No, this is not the movie that promised to show us men turned inside out. It is, in fact, a curious mixture of genocide documentary and concert film. The performance is by rockers System of a Down. The lead singer’s grandparents were survivors of the Armenian Genocide, and so that atrocity is the primary focus of the film, which cuts between concert footage, personal interviews, grisly documents and academic talking heads. By extension, the film also takes a stand against all forms of genocide, and is an explicit invitation to the audience to get involved in the fight for justice.
Todd Haynes continues to dazzle and amaze with his body of work. In Velvet Goldmine, he told the story of a fictitious glam-rock band in David Bowie/Ziggy Stardust style. Far From Heaven found him taking the Douglas Sirk films of the ‘50s into a nontraditional turn. In his follow-up film I’m Not There, his first directorial effect in five years, Haynes examines the persona and essence of Bob Dylan without actually really using the name or the words together at all in the film in a film released in 2007, where features like No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood earned a slew of awards, I’m Not There was an understated gem, and yet summing it up is a little difficult.
It’s nice when a movie lives up to its expectations and even surpasses them because it rarely seems to happen anymore. Such is the case with Anton Corbijn’s Ian Curtis bio-pic, Control.
I’ve been waiting to see Control for a long time. From the start, the film sounded interesting, since I am a huge fan of post-punk alternative rock music, the genre that Ian Curtis and Joy Division practically invented in the late 1970’s. But when I heard that long-time band collaborator and renowned music video director Anton Corbijn was directing the film, my anticipation rose to even higher levels.
Honestly, I don’t know what the bigger tragedy is, the fact that John C. Reilly has been a funny performer for years, or the fact that it’s taken guys like Judd Apatow and Adam McKay a chance to show off his comedic talent. For those who don’t know, Reilly was in a hilarious ten-minute blooper reel in Boogie Nights which showed that he could improvise with the best of them. The guy also played Bigfoot in an episode of the Tenacious D show that aired on HBO in the mid ‘90s. But sure, put him in Chicago where he was nominated for an Oscar or in ensemble films directed by some of film’s greatest voices. His true love, that which gives him much joy and pleasure, appears to be when he’s goofing around, like he does in Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.
Dance movies can be interesting especially when it involves hot sweaty bodies and bodacious moves along a club floor. Did I just say bodacious? “Pauly Shore is on line one, please pick up the white courtesy phone”. I’ll ignore that for now. Dirty Dancing or Footloose are great examples. Some should be drag into the street and shot. I knew that Feel the Noise looked bad the minute I looked at the cover. What was that clue on the cover you might ask? Produced by Jennifer Lopez would be a very good start.
Political humor has been around since the dawn of time. Just go look at History of the World Part One. Of course, these days, comedians aren’t getting fed to the lions. In fact, on some occasions they are even invited to the White House. Bill Maher has been doing leftist political comedy for quite some time. I had not watched him on standup in nearly 20 years (One Night Stands) prior to receiving this dvd but I have enjoyed his show Politically Incorrect fairly recently. I honestly hoped that it wouldn’t be all political humor but we shall soon see.
I did a couple of high school musicals growing up. South Pacific and Oklahoma. South Pacific I remembered much more fondly as sometimes I wanted to wash that man right outta my hair. Wait…umm…*taps fingers* *pause*. Oh, right, musicals. High School Musical was a low-budget Disney tv movie that would end up becoming one of Disney’s best successes in recent memory. It was only natural that due to its musical nature and teen fanbase that it would expand into a national tour that would encompass 51 dates over 6 months.
Carlos Santana has been a veritable part-owner in the Montreux Jazz Festival, with a half dozen or so appearances under his belt in over three decades of performing. Some have been solo appearances, but others have been fruitful collaborations with various blues and jazz performers, some singers. In 1988, Santana and friend Wayne Shorter performed at the show as part of a brief tour.
All That Could Have Been (Nine Inch Nails’ first concert dvd) when released in 2002 was recognized by many to be the ultimate concert dvd. Released in separate dts and dolby digital versions; it had an amazing sound and look. The only knock against the disc was the fact that it took two dvds to show a two hour show. Technology has improved. Cue to 2007, Nine Inch Nails fresh off their tour to promote With Teeth decides to release Beside You in Time (Halo 22). This new co…
I’ve gotta say, I love stand-up comedy. My first albums were George Carlin records, and I’d always listen to my Dad’s recorded tape of a Friar’s Club roast of Don Rickles, where four letter words would get dropped as often as the drinks in the room. Then it was on to Richard Pryor, then onto the R-rated genius of Sam Kinison and to a lesser extent, Andrew Dice Clay. And now, it’s Lewis Black, David Cross, Dave Attell and Robert Schimmel.
I can’t imagine anyone who’s not a Kevin Smith fan renting, buying, or otherwise arranging to view this DVD. The gist of this review is simple: if you like Kevin Smith and/or his work, you’ll enjoy An Evening With Kevin Smith 2 – Evening Harder.
Since I haven’t seen the original An Evening With Kevin Smith, I can’t offer a comparison. That said, I’d be willing to guess that this release is both more of the same and a whole new experience.
This sequel DVD set presents two standup “concerts” on two discs
Cedric the Entertainer – Taking You Higher is Cedric’s first solo HBO Comedy Special. He made his mark in the biz as a top-notch, critically acclaimed stand-up comedian, and has also appeared in a series of lackluster films like Be Cool and Big Momma’s House. I don’t think many would argue against the assertion that Cedric is at his best on stage, doing stand-up.
For proof, look to this hour-long HBO Special. Cedric the Entertainer lives up to his name in this show, which offers up about four parts stand-up, one part song and dance.
I can honestly say that a one-hour standup special might result in my shortest review ever, but if that’s how the chips fall this time, so be it. Bob Newhart is certainly not without his admirers, he’s been an established comedic force for decades. He didn’t get his big break until the ‘60s, and parlayed that success into television shows in the ‘70s and ‘80s, and aside from the occasional movie appearance, shows up from time to time with late night talk show hosts that run out of material.
For the longest time, Dennis Miller was known as the guy who could subreference unlike any other comedian, with tactical precision and timing long before anyone had heard of the Gilmore Girls. While some of the material may have been a bit redundant, he certainly put a spin to it unlike any other.
Then the events of September 11 happened, and the predominant opinion is that Miller went for smart comic (and a failed stint on Monday Night Football) to a Fox News loving, Democratic/liberal l…
There was a time when no major groundbreaking events were captured on film. The thing is, it’s sometimes hard to know when something of historical significance is going to occur. Major events such as World War II and the fall of the Berlin wall were planned in advance (so to speak), so it was easy to set-up a camera and capture the event. Spontaneous events, however, were mostly passed over. As technology has progressed, however, it has become easier to capture important and notable moments on the fly. September 11, …
The 60’s have become something of a caricature of themselves. Take a girl with straight hair and flowers, throw in a “groovy” and a “man”, add some grainy photography, and you’re all ready to go. It is sometimes hard to remember that there was a time when this was not a kitchy formula, it was just the way that it was. This film is so authentically steeped in 60’s hippie culture that it almost doesn’t seem real when the footage starts rolling. Once the film begins to sink in, though, the viewer is completely drawn in …
Everything I know about Jim Brickman could fit into a couple hundred word review about a concert performance he put on at the Walt Disney World resort. But upon further review, Brickman has been reaching out to the older generation for a few years now, producing collaborations and appearing at high profile events to bring recognition to his work.
He’s collaborated with quite a few people, and on his live performance at Disney’s Magic Kingdom, the mighty Michael Bolton makes an extended ap…
Before it became a somewhat famous regional barbecue house (I kid, I kid!) red, hot and blue was another name for the Red Hot Organization, a group designed to help fight the AIDS epidemic. Back in the early and mid ’90s kids, AIDS was raging on through the land, and Ronald Reagan did nothing to stop it. In fact, he was injecting homosexuals with AIDS while delivering crack into the ghetto.
Teddy Pendergrass, one of the lesser known soul rebels of the seventies, comes to DVD in this lackluster edition, which purports to be 80 minutes – but that’s only true if you factor into the running time the one bonus feature. This fact could be a detriment to fans of Teddy’s music. For me, however, it was a relief to discover the actual concert only ran about an hour. There was nothing here to justify the man’s status as some kind of legend, as his audience interactions and movements on stage were limited in scope …
As one who is not a fan of much techno and even less a fan of Moby, it was a little surprising to see what my thoughts were on a recent live DVD that the artist has released (brief political soapbox rant commencing). Quite frankly, I’m not a fan of the man’s politics and his far-left rantings and ravings, and find his urge to help peddle Snapple-like tea beverages a little interesting. What I find even more interesting, nay a bit ironic is that among those that were thanked for the singer’s May 25,…
An item of secret desire for geeks like me was to get Spike Jonze’s videos on DVD. In the mid ‘90s, Jonze arguably was THE director to go to if you wanted your MTV submission to be memorable, talked about, and perhaps most importantly, spur record sales. If you remember the wacky video you saw on MTV that one time, chances are Spike directed it. Even after the critical success in Hollywood with an Oscar nomination for directing Being John Malkovich and before working on Adaptation, he…
The world greatest rock band’s story about the rise to power, born from Satan, and ready to rock the world, may not be as accurate as one would perceive. As Jack Black and Kyle Gass (Jables and KG to those in the know), Tenacious D received a small run of episodes during the HBO series Mr. Show in 1999 that resulted in good word of mouth for the pair. It was only until last year, when the long-awaited first album finally dropped, that the world discovered just how good they were. And the alb…
I’ve long held the somewhat chauvinistic belief that female stand up comedians are simply not funny. I’ve given people like Ellen DeGeneres, Paula Poundstone and Margaret Cho as much unbiased time as I can give, and I just don’t laugh at them. Their sense of humor is softer than any comparable male comedians, and is far more subtle. Does that make me a cro-magnon male with a large forehead? Probably.
To her credit, Whoopi Goldberg is the closest thing there is to an exception to the rule,…
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Screamers 
I’m Not There 
Walk Hard - The Dewey Cox Story 
Feel the Noise 
Red Hot + Blue: A Tribute to Cole Porter 
Director Series Volume 1 - The Work of Director Spike Jonze 
