Delicacy [Blu-ray]

A French Charmer About Finding Love When You Least Expect It
The infectious Audrey Tautou takes center stage in this charming French confection about love in its various configurations. Ever since "Amelie," I've been enchanted with Tautou. She is so likable and natural with an intriguing ease on screen. It's almost impossible not to relate to her in some manner, and I think this appeal can sometimes overshadow her talent. And she is a true talent, she just makes it look simple. She goes through a strong character arc in "Delicacy" and is absolutely terrific. From contentment, to loss and withdrawal, to romantic rebirth--Tautou experiences much in this film filled with both melancholy and hope. Billed as a whimsical romantic comedy, I wouldn't discount this movie as merely frothy entertainment (although it surely is). There is a truth and poignancy at the heart of "Delicacy" that really resonates. This isn't pure fantasy. There are real life situations, genuine heart, and a surprising depth beneath the sweet exterior. And I, for one,...

Love souffle
"I could go on holiday in your hair," moons a love struck Swede named Markus (Francois Damiens) to his co-worker, a beautiful French widow named Nathalie. If that sounds like an inappropriate comment to make at the office (to your boss, no less), you're right. Then again, it's not every day that your boss (bearing a remarkable likeness to Audrey Tautou) calls you into her office, springs from her chair without warning, plants a lingering, passionate smooch, then goes back to her desk as if nothing just happened. It's an anomaly that a slovenly nebbish like Markus is going to require a few days to process.

Whether or not you believe that a beautiful young widow who bears a remarkable likeness to Audrey Tautou would even consider throwing herself at a slovenly nebbish who bears a remarkable likeness to a French Chris Elliot is probably a good litmus test for whether or not you will be willing to sit through a romantic dramedy called "Delicacy", directed by siblings David and...

A funny, sad, lovely film by Audrey Tautou.
This film has so many facets- it is not your average rom com or your average Audrey Tautou film. This movie is uplifting, sad, happy, witty, brilliant, awkward, and lovely. A few scenes will require a tissue box handy, such as when Tautou's character goes dancing at a club with her friend (I know it sounds odd). This movie brings you down to the level of a grief-stricken person and takes you along her journey to recovery, to laughter, and to love. Enjoy.

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World Of Z, The

Gotta love it
It's an intimate view inside the life of Z. The film is a first person portrayal of an intriguing man and takes you along for the ride. Definitely a documentary to watch.





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Broadway Limited

Cute, but nothing special
This little comedy churned out in 1941 takes place on the Pennsylvania Railroad's famous "Broadway Limited." The thin plot revolves around a Hollywood actess travelling with her "adopted" baby as a publicity stunt. The twist is that baby may or may not be kidnapped. The character performances of Patsy Kelly and Leonid Kinsky keep the whole thing bearable.

Train buffs will like the interior and exterior shots of the famed "Broadway Limited" and its Raymond Loewy-designed locomotives and passenger cars (and there are plenty).

The DVD recording, on the other hand, leaves plenty to be desired and the "RE" logo floating in the corner for the full length of the DVD is positively infuriating.

Buy it if you like the train, otherwise pass it by!

Old Timers Young
Zazu Pitts looks so fresh and young. Patsy Kelly also looks young. Dennis O'Keefe here looks like a young Dr. Kildare or Richard Chamberlain, and he plays a doctor in this movie, too. This is a feel-good movie that's meant to make you smile with fresh-faced actors and actresses. Victor McLaglen plays a very charming tough guy. This is a three-star story with four-star performances.

Train Lovers
Interesting story line, but this movie is perfect for fans of the PRR. Many interior shots of the Broadway Limited, as well as exterior views of the cars and engines.

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Ring Without Words

A most enjoyable Ring Without Words perfect for non-purists especially!
Lorin Maazel considered requests to create a synthesis of Wagner's Ring cycle as a continuous `Ring without Words' twice before finally agreeing to the request made by the recording company, Telarc, in 1987. The resultant 75 minute recording proved to be a big seller and in Maazel's opinion it helped to create a new audience for the operas.

In creating this continuous synthesis Maazel attempted to produce a reduced version which followed strict chronological order and which introduced all the main themes and motifs without adding a single note not written by Wagner. In this he reinforced Wieland Wagner's view (Wagner's Grandson) that the essence of the work lies in the orchestral score.

Weiland Wagner's view is worth considering in this context and can be quoted as stated to Maazel at a rehearsal of the Ring as `The orchestra, that's where it all is - the text behind the text, the universal subconscious that binds Wagner's personae one to another and to the...

Melodic Synopsis of the Ring Soars
Whenever a great work is summarized, or truncated, the serious reader or listener is skeptical. The Ring in its glorious 16 hour stretch is a feast for the converted, but often is too much for a beginner trying to grapple with a large and complex cultural monument. The Berlin Philharmonic under the direction of Lorin Maazel plays direct quotes from the Ring that are lifted from the orchestral score of the four operas in the order in which Wagner composed them. The result is a highly organic presentation of the major leitmotifs and important orchestral interludes of the Ring. As such it is an important achievement which will help in promoting The Ring and winning for it a new generation of admirers.

I appreciate the fact that Maazel in stitching the excerpts together did not alter anything that Wagner wrote, nor did he add any superfluous material.

The result is a compelling sonic introduction to the musical building blocks of The Ring. I would have added...

Ravishingly beautiful
Wagner's Ring "without words" is not a novel concept: Stokowski and some of his fellow-conductors have performed orchestral "syntheses" of Wagner operas, especially during the 1960s and later. There is nothing sacrilegious about orchestral excerpts from operas, though some critics have sneered at the so-called "bleeding chunks". Orchestral excerpts and syntheses will particularly please those who, for one reason or another, have trouble sitting through these endless operas - especially when they are celebrated on consecrated ground in Bayreuth. Maazel and the Berliner Philharmoniker (in huge complement) have recorded this performance in 2000 in the Berlin Philharmonie in excellent video and audio. It is a 78-minute tour de force, for the then 70-year old conductor as well as for the musicians who follow him on the beat and who often have to play grueling long fffs or harmonically challenging passages. In brief: they all work a small miracle, and the performance turns out to be...

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Eating Raoul (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]

"Tasty Comedy of Bad Manners" Gets a Mediocre DVD Treatment
The 1982 low-budget outré comedy EATING RAOUL from writer/director Paul Bartel, who also stars, is an outrageously funny satire that needles such diverse elements of American culture as the concept of The American Dream, high-society status symbols, overzealous capitalism, racial stereotyping, and sexually deviant subgroups.

Paul and Mary Bland (Bartel and Mary Woronov) are a conservative, happily married middle-class couple who share an interest in fine wine, good food, and sexual repression. They also share entrepreneurial dreams of opening their own restaurant for epicures. Unfortunately, the Blands are flat broke. Paul is an unemployed wine connoisseur, and Mary only makes a pittance working as a Nurse's Aide. To make matters worse, the building they want to purchase for their restaurant has also caught the eye of another buyer, so if Paul and Mary don't raise the $20,000 down quickly, they'll watch their hopes and dreams turn to dust.

Things actually take a turn for...

Great movie, horrible DVD
Talk about cult classics! Paul Bartel's darkly hilarious "Eating Raoul" was the first cult film I ever saw, way back in the early 1980s when the miracle that is cable television arrived at the house. I sat in openmouthed wonder as the movie unfolded, barely believing my eyes were seeing the twisted hijinks floating by onscreen. It's largely due to "Eating Raoul" that I became a Mary Woronov fan, and I also learned to appreciate as well as seek out any films made by Paul Bartel. He's an interesting guy, a man that looks like one of your balding uncles or an out of shape next-door neighbor, but he has a warped sense of humor that fits in well with 1970s low budget cinema. Audiences probably know Bartel, if they know him at all, for several films he made for Roger Corman in the 1970s: "Death Race 2000" and "Cannonball." These two films couldn't be more different in subject matter and tone than "Eating Raoul." The two Corman films deal with car races, crashes, and bloody violence. "Eating...

AVOID: Bad Transfer
This long awaited DVD is an incredible disappointment. The major problem that makes this unwatchable is that somehow this movie has been stretched horizontally to fit a widescreen TV. The result makes everything look distorted. I don't know what the original aspect ratio was but this presentation is an abomination. I tried running it on my computer software to manually adjust the picture dimensions. The film does appear to be wider than the standard screen size but not the ratio as presented on this DVD.

And to top it off the print appears to be something of the VHS quality (i.e. poor) with color and resolution deficiences. There appears to be a gash in the screen as if the video was shot from a movie screen with a tear in the top middle. The sound appears to have been mono that someone has doctored up by added fake stereo and reverb, then steering the dialog from side to side. Warning: Listening to this may cause sea sickness.

Sony should be sued for selling this junk. I...

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She Wants Me

Surprisingly GOOD
Nice story line. Fun kind of movie. Kept my attention the entire way through.
Surprisingly good. Would watch it again.

Julie
Delightful movie. Johnny Messner as the Doctor was convincing in his role. You never know how the movie is going to end-even though you know how these movies end-until it does.

Kristen Ruhlin is a name to watch
Kristen Ruhlin, the star of this movie opposite Josh Gadd, reminds me of Audrey Hepburn in her looks and talent. I can see her appearing in Vogue and becoming a major figure on the movie scene before too long. I had the pleasure of working with her when she was first starting out and found her a joy to work with; one of the nicest and most considerate people I have ever met. This is another quality she shares with the late Audrey Hepburn: thorough professionalism and an exceptional ability to work well with other people. Like Hepburn, she never wears her ego on her sleeve. In a profession notorious for bad behavior and artificial attitudes, she is a genuine talent who saves all the drama for her on screen performances.

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Action Words

Just can't get enough
I have been playing the Action Words DVD for my daughter Scarlett since she was only about 2 months old. She watches this everyday. I didn't realize just how much she was into these until one day when the theme song came on and she went flying across the house to see the TV and jump up and down in her walker. It is the cutest thing ever! She gets all into the DVD and even talks back. I love how at only 8 months these amazing videos stimulate her so much. I took a video of her running towards the TV in her walker. Wish I could show you how she just can't get enough of Monki See! Great products!!!

Cute DVD!
I really like this DVD. It is so cute! My kids love Howie and Skip, and of course the host Olivia. Olivia is charming, she encourages the kids watching to join them in whatever action they are doing. My daughter really likes Olivia, while my sons relate more to Howie and Skip. The theme song is great. It is very repetitive, and is easy for the little ones to sing. I think that this DVD was a great buy, and I look forward to more MonkiSee DVDs! [...]

My son loves MonkiSee
My son loves the MonkiSee DVDs. We have them all and they really helped with his color and shape recognition as well as learning to read the words of all the shapes and colors with the flashcards. We just got the Action Words DVD. After watching it just once, he was chanting the song in the car while we were driving.

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