rate the last movie you saw

[John Johnson]

I believe it Paul!

I should add -- though I agree with Michael on the analysis, I would not give MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN a 1 on a 10 scale. Even the worst Bond film is at least a 4

I still find it alot more enjoyable than the Craig Bond films.

[AndyDursin]

RADIO DAYS

10/10

As someone who grew up in the ‘70s and ‘80s, my knowledge of the Golden Age of Radio is virtually non-existent. I recall my dad referring to “The Shadow” a few times, and remember listening to Orson Welles’ “War of the Worlds” broadcast, but it’s an art form I wish I always had more exposure to.

Over the last few years, while scanning the AM radio late at night (once in a while I still check and see what distant signals I can bring in), I came across a station up in Canada that aired old-time radio serials and specials. The sound crackled in and out, but eventually I heard the station’s call letters – 900 CHML up in Hamilton, Ontario, and became acquainted with “Those Old Radio Shows,” which airs nightly from 11pm-1am. Recently I ditched the radio for my cell phone and the essential Tune-In radio app, and every night, usually while walking our dog, I typically check out whatever shows CHML is running: dramas like the “Lux Radio Theater” or “Suspense!”, or comedies like the Great Gildersleeve and Fibber McGee & Molly. These programs manage to function as a time capsule of their time, naturally, but many remain quite entertaining, giving listeners a taste of what once constituted the popular culture of their era.

These shows were the mainstream entertainments of their day, and while what’s popular today may be (and often is) forgotten tomorrow, radio has faded almost completely from view because the medium itself is no longer what it once was. Old movies are, of course, still movies; TV series from decades past still exist in the television medium; but since radio itself isn’t utilized as it once was (mostly used merely as a diversion for drivers inbetween destinations), few people today would have any idea of radio’s pop-culture impact and how ingrained it was in people’s day to day lives...as well as how it connected people – through collective, shared experiences – in a way today’s multi-media onslaught fails to do.

Woody Allen’s RADIO DAY is at once a testament to the medium and a wonderfully vivid childhood reminiscence on the part of its writer-director. It contrasts Woody's youthful days in 1940s Queens with the glamorous celebrities his family would listen to on the radio, moving briskly from one colorful vignette to the next. Throughout, Allen illustrates how vital the radio was in terms of both entertainment programs (“The Masked Avenger” was “The Avengers” of its day) and breaking news stories, which ran the gamut from reports of America’s engagement in WWII to the tragic story of a little girl (based on the true story of Kathy Fiscus) who became trapped in a well and the ultimately unsuccessful attempt at saving her life. And, of course, there’s the music – the big bands, the Latin styled sounds of Carmen Miranda – which underscores the life of Allen’s alter-ego (a young Seth Green), his parents (Michael Tucker, Julie Kavner), and Aunt Bea (Dianne Weist), whose failed romantic entanglements – both funny and sad – comprise a decent portion of the film. The contrasting radio world Allen shows us is great fun, with one thread detailing the rise of a cigarette girl (Mia Farrow) into the posh world of radio celebrities, many of whom are modeled on actual individuals.

It's a warm and nostalgic, gentle and often hilarious effort, starring many Allen regulars (Diane Keaton memorably sings “You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To” in the closing moments), and backed by gorgeous cinematography by Carlo DiPalma and production design by Santo Loquasto. Dick Hyman’s adaptation of many wonderful period songs is also effective, so much so that it’s unfortunate his work didn’t receive more play on the film’s soundtrack album.

“Radio Days” isn’t just a thoroughly entertaining film, but it’s also one of Allen’s best – as well as his most repeatable. Its concise running time moves from one wonderful anecdote to another, eloquently – if only briefly – pausing to recall a world that was fading from view even at the time of its release, as well as the glowing memories of childhood that are universal to us all. It’s just a marvelous, charming and wonderful picture.

Twilight Time’s Blu-Ray of “Radio Days” is culled from a generally good-looking print, presented in a 1080p encode that hasn’t been harmed by obvious digital noise reduction. The clear mono audio is punchy and effective, and the movie’s curious theatrical trailer – voiced entirely by Don Pardo – is included along with a music-and-effects track. Don’t miss this one!

[jkholm]

Andy, this is not a comment on the Allen film but on your opening paragraphs about old radio shows. I had a similar experience growing up as my dad often talked about listening to shows like The Shadow and The Lone Ranger. It piqued my interest and I would scan AM stations to find reruns of old shows. I grew up near Reno and could often get Los Angeles stations. I remember coming across the show Lights Out, which was the basis for one of Bill Cosby's routines.

In the early 80s, NPR often aired radio dramatizations of Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I think that might have been the last time I heard stuff like that on a regular basis.

[Eric Paddon]

Jack Benny got me interested in old radio after I'd first been exposed to repeats of his TV show in the late 70s. There was a company called "Metacom" that was marketing cassette tapes of old radio back in the late 70s and I remember buying all the ones that were on the market then. I gravitated toward the names I was familiar with from TV like Benny, Abbott And Costello and Burns And Allen as opposed to those who never made it in TV. Dramas I tended not to get into other than ultimately Suspense and Dragnet, but today I love present day dramatizations when they still happen.

[Jedbu]

Have loved old-time radio shows ever since I was a little kid and we got a few albums that excerpted some of the great shows. Used to buy cassettes and LPs from Radio Yesteryear (which somewhat morphed into the company Radio Spirits) and even got to meet one of my idols from that time-Norman Corwin, creator of such shows as "On a Note of Triumph" and other dramatizations of historical events and present-day stories. My real love is the news broadcasts from that time-Murrow, Davis, the explosion of the Hindenberg, the war news-all that sound that made you recreate in your mind what was going on-if you have never listened to the complete "Invasion From Mars" radio broadcast that made Orson Welles both notorious and legendary in his early 20's, you really ought to listen: there may be parts that seem quaint today, but some of the sections where Welles and his co-workers really draw you in to what sure must have sounded like martians were invading is still riveting (those parts that recreated the broadcast were the best thing about that TV movie from the late 70's that told the story of that night-THE NIGHT THAT PANICKED AMERICA, many of the legendary stories have turned out not to be true but still fascinating-I like the take on it in RADIO DAYS, as well).

Allen's film is one of his finest for many reasons-it is beautifully made and gorgeous to look at, his casting flawless (I love Josh Mostel's character-"You're listening to a ventriloquist on the radio! How do you know he's not moving his lips?") and his radio shows have a wonderful feeling of authenticity to them: they actually sound like the real things. I also love the subtle parodies, especially the sports one where the announcer tells of the baseball player who kept on playing despite losing what appears to be every limb, and the idea that a superhero would be voiced by Wallace Shawn. The little spot gags are priceless-the opening with the family that is getting robbed but then the robbers answer the phone and win the family the grand prize and their reaction to the arrival of the stuff, the guy running amok with a the cleaver, the snowman, the punishment of the rabbi, the main character's curiosity about what his dad does for a living and both the way he finds out and the reaction, etc. Farrow's character evolves nicely through the film and I love the way they end it-on that Manhattan roof. Lovely film...

There have been many attempts to recreate those days-CBS tried with their "CBS Radio Mystery Theater" back in the 70's, and there were the STAR WARS broadcasts and of course "The Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy" (one of my all-time favorites and with a different story line from the books), but nothing has come close with the exception of Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion" as far as live shows are concerned. I had the thrill of attending a show in Los Angeles years ago and there was the sound effects guy with all his contraptions, the "applause" and "On the Air" signs, Keillor and his cast at podiums with mics and scripts (they actually have unbound scripts and drop the pages when they are done so that the sound of the pages turning is not picked up by the mics-that is the way they did it years ago) and the band at the side of the stage for both on-air music and also during commercial breaks-totally cool.

[Monterey Jack]

-Mars Attacks! (1996): 7.5/10



Finally finished my HD Tim Burton collection by picking this one up on Blu-Ray, one of Burton's more underappreciated efforts (only Planet Of The Apes and Alice In Wonderland are generally rated lower by fans and non-fans alike). To be fair, the first forty minutes or so are pretty lackluster, with Burton's impressive/massive cast given little to do but mug and kill time, but once the barking, excitable ILM Martians touch down and start gleefully irradiating everything in sight, the movie jumps to life, filled with some of Burton's most colorful and surreal imagery (Peter Suschitzky's luminous cinematography is a bath for the eyes, considering the charcoal-grey tones most Burton films have been shot in for the last decade) and a sick-joke prankishness that keeps throwing things at you, from the Martians using the Easter Island statues as bowling pins to Lisa Marie's eerie role as the voluptuously sinuous "Martian Girl". Even had the movie not come out in the wake of the crowd-pleasing, rah-rah blandness of Independence Day, it probably still would have flopped (who releases a ghoulish sci-fi parody filled with black comedy gruesomeness at Christmastime?), but it's worn pretty well over the years, made back before Burton's schtick had curdled into repetitive self-satire. For one of Burton's "bad" movies, I can still sit down and watch it any time for a good giggle. And remember, dark is the suede that mows like...a harvest.

[Jedbu]

Have to give this film a second viewing-when I saw it opening day I felt it went downhill after the runaway burning cows and didn't come alive until Tom Jones sang "It's Not Unusual" with Martian back-up singers.

"ACK-ACK-ACK-ACK-ACK!"

[Eric Paddon]

Have loved old-time radio shows ever since I was a little kid and we got a few albums that excerpted some of the great shows. Used to buy cassettes and LPs from Radio Yesteryear (which somewhat morphed into the company Radio Spirits) and even got to meet one of my idols from that time-Norman Corwin, creator of such shows as "On a Note of Triumph" and other dramatizations of historical events and present-day stories. My real love is the news broadcasts from that time-Murrow, Davis, the explosion of the Hindenberg, the war news-all that sound that made you recreate in your mind what was going on-if you have never listened to the complete "Invasion From Mars" radio broadcast that made Orson Welles both notorious and legendary in his early 20's, you really ought to listen: there may be parts that seem quaint today, but some of the sections where Welles and his co-workers really draw you in to what sure must have sounded like martians were invading is still riveting

Others have tried to do their own version of WOTW since and the best one for me remains Buffalo station WKBW's from 1968 that subtly introduced the broadcast during one of their Top 40 programs and then had their real life news staff do the story with no script and wing it from an outline as if they were covering it for real. The result is the most fantastic adaptation of WOTW in the audio medium I've ever heard (and its available thankfully).

I also love the subtle parodies, especially the sports one where the announcer tells of the baseball player who kept on playing despite losing what appears to be every limb, and the idea that a superhero would be voiced by Wallace Shawn.

In those cases, those were parodies of Bill Stern, who was noted for his exaggerated inspirational tales of athletes, and Bud Collyer, the genial looking man (and later host of "Beat The Clock" and "To Tell The Truth") who was the voice of Superman on radio and in the Fleischer cartoons.

One company that's done an outstanding job with radio in the last two decades has been the Focus On The Family Radio Theatre and while they are religiously oriented in much of their programs, they have always used top professional talent and produced some outstanding adaptations of classic works like "Les Miserables", "Silas Marner", "Billy Budd" (which had Edward Woodward in the cast) in addition to David Suchet as Aslan in the Narnia series. They recently did a multi-hour version of "Oliver Twist" that I still need to listen to as these adaptations have always been a great way to introduce myself to classic literary works I've never had time for and they also have more time to tell the story compared to the old radio programs of the 30s and 40s that would adapt such works.

[mkaroly]

Jack Benny got me interested in old radio after I'd first been exposed to repeats of his TV show in the late 70s. There was a company called "Metacom" that was marketing cassette tapes of old radio back in the late 70s and I remember buying all the ones that were on the market then. I gravitated toward the names I was familiar with from TV like Benny, Abbott And Costello and Burns And Allen as opposed to those who never made it in TV. Dramas I tended not to get into other than ultimately Suspense and Dragnet, but today I love present day dramatizations when they still happen.

Me too! Lol...I love OTR - my favorite programs were Jack Benny's program (which to this day still makes me laugh) and The Shadow. There were others I enjoyed listening to, like Fred Allen, Burns and Allen, Light's Out, Mercury Theater, and Lux Theater, but Benny and The Shadow were tops in my book. While I have nothing against TV, what I liked most about radio is that it forced you to use your imagination, LISTEN, and create your own mental picture of surroundings and situations. There is something uniquely special about OTR that I am glad I enjoy.

Great review Andy - I agree! It is one of his best films and gets more entertaining with repeated viewings.

[mkaroly]

THE SPY WHO LOVED ME - 7/10. I think with this film Roger Moore's Bond found his stride; he was no longer trying to "compete" with Connery's Bond and settled comfortably into his own characterization. And although I prefer the harder-edged Bond, I think the infusion of smarmy charm and humor works really well in this film and the next couple at least. The film has several strengths: the opening stunt sequence (which is breathtaking), a cool spy story, and a villain who rejects money as a motive for his scheming. I think the film flows much better than TMWTGG and even LALD; maybe that had something to do with the necessity of an original story since the filmmakers could not use the book as material. And I think they did a better job with the one-on-one fight scenes between Bond and an enemy than in previous films. Barbara Bach was a bit rigid at times but was overall a good partner for Moore in this film as I liked their chemistry and the score, while a bit dated sonically, was a nice change of pace from Barry's TMWTGG.

There were a couple of things I did not like about - while I praised the humor in the film, it also was something of a detriment: with Bond being so smarmy and "cute" in the film it was difficult for me to buy the serious moment when Bond and Triple X discussed the death of her lover...the scene was necessary but ended up flat to me. Jurgens' Stromberg is a powerful presence as a villain but gets very little time on screen. Jurgens makes the most of his moments but I wanted to see him a bit more than Jaws. Otherwise, TSWLM is a stronger entry into the series than I remembered. For me at least, this film and the next two (MOONRAKER and FYEO) form Moore's "sweet spot" (much like Connery's FRWL, GOLDFINGER, and THUNDERBALL) as Bond.

[Eric Paddon]

While I have nothing against TV, what I liked most about radio is that it forced you to use your imagination, LISTEN, and create your own mental picture of surroundings and situations. There is something uniquely special about OTR that I am glad I enjoy.

That's one reason why for the 50s version of "Dragnet" I prefer the radio version that aired at the same time as the TV shows. Jack Webb as a director was so obsessed with tight close-ups that every time I see one of those episodes I feel like I'm trapped inside a box whereas when the same scripts were done on radio I could envision a widescreen surrounding.

[Eric Paddon]

Bach I think is too rigid. IMO, Moore is great in the scene where he bluntly tells her that yes, he killed her lover, and she is stiff as a board when she says she'll kill him. It doesn't help her either that Caroline Munro totally blows her off the screen presence wise that it makes her quick exit from the film the biggest thing to regret.

The amusing thing is that in a small part in the film is Valerie Leon who would later be in "Never Say Never Again", making her the only woman to be in both a Moore and Connery film!

[Jedbu]

Had not heard of the Buffalo recreation of WOTW, but I will check that out-thank you, Eric. I do remember for the 50th anniversary David Ossman of the Firesign Theater did a recreation for NPR with some major stars taking part, including Jason Robards and Steve Allen, and actual NPR personalities like Douglas Edwards and Scott Simon, as well, and it got a Grammy nomination, to boot.

[Eric Paddon]

[AndyDursin]

Great comments on the old radio shows guys!

I think I've asked this before, but is there a good, general knowledge book about old-time radio, its history, etc. that's recommended?