Music/Concert DVD Review: Rolling Stones: Let's Spend the Night Together (1981)

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Regardless of the fact that it was a brand new track when Harold and Maude filmmaker Hal Ashby and his Being There cinematographer Caleb Deschanel shot the Stones concert film Let's Spend the Night Together in 1981, Mick Jagger waits until roughly the middle of the set-list to unleash “Start Me Up.”

Instead, as a natural born entertainer who most likely is “on” every waking minute of his life, it's only fitting that Jagger kicked off the show with “Under My Thumb.”

Looking out into a massive crowd that's roughly the size of an ocean, Jagger sings at admirers rather than to them.

Thus, knowing full well that in stark contrast to Thumb's openly misogynistic lyrics wherein he likens an obedient girlfriend to “the sweetest pet in the world,”when Jagger opens with that tune he's changing the meaning completely, acknowledging that his captivated audience has become his largest, highest paying pet in the world.

And unfortunately, this is the biggest part of the problem as although we see a polished, highly energized Jagger lunge onstage, he's been started up to go through his chart-toppers completely on dispassionate autopilot.

Gyrating wildly in what has become his trademark “eroticism” that leaves nothing to the imagination, Jagger tries to force sex into some of his most earnest hits, forgetting the fact that not everything works well as a double entendre when you're applying the double meaning in laughable crotch-accentuating football pants.

In my mind, there's absolutely nothing sexier than the right rhythm and blues laced Rolling Stones song and especially the ones that allow death-defying guitarist Keith Richards the chance to wail and this could've only been heightened with a more bare-bones, intimate venue concert. Sadly and aside from the inclusion of a jukebox worth of Stones hits, there's nothing less sexy than the performance on this DVD.

Seeing Jagger's androgynous presentation as a cross between Olivia Newton John's jazzercise aerobics favorite “Let's Get Physical” and glam rock era David Bowie is the equivalent of “baby, I've got a headache.”

And given the stellar material of the Stones catalog, I think he'd be much more effective without the cold shower inducing pomp and neon circumstance of the '80s arena rock concert venue and weird Aerosmith flag plus football attire approach.

Throughout, Jagger speeds through classics he must be tired of singing like “Jumpin' Jack Flash,” so that we lose the punch of those pre-punk, post-Dylan poetic lyrics about being “born with a spike right through my head.”

Essentially, he's the only band member that tries to ignite lust or excitement in the audience (even if by force) as amusingly even a parade of gorgeous girls during “Honky Tonk Women” can't distract the perpetually smoking Ron Wood and Keith Richards from showing each other their killer guitar skills.

And while we'd love to know exactly what he seemed peeved about, privately mouthing off to himself after it appeared as though Ron Wood gave Jagger some direction, Ashby's film remains a slick commercial concert piece.

Obviously, Let's Spend the Night Together may please some die-hard fans looking for a quickie that masquerades as a one-night stand. However since I prefer a musical love affair, let's just say that athletic wear and male eyeliner simply doesn't “Start Me Up” like hearing the album version of “Satisfaction.”

Text ©2010, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.  

FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I received a review copy of this title in order to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique.

Music Documentary Review: Parting Ways: An Unauthorized Story on Life After The Beatles

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AKA: The Beatles: Parting Ways; Parting Ways: The Beatles

In this brief fifty-one minute unauthorized documentary best suited for television broadcast rather than purchase or even rental, filmmakers chronicle the lives of the Fab Four following the breakup or rather more fittingly dubbed “divorce” of The Beatles.

Although for the most part it fails to shed much new light on its subject, Parting Ways nonetheless makes for passable entertainment that's sure to appeal to die-hard fans.

A rather one-dimensional overview of post-Beatlemania existence for the men that's told in the order of their involvement with the band, the DVD from Infinity Entertainment Group presents their mini biographies from “the first Beatle” aka John Lennon all the way up through the last (Ringo Starr).

Admittedly it does come as a bit of a surprise that the disc delves into the usually ignored eighteen month separation of John Lennon and Yoko Ono that he spent with Yoko's assistant May Pang, with whom Yoko suggested that John take up in the early '70s.

However, one of the eerier focuses of the disc considers the effect of Lennon's death by assassination on the remaining Beatles. While the DVD reveals that Paul McCartney became especially weary of touring, Parting Ways delivers a startling blow by illustrating the impact it had on George Harrison who is painted as something of a near hermit for not leaving his estate much, only to find in a cruel twist of fate that he became the target of a home invasion by a mad stabber, whom he fortunately was able to outmaneuver.

Thankfully the disc doesn't spend the majority of its running time fixated on the macabre as it celebrates the individual musical achievements the four had following their split and the way that in some cases they ended up collaborating on other material.

Yet considering its incredibly short running time, it isn't able to go into great detail regarding their various professional accomplishments and winds up glossing over recent releases of The Beatles Rock Band game and the Cirque du Soleil show “Love.”

Retaining its small screen style look of a full frame aspect ratio and 2.0 sound, although the disc offers four bonus featurettes that center on everything from Stella McCartney's role in fashion to the men's spiritual exploration, overall it seems to blend right into the background of way too many superior Beatles retrospectives.


Text ©2010, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I received a review copy of this title in order to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique.

Music DVD Review: You Really Got Me -- The Story of The Kinks (2010)

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Devoting nearly ninety minutes edited like a record into nine Kinks song based selections from “Everybody’s A Dreamer” through “Changes,” You Really Got Me: The Story of The Kinks is best appreciated from a musical perspective rather than from a historical one.

Although it chronicles the “quintessentially British” British Invasion band from their first smash single (the eponymous “You Really Got Me,” which was the guys’ third release) up through their induction into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum, those hoping for an authoritative, eye-opening expose on the musicians will be disappointed with the result of this region free DVD.

However, for avid fans, You Really Got Me is a goldmine of rare performance footage that showcases not just the band’s biggest chart toppers like “Sunny Afternoon” and “All Day and All Of the Night,” but also works in some of the vintage rhythm and blues tracks and the group’s country/folk phase with cuts like “Muswell Hillbilly,” “Milk Cow Blues,” “Low Budget,” and more, going as far as to include the length of each one of over twenty songs right on the back of the DVD case.

With a fascinating biographical printed portrait contained in the inner sleeve penned by Jon Kirkman, the work from ABC Entertainment tries to present the best of both worlds by making up for what the DVD lacks in factual content with its overall presentation as a cross between a documentary and an album.

Still, there’s no doubt that You Really Got Me will make you curious to discover the real story behind the cited “unspecified reasons” why the band was banned from America from 1965-1969.

Additionally you'll long to learn more about The Kinks’ charismatic leader Ray Davies who took the sound of the music in several directions throughout its heyday, making the group influential to various genres and schools of performance from punk to New Wave when it became something of a “cult band” in the 1970s.


Text ©2010, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I received a review copy of this title in order to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique.

TV Review: HBO Premieres New Series, "The Neistat Brothers" (2010)

Devotees of the well-organized creative minutia of Wes Anderson, the humor of Spike Jonze, the mixed media daring of Michel Gondry and the experimental free-for-all of Neistat Brothers inspirations Jean-Luc Godard and Hunter S. Thompson are sure to delight in television’s debut “handmade home movie TV show.”

Although on the surface, HBO’s newest Friday night series The Neistat Brothers looks like it could play as an installation exhibit at your local museum of contemporary art, you’re quick to discover that it’s filled with the same sense of wonder that caused most of us to pick up video cameras at a young age and start rolling… um, tape.

As the two introduce us to the mad method behind their mini-movies, filming and adventuring for four weeks and diligently editing for two in their downtown Manhattan studio, 368 Broadway, their enthusiasm for the craft of filmmaking becomes infectious. Soon they take journeys ranging in scale from the dollar store with one’s son and another trip to Amsterdam in order to share their ideas with us over the course of an eight episode season.

Quick to discern that -- although it’s about the lives of the brothers -- it’s never about whom they really are and therefore not a (yawn) reality series, The Neistat Brothers is a cheery blend of creative mischief and innovative mayhem that must be experienced in order to describe.

Veterans of short filmmaking since they used their tax returns to buy iMac DV computers before maxing out their credit cards to fill their hands with cameras, the two who are perhaps most famous for a short work they did about the batteries in an iPod, compare their interest in their work to the story of Jack and the Beanstalk in which a trade was made for the chance or opportunity to achieve something great.


With roughly seven short films and interstitial movies complete with a corresponding theme “baked together in iMovie” to comprise each episode, the brothers Van and Casey admirably give YouTube a run for its overexposed money by primarily using cameras (both still and moving) that most of us use to shoot our family and friends with on a regular basis before going off on their filmed escapades that encompass everything from model boat racing to showing us “A Cool Thing About a Garbage Truck.”

And throughout, they interweave the story of how one brother met their spouse and then tracked down their biological dad at the age of thirty-two to making a movie with their budding filmmaker son, racing their Olympic skier assistant to Amsterdam on a maple syrup expedition or reenacting a scene from The Shining.

And after just two episodes, I'm confident that the series that took a full year to make, promises to be as filled with smiles as it is a celebration of artistic exploration, which proves once again why HBO is as usual several steps ahead of the curve when it comes to intellectual programming we didn’t even know we were missing.


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FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I received a review copy of this title in order to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique.

TV Review: Royal Pains -- Season 2 Premiere: "Spasticity"

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In the words of Divya (Reshma Shetty), “the cold war’s still raging” between the brothers after Hank (Mark Feuerstein) and Evan (Paulo Costanzo) find that HankMed’s entire savings have been swindled by their untrustworthy father, following Evan’s judgmental lapse to trust the man who helped bring them into the world.

And while checks are bouncing and Hank avoids Divya’s calls as well as his appointment to take care of the family situation as the second season of Royal Pains begins, soon the “Robin Hood of Medicine” is back in full swing, reminding America why he’s become our knight in a shiny white coat (when that is, he’s not wearing Hamptons beach apparel).

As a concierge doctor to the rich and an on-call physician to everyone else including his mysteriously ill landlord Boris (Campbell Scott), Hank finds himself up to his neck in work revolving around one unusually accident prone infomercial spokesperson who seems to have a different ailment every time Divya’s phone rings.

With Marcia Gay Harden making the life of Dr. Jill Casey (Jill Flint) miserable at the local hospital thanks to the young woman’s insistence to put the comfort and needs of patients before the tantrums and paychecks of spoiled surgeons, Jill is all too eager to become even more professionally entangled by HankMed despite her romantically rocky relationship with the leading man.

In a pleasant prescription of sunny fun and feverish medical drama complete with some of the most bizarre cases you’ll find on that side of New York, Royal Pains tricks you into assuming it’s all business as usual until-- much like in the outlandish emergencies Hank is able to instantly piece together-- the series produces a side effect we weren’t expecting at all in one killer of an ending sure to lead to USA Network addiction this summer. Luckily, however, there’s a cure for what ails you and HankMed’s got it in spades.

Text ©2010, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I viewed an online screener of this title in order to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique.

TV Review: Burn Notice -- Season 4 Premiere: "Friends and Enemies"

Season 4 Video Clips

Get Caught Up

Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan) may be a captured spy at the start of the fourth season of Matt Nix’s wildly inventive Mission Impossible meets MacGyver series Burn Notice, but the one thing we know about Westen by now is that he’s not going to stay captured for long.

Temporarily brought into custody at what the outside world may assume is a document processing plant that truly doubles as a secret holding center for VIPs (very important prisoners), Westen is persuaded to work alongside the agency that burned him by the mysterious and charismatic Vaughn (Robert Wisdom) who assures Westen that the government has plenty of use for burned spies since people without direct ties can cross lines that those on the paper trail cannot.

And soon enough, the two begin going after an illegal weapons salesman, which we realize is just step one in what Vaughn describes as “a new kind of problem” for our national security that will consume Michael in this summer’s return to USA Network’s hit series.

Finding himself drawn into another more urgent battle by Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar) and Sam (Bruce Campbell) who are in over their heads protecting a lawyer from Miami’s toughest biker gang who’ve gotten the greenlight to end their client’s life, Sam reassures their pal that although their reunion for their captured friend is brief, “this whole business here needs a little Michael Westen” before arming him to the teeth in a high speed pursuit.

Deftly balancing adventure with the building plot concerning Westen’s fate now that he’s begun putting the pieces together regarding who burned him and why, the season gets off to an action packed start with the same trademark tongue-in-cheek narration about Fiona infiltrating a group running on “testosterone and motor oil” that we’ve come to appreciate whenever the temperatures rise and Nix’s series once again takes to the airwaves.

Text ©2010, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I viewed an online screener of this title in order to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique.

Comedy DVD Review: David Cross -- Bigger and Blackerer (2010)

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From dubbing Mormonism “the Scientology of its day” to walking us through what it's like to buy batteries when you're tripping, there's a lot to enjoy in David Cross's new DVD Bigger and Blackerer that was shot over the course of two shows in his hometown of Boston, Massachusetts.

And though it's an uneven hour since David Cross is inventive to a fault given a few staged gimmicks concerning a fan who shows up to sign his own jokes that falls flat, he's nonetheless a likable comic who finds inspiration in everything from the SkyMall catalog to a badly written postcard about date rape, thereby making you admire the mind behind the musings all the more.

To put it another way, Cross is one of those comedians with whom you find yourself agreeing rather than falling out of your chair laughing over which makes his appeal both universal as the type of “funny sidekick” you wish was in your group yet it's likewise limiting since his cleverness often gets the best of him in odd segues when he simply gets distracted or says, “well that bit's kind of gone.”

Admirably with Cross, you can see the wheels turning in his mind while he delivers, taking in what the audience is finding funny and then structuring a line to suit whether it's asking them why they're laughing before the punchline – a common occurrence on these DVDs we discover – or in an extra feature, oddly standing up for Dane Cook when he realizes a female audience member is a fan.

It's not often you find a comedian joking he's going to do a benefit for another comic in an act of support in the midst of his own DVD but again, it illustrates Cross's true nature as a man concerned with something other than his own ego that comes right through in his most successful sequences when he analyzes the comedy goldmine of religion and politics.

And although he confesses that he isn't above airplane jokes since they're the ones viewers will be wishing for once he hits religion, honestly – and not just because I agreed with Cross – he could've done an entire set on the hypocrisy of religion or confounding bible facts since his takes on it were so unusually fresh.

In fact, he's a better religious comic than he is a political one, giving Bill Maher quite a run for his money on the Religulous subject that stands as the best segment contained in his entire act of routinely solid bits that again, we were smiling and cheering about mentally far more often than we were ready to bust a gut as Cross might say.

Aside from another staged audience gag that doesn't quite work, you're going to want to explore the disc's extra features to see an even funnier finale in the form of a long, hilarious and highly involved anecdote that illustrates his brilliance as a writer and observer of nature along with his unexpected rise to the defense of Dane Cook.


Text ©2010, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I received a review copy of this title in order to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique.

Music DVD Review: I Need That Record! The Death (Or Possible Survival) of the Independent Record Store

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Once “MP3” replaced “sex” as the term most searched for on the world wide web, the music industry knew that they were in trouble. And though the Napster years may indeed be over, the iTunes years keep on growing, much to the chagrin of CD sellers everywhere let alone independent record store owners.

Yet is the click-record-distribute option of MP3 really to blame for the downfall of the independent record store or is it a combination of several factors?

Filmmaker Brendan Toller decides to investigate in his entertaining, hip and freshly edited title I Need That Record! The Death (Or Possible Survival of the Independent Record Store). In investigating why roughly three thousand stores have closed shop during the past ten years, he points a whimsical finger at the main culprits including Big Box Stores like Best Buy or Wal-Mart that can sell a CD at ridiculously low prices in the hopes of guaranteeing a sale on bigger ticket items as well as the record industry itself which took a darker spin in the 1980s when MBAs took over the executive positions and music lovers were pushed out of the decision making business.

However more than just whining about “the man,” Toller is an insightful filmmaker who offers us a succinct yet fascinating history about the way that music and money has always overlapped from the old payola scandals with DJ Alan Freed up through the commercialization of radio via the Telecommunications Act which finds Clear Channel owning 1 in every 10 stations that play the same music 73% of the time.

Additionally, in arguing for the need to create a profitable business model so that independent community oriented stores could stay in business and compete with CD prices, Toller looks at some of the contradictions in marketing wherein an unknown Amy Winehouse album sells at an impossibly low introductory rate until it goes up roughly ten dollars when she becomes in demand.

Filled with Catch 22s and passionate people, the film is imbued with some unexpected bursts of animation both literally and in the colorful personalities of those interviewed. Moreover, it's the type of work that not only celebrates the local stores that help foster friendships, bands and in some cases save lives but also makes the viewer take a little responsibility in reexamining their downfall from radio to record to CD to MP3.

Rightfully it argues the importance of the stores in catering to an under-served niche of music savvy collectors as radio listenership is at a 27 year low in celebrating diversity and opening one's heart, mind and ears to music they may otherwise miss in a world of Top 50 pop music that fails to foster unique tastes. Likewise, the film is certain to cater not only to its built in audience of indie stores still with open doors but music aficionados and audiophiles as well.

Due to its brisk 77 minute running time, Toller is unable to offer an authoritative historical analysis on the many issues introduced and we wish he would've gotten much more on film from music historians or scholarly sources instead of just “man on the scene” interviews. While the DVD is bursting with hours of bonus interviews in the special features section, overall the great thing about the documentary as mentioned is it invites you to do more research on your own and consider just how much you value the choices you're able to make at independent stores verses the ease of Big Box stores or Clear Channel radio.


Text ©2010, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I received a review copy of this title in order to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique.

Music DVD Review: The Rolling Stones -- Rare and Unseen

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In the words of former Rolling Stones member Bill Wyman – dubbed “the historian of the band” since he's the one who remembers dates and places – it was much nicer to perform for audiences as they aged since initially they just wanted to see the Stones and then as time went on, they wanted to listen to the music.

However, the folks from MVD Visual's Rare and Unseen Collection are hoping that after more than four decades of Rolling Stones fever, fans will still want to see more of Mick, Keith and the rest of the guys in this alternatively fascinating yet at times haphazardly pieced together sixty-four minute work.

Without the benefit of going in chronological order or establishing the type of place-markers of date and location that no doubt Wyman or others could've assisted with, this collection of rare footage simply moves in far too many directions at once. Therefore, unless you are an amateur historian of the band and know all of its present and past members, it can get pretty confusing pretty quickly as we wonder who is talking or where they are in the timeline of the albums, the singles, or the many evolutions of the band.

Inter-splicing photos and clips of the group alongside interviews and text bubbles here and there, while the presentation fails to make this one recommendable to anyone other than die hard fans, for those who dig the Stones, there's enough contained in the piece to fascinate you.

In a key sequence, it includes some nice contradictory moments for Mick Jagger taking one stance on an issue one moment before it cuts to a scene a few decades later (moving from black and white to color) where he decides to ignore his stance and speak up about politics, illustrating the way that the band has aged right along with its audience in terms of maturity, responsibility etc.

In the short spin we see Mick Taylor's admission that Jagger could be a bit difficult to footage from Jagger's marriage to Bianca to the differences in touring from playing “rinky dinky rinky” joints with a “big” crew of thirty guys to finally waiting until 1998 to play Russia, which had banned their performances for decades.

And throughout there's enough substance to keep you interested even if you have a hard time feeling invested in the documentary when we simply view sound free film of Mick Jagger at a Red Carpet event or spend time during a drug trial interview that doesn't make a whole lot of sense without the context.

Overall, a mixed bag of footage transferred as well as can be expected considering the age of some of the pieces included, The Rolling Stones Rare and Unseen may be worth a casual look for a die hard fan but casual ones are sure to fail to gain any real satisfaction from it after all.


Text ©2010, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I received a review copy of this title in order to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique.

Q & A: Colin Michael Day Discusses Acting, Travel and "The Loneliest Road in America"

Q & A: Colin Michael Day

1) Congratulations on the completion of The Loneliest Road in America. From a viewer standpoint, it really felt like we traveled on an authentic road trip across the southwest along with the cast of characters. How long did it take to shoot the film and what was the process like? Did you all embark on a journey together and where did you guys shoot?

It took about 1 month to shoot the entire film. We started in Denver and pretty much shot in sequence in Denver, Utah, Nevada and LA. In Denver, it was just me; Chris Hayes, the actor who plays Matt; Mardana Mayginnes, the director; and Tony McGrath, the cinematographer; and then we met the rest of the crew in Nevada.

The process of filming the movie was a blast, but it was hard. We had to be detailed and thorough about the shots we wanted. We only had so much light during the day so we had to be quick and precise. We didn’t do more than 3 takes for any scene throughout the entire movie. And since all the actors were very prepared, it made it easy for the crew to do their job. Plus Mardana and Tony had been working for a long time preparing shot lists.

Since we went in so ready with the shots we wanted to do and the actors feeling confident with their lines, we avoided a lot of problems. Of course, there were some problems, because it’s bound to happen, but we didn’t have as many as expected. Basically, we were like a family while shooting; everyone got along really well. There were some disagreements and arguments, but that’s normal. Overall, we had great chemistry on location and it was a great experience.

2) I found it interesting that your director Mardana Mayginnes initially wanted you to play the role of Matt -- the wisecracking and blunt sidekick. To me, Matt and the more contemplative character you played – Jamie -- seemed like night and day. What drew you to the role of Jamie and why do you think Mardana originally saw you as Matt?

Mardana saw me as Matt because we’ve been on road trips together, and we’re partiers much like Matt’s character. I make a lot of jokes and tend to be the funny one, even though I don’t have the exact personality of Matt. But Mardana thinks I’m funny, and I’m flattered by that. And since I’m not really a depressed person or anything like that, because that’s not my personality, Mardana thought the Matt character was more me and that I would have fun playing him. At first I did think it would be a lot of fun, and Matt’s a big character in the film, he’s on screen a lot, so it would have been a good role for me.

As time went on, however, and the more I read the script, the Jamie character seemed to be more of a challenge for an actor, and I felt I could pull it off. There was more emotion, more back story. Plus, he is the main lead, you follow him throughout the whole movie and I thought that would be challenging, that was something I could do. And I thought for this movie to be a big success, I felt I could pull it off better than someone else auditioning.

3) It seems appropriate that the trip just seems to continue in the movie as it ends. Where do you think Jamie is now?

To be honest, we’ve joked about this and we think Jamie went to South America. That seems like a place he would go, to get out of the U.S. and get away. It seems like a fun place and he could meet people and hit on women. He could get away from everybody and continue his life. That’s the great thing about the ending of the film, people can guess where he went, and they can imagine where life took him. He could go anywhere, really, like Alaska or Japan. Hell, he could be hipping out in a nude colony somewhere. It’s your own opinion really as to where he ends up, but I think he went to South America.

4) Throughout the film, you guys made excellent use of music. Personally, do you have any particular favorite songs to add to your iPod or mixes when you travel?

The music credit is given to Mardana, completely. I was there through the process, but he knew what he wanted. He had a complete idea; I think he hit on the mood everywhere through the movie. I kept commenting and saying this song or that song was good, but he saw it, he heard it.

When it comes to creating music lists, to be honest I create mixes from my friends’ suggestions, because I don’t go out and find stuff on my own usually. I mean, Mardana got me into Cat Powers and Kascade. But I’m really open to all types of music, I don’t keep to a certain genre. Like right now, I’m listening to the new Kascade CD that’s just come out but I don’t limit myself to just techno; I love rock n’ roll and oldies like The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Pearl Jam. The list goes on. I even like opera.

5) Your biography reveals quite an extensive background exploring the world. Out of all of the various getaway locales, what’s one memorable experience and place that sticks out?

I have to pick just one place? I could pick many, I could go on forever, because there are so many unique places I’ve seen. But if I have to pick, one of my greatest moments was when I was living in Sydney during a semester studying abroad. I have a lot of family that lives there, and as a favor to my aunt, I started coaching my cousins’ girls’ basketball team. They were horrendous, I mean, they were getting creamed by everyone they played.

My friend Jason and I decided to be their coach, and it was just such an interesting experience. While I was having a great time living there and acting, I just loved going and coaching. It was another challenge, and it was a blast to teach them basic skills and plays. We actually started winning and other teams were trying to copy our defensive and offensive strategies. To be able to do that in another country, especially one where basketball isn’t very big, it was truly unique.

I guess the reason I enjoyed it so much is because, when I travel, I love meeting people. I can go on adventures climbing mountains and hiking through towns and seeing great landscapes, but I can never get away from interacting with other people, other cultures, experiencing different personalities. I got to be part of a community outside my country, and the parents respected me for teaching their kids. That meant a lot to me because it was coming from people I never expected to get it from. It was a great feeling and an amazing experience.

6) As an actor and producer, what do you think your background as a business major and tennis player at the University of Denver has taught you to use in your field?

My business major helped me with creating the movie, or at least the business plan but it’s a different beast creating a movie over a business plan for a class. We have our own production company, so my business background helped with that but in all honesty, business didn’t help much with my acting. Tennis helped a lot, because of the competitive nature and the work ethic tennis required throughout my life. And that’s why I wanted the Jamie character, it was a challenge, and in tennis you’re challenged. You always want to compete against better players so you can improve.

Acting is hard, even though I was told I was a natural, but that doesn’t mean I was a great actor. Same as tennis, I was told I was really athletic, but that doesn’t mean I was going be a great tennis player. I had to work at tennis; I had to learn the strokes, the techniques, all the little details. The more I practiced the better I got.

There are a lot of details you have to work at in acting, too, like scripts and lines, your reactions to situations, the way you listen to other actors. The more you do it, the better you get, it’s like muscle memory. You stop thinking about it, you just do it naturally and you’re in the moment. It’s all about working at it. I keep growing, I’m always growing, and you’re always learning new things. If there is one thing I could say to actors out there, continue to act. If you love it, keep doing it.

7) I read that you’re continuing your acting studies with Elizabeth Metznick who specializes in the Meisner Technique. I’m unfamiliar with that approach. In a nutshell, what is the Meisner Technique?

It’s pretty simple when you’re doing it, but it’s complicated to explain. Basically, Meisner believed in being as natural as possible while acting. It’s an acting technique that emphasizes reacting off another person or an environment. But also as you start the process, you start learning about your emotional self. Meisner strips you of a lot of your defensive shields and opens up these emotions like sadness, anger, happiness, and makes them truthful, not fake. This is all in the first year of the process, and the second year you do all the character work, the character building. You’re adding point of view, roles, and there is a lot of improve and reaction involved.

The reason I like studying with Elizabeth is because I feel like I take one step forward, two steps back. I know that sounds weird, but it helps. Elizabeth is great, and I chose her because she calls you out on things. She wants you to see what you’re doing. She can see what you can’t, and you can’t hide from that.

Many people will get frustrated and blame their teachers, but I never get upset at the teacher. I never got mad at Elizabeth, because I always felt her comments were helpful and she guided me through this technique. Once you break through that wall, take that step, you feel great. It’s just helping me learn, because I’m always growing.

8) Since you have such a versatile resume in theatre and film as well as roles both in front of and behind the camera, professionally what do you have lined up next?

Well, I just finished another short film where I played a math genius that kind of goes crazy because he’s trying to find an equation to create a portal to an alternate universe. I’m the only actor in the film and it was a great character role. I had a blast, and I think it has a lot of potential to go somewhere.

There are a few plays coming up at Elephant Theater Company that I’ll hopefully get involved with. I’ve been talking to people about doing some web series, and it’s been exciting talking about doing those projects. Within our crew, we have about 3 scripts that we’re hoping to start pre-production on in the fall. But I’m not doing anything anytime soon, because I’ll be going to South Africa for the World Cup. All I’ve been doing recently is a lot of publicity for Loneliest Road, just trying to promote the movie.


Text ©2010, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Music DVD Review: Masters of American Music -- Sarah Vaughan: The Divine One (1993)

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Related Reviews
Masters of American Music: The Story of Jazz
Sarah Vaughan CD Review

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Even though the fact that she could push a one syllable word throughout a rollercoaster of her three plus octave range by dragging it out as though it were five syllables both endeared and infuriated the fans of Sarah Vaughan, she nonetheless ranked number one for five consecutive years as the “favorite girl singer” of her era.

Fluent in jazz, pop and bebop, Vaughan never encountered a standard song she wanted to sing straight, which was why her interpretation of “Body and Soul” sung on a dare in a contest as a teenager soon found her joining big bands where – much like Billie Holiday – she used her voice as an instrument to spontaneously get into the freewheeling rhythm as though it were a trumpet or saxophone.

Known as The Divine One to the fans who likened Vaughan to operatic diva royalty, dubbed Sailor by those who new “Sassy” Sarah best for her gift to “out-cuss Popeye the Sailor Man” with the boys on the road, the diverse Ms. Vaughn is profiled in this compelling and beautifully preserved piece of musical portraiture.

Part documentary, part interview retrospective, and part musical performance, the Masters of American Music Limited Edition digitally remastered, region free, Sarah Vaughan: The Divine One is a delight for fans eager to discover more than just the bare minimum of biographical facts.

And this intimacy is what we're treated to from those who knew her best including the two she lived with in the form of her mother and her daughter – both of whom speak candidly about the private, professional Vaughan who had a big heart that was often broken but who managed to touch the hearts of so many all with that signature voice.

Although it clocks in at merely fifty-six minutes, the DVD which plays worldwide in all models of players as a Region 0 disc offers some lush performance footage that showcases Vaughan at various periods in her extraordinary career, highlighting the admirable way that unlike many jazz artists she was able to transcend musical genres and continue to have a career for five decades.

From “I've Got a Crush on You” to some of her most famous interpretations of “Misty,” “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and “Send in the Clowns,” it's a beautiful work all around, even if it ultimately leaves you wanting more... much like a talented “girl singer” who stretches out the notes before exiting the stage to thunderous applause and cries of “Encore.”

One of four new discs released in the Masters of American Music series including titles devoted to John Coltrane, Count Basie and the blues with Bluesland, Sarah Vaughan: The Divine One follows the successful launch of the previous quartet of jazz themed limited edition bows in late 2009.

Text ©2010, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com
Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I received a review copy of this title in order to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique.

TV Review: America: The Story of Us -- Episode 1: "Rebels"

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Review of Episode 1: "Rebels"

Oil, we're reminded in the premiere episode of History Channel's America: The Story of Us, wasn't always the driving force behind our global economy. Following the original “hell on Earth” time of starvation and lack of resources that left only sixty of the original five hundred settlers alive roughly four hundred years ago, it wasn't oil but rather timber that was the backbone of our international trade and economy.

However, thanks to the revolutionary efforts of settler John Rolfe who arrived with both a plan to prosper and a more open mind to make friends with the natives by marrying Pocahontas, the settlers started to thrive. Tobacco became the element that our land was built upon since as we now know, everyone had become addicted ensuring that the demand would never waver.

Yet when the colonists began to flourish so much that their lifespans increased along with their height and income compared to unhealthier statistics back home in England, the King sent in the Red Coats to get “a bigger piece of the pie” by increasing taxation until the rebels unified into a nation of Americans ready to stand their ground.

One of the unmissable television events of 2010, History Channel's ambitious and sweeping epic of a documentary which will be given free of charge to every school in the country, combines CGI, live action recreations, models, animation, celebrity and scholarly interview footage and the narration of Liev Schreiber to tell the audacious, challenging, bloody, inspiring and surprising story of four hundred years of the United States of America.

Broken up into twelve hour- long episodes and airing six consecutive Sunday evenings beginning on April 25th at 9pm ET/PT and running through Memorial Day, America: The Story of Us, which was made with the generous cooperation of our national and local museums, libraries and more will open with remarks from President Barack Obama.

The series bring us all the way back to the days when temperatures were two degrees cooler, bison roamed the land and Jamestown was being established up through too the Boston Massacre, our first continental congresses, and the resolve of rebellious citizens in all thirteen colonies to take up arms against the world's most powerful military force during the Revolutionary War.

In the words of President Obama, throughout this stunningly crafted and compelling work that truly ensures you feel a sense of urgent immediacy in the events rather than a dry lecture, we're reminded that “our American story has never been inevitable. It was made possible by ordinary people who kept their moral compass pointed straight and true when the way seemed treacherous; when the climb seemed steep; and when the future seemed uncertain.”

Paying tribute to as Obama noted in the press release, “a fundamental part of our American character... to remake ourselves – and our nation – to fit our larger dreams,” the History Channel's painstakingly crafted effort is gripping right from the start.

Likewise, it serves as a very welcome living textbook to reacquaint us with the story of our past from the people's perspective so that we can respect it, learn from it, and use the knowledge of it in our pursuits for the next chapter of the nation we call home.

Episode Guide:
(Courtesy of History Channel)

1 - REBELS

In 1607 a small group of English adventurers lands in Jamestown. Thirteen years later the Pilgrims settle in Plymouth, New England. These men and women are all driven by the promise of a new life; all face huge dangers from disease, starvation and conflict. The two colonies are very different, yet in time both grow. One man’s entrepreneurial dream, tobacco, and the first African Americans, turn the swamps of the South into a land of opportunity. The hardworking and resourceful Puritans forge the North into a trading powerhouse with shipbuilding at its core. Within 100 years they have the highest standard of living in the world: testament to a unique American spirit. Yet success and wealth prompt British jealousy, taxation, resistance and then war. This is the story of how, over seven generations, a group of European settlers survive against all odds, claw themselves up, and then turn against their colonial masters. A diverse group of men, women and children are about to become truly American.

2 - REVOLUTION

July 9, 1776 – the Declaration of Independence is read to crowds in New York. Offshore, over 400 ships bristling with soldiers and guns are massing. It is the largest British invasion force until D-Day. America’s thirteen colonies have taken on the might of the world’s leading superpower. Within months, George Washington’s army has been decimated and defeat seems inevitable. Yet by 1783, America is free. It is a conflict that tests the resolve of Patriot soldiers to the breaking point. It takes us from the trenches of Manhattan, to the harsh winter camp of Valley Forge, and from the forests along the Hudson, to the spy-ridden streets of occupied New York and finally, to victory at Yorktown. American forces learn the hard way how to master the landscape, new weapons, and unconventional battle tactics. And with this elite force, forged through revolution, Washington saps the strength of the British Army to prevail in what has become a titanic battle of wills. As the British leave, a new nation, the United States of America, is born.

3 - WESTWARD

As the American nation is born, a vast continent lies to the west of the mountains, waiting to be explored and exploited. Yet this land is not empty – Native American Indians are spread across the land mass, as are Spanish colonists and French explorers. For the pioneers who set out to confront these lands, following trailblazers like Daniel Boone, the conquest of the West is a story of courage and hardship that forges the character of America. Armed with knowledge from hardened mountain men like Jedediah Smith, millions of Americans keep heading ever westward. Their journeys by wagon train are fraught with danger, across distances never imagined possible. But the allure of adventure, opportunity and economic gain is too strong. While some struggle to create new lives on the frontier, others are rewarded with riches on a scale never seen before, as the world rushes in to mine California’s gold. America now stretches from “sea to shining sea.” And when American pioneers master the waters of the Mississippi basin with a radical invention, the steamboat, a new era opens.

4 - DIVISION

America becomes a nation at the moment a revolution in commerce and industry sweeps across the western world. The construction of the Erie Canal – an audacious feat of engineering achieved against the odds with black-powder and hard work – results in hundreds of workmen being killed, but the pay-off is immense. This vast new country, rich in resources, experiences rapid change in trade, transport and manufacturing, quickly turning America into one of the wealthiest nations on Earth. New York booms, the factory town of Lowell becomes the cradle of the American industrial revolution, and in the South, with the invention of the cotton gin, cotton is king. Now two different Americas, united in prosperity but divided by culture, face each other across a growing gulf. The issue is slavery. It underpins the prosperity of the South, but the North, though complicit, shows growing unease. There are violent clashes in Kansas. Abolitionist John Brown carries out a suicidal mission to try to end slavery in Virginia. He fails. With the election of Abraham Lincoln the stage is set for war.

5 - CIVIL WAR

The Civil War rages. The terrible new technology of the minie ball is devastating Union and Confederate forces alike. It is 20th-century technology meeting 18th-century tactics and the result is a death toll never before seen on American soil. But the strict discipline and unshakeable belief in their cause have welded Robert E. Lee’s Confederate army into a formidable force. And Lee is the ultimate military commander. His victory at the Second Battle of Bull Run leads him to within 20 miles of Washington and it looks as if the Union might lose. But President Abraham Lincoln is fighting a very different kind of war – one of technological innovation and military centralization. It’s a war that General Lee can’t even see. Lincoln uses the rail network, the telegram, supply lines, and even advances in battlefield medicine and the media to mobilize men and machines as never before to fight the world’s first technological war. As the battle reaches its bloody climax at Atlanta the industrial capacity of the North is harnessed as Lincoln declares “Total War.” With General William Sherman’s March to the Sea, the South is definitively crushed. The industrial might that sees the Union prevail now leaves America poised to explode into the 20th century as a global superpower.

6 - HEARTLAND

In 1869 the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of America, more than two thousand miles apart, are linked by continuous metal rails. The Transcontinental Railroad – the world’s first – is the most ambitious human enterprise since the Great Wall of China, and much of it is built by Chinese laborers. The railroad doesn’t just change the lives of Americans, it alters the entire ecology of the continent, and there are casualties. The vast Plains, where buffalo roam and Native Americans civilizations flourish, become home to farmers who build houses of grass – until daring loggers in the North drive lumber down the rivers to build the new homes and cities of the Midwest. It’s the railroad that creates a new American icon – the cowboy – who trails cattle thousands of miles to meet the railheads and bring food to the East. But a simple new invention will change the lives of settlers, cowboys and Native Americans: barbed wire. Steel rails and now steel wire parcel up the Plains. In less than a quarter of a century, the heartland is transformed – not by the gun, but by railroad, fence, and plow.

7 - CITIES

Between 1880 and 1930, nearly 24 million new immigrants arrive in America. Many go to work building a new frontier: the modern city, and one of America’s greatest inventions. The high cost of land in cities like New York and Chicago means the only way to build is up. A new kind of building, the skyscraper, is made possible by steel. Produced on a massive scale by Scottish immigrant Andrew Carnegie, steel production underpins the infrastructure of the modern city. This new urban frontier draws rural migrants and newly arrived immigrant workers. For many, the Statue of Liberty is their first sight of the New World and Ellis Island is the gateway to the American Dream. The lawless city offers opportunities for many, astronomical wealth for a few. Police chief Thomas Byrnes uses his violent new innovation, “the third degree,” to keep a lid on crime. The millions flocking to urban areas often experience terrible conditions in disease-ridden tenements. Jacob Riis, photographer and reformer, brings their plight to the world with his groundbreaking photographs in the book “How the Other Half Lives.” Workers in new high rise factories become urban martyrs in New York City’s Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire, as the city struggles to make these new buildings safe. Powered by steel and electricity, the city begins to be tamed and defined by mass transportation, stunning skylines, electric light...and the innovative, industrious American spirit.

8 - BOOM

In 1910 California, a column of oil nearly 200 feet high explodes out of a derrick and sets off a chain of events that will turn America into a superpower. Oil production doubles overnight and prices plummet from $2 to 3 cents a barrel. Quick to capitalize on this abundant cheap fuel is Henry Ford, a maverick entrepreneur who vows to bring the motor car to the masses. In 1900 there are 8,000 cars in the country. By 1930 there are over 20 million. As the population becomes more mobile, the entire shape of America changes. Cities grow as centers of industry, creating new opportunities, and new challenges. In one of the greatest engineering projects of the century, thousands of workers divert enough water hundreds of miles across a desert to quench sprawling Los Angeles’ thirst. Mass production and job opportunities prompted by the First World War draw African Americans to northern cities like Chicago, but racial conflict follows. Many Americans see the burgeoning cities as havens of vice, and chief among them is drink. A popular campaign to ban alcohol succeeds, yet when it comes, Prohibition triggers a wave of organized crime. One man set to benefit is Al Capone. He makes the equivalent of $1,500 a minute from bootleg alcohol. For a time he seems untouchable. But even he is not above the law.

9 - BUST

In October 1929, the Twenties boom crashes on Wall Street. Between 1929 and 1932, $2 billion in deposits evaporate. The American Dream has become a nightmare. The Crash coincides with the start of the Great Depression. Unemployment rises to more than one-fourth of the workforce and as confidence in U.S. banks disintegrates, bank closures sweep the nation. On the Great Plains, economic difficulties are compounded by natural disaster. Years of intensive plowing and severe drought dry out the land. Vast dust storms fill the skies and drive people west. Inaugurated in the depths of the depression, new president Franklin D. Roosevelt starts to turn things around. The New Deal and public works projects save America from despair and destitution. The construction of the Hoover Dam and Mount Rushmore employs thousands of men and signals recovery and hope for the future. However, world conflict is brewing in Europe – brought home to Americans by the symbolic boxing match between Joe Louis and Max Schmeling.

10 - WWII

It is 1939 and while war breaks out in Europe, America remains mired in a ten-year depression. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brings America into world war, changing the nation from an isolationist continent to a global player – and ensuring economic prosperity once more. America launches a war effort – and as always, bigger is better. The nation taps into the vast manufacturing reserves that have been idle for ten years: factories, electrical plants, railroads. The war gives jobs to seven million unemployed, half of them women nicknamed “Rosie the Riveters.” By 1944, the U.S. is producing 40% of the world’s armaments, having developed the jeep, radar, and Norden bombsight. The might of America’s strategy and supplies turns the tide of war. The U.S. Air Force launches pioneering daylight bombing raids over occupied Europe in B-17 bombers. Under the command of General Dwight Eisenhower, D-Day is an astonishing success. In 1945, war in the Pacific is brought to a close by the ultimate piece of technology, the atomic bomb. A new world order has been created – and America has changed forever.

11 - BOOMERS 12 - MILLENNIUM

These two episodes look at the defining moments from 1945 onwards and trace them back to their antecedents in earlier American history. Some of America’s most prominent faces share their ideas on the definitive moments in American history, and reflect on what has made us who we are. This turbulent period, so recent in memory, also shines a light on what is best and most inspiring about being American. We tell the story of post-war America, including the building of the interstate highways and suburbia, the tensions of the Cold War, the euphoria of the Civil Rights movement, hippies and counterculture, the dark hours of Vietnam and Watergate, the Reagan era, Silicon Valley and the groundbreaking election of Barack Obama. Following the theme of technological innovation throughout the series we’ll look at how the U.S. landed humans on the moon and contributed to enormous technological inventions like the Internet. But above all, we’ll look at what has endured through 400 years in the American character.

Text ©2010, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com
Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I received a review copy of this title in order to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique.

Announcement -- TWO Contests: Win Big With Tribeca Film Festival & "May The Force Be With" Your Flash Drive

Win an Obi-Wan Kinobi or R2D2 Designer Flash Drive

Star Wars MIMOBOT Series 5 Video! from MIMOBOT & mimoZine on Vimeo.

Win a Swag Bag & Virtual Pass

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Film Event: Raising Arizona Tweet-Along (April 10)

Film Intuition
&
The Deuce: Grindhouse Cinema Database
Present

A Tweet-Along with Joel & Ethan Coen's Raising Arizona
@ 5PM EST on Saturday, April 10 on Twitter

We'll "Be Taking These Huggies and Whatever" Tweets You've Got.

To Join the Conversation Tweet #RA (for Raising Arizona) so that Others Can Find You and Chat Along.

How to View:

If you have the movie, begin playing at 5:00 pm EST.

Otherwise Stream it with Netflix Instant Viewing

Also Available for Purchase, Rental, VOD & on iTunes

Music Download News: Gogol Bordello Offers "Pala Tute" Free to their Fans

Pre-Order Trans-Continental Hustle

Due 4/27

Download "Pala Tute" for Free
by Signing Up for Gogol Bordello's Newsletter

Related Movies with Eugene Hutz:

Everything is Illuminated [Review]

Filth and Wisdom [Review]

Text ©2010, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com
Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.