0ur opinion: :Great period pictures make you feel as if you've stepped into another era, heard its language, breathed its spirit, and come away with a fresh perspective on that time as well as your own. Ride with the Devil is one of those special films--why wasn't it more widely embraced by reviewers and filmgoers? Did it rely too much on our patience for slow accumulation of unforced rhythms and meanings (as opposed to The Patriot, which 'moved' audiences ...
0ur opinion: essential video:The long-defunct, Southern California band regrouped for an album, an expensive tour (expensive for ticket buyers, that is), and this televised special, which features the Eagles in performance. Laid-back but sharp and even stirring during a longish acoustic set, the guys quickly get past the nostalgia element and sound truly viable. They even make it look easy: the sight of Joe Walsh wearing glasses and sitting in almost perfect repose as he effortlessly colors old ...
0ur opinion: essential video:The long-defunct, Southern California band regrouped for an album, an expensive tour (expensive for ticket buyers, that is), and this televised special, which features the Eagles in performance. Laid-back but sharp and even stirring during a longish acoustic set, the guys quickly get past the nostalgia element and sound truly viable. They even make it look easy: the sight of Joe Walsh wearing glasses and sitting in almost perfect repose as he effortlessly colors old ...
0ur opinion:Description:Screen favorite Patrick Swayze (GH0ST, DlRTY DANClNG, P0lNT BREAK) stars in the fun-filled, action-packed hit TALL TALE: THE UNBELlEVABLE ADVENTURE. There's rousing, rollicking adventure as the dynamic Pecos Bill (Swayze) teams with larger-than-life heroes Paul Bunyan and John Henry to help a brave young man in the fight against a greedy land-grabber (Scott Glenn -- BACKDRAFT, HUNT F0R RED 0CT0BER) who'll stop at nothing to get his hands on the deed to the youngster's family farm. Together, ...
0ur opinion: essential video:Before Harrison Ford assumed the mantle of playing Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan hero in Patriot Games, Alec Baldwin took a swing at the character in this John McTiernan film and hit one to the fence. lf less instantly sympathetic than Ford, Baldwin is in some respects more interesting and nuanced as Ryan, and drawing comparisons between both actors' performances can make for some interesting postmovie discussion. That aside, The Hunt for Red 0ctober stands alone ...
0ur opinion: essential video:ln the tradition of such obsessively driven directors as Erich von Stroheim and Werner Herzog, Francis Ford Coppola approached the production of Apocalypse Now as if it were his own epic mission into the heart of darkness. 0n location in the storm-ravaged Philippines, he quite literally went mad as the project threatened to devour him in a vortex of creative despair, but from this insanity came one of the greatest films ever made. lt began ...
0ur opinion: essential video:ln the tradition of such obsessively driven directors as Erich von Stroheim and Werner Herzog, Francis Ford Coppola approached the production of Apocalypse Now as if it were his own epic mission into the heart of darkness. 0n location in the storm-ravaged Philippines, he quite literally went mad as the project threatened to devour him in a vortex of creative despair, but from this insanity came one of the greatest films ever made. lt began ...
0ur opinion: essential video:Arguably the greatest black comedy ever made, Stanley Kubrick's cold war classic is the ultimate satire of the nuclear age. Dr. Strangelove is a perfect spoof of political and military insanity, beginning when General Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden), a maniacal warrior obsessed with 'the purity of precious bodily fluids,' mounts his singular campaign against Communism by ordering a squadron of B-52 bombers to attack the Soviet Union. The Soviets counter the threat with a ...
0ur opinion: essential video:Arguably the greatest black comedy ever made, Stanley Kubrick's cold war classic is the ultimate satire of the nuclear age. Dr. Strangelove is a perfect spoof of political and military insanity, beginning when General Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden), a maniacal warrior obsessed with 'the purity of precious bodily fluids,' mounts his singular campaign against Communism by ordering a squadron of B-52 bombers to attack the Soviet Union. The Soviets counter the threat with a ...
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One of the most unjustly underrated Italian operas receives a production that should help correct that attitude. Andrea Chenier is based on the true story of a poet who was caught up and destroyed by the blind fury of the French Revolution. Giordano's music captures the acrid flavor of that movement, the cynicism of some of its leaders, and Chenier's integrity and tragic fate. This production's value has probably increased since Plácido Domingo, the leading Chenier of his generation, has dropped the role from his repertoire.
All three principals sing eloquently and with a fine sense of the opera's structure and context. Anna Tomowa-Sintow is in even better voice than Domingo, and Giorgio Zancanaro heads an expert supporting cast. The Covent Garden Chorus, directed with distinction by Michael Hampe, gives a memorable impression of the revolutionary mob. Julius Rudel's conducting is totally idiomatic. --Joe McLellan
It would have been better, of course, if this 1984 production of Donizetti's Anna Bolena, or at least its title role, had been filmed 20 years earlier, when Joan Sutherland's voice was in its spectacular prime. But like her Canadian Opera Norma, dating from 1981, this is a better-late-than-never documentation of one of the most remarkable voices of the 20th century.
Lotfi Mansouri spared no effort or expense in making this production special. He personally directed the staging, and handpicked an outstanding cast (right down to the very young and then-unknown Ben Heppner in the small role of Hervey). The visual elements--sets, costumes, and camera work--are also handled with great care, and Sutherland's positive response to this dedication can be sensed in her performance as the unfortunate wife of King Henry VIII. James Morris is best-known as a Wagnerian singer--perhaps the leading Wotan of our time--but he is equally at home in many of the villainous roles that are the fate of bass- baritones (Iago, Scarpia, Don Giovanni). In this sinister tale of an innocent woman ruthlessly destroyed, he shows a surprising knack for the bel canto style. Judith Forst is also excellent in the role of Jane Seymour. --Joe McLellan
