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Reviews
Surface (2005)
Re: this was the best of the Sci-Fi bunch for 2006
I really miss this series. I keep looking at the TV schedules to see if somebody, Sci-Fi, US, Spike, anybody, has picked it up. The cliff- hanger ending, with a Class 9 hurricane soon to hit the southern coast was going to be a wowser, if they'd decided to make Season Two. I loved the little critter and the human characters, generally, far more than the slow-moving, icy-tempered near-monosyllabic people on Invasion.
The first season was offering almost as many questions to drive a person crazy as Lost did.
It's too bad. I guess the cost of making it was too much for the smaller channels, although I hoped that Sci-Fi might see the wisdom of picking up a series that was actually GOOD, as opposed to making another batch of badly written, crummy movies. I don't think it's a spoiler to say that both of these excellent series did not get renewed. VR-5 went the way of good series in 1995, I think.
I'll have to put this series on my shelf for lost pearls, beside VR-5, another series with a bang-up last episode that never came back. Sydney, where are you?
Khartoum (1966)
This was one of my favorites
Among that genre of film that is now almost extinct. Television, especially Public Television does this sort of thing as mini-series and sometimes to the detriment of the subject because the story is abnormally drawn out to cover a certain number of episodes. Khrartum is the best role Charleton Heston ever had, with the possible exception of Will Penny, and I actually liked Laurence Olivier for the first time in years, as the Mahdhi. His mannered acting method almost never allowed me to forget that he was Olivier, but here, the Mahdhi is such an extreme character that I almost forgot it was Olivier playing him. It nearly took away my dislike of him after his weird Othello. This film is a bit on the slow side, but the story went along well, the scenery was fabulously golden and dry, and Heston's Scottish accent was believable. I always enjoy Richard Johnson in anything and here he was, once again the noble 'Horacio' type to Heston's hero, as he was in that Heston directed Julius Caesar that was spoiled by Jason Robard's strange, dead performance. But I wander. This movie is worth finding, and I hope they put in on DVD someday.
The Phantom of the Opera (2004)
Re: as wonderful as when I first saw it
I've watched it a number of times now, and the things I loved first I still find wonderful: the backstage sets, scenes, and people, the lighting, the costumes, the sets, the gorgeous look of all of it, and the actors, really one of my all time favorite movies now. Emmy Rossum seems more mature than sixteen, her face will be her fortune, no matter how sweet a voice she had. Patrick Wilson, a smooth, pure tenor, a man who is beautiful as the young Raoul, and really remarkable as the old Count de Chagny. Gerard Butler, an exciting, heart-breaking Phantom. His voice is just right for a movie soundtrack; he can do head voice, voice mixe, and belt it out, too. A full time belter isn't appropriate for a movie when the image is so large now and so close to the audience. I couldn't have asked for or hoped for better than all that was in this marvelous Gothic fairy tale of a movie.
Werther (1980)
Re: strange setting but when was there a traditional one?
This was part of a summer opera festival in Lyons in 1979, and so one of the earlier televised operas. It caught Neil Shicoff in glorious voice. Teresa Braganza was not a member of the festival cast, but was brought in because of the promised telecast. The set designers look almighty pleased with themselves when they take their curtain call, but I had to buy three pirate copies in order to find one that was clear enough to tell me what some of the set was supposed to look like. The idea of Werther finding a sort of child doppleganger in one of Charlotte's little brothers,who dresses like Werther, does not sing or intrude into the story, but watches him intensely, is odd but interesting. He seems to represent Werther's hopes of finding someone who will love and accept him, as the boy is loved and accepted. When Charlotte rebuffs Werther, the kid seems to die, but is brought back to silent life when she later confesses she has missed Werther and loves him. The death scene is strange since the morally wounded Werther is compelled by the director to stay on his feet until almost his last breath. French camera work in this period was weird. The camera looks away at moments when you wish it would come in closer, so don't expect any revealing reaction shots, but Shicoff is a passionate and compelling Werther. It's a role he gave up after he had a breakdown during a performance at the Met. It was until then almost his signature role.
The Cherry Orchard (1999)
Re: I bloody loved it!
From the previous reviews I gather that this is where the elite meet to bleat. I wish those who are so afflicted by nearly everything in this lovely film could spell a bit better. I have seen several stage versions of this play, and I have read the play, so I was prepared to see the film. I agree with whoever it was who said it would appeal best to those who had seen or read the play and that is true. Not every film is for the popcorn crowd. I loved the atmosphere and that is something you cannot get in a stage play. How can acres of cherry trees in blossom be offensive to anyone? That falling-down hunting lodge seemed just right for that decaying family. The costumes were beautiful. There is not a single character in the story whom anyone could actually like, it's true, but by the end of the story you have been told so many things about them, if you pay attention, you can believe in them, which is better at times than merely being able to 'like' them. I believe Chekhov would have approved it.
Shakedown (2002)
The only reason to see this movie is Ron Perlman...
The only reason to see this movie is Ron Perlman, one of the really great actors working today, who for whatever reason just doesn't get the quality script or the big production budget he deserves. But he never lets a viewer down. Like Gary Oldman, he gives every role his considerable best. Even in HELL BOY he showed those subtle touches he can do, even when slathered all over with red makeup and with his face hidden behind a mask. He is way overdue for a good movie. Not HELL BOY II, though, for God's sake! Still, maybe HELL BOY will finally do that thing for him that he deserves. Is there a producer in the business who actually casts an actor for his talent rather than just for the money his last movie made? I'm a hopeful fan, despite some of the dreck I've watched just because Perlman is in the cast. I try never to miss Ron Perlman, or Gary Oldman, in anything they do. It would be really great if someone would cast them in the same movie. They can both do any dialect or accent and I think they'd play off one another wonderfully.