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10/10
Grand Music
13 June 2020
Some disparaging commenters have called Flavio Villani a mediocre talent who is the subject of a documentary on his effort to play Rachmaninoff's Second Concerto with a symphony orchestra.

It takes a snide and cowardly person to label Villani anything but brave and courageous to make such an effort. To tackle that difficult and breathtaking piece of music in a concert is like throwing a touchdown pass at the Super Bowl.

And, the sports metaphor certainly applies to Villani who came late to music-but found himself challenged and gripped by becoming a pianist of classical order. He left his native Italy and went to study in New Zealand at age 26.

His efforts are documented in this little film that shows him walking on the beach, admiring nature, cooking, and living a normal middle-class life while he ruminates on the power of Rachmaninoff's intimidating piano composition.

We see him practice alone, practice with a second piano, and prepare for this first attempt to play with a symphony. It is daunting, and he is committed. A gay man, alienated by both classical music and his personal life, he is a man in exile in New Zealand. He returns home triumphantly, reconciling with his family before the big concert.

We see and hear snippets of the First Movement and almost the entire Third Movement on the big night. Whether he made a single mistake or several, we might never know, so complex is the concerto. The music is staggering, dramatic, and ultimately a melodious work of genius. He acquits himself admirably.

If you have never heard this concerto, you have missed one of the great experiences of life.

If someone without as much passion and heart want to knock his efforts, they reflect on their own base misunderstanding of the human condition.

This little story of one person's integrity and decency is a beacon in the dark world of today's inhumanity.
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10/10
Surprising Early Entry
17 November 2018
One of the first of the Warner Oland Charlie Chan movies is a beautifully restored print from 1931. It has other surprises too. It was filmed on location in Charlie Chan's home base of Honolulu and uses the scenery to great effect. It is cryptically called The Black Camel.

Fresh off the horror of the year, Dracula, you have two cast members in fine fettle: Dwight Frye and Bela Lugosi. They play a respective butler and a questionable psychic, all too willing to help Chan.

Lugosi and Frye were scheduled to make James Whale's Frankenstein after this picture, but when Whale saw this, he thought Bela Lugosi would be too scary for the monster. The part went to Karloff instead.

The film does not hide some white tourist prejudice, compounded because the detective is both Chinese and a policeman. And, the cast of extras includes many Hawaiians.

The dark metaphor of the Black Camel has something to do with kneeling Death coming a-calling. It is one of many little aphorisms that Charlie Chan spouts dryly.

Instead of an irritating older son, this film features an inept young assistant to Chan. We do see Charlie's family at a large dinner table in one scene, but the cheap sets and low budget formula would come in the next few films.

Warner Oland is masterful, as always, and it is quite a mangled English that we hear from both Oland and Lugosi in their conversations, that are witty.

There are a half-dozen quite credible suspects, and they are indeed all gathered in the drawing room (and dining room) for the big reveal.

This wonderful early mystery is a surprise and delight on every level.
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9/10
The Business of an American Home
30 June 2018
Let's face it: the city of Kankakee, Illinois, needs all the help its Chamber of Commerce can provide.

Enter director/writer Thomas Desch. He has put together a fascinating centerpiece for reviving the city: its greatest single tourist and artistic point is the house that Frank Lloyd Wright designed at the turn of the 20th century.

An American Home has an unwieldy and ridiculous subtitle Frank Lloyd Wright's B. Harley Bradley House, but don't be daunted. You have here architectural history and how it is personally tied to the fates of real people who try to live and work within a building's architecture.

Wright was a genius and his first example of the Prairie Home was in Illinois where the well-to-do young Bradley's commissioned a house, stable, and accompanying residence for their family. Perhaps some places are benighted and cursed.

As amazing and beautiful as the house was-and now is again-it had a hard journey over 100 years. And, so did the cursed owners.

With its stunning stained glass, lead-lined windows, largely sold at auction, and its furniture and tables bought for exorbitant prices by celebs like Barbra Streisand over the years, the Wright house has been decimated.

The owners have variously committed suicide and been kidnapped and murdered (one during renovation of the structure).

Yet, generous patrons have thrown millions of bucks into refurbishing the Yesteryear Restaurant of 50 years (bankrupt in the 1980s) and fallen into disrepair, to save it from demolishing.

Its stable was an afterthought that was saved only by large protests. You may be shocked to learn 20% of Frank Lloyd Wright's designs have been destroyed.

So, we have no issue with the Kankakee people who are proud of the most impressive building and home of their city. Interesting history and biography.
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Salem's Lot (1979)
8/10
James Mason Takes on Stephen King
27 May 2018
Conspicuous by his absence.

Salem's Lot in Life & Death

When in 1979 we heard James Mason was doing a Stephen King TV movie, we were appalled. We refused to watch one of our perennial favorites demean his career in its last years.

Today we eagerly watch it and devour his every screen moment.

Who would have guessed that James Mason slumming on TV could be so delightful? With Tobe Hooper directing like he is doing an imitation of Vera Miles approaching Hitchcock's Bates mansion, you throw in some performers we always liked: Lance Kerwin, Ed Flanders, Elisha Cook, Lew Ayres, Marie Windsor, Kenneth MacMillan and Fred Willard!! What a juicy little horror-just a tad silly around the edges.

It's a little perverse too. James Mason is the procurer for some kind of Nosferatu in Maine, finding little boys for him to devour. Lance Kerwin seems ripe, but he has eyes only for David Soul. Their smoldering subtext is off the charts in its own way. Did anyone making the movie understand the word 'latent'?

James Mason and Lance Kerwin share only a couple of glances in their scenes, but it may be that they saw something utterly disdainful in the other.

With an uncut three-hour version of the old TV miniseries now available on streaming, you can sit back and wallow in low-rent horror that remains top-drawer compared to the junk of today. There is no needless blood and/or off-the-computer special effects. Here actors rely on their wiles, not on the blue screen.

James Mason is the full show here, delivering lines with an inimitable throwaway snobbery. Wait till you hear him pronounce, "expertise."

Most of the movie he is either entering or exiting doorways and looking askance. He clearly enjoyed making a movie with his wife, Clarissa Kaye, and chewing the scenery. You will enjoy it too.
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10/10
Another Billy Budd Tale
20 May 2018
Director Maria Govan's intriguing character study will not be acceptable to those viewers who want someone else (director, actor) to telegraph who's the bad guy. The film is Play the Devil. Govan is playing Devil's Advocate.

You have to think when you watch this movie, and you may not be happy with your decisions. What seems on the surface to be one of those May-December gay romance stories, set in the poverty-stricken island of Trinidad, turns into Billy Budd.

Beautiful and naïve, young Gregory (Petrice Jones) is the promise of his family. Approached by an older (but not old) businessman (Gareth Jenkins) with plenty of money, he finds himself flattered by the attention-at first.

Here is a chance to escape poverty, receive an education, and live in indolent luxury. It is tempting, but the young man has second thoughts-and needs space. Perhaps he is not gay after all. However, his obsessed older fan won't take no for an answer and begins insinuating himself into all aspects of Greg's life.

Feeling more and more trapped and cornered, Greg sees how such a relationship will ease the burdens of his family and open up a new world for him. Yet, his stalker knows better-and insists that the young man is merely fighting his nature when he should give in to it. It's enhanced by two remarkable performances by the leads.

You know this is heading in a negative direction, but perhaps you will not see how it must conclude.

Set against the Carnival of Trinidad where young men paint themselves in blue and act the role of devils, chaotically racing through the streets, you have a clear case of possession. You may not have just another gay movie here.

Director Govan is not making this easier with her parallels to Billy Budd, and her film becomes an un-gay parable.
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The Girl (2012 TV Movie)
8/10
The Girl, Not the Director
21 October 2012
Warning: Spoilers
The Girl, Not the Director HBO's biographical assassination of Alfred Hitchcock and his relationship to his 'discovery' 'Tippi' Hedren became the subject of a television biopic short on bio and long on picking at the scab.

Those who love 'Alfie' will have mixed feelings.

Whoever thought Hitch called himself 'Alfie'? We are prone to ask ourselves: what's this all about, Alfie?

Instead of the macabre uncle we have come to love, Toby Jones gives an uncanny impersonation of a man who may be more dangerous than you suspect. It's like finding out that your favorite old uncle had bodies buried in the cellar--and in the closet.

Several times we became breathless at the remarkable depiction by Jones of his Hitch character (following in his INFAMOUS Truman Capote footsteps of a few years ago).

The beautiful Miss 'Tippi' Hedren enjoyed a sympathetic interpretation by Sienna Miller, not a slouch at all in the beauty department. However, at least a dozen times we were struck at her resemblance to Janet Leigh in PSYCHO, not the small-features we adored on the face of Miss Hedren.

Hedren was handpicked to play the lead in THE BIRDS. She was a New York model, not an actress. But under the tutelage of Hitch, she became a puppet in the mode of Pinocchio and Petroushka. She wanted to be a movie star, whatever the cost, and the price extracted by Hitchcock was more than any star like Grace Kelly or Kim Novak would have tolerated or paid.

The movie tale attributed no storyline to anyone other than writer Gwyneth Hughes, though the heavy hand of Hedren seems to have the last say-so.

Hitch is gone, unable to defend his reputation, though we would not be surprised at the accuracy of the slimy Limey depiction and attitude. Hitch often looks like he is about to stalk Hedren and accost her in the shower with a large knife.

Directors may do much to achieve the effects they desire. If so, Hitchcock was ruthless and cruel, a sociopath and cold-blooded, like a Ripper editing celluloid.

It's worth examining an alternative view of the Master. This movie isn't VERTIGO. It isn't even in the class of MARNIE, no masterpiece from the Master.
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Private Romeo (2011)
8/10
Private Romeo Deals with Love at a Military Academy
23 August 2012
Updated Shakespeare is all the rage since the days of doing Hamlet in modern dress, or the nude version. We have seen and enjoyed everything from Richard III to Coriolanus in updated fashion.

A few years back we offered a course in Updated Shakespeare to English majors, and we found a growing army of updated tales on film, whether it was Much Ado about Nothing or A Midsummer Night's Dream.

We even loved Leonardo DiCaprio's Romeo and Juliet, and we came with some trepidation to something called Private Romeo.

The premise seemed a mite strained. A few cadets at a military academy are left alone at the campus, fending for themselves while the officers and other cadets are off on maneuvers. In one class the stranded and bereft young cadets are studying Shakespeare's romantic tragedy, and they seem to begin to live it.

The idea is not so far-fetched, as the original play deals with young hothead teenage gang members in rival factions. There is a secret love story interwoven among the hostilities and budding male adolescent angst.

So it is in Private Romeo. The shock of the rival gangs over Romeo's love may be more palatable because the forbidden affair is with another cadet. We found the Shakespearean dialog most apt to cover the situation.

The idea of first-love being misguided and overly passionate may befit a gay tale of coming out among cadets.

We can forgive a small budget movie stretching its wings, and we can even forgive a half dozen cadets looking like the Glee Club, not future ROTC members. Apart from that, the story picks up steam under director Alan Brown.

Scenes from R&J are cleverly woven into conversations about Romeo's unorthodox military affair. Action plays out on basketball court and chemistry lab. Like Elizabethan times, male actors play female roles like Nurse and Juliet's mother, this time in the guise of young cadets. The actors handle multiple roles and dialog is lifted from Shakespeare to meet the situation.

This brave effort features Matt Doyle as Cadet Mangan and his alter ego Juliet. Doyle is soft and vulnerable, but hardly feminine or in drag. Seth Numrich plays Cadet Singleton and Romeo. They are commendable.

If all male casts disturb you, you would not have been able to appreciate Shakespeare's work played by all male casts in the writer's lifetime.
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10/10
Not a Sequel to Broken Sky, but....
24 June 2010
Warning: Spoilers
For those with the ability to comprehend multi-dimensional chess, non-traditional narration, explicit gay themes, and the vision of one of the most extraordinary artistic directions in film today, the epic gay love story of Hernandez is worth the effort. Broken Sky elements permeate this latest vision. No one can film erotic skin quite the same way, and the love tune from Broken Sky even makes a cameo appearance in Enraged Sun, Enraged Sky, perhaps the director's homage to Hitchcock. The film, as previously noted, hints at Antonioni at his peak, Fellini as his most decadent, and even outdoes Almodovar as his most outrageous. Though some may claim that Hernandez is now out of control, quite the contrary: he has opened up his vision. We are now privy to some Aztec mythology about love surviving violence and death. Having first seen Hernandez's short film David about a mute boy's encounter one afternoon with an older man, I have found the threads and motifs throughout his work. If you want to know what it was like to enjoy the work of the greats while they lived and created, your chance is available with Julian Hernandez.
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Psycho Santa (2003 Video)
7/10
Interesting Low Budget Effort
13 September 2009
The kind of people who like psycho Santa movies are not exactly aficionados of great film. They expect slashing bloody scenes, brutalities, bad acting, some ineptness to laugh at. This film actually tries to make an interesting movie with careful set-ups, understated acting that shows some ability of the performers, and the directing knows something about editing together scenes to show suspense. The comments made by people about this movie indicate a decided lack of interest in anything less than puerile. This was a film made by someone with little money, hence videotape, but shows some study of the art of suspense, using techniques employed by Hitchcock. Alas, the director may have chosen a genre in which his audience is not worthy of his efforts. This film can actually be watched by adults with a brain to pass time.
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Another World (1964–1999)
9/10
Gone Ten Years!
1 September 2009
The best villains on daytime came out of this show. Though I watched it from the beginning, the early years did not grip me as much as when the series took off in the mid-70s with Mac and Iris. The show lost some luster when Beverlee McKinsey left for her own limelight. But, the series really ended with the death of Douglass Watson and limped along for a few years, but even in death he had an influence on story lines, and his photo was always part of the show the next decade. The return every few years of Carl Hutchins proved amusing, as he and Cecile were always hilarious in their nefarious plans to undermine Bay City. I look for the actors to see if they are busy, but see them less and less each year. Cass Wintrop is on commercials for pain relievers, looking much the same. Every once in a while, I suffer a pang and wonder what the characters would be like today... Gone ten years this summer of 2009. What a shame.
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9/10
Interesting Road Picture
7 December 2008
In the great tradition of Jack Kerouac, this film takes a cross-country journey by automobile. With his European poet mentality, the narrator picks up some riders along the way. With next to no budget, this film manages to create a sense of the 1950s America with style, choice of settings, and a jazzy film score. Indeed, this does seem to be a version of On the Road, with faithful ambiance and style. It more than rivals longer, flashier, depictions done with stars, violence, and more than a passing appeal to the pop culture the original bohemians rebelled against. This is a thoughtful film for the cineaste or those interested in character and psychology. I presume that makes it an "art" film in this age of cartoon-based philosophy.
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10/10
Early Effort of a First-Rate Director
3 March 2007
Warning: Spoilers
After viewing the intriguing and well-done ILLUSIONIST, my next stop was to look at Neil Burger's first film. Like his well-known movie about magic, the first major picture he directed also deals with illusion and truth. This time he sets his aim at a mock documentary about the Kennedy Assassination. Raymond Barry plays a crusty and dangerous shadowy figure named Ohlinger who recounts to an unemployed television cameraman that he is the alleged "Second Gunman" at the Grassy Knoll in Dallas. From here the younger man becomes sucked into conspiracy, odd happenings, and culminates with apparent murder and a possible second presidential assassination attempt. Burger weaves this with clever technique, building a more and more credible and incredible narrative. As one early character notes, all this is quite dangerous. But the cameraman's ambition supersedes his judgment, and he follows the mad gun man to the ultimate end. What Burger has done with a small budget and two effective lead actors is truly delightful. For those who want clever use of cameras, enjoy the possibilities of history, and cherish the notion of seeing a brilliant and talented director unfolding before our eyes, this film is worth it. Based on this and the ILLUSIONIST, Neil Burger is a fresh talent who deserves our full attention.
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There Must Be a Pony (1986 TV Movie)
10/10
Based on True Story: Some Background
29 May 2006
Warning: Spoilers
The phrase "based on a true story" is one of the most hackneyed in all movie reviews. This film is, however, more than based on a true story; James Kirkwood who wrote the novel and play on which the movie takes its story actually lived the plot. His mother, a former movie star with severe problems, was under suspicion for shooting her boyfriend at Manhattan Beach in the 1930s. Young Jim found the body, and hence you have the heart of this tale. The real question about whether the victim was murdered or committed suicide created tabloid headlines in its day. The question of whether Kirkwood knew the answer may be hidden in his book and, to some extent, in this film version. Updated to a modern Hollywood, the tale still contains fine performances by its major stars and still contains much amusing cynicism about the movie business that was the hallmark of the original play (starring Myrna Loy) in 1962. Many do not know that a revival of the play in 1982 starred producer Dean Devlin who grew up from the boy in the story to become the producer of films like INDEPENDENCE DAY. The film version of Kirkwood's life is well produced by Robert Wagner and is a great introduction to the writings of James Kirkwood.
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