Film Intuition: Jen's P.O.V. -- Misc. News, Articles & Interviews

Book Review: Leonard Maltin's 2012 Movie Guide & Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide (2nd Edition)

2011-12-22T13:53:00.000-07:00

Now Available to Own

For Leonard Maltin, “part of the fun of creating the Movie Guide is knowing it helps steer people to good movies that may have flown under their radar,” and it's a feat he achieves yet again in the latest edition of his perennial digest of cinematic reference.

Collaborating with his crack-team of passionate movie scribes, Maltin delivers 300 all-new capsule movie review entries in addition to the esteemed critic’s most ambitious “best list” in years by revealing an impressive collection of his personal favorite films of the new millennium in the 2012 tome.

While it may have made more sense to ax the arbitrary collection of performers on the silver screen since it’s essentially a "Who’s Who" popularity contest rather than exorcising the director’s index, in the latest publication of the Guide, Maltin makes the difficult decision to forgo the filmmaker credentials to salvage 150 reviews for his loyal readership.

And although I can’t help but wish that he would take some of the ‘under the radar fun of creating’ both the guide and his memorable must-see movie lists to build an all-new index that would help steer cineastes to quality titles as opposed to simply repeating actor data that’s not only readily available online but also repeated in the capsule reviews, Maltin’s Guide is as authoritative as ever.

Furthermore, it might even benefit from an index listing works that received the highest ratings to help add to the feeling of interactivity in lieu of a keyboard – urging you to expand your horizons by looking up four-star films as opposed to four films with your favorite actor.

A vital accessory for your home theater set-ups considering the far more diverse library of motion pictures available just a click away thanks to Roku players, Netflix streams, film festivals, online theatrical rentals in addition to on-demand DVD manufacturing of out-of-print classics – all of which give Turner Classic Movies a run for their money – Maltin’s exhaustive 2012 guide now boasts a know-it-all historical sidekick as well.

Making up for the missing titles that were removed from the contemporary edition in favor of newer fare, Maltin opted to update his Classic Movie Guide for the first time since 2005, reflecting not only the rampant availability of some of filmdom’s forgotten vintage favorites but also ensuring that none of the capsules get lost in the shuffle of pages from present to past.

Although Maltin and company still occasionally come up short when it comes to obscure art-house, foreign and limited distribution indie films, with roughly 17,000 entries, it's the closest thing to an all-inclusive reference guide this side of the information superhighway.

Text ©2011, 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.

Film Buff News: Barnes & Noble's 50% Off Criterion Collection DVD & Blu-ray Sale is Here

2011-07-16T12:23:00.003-07:00

Criterion Collection Fans, Get Ready for Some Broadcast News:

For Discerning Film Buffs (and for a limited time), the Biggest Blu-ray and DVD Sale of the Year is Back at Barnes & Noble as gorgeous box sets and standalone collectible discs new and old hit the 50% off Sale Shelves once again in-store and online.

That's right, get your Criterion fix without having to Blow Out your bank account by indulging in BN's cinematic Days of Heaven to find yourself Something Wild.

But with so many titles going so fast that that it can leave you Breathless, relish in the Sweet Smell of Success of getting what you want in your time from the comfort of your computer since you don't need a Mystery Train to visit BN's Criterion Sale in these Modern Times online.

Explore New Movements and New Waves from around the World (including French, Japanese, and Australian oh my!), check out classics and cult hits such as forgotten films and flicks you'll never forget. It's a Bigger Than Life Criterion Celebration all around!

Read Criterion Collection Reviews on Film Intuition

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

2010-11-30T12:02:00.000-07:00

Now Available to Own

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

2010-08-10T12:00:00.003-07:00

Now Available to Own

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.

Film Intuition's Home Entertainment Calendar of New Releases in DVD & Blu-ray

2010-07-23T15:40:00.000-07:00

Film Intuition's
Home Entertainment Calendar

New Releases in DVD & Blu-ray*
Check Back Frequently for Updates

July 6, 2010

Brooklyn's Finest
Doc Martin: Series 4
The Girl With a Dragon Tattoo
Lost Keaton
A Single Man

July 13, 2010

The Bounty Hunter
Chloe
The Greatest
Greenberg
Insomnia [Blu-ray]
Our Family Wedding
Psych: Season 4
Saving Grace: The Final Season
White Collar: Season 1

July 20, 2010

Being Human: Season 1
Cookies & Cream
Cop Out
Courage the Cowardly Dog: Season 1
Look Around You: Season 1
The Losers
Mother
My Boys: Season 2 & 3
Ninja's Creed
The Red Shoes (Criterion Collection)
The Runaways
Seriously Funny
Uptown

July 27, 2010

Coming Soon

*Check Back Frequently for Updates re: Release Dates & New Titles

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