'Vision' reviewed

Barbara Sukowa as Hildegard von Bingen, with Heino Ferch, in the historical film Vision.

>>>>>It's been a while since I felt up to writing. I've been suffering with a sinus infection for seven weeks. Besides having a runny nose, it's played hell with my seasonal allergy, which should have been over by now, and it also triggered my dormant asthma. The first two meds didn't work so this week I'm on three meds that are kicking ass. I'm seeing an improvement every day so wish me luck. I want to enjoy the holidays while I'm off from work.
>>As far as the arts, I've seen two movies in the theater. Meanwhile I keep buying DVDs faster than I can watch them. I only get them if there's a good sale. I do trade in most of them when we go to Portsmouth. My rule is: It doesn't matter if the movie was good or bad, it's will I watch it again? If the answer is no, then it's adios. I've already started a bag for our next trip which will probably be in the spring since our winter weather is unpredictable.
>>If you go to Barnes & Noble, check out their Criterion section. These editions of classic and foreign films ( and recent films too) are for serious film buffs who want the 'scholarly' commentaries and supplements. B&N finished their half priced Criterion sale and I bought a lot of them since their regular prices are $30 - 80. To me they are worth every penny. I have a few still coming in the mail. Check out Criterion's website. I've made some comments there under John C.
http://www.criterion.com/

>>I saw the new Harry Potter which was good but more of the same and bigger in scope. The second half will be released in the spring. All these Potter movies blur together in my mind as I can't tell you which one was which.
>> An outstanding film was Vision, a German film about Hildegard Von Bingen, a twelve century German nun who was a mystic, a composer, an author, and an amazing person in general. Read about her life and watch the trailer here: http://www.zeitgeistfilms.com/vision/
>>This is another of those historical films that make you feel you're living alongside the characters. They lived in harsh times governed by their religious leaders as well as their secular ones. Headstrong and determined to follow her divine path, Hildegard learned to play by society's rules and bend a few in getting her way. My wife has read some of her works

including those on medicine and science, and we have CDs of her music.

>>Again don't be scared off by reading subtitles. We're waiting for the DVD as this film is worth revisiting. This is an important work about the struggles of following your faith and placing your fate in the hands of God. Barbara Sukowa, who's not well known in this country but has done memorable work in Europe, delivers an austere but powerful performance. Although the film may seem slow moving, this pacing is needed to savor every bit of decor, costumes, music, and debates among Hildegard's allies and opponents.

'The Concert' Reviewed

Alexei Guskov and Mélanie Laurent in The Concert, a comedy about an orchestra that reassembles for a performance. Watch the preview: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/the-concert/51102/main

Last Sunday (11/14) we drove up to Portsmouth NH for our last trip of the year. I've been suffering for almost a month with what I thought was a lingering head cold. My wife wasn't sure if I was fit for the trip but as she said, I would go to Portsmouth if I was on my deathbed. I'm on my second medication (the first antibiotic did nothing) for what appears to be a stubborn sinus infection. My nose kept running and I wasn't sure if I had the flu or a bad reaction from the recent flu shot. Since my wife & son didn't catch my malady, that ruled out having a cold or a contagious condition. So far the new medication seems to being working to dry me up. It's been a slowwww process but I'm improving.....
>>We did our usuals in Portsmouth and stayed downtown at our favorite inn. The off season greatly reduced rates is a plus. At my favorite store Bull Moose Music, I traded in three bags of CDs & DVDs to get $155 in store credit. I used most of it on new purchases and still have some left for the next trip which will probably be in April. It's hard to plan winter trips because of the weather.
>>Seeing a foreign film was the excuse for our trip.... as if we needed one. The Concert is about a Russian orchestra conductor who was banned from his job during the Brezhnev years for defending Jewish musicians and now works as a janitor in the same place, the Bolshoi Orchestra. When he intercepts a fax requesting.... damn I'm too tired and congested to write a plot summary so here's the one from Wikipedia: "A former world-famous conductor of the Bolshoï orchestra, known as "The Maëstro", Andreï Filipov had seen his career publicly broken by Brezhnev and now works cleaning the concert hall where he once directed. One day, he intercepts an official invitation from the prestigious Théâtre du Châtelet. Through a series of mad antics, he reunites his old orchestra, and flies to perform in Paris and complete the Tchaikovsky concerto interrupted 30 years earlier. For the concerto, he engages a young violin soloist with whom he has an unexpected connection."
>>Much of the humor evolves from the Russians speaking fractured French and enjoying themselves in Paris, perhaps too much as you would expect after living in their drab homeland and now tasting freedom. There's topical issues about the changing political scene and the new Russian millionaires who can buy everything, including one who thinks he's a good musician and buys a seat in the orchestra by financing their trip. The 'connection' between Andrei and the young violinist is revealed through his voiceover and flashbacks during their performance and it's not what you first think it is.
>>Besides you getting to hear the entire concerto played, the films ends on a happy note as it deserves. Even the Russian who banished Andrei has a change of heart and comes to everyone's aid to prevent a fiasco onstage. Besides the good performances from everyone who seem right due to proper casting, Melanie Laurent is appealing as the young violinist and I forgot she played the theater owner in Inglorious Basterds. Like that film, The Concert demonstrates the director's clever touch in mingling comedy, satire, and seriousness to the film's advantage and the audience's pleasure as everyone around us laughed in the right places and applauded at the end.

'RED' reviewed

From left, Bruce Willis, John Malkovich and Helen Mirren in RED. Watch the preview: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/red/10020540/main

It's been a while since I posted a new entry because I haven't seen any films in the theater since the previous posting. I've been watching a lot of DVDs that keep piling up due to good sales. I found a website that offers mostly old foreign films with low prices: http://germanwarfilms.com/index.htm The video & audio quality varies but at least I get to see classics and rare films that are sometimes not available anywhere. Like a 1935 German production of Joan of Arc. Check out my review, the second one, of Das Madchen Johanna on IMBd: http://www.imdb.com/
>>Also Barnes & Noble is currently having a half price Criterion sale so I've been stocking up on them. Maybe some day I'll post some reviews of worthwhile films.Next week we're off to Portsmouth NH for our last trip of the year and we'll see a French film which will be posted later.
>>I've been fighting a head cold for almost two weeks but I was well enough to catch last Sunday's matinee of RED. The previews promised an action comedy with good actors. Bruce Willis has grown in ability over the years. Although he made it big with the Die Hard franchise and other action films, he's not afraid to take small parts in small films that stretch his acting ability. I always knew he was going places since coming to attention in the TV series Moonlighting way back when and I plan to get the DVDs. He's a shrewd judge of picking parts in small films that get financed due to his box office clout.
>>RED is an acronym for 'Retired Extremely Dangerous.' Willis plays a retired CIA agent who becomes the target of a hit squad as well as others who were connected to a past event in South America discovered by an investigative reporter who was killed for her snooping. He enlists some former agents who help him crack the mystery.
>>And what a team of helpers. John Malkovich as a gun happy wacko.. a terminally ill Morgan Freeman who wants to go out in a blaze of glory... and the ladylike Helen Mirren who is another expert with weapons. Just watching her tote a gun is worth the price of admission. Their camaraderie after years of separation is one of the best parts of this film. Add scene stealer Brian Cox as a Russian agent who comes to their aid and you have quite a team of actors who never upstage each other. Everyone seems to understand the intent of the film as a nice combo of action and verbal & visual jokes.
>>Yeah Willis gets the crap kicked out of him in a fight with Karl Urban who played Dr. Spock in the recent Star Trek film. Damn I forgot that was him and he's good here too as their nemesis. Anyhow you know Willis always comes out the winner but this doesn't spoil your enjoyment. Throughout the story Willis uses persuasion as well as his deadly skills in assisting his friends and dispatching his enemies. He knows how to use one line zingers with good deadpan delivery.
>>If you enjoy Willis films and want to see him hold his own against some heavy hitters including Richard Dreyfuss and Ernest Borgnine who's 93 (!!), this one's for you. This sly comedy interrupted by plenty of gunfire & explosions is droll enough to keep the story moving along at a nice pace and the audience laughed in the right places. There's a few surprises and plot twists that add to the fun and I should mention two romances, one old & one new, but I'll let you find out who they are. If anything you learn from this film is, retirement isn't what you think. There's still a lot of life left in these 'old' folks.

'Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky' reviewed

Mads Mikkelsen and Anna Mouglalis play the lead characters in Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky directed by Jan Kounen. Watch the preview: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/coco-chanel-and-igor-stravinsky/1435845/main

A few weeks ago we enjoyed another overnighter in Portsmouth NH. Our excuse for the getaway was to see this French film. We wanted to stay again at The Hampton Inn but the extra discount we used in July was not available. My wife mentioned we should inquire about the Comfort Inn where we stayed years ago and is located near downtown. This hotel had a much cheaper rate and we were not disappointed in the accommodations that included a free breakfast buffet. I enjoyed using the heated pool and Jacuzzi before we retired for the evening. When we checked out, we were given a 20% discount coupon with no expiration date for our next stay.
>>>We shopped before the seeing the Sunday 4:00PM matinee. I traded in two bags of CDs & DVDs at my favorite downtown store for $95 which was quickly used on items from my wish list. Bull Moose Music offers the best bargains on new & used merchandise. Their prices for Criterion DVDs are unbeatable and I found two I wanted and I had a tough time not buying more. The rest of the trip followed the routine mentioned in other blog entries.
>>>As for the French film, we were not disappointed too. Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky is a good companion piece or more like a sequel to Coco Before Chanel, an earlier blog entry, but made with different actors who are just as good as those in the first film. Even the previous film's handsome production is matched or surpassed here. It's too bad Audrey Tatou didn't reprise her role but Anna Mouglalis, an actress/model, is very good playing a not too much older Coco here who is more self-confident with her growing success.
>>>The story begins with the recreation (as we would imagine) of the disastrous 1913 premiere of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. The composer is ably played by Mads Mikkelsen who most people know as the villain in Casino Royale and a soldier (unrecognizable) in Clash Of The Titans. Mikkelsen is another actor who seems to melt into his roles. Coco, still mourning the loss of her tycoon lover, is in the audience observing the rioting ticket holders clashing with the ballet's defenders. A few years later she meets Igor who is down on his luck. She is attracted to his genius and offers to be his patron by letting him with his family live on her estate. Before you know it (as if their constant eyeballing wasn't a giveaway), the romantic sparks fly....
>>>The details of their portrayed affair is speculation so some artistic license is permitted. Their love scenes are displayed on the graphic, artsy side with various camera angles & movements. Mrs. Stravinsky is aware of their coupling that her husband won't confirm or deny and wants him and their children to leave Coco's generosity or captivity, depending on how you look at it. Their affair ends when Igor makes a callous remark comparing their talents, too good to be repeated here and spoil it for you. The rest of the story shows their slow departing and later life. Some reviewers thought the film lost steam here but we disagree. There's always interesting visuals to keep you from being bored.
>>>During the story we see enough depiction of their creative processes. Showing a composer at work is usually lackluster but Igor dabbling at the piano searching for the correct notes surrounded by luxury is contrasted with Coco's pragmatic working methods. She's always in control and her body language speaks volumes. I said it before and I'll say it again: The French know how to make the best costume/period films so rich with details where you believe history is living & breathing before your eyes and never dull. And all the performances here are convincing and rewarding.

>>>The preview here shows what to expect in the story's lavish recreation of a bygone era and seeing the film on the big screen was worth a trip up north. Call this one Clash Of The Titans 2 starring two giants with egos & temperments to match, one from the world of fashion and the other of music.

'Eat Pray Love' reviewed...

Xavier Bardem wooing Julia Roberts. watch the preview: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/eat-pray-love/27799/main?icid=movsmartsearch

This movie is based on a best-selling memoir I haven't read and not any time soon. My wife read it and wanted to see the movie version so it's only fair we saw it together since I drag her to a lot of films she wasn't sure she would like. I could count on one hand the men in the audience during the Sunday matinee we saw it. Eat Pray Love is a cross between a chick flick and a travelogue but that could be an unfair capsule summary since I did enjoy it.
>>Looking back on it two weeks after we saw it has given me more time to evaluate it. It's a pleasant diversion about a woman (Julia Roberts) who's trying to 'find herself' after a divorce from her nice, handsome, but dull husband (Billy Crudup). Her new relationship with an aspiring younger actor (James Franco) also finds her unsatisfied so she decides to travel the world to find self-fulfillment. Along the way she meets people in three countries who want to help her.
>>The Italian scenes are the best ones, filled with local color and close ups of mouth watering plates of food that will make you hungry before you leave the theater. These warm scenes of local cuisine and camaraderie are contrasted with the starkness of India where she joins an ashram for spiritual enlightenment. Lots of praying & chanting this time. and the food's not as good. Here she meets a well-meaning but cranky American (Richard Jenkins) who badgers her to get over herself but he's no role model since he still carries a lot of emotional baggage that made him flee to India.
>>Julia's final journey ends in Bali where she meets a shaman (imagine a real life Yoda in attitude & size) and a woman healer who offer more advice and teach her to think about helping others than helping herself. She has the chance to find real love with Xavier Bardem playing a divorced Brazilian businessman. He's what every woman would want but poor Julia can't decide if finding real love instead of finding herself is the answer... as if you need to be a rocket scientist to decide... The only suspense, for a lack of a better word, in the film is will she make the right choice. You want to scream at the screen and say 'Enough of this! Get over yourself and marry him!'
>>This is a mildly amusing film with nice scenery and the humor is low keyed but hearing Julia talk about finding herself over & over and everyone giving her advice whether she wants it or not was a bit tiresome, and it made its length of 2 hours & 11 minutes seem longer. Her character is not a bad person, only too hard on herself . She does help the shaman and healer but she's almost one note to the point of boring as the other characters and native scenery become more interesting as the film plods along.
>>Eat Pray Love will induce a craving for Italian food but not for self-fulfillment. On a different note, our parish priest during last week's sermon thought it was almost blasphemous for Julia's character to move away from her Christian religion to try other ones in search of God. That's a topic for another discussion and probably more interesting than the film.

'Salt' reviewed

Angelina Jolie as agent Evelyn Salt. Watch the preview: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/salt/37107/main

Salt's previews promised a big budget, kickass action/spy thriller starring Angelina Jolie. I enjoy these kind of revved up movies where you can turn off your brain and enjoy following the twisting narrative that usually ends with a surprise you should not see coming. Here Jolie plays a CIA agent named Evelyn Salt who is accused by a top Russian defector of being a spy who will kill the Russian president while attending a funeral in NYC. When she flees after his interrogation by her to warn her husband their lives are in danger, she is assumed guilty and goes on the run.
>>And what a run it is! She's clever, agile, good with disguises, and inventive in making use of any object to create a weapon. The action scenes and split second escapes are as tense and well choreographed as those from a James Bond film. These stunts are physically impossible but this is what you expect in this kind of film and its makers never fail to deliver. The action never lets up except to provide info we need to follow the story line.
>>Only one co-worker (Liev Sheiber) believes Jolie is innocent and he cannot persuade the others but is forced along to join the hunt from Washington DC to NYC. Can he be trusted to save her? What really matters is Jolie innocent, or a Russian mole, or a patsy duped by a conspiracy that's not yet revealed? The answer is finally revealed through flashbacks and conversations about previous incidents we witnessed. The revelation of the villain (I'm not saying here that it's Jolie; go see the film to find out.) caught me off guard because there were enough ambiguous plot points to sidetrack me. You had to briefly think back to connect the dots to find the answers.
>>People seem to like or hate Jolie depending on their view of her personal life. If you like Jolie, you will be swept along with the story. She's the best female action star around and comes across as Lara Croft without the self-serving smirk and with James Bond's survival skills. You really need to suspend your sense of disbelief to accept her as capable of doing anything but hey, it's only a movie that's meant to entertain. Bond movies are unrealistic too but never fail to satisfy audiences.

>>After struggling last week through Inception, Salt was a welcome relief on a hot summer's day. It all makes sense at the end unlike Inception ... at least to me... once you briefly thought back to mercifully few flashbacks and coversations about recent incidents to connect the dots to provide answers. Director Phillip Noyce who helmed 1999's The Bone Collector featuring Jolie in one of her first starring roles in a big feature (second billing to Denzel Washington) knows how to keep the pace moving fast enough to pull you through the story's bumpy ride.

July Vacation in Portsmouth NH

Seeing Joan live was a treat.

Amanda Seyfried in Letters to Juliet. Watch the preview: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/letters-to-juliet/37890/main?icid=movsmartsearch

Vanessa Redgrave & Amanda Seyfried.

I was on a much needed two weeks of vacation during July. However it didn't start off well as I was called driving home on Friday/my last day of work and had to return for two emergencies that kept me there for over three hours. I worked one morning to cover for my backup who had an appointment he couldn't postpone. I was able to catch up on paperwork so I wouldn't have a ton waiting for me when I return. Meanwhile there was the usual phone calls about problems I fortunately could solve from home.
>>Last week we got away for a two night stay in Portsmouth. The weather was in the mid 80's and a bit on the humid/roasting side. It didn't stop us from doing our usual activities. I won't bore you with them since they're covered on older blog entries. DVD/CD/book shopping... lobster dinners.... sightseeing....
>>We stayed at a Hampton Inn next to the mall where there's a huge Barnes & Noble and it's a five minute drive to downtown where hotels are $200+ this time of year, even our favorite old Sise Inn. Because I paid ahead and used my AAA discount, we got a room with 2 beds and a free breakfast buffet and cocktails & snacks at 5:00PM. for $153 - taxes included. I prefer to stay downtown but we're watching our money. No free breakfasts at the big two and the inn has a continental one but no pool. The last time we stayed at the Hampton Inn was about 7 years ago with our son JR and his buddy/our neighbor Adam. It's a good place with a huge heated indoor pool. So we have to pay a few bucks for parking downtown and the inn has a shuttle van if we needed it.
>>Sunday night we saw Joan Armatrading in concert at The Music Hall downtown and a film the next night. Weather was in the high 80's so we wanted to go to the beach Monday afternoon. We went to the concert at 7:30PM at The Music Hall. A singer/songwriter named Jamie McLean opened for Joan. He was talented, pleasant, but unmemorable. This is not to knock him but he sounded like any other singer/songwriter strumming a guitar and we passed on buying his CDs he was hawking in the lobby. He played for over a half hour and announced that Joan would be coming out soon. By 8:40 still no Joan and I was tired/impatient/cranky/ while waiting. At 8:45 she came out with her band and stood motionless in front of the audience with a big grin that got larger with the mounting applause. It was worth the wait as she played for almost two hours including a two song encore and all was forgiven.
>>She charmed the audience with her banter between songs and playfully chided us for not waving during a song while she rocked the place with her three piece band (bass, keyboards, drums). She replayed part of the song for us to wave as she doesn't take no for an answer. Joan switched between four guitars demonstrating her skills. We were seated in the fifth center row of the balcony where we had a good view of the stage with no heads blocking our sight. She played most of her hits and several songs from her new/20th CD, This Charming Life, pictured above. She's been around for thirty years and will be sixty this year but you would never know it from her performance. She had us singing & clapping along and up on our feet with the up tempo numbers. You can see & hear the title track and some of her old songs on her website: http://www.joanarmatrading.com/ and more on You Tube. The video gives you a good idea of what she's like onstage. On the new CD she played all the instruments except for the drums. Here she was supported by fine musicians who were given chances to shine with solos.
>>The next afternoon we went to a nearby beach but my splashing around in the water was interrupted by a warning about a coming thunderstorm. So we left the beach and returned to our hotel to use the pool and Jacuzzi. At night we returned to The Music Hall to see a movie. On an earlier entry I mentioned how I became friendly with an employee who selects the films. He's booked some of my recommendations and a while ago I wrote to him asking what he will be showing the night after the concert since the schedule was empty at the time. He planned to show Letters to Juliet which we haven't seen.
>>The film can be described as a pleasant but predictable chick flick but I enjoyed its relaxing warmth and good natured humor. No heavy thinking demanded. Amanda Seyfried from Mama Mia plays Sophie an aspiring writer on a trip to Italy with her fiance. While he's too preoccupied with his business interests, she meets a group of women in Verona who pen answers to letters left for Shakespeare's Juliet asking for advice on matters of the heart. Sophie discovers an old letter from an Englishwoman named Claire who jilted her lover Lorenzo fifty years ago Sophie answers Claire's letter and as you would expect, Claire comes to Italy seeking Lorenzo.
>>Vanessa Redgrave is wonderful as the widowed Claire. I swear she gets better with age. Here she's warm, wise, and funny in a role you don't don't usually see her perform as she allows Sophie to join her on her search. Christopher Egan plays her accompanying, priggish grandson who feels she's wasting her time and he's constantly at odds with Sophie, the dreamer & romantic. Halfway through the film you can guess the ending but the movie ends the ways you want it. Call it contrived... corny... sentimental... but what's wrong with that? The audience was pleased and so were we.
>>The Italian scenery is a treat and Franco Nero, who was Redgrave's lover during the making of 1971's Camelot and has been married to her for the last several years, plays Lorenzo. He's aged well too. Seyfried is sweet and funny. This is a romantic comedy that delivers what it promises. When it comes out on DVD, we'll show it to Mom, another Italian who at 92 is getting too wobbly to take to movies.