Paul F. Tompkins: Laboring Under Delusions
[DVD]
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Paul F. Tompkins, comedian-actor-podcaster-improvisational wizard, performs a thematic stand-up set recalling his life as an employed person in Laboring Under Delusions. The long form jokes are delivered in a story setting highlighting the perils of working as a video clerk, a hat salesman (on multiple occasions, he was asked to retrieve a “king hat”) and as a minor character in the film There Will Be Blood. Tompkins is immensely charming and equally hilarious. This is very funny stuff!
Reviewed by Jason
Tagged: Comedy
Pootie Tang
by Louis C.K.
[DVD]
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A case for Pootie Tang, a micro-essay.
Genius comic Louis C.K. had written a script based on a character from the Chris Rock Show and brought it to the big screen in 2001. It has been well documented that the author was extremely unhappy with the final product and the experience caused him a great deal of pain. You see, the film was snatched away in the editing stages and the cut we see now is not Louie’s vision.
This much maligned film stars Lance Crouther, Chris Rock (in several roles), J.B. Smoove and Wanda Sykes and also features several cameos (I’m not going to spoil them here). We follow the life of Pootie Tang, a hero to the people with a magical belt and an unintelligible language. Things go awry when an evil corporate villain, through a series of underhanded schemes, attempts to attach Pootie’s likeness to unhealthy fast food, malt liquor and cigarette smoking.
Despite the critical wrath and lampooning from late night talk shows, Pootie Tang still delivers plenty of laughs in its crazy, surreal music video-esque style. Though many cite the film as a “so bad it’s good” romp, I enjoyed the picture in the most genuine way possible. I found myself laughing loudly throughout and having to catch my breath.
I suppose this off the wall mockumentary was a little ahead of its time at the beginning of the 2000’s. Needless to say, fans would love to one day see Louis C.K.’s director’s cut to view the real Pootie Tang.
Reviewed by Jason
Tagged: Comedy, Feature film
Waking Sleeping Beauty
[DVD]
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In Waking Sleeping Beauty, we go behind the doors of the Disney animation building and see an equal display of creative brilliance and management melodrama. As the 1970’s drew to a close, the legendary animation studio was producing anemic box office returns (by Disney standards) and those in charge of the purse strings viewed its limping continuation simply as a tribute to Walt’s legacy. Shifts in corporate leadership created new challenges to the once easy going, hippie-ish department and as a result, the company reached a range of highs and lows.
This film features interviews with animators, directors, composers and executives. In addition, the curtain is lifted and we’re granted access to all sorts of behind the scenes footage. We see the animators at work and goofing around, early film cuts and cells, actors recording voice-overs, corporate lectures, between take banter of Michael Eisner’s television introductions and even funeral speeches. Waking Sleeping Beauty is a film for anyone who is interested in the history of the Disney empire and ever wondered how the magic is really created.
Reviewed by Jason
Tagged: Animation, Disney, Documentary, Film
California Split
[DVD]
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George Segal and Elliott Gould star in California Split, my all time favorite Robert Altman film and one of the best from the 1970’s. This dark, buddy comedy is centered around Bill Denny & Charlie Waters, two men who get sucked into the world of gambling. After Bill falls deep in debt to his bookie, he sells off several possessions so he and Charlie can make an all-in trek to Reno. They eventually find themselves in a tacky casino and in a dramatic, high stakes poker match.
Segal and Gould are the ultimate on screen duo with a perfect comedic volley and excellent chemistry. Additionally, this 1974 movie comes in when Altman was on top of his creative game. The director’s signature usage of wide range audio recording gives the picture an incredible depth and a real sense of place. The conversations from the extras and bit characters are always audible and usually rather interesting.
Ultimately, the story of California Split asks, does money really equal happiness?
Reviewed by Jason
Tagged: 1970s, Comedy, Drama, Feature film
F for Fake
[DVD]
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Join Orson Welles in a one of a kind cinematic experience that examines many shades of the truth. 1973’s F for Fake is presented as an essay film; most definitely the first of its kind. Welles narrates the documentary often on camera with the appearance of a worldly travel host. While delivering literary quotations in a Brechtian style, interviewing subjects and delivering personal tales in his larger than life/life of the party personality, he incorporates a wide range of footage (including bit-lits from his recently abandoned projects) and edits various film formats in dramatic fashion.
At the heart of the movie, Welles discusses the parallels between notorious art forger Elmyr de Hory and the biographer Clifford Irving. Irving who settled in Ibiza working on the de Hory tale, later went on to create a fake of his own: a false biography of Hollywood tycoon Howard Hughes. The director weaves these and other scandals and also shines the light on his infamous War of the Worlds radio broadcast.
Though the content in F for Fake is presented as fact, the masterful Welles, a fan of the slight of hand, cannot resist the urge to play with his audience.
Reviewed by Jason
Tagged: Documentary, Drama
Dr. John Teaches New Orleans Piano
[DVD]
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I didn’t learn to play New Orleans style piano watching this DVD. You might, if you are already a competent pianist, or simply more patient than I am, but this is a rewarding movie whether you intend to become rock and roll pianist or not. Dr. John is an amazing musician; when he plays it looks easy, but just try following along at the piano!
Dr. John looks relaxed (though often worried, as if something else is on his mind). At times he hardly seems to move—but the piano keys move, quickly, and in syncopation, and the music is wonderful. He plays Frankie and Johnnie, C. C. Rider, Blueberry Hill, and others, playing each in some flavor of the New Orleans Rock and Roll, Fats Domino inspired, playing for which he is known. We are given an overhead view of the piano keyboard, as well as a more conventional angle from the side, which lets you really appreciate the fluidity with which the Doctor plays, and is invaluable if you want to try playing his licks yourself. He breaks many of the tunes down, playing the left hand or right hand parts separately, slowing down the tempo, or demonstrating alternative turn around and improvisations. He discusses what riffs are easiest when accompanying your own voice, and briefly describes the interaction between the pianist and the other members of the band.
I really enjoyed this DVD. In fact, I think I’ll probably revisit it in a few months—after I’ve practiced the piano a bit more!
Reviewed by Ben
Tagged: Documentary, Instruction, Music, Rock music
The Artist
[DVD]
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I had heard great things about Michel Hazanavicius’ award winning silent film The Artist. How could I not have? The film won five Oscars, three Golden Globes, and a host of other awards and critical praise. And yet, I was nervous about seeing the film. A silent film made in 2011? Was it just a gimmick? Just a superficial imitation of an earlier error?
There is no doubt that the film is intended as an homage to older films. The film is presented in black and white and everything from the acting, to the intertitles, the score, and even the aspect ratio of the screen is designed to resemble the films of the silent era. And yet, the film feels quite modern, in part, because of the self-awareness it brings to its imitation, but also because the film looks at Hollywood in the late twenties in a manner which could only be done in hindsight. In many ways The Artist has more in common with Singing in the Rain, another great film about Hollywood’s transition to talkies, than it does with any silent film.
And, much as with Singing in the Rain, you don’t actually have to be familiar with films of the silent era to appreciate The Artist. The film is well made, the acting is great, the period costumes are a joy. The characters are larger than life, but sympathetic and likable. They are caricatures, but this is so well done as to be an asset.
I really enjoyed The Artist. It’s funny, stylish, and clever. Recommended for film lovers or anyone looking for something a little different.
Reviewed by Ben
Tagged: 1920s, Feature film, Silent film
I Knew It Was You: Rediscovering John Cazale
by Richard Shepard
[DVD]
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Though John Cazale isn’t a household name, the five feature films he appeared in during his short life are movies that are regarded as perennial American classics. The character actor can be found in The Godfather, The Conversation, The Godfather Part II, Dog Day Afternoon and The Deer Hunter. To many he’s “the guy who played Fredo”, but to those who knew him and worked alongside, Cazale was an actor unlike any.
This short documentary consists of film clips, archival photos and footage and candid interviews from co-stars Meryl Streep (Streep and Cazale were also romantically involved), Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and Gene Hackman. Directors Francis Ford Coppola and Sidney Lumet and followers Steve Buscemi, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Sam Rockwell are also featured providing analysis and admiration of Cazale’s artistry.
After watching I Knew It Was You, I feel compelled to revisit these films and look a little closer at this mysterious supporting character.
Reviewed by Jason
Tagged: Documentary
Moonstruck
[DVD]
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Norman Jewison’s Moonstruck is a film that’s been on cable television throughout much of my life, sitting on the shelves of various video stores and more recently, hanging out in the Forbes Library. The box artwork featuring Cher with her outstretched arms has always rubbed me the wrong way, perhaps signalling some sort of a cheeseball factor.
Recently I read an
interview with director Wes Anderson where he discussed his favorite New York films and to my surprise
Moonstruck made the cut. Jewison, who was a mentor to Hal Ashby, directs a delightful, modern day fairy tale filled with comedy, romance, beautiful and subtle camera work, brilliant character actor performances and just the right amount of nostalgia. Also standing out is the pitch-perfect dialog. John Patrick Shanley (other credits include
Joe Vs. the Volcano and
Doubt) creates a somewhat realistic family unit that is forever bickering with one another.
The story: Loretta (Cher), who has recently agreed to marry Johnny (Danny Aielo), is asked to track down her fiance’s estranged brother Ronny (Nicholas Cage) and invite him to their upcoming wedding. While Johnny is in Italy tending to his ailing mother, Loretta and Ronny wind up having an intense love affair. Chaos ensues!!! We also have Olympia Dukakis, Vincent Gardenia and John Mahoney in memorable supporting roles.
They say you can’t judge a book by its cover… and I think I’m now learning that you also shouldn’t judge a film by it’s DVD or VHS artwork!
Reviewed by Jason
Tagged: Comedy, Drama, Feature film
Stay Hungry
by Bob Rafelson
[DVD]
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There’s just something about the “New Hollywood” films of the 1970’s… The budgets were smaller, but the films seem to resonate so much more than your typical, bloated Hollywood picture. With less resources, the directors of these movies focused on telling stories.
Bob Rafelson’s Stay Hungry tells the story of a recently orphaned grown, southern man named Craig Blake (Jeff Bridges). The opening shot is of the beautiful Blake estate and the narration of a letter read by Craig’s uncle advising his nephew to continue the family tradition and get into steel business. The younger Blake ignores his relative’s advice and teams up with a group of shady real estate sharks to buy out the businesses in a downtown building to may way for an office high-rise.
His colleagues are quickly successful in securing the property and they impatiently await Blake’s seizure of the last independent establishment, a local gym. Here Blake meets a cast of interesting characters including the beautiful, small town receptionist Mary Tate Farnsworth (Sally Field) and the zen body builder/fiddle player Joe Santo (Arnold Schwarzenegger). After visiting on several occasions trying to get the nerve to make an offer from the manic gym’s owner, Blake, a man who recently lost those close to him, finds a surrogate family with the regular gym rats and also eventually falls for Mary Tate.
The struggle to seize the gym, a conflict between the various classes of wealth depicted, an upcoming Mr. Universe pageant, the sometimes troubled romance of Craig and Mary Tate and an exceptionally strange and lengthy fight sequence, make Stay Hungry a wonderful comedy/drama piece. The principle actors all give some of the best performances of their careers and the film is full of unforgettable featured players.
Reviewed by Jason
Tagged: 1970s, Bodybuilding, Feature film
Tabloid
by Errol Morris
[DVD]
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This documentary feature recalls the strange adventures Joyce McKinney, a former Wyoming beauty queen. Using interviews with the woman herself, a pilot, an ex-Mormon, a British tabloid reporter, a photographer and a scientist in the field of cloning, we learn learn the bizarre history of McKinney. While mostly relying on these talking head interviews in front of a greyish background with archival footage and cut and paste animation, Morris creates a riveting, suspenseful film.
It recalls a period in the late 1970’s when Joyce McKinney became a British tabloid star after flying to the U.K. with a small crew to “rescue” her estranged Mormon missionary boyfriend. She claims he was brainwashed by members of the church and so she took him to an inn for three days to deprogram his brain. His story differs. Kirk Anderson (who did not wish to be interviewed for the documentary) had claimed that he was kidnapped at gunpoint, tied up and then raped by McKinney. After the news broke, tabloid papers looked into the beauty queen’s history and produced several scandalous pieces.
While viewing
Tabloid, a particular scene from the film
Head seemed rather poignant. The Swami tells Monkee Peter Tork, “all belief possibly could be said to be the result of some conditioning. Thus, the study of history is simply the study of one system of beliefs deposing another, and so on and so on and so on…” How will the story of Joyce McKinney’s life ultimately be documented?
Reviewed by Jason
Tagged: 1970s, Documentary
The Trip
by Michael Winterbottom
[DVD]
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This feature mockumentary, edited down from a BBC television series, stars Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon as exaggerations of themselves in the entertaining fictional road movie, The Trip. The two colleagues continue their antagonistic relationship that began on the screen with Winterbottom’s A Cock and Bull Story. Coogan initially asks Mischa, his American girlfriend, to accompany him on an assignment where he’ll be writing a magazine piece covering restaurants and quaint inns in the northern English countryside. We soon learn the actor’s relationship is in trouble and he reluctantly calls on comedian Rob Brydon to join him.
What follows is a one upmanship contest of mythic proportions. The two bicker over their careers, public perception, height and general approach toward life. In the car and at various breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner tables they battle it out with celebrity impersonations, vocal range and improvisational wars. The comedic competition is never ending, but never ceases to be funny. Contrasting the humor is Coogan’s desperation in private moments. Cell phone conversations (with a weak signal) to Mischa, his ex-wife, son and agent reveal the actor’s lonelier side and his frustration dealing with aging.
The uncredited supporting role of this film are the beautiful hills and mountains and the elaborate dishes Rob and Steve are served. Most importantly however, the friendship seen on screen, though obscured by Coogan’s condescension and bitterness, is rather touching at times. Despite his best efforts to isolate himself, this is possibly a story about meaningful human relationships.
Reviewed by Jason
Tagged: Comedy, Feature film, Food
