June '11 Digital Week IV

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Sunday, 26 June 2011 15:00

Written by Kevin Filipski

Blu-rays of the Week
Cedar Rapids (Fox)
Ed Helms is being positioned as a sensitive farceur a la Steve Carell, but based on the execrable The Hangover and this mild comedy, he’s in danger of falling into the trap of sameness and falling completely off the radar. The “fish out of water” story of a small-town insurance salesman who discovers the big, bad world at a business convention in swinging Wisconsin is barely enough for a feature, as the brief running time reveals. The cast, comprising John C. Reilly, Anne Heche and Sigourney Weaver alongside Helms, is game, but the feeble material holds them back. There’s an adequate Blu-ray transfer; extras include deleted scenes, gag reel, featurettes and interview segments.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (Fox)
A painless 95 minutes, this silly sequel to the original adaptation of Jeff Kinney’s famous children’s book has enough humor about the absurdities of being parents and kids that it will surely click with many families. There’s nothing here we haven’t seen spoofed before in the generational department, but the actors are certainly enjoying themselves, which helps pass the time. The Blu-ray transfer is decent; extras include a gag reel, deleted scenes, alternate ending and director/author commentary.

Hall Pass (Warners)
The Farrelly brothers, still motoring along, keep their raunchy comedy tradition going. This one has even less going for it than usual, as a strictly second-string cast comprises Owen Wilson, Jason Sudekis, Christina Applegate and Jenna Fischer. There are a few good laughs, but most of the humor is of the deliberate gross-out kind, especially in the seven-minute longer unrated cut, where we (and Wilson) are supposed to find the sight of a black man’s large penis and a white man’s small member shocking and hilarious. (It’s neither.) The Blu-ray transfer is quite good; extras consist of a four-minute deleted scene and two-minute gag reel.

Insignificance (Criterion)
Nicolas Roeg’s insignificant 1985 fantasy, based on Terry Johnson’s mediocre play, features unnamed stand-ins for Albert Einstein, Joe DiMaggio, Marilyn Monroe and Joe McCarthy duke it out in 1950s Manhattan. The plot gives Roeg the chance to show off his well-worn visual trickery, including slo-mo nuclear annihilation, but nothing really stays with you after viewing. The actors give their all, but if Michael Emil, Gary Busey and Tony Curtis are defeated by the weak material, Theresa Russell is luminous and touching as The Actress. As usual with Criterion, the Blu-ray image is far superior to any other home video version of the film so far; extras include new interviews with Roeg, producer Jeremy Thomas and editor Tony Lawson, vintage making-of featurette.

Kill the Irishman (Anchor Bay)
This fast-paced dramatization of Danny Greene, the real-life Irish crime boss in 1970s Cleveland, has enormous sympathy for a gangster who just happened to be taking on even nastier Italian gangsters. It helps that Jim Stevenson’s enormously charismatic presence becomes the focal point of the film. Even if this ground is oft-trodden, such an offbeat take on the mob scene is worth  a look. Considerable support comes from Vincent d’Onofrio, Christopher Walken, Val Kilmer and Linda Cardellini and Laura Ramsey as Danny’s women. Jonathan Lensleigh’s movie looks strikingly realistic on Blu-ray; the lone extra is an hour-long documentary, Danny Greene: The Rise and Fall of the Irishman, which gets insights from the people involved in Danny’s life story.

Kiss Me Deadly (Criterion)
Robert Aldrich’s dark film noir is a triumph of style over substance: it’s easy to see why Quentin Tarantino loves this film, which has ridiculous characters and an even more ludicrous storyline. But Aldrich’s tough-minded direction compels one to watch even as the implausibilities pile up higher and higher. The stiff and awkward acting mitigates against the movie succeeding dramatically, but damned if Aldrich doesn’t tighten the screws until the risible but awesomely explosive ending. The stark B&W photography is well-served by Criterion’s pristine Blu-ray transfer; extras include a commentary, documentary excerpts, altered ending and an appreciation by director Alex Cox.

Spectacle: Elvis Costello with…Season 2 (MVD)
Season 2 of Elvis Costello’s Sundance Channel musical talk show is bookended by heavyweights: the first program finds Bono and the Edge engagingly discussing careers with Elvis and singing songs with and without him; the final two programs are given over to Bruce Springsteen, who does the same. In between, four episodes feature appearances by Sheryl Crow, Levon Helm, Nick Lowe, Lyle Lovett and Ray LaMontagne, who sing and talk with Elvis, and actress Mary Louise Parker, who interviews Elvis but does not sing. The shows look sharper than on TV, although it’s not necessary to put them on Blu-ray; extras include three bonus songs and a behind-the-scenes documentary.

Unknown (Warners)
Based on Taken and Unknown, Liam Neeson should avoid Europe. In Taken, his daughter was kidnapped in Paris; in Unknown, he loses his memory and finds his wife with another “husband” in Berlin. Stylish, action-packed and thoroughly illogical, Unknown is turn-off-the-brain entertainment, with a swaggering Neeson complemented by spunky Diane Kruger, smarmy Aidan Quinn, voluptuous January Jones and cadaverous Bruno Ganz. The movie’s images look excellent on Blu-ray; the meager extras are a four-minute Neeson profile and a four-minute behind-the-scenes featurette.

DVDs of the Week
American: The Bill Hicks Story (BBC)
Bill Hicks was a cult comedian whose career took off before he tragically died of cancer at age 32 in 1994. This heartfelt documentary shows excerpts from his standup act alongside a standard bio narrated by friends and family members. Though Hicks had an interesting outlook on the foibles of everyday life, his onstage persona owes a lot to Sam Kinison, who is never mentioned. Hours of fan-friendly extras include additional interviews and vintage clips.

Poison (Zeitgeist)
Todd Haynes’ first feature is an overheated, campily melodramatic triptych of stories that overlap routinely. Half-baked plotting, amateurish acting and Haynes’ ineptitude defeat whatever he’s trying to say; even neophyte Jean Genet did better with his lone film, an obvious influence. Haynes would go on to make Far from Heaven, I’m Not There and Mildred Pierce, all well-crafted dramas that show he learned something after making Poison. The 20th anniversary release includes interviews from last year’s Sundance Film festival and Haynes’ 1999 audio commentary.

CD of the Week
Herbert Howells: The Winchester Service (Hyperion)
British composer Herbert Howells (1892-1983) wrote much sacred choral music, and this valuable disc collects works he composed near the end of his life for choir and organ, solo organ, and a cappella choir. The standouts are the 10-minute title track and the 12-minute Te Deum 'St Mary Redcliffe' in which the Winchester Cathedral Choir soars angelically. Also noteworthy is Exultate Deo, a beautiful hymn to the beyond that stands as an 82-year-old composer’s remarkable religious anthem. It’s a testament to Howells’ talent that he found so much variety in a relatively narrow genre, and a testament to the choir (under leader Andrew Lumsden) and organist Simon Bell, who give all of these works such splendid readings.

Theater Review: Tennessee Williams' Gritty "One Arm"

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Wednesday, 22 June 2011 10:00

Written by Kevin Filipski

Tennessee Williams’ One Arm
Adapted for the stage and directed by Moises Kaufman
Starring Claybourne Elder, Larisa Polonsky, Steven Hauck, Todd Lawson, Noah Bean, KC Comeaux, Christopher McCann, Greg Pierotti

It’s easy to see why One Arm remained an unproduced film script, even though it was written by none other than Tennessee Williams. Adapted from Williams‛ short story, the play is about Ollie Olsen (Claybourne Elder), a hustler who lost an arm to a car accident while in the Navy (where he was a championship boxer).

Set in the seediest areas of New Orleans and New York, One Arm doesn’t shy away from showing what happens to Ollie before and after killing a sleazeball who paid him $200 for a porn shoot with a young woman (Larisa Polonsky). Ollie’s downbeat story, coupled with an unflinching look at his (mostly homosexual) exploits, makes for an uncomfortable 75 minutes in the theater.

But in Moises Kaufman’s spellbinding staging, this depressing tale comes across powerfully. Williams’ dialogue has a gritty poetry that perfectly mirrors Ollie’s increasingly desperate straits.

Ollie is enacted with formidable forthrightness and an imposing physicality by Elder, while the Narrator (the play’s weakest link, unnecessarily imposing Williams’ voice onstage) is played by a wobbly Noah Bean.

Other cast members impressively play various roles, led by a stellar Polonsky as the women in Ollie’s life. Whether a French Quarter stripper, a naïve nurse, or his porn partner, Polonsky breathes a moving authenticity into each part.

From the places Ollie lived and worked to the jail cell where he spends his final days, Kaufman shrewdly makes the Acorn Theatre’s wide stage seem claustrophobic.

A first-rate cast, creatively shabby lighting and sets and an admirably honest look at a group of shady characters make for an eminent co-production by The New Group and Kaufman's Tectonic Theatre Project.

What could have been a cloyingly obvious melodrama is transformed into a staggering Greek tragedy.

Tennessee Williams’ One Arm
Acorn Theatre
410 West 42nd Street
New York City
thenewgroup.org
Opened June 9, 2011; closes July 2, 2011

For more by Kevin Filipski, visit The Flip Side blog at http://flipsidereviews.blogspot.com

Theater Review: "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" Reboots

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Tuesday, 21 June 2011 10:00

Written by Kevin Filipski

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
Book by Julie Taymor, Glen Berger and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Music and lyrics by Bono and The Edge
Original direction by Julie Taymor; creative consultant: Philip Wm. McKinley
Choreography and aerial choreography by Daniel Ezralow
Starring Reeve Carney, Jennifer Damiano, T.V. Carpio, Patrick Page

Late in Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, the alternately stultifying and electrifying new musical, the nasty Green Goblin (played with irrepressible glee by Patrick Page) sits at a piano awaiting his showdown with the web-spinning superhero and begins singing “I’ll Take Manhattan,” a crazed send-up of Rodgers and Hart’s classic song.

The Green Goblin’s take on this pop standard is significant for two reasons. First, it’s one of the few times that this schizophrenic show, which bounces between seriously stupid psychology and serious comic-strip silliness, has a genuinely twisted sense of humor about itself (earlier, the Goblin makes mention of the show’s wildly inflated budget).

Secondly, it reminds us that Bono and The Edge, whose songwriting credentials were long ago cemented by U2’s plethora of hits, have a long way to go before they’ll compose a Broadway score that can stand on its own, let alone be mentioned in the same breath as Rodgers and Hart (or even Elton John).

For a show that cost tens of millions and has so much baggage attached to it, Spider-Man at least flows, has a coherent if flimsy plot and some showstopping moments thanks to the talented stuntmen flying around the Foxwoods Theater. Nine stunt Spider-Men take bows at the curtain call, after these superhero surrogates finish flying, spinning upside down, leap-frogging and somersaulting all over the stage, trying to make a middling musical more exciting.

It works at times, in a Cirque de Soleil kind of way, and when George Tsypin’s set design -- which, for the most part, comprises sliding panels -- suddenly gives us a God’s-eye view of the Chrysler Building for the big finale, it’s apparent where some of the money went.

But fired director Julie Taymor’s original concept overexplained the origin of Spiderman’s powers by introducing the eight-legged goddess Arachne, who now only appears in two numbers prodding Peter Parker to his destiny, “Behold and Wonder” and “Turn Off the Dark,” which are the show’s most eye-catching, as well as the most obvious of Taymor’s own creation.

That some of Taymor’s confused mysticism remains in a pared-down version cramps the show’s style severely. The first act begins very slowly, and the audience doesn’t even see some good old- fashioned flying -- why else are we all here? -- until just before intermission. (Although the number “Bouncing Off the Walls“ introduces us to Peter’s new powers with a taste of what is to come.)

If even more streamlining was done -- by jettisoning the subplots with Peter’s uncle and aunt and girlfriend Mary Jane’s father, especially -- and there was more playing up of the comic-book aspects of the story, which don’t really kick in until the Green Goblin gets going in Act II. Then Spider-Man might be a less bumpy rollercoaster ride.

The clunky pacing, particularly in how the show often stops dead between songs, is another liability, while the real charms of leading man Reeve Carney and leading lady Jennifer Damiano (who should, if there’s any justice, become the diva of our musical stage for the next 20 years) are never fully exploited. Bono and the Edge’s mainly dirge-like score, which contains only one memorable tune (“Rise Above,” which sounds like a Joshua Tree outtake), seems to cry uncle when we hear tongue-in-cheek snippets of U2 hits “Beautiful Day” and “Vertigo.”

Neither the unsafe disaster it was nor a successful reclamation project, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark ends up as a forgettable musical but a memorable circus act.

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
Foxwoods Theater
213 West 42nd Street
New York, NY
spidermanonbroadway.com
Previews began November 28, 2010; opened June 14, 2011

For more by Kevin Filipski, visit The Flip Side blog at http://flipsidereviews.blogspot.com.