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Reviews
Closed for Storm (2020)
Lush & Full-bodied Orchestration underscores this poignant Doc.
The surprisingly gorgeous musical scoring of this fine documentary should give the magnificent orchestration of Matthew Jordan Reeds prominent billing. I can't say whether he custom-crafted the score for this film independently, But it sure elevates the soul, and buttresses an importance to the thematic roller coaster of a ride this is.
First Signal (2021)
Intriguing film title. It all ends there.
Don't bother. "Written, produced, directed by" same person.
Amateurish production, mostly shot in a hotel conference room posing as a 'bunker'. Premise (title) was intriguing, but ended there. Just a wannabe knockoff of "Contact", sort of. But it nicely gives a nod to Carl Sagan. Actors' dialogue was so wooden and unnatural - there was absolutely no overlapping dialogue... Kind of like Lego people that just sit in their place for over an hour and speak on cue when the director points a finger at them.
A Mother of No Destination (2021)
No Destination goes Nowhere indeed.
The previous reviewer is absolutely correct in stating this was shot on a 20 year-old cellphone. But those 1950's elementary school productions generally turned out more raw talent. You know from the pretentious font in the opening credits that this is not worth your time. It's worse than that - the sound is so bad it will destroy your speakers.
Ancient Inventions (1998)
Soundtrack is indeed gorgeous.
I wholeheartedly concur with previous reviewer (joanmontgomerie) the soundtrack by Dimitri Tchamouroff is spectacular, especially in the chapter pertinent to the Greek inventor Heron. In some parts, the crescendo is so intense and magnificent - the track would suit a Hollywood epic by Cecil B DeMille. It is overwhelming and moves the emotions to a point you stand up and take notice. Like Joan, I wish I could find a copy of just the soundtrack, and I've played the DVD over and over, just to listen to it. Does anyone have more information on where to find the soundtrack for this DVD? Any assistance will be more than welcome. What a discovery - to find this composer.
The Gang's All Here (1943)
Gang's finally here on DVD
I always loved this flick as a kid, and as a teenager in the 70's assisted with the creation of a Busby Berkley cult club at high school. This is the grand-daddy of the gloriously crazy wartime divertissement, if you will. It is also regarded by many film historians to be Berkley's pinnacle-piece, and most exemplifies his uniquely surreal imagination.
It has been a long wait to DVD - and while they have "remastered" and cleaned up the dust and noise from the original print - I am disappointed in the reduction of Technicolor saturation which in my mind, is one of this pictures' most important attributes. The intense, almost garish 40's postcard-colour density is completely intentional. Unfortunately, it has been discarded for more tonal realism. Some less patriotic 21st century technophile on the studio computer has been a little over-zealous in trying to create a colour palette that is more naturalistic...a bad, bad idea and this is NOT what the maker had intended for his first Technicolor feature(!)
You can see a few snippets of the original colour saturation to compare in the special features section. The only thing to do is jack up your colour correction to 100% if you wish to come near the original. But even that is not enough on today's plasma televisions. Now, if they could only do something for the mono-sound quality. J. C. Carnovale
The Phantom of the Opera (2004)
Phantom of the Opera 2004
Lloyd Webber's tortuously vapid musical excercise in "Romper Room" music studies. Lovely to look at but so what? So was the stage production and a film version does not improve on the fact that Webber has absolutely no talent as a musician. His other indulgences into "musicals" are for the masses that want to pretend that they are musically literate but in fact have no taste or understand what is quality at all.
Perfect for the "designer generation" that need to be told what is "in" or "out", what to eat and what is the star flavorer of the month. No matter what they spend, these folks have no pedigree and will never be part of the "aristocratic" set they aspire to. A truly sad but horrifying sentiment and in this - a huge percentage of the population belong in this category. In short - not being able to think for themselves because they are afraid of imagination. Such Ka-Ka.