Kevin's September '11 Digital Week III

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Tuesday, 20 September 2011 07:00

Written by Kevin Filipski

Blu-rays of the Week
The Big Bang Theory: Season 4 (Warners) and Sanctuary: Season 3 (MPI)
The Big Bang Theory, about the relationships between nerdy brainiacs and a brainless beauty, gets comic mileage from its central trio: Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons and underrated comedienne Kaley Cuoco. Sanctuary, about a scientific team tracking down and studying terrifying creatures, balances small-scale stories with extravagant visual effects.

Both series (especially Sanctuary’s elegantly weird visuals) gain immeasurably from Blu-ray’s higher resolution; Theory bonuses include cast interviews and a gag reel, while Sanctuary bonuses include featurettes about the cast, music, effects and creators.

Citizen Kane (Warners)
Rightly celebrated as The Great American Movie, Orson Welles’ towering debut remains a remarkable achievement, with an innovative narrative structure that still works strongly 70 years later. And the sterling Blu-ray transfer only enhances Gregg Toland’s lustrous B&W compositions, as well as throwing Welles’ youthful genius into sharp relief: he never topped himself in the next 40+ years of making (or trying to make) movies.

Warners’ anniversary edition includes extras like the controversial documentary The Battle Over Citizen Kane, an HBO movie, RKO 281, based on the documentary, Roger Ebert and Peter Bogdanovich commentaries and featurettes.

Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop (Magnolia)

How much you enjoy this record of Conan O’Brien’s post-Tonight Show firing North American comedy tour will depend on your allegiance to the talk-show host: simply put, if you’re a rabid Coco fan, you don’t need to be told to watch this pleasant if inconsequential documentary; if you’re not, you won’t become a fan after watching it.

The movie’s guerrilla shooting style and talking heads interviews don’t look appreciably better on hi-def; extras include additional footage, an O’Brien interview and commentary.

Henry’s Crime (Fox)
Set in a drably working-class Buffalo (with the Tarrytown Music Hall in Tarrytown standing in for an intimate local theater), this unassuming, ultimately innocuous comic drama is about a quiet man, after serving time for a crime he didn’t commit, falls in love with a local actress and sets about planning a heist with the hardened criminal with whom he shared a cell.

Keane Reeves is too wooden in the lead but Vera Farmiga and James Cann lend color as the actress and partner in crime, respectively. Director Malcolm Venville’s dull color palette is recreated faithfully on Blu-ray; there are no extras.

Last Night (Miramax/Echo Bridge)
Movies don’t get much more glamorous than Massy Tadjedin’s sophisticated-looking but superficial examination of a couple dealing with temptations of both flesh and spirit. Keira Knightley (never more ravishing) and Sam Worthington (without Avatar’s blue pigment) are the couple.

That Sam has the chance to cheat with the equally gorgeous Eva Mendes makes his predicament even more difficult. A listless Guillaume Canet rounds out the quartet. Glitzy shots of Manhattan look stunning on Blu-ray; no extras.

Meek’s Cutoff (Oscilloscope)
Kelly Reichert’s minimalist western about lost settlers on the Oregon Trail in 1845 turning to a captured Indian to lead them to desperately-needed water is nicely shot (in academy ratio) by cinematographer Chris Blauvelt but puts its characters through predictable paces.

The cast is part authentic (Michelle Williams, Will Patton, Bruce Greenwood), part disastrously contemporary (Paul Dano, Zoe Kazan). Reichert’s effective editing keeps one hopeful about the outcome of what, disappointingly, turns out to be a shaggy-dog allegory about Presidents Bush and Obama. The film does have a glorious hi-def transfer; the lone extra is a making-of documentary.

3 Women (Criterion)
Robert Altman’s dreamscape, while not a direct rip-off of Persona, is so influenced by Ingmar Bergman’s superior character study that it makes one wince while watching it.

Still, for all its half-baked ideas and dime-store psychology, Altman’s visual sense and superb actresses (Sissy Spacek and Shelley Duvall, both never better) keep interest, no matter how silly his antagonists become. The Criterion Collection’s Blu-ray transfer gives this 1977 drama an appropriately grainy look; Altman’s enlightening commentary is included.

X-Men: First Class (Fox)
Matthew Vaughn’s prequel to the smash hit movie franchise introduces several mutant characters in a convoluted plot tying their coming-of-age exploits alongside the tense world situation between the two superpowers in 1961: but combining the Cuban missile crisis with comic book silliness is a waste of (overlong) storytelling.

The performers, from Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy to January Jones, Rose Byrne and Jennifer Lawrence, do their best but are outclassed by CGI effects and makeup, all looking superb on Blu-ray; extras include a making-of documentary and deleted and extended scenes.

DVDs of the Week
Bill Cunningham New York (Zeitgeist)
This engaging chronicle of the New York Times’ legendary photographer shows Bill Cunningham’s unique take on both his work and navigating the busy New York City streets for decades.

Cunningham comes off as eccentric but appealing, and his photographs--which are still being published every Sunday in the Times’ Style section--superbly balance the fashion world with the everyday world. Extras include additional scenes and interviews.

Rescue Me: The Sixth Season and the Final Season (Sony)
Denis Leary’s no-holds-barred drama limped to its end with the seventh season finale; both the sixth and seventh seasons are included in this five-disc, 19-episode set, continuing the immature shenanigans of Tommy Gavin, his women (superbly played by Andrea Roth and Callie Thorne) and his fellow firefighters.

Too bad the show’s copout finale (only one character dies in what looks like a conflagration) sums up its inability to deal seriously with life-or-death situations without screaming and drinking. The tremendous cast (minus the incredibly dull Adam Ferrara) smooths over the writing’s rough patches. Extras include deleted scenes, a gag reel and cast and creator interviews.

Vera (Acorn Media)
Brenda Blethyn’s intelligent performance as tough-as-nails detective solving violent crimes is the focus of this absorbing four-episode mini-series shot in picturesque villages of the Northumberland section of England.

Alongside Blethyn’s usual excellence is good support from David Leon, Wunmi Mosaku and Paul Ritter as her harried co-workers and guest stars like Gina McKee, Kerry Fox and John Lynch, who portray suspects or witnesses. This is gritty storytelling done well, as is usually the case with these BBC productions.

Von Heute auf Morgen (Dynamic)
Arnold Schoenberg’s absurdist, atonal 1929 comic opera, about the disarmingly simple story of a bickering couple, works better in theory than execution, for Schoenberg’s unwavering 12-tone music doesn’t really allow the comic aspects to breathe.

But the energy of this 2008 Venice production gives the work its due, glossing over the writing’s bumpiness: the singers (Georg Nigl, Brigitte Geller), musicians (Orchestra del Teatro la Fenice) and staging (by Andreas Homoki) are all exemplary.

CDs of the Week
Falla: Piano Music (Harmonia Mundi)
20th century Spanish master Manuel de Falla’s entire oeuvre for solo piano fits easily onto one CD, and it’s explored with a combination of sure technical prowess by pianist Javier Perianes.

Perianes also exquisitely performs Falla’s grandest composition for piano and orchestra, Nights in the Garden of Spain, accompanied by the sensitive playing of the BBC Symphony Orchestra under the baton of conductor Josep Pons.

Strauss: Ein Heldenleben/Four Last Songs (BIS)
Works from opposite ends of Richard Strauss’s long and storied career--an early, blistering orchestral tone poem and four delicately scored late songs--are performed with the necessary delicacy and bravado by the Rotterdam Philharmonic, led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s steady conducting.

Soprano Dorothea Roschmann sings the Four Last Songs with subtlety, wringing every emotional moment from Strauss’s exceptionally elegant score.

Theater Review: Sondheim's 'Follies' Returns

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Friday, 16 September 2011 10:00

Written by Kevin Filipski

Follies
Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by James Goldman
Directed by Eric Schaeffer; choreographed by Warren Carlyle
Starring Bernadette Peters, Jan Maxwell, Danny Burstein, Ron Raines

Is there a perfect musical? Maybe not, but Follies has nearly everything: James Goldman’s superbly savvy book; Stephen Sondheim’s memorable and character-defining music and lyrics; a sly flashback structure, alternating between nostalgia and razor-sharp relationship dissection; and, of course, meaty musical moments for top-notch performers.

Unfortunately, Follies productions have been imperfect, starting with 1971’s original. The forgettable 2001 Broadway revival directed by Matthew Warchus wasted Blythe Danner and Judith Ivey, while the 2007 Encores! staging (with a scintillating Donna Murphy) sadly never transferred to Broadway. Eric Schaeffer’s new production, which began at Washington’s Kennedy Center, takes place on Derek McLane’s shrewdly rundown theater set, but never gets a firm handle on the show’s vignettes.

Follies’ main flaw? It introduces former Follies girls but gives all but the main characters Sally and Phyllis a lone chance to shine in songs driven not by narrative but nostalgia. Schaeffer efficiently stages them thanks to Warren Carlyle’s clever choreography, and veterans like Elaine Paige, Rosalind Elias and Mary Beth Peil make a good impression, but they are simply fodder separating the dramatic scenes among the lead couples.

Sally is married to Buddy but still carries a torch for Ben, who’s married to Phyllis. After they get reacquainted in the first act, they eventually rediscover long-dormant feelings--shown in flashbacks as the youthful foursome mirrors the present-day one--while the second act displays their heightened emotions in rousing, musical-within-a-musical form, each receiving a solo spotlight to convey those feelings.

As Sally, Bernadette Peters (a youthful 63, by the way) is as lissome as ever, breaking hearts with the poignant showstopper “Losing My Mind”; as Buddy, Danny Burstein tirelessly moves about the stage, bringing down the house with “The ‘God Why Don’t You Love Me‘ Blues”; as Phyllis, Jan Maxwell is as bitingly funny and adorable as ever, even if she overdoes the blustery comic hurt in “Could I Leave You?”; as Ben, Ron Raines is reliably sturdy right through the show’s final number “Live, Laugh, Love.”

Whenever Schaeffer doesn’t satisfactorily navigate Sondheim and Goldman’s seminal musical waters, the stars and Sondheim’s great, lasting songs come to the rescue. 

Follies
Marquis Theatre
1535 Broadway, New York, NY
Previews began Aug. 7, 2011; opened Sept. 12; tickets on sale through Jan. 1, 2012
http://folliesbroadway.com

For more by Kevin Filipski, visit The Flip Side blog at http://flipsidereviews.blogspot.com

Kevin's September '11 Digital Week II

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Monday, 12 September 2011 06:00

Written by Kevin Filipski

Sept. 11 DVDs

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers (Scholastic)

The amazing feat of Frenchman Philippe Petit--who walked on the high wire between the two World Trade Center towers in 1974, shortly after they opened--is recounted in this delightfully narrated (by Jake Gyllenhaal) and illustrated (by Mordicai Gerstein) animated short that's a lovely piece of nostalgic reminiscence about buildings whose destruction created a gash in the Manhattan skyline.

A trio of other inspiring tales--Crow Boy, The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins and Miss Rumphius--is included, along with interviews with Hawkins' author and illustrator.

Rebirth (Oscilloscope)

In time for the 10th anniversary of the attacks, director James Whitaker's documentary follows five people whose lives are forever intertwined with--and were irretrievably altered by--the events of that awful day.

Time-lapse photography, illuminating the transformation of Ground Zero into a new landscape that honors the victims and points the way forward for lower Manhattan, makes this an inspirational film showing that, while we should never forget, we must also keep on living. Extras include Whitaker's commentary, time-lapse project video and 90 minutes of time-lapse footage covering several years at the site.

September 11: Memorial Edition (History)

For this two-disc anniversary compilation, four specials about the devastating events of September 11, 2001 are brought together: 102 Minutes that Changed America, with eye-opening footage shot by various passersby near the disaster that morning; Hotel Ground Zero, about people in the Marriott hotel at the foot of the towers; The Miracle of Stairway B, about 14 people who survived the second tower's collapse; and The Day the Towers Fell, an eyewitness story of the tragedy.

A valuable extra is I-Witness to 9/11, a short recap of some witnesses whose footage was used in 102 Minutes.

Blu-rays of the Week

Dressed to Kill (MGM)

Brian DePalma's stylishly sleazy soft-core thriller, which looks like it was shot through Vaseline like those Penthouse photo spreads I looked at as a teenager, caused a minor sensation in 1980 thanks to 'Police Woman' Angie Dickinson showing skin.

But we're still stuck with DePalma's insipid, immature "ideas" and poor script, and camera movements and plot twists "borrowed" from Alfred Hitchcock, among others. The Blu-ray transfer faithfully preserves its gauzy look; extras include DePalma interviews, a look at the various cuts of the film, vintage and recent featurettes.

The Entitled (Anchor Bay)

There's not much new in this thriller about rich young brats who are kidnapped by a desperate young trio, but it all goes wrong and leads to murder. Tidy and tensely done, the movie tosses in a few twists that help it cross the finish line intact.

A solid cast of veterans (Ray Liotta, Victor Garber, Stephen McHattie) and fresh faces (Kevin Zegers, Laura Vandervoort, Dustin Milligan, John Bregar) combine to keep interest in a familiar story. The movie has received an excellent hi-def transfer; extras include an alternate ending and a behind-the-scenes featurette.

Fringe: The Complete Third Season (Warners)

The fiendishly clever sci-fi series that introduced a parallel universe to its viewers takes that plot point and runs with it throughout the 22 episodes of its outrageously entertaining third season.

The cast--led by Joshua Jackson, Anna Torv, Blair Brown and John Noble--comes up aces, the dialogue does its job (for the most part), and the visuals are often dazzling--and have been rendered extremely well on Blu-ray. Extras include pop-commentaries and featurettes while watching episodes; featurettes; and a gag reel.

My Life as a Dog (Criterion)

Lasse Hallstrom's bittersweet 1985 coming-of-age tale is situated perfectly between sentiment and toughness, which is how his hero, 12-year-old Ingemar, can also be described. Played with mature naturalness by Anton Glanzelius, a youngster with a face with a wise adult, Ingemar is the center of one of the most affecting and poignant portraits of childhood ever committed to celluloid.

Criterion's Blu-ray transfer is warmly film-like with a superbly grainy look; extras include a Hallstrom interview and an early Swedish TV film he did, Shall We Go to My or Your Place or Each Go Home Alone?

Orpheus (Criterion)

The 1950 center of the Orphic trilogy, Jean Cocteau's most problematic film is a significant example of his artistry. Updating the Orpheus/Eurydice myth to Paris' Left Bank allows Cocteau to work on many narrative and symbolic levels; its fascinating and memorable imagery shows how ingeniously Cocteau uses his beloved "mirror portals" to transport his enigmatic characters to another plane of existence.

Criterion's superb hi-def transfer of this B&W beauty begs the question: are Blood of a Poet and Testament of Orpheus coming on Blu? A plethora of extras (commentary, documentary, vintage interviews, newsreel footage) puts Cocteau's artistic concerns in context.

Straw Dogs (MGM)

Sam Peckinpah's ultra-violent (and deeply satisfying) revenge drama had the misfortune of being released the same year as A Clockwork Orange--1971--and many critics who raved about Stanley Kubrick's film didn't give Peckinpah the same courtesy.

But this unremittingly bleak drama about a mild-mannered professor whose basest impulses are triggered by his wife's rape and the threats to his own manhood is revelatory, with top-notch performances by Dustin Hoffman, Susan George and David Warner. Peckinpah's subliminal editing tricks work wonders on the viewer's psyche, and are given new life in this Blu-ray transfer; amazingly, there are no extras, so keep Criterion's out of print DVD.

DVDs of the Week

The Arbor (Strand Releasing)

This strange, disjointed documentary mirrors the strange, disjointed life of its subject: British playwright Andrea Dunbar, whose first work was done at age 18 and who died at age 29 of a drug overdose, after having borne three children with three different men.

Director Clio Bernard imaginatively uses real actors to lip-sync to actual audio interviews by Dunbar, her children, and others who were involved in her private and professional lives. Although the style is initially off-putting, it makes formal and psychological sense to more fully explore such a sad (and sadly short) creative life.

Cold Fish (Vivendi)

Prepare yourself for an unexpurgated blast of nuttiness in this overlong, choppy but utterly watchable psychological shocker that probably shouldn't be described too thoroughly.

Suffice it to say that this blunt exploration of a truly insane mind and the extremely bloody extremes to which he puts his murderous impulses is not for the squeamish, and even if it gleefully rubs our noses in its explicitness, it's worth hanging in there for a final "see it to believe it" sequence. The lone extra is an interview with director Sion Sono.

If a Tree Falls (Oscilloscope)

The exploits of the militant environmental group the Earth Liberation Front are explored in director Marshall Curry's documentary, concentrating on Daniel McGowan, one of its members who decided to partake in the group's arsons and other destructive efforts in protest over what they considered corporate evildoers and their governmental enablers destroying the earth.

The incendiary subjects of environmental activism and eco-terrorism (members were put on trial as domestic terrorists, the first such defendants in our post-9/11 world) are handled perceptively and scrupulously. Extras include updates on the principals, commentary by and Q&A with Curry and co-director/cinematographer Sam Cullman, deleted scenes and extended interviews.

It Rains in My Village and A Quiet Place in the Country (MGM)

These obscure European classics deserve better releases than they're getting here, but in today's topsy-turvy digital world, we should thank MGM for at least getting them out so they're available to be discovered--or re-discovered, for anyone saw them once will want to revisit them.

Aleksander Pretrovic's bleak It Rains in My Village (1968) is a blackly comic Yugoslav tragedy, while Elio Petri's dazzling A Quiet Place in the Country (1969) is a surreal journey through a talented artist's wounded psyche. Both films feature veteran directors at the top of their form.

CDs of the Week

Godspell: 40th Anniversary Celebration (Masterworks Broadway)

With the October opening of the Broadway revival around the corner, this two-disc set pairs the original 1971 off-Broadway cast album and the original 1973 soundtrack for the film version. Stephen Schwartz's music and lyrics, by far his most popular until he hit upon Wicked over 30 years later, are highlighted by the Top 10 pop hit "Day by Day" and the movie-only song "Beautiful City."

Sung by then-vibrant young voices like Robin Lamont and David Haskell (off-Broadway) and Victor Garber and Lynne Thigpen (movie), this nostalgic souvenir will do until the new production is up and running.

Ravel/Lekeu: Music for Violin & Piano (Hyperion)

One of the 20th century's great composers is smartly paired with one of the least known of the late 19th century, a contemporary who died prematurely: Maurice Ravel's brittle but elegant music for violin and piano, including his jewel-like Violin Sonata No. 1 and the over-played but still beautiful Sonata No. 2, is heard alongside the intimate but expansive Violin Sonata by Guillaume Lekeu, whose death at age 24 in 1894 robbed the world of a composer who may have become a true giant.

Heartfelt and skillful playing by violinist Alina Ibragimova and pianist Cedric Tiberghien give both composers their due.