Author: Robert Greenberger

By 1972, a revolution in moviemaking had taken hold and rewritten the rules. 1968 was the pivotal year, but it led to filmmakers around the world trying new ways to tell stories that felt more like the world the audience inhabited. As a result, Bernardo Bertolucci was emboldened to cross several screen taboos and tell a brutally honest story about relationships, loss, and yes, sex. People were stunned when his [[[Last Tango in Paris]]] opened that November.

Starring Marlon Brando, resurgent after [[[The Godfather]]]’s smash success, it was stunning for adults to see the great actor in a frank relationship complete with full-frontal nudity. But the story required someone of Brando’s age and stature to be compelling and for audiences to take the subject matter seriously. He plays Paul, an American living in Paris, whose wife has just committed suicide with no explanation. Stunned, he finds himself wandering to check out an apartment for rent, where he meets Jeanne (Maria Schneider), a young woman about to marry her filmmaker husband. As the two explore the empty rooms, they can’t deny the instantaneous attraction. And for someone as young and attractive as the unhappy Jeanne to find anything remotely interesting in Paul requires the raw animal magnetism that Brando displayed in most of his films to date.

(more…)

Some movies offer us incredible performances or great stories and then there are those that combine the elements with the right cast telling the right story for the right audience at the right time. That’s movie magic at its purest and can describe the enduring appeal of [[[Moonstruck]]], The 1987 film is finally out on a bare-bones Blu-ray disc courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.

Starring Cher at the height of her film popularity, it also featured Nicholas Cage as her lover and we’re reminded once more that this is a man of strong talent, who has chosen a career path that negates stretching himself as a performer. Bulking up for Con Air may have been the worst choice he ever made.

Directed by Norman Jewison, the story is a romantic comedy when the formula still worked. Cher, who won an Oscar as bookkeeper Loretta Castrorini, and her budding relationship with Cage’s younger and winning Ronny Cammareri forms the core of the story. John Patrick Shanley’s screenplay is a valentine to life in Manhattan and Jewison brings it to life with a strong supporting cast including Olympia Dukakis (who also won a Supporting Actress Oscar), Vincent Gardenia, and Danny Aiello. Shot in Brooklyn and around Little Italy, it is as lush to watch as it is fun to listen to. Scenes set at the Metropolitan Opera House give the city is glitz and grandeur.

The bookkeeper has been unlucky at love – and marriage – but wants to try again with Aiello’s unassuming Johnny Cammareri, until she realizes she can’t take her eyes off the younger brother. Her parents disapprove of their daughter’s choices, thinking she was better on her own. As they plan their wedding, things go awry and the estranged brother comes more into focus and his winning ways melts Loretta’s damaged heart. Cher is at first hard to believe as a nerdy accountant unlucky at love but she makes the character feel real and you can believe Gardenia and Dukakis as her Greek Chorus parents.

The acting is strong, led by Cher but also shows how good Cage can be when he wants to. The transfer was well handled so it looks great and sounds good. Extras include the original commentary from Jewison, Shanley, and Cher. Also carried over from the original DVD release is Moonstruck: At the Heart of an Italian Family, a look at the roots of the culture that led to the film.

There’s also the six-part[[[Pastas to Pastries: The Art of Fine Italian Food]]], which offer us looks at restaurants in Little Italy, including Grotta Azzurra (18:47); Italian Food Center (2:31); Ferrara Pastries (2:28); Piemonte Ravioli Co. (2:07); a gelato stand (1:02) and Florio’s Restaurant (1:24). New and fun to have are recipe cards for spadini Romana, bucatini all’Amatriciana and lamb de Elvino. “[[[The Music of Moonstruck]]]” (6:00) minute featurette that covers how important the score was and how a disastrous screening led to the original music being scrapped.

I will stipulate upfront that I am a casual, at best, reader of [[[Manga]]] and barely watch any anime. It does not mean, though, that I am unaware of the essential titles and creators. As a result, I have been aware of [[[Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind]]] and the work of the legendary Hayao Miyazaki. When the Blu-ray edition of the 1984 animated version of this post-apocalyptic became available to review, I seized the opportunity to immerse myself in this classic world. I was not disappointed. It certainly beat trying to read the lengthy Manga that began in 1982 and wrapped finally in 1994. Obviously, the film is based on the earliest chapters and no other anime adaptation has been attempted to complete the tale.

In short, we’re on another world that is more fantasy than science fiction. We open a millennium after the Seven Days of Fire which destroyed the ecosystem. There’s a gas mask-wearing princess (the air is poisoned) and a village being encroached on by something called the [[[Toxic Jungle]]], making this an eco-fable or cautionary tale. And of course, mutated giant insects – every story like this has to have some of those. When an alien craft lands, the story ignites as the new arrivals stir things up for Princess Nausicaa and her neighbors.

The story is a familiar one as people struggle to survive in a world that has turned against them in protest. We get a lot of explication in the early (narrated by Tony Jay) going but once we get past that, things pick up speed. All along, though, the visuals are stunning.

This, I’m told, is old school anime but to a newcomer, it remains a visual feast with strong character designs and imagery. The story is also a struggle in that it’s so on-the-nose with its themes and actions that moments intended to be iconic are just short of laughable. There’s plenty of action and many scenes are set in the skies above the village. Nausicaa loves to fly and tools around in her jet-powered glider called a Möwe. The aerial sequences are most impressive.

The score leaves much to be desired and we’ll leave it at that.

The English language voices are form the 2005 home video release with a cast that includes Alison Lohman, Patrick Stewart, Edward James Olmos, Chris Sarandon, Uma Thurman, Jodi Benson, the immortal Frank Welker, and a young Shia LaBeouf. All give good, solid performances, not overwhelming the story or animation. The high-definition transfer is not perfect but certainly a step up from previous editions according to technical reports.

The disc’s special features offer up the original Japanese storyboards and  a featurette on the production studio, “[[[World of Ghibli]]]”. This includes a subtitled interview with Miyazaki, whose influence is missed, and we learn that the film was pitched first and when rejected, he started the Manga which proved successful enough to get the feature greenlit. There’s another subtitled 30 minute offering from Japan called “The Birth Story of Studio Ghibli” which is a little self-congratulatory. “Behind the Microphone” is eight minutes spotlighting the voice cast.

On the set’s second disc is a lengthy, two hour step-by-step of the film’s storyboards which are a textbook for storytellers and would-be animators.

Walt Disney was a genius on many levels but one that doesn’t get talked about often enough was his way of directly reaching children in gentle and moving ways. He emphasized strong stories and inventive characters, letting the animation style and music convey the emotions. From the title sequence to the first song, “[[[April Shower]]]”, you are transported into the world of [[[Bambi]]]. The latest in Walt Disney Home Entertainment’s long line of high definition restorations, [[[Bambi Diamond Edition]]] is out this week and automatically goes on the Must Have list.

I don’t remember seeing this as a kid, but watching it twice through my children’s’ eyes made this message work across then generations. I’ll tell you upfront that the Blu-ray edition is gorgeous to watch and listen to. Thanks to the patented multi-plane process, the subtle colors and painterly approach to the forest and its denizens have never looked better. Given its emotional wallop about halfway through, it makes sense that the story feels simple but is actually streamlined.

Once we meet Bambi and his mother, we move into the deer’s world. That’s when the cartoony look arrives with the arrival of Thumper. Despite his talkativeness, there are long silent stretches where the score and beautiful scenery get to shine. The flora and fauna are detailed enough to feel real without overwhelming the animals inhabiting the land.  Thumper, the owl, and Flower the skunk are some of the best animals Disney’s Nine Old Men created because they studied the real things as well as young children, finding commonalities that can be used to entrance the young audience.

And when Bambi’s mother dies, the loud crack of the rifle remains one of the most riveting sounds in all cinema. The unseen enemy, man, is not condemned but accepted as one of life’s dangers. As Bambi’s father arrives to take responsibility, he stands majestic, his place in the animal hierarchy secure. Bambi has to grow up sooner than most of his peers but does so and the transition from child to teen to adult is one of the stronger threads holding the film together. (more…)