April '12 Digital Week I

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Sunday, 08 April 2012 11:00

Written by Kevin Filipski

Blu-rays of the Week
Angels Crest
(Magnolia)
Strong performances distinguish Gaby Dellal’s relentlessly downbeat drama, based on Catherine Treischmann’s novel about the accidental death of a toddler thanks to his young father’s carelessness. But despite its cast (Lynn Collins as the boy’s distraught, alcoholic mother, Thomas Dekker as the unfortunate dad and Kate Walsh and Elizabeth McGovern as a pair of lovers), the movie can’t escape the melodramatic trappings.

The stunning mountain landscapes--shot in the Canadian Rockies--are equally so on Blu-ray; extras include deleted scenes, an alternate ending (much stronger than what we ended up with), interviews with Dekker and Mira Sorvino, and a brief making-of.

Chasing Madoff
(Cohen Media Group)
When the hero of Jeff Prosserman’s documentary about the Bernie Madoff scandal, Harry Markopolos, discusses being worried that Madoff might come after him, there’s a palpable sense of fear. But Prosserman jazzes up his story of criminal behavior of historic proportions with unnecessarily silly reenactments like those seen on the History Channel.

Still, this cautionary tale of government indifference and personal malfeasance (another symptom of the 2008 global economic collapse) is important viewing. The movie--mainly comprising talking-head interviews--looks decent on Blu-ray; extras include deleted scenes, alternate ending and filmmaker commentary.

Great Expectations
(PBS)
Charles Dickens’ beloved novel gets the Masterpiece treatment via the BBC and PBS: while his three-hour adaptation is sumptuous and more thorough than David Lean’s now-classic 1945 version (a mere two hours long), director Brian Kirk bogs down in sundry characters and plot threads, losing focus at crucial times.

Gillian Anderson plays the immortal Miss Havisham to the hilt, but her fatal self-immolation scene--which plays out differently in the novel--comes off as mere melodrama. On Blu-ray, Dickens looks super.
 
Macbeth
(Opus Arte)
The least of Giuseppe Verdi’s three Shakespearean operas--the masterly Otello and Falstaff came much later--is dramatically and musically middling, although the composer rises to the occasion for the weird sisters’ and Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking scenes.

In Phyllida Lloyd’s sharp staging, Simon Keenlyside is a formidable Macbeth, and Liudmyla Monastyrska a mordant Lady Macbeth. Visually, Lloyd’s production has fine sets and costumes; under Antonio Pappano’s baton, the Royal Opera House orchestra and chorus sound flawless.

Madonna: Truth or Dare
(Lionsgate/Miramax)
In 1991, in another example of prizing commerce above artistry, Madonna and her acolyte director Alek Keshishian made this self-serving documentary about the pop star backstage and onstage during her 1990 world tour.

If you ever wanted to see the Material Girl curse like a sailor or mock then-boyfriend Warren Beatty (another perfect opportunist who directed her in Dick Tracy, as they made the perfect couple--for a little while), here’s your chance. Much of the footage is intentionally grainy, so the Blu-ray transfer isn’t particularly eye-popping; no extras.

That 70s Show: Season One
(Mill Creek)
The first sitcom originally shown on TV in standard-definition and the boxy 4x3 aspect ratio to be released on Blu-ray in 16x9 widescreen is this funny but frivolous show with soon-to-be-stars Ashton Kutcher, Topher Grace and Mila Kunis.

It’s initially weird to watch it in widescreen, especially since what’s on the left and right of the screen is mostly empty space, but since it looks good in hi-def, who’s to complain? All 22 episodes are included; extras include short interviews and on-set clips.

War Horse
(Dreamworks)
Steven Spielberg’s unabashedly sentimental drama foregoes the conceit that made the play of Michael Morpurgo’s children’s book a visceral rush: the wondrous puppets that became living, breathing horses onstage. Contrarily, real horses make the movie pretty pedestrian.

That said, it’s beautifully directed, photographed (by Janusz Kaminski), edited (by Michael Kahn) and acted (by Peter Mullan, Emily Watson and Niels Arestrup, among others): but can Spielberg stop using John Williams’ nauseating, omnipresent music? On Blu-ray, the film looks exquisite; there are excellent--and plentiful--on-set extras, including interviews with Spielberg, his cast and crew.

We Bought a Zoo
(Fox)
Based on Benjamin Mee’s book about events in his own life, Cameron Crowe has made a cute movie that often stumbles into cutesiness. That’s almost a given considering there are children and animals, but even Crowe--who shows welcome restraint at times--can’t resist rubbing our noses in the adorableness on display.

Too bad, for Matt Damon acts as if he’s in a serious character study about a widower rebuilding his and his kids’ lives. The hi-def image is clear and clean; extras include a long making-of featurette, on-set interviews, 37 minutes of deleted/extended scenes, music videos and other featurettes.

DVDs of the Week
Jeff Healey Band Live in Belgium
(Eagle Rock North)
Canada’s Jeff Healey--who died too young at age 41 from cancer in 2008--headlines a barnstorming performance of his band during its 1993 European tour.

Healey (blind from age one due to a rare eye cancer) plays his instrument uniquely, almost like a slide guitar, and its personal stamp is heard on his radio hit “Angel Eyes” and excellent covers of “Roadhouse Blues” and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” There’s also a CD included of the show.

Tyrannosaur
(Strand)
At the start of actor Paddy Considine’s writing/directing debut, the hero kicks a dog to death: can we sympathize with this monster? Yes, since he’s played by the great Peter Mullan, owner of cinema’s craggiest, well-worn face. Never stooping to caricature, Mullan creates a credible portrait of a lonely man flailing out at a world that left him behind.

The incremental steps he takes toward connecting with others allow us to, if not forgive him, at least understand his actions. Although Mullan is the chief reason to see the film, there’s estimable support by Olivia Colman as a woman who changes his life.

CD of the Week

Ute Lemper: Paris Days Berlin Nights
(Steinway & Sons)
In a welcome addition to her already impressive catalog, German chanteuse Ute Lemper returns to the Weimar years--between the end of WWI and the rise of Hitler--for a stirring collection of songs made famous by Edith Piaf, Kurt Weill, Hans Eisler and Astor Piazzolla.

The acerbic Weill and Eisler songs set off the elegance of handful of French chansons, with the rollicking, masterly tangos of Piazzolla rounding out the slate. Lemper, in fine voice throughout, though not without unnecessary over-ornamentation, ends on a high note with Jacques Brel’s “Ne me quitte pas.” Ably accompanying are the energetic Vogler Quartet and multi-instrumentalist Stefan Malzew.

American Pie Redux?

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Saturday, 07 April 2012 11:01

Written by Lloyd Carroll

American Reunion
Directed by Jon Hurwitz, Adam Schlossberg
Starring Jason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan, Sean William Scott

Adam Herz, the creator of the “American Pie” film series that launched in 1999, has done a remarkable job meshing relatable characters in the manner of its chief influence, George Lucas’ American Graffiti with the bawdy humor of Porky’s and Animal House.

The idea of the gang from East Great Falls, Michigan, getting together for a high school reunion is certainly an easy way for the filmmakers to come up with yet another “American Pie” sequel. I have never heard of a “13th anniversary” high school reunion but this contrivance is somewhat abated by the fact that the characters are now north of the big 3-0 which naturally causes some reexamination.

Jim (Jason Biggs) and Michelle (Alyson Hannigan) are now parents of an adorable son but “the thrill is all gone when they cut down the lights” as Jerry Lee Lewis sang in his poignant 1977 ballad, “Middle Age Crazy. Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas), the literally and figuratively anally retentive character in the original film who came off as the mature one, has his old mates believing that he has been spending the last decade globetrotting in very remote places. 

Oz (Chris Klein) is a hunky LA sportscaster who has a trophy girlfriend but still pines away for Heather (Mena Suvari) who is involved with a narcissistic cardiologist. Kevin (Thomas Ian Nichols) is married to a very attractive woman in Chicago but still has a soft spot for his first love, Vicky (Tara Reid).

The attention- grabber in the group is still that perennial life of the party, Steven Stifler (Seann William Scott). In Stifler’s mind, he is still in high school. Working at a dead-end temp job with a nasty boss who enjoys humiliating him has only added to the romanticism of his glory years. It is clear that his former high school classmates have deliberately kept their distance over the years from this perennial man-child.

As expected, “American Reunion” throws in a few mild R-rated scenes and the obligatory scatological jokes to please longtime fans of this film series, but there is also a wistful poignancy as the protagonists try to balance pleasant memories from the past with a not-so-perfect present.

Co-directors Hurwitz and Schlossberg nicely work in almost every character who appeared in “American Pie” for at least a cameo the way that managers at baseball all-star games try to get every player into the game. 

It is the two oldest actors here that are the most memorable. Comedy veteran Eugene Levy shines as Jim’s far-hipper-than-he-seems dad, while Jennifer Coolidge, in a homage to such 1950's buxomly starlets as Mamie Van Doren and Jayne Mansfield, reprises her role as Stifler’s mother. It’s safe to say that at this point the phrase “Stifler’s Mother” is every bit as iconic to pop culture fans as “Whistler’s Mother” is to art aficionados.

It is somewhat surprising that none of the young actors ever became breakout stars. Jason Biggs and Seann William Scott have kept busy but they are certainly not A-listers. Tara Reid has been a fixture in gossip mags for a variety of personal problems but has not done much else. Alyson Hannigan is probably the most successful of the cast but she is best known for her role on CBS’s “How I Met Your Mother” than for movies.

So you can expect the cast to reunite for future sequels. And maybe that's not such a bad thing.

On Broadway: Resurrecting ‘Superstar’ and ‘Evita’

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Friday, 06 April 2012 05:00

Written by Kevin Filipski

Evita
Starring Ricky Martin, Elena Roger, Michael Cerveris
Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by Tim Rice
Directed by Michael Grandage; choreographed by Rob Ashford

Jesus Christ Superstar
Starring Paul Nolan, Josh Young, Chilina Kennedy, Tom Hewitt, Bruce Dow
Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by Tim Rice
Directed by Des McAnuff; choreographed by Lisa Shriver

Now we have the return to Broadway of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s biggest hits together: 1970’s Jesus Christ Superstar and 1978’s Evita. If the new stagings aren’t genuine cause for celebration, they provide interesting comparisons between the works.

In its new incarnation--directly from the stage of Canada’s Stratford ShakespeareFestival, where it originated last summer--Superstar has not aged well. Telling the story of the last days of Christ, from Palm Sunday to Good Friday (we do not see him risen until the curtain call) in a through-composed rock opera might have been a novelty 40 years ago, but Lloyd Webber’s blunt rock-influenced songs (with more than a touch of The Who’s Tommy) and Rice’s god-awful lyrics (the words have meaning and import only once: on the cross, Christ intones the Bible’s powerful “My God, why have you forsaken me?” and “It is finished“) can’t overcome their pretentions of greater glory.

Happily, Des McAnuff’s inventive staging--which is saddled with Robert Brill’s bland unit set that resembles the all-purpose jungle gym currently in vogue--and fast pace keep things moving, so in no time at all we go from Christ smashing the temple to being flogged as Pilate washes his hands.

McAnuff’s cast, most of whom come from the Canadian staging, is solid but unspectacular: remote otherwise, Chilina Kennedy beautifully caresses the show’s prettiest tune, “I Don’t Know How to Love Him,” while Josh Young’s Judas registers strongly both in his vocals and his predestined villany. Paul Nolan is more a dignified Christ figure than a compelling flesh-and-blood man, and the Pontius Pilate of Tom Hewitt is well-sung but bland.

If Superstar fizzles rather than sizzles, Evita--imported belatedly from its 2006 London revival, much too late to make people forget the laughable 1996 Madonna movie--shows that Lloyd Webber and Rice improved their craft in the intervening eight years.

Lloyd Webber’s music, more sonically sophisticated than in Superstar, has hints of minimalism in its score a la Adams or Glass. Of course, his lovely lament “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” has such a memorable melody that Lloyd Webber overuses it as a pseudo-Wagnerian leitmotif, weaving it in, out and around other tunes throughout the show. The problem with this approach is that when we finally hear the song proper in the second act, its emotional power has been diluted by so much hinting at it beforehand.

Still, the songs are not only better but more varied, while Rice’s lyrics--still often sophomoric--immeasurably improve upon their predecessors’. Rice even comes up with clever turns of the phrase during Evita’s dress-up number, “Rainbow High” and hubby Juan Peron’s sardonic “The Art of the Possible.”

Those mesmerized by Harold Prince’s original Broadway production--and its then-unknown stars, Patti Lupone and Mandy Patinkin--might abhor Michael Grandidge’s staging, but it’s fluidity and straightforwardness helps put Argentine history many audience members will be unfamiliar with in context. Rob Ashford’s dances--heavy on the tango, of course, but with an appropriately stomping martial beat as well--work serviceably, as do Christopher Oram’s sturdy sets and costumes. Neil Austin’s lighting and Mick Potter’s sound design bring added visual and aural flair.

There remains the question of whether Lloyd Webber and Rice glorify or excoriate the Perons. Evidence goes both ways, less from ambiguity than uncertainty; but in this staging, excoriation wins. Michael Cerveris--a solid Broadway veteran--makes Peron a zombified head of state with a magnificent singing voice, and Ricky Martin is a charismatic Che (our Everyman narrator), telling the story with an arched eyebrow while singing superbly and with flawless diction.

Our Evita is the diminutive Argentine actress Elena Roger, who dances beautifully and acts persuasively but sings with a tendency towards shrillness, noticeably in the upper register. She’s also made up to look mousey (at first), then ratty. If the intention is to make Eva Peron so unlikable that we loathe her immediately, then it succeeds. But such a complex anti-heroine needs more understanding and less condescension from her creators.

Evita
Previews began March 12, 2012; opened April 5; tickets on sale thru Dec. 30
Marquis Theatre, Broadway between 45th and 46th Streets, New York, NY
http://evitaonbroadway.com

Jesus Christ Superstar
Previews began March 1, 2012; opened March 22; tickets on sale thru July 1
Neil Simon Theatre, 250 West 52nd Street, New York, NY
http://superstaronbroadway.com