Category: Review

Although it didn’t end up exactly as billed, the show was a good time. Ernie and the Automatics opened the show (featuring Ernie Boch Jr., Boston car mogul) with a short set of nice blues rock. BeatleJuice followed doing a good set of Beatles cover songs – Delp had sung for BeatleJuice. Then, Farrenheit performed some of their hits including “Fool In Love” – man that was great to hear live some 20 years after I first heard it. Extreme didn’t rock nearly as hard as they did last year but they did have all 4 original members on stage for Hole Hearted. I had been looking forward to Godsmack kicking ass so I was a little disappointed when they played an acoustic set, but that was probably the right call given the audience. RTZ (aka Return To Zero), Delp’s side project when Scholz wasn’t doing the Boston thing, also performed post-Delp. Finally, Boston performed many of the songs originally sung by Delp that had made them so popular.

There were so many performers there, it was hard to keep track of them all. Not just during the Boston set but also for RTZ and BeatleJuice. Michael Sweet from Stryper (no, he did not wear black and yellow!) sounded great doing Delp’s vocals though he didn’t quite have the right snap – he seemed to be lagging the beat a bit and the beat seemed to be pushing him along. Same with the current Boston member Kim Dahme (who was a great addition to the “Corporate America” disc except for one too-slow song) who sounded good but still seemed lack snap. A highlight was a “fan” named Tommy DeCarlo who sang lead vocals on 2 songs – hard to tell how much of an insider he was, but it didn’t matter since he had some of the best snap and energy of the night.

Goodreau’s first side project from Boston, Orion The Hunter that was originally on the bill, didn’t perform. But Extreme was a good addition and I’d take that over Orion. Both Mickey Thomas and Sammy Hagar were nowhere to be seen but there were enough guest vocalists from the Boston fold already. The finale did feature the original Boston members of Scholz, Goodreau, and Sheehan, as promised, but Sib Hashian (who with Delp comprised the original 5 members of Boston) not only didn’t perform but rumor is that he had left the venue.

Scholz got a little chatty as he has been prone to since the era of “Third Stage”. But it was good that somebody did run down some semblance of a who’s who even if there was a bit too much hyperbole. There was a brief movie shown between sets featuring interviews from Delp’s fellow band members. It could have been gag-worthy or boring, but actually, the interviews provided some good insight and the movie was well edited.

The 5 hours went by quickly – very glad I got to see it.

“Damages” is FX’s latest edgy show – you can tell it’s edgy because of the camera movements and because the lead characters blurt out an uncensored “shit” almost as often as Cartman in that uncensored South Park episode. “Damages” is two shows in one. The main show is a somewhat typical legal drama except that the one case carries through the entire season. The premise that legal cases – especially cases that make the news – rarely get through the system quickly is a welcome change from typical weekly shows that resolve most cases within their 42 minutes (an hour minus commercials). The other show is a mystery that wraps around the legal show that involves the same characters. We are led to believe there will be a convergence of the two stories by season’s end.

The first episode opens with Ellen bloodied from a fight then flashes back 6 months to when Ellen is first hired by the Hewes law firm. It probably sounds more jarring than it actually is – the script makes it work.

However clever the show is at the structure of the story, it fails on details. The central character, Ellen, is a real yawn. Entirely unbelievable as a big shot lawyer, she wears the same slightly astonished look throughout the series. Glenn Close as Patty Hewes, the head of the law firm, is believable when doling out stern orders but laughably creepy when she smiles – and no, not in a good way. And while I generally like Zeljko Ivanek’s work and he has some great looks in “Damages”, I can’t get past his fake southern accent.

Still, there are redeeming values. Tate Donovan plays a likable guy who somehow keeps siding with the manipulative Hewes and doing her bidding. And Ted Danson is outstanding as the subject of the season long case – a corporate executive who is at times scary, insightful, and sympathetic. In my opinion, Danson is what gives the show its real edge. Oh, and it’s good to see Tom Aldredge (Carmela’s father from the Sopranos) in another show.

Ultimately, I’m disappointed. Even though the first episode ends with a shocking revelation, it feels like trickery more than a reveal. By the end of the 5 episodes, it feels more like 8 and the device of the mystery flashbacks is getting old. I’ll let my DVR keep recording new episodes, if for no other reason than to see how it ends. But I no longer feel obligated to watch it weekly.

Rating: 5 (out of 10)

Although it has nothing to do with “Damages”, I should comment on “The Riches”, another FX edgy show. (You can tell for the same reasons as above.) I liked watching the family have trouble fitting into the life that most Americans aspire to. And con work is always fun to watch on screen. But the show wasn’t perfect – like “Big Love” the main character’s past culture can’t leave them alone and provides for awkward who cares scenes. And the character of Hugh – yes, he brought some life to the show, but he’s so much of a caricature, that it doesn’t fit with the rest of an earnest show.

As I mentioned in my review of the most recent bond movie, I have felt that the Bourne movies represented what the Bond movies should have become and that the stories in the Bourne movies are more cohesive than those from the Bond films. While that still holds true in this most recent Bourne film, the story isn’t quite as tight as the other two Bourne films.

Bourne still kicks ass and the ride is a thrill. An incredible fight scene in Tangier is underscored by another character’s astonished look. And as in The Bourne Supremacy, we (the viewer) participate in a harrowing car chase. Though I think the film veered away from the plausible into the absurd a couple of times during the car chase.

Despite the story not being quite as tight as the previous two films, I did like the overall arc and the message of the story. And some of the spy vs. spy moments are instant classics like when Bourne is trying to protect a newspaper journalist from a sniper. That’s what makes the Bourne movies fun for me – the spy scenes, the fantastic action, good stories.

My only real complaint about this installment is too much motion on the handheld camera. The previous film got it right with just enough movement to make it seem somehow more real and documentary-like. This one feels overdone. At times, I felt like I needed to be in the back row of the theater so my eyes could focus.

Rating: 8 (out of 10)

Harry Potter And The Order of the Phoenix is easily my 5th favorite of the Harry Potter movies. Perhaps there’s something about the lack of newness of the imagery. Or maybe the new director didn’t bring as much life to the pages as others have. Or maybe the story just didn’t lend itself to moviemaking as well as others had. Hard to say. I did feel a bit of special effects fatigue. And there were fewer happy distractions – no Quidditch or Sorting Hat or flying car. I guess part of the fun for me is seeing what magical new places exist in the Potter world like Track 9-3/4 and finding them along with Harry. In the most recent movie, there wasn’t quite as much wonderment. And having Hogwarts run by Prof. Umbridge and the Ministry Of Magic and the Daily Prophet newspaper consipiring in denial seemed too much of a downer.

On the plus side, Imelda Staunton as Delores Umbridge was a hoot. And fine performances from Alan Rickman and Gary Oldman are always welcome. But there was not enough time on screen for the characters of Dumbledore, McGonagall, Ron, or Hermione. I’m looking forward to the DVD and seeing the cut scenes. Not that the movie should have been longer, but maybe there’s a scene or two that would have made the movie a little more, ahem, magical.

Rating: 6 (out of 10)

I’ll admit that I was a reluctant attendee of the musical stage version of Hairspray a few years ago. But I really enjoyed the show so it didn’t take much prodding to get me to go see the movie. And the movie musical was quite good overall, though somehow not quite as much fun as the stage version.

It’d be hard to mention the movie without talking about John Travolta playing a very large woman. Travolta’s portrayal is cloying – yes, all the roles involve doses of overacting, but somehow his is just that much more over the top. The stage version I saw had Bruce Vilanch in the role and he was fantastic; much better than Travolta. Of course Travolta can sing well, but it’s hard to tell behind the aural facade.

The rest of the cast in the movie is thoroughly enjoyable, including Christopher Walken who didn’t make sense to me going in, but makes sense to me coming out. Three roles I enjoyed were Elijah Kelley as Seaweed, Zac Efron as Link Larkin, and James Marsden as Corny Collins. And you have got to be impressed with the kid that played Tracy Turnblad, Nikki Blonsky. This is the first real acting job for Blonsky and it does not show. No, this was not a serious acting challenge but seeing her next to Travolta shows that Blonsky got the portrayal right.

And that makes the closing credits all the more baffling. I think Blonsky should have received the first credit, before Travolta. It’s okay to have Travolta’s name top in the posters and advertisements because that’s to draw people in. But the credits at the end should be based on merit, not on fame. Blonsky was on screen for nearly every scene and was the heart of the movie.

My only other complaint with the movie is that somehow it seemed more obvious to me that the cast was lip-synching while acting. You couldn’t make a movie musical without it, but the lip-synching seemed less obvious in Dreamgirls. Perhaps it was the result of less experienced singers or actors, I don’t know.

Seeing Tracy’s idealism triumph over the mean world of racism and TV is what made the musical fun and it’s what keeps the movie fun too.

Rating: 7 (out of 10)

I thought the Clooney/Pitt remake of Ocean’s Eleven was outstanding but Ocean’s Twelve was weak and at times dumb. 13 is better than 12 but not as good as 11. I didn’t feel like it was dumb but there were times that it was weak.

There were times when they beat you over the head with how things were done like with the little vignettes to follow on with the Pitt/Clooney narration – “we had our guy following your guy”. And there other times when there was too little there even for people who had seen all three movies – what does the line about “Susan B. Anthony” mean? (Something about the historical figure or something about the failed currency?) I could have used some help on this one.

In a lot of ways, the movie felt like a cartoon: caricatures like Pacino’s Bank, outrageous buildings that could only exist in an artificial world, and the ridiculous computer room. But in other ways, the movie felt grounded by a group of core characters that do sweat the details.

I like heist movies and 11 was a supremely cool heist movie. I don’t know what 12 was – failed competitive heist movie or self-referential Hollywood spoof. 13 was part heist movie, part hanging out with the guys. Since the guys are mostly likable, I did enjoy the movie overall. As a comedy, it works pretty well. But no, it is not as good as 11.

Rating: 7 (out of 10)

By the way, as an aside, I think one of the problems with Hollywood these days is that they try to replicate success too literally. What if they were more like old Hollywood where the same actors could work together over and over with similar kinds of characters but not always need to have the same structure – sort of Rat Pack like.

The Sopranos is over and the majority of viewers are in a tizzy over how it ended. Though there are some of us who predicted that it would have a disappointing ending, I am still a little surprised that it wasn’t quite as disappointing as I expected.

For me, the Sopranos has frequently entertained on a scene by scene basis and usually on an overall season-level arc. Individual episodes, taken one at a time? Not so much.

We all knew that either Phil or Tony wasn’t ending the show alive. The question was which would it be and I was pretty confident that David Chase wanted to end the show as though it were any other day which meant Phil had to be the one to go.

So what kind of day would this “any other day” be? Apparently, a surprisingly good one for the Soprano clan. Even though there was the possible looming gun charge, everybody was relatively happy and that’s how it ended.

Okay, so it didn’t quite end that way, but I believe that’s how it was intented. The cut to black and silence stunned me too and had me lunging for the remote and swearing at Comcast along with everyone else. But I’ve had some time to think about it and I think that the cut was just Chase’s way of finishing on his own terms. I’ve read that the script had Meadow sitting down with the rest of the family and that Chase just decided to chuck the last page. In other words, the script had things finishing the way I expected, but he couldn’t be content without doing something his own way. Besides, it got a lot of people talking about it; lots more than would have if Meadow sat down.

So what about the shady characters in the diner? The guy that goes to the bathroom? The looks around the room? Simple. That’s how Tony will live the rest of his life: always wondering if somebody is out to get him and it could be anyone.

I really think that’s all there was to it. There’s been some creative thinking like the comment that Bobby made about everything going black when you die meaning that the diner was blown up. Or the thought that it was the viewer that died when everything went black. Clever. And possible. But I think it really was just going to end with the 4 Sopranos sitting down in the diner and David Chase wanted one last opportunity to mess with the viewers so he dropped the last page. That’s it. Have a different opinion?

Remember when this show was good? Yeah, I do too. But that memory is fading fast. In the words of an early Turk, “dude, what the hell?!”. If you catch episodes on Comedy Central, you can see that the show really used to be funny and it isn’t just that we’ve all gotten used to it. Scrubs succeeded because it allowed the characters to grow: Turk and Carla got married, Elliot moved into private practice, Dr. Cox is warming to fatherhood, and even Doug finally found a job he doesn’t suck at. But just when we thought J.D. was growing up too, potentially becoming a father himself, he ruins it and proves that all he has left is annoyance. We (the viewers) used to feel bad for him when he was the idealistic newbie; now we just get annoyed that he’s still the same fool but with a new mean streak. Scrubs dealt with the J.D./Elliot relationship early on and we hoped that was done – just some vestiges for a joke here or there. But the way the season ended is maddening. I don’t care if J.D. and Elliot decide to get together or not get together – either way the characters are less likable now which just hurts the series.

Rating: 4 (out of 10)

Set in Victorian London, The Prestige follows the story of two magicians who become bitter rivals. Hugh Jackman plays Angiers, the magician who is better at showmanship and Christian Bale plays Borden, the magician who – umm – is more committed to the life of magic.

I can’t adequately describe the film without revealing some important plot points so I’ll just leave it that the although the audience thinks they may be one step ahead of the characters, it’s usually the opposite. But these tricks don’t feel like cheap thrills for the sake of the audience – after all, the characters are trying to trick each other and they know that as magicians, they need to work hard to successfully trick their rival.

My only complaint with the film is that they used the character of Nikola Tesla, the great inventor of many things that we use still today, including radio, RADAR, and AC electricity. The magicians were working on a way to “transport” themselves instantly from one location to another and Angiers believed that Tesla could actually make it happen. Tesla agrees to make the machine and the machine becomes central to the final act. While Tesla did move to Colorado and conduct electrical experiments, he was working on a device called the “magnifying transmitter”, not a machine to be used by magicians. If Angiers had commissioned a scientist who resembled Tesla but was not named Tesla, I would have no complaint – the fiction would have been complete. But by trying to work in the historical character, it sours the film a little for me. I just can’t help thinking “Tesla couldn’t have invented that kind of machine”.

As the film describes in the opening, there are 3 parts to a magic trick: The Pledge, The Turn, and The Prestige. The last describes the part of the magic trick when the audience goes “oooo” and applauds – the amazing and unexpected outcome. The story of the movie is itself a bit of a trick with the movie’s audience. The Prestige of The Prestige makes the film a great trick!

Rating: 8 (out of 10)

This last and final season of the Sopranos is the same as the previous seasons – good but not as good as the average professional critical analysis. There are individual scenes that are brilliant and there are storylines that are good but there are also some parts that seem to drag a little. The last 4 episodes have been good examples of all of the above.

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