No other cinematic phrase described the 1980’s better. And no other movie captures the financial corruption of the 80’s better than Oliver Stone’s Wall Street.
The film celebrates its 20th Anniversary with a 2-disc re-release that includes never-before-seen special features. And while Wall Street is very dated (my wife and I cracked up at the fashion and decorating styles), it still works as a morality tale in the era of big business.
Prepare to take a journey behind the curtain, with the all-access pass that is Show Business: The Road to Broadway, a documentary chronicling the fates of four musicals that beat the odds to reach theatre’s “big show.”
That’s the premise for Show Business, and it certainly does get behind the scenes with Wicked, Avenue Q, Taboo and Caroline, Or Change, showing how they made it to Broadway, and then how they vied for the big prize: the Tony Award for Best Musical. Hardcore musical fans may not learn anything new here, but the average viewer will likely be enlighted considerably. At the same time, theatre buffs will likely be much more excited than most viewers about seeing stuff like rehearsal footage and interviews with show creators.
By David Annandale on October-4-2007 in
Disc Reviews
Scientists Edward Pretorious (Ted Sorel) and Crawford Tillinghast (Jeffrey Coombs) successfully construct a machine (dubbed the “Resonator”) that links our world with another, hostile dimension. Pretorious gets his head bitten off by something summoned by the machine, while Tillinghast is incarcerated in an asylum. Psychiatrist Katherine McMichaels (Barbara Crampton) believes Tillinghast’s story when she discovers his pineal gland is growing enormously, and she has him released into her custody to recreate the experiment. Baaad idea.
By David Annandale on June-21-2007 in
Disc Reviews
Synopsis
When Admiral Walter Pidgeon’s glass-nosed submarine (?) Seaview surfaces at the North Pole after an extended stay underwater, Pidgeon and crew discover the sky is on fire. It turns out the Van Allen radiation belt has caught fire (?!) and life on Earth will be incinerated once the temperature reaches 175 Farenheit (and not, apparently, a single degree less). Pidgeon and co-hort Peter Lorre come up with a plan to launch a nuclear missile into the belt and use the explosion to blow out …
I remember that this film was all the rage when I was a kid growing up in the early 80’s. I always assumed that the reason that I didn’t care for the film at the time was that I was just too young to fully appreciate it. Turns out, it’s just not a very good movie. I certainly appreciate where it is trying to go, it’s just that it takes the hokiest path possible to get there. The film tells the story of a military academy that is slated to be shut down and turned into condominiums. The cadets, who apparently enjoy the fact that they are in military school, are so proud of the institution that they use their minimal combat training to hold off the developers.
Marilyn Monroe was THE blonde bombshell. Jayne Mansfield was the cartoon version of Monroe, bombshell become sex bomb, with proportions so improbable she could give Barbie an inferiority complex. Her cartoon figure makes it appropriate that two of the movies here are directed by a specialist in cartoons: Frank Tashlin. In fact, this set might almost be more appropriately called the Frank Tashlin Collection.
The two Tashlin movies are The Girl Can’t Help It (1956) and Will…
The Who’s Who of San Francisco is gathering for the grand opening of the Glass Tower, the world’s tallest building. The architect, Paul Newman, is disturbed by what appear to be corners cut in the electrical installations by Richard Chamberlain, and sure enough, a fire starts on the 81st floor. Fire Chief Steve McQueen is soon on the scene, but the situation deteriorates rapidly, and hundreds of celebrants on the top floor are at risk of fiery death.
By David Annandale on February-14-2006 in
Disc Reviews
Synopsis
Fred Astaire plays wealthy businessman and inveterate bachelor. On trip to France, his car goes into a ditch. Seeking help in a nearby orphanage, he catches sight of the vivacious Leslie Caron. Captivated by her joie de vivre, he arranges for her to receive a full scholarship and education in the states, and watches from the safety of anonymity as she flourishes. But then, whoops, he begins to fall in love with her.
Astaire was 55 at the time, and playing his age. Caron was 20, pla…
By Brendan Surpless on February-5-2006 in
Disc Reviews
The concept of the musical biopic is nothing new. We have seen many films come and go, some good and some bad. A majority of these musical biopic films try to tell the rising of a group, whether or not the group is a reality, in a manner that will connect with the audience. Robert Townsend’s The Five Heartbeats is a prime example of a film that connects with its audience by taking this concept of the musical biopic just that one step further than we might expect from a film like this.
Things don’t get much more anodyne than this storyline, showcasing an impossibly idealized family and their trials of love and prize pigs as they travel to the eponymous event. This is strictly for the nostalgic and pure fans of Rodgers and Hammerstein (the songs generally are not as culturally engrained as those of Oklahoma!). There are two versions of the film here, and the 1945 take is easily the better of the two. The 1962 remake (and the third film by this name, a non-musical ver…
This remake of The Street With No Name shifts the scene from mid-40s US to mid-50s Japan. Robert Ryan heads up a ruthless gang of ex-GIs, and uses pachinko parlours as acover for his robberies. He recruits Robert Stack into his gang, little suspecting that Stack is, infact, an undercover investigator.
Samuel Fuller’s reworking plays up the homoerotic undercurrent (which Richard Widmarknonetheless conveyed quite effectively in the original), and Robert Stack i…
The setting is a top New York publishing house, and our central characters are three womenbeginning their careers at the bottom of the secretarial ladder. Hope Lange is the smart one witha will, who might make a first-class editor. Diane Baker is the naive innocent, doomed to bepreyed on. Suzy Parker wants to dump the office pool for acting, and she begins a difficultrelationship with theatre director Louis Jourdan. Meanwhile, there is tyrannical editor JoanCrawford (whose …
By David Annandale on February-25-2005 in
Disc Reviews
Synopsis
The saint of the title (Bradford Dillman) begins as a very secular young man, eager to sign upfor the war in which the Pope is engaged. But it is during this conflict that he receives a visionfrom God, and renounces violence. This is perceived as cowardice by some (such as the father ofhis sweetheart) but as inspiring principle by others (such as said sweetheart, Dolores Hart). Thehumble holy man eventually runs up against politics within the Church.
By David Annandale on November-3-2004 in
Disc Reviews
Synopsis
This is the tale of three young American women in Rome, and the men who romance them.The recently arrived Maggie McNamara sets her cap for aristocrat-with-a-reputation LouisJourdan. Jean Peters, who is supposed to be heading back to the States soon, is drawn againsther better judgment into a relationship with kindly translator Rossano Brazzi (they work at thesame office, and the rules are strict about such things). And Dorothy McGuire is secretary toprickly writer Clifton W…
This is an odd little film, indeed. The best way that I can describe it is as a cross between Bowfinger and a James Bond film. It is billed as a comedy, but the first half-hour is clearly drama. Of course, when the comedy portion does come in, it’s not funny either. The plot is surprisingly complex, but at its core, it involves a movie production that accidentally captures a crime taking place on film. Now the criminals are after the crew.
Truth be told, this might have turned out to have been a pret…
By David Annandale on June-14-2004 in
Disc Reviews
Synopsis
Park Day, the opening narration by Steve (Hill Harper) informs us, is a reunion day for theblack community of New Haven, Missouri. On this particular day, the lives of various charactersreach turning points. The most central player is Steve, who wants to be a writer, but meets withresistance from his father, who is pressuring him to go to college to earn a more practicaleducation. Moving through the events of the day is an old man, who may be a supernaturalbeing.
Robert Mitchum is veteran pilot Major Cleve (Iceman) Saville. Beyond cool under pressure,he takes charge of a squadron during the Korean War. He has two difficulties to deal with. Onoeis Robert Wagner, who is too undisciplined for his, or anyone else’s, own good, despite hisprowess in shooting down MiGs. Lee Phillips can’t hit an enemy jet to save his life, but he doeshave a pretty, ignored wife (May Britt) with whom Mitchum falls in love.
The crew of jaded Robert Mitchum’s destroyer is bored. Their craving to see some action,any kind of action, is answered when they encounter a U-Boat captained by the disillusioned CurtJurgens. From this point on, the entire film consists of the battle between the two brilliantcaptains, each one anticipating the other’s moves.
The fact that Jurgens, thoroughly sick of the war and the Nazis, is so sympathetic has an oddeffect on the film’s suspense. On the one hand, t…
As a music lover, the phrase, “written by Paul McCartney” almost always signifies excellence in the performance to come. For a movie lover, this is not necessarily the case. Sure, A Hard Day’s Night is a great film, Help! is better than average, and Yellow Submarine is a fun departure from mainstream animation. Heck, even Magical Mystery Tour has a campy sort of charm to it.
Apparently, the same rule that applies to music also applies to cinema; without the rest of The Beatles, P…
By David Annandale on January-22-2004 in
Disc Reviews
Synopsis
During the German occupation of Holland, two Jewish families take refuge in an Amsterdamattic. After some months, they are joined by a dentist. The tensions and friendships ebb and flowin this confined space, and the two-year period is chronicled in her diary by Anne, who is thirteenwhen the hiding beings.
Given that the film is scripted by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, from their Broadwayplay, and the film’s locations are essentially limited to this one set,…
By Mark Dancer on December-16-2003 in
Disc Reviews
The Pat Metheny Group is one of those bands that I have heard of, but that’s about all. I seem to recall the name, but I couldn’t tell you what kind of music they play, or if they are any good. They seem to fall into the “miscellaneous information” bin of my brain.
After viewing this DVD, at least one of those questions has been answered. While I still have a problem defining their style of music (progressive/new age/jazz?), their level of musicianship cannot be denied. These are wonderfully talented musici…
The second season of the gritty cop show turned out to be an important test: could the seriessurvive the departure of important cast members? In particular, could it survive the departureof David Caruso? As it turned out, it survived without him much better than he without it. This season includes such turning points as the trial of Amy Brennerman and attendant consequences(i.e. bye-bye Caruso), the wedding of Dennis Franz, and the arrival (and his gradual acceptance of) his new partner (hello Jimmy Smits).
Dolly Levi (Barbar Streisand) is a self-professed woman of many talents, from arranging parties to giving dance lessons, but her real moneymaker is “social introductions:” she’s a matchmaker. It seems everyone in 1890’s New York City and its surrounding suburbs, like Yonkers, knows and adores Dolly, and at one time or another, has employed her services. One of the few people who doesn’t seem to like Dolly is Yonkers businessman Horace Vandergelder (Walter Mathau, who must have been born…
Stuart Whitman is a gentleman gambler, on the run after having killed a man in a duel. JohnWayne is the Texas Ranger who tracks him down. But when it turns out that there is a muchworse gang of criminals on the loose (the Comancheros of the title), Wayne enlists the help of hisprisoners in defeating the real bad guys.
Audio
The sound has been remixed into 4.0 surround, and this is the only version of the Englishlangauge track provided (it is nice if…
John Wayne and Stewart Granger strike it rich in Alaska during the gold rush. Wayne travelsdown to Seattle to fetch Granger’s fiancee, but discovers she has already married another man.Wayne, who has no use for romance himself (you can see where this is heading), convincesnightclub performer Capucine to return to Alaska with him as a potential wife for Granger. Thetone is light and rollicking, with the mood set by a barnstormer of a bar fight in the openingscene. Great fun….
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Wall Street (20th Anniversary Edition) 
H.P. Lovecraft’s From Beyond 
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea — Global Warming Edition 
Super Spy 
Give My Regards to Broad Street 
