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August '21 Digital Week III

Details: Parent Category: Film and the Arts; Category: Reviews; Published on Thursday, 26 August 2021 01:42; Written by Kevin Filipski

In-Theater/Streaming Release of the Week

On Broadway

(Kino Lorber)

Oren Jacoby’s valentine to the Great White Way and how it keeps reinventing itself is only 85 minutes, so it crams too much information and history that could have been presented with more nuance and complexity at a greater length. That Jacoby was only able to get backstage and rehearsal footage from The Nap, a middling British play from the 2018-19 season, doesn’t help, since aside from trans performer Alexandra Billings’ personal story, it isn’t very interesting.

But vintage footage of Sondheim’s classic Company (see below), A Chorus Line, the destruction of historic theaters so the behemoth Marriott Marquis Hotel could be built, Cats, Rent and Hamilton, along with new interviews of a cross-section of Broadway talent, producers and columnists, from Tommy Tune to Alec Baldwin and Christine Baranski, make this a must-see for theater buffs.

4K/UHD Release of the Week

The Conjuring 3—The Devil Made Me Do It

(Warner Bros)

Based on a supposed true story of a young boy’s exorcism, the latest in The Conjuring series metes out more of the same cheap frights, occasional subtlety—thanks to leads Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson as the brave supernatural battlers—and the promise of another sequel.

Director Michael Chaves follows the formula perfected by director-turned-producer James Wan, which might sate its fans but otherwise seems like diminishing returns. The UHD image looks spectacular; the included Blu-ray disc has short featurettes of interviews and onset footage.

Blu-ray Releases of the Week

Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard

(Lionsgate)

For anyone who saw The Hitman’s Bodyguard—and I know you’re out there—this sequel is about as clever as its title: once again, Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson engage in a battle of retorts and one-liners, with the added bonus of Salma Hayek’s perpetually foul-mouth rants (even more so than her hubby Jackson).

As in most comedic action thrillers, director Patrick Hughes has no sense of style or pacing; instead, whenever it all starts start to drag—and the banter among the stars begins to pall—he blows up more things and mows down more bad guys to perk up the audience. It might work for awhile, but not for the full 99 minutes. There’s an excellent Blu-ray transfer; extras are featurettes and a gag reel.

Original Cast Album—Company

(Criterion)

One of the Holy Grails for theater buffs, D.A. Pennebaker’s fly-on-the-wall documentary about the all-night recording session of producer Harold Prince and composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim’s breakthrough Broadway musical in 1970, has finally arrived on Blu-ray; although a mere 51 minutes, its laser focus on the show’s great songs sung by the original performers, all with Sondheim watching intently—and sometimes unimpressedly—is fascinating to watch.

As producer Thomas Z. Shepard presides over the marathon session, we see and hear performances of the astonishing patter song “Getting Married Today” or—in an uneasily difficult moment—Elaine Stritch bulldozing her way through her signature “The Ladies Who Lunch” at 4 in the morning. There’s a nice amount of grain in Criterion’s hi-def transfer; extras include Sondheim’s invaluable new commentary; a 2001 commentary by Pennebaker, Prince and Stritch; new interviews with Sondheim and orchestrator Jonathan Tunick; vintage audio interviews with Stritch and Prince; and—for some inexplicable reason—a Documentary Now! parody and a discussion by the parodists.

Till Death

(Screen Media)

If viewers ignore the hypocrisy and the many howlers in the dialogue, in the plotting and of plain common sense, S.K. Dale’s brittle chiller about a harried wife who is (literally) chained to her husband while the bad guys invade their remote hideaway is certainly an effective contraption.

That the glamorous Megan Fox, of all people, plays the wife with her usual self-assurance—always looking like a supermodel no matter how much blood has splattered or how long she spends in the snow and the ice in her bare feet—makes this even more of a guilty pleasure. The film’s wintry, icy locales look sharply stark in hi-def.

DVD Release of the Week

Perfumes

(Distrib Films US)

In Grégory Magne’s precisely calibrated character study, Emmanuelle Devos is a perfumer with an exquisite nose for scents but no people or relationship skills whatsoever—until a gruff but affable chauffeur (Grégory Montel)—who needs to keep his job if he has a chance at getting custody of his adorable 10-year-old daughter—begins working for her.

Despite the contrived plotting, Magne and his two leads are able to make something honest and even touching out of how these two opposites eventually find common ground professionally and personally.

CD Releases of the Week

Samuel Barber/Charles Ives—String Quartets

(BIS)

Although Samuel Barber (1910-81) composed his lyrical B-minor string quartet in 1936, it was only the second movement—the famously yearning Molto adagio—that became famous after Barber orchestrated it as Adagio for Strings and it was transformed into the go-to piece for times of national mourning or emotional moments in movies like The Elephant Man and Platoon. The Escher String Quartet’s superb rendition of the full three-movement work returns the Adagio to its rightful place; for good measure, the foursome also plays Barber’s lesser but still interesting original final movement.

Charles Ives (1874-1954) composed two quartets of great vitality and musical variety, although the succession of melodic fragments—from American folk tunes and hymns to Brahms and Beethoven—continually threaten to throw them out of whack. But the Escher Quartet’s precise playing keeps them from ultimately running off the rails.

Jean Francaix—Chamber Music

(Brilliant Classics)

A wonderfully eclectic but underrated French composer, Jean Francaix (1912-97) excelled in many genres but was especially good at chamber music, which this disc—recorded between 1993 and 1995, when Francaix was still alive—demonstrates.

Indeed, the composer himself plays piano on a sprightly rendition of his Divertimento, accompanying the excellent flutist Thies Roorda, who also performs the attractie Le Colloque des deux Perruches with another flute player, Rien de Reede. The other two works—a lovely string trio and a short but stirring vocal piece, Cantate de Mephisto—are nicely dispatched, with baritone Romain Bischoff taking center stage on the latter.

August '21 Digital Week II

Details: Parent Category: Film and the Arts; Category: Reviews; Published on Wednesday, 11 August 2021 16:28; Written by Kevin Filipski

In-Theater/Streaming Releases of the Week

White as Snow

(Cohen Media)

French director Anne Fontaine’s fiendishly clever updating of Snow White reveals its intentions slowly but memorably as it parses out a story that starts as a fairy tale but soon traverses territory that keeps redefining itself—as well as its heroine, a young woman whose beauty and apparent innocence soon has seven (get it?) men pining for her.

Although Isabelle Huppert gets top billing and is her usual amusing self as the wicked stepmother, Lou de Laâge steals this satisfying feminist take on self-empowerment as Claire with a smart, sassy performance—and Fontaine’s camera loves her.

The Faithful

(Fish in the Hand Productions)

Director Annie Berman fastidiously lays out the reasons why certain individuals—in this case, Pope John Paul II, Elvis Presley and Lady Di—become not only icons while alive but are venerated beyond reason after their death.

In some ways amusing—Berman shows off the tchotchkes, trinkets and other memorabilia that have become all the rage with their likenesses on them—the film is also a sobering study of how people are always looking for a deity to worship, whether it’s a pope, pop star or royal princess, and Berman does not whitewash her own complicity, since she has imposing collections related to these individuals herself.

The Lost Leonardo

(Sony Pictures Classics)

When a painting attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, Salvator Mundi, sold at auction for nearly half a billion dollars to an ultra-rich sheik, the insanity of the art world was brought into sharp focus, and Andreas Koefoed’s absorbing documentary follows the story from the artwork’s “discovery” at a Louisiana estate sale to the business of sellers, restorers and self-styled experts, which turned the painting from a badly damaged artifact into one of the most important works ever created.

Is Salvator Mundi a real Leonardo? It depends on whom you ask—although it seems doubtful—but Koefoed isn’t interested in a definitive answer while laying bare the insular world of art where “authenticity” has more to do with money and publicity than actual authenticity.

The Macaluso Sisters

(Glass Half Full Media)

Based on her own play, director-writer Emma Dante’s intimate drama about how tragedy affects the lives of five orphaned sisters has a chamber quality that perfectly mirrors the claustrophobia in these decades-long complicated relationships. What Dante charts is often moving as her script puzzles out what happened one summer day and how the surviving sisters deal with it; Dante pulls together memories by visualizing them succinctly, even startlingly.

Even her overuse of Erik Satie’s “Gymnopedie No. 1” becomes a stroke of genius when it’s heard one last time in a different form from earlier cues. The actresses, who are led by a force of nature, Donatella Finocchiaro, make an unforgettable ensemble…or, rather, three ensembles.

Blu-ray Releases of the Week

The Herculoids—The Complete Series

(Warner Archive)

This cheesy Hanna-Barbara animated series, which aired from 1967 to 1969, has all the hallmarks of early TV animation in its crude drawings, even cruder plots and vivid primary colors.

It’s now a cult item with a bizarre mixture of sci-fi and fantasy—the title creatures help a lone family trio protect their planet from assorted fantastical villains—that’s out-there enough to seem original. The series’ 18 episodes (which have been returned to their original state, unlike the previous DVD release) look good on Blu; lone extra is a retrospective featurette.

Die Tote Stadt

(Bayerische Staatsoper Recordings)

Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897-1957), best known for his lush movie music, did the same onstage in several operas, the most famous and lasting this potent but downbeat drama about a man whose memories of his dead lover are destroying his life, leading him toward madness and maybe murder.

Korngold conjures intense dramatics out of soap opera characters through his luminous score, which sounds even more luscious played by the Bavarian State Orchestra under conductor Kirill Petrenko. And Simon Stone’s modernized 2019 staging couldn’t have better antagonists than German tenor Jonas Kaufmann and German soprano Marlis Petersen, who invest the leads with the naked emotion that makes Korngold’s fever dream a powerful experience. There’s first-rate hi-def video and audio.

Die Walküre

(Dynamic)

The second part of Richard Wagner’s classic Ring tetralogy is the most performed, thanks to its intense brother-sister dynamic and the popular “Ride of the Valkyries,” which sounds completely different heard in the context of an exhilarating four-hour music drama.

As part of the new Ring cycle in Sofia, Romania, Plamen Kartaloff’s production is certainly of a piece, sacrificing the Tolkien-like trappings of conventional stagings for a broader approach that’s well-sung by its cast and well-played by the orchestra. Although not earthshattering, it does look and sound great in hi-def.

CD Releases of the Week

Astor Piazzolla—Duo Praxedis

(Ars Produktion)

Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla (1921-92) is well-known for his tango music for various ensembles, but this beguiling two-disc set from a Dutch mother-daughter harp-piano duo, Duo Praxedis—commemorating the centenary of the composer’s birth—entertainingly demonstrates that other instruments can also instill that singular Piazzolla magic.

The first disc begins with Le Grand Tango—an 11-minute tour de force, original written for cello and piano—and includes lovely performances of other evocative Piazzolla compositions like Soledad, Michelangelo 70 and 1984's Oblivion, from the soundtrack to Italian master Marco Bellocchio's 1984 film Enrico IV with Marcello mastroianni.

Heitor Villa-Lobos—Complete Violin Sonatas

(Naxos)

One of the most prolific composers in several genres, Brazilian Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959) wrote 17 string quartets, 12 symphonies and, in his own categories, 11 Chôros and 9 Bachianas Basileiras; although he only composed three violin sonatas—all between the years 1912 and 1920—they are remarkable examples of his maturation.

Played by violinist Emmanuele Baldini and pianist Pablo Rossi, these works are flavorful and wide-ranging, with the third sonata especially memorable for its hints of, but not slavish imitation of, Debussy and French impressionism.

“The Suicide Squad” Is One Kind of Crazy Superhero Film -- Full of Irony and Bile

Details: Parent Category: Film and the Arts; Category: Reviews; Published on Wednesday, 11 August 2021 14:29; Written by Brad Balfour

“The Suicide Squad”
Director: James Gunn
Cast: Margot Robbie, Idris Elba, John Cena, Joel Kinnaman, Sylvester Stallone, Viola Davis, Daniela Melchior, Jai Courtney, Michael Rooker, Peter Capaldi

Superhero films generally are of two types: those whose creators assume that they exist in a world where the heroes are real and are a part of normal life and the other which presumes that they’re not. They’re really in a world that’s exaggerated, metaphoric or ironic.

In a classic superhero scenario — whether it’s a film or TV series like “Daredevil” — the story is meant to feel like it 's happening in the real world.The city is New York, the characters behave like humans behave and their lives exist beyond their “super-ness.” In these films, though we don’t necessarily see it happen on screen, they go to the toilet, have breakfast and see movies.

And then there’s the other approach. Take for example “The Suicide Squad” — the 2021 edition — the recent foray into imagining a world with meta-humans or super-beings. It’s not quite a direct sequel or a reboot but a standalone variation on “Suicide Squad” (the 2016 version). As the 10th film in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), the Warner Bros execs decided they needed to have another go at setting their franchise in motion. They favored the nefarious character Harley Quinn (Joker’s former therapist and lover) but didn’t seem quite as happy with the course the team had taken.

suicide 1 Not that the first one, “Suicide Squad,” was bad in my eyes. It did a pretty good job at following the formula for a superhero/villains story despite the fans’ expectations of it being something more.
Now comes the new tale written and directed by Gunn. He drew inspiration from war films and John Ostrander's 1980s “Suicide Squad” comics, and decided to explore new characters in a story separate from the first film's narrative, though some cast members do return from the earlier “Suicide Squad.”

David Ayer was set to return as director for a “Suicide Squad” sequel by March 2016, but he chose to develop a Gotham City Sirens film instead. Warner Bros. considered several replacement directors but then hired Gunn to write and direct the film after temporarily being fired by Disney and Marvel Studios as the director of “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” (2023).

In the latest film, head intelligence officer Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) returns (from having been in the first film) to send two Task Force X teams comprised of inmates from super- villain proof Belle Reve penitentiary. They are led by Colonel Rick Flag and Bloodsport, to the South American island nation of Corto Maltese after its government is overthrown by an anti-American regime. Most of the first crew — which includes Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney) and Brian Durlin/Savant (Michael Rooker) — are stupidly cut down with much blood-and-guts in full display.

The second team is played by an ensemble cast which includes Margot Robbie (Harley Quinn), Idris Elba (Bloodsport), John Cena (Peacemaker), David Dastmalchian (Abner Krill/Polka-Dot Man), Daniela Melchior (Cleo Caza/Ratcatcher 2), Joel Kinnaman (Colonel Rick Flag), Sylvester Stallone (King Shark) Viola Davis (Amanda Waller), and Peter Capaldi (Gaius Grieves/The Thinker). They enact most of the action.

In exchange for lighter sentences, the squads are tasked with destroying the Nazi-era laboratory Jötunheim, which holds a secretive experiment known as "Project Starfish.” In doing so, they are to destroy evidence of the giant alien Starro. It’s a creature brought to earth by American astronauts and secretly held on the island to hopefully weaponize it for American defense and profit.

As Gunn develops his narrative, he employs exaggerated B-film tropes throughout from the freaky love-making scene between Harley and the new dictator to the gore-engorged violent acts committed by either this team of meta-human villains or their adversaries. Gunn is out for bombast, laughs and some social commentary along the way. Once again the military-industrial power establishment is the secret master behind this intergalactic menace and mess. After 50 years of secret testing, they still don’t have a way to control the massive starfish, a mega-beast ala Godzilla which towers over the city spewing mini-starfish. Once these little creatures land on a person’s face, Starro takes control of them. It’s finally defeated by a massive swarm of rats that enter a wound in its eye and eat it from the inside out.

By the end of the film, three things are evident. The super-survivors are a black man (Bloodsport/Elba) and a woman (Quinn/Robbie). The government can’t help but double deal. Waller keeps the computer disc evidence secret by cutting a deal with the remnants of the Squad. And chaos is essential to make a superhero film like this work.

“The Forever Purge” Is A Futuristic New Film That’s More A Part of These Times Than Ever

Details: Parent Category: Film and the Arts; Category: Reviews; Published on Monday, 09 August 2021 15:43; Written by Brad Balfour

The Forever Purge
Director: Everardo Gout
Cast: Ana de la Reguera, Tenoch Huerta, Josh Lucas, Cassidy Freeman, Leven Rambin, Alejandro Edda, Will Patton

The fifth in a cinematic series, “The Forever Purge” is the ultimate conclusion of an effort by The New Founding Fathers of America (NFFA), the ominous ruling party, to allow the masses a way to let off steam — and to control them. One night a year for 12 hours, anyone can commit any crime, even murder, without legal ramifications. That’s the Purge.

In the fictional near-future America of the NFFA, Trumper-like insurrectionists seize the day and decide the Purge should continue beyond its limits. They’re not only intoxicated by the violence and rage, they want to attack all those they hate — immigrants, people of color and liberals. This sect of lawless marauders — the Forever Purgers — decide that the annual Purge doesn’t stop at daybreak and that it should never end. As members of this underground movement, they decide to overtake America through unending mayhem and massacre. No one is safe and the NFFA’s rule is threatened.

Adela (Ana de la Reguera, Cowboys & Aliens) and her husband Juan (Tenoch Huerta, Days of Grace) live in Texas, where Juan works as a ranch hand for the wealthy Tucker family. Juan impresses the Tucker patriarch, Caleb (Will Patton, Halloween), but that fuels the jealous anger of Caleb’s son, Dylan (Josh Lucas, Ford v Ferrari).

On the morning after The Purge, a masked gang of killers attacks the Tuckers — including Dylan’s wife (Cassidy Freeman, HBO’s The Righteous Gemstones), and his sister Harper (Leven Rambin, The Hunger Games), forcing both families to join together and fight back as the United States begins to disintegrate around them and the country spirals into chaos.

forpur2 Though Lucas starts off seeming like he could be one of the Purgers, he actually hates them especially after a band of them kill his father. So he and the other Tuckers join with Adela and Juan, as well a crew of other immigrants, to escape to Mexico (which has allowed anyone — for a few hours — to cross the border to safety from the insurrectionists). Through the help of a local Native American tribe, they make it across — an obviously ironic plot point. Throughout the slaughter and bloodshed, there are other ironic moments that reflect the underlying political nature to the film. And, not so ironically, it all takes place in Texas.

When a recent New York Magazine ran its review of “The Forever Purge” it was in the same issue that featured a headlined cover investigating January 6th — “Insurrection Day.” And during the first inquiry made by Congress into what happened that day, four capitol police men recalled the crimes and violent assaults they endured from raging Trumpers — behavior not far removed from what is seen in “The Forever Purge.”

Vaulting from the record-shattering success of 2018’s “The First Purge,” producer Blumhouse’s infamous terror franchise hurtles into new territory. The Purge connection to contemporary events is clear. Once the series started, it evolved from being about the violent nature of America — its worship at the altar of retribution into being about bigger issues. The films shifted into stating strong political ideas and became both more relevant and terrifying than ever. So in the midst of our current political agitation, “The Forever Purge” was released. Though the plot follows a formula often seen in various apocalyptic films, it offers a look into a sci-fi future that seems all too possible — especially in the aftermath of Trump’s attempt to overturn an election.

The United States is in turmoil because half the population can’t acknowledge that the independence it supports was originally not for people of color — people who didn’t choose to be brought here and enslaved in the first place. Those disenfranchised people don’t deserve to be left out of America’s vision today. On the recent 4th of July weekend, the nation celebrated not only the creation of our country but the spirit of independence and equality that it stands for. Or so it seems. When the country was first established, such ideals only applied to some: white men, owners of property and those of European Christian origin.

The right has now developed a disinformation campaign about that history by creating a bugaboo about critical race theory. Ostensibly developed as a way of analyzing the impact of racial imbalances on our institutions, the right have made it appear as if public schools serving their children teach the idea that white people are essentially racist. So whether it’s in a fictional scenario like “The Forever Purge” or the reality of the attempted coup of January 6th, the mayhem that ensued was all for a Big Lie.

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