Joe Kidd-A troubled but entertaining western.

 “Joe Kidd” started with a terrific Elmore Leonard script, great casting and a well known director on board; then why was it critically bashed and compromised when it appeared in theaters? Part of that was due to the pedigree of the project-John Sturges the director of “The Magnificent Seven”, “Bad Dayat Black Rock”  and “The Great Escape” was behind the camera, Clint Eastwood, Robert Duvall, John Saxon, Don Stroud and a host of strong character actors were in front and shooting was done on location at the Old Tucson studio where “Rio Bravo” had exteriors shot. 

The first problem was the script-no not Elmore’s script but the rewriting that occurred. The result was a diminished role for Saxon and character development in favor of Eastwood’s character. Eastwood wanted his character to be a stronger hero at the expense of Saxon’s. The director was also a problem. As great as Sturges could be as a film director, here he was a bit of a mess—evidently Sturges was drinking a lot in the evening after shooting which impacted his )nest direction due to massive hangovers. Eastwood and Sturges butted heads during the entire shoot with the result that  Sturges would sometimes be absent from shooting and the assistant director James Fargo who would go on to work with and direct Eastwood films such as “The Enforcer” and TV. Fargo worked  along with Eastwood rolling the cameras to complete the production that Eastwood’s Malpaso Company was produc(ng for Universal.

Nevertheless, the film looks gorgeous courtesy of the great Bruce Surtees (who also went on to work with Eastwood quite a bit) and the performances are exceptional if occasion)Bally the actors work with cardboard characters. It’s an entertaining film with some strong set pieces (including the conclusion that, as I recall, was Sturges suggestion). Removed from expectations and context of the time, it’s a good western with some terrific iconic moments.

The *movers all transfer looks extremely good. There’s some unsteadiness at the beginning during the Universal logo but that quickly clears up. The colors are strong, detail is good (though this along with the Kino reissue use the same master, a newer remaster at 4K dithered down for Blu would improve derails a little bit more). Nevertheless, the film looks in good shape with some nice restoration work done. If you are watching a streaming versi0n, it’s likely the same transfer. The audio sounds fine with dialog crisp and clear and the score by Lalo Schafrin sounding very nice.

This only includes the trailer as an extra so, if you are a special features fan, the Kino reissue from 2020 should be your choice as it has an image gallery, commentary track by director Alex Cox and new interview with Don Stroud. 

‘Joe Kidd’ is a fine but flawed western that suffers from onset drama, last minute rewriting and a director often MIA. 

Every school year gradually sneaks up on parents and students alike with the flurry of activity of getting books, classes and settling in to a slightly different world. When the school year sneaks up on me it brings me nothing but sorrow and heartbreak; sorrow at what might have been and heartbreak that a school district that was supposed to provide services to my mildly autistic son, cheated him of a possible future that would have been much brighter than working in a Federal Express warehouse and whiling away his free time wondering at what might have been.

My son M was diagnosed late in life with having autism. What has most amazed me on this perilous, uncomfortable journey has been how seeming experts aren't experts and how we had to figure out a diagnosis, present it, only to have it rejected and, then, accepted. Imagine a surprise birthday party where no one knows there will be a party and the only person who does is the birthday boy or girl. Gradually, people realize that it IS that person's birthday and only puts together the party as an after thought then, suddenly, expecting the person at the center of all this to act surprised when they knew it was coming all along.

M was diagnosed as a sophomore in high school. We had struggled with this for some time moving from "expert" to "expert" and turning to the school district teachers and staff asking for their help only to be told that M was just a quirky teenager. When he was correctly diagnosed there was a sigh of relief for us because teenage years are difficult enough and, if you throw in the autistic spectrum as part of the mix, it made a difficult situation at least understandable.

Only the people that came to the conclusion that M had autism didn't seem to understand the condition at all. The vice-principle Ms. R who interacted with our son supposedly had a background in special education and yet missed all the subtle clues, consistently miscommunicated and generally led M on a wild goose chase. When the school district failed to inform us on two separate occasions that our son had stated he was going to kill himself during sessions with a special education teacher and the vice-principle, we were shocked beyond belief. You see we found out about these threats weeks after they were made and they acted as if we knew things that we weren't privy to.

Children with autism fall under a wide spectrum of behaviors and one of these behaviors can be Asperger's something that was recognized by one school psychologist (who was promptly transferred to another school once she had developed a working relationship with our son undoing all the progress of a year's worth of work. I mention this because, you see, children with autism don't handle change particularly well and it can damage progress when change is introduced without regard to their particular condition).

M did very well the first six months but then, suddenly, a massive amount of change was thrown into his path and his progression ground to a halt and, in fact, we lost everything we had gained. First M developed a crush on a girl. That wouldn't be unusual except that M was exceedingly shy and those with Asperger's often also develop stalking behavior. That isn't all that unusual in many respects as it is an exaggeration of behavior many have when they develop a crush on someone. M approached me asking if giving someone money would be appropriate for a birthday and asked me to help him pick out a birthday card. Determining that he knew the person only vaguely, I picked a card that was appropriate and said money would be fine. When M developed the courage to give the girl his gift, he didn't expect anything in return but she did freak out since she didn't know him all that well. He started hanging out in the same area as her and she approached the vice principle expressing her concern over M. He didn't do anything unusual nor did except want to be near where she wanted to be.

The vice principle took M aside and explained (without our knowledge) that the girl was bothered by his behavior. She also promised to see if she could broker a meeting between the two so that M could at least get to know the girl but also so that she could express her concerns. She did so without ever asking the girl or her parents and, when she didn't deliver on this, it caused additional waves. M's behavior increasingly became erratic after this primarily because a school psychologist was assigned to observe M. As many will be aware, someone with this condition dislikes being followed around and observed as there is a heightened sense of paranoia. 

From there things tumbled out of control as the Fairfield Unified School district bumbled around like a blind folded man in a room full of sharp objects-the problem was every time they ran into a sharp object they injured M psychologically. Bounding him around to four different schools over the course of a year; consistently not living up to or failing to document things asked for in M’s IDP. 

The Fairfield Unified School district failed to report when M threatened to commit suicide multiple times (we found out about it weeks later and were never notified until it was mentioned in passing). The vice Principle Ms. R promised to do things for M related to school which she then failed to deliver on. 

The net result was a student demoralized, depressed and facing an abyss. The level of incompetence Of the school district was astonishing and matched only by the tone deafness of people who reportedly had training on how to help special needs children. 

The coda has good news but it took three long years to undo the damage of the school system. M went back and earned his high school degree. He rebuilt the self confidence shattered by an incompetent school system. He is on his way to self discovery but only after severe damage and torture at the hands of those who were there to help him. I am proud of M but I am horrified that it took a threatened lawsuit to accomplish much of what was necessary to rebuilt this damaged child. 

The Return of the classic TV series "Babylon 5"

The Return of "Babylon 5"

The 1990's was the dawn of CGI for TV and "Babylon 5" took advantage of the technology to extend its budget and do the large scale format science fiction that had only been hinted at by shows such as "Star Trek" and "Star Trek: The Next Generation" only hinted at. It also proved that there was room for more than one science fiction show on television that wasn't named "Star Trek".

Amazon Prime has brought back "Babylon 5" and, while it doesn't look as sharp as any contemporary show (or even "The X-Files" or "Star Trek: The Next Generation" both of which underwent extensive rescanning from the negative source where possible and, where necessary, new visual effects added), "Babylon 5" more than makes up for the lack of sharp images with great, large scale storytelling. The close ups certainly look pretty decent upscaled.

For fans the series looks much better than the old DVDs when upscaled to HD. Having said that, Warner Brothers really needs to do the extensive restoration of the series. While it would be expensive, the sales for streaming (and, to a lesser extent, home video sales on Blu-ray) and the value of the franchise would be increased. "Babylon 5" continues to have value just as "Star Trek" did for Paramount. Hopefully, the studio will realize the value and spent the necessary coin to update the visual effects, rescan the original negatives to bring the series up to date. Having said all of that, the show is still watchable if varying from a bit fuzzy to very fuzzy looking.

Yes creator/writer/producer J. Michael Straczynski's writing could be heavy handed and the dialog could be stilted at times but the type of epic storytelling hadn't really been attempted before--a five year story arc covering the establishment of the fifth space station designed as the first interstellar way station but also a place where diplomacy would reign. 

The late Michael O'Hare played Commander Jeffrey Sinclair during the first season. Sadly, O'Hare passed away in 2012. The rumor at the time was that O'Hare was removed at the behest of Warner Brothers who felt that he was too wooden in the role (in retrospect what you realize after watching a handful of episodes is that O'Hare was perfectly fine in the role after he loosened up a bit and the role was fleshed out). O'Hare wasn't removed and all the horrible rumors online about why he left were as far from the truth as possible--O'Hare suffered from schizophrenia that worsened during the shooting of the series. He approach Straczynski about the demons that were overtaking him and asked to be written out of the series. Straczynski counter offered that they could delay shooting until he got medication and was controlled. O'Hare, afraid the series would be cancelled and throw everyone out of work. O'Hare, who returned briefly during seasons two and three to conclude his story arc with the series, rarely worked n TV after leaving the series. It was a sad burden that Straczynski had to bear until O'Hare's death when he revealed the exact reason why the actor left the series.

Straczynski created a number of "trap doors" where he could introduce alternate characters should an actor leave or die during the run, it would be possible to replace those characters with others rather than recast the role (it should be noted that at least one minor role was recast but, with the heavy make up, it wasn't as noticeable). Bruce Boxleitner did a terrific job of replacing O'Hare as Captain John Sheridan and the change also allowed Straczynski to up the tension as the character was known as the "Star Killer" for wiping out a massive attack by the Minbari. 

Sadly, O'Hare, Richard Biggs, Jerry Doyle, Andreas Katsulas, Johnny Sekka (the doctor from the pilot episode) and Jeff Conaway from the cast are no longer with us. It would be a fitting tribute if the series could continue to live on with the series restored.

The series won two Hugo Awards and certainly deserves to be seen by a younger audience. Sure, the series has its flaws but those flaws are relatively minor compared to the epic storytelling and ambition of Straczynski, the directors, cast and crew displayed with this series. 

It's nice to see the series available again after a long spell out of the public eye (it has continued to be shown overseas just not in the U.S. since around 2003).

"Wrath of the Titans: A McDonald's Happy Meal with Sam Worthington as one of the toys

"Wrath of the Titans" reminds me of a McDonald's Happy Meal with Sam Worthington as the toy. Watching movies is kind of like dining--there are times you want a superb five star meal and there are other times you crave McDonald's (or insert your favorite fast food restaurant here). "Wrath of the Titans" is mindless, cheesy fun and, if accepted for that, you'll enjoy it. It's the perfect McDonald's meal for the mind. As far as the visual effects and set pieces in the film "Wrath" beats its predecessor although the cheesy fun factor is a bit less in evidence here as the film has a more serious vibe. In a way that works for "Wrath" giving the film its own identity.

SPOILERS:

It's been 10 years since Perseus (Sam Worthington)last saw his father Zeus (Liam Neeson)after killing the Kraken. He married Io (Gemma Arterton in the first film), they had a son, Io died and he has returned to the simple life of fishing. Zeus returns to ask for Perses' help; the Titans are escaping and Zeus needs the help of his son to fight them. Later, Hades (Ralph Fiennes) captures Zeus and sacrifices his brother's power to release their father Kronos the most powerful of the Titans.

END OF SPOILERS:

The Blu-ray looks spectacular--with a state-of-the-art, colorful and sharp transfer. The transfer highlights the fine CGI work and, really, this is a film about the visual effects not the acting, directing or writing.

Audio is also spectacular with a very active lossless presentation.

Director Jonathan Liebesman does a credible job of setting up the action and making the film look good. I'm not sure how the screenwriters got their jobs (Dan Mazeau didn't have any credits that I could find prior to this movie while David Johnson wrote a couple of episodes of "The Walking Dead", the horrible "Red Riding Hood" and "Orphan")for this particularly movie but they do construct a servicable script although the dialog can often be pretty over rip and stinky at times("Look at me now: in the bowels of Tartarus, saving the universe. Just follow the Navigator.")

If "Wrath" is the Happy Meal of cinema, then Sam Worthington is one of many toys that gives us plenty of distraction. Worthington demonstrates more confidence this time around (and has more hair as well). The rest of the cast vary from attractive visual distractions to amusing performances.

Luckily, most of the performances are pretty good especially Bill Nighy as Hephaestus, Rosamund Pike (replacing Alexa Davalos)as Queen Andromeda and Toby Kebbell as Agenor. As usual Neeson and Fiennes both do their best with the material their given. The best performance is given by Edgar Ramierez as Ares who provides a sympathetic portrayal as a villian. He shows up the veterans and the star in a nicely tuned performance that's more complex than what's truly in the script.

The special features include a dual "Maximum Movie Mode" where you can choose "The Path of the Gods" or "The Path of Men"--each is a unique glimpse behind-the-scenes into Greek mythology (in the case of the former)and behind-the-scenes footage (in the case of the latter). "Focus Points" allows you to see the behind-the-scenes footage if you would prefer not to watch the movie again in "Maximum Movie Mode" to see the extras.

We also get unfinished deleted scenes and, quite honestly, the film doesn't suffer for having them cut out.

Nobody will mistake "Wrath" as intellectual nor a great movie but it sure is fun.

Murder And Paranoia: The Art of Brian DePalma and "Blow Out"

The word derivative has a nasty connotation associated with it. It implies that a work isn’t original and therefore has less value and less to offer than what has come before. Since the Greeks (at least) storytelling has continued to use the same myths and the same basic plots for ALL entertainment. Everything else is just a variation of the original prototype. It’s the insight, style and creativity that one brings to familiar genres that will make a work or entertainment—or art for that matter—unique.

It begs the question though does an artist have ownership on a genre or style if they pioneered it? Alfred Hitchcock wasn’t the first and he wasn’t the only film director to tackle the suspense thriller. Hitchcock’s uniquely visual approach allowed him to come up with sometimes absurd plot twists that worked because the writing, direction and acting was so compelling and so convincing as to overcome the sense of artifice.

Anyone following in Hitch’s footsteps whether it be a talented veteran director (Stanley Donen who created the ultimate Hitchcock tribute with “Charade” even going so far as to coax Cary Grant out of retirement for the film and interesting Audrey Hepburn an actress that Hitch was dying to work with but could never quite find the proper vehicle) or a workman-like director less than a decade into his career (John Brahm who remade Hitchcock’s silent classic “The Lodger” as an equally compelling sound film in 1943).

With "Blow Out" DePalma managed to elicit one of John Travolta's finest performances of his career reaching beneath the surface performance that Travolta often presents to get a sense of genuine emotion. A skewed paranoid thriller that uses the classic film "Blow Up" as its touch point, "Blow Out" focuses on a sound engineer named Jack (Travolta) who believes he has accidently recorded the sound of a political assassination. Jack is determined to find out the truth but puts himself and Sally (Nancy Allen) a woman who survived the murder. This puts both of them in the path of a rogue assassin (John Lithgow).

The Criterion Blu-ray personally supervised by director DePalma is a huge improvement over the previous regular DVD edition. Fine detail is a huge improvement while clarity and contrast look terrific throughout. The film also went an extensive restoration and clean up which is most notable in the lack of scratches that were evident in the previous DVD presentation.

Audio sounds quite strong but keep in mind that this is presented in its original 2.0 NOT in a remixed or repurposed 5.1 mix. We get optional English subtitles. Dialogue and the marvelous music score by Pino Donaggio sound exceptionally crisp and clear.

Criterion rolls out some nice extras for this edition as well. We get DePalma's 1967 feature film "Murder a la Mode" which provided part of the inspiration for "Blow Out". Viewers should keep in mind that DePalma's film is experimental in technique at times and some of the visual choices, motifs, etc. that show up in "Blow Out" were first put on display in DePalma's earlier film.

We get an interview with Garrett Brown who created the Steadicam (and a demonstration for those who don't know how or what it is used for).

We also get an interview with DePalma conducted by director Noah Baumbach which is enlightening allowing DePalma to discuss the thought process behind shooting the film the way he did.

Nancy Allen appears in a new interview as well discussing her first impressions of Travolta (with whom she had worked on "Carrie"), her preparation for the role, etc.

Finally we get the original theatrical trailer (my how times have changed when it comes to theatrical trailers, (theatrical trailers should play like a mysterious seduction NOT quickie in the backseat of a car which is how most are presented today), production stills and, of course, a booklet with an essay by critic Michael Sragow as well as Pauline Kael's original interview with DePalma from the New Yorker.

From DePalma’s first film “Murder ala Mode” (1968) he made it clear that he had plans to move into the suspense thriller but planned on bringing the lessons of New Wave cinema and uniquely combining them with the European sensibility that he had acquired while in film school. DePalma like any young film director decided to tackle a number of styles (“The Wedding Party”, “Greetings”, “Hi, Mom!”, “Get To Know Your Rabbit”) but he kept returning to the suspense thriller and with “Sisters” we see everything that critics and audiences would come to love to hate about DePalma; it’s tortured, perverse (much more so even than Hitchcock) and it’s often as much about technique as it is about the story itself—the two have become intertwined like a grape vine wrapping itself around a near by apple tree. In many respects, “Sisters” is the daughter of “Psycho” and Hitchcock’s peak period as a film director when he had little studio or producer interference (in the form of David O. Selznick)and was able to tell the story the way he wanted to.

Does that make DePalma derivative? Perhaps it does but I prefer to look at it as an influence of one artist on another one who had his own unique take on similar material and ideas. DePalma’s “Blow Out” was inspired by seeing Michaelangelo Antonio’s “Blow Up” and combining elements of that idea, turning them into a more mainstream entertainment and using his techniques to make a suspense thriller.

Brian DePalma made no secret of his admiration for Hitchcock’s films. He along with Martin Scorsese clearly loved film and understood it in a unique way that a generation of filmmakers before did not; they understood playing to the audience and playing WITH the audience. They understood that film was more than mere entertainment that when the makers took that extra step it entered the world of art whether or not the audience recognized it or not. DePalma like a writer sprinkles the visual version of literary references throughout his films and often that is mistaken for being deriviative by those who get lost in these references stumbling around in them as they miss the larger meaning of DePalma's work.
(c) Thin Ice Publications

Stylish, creepy remake of Swedish film that has its own spooky vibe,

It's rare that a remake equals the original but whether or not you're more of a fan of the original movie "Let The Right One In" or the remake, both films offer a unique horror film about Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee from "The Road")who finds himself bullied, alienated from his peers and his own family as he is caught in the crossfire of divorce. He befriends a new girl named Abby (Chloe Grace Moretz in a marvelous performance)who is a vampire and while Owen suspects something is off with the girl he bonds with her immediately inspite of the hositility of her "father" (Richard Jenkins of "The Visitor" and "Six Feet Under" fame). There's not a huge deviation in the basic plot but the interpretation and portrayal of the characters brings a different element to the story.

Perfectly cast, "Let Me In" captures the odd vibe of the original film while adding its own textures. Director Matt Reeves in adapting the novel and original screenplay turns the story some what on its head by telling it in flashback form. Set during the certainty of the Reagan presidency in the 1980's, "Let Me In" also nicely captures the atmosphere of innocence and cynicism that existed pre-9/11.

"Let Me In" is a nice returnt to form of former horror stalwart Hammer Films.

"Let Me In" receives a marvelously creepy looking home video transfer. Where the image is soft it was an intentional choice and, for the most part, the images are crystal clear and sharp as a vampire's tooth.
There are also some really cool extras for fans who like those sort of things including a commentary by director Reeves who doesn't shy away from discussing the marvelous original film. Reeves discusses differences between the two films including scenes he included from the original novel that didn't appear in the original Swedish film[[ASIN:B001MYIXAW Let the Right One In [Blu-ray]]].

We get a number of very good featurettes including a making-of, visual effects and car crash sequence featurette that give us plenty of behind-the-scenes info. We also get a picture-in-picture "dissection" of the movie including footage exclusive to this feature as well as some recycled footage from other featurettes. We also get deleted scenes including the scene that played on the internet and was in some trailers of Abby being turned into a vampire. This last deleted scene is presented in HD but most are in SD.

The Swedish original is a marvelously creepy mixture of character study and horror film. Although the remake is less subtle in some ways than the original film, director Matt Reeves ("Cloverfield") expands on the characters in some unique and subtle ways missing from the original film as well. Recommended.

The Politics of War Examined in Stanley Kubrick's "Paths of Glory"

Politics may lead to war but when war becomes little more than a political ploy to protect those in charge the average soldier ends up as the victim sacrificed to ego. Stanley Kubrick's first masterpiece "Paths of Glory" focuses on a colonel (Kirk Douglas) who defends his men on the charges of cowardice when they fail at carrying out a mission that his superiors knew to be impossible. Douglas gives one of his finest performances in Kubrick's film and the top notch supporting cast includes Ralph Meeker, Adolphe Menjou, Richard Anderson, and George Macready.

Kubrick's film is a study in the hypocrisy and gap that exists between waging war and the politics of war, it's impact on our humanity and the often absurd lengths that those in charge will go to as a means of keeping the their world neat and tidy. It also sums up an entire generation of those who feel entitled using murder as nothing more than a means to bolster their ego and protect their station. It's the ultimate method to punish someone else for your mistake(s) so that we can trust those who lead even as they lead us into a dead end.

Based on the novel by Humphrey Cobb and written for the screen by Calder Willingham (the earliest drafts), Kubirck and Jim Thompson (who rewrote the script adding despite Willingham later claim about 50% new material to the script), Kubrick already demonstrates his expertise at setting up and executing complex sequences just as well as his smaller intimate moments of character conflict.

The Criterion edition of the film (this review is for the Blu-ray)is the ultimate edition. It has the correct aspect ratio. The transfer has been lovingly restored from the best elements available and detail, depth and blacks are remarkable throughout the presentation. This is a huge step up from the original DVD. "Paths of Glory" is beautifully rendered on Blu-ray. The mono audio sounds quite good with dialogue quite clear.

Be aware however that there is a jump cut in this restoration where a few frames are missing and UCLA/MGM which restored the film were unable to find adequate source for that footage. It lasts only a second at about 56:04.

As with all Criterion films this comes with a book featuring an essay on the making of the film by film critic/scholar James Naermore, a 1966 audio interview with Kubrick about the making of the film (a bit of trivia--Kubrick "suggested" a less bleak ending in hopes that he could keep the dark ending that is IN the film much as Hitchcock used to bluff the Hayes commission by putting things in his script and sometimes film that he KNEW he would never end up using in the final product), a 1979 interview with star Douglas and new interviews with producer Jan Harlan and James B. Harris as well as actress Christiane Kubrick. We also get a vintage French TV special on the inspiration for the film as well as the original theatrical trailer. The audio commentary by Gary Giddins is quite good providing insight into the filmmaking process as well as themes later elaborated in other Kubrick films.

As with all of Criterion latest Blu-ray releases (and their latest DVD releases as well), this is a top notch highly recommended version of the film. Yes, it is expensive but if you don't want to pay the full retail price wait for a two-for-one Criterion sale (as I did).

While Kubrick directed noteworthy films before "Paths of Glory" this film provided him with the opportunity to step up to bigger, more elaborate productions and demonstrated the themes that would preoccupy for the remainder of his career as a film director. Highly recommended.