RADIO HANNIBAL

New Brian Wilson biopic has me actually going to the theater

I haven't been to see a first run movie at the theater in well over a year.  I can't recall how many years it's been since I went to a movie during opening weekend.  The new Brian Wilson film, Love and Mercy, will change that.

The reviews are fairly strong for the biopic about the troubled and fascinating life of a true musical genius. Metacritic currently has a score of 80 for it.  Here's the New York Times review, Review: ‘Love & Mercy’ Gets Inside Brian Wilson’s Head. 

My love of The Beach Boys seems to grow year by year.  The simplistic pop feel of their music belies the complicated songcraft that Wilson created in so many classics. 

The story of Wilson's breakdown and subsequent years of brainwashing and manipulation by his private doctor is ripe for a good movie treatment.  Two great actors, Paul Dano and John Cusack, play Wilson in different parts of his life while Paul Giamatti is cast as Dr. Landy.

National Lampoon doc enlightening even for those who knew it as a magazine

I saw the documentary Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead_ The Story of The National Lampoon yesterday at the Cleveland International Film Fest.  It had gotten some good press in it's debut at Sundance in January. 

Like many guys who bought copies of the National Lampoon magazine back in the 70s (it was the rare girl who would do so) I came to it as a progression from Mad magazine.  I collected the irreverent (to say the least) humor publication for a quite a few years, but as much as I thought I knew the story I found the documentary quite enlightening. 

I stood in line discussing films, as one is want to do at a film fest, with a couple in their 30s next to me, in line for another movie.  He had no idea National Lampoon ever was a magazine.  For them this documentary could be an astonishing revelation.  The fact that National Lampoon, which had spun off into a live performing group as well, would be the impetus for Saturday Night Live should alter anyone's perceived history of pop culture. 

The documentary's generous use of images from the magazine had me in a very nostalgic mood, wishing I'd kept my collection.  It's time to check out eBay to what these things are going for.  The first search...the high school yearbook parody. 

Favorite movies from CIFF so far

I'm hardly the one to recommend the best movies at the Cleveland International Film Fest.  I'm only catching 10 of them while I know others who have director's passes, watching upwards of 50 films over the course of 10 or so days.  Still, I've seen two movies in which I voted as excellent for the Roxanne T. Mueller Audience Choice Award. 

Fiddlesticks - The German comedy is like a modern day Little Rascals where the kids are far too young to really take good direction resulting in precious moments.  Add to that the endless slapstick throughout and I can't remember the last time I laughed so much during a movie. 

Here's the original German trailer

Here it is dubbed in English.  The showing was German with English subtitles.

Mr. Kaplan - A film from Uruguay which starts off as comedy but turns serious as the human condition becomes inescapable.  Superb acting from the two main characters makes me wonder how many foreign actors there are in the world deserving of a bigger stage. 

 

The Wrecking Crew doc opens at the Cedar Lee, here's a playlist

The Wrecking Crew documentary opens today at Cleveland's Cedar Lee Theater in the Heights.  The movie was released back in 2008 but couldn't get wide release distribution because the record companies wanted way too much money for the songs used in the film.  And you have to have the songs. 

Here's a playlist of songs done by the Wrecking Crew.  You will be amazed. 

Wrecking Crew documentary finally gets theatrical release

I saw the Wrecking Crew documentary about three or four years ago at the Cleveland International Film Fest.  The jaw dropping account of the band behind so many hit records is a must see for any music fan.  The problem has been that with so many songs sampled throughout the film it's been impossible for the creators to get a license bigger than the festival circuit.  The record companies simply wanted too much money for use of the songs.  It's ironic since the movie is an homage to the industry and would surely spark record sales of some of this material.  

Finally, Magnolia Pictures has picked up distribution of the documentary.  It rolls out in limited release this month, landing at the Cedar Lee in Cleveland Heights on Friday March 20.  After that it will be available on DVD.  

Here's a story on it from Sunday's New York Post, The unknown super group behind rock-n-roll's most iconic albums.

The new theatrical trailer

5 scenes from Mike Nichols films

The New York Times obituary, Mike Nichols, Urbane Director Loved by Crowds and Critics, Dies at 83

James Brown bio-pic hits theaters but here's the real deal

The new James Brown bio-pic, Get On Up, opens tomorrow.  It's getting mixed reviews though I do hear Chadwick Boseman is terrific as JB. 

Still, nothing can beat the real Godfather of Soul, especially live and in his prime.  A few years ago the famous T.A.M.I. Show was released on DVD.  In it Brown steals the spotlight from The Beach Boys, Chuck Berry, The Rolling Stones and others. 

Yesterday The New Yorker wrote about this performance, The Possessed: James Brown in Eighteen Minutes.  50 years later, here's the hardest working man in showbiz. 

The greatest rock and roll film ever

Calling something the greatest is subjective at best and, at worst, something I'll regret tagging as such sometime in the future.  There's plenty of contenders for best rock film of all time and I have most of them on DVD.  Stop Making Sense, Hard Days Night, The T.A.M.I. Show to name a few. 

Last night was our seemingly annual viewing of The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus.  It's one of those long lost, until about 15 years ago, tales.  The event was to have been aired on the BBC during the Christmas season of 1968, but for whatever reason, and there's numerous stories, it was shelved and forgotten.  Read about it on Wikipedia. 

The question is how could anyone have forgotten a rock show in a small circus tent where the audience all wore orange or yellow ponchos with matching hats.  A show that featured, Jethro Tull, Taj Mahal, The Who, Marianne Faithful, a super group consisting of John Lennon, Yoko, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards and Mitch Mitchell, and of course, The Rolling Stones.

The event was filmed with multiple cameras featuring jaw-dropping close-ups of the performers.  And did I mention there's circus acts thrown in for, ummm, authenticity.  Trapeze artists, fire eaters, midget clowns and the Stones dressed in fitting regalia.  How could this show have been lost?  I boldly claim that the Stones 20 minute performance is the best 20 minutes of rock and roll ever captured on film.

Anytime I invite someone new to the house for a dinner, there's a good chance for an evening screening of the movie.  It's a standard gift for friends when I need to present one.  And if you've yet to see it do so immediately. 

The beach movie trailers

A look back at the Cleveland International Film Fest

This past Sunday saw a wrap to the 38th annual Cleveland International Film Festival with the annual tradition of gathering around the fountain in Tower City to hear the award winners.  For me it's always a sense of melancholy and pride.  

The CIFF is one of the premier events in Cleveland and evidently others agree as attendance was at a record high this year.  I caught ten movies this time around.  None of them classics but all enjoyable.  To be sure, there are always some stinkers in the 100 plus films but that's part of the sense of adventure.  Reading a paragraph long description of the film and checking out the trailer determines if it makes my short list of movies I'd like to see. 

I attended Sundance Film Festival (the most prestigious in the country) in January so it was nice to compare and contrast the two.  Logistically speaking CIFF beats Sundance hands down.  Even with the expansion to venues such as the Capital, Cedar-Lee, Hanna Theatre and Akron Art Museum the majority of movies are shown in the Tower City cineplex so it's easy to see multiple screenings in one day.  Sundance venues are spread throughout Park City and necessitate careful planning of bus routes or car service (if you're wealthy).  It's also much easier to get into movies at the CIFF.

The staff at CIFF from Marcie Goodman to the countless volunteers do such an amazing job.  The marketing is top notch and the logistics in dealing with thousands of moviegoers all in one place at one time is done with aplumb.  It has the feel of a first class event. 

I have a friend who bought a director's pass for the CIFF which allowed him to see any movie he wanted on a whim.  He saw 45 films.  Someday I'd like to be able to do that. 

He called the Cleveland International Film Fest the people's film fest.  A festival like Sundance is attended by so many insiders.  It's cool for celebrity spotting, but for the pure enjoyment of movie going the CIFF is a treat. 

Closing ceremony at CIFF.  Photo by Brian O'Dell.