The Substitute
I had been meaning to see this movie since it was first released. I wanted to catch it in the theaters, but missed it. Just yesterday I finally got around to renting it. I really enjoyed it. Tom Berenger gives a good performance (when has he not?), and I loved him as this character. The confrontation between him and the main bad guy was a little weak and wasn't exactly what I was hoping for, and I'm still trying to figure out why William Forsythe's character appeared to have turned against him, then went back to fight alongside him just minutes later. That's confusing. The score was pretty awful, with the exception of the action scenes, but it wasn't too bad. And I know the teacher he replaces is girlfriend, but they never actually say that. At first you think she's his sister, but when they start kissing, you realize she's obviously a girlfriend. ****

The Thing Called Love
Saw this just a few hours ago, about a quartet of young hopefulls (River Phoenix, Samantha Mathis, Sandra Bullock, and one of the Mulroney brothers) trying to make it in Nashville. The thing that surprised me most was River Phoenix's singing. He was very good. I also liked how you could hear the growth in their voices. At the beginning of the film, Mathis and Mulroney's voices sounded kind of . . . "unsure" about themselves while singing. But by the end of the film, you could hear the difference, as they had discovered how to become better singers. And as far as I can tell, the film had absolutely no score whatsoever, but instead was "scored" with a variety of county songs. I usually hate it when films are "scored" that way, but the songs used fit the film so perfectly, it didn't bother me at all that there was no score. The funniest part of the film has to be when Mathis and Mulroney attempt to break into country singer Trisha Yearwood's car (right outside her house) to leave a demo tape in her radio. The film was a little too long (almost two hours), but I never found myself bored. Phoenix and Mathis gave equally good performances, and overall, it was a very satisfying film. ****

Divorced mother (Keaton) falls in love with unemployed sculptor (Neeson). Both are free-spirit wannabes and try to bring up Keaton's young daughter in a liberal-minded way. Neeson oversteps the mark when the child asks to touch him in the shower and he says yes. The real father finds out and suspects monkey business. Cue court scenes.

This sounds like the typical domestic drama of the week TV Movie, but it thankfully turns out a bit better due to good acting and Nimoy's sensitive (but not overly sentimental) direction. The nostalgic opening which introduces us to the whole family in the evocative setting of beautiful lakes and cabins is soon jettisoned in favour of a comparatively more realistic approach, where the acting's the thing. Liam Neeson does well enough, but it's Diane Keaton's film. As usual, she's so "natural" that it's almost as if she's saying "Look at me, I'm acting natural", and that could be a problem for some viewers.

Elmer Bernstein provides a sparse score. Cynthia Miller again plays ondes martenot on it, probably my least favourite instrument, and one that has been a fixation of the composer's for perhaps too long. The end titles are very nice though.

DINOSAUR. Beautiful opening, and I knew they'd be talking and I hated the concept, but it could have been worse. However, the picture is muddy-looking and, to my mind, really kind of boring after a while, sort of a faux-photorealistic version of THE LAND BEFORE TIME. James Newton Howard's score kypes from everything from THE LION KING to THE GHOST AND THE DARKNESS (I was amazed to hear some of the same choral phrases from GHOST.)

SHANGHAI NOON. Tedious; poorly directed. Is Jackie doing his own stunts at this point (I wouldn't be mad at him if he weren't, at his age, but the picture is so haphazardly crafted that it's rarely clear WHAT Jackie Chan might be doing. Owen Wilson is okay; Lucy Liu is wasted. Score by Randy Edelman is adequate, but nothing I'd ever buy.)

BEING JOHN MALKOVICH. I hated this. Pompous and self-conscious, "thought through" to within an inch of its life. I wanted to throw the tape across the room.

UNDER THE EARTH. Minor Holocaust movie about South American Jews stuck in Poland in 1942. They have to figure out how to escape the stormtroopers, and come up with the idea of digging gravelike holes in the ground to hide out in. Could have been fascinating, but the movie is almost without believable emotion of any kind, and I was massively disappointed by the cumulative effect of it. Even worse that they did such a poor job with what turned out to be a true story.

GAPPA. Actually, I saw this just over a week ago, with Mark Hatfield in Detroit. I recommend the Japanese subtitled version over the English-dubbed version, since the subtitled version is a lot funnier. We couldn't stop roaring. ("What're they sending me? Some kind of burnt lizard!?!?!?)

WARNING: this video is not the faint of heart. Much of the footage in the video is extremely graphic, as scenes of people getting shot right in front of the camera; stripping of children suspected of being rebels of their clothes and brutally whipped; shots of decayed and burnt bodies with the flesh still visible; and scenes where suspected rebels were beaten severely with sticks and whips by the military. Personally, the images made my stomach turn, and several moments made me really want to throw up.

There are interviews with civilians and the narrator (also the maker of the video) explains the history of this war in Sierra Leone and how colonialism has left this tragic disaster in the hands of Sierra Leone citizens without any real help, despite the colonial powers being the cause of many of these social, economic, and political problems in many parts of Africa. Interviews with several children in rehabilitaion centers reveal they were kidnapped by rebels and drugged to do their bidding, and it was truly heart-wrenching to hear their tales and see the grim results.

This is definitely one of the most emotionally charged movies I have ever seen. It truly makes me appreciate my own life a hell lot more, and to extend my prayers out to those suffering from the terror in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

To learn more about what is going on in Sierra Leone or about how to get the video, please go to:
http://www.cryfreetown.org

An excellent movie, one of the best. Goldsmith's score is even better now that I've seen the movie.

Picnic (USA 1955)
Directed by Joshua Logan
Screenplay by Daniel Taradash, from the play by William Inge
Photography by James Wong Howe
Main cast: William Holden, Kim Novak, Rosalind Russell, Susan Strasberg, Arthur O'Connell, Cliff Robertson

Drifter William Holden arrives in a small respectable town, gets his shirt off, and causes sexual tensions amongst all womenfolk aged sixteen to sixty.

I'd always avoided this, thinking foolishly that it might have too many genteel picnic scenes in it, but I liked it a lot. All the cast are great, particularly Holden's no-gooder and the very tragic ageing schoolmarm Rosalind Russell paired off with the frighteningly wimpish Arthur O'Connell. Duning's score is an all time great, feeding off Alex North's A Streetcar Named Desire, yet sounding more like later North works (The Sound And The Fury) and even Goldsmith's The Stripper (a style Goldsmith didn't really pursue subsequently).

Dies Irae (Denmark, 1943)
Directed by Carl Dreyer
Screenplay by Carl Dreyer, Poul Knudsen, Mogens Skot-Hansen, from the play by Hans Wiers Jensen
Photography by Carl Andersson
Music by Poul Schierbeck

An old woman is burned as a witch. Her evil eye puts paid to the idea of a nice romance between the pastor's new young wife and his son(!)

Great! Well, that's what they say, but it is terribly compelling, if you can switch off from popcorn movies for a while. The Danes were really ahead in those days: the poor old witch gets naked (sort of).

Saw in the cinema:

Bringing Out The Dead

SHAFT - An excellent film! What more can I say? Samuel L. Jackson does a superb job as John Shaft. The writing and the performances (Jeffrey Wright was very good) were great. This may sound premature, but I think that this is one of the best films of the year. David Arnold's score shows that he's been studying Isaac Hayes' music very well. I look forward to a score release.

Film: 5/5; Score: 4/5

TITAN A.E. - This film was good, though a good deal darker than animated films from years past (though SECRET OF N.I.M.H. was fairly dark). The animation was dynamic and the story well-paced. Graeme Revell's score is one of the best of his career, and being surrounded by (IMHO, superfluous) rock songs doesn't harm it at all.

FILM 2000 with Jonathan Ross.

An interesting entry in Ross’s weekly review of new UK cinematic releases. A ‘thumbs-up’ for U-571, ‘an old-fashioned movie in the best possible way’ said Ross, was contrasted with his ribbing of the movie’s director about the historical inaccuracies (even British Prime Minister Tony Blair has described U-571 as an affront and a travesty)….Ross had Mostow squirming. An amusing assault on BATTLEFIELD EARTH had Ross reeling off one derogatory term after another as the viewer witnessed excerpts from this inept farrago, and on returning to the studio Ross is hilariously seen to be poring over a massive dictionary desperately seeking more derogatory terms to describe the awfulness of Travolta’s latest venture. An impassioned plea from Ross to the British film industry to improve its output after the release of the witless MAYBE BABY was followed by the news that CHINATOWN is to be re-released on video.

June 1 2000.

THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS (GB 1962) movie ** score *

Candy-box colour and a particularly wooden performance from Howard Keel are just two of this movie’s glaring faults. An intelligent John Wyndham novel, brimming with great ideas, is reduced to ‘FIGHT CLUB’ movie witlessness as Keel’s ‘American in England’ survives a ‘blinding’ meteorite display and the ensuing rampaging triffids as he journeys through France and Spain in an effort to reach the British fleet at Gibraltar. Some of the effects are very good, most are dreadful….the script is particularly juvenile and the acting is terrible (even Mervyn Johns). Still watchable though, if only to marvel at the impressive range of vehicles (from an ice-cream van to pony and trap) that Keel utilizes on his journey. Ron Goodwin’s score is abysmal…a clear combination of many of the worst elements of previous famous scores (including VERTIGO).

June 3 2000.

A FAREWELL TO ARMS (US 1932) movie **1/2 score ***

A rather primitive early talkie….a worthwhile watch nevertheless. Whilst Gary Cooper and Helen Hayes are quite poor as the young lovers, Adolphe Menjou provides more than adequate compensation in a meaty supporting role. The setting is WWI Italy. Not much score, but plenty of well-utilized folk and classical music. The climactic scene has an extended excerpt from the oft-used Tristan and Isolde…..lovely music that enhanced the end of a rather slow and protracted movie.

June 4 2000.

A British Salute to Dame Elizabeth Taylor….from The Royal Albert Hall, London, England.

Having been made a Dame of the British Empire, Liz Taylor’s reward was this atrocious endurance test. Tony Bennett was okay, but was as usual upstaged by his excellent pianist, and it was nice to see John Barry conducting a great rendition of his GOLDFINGER theme, plus the by now TOO familiar Bond theme itself (that Barry seems to have ‘claimed’ for himself these days)….great, but we’ve heard it so often before…it’s so hackneyed now. Anyway, MCs David Frost and Stephen Fry manfully kept the show on-track…but they really had their work cut out, most of the ‘acts’ were absolutely cringemakingly awful. Still, it was all in a good cause…all of the proceeds are going to Taylor’s beloved AIDS charities.

June 4 2000.

BUTTERFIELD EIGHT (US 1960) movie *1/2 score ***

Flabbergastingly pointless movie, typical of so many dated 60’s ‘dramas’. Elizabeth Taylor won an Oscar here, and as is often the case, one of her husbands (this time Eddie Fisher) has a supporting role. Laurence Harvey is pretty good, as is Taylor, in this tale of a call girl and her romantic entanglements, but the movie is totally without purpose. Bronislau Kaper’s witty score is a joy.

June 5 2000.

THE COMEDIANS (US/Bermuda/France 1967) movie **** score ***1/2

Extremely entertaining Graham Greene saga set on Haiti at the time of Duvalier. Richard Burton stars as an English hotel owner (Mr Brown) returning from a three month visit to New York having snared a few guests for his establishment. Alec Guinness (playing the British Major Jones), Paul Ford and Lillian Gish (Mr and Mrs Smith) comprise the ‘vacationing’ guests. However, Burton returns to an island torn asunder by the butchery of Duvalier’s regime….this doesn’t stop him from continuing an affair with Elizabeth Taylor (playing Peter Ustinov’s ambassador’s wife). The locations are absolutely stunning, and the culture of this originally French colony (the slave colony rebelled in 1804, and the French were in no position to reclaim their colony) was authentically put across. Laurence Rosenthal’s score is very good, combining ethnic colourings with traditional orchestra….excellent thematic material. The performances are first-rate….Burton is extremely likeable and Guinness is marvellous as the shady Major Jones, Ford and Gish are just right as the comically naïve Americans, even Taylor’s not too bad (but struggles with her accent, I never worked out whether it was supposed to be German, French or Norwegian), Ustinov gives an understated performance as the diplomat, and there is good support from Roscoe Lee Browne and James Earl Jones. Plenty of clichéd dialogue, lots of humour and a necessarily high violence-quotient….after all, we are talking about Haiti under Duvalier. In fact, James Earl Jones’s demise is particularly effective….his throat is cut right in front of the camera….very realistic….I’m glad this wasn’t his final film, otherwise I might think it was for real. In addition, there is a lengthy voodoo scene at which we see a chicken having its head bitten off by the ‘witch-doctor’ and then the headless chicken continuing to run around in circles, blood spewing like lava from an erupting volcano. As I say, a very colourful film…..and a very likeable entertainment….strongly recommended.

June 7 2000.

LISBON (US 1956) movie ***1/2 score ****

Shot on location in Lisbon, this rather ordinary Ray Milland production (he produced, directed and starred) is given a substantial lift by the locale, the rich colour, an excellent Nelson Riddle score, and the casting of the great Hollywood-based British star character actor Claude Rains as the suave villain. The story involves Maureen O’Hara’s attempts to free her aged husband from behind the Iron Curtain. International crook Rains offers to help (for a price), and Milland (playing the good-guy petty smuggler) is there to make sure Rains keeps up his end of the bargain. Riddle’s score is full of excellent local colour….plenty of acoustic guitar work and a lovely main theme. Edward Chapman is good as Rains English butler, but it is Rains himself who steals all of the acting honours. This was just about his last role as the ‘urbane villain’, and he is brilliant (aided by bright scripting). For anyone who is interested, check out the 1946 Bette Davis classic DECEPTION….here Rains plays her egomaniacal lover, and puts to screen one of the most brilliantly commanding and energetic performances I have seen….great score from Korngold too. Anyway, LISBON is well worth a look. The opening scene is a gem. Rains is wakened from his slumber by Chapman, and after pulling himself out of bed steps toward the open window (smiling at his beloved cat with that famous impish grin). Stretching and breathing in the warm morning air, Rains listens to the sweet warbling of the local songbirds and duly scatters some birdseed on the window ledge. Stepping to one side, he allows the beautiful twittering birds to gather on the ledge….and after a few blissful moments, promptly crushes the gaggle of songbirds with a particularly powerful-looking fly-swat. Contentedly, Rains picks up the corpses of the now silent songbirds, and bending over the cat facing directly into the camera says with a broad and mischievous smile….’BREAKFAST…’. Classic scene.

June 9 2000.

FIGHT CLUB (US 1999) movie ** score ***.

Bird-brained adolescent bunkum, completely out of place amongst today’s generally intelligent and sophisticated cinema – in line with most of Fincher’s disappointing output…..any quasi-serious intentions from the filmmakers were sunk by the utterly absurd premise, and the ridiculous fight scenes themselves. Fincher’s SEVEN was a good old-fashioned thriller that for some reason has gained almost mythologically exalted status. However, of ALIEN 3, someone once shrewdly said it was the best-looking bad film ever made, and THE GAME was a sterile and fatuous exercise in redundant movie-making. Anyway, FIGHT CLUB appears to have gone down well with kids in the age bracket 10-12….it’s all the rage at my grand-kids school. I can see why, the comic-violence is like something out of a Tom and Jerry cartoon. Having been involved in a few fist-fights in the pubs and clubs of Bristol (in my youth), I can tell you, if you’re dealt a good crack on the jaw you tend to loose teeth and not want to get out of bed for a few days. Anyway, THE FIGHT CLUB is one for schoolboys….and tomboys as well.

June 10 2000.

Rugby Union….IRELAND v USA from Manchester, New Hampshire.

The Irish in me enjoyed the Emerald Isle’s crushing of a dogged USA (they recently beat the rather more experienced Canadians). The setting, on a hot New Hampshire afternoon, was more akin to a village fete than an international sporting event. Still, it’s the result that counts.

June 10 2000.

TIMBERJACK (US 1954) movie *1/2 score **

The pits….this movie’s sole redeeming factor is the splendid Montana location shooting…oh, and David Brian’s flavourful villain. The incurably wooden Sterling Hayden is perfectly cast amongst the lofty pine forests, Vera Ralston makes a particularly unattractive heroine, especially during numerous clod-hopping song and dance routines to Hoagy Carmichael’s hideously ponderous songs. Hoagy has a major part, and does his deserved ‘good’ reputation no favours, here giving an extremely poor performance as well as composing those dreadful songs. The once great Adolfe Menjou is all at sea playing Ralston’s Shakespeare-spouting father and Victor Young’s dismal score embalms this hopelessly incompetent production.

June 12 2000.

Football….England v Portugal (European Championship).

After a great start (England went 2 goals to nil up), England did their usual job of capitulation, and Portugal ended up deserved 3-2 winners. It’s funny how the British invented nearly every popular competitive sport in the world (even baseball and American football are derived from English games, basketball was invented by a Canadian, and ice hockey was invented by British soldiers based in Canada), and yet seem hell-bent on ending up on the losing side every time. An unlikely 1-0 victory over Germany (England’s first competition win over Germany since 1966) on June 17 was followed on June 20 by a humiliating defeat at the hands of Romania and an early exit from the championship. Bernstein’s GREAT ESCAPE theme seems to be a popular tune amongst the footballing crowds these days. Once again English football fans have shamed their nation by running riot in Belgium….the travelling English football fans have the worst reputation in the world for hooliganism abroad….the 80’s was the worst time, at that time English clubs were banned from European competition because of English fan hooliganism.

June 13 2000.

THE VIPS (UK 1963) movie **** score ***.

Once one has come to terms with the fact that this movie is peopled by ‘rich and beautiful’ types, THE VIPS turns out to be an excellent entertainment. Terence Rattigan’s typically witty script, the London Airport locations, Miklos Rozsa’s classy score, Anthony Asquith’s assured direction, and a tremendous cast, combine extremely well. Only David Frost, basically playing himself, is rather bad (he gave a much better performance hosting the British Salute to Elizabeth Taylor concert detailed above). Basically, the intertwining multi-strand story involves a group of VIPs who have gathered at London Airport, each with their own reason to leave Britain as quickly as possible. Just as the huddle of VIPs is set to board the plane, in rolls the famous English fog, and the all flights are delayed indefinitely. Richard Burton’s multi-millionaire businessman sees off wife Elizabeth Taylor, who is running off to New York with Louis Jourdan, Orson Welles’ film director must leave the country before midnight to dodge the English taxes, Margaret Rutherford’s dotty Duchess of Brighton (an excellent Oscar-winning performance) must get to Florida to raise funds to maintain her stately home, and Rod Taylor’s Australian businessman must get to an afternoon meeting in New York to save his company from take-over. Plot twists abound, and the whole cast is superb….each character running the gamut of emotions. And there’s good support from Richard Wattis as an airport official, Maggie Smith as Taylor’s loyal secretary, Dennis Price as Burton’s aide and Michael Hordern as the airport director. A clever 1963 cash-in on the Burton-Taylor romance.

June 13 2000.

Boxing…Ricky Hatton v ‘a Costa Rican’ from Detroit.

England’s Jimmy Cagney lookalike, Ricky Hatton, quickly overwhelmed the stoic Costa Rican at the Fox Theatre in Detroit in front of a tiny crowd that could have easily been the remnants of the Goldsmith-concert audience. A swift Hatton blow to the ribs saw off the Costa Rican in the early rounds…this despite a serious cut to Hatton’s eye sustained in the first round. For all of the hype, apparently the American networks didn’t show this fight live, but recorded it to broadcast later, ‘if it was worth it’.

June 14 2000.

A YANK IN ERMINE (UK 1955) movie **1/2 score **

Mild British comedy about an American airman who discovers he is really an English earl. Plenty of missed opportunities mar this fairly likeable comedy. Edward Chapman, Richard Wattis, Jon Pertwee (as an American airman), Sid James (as an American night-club owner), Guy Middleton, Reginald Beckwith and George Woodbridge provide a few laughs, and Peter Thompson’s leading man is okay. However, the production is overwhelmingly cheap and there are far too many pointless and unfunny scenes. Harold Lloyd Jr is also in the cast.

June 15 2000.

FOR BETTER FOR WORSE (UK 1954) movie *** score **1/2

Very run-of-the-mill light comedy lifted by a splendid gallery of British character actors. British director J Lee-Thompson (ICE COLD IN ALEX, THE GUNS OF NAVARONE, CAPE FEAR, CABOBLANCO, 1985’s KING SOLOMON’S MINES, etc) keeps the story moving, as Dirk Bogarde and Susan Stephen attempt to set up home….despite having no money. Cecil Parker, Dennis Price, George Woodbridge, Charles Victor, James Hayter, Sid James and Thora Hird all shine in this slight romantic comedy.

June 16 2000.

BRIGADOON (US 1954) movie * score *

Once again Gene Kelly appears in a howlingly awful production. This Lerner and Loewe Broadway musical should have been consigned to the depths of Loch Ness. The story involves Americans Kelly and a grumpy Van Johnson holidaying in Scotland and happening across a Lost Horizonish ‘ghost village’. The sets are terrible, the music is ghastly (even Cyd Charisse was floundering here), and the ‘Scottish’ accents ranged from broad Irish to Danish. This movie is enough to frighten anyone off of visiting Scotland…a shame, because the land of my father’s father’s father is an astonishingly beautiful place.

June 17 2000.

Cricket…..England v West Indies from Birmingham, England.

Like I said, England, having invented the game, are now beaten with monotonous regularity by virtually all of the cricketing nations. Here, West Indies (struggling to find form themselves these days) defeated England by an innings during the third day of the five day test match. An utter humiliation. Worse was to follow as England’s Rugby Union side was beaten by South Africa in South Africa. The old colonies like nothing better than to ‘get one over’ on the mother country…..so I suppose, whether it is Australia, Pakistan, South Africa or whoever, their appetite for victory is greater than England’s….I sound like a sore loser, don’t I?

June 17 2000.

Trooping The Colour…..Horse Guards Parade, London.

The Queen’s official birthday is celebrated by a fine British military display. This year the weather was particularly warm (28 C) and the crowds, including many tourists, thronged twenty deep. As always, the constant stream of patriotic British military music is a joy to behold, capped by The British Grenadiers (my own personal ‘anthem’). Additionally, it is always very moving to see the flags of the nations that once comprised the British Empire (Canada, New Zealand, Australia etc) flying alongside the Union Jack itself.

A great spectacle.

June 18 2000.

MAD ABOUT MEN (GB 1954) movie * score ***

Benjamin Frankel’s score is the only good thing about this risible ‘comedy’. The hideously-voiced Glynis Johns plays a young woman holidaying in Cornwall who swaps places with a mermaid. Donald Sinden, Margaret Rutherford, Noel Purcell, George Woodbridge, Irene Handl, and Joan Hickson prove, YET AGAIN, that a good cast means nothing if the script is terrible. This movie does for Cornwall what BRIGADOON did for Scotland.

June 19 2000.

NIGHT OF THE IGUANA (US 1964) movie ** score ****

Benjamin Frankel’s elegiac score is sheer poetry, as is Richard Burton’s winning performance as a disbarred priest reduced to making a living as a bus-tour guide in Mexico. However, Deborah Kerr, Ava Gardner, and Sue Lyon (as his love interest(s)) aren’t so effective. Once again, a Williams stage play doesn’t transfer too well to screen, though 1951’s A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (movie **** score ***1/2) fared rather better as a movie.

June 20 2000.

RAID ON ENTEBBE (US 1977) movie ***1/2 score **

And Hans Zimmer's score was unbelievably bad. I haven't heard a good score by him since The Peacemaker, and that was three years ago. Perhaps Pearl Harbor will be better.

RATING: * (out of five)

I've never seen RAID ON ENTEBBE, but I remember its predecessor VICTORY AT ENTEBBE -- these were thrown together in a matter of months after the operation itself. Both of them had an awesome array of stars, especially for TV productions. At the same time, director Franklin J. Schaffner was competing with his buddy from TV days, George Roy Hill, to direct a BIG-screen version of the event; but the sudden surfeit of TV productions made them both give it up. (Both Schaffner and Hill had some real financing behind them before the TV versions upset their plans. We might well have had dueling big-screen Entebbes as well, but for the fact of two TV versions.)

The most widely praised Entebbe movie is the Israeli-produced OPERATION THUNDERBOLT, which came well after the two Hollywood TV productions, and which won an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Picture. The star (as the main German terrorist, who else) was Klaus Kinski. I've never seen it.

THE OBJECT OF MY AFFECTION (US 1998) movie ** score **

This rather banal light-romantic drama, with comedy elements, tells the tale of a mismatched couple….he’s gay, and she’s a social worker (likeable performances from Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd), and the ups and downs of their ‘relationship’.

The movie is talky, harmless, occasionally amusing, and rather dull for the most part, but is given a significant lift when the fine British actor Nigel Hawthorne appears on the scene. Overall though, the movie is awash with cloying politically-correct sentiment, and oozes with cutesey/feel-good scenes throughout. Fenton’s score is very ordinary, sounding like a throwback to the 70’s (not a bad thing in itself, but not quite right for this movie). His score is pop-styled in a syrupy/muzaky way….a good example of a CMS-failure despite the use of contemporary styles and instrumentation…..Fenton seems to have imposed a ‘contemporary’ sound just for the sake of it (rather like Newborn’s abysmal PLANES TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES)….this is the sort of project that composers such as Silvestri, Newton Howard, Zimmer, Williams, and a hundred others would probably have scored with more wisdom (certainly more CMS). The ending is particularly ‘isn’t life wonderful’, instantly recalling such prettified family-fare as LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE.

AIRPORT (US 1970) movie ***1/2 score ****1/2

Superior ‘Grand Hotel’-styled drama, the American answer to THE VIPS (see above for details). The movie is set at a snowbound midwestern airport, and a cast of stalwarts is on hand to act out the drama. Helen Hayes won an Oscar playing an old lady forever sneaking onto flights without buying a ticket, but it is Burt Lancaster’s airport operations director who holds the picture together….by about 1955, Lancaster’s teeth had thankfully ceased to dominate his performances. Dean Martin is great as a pilot, as is the perennial George Kennedy, here playing an airport engineering chief. Van Heflin is fine also as a mad bomber.

Alfred Newman’s final Oscar-nominated score is brilliant. An urgent, almost explosive main theme, perfectly captures the mood of the airport….bustling and frenetic. Newman runs the gamut of musical styles during the course of the movie….here proving himself to be, yet again, the consummate film composer…..utterly versatile, willing to apply the ‘right’ music to specific scenes, and an inspired creator of thematic material. With AIRPORT, Newman gives an object lesson in the successful application of CMS (contemporary musical sensibilities). Depending on the character or the scene, Newman applies jazz, pop and classical stylings almost seamlessly. The despair of Van Heflin’s situation is mirrored in the use of exquisitely ‘tragic’ string passages, yet, with apparent ease, the music metamorphosizes into cool ‘lounge music’ as the scene changes to the romance between Dean Martin and the attractive British actress Jacqueline Bisset. All of Newman’s score is bound by the main thematic material…..a neat trick if you can do it. That’s the genius of Alfred Newman….he creates great thematic material that is flexible enough to manifest itself in many disparate musical styles.

TALOS THE MUMMY (US 1998) movie * score *1/2

To anyone who has been wondering what happened to Arthur Fowler since he left EASTENDERS, you can find out here. Having survived the ‘menace of Poline’ for a decade, Arthur falls victim to the rather less threatening Talos.

To anyone who has been wondering what Russell Mulcahy has been up to since inflicting the lamentable THE SHADOW (movie *1/2 score *1/2) on the cinematic world…..you can find out here.

To anyone else (that must be roughly 100% of humanity)….avoid TALOS THE MUMMY.

Incredibly UN-frightening, badly acted, and shoddily produced.

American cop Jason Scott Lee and British inspector Jack Davenport (son of Nigel, and star of the popular drama THIS LIFE) pound the streets of London tracing the steps of the gradually rejuvenating Talos. Sean Pertwee, Michael Lerner, Christopher Lee (in a brief cameo) and Shelly Duvall are amongst the varied cast…..and they’re all dreadful (apart from Christopher, of course). The script is embarrassingly inept, the special effects are terrible, and the story is told with alarming incoherence.

If you’re looking for a good horror film….keep looking.

TITANIC (US 1953) movie ***1/2 score n/a

Excellent, and often moving, fictionalized dramatic account of the famed demise of the Royal Mail Steamship Titanic and 1500 hundred of its occupants.

If you’re looking for an authentic (based on evidence at that time) account of the disaster, watch the brilliant A NIGHT TO REMEMBER (GB 1958) movie **** score *** (the best Titanic movie yet made).

If you’re looking for a romantic interpretation of the fate of the British passenger ship, watch this movie….Hollywood’s 1953 TITANIC, complete with Oscar winning script, is a great all-round entertainment, climaxing with the most heartrending of all tragedies.

If you’re looking for a dull, impotent, innocuous, spiritless, risibly scripted, politically-correct, historically distorted, and atrociously acted waste of three hours that also happens to have just about the best score of the 90’s….watch 1997’s TITANIC (movie ** score *****).

At least with the 1953 version you actually felt you were on a British ship. There is no score, save for an opening credits theme written by Sol Kaplan. However, there is much source music…..most movingly the Welsh hymns that were sung by the ill-fated crew and passengers as the ship went down. Also there is a fine rendition of my personal ‘anthem’…..The British Grenadiers….heard at the launch of the vessel. As I say, the script is superb, and the effects are pretty good too. The cast is simply fantastic. Clifton Webb stars, what a performance….his character is allowed a seemingly endless stream of smart lines, and then becomes a hero (against character) at the end. Barbara Stanwyck is majestic as his wife, and there are good turns from Richard Basehart, as an alcoholic defrocked priest, Robert Wagner, Thelma Ritter, and especially Brian Aherne, as the ill-fated Captain Smith. I’m glad to say that this movie washed away much of the abominable liberties that the 1997 version took with fact…..in Cameron’s movie, the portrayal of Captain Smith is an affront, the politically correct anti-British stance is merely amusing, and the depiction of the non-first class passengers being prevented from getting on deck is a travesty.

HUMORESQUE (US 1946) movie **** score *****

Wonderful drama, with classical music forming the expansive and compelling backdrop to the movie’s melodramatic proceedings. The always ingratiating John Garfield, in probably his best performance, plays a virtuoso violinist who gets entangled with a married, and positively radiant, Joan Crawford. What music!…bucket-loads of Beethoven, Wagner and all the rest, with the accent, obviously, firmly placed on violin sonatas and concertos.

Apart from the great music, (Garfield ‘mimes’ superbly to Isaac Stern’s magical playing), the dialogue is particularly sharp. Oscar Levant, (a brilliant performance here), when not performing superbly at the piano, is gifted a rapier wit by the scriptwriters….and Levant is one actor who can make the most of his lines. Fine performances too from the ever-reliable J Carrol Naish as Garfield’s loveable father, and Paul Cavanaugh as Crawford’s dignified, and cheated, husband.

For anyone who loves music and movies….HUMORESQUE is an absolute corker.

SONG OF LOVE (US 1946) movie *** score ***1/2

HUMORESQUE ended with a lengthy and superb rendition of Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde (adapted for violin, piano and full orchestra) that served as dramatic score for the final heartrending scenes of that movie. SONG OF LOVE stays in the world of ‘classical’ music, but the action transfers from 40s Queens to 19th century Europe. SONG OF LOVE is a very nice movie…..it tells the story of Robert Schumann (a brilliant performance from the ever-reliable Paul Henreid), his marriage to his music tutor’s daughter (Katherine Hepburn is fine too) and his friendship with Johannes Brahms (a miscast, but still good, Robert Walker).

One of the notable things about this movie, that lovingly incorporates many of Schumann and Brahms’ famous music under Kaper's direction, is its prominent opening statement that much of the ensuing events were of a fictional nature….a practice that is sadly lacking from many politically correct modern movies, such as that heinous bastardization of history BRAVEHEART…..great entertainment though.

Schumann’s music has never particularly appealed to me, though there is much great work he has done. However, there is plenty of Brahms on show, and some great Liszt. The great British character actor Henry Daniell gives a commanding performance, even by his standards, as Liszt…..in one scene Daniell is seen to be playing The Mephisto Waltz (music that was shortsightedly admitted from the release of the score to the movie of the same name….particularly disappointing because the piano piece itself formed an integral part of the dramatic score) and just as the piece climaxes, one of the piano strings snaps and Daniell rushes over to another piano at the opposite end of the arena and promptly completes the piece…..great movie-making.

The story is told with little dedication to fact, but with plenty of grace….and much comedy. I spoke earlier of the unfortunate decapitation of a chicken during a voodoo scene in THE COMEDIANS, here, a very amusing scene has Schumann and Brahms attempting to slaughter a chicken for the pot after the housekeeper walked out on them. During the struggle the doomed fowl lays an egg, and this convinces the great composers to make an omelette for dinner instead.

I frequently wondered if the film wouldn't have been better served if made in live action. It probably would have cost the SAME -- people forget how frightfully expensive animation can be, especially when produced at this scale. And I think it would have been more easily marketed. I didn't see much in this picture that couldn't have been done as easily with a combo of live action and CGI, although Bluth's characteristic attention to detail will, at least, please the real animation buffs. (That I can even make this statement frightens me a bit ... a recognition that CGI is not only here to stay, but that so many existing action pictures are fundamentally nothing more than cartoons with actor-props, THE PHANTOM MENACE being the worst most recent offender, although I didn't hate the film.)

Score by Graeme Revell is tuneless as usual, though properly big and overblown. The rather prominent "Arranged and conducted by Tim Simonec" credit, however, reminds me of what people keep saying: Simonec is "the best-kept secret in the industry." Sometimes when an arranger is TOO good, they find it hard to break away from the mentor ...

Much of the soundtrack is interspersed with pop songs that are edited reasonably well into the action, but clash completely with what Revell/Simonec are up to. Their inclusion is a bit jarring overall, but in general seem to have a bit more character than the sadly ordinary orchestral work.

The story takes a surprise twist in the final third, and then sadly degenerates into a pastiche of all the STAR WARS pictures and any number of their imitators. The final shot, however, was sweet and hilarious at the same time. Overall, not as good as it should have been, but better than I expected (the trailer was DREADFUL, and the cross-promotion lackluster -- they did little more than dump it on the market and say "Sink or swim." I couldn't tell you why.)

JESUS' SON. I had little idea what to expect from this one, and NO idea I'd like it as much as I did ... it may be the best movie of the year so far, although I can see where people might be tired of the "stoner movie" genre. It is something more delicate and fascinating than that, though, a sort of miniature version of hell followed by sunny redemption. Most of the big-name actors in the supporting cast appear in nothing more than extended cameos, but some are mesmerizing, particularly Dennis Hopper. I've seen main star Billy Crudup before, maybe only in SLEEPERS, where he didn't register, but he's excellent here. I've heard before that he's a major breakout star waiting to happen, but this is the first real evidence I've seen of it: he has that rare ability to make himself likable even when his character isn't. Jack Black, who seems to be getting pudgier by the year, nearly steals the show as his lackadaisacal druggie buddy. Samantha Morton is properly sad and sweet as the first of his troubled girlfriends; Holly Hunter gives her standard-issue Holly Hunter performance as a subsequent one. She's an excellent comic actor, but I've never been too impressed when she stretches to drama -- I didn't like the movie THE PIANO, and I thought her and the ridiculous Anna Paquin were way overrated in it.

If there is original music in JESUS' SON, I didn't pick up on it. Not much music at all that I could notice, really. Most interesting, technically, was the sure and steady direction by Alison Maclean, who tends to favor simple compositions and long takes; she shows more control than flash, and that's actually the more difficult thing to achieve.

Last night, rented DVD of THE BLACK HOLE, just to see it letterboxed. Some of the SFX, state-of-the-art for their day (and way more spectacular than anything in the same year's Oscar nominees, STAR TREK - TMP or the eventual winner, ALIEN.) Really ASTONISHING sets, designed by Peter Ellenshaw, and some wonderful miniature work. The strange, threateningly beautiful Black Hole itself is an interesting design, and I wonder precisely how it was done (it seems too luminous to be ordinary cartoon animation.)

The story is silly and poorly motivated, and the dialogue truly appalling. Anthony Perkins and Ernest Borgnine manage to struggle through without embarrassing themselves too much; Joseph Bottoms is adequate; Robert Forster looks like he's really in pain; Yvette Mimieux appears sedated throughout (a weirdly detached quality that actually served her well in the subsequent Canadian cheapie CIRCLE OF POWER); but Maximilian Schell steals it, managing to evoke a properly menacing mad-scientist character while also subtly sending the part up. (A writer and director himself, I couldn't help thinking Schell improvised a couple of bits.) Roddy McDowall and Slim Pickens provide the voices of the two maddeningly cute robots, V.I.N.CENT (sic) and Bob, who between them are stuck with a LOT of the picture's already overwritten exposition.

The humanization of the robots, is, indeed, the picture's biggest flaw. If Schell has converted the whole crew into biotechnical zombies, and built all these robot guards to keep order (what, really, does he need a robot army for?), AND his massive red floating sentry Maximillian (sic) -- then why isn't he more in control? One of the biggest unintentional laughs in the movie comes after Maximillian has casually dispatched Perkins, and Schell whispers to Mimieux, "Protect me from Maximillian!" It's never clear what the nature of their "relationship" is, and the finale inside the Black Hole makes it even muddier. It's as if they had no idea what to do with the idea of the Black Hole once they got inside it, so we get some (very beautiful, but incomprehensible) shots of the inside as some kind of blazing Hell, with Schell's doctor somehow absorbed by Maximillian, who stands triumphant on a mammoth rock while all the doctor's formerly human slaves mill about at its base. It's pretty, but it doesn't make ANY sense. Perhaps they were trying to "update" the light-show sequence from 2001.

John Barry was an odd choice, perhaps, to score this movie, although his increasingly logy style is actually sort of appropriate for the logy way the picture unfolds. I like this music, but he seems completely out of his depth when scoring action; he juggles either an overbearing fanfare, or overly low-key suspense music, e.g. the final battle between Maximillian and V.I.N.CENT. I really love his motif for the Hole itself, though, and the "journey" music is interesting. I wish even the bootleg had retained some of his brief use of the Blaster Beam, but I'm not sure that that rates an Expanded edition (well, if Disney would just get around to issuing this formally, perhaps we'd get some Bonus Tracks.)

Overall, a superb technical achievement (including the Oscar-nominated photography by Frank Phillips) wrapped around a completely hollow script and only marginally competent direction (by Gary Nelson, a TV director before this, and a TV director ever after.)

THE GREAT CARUSO (US 1951) movie *** score **** (basically arias, with a little bridging work)

Dramatically thin, but musically superb, fictionalized account of the great singer. Not a patch on Mario Lanza’s later SERENDADE, but the music alone makes this movie riveting viewing/listening. Lanza himself is in exceptionally fine voice (as always), and plays the dramatic element of his character pretty well, revelling in the occasional comic circumstances. A great moment in the movie had a stagehand signalling to Lanza, performing on stage, that his wife (nicely played by Ann Blyth) had given birth to a girl. Lanza continues to perform, informing his co-performers of the birth by inserting the words ‘it’s a girl’ into what he was singing, the orchestra-pit director then informed the conductor, the conductor informed the orchestra, and a member of the orchestra informed a member of the audience, and so on until the whole theatre was grinning and cheering at the news. A wonderful scene.

Carl Benton Reid provides good support as Blyth’s domineering father, and the British character actor Alan Napier (Alfred from Adam West’s BATMAN) makes a brief, but telling appearance as a former opera star. The script is usually disappointing, but the production values are high, and the colour photography particularly subtle.

My head's a-hangin' in shame.

His complete, rather frighteningly lengthy and extensive filmography is here:

THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY (US 1998) movie **1/2 score ***

A rather sterile, aimless and quiet light comedy, with some moments of humour and charm, but little overall cohesion, and too many dull patches ….and it’s twenty minutes too long. The production values are fine, and the soundtrack is very light and likeable. The script contains a few moments of wit, and makes a few wry observations, but is let down by its lack of earthiness, and the seemingly endless missed comedy opportunities. When the movie was mildly amusing, it could have been hilarious. When the humour didn’t work at all, it should have been at least mildly amusing….there was potential, but it was never fully realized. The film starts off brightly enough, but doesn’t sustain momentum, and by the time of the marmalade and molasses ending, one is straining to raise a smile.

By far the best thing about the movie is Cameron Diaz, she’s absolutely wonderful, but the rest of the cast, though eminently likeable, are less successful in their roles, though Ben Stiller gives it his best shot. The younger kids enjoyed some of the childish slapstick and masturbation comedy, especially when Matt Dillon sets fire to the dog, but overall the movie was just a little too tame, stilted and run-of-the-mill…..rather like one of those coy and self-conscious British comedies from the 50’s….you know, like the CARRY ON movies. In fact, but for the fact they are deceased, I wouldn’t have been surprised if Sid James, Frankie Howard and Kenneth Williams turned up in THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY, though I suppose Lee Evans is the next best thing. Evans bears an uncanny resemblance to that other British slapstick comedy actor Norman Wisdom….even Evans’ character in THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY is called Norm.

LUST FOR A VAMPIRE (GB 1971) movie *1/2 score ***

Abundant breast shots, Harry Robinson’s sumptuous scoring, numerous lesbian love scenes and some vague and tenuous plot similiarities, is all that LUST FOR A VAMPIRE has in common with the vastly superior THE VAMPIRE LOVERS (GB 1970 movie **** score ****1/2). LUST FOR A VAMPIRE is the follow-up movie to THE VAMPIRE LOVERS, and the excellent TWINS OF EVIL (GB 1971 movie ***1/2 score ***1/2), with its vigorous army of Puritan vampire-hunters, concluded the loosely related Hammer trilogy.

LUST FOR A VAMPIRE, though set in central Europe, all to obviously appears to have been filmed a couple of miles outside of Boston or Gloucester or some other English town. Indeed, the fact that events take place at an English ladys’ finishing school somewhere in Bavaria, doesn’t help to kid the audience of the true location either. The aptly named Mike Raven (playing one of the vampires) would have made for an excellent Christopher Lee double were he six or seven inches taller. Ralph Bates is rather wasted as a bumbling schoolmaster….he’s much better playing the ‘superior’ and supercilious ‘villain’.

The only highlights during the movie are the occasional moments of unintentional hilarity. For instance, there is a very serene and pleasant scene that has two of the young lesbian ladies frolicking naked, fondling and kissing, in a lake….Robinson’s music is suitably warm and sunny. Then, without the slightest warning, the music breaks off mid-chord, and in bursts the most ear-shattering shock music (like the sound of ten orchestras playing all at once) accompanying the sight of the gaunt Mike Raven standing at the lakeside doing his Christopher Lee impression. It doesn’t sound funny the way I describe it here, but in the movie it was hilarious because of the suddenness of the mood-switch.

SON OF MONTE CHRISTO (US 1940) movie **1/2 score **

Rather second-rate actioner set in a fictional 19th century European country. Louis Hayward struggles to emulate his idol (Ronald Colman), here playing the dashing French hero who attempts to liberate the small nation of Lichenburg from its dictator, played by a superb George Sanders, once more revelling in the opportunity of playing a Teutonic villain (just as he did in MAN HUNT (US 1941 movie *** score ***) amongst others).

Apart from Sanders though, the movie has little else to commend it, save for good support from Ian Wolfe and Montagu Love. It is a rather lengthy and cheaply made production, and Hayward’s performance is a real letdown. But, it’s good fun….implausible, but entertaining, rather like The Lone Ranger or the naive 1992 version of LAST OF THE MOHICANS…..childish wish-fulfilment.

Movie: **** Score: ****

WATCH YOUR STERN! (GB 1961) movie *** score ***

Very amusing British naval farce involving the testing of a new type of torpedo by the British fleet, and the subsequent mix-up of the blueprint with the design of a shipboard refrigeration unit. The direction is snappy, the script is sprinkled with excellent verbal and sight gags, and even the plot is intricate and well thought out.

This is the sort of movie that THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY put me in mind of….coy, and a little prudish. It wasn’t until the early 70s, with movies like ‘NO SEX PLEASE, WE’RE BRITISH!’, ‘PERCY’, and the Confessions of a Window Cleaner series, that British comedy became agreeably more earthy, and still often hilarious.

Bruce Montgomery’s scoring is fine too, and the cast of familiar British comedy actors completes the necessary ingredients for a successful picture. Much of the CARRY ON crew are on board, Kenneth Connor, Sid James, Joan Sims, etc, and Leslie Phillips and Eric Barker are brilliant as the ship’s captain and his number one. Noel Purcell is a standout as the dominant Admiral Humphrey ‘Humpers’ Pettigrew. His attempted seduction of Kenneth Connor (disguised as a woman, naturally) is a scream….I could go on, but I recommend you see the movie instead.

Saw this yesterday, a little treat to myself after too much dedicated work and studies. In fact, I'd deliberately avoided reading anything about it beforehand: I wanted it to hit me fresh. This was going to be a great movie...

Well, it's only my humble opinion, but it was AWESOMELY BAD. Embarrassing, corny and just mind-bogglingly terrible. I was squirming in my seat. Does anyone remember a brief shot from Air Force One, where a large coloured lady descends smilingly from the plane on a parachute? That wasn't half as cringe inducing as most of Mission To Mars.

Chicken Run
A real enjoyable movie. Pretty funny and the animation is absolutely stunning. This is a movie that both adults and children can enjoy. Couple of minutes into I completely forgot about the ticket collector snickering at me when I entered the theatre.
3.5/4

Fight Club
This is a movie that you with either like or absolutely hate. I found it to be pretty good and darkly humorous, but my first reaction was "Man, that was screwed-up". Many people will think it's advocating violence and chaos due to it's frank and uncompromising style. But there is more to it, attacks on materialism and fascism (How a horrible idea can appear appealing to people) for example. David Poland or roughcut.com wrote a real good article on Fight Club (and it's similarities to American Beauty and The Matrix) here: http://www.roughcut.com/today/hot.button/991015_fri.html
(Beware, it reveals spoilers of Fight Club, American Beauty and The Matrix)

3/4

DEAD OF NIGHT (GB 1945) movie **** score ***1/2

Classic of British cinema that isn’t ageing too well. The print I watched was screened on terrestrial television and George Auric’s excellent musical score suffered most from the movie’s degradation. Not only that, much of the early ‘drawing room’ dialogue is a little stilted.

Nevertheless, the movie remains easily the best (and the first) of the British portmanteau ‘horror’ movies. Not only are the individual tales of supernatural experience inventive, eerie and well put together in their contrasting ways, the overall frame of the movie is particularly effective.

The excellent and prolific British character actor Mervyn Johns plays an architect who arrives at Roland Culver’s country residence with a strange sense of déjà vu. Culver introduces an increasingly uneasy Johns to his family and friends who have gathered for the weekend…..the architect is convinced that he has met each of the people before. Johns speaks his mind, and this triggers each of the gathering to tell of their own supernatural experiences….some slight, some comic, some eerie, and some blood-curdling.

With each story the movie gathers momentum until the final tale, involving a ventriloquist’s dummy (a story told with eerie brilliance), triggers Johns’ own nightmare situation leading to an unforgettably chilling climax.

Any creakiness in the early stages of the film is gradually replaced by a superb cinematic experience. Michael Redgrave is particularly good as the tortured ventriloquist…..one is left with the hauntingly malevolent voice of Hugo the demonic dummy chillingly calling ‘…..Sylvester!……..Sylvesssssterrrrrr!……Sylvester!….’.

If you’re looking for a good ‘ventriloquist’s dummy taking over the ventriloquist’ movie, watch DEAD OF NIGHT and avoid the boring and anaemic MAGIC (1978 movie ** score ****) at all costs.