My Amazon DVD Reviews: The Master

Worthy of The Cause
3 Out Of 5 Stars

A troubled young soul in need of redemption comes to a charismatic philosopher who claims to have the answers. Philip Seymour Hoffman plays Lancaster Dodd, who is obviously loosely based on L Ron Hubbard and his cult of Scientology. When Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix), a World War II veteran who can't adjust to civilian life stumbles aboard Dodd's yacht party, the two find a sort of common bond with each other. Freddie has a need to find answers, The Master claims he has them. For the next two hours, the 2 men circle each other in a sort of tragic dance.

"The Master" explores the bond between Hoffman and Phoenix and it is a difficult bond to watch. Freddie has issues the run so deep that even Hoffman's "processing" can't draw them out. The two men metaphorically explore what it is like to be a cult follower in a cult leader. Hoffman in particular exudes charisma even when other characters point out that "The Cause" seems like it is being made up as they go along. At the same time Freddie is so desirous of a father figure/guiding light not only is he willing to follow "The Cause," he is willing to fight off anyone who dares question the Master's divinity.

The movie does a great job in showing what willing followers will do in search of the ultimate answer. Phoenix, as the troubled young Freddie, runs through the movie like a powder keg just waiting to explode. Even in the end, as the two men try to mend their differences, Phoenix can't hide that he is wound up tighter than a watch spring even as Hoffman attempts to console him one last time. "The Master" is not an easy movie to watch. Phoenix burns so darkly and with such intensity that it is hard to wonder if he is redeemable. He earned his Oscar nomination, as does Hoffman, who for the bulk of the movie remains unflappable in the faith of his beliefs. Dodd desperately wants his protege to follow his leadership while Freddie struggles between his love of Dodd and the leash that The Master keeps his followers on.

"The Master" doesn't explode. It is a slow burn of a film that reveals its greatnesses the hard way.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Soundtrack "The Hunger Games"

Songs to Kill People By 
4 Out Of 5 Stars

300 Years in the future and folk music is still high lonesome depression. Guess "The Hunger Games" thinks that - other than watching kids kill each other for sport - we won't be changing all that much. These songs (mostly inspired by the film/book as opposed to being featured in said film), stick mainly to acoustic guitars and the sad laments of the participants. I find it funny in the odd way that kids usually pounding their way to hip-hop and punk rock will be lapping up country waltzes ("Tomorrow Will be Kinder" by Secret Sisters) and Appalachian cries like The Carolina Chocolate Drops doing "Daughter's Lament."

T-Bone Burnette, as executive producer, allows for few curve balls. Kid Cudi gives the disc its heaviest and most ominous song with "The Ruler and The Killer," which sounds more like the oppressive state that would find a real life version of "The Hunger Games" to be a day's TV dinner. Adam Levine is pulled away from his comfort zone, as Maroon 5 pick up a mandolin and ditch the synths for "Come Away To The Water." Taylor Swift sounds all grown up as she teams with the Civil Wars for "Safe and Sound" then The CW gets their own chance to shine with "Kingdom Come" ("Don't cry my dear, it will all be over soon").

The Alt-Rock crowd gets two dollops from Arcade Fire and The Decemberists. AF pounds out a militaristic drum tattoo on the threatening lullabye "Abraham's Daughter," while Colin Meloy keeps the Decemberists in REM territory for "One Engine." It also happens to be the most propulsive song on the disc, so maybe life in District 12 won't be so sad after all. It used to be that you couldn't turn on the radio without being pummeled by songs from a film, be they good or bad. Since that has changed and the deluge slowed, good soundtracks are harder to come by. "The Hunger Games" is one of the better one and hits more than it doesn't.

     

My Amazon DVD Reviews: "Grizzly Man"

Talking about the good life in the foodchain
4 Out Of 5 Stars

Werner Herzog was given a strange mission with the film, "Grizzly Man." How do you take 100's of hours of tape made by a delusional, self-centered and mentally imbalanced man who is ultimately killed (along with the poor woman he drags along after him) by his obsession with Alaskan Grizzlies and make him someone somewhat sympathetic? The documentary manages to do just that, with Herzog inserting himslef as a conscience/narrator into the tapes of naturalist and self-described "kind warrior" Timothy Treadwell. For over a decade of summers, Treadwell would haul himself to Alaska, embed himself in a State Park and try to become one with the grizzlies.

Yes, you're right...anyone with a lick of sense would see this as a fool's errand, and the movie doesn't even bother to hide that fact by mentioning at the beginning that Treadwell and lady friend Amie Huguenard become lunch for a "bear full of people and clothes." Treadwell fails to recognize what Herzog knows by instinct and a few millenniums of evolution; nature is "chaos, hostility, and murder." Treadwell looks at nature as some sort of Disney-fied harmony, where if you just dance with the animals, they'll be your friends and all will live in the big unity of the universe. This despite ample evidence to the contrary (adult males eating cubs to foster mating with females, the killing of one of his fox pup 'friends'); Treadwell rails on about the bear world versus the people world.

Herzog keeps Treadwell from looking like a blithering idiot by balancing some of the most intimate footage you'll probably ever see of bears in the wild and commentary from both the friends and enemies of Treadwell, and ultimately sacrificing an opportunity to exploit Treadwell and Amie's death. A narcissist to the very end, Treadwell had a camera running even as he and Amie were being attacked and killed, and Herzog makes the decision to not include the audio (the lens cap was still on the camera) or include the pictures from the coroner, going as far as to implore one of Treadwell's few friends to destroy the final tape and never look back. It's Herzog's sense of compassion for his subject (aided by a terrific score by guitarist Richard Thompson), even as he understands the madness, that makes "Grizzly Man" so compelling.

     

My Amazon Blu-Ray Reviews: The Beatles' Yellow Submarine

We All Live On
5 Out of 5 Stars

Lovingly restored and recolored, the Blu-Ray of The Beatles' "Yellow Submarine" is an opening of a time capsule, with the dust of years wiped clean. The mix of traditional animation and the Peter Maxian designs still holds a fascination to this day, with the sound quality now absolutely stunning. Granted, the imaginations behind much of the movie was lysergically enhanced, but it adds to the time-charm of the movie. I can't recommend this enough to Beatles Fans, who already know the songs and probably many of the scenes by heart.

Extra Credit due Dept: I really dig the 'cell' reproductions included in the Blu-Ray package. The bonus interviews with surviving members of the cast and crew are brief but delightful, but the VH1 Interview with the surviving Beatles from the '99 DVD release might have been a nice addition. You can choose between mono and 5:1 surround, depending on your purist nature, and the sequence for "Hey Bulldog" has been reintegrated into the film seamlessly. It's a must own, and I now anxiously await future Beatles' Blu-Rays.

   

My Amazon DVD Reviews: "Leather Jacket Love Story"

A Good Fit
4 Out Of 5 Stars

This low budget gay classic has just the right touches of drama, humor and camp to be endearing and memorable. "Leather Jacket Love Story" was shot in 10 days in and around the Silverlake area of Los Angeles, as wanna-be poet Kyle tries to escape the pretensions of West Hollywood, and falls for dark and sexy construction worker Mike. Kyle is a awkward twink, Mike is a weathered older 30 something with the experience Kyle lacks.

The opposites attract almost immediately, and the sparks do fly. In particular, Christopher Bradley (as Mike) is charismatic and lights up everything he does. There are several nude love scenes, for those who buy "Gay Movies" based solely on body-part count, but Mike and Kyle give convincing fling. But can love bind two men so many worlds apart from each other? Hey, this is a gay fairy tale, complete with drag queens, sunny skies, packed leather bars (Los Angeles' notorious Faultline) and little capital D Drama. When the gay bashers inevitably show up, they get whupped in more a funny manner than anything else. The low budget soundtrack even tips its hat to the tacky sounds of 50's sitcoms.

"Leather Jacket Love Story" is a feel good movie and will give you plenty of smiles. I found it surprising that, in a very tiny way, I had a small part in the film. When Mike and Kyle head into a store to buy Kyle's first leather jacket, there are magazines on the background wall. To the left of the screen, ever so briefly, a copy of the eighth volume of "Rubber Rebel" magazine can be seen, a publication I edited and produced in 1996. It was a pleasant surprise and endeared "Leather Jacket Love Story" to me all the more.

     

My Amazon DVD Reviews: "Blade Runner"

It's All Here Now
5 Out Of 5 Stars

This review is from: Blade Runner (Four-Disc DVD Collector's Edition). First off, I was surprised to see this set at such a low price. Ridley Scott's Science Fiction masterwork and possibly Harrison Ford's singular best acting job, four discs. and all three versions of the movie. The remastering is stunning, and makes it all the more stunning that "Blade Runner" was created before the CGI days.

In the future, Androids are called replicants, but they also are smart and strong enough to go renegade. if they do, the Blade Runners shoot them down. Deckerd (Ford) is the best of the Blade Runners, and is called upon when an escaped group of Replicants returns to earth in search of immortality. Seems they have a built in 4 year expiration date. That is, except maybe for the one called Rachel, which Deckerd may be falling in love with. Played with smokey noir feminine wiles by Sean Young, she becomes the lynchpin in Deckerd's chase for the runaways.

Noir is a major operative word here. Los Angeles in 2019 is covered in smoggy rainstorms and decaying buildings. Only the rich can afford to build themselves a place in the sun, and they're the ones making the killer bots. Which means everywhere else is darkness, shadows and slivers of light. This is easily one of the most exquisitely filmed Sci-Fi thrillers in history, which means the original cut didn't pass muster with the suits. That version (the happy ending voice-over version is included), along with the 1992 director's cut and the Ridley Scott final version. One of the few DVD's I've found fit to actually own, "Blade Runner" is a marvel of a movie.