Combination of the 2: Adams as Joplin
July 19, 2010
America’s sweetheart Amy Adams as hard-living, leather-voiced singer Janis Joplin? Yes, that was an enormous collective WTF from Baby Boomers and the Generation X’ers who love them.
“Twilight” producer Wyck Godfrey let slip the left-fielder that Adams (”Enchanted,” “Junebug”) is the latest actress aiming to play Joplin in a biopic. “City of God” director Fernando Meirelles is aboard “Get It While You Can” as well, Godfrey says.
Adams doesn’t look her years — 35 of them — and Joplin always looked a lot older than hers. But at best Adams will go before the cameras being eight years older than Joplin when the singer died of shooting dope in a dicey Hollywood hotel.
What could possibly prepare the former Mormon, ballerina, Disney princess and Gap greeter for inhabiting the drug-and-booze-ravaged body of Joplin? Adams’ brief stint at Hooters and her role in “Psycho Beach Party” offer some faint hope.
Then there’s the beauty thing. Adams has plenty. Joplin … had a great voice. But, as many have pointed out, who could have imagined Charlize Theron as the ugliest woman in Florida in “Monster.” And no doubt Adams can sing and work a stage.
Other contemporary actresses linked to Joplin roles over the years include Pink (a major fan), Zooey Deschanel, Brittany Murphy, Scarlett Johansson and Renée Zellweger. Lindsay Lohan, Nikka Costa and Brittney Spears also had some flirtations with Joplin projects.
Bette Midler, of course, did what is to this point the best Joplin on film, playing the thinly disguised singer in “The Rose.” Midler won the Oscar for her performance, highlighted by a blazing version of “Stay With Me Baby.”
Penelope Spheeris’ apparently abandoned “Gospel According to Janis” originally had Pink in the lead role, but she reportedly walked out on the project, citing a “circus” atmosphere in casting. Deschanel then came aboard, taking months of voice lessons aimed at imitating Joplin, but the project dragged on for years. IMDB lists that production’s status as “unknown.”
Zellweger was attached to a Paramount project that also failed to surface at the boxoffice.
‘Tommy’ back on video: It’s a Blu-ray
July 4, 2010
Here we have high-definition high concept: The visual freak show “Tommy” on Blu-ray.
Sony says the version of Ken Russell’s “Tommy” on Blu-ray
The original 5.0 “quintaphonic” soundtrack returns from previous DVD versions, this time rendered in lossless audio. The regular Dolby 5.1 mix also has been remastered.
Lovers of the “Tommy” album looking for an amazing journey in sonics had best return to their SACD discs
“Tommy,” of course, stars the Who’s Roger Daltrey in the eponymous role. Director Russell brought in movie stars Ann-Margret, Jack Nicholson and Oliver Reed in a bid to flesh out the rock opera about a deaf, dumb and blind boy.
Townshend made numerous changes and additions to his sketchy narrative from 1969, notably moving its catalytic events from WWI to WWII. All of the Who’s original music was rerecorded for the film, a downgrade in every case.
The actors all sang their parts — terrific in the case of raspy Tina Turner; borderline tragic when Reed warbles his villainous nasty bits.
Actors from the rock world included Keith Moon (Uncle Ernie), Tina Turner (the Acid Queen), Elton John (the Pinball Wizard), and Eric Clapton and Arthur Brown (psychedelic priests).
Surreal/psychedelic highlights include the “Pinball Wizard” number with Elton John atop giant boots; the Marlyn Monroe worship scene with Clapton and Brown (”Eyesight to the Blind”), and the “I’m Free” sequence in which Tommy awakens from his addled state.
Here’s hoping for the best, but quintaphonic sonic probably won’t blow many minds these days, as its basic set-up — three speakers up front, two in the rear — has become common in homes, much less theaters. But back in 1975, “Tommy’s” quintaphonic dazzled preview audiences, who were presold thanks to the (short-lived) quadraphonic home audio format.
Four-channel audio (at the least) dated back to CinemaScope, but the stereo matrix technology used for quintaphonic — with its discrete horizontal and diagonal separation — proved groundbreaking. Quint was the forerunner of Dolby Stereo and the dueling cinema audio systems of the 1980s, such as DTS and SDDS.
The Blu-ray extras include a cloud-based trivia track and a trailer, perhaps this one:
Scorsese docu on Harrison nears completion
May 19, 2010
Martin Scorsese’s movie on George Harrison has made it into post-production, with a 2011 release expected for the rock documentary.
The famed film director promoted “Living in the Material World: George Harrison” at the Cannes film festival along with the musician’s widow, Olivia.
“Marty had a connection with George, they spent time together,” Olivia Harrison told the media. “He’s passionate about film and music as George was passionate about music and film.” She and Scorsese worked on the project for three years.
“I was interested in the journey that he took as an artist,” Scorsese said in Cannes. “The film is an exploration. … We’re just feeling our way through.” Harrison and Scorsese’s mutual interest in spirituality also drew the filmmaker to the project.
The key surviving people from Harrison’s Beatles days — Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr and Yoko Ono — have done new interviews for the film. His pals Tom Petty and Eric Idle also are in the mix.
Olivia Harrison provided a wealth of archival images and audio from the late Beatle’s possessions, much of it new to the public. While revisiting the past was sometimes “excruciating,” she felt good about turning over the project to Scorsese and his team. “I feel really safe; I feel protected.”
The Harrison project calls on some of the key collaborators from Scorsese’s Bob Dylan documentary “No Direction Home”: cinematographer Robert Richardson, editor David Tedeschi, and producers Nigel Sinclair and Margaret Bodde.
Scorsese and Harrison are courting American distributors for the feature-length movie. Sinclair’s Exclusive Media Distribution is handling overseas theatrical.
Scorsese’s rock films are “The Last Waltz” (1978), “No Direction Home: Bob Dylan” (2005) and “Shine a Light” (Rolling Stones, 2008).” In addition to “Material World,” he’s prepping “Sinatra,” a biopic about the chairman.
He also helmed the musical drama “New York, New York” (1977). For Michael Jackson, he created the gang-related music video “Bad.” For the TV documentary “The Blues” (2003), he directed the “Feel Like Going Home” episode. In the late 1960s, he worked on the “Woodstock” movie.
Scorsese’s love of rock and pop shows has been evident throughout his film career, dating back to “Mean Streets.” Perhaps most famously, he used Clapton’s “Layla” in an extended death scene in “GoodFellas.” The song was written for Harrison’s ex-wife.
Meet the ‘Yellow Submarine’ Beatles
January 19, 2010
Looks like director Robert Zemeckis has found his fab four actors for that new version of “Yellow Submarine.”
Dean Lennox Kelly (TV’s “Collision”) will be John; Peter Serafinowicz (”Shaun of the Dead”) will play Paul; Cary Elwes (”The Princess Bride”) is doing George; and Adam Campbell (”Date Movie”) has the Ringo part.
The Beatles imitators the Fab Four will be used for musical performances featuring the band, the Hollywood Reporter said. The acting deals for the new “Yellow Submarine” are “in negotiations,” THR reported, trade talk for pretty much done.
Director Zemeckis reportedly has approached both Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr about participating in the film, to be shot in 3D using motion-capture.
The director and co-producers Walt DIsney Pictures have rights to the 16 original Beatles recordings, which should bring a windfall for fans: more surround-sound mixes of Beatles songs. Let’s hope the results are at least as good as the 5.1 take on the title song from the “Yellow Submarine Songtrack
The movie “Yellow Submarine” hasn’t been treated all that well over the years, with the DVD version currently out of print. No major restoration has been undertaken, despite the opportunity to greatly update the sound.
George Dunning, who worked on the Beatles’ Saturday morning cartoon series, directed the original film. It was released in 1968 to the delight of a stoned generation. Any top 10 of psychedelic movies would include the animated feature, which was surprisingly strange and included obvious drug references.
The original “Yellow Submarine” album
Zemeckis, understandably, is taking heat for his decision to fool with the classic Beatles animated film (made in 1968 without much help from the Beatles). (You have to ask: Does anyone really need to see an “improved” Blue Meanie?) The director’s CGI-laden films using the performance-capture process include the Jim Carrey “A Christmas Carol” and “The Polar Express.”
‘The Prisoner’: stoned immaculate on Blu-ray
November 22, 2009
Before the Beatles got lost with their “Magical Mystery Tour” TV show, they had a more promising psychedelic screen project in mind: a follow-up to “Help” that was on the same wavelength as “The Prisoner.”
George Harrison’s son Dhani Harrison told Wired: “They were going to be in a movie written and directed by Patrick McGoohan in the same vein as ‘The Prisoner,’ because they thought it was one of the best series ever. They were so into his psychedelic weirdness.”
The project never happened, of course, but the Fabs did license “All You Need Is Love” for the McGoohan series’ surreal finale, the only time a Beatles song popped up on a TV show at the time.
“The Prisoner” is back with us these days thanks in part to the AMC miniseries that updates the ’60s psych-spy series. While the new six-episode series has its moments — provided mainly by No. 2 actor Ian McKellen — the big event is the Blu-ray release of the original 17-episode series, from A&E. “The Prisoner: The Complete Series
The series was hands down the most psychedelically influenced TV series of the era, with frequent detours into mind-expanding plot points and imagery. To this day, it is the strangest series ever broadcast by CBS. The show shared studio space with Kubrick’s “2001,” another mind-blower, with the show even lifting some space shots from the master.
“Twin Peaks” certainly showed the influence of “The Prisoner,” as do the movies of David Cronenberg, who cast creator McGoohan in one of his projects.
“The Prisoner’s” influence on musicians continues to this day. Wikipedia lists at least 20 instances of tributes to the show, starting with the 18-minute song “McGoohan’s Blues” by English seeker Roy Harper. The Clash’s “The Prisoner” was about the series. XTC and Supergrass are among the bands that shot “Prisoner”-driven music videos, on location in Portmeirion.
Extras on the Blu-ray set include crew commentaries, in which some of the key players discuss dropping acid on the set. CBS refused to air one of the episodes because of its depiction of hallucinogenic drugs.
On Blu-ray, the op art/pop art imagery of “The Prisoner” leaps from the screen. Colors are bold and vivid, yet not oversaturated. The clarity is remarkable, almost too good — the actors’ perspiration and skin blemishes are borderline distracting (the kind of thing industry folks fretted about in the early days of HD).
Audio is OK, whether you choose the 5.1 track (with its once-over-lightly mix) or the 2.0 mono. The audio does have bouts of that tinniness associated with pop soundtracks of the day.
‘Easy Rider’: high times in high definition
October 13, 2009
Dennis Hopper does the talking as “Easy Rider” comes to high-definition via Sony.
The “Easy Rider” Blu-ray
The previous DVD version of “Easy Rider” came out five years ago, in a 35th Anniversary Deluxe set. That version came with the DVD and a bonus soundtrack CD. The Blu-ray, appropriately, is tagged as a 40th-year edition.
“Easy Rider” is a movie that’s very much of its time — the youth of 1969 were just delighted to see long hair, drugs and nudity presented as good things in a dramatic motion picture — but no matter how the film plays today, the music hasn’t aged a bit. And this time the soundtrack comes in lossless audio.
We’re talking “If Six Was Nine” from Hendrix, “The Pusher” and “Born to Be Wild” from Steppenwolf, “The Weight” (the Band’s version) and a couple of Roger McGuinn numbers, including the dramatic finale, “The Ballad of Easy Rider.”
The Electric Prunes’ “Kyrie Ellison” adds somber weirdness to the New Orleans acid-trip scenes. Then there are the novelty songs “Don’t Bogart That Joint” and “If You Want to Be a Bird,” appealing to the Merry Pranksters among us.
Several of the songs remain in heavy rotation on FM radio, but there’s something special about flashing back to their framing in the biker movie.
Don’t blow it, man: check out “Easy Rider” in high-definition
‘Yellow Submarine’ resurfaces at Disney
August 21, 2009
Pepperland is being invaded again, this time by the mouse-eared meanies of Disney.
Director Robert Zemeckis (”Back to the Future”) will helm a new 3D version of the psychedelic animated Beatles classic “Yellow Submarine.” Daily Variety, which broke the 3D “Yellow Submarine” story, says a Broadway show and Cirque du Soleil production are part of the scheme.
Rights to the original 16 Beatles songs were “key to the deal,” Variety said (stating the incredibly obvious), but the reporter didn’t indicate if the music had been secured. Leaks to trade papers usually go out with the approval of the deal participants, however.
At best, we get a CG update and some great Beatles songs mixed for movie theater surround. At worst, we’re in for another “Sgt. Pepper’s” movie experience — remember that Bee Gees-Peter Frampton nightmare? And does anyone really need to see an “improved” Blue Meanie?
To be fair the Fabs didn’t have all that much to do with the original feature-length cartoon aside from the music. The Beatles did appear at the end in live action but actors did their cartoon voices, kinda dopey-like.
George Dunning, who worked on the Beatles’ Saturday morning cartoon series, directed the original film. It was released in 1968 to the delight of a stoned generation. Any top 10 of psychedelic movies would include the animated feature, which was surprisingly strange and included obvious drug references.
The Beatles said they enjoyed the film.
The movie “Yellow Submarine” hasn’t been treated all that well over the years, with the DVD version currently out of print. No major restoration has been undertaken, despite the opportunity to greatly update the sound. (The “Yellow Submarine” DVD
A “Yellow Submarine” Blu-ray can be considered overdue, like so many things associated with the Fabs.
The song “Yellow Submarine” is a showstopper number in the Cirque du Soleil production of “Love,” the killer remix a tease of what could be done … with the original movie.
The Beatles’ catalog is coming out in a few weeks, along with the Beatles Rock Band game
Meanwhile, Tech Crunch just floated the idea that the long-awaited Beatles deal with iTunes could be announced on 9/09/09 as well.
There are two collections of the albums: “The Beatles Stereo Box Set”
Disney hopes to release the Zemeckis “Yellow Submarine” in time for the 2012 summer Olympics, Variety said.
The news comes a month after the original movie’s art director, Heinz Edelmann, died in Germany.
‘Woodstock’ DVD unveils the unseen
March 28, 2009
“Woodstock,” the DVD: Four hours of peace and music, along with a righteous stash of unseen performances.
(Updated) Warner released Blu-ray and DVD editions of the remastered hippie classic “Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music
About time. While “Monterey Pop” thrived on DVD (Criterion), “Woodstock” has been stuck in the video muck since 1999.
Warner says the mother of all concert films was restored and “remastered from original elements and scanned at 2K with audio 5.1 mix supervised by director Michael Wadleigh.” This extended director’s cut dates back to 1994.
“The concert original chief engineer Eddie Kramer, who was on-site for the festival, is overseeing the audio mix of all of the recently found added footage.” Audio specs are Dolby TrueHD 5.1 for the DVD and DTS-HD Lossless Master Audio 5.1 for the Blu-ray. Images have been scanned at 2K.
“Newly discovered” performances included in the set come from the Who, Joe Cocker, Canned Heat, Joan Baez and Country Joe and the Fish, adding up to about two hours. There will be 18 bonus performances from 13 acts:
Grateful Dead: “Turn on Your Love Light”*
Creedence Clearwater Revival: “Born on the Bayou,” “I Put a Spell on You,” “Keep on Chooglin’ ”*
Johnny Winter: “Mean Town Blues”*
Mountain: “Beside the Sea” and “Southbound Train”*
Paul Butterfield Blues Band: “Morning Sunrise”*
Canned Heat: “I’m Her Man,” “On the Road Again”
Santana: “Evil Ways”
The Who: “My Generation,” “We’re Not Going To Take It”
Jefferson Airplane: “3/5 of a Mile in 10 Seconds”
Joe Cocker: “Something’s Coming On”
Joan Baez: “One Day at a Time”
Country Joe McDonald: “Flying High”
Sha Na Na: “Teen Angel”
* = not in original film — Sorry, no Janis Joplin.
Among the many extras are the new documentaries “The Museum at Bethelwoods: The Story of the Sixties & Woodstock,” “Woodstock: Untold Stories,” “Woodstock: From Festival to Feature.” The bonus material is full of “reflections and perspectives from musicians, celebrities, influencers and other giants in the entertainment industry,” Warner said. No doubt we’ll be hearing from Martin Scorsese, who worked a camera for “Woodstock.”
The Blu-ray will include a “Customize Your Own Woodstock Playlist” feature and a “live community screening.”
Warner plans several editions: a DVD Ultimate Collector’s Edition, a limited numbered Blu-ray and a stripped-down double-disc DVD that doesn’t have the bonus performances.
“Monterey Pop” has seen a great deal of effort put into its DVD box set and CDs in recent years, but Woodstock pretty much just sat there in the DVD era. It’ll continue to sit, as the film has some kind of moratorium in effect until the new set’s release.
Woodstock has its share of dog performances, but these are among the highlights in the movie: Jimi Hendrix’s “Star Spangled Banner,” Santana’s “Soul Sacrifice,” Ten Years After’s blistering “I’m Going Home,” Sly and the Family Stone’s “Dance to the Music/Music Lover/I Want to Take You Higher” and Richie Havens’ “Freedom.”
Fans of the man with the guitar should check out the excellent Jimi Hendrix: Live at Woodstock
Criterion’s “The Complete Monterey Pop Festival
Warner’s 1997 release of “Woodstock
An interesting DVD release from that neck of the woods is “Woodstock 1999
I was not at Woodstock. Here is my excuse: I was headed to the festival with my two pals, until my parents got super-pissed about something and grounded me for the rest of the summer. … Everyone from the ’60s has a Woodstock story, it seems.
‘Privilege’: Orwell meets Britpop
December 28, 2008
Outlaw filmmaker Peter Watkins looked into the heart of ’60s British pop music and found darkness.
For his 1967 movie “Privilege
“We … will … conform,” they chant as the band offers a goose-stepper’s salute. Heavy and twisted.
“Privilege” starred Manfred Mann singer Paul Jones as a rock star co-opted by state and church for purposes of controlling potentially violent youth. The curious film had been largely unseen for almost four decades, and now resurfaces on a New York Films DVD.
Watkins shot the film as a bogus documentary, based largely on a Canadian short about the singer Paul Anka (”Lonely Boy” — it’s included here as an extra).
Of the “Privilege” pop puppet, the evil manager declares: “He belongs to the world, and therefore has no right to himself.” The words come almost directly from Anka’s handler in the Canadian docu.
“Privilege” has lost some of its absurdist edge because, as it predicts, today’s music stars are holistically commoditized and so frequently raped by the media. Back then, the idea of a rocker becoming a brand and fronting a large chain of discos and stores — “to spread happiness” to the masses — seemed ridiculous.
Actor/singer Jones and his onscreen girlfriend Jean Shrimpton took heat at the time for their flat, emotionless performances, which probably play better today. The supermodel Shrimpton managed to swallow every other line, but looked damned fine doing it in a druggy-hottie way.
The movie suffered numerous distribution indignities that kept it from public view until a 2005 retrospective of the director’s work. Watkins’ highbrow rant in the booklet suggests that Universal kept the movie locked away for political purposes. (Lew Wasserman … it’s a stretch).
Images look surprisingly fresh. The soundtrack lacks punch in the musical scenes, but the songs pretty much suck anyway.
There is no making-of docu, unfortunately. The Anka documentary, however, provides big value: It’s an engrossing study of teen celebrity, rabid fandom and life in the trenches of showbiz.
– Glenn Abel
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