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You’ll have to wait one more day for my review of RENT.  I thought I’d take the opportunity to review a similar type of musical, Hair.  We’ve got Bohemians, counter culture, drugs, and the issues of the day.  The spirit of the 60’s lives strong in Milos Foreman’s film adapted from the Broadway sensation.

Hair
4 & 1/2 Stars

Hey you know that dad from Everwood, did you know that once he was a really cool hippie?!  Hair is an emotional and relevant look at the Sixties, Vietnam, and the effects of both on our culture through some of the best music ever performed on stage or screen.  With a wink and a slight glint of evil Hair pulls no punches dealing with war, drugs, racism, hippies, death, loss, and love.

Let the Sunshine In

Claude Bukowksi (John Savage) travels from Oklahoma to New York City for his date with the Army Induction Board and a ticket to Vietnam.  He goes a little off course when he runs into a pack of Bohemian hippies in Central Park and has a chance meeting with the beautiful rich girl Sheila (Beverly D’Angelo) who is riding through the park on horseback at the same time. 

With nothing better to do Claude crashes with the group led by Berger (Treat Williams) and includes Jennie (Annie Golden), Hud (Dorsey Wright) and Woof (Don Dacus).  Through much singing and dancing, and some entertainment Nancy Reagan would not deem appropriate Claude and his friends spend their time.  Under Berger’s guidance Claude begins to break out of his shell and makes an attempt to win the girl of his dreams before going off to war.

The movie is told through a barrage of music and imagery.  From the opening Age of Aquarius (filmed in Central Park along with other numbers) to the humorous Sodomy the catchy Good Morning Starshine, Let the Sunshine In, and Manchester England, the the contemplative Where Do I Go? and Ain’t Got No and the big title number Hair.

Hair is something you experience and enjoy rather than just watch.  The music rolls over you making you laugh or cry and can even stun as it leads to a darker place.  As a period piece it’s a remarkable work and as a movie musical it’s equally as good.  Any movie that with equal time can sing about Shakespeare and masturbation deserves some notice don’t you think?

Though racy at the time of it’s original release it is rather tame by today’s standards.  What still works are the songs and the emotional involvement in the choices that Claude and the group make.

I’m not always a fan of twist endings, and this one is a doozy, but here the ending is used to convey the harsh reality of the situation that gets overshadowed in some of the lighter numbers in the film.  Many twist endings are designed to shake or surprise the audience not recognizing inconsistancies made to the story.  This one gives a deeper layer of meaning to the movie and actually helps validate it as a great film.

The DVD contains a a short booklet explaining the steps from Broadway to film.  Also included on the is the theatrical trailer and a rather extensive Hair poster gallery.  The best news is the musical has been remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1 letting the music ring out as loud as you like.

Hair is sometimes brash, rough, and coarse.  Often funny, humorous, and delightful.  Sometimes sad and maudlin.  Occasionally it’s bizarre and odd.  Through it all though the film remains as entertaining and poignant today as when it was first performed on Broadway.

Buffy fanatics have clamored for a comprehensive box set for a while now, but the final product (released on Tuesday) shouldn’t be much of an enticement to anyone other than fans who don’t already have the show.  A whopping 40 DVD set encompassing 7 seasons, but only one disc is previously unavailable material, and the included booklet contains nothing more than an episode guide. It’s unconventional package might also deter retentive types who want all their DVD collections to line up, but I’ll give the makers recognition for making the box set carry such a small footprint, space wise.  Ultimately, this is a collection for either the most die-hard fans, or fans who don’t already own the collection individually.  At $169 (US) as the asking price at Amazon, that’s a a signifigantly cheaper way to get your Buffy on over purchasing each season on it’s own (which would come to about $210)

Buffy The Vampire Slayer: The Chosen Collection
4 Stars

Buffy fanatics have clamored for a comprehensive box set for a while now, but the final product (released on Tuesday) shouldn’t be much of an enticement to anyone other than fans who don’t already have the show.  A whopping 40 DVD set encompassing 7 seasons, but only one disc is previously unavailable material, and the included booklet contains nothing more than an episode guide. It’s unconventional package might also deter retentive types who want all their DVD collections to line up, but I’ll give the makers recognition for making the box set carry such a small footprint, space wise.  Ultimately, this is a collection for either the most die-hard fans, or fans who don’t already own the collection individually.  At $169 (US) as the asking price at Amazon, that’s a a signifigantly cheaper way to get your Buffy on over purchasing each season on it’s own (which would come to about $210)

Retooling a much beloved (if flawed) film is touchy business in any regard, but there are not many films as sacred to a generation as Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. Having Tim Burton and Johnny Depps’ names attached may have lessened the worry factor, but Gene Wilder all but immortalized the role of Willy Wonka in the 1971 film version.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
N/A

Retooling a much beloved (if flawed) film is touchy business in any regard, but there are not many films as sacred to a generation as Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. Having Tim Burton and Johnny Depps’ names attached may have lessened the worry factor, but Gene Wilder all but immortalized the role of Willy Wonka in the 1971 film version.

So how does Burton’s version hold up? It’s both better and not as good, to tell the truth.

In this adaptation (which is admittedly more faithful to Roald Dahl’s classic novel) we’re given a more complete look at Charlie (Freddie Highmore from “Finding Neverland”;) and his down-on-their-luck family as they eek by a tenuous existence in a ramshackle and leaning home. Charlie’s parents (Noah Taylor & Helena Bonham Carter) have to support both Charlie and two sets of grandparents (David Kelly, Elieen Essell, David Morris, and Liz Smith. All of whom manage to steal every scene they’re in), while trying to maintain high spirits and encourage their young son.

When the mysterious candy maker Willy Wonka (Depp) announces a contest wherein five lucky children will be allowed to tour his incredible factory, Charlie knows he has no chance of winning, as he’s only able to afford one chocolate bar a year. Any takers on whether Burton derails the universe by having Charlie lose out on a golden ticket? Yah, I didn’t think so.

Charlie and his Grandpa Joe (Kelly) get their chance to visit the Wonka Factory, alongside the gluttonous Gloops (Philip Wiegratz and Franziska Troegner), the overachieving Beauregardes (Annasophia Robba and the creepily great Missi Pyle), video-game fanatic Mike Teavee (Jordan Fry, who looks like a minature Barry Pepper) and his hapless dad, and of course Veruca Salt (Julia Winter) and her over-indulgent father (the great James Fox), each of whom is summarily dispatched by their own faults (with a little neglect and encouragement from Wonka) to the accompaniment of the song stylings of the Oompa Loompas (Deep Roy).

With the exception of a wonderfully morose back-story for Wonka, Charlie & the Chocolate Factory does do an admirable job of keeping faithful to the story’s origins, but strangely this film turns out much more light-hearted than the 1971 version. For all the technical achievements and storytelling improvements, this version also lacks a lot of the warmth and wonder of the original. We’re shown various wild contraptions, each making candy in a seemingly impossible way, but rather than focusing on the wonderment and awe they should inspire, each set piece feels more like background images which are given only cursory examination.

Charlie is much less an active protagonist once the factory doors are opened, pushed aside by the more colorful and obnoxious children on the screen. He’s there only to serve as a moral barometer and to reinforce the wonder of the Wonka experience. And of course there’s Wonka himself. Depp had some extremely large shoes to fill with this role, but rather than attempt to capture the benevolent lunacy of Wilder’s take, here Wonka is more an arrested man-child whose creepy mannerisms aren’t just some mischievous facade, but a reflection of a truly stunted being. With his CGI pasty face and flat out childlike manners, there’s no possible way his performance isn’t meant to conjure up a Jacko association.

The regular DVD edition ($28.98) contains only two short extras on the Oompa Loompas.  The two disc deluxe edition ($30.97) also contains a documentary on Roald Dahl, a short on the squirrel scene, five short featurettes, and a pack of limited edition playing cards.

Sadly, this time Wonka never really warms up to the world. True to Burton form, his weirdness is unchanged and uncompromised from our first encounter, much like the film itself. The real failing in this film is that it never finds a way to open up to the audience, as it’s too wrapped up in its own world to let us in for more than a peek. While many, many elements of this film easily surpass the original, the childlike wonder and sense of exploration are sorely lacking.

Still, even die-hard fans will find much to enjoy this time around, and only time will tell if this more modern adaptation will capture the imagination of this generation.

We don’t often post trailers here on RazorFine, but this one just blew me away.  Now, I’ve never seen the broadway musical Rent or really know that much about the story or the music.  However, after viewing the trailer I wanted to get up and buy my ticket that second.  I have no idea how good the final cut of the movie will be (hey, the teaser trailer for Episode I kicked ass too), but this preview made damn sure I’d be in the theater to find out.  One of the best trailers I’ve ever seen.  Just click on the pic (Quicktime, links to other versions on the full post), enjoy, and let us know what you think.

Rent
N/A

 

We don’t often post trailers here on RazorFine, but this one just blew me away.  Now, I’ve never seen the broadway musical Rent or really know that much about the story or the music.  However, after viewing the trailer I wanted to get up and buy my ticket that second.  I have no idea what the final cut of the moive will be (hey, the teaser trailer for Episode I kicked ass too), but this preview made damn sure I’d be in the theater to find out.  One of the best trailers I’ve ever seen.  Just click on the trailer, enjoy, and let us know what you think.

Quicktime

Real Player

Media Player

Say goodbye to Marvel Comics boys and girls, we now have Marvel Entertainment, Inc.  Just one of many announcements coming from the house that Lee and Kirby built.  Seems they’ll be throwing comics on the backburner (judging from that Ultimate line might be the right decision) and moving on up to Hollywood and ten new movies to go into the works based off Marvel heroes.

N/A

Say goodbye to Marvel Comics boys and girls, we now have Marvel Entertainment, Inc.  Just one of many announcements coming from the house that Lee and Kirby built.  Seems they’ll be throwing comics on the backburner (judging from that Ultimate line might be the right decision) and moving on up to Hollywood and ten new movies to go into the works based off Marvel heroes.

Due to the success of Hollywood film enterprise, Marvel Comics Marvel Entertainment, Inc.  announced the completion of a “$525 million non-recourse debt facility” which will finance ten theatrical films based off the Marvel characters in the next seven years.  Paramount has agreed to distribute the lot including the first film tentatively scheduled for Summer 2008. 

What makes the deal so interesting is Marvel retains complete creative control, final say, and a larger percentage of the profits than the films they have licensed to other studios (X-Men and Spider-Man franchises, Daredevil, Blade, The Punisher).  Marvel contends they will still stay closely involved in those projects in productions with other studios such as Ghost Rider and X-Men 3.  The move allows Marvel to cash in on the theater and DVD sales as well as a larger chunk of the merchandising done for each film, and allow the company to build its own film library.

Avi Arad, Chairman and CEO of Marvel Studios, commented: “The film slate financing enables us to evolve our entertainment operations into film production, an area where we have experienced past success with our partners and which offers significant profit potential for our company. The characters involved are some of the most valuable in the Marvel Universe, and we are excited to launch them as consumer brands via feature film releases under our direction.”

So what heroes are getting their own films?  Glad you asked.  Captain America, The Avengers, Ant-Man, Dr. Strange, Nick Fury, Hawkeye, Shang-Chi, Power Pack, and Cloak & Dagger are all being thrown up on the drawing board.  Interesting choices to be sure (Ant-Man?  Hawkeye?  Power Pack?!)  Each will get a budget of around $165 million (for Cloak and Dagger?!!) and will be either PG or PG-13, no R-rated films.