Kevin's November Digital Week I

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Sunday, 14 November 2010 05:00

Written by Kevin Filipski

Though often overheated and wincingly awful in its bludgeoning obviousness, Charles Laughton’s lone directorial effort (made in 1955 and an immediate flop upon release) has acquired such a growing cult that it’s now routinely considered a “classic.” It’s far from that, although Robert Mitchum has some over-the-top fun as the preacher who preys on lonely and wealthy widows—too bad he’s up against Laughton’s hammy handling of the other actors and the blatant symbolism of his good vs. evil parable.
 To celebrate Stephen Sondheim’s 80th birthday last March, the New York Philharmonic pulled out all the stops for a star-studded trip down memory lane, with highlights from a career still going strong after a half-century. David Hyde Pierce is our delightful host, Paul Gemignani conducts the Philharmonic in gorgeous renditions of Sondheim’s music (sounding splendid in DTS-HD audio), and veterans of Sondheim’s classic shows from West Side Story and Company to Sunday in the Park with George and Follies, perform the songs that made him an American original.
 These two boxed sets illuminate among the most compelling issues of our time: the first book of the Bible and our post-Sept. 11 world. Genesis consists of Moyers leading discussions with dozens of people, from deep-thinking scholars to ordinary men and women, in how the stories of the Bible affect the modern world; Faith finds Moyers interviewing renowned writers such as Salman Rushdie, Martin Amis and Margaret Atwood about the seeming gap in the 21st century between religion and science.
 (Sony)
The no-holds-barred, take-no-prisoners approach of this animated comedy, based on Aaron McGruder’s politically incorrect comic strip told from a black point of view, continues in this series’ third season, available in a three-disc set filled with special features like commentaries and episode introductions as irreverent as the shows themselves.
 (Capitol Nashville)
After the demise of Hootie and the Blowfish, singer Darius Rucker found an improbable second career as a popular country artist: his first CD was an unexpected hit, leading to this new recording. Although it’s more of the same, mostly upbeat country tunes that are distinguished by Rucker’s characteristically burnished vocals, there are a couple of keepers.
 
“I Don’t Care” is a fun, politically incorrect duet written and sung with Brad Paisley), while the tongue-in-cheek “Southern State of Mind” takes off from Billy Joel’s “New York State of Mind” to unapologetically state Rucker’s case: “I could be up in Ohio or back home in Caroline/No matter what state I’m in, I’m in a Southern State of Mind.”

Sondheim on Sondheim: Original Broadway Cast Recording
(PS Classics)
Sondheim on Sondheim wedded the Broadway composer‘s own words, in pre-recorded interviews, with renditions of his greatest songs, along with obscure and rarely-heard ones (and even a new one, the aptly-titled “God“). Although this CD misses director James Lapine’s visually dazzling stage sleight-of-hand, the remarkable voices that make up the show are present and accounted for.
 
There's the always-delectable Vanessa Williams, who makes “Good Thing Going” from Merrily We Roll Along her own, and who teams with legend Barbara Cook for a wonderful duet of “Losing My Mind” (from Follies) and “Not a Day Goes By” (also from Merrily). And Cook herself gives a beautifully reticent rendition of Sondheim’s greatest hit, “Send in the Clowns.”

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