07/14/07
MANHATTAN
12 GIRLS BAND/Shanghai: After having made great inroads on an indy, Bruce Lundvall cherry picks this crew for his next PBS hit. Imagine Bond made up of 12 Vanessa Maes plinking away on traditional Chinese instruments on an eclectic western set card of pop and classical and you get the idea of what’s going on here. A charming flip side of other Manhattan/PBS projects ala Celtic Women, Lundvall shoots and scores one more time proving this business would be in better health if there were more execs like him still in the game that know how to mix art and commerce on the commercial playing field. On top of that, who doesn’t like hot Asian chicks?
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DVD SUPPLEMENT
PARAMOUNT HOME VIDEO
SHOOTER: Someone wants Mark Wahlberg to be an action hero and they just might get their wish sooner than later. He’s still to much of a kid to be as gritty as Bruce Willis or as cartoony as Stallone but his Clint Eastwood minimalism is carrying him through diverse actions roles from “Italian Job” to here. With a switchback on the usual man against the system story, Wahlberg is part of the system and it turns on him because he needs to be shut up. He isn’t ready to go quietly and teaches a lesson to those trying to teach him a lesson. A very solid popcorn action pic. With a crew on both sides of the camera that knows their way around successful popcorn pics, everyone pulls together for a well crafted “Bourne”/man against the system thriller that keeps drawing you in because you want to see how he gets out of a no way out situation. With more action and less talk, it all hangs together quite well for an entertaining thrill ride.
33030
BLACK SNAKE MOAN: A lot of people say they’ll go see anything Sam Jackson is in until they realize just how much stuff he is in. This pic is right up the alley for his fans that love it when he can really chew up the scenery in an indy/indy flavored pic where he gets a juicy character role with the box office pressure off. Immersing himself in the role enough that someone should finally get around to calling him ‘this generation’s Brando’ (hey, I just did), Jackson plays a part in a pic that would have blown the roof of the theaters in the 50’s when pics like this were loaded with social relevance. All that and you get a chained Christina Ricci in her underwear. A wonderfully meaty pic that adult audiences keep bitching doesn’t get made anymore. It’s hightone underneath it all, but not the kind of hightone that you have to be a PBS junkie to appreciate.
34619
ALVIN & THE CHIPMUNKS GO TO THE MOVIES: Everyone’s fave little nut jobs take on a few movies and run them through their own satirical spin cycle for some low key family laughs. Bringing their buzz saw to “Star Trek”, “Batman”, and “Honey I Shrunk the Kids”, Alvin actually shares the spotlight this time out and gives some of the starring action to Simon and Theodore. I always wanted to see Alvin give Dave rabies, but here he gets to shrink him and until Ralph Bakshi gets his hands on these critters, I guess I’ll have to be satisfied. Alvin fans are sure to dig it.
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Volume 30/Number 256
July 14, 2007
MIDWEST RECORD
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CHRIS SPECTOR, Editor and Publisher
(c)2007 Midwest Record