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Reviews
November '21 Digital Week I
- Details
- Parent Category: Film and the Arts
- Category: Reviews
- Published on Wednesday, 03 November 2021 21:37
- Written by Kevin Filipski
4K/UHD Release of the Week
The Suicide Squad
(Warner Bros)
Since Suicide Squad—the 2016 version—flopped, this semi-reboot—with the definite article in the title—semi-resuscitates the franchise, as James Gunn’s bloated, jokey super-antihero epic occasionally scores with its flashy, action-filled camaraderie.
There’s a handful of chuckles to be had by none other than Sylvester Stallone as King Shark but, let’s face it, Harley Quinn—once again played by the magnetic Margot Robbie—is the only one of the squad who deserves her own franchise…which she has. The immaculate 4K image pops off the screen; the accompanying Blu-ray disc includes several extras: featurettes, interviews, deleted scenes, gag reel and director commentary (on both discs).
Only the Animals
(Cohen Media)
In Frederik Moll’s cynical and unpleasant crime drama, the death of a woman named Evelyn is the springboard to glimpses of the lives of five people she’s—mostly peripherally—connected to, from young Marion whom Evelyn has a brief affair with to farmer Michel who thinks he’s been flirting with Marion online to Michel’s wife Alice who’s carrying on an affair with another man, Joseph: he finds Evelyn’s body.
Moll adroitly moves among these people, but the utter contrivance of their relationships—I don’t know how much is in the underlying novel—make the film risible from the get-to, despite its self-seriousness and extremely capable acting, especially by Nadia Tereszkiewicz (Marion) and Laure Calamy (Alice).
Speer Goes to Hollywood
(Realworks LTD)
Using transcripts of interviews British writer Andrew Birkin had with Hitler’s favorite architect in 1971, when there was talk of a biopic (which was never made), director Vanessa Lapa has created a tantalizingly eye-opening documentary.
The arrogance and hypocrisy of Albert Speer (who only served 20 years in prison for being a large part of the Nazi war machine) is on full display as he almost gleefully recounts his importance in Hitler’s circle while simultaneously trying not to implicate himself. It’s a fascinating, if disgusting, balancing act that Lapa teases out expertly.
(Quiver)
This earnest dramatization of a tornado’s devastating effects on a small Oklahoma town works efficiently if blatantly, from the “before”—when many folks, even the most hardened, don’t take the warnings seriously, betting (hoping?) it’s another false alarm—to the “after,” when the area is all but obliterated and survivors must both fend for themselves and worry about their missing loved ones.
Director-writer Lindsay Gossling specializes in obviousness, but there are strong moments too, mainly provided by a cast that includes Paz Vega, Amy Smart and Thora Birch.
Blu-ray Releases of the Week
Children of the Damned
Eye of the Devil
(Warner Archive)
“Children,” the 1963 not-really-a-sequel to the classic “Village of the Damned,” is admirably understated as it follows several children who may or may not be from a superior alien race and the mainly clueless responses of various authority figures; too bad it’s never as thrilling or exciting as its predecessor.
Similarly, 1966’s “Eye of the Devil,” which posits David Niven as the latest ancestral pagan in his family’s chateau in an eerie precursor of “The Wicker Man,” has unnerving moments but doesn’t cohere satisfyingly, despite J. Lee Thompson’s lean direction. Both B&W films look wonderfully sharp in HD; “Village” includes screenwriter John Briley’s commentary.
(Warner Archive)
Based on the witty play by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber, George Cukor’s 1933 cinematic version of the relationships among a group of Manhattan’s upper-crust—all invitees to a stylish bash that evening—has its static and stagy moments, but the cast is triumphant. Among a starry ensemble of John and Lionel Barrymore, Wallace Beery, Marie Dressler and Billie Burke, none other than Jean Harlow steals the show.
This is supreme B&W entertainment that looks spectacular in hi-def. Extras are the 1993 documentary Harlow: The Blonde Bombshell, hosted by Sharon Stone, and a related vintage short, Come to Dinner.
The Hidden Life of Trees
(Capelight/MPI)
German forester Peter Wohlleben is the focus of this illuminating documentary about how the natural world is more than just the “environment” that is always talked about but rarely understood.
Director Jorg Adolph has created a splendid portrait of Woglleben who understands trees and their “language” as well as the “wood wide web” alongside a beautifully-shot nature documentary whose astonishing visuals make an persuasive case for the mostly unknown complexities of the natural world. The images, unsurprisingly, look rightly dazzling in hi-def.
(Warner Archive)
In this 1933 pre-code melodrama, premarital sex and out-of-wedlock pregnancy are the outcomes of an affair between a female doctor—still handicapped professionally by her sex—and the man she has eyes for, even though he marries someone else.
At 72 minutes, no one can say this is padded, but its dramatic thinness is only partly compensated for by Kay Francis’ bravura lead performance. The B&W film looks exceptionally good on Blu.
DVD Releases of the Week
Sisters
(Distrib Films)
Writer-director Yamina Benguigui’s often trenchant study of a trio of French-Algerian sisters still dealing with the decades-old fallout of their father leaving France and returning to Algeria with their young brother is an unflinching exploration of family dysfunction triggered by outdated political and cultural traditions against women.
These women are powerfully enacted by ageless superstar Isabelle Adjani, tough-minded Maiwenn and forceful Rachida Brakni, who get to the heart of a fractured relationship that, after many years and thousands of miles, is difficult to heal.
(HBO)
The Tiger Woods saga—from the highs of his superstar status seemingly cemented while he was still an amateur golfer to the lows of his messy personal life (car wrecks, highly publicized affairs, divorce from his Nordic goddess wife) is recounted in thorough and even-handed fashion.
Interviews with many people who have been part of his life over the decades, from his first love in high school to fellow pros on the tour, but there’s a hole at the center of not having Tiger himself, even if he’s been interviewed enough to use dozens of clips interspersed throughout.
Walker—Complete 1st Season
(CBS/Paramount)
In this reboot of the ’90s series starring Chuck Norris, a longtime Ranger volunteers for a lengthy undercover operation after his beloved wife is murdered, and when he returns to discovers that he has to balance dealing with his estranged teenage daughter with his dangerous professional life.
While this isn’t designed to appeal to everyone—the cutesiness slathered onto the sentimentality is a bit much—this should do very nicely for fans of straightforward action and melodrama, anchored by Jared Padalecki as Walker and Lindsey Morgan as his new partner. All 18 episodes are on 5 discs; extras are featurettes, deleted scenes and a gag reel.
César Franck—Hulda
(Naxos)
Belgian composer César Franck (1822-90) was probably a more valuable teacher than composer: among his students were Vincent d'Indy, Ernest Chausson, Louis Vierne, Guillaume Lekeu and Henri Duparc. But Franck’s music, attractive if conventional, still holds interest, even if his opera output is barely heard.
Indeed, Hulda was never performed until after his death. It’s too bad, for—at least on the evidence of this excellent recording by Germany’s Freiburg Theatre—it makes a worthy addition to the Gallic stage repertoire, with a great title role for a first-rate soprano (Meagan Miller does the honors here).
Alfred Schnittke/Sergei Prokofiev
(Cleveland Orchestra)
Soviet composers whose works were written a half-century apart are featured on the latest recording by the Cleveland Orchestra, which has under conductor Franz Welser-Möst become a fearsome advocate for 20th and 21st century music. First, there’s the 1979 Concerto for Piano and Strings by Alfred Schnittke (1934-98), which effortlessly alternates between sheer bombast and utmost delicacy; pianist Yefim Bronfman is the formidable soloist.
The year 1925 saw the premiere of the Symphony No. 2 by Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953), a remarkable display of breakneck rhythms and brilliant orchestration, which Welser-Möst and the orchestra play with a controlled fury that harnesses the wild surges in Prokofiev’s always audacious score.
October '21 Digital Week III
- Details
- Parent Category: Film and the Arts
- Category: Reviews
- Published on Saturday, 30 October 2021 03:28
- Written by Kevin Filipski
Blu-ray Releases of the Week
Frankenstein’s Daughter
The Amazing Mr. X
(Film Detective)
Connoisseurs of low-budget flicks will make a beeline to these forgotten films, starting with the Z-grade Frankenstein’s Daughter (1958), a paltry addition to the classic series, shot in muddy B&W on flimsy sets with atrocious acting and a risible, unscary monster.
Then there’s The Amazing Mr. X (1948), an eerie drama about a phony clairvoyant who pretends to help a grieving widow contact her dead husband—and who ends up trying to help her survive in a nice twisty finale. Both films have fine hi-def transfers; extras include commentaries and featurettes.
(Warner Archive)
In the fourth and final season of Black Lightning, school principal Jefferson Pierce again comes out of superhero retirement to become Black Lightning one last time to battle The 100 as well as symbolically pass the torch to his daughters, Thunder and Lightning.
A terrific “metahuman” propels it forward: Cress Williams in the title role and Nefessa Wiliams and China Anne McClain as his daughters/protégés. All 13 episodes look sharp on Blu; lone extra is a making-of featurette.
Chernobyl 1986
(Capelight)
Making a saccharine melodrama about the horrific happenings at Chernobyl—site of a nuclear disaster criminally covered up by the Soviet government—is what actor-director Danila Kozlovsky has done, centering the film on Alexey, a fireman who bravely enters the smoldering radioactive ruins after rekindling a relationship with Olga, a single mother whose only son has been seriously irradiated by the accident.
Kozlovsky (Alexey) and Oksana Akinshina (Olga) have needed chemistry and sequences inside the crippled plant have the requisite tension. But the love story overwhelms the epic tragedy that unfolds. The film looks frighteningly realistic in hi-def.
(Naxos)
French composer Reynaldo Hahn (1874-1947) created this charming operetta about a beautiful young woman with a hold on the men in her small village, as this frothy 2013 staging at Paris’ Opera Comique by director/actor Michel Fau shows.
Fau has corralled several topnotch performers—led by Julie Fuchs as the irresistible Ciboulette, along with a French film grand dame, Bernadette Lafont, as Madame Pingret—and paired them with an exquisite-sounding chorus and orchestra conducted by Laurence Equilbey. There are superb hi-def video and audio.
Corridor of Mirrors
(Cohen Film Collection)
For his first film, director Terence Young (who went to make the first two James Bond films, Dr. No and From Russia with Love) made this tense 1948 drama about a man who, having fallen in love with a young woman, is convinced he already loved her in another lifetime.
Christopher Lee also made his onscreen debut in a supporting role, while Edana Romney makes a fine femme fatale. There’s a gritty-looking B&W hi-def transfer.
(Scream Factory)
When this tongue-in-cheek romantic horror flick came out in 1986, it was noted that Wes Craven—of A Nightmare on Elm Street and Last House on the Left infamy—had made a gentler version of his usual slasher flicks in this weird tale of a smart teen with a homemade robot friend who falls for the cute girl next door…until horrors ensue.
Too bad the movie is pretty toothless, despite what’s probably the only time you’ll ever see someone decapitated by a basketball. There’s also cute chemistry between Matthew Labyorteaux and Kristy Swanson. The movie has an excellent hi-def transfer; extras are new interviews with Swanson, screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin, makeup effects artist Lance Anderson and composer Charles Bernstein.
Mad Love
The Ghost Ship/Bedlam
(Warner Archive)
In 1935’s tense Mad Love, Peter Lorre made his American movie debut as a crazed doctor who, through sheer happenstance after an accident, operates on the mangled hands of the pianist husband (Colin Clive) of a theater actress (Frances Drake) he’s infatuated with—of course, things soon spiral out of control.
A double feature of thrillers by legendary producer Val Lewton pairs 1943’s The Ghost Ship, a tidy psychological drama about a crazed freighter’s captain, with the creepy and controlled Bedlam (1946), with Boris Korloff perfectly cast as the head of the infamous 18th century London mental hospital. Both B&W films have excellent hi-def transfers; Mad Love and Bedlam include audio commentaries.
(Warner Archive)
Ron Howard’s 1982 feature has a good straight-man role for Henry Winkler—by then typecast as Fonzie from Happy Days, costarring Howard—as a put-upon morgue attendant with an annoying fiancée and an obnoxious new partner, played with explosive energy by then-newcomer Michael Keaton, whose appearance catapulted him to Mr. Mom and stardom.
There’s also a bright comic turn by the always appealing Shelley Long as a hooker with a heart of gold. Babaloo Mandel and Lowell Ganz’s script is fairly ridiculous and too often goes for cheap laughs, but the three leads keep us entertained throughout.
Superman & Lois—Complete 1st Season
(Warner Bros)
This newest reboot of the man of steel saga finds Clark Kent and Lois Lane returning to Smallville to raise their two sons out of the spotlight of Metropolis.
Though difficult at this late date to add anything original to the Superman universe, this series is diverting enough, with charming performances by Tyler Hoechlin (Clark) and Elizabeth Tulloch (Lois) and the welcome presence of Emmanuelle Chirqui as a Smallville friend. The first season’s 15 episodes look fine on Blu; extras include extended episodes and featurettes.
La Navire Night
(Icarus Films)
Marguerite Duras, who died in 1996 at age 81, was an author, playwright, screenwriter and director whose work enraged and infuriated as much as it engaged and fascinated viewers. Her films were marked by a visual and verbal disjunction that deconstructed and reprocessed form instead of following a well-worn narrative.
This 1979 feature is a prime example: it consists entirely of Duras and Benoit Jacquot’s voices describing a telephone romance that is decidedly not enacted onscreen by stars Dominique Sanda, Bulle Ogier and Mathieu Carrière. Pierre Lhomme’s photography—especially in a new restoration—is striking, as is Sanda.
Suzanna Andler
(Icarus Films)
Marguerite Duras’ typically stripped-down play about a middle-aged wife and mother dealing with the fallout of her infidelity with a younger man has been turned into a claustrophobic if not very interesting film by Benoit Jacquot, whose meager speciality—studies of various women, from the pregnant teenager in A Single Girl to the would-be lover of the aging seucer in Casanova, Last Love—would seem tailor-made for this material.
But, despite Charlotte Gainsbourg’s intensity in the title role, Jacquot does little than create a handsome-looking but empty character study.
Leonard Bernstein—Candide
(LSO)
Although not well-received at its 1956 premiere, Leonard Bernstein’s operetta based on Voltaire’s 18th century classic about an eternal optimist naively believing in the “best of all possible worlds” has grown in stature since, even though its glorious high points like “Glitter and Be Gay” and the ravishing finale, “Make Our Garden Grow,” are separated by stretches of less-than-scintillating music.
For this 2018 London recording, Marin Alsop adroitly conducts the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, with a capable cast at her disposal, with Leonardo Capalbo’s Candide, Thomas Allen’s Dr. Pangloss and Anne Sofie von Otter’s Old Lady leading the way.
Leonard Bernstein—Mass
(Sony Classical)
Another Bernstein work that has grown in stature since its 1971 premiere at the Kennedy Center, Mass remains problematic, thanks to its bumpy attempt to marry the sounds of Broadway and rock with the groovy feeling of the spiritual. There are lovely moments here—even if they often sound like outtakes from West Side Story or On the Town—but the sheer verve of the performers, both vocal and instrumental, more than make up for the lack of coherence musically or philosophically.
This world-premiere recording, conducted by Bernstein and starring baritone Alan Titus as the Celebrant, with two choirs and a full orchestra doing the honors. Despite all their efforts, however, Mass is a Mess.
An Evening with the Philadelphia Orchestra
- Details
- Parent Category: Film and the Arts
- Category: Reviews
- Published on Wednesday, 27 October 2021 16:43
- Written by Jack Angstreich
Philadelphia Orchestra, photo by Pete Checchia
On the evening of Wednesday, October 20th, at Carnegie Hall, I was enthralled to hear the outstanding Philadelphia Orchestra, under the brilliant direction of Yannick Nézet-Séguin, performing the second concert in their complete cycle of symphonies by Ludwig van Beethoven this season. They had presented a superb account of the Fifth Symphony at the Opening Night Gala and here amply fulfilled the expectations generated on that night.
The first half of the program featured a marvelous reading of the less frequently played Fourth Symphony, realized with an unusual clarity. The opening movement began with a suspenseful Adagio introduction which transitioned into the jubilant Allegro vivace. The slow movement was lyrical, at times introspective, while the scherzo was playful and energetic, alternating with Trio sections that were pregnant with anticipation, segueing into a propulsive, exhilarating finale.
The conductor then addressed the audience with regard to the question of another Beethoven symphony cycle before leading the musicians in a confident version of the gorgeous “Pastoral” Symphony, beginning with a an enchanting, joyous first movement followed by a more meditative slow movement. The third movement was captivating and tuneful, which gave way to the dramatic, tumultuous Allegro, concluding beautifully with the affirmative, unexpectedly serene finale. The artists garnered enthusiastic applause and deservedly so. I look forward to the next program in the cycle on November 9th.
A Tradition of Dance: "Giselle"
- Details
- Parent Category: Film and the Arts
- Category: Reviews
- Published on Saturday, 23 October 2021 13:45
- Written by Jack Angstreich
Katherine Williams in Giselle. Photo: Rosalie O’Connor
On the evening of Friday, October 22nd, I had the great privilege of seeing a superb, moving presentation by American Ballet Theater of Giselle, “the oldest continually-performed ballet,” with choreography after that of Jean Coralli, Jules Perrot, and Marius Petipa, in a staging by Kevin McKenzie, the Artistic Director of the company. The fantastical libretto is by the eminent, 19th-century French writer, Théophile Gautier, on a theme by the major German Romantic poet, Heinrich Heine. The melodious score is Adolphe Adam. The scenery was designed by Gianni Quaranta, with costumes by Anna Anni, and with lighting by Jennifer Tipton, which was especially effective in the mysterious, supernatural second act.
The title role was magnificently played by Gillian Murphy, one of the finest ballerinas in the company, dazzling throughout the evening. Her excellent partner, as Count Albrecht, was Thomas Forster, exhibiting a rare emotional power in his final scene. Katherine Williams was outstanding as Myrta, the queen of the wilis, while Jarod Curley was impressive as Hilarion the Village Huntsman. The secondary cast was also extraordinary, featuring the wonderful Luciana Paris and Gabe Stone Shayer as the dancers of the Peasant Pas de Deux, and, in the second act, the roles of the two wilis, Moyna and Zulma, were performed by the splendid Sierra Armstrong and April Giangeruso, respectively. The admirable corps de ballet was in characteristically marvelous form. The company’s fall season continues for another week, with several intriguing mixed programs.
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