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“Richard Fleischerās The Vikings has all the surface beauty of a glorious painting. As it should, given that masterful cinematographer Jack Cardiff was responsible for illuminating the fjords, the battle scenes, and burly he-man populating the frame. The Vikings is painted with light, to appropriat” read more
“Much like James Stewart got a glimpse of the spiritual world in Itās a Wonderful Life and chose to remain in the corporeal, so too does David Nivenās RAF pilot opt to stay with the living. Of course, A Matter of Life and Death argues for the healing and redemptive power of love and mankindās b” read more
“We should all hail the resurgence of Missy āMisdemeanorā Elliott as her 2019 EP reminds us ā nobody does it better. Her first collection of new material since 2005ās The Cookbook, Iconology is a welcome reminder to the weird, wild world of Elliottās hip-hop/dance fusion. Thereās been sev” read more
“Sheryl Crowās greatest hits package is practically a soundtrack to the Clinton years as the roots rocker transformed into uncomfortable pop star before going country by the mid-2000s. Her pop/rock years, essentially the mid-90s, produced a string of surprisingly durable, hook-filled bangers like ā” read more
“Best of Berlin focuses in on Berlinās three biggest albums ā Pleasure Victim, Love Life, Count Three & Pray ā and still somehow comes up short in the song choices. No āDancing in Berlin,ā āTouch,ā āPleasure Victim,ā or āPink and Velvet,ā but you can be damn sure thereās a” read more
“When the legend ends, where does that leave the figures in the central plot? Robin and Marian answers that question by picking up decades after his populist campaign against the Sheriff of Nottingham. Here is one last ride into the sunset, the coda to the end of the legendary Merry Men, Sherwood For” read more
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
“My biggest problem with A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is that half of the musicalās songs got jettisoned leaving the film adaptation as a movie musical thatās a little shy about it, so it masquerades as a bawdy burlesque instead. Essentially a chance for star Zero Mostel to mug ” read more
The Knackā¦ and How to Get It
“Iām not sure if itās the material or the hyperkinetic direction, but something about The Knackā¦ and How to Get It just feels off from the first frame until the last. Itās a microcosm of the Swinging Sixties and the sexual anxieties on display throughout, best exemplified by Michael Crawfordā” read more
“I love musicals, ABBA, Meryl Streep, and a lot of the character actors appearing in supporting roles, but Mamma Mia! is, without a doubt, dreadful. Much of the blame goes not on the vague sketch of a plot, plenty of musicals have stories that merely exists as a threadbare setup between songs, but on” read more
“Call me a big sentimentalist, but I largely enjoy Fiddler on the Roof. Granted, it does go on far too long and drags in numerous spots, but thereās Topolās alchemical work where he disappears into the character heās playing, the memorable songs, and a general elegiac sense of a past being eras” read more
“Essentially a redress of Top Hat with ballet plugged into the plot contrivance and George and Ira Gershwin in place of Irving Berlin, Shall We Dance comes so close to recreating the delicate perfection of prior pairings that itās frustrating when it falls just short. The major problem is that a bi” read more
“The best of the Fred and Ginger movies take place in an imaginary Art Deco world where the Great Depression takes place in an alternate reality, the champagne flows freely, and the ideal rich are charmingly bumbling their way through love and posh continental locations. The formula of their films ha” read more
“Jesus Christ, did the makers of this know at the time that they were inadvertently underscoring and signing off on a truly contemptible character study? Actually, a character study would imply that the main character experiences anything resembling coherent growth or reason for acting out in the way” read more
“What a strange film this is for a provocateur like Pedro AlmodĆ³var. The Flower of My Secret is so tranquil and subdued that it nearly tips into the middlebrow provincialism that he so proudly flaunted before. Thereās still a series of great female roles, populated by some of his favorite actresse” read more
“In a career abundant in provocations and skewering of provincial middlebrow aesthetics, Matador still announces itself as something punk rock and aggressive in Pedro AlmodĆ³varās oeuvre. Here is a film that opens with one of its main characters jerking off to Mario Bavaās Blood and Black Lace as” read more
