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November '12 Digital Week III

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts
Category: Reviews
Published on Sunday, 18 November 2012 10:00
Written by Kevin Filipski

Blu-rays of the Week

Billy Bathgate/Blaze
(Mill Creek)
Robert Benton’s adaptation of Billy Bathgate, E.L. Doctorow’s vivid historical novel about 1920s New York organized crime, looks great but is dragged down by sleepwalking Dustin Hoffman as “godfather” Dutch Schultz, Nicole Kidman as his moll Drew and Loren Dean as Dutch’s protégé who has an affair with Drew.

Blaze, Ron Shelton’s lively biopic of the stripper who enthralled Louisiana Governor Earl Long, has a blazing performance by Paul Newman as Long and starmaking debut by Lolita Davidovich in the title role (she later became Shelton’s wife). Both movies have not-bad hi-def transfers.
Brave
(Disney)
Although this Pixar animated feature was a huge hit, it’s little more than another Disney flick with a brave young woman at its center.
Although there’s nothing wrong with that, there’s little that’s exciting or memorable, and the computerized animation—not nearly as good as classic hand-drawn animation—doesn’t help. The Blu-ray image is top-notch, both in 3-D and 2-D; extras include featurettes, extended scenes and a commentary.
Company
(Image)
Stephen Sondheim’s 1970 musical’s energetic 2011 New York Philharmonic revival has well-cast performers like Martha Plimpton, Stephen Colbert, Christina Hendricks, Anika Noni Rose and even Neil Patrick Harris, whose smugness is kept to a minimum.
Then there’s Patti Lupone, who gives the showstopper “The Ladies Who Lunch” its grandest ride since Elaine Stritch. The orchestra sounds extraordinary led by Paul Gemignani, and Lonny Price’s staging works well. The hi-def image and sound are crystal clear.
Objectified
(New Video)
Gary Hustwit, director of the visually lush chronicle of modern cities, Urbanized, made this equally fascinating 2009 design exploration.
Through interviews with designers and experts and showing inventions from toothbrushes to new-fangled tech gadgets, Hustwit provides an inventive overview of modern civilization marching forward. The Blu-ray image looks superb; extras include additional interviews.
Vamps
(Anchor Bay)
In Amy Heckerling’s tired vampire spoof, Alicia Silverstone and Krysten Ritter play bloodsuckers navigating a wild, wooly new world.
Along with Heckerling’s game actresses—Ritter especially plays kooky far more charmingly than Zooey Deschanel—her movie also wastes Sigourney Weaver as a crazed vampiress and good comic actors Justin Kirk, Wally Shawn and Richard Lewis. The movie looks striking in hi-def.
The Watch
(Fox)
The least of this lame comedy’s problems is its pre-release tie to last spring’s Florida ‘neighborhood watch’ tragedy: worse are the combined non-talents of Ben Stiller, Jonah Hill and co-writer Seth Rogen to create this flimsy attempt at a raunchy, violent sci-fi spoof. Even Vince Vaughan (on autopilot) and his dry line readings can’t help.
Faring best are Rachel DeWitt as Stiller’s wife and Billy Crudup as a weird neighbor. The hi-def image is excellent; extras are deleted scenes, a gag reel and featurettes.
Weekend
(Criterion)
In 1967, Jean-Luc Godard’s apocalyptic fantasy about civilization’s end came out of that era’s political and social upheaval; in 2012, it’s as relevant as ever. Although the extended take of an endless automobile crash is still stunning, more astonishing is that Godard—the ultimate hit-or-miss artist—never falters in this seething attack on literally everything.
Raoul Coutard’s magnificent photography, with its mix of fantastically popping colors, shines on Criterion’s Blu-ray; extras include interviews with Coutard, actress Mireille Darc, actor Jean Yanne and assistant Claude Miller and a vintage featurette.
DVDs of the Week
The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye
(New Yorker)
In Marie Losier’s sympathetic portrait of a couple that hoped to—literally—merge as one (Genesis had several surgeries to look like Lady Jaye), a relationship that begins as lust turns to love and, finally, partners for life (cancer tragically killed Lady Jaye at age 39 in 2007).
Losier digs into what some might consider an aberrant lifestyle with compassion and understanding, and beautifully uses home movies and other valuable footage. Extras include interviews, outtakes and short films.
A Burning Hot Summer
(MPI)
Philippe Garrel has an undeserved reputation as one of France’s greatest directors with films like Regular Lovers and this stale, stilted account of a crazed young man (Garrel’s untalented son, Louis) whose unraveling marriage to a gorgeous movie star (Monica Bellucci) causes him to take his own life.
Missing from this dreary drama are any insights into his characters’ behavior; even the shimmering photography doesn’t help.
Corpo Celeste
(Film Movement)
Writer-director Alice Rohrwacher’s startling debut insightfully chronicles an adolescent girl’s difficulties at home and school. The film, set in southern Italy, is shot through with religious guilt that could smother anybody: as Marta prepares for her confirmation, she can’t handle the hypocrisies among adults and her peers.
Rohrwacher humorously presents Marta’s troubles without condescension and, coupled with Yle Vianello’s marvelously unaffected performance, creates a truthful comedy that explores teenage life in ways far removed from the sentimentality and cheap laughs of American movies and TV shows. German director Max Zahle’s short, Raju, is the lone extra.
Dark Horse
(Virgil Films)
Todd Solondz again purports to make an unflinching look at society’s ills, but actually makes yet another sitcom crammed with clueless caricatures indistinguishable from one another.
The casual racism and misogyny that mars his other films isn’t as overt here, but if your idea of a good time is seeing Chris Walken in stupid-looking shirts or Mia Farrow in a bad wig and glasses, then you may get more out of it than I did.
Half the Sky
(Docurama)
In this four-hour documentary, NY Times columnist Nicholas Kristoff and his wife Sheryl WuDunn recruit a half-dozen Hollywood actresses to explore the horrible conditions so many women around the world must deal with, even in the 21st century.
Eva Mendes travels to Sierra Leone, Meg Ryan goes to Cambodia, America Ferrera to India, Olivia Wilde to Kenya, Diane Lane to Somaliland and Gabrielle Union to Vietnam: their (and our) eyes are opened by other women fighting such reprehensibly regressive policies. Extras include extended interviews and scenes.
CDs of the Week
Janine Jansen: Prokofiev
(Decca)
Great violinists cut their teeth on Sergei Prokofiev’s first concerto, ever tuneful and buoyant, even if it’s frightfully difficult to play. Dutch violinist Janine Jansen, however, tackles the less well known if equally fiendish second concerto, dispatching it with such ease it seems she’s making up Prokofiev’s brilliantly articulated runs on the spot.
And, to show off the musical depths of Prokofiev—still grievously underrated, for he’s one of the 20th century’s greatest composers—Jansen also plays his Sonata for Two Violins (with Boris Brovstyn) and the exceedingly dark Violin Sonata, both chamber masterpieces.
Rolling Stones: Grrr!
(ABKCO)
Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the self-styled “world’s greatest rock’n’roll band,” here are 50 of their biggest hits, from early tunes “Come On” and “Not Fade Away” to new rockers “Doom and Gloom” and “One More Shot,” which are better than anything they’ve done since 1981’s Tattoo You.
There are strange omissions—“She’s So Cold” doesn’t appear, but “She Was Hot” does—and some tunes are the edited radio versions. But there’s much good stuff: the sixteen songs on disc two, from “Jumping Jack Flash” to “Fool to Cry” (with “Wild Horses,” “Street Fighting Man” and “Angie” in between), are the Stones’ real greatest hits.

Movie Review: "Silver Linings Playbook" Scores

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts
Category: Reviews
Published on Thursday, 15 November 2012 12:36
Written by Lloyd Carroll

Silver Linings Playbook Poster

Silver Linings Playbook
Written and Directed by David O. Russell
Starring Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Jackie Weaver

Silver Linings Playbook is not the easiest film to watch. I can’t think of a single film where the two lead characters suffer from deep psychological issues and yet we like and root for them throughout.

The film opens with Pat Solatano, Jr. (Bradley Cooper) getting ready to leave a Baltimore psychiatric hospital where he spent eight months there due to a court order because of an “incident.”

Midway through the film we learn that Pat came home in the middle of the day from the school where he and his wife Nikki works, to catch her screwing another teacher not in the bedroom but making love in a shower as his wedding song, Stevie Wonder’s “My Cherie Amor,” is playing in the background. In a scene designed to draw comparisons to Psycho, Pat beats his rival and comes within a hair of murdering his wife’s paramour.

In spite of losing his wife, job, and home (he now lives with his parents played by Robert DeNiro and Jackie Weaver), Pat is surprisingly upbeat from his stint in Baltimore because he sincerely feels that he can win Nikki back (he’s still deeply in love with her), regain his job, and have exactly the same life that he had before “the incident.” He believes that he is a better person and looks for the positives (“silver linings’) in life. We quickly learn that Pat suffers from severe mood swings which are indicative of his being bi-polar, something that was not diagnosed for a good part of his life.

He also suffers from obsessive compulsiveness that displays itself through his maniacal exercise regiment and his voracious reading of great American novels. Nikki apparently wanted him to both lose weight and become more learned.

To help him get back to socializing, Pat’s friends, Ronnie (John Ortiz) and his wife Veronica (Julia Stiles), invite him to dinner where the other guest is Veronica’s unpredictable sister, Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), a young widow who has been battling depression her entire life.

Like members of rival cults, Pat and Tiffany think that the other is crazy while they themselves are certain that they are relatively sane. It’s not until they discussing their psychotropics, as well as commiserating about the fact that each has a wildly successful and “normal” sibling, that they develop some rapprochement. Neither have them have any filters that block them from uttering their thoughts so volatility is palpable throughout this film.

Writer/director David O. Russell, who was the mastermind behind The Fighter, nails nearly all of the little details so perfectly that you forget that you are watching a movie and feel that you are eavesdropping on very real people.

Russell also brilliantly captures two of our national obsessions, pro football and dance competitions.

The Philadelphia Eagles are practically a religion in the City of Brotherly Love, something I am too well acquainted with. Pat’s father, Pat Sr. (De Niro in one of his better recent roles) is a bookie who would never better against his beloved “Birds.” He is banned from attending games at the Eagles’ stadium, Lincoln Financial Field, because he was always getting into fights. Watching the games on TV with Pat Jr. is a was of bonding for them. 

Tiffany loves to dance and her dream is to take part in a competition that is held during the holiday season at a swanky Center City hotel. Her late husband hated dancing and Pat feels the same way. He reluctantly agrees to be her partner only when she promises to deliver a letter from him to his wife who has a restraining order out on him.

A subtle plot point that Russell brilliantly explores is coming to grips with a relationship that is nothing more than a glorified crush and coming to grips with who is and isn’t right for you. Even though Pat is clearly an extreme individual, who among us hasn’t dreamt of winning back the affections of someone who dumped us by doing things that we believe will make us more desirable to them?

Bradley Cooper, who grew up in the Philly suburbs, shines in a very difficult role and shows that he is far more than that guy from The Hangover movies. Lawrence delivers an Oscar-worthy performance as well.

Silver Linings Playbook has plenty of silver linings for filmgoers.
      

NYC Theater Roundup: ‘Annie’ Returns to Broadway, ‘Sorry’ Off-Broadway

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts
Category: Reviews
Published on Wednesday, 14 November 2012 20:00
Written by Kevin Filipski

Annie

Book by Thomas Meehan; music by Charles Strouse; lyrics by Martin Charnin

Directed by James Lapine; choreographed by Andy Blankenbuehler

Performances through March 31, 2013

Sorry

Written and directed by Richard Nelson

Performances through November 25, 2012

If one musical is the poster girl for old-fashioned Broadway, it’sAnnie Joan Marcus Annie, a huge hit back in 1977 and now better known to people who’ve never seen the show for “Tomorrow” and “It’s a Hard Knock Life”: the latter sampled by Jay Z for his 1998 hit “Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem).”

Although John Huston’s 1982 movie version was a financial and artistic disaster, Annie remains, in its unpretentious way, one of our most charming family-friendly musicals. In James Lapine’s new Broadway staging—which tries too hard at times to bring a contemporary edge to its essentially sweet story of the little orphaned red-head and the billionaire she guilelessly tames—the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, as sentiment trumps cynicism.

Lapine doesn’t hammer home parallels between the show’s Depression era that separates haves from have nots—with a hard-working Democratic president, FDR, trying to close the gap—and a similar situation obtaining today. Instead, he smartly concentrates on the relationship between Annie and Daddy Warbucks, brought to life in spot-on performances by newcomer Lilla Crawford, with her booming voice and refreshing uncutesy stage manner, and Australian Anthony Warlow, whose Warbucks is less a caricatured Koch brother than a lonely man who hopes that money can buy him love.

The supporting cast is led by an adorable mutt named Sunny as Annie’s beloved stray dog Sandy. A formidable troupe of young girls includes the criminally cute Emily Rosenfeld, who even outpaces her talented fellow orphans. Too bad that Katie Finneran provides another unimpressively blustery performance as Miss Hannigan, the hated head of the orphanage. In this usually foolproof comic role, Finneran gives it her all, which, as always, is both too much and not enough.

While Andy Blankenbuehler’s choreography is merely serviceable—and at its best when the orphans are front and center—David Korins’ silhouetted sets of New York buildings and bridges and storybook recreation of Warbucks’ gilded mansion are inspired. Charles Strouse’s music, one of the last Broadway scores crammed with miraculously tuneful melodies, contains songs that are not merely hummable gems but are at the service of the story: their greatness lies in their utter simplicity, just like Annie.

Sorry Joan MarcusRichard Nelson, in his plays about the Apple family—That Hopey Changey Thing, Sweet and Sad and now Sorry—has done the near-impossible for an American playwright. He writes about political matters without separating them from personal ones; in fact, he integrates them so well that we never feel we’re being preached or condescended to: in fact, these conversational plays make us feel we’re simply in the company of a family having uncommonly intelligent discussions at—in the case of Sorry—the breakfast table.

The Apples—sisters Barbara, Marian and Jane, and brother Richard—are together on Election Day 2012 to do two things: talk about what’s transpired in our country since Election Day 2010 (when Hopey Changey was set), notably how disappointing—if still hopeful—President Obama’s first term has been; and decide whether their beloved uncle Benjamin, suffering from the first stages of Alzheimer’s, should be taken to a nearby rest home, since it’s too difficult for Barbara and Marian to take care of him at home.

Nelson’s dialogue is pointed and poignant; after three of these plays, we have really gotten to know the Apples, and can shed tears or laugh along with their conversations about the state of our nation, the state of New York—Nelson’s script is up to date, mentioning the effects of Hurricane Sandy alongside our endless election cycle—and the state of their family.

Nelson’s smart, simple direction lets his five peerless performers—a sixth character, Jane’s boyfriend Tim, is off doing a play in Chicago (actor Shuler Hensley is actually starring in another off-Broadway play and was unavailable—he’s supposed to return for Nelson’s final Apple play)—shine in their compelling naturalness. Jay O. Sanders (Richard), Maryann Plunkett (Barbara), Laila Robins (Marian), J. Smith-Cameron (Jane) and Jon Devries (Benjamin) are so in tune with one another that it’s unfair to single out anyone: they combine for a remarkable ensemble performance as the Apple family.

If Richard Nelson wants to keep checking in on them indefinitely, I’ll go along for the ride.

Annie

Palace Theatre, 1564 Broadway, New York, NY

http://anniethemusical.com

Sorry

The Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, New York, NY

http://publictheater.org

November '12 Digital Week II

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts
Category: Reviews
Published on Monday, 12 November 2012 10:00
Written by Kevin Filipski
Blu-rays of the Week
Arabella
(Electric Pictures)
Richard Strauss’ glorious opera doesn’t get the attention it deserves, even if luminaries Lisa Della Casa, Kiri te Kanawa and, more recently, Renee Fleming have made it an essential part of their repertoire. In this sturdy 2012 Vienna staging, Emily Magee—a fine if less than scintillating performer—tackles the vocally and dramatically daunting title role, and there are moments where the beauty of one of Strauss’ most feminine creations shines through.
Conductor Franz Welser-Most and the Vienna State Opera Orchestra and Chorus provide sterling support. The Blu-ray image and sound are top-notch.
Color of Night/Playing God
(Mill Creek)
This double-feature set includes Playing God, a forgettable thriller with David Duchovny, Tim Hutton and a young—and indisputably alluring—Angelina Jolie. Then there’s Color of Night, a bizarre murder mystery by The Stunt Man director Richard Rush, his first film in 14 years after he made that 1980 classic.
Although the story is wretched and the supporting characters cartoons, the relationship between psychiatrist Bruce Willis and gorgeous femme fatale Jane March is weird enough to make this overlong (140 minutes) thriller watchable. And March’s steamy nude scenes make a fine hi-def bonus.
Fire with Fire
(Lionsgate)
In this wildly implausible crime drama, a fireman—in witness protection after witnessing two murders—fights for his life after being tracked down.
Despite bravura moments (bullet POV shots, anyone?), director David Barrett is all style over substance, so his cast—comprising Josh Duhamel, Bruce Willis, Rosario Dawson and, in another creepy killer role, Vincent d’Onofrio—is secondary to explosions, gunplay and a conflagration finale. The Blu-ray image is first-rate; extras include commentaries and interviews.
The Muppet Christmas Carol
(Disney)
This entertaining adaptation of Dickens’ holiday perennial is fun for two reasons: Muppets play various roles, from Kermit (Cratchitt) and Miss Piggy (his wife) to grumpy old men Statler and Waldorf (Marleys); and Michael Caine is an immensely charming Scrooge.
Director Brian Henson balances Muppet comedy and Dickens’ moralizing perfectly, while the story’s bittersweet coda is paralleled by the death of Jim Henson before the film’s 1992 release. The Blu-ray image is appropriately grainy; extras include audio commentaries, blooper reel, and featurettes.
The Night of the Devils
(Raro)
Giorgio Ferroni’s creepy 1972 thriller has its share of howlers—thanks to the less than capable cast and a script that glides over glaring flaws—but its single-minded attempt to turn a slow-moving story of sex and violence into blood-curdling horror is worth watching.
The makeup effects are cheesy but effective, the movie looks decent on Blu-ray, and extras comprise a couple of interviews.
Rescue 3 D
(Image)
Real-life first responders in this hard-hitting documentary deal with the world’s danger zones—notably Haiti following its devastating earthquake. Men and women of our armed forces become the front lines in response to disasters both natural and man-made.
In addition to training footage, there are incredible—and heart-wrenching—shots of what they are up against in Haiti. One shot from the air of a centuries-old cathedral crumbling before our very eyes will linger for a long time. The Blu-ray images in 3D and 2D are stupendous; the extras are interviews with the responders.
Ruby Sparks
(Fox)
This is yet another cutesy, self-delusional look at 20-somethings in the internet era, whose problems of romance and finding themselves are of the “who cares” variety. Directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris simply enable star Zoë Kazan’s annoying script, in which not one word, situation or character is believable.
Kazan’s also not much of an actress, real-life boyfriend Paul Dano is weak as well, and amazingly, they have zero onscreen chemistry. The hi-def image looks good; extras are several featurettes.
War Requiem
(Arthaus Musik)
Benjamin Britten’s powerful pacifist musical statement had its premiere in 1962 at Coventry Cathedral in the English midlands, and this May 30 Coventry performance—exactly 50 years later—is strongly paced by conductor Andris Nelsons, who leads the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Chorus, Youth Chorus and a trio of stellar soloists: Erin Wall, Mark Padmore and Hanno Muller-Brachmann.
The music remains soul-stirring, and—with his operas Peter Grimes and Death in Venice—is the peak of Britten’s theatrical work. The Blu-ray image looks fine; the sound is extraordinarily detailed.
Your Sister’s Sister
(IFC)
In the sad tradition of “mature” American movies, writer-director Lynn Shelton’s exploration of the tense dynamic among sisters and the guy one screws but the other loves is a shallow rather than deep drama: unfunny asides and farcical elements blunt an insightful look at characters interestingly etched by Emily Blunt and Rosemary DeWitt.
Too bad that Mark Duplass is a huge black hole that drags down the plausibility of this family/relationship dynamic. The Blu-ray image is excellent; extras comprise a pair of commentaries.
DVDs of the Week
Love and Valor
(PBS)
Director Charles Larimer presents the moving story of his great-great-grandparents, a Union soldier in the Civil War and his wife in Iowa with their children. Despite clichéd use of reenactments, the couple’s letters to each other retain a genuine immediacy.
Brian Dennehy, who is credited with the narration, is barely heard; Larimer himself does most of the voiceovers. Extras include brief featurettes.
The Miners’ Hymns
(Icarus)
Bill Morrison’s provocative, dream-like reminiscence comprises restored British Film Institute footage of coal miners working deep below the earth and their families celebrating what was an unassailable way of life.
The evocative imagery shows what remains of the mine locations today and glimpses a hard-working generation that gave its lives in a dangerous, and thankless, occupation. Extras include three Morrison shorts: Release, Outerborough and The Film of Her.
Rec 3
(Sony)
When a lethal virus races through a wedding reception and guests turn into murderous zombies, it’s up to a chain-saw toting bride to help fend them off. That it’s a “found-footage” movie is ridiculous, but since it’s lunatic from the start—blood and guts are smeared across the screen—hackneyed filmmaking doesn’t matter.
Leticia Dolera makes a rivetingly crazy heroine, and the risible “tragic” ending is a hoot. Extras include 23 minutes of deleted scenes and the usual outtakes.
Sesame Street—Old School, 1979-1984, Volume 3
(Warners)
The beloved PBS show has been on over 40 years—and will continue thanks to Mitt (anti-Big Bird) Romney’s crushing electoral defeat. This volume of the Old School series, which covers 1979-1984, includes classic characters as Telly Monster and Snuffleupagus and skits like “Monsterpiece Theater.”
The three discs include five full episodes and two hours of extra features: behind-the-scenes footage, commentary, interview and the emotional Goodbye to Mr. Hooper, after the death of beloved actor Will Lee.
Wolf Lake—The Complete Series
(e one/CBS)
In 2001, this werewolf-cop mystery series flopped after its post-September 11 premiere. I guess it was ahead of its time, for its mix of romance, mystery and monsters anticipated Harry Potter and Twilight: though it’s not very good, it had the scent of novelty which has since worn off.
A decent cast includes the wasted but always delectable Mia Kirshner. Extras include a making-of featurette and unaired pilot episode with commentary.
CDs of the Week
Elina Garanca: Romantique
(Deutsche Grammophon)
The romantic-era arias on this recording show off Latvian mezzo Elina Garanca’s lovely voice, whether it’s Marguerite's yearning in Berlioz’s Damnation of Faust or the heroine's emotional roller coaster in Saint-Saens' Samson and Dahlia.
Garanca moves easily among these characters to create full-bodied portraits, most ably accompanied by Bologna Philharmonic under the baton of Yves Abel.
Henze: In Lieblicher blaue
(Wergo)

German composer Hans Werner Henze—who died recently at age 86—mastered many orchestral genres, from symphonies, ballets and operas to, as this superlative new disc makes clear, chamber music. The works here are highlighted by settings of Friedrich Holderlin's poems, Kammermusik 1958, which alternates aching instrumental interludes for string ensemble or guitar with vocal passages of unrivaled beauty sung by tenor Clemens C. Loschmann with tact and precision.

The shorter works—1948’s Apollo et Hyazinthus and 1982’s Canzona—also demonstrate Henze’s unique musical idiom that combines gorgeous Romanticism with unapologetic modernism.

More Articles...

  1. November '12 Digital Week I
  2. CD Reviews: Great Vocal Stars Complied on New Releases
  3. October '12 Digital Week IV

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