Joe Vig's First Impressions - magical, musical thoughts: 2004

Wednesday, December 22, 2004

December 2004

Hi Everyone -

As we re-design http://www.varulven.com your best bet is to check in here to get updates!
Lots going on - we interviewed Dr. Edward Hallowell on December 8th (he was broadcast on the same 60 Minutes show with Bob Dylan) and Tim Riley, Beatles author, on December 20th.

JV's article on SLOP in Belmont Citizen/Herald
http://www2.townonline.com/belmont/artsLifestyle/view.bg?articleid=147648

New album from Joe Viglione
http://therealcount.blogspot.com

Visual Radio postings
http://vrtv.blogspot.com

Here are my newest AMG Postings - watch for my December Top 30 in a couple of days!
http://joevigtop40.blogspot.com http://www.varulven.com Music Business Monthly

DVD REVIEWS (URLs to post - this is all on http://www.allmusic.com )

DVD Starz Back In Action Live 2003
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:9rfm961o0ep5~T1

DVD Stephen Lynch "Live At The El Ray"
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=ADFEAEE4781CDD4AAE7420ED9C2C45C7BD7CE71AFE5AFB86112F0456D3B82D6DA30B47D00BE49F81B0FB6AB678B0FD2EA45E43D6C0EB50F6D96E2D5DF0&sql=10:rekvikldbb79

DVD THE IRISH TENORS "Heritage"
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=ADFEAEE4781CDD4AAE7420ED9C2C45C7BD7CE71AFE5AFB86112F0456D3B82D6DA30B47D00BE49F81B0FB6AB678B0FD2EA45E43D6C0EB5EF6DE672D5DF0&sql=10:a96ftr7tkl7x

You're So Easy To Love (Song Review - Tommy James catalog) James, Tommy/Greco, Joey

DVD Nat King Cole "When I Fall In Love: The One And Only Nat King Cole"http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=ADFEAEE4781CDD4AAE7420ED9C2C45C7BD7CE71AFE5AFB86112F0456D3B82D6DA30B47D00BE49F81B0FB6AB679B0FD2EA45E43DBC0EF57F6D8622D5DF0&sql=10:tsja7i45g72r~T1

DVD Ray Charles with Edmonton Symphony Orchestrahttp://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=ADFEAEE4781CDD4AAE7420ED9C2C45C7BD7CE71AFE5AFB86112F0456D3B82D6DA30B47D00BE49F81B0FB6AB57AB0FD2EA45E43D7C0EC55F6DC612D5DF0&sql=10:tlz8b5x4xsq4

BIOGRAPHIESAgainst Tomorrow's Sky published 12/04 on All Media GuideAgainst Tomorrow's Sky is UP!
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&searchlink=AGAINSTTOMORROW\\

4 more biographies to post soon - Manalive, Sadaharu, Victim of Modern Age, and Snakes & Music

Check out http://www.expage.com/jvbiographies for more of my bios!!!

Lisa Ralphs' pens in the January 2005 issue of Metronome Magazine with an essay I co-wrote on our friend, the late John Kalishes. Metronome is not online yet, but I will post it soon in a blog.

Wednesday, October 20, 2004

New Articles! from Joe Viglione 10/21/04

Wednesday, August 25, 2004

SUSPECT ZERO zeroes in on the face of Aaron Eckhart, a big movie star who should be bigger in a vehicle that won't be his break-through flick, but is a good step in the right direction. It is to Eckhart what 8MM is to Nicolas Cage, what 1995's Seven is to Brad Pitt, what Murder By Numbers is to Ben Chaplin, menacing murder movies tailor-made for leading men. 2001's Along Came a Spider was not this dark, but all these films could very well have a thread tying them together - so much so that this could be an extension of the theme from 1995's Copycat. And while it is no The Silence of the Lambs, SUSPECT ZERO turns out to be more of a sequel-in-spirit to Murder By Numbers than it is to Producer/Director E. Elias Merhige's previous flick, Shadow of the Vampire. Carrie-Anne Moss is getting type-cast, whether she knows it or not, and comes off here as the softer side of Trinity from The Matrix. Maybe filmmakers feel she is the anti-dote to the oppressive bleak atmospheres they choose to create with these repetitive stories, items that are beyond "film-noir", things I would call "deep film-gloom" - a huge wall of emptiness that embraces movies in this suddenly omnipresent genre.

Eckhart as Agent Tom Mackelway has his Dasani water on his desk, and we soon find out that he has a penchant for breaking the rules, as well as going by the book. It is this professional dilemma that gives our hero some kind of humanity - that inner struggle. Ben Kingsley has the ability to indulge in "remote viewing" - seeing murders that will be or have been committed. The trailer seems to give an awful lot of the plot away, and the basic plot is pretty good. It's just that it takes more than twenty minutes to get off the ground, and then has some unnecessary baggage like too many scenes where only a masochist would keep their eyes on the screen. Eckhart looks completely different from his roles in Erin Brockovich and Your Friends & Neighbors - a good sign that his good looks can be used in a chameleon-like fashion, something that is not currently part of the resume' of Carrie-Anne Moss. There's intrigue, you will engage your brain and think quite a bit, and SUSPECT ZERO manages to survive its flaws to emerge as interesting big screen glossy B movie. As entertainment Suspect Zero does succeed, but the continuity is broken up by the plot twists and the incessant - sometimes vulgar - focus on extreme violent imagery. And what is it with these murder flicks and numerology - Suspect Zero, 7, 8MM, Murder by #s ????

For cast & credits go here:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0324127/fullcredits

This film was viewed at the Fenway, 201 Brookline Ave., Boston, 7 PM August 25, 2004 by
rock journalist joe viglione. http://www.joeviglione.com

Saturday, August 14, 2004

ALIEN VS. PREDATOR

Paul W.S. Anderson's Alien vs. Predator is a first rate monster movie that succeeds because the creatures take a back seat to drama and a spirited cast. It's the difference between a classic baseball pitching duel and a slugfest. And surprisingly it's the film critic elite - those making the unspoken claim they would rather the "pitching duel" - who are up in arms that this intriguing motion picture isn't Independence Day (1996) or even King Kong Vs. Godzilla (1963) - who are bashing it the way the new Predator -Ian White (replacing the late Kevin Peter Hall in the role) slaps around the "Alien" Tom Woodruff, Jr.. That these two actors won't find the kind of noteriety that Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff enjoyed after Dracula (1931) and Frankenstein (1931)
is a given - thespian skill is not challenged by the athletics necessary to play these roles - and that's something Anderson realizes from the outset. As The Thing (Thing, The (1951)) by virtue of his mostly unseen presence created terror in the Arctic (and Sci-Fi cache for future Gunsmoker James Arness), the screenwriter/director takes this all the way to the Antarctica. "The Thing From Another World" was at a research station, while Alien fights Predator far below an abandoned 1904 Whaling Station. Antartica is far more remote to movie goers than the Arctic - and putting the pyramid below the ice is a clever setting. The rapidity with which the cast is dispensed also makes it clear that this is all about mood and anticipation, not character development, though the winner here is the rugged Italian actor Raoul Bova who finds himself way Under the Tuscan Sun - deep inside a cold vault at the bottom of planet Earth. Bova is a real find - and though this won't be his break-through film, it will definitely put him on the map. Anderson sets a great mood with a cast that ranges from the relatively unknown to possible future household names - specifically Sanaa Lathan ( following Bova) as someone who has upped her marquee value. Keep in mind that - arguably - the best known "name" here, Lance Henriksen , got his sea legs in James Cameron 's The Terminator in 1984 and Aliens in 1986 (as did Bill Paxton , not in this flick). Henriksen also showed up as "Bishop II" in 1992's Alien ³ - so there's some kind of thread for the fans to latch onto.

There are holes in the plot. Megalomaniac Charles Weyland (Henriksen) is hell bent on preserving his legacy - yet there are no cameras sending his "find" up to the surface - even if privately documenting the discovery of a monstrous pyramid on company computers and video. The icebreaker that helped deliver the crew could have been better in touch with all involved and would have added to the drama - and possibly sent reinforcements down. With Lathan's character, Lex Kline, warning that this group of explorers are not ready for such a monumental task, one would think Weyland would have hired two hundred extra hands to sit on the icebreaker just in case. The employees need not be told the nature of the exploration - but none of these logical elements are in the film - the focus is on the breeding of the Alien, the Predator looking for prey, and
humans trapped like rats in a maze 20,000 leagues under the sea, or something like that.

But despite the flaws, this is not what critic Jack Matthews of the NY Daily News calls "...if not the worst, sci-fi movie since Battlefield Earth (2000)". And while it isn't Terminator 2: Judgment Day - another flick where two pretty equal forces duke it out - there is a wonderful The Thing (from Another World) meets The Mummy
vibe going on, and it is that level of seriousness (harpooned when Lathan gets buddy buddy with the Alien)
which makes this ride much more satisfying than Brendan Fraser's Mummy, The (1999) Mummy series.

From 1942's Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman up to 2003's Freddy Vs. Jason sixty-one years later, with the Vampire vs. Werewolf flick - also from 2003 - Underworld - thrown in for good measure - pairing up evil with evil is potential good box office. The good news about AVP - Alien vs. Predator - is that Screenwriter/Director Paul W.S. Anderson opts to create a Mummy film with the 20th Century Fox franchises "Alien" and "Predator" as side dishes. In doing so he's developed a marvelous suspense film at the risk of alienating (no pun intended) fans of the Arnold Schwarzeneggar and Sigourney Weaver originals.

Chris Reeves emerged from Superman while Jack Nicholson overtook the role of the Joker in Batman.
Having actors who are not going to upstage the plot is something Hollywood needs more of. Anderson has
done a commendable job with the evolution of both series. The chatter outside the theater after the flick
seems to indicate that those bashing the flick simply didn't get it. I was quite happy to see this great and suspensful movie coming in at #1 for the weekend of August 13-15 - there is less slashing and more drama, something needed these days.

Check out the box office:
http://movies.yahoo.com/boxoffice/latest/rank.html

Recommended movie sites:
http://www.fast-rewind.com/

Jack Matthew's 1 Star Review August 14, 2004 P. 17 NY Daily News jmath30031@aol.com
http://www.nydailynews.com/08-14-2004/entertainment/story/221804p-190617c.html

Rebecca Louie's 8/15/04 article Slithering To A Theater Near You
http://www.nydailynews.com/08-15-2004/entertainment/movies/story/221968p-190758c.html

Collateral A Review by Joe Viglione (coming soon)

Thursday, August 05, 2004

Little Black Book meets Zatoichi! Film Reviews from the pen of Joe Viglione

LITTLE BLACK BOOK

is a cool little movie that gets a good grade A as a quirky and intriguing comedy disguised as a chick flick. There's lots of psychology poured into the character development, which gives all involved their own identity efficiently enough to let the movie go through its various moments of reinvention without getting confusing. Brittany Murphy - I was trying to figure out who Brittany Murphy was sounding and acting like. God knows the always wonderful Kathy Bates keeps flashing a Bette Midler-style smile throughout her role as "Kippie Kann" - sort of reprising her part as Helen Kushnick from 1996's The Late Shift [TV] only this time Helen is in front of the camera!

Well, Murphy goes up to a poster of the Mike Nichols 1988 flick Working Girl and voila, it hits me - she's the reincarnation of Melanie Griffith. And she's not alone, at first Bates seems like she's just making a cameo, sort of like Sigourney Weaver as the audience therapist Debra Moorhouse in 1995s JEFFREY - and then you hear Carly Simon all over the soundtrack, just like in Working Girl --- only it is lots of Carly Simon, everywhere, everpresent. And the theme of the flick, as Working Girl had Sigourney Weaver exploiting her employees...well, if Science Fiction films can absorb camera work, costumes, plot and special effects of other Sci Fi flicks, why not chick movies too? But don't let the shallow idea of a guy with a slew of ex-girlfriends put you off - you have known women who peek into private places they shouldn't, so Stacy Holt's (Murphy's) lack of respect for other people's privacy sends a shiver to anyone who has ever been invaded by prying eyes and ears. Stevie Wonder's "All Is Fair In Love" would've been a great tune to put into this mess, and could have saved Stacy Holt's soul. After all, it was self-preservation - and her co-dependence on Holly Hunter, who thinks she's back in the days of BROADCAST NEWS. There's some real soul in this movie, and some very clever lines. Ron Livingston as Derek seems to be just a conversation piece, though one can't underestimate director Nick Hurran's ingenuity.

We were supposed to see Intimate Strangers (The U.S. title of Confidences Trop Intimes ) at Loew's Copley Place, but the theater was allegedly packed? It cost 6.00 to park for 7 minutes! Ridiculous - so we zipped over the the Copley to see Little Black Book instead.

As for Zatoichi (The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi [2004] , U.S. title ) - directed by and starring Beat Takeshi Kitano, well, it has a bit too much violence and too little plot. The Harvard Square theater was packed and there were security guards making sure that no on in the audience was taping --- you gotta be kidding me -
is this "Zatoichi" series THAT collectible??? The close-to-full house was appreciative of the movie, but
the humor doesn't translate well to the chic Harvard Square that I once knew - one from three decades ago when David Crosby dubbed it "the hippest place" in the world. Nice to see another culture's decadence being screened in this part of the world, but at the end of the day "Little Black Book" and "Alien Vs. Predator" (see above) have more intrigue. We can blame the dubbing, but the dubbing wasn't at fault. It's better than Blair Witch Project...

Sunday, August 01, 2004

TERROR THREAT ELEVATED!!!!!!!

Bill Maher was hilarious on August 13, 2004 with his "Terror Alert Weather Report" - we know the Terrorists want to return to America and get more attention for themselves, and the alleged "President" uses that fear to - not make the people feel safe - to make the citizens of this country fearful so that he can dictate.

THIS HOUSE IS CLEAN vs MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
Zelda Rubinstein from AllMovie.com: Her best-remembered screen role was Tangina, the disastrously self-assured exorcist in the first twoPoltergeist films. Zelda's declaration that "This house is clean" has to be the most famous speaking-too-soon miscalculations in movie history"
Doesn't Zelda's "This house is clean" line remind you of Bush saying "Mission Accomplished" - ok, ok, Bush didn't say it, it was more like the "Read My Lips" promise of his dad, we read George W's lips andbehind him was a ludicrous banner "Mission Accomplished."
What a charade.

Read my letter to the Boston Phoenix, August 13, 2004
http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/letters/letters.asp

Saturday, July 31, 2004

Great Links on the web!

Linking is fun!

Check this out:
http://blogcritics.org/

http://www.briansdriveintheater.com/

Al Aronowitz's BLACKLISTED JOURNAL
http://literaryocean.blogspot.com/archives/2002_09_01_literaryocean_archive.html

Film Critic Joe Viglione writes reviews forAl Aronowitz's BLACKLISTED JOURNAL http://www.bigmagic.com/pages/blackj/1jvig.html

Vig's movie reviews:
http://www.bigmagic.com/pages/blackj/column76o.html

Mark Snyder's http://www.pmpnetwork.com/

"Joe Viglione Movie Reviews" on Mark Snyder's page -
AI, X2, Terminator3: Rise of the Machines, The Mummy Returns, Star Trek Nemesis, Daredevil
www.pmpnetwork.com/ReviewsData/movies.htm

Also record reviews of Janis Joplin & The Cars
http://www.pmpnetwork.com/www.pmpnetwork.com/ReviewsData/Music.htm

Reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/author-2690/
Billy Zane Museum CQ Review
http://www.billyzanemuseum.com/Craft/Movies/CQ/CQreviews.html
Killer Movies - The Matrix Review by Joe Viglione
http://www.killermovies.com/reviews/the-matrix-review-9w7.html
A CIVIL ACTION Movie Review
http://www.us.imdb.com/Reviews/164/16416

If you want to see Joe Viglione's SOUNDTRACK reviews for AMG go here:
http://community-2.webtv.net/TheMadFaxer/rockjournalistjoe/

This blog is presented by http://www.joeviglione.com - a division of http://www.varulven.com

Link to compilation reviews:http://community.webtv.net/TheMadFaxer/compilationreviews
Here are 37 of his Soundtrack album reviews for the All Music Guide:

HERMAN'S HERMITS SOUNDTRACK TO THE FILM
"HOLD ON
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:ls9ks36ba3dg~T1

THE STRAWBERRY STATEMENT http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS70308132334&sql=Aek4gtq2zbu4o

RIOT ON SUNSET STRIP http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS70308140137&sql=At9c8b5m4tsqf

PSYCH-OUT Seeds, Strawberry Alarm Clock http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS70308140137&sql=A1r6qoaeayijv

MEDICINE BALL CARAVAN w/ Alice Cooper http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS70308140137&sql=A75j20r2ar48p

THE SAVAGE SEVEN with Cream http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS70308140137&sql=Abxr9keft7q7m

CANDY with The Byrds, Steppenwolf http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS70308140137&sql=Arh9hs38ba3dg

ZACHARIAH (1971) Doug Kershaw http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS70308140137&sql=Akb63tr2rklkx

ISN'T SHE GREAT Soundtrack to a Bette Midler film without Bette singing on it! http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS70308140137&sql=A1snsa9lgl23k

THE ROSE with Bette Midler http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS70308140137&sql=Acj9hs34ba3vg

The Deep John Barry Original Soundtrack http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:lmfnzff7eh5k~T1

Jackpot Soundtrack featuring Bobby Hebb's SUNNY http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:j6rx288i05oa~T1

THE WAR A Kevin Costner/Elijah Wood film with Bobby Hebb's "Sunny" http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS70308140137&sql=Axq5ibkh9kakq
please note that the tracking on AMG currently doesn't match this soundtrack to THE WAR - we're working to fix that!

ALL THIS AND WORLD WAR II (A great Beatles tribute album, actually) http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS70308140137&sql=A5qfozfo8eh3k

THE MAMAS & THE PAPAS AT MONTEREY http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS70308221101&sql=A1wjqoa8abijx

ENDLESS SUMMER/LAST OF THE SKI BUMSThe Sandals Complete Sandals 1964-1969: Wild as the Sea http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS70308140137&sql=A69nyxd7b4olg

MICHEL LEGRANDWINDMILLS OF YOUR MIND
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=ADFEAEE4781CDD4AAE7420ED9C2C45C7BD7CE71AFE5AFB86112F0456D3B82D6DA30B47D00BE49F81B0FA6AB679B0FD2EA45E43D0C0EA55F6D9632D5DF0&sql=10:5qk0ikpsbb39~T1

PETULA CLARK GOODBYE MR. CHIPS[Original Soundtrack] http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS80309221305&sql=Atne097ijkr0t

TV Soundtrack MOVING WITH NANCY (Sinatra) http://music.barnesandnoble.com/search/product.asp?userid=2VAA1FTL5I&ean=90771605726

SPRING BREAK III / Speedzone Soundtrack http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS70308252041&sql=Awj9ds38ya3zg

SPLASH "Spring Break" Grudge Records http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=MISS70309040846&sql=A9kq8g4sttv4z

DOGS IN SPACE http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=MISS70309040846&sql=Afmdayl18xpbb

Carnivore Soundtrack http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=MISS70306200948&sql=Agq63tr8tkl7x

David Bowe --- Ziggy Stardust Motion Picture http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS80309181333&sql=Ay1ua6j3h71e0

Elephant's Memory Songs From Midnight Cowboy http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS70309212305&sql=Awdu06j7h71r0

The Legend Of Billy Jack with Coven http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=MISS70308251732&sql=A0kmsa9wgu238

The Glitterhouse (featuring songs from the soundtrack to the film "Barbarella") http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS70310030128&sql=A8u65mpsk9f2o

Badfinger on The Magic Christian Soundtrack: Carry On Till Tomorrow (flip of Come & Get It) http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=MISS70310021410&sql=X4221602

Flash Fearless Vs. the Zorg Women, Pts. 5 & 6 With Alice Cooper
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=SEARCH&sql=Ayqfjzfhheh8k

Steelyard Blues Soundtrack produced by Nick Gravenites
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=ADFEAEE4781CDD4AAE7420EDBC0C65E79D5CC73AFE7ADBA6310F0476F3982D6DA30B47D00BE49F81B9E57DAB7BAFFF2AE85B0ED9C8EA5CFFD9764C40&sql=10:bkyvad4kt8wj~T1

Janis Joplin (Film Soundtrack)
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:qku36j5h71e0~T1

Janis Joplin at Woodstock
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:neom963ohep8~T1

Soundtrack Recordings from the Film Jimi Hendrix
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:4zrc28ol053a~T1

Experience: Original Soundtrack
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:7sp1z88aoyv5~T1

More Experience: Vol.2 of Original Soundtrack
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:zad3vwrva9yk~T1

Jimi Hendrix Live At Royal Albert Hall (The same music as on Experience & More Experience)http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:evae4j276wae~T1

Jimi Hendrix Live at the Isle Of Wight
http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=1:26184~C

Blue Wild Angel
http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=1:276129~C

BLUE WILD ANGEL: Jimi Hendrix Live At The Isle Of Wight Blue Wild Angel:
Jimi Hendrix Live at The Isle Of Wight is a 102 minute documentary by Academy Award winner Murray Lerner which features a crystal clear updated sound mix by engineer/record producer Eddie Kramer and other goodies separating this version from the 56 minute 1970 release. Videotaped documentary footage recorded three decades after the original film was shot adds insight. There are interviews with Kramer, bassist {$Billy Cox}, drummer Mitch Mitchell, Jim Marron - president of Electric Lady Studios, Hendrix tour manager Gerry Stickles, along with director Lerner himself and full length versions of the included songs from the legendary festival. As audio fragments of this concert became commercially available through the years including three tracks on Columbia Records The First Great Rock Festivals Of The Seventies and four other titles on Polydor's Jimi Hendrix / Isle Of Wight lp, different perceptions of one of Jimi's final concerts reached the public consciousness. At nearly double the 54 minute length of the Rhino Home Video} from 1970 entitled Jimi Hendrix: Live At The Isle of Wight, the result is simply breathtaking with Jimi Hendrix - the rock star performing in all his glory as his sun was about to set. Lerner calls this "a labor of love which took a long time to finish" and he credits the Experience Hendrix company with helping obtain the backing to complete the project. Filmed between approximately 2 AM and 4 AM on August 31, 1970, it is so dark that the 600,000 or so people in the audience hardly affect what you see on the screen. The director said the film is "deliberately claustrophobic" realizing that "Jimi was the key thing to photograph" stating that they stuck to Hendrix "very intensely". Billy Cox's brilliant bass work can be heard cleanly as both he and drummer Mitch Mitchell creat a platform on which genius unfolds. Jimi's versatility is in evidence, he clearly separated making a record from performing on stage. Purple Haze explodes in a way that would never have captured AM radio airplay, and is a stark contrast to the blues of "Red House" which, on film, has lots of interesting shots of Jimi's hand playing against the light while his facial expression is of a man lost in thought while in the throes of a wild solo. The guitarist here is a master technician, as is Murray Lerner who captures this modern day Beethoven with equal brilliance. The contrast of "Red House's" subtleties to Hendrix turning up his Marshall stacks and giving the people what they want -he psychedelic blasts of "Foxy Lady" - is more proof of how the singer/performer utilized all aspects of the stage - combining the volume and feedback with his clothing, hair, body movements, foot on the wah wah pedal, over amplification, all tools of this part of his trade. The build up with photography of the landscape before the main event and daytime glimpes of the crowd (along with Billy Cox's memories of how loud they were) combine to make this a respectful and precise look at a special moment in music history. Murray Lerner feels the 20 minute version of "Machine Gun" here "makes a big difference. It's much more powerful" (than the previous seven minute edit they had in release). The DVD has different camera angles for some of the songs included in the theatrical version, and will also include a bonus rare live performance of "Dolly Dagger". Joe Viglione for more Hendrix see

http://community.webtv.net/pubmac/JimiHendrix

The Manchurian Candidate 3:05 AM 7/31/04

leaving the cinema at 2:47 p.m. with the Blue Moon so big and close to the earth, the vacant parking lot was more eerie than usual - the filmmakers did their job - that shadowy paranoia
a good conspiracy flick generates. You are in the conspiracy film - eyes are everywhere watching you. It's a hot summer night, driving up to the red light which quickly turns green,
are the laws that keep us safe, the stop light - for instance - are they actually triggers that do something other than let us stop and go, stop and go ???

As a film this was much more mature than Conspiracy Theory(1997), the somewhat amusing Mel Gibson / Julia Roberts improbable romance. More like Erin Brokovich (2000) meets Fahrenheit 911. Political movies galore. But Liev Schreiber - in multiple films/tv specials heard more than seen as a voice-over expert - ( though he was in SCREAM, SCREAM 2 and SPHERE) is a handsome actor with little sex appeal here. His robotic performance is the embodiment of pulling the soul out of a human being - kind of like Mark Famiglietti going A.I. when T-X Kristanna Loken turns into him and gives slow, methodical answers to the Feds in TERMINATOR 3. (To digress, check out this cool Terminator 3 interview with Famiglietti

http://www.thearnoldfans.com/news/archives/2003/september/591.htm )

It's hard to call this wonderfully filmed epic "escapism" as the parallels with a dumbfounded George W. Bush in his starring role (Fahrenheit 911) just sitting there while planes were penetrating the World Trade Center just can't escape the consciousness of any logical person viewing this. Dean Stockwell gets the "Dick Cheney is Halliburton" award for his corporate shenanigans role and there are cool near-cameo appearances by Roger Corman , Robyn Hitchcock (who was directed by Jonathan Demme in STOREFRONT HITCHCOCK in 1997, so nice that he remembers), even a "Tom Chapin" - most likely the late Harry Chapin's brother. Two of the three producers are daughters of the original film's star, Frank Sinatra, those being Nancy Sinatra and Tina Sinatra. As stated, there are wonderful images created by the camera, an angle shot of the telephone when Vice Presidential nominee Raymond Shaw ( Liev Schreiber ) knows it is his ever-present stalker ....no, not Bennett Marco ( Denzel Washington ), but his Mommy Dearest, Meryl Streep. Streep comes off like a malicious doppelganger of Laura Linney's victim in Clint Eastwood's 1997 flick ABSOLUTE POWER. She has the same exact laugh as Linney - straight out of Thespian Cliches 101. And if Meryl over acts in some parts of the film, she's so much fun in the others we just let it slide. Washington is all business as the troubled soldier, though it is a stretch to think he could actually get that close to a Vice Presidential candidate, no matter what their Kuwait camaraderie. There are so many people
keeping an eye on Denzel that probability goes out the window. The once innovative but now
cliche concept of turning soldiers into killing machines seems a lot more likely than the holes in the plot. But the film moves at a very good pace and is more of a statement for the times than it is an evening's entertainment. Maybe it will turn into entertainment a decade from now, maybe it will pale next to Sinatra's original, and quite possibly it could be a companion piece to the Frankenheimer flick, conspiratorial bookends.

With rumors (oh, so sorry, "theories") of Halliburton harvesting organs from soldiers and Iraqis to sell to countries with socialized medicine (each organ worth 10K or thereabouts), a dead soldier is worth more than the oil. This movie makes you think that maybe Halliburton itself is blowing up the pipeline, beheading soldiers and civilians, putting Bush into office in order to wreak havoc and pull in the greenbacks. It's a lot more probable than The Manchurian Candidate script.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Boy am I pissed I didn't do the John Frankenheimer interview when I had the opportunity during the promotion of 2000s "Reindeer Games". This new film is a nice tip of the cap to his memory. It gets an A-.

===================================================================
When rambling on (or doing research) for these B-Logs sometimes interesting urls are discovered - like this one: http://www.utoronto.ca/religion/synopsis/syn-ini.htm

If you don't want to read it, don't fret. I want it - it's there for ME! But I like to share!!

Friday, July 30, 2004

I Robot

A.I. Robot

Director Alex Proyas may have unsuccessfully scooped The Wachowski Brothers with his Dark City from 1998, but he takes many elements from their 1999 classic that borrowed from him - The Matrix - and zaps them into I ROBOT, a film which - like a flicker ring - can turn into Spiderman at a glance (Robots en masse climbing up the skyscraper's side ), The Wild Wild West (enough with Will Smith already, like Men In Black II wasn't overkill - not to mention Independence Day), A.I., with bits of Barry Levinson's "Disclosure" and a little of the police intrigue of 1999s "The Thirteenth Floor". It is not a total wash-out. There is truly one of the all-time great haunted houses scenes in this Godzilla of artificial intelligence films. I say Godzilla because it is a bit cumbersome - the icy sets and...Will Smith again. Though his acting isn't bad, his presence throws things off. We're supposed to get to know so many people - Will Smith's grandma, Adrian Ricard, Star Trek Next Generation refugee James Cromwell as Dr. Alfred Lansing in one of the most peristence-of-vision cameo appearances in history. Too bad Star Trek didn't get the original Zefram Cochrane for 1996's FIRST CONTACT - Glenn Corbett- but he died in 1993 and
once again a character actor making too many appearances, Cromwell, is used by the movie companies to substitute for character development. How many characters can audiences absorb every Friday night? Maybe that's why Fahrenheit 911 did so well. We know all the hateful people involved and love it when Michael Moore gets in his ice cream truck and ridicules them.
Of course my biggest complaint with Moore is not using Alvin Lee's "I'd Love To Change The World" in the film like he did in the trailer, and maybe he should've had Jonathan Richman's "Ice Cream Man" play while reading the Patriot Act. Maybe I ROBOT should have starred
George W. Bush as a short-circuited brain in a silver suit that goes amok and destroys everything in his sight - a bull in a china shop. Now Will Smith can get on his horse from The Wild Wild West and have a showdown with Bush. If Michael Moore had co-directed I Robot
with Proyas it would have been a film for the ages rather than something to do on a Friday night the week after Spiderman 2 tore up the record books.

Joe Vig's First Impressions, 12:23 AM July 31, 2004, a week after I saw the flick!