Jon Bon Jovi - Destination Anywhere - The Film (1997) Review

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(More customer reviews)Destination Anywhere, which as a matter of fact is also a full-length LP by the artist Jon Bon Jovi. Get's transfered from the concept of the album to the big screen. The idea behind this film, which works like a long music video is the fact that Jon and his wife, are in mourning over their child who was killed in an accident. As a result, both characters lives are full of confusion, despair and heartache. Jon seems like a lost soul in this film, he still hasn't gotten over the death of his child. As a result he enters a world of depression. His wife, played by Demi Moore is equally as frustrated and confused as Jon. The movie shows their pain and how they are still trying to cope with the loss. I was surprised at just how touching this film was, I was a little teary eyed when it was over. I felt for all the characters, all the characters seemed real to me. Not bad I say for a small little film like this. This film shows the world that Jon Bon Jovi is indeed a great actor, and a multi-talented entertainer. Demi Moore almost steals the show, when on screen she sucks you in with her beauty and her emotions. This is a must see for fans of both actors, especially Bon Jovi fans. I find that this film gives new meaning to Jon's solo LP, Destination Anywhere. I now appreciate it more and understand it better thanks to this film. While a little on the depressing side, Destination Anywhere still manages to be engaging and worthwhile on the strengths of it's focused stars. Also stars Kevin Bacon, Annabella Sciorria, Whoopie Goldberg.

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Like It Is (1998) Review

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(More customer reviews)Much better than expected, it was. Steve Bell turned in a terrific performance as the bare-knuckle street fighter who tries to turn is life around for the better once he meets an openly gay music producer (handsome Ian Rose). It amazes me when straight actors give such top-notch performances as gay characters (Get Real, Beautiful Thing, ect) and Bell's performance is right up there. I was expecting a two-second cameo by Roger Daltrey, however, he plays a strong role in the film as the aging, rich bitchy queen of yore - he was excellent and had few zingers in his scenes. Theme wise, this film is optimistic and engaging. There's a subplot involving the creation of a '90's boy band that is just too precious - they can't dance, who knows if they can really sing and their music is very Euro-disco and teeny-bopper oriented. The lead singer of this group comes between Bell and Rose at one point in the story - could you imagine the British tabloid press getting a hold of that factoid? Director Paul Oremland gives us a film as earnest and romantic as he intends to give (the character of fighter Bell was inspired by his own experience as he explains in the DVD's featurette) and I look forward to his next projects. As for the DVD: the picture is letterboxed to 1.66:1. The video is much crisper and clearer than I was expecting - it looks very good. The sound is clean and audible. Music sequences give quite a punch and there is no background hiss to be heard. Colors are stable and natural, but I really liked the scenes in the nightclubs which were fairly vibrant without "bleeding" or "smearing". There is also an original trailer that is incorporated into the informative featurette. I especially liked the ending of the film which wisely avoids the Hollywood-ish all's well that ends well bug. Overall, recommended but try to get the DVD version of this film - the quality is pretty darn good.

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Director Paul Oremland's witty, fast-paced love takes us into the gay nightclubs and pop music scenes of London where Matt (Ian Rose), a young, ultra-cool record producer visiting Blackpool, meets Craig (Steve Bell), a young northern lad who makes money from illegal bare-knuckle fights and is struggling with his sexual identity. The two have a brief and clumsy sexual encounter that becomes a liaison which changes both of their lives. As they try to form a lasting relationship amongst all the pretense of London nightlife, Matt's bitchy boss Kelvin (Roger Daltrey), and his flatmate and biggest star, Paula (Dani Behr), try their best to keep them from living happily every after. LIKE IT IS takes a candid look at "Cool Britannia"--London's cutting-edge club culture--with exuberance, and offers an enjoyable and positive look of gay life rarely seen in films. In 1998, LIKE IT IS played to sold out festival crowds, rave reviews and smash openings in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Miami and other US cities. "Studded with good performances" (The Advocate) by actors Ian Rose and Steve Bell--who has been called "an amazing talent--clearly gorgeous, with marvelously expressive eyes, a chiseled body, powerful charisma" (Bay Area Reporter)-- and the legendary Roger Daltrey of The Who who is "appealingly devilish" (NY Times), as well as British pop star Dani Behr as pouty, spoiled diva.

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Instrument - Ten Years with the Band Fugazi (2001) Review

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(More customer reviews)Well, I know I've been curious. I've wanted to look behind the Fugazi curtain to hear and see what goes on when the band writes, tours and records. Fugazi's new Instrument video and soundtrack CD provide an all-access pass to the inner workings of one of today's premier bands.
I ordered both from Dischord and watched the video (a few times, I'm not ashamed to admit) before listening to the soundtrack CD, and I think that's the way to do it. The documentary, shot nonstop by Jem Cohen on tours, in the studio and at rehearsals, shows the members of Fugazi doing what they do best: making music and going to all of the places it takes them. There are several laugh out loud parts -- a well-meaning fan who incorrectly recalls Ian's days in Black Flag, while mispronouncing his name, Guy plotting the death of a Hollywood legend, Joe's futile attempt to tell everyone about his Iggy Pop dream, Brendan rigging a motel showerhead with Dial soap, a slick MuchMusic correspondent who enthusiastically mangles their lyrics...It's a feel-good flicka that leaves me wishing that Guy had a dance studio I could sign up for.
The Instrument soundtrack includes demos of songs that haven't evolved into regular album tracks and raw working 'drafts' of now-familiar songs, some of which are included in the documentary's music bed. A dream come true for any Fugazi fan.

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Joni Mitchell - Woman of Heart and Mind: A Life Story (2003) Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a sensitive and beautifully made documentary that I recommend highly.
Joni is one of my favorite musicians. I have been listening to her on a regular basis for over 30 years. As a result, my expectations for this kind of film were high, and overall I was pleased with what I saw.
By far the most appealling part of this documentatary is the wonderful archival footage of a young Joni doing a number of her great early songs. This material simply shimmers with an almost other worldly glow. The retelling of the writing of her song Woodstock all but had me in tears, it was so moving and evocative.
The commentary by people who knew her well, such as David Crosby, Graham Nash, David Geffin, and others, is thoughtful and very enlightening. Recent footage from an interview with Joni herself is also very engaging.
Ultimately I would like to read a really long, really thorough biography that would explain all the complicated details that make up this extraordinary woman's life. There just wasn't enough room to dig into some of the most interesting transitions in her complicated life in this beautifully made, two hour long film. I still hunger for more information.
Joni is such an intelligent woman, and many of the decisions in her later life would make interesting material for a more in depth exploration. Her relationship to jazz, the development of breakthrough albums such as Hejira and Mingus, her personal thoughts on other musicians, etc. All of this would be interesting to read about in more depth.
But one needs to recoginize the limitations of the genre. You can only do so much in a documentary film. And certainly one understands why there was so much focus on her early career, given the almost transcendent power of the early archival footage. The early Joni was a being from another planet, or some parallel idealized universe, almost impossibly beautiful and talented. Given the nature of this early footage, it is easy to forget that she became more interesting as she grew older.
Overally, this is excellent work, a must see for any one who really loves Joni's work and wants to know more about her.
(If one gives every film that one really likes 5 stars, then how can you highlight those truly stellar films that all but change our lives. This is a great film, but I can only bring myself to give it 4 stars. It's very good, but it's not a Bergman or Fellini film.)

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DVD CHAPTERS Childhood/Beginnings All I Want * Urge for Going * Little Green * Both Sides Now Night in the City * I Had a KingGreenwich Village/Laurel Canyon (The 60's) Cactus * Circle Game * Chelsea Morning * Ladies of the Canyon Just Like Me * Positively 4th Street (Bob Dylan)First Record/Carnegie Hall/Woodstock Marcie * Conversation * Morning Morgantown * WoodstockRomance with Graham Nash/Creative Process My Old Man * The Agreement * California * Our House (Graham Nash) Get Together (Graham Nash)Blue/Retreat/Transformation Blue * A Case For You * For Free * River * For the Roses I'm a Radio * Raised on Robbery * Same SituationNew Musical Languages/Painting Amelia * Hejira * Coyote * Cotton Avenue * Chair in the Sky Dry Cleaner from Des Moines * Goodbye Pork Pie HatMarriage and Divorce/Social Commentary/Honors Wild Things Run Fast * Underneath the Streetlight * Come in From the Cold Dog Eat Dog * Sex Kills * Taming the TigerFull Circle Stay in Touch * Both Sides Now

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Crossroads (1986) Review

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(More customer reviews)CROSSROADS (Walter Hill's Blues film, NOT Britney Spears' self-indulgent 2002 fluff) is a terrific introduction to a uniquely American musical genre, with a remarkable cast and a dead-on southern 'atmosphere'. It has always astonished me that when released, critics were unable to look past Ralph Macchio's previous film work, and accept this gem on it's own merits, but it's subsequent status as a cult classic is certainly well-deserved, with films such as the Coens' O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? utilizing the Robert Johnson subplot and borrowing many of CROSSROAD's visual elements. Perhaps the film, with a magnificent Ry Cooder score, was just too far ahead of it's time, a strange criticism to apply to a Blues movie!
The tale involves young Long Island guitar prodigy Eugene 'Lightning Boy' Martone (Macchio), a rebel at the Julliard School with his passion for the Blues ("Primitive music," one professor sneers), on a quest to recover legendary guitarist Johnson's fabled "30th Song" of 1938. His research leads him to a NYC nursing home, where fabled harmonica player Willie Brown (the late actor/singer/songwriter Joe Seneca), a friend and collaborator of Johnson's, is confined. Promising to 'give' the song to the youngster if he can be "busted out" and returned to his Mississippi home, the pair are soon on a cross-country odyssey, with Martone learning about discrimination, the darker side of humanity, and love's loss (through a brief encounter with Jami Gertz, who was never lovelier), providing him with the core of sadness Brown says is essential to truly play the Blues.
The climax of the film is legendary; arriving home, Brown, who had 'sold his soul' to the Devil at the 'Crossroads' as a young man (just as his friend, Johnson, had), attempts to get 'Scratch' (skeletal Robert Judd) to tear up the contract. The Devil informs him that he will, only if Martone can defeat his Champion in a 'Guitar Duel'. If the youngster loses, his soul, as well as Brown's, will be lost, forever. Martone rashly agrees ("I don't believe any of this s*** anyway!"), and he and Brown find themselves in a broken-down church converted into a dance hall, with demons and lost souls cavorting to the rock strains of insanely talented Jack Butler (Frank Zappa guitarist/composer Steve Vai). With only his love of the Blues, Julliard training, and Brown's 'ju-ju' to aid him, the humbled Martone must play for far more than his life, in a 'Duel' (with the amazing Vai actually playing both guitar parts) that is so fabulous that it is unbelievable that it was NOT included in the soundtrack album of the film!
Walter Hill was no stranger to music-themed fantasies (he also directed another 'ahead of it's time' cult film, STREETS OF FIRE), and with CROSSROADS, he took a simple storyline, and turned it into an unforgettable musical cinematic experience.
That the film is FINALLY on DVD is a MAJOR cause for celebration...now, let's hope an expanded "Special Edition" with added bonus features, will follow!

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CROSSROADS - DVD Movie

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