Saturday, July 26, 2014

Movie Review ... Deliver Us From Evil

 

deliver_us_from_evil_posterMovie executives have often been compared to Satan, the Prince of Darkness.  Their peculiar creative decisions have seen many producing teams curse them for their devilish ways.  What cannot be denied is their ability to exploit profitable trends.  Since ‘The Exorcist’ head-spun its way to box office gold in 1973 anything involving Lucifer’s wicked manifestations has been gleefully put on screen.  ‘Deliver Us from Evil’ is the latest with its atmospheric spookiness sure to scare the executive elite all the way to the bank.

New York cop Ralph Sarchie (Eric Bana) is a lapsed Catholic disillusioned with religion.  Attempting to find new purpose his latest case tests his resolve.  Meeting Spanish priest Mendoza (Edgar Ramirez), his former faith returns to haunt him.  Told a soldier, Santino (Sean Harris), is possessed by the devil, Ralph teams with the priest to eradicate the evil spirit.  With New York quickly turning into anarchy due to malevolent forces, time slowly runs out for the duo to combat a power beyond their imagining.

Allegedly based on true events ‘Deliver Us from Evil’ generally captivates.  Whilst one can take its true claims with a pinch of salt, the strong performances and story see it through.  The authenticity of the relationships between Ralph and his family and his confrontation of past regrets are often more compelling than the ensuing horror.  Bana has turned into a fine leading actor and effectively conveys the trauma his character witnesses.  Ramirez and the rest of his co-stars equally share the kudos in developing their roles.

Scott Derrickson’s direction is also worthy of attention.  Previously helming similar films such as ‘Sinister’, he brings his skills in crafting genuine scares.  Derrickson adds much tension to the expected pyrotechnics by allowing the mood to slowly percolate.  Even if the script occasionally walks a predictable trajectory, his directorial flourishes make you unsure where the story leads.  This hybrid of horror and mystery works and maintains interest until the end.

‘Deliver Us from Evil’ is an effective shocker.  Those sinister movie executives have it right this time with Satan’s latest cinematic appearance sure to linger long after his presence has vanished into darkness.

Mendoza (EDGAR RAMIREZ) holds off a possessed Jimmy (CHRIS COY) with the power of the crucifix, prayer and holy water in Screen Gems' DELIVER US FROM EVIL.

Movie Review Rating out of 10:  7

Movie Review by Patrick Moore

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Patrick Moore's Movie Review is an alternative look at movie releases in Australia.

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Movie Review ... Hercules

 

hercules_poster‘Hercules’ proves the adage ‘everything old is new again’.  Representing the ‘sword and sandal’ epics proliferating cinemas in the 1950’s, ‘Hercules’ arrives with its umpteenth cinematic adventure.  With a public eager for anything resembling the current popular TV hit ‘Game of Thrones’, the arrival is opportune.  Unfortunately it’s directed by Brett Ratner, a helmer of infamous cinematic disasters even Hercules would find impossible to survive.

The powerful son of Zeus, Hercules (Dwayne Johnson) hires himself out as a sword for hire.  Roaming the land searching for new horizons, his services soon become needed.  The King of Thrace (John Hurt) enlists his help in defeating a wicked warlord. Needing all the strength he can muster, Hercules aims to crush his enemies and be rid of any evil darkening his world.

From its’ opening moments ‘Hercules’ revels in its opulent grandeur.  Looking as spectacular as you’d expect, it successfully brings Hercules’ world to life.  Aiding this are the many action sequences which are dazzlingly staged.  For every grunting, roaring and sweating moment though there’s a downside.  As the movie grinds on it becomes a repetitive menagerie of sword fights and bad plotting.  Inexplicably ignoring Hercules’ rich mythology, the original story feels as generic as similar recent films.

Johnson does his best to rise above the plot mediocrity.  Whilst he isn’t the world’s greatest actor, he looks good while flexing his chiselled physique.  It seems that’s all that’s needed for this version of Hercules as Ratner’s direction shows little flair or imagination.  As the person responsible for nearly killing off the X-Men franchise with ‘X-Men: The Last Stand’, his reputation precedes him.  ‘Hercules’ doesn’t do him any favours with his usual mix of action and silly humour failing to register much interest.

Although it had potential to be great, ‘Hercules’ ultimately plays like a dumb action flick.  It’s a predictable yarn with CGI and muscled torsos doing most of the work.  No thinking is required while viewing with its brevity its only truly redeeming feature.

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Movie Review Rating out of 10:  4

Movie Review by Patrick Moore

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Movie Review ... Mrs. Brown’s Boys D’movie

 

mrs browns posterOccasionally there are works deflating my love of movies.  Some have been such horrible experiences that serve as a bench-mark for poor quality.  ‘Mrs. Brown’s Boys D’Movie’ manages to reach the apex of lowest common denominator film-making.  Cheaply made with lashings of 70’s-style racism and homophobia, its meagre plot drowns in a sea of smutty vulgarity.  What worked for its successful British TV incarnation doesn’t work for film with its ‘nudge-nudge wink-wink’ humour something even Benny Hill wouldn’t have touched.

Agnes Brown (Brendan O’Carroll) runs a family stall at a local market.   Mother to several children, she does her best to put up with their antics.  When learning a shady Russian businessman wants to turn the market into a shopping complex, she decides to defend her turf.  Taking him to court, Agnes and her brood cause a huge furore as their case makes national headlines.

Like someone at a party telling totally inappropriate jokes, ‘Mrs. Brown’s Boys D’Movie’ is wince inducing.  The incoherent plot, shambolic direction and appalling gags magnify its origins as a lazy cash-in.  Written by star O’Carroll, his attempts to turn it into an ode to his native Dublin fails to show off any of its local colour.  Whilst his character of Agnes is meant to represent a ‘typical Dubliner’, it’s an ugly portrait.  Glossed with a veneer of false sentimentality, this end of pier-style adult pantomime runs out of steam long before its very predictable conclusion.

Overshadowing the entire film is its disgraceful attitude.  The disabled, homosexuals and various nationalities receive a drubbing from O’Carroll’s poisonous pen.  Featured as grotesque stereotypes, the quality of their portrayal mirrors the comedic abattoir in which O’Carroll resides.  Gags involving bestiality aren’t funny either with this witless and mean-spirited production failing to reach higher than the bottom of the barrel from whence it came.

‘Mrs Browns Boys D’Movie’ is a deceptive and ugly beast.  Behind its masque of hilarity lies a seething cesspit of crudity and malice.  It’s a celluloid abomination richly deserving of its place in cinema’s Hall of Shame.

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Movie Review Rating out of 10: 0

Movie Review by Patrick Moore

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A Dorothy Lamour Moment

 

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Trivia Bits 26 July

 

After the Dissolution of the Monasteries between 1536 and 1541 by Henry VIII, parts of St Mary the Virgin's Church, Bromfield, Shropshire England, were converted into a house.

The Cuckoo’s Calling was the first crime novel by internationally successful author J.K. Rowling, writing under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith published in May 2013..

US baseballer Babe Ruth’s birth name was George Herman Ruth Jnr.

The Pitstone Windmill in Buckinghamshire is believed to be the oldest windmill in the British Isles being thought to have been first built circa 1627 as this date is carved on part of the framework.

To keep students enrolled at the Morris Industrial School for Indians, a Native American boarding school in Minnesota, around 1898 superintendent William H. Johnson prohibited students from taking vacations to go home.

Played by Harry Anderson, Judge Harold “Harry” T Stone featured in the 80s/90s American comedy sitcom Night Court which aired from 1984 to 1992.

Braeriach, 1,296 m (4,252 ft), is the third highest mountain in Scotland, surpassed only by Ben Nevis and Ben Macdui.

Volcanologist Harry Glicken was saved from the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens due to a scheduling conflict, only to die in the eruption of Mount Unzen in 1991.

The final book in the Old Testament in the King James Bible is Malachi.

The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age civilization that arose on the island of Crete and flourished from approximately the 27th century BCE to the 15th century BCE. The term "Minoan" was coined by Arthur Evans, British archeologist after the mythic "king" Minos.

Quotables 26 July

 

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Friday, July 25, 2014

A Dorothy Jordan Moment

 

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Trivia Bits 25 July

 

Henry VIII ruled England from 21 April 1509 until his death on 28 January 1547.

The full name of Doc on the Back to the Future trilogy is Dr Emmett Brown and was played by Christopher Lloyd.

God Defend new Zealand is one of New Zealand’s National Anthems. It was written by Thomas Bracken in the 1870s, and in 1940 the New Zealand government bought the copyright and made it New Zealand's national hymn in time for that year's centennial celebrations. The other National Anthem is God Save the Queen most often only played when the Sovereign, Governor-General or other member of the Royal Family is present, or on some occasions such as Anzac Day.

Barbara Hanrahan wrote the 1973 semi-autobiographical novel The Scent of Eucalyptus. Barbara an Australian artist, printmaker and writer whose work mostly revolved around the roles of and relationships between women.

The Sun of May appears on the flags of both Argentina and Uruguay.

China’s Yangtze River flows for 6,418 kilometres (3,988 mi) from the glaciers on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in Qinghai eastward across southwest, central and eastern China before emptying into the East China Sea

The Iliad and the Odyssey were just two parts of the eight-part Trojan War cycle of epic poems that were the distillation in literary form of an oral tradition that had developed during the Greek Dark Age.

Mila Kunis was born in 1983 in Chernivtsi, in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic now known as Ukraine.

The Dog Fence in Australia is the longest continual construction in the world. Stretching 5,300 kms from near Surfers Paradise in Queensland and ends up in Ceduna in South Australia on the Great Australian Bight. It was built to protect the sheep in the south of the country from the dingoes in the northern area of Australia.

Anatolia denotes the westernmost part of Asia making up the majority of the Republic of Turkey.

The Wiz: Original Broadway Cast

 

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This is absolutely wonderful. The songs are a mix of gospel, disco, wonderful piano anthems, and so much more. The cast is superb, led by a delightful Stephanie Mills as Dorothy who shows so much musical maturity in her performances.

Compared to the motion picture soundtrack, this is a collection of mostly mellow, laid back tunes with a lot of heart and even more soul. It does however, have its fun moments. The tornado is one such example, providing glimpses back into the prospering 70s disco scene. Any song by Andre de Shields, as the Wiz, is guaranteed to make you shake your groove thing, and the character roles (Scarecrow, Tinman, Lion) are filled with fine performances from Hinton Battle, Tiger Haynes, and Ted Ross, respectively.

Standouts include: all of Stephanie Mill's features; she puts so much feeling into her songs, Mabel King's anthem to No Bad News, Dorothy and the Lion's duet, Be a Lion, the funky Ease on Down the Road, and the unforgettable finale. At only 12 or 13, Stephanie Mills accomplished so much with her performance in The Wiz.

 

  Track Listing:

1. Prologue

2. The Feeling We Once Had

3. Tornado

4. He's The Wizard

5. Soon As I Get Home

6. I Was Born On The Day Before Yesterday

7. Ease On Down The Road

8. Slide Some Oil To Me

9. I'm A Mean Ole Lion

10. Be A Lion

11. So You Wanted To See The Wizard

12. What Would I Do If I Could Feel

13. Don't Nobody Bring Me No Bad News

14. Everybody Rejoice

15. Y'all Got It!

16. If You Believe

17. Home (Finale)

Quotables 25 July

 

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Thursday, July 24, 2014

A Dorothy Gish Moment

 

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Trivia Bits 24 July

 

The longest-running show in Broadway theatre history was Cats with 7,485 performances when it closed on September 10, 2000 until it was overtaken by The Phantom of the Opera which opened 26 January 1988 and as of 24 November 2013 had had 10743 performances.

The creator of the TV series Homeland, Gideon Raff, is the son of a former Accountant General in Israel's Ministry of Finance.

The United States of America is home to the majority of ethnic Cajuns mainly living in the state of Louisiana, consisting of the descendants of Acadian exiles.

Andrea, Caroline, Sharon and Jim are members of the Irish band The Corrs that combines pop rock with traditional Celtic folk music and are from Dundalk, Co. Louth, in Ireland.

Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, composer and occasional film actor Nick Cave’s full name is Nicholas Edward Cave.

Return to Sender, a hit for Elvis Presley in 1962, comes from the 1962 movie Girls! Girls! Girls! Elvis Presley plays Ross Carpenter, a Hawaiian fishing guide and sailor who enjoys boating and sailing out on the sea. When he finds out his boss is retiring to Arizona, he seeks to find a way to buy the Westwind, a boat that he built with his father.

Wally Lewis was the captain of the Queensland State of origin team from 1981 – 1991 and was known as The King of Rugby.

France was the first to issue official postage due stamps in 1859 and are a stamp added to an underpaid piece of mail to indicate the extra postage due.

Dragon's teeth were square-pyramidal concrete fortifications used during the Second World War to impede the movement of tanks and were employed extensively particularly on the Siegfried Line and were used by all sides in the various theatres of war.

Hurricane Audrey, in Louisiana in 1957, was one of the first hurricanes observed by weather radar with Audrey leaving $147 million (1957 USD) in damage and at least 416 fatalities in the US.

Quotables 24 July

 

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Wednesday, July 23, 2014

A Dorothy Dell Moment

 

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Trivia Bits 23 July

 

The second story in The Jungle Book (1894), Kaa's Hunting is an 1893 short story by Rudyard Kipling featuring seven-year-old "man-cub" Mowgli, raised by wolves in the Indian jungle, being tutored in the Law of the Jungle by Baloo the bear.

The lead singer of internationally renowned band, Powderfinger, Bernard Fanning was raised in Brisbane, Australia.

Angela Jolie topped Forbes magazine’s 2013 list of Hollywood highest earning actresses.

Proverbially the sweetest fruit is that which is forbidden.

Stonehenge is surrounded by 56 pits known as Aubrey holes which are a ring of Chalk pits at Stonehenge named after the seventeenth-century antiquarian John Aubrey.

To the end of 2013, the only Australian woman to win a Best Actress Academy Award is Nicole Kidman for her performance as Virginia Woolf in the drama film The Hours (2002).

Jesse Fisher in the 2012 movie Liberal Arts is played by Josh Radnor who also wrote and directed the movie.

Sydney's Belmore Park, in New South Wales, is on land that used to be a police barracks, a cemetery, a women's shelter, an asylum and a common and was landscaped in 1868.

Yemen is bordered by two countries – Oman and Saudi Arabia.

English playwright and novelist, Dorothy “Dodie” Smith, wrote I Capture the Castle(1949) and The Hundred and One Dalmatians (1956).

Quotables 23 July

 

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Tuesday, July 22, 2014

A Dorothy Dare Moment

 

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Patricia Barber – A Distortion of Love 1992

 

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Artist: Patricia Barber

Album: A Distortion of Love

Genres: Vocal, Music, Jazz, Contemporary Jazz, Vocal Jazz, Rock

Released: May 19, 1992

℗ 1992 The Verve Music Group, a Division of UMG Recordings, Inc.

Pianist and singer Patricia Barber’s second album, and major-label debut, is a consistently interesting, but not always completely rewarding, array of original instrumentals, vocal standards, and surprise cover versions.

The arrangement of “Summertime” that opens the program is eerie almost to the point of creepiness, and all the more effective for it: after a long instrumental prelude, Barber sings the lyrics over the most minimal bass-and-piano unison pedal point, her voice goosed with reverb and wailing softly like a ghost.

“Subway Station #5,” the original composition that follows, is nervous, jumpy, barely tonal, and moves niftily from a contrapuntal and polyrhythmic introduction into a straight swing section. The problem is that it lasts almost ten minutes, and by the seventh or eighth minute, its ideas seem pretty well played out. “Or Not to Be” and “Yet Another in a Long Series of Yellow Cars” suffer from similar treatment.

But her singing on “You Stepped Out of a Dream” and, especially, her sweet and touching rendition of the soul classic “My Girl” are quietly spectacular.

 

Track Listing:

1. Summertime 6:14

2. Subway Station #5 9:31

3. You Stepped Out Of A Dream 7:36

4. Parts Parallels 5:06

5. Or Not To Be 7:04

6. Yellow Car 5:50

7. Yet Another In A Long Series Of Yellow Car 4:28

8. I Never Went Away 4:37

9. My Girl 3:44

10. By Myself 4:54

Trivia Bits 22 July

 

Scarlet fever is not caused by a virus but by toxin-producing bacteria.

The 17th Arizona Territorial Legislature in 1893 authorized a US$5,000 bounty for the capture of the renegade Apache Kid dead or alive.

A lepidopterist, or Aurelian, collects moths and butterflies with term including hobbyists who are not formal scholars.

South-West Africa became known by the name the Republic of Namibia after gaining independence from South Africa on 21 March 1990.

The Sitka, native to the west coast of North America, is the largest species of spruce tree growing to almost 100 m tall and with a trunk diameter at breast height that can exceed 5 m.

In Formula One racing, the diagonally divided black and white flag signifies unsportsmanlike conduct.

The capital of the Indonesian province of Aceh is Banda Aceh.

Maryland Route 170 was relocated for the construction of Baltimore/Washington International Airport in the late 1940s.

Vitamin C is water-soluble.

On 6 April 1199, Richard the Lionheart died as a result of an infected arrow wound to the shoulder received during the siege of Chalus in France.

Quotables 22 July

 

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Monday, July 21, 2014

A Dorothy Dandridge Moment

 

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Richard Marx – Beautiful Goodbye 2014

 

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Artist: Richard Marx

Album: Beautiful Goodbye

Genres: Pop, Music, Singer/Songwriter, Rock

Expected Release: Jul 08, 2014

℗ 2014 Richard Marx, Inc. d/b/a Zanzibar Productions

The follow-up to 2008′s Sundown, this is the tenth original studio album from the American adult contemporary singer/songwriter probably still best remembered for his 1989 worldwide smash hit “Right Here Waiting.” Co-written with, among others, Vertical Horizon’s Matt Scannell, David Hodges of Evanescence, and ’80s über-producer Walter Afanasieff, and partly inspired by his divorce from actress Cynthia Rhodes after 25 years of marriage, Beautiful Goodbye is another perfectly crafted set of his trademark smooth, emotional pop/rock. The racy single “Whatever We Started” is included.

Track Listing:

1.Whatever We Started 3:52

2.Suddenly 4:43

3.Inside 5:27

4.Beautiful Goodbye 4:53

5.Forgot to Remember 3:47

6.Turn Off the Night 3:26

7.Have a Little Faith 4:41

8.Like the World Is Ending 4:14

9.To My Senses 4:54

10.Getaway 3:39

11.Eyes on Me 3:01

Trivia Bits 21 July

 

The Chislehurst Caves of Kent are actually mines that were first worked in 1250 and are 22 miles (35 km) long series of tunnels in Chislehurst, in the south eastern suburbs of London.

Australian painter Jeffrey Smart initially wanted to become an architect instead of an artist and was known for his precisionist depictions of urban landscapes with his autobiography, Not Quite Straight, published in 1996.

Rhodesian-born pilot Ernest Melville Guest was part of the RAF escort that flew with HMS Hereward taking the Dutch Royal Family to safety in England during World War Two.

Saskatchewan is a province of the country of Canada.

In 1968, Swedish pentathlete Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall became the first Olympian disqualified for drug use, for drinking two beers during the Summer Olympics held in Mexico City.

The collections of the Chicago Public Library began with the 8,000-volume "English Book Donation" which came in response to the Great Chicago Fire of 1871with donors including Queen Victoria, Benjamin Disraeli, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning, John Stuart Mill, John Ruskin, and Matthew Arnold.

The 2001 novel Dirt Music was written by Tim Winton - an Australian novelist and short story writer.

Imari porcelain is Japanese porcelain wares made in the town of Arita, in the former Hizen Province, northwestern Kyūshū and were exported to Europe extensively from the port of Imari, Saga, between the second half of the 17th century and the first half of the 18th century.

Marilyn Monroe married baseball player Joe DiMaggio in 1954.

Residents of the old soldiers' home known as Royal Hospital Chelsea, a retirement home and nursing home for some 300 British soldiers who are unfit for further duty due to injury or old age, are called Chelsea pensioners.

The Crested Chameleon can be found over 1,000,000 square kilometres (390,000 sq mi) in Africa

Italian physicist and founder of the Electromagnetic Wave Research Institute Nello Carrara coined the term "microwave". He coined the word in his paper on "The Detection of Microwaves" in 1932.

Quotables 21 July

 

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Sunday, July 20, 2014

Elaine Stritch: Elaine Stritch At Liberty (2002)

 

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The legendary Tony and Emmy winner Elaine Stritch talks about her audition for the role of Dorothy in a classic hit CBS show The Golden Girls. The role, of course, went to Bea Arthur.

Veteran actress/singer Elaine Stritch had a career in musicals, straight plays, movies, and TV dating back to the mid-’40s, and at age 76 she reviews it all on this two-CD album, which is a recorded version of her one-woman show, Elaine Stritch: At Liberty. Her singing voice has long since become raspy and limited, but her timing and phrasing enable her to put across almost any song effectively.

She features her signature songs, from “Civilization” (the novelty in which a monkey expresses a preference for the jungle), which she sang in her first Broadway show, Angel in the Wings, in 1947, to Noël Coward’s witty “Why Do the Wrong People Travel,” which she introduced in Sail Away in 1961, and, inevitably, “The Ladies Who Lunch,” her showstopper from Stephen Sondheim’s Company in 1970. Other songs tend to be incidental to the anecdotes she tells, starting with an annotated version of “There’s No Business Like Show Business,” from which she hangs a series of humorous personal observations. Stritch is unsparing to herself as well as her colleagues, providing an impressionistic autobiography that is revealing, if selective. You would hardly know about her extensive work in television, which goes almost unmentioned, but her major theatre credits are all touched on. She is unafraid to discuss her problems with alcohol or with men. Containing entertaining stories concerning such figures as Marlon Brando, Richard Burton, Ethel Merman, and Noël Coward, this is an album that will delight anyone interested in the history of theatre over the years from the 1940s to the 1980s, as told from the vantage point of one of its more acute, if occasionally addlepated, observers. And though the mere listener is denied the added pleasure of having Stritch on-stage performing it, very little is actually lost in the transfer to disc.

Recorded live at The Joseph Papp Public Theatre, New York, New York on January 10-12, 2002.

Track Listing:

1. There’s No Business Like Show Business (Berlin)
2. Caca
3. I Want a Long Time Daddy (Grainger)
4. A Piece of Mahler
5. This Is All Very New to Me (Hague/Horwitt)
6. Going to New York
7. Marlon Brando
8. Broadway Baby (Sondheim)
9. My First Broadway Show
10. Civilization (Hilliard/Sigman)
11. Ethel Merman
12. Can You Use Any Money Today? (Berlin)
13. Pal Joey
14. Zip (Hart/Rodgers)
15. Ben Gazzara
16. Nokl Coward
17. Why Do the Wrong People Travel (Coward)
18. Richard Burton
19. But Not for Me/If Love Were All (Gershwin/Gershwin)
20. I’m Still Here (Sondheim)
21. Booze
22. Little Things You Do Together (Sondheim)
23. The Ladies Who Lunch (Sondheim)
24. John Bay
25. There Was Never a Baby Like My Baby (Comden/Green/Styne)
26. I’ve Been to a Marvelous Party (Coward)
27. God So Quickly
28. The Party’s Over (Comden/Green/Styne)
29. Absent Almost Always
30. Something Good (Rodgers)

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Elaine Stritch: Ladies Who Lunch (Company)

Movie Review ... Sex Tape

 

Sex Tape posterModern technology can be a wonderful thing.  The speed with which messages and photos are delivered is often mind-boggling.  Sometimes such occurrences can be dangerous.  ‘Sex Tape’ shows just how awry today’s technological world can be.  Based on several infamous celebrity scandals, it serves as a comedic warning that for certain occasions a camera’s presence would be most unwise.

After a decade together, Jay (Jason Segel) and Annie (Cameron Diaz) still love each other.  Parents to two children, despite their affection they feel the marital spice has gone walkabout.  Deciding to fix this by filming a sex tape, their very adult union ends up being leaked.  Becoming an internet sensation, they desperately try to retrieve the footage from the all-powerful Cloud network.  What follows is a series of mis-haps as their amorous coupling brings the joy to others they initially hoped to achieve for themselves.

‘Sex Tape’ makes a lot out of the chemistry of its leads.  Segel and Diaz make for a watchable duo as their characters attempt to right a very naughty wrong.  Most of the time it’s fun to watch with cameos by Rob Lowe and Jack Black adding some spark.  Unfortunately Jake Kasdan’s leaden direction drags the story.  Where more energy was needed it sags with the threadbare plot spread too thinly.  Another sub-plot or two could have beefed things up with some sequences failing to reach their potential.

Despite its lurid title, ‘Sex Tape’ generally avoids diving into totally smutty territory.  It makes an attempt to be somewhat clever in creating laughs with the cast showing good comic timing.  A message about maintaining a relationships’ passion can be seen amidst the wicked carry-on.  This adds some substance to the silly script even if it doesn’t really engage as much as it should.

A fluffy movie ultimately reaching an unsatisfying climax, ‘Sex Tape’ is only modest fun.  Although more needed to be done with the material it serves as a warning that filming private encounters is something best to be avoided.

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Movie Review Rating out of 10:  5

Movie Review by Patrick Moore

Agree with Patrick's Movie Review? Then please use the comment box.

Patrick Moore's Movie Review is an alternative look at movie releases in Australia.

Official HomePage click HERE

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Movie Review ... Still Life

 

stilllife.poster‘Downsizing’ has become the new word for economic rationalism.  Decreasing the number of workers for the maximum amount of saved dollars, companies have done this for centuries.  Employees who are left behind are forced to work harder in delivering the same level of expected service.  ‘Still Life’ examines this social malaise with skill.  Tightly scripted and directed it’s a fine drama looking at a person’s refusal to surrender to corporate interference.

John (Eddie Marsan) is a council worker whose department has been downsized.  His job is to contact the next of kin of those who have died alone on council property.  Facing the prospect of unemployment, he embarks on one last case.  When meeting Kelly (Joanne Froggatt), daughter of a deceased tenant, he is taken on an unexpected journey.  Learning to re-connect with life, his encounters change his viewpoint in unexpected ways.

Sensitive and interesting, ‘Still Life’ is an often moving exploration of loneliness.  In helping wrapping up the lives of those who died alone, John’s own introverted nature surfaces.  His forced redundancy serves to further focus attention on carrying out his duties with the dignity and professionalism his co-workers lack.   How his unswerving loyalty to the deceased never wavers is effectively driven home under Uberto Pasolini’s astute direction.

Making ‘Still Life’ work so well is its mix of drama and humour.  Both complement each other without descending into sentimentality.  This allows for genuine authenticity with the character interactions and atmosphere.  The photography mirrors the initial bleakness of John’s daily life but soon creates more colour with the people he meets.  Marsan and his co-stars embody their characters well with Marsan showing his versatility with a rare nice guy role.

‘Still Life’ is a fine light drama showing how to embrace the most out of life.   Doing one’s best in the face of changed circumstances is something anyone should aspire to as ‘Still Life’ effectively shows.

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Movie Review Rating out of 10:  7

Movie Review by Patrick Moore

Agree with Patrick's Movie Review? Then please use the comment box.

Patrick Moore's Movie Review is an alternative look at movie releases in Australia.

Official HomePage click HERE

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A Dorothy Burgess Moment

 

 

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