review – Page 4 – Hello Curns

Kill Bill (Volume 2)

Rent Volumes 1 and 2, and unplug the phone. You won’t regret it.

Continuing her quest for revenge, Uma Thurman is back as the unnamed bride in Kill Bill (Volume II). If you’d read my take on the first one, then you would realise that I was destined to see this as quickly as Love Film would send it to me.

The bride has several members of Bill’s gang of assassins (Deadly Viper Assassination Squad) to remove, and she hits the ground running. This time, however, we learn a little more of the background to the trail of blood, and we get to meet Bill himself. There is, perhaps, more emotion to this film (particularly in Uma Thurman’s part) than the first, and the violence is, perhaps, less stylised and more realistic. I am truly amazed at how much I have enjoyed both the Kill Bill movies, and I will have to reassess my opinions of Tarantino’s work.

Rent Volumes 1 and 2 and unplug the phone. You won’t regret it.

More Producing

I suspect I may be a lone voice in expressing a little (and just a little) disappointment.

Following up on my previous review of The Producers, I’ve had a little more time to think about it, and earlier I posted this to Gay Boy Musicals Fans UK at Yahoo!

Having read the positive reader comments on the BBC’s story about The Producers, I suspect I may be a lone voice in expressing a little (and just a little) disappointment. I hadn’t read many reviews, but I did know about the reception it had received in the US and the praise heaped on Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick.
I haven’t seen the film, which, judging by the number of people sitting around me who had, means I was possibly one of only a small number of people in the audience who hadn’t. I wonder if that made a difference?
I saw it a week or so ago, and it was good but not as good as all the raving would imply. While Nathan Lane’s talent, comic timing and performance cannot be faulted, I did find weaknesses in the show. I thought some of the musical numbers in the middle were slow, and the Ulla character was not engaging at all – in fact, she was positively irritating. James Dreyfus was camp (which, I guess, is the intention) but in that 1970s OTT cringe-worthy way. Humour is, of course, personal and subjective, but I found it only amusing and not laugh-out-loud funny, as many of the reviews suggest.
Still, I would take issue with the review of Lee Evans’ performance, which says ‘he just about holds his own’. I would argue that he did far more than that. He too was excellent, believable & humorous, and while I’ve never been a big fan of his stage antics, he worked well in the role. In fact, for me, he worked so well I can’t imagine Broderick in the role.
I will, however, recommend the show because it stands out from much of the rest of the West End right now – it is good. It has some wonderful comedy and delightful musical moments. But those individual moments do not, in my opinion, add up to a great whole. I even bought the soundtrack in the hope that familiarity with the songs will make me warm to more of them.
Maybe it’s just me.

The Whispering Years

It’s not dull or bland in any way, but perhaps because there’s a little of the 60s hippie left in Bob Harris, you feel the measured approach is entirely appropriate.

You really do get to appreciate ‘Whispering’ Bob Harris’ love of music through his autobiography, ‘The Whispering Years’. You’ll read in the blurb that he’s been married three times, has had to restart his career from scratch several times, and almost lost his record collection to a fellow Radio 1 disc jockey. What you may not get from reviews is a feeling of the genuine passion he has for the music and how big a role some of the greatest musicians of the last thirty years have played in his life. You feel as uneasy as Bob appeared to be over the fame that The Old Grey Whistle Test brought him, and you will feel somewhat betrayed when Radio One removed him (I’d forgotten he was the voice launched round-the-clock Radio One in August 1990). Throughout his career he stuck to his passion – the music – and shunned the computer-generated radio that dominates the airwaves today. His interview technique was considered ‘less than penetrating’ in the past, but that gentle approach serves him well in book form. It’s not dull or bland in any way but, perhaps because there’s a little of the 60s hippy left in Bob Harris, you feel the measured approach is entirely appropriate. If you love music (and not just progressive rock) or enjoy his radio programmes, then The Whispering Years will be engaging, fascinating and inspiring.

Buy Bob Harris’ The Whispering Years

The Producers

The fact that it is one of the better shows on the West End right now possibly says more about the other shows.

I went to see a preview of the London version of The Producers today and was, like last night, a little taken by surprise. This time, however, it was with disappointment, not pleasure. I’ve been talking to PY and trying to explain my disappointment, but he doesn’t get it: he loved the show. I did not know the plot, nor had I seen the film, so I wasn’t let down by the story, but I had read that Nathan Lane had taken Broadway by storm.

You can’t fault Nathan Lane: he’s superb, and his comic timing is excellent. Lee Evans seems born for his role as the sidekick Leo Bloom, and some of the songs are great. Others, however, feel weak, and parts of the story just aren’t engaging. James Dreyfus camps it up in John Inman style, while Ulla, the Swedish blond bombshell, is so lost in the stereotype that any humour is lost.

Don’t get me wrong, it is a good show. I can’t imagine Richard Dreyfuss in it, and I imagine it will be hard to replace Nathan Lane in January. If you’re going to see it, I would suggest trying to get tickets now because, without Lane’s superb performance, I am not sure where this show will go. The fact that it is one of the better shows on the West End right now possibly says more about the other shows.

Sadly, The Producers disappointed.

UPDATE: Well, the reviews are out, and I may be a lone voice expressing disappointment. I wrote an updated review for the Yahoo Group: Gay Boy Musicals Fans UK (you can read it here if you’re not a member of the group).

A Funny Thing Happened On the Way To The Forum

You feel yourself pulled along by the way the cast at The National seems to be enjoying themselves.

I went to see A Funny Thing Happened On the Way To The Forum tonight and it took me a little by surprise. I wasn’t really sure what to expect but I was thoroughly entertained. From the opening, A Comedy Tonight, you feel yourself pulled along by the way the cast at The National seem to be enjoying themselves. It’s a high camp farce set in Roman times featuring double entendres and mistaken identity by the bucket load (you almost expect a vicar to appear from a cupboard) but it’s joyful and not at all cringe-worthy as many farces are. Sondheim’s music isn’t the best you will ever hear (in fact, much of it isn’t memorable) but during the performance it’s entertaining. Such a shame it is coming to the end of it’s run. I discovered a US version of the soundtrack featuring Nathan Lane which ties in nicely with tomorrow –more then.

Down With Love

Down With Love is my Saturday night in movie.

Supposedly, the Ewan McGregor and Renée Zellweger romantic comedy Down with Love is an attempt to recreate the New York City of 1963 (some say to recreate Doris Day/Rock Hudson’s ‘Pillow Talk‘). As I haven’t actually seen Pillow Talk, it’s hard to compare the two, but most reviewers suggest the Doris Day comedy is considerably more sophisticated.

Still, for a Saturday night on the sofa this wasn’t so bad. It had amusing moments. Zellweger is Barbara Novak, in town promoting her smash-hit book that carries the same title as the film, and they’ve tried to make her look the part of a 1960s New York girl – I am not sure if they were that successful. McGregor is Catcher Block, the cad-about-town investigative magazine journalist who has a string of lovely ladies after him. Inevitably, he is to interview her for a magazine article, and the chase is on. Both performances are confident but certainly not great. David Hyde Pierce, as Block’s publisher, seems to repeat his role as Frasier’s Niles, but that’s no bad thing, as he puts in a solid, amusing supporting performance.

There’s a great payoff (which I shan’t spoil), but suffice to say Zellweger’s long monologue is impressive and, apparently, took six takes to get right. It’s one of those films where you need to watch the credits, as there’s a musical scene (apparently shot at the request of the actors) over the end titles, which is well done.

Down With Love is amusing for the most part, but it’s kind of predictable in many places; it was a good Saturday night sofa film. See it and smile.

Lucky Man: A Memoir

An absorbing and very well-written book that proves that people in the public eye are just like the rest of us.

Lucky Manis not a typical Hollywood star autobiography. While it is peppered with references to the television shows and movies Michael J Fox has made it is – most definitely – not a name-dropping ‘look at me’ celebrity obsessed biography. Yes, it’s an insight – although not too revealing – into the inner sanctum of Hollywood stars, but it’s very much grounded in the real world. It deals with the highs and lows of a film career and the pleasures and pressures that brings. When reading the book you really do feel as if Michael J Fox has been able to take a step back and look upon his own career from outside. He’s able to analyse the fame, the money and identify both the good and the problematic that his career has brought him. However, from the beginning of the book, his upbringing and his rise to (and through) fame are placed in context by the Young Onset Parkinson’s Disease diagnosis. That diagnosis has allowed Fox to asses what’s important to him and write a book that shows him as a genuine, warm and open individual. There’s no sentimentality about the book, and he does detail how the disease effects him but, at no point, do you feel like an intruder into his private life. Despite the difficult nature of the Parkinson’s Disease descriptions, Lucky Man is an absorbing and very well-written book that proves that people in the public eye and just like the rest of us.

21 Dog Years: Doing Time At Amazon.Com

Daisey’s book is flagged as a comic tale; it takes a while for the comedy to warm up.

It’s quite easy to get sucked into Mike Daisey’s ‘21 Dog Years: Doing Time At Amazon.Com‘ as he moves from dilettante to corporate business development guy. On the journey, we learn he is one of the (mythological?) freaks that Amazon initially wanted to help launch and then staff its growing customer service division. We learn about the training, the call-time targets, the lack of windows, the Chicken Orzo Salad and Jeff’s obsessions.

Unlike Robert Spector’s ‘Amazon.Com: Get Big Fast‘, this is a tale from the inside, but how much is exaggerated for comic effect is unclear. For sure, life in an under-staffed call centre – where if you don’t work all hours you’re seen as letting the team down – is not the glamorous side of any business, and the world of fast-growing online booksellers can be no exception. The dreams that all would be multi-millionaires on the back of huge stock rises are also not unusual to any tale of this era. Perhaps the thought of sending the free books to customers on the database isn’t typical of the dot-com boom, but the frenzied ‘1-click Christmas’ period will be familiar to many in a start-up venture.

Daisy’s book is flagged as a comic tale, but it takes a while for the comedy to warm up. In fact, it’s only towards the end that I felt there were some laugh-out-loud moments, but don’t let that put you off. ’21 Dogs Years’ in well written and compelling. You really do want to know what Mike’s going to do at the end. Don’t look for an insight into business strategies of that time, but you will get a view of the craziness of life in the trenches of rapidly growing business.

A Mighty Wind

IMDB says, “Mockumentary captures the reunion of 1960s folk trio the Folksmen as they prepare for a show at The Town Hall to memorialise a recently deceased concert promoter.”

So the setup of the DVD we watched last night was a television reunion of a few old folk singers who had hits in the sixties. Christopher Guest’s A Mighty Wind isn’t as good asBest In Showor*This Is Spinal Tap,*but it’s a passable and amusing way to spend an evening. It seemed less realistic than other spoof-documentaries, and I found some of the deleted scenes on the DVD to be funnier than the movie itself. However, there are some good performances and an interesting soundtrack, and it does make you smile.

Worth taking a chance on.

Jesus Christ Superstar

Jesus Christ Superstar at The New Wimbledon Theatre with James Fox as Judas.

So I have to take it all back to TV pop stars. Last night I went to The New Wimbledon Theatre to see the touring production ofJesus Christ Superstar. PY bought tickets for my birthday. I had heard the soundtrack as a child but never seen the musical until I was in Norway a couple of years ago when I saw it in Norwegian – which of course made little sense to me but was an amazing staging in an outdoor setting. This one was, thankfully, in English. Fame Academy star James Fox was Judas, and he put in a superb performance. He was very impressive, with a much more powerful voice than I thought he had the last time I saw him perform his own material.

Glenn Carter was excellent as Jesus (although it seems to have been a role he has played many times), and the rest of the cast were also very good. The only thing I found a little odd was Herod’s Song, which was unnecessarily campy, but overall, it was an excellent night out and worth seeing. Last night was the first night, and it was sold out. I hope the rest of the run is like that, as it deserves it.

Madonna

I went to see Madonna at Earls Court.

Madonna, Earl’s Court, 2004

So I went to see Madonna at Earls Court.

That statement does not make me a huge Madonna fan – although I am partial to many of her hits and, unlike some of my friends, I think American Life is a great album (then again, I also like some of Blue’s material so who am I to judge musical tastes?) and she is most certainly a performer.

So, when commenting on a Madonna concert, what should you say? Earls Court is a huge venue. For those of you who haven’t been, you should be aware that it’s very stadium-like. We sat in the back left corner, so it was like she was at the opposite goalpost. And it’s in that context that you will understand why I didn’t think it was that good.

Madonna can put on a show. She is the undisputed queen of showmanship. And therein lies the problem. She performs a West End show of the variety you need to see. And she performs them at West End prices but to stadium-sized audiences. The audio is show-like, and you doubt that she’s singing live the whole time – although I suspect a lot of it is live. It’s just very well produced and sounds like her CDs and, for me, that isn’t the point of going to see live music: somehow you need to believe that they are performing live. Add to that the fact that you can’t see the spectacular, and you have a fun but ultimately disappointing evening.

Kill Bill (Volume 1)

I wasn’t expecting to like it, but I loved it.

When you finally start to understand the plot of Kill Bill (Volume I), you will see that Uma Thurman wakes from a coma and is determined to seek revenge on those (namely Bill and his crew) who put her there. For me, Quentin Tarantino usually means more violence than I am prepared to stomach, but inKill Bill (Volume I) it’s almost comic book (the blood spewing from the severed arms will – sadly – amuse me for quite a while). The acting is excellent (Uma is brilliant and Lucy Liu is, too). The staging of the fight sequences is unlike anything I have ever seen before and, although I am still trying to figure some of it out, I am pleased I rented it and not a little disappointed that I didn’t see it in the cinema.

I wasn’t expecting to like it, but I loved it.

Thoroughly Modern Millie

Amanda Holden was good but the rest of the show wasn’t great.

PY and I have a knack for seeing musicals in London’s theatreland just before they close. We’re just back from seeing Thoroughly Modern Millie at the Shaftesbury Theatre, which we decided to do very last minute.

Amanda Holden is the Kansas girl arriving in New York at the height of the Roaring Twenties and is something of a revelation. She was truly excellent and carried the show. It’s such a shame that it’s closing, and she has had some of the blame, but I didn’t think it was a killer show.

Although it’s set in the twenties, it was written much more recently, yet, sadly, it had a somewhat dated feel, which Anything Goes (which is older) didn’t have when we saw it a few months ago. I don’t think it’s helped by Anita Dobson’s character, Mrs Meers, a failed actress pretending to be an Oriental landlady. The character seems dated, and the impersonation of a Chinese woman is somewhat patronising. I had wanted to see Maureen Lipman in the role (she starred when the play first opened) and was described by one review as, Grotesque and comical, she’s verbally and physically sharp-witted” [source], but I think I am glad I didn’t. I don’t think it was Dobson, but the character who was uncomfortable.

Still, it’s such a shame so many of London’s plays and musicals are closing right now. I do enjoy a good night out at the theatre. This, sadly, was only mediocre.

The Day After Tomorrow

The message to all of Planet Earth is, of course, corrupted to work for the film and lost after the first third. But that doesn’t make any difference.

So I’ve just got back from a nice – but rushed – meal and a visit to Clapham Picture House to see Roland Emmerich’s The Day After Tomorrow, starring Dennis Quaid and Jake Gyllenhaal. It’s a vision of what will happen if we don’t all take up cycling, ditch the cars and stop throwing out refrigerators with the trash (or some such thing).

Actually, it’s a disaster movie with a message, and it certainly makes the grade as the first, although the message is somewhat lost along the way, and the plot is, like all movies in this genre, ridiculously enjoyable. Basically, it starts to rain and then gets very cold, and the only place where you seem to be able to survive is in New York, the public library (and that’s because you can burn the books). Gyllenhaal’s dad is, of course, the only person on the whole of the American continent who can save him, so he tries to. Marvellous, stupid and thoroughly entertaining.

Ian Holm puts in a notable performance from a remote Scottish weather station where, at the moment of disaster, they decide to toast England, Manchester United and Mankind (so not very convincingly Scottish – although they, of course, drink a decent malt to ward off the end).

It’s a mankind-in-peril, gripping disaster movie, and I found it immensely entertaining. It’s stunning when it’s building, and the effects are at their best (and who cares if the ice at the start looks computer-generated)? Sadly, it does fade a little towards the end – especially as any last elements of believability fly out the window – but as a couple of hours’ entertainment, you must go and see this film.

The message to all of Planet Earth is, of course, corrupted to work for the film and lost after the first third. But that doesn’t make any difference.

50 First Dates

A second good movie in two days!

Not sure what has happened, but weeks have passed since we went to the cinema, and now I have done two films two nights in a row.

50 First Dates had a preview last night (I think it opens today), and it was showing at the right time for us in Wimbledon, so we thought that we would give it a go. I expected an Adam Sandler gag-fest and, really, it wasn’t. I am not a fan of many of the movies Adam Sandler has been in, but this is heart-warming (and humorous) and was a big surprise.

Sandler’s character (Henry Roth) meets Drew Barrymore’s Lucy in a breakfast diner and tries to pull all his best lines on her. None of them really work, but he falls for her and so begins a touching story (if somewhat unbelievable) and a thoroughly entertaining evening out. You may, or may not, really be suspending your disbelief as the woman with no memory seems to fall for Roth, but I think you’ll get over that.

Surprisingly Good.