rbronews2 Reviews

Papa Hemingway in Cuba (2015)

Great take on Hemingway's last years

[9/10 · 5 November 2023]

The reviewers who didn't like this film just did not get it. I'll concede that some of the dialog was trite, and that you have to know something about Hemingway's life to "get" this film.

With that out of the way, this story will seem very real to anyone who has had a significant other or close friend that suffered from brain damage.

This film was made at actual locations. I've been to Finca Vigia and the Hotel Ambos Mundos, and walked by the Floridita Bar (blatant tourist trap, like much of present-day Havana). The cinematography is excellent, and made me miss Cuba, even though I don't particularly like the place.

I especially like the way it ended. It showed that the Ed Myers character (actually Denne Bart Petitclerc) managed to learn an important lesson about life from his friendship with Hemingway.

BlackBerry (2023)

Documents an important part of consumer tech history

[10/10 · 8 July 2023]

I'm a lifelong geek, and was a heavy user of U. Of Waterloo software when I was studying computer science in university. It was a slam dunk that I would like this film, so, on my way out of the theatre, I surveyed some non-geeks for their opinion of the film. They liked it, too. One person viewed it as another Steve Jobs story.

The portrayal of the rank-and-file RIM employees was over the top, but not by much. I worked with people like that. The potrayal of the "suit" Jim Balsillie was believable.

I agree with the "goofs" entry that the appearance of the Android OS in the marketplace should have been covered as a significant factor in the Blackberry's demise. It's a fact that RIM didn't make any improvements in the Blackberry OS for eight years, which is suicidal in the high tech industry.

I also feel a need to say that the side story of Balsillie's effort to purchase an NHL team was worthwhile. I think it's criminal that there is an NHL team in Phoenix, but not in Hamilton.

Guitar Lessons (2022)

Blatantly Albertan

[10/10 · 5 March 2023]

Ray, portrayed by Corb Lund, is a middle-age working class man who is financially successful, but has serious alienation issues; no family, and not much going on in his life. He is approached by Leland (Kaden Noskiye), a homeless teenager whose sole posession is an old guitar, and he pleads with Ray to teach him to play it. Ray doesn't really want to do it; he was a serious guitarist in his earlier life, and he's alienated from that, too. (In real life, Lund is a Outlaw Country singer-songwriter; he's good enough to have gotten a Juno award and a long list of Canadian Country Music Association awards, but hasn't had commercial success at anywhere near the Garth Brooks level.) From that point on, we are taken through several mysteries about Leland and his guitar, which I am not going to spoil here.

One of the highlights is the performance of Conway Kootenay, who plays Ray, who self-identifies as part-Meti and part-Cree. He speaks the Cree language, and uses that to humourous advantage. Ray actually revels in his second-class citizen status, but he has a gambling addiction, which is addressed later in the film.

It was filmed in High Level, Alberta, a town of 4,000 people in the Peace River Country. Several local people had roles in the film. This film provides insights into Alberta culture rarely seen in the media.

Watch on the Rhine (1943)

"We have been shaken out of the magnolias"

[10/10 · 14 September 2022]

If you liked "Casablanca", you'll like this one, too. Matter of fact, Paul Henreid was offered the Kurt Muller part and (wisely) declined because he didn't want to be typecast.

The first thing I noticed in the opening credits was that the script was a collaboration of Dashiell Hammett and Lillian Hellman. This definitely shows up in the dialogue and the plot.

When watching this, it's important to understand that in 1943, when this film was released, the outcome of WW II was in doubt, and it comes out on the dialogue that the war could go on for a very long time. Also keep in mind that when Hellman's stage play debuted on Broadway, the US hadn't entered the war yet. That's why it mattered that the Fanny Farrelly character didn't initially understand the seriousness of the situation.

One more comment about historical perspective: it was obvious to me that Teck de Brancovis had to die. This wasn't so obvious to 1943 audiences or the film censorship people at the time. Films like "The Godfather" and "Goodfellas" have changed the way that we view this sort of thing.

Night Train to Lisbon (2013)

"I would not want to live in a world without cathedrals."

[9/10 · 29 August 2022]

I originally watched this film when it was first released. I have to admit, I didn't get it. A few years later, I read the book, which is excellent. Then I re-watched this film, and got a lot more out of it. The basic problem is, there are a lot of characters, and the characters are shown at different stages of their lives. It's hard to keep track of them.

The story is about a Swiss schoolteacher who lives, by his own admission, a boring life. A circumstance leads him to walk out of a class in progress, and go to Lisbon and become an amateur detective. He meets several people who were in the Resistance to the Salazar dictatorship. This was dangerous (Salazar's secret police were really secret), so what he hears is something very much outside of his Swiss existence. He also learns that people involved in Resistance activities often become very intense lovers.

I'll add a factoid for serious fans of this film. If you're confused as to how Raimund instantly acquired the ability to read Portuguese, the book covers this. Raimund got some help with translating Amadeu's book into English. This was left out of the film simply for the sake of convenience. In the book, the people that Raimund meets are capable of speaking English, which is not surprising for better-educated Portuguese people.

Carole King & James Taylor: Just Call Out My Name (2022)

Interesting comments about the autotune

[10/10 · 19 August 2022]

When I was watching this, I suspected that the sound had been doctored a bit, which is the case with most concert films nowadays. I wasn't familiar with autotune technology until now.

Having said that, the music in this film sounds really good. Not just the singing of Carole and James, but the guitar and bass playing and drumming and the additional vocalists.

It's interesting that Carole King has a history of being reluctant to do live performances, but this film offers no evidence to support this; she seemed really into it.

Once Were Brothers (2019)

Great interviews and footage

[10/10 · 21 June 2022]

The recently deceased Ronnie Hawkins was one of the highlights; he always had great insights, and also a great sense of humour.

Several reviewers here were critical of Robertson over the issue of Robertson hogging the copyrights. Just three months ago, I felt the same way, but I recently learned that sometime prior to the Last Waltz, Robertson actually bought out the other Band members' rights. This went unmentioned in Helm's well-worth-reading autobiography.

Don't Look Up (2021)

Unbelievable

[1/10 · 29 December 2021]

The premise of this story was good, and I liked the first few minutes when the comet was discovered. As soon as we were introduced to Meryl Streep as the President of the U. S., my reaction was, oh, no. There wasn't anything good from then until the final ten minutes.

David Sirota has been writing fiction for several years. I wasn't aware until now that he isn't any good at it. And it's too bad that Leonardo Di Caprio was involved in this disaster.

West Side Story (2021)

Good script, great dancing, not-so-good lip syncing

[9/10 · 14 December 2021]

First, the dance scenes were great, especially the one where they blocked traffic in Manhattan doing "America".

The script writer, Tony Kushner, did something really clever when he let the audience know that the setting of the story was Lincoln Square, and at the time, the tenements there were being demolished to make way for the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. So, the Jets and Sharks were fighting over nothing. And there's an interesting back story to this; much of the original "West Side Story" was filmed in this location. The remaining tenants of the tenements were understandably unhappy about being evicted, and they didn't approve of the film being made there. So, they were throwing things out of their windows at the film crew. Director Robert Wise solved this problem by hiring some street gang members to serve as "security".

At the same time, Kushner had the good sense not to go overboard with the social commentary. This is, after all, a Broadway musical.

Giving Rita Moreno, who was in the original film, a significant role as well as making her an executive producer, was a good move. They let her sing "Somewhere", which was the musical highlight of the film.

There was something magical about Natalie Wood's performance in the original film, and I doubt that very many actresses have equaled this performance over the years. I did find myself warming up to Rachel Zegler's performance as the film went on. Her rendition of "I Feel Pretty" was very good, as long as you can get past the incongruity of singing a song like this in the middle of a story that many people regard as the greatest tragedy in English literature. One thing that just didn't work for me was Maria and Tony falling head over heels in love with each other; I just don't think the chemistry was there. (Another piece of film trivia; Wood actually didn't like Richard Beymer, who played Tony.) Unlike the original, Zegler and Ansel Elgort, who played Tony, did their own singing in the film. (The singing for Maria and Tony in the original was done by Marni Nixon and Jimmy Bryant.) They could have fooled me, especially in the case of Elgort, who is actually a pretty good singer. Here's the problem; anybody who has ever taken a singing lesson knows that breath control is an essential part of singing. If an actor is just moving his lips in sync with the music, without breathing as a real singer would, it looks "fake", and that was the case with about half this singing in this film. I'm surprised that Steven Spielberg let this get by. Perhaps he thought (justifiably) that in an age where people actually pay money to watch performers lip sync on stage, that not very many people would notice.

Sunshine Daydream (2013)

Excellent music, film not so good

[6/10 · 24 September 2020]

First things first; the pianist in this concert was Keith Godchaux. I had to look it up, because Keith didn't appear on camera until 57 minutes into the film. Donna Godchaux was in the band, too, and she didn't make her first appearance until one hour and 28 minutes in. The quality of the music recording was very good all the way through, and the quality of the singing and playing was excellent. The highlight for me was "Bird Song". I can take or leave "Dark Star", but the version here was excellent; if you're a "Dark Star" fan, this film falls into the "must see" category. Another highlight of the original concert was "Playing In the Band", but it didn't make it into the film. Now, about the video footage: if you're a student of guitar or bass playing, there's plenty of closeup footage of Jerry, Bob, and Phil that you can learn from. I could have done with less audience footage. There was obviously a lot of acid going around, and I was left with the impression that the audience was missing a great concert; it could just as well have been the Doobie Brothers on the stage. They did seem to start paying attention from "Dark Star" on.

Author Ken Kesey was identified. Owsley Stanley was identified only as "Bear". Poet Neal Cassady was in the film, but was not identified.

The Lennon Report (2016)

I'm glad this film was made

[10/10 · 16 September 2020]

And I'm glad that it stayed pretty close to the actual events. It's a story that is not of interest to everyone, but a lot of people (myself included) had a strong emotional connection to it, and it's a story that deserved to be told. I'm glad that the murderer went unmentioned; he has gotten way to much publicity already. And I agree with the opinion expressed by the two nurses when they were running the credits: Alan Weiss was a pain in the ass.

Echo in the Canyon (2018)

Excellent music and interviews

[10/10 · 16 June 2020]

Jakob Dylan put together a set of musical all-stars to recreat the music that came out of Laurel Canyon during the 1960's; Beck, Regina Spektor (they should have given her some more footage), and Norah Jones. A big highlight for me was J. Dylan and Fiona Apple singing The Byrds' hit "It Won't Be Wrong". Among the interviewees, Jackson Browne came off really well. David Crosby was, of course, David Crosby. If you're a Tom Petty fan, the interview footage of him was not long before his death. If you disapprove of the way that only excerpts of songs were in the film, there's a solution: the complete versions, as well as some songs that didn't make it onto the film, are on Spotify.

Hemingway & Gellhorn (2012 TV Movie)

I thought it was very good

[9/10 · 28 April 2020]

I'm really surprised at all the negative reviews here. To be specific, I thought that both Owen and Kidman were believable in their roles. Another reviewer criticized the initial sex scene. Well, I like hot sex scenes in films. This one may not have been entirely true to the facts; Gellhorn said, "My whole memory of sex with Ernest is the invention of excuses, and failing that, the hope that it would soon be over." But, only the two people present can speak to the accuracy of this scene, and they are both dead. It may matter that I have actually been to the Hemingway/Gellhorn estate outside Havana, so I can easily relate to those parts of the film. If you have a special interest in the subject matter, the book _Hotel Florida: Truth, Love, and Death in the Spanish Civil War_, by Amanda Vaill, is well worth reading.

Rolling Thunder Revue (2019)

Documents the beginning of "Americana music"

[9/10 · 14 June 2019]

Some observations:

• The quality of the sound was great
• If you fast-forward to "Isis", you won't miss anything. Patti Smith didn't come across well at all. (You don't have to watch this film very carefully to see evidence of drug use. Probably including acid.)
• The "Desire" album, which is one of my favourites, was a work in progress at the time of the tour. The majority of the songs on it are in the film. ("Joey" and "Sara" didn't make the cut.) "Hurricane" was one of the musical highlights.
• Other musical highlights: "When I Paint My Masterpiece", "Simple Twist of Fate", Dylan doing an acoustic version of "The Ballad of Ira Hayes" before an audience of Indians, "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll", and Joni Mitchell rehearsing "Coyote" (a favourite song of mine) with Roger McGuinn and Dylan, in Gordon Lightfoot's apartment, no less.
• Speaking of Mitchell, she and Joan Baez developed a strong dislike of each other during the tour. The film didn't go into this.
• Some non-musical highlights: I never saw an interview of Ruben "Hurricane" Carter before. Ronnie Hawkins was his usual funny self. Dylan's present-day comments were great. He often refuses to stay on topic during interviews, but not this time.
• I'm a big fan of McGuinn, so I would have like to have seen more of him. However, fans of Eric Anderson, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Mick Ronson, and T-Bone Burnett would feel the same way. If Scorsese said, "there wasn't enough time", he could have removed most of the interviews with non-musicians in the film, and nobody would have minded.

Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House (2017)

I was thinking about James Comey and John Brennan when I was watching this

[8/10 · 20 November 2018]

This film gives some insight as to what life inside the FBI is really like, with emphasis on their bureaucratic independence that people like Felt regarded as sacred. My personal take is, the "people in the suits" have their role to play in making society work. My take on this film's content is, I lived through the Watergate scandal in my early adulthood, and remember a lot of the events like they were yesterday. However, even with this background, I had some difficulty keeping track of the characters.

Las Rancheras (2018)

If you thought that "The Commitments" was funny...

[9/10 · 1 August 2018]

... this one is a riot. A story about some kids with serious musical ambitions, but not much in the way of talent or work ethic. Examples: they take the stage at a battle of the bands without having decided in advance what song they're going to start with. The main character is sitting at his computer working on a song. He's interrupted by his father, who quizzes him about whether he's watching porn, and if not, why not?

The Ultimate Rally (2018)

In the "Trailer Park Boys" genre

[7/10 · 16 April 2018]

My three languages are English, Spanish, and Norwegian, and it's rare that I get to see a film that is on all three of these languages. That aside, if you're a fan of "Trailer Park Boys", this is definitely in that genre, and it's about as funny, although the acting isn't quite as good. One more thing: those 1960's-vintage Volvos were cool.