Movies

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Rye Coalition's Hard Luck Story Comes To DVD

Maybe ten years ago, I had a good friend (can’t remember her name) who was dating one of the members of Rye Coalition and invited me to have lunch with him and we sat around for a coupla hours where he old me he story of this quasi Led Zep metal punk bands rise and fall.

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Lionel Bart's "Oliver" Remembered

Lionel Bart wound up broke, having sold the rights to “Oliver!” and lost a fortune, dogged by alcoholism and closeted in a world that would jail you for being gay, he never had another hit. Anywhere. Just kept on financing his own disastrous musicals till he died. Maybe he didn’t have some more, but what he had lives on.

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Some Thoughts On Danny Garcia's "Looking For Johnny"

“Looking For Johnny” was everything it could possibly be, it respected the story as best it could where no one else seems to bother, an excellent memory of a great guitarist,a legendary musician, a towering New Yorker and an influence for every other rock band playing the 7pm set at Arlene’s grocery.

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"The Equalizer" reviewed

He is the child of Sidney Poiter and shares an unbrokable dignity… when the role demands. Consider this the anti-Flight, his role as The equalizer demands it on this follow up to Denzel’s Oscar winning “Training Day”, both directed by Anton Fuqua.

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"The Maze Runner" Reviewed

Yet another in a long line of movies trying to fill the “Twilight” void, kiddie sci-fi for YAs who deserve better. And it isnt bad, though remarkably unconvincing. The acting is good, and the storyline has its moments, but it boils down to teen exploitation with quite a few deaths and a deeply unsatisfying ending

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Bjork Live On Film

There is an interconnection between everything that is going on stage and while it is only as good or bad as the music on stage, it is a mirror image of the songs concerns. If the music didn’t work, the conceits wouldn’t matter. But the music is wonderful and therefore everything work

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"The Giver" Reviewed

Taylor Swift plays Rosemary who is only in the movie for like 300 seconds tops so who cares, though she has brunette hair and really, I saw Taylor on the increasingly dreary “The Tonight Show” the other day and will somebody please feed the damn girl. Cmon, Taylor, you are too cool to worry about how much you weigh.

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"Guardians Of The Galaxy" Reviewed

This is Marvel but it is more like Marvel when Spidey used to be a bemused, amused superhero, and the heavy weight Thor and Iron Man of latter years. And it is alright, though it isn’t anything compared to Star wars -not even the bad Star wars. Star wars had a Joseph Campbell type proto-myth stuff going on, there is nothing much underneath this story.

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Tate Taylor's "Get On Up" Reviewed

He could have sold it to HBO and given himself the scope and time to tell the story the way it deserves to be told, or it could tell just part of the story, the Boston gig the day after MLK’s assassination would have been a great story to tell. So there is no time to tell the story

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Woody Allen's "Magic In The Moonlight" Reviewed

In the mid-1920s, Colin Frith is Stanley Crawford, illusionist extraordinary who goes by the stage name, er, Wei Ling Soo, called to the South of France by a childhood friend and a fellow magician to help debunk clairvoyant Sophie Baker (Emma Stone) only to find he can’t debunk her, and all the years of cynicism and faith begin to be pass and it finds a magic in life again.

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"22 Jump Street" Reviewed

The comedy has a very funny ending credits with short coming attractions of supposed sequels they go to “cooking school, flight school, fireman school, as foreign exchange students and at dance school ” according to Mashable here. It is funny, the movie is pretty funny in a harmless sort of way

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"The Purge: Anarchy" Reviewed

the long nights journey into day is filled with terrifying images and lots of blood and gore and while its moral might be weak (something to do with economic inequality), it takes you through the night with singleminded power.

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Ron Howard To Direct Beatles Bio

I could see maybe a biopic integrating documentary footage sort of what happened the day after a hard day’s night, filmed in black and white, with the four somewhere between themselves on their hard day’s night self, slowly turning to full color… something like that. But another documentary. That’s exploitation of the Beatles name -enough is enough already.

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"Begin Again" Reviewed

Two scenes broke through my sneer. The couple sharing buds and listening to music while walking the streets of New York is very sweet, though the pay off is, again, non existent. And a scene ona rooftop where Ruffallo’s daughter adds her guitar is quite good, good enough for the song “Tell Me If You wanna Go Home” to emerge as a winner

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"Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes" Reviewed

Andy Serkis gives an Oscar winning performance in full Simian drag as Ceaser, he acts with his eyes and commands with his presence. Nobody else shines and Gary Oldham is seriously underused and Keri Russel is virtually useless. Jason Clarke doesn’t look like a hero and can’t act it

Jazz, Movies, Slideshow

Don Cheadle To Portray Miles Davis

Anything involving my friend Karen Sundell , the VP of Entertainment for PR Firm Rogers And Cowan tends to be pretty awesome and that will include the “the crowd funding campaign for the Miles Davis film, entitled “Miles Ahead.” rock nyc interview subject Henry Rollins is a long time supporter and filmed this come on for the masses.

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Transformers: Age of Extinction reviewed

Snappy action, sitcom comedy, an old timer action hero (Mark Wahlberg) and his hotter than July teenage daughter (Nicola Peltz) walk right out of “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” as a loser inventor and his daughter struggle with eviction and poverty (Hollywood style, of course) before Cade Yeager (Cade? Is that a name? Cade???) brings home not just any Transformer but Optimus Prime

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Clint Eastwood's "Jersey Boys" Reviewed

This is an Eastwood problem, “Bird” was a miserable movie and this movie is just terrible with Francine Valli, the unfortunately daughter. Why is there no breakthrough here, why is there no revelation? Valli is a drag who doesn’t learn his lesson. In one scene, Eastwood goes from the other three members of the band at a Christmas part-orgy and Valli with his family and Grandparents. Valli looks completely miserable. Was that the intention?

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"Haunter" Reviewed

The gothic sideshow of teenangerhood endless misunderstood no one knows me, lock me in my room, on a never ending Sunday is captured so well, you can feel the moments tick and tick and tick and tock, it is is all those groundhog day movies without the moral kick: it is making Lisa sick and bored and tired, it is really as bad as these things can possibly get.

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Doug Liman's "Edge Of Tomorrow" Reviewed

The problem is that the romance doesn’t work; it is somewhat unbelievable. I mean, I realize, it is all unbelievable but the suspended disbelief of the conceit goes without saying but the romance should find traction and it doesn’t really so you are stuck watching an unlikable story over and over again. Bang bang but no kiss kis

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Hank Williams Bio Pic Starring Loki On Its Way

According to Billboard: “Tom Hiddleston will play country western singer Hank Williams in Marc Abraham’s “I Saw the Light,” which will chronicle the performer’s rise to fame and fame’s ultimately tragic effects.” Based on the Colin Escott 2004 biography, which has already been turned into a four hour PBS special

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"Maleficent" Reviewed

Among the many differences between men and women, here is a biggie: men don’t care if women cast them as the villains in fairytales, we’ve seen enough Hallmark Movies to be a little immune to it -though I dread to think of the hullabaloo if they made Nala the villain of “The Lion King”.

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"X-Men: Days Of Future Passed" Reviewed

The personal story is a triangle, the young Dr. X (James McAlvoy) and the young Magneto (Michael Fassbender) fight for Raven/Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence). If X wins her over the Mutants are saved, if Magneto wins her over all is lost. Wolverine plays the gay best friend.

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"Oculus" Reviewed

So this is all going to go very wrong of course and it soon does, plants die, cameras are moved, inside the house they are terrified, so they go outside but do they. And that’s in the present. In the past their daddy is having an affair with a ghost and their mother is going round the twist and torture and mayhem are the order of the day.

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Elvis Presley Back On The Big Screen

So here comes news that Lisa Marie (46 years old -gasp!) is in negotiations to give the rights to some of Elvis songs which treat hi with respect. Stories about his faith in God -that sort of stuff. It sounds kind of scary right. I read there are like three movies in the works at the moment.

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Ooohing And Aaahing To "Easter Parade"

So, if i may suggest, the next rainy Sunday afternoon you get, pop on Easter Parade, ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ at the sheer talent before your very eyes and ears and have your spirits raised and your mojo returned, then go and have a good ol’ bop in the kitchen.

Movies, Slideshow

"Heaven Is For Real" Reviewed

The Christian Randall Wallace (he also made Secretariat) makes a case for a world of goodness and hope and I will buy in as far as I can. It isn’t my life, and it isn’t a life I would particularly want, but it has the charm of a daydream of life and life everlasting.

Movies, Slideshow

"The Amazing Spiderman Part 2" Reviewed

What they fail completely to capture is the subtext of Spidey: it’s the story of teenage solipsism. Nothing has ever really caught that though Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire came a lot closer than Marc Webb has done on his two attempts. Webb is a 20 something phenom (“500 Days Of Summer” anyone) he gets first job out of college not High School ennui.

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