movies Archives - Page 18 of 30 - Ramblin' with Roger

ARCANE MUSIC QUESTIONS

1. I was listening to the Coverville podcast this week. Brian played Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting by The Who from Two Rooms: Celebrating The Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin and noted that Elton John also covered the Who’s Pinball Wizard. So your mission, should you decide to accept, is to find other examples of besides these discovered by Fred Hembeck, my co-workers and me:

Beatles- You Really Got A Hold on Me
Smokey Robinson- And I Love Her

Elvis- Hey Jude (a pretty horrific version)
Paul McCartney- That’s Alright Mama, It’s Now or Never

Fats Domino – Lady Madonna
Paul McCartney – I’m in Love Again

Little Richard- I Saw Her Standing There
Beatles- Long Tall Sally, Hey Hey Hey Hey

Ray Charles – Yesterday, Eleanor Rigby
Beatles – Hallelelujah I Love Her So

Smokey Robinson & the Miracles – And I Love Her
Beatles-You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me

Simon & Garfunkel – The Times They Are A-Changin’ (from Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.)
Bob Dylan – The Boxer (from Self-Portrait)

Tim Hardin – Simple Song of Freedom
Bobby Darin – If I Were a Carpenter, Lady Came from Baltimore, Reason To Believe

Versions should be commercially available (CD, mp3).

2. Mark Evanier wrote about the missing title tune to the animated Disney classic 101 Dalmatians, which I really enjoyed.

And I can relate, somewhat. When I bought the Yellow Submarine single, the lyrics went:
As we live a life of ease (a life of ease)
Every one of us (every one of us)
Has all we need (has all we need).
But on the Revolver album version, there’s no “a life of ease” echo. Finally, on one of those four-song “singles” CDs that came out at the time of the Beatles Anthology series, a version of Yellow Sub, with the “a life of ease” echo! I wasn’t crazy.

Now all I need is some proof that the Simon & Garfunkel song Bridge over Troubled Water is in a different key (or at least a different playback speed) on the single than it was on the album.
So, my question: what aspect of music, film, TV or other entertainment do you remember differently than is commonly recalled?
ROG

MOVIE REVIEW: Elizabeth: the Golden Age

One night a couple weeks ago, I couldn’t sleep. So I got up and watched a DVD of the follow-up to Cate Blanchett’s Oscar-nominated role playing Queen Elizabeth I from nine seasons prior. I had really liked the earlier film, which I had seen in a place around here that serves food before the film. I was interested in the intrigue, and Blanchett was marvelous.

She’s still very good in this film, but the intrigue this time was so byzantine or so boring – I’m not sure which – that I didn’t much care. Geoffrey Rush’s Sir Francis Walsingham is skulking around on who knows what side of the issue.

I did rather enjoy Clive Owen as Sir Walter Raleigh and Abbie Cornish as Beth. In fact, it was when Raleigh first appears that I came out of my stupor.

If I remember correctly, the the number 1585 come up on the screen even before the title of the film. “I’ll bet that an event takes place three years hence will be in this movie,” I thought, and so it was, but it had a “I’ve seen it all before” quality.

I’m convinced that if you come into the movie with low expectations – the critics were generally unkind – then you might enjoy it for what it is, but it’s definitely a lesser epic.
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I’ve now managed to see all five Best Actress performances for 2007. Historically, this is not all that unusual, but lately, it’s extraordinary. And if I were voting, I would have picked Julie Christie for Away From Her. Marion Cotillard lost points because she was lip-synching, quite well, to Edith Piaf and to Piaf sound-alike Jil Aigrot. My second favorite performance actually was Ellen Page in Juno.

ROG

Movies Forgotten QUESTION

I got an e-mail from my eldest niece Rebecca this week: I just finished reading your blog from today and from this past week… I enjoy watching movies, too, like you do, and I was wondering if you have seen “Six Degrees of Separation” with Donald Sutherland, Stockard Channing, and a young Will Smith. If so, I was curious as to what you thought of it… I just watched it last night and to me, it took a while to get started, but then it became a bit more interesting. However, after the movie, I was left to think about the whole story, and I just don’t know really what to make of it and wanted to know what you thought about it, if you’ve even seen it. Among other things, most of the acting by the “children” in the movie seemed so forced, I wasn’t sure if that was meant to be that way or not…
She clarified later: About the “children”, I put the word in parentheses because even though they were young adults in college, they over-acted like they were spoiled 10 year olds. It was kinda weird…

Also, I had hoped to have a guess at one of your movie quotes, but no such luck… Not even a poor guess! Well, I did know the “Shawshank Redemption” one, but it was already figured out…

Well, Rebecca, I DID see this 1993 film, probably at the Spectrum Theatre in Albany (as opposed to on video, which, I believe, makes a difference in the viewing experience). I recall that I liked it, I was absorbed by the story. And while I remember the adults and young Will, I have no particular recollection of the acting abilities of the younger characters – which included Heather Graham and Anthony Michael Hall. I do recall at the time that I thought the whole thing was a bit stagy, and just a bit preachy.

That’s what happens when you see a lot of movies, I was reminded, when I was looking at Buffalo blogger Jaquandor’s list of his top 100 movies. There at #64 was Eating Raoul (1982) which I most certainly saw at the Spectrum’s predecessor, The 3rd Street Cinema in Troy. I probably even know who I saw it with. But the details of the movie, beyond the broad premise of whacking people with frying pans, has gone hazy. I recall laughing a LOT at the time, in part because I had a friend named Raoul, but also because I thought it was a real hoot, the juxtaposition of this uptight couple with their entrepreneurial ways. Seems that I should probably watch it again.

And it doesn’t have to be older films that can slip away. In preparing to watch the Oscars, I was trying to recall all the films of Tilda Swinton I had seen. There was that bizarro-worlds trip Orlando (1992) and Adaptation (2002) and Broken Flowers (2005). But what was that movie, you know, it had a lot of water in it? Oh, yeah, 2001’s The Deep End. I remember being engaged in the movie, but until I read the plot synopsis, the story line had all but abandoned me.

So here’s the question for you all: what movies have you seen in the past that you liked well enough at the time, but that are slipping from your particular memories?

Oh, if you look at last Saturday’s post, you’ll find the answers to the movie quotes quiz.

Thanks, Rebecca, for the posting idea.
ROG

This Is NOT Sadie Hawkins Day

Sadie Hawkins Day is in November. Somehow, the 20th century Dogpatch invention of Al Capp’s Li’l Abner has gotten blended with a much earlier tradition. It is, however, Superman’s birthday. (Which begs the question, “What do you get for someone who can change the course of mighty rivers?”
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From Len Wein’s blog: George Lucas in Love

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My favorite Amazon pitch of late:
Dear Amazon.com Customer,
We’ve noticed that customers who have purchased or rated Stanley Kubrick’s Clockwork Orange (1971 Film) have also purchased Semi-Pro. For this reason, you might like to know that Semi-Pro is now available. You can order yours for just $13.99 by following the link below.
Product Description
Will Ferrell stars in this outrageous comedy, set in 1976, as Jackie Moon, a one-hit wonder who used the profits from his chart-topping song “Love Me Sexy” to achieve his dream of owning a basketball team, which becomes the worst in the ABA league (NBA rival) and in danger of folding. If they want to survive, they have to do the seemingly impossible – win. Co-stars Woody Harrelson, Andre Benjamin (Outkast), and Will Arnett. The soundtrack features classic funk hits from the 70s from Sly & The Family Stone, Ohio Players, War, Curtis Mayfield, and more, as well as Will Ferrell performing his funkadelic version of “Love Me Sexy”.
1. Love Me Sexy – Jackie Moon (Will Ferrell)
2. Get The Funk Out Ma’ Face – (Brothers Johnson)
3. Lady Marmalade – (LaBelle)
4. The World Is A Ghetto – (War)
5. Tell Me Something Good – (Ronnie Laws)
6. Mr. Big Stuff – (Jean Knight)
7. Give Me Just A Little More Time – (Chairman Of The Board)
8. Why Can’t We Be Friends – (War)
9. Walking In Rhythm – (The Blackbyrds)
10. Dance To The Music – (Sly & the Family Stone)
11. Love Rollercoaster – (Ohio Players)
12. Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be) – (Sly & the Family Stone)
13. Move On Up – (Curtis Mayfield)
14. Shining Star – (Elijah Kelley)
So because I bought the Moog-driven soundtrack of a 1971 movie , I would also be interested in a 2008 movie set in the 1970s with a funk soundtrack?! (Truth is that would be if I didn’t already own tracks 3, 4, 6-8, 10, 11, 13 and possibly 9, plus other versions of 5, 12, and 14, I MIGHT be.)
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From Coverville: Hey Jude by the cars

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Assuming you have $125 to spend ($75 for students):

You are invited to Splat! A Graphic Novel Symposium
Saturday, March 15, 2008
We welcome new readers, writers, artists, publishers, agents, and long-standing comics fans alike to learn more about the fastest growing movement in publishing – and meet some of the best creators working in the medium today!
The SPLAT! Symposium will also supply prospective creators with a unique opportunity to learn what it takes to be a graphic novelist. There will be three different tracks of panels, seminars, and workshops, followed by the SPLAT! Reception with Scott McCloud.
The panels will be led by a number of key writers, editors and artists from the graphic novel world including: Jim Killen, buyer Barnes & Noble; David Saylor, Editor Scholastic; Raina Telgemeier, artist, The Baby-Sitters Club; Ted Rall, creator, Attitude: The New Subversive Political Cartoonists; CB Cebulski, writer/editor, Marvel Comics; Bob Mecoy, Founder, Bob Mecoy Literary Agency; R. Sikoryak, creator, The Seduction of Mike; Brian Wood, creator, Demo, DMZ and Local; Nick Bertozzi, creator, The Salon; and Charles Brownstein, executive director, Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.
Please visit www.nycip.org/graphicnovelsymposium to register for this unique event.
ROG

MOVIE REVIEW: Atonement

The end of the orgy of Washington’s Birthday weekend cinema was Atonement, seen, as usual, at the Spectrum Theatre in Albany. I’ve seen the previews. YOU’VE probably seen the previews. If you did, you pretty well know how the first third of the movie turns out, with Briony Tallis, aged 13 (Oscar nominated (?!) Saoirse Ronan) does something that keeps Robbie Turner (James McAvoy) away from Briony’s sister Cecilia (Keira Knightley). Robbie goes to war, Briony (now played by Romola Garai) becomes a nurse. And at the end, Briony (Vanessa Redgrave) tells the whole story, and everyone lives happily ever after. Well, sort of.

I can’t tell you why, but much of this storytelling, after the twee British opening, save for one typed word (recently in the news) that we get to see more than once, complete with dramatic music, was very much at arm’s length. There was enough storyline substance that one should really care about the losses that Cecelia and especially Robbie went through. And in spite of the horrors of war, which was sufficiently gritty and grimy – an audible audience gasp at the treatment of animals, interestingly – I was largely uninvolved.

Finally, my wife, who liked it more than I, hit on the reason: it’s stagy. She could imagine our local Equity theater company doing an abridged version of it in a couple years. Lots of the post-English manor stuff FELT as though it were on a soundstage. It lacked…warmth.

If you WERE involved in the film, you will find the ending either heartbreaking or a very big cheat, not a real atonement at all. Since I wasn’t, it didn’t matter so much. This does explain why people initially praised this film to the hilt, then upon sober reflection seemed to have decided that it’s not so hot. Also, this film featured a lot of cigarette smoking to no particular end, save to say, “it’s the 1930s and 1940s and lots of people smoked.” Tobacco may have been in the novel, but in the film, it felt like an affectation.

I did enjoy Brenda Blethyn in the small role as Robbie’s mother, Grace. On the whole, though, eh.

ROG