|
|||
JAZZ PROMO SERVICES
CYNTHIA HILTS/Second Story Breeze: Singing pianist fights an uphill battle nobly on her sort of second outing arranged to find her in good company. A jazzbo at her core, Hilts is one of those players you find in a piano bar and wonder what she’s doing there when her gifts should be at much wider venues. A sweet postcard from a jazzy friend you haven’t met yet.
1 (Blond Coyote)
TWO FOR THE SHOW MEDIA
TODD COOLMAN/Perfect Strangers: When you’ve won a Grammy and have a day job as a jazz educator, you can take funny chances. Coolman assembled a first call bunch of jazzbos to tackle compositions submitted through his website, set up for this project. I don’t know if we can trust the composers, but we can trust the players. An interesting shot at interactive record making, it isn’t any more inefficient than thinking someone is good just because they have a lot of MySpace page views. Out of the box jazz from a bunch of cats with deep enough chops to be unafraid to take chances.
84 (Artist Share)
DVD SUPPLEMENT
ON TARET MEDIA
TOMMY EMMANUEL Center Stage: A companion piece to the recent mind blowing double album, here you can watch as well as listen to the amazing way he can coax sound out of his guitar. With some new material that differs from the cd, one of the world’s greatest guitarists knows his stuff and might not let you in on the secrets, but he does share the resulting good times. Well shot, smart presentation, this is a guitar fan’s media based wet dream. Hot stuff throughout.
5150 (Favored Nations)
PARAMOUNT HOME VIDEO
INDIANA JONES & THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL: In the tradition of pass the baton popcorn pics like “Lethal Weapon 4” or “Godfather III” where we get introduced to the new generation, this time out we meet Indy’s l’il bastard who shares the family taste for adventure and will line extend the franchise if the public determines he has the likeability. Of course, the way franchise characters underlying actors get replaced from pic to pic these days, that might not matter so much as the audience liking the character. Let’s suppose you saw the first three pics and were part of the 300 million plus dollars this pic pulled in, think you really need a plot summary? A bit of gap between 3 and 4, but even if Indy is on social security these days, Lucas and Spielberg know how to sit in a chair and deliver the action. If you are of the film generation of the last 25 years that first came upon this when it was new, you’ll want to keep the series in tact on your shelf as well.
13902
SONY PICTURES HOME ENTERTAINMENT
88 MINUTES: Oh, come on, this pic didn’t need to get slagged like it did when it hit the theaters. If you aren’t willing to pay at least bargain matinee prices to see Al Pacino do Pacino schtick in a blatantly commercial pic, you really aren’t what we would call a movie fan. Pacino does paycheck movies and personal movies, but would you pay anything to see him in “Hamlet”? When he’s in a paycheck movie, he earns it and we are entertained, what’s so bad? Pacino chews scenery, acts over the top as a dude who knows he’s about to be whacked and displays just a few more acting chops that say, Jason Straiheim in a similar plot. Maybe it’s for Pacino fans only but it’s also a good bet for anyone that wants to sit back and enjoy some popcorn suspense.
23578 (Tri Star)
WALT DISNEY STUDIOS
SLEEPING BEAUTY 50th Anniversary: Spoiler alert! Even with all the new technology brought to bear on this special edition, the witch is still a bitch. With a never before seen original opening and all the spiffing the digital realm will allow, this new version shows why it endures as an all time family classic. A wonderful example of first class animation, this holds up on it’s own, even if the producers felt the need to throwing in some Hannah Montana stuff to entice new buyers. Spoiler alert! This has held up better than other period pieces like “Citizen Kane”.
54391
Volume 31/Number 333
September 28, 2008
MIDWEST RECORD
830 W. Route 22 #144
Lake Zurich, IL., 60047
CHRIS SPECTOR, Editor and Publisher
©2008 Midwest Record
No comments yet.
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI