The 90s TV version IMO is totally unwatchable, and highlights the reasons why I think the film had to make the changes from the Broadway narrative because on-stage the slugging of Birdie is the Act One finale and the entire second act is really extended tedium. I also think the film version was wise to eliminate the subtext of Albert's mother as a racist against Rose and it's also better to have Albert sing "Put On A Happy Face" to Rose instead of a nameless Birdie fan like in the original.

Eric Paddon wrote:The 90s TV version IMO is totally unwatchable, and highlights the reasons why I think the film had to make the changes from the Broadway narrative because on-stage the slugging of Birdie is the Act One finale and the entire second act is really extended tedium. I also think the film version was wise to eliminate the subtext of Albert's mother as a racist against Rose and it's also better to have Albert sing "Put On A Happy Face" to Rose instead of a nameless Birdie fan like in the original.

Exactly. I remember them making a point that the TV version was supposedly more faithful to the show than the movie -- admittedly I actually do like most of the arrangements/musical performances in the TV version (and the cast recording is pretty good), but in terms of its direction, the script and everything else, it's pretty dismal.

My only exposure to Bye Bye Birdie was that episode of Mad Men where Don Draper and company had to create a commercial that was a shot-for-shot recreation of the title sequence.

JACK REACHER
6/10

Exceedingly well-shot, would-be franchise-starter for star/producer Tom Cruise is a disappointingly downbeat affair that takes a long time to unravel a mystery that’s not particularly compelling.

Cruise plays Jack Reacher, the former military cop hero of Lee Child’s bestselling books. While traveling the country as a "ghost", Reacher is called into Pittsburgh by a former squadmade – a troubled assassin wanted for the shooting deaths of a handful of innocent victims along the city’s River Walk. The District Attorney’s daughter (Rosamund Pike) has the unenviable task of defending him, but Reacher, of course, finds out his participation in the killings is tied to a cover up and a larger conspiracy.

Christopher McQuarrie wrote and directed “Jack Reacher,” which is notably distinguished by outstanding cinematography from Caleb Deschanel. The movie looks natural, crisp, and detailed – the transfer here on Paramount’s Blu-Ray is likewise outstanding, with Deschanel capturing the essence of the city and the film’s characters without excessive use of filters or shaky-cam. McQuarrie as well ought to be lauded for a film that, despite its excessive running time, is refreshingly direct and old-fashioned in its editorial rhythms and overall approach – the issue is that the story, sadly, goes nowhere. Outside of a well-executed car chase, most of “Jack Reacher” is spent on our protagonist tracking down leads and getting to the bottom of a mystery that’s decidedly depressing and uninvolving. Ultimately we get to the real bad guys – including a Russian mobster played by Werner Herzog, of all people – and the film collapses further into a bland battle of fists (not so much wits) between Reacher and the thugs.

Though many derided Cruise’s participation here as he doesn’t physically resemble the Jack Reacher of Child’s books, the star is suitably brooding and “tough”. The rest of the performances aren’t especially effective, however, with Pike straining to believably convey her justice-minded attorney and failing to ignite chemistry with either Reacher or her District Attorney father (Richard Jenkins). Robert Duvall does manage to inject some life into the latter stages as an old military vet who helps Cruise, but this reunion between the “Days of Thunder” castmates ultimately provides only so much energy. McQuarrie, meanwhile, also struggles with a tone that’s almost unflinchingly “down,” injecting brief doses of humor in a film that could’ve used more of it – or at least something to shake up the one-note story.

Oblivion (2013): 7/10

Not since The Island has a sci-fi movie, ahem, "appropriated" ideas from its cinematic ancestors quite so brazenly. That said, unlike Michael Bay, at least Joseph Kozinski knows how to let a movie breathe, and he creates some truly stunning visuals. The plot is pretty thin once you stop trying to list all of the 70's and 80's movies this cribs ideas from, but I'll take a movie paced more like a 70's or 80's sci-fi movie any day of the week, and it's nice to see a movie in the Bay'splosions era that takes time to explore character and theme instead of just using the premise as a clotheline to hang nonstop action sequences on. It's even modestly affecting by the end. No classic, but it's a definite step up from Tron: Legacy. Decent score, too...it doesn't reach the heights of the Daft Punk score from T:L, but it's a step better than the usual Zimmer garbage.

STAR TREK-THE NEXT GENERATION: THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS, Parts 1 & 2 8/10

Attended the Fathom digital screening of this tonight in advance of its release on Blu-Ray next Tuesday. I had not been a follower of the series but a close friend never missed it. She told me of how she (and many others) had suffered through the summer between the end of Season 3 and the beginning of Season 4 with Captain Picard a captive of the Borg and Commander Ryker ordering the Enterprise to fire on the Borg warship. She has the first 2 seasons on Blu-Ray and they are gorgeous, so we were looking forward to seeing this on the big screen with great sound. Before the episodes was a look back at the making by cast members and surviving crew and afterwards was a Season 3 blooper reel and a preview of Season 4.

This episode was beautifully done-the suspense leading up to the end of pt. 1 was quite compelling (the two episodes were edited together well enough that if I did not know it was a two-parter I never would have guessed it. A rival for Ryker's job-Lt. Shelby (Elizabeth Dennehy-daughter of Brian Dennehy)-is the Federation's expert on the Borg and has been assigned to the Enterprise to assist Picard and his crew in fighting the creatures. The rivalry between Ryker and Shelby intensifies when Picard learns that Ryker is up for his own command and Shelby tells the commander she wants his job. The Borg are heading towards Earth and in a confrontation with them Picard is captured and begins to be assimilated into their collective. Ryker-now appointed captain-gives the order to fire on the Borg vessel knowing Picard is there, but the Enterprise does not have enough power to do the job. The Borg ship continues to Earth, the fleet is decimated in trying to stop them, and Ryker and his crew who have managed to capture Picard/Locutus must try to use him and his connection to the Borg to stop them before they decimate the Earth.

Even Wil Wheaton has a few good lines but for me the two characters who really shone were Ryker and Data, the latter of which comes up with a way to not only get through to Picard/Locutus but trick the Borg through P/L, as well. The remastered visual effects continue to dazzle (the comparison between the old and the new in the doc is quite striking) and the lighting for the show serves it well watching it in a theatrical setting (although I think my home theater system has better sound).

Interested as to how this will look on Blu, and to compare the actual episode vs. the recut. I am really becoming hooked on this series, and I hope that Paramount/CBS is also giving consideration to STAR TREK: VOYAGER being remastered for Blu-Ray, along with ENTERPRISE.

ENTERPRISE Season 1 was just released Jeff

DEEP SPACE NINE would probably hit faster than VOYAGER, though I'm guessing both of them would need to be remastered a la TNG (Enterprise was the first Trek shot/formatted for HD so everything was already there). The problem is whether or not DS9 and VOYAGER would sell enough to spend the kind of money and restorative work that CBS put into the TNG HD versions. And, beyond that, how TNG itself sells would probably indicate if there's enough of an audience out there for them to take the time to remaster those other Trek series or not.

Either way, we're probably looking at a long time (if at all) before you see those other shows make the transition to HD.

Jedbu wrote:STAR TREK-THE NEXT GENERATION: THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS, Parts 1 & 2 8/10

I honestly feel "The Best of Both Worlds" is a stronger production, at least in terms of writing and acting, than any of the TNG feature films. There's a palpable atmosphere of doom hanging over much of this episode, whose dramatic intensity only increases with the (very unexpected) abduction and "borgification" of Captain Picard. Ron Jones' score for this episode is also without a doubt the best of the entire series.

Jones talks about scoring the episode on the doc. His recollection of how to write a theme for binary code is rather amusing.

I probably missed including a word or two, Andy. What I meant to say was that, like ENTERPRISE, I would like to see VOYAGER out on Blu-Ray.

Their Star Trek nights always fall on a weeknight, which is never practical for me. Plus, the local cinema that puts on the Fathom event is a bit of dump.

COCKTAIL
4/10

I confess I've never made it all the way to the end of this 1988 Tom Cruise hit before (or if I had, I don't recall it) -- and for about 45 minutes, I could easily see why "Cocktail" bucked the ire of critics and was a summer-time smash: between Cruise's charisma, a typically pop-tune laden Touchstone Pictures soundtrack, the movie's freewheeling "80s plot" of a young upstart making his way up the ladder of NYC's social circuit, and then a nice location switch to Jamaica, "Cocktail" has all the earmarks of simple, escapist fun.

Unfortunately, right at the midway point, the movie collapses and turns into a hoary old melodrama that feels more in step with the '30s than the '80s -- Cruise meeting and falling for an NYC artist (Elisabeth Shue) harboring a secret, then reuniting with troubled bartender mentor Bryan Brown, cheating on Shue, returning to NYC...only to find out she's pregnant. There's more -- and it's all terrible, starting with the script falling into a number of laughably bad scenes (especially when Cruise gets chewed out by his "cougar" girlfriend and decks an artist at a posh gallery) and cringe-inducing lines of dialogue (Cruise explaining to Shue why he left her on the beach in Jamaica). Worst of all is Cruise's climactic "confrontation" with Shue's rich-snob father (Sybok himself, Laurence Luckinbill) that almost comes off like a parody of itself.

True, the movie does have a post-"Adventures in Babysitting" Shue who's undeniably appealing, but it's easy to see why "Cocktail" made so many "Worst Of 1988" critical lists. This is a film that entirely coasts along on Cruise's post-"Top Gun" popularity, to the extent where it's the only thing that explains its otherwise inexplicable box-office performance.

Oblivion

Derivative, but a generally attention-holding sci-fi thriller. The script consists mostly of elements cherry-picked from The Road Warrior, Beneath The Planet of the Apes, Independence Day, I Am Legend, Stargate and a few other movies. As such Oblivion doesn't seem like anything special at the outset, but it manages to repackage these elements in a fairly compelling way, and improves as the film progesses (even throwing-in an interesting twist about 3/4 into the film).

Cruise turns-in a good, solid performance, as does Morgan Freeman (though casting Freeman as a "wise father figure" has become something of a cliche). Visual effects are unerringly convincing, but again they aren't anything really new (the look of the ship chases is very reminiscent of the effects work in Phantom Menace, particularly the pod race). Art direction and costumes are a bit implausible -- Cruise and Andrea Riseborough are technicians assigned to Earth to repair robot "drones" that patrol the planet, but occupy an implausibly chic living quarters complete with a swimming pool. Riseborough also carries out her daily duties in a dress and high heels.

The score is awful, the work of M83, and consists mostly of broad chords and techno effects, but little or no melody. Poor even by today's standards.

An American Tail (1986): 7.5/10

Saw this at a yard sale for three bucks today, and decided for a wallow in childhood nostalgia. Don Bluth's charming animated feature still holds up very well (and it's phenomenal for the mid 80's success helped give just the right kick in the ass to Disney to start making better movies, leading to the 90's animation renaissance), with gorgeously fluid animation, fine voice work and a beautiful James Horner score (although only the pop standard "Somewhere Out There" really stands out amidst the fairly generic songs). Ten demerits, however, for the awful new 5.1 sound mix created for the DVD, which not only adds a number of completely uneccesary new sound effects, but even adds numerous background voices that are constantly filling in any quiet moments in the film, often robbing scenes of neccesary emotion (and covering up Horner cues that were left to provide said emotion). There's even a scene where a couple of supporting characters voiced by children in the original soundtrack have been badly dubbed over by adult actors (and slightly rewritten) for no discernable reason! It's every bit as distracting as that lousy 5.1 remix for The Terminator, although at least with that film, the DVD offered the original mono soundtrack as an option, whereas the American Tail DVD only offers the 5.1 track in Dolby Digital and DTS flavors. If the film ever hits Blu-Ray, I hope they offer the original soundtrack as an option.

Monterey Jack wrote:An American Tail (1986): 7.5/10

Saw this at a yard sale for three bucks today, and decided for a wallow in childhood nostalgia.

I never never saw this film -- but came close. I hope he doesn't mind my telling this story, but back when it was released, Mike Rhonemus and I had just come out of Three Amigos, and he cajoled me into going to see An American Tail right afterward (since the multiplex showing American Tail was less than a mile from the the theater we had just been to).

Unfortunately there had been a lot of freezing rain over the past couple of hours and Mike skidded right into the curb at the mall entrance and blew-out both front tires!

So we never did make it to An American Tail.

Paul MacLean wrote:I never never saw this film -- but came close. I hope he doesn't mind my telling this story, but back when it was released, Mike Rhonemus and I had just come out of Three Amigos, and he cajoled me into going to see An American Tail right afterward (since the multiplex showing American Tail was less than a mile from the the theater we had just been to).

Unfortunately there had been a lot of freezing rain over the past couple of hours and Mike skidded right into the curb at the mall entrance and blew-out both front tires!

So we never did make it to An American Tail.

Yikes! Glad you two made it out okay.

Anyways, An American Tail holds up as a superior piece of family entertainment, so it's a shame that the audio track on the DVD is so fudged up. One of my biggest pet peeves is gimmicky 5.1 remixes of 70's and 80's films originally recorded in mono or basic 2.0 stereo...it's every bit as bad as "updating" the visual effects with CGI, doubly so if there's no option for listening to the original soundtrack.