Little Reviews

Where the Truth Lies (DDDD), starring Kevin Bacon, Colin Firth and Alison Lohman, talk about a movie with surprises and twists. While I was watching this film I kept thinking about Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. Perhaps it was the focus on the telethon, and there were many similarities. Kevin Bacon has given some great performances over the years as has Colin Firth, but I think a lot of Bacon’s work goes unnoticed. I had never heard of this film. I saw it on the shelf for a dollar; I liked the premise and since it starred two great actors decided to give it a look see.  I like when I get my hands on a directors cut or an unrated version of a film. It means that there were issues with the film. Either it ran too long or there were scenes too hot for the theaters. Since the 90’s films just get cut since they know they can released the unrated version on DVD. No more NC-17, or the risk of a film not getting shown at a theater. Sometimes its only a few seconds that makes all the difference between an R and NC-17 rating.

W., (DDDD)The first time I saw the film I was able to see President differently. Living in the shadows of someone the majority of your life is not easy. Not everyone gets the back story on politicians. All we know is that all of a sudden there they are.
Some of us are still learning about Obama. When it comes to politics there’s the person we see on the campaign trail and then the person that gets into office, but the real person we don’t get to see unless we know them on a personal level.
Oliver Stone has a way with political films. Sarah Halley Finn did a great job with casting  with Jeffery Wright as Colin Powell and Thandie Newton as Condalesa Rice. I couldn’t help but wonder if Janet Jackson was ever up for the role. She did an excellent potrayal of Miss Rice in an SNL sketch many years ago.
Josh Brolin, James Cromwell, Ellen Burstyn, Elizabeth Banks and Richard Dreyfuss were all great.
I things it’s a good film and regardless of what you think of the former president you might learn something you weren’t expecting.



Here is my new rating system. DDDDD highly recommend. DDDD It should be watched. DDD Entertaining DD So if you like the stars. D Just out of curiosity watch it.
(I like all movies. Even those that most people don’t like, it makes for great conversation.)


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D's Horror fest continues

As the horror fest begins to wind down, I’ve got quite a few movies to watch if I choose. This is what is on my agenda.

Sunday night-The Rocky Horror Picture Show,(DDDD) I watched the UK version.

Monday night- Rosemary’s Baby, (DDDD) I was 9 years old when I saw this film for the first time. I didn’t really understand what was going on, but there are some visuals that stayed with me. Last year my cousin and I questioned my aunt about why they took us to see certain movies at a certain age. Adults still want to have a life and sometimes kids fall asleep at the movies.

Tuesday night- Night of the Living Dead,(DDDD) This is not just a horror film it makes a political statement. It’s about race, class and who calls the shots.

Wednesday- Halloween (DDDDD) and Halloween II, (DDD) Halloween is the ultimate in horror movies for me. There’s something in the fact that a human being can kill at such a young age and want to continue to do it. It’s not some made up character. Michael Myers could be anyone. The sequel is not as great, but its Jamie Lee Curtis.

Thursday night- Halloween H20 (DDDDD) and Halloween Resurrection, (DDDD) Halloween H20 takes place 20 years later and brings us all the stuff we loved about the first Halloween. Michael is back to kill is sister, his nephew and his friends. Jamie Lee Curtis returns for this one. There are some great moments in this one. There is a slight homage to Psycho as Janet Leigh, Jamie’s real mother appears in the film.

Halloween Resurrection tries to bring reality TV into the horror world. It has its moments. This film stars Bhusta Rhymes, and Tyra Banks.



Here is my new rating system. DDDDD highly recommend. DDDD It should be watched. DDD Entertaining DD So if you like the stars. D Just out of curiosity watch it.
(I like all movies. Even those that most people don’t like, it makes for great conversation.)


Thanks for stopping by and keep an open mind. Become a follower while you are here.

Last night I saw two plays at the Zachery Scott Topfer Theatre.
 Dream: A Midsummer Forest Tour, a modern update on the Shakespeare comedy A Midsummer Nights Dream. This is part of the Balcony Play series which is free to the public before the main performance. Its quite unique as I don’t recall ever seeing this sort of thing before in stage performances anywhere.
The play begins at 7 P.M. and runs about 25 minutes.

(This was one Sunday when they were rehearsing for the outdoor performance.)

The Cast includes: Rosalind Faires, Sam Gorena, Harrison Harvey, Katie Miles, Jon Peterson and Chrissy Shackelford. The play was directed by William Davis. It will run until Sunday, June 16, 2013.

Inside the Topfer theatre is Harvey. I’ve never seen a stage version of the story and I was only familiar with the film that starred Jimmy Stewart. I remember seeing it as a kid. Last year I bought a version of the film that stars Harry Anderson, but I have yet to watch it.

The crew at Zachery Scott has outdone themselves again with the set design. When I saw Ragtime I thought that was awesome, and then there was White Christmas which blew me away because I got to see them work on some of the sets in the parking lot. That was followed by 33 Variations and Mad Beat Hip and Gone, but Harvey has a unique set design that rotates and slides. It’s like watching a jigsaw puzzle right before our eyes.

When I saw Mad Beat Hip and Gone I thought the sets over shadowed some of the performances. Being an artist that is very visual if the actor on stage isn’t one to command my attention I’m looking at something else.

That was not the case with Harvey. The actors were incredible. There were two familiar faces in the cast. David R. Jarrott (DJ) who I had seen in Ragtime, is great as Judge Omar Gaffney. Jacob Trussell who recently appeared in MBH&G, plays Dr. Lyman Sanderson.

Martin Burke gives an incredible performance as Elwood P. Dowd. He commands the stage. This is an incredible piece of work and I look forward to seeing him in other performances. Lauren Lane is awesome as Veta, Elwood’s sister. She also has that presence that commands your full attention.

With these incredible performances and great set design are some colorful costumes. (Designed by Susan Branch Towne.) Everything was on point.
Dave Steakley has selected a great cast and directed another great play.

Another standout performance was Liz Beckman as the sexy nurse.

When awards roll around, Michelle Ney should definitely win something for her scenic designs.

Matthew Webb is in charge of lighting, Craig Brock is in charge of sound and Justin Cox is in charge of properties. These roles are just as important as they help set the tone.

A great job to everyone involved.

Harvey will make you laugh and it will make you think.

Harvey starts at 8 P.M. and will run until Sunday, June 16, 2013.

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Melencholia

Melencholia - Art comes in many forms, and film presents it in many ways. Just to put together a film is art, but to tell an artistic story, now that’s the beauty of the art. I had never heard of the film Melencholia. While watching the film it made me think about the film festivals I used to be a part of. It allowed me to see films that most people never get a chance to see. Sometimes a film doesn’t get distribution or it goes straight to DVD. There are many reasons a film doesn’t get the appreciation it should get despite what some audiences may think.

Thanks to my friends who love movies as much as I do, they supply me with films I can’t get around to seeing. We trade off movies or they just send me the films they are getting rid of. One such film is Melencholia. The film opens with visuals. I wasn’t sure what to expect. It looked like an experimental film. There were images that were very artsy. They appeared to be stills, but then it looked as if the images were moving in slow motion. I was really getting into it and then there was the fade to black. A title appeared on the screen Part one Justine. The people in the film looked familiar, but I wasn’t sure. The film opens with a bride and groom in a stretch limo trying to maneuver a short curb in a country hillside. There isn’t a lot of dialogue. The story is being told by the facial expressions of the characters. There is joy, sadness, uncertainty and happiness in various moments as everyone in the car takes a turn trying to drive the car around the sharp turn. Who exactly achieves the feat we never know, but the bride and groom are in the back of the limo when it arrives at the top of the hill.

The host is very upset as the bride and groom are two hours late for their own reception. Again, dialogue is not the main aspect of this film. What  little the actors say is brought out by their actions as we get a quick understanding of the relationship between the newlywed couple, Michael and Justine. We meet the family through toasts and little introductions as one would normally have at such an event. We become a part of the wedding reception.
Justine is going through a transition and it not sure if she has made the correct decision.
Michael is the loving husband doing his best to show support.

The audience then gets to understand the opening of the film and what Justine does. She works in advertising and her boss is at the wedding seeking a tag line for a recent ad which he flashes the photograph on the screen at the reception. The pressure is on as Justine’s decision affects several people at the wedding. A newly hired employee, her boss, her husband and herself. We see the dysfunctional family appear right before our very eyes.

A mother who hates weddings because her own marriage didn’t work out. A sister that loves her sister very much, but she doesn’t seem to comprehend the love. A father that seems to be on the verge of dementia and refers to everyone as Betty, even his own daughter.
Parts of the film are shot in an amateur manner and then some parts are so artistic. Its like an artsy reality film. There are many long shots where we can take in the beautiful scenery. The aerial shots are breath taking as we see the characters on several occasions riding the horses. Sometimes through the fog or clouds and other times on a clear day.

Part two Claire centers on the sister and we find out what Melencholia is all about. Melencholia is a planet. Claire’s husband is obsessed with the phenomenon, but we can sense the fear that Claire has. She is afraid to die.

Melencholia is great to watch and there’s something unexpected in almost every scene. The ending certainly was unexpected. The cast is just incredible to watch. There are a few actors I'd not seen in anything for quite some time. The film is directed by Lars Von Trier

The film stars Kirsten Dundst,  Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland, Alexander Skarsgard, John Hurt, Charlotte Rampling, Stellan Skarsgard, Brady Corbet, and Udo Kier.

Blaxploitation Films

In the 70’s a new genre was invented, and like all things there are some good and some bad memories. I applaud anyone that gets a film made doesn’t matter if it is bad. I have sat through my share of films that critics would say are bad. Movies are entertaining and provide a place for us to get lost for a while. For someone like me who loves movies, I can always find something interesting and it also inspires me to do better.

I remember as a kid some of the scripts I wrote. I hadn’t really grasp the language yet. I hadn’t learned to listen to people and watch how they react when they are in conversation. When I began recording my cousins and I doing different skits I began to see the flow of language.
I then began recording television shows and movies. I remember writing the original King Kong film so that I could see how the dialogue looked on paper.

This past weekend I watched four movies that were part of a set billed as Bad Mothers and Mean Brothers. The films starred Fred Williamson, Roddy McDowell, Lola Falana, Billy Dee Williams, Elliot Gould, Gene Washington, Martin D’Urville and “Mean” Joe Greene.

A film entitled Velvet Smooth was the funniest of the quartet. It starred a bunch of unknowns who never went on to do anything better. It was a lot of bad acting and even worse karate moves.

Lady Cocoa was a film vehicle for Lola Falana, the first lady of Vegas. It was okay, but when you’re used to someone singing on stage they don’t always make a great cross over into film. It made for an entertaining night.

Final Comedown starred Billy Dee Williams and dealt with the racial struggles of the 70’s. Sort of a take on the Black Panthers. This was very low budget.

Then there was Mean Johnny Barrows which starred Fred Williams as a Vietnam Veteran trying to get back into society, but having nothing available to him. He gets an offer from a mob boss to use his military skills and soon he’s raking in the money.

There was a large abundance of films which as young kids we were eager to see and imitate what we saw on the screen when we got home. Some of the films I had seen I shouldn’t have even been allowed into the theater. As long as no one was doing an inspection the theater just wanted to make money. There were some films we didn’t dare attempt to get in to see alone. Usually we got someone older to get us into the theater. I remember going to the movies with one of my uncles and my aunt.
At least once a week I was going to the movies with friends after we got our allowance.

I remember films like Shaft, The Mack, Superfly, The Doberman Gang (which I’m still trying to find on DVD.) Cotton Comes to Harlem, Come Back Charleston Blue, Shaft in Africa, Watermelon Man, Cleopatra Jones, Blacula, Scream Blacula Scream, Foxy Brown, Slaughter and Bucktown to name a few.
The one film that had a big impact on me was Coffy. I’m sure it had more to do with the voluptuous Pam Grier than the film itself, but I still feel the film holds up. Pam Grier was beautiful. I had never seen anyone on the screen like her before. Pam Grier for me is like my black version of Marilyn Monroe. (I’m also a big fan of Marilyn’s but she had already passed before I knew who she was.) Pam Grier though was more like an obsession. I felt something whenever she was on the screen. (I still do.) I read everything there was to read about her. Once I started collecting movies I knew her films had to be included, but they weren’t that easy to find. It wasn’t until the late 80’s early 90’s that her films became available. There are still some films that I don’t have either because they were just really bad or I have yet to find them on DVD.

I was talking to a friend about actresses who wait until they are older to show off their bodies and it bothers me sometimes. With Pam Grier she started out showing off her body. In later years she had stopped showing her body in love scenes and I respect that. Pam Grier has had an interesting life. One day I would hope to meet her and I know if it is meant to be it will happen.

I remember when I was a senior in High School, Pam Grier was in New Orleans to film Drum. It was a slave picture which starred Ken Norton. Pam Grier was his love interest as she later became in several movies. She had become the wife or the girlfriend.
I was tempted to skip school so that I might get a glimpse of her, but I didn’t want to make my mother angry at me and I decided against it.

I tried many times to write letters and meet her, but it never worked out.

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New Orleans Mardi Gras & Film

Many films have been made and set in New Orleans. Some of them weren’t the best of films, but we remember them anyway. Well, I do.

Many of the films try to incorporate what New Orleans has come to be known for. There’s the French Quarter, Mardi Gras, The Superdome, Voodoo and the Cemeteries.

The French Quarter and Mardi Gras seem to go hand in hand even though no large parade has gone through the French Quarter since 1972 when the Krewe of Bacchus turned off of N. Rampart onto St. Ann. Their theme that year was The Bacchus Book of Horrors. I’ve never forget it as King Kong strolled down the street. It was a different Kong than the one that has become a staple of the Krewe. A young blonde sat in the palm of Kong’s hand above the crowd screaming her lungs out just as Faye Ray had done. As Kong moved further into the Quarter he got tangled up in some of the electrical wiring and the lights went out.

So when movies show something that hasn’t happened in a long time it just rubs me the wrong way. LOL.

Harry Connick, Jr. in his Krewe Orpheus.

There was a film called Murder at the Mardi Gras. I know, I don’t remember it either. Then there was The Killer Bees. All I remember about this film was that the Superdome was newly built and hadn’t even been used for any event. There was a scene in which they figured to get rid of the bees they would drive them inside of the superdome and freeze them. Sharon Glass was the star of this film as she sat in the yellow Volkswagon. The bees were lured onto her vehicle and she drove slowly down the street inside the superdome. Once the bees were frozen she was able to get out of the car. The End.

Then there was Candy Man, Farewell to the Flesh. I happened to be on the set of this film and I knew quite a few people involved in the project. Once again Mardi Gras made an appearance as did a Cemetery and of course the French Quarter.

The Clydesdale horses are a significant part of Mardi Gras and are featured in several parades throughout the season.

Then there was Double Jeopardy which starred Ashley Judd. I’m not sure if there was a Mardi Gras scene, but there was a cemetery scene and lots of scene’s in the French Quarter. What got me in this film was that it was raining and everyone in the French Quarter had these pastel looking umbrellas. First of all there are enough balconies in the Quarter that people rarely carry an umbrella they just walk under the balconies and if its raining too hard they duck into a bar or a restaurant until the rain stops.