at how impressively she holds the screen. Can she act? The jury's still out, but Carmen: A Hip Hopera--however disappointing this hybrid is in most ways--showcases a compelling movie-star presence. --Kevin FilipskiA contemporary, urban retelling of the classic story! , Carmen: A Hip Hopera follows the life of a police sergeant w! hose wor ld is turned upside down when an irresistible woman enters his life. Through song, the star-studded cast tells the tale of their passionate romance and tragic demise. It's Moulin Rouge done hip-hop style!

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Recasting Bizet's classic opera as a musical tale in the 'hood, Carmen: A Hip Hopera proves that the plot's not the thing. By retaining the story but jettisoning Bizet's individual musical numbers that propel the tragedy to its inevitable conclusion, this Carmen founders on familiarity: it's just another soap opera about two lovers whose tryst proves fatal. Occasionally, the music quotes Bizet's famous themes, but most of the rapping and singing sound interchangeable. What makes this Carmen worth seeing, however, is the scintillating performance of Beyoncé Knowles (of the trio Destiny's Child) in the lead role. From her first entrance in a dazzling red gown,! Knowles shows off a vibrant, magnetic personality; the camera loves her, as her group's many music videos have shown, but they only hint at how impressively she holds the screen. Can she act? The jury's still out, but Carmen: A Hip Hopera--however disappointing this hybrid is in most ways--showcases a compelling movie-star presence. --Kevin Filipski

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