71 posts categorized "Music"

January 09, 2023

TÁR

COLE SMITHEY

Groupthink doesn't live here, critical thought does.

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ColeSmithey.comPeople are a complicated mix of good and bad elements. Talented people more so. 

Cate Blanchett's lesbian orchestra conductor character Lydia Tár is a lot of important things to a lot of people. 

Lydia preys on young women when she isn't busy rehearsing, composing, giving interviews, co-parenting a child with her partner, and all that goes into leading the Berlin Philharmonic.

ColeSmithey.com

Where does Lydia find the time for keeping up the subterfuge of pretending to sublimate her ego for art?

Todd Field's first film in 16 years is a (seemingly) rigorous psychological thriller, an intellectual puzzle if you will.

Sadly, it's a broken puzzle.

ColeSmithey.com

Lydia Tár gets in Dutch with the mob rule of social media — ironic especially because social media is neither social nor media.

No telling how many lives social media has destroyed.

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As for its creator, Field gets in Dutch by cutting too close with the character of Lydia Tár to real-life lesbian symphony conductor Marin Alsop, music director laureate of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and chief conductor of the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra.

For the record, Marin Alsop has voiced her outrage at the film, and its parallels to herself.

ColeSmithey.com

Marin Alsop calls Tár "antiwoman."

Hard to argue with Marin Alsop.

You're a fool if you do.

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As such, "Tár" comes across as a cheap parlor game.

Why Todd Field chose to craft his film so closely to a specific musical artist is a mystery deeper than any in the film.

If Todd Field had an axe to grind, that axe has come back to hit him in the face.

"Tár" does itself another disservice by neglecting key elements of a suicide subplot that contributes to the challenges of its unreliable protagonist.

ColeSmithey.com

Reality has stepped in too much for "Tár" to be considered the masterpiece that it strains to be, much less what it is, a B-movie in big budget trappings.

ColeSmithey.com

Cate Blanchett is nonetheless transfixing as ever, even if her narcissist character is a flat cardboard creation.

Rated R. 158 mins. 1 Star

Cozy Cole

Cole Smithey on Patreon

December 21, 2022

ELVIS — CANNES 2022

COLE SMITHEY

Groupthink doesn't live here, critical thought does.

Welcome!

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Get cool rewards when you click on the button to pledge your support through Patreon.

Thanks a lot acorns!

Your kind generosity keeps the reviews coming!

Cole Smithey on Patreon



ColeSmithey.comThis soup-to-nuts musical biopic about Elvis Presley is a stunner.

Wow!

Sit back and enjoy.

Best if you're watching "Elvis" on a big screen; this is 100% a BIG SCREEN movie.

No holding back.

Tom Hanks delivers the most superb performance of his legendary career as con-man/music agent Colonel Tom Parker.

Hanks delivers the goods in spades. This is the work of a dedicated creator of character.

Tom Hanks is truly an actor's actor.

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Likewise, “Elvis” proves to be director/co-screenwriter Baz Luhrmann’s best film by far.

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As for the film’s lead actor, Austin Butler is phenomenal in his deeply executed portrayal of Elvis Presley.

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Butler’s performance is much more than an impersonation. You feel in touch with the real Elvis Presley through Austin Butler’s dynamic use of acting craft.

Fire, baby.

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Talk about range. 

This young man has range to spare.

And yes, that's Butler singing every Elvis song with his own vocal cords and skill.

Insane in the membrane.

Shut the front door, and listen to unadorned perfection.

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Let’s just give Austin Butler his Best Actor Oscar now.

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Credit goes to co-screenwriters: Sam Bromell, Craig Pearce, and Jeremy Doner for authoring a truly masterful script.

Film courses will focus on this movie.

ColeSmithey.com

Mandy Walker's cinematography is strictly superb.

On fleek bitches.

 

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Elvis Presley’s personal and public story is a cautionary tale connected to the turbulent American decades that witnessed political assassinations, rampant racism, puritanical assaults on freedom, and the best voice that you could possibly imagine, namely that of one Elvis Aaron Presley.

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Baz Luhrmann and his truly gifted team of dedicated actors and filmmakers do Elvis Presley’s rich musical legacy proud.  

ColeSmithey.com

If you only see one movie from 2022, "Elvis" is the one to choose.

Rated PG. 159 mins.

5 StarsBMOD COLE2

Cozy Cole

Cole Smithey on Patreon

October 18, 2022

PERSONALITY CRISIS: ONE NIGHT ONLY — NYFF 2022

COLE SMITHEY

Groupthink doesn't live here, critical thought does.

This ad-free website is dedicated to Agnès Varda and to Luis Buñuel.

Get cool rewards when you click on the button to pledge your support through Patreon. Thanks a lot pal! Your kind generosity keeps the reviews coming!

Cole Smithey on Patreon

 

Screen Shot 2022-10-15 at 5.19.58 PMDavid Johansen's swan song (70th birthday) performance of tunes from his rich musical history serves as the centerpiece for this loving documentary.

Co-directed by Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi, the film seamlessly draws from Johansen's two performances at the storied uptown Café Carlyle in January of 2020, before Covid pulled the plug on the World.

Johansen's tight-knit four piece "Boys in the Band Band" plays every note for keeps.

Taste baby, you've got taste.

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Johansen's flawless phrasing is worth the price of admission alone.

This bad cat is a singer's singer.

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Especially entertaining is Johansen's Gene Krupa-inspired drummer stealing scenes like a cat daddy on the prowl. Wild hair flying with plenty of school boy mugging. 

Between songs, Johansen tells hilarious tales out of school, about such pivotable life experiences as befriending director Milos Foreman at the Chelsea Hotel while angling for a role in Foreman's then upcoming film musical "Hair."

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Blondie's Debbie Harry soaks up the limelight from her place in the audience.

The overall effect is enthralling, if bittersweet.

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Classic and rare footage of The New York Dolls veer into clips of Johansen's solo career, that gave way to his lounge lizard alter ego Buster Poindexter — think "Hot Hot Hot," or better yet, "Frenchette."

"I been to France, so let's just dance."

You'd be hard pressed to find a musician with more personal integrity than David Johansen. 

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You can't help but feel some sorrow at the prospect of losing the last New York Doll standing.

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"Personality Crisis: One Night Only" is indeed, as Johansen put it at the New York Film Festival post screening Q&A, "a beautiful object."

Ovations are in order. 

Not Rated. 127 mins.

5 StarsBMOD COLE2

Cozy Cole

Cole Smithey on Patreon

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