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Film and the Arts
October '18 Digital Week II
- Details
- Parent Category: Film and the Arts
- Category: Reviews
- Published on Thursday, 11 October 2018 02:19
- Written by Kevin Filipski
Blu-rays of the Week
John & Yoko: Imagine/Gimme Some Truth
(Eagle Vision)
Accompanying the massive new boxed set celebrating John Lennon’s seminal Imagine album (1971), this release contains John and Yoko’s film Imagine, which intersperses performances like the classic white-piano version of the title song with footage of the couple in New York and London, joining protests and frolicking on the beach. It’s a mixture of self-parody and self-indulgence that’s at times dated but still provides a valuable insight into Lennon as an artist, along with his famous friends like Jack Palance, Dick Cavett and Fred Astaire.
Also included is Gimme Some Truth, an insightful hour-long documentary of the making of the Imagine album, with glimpses of producer Phil Spector and former Beatle George Harrison in the studio with John. Both films have been painstakingly restored in hi-def, and look (ad sound) as good as possible; extras are studio outtakes of the songs “Imagine,” “How?” and “Gimme Some Truth,” and a glimpse at a David Bailey photo shoot.
Looker
(Warner Archive)
In Michael Crichton’s 1981 futuristic thriller, early computer-generated effects play a big role in this convoluted story of a plastic surgeon looking into the murders of the beautiful models who were his patients: although Albert Finney, James Coburn, Susan Dey and Leigh Taylor-Young look embarrassed at times speaking the borderline risible dialogue, there’s a certain prescience in Crichton’s cautionary tale of malevolent technology.
The film has an adequate hi-def transfer; extras are writer-director Crichton’s intro and commentary and an eight-minute sequence added to the network television version.
Queen of Outer Space
(Warner Archive)
This 1958 campfest, shot on the sets of other sci-fi movies of its era like Forbidden Planet and World Without End, follows its male astronauts to Venus, which is exclusively populated by females, but since this is a 1958 campfest not much happens except for some wink wink nudge nudging and innocent embraces and kisses.
Among the women are Zsa Zsa Gabor and Laurie Mitchell, who plays the masked queen of Venus hiding her deformed face; the men are much less interesting. There’s a solid hi-def transfer and a commentary featuring Mitchell.
Rodin
(Cohen Media)
Vincent Lindon has made his name playing ordinary people living quotidian lives, but he gets his teeth into the larger-than-life figure of French sculptor Auguste Rodin in Jacques Doillon’s warts-and-all biopic that concentrates on his volatile relationship with fellow sculptor (and protégé) Camille Claudel—played with equal intensity by French pop singer Izïa Higelin.
Doillon, like fellow Frenchman Maurice Pialat in Van Gogh, strips the master’s life story to its essentials, mostly eschewing music and melodrama to create this engrossing portrait of the artist. The hi-def transfer is exceptional; lone extra is a 30-minute making-of.
The Swarm
(Warner Archive)
When disaster-movie maven Irwin Allen made this hokey thriller in 1978, killer bees were all the rage, so there was a scientific basis to the premise, but the script is chockful of holes, there are many howlers in the dialogue and the clichéd characters are lazily embodied by an all-star cast of Michael Caine, Henry Fonda, Richard Widmark, Katharine Ross, Olivia de Havilland, Ben Johnson, Lee Grant, Richard Chamberlain and, in a bizarre scene, Slim Pickens.
A few bee-killing scenes are effective, but at 2-1/2 hours—more than 30 minutes was added to the original theatrical release—The Swarm simply goes on and on and on. The hi-def transfer is excellent.
DVD of the Week
Mister Rogers—It’s You I Like
(PBS)
This lovely valentine to Fred Rogers, whose decency and goodness shone on his beloved children’s show, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, is an OK overview of his legacy and how much he affected people, families, children and adults.
Host Michael Keaton guides us through interviews with celebrities and people associated with the show, and clips of Rogers on the show remind us how slyly subversive this conservative Republican was on our TV screens for decades. This PBS program can be seen as an adjunct to the feature documentary, Won’t You Be My Neighbor, which covers the same material. Extras are an additional 30 minutes of footage.
CD of the Week
Gerald Finzi—Cello Concerto and Piano Works
(Chandos)
British composer Gerald Finzi (1901-1956) finished writing his dramatic and sweeping Cello Concerto about a year before his untimely death of Hodgkin’s at age 55—the concerto actually had its premiere the night before he died. The first movement’s storminess no doubt alludes to his disease, the quieter middle movement is a loving portrait of the composer’s wife and the upbeat finale makes for a most satisfying resolution. Cellist Paul Watkins plays the solo part with thrilling artistry, and Andrew Davis and the BBC Symphony Orchestra provide notable accompaniment.
This superb disc is rounded out by two attractive piano and orchestra works, Eclogue and Grand Fantasia and Toccata—with Louis Lortie impressively handling the solo parts—and the moody orchestral work, Nocturne (New Year Music).
Off-Broadway Review—“The True” with Edie Falco
- Details
- Parent Category: Film and the Arts
- Category: Reviews
- Published on Wednesday, 10 October 2018 01:17
- Written by Kevin Filipski
The True
Written by Sharr White; directed by Scott Elliott
Performances through October 28, 2018
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Michael McKean and Edie Falco in The True (photo: Monique Carboni) |
The 1970s political battles in Albany, of all places, don’t sound like the most enticing subject matter for a play, but Sharr White—whose earlier The Other Place and The Snow Geese left me cold—has pulled it off with The True, an absorbing drama that smartly concentrates on the personalities behind the politics.
The True centers around Dorothea “Polly” Noonan, the right-hand woman of Albany mayor Erastus Corning 2nd for decades. (She was also Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s grandmother; kudos to White for not shoehorning that irrelevant information into his play.) Erastus was the poster boy for the city’s Democratic party machine, reigning as mayor from the 1930s until his death in 1983. His stranglehold was such that only a grassroots candidacy in 1973 came close to toppling him. White sets his play in 1977, the year of the lone primary fight Erastus ever had, and shows Polly—who began as Erastus’s secretary and soon became his closest confidante (although their relationship was, by all accounts, strictly professional)—working her behind-the-scenes magic to help Erastus win that battle and, eventually, the election.
Although it doesn’t sound like the stuff of urgent stage drama, The True keeps its singular focus on people rather than political machinations and in-fighting (interesting as they are). Polly, a brash, foul-mouthed spitfire, doesn’t suffer fools gladly, while husband Peter is her opposite, his quiet, steady demeanor the yang to her yin.
The closest The True comes to soap opera is when Erastus decides to drop Polly (and by extension Peter, even though they’ve all been close friends for years) as his adviser because his wife doesn’t like that another woman takes up so much of his time as primary season approaches. The play’s middle section sags slightly as Erastus first resists Polly and Peter’s entreaties, deferring to his wife’s wishes, then decides he does need the Noonans—particularly Polly—bad optics be damned.
But The True still rings true, thanks to White’s incisive writing and Scott Elliott’s deft direction, culminating in a potent coup de theatre not in the script. The estimable cast features Peter Scolari, whose Peter is a gracious and understated support system to Polly, and Michael McKean, whose Erastus is a full-bodied, complex man caught between personal and professional loyalty.
Centering The True, however, is Edie Falco, who embodies Polly with her usual vivid zestiness and an effortless ability to make ordinary women anything but ordinary. Falco’s riveting performance even has a slight tragic air nicely balancing the ample humor she displays throughout.
The True
The New Group, Pershing Square Signature Center, 480 West 42nd Street, New York, NY
thenewgroup.org
San Francisco Symphony Ushers "The Rite of Spring" in the Fall
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- Parent Category: Film and the Arts
- Category: Reviews
- Published on Monday, 08 October 2018 15:29
- Written by Jack Angstreich
Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga Light the Sky in "A Star Is Born"
- Details
- Parent Category: Film and the Arts
- Category: Reviews
- Published on Monday, 08 October 2018 14:59
- Written by Ellis Nassour
Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga are no strangers to having their names in lights, but in A Star Is Born, [Warner Bros./MGM; 135 minutes] their names explode in such magnitude that they light up the sky. Except for a few moments of homage, it would be theatrically incorrect to call the just released A Star Is Born an updated remake of its three predecessors with the same title. Four-time Oscar nominee Cooper, as director, co-writer, and co-producer, has created a Star that won’t eclipse the powerful 1937 dramatic original or 1954 musical remake but which becomes a cinema legend of its own. In fact, it’s poised to become an instant classic. As far as the edgy 1976 box office blockbuster musical remake with the same title – the verdict is still out.
In this 90% original take, written with Oscar winner Eric Roth [Forrest Gump, The Insider, Ali], Grammy-winning Oscar-nominee [Best Song] Gaga as Ally says, “Almost every single person I’ve come in contact with in the music industry has told me that my nose is too big and I won’t make it.” During the 10 years she studied acting and auditioned for theater, film, and TV, she said she heard similar and much worse. In 2008, with her debut Platinum plus-selling album Fame, we saw star potential. It was just the tip of the iceberg.
Many didn’t take her seriously because of her attention-getting antics. As a megaselling recording artist [31 million albums and a multitude of hit singles], she popped up in cameo and guest roles, but it wasn’t until the 2015 Oscars when she stunned with a mesmerizing soprano rendition of a medley of tunes for the 50th Anniversary Sound of Music salute that the masses took notice [during the 20-second standing ovation, with her tattooed arms outstretched, among those avidly applauding was none other than Cooper]. Her fan base quintupled with her Golden Globe-winning casting as the Countess that year on American Horror Story/Hotel, channeling a host of notorious film fatales and aided by extravagant costumes, platinum blonde hair, and glam make-up] that finally the public met Gaga the actress.
Cooper, making his directorial debut, envisioned the film with Gaga as co-star. It’s fascinating watching as they prop each other up. The romance begins a bit too soon and rushes toward the inevitable pledging of troths. In love, in performance, and at war their chemistry is solid. It’s the oft-told story of two who fall in love not so much with each other but with each other’s talent. As one up and comer bursts on the scene like a megastar, jealousy rises its ugly head and the megastar fades into a black hole.
Gaga gives a shattering performance as Ally, a singer struggling to break into the big time but who’s given up after so many defeats. She finds it hard to believe that at last someone believes in her. Enter rock legend Jackson Maine, Cooper in another brilliant performance. Reckless boozing, cocaine, and a devastating secret that would ruin his career have him on a destructive path. It’s a performance so vividly etched that it will be long remembered.
With her Star accolades and the inevitable nominations to be heaped on both stars during awards season, Gaga can close the book on her period of dresses fashioned with meat and outrageous shenanigans and can start a new one – coffee-table size. Singing or dancing or acting, she’s a force to be reckoned with. There were big shoes to fill, and quite smartly she pays homage to Judy Garland, star and co-producer of the ’54 film, with an “Easter Egg” hum of “Over the Rainbow.” It was also her idea to pay homage to her idol Edith Piaf, with her standout rendition of “La Vie En Rose.” Another “Easter Egg” is Gaga/Cooper’s bubble bath ala Streisand/Kristofferson’s in the ’76 Star – minus candles burning on beer cans. Gaga pays tribute to her legend of gay fans by singing, as she did early on, in a drag bar – where Jackson wanders in [only in search of a drink, though he ends up signing autographs in unusual and very personal places].
The burden of Cooper’s own demons as a recovering drug and alcohol abuser is obvious as he bares his soul singing in sequences filmed live at music festivals. To prepare, he studied with a voice instructor and learned to play the guitar well enough so he would never get booted offstage. Gaga bares more than her soul in a flash of nudity from her solo bubble bath.
Cooper surrounded himself and Gaga with an equally impressive ensemble cast: Sam Elliott, as Jackson’s caretaking brother; Andrew Dice Clay as Ally’s father; comic Dave Chappelle as a trusted old friend; and Rafi Gavron as the manager who steers Ally toward stardom and an independence that affects her marriage.
The stars are immensely complemented by Oscar-nominated cinematographer Matthew Libatique, who helps push the music sequences and raw emotion with HD close-ups [you won’t soon forget the last image of Gaga]; and two-time Oscar-nominated editor Jay Cassidy. Songs are by Cooper, Gaga, and Lukas Nelson, son of Willie, who also performs with his band.
To enjoy the huge impact in store, the only way to see A Star Is Born is at a huge-screened cineplex with surround or Dolby sound.
A Star Is Born is also co-written by Will Fetters. It’s produced by Cooper, Bill Gerber, the controversial Jon Peters [due to rights he held for the ’76 Star], Todd Phillips, and Lynette Howell Taylor.
