Eric Paddon wrote: ↑Fri Jul 31, 2020 6:09 pmShadowlands (1985-BBC) 10 of 10
Ackland and Bloom nail the parts of C.S. Lewis and Joy Davidman perfectly and unlike the 93 film, historical accuracy (Joy is properly shown with two sons) and more importantly the *meaning* of their relationship isn't tossed aside.
Agreed. I do admit I was impressed with the "spectacle" of the Attenborough version (and absolutely love George Fenton's score), but Attenborough was clearly trying to downplay the faith aspect of Nicholson's play -- and thus Lewis' fundamental identity.
As you say, the BBC Shadowlands is about a relationship that is birthed in a mutually-shared faith, and how Lewis draws closer to God after that relationship is cut short.
The 1993 version is about a stodgy old fart whose "meaningless" life is turned upside down by a vivacious, emancipated American woman -- who puts those sexist Oxford dons in their place, and teaches Lewis "the true meaning of life". I also felt Winger was a bit miscast (her accent is inconsistent throughout the film too).
Alan Keyes' once observed "Without faith, there is merely a faith-shaped void" -- and that pretty-much sums-up the Attenborough film.
Another critically acclaimed crowd-pleaser I never got around to seeing until now. Stephen Herek's Capra-esque drama has moments that are genuinely touching and inspiring, yet as many moments that are contrived, and even maudlin. The performances are impeccable, Richard Dreyfus in particular (who convincingly ages from age 30 to 60 throughout the duration of the picture).
I'm personally inclined to be a little nit-picky towards this movie, as I myself was in high school band, jazz band and orchestra -- and didn't see a whole lot of my experience reflected in the film. At the outset of the story, the school orchestra can't play to save their lives. Skill levels vary among students of course -- some of my friends were frankly lousy players, while my friend Sophie Pao could play the cello at a professional level (at age 16!). Despite their shaky start (and uneven talent), Mr, Holland has the school orchestra sounding like a world-class symphony by graduation time -- and even manages to get a group of 40 teenagers to sound like much-larger ensemble as well. Astounding!
The whole sub-plot of Mr. Holland's son turning out to be deaf never achieves the level of "tragic irony" it is trying to evoke, but instead comes across as a little contrived. Still, the interactions between father and son however always ring true. The film is very "on-the-nose" politically, addressing the tumult of the 1960s (one of Mr. Holland's students -- of course -- winds-up getting killed in Vietnam), while a scene where budget cuts threaten to cancel the school musical are set right after Reagan assumes the presidency. Visually the film is rather uninteresting, with bland photography and indifferent art direction.
Michael Kamen's score is without a doubt the film's greatest asset, and one of his finest efforts. Ironically there is not a great deal of "dramatic underscore", but Kamen's themes are among his most inspired, and "An American Symphony" is outstanding (though I admit I could have done without the electric guitars). It is clear this film meant a lot to the composer (who went on to help create the Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation to support music education).
In all, a watchable but uneven picture. I would recommend Kamen's soundtrack over the actual film itself.
=Because the second greatest Titanic film ever made "SOS Titanic" is going to be released on Blu-Ray in October and *with* it's original TV cut included, I've decided to start cleaning up on getting the other Titanic productions that have been done on Blu-Ray. The 2012 miniseries I never saw before. The 1996 CBS miniseries I had bad memories of that were further compounded by Cameron a year later.
=It's amazing how "A Night To Remember" and "SOS Titanic" were done so brilliantly yet *every* dramatization of note since then has been done so badly (I'll put in a good word though for the 1997 Broadway musical, which I loved and saw four times). The other two productions proved how *simple* it is to give us a compelling and *accurate* through-line. Only the 1953 "Titanic" ever resorted to a fictional run-through that succeeded but that was because it had the strength of old Hollywood production values and outstanding performances.
=I'll start with the 2012 miniseries which was a new experience. We get a four part series done in the style of "Lost" in that we have multiple plotlines, all involving fictional characters from different classes, but the idea is Parts 1-3 all take us up to the sinking so that in each of the first three parts, some plotline will be "repeated" again from a different angle in the "Lost" fashion. This could have been an effective conceit if the miniseries were about the real people of Titanic and if accuracy were shown. But accuracy we get NONE of. Just a number of mind-numbingly bad fictional plots with the usual cliched potboilers of the haughty First class family, and then like Winslet in Cameron's film we get the rebellious against her class daughter (who is given a romance with a very *real* Titanic victim, Harry Widener that comes off as exploitation). Second-class comes in the form of the lapdog employee of the English lord who is the henpecked husband with the shrewish complaining wife. Steerage we get a howler of a bit involving a European radical wanted for police killings that in a flashback we see Winston Churchill personally investigating! And then he runs into another steerage passenger who BTW just *happens* to be a former policeman who recognizes him....
=The thing that's worse is that almost every piece of REAL Titanic history that our crazy group of misfits are thrust into is told *inaccurately*. Cameron I grant did a much better job in that department in a number of scenes at least. If I tried to rattle off what they did wrong it would take five posts, so I won't bother. Anyway, after these multiple angle replays of Parts 1-3 that take us up into the sinking but before the final plunge, Part 4 is where we see who lives and who dies and by this point if you really care about these people, you're a better man than I.
=The poorness of this production made me automatically think that when I popped in the 1996 CBS miniseries for the first time in probably 15-20 years (since I got it on DVD) it would come off better. And it did but only for that minute difference between 2 and 3 of 10. The CBS miniseries has a haunting theme by Lennie Niehaus and it has some veteran actors. George C. Scott is Captain Smith and Roger Rees as White Star owner Bruce Ismay. Incredibly though, this production does NOT depict one of the most famous people in Titanic lore, builder Thomas Andrews. This was not the fault of the original teleplay writer Ross LaManna. His teleplay was originally more accurate but then got poorly rewritten in spots (though LaManna is to blame for some inaccuracies that seemed to originate with the 1943 German propaganda movie about the Titanic). There is one haunting real-life story dramatized for the first time regarding the Allison family which is what elevates the film above the miniseries. But the final story gives us two other bad fictional storylines, one involving Catherine Zeta-Jones (before her big-screen stardom) and her ex-lover Peter Gallagher hooking up again even though she's married now and has a daughter. Then we have Tim Curry as a demonic steward from hell who manipulates a stowaway thief into doing his bidding to loot the passengers and when the thief develops an attraction to a shy steerage woman traveling with a family, Steward Curry then in a groteseque scene that I remember had EVERY Titanic buff back then outraged, rapes her. This scene is why the film carries a PG-13 rating. Eva Marie Saint meanwhile embarrasses herself as a first class snob who cares more about getting her dog off the ship safely and who spouts every cliched platitude after being rescued ("I've lost all my jewels, I'm a fright!") while others are shell-shocked from the death. Marilu Henner meanwhile plays Molly Brown as if she's auditioning for the Broadway musical than giving us the real person (who was not that svelte and was indeed more like Kathy Bates physically)
=The Blu Ray presentation at least fixes one error from the old DVD release by presenting things in its original two-part presentation and restoring the end credits to Part 1 and the opening credits to Part 2. The old DVD release lopped off both. It's better to have a version in a Titanic collection that is done properly.
Nice writeup, Eric! Growing up I was a huge Titanic fan (somewhere in the basement are tons of backissues of The Titanic Communicator, the magazine from the historical society). I somehow never saw either of these miniseries. Doesn't seem like I missed much!
I do enjoy S.O.S. Titanic. I remember taping Howard Blake's theme music onto a cassette. TBS used to show the extended version a lot in the 1980s, but I haven't seen it since. I didn't know a blu-ray was coming out- looking forward to that!
After skipping Temple of Doom (too scary for an 8 yr old), I took my son to see Last Crusade at Alamo Drafthouse. He liked it more than Raiders of the Lost Ark. I can see why- Last Crusade is definately more family friendly...but that isn't always a bad thing. I love each of the Indy films, as they are all very different. Raiders is a serious, hard hitting action movie. Temple of Doom is a scary thrill ride. Last Crusade is a family adventure (this was the 1st Indy movie I ever saw...my parents rented it on vhs from Giant Eagle) It has lots of funny lines, Sean Connery is great as Indy's dad, Allison Doody is (to me) the most beautiful of all the love interests, and tons of memorable action set pieces...the circus train, the storm tossed boat, the venice catacombs, the boat chase, the castle fire, the motorcycle chase, the tank battle, and the 3 trials of the Grail. My son was terrified of the 3 trials...even though I told him they weren't that scary, but the combination of the giant movie screen, spooky sound FX and Williams' score had him looking through his fingers for the last section of the movie.
Special shout out to Williams' score...one of his best. Even the minor villain from the opening sequence gets his own theme, and the father/son music is very touching.
If only they had kept Indy and his pals riding into the sunset as the final image of Indy.......
Last edited by BobaMike on Sun Aug 02, 2020 10:42 am, edited 1 time in total.
BobaMike wrote: ↑Sun Aug 02, 2020 10:18 am
I do enjoy S.O.S. Titanic. I remember taping Howard Blake's theme music onto a cassette. TBS used to show the extended version a lot in the 1980s, but I haven't seen it since. I didn't know a blu-ray was coming out- looking forward to that!
Yes, it' s a Kino Lorber release scheduled for mid-October. Originally they were going to just release the worthless overseas theatrical cut, but by a happy late turn of events finally secured rights to the original telecast version (apparently Disney controls the rights to that while the theatrical cut was owned by another entity) and they delayed the release seven months to get that put together. The theatrical cut will have a commentary track because that was done before they knew they'd get hold of the version people *really* want. I saw it when it first aired in 1979 at age 10 and have a 1987 TBS recording that I've never been able to transfer properly to DVD so it will be nice to retire that!
Rewatched this ridiculous Peter Hyams WWII turkey over the weekend in an HD transfer on Vudu. As I recalled from my original review of the DVD back in 2001 (https://www.filmscoremonthly.com/daily/ ... isle-Seat/), the second half of this -- with Harrison Ford stuck behind enemy lines with the husband (Christopher Plummer) of the woman (Lesley-Anne Down) he's had an affair with -- is markedly more watchable than the first hour, when we're saddled with the dreadful love story between Ford and Down, who I found quite boring (come to think of it, she's usually boring). Hyams gets the look and the "mood" of a big melodramatic WWII love story right, and the ending somehow manages to strike a bit of an emotional chord despite its flaws, but the film is so absurdly written and staged that it's a step away from outright parody throughout. Hyams also punctuates the film with laugh-out loud dialogue ("you're the kind of brave man who saves someone drowning, I'm the kind of guy who stands on the beach and applauds" or whatever lol) that sounds like something that might've been witty on paper but is utterly unconvincing on-screen.
Meanwhile, the score by John Barry is gorgeous for 3 minutes -- then goes into repeat for nearly the entire duration of the film, recycling the main theme over and over and over and over again. It sticks in your head for days afterwards -- but not in a good way.
AndyDursin wrote: ↑Mon Aug 03, 2020 11:33 am
Meanwhile, the score by John Barry is gorgeous for 3 minutes -- then goes into repeat for nearly the entire duration of the film, recycling the main theme over and over and over and over again. It sticks in your head for days afterwards -- but not in a good way.
I feel this way about most of Barry's "romantic" scores...there's a great half-hour LP program in all of them, but when they get expanded to complete form, they're INSANELY repetitive to an almost OCD level. Hanover Street has a gorgeous main theme, but by the 45 minute mark of the CD, you find yourself wishing you'd never hear it again.
As for the film, it's logy, passionless and a chore to get through, but it certainly looks great, and Barry's theme -- before it wears out its welcome -- is beautiful. Harrison Ford's never been particularly convincing in really earnest, swoony romantic roles, he's always at his best when there's a testy snap with his leading ladies, like Carrie Fisher in the first two Star Wars movies, or Karen Allen in Raiders Of The Lost Ark.
I adore most Barry "romantic scores" but this one, I'm good after just 4 minutes of hearing the theme lol. I got rid of the album years ago.
And it's not like he even did a lot of VARIATIONS on the theme -- it's mostly just the same arrangement, over and over again, many times in full. Other scores in this genre he may have written a central theme and repeated it, but at least he varied the usage. That's not the case here.
I don't know what was in the water in '79 (especially because MOONRAKER turned out great) but I find HANOVER STREET and THE BLACK HOLE two of the most repetitious scores he ever wrote. At least THE BLACK HOLE has a nice ending but those scores are extremely repetitious in an almost obnoxious manner. I can't stand the synthesizer motif in the latter, prevents me from wanting to listen to the album (which I respect but don't listen to, or else I'll have it stuck in my brain for days. Oh god no, it's back again!! LOL)
As for the film, it's logy, passionless and a chore to get through, but it certainly looks great, and Barry's theme -- before it wears out its welcome -- is beautiful. Harrison Ford's never been particularly convincing in really earnest, swoony romantic roles, he's always at his best when there's a testy snap with his leading ladies, like Carrie Fisher in the first two Star Wars movies, or Karen Allen in Raiders Of The Lost Ark.
Yeah and there's nothing there with Lesley-Anne Down, regrettably. She has zero charisma.
But it IS watchable, even as it threatens to cross into purely comedic territory -- which adds to its "so bad it's almost good" appeal too.
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen was one of my absolute favorite movies back in the day -- a kaleidoscopic journey of fantastical imagination and inventive visuals, and (for me) one of the best fantasy films ever made. Revisiting the movie however, I was disappointed to find it bereft of nearly all the charm it once held, and I couldn't even muster any feelings of nostalgia for it.
The script (inspired by the Baron Munchausen fairy tales from Germany), explores the same territory as Time Bandits -- i.e. a naive youth is swept into a journey through amazing, bizarre and wonderful worlds. It would all seem to be a recipe for a classic movie -- but it doesn't really come off.
The problem is, for all of Terry Gilliam's visual imagination, the narrative itself isn't especially imaginative. We travel to Turkey, to the moon, to the bowels of Mt. Vesuvius, and into a huge fish and finally to a big battle at the film's climax. But nothing much of interest happens in any of these places. The film is honestly rather tedious at times, and overall moves slowly. Gilliam never really was one of Monty Python's best writers (he mostly just did animations) and he probably should have collaborated with Michael Palin on the screenplay for this movie (as he had on Time Bandits -- which remains one of Gilliam's best pictures).
Robin Williams (uncredited for some reason) is funny as the Moon King (I'd bet his lines were mostly improvised), but the rest of the humor falls flat. Fellow Python alumnus Eric Idle is there for "comic relief", but saddled with unfunny material. The film depicts Vulcan bargaining with his minions like an employer negotiating with union representatives, while Venus later excoriates Vulcan as "petty borgias" -- as if mythical deities spouting anachronistic political discourse is somehow funny and clever (it only comes off as pretentious).
Casting is a problem too. John Neville (as the Baron) is perfectly adequate, but this role required a lead with more gravitas -- the like of Peter O'Toole, Richard Harris, or Sean Connery (who actually was supposed to be in the film originally -- but in role of the Moon King). Ironically, little Sarah Polley (as the protagonist Sally) is by-far the best performer (and character) in the film. Oliver Reed is perfectly cast in the role of Vulcan, but the appearance by Sting has to rank second only to Ted Danson in Saving Private Ryan as the most pointless and distracting cameo of all time.
Baron Munchausen himself is not a well-developed or likable character either. He inspires the imagination of Sally, who at first is the only person who believes in him. He vows to save the town, but in later scenes, he is dislikably self-indulgent, distracted and has bouts of depression and apathy -- requiring Sally to remind him of who he is and what he's promised to do.
Gilliam thankfully refrains from slapping the viewer with another downbeat ending (which he seems to delight in) yet at the same time, the finale remains unsatisfying. So, the Baron's not really dead (yay!), but, it was just a wild tale he was telling the whole time (which is a bit of a disappointment). But if it was just a fantastic story, why are the Turks suddenly gone at the end?
Michael Kamen's score is by-far the single strongest element (and his "Munchausen waltz" one of the most gorgeous things he ever created). Ironically, this was a score Kamen was not especially proud of -- he felt it interfered with (rather then enhanced) the picture. I personally disagree, as his music goes a long way in making this film watchable.
It's always a disappointment to revisit an "old favorite", only to find it is hasn't aged well. Perhaps when I first saw The Adventures of Baron Munchausen it seemed a refreshing contrast to the "Amblin'" brand of fantasy which had so dominated the 1980s (which I was sick of by 1989).
I do think Terry Gilliam is a great director. I just don't think he is a great writer. I find his strongest movies tend to be those written by others (the Fisher King most notably). But it seems, generally-speaking, he does not want to make "others peoples' movies" and that is a shame -- especially when you consider he turned-down the offer to direct The Princess Bride to make The Adventures of Baron Munchausen!
That's exactly the sentiment I had when I watched it last Paul, though it was never a favorite of mine in the first place. The Williams cameo goes on forever. Neville's casting robs the film's most important role of star power. The comedy is hit and miss, the spectacle is grand, but the whole thing is so self-indulgent, you can tell why it was really the last time a studio would entrust him with a major budget again. I agree Kamen's score is inspired, even if it's kind of a very weird album.
Gilliam was a clearly talented person whose ego outweighed his actual artistic ability -- I think his cinematic instincts in terms of projects were often wrong, and studios indulged him too often in the '80s, back in an era in which they would do that for directors coming off one or two hits. He showed in the '90s he could hold together a moderately budgeted, more character driven film that was written by others, but then decided he didn't want to stay in the system and make, say, another FISHER KING or 12 MONKEYS. So he went off and made another string of self-indulgent, increasingly poor movies to lowered budgets, diminished expectations and negligible audience interest.
It's too bad, because had he been able to "play ball" more collaboratively, he could've had a long and fruitful career -- and not the extremely spotty track record he ended up with, one that ended up in a seriously downward trajectory.
I also feel the same way about Baron Munchausen....great looking film (especially Uma Thurman!), but it drags in spots, and I always want it to be more fun than it is.
I do love Kamen's score, and completely agree about the waltz- the most beautiful thing he ever wrote.
Eric Paddon wrote: ↑Mon Dec 30, 2019 12:00 pmI'll have to make due with the DVD releases of "Lost World" and "Five Weeks In A Balloon" if we never get a Blu-Ray. The one annoying thing about "Balloon" is it's one of those older releases with widescreen on one side and full-screen on the other and that means I can't put the disc in a storage album! (I never put double sided discs in an album)
Just a heads-up -- this UK region-free Blu-Ray is extremely affordable (it's on the USA site but is over $20 and is erroneously tagged as an Italian import). You may be able to find it on Ebay also.
Andy, have to bump this up again because I decided to order it but when it arrived today it would not play back on either of my Blu-Ray machines. All it does is play the "Warning" screen for seven seconds and then it shuts down. Rendering it absolutely useless.
Shame on TT for not doing this title and giving us all those inferior Fox titles instead.
