dave_hillman

I am a huge fan of Liza Minnelli and saw this yesterday. A friend saw it last summer at the Tribeca film festival and told me I'd love it. But I had read a few reviews that noted Klein did not spend any significant time on Liza's films other than Cabaret. As a fan who loved her in other films such as The Sterile Cuckoo, Arthur, Stepping Out and especially New York, New York, I went in somewhat dubious.

No worries. The aforementioned films are acknowledged in one way or the other, and it becomes obvious that the filmmaker's approach is not going to be of the traditional "and then she did this and then she did that" variety.

A lot of material is covered in a fast paced 104 minutes and Klein leaves you wanting more. The film opens with a brilliant sequence detailing Judy Garland's death pre-title card and from then on I knew Klein needed no advice from me.

There are electrifying goosebumps galore, particularly at the too-soon end (you will know what I mean).

There is a lot of backstage stuff I'd never seen. The movie is quite funny, sometimes wickedly so. There's a sly dig at Lorna Luft (blink and you might miss it) that made me laugh out loud. Liza herself semi-narrates and is interviewed on screen (to great, often touching effect).

This is a doc that plays like a conventional movie and is accessible to anyone, not just her fans. Broadway buffs will devour it and I hope it receives the Oscar next year. Even though that's a dicey category at AMPAS, I can't imagine this dazzlingly edited, supremely entertaining romp not getting at least a nomination. It's the classy tribute Minnelli has long deserved and she must be over the moon with just how damn good it is.

Minnelli has often said she has an eye for picking the right people for the right job when it comes to her work. Well, she's done it again with Bruce David Klein.

This sparkling sleeper is a masterpiece. My friend was right. I did love it and can't wait to see it again. In a theatre, which it deserves.

It's a flick that will make you happy, and it has entered the world at exactly the right time.

I usually don't miss anything released by boutique studio A24, who is giving us one bulls-eye after another year after year: "Hereditary," "The Blackcoat's Daughter," "The Witch," "The Lighthouse," "Men," "Midsommar," "Everything Eveerywhere All at Once," "The Whale," you get the idea.

All good things must come to an end, which leads us to this pretentious little bomb, "I Saw the TV Glow," which is about two misfit teens who bond together (I think) over a late night cable TV show called "The Pink Opaque."

What we, the audience, see of "The Pink Opaque," is snippets from a cheesefest cheapo television show along the likes of "Romper Room" or "The Robin Byrd Show." None of what we see explains why these kids would be so invested in such an amateurish mishmashs of late nite TV dreck. Much has been written that this film is some type of allegory about trans kids. That would have been great, but I got none of that watching this movie.

The movie is agonizingly slow, and I usually have a very high tolerance for that in A24's horror filims, as there is invariably a big payoff. Not so here. And it is a stretch to classify this as "horror."

Justice Smith delivers a compelling performance in the lead, but the others, except for Danielle Deadwyler ("Till") as Sioth's mother, are stiff as a board, which is fatal in a movie that is 75% talk, talk, talk.

A few nicely timed digs at dull suburban life notwithstanding, the movie seems to think it is much more mysterious than it is. It's just excruciatingly dull. Random musical numbers, none of them good, don't help at all, and the last one stops the movie dead almost near the very end and the movie never regains its already shaky footing.

I gotta give it this: there's nothing out there remotely like it. But bring a pillow. The only thing I "saw" was my eyelids closing.

That is the only thing I remember about this movie.

Edwards (from "ER" and "Revenge of the Nerds") plays a young, green, fish-out-of-water cop who gets stripped of his uniform and thrown on the street. Those accustomed to seeing Anthony in his other roles may be surprised at how buff he looks nearly nude. It's a funny scene, and the movie could have used more of them.

Forest Whitaker plays Anthony's cynical partner, and he is fine, although he weirdly disappears for the finale but returns in a coda.

It's clearly a Lethal Weapon wannabe and it tries hard, but it doesn't quite get there.

Still, worth seeing for Anthony's buns and you do get a surprisingly long eyeful of them. The rest of him looks pretty good bare, as well..