“Blazing Saddles” star Harvey Korman dies at age 81

Harvey Korman, star of “Blazing Saddles” and “The Carol Burnett Show” died Thursday at the age of 81. Korman died at UCLA Medical Center after suffering complications from an abdominal aortic aneurysm four months ago, his family said in a statement released by the hospital. He is perhaps best known for playing Hedley Lamarr in Mel Brooks’ “Blazing Saddles”, “High Anxiety”, “The History of the World Part 1”, “Dracula: Dead and loving it”, “Trail of the Pink Panther” and “Curse of the Pink Panther”. My parents got me watching “The Carol Burnett Show” and “Blazing Saddles” is one of my favorite movies. He will truly be missed.

Source:Yahoo! News

“What is your favorite movie?”

“What is your favorite movie?” It’s a question I get asked a lot and really there is no answer. There’s no movie that stands out above all the others. We’re talking over 100 years of films, from all countries, and you want me to give one answer? Impossible. So to properly answer this often proposed question, I have created a list of 21 movies that I consider my personal favorites. The structure I used is that I must have seen them more than once and that I had to own them on DVD. That’s pretty broad, so I had to ask myself that clichéd question of “If you could save this film or that film from a burning fire, which one would it be?” or what would be my desert island movies. It was a tough list to create because some films I really love, like “Rocky”, “Scarface”, and “Casino”, but if I was on a desert island would I want these films with me until I die? Probably not. So, here’s my list and some comments on why these are my personal favorite movies of all-time (as of now). They’re alphabetized and there’s no number one or two, they are all my number ones.

-Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein (1948): I don’t think there will be a funnier team than Abbott and Costello and I don’t think they made a funnier film than this. This was the swan song for the Universal Monsters as the studio started to run out of ideas to keep bringing them back. This film is endlessly funny, features all of the favorite monsters, even a little cameo by the Invisible Man (voiced by Vincent Price). I adore this film because it is funny, for sure, but every element works ere. Combining Abbott and Costello’s funnyman/straight man routine with the rules of each monster creates some hilariously funny moments. My favorite is when Lou is confronted by Larry/Wolf Man and he is trying to tell Lou that at midnight e transforms into a wolf. Lou’s response? “You, me, and every other guy.” Classic. Perhaps my favorite comedy ever made.

-Au hazard Balthazar (1966): I don’t think there’s been a more natural way of incorporating an animal into film, without it being like a Disney film or something cheesy. Bresson’s approach featured a donkey and through its eyes, captured love, death, hate, and friendship, all qualities above its understanding. The film will leave you heartbroken and tearful, but it’s so masterfully directed it ascends typical emotional beats some would have used to manipulate the audience into crying. Through Balthazar’s eyes we see terrible things like drunks and beatings, but we also see love and friendship, all beautifully handled. There’s a Christian subtext, but it doesn’t be pro-anything, it used as a narrative device to add more to a rather simple film. Even though all Balthazar knows is how to work as donkeys do, he’ll touch you in no other way outside of “Old Yeller”.

-Dawn of the Dead (1978): I once saw this movie everyday for a week straight and never tired of it. I’ve seen every cut of the film, theatrical, European, and Cannes, and I never tire of it. Romero has crafted something far more than a zombie/gore film. Each character is fully realized, so much so they feel like old friends as you rewatch the movie. The film was ahead of its time when Romero instilled the consumerism subtext about mall shopping. It’s still very relevant today, perhaps even more so, since in 1978 malls weren’t the main shopping source for people like it is now. Everything stands out; the characters, the dialogue, the zombies, the music. It’s perfect and I swear I’ll be in heaven when I meet the cast this February. There’s no film that I seen more or think about more, than this awesome low-budget horror film.

-Dog Day Afternoon (1975): What I love more and more about, what I consider Sidney Lumet’s best film is Al Pacino’s slow descent into pressure. The media, the heat, the peer pressure, it all works against Sonny. His performance is so pitch perfect, I’d recommend the film just for it, but the film is just a work of art. Everything is so drawn out, each scene perfectly crafted; “Dog Day Afternoon” is a rare beast. I love to watch how a simple bank robbery goes so wrong and affects all involved including cops, hostages, the robbers and how Sonny uses the media to work for him. What often gets overlooked when talking about this film is that the two bank robbers, Sonny and Sal, are actual gay. It’s ahead of its time but still rings true today as a thoughtful piece of desperation and redemption. “Attica! Attica!”

-Ed Wood (1992): This is Tim Burton’s more unknown film, a true life story of the worst director ever. Ed’s charisma, persistence, and determination, is instantly likable, and once you know how the story ends, it’s equally as sad. Ed was an artist who had big ideas and no money, well, maybe he lacked technical polish too. More importantly, the films central friendship between Ed and Bela Lugosi (the original Dracula) is a touching tribute to the late actor, as well as mirrors Tim Burton’s friendship with Vincent Price before he passed. The lush black and white cinematography perfectly captures this kooky time, when monsters and aliens where all the rage in the atomic age. Burton really hasn’t made a better film, and the cast is the best he had ever worked with; Depp, Sarah Jessica Parker, Bill Murray, and Martin Landau. As an aspiring director myself, Ed Wood is a man of constant honor. When told his recent film was the worst film the studio has ever seen, he responded, “Well, my next one will be better!” I love this kooky film and man, but truth be told, you’ll enjoy it better if you know a little about 1950s sci-fi films and who Bela Lugosi is.

-Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004): This is one of the few films in which I didn’t recognize its greatness till the second time I saw it. This film hits me more and more as I grow older, the mature love story with the possibility of erasing those bad relationships. When you break up with someone, the most common reaction is to wish you didn’t waste your time with them. This film, featuring an amazing script, and one of the few scripts I actually read, tackles that idea and runs with it. After you erased those memories of that person, would we repeat falling in love with them? Would we repeat our mistakes in that relationship? It’s a mind-bender but a tantalizing approach to love. Gondry’s visual style as well as Kaufman’s script created one of 2004’s best film, but a personal, favorite film of mine and one that gets better and better as I watch it.

-Fantasia (1945): This is one of those Disney films most kids won’t appreciate since it’s an all musical, no story or wacky sidekicks. I was one of those kids, until I caught a theatrical re-release of it about 12 years ago. Seeing it on the big screen, I appreciate it a lot more. “Fantasia” is one of those rare, unique animated films that can transcend the medium and stand next to some of the greatest films ever made. The marriage of classical music and animation here is timeless. Each sequence is a marvel of technical precision. From the opening where Mickey is going crazy with the magic, to the final scene of the Devil descending death on a village, “Fantasia” will never be duplicate or surpassed. Besides being my favorite Disney film, it’s also one of my favorite animated films. It screams to be heard on a high end home theatre system.

-Fight Club (2002): Ah, “Fight Club”. Might seem like one of my more obvious choices, but I really do love this movie. Roger Ebert missed the point in his review of the film, calling its message out. He didn’t realize that the film is about our generation of young men now. It’s our “Easy Rider”. To what is our purpose now? Do we really want materialistic things now? In our fast paced, name brand, now world, which we are. Palahniuk’s book is awesome, but Fincher’s film goes beyond his words. What I like about the film, and the reason why I’ve seen in like 30 times in a month period a few years ago, is its underlining theme. From “You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake” to near-life experiences, no film here captures who I am now. “You are not your fucking khakis”.

-Goodfellas (1992): Scorsese’s “Goodfellas” is just one of those films, despite its near 3 hour running time, is so instantly watch able. Whether it’s on TV or DVD, you’ll find yourself just watching, and continuing to watch. It might be Ray Liotta’s likable good guy gangster character, but it’s probably Scorsese’s direction. For my money this is probably the best modern gangster film, sorry “Godfather”. I could rave about the camera work, the acting, or the story, but no film is as silky smooth as this. “Goodfellas” despite its violent content, is just a winner, and a good time whenever I chose to watch it.

-Invisible Man (1933): Out of all of the Universal Monsters, I for some reason just love Whale’s “Invisible Man”. He created a special effects darling, which still holds up today, but a dark, yet comical, telling of H.G. Wells’s classic novel. Perhaps it was Claude Rains booming voice from beyond the bandages that chilled me when I was young, or maybe it’s the shocking level of mean-spirited violence that shook me (in one scene, for no reason, he tips over a baby carriage as the baby falls and cries and then just derails an entire train off a mountain killing all in a crushing, flame inducing death just to kill one person). It’s a cautionary tale of too much power and madness, but for me it’s a fun, violent, dark comedy with amazing direction and acting.

-Jackie Brown (1998): Tarantino is one of those directors that people either like or dislike. His career was front loaded with “Reservoir Dogs” and “Pulp Fiction”, so any expectations his audience has, it’s impossible for him to meet. “Jackie Brown” was one of those films killed by expectations, and undeservingly so. It’s his best film and looking at his fun “Kill Bill” or boringly bad “Death Proof”, might be his high point. It’s incredibly well-written, well acted, and just plain fun. Pam Grier here at 45 has never been better, her blaxploitation days made her a star, which as that timeframe ended, and so did her star status. I still don’t know why she’s forgotten, but her Jackie character is a mature, black woman; a compilation of her characters from the 70s. People think of urban films in all the wrong ways and probably because they are instantly dislikable or clichéd, but “Jackie Brown” deserves to be held up in higher regard.

-King Kong (1933): Want to know why I am who I am? Why I like film and monsters? See this film. My uncle showed it to me young and like most people it had that affect on me. It began my love affair with creatures and monsters, but more importantly it showed me that wonderful sense of adventure and awe that certain films can do. My uncle and I got to see a rare theatrical presentation of this film and even after years of seeing and knowing all the parts, “King Kong” conquers all. This is one film no kid should go without seeing. My uncle has seen this film millions of times, knows all the production history, and you can see why someone would love this film, even as much as he does. It’s a flawless film, a film that holds up better than any newer film could hope for, and the sense of wonder and awe still have an impact, nearly 80 years later.

-Made in Britain (1982): You probably haven’t heard of this little film before and that’s okay. For most people, it’ll be a rough watch, as we follow a young Tim Roth through a couple of days. He’s a mean, pissed off, skinhead, who might just be a directionless teen trying to find himself in a Thatcher England. It’s one of those powerhouse performances that will keep you glued to the film, but it’s the subtle punch you receive after the short running time that will make you uneasy. Alan Clarke offers no answers to the teen’s problem; you’ll just have to understand what it’s like to be a teen in self-discovery. This is a great little film that I’ve seen a lot and worth discovering.

-Man Bites Dog (1992): I like this film more and more since I’ve first saw it. It’s about a small documentary crew who is following a man named Benoit, who happens to talk a lot about life and politics as he randomly murders people. This film captured our current reality show craze by almost a decade prior and it’s the slow dissolve into the moral dilemma the crew enters that tickles my fancy. When do they cross the line? When they chose to document Benoit? Or when they start helping Benoit capturing victims or helping him escape assassins? It’s a mean, rough film but a beautifully crafted mockumentary.

-Monster Squad (1986): When this film was finally, after a long wait, released on DVD, I was equally happy and scared. Why? I was afraid because I didn’t know if this film was better left in memory or since I loved it when I was young, it might not be good. It took forever for rights to be cleared up, so seriously I hadn’t seen it in nearly 17 years. When I popped in the DVD this past July, wow, I was amazed on how well written the film was and how much fun it still is. All of the Universal Monsters come together for world domination only to be thwarted by a young tree house gang. The film is short, cool, and highly rewatchable. I mentioned the writing, and while it’s not dealing with deep themes or anything, it’s just a fun, throwback, monster mash up, the scene with the old man and the kids talking about monsters, the kids ask when leaving, “What do you know about monsters?” He smiles and shuts the door saying “I know a thing or two about monsters.” The camera cuts down to his forearm revealing his concentration camp tattoo. Due to it being unseen for years, if you’re under the age of 20, you might not have seen it, but please due if fun or monsters are your thing.

-Nosferatu (1922): The German Expressionistic Movement was one of those unique movements in film, which boomed under the Nazi rule, and as movements go, the unique presentation in art direction sticks with us today. Look at some Tim Burton films. But this film was nearly destroyed due to Stoker’s wife wanting the courts to rid the world of this copycat of “Dracula”. While Murnau never got the official rights to the book, his vampire tale is the best vampire/Dracula ever commit to celluloid. It’s atmospheric, it’s dreamy, and it’s eerie and will stain your brain with haunting visuals and Freudian subtext. Max Schreck is one of those weird and mysterious actors and his Nosferatu is a beast we must contend with. His eyes will haunt you in your dreams. This film will haunt you as it has for nearly 90 plus years. An amazing film, not just in the horror genre, but in the history of film, “Nosferatu” is perhaps one of our greatest testaments in film preservation.

-Planet of the Apes (1968): One of my favorite science fiction films, sorry “Star Wars”, “Planet of the Apes” is one of those films that only could have been made during the Cold War. It’s a paranoid look at man’s de-evolution and the creation of our own destruction-the bomb. Marred by cash-in sequels and an abomination remake, the original is a blitz of ideas, subtext, and poignant politics. Forget how many times this film has been mocked, re-examine this film under a fresh eye, and see how this film unfolds and watch how the shocking ending works to great effect. This film must’ve scared the crap out of the audience who has just entered Nam and survived the brink of nuclear war during the Kennedy administration. It should be just as scary now with our post-9/11 world too.

-Raging Bull (1980): Another Scorsese film on my all-time favs? Heck yeah. “Raging Bull” is a rare sports film that I enjoy. I just don’t find sports films entertaining. But here Scorsese takes us on a man’s journey through pain and redemption, with mirrored Scorsese’s own resurrection. De Niro has never been better, and the lush black and white photography proves why B&W is a force in art of cinema. The music is sweeps you into the beast that is Jake LaMotte. The fights are operatic. The violence is brutal. My vote for Scorsese’s best film, a risky proposition since there’s another one of his films on my list yet to come I love a lot, but “Raging Bull” is a force of nature.

-Sideways (2001): Paul Giamatti’s performance is the sole reason it’s here on my list. It’s funny, but heartbreaking, as he is struggling to move on from a previous marriage and the new knowledge that his ex-wife is happily remarried and pregnant. I can relate, so there’s the personal connection to this film, but Payne’s balance of comedy and drama works extremely well here, and is his best film to date. It’s the title we can relate to. We all have ups and downs but it’s the sideways we travel in life that make us. While Giamatti’s character is a downer, it’s his slow redemption to hope and newness that is the heartbeat of this great film.

-Taxi Driver (1974): Herrmann’s jazzy score sets the mood for a ticking time bomb that is New York. Travis Bickle is the type of man that America loves. He went from a would-be assassin of a political candidate to a prostitute’s savior. A villain that became a media darling. No film has captured loneliness or depression better or to great effect than “Taxi Driver”. It’s Scorsese’s keen eye that adds the dark current of grit and slim that Schrader’s script couldn’t capture. “Taxi Driver” hits the right note every time I watch it and while I’m not a ticking time bomb, Bickle is us. He’s a victim of society that doesn’t care and at any second could lash back.

-The Third Man (1949): The best British film ever made, is overshadowed by Orson Welles possible involvement in the creation of the film, but its Carol Reed’s direction that keeps the film moving at a clip. As a fellow friend comes to Vienna to find an old friend, he’s caught up in a murder mystery of what happened to Harry Lime. Masterful compositions of light and shadows, zippy dialogue, and the famous ‘cuckoo clock’ improvisation by Welles, the “Third Man” is just amazing. I caught a theatrical presentation of this film, even after I’ve bought it twice on DVD and seen numerous times, just seeing Harry Lime’s appearance on the big screen was a treat. From the zither score to the final frame, there’s just no other film noir to capture the moody, ‘who-dun nit’ plot better.

-Throne of Blood (1957): Akira Kurosawa as had two types of films: great films and classic films. For most film fans, they would consider “Throne of Blood” a great film, but it’s no “Ran” or “Seven Samurai”. True, but for me, it’s the supernatural aspect set against feudal Japan, with some Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” and Noh theatre thrown-in that just does it for me. Toshiro Mifune is a legend and probably cinema’s best actor. He’s a force here as his character faces inescapable doom in the film’s standout set piece, the bombarding on arrows into his house. It’s breathtaking to see and made me want to instantly rewind it. The rise of ambition, which dies a traitor’s death, Japan and Kurosawa make the best films ever. See any Kurosawa film, see “Seven Samurai”, but for me on this list, I’ll take this violent and awesome film any day.

So, what are your favorite films?

You can email us your answers at either jon@killerfilm.com or donny@killerfilm.com and we’ll post your answers next month.

Jon Peters Reviews: “Flight of the Red Balloon”

If you’ve been reading this site for a while, you might know that 1956’s ‘The Red Balloon’ is one of my favorite short films. I’m not the only one inspired by this short masterpiece, as Hou Hsiao-Hsien demonstrates with this thematic homage to the classic children’s film. But I think Hou has missed a huge point with his film.

Unknown to the majority of American audiences, Hou has directed since the early 1980s, and six of which have been up for the Palm d’Or award at Cannes. He was even voted Best Director of the Decade by the Village Voice over such directors like Steven Spielberg and Quentin Tarantino, but again, he’s unknown here. His films are almost a kissing cousin to Japan’s master, Ozu, in which he lets the actors act within a stilted confinement, moving the camera at times and leisurely edited sequences are the key difference.
Hou was influenced and inspired by the 1956 short. He said ‘it shows the city’s ambience and social system of the time. The focus on the various constraints surrounding the child is revealing: he is forbidden to do things at home, at school, on the bus’but at the time the film gives a sense of the new, post-war freedoms around him.’ I say that’s a fair assessment of the original short, but I think he was baffled in the way kids today are bored and their constraints.

Hou’s film follows an Asian nanny, young, and fresh out of film school, willing to help this single mom raise and watch her kid. Throughout the film, we get more of an idea on each character’s life and struggles. Hou wrote a screenplay devoid of dialogue as the actresses had to come up with the character and their character’s dialogue all in improvisation. This creates a quiet film; some scenes go on without dialogue for several minutes and as the film slowly reveals each characters development, the film requires the audience to be patient.

But the real flaw of the film is the lack of chemistry between the boy and the balloon. In the original film the boy and the balloon act as a playful kid and a puppy. Here, the kid is widely uninterested in such a boring object, as his nanny Song is filming a film with him and the red balloon. Hou misses the point of the original film as the innocence and friendship elements are dropped in favor of the mom’s more pressing matters. The kid is mostly alone, but has his Playstation and Gameboy to keep busy. Those items are thematically boring. Compared to the original film, the balloon is almost a character with personality. Here the balloon pops in and out and has a screen time less than 5 minutes. I don’t see Hou’s point; the balloon is shrugged off in favor of a slow moving film about a single mom.

Hou’s films take time to digest. They reward patient viewers as many of the mainstream audiences will be bored to tears. The film is directed with expert precision and the acting is really marvelous, especially Juliette Binoche. I feel if the film wasn’t based on or off the original 1956 classic, we might be discussing a really good film about connecting. But it is based on Albert Lamorisse’s film and I think Hou was uninterested in the connection and meaning of their relationship between the boy and the balloon. He might be a critic darling, but for my first time with Hou; I feel he widely missed the mark with this film.

Tony Helms Reviews “The Gingerdead Man”

This has got to be the most insane movie I have ever seen. The movie tells the story of a 12′ gingerbread doll on a murderous rampage. The story starts out with Millard Findlemeyer, played by Gary Busey the only saving grace of this movie, robbing a bakery. He kills the entire Leigh family except for the mother and daughter named Sara. Yes her name is Sara Leigh. Anyhow, he is arrested, executed and his ashes are sent to his mother. His mother, who we never get to see, mixes it in a gingerbread cookie mix and sends it to Sara’s bakery and somehow, when someone cuts himself and bleeds into the mix, it starts a curse that brings Millard back as a gingerbread man. Hence the Gingerdead Man.

All of the characters are nothing but drawn out stereotypes of southern people complete with painfully obvious fake accents and intelligence that show signs of inbreeding. The only character that has any semblance of development is Sara. She is incredibly believable in an otherwise unbelievable scenario. Gary Busey is a blast to watch in this also. As the Gingerdead Man, he has some amusing one-liners that range from funny to cringe-worthy.

The story in and of itself is a waste of anyone’s time. It’s fun to watch if you want a cheap laugh at other people’s expense, the acting and the story but it quickly gets old as some of the ‘twists’, and I use that word extremely loosely, can be seen coming from a mile away. I was kinda disappointed that it was so short. Maybe if there was more back story, I might not hate it so much.

Tony Helms Reviews “Petrified”

This movie is a combination of a sci-fi movie, a thriller and a soft-core porno. Unfortunately none of them are any good. The main character, Buzz, is an undercover “X-Files” type agent attempting to recover the remains of a mummified alien body and a severed hand. Things start out with an exchange with literally the only black guy in the movie. But, as with everything, things go awry and the alien mummy brought back to life, Buzz escapes into an institution established to treat nymphomania, naturally, we have a lesbian love scene and this is within the first 15 minutes.

Buzz’s fellow agents Shelly and Tanner try to figure out what’s happened with the kind of acting that makes “Passions” seem award-winning. In the midst of this potentially fatal position, Agent Tanner thinks this is the perfect time to ask Agent Shelly, his superior, who plays the stereotypical “cold woman” role if the alien “kills” people by staring into their eyes and they turn into a block of cement? Despite the impending doom, the naturally beautiful nympho’s can’t seem to keep their hands off each other. Then Garth, the obligatory asshole that films like these seem to always have, and also last but certainly least is Dr. Horatio Von Gelder who reveals that he is using the nymphos to establish a proverbial fountain of youth through sex.

Now, there are some good things about this film. The cinematography is okay and there is the occasional funny dialogue, sometimes unintentionally. The monster itself looks nice, albeit that it reminds me a little of “The creature from the black lagoon” only to discover that it can be killed with simple salt. The ending is the definition of anti-climatic. In a nutshell, if you can avoid “Petrified” do so.

New Release Tuesday

For New Release 5-27, we have a lot of interesting titles to take a look at, so let’s get started.

Dario Argento Box Set

Anchor Bay re-releases “Tenebre” and “Phenomena” separately or a part of this set which also includes “Card Player”, “Trauma”, and “Do You like Hitchcock?”. The latter three are average to avoidable, but I’m eager to take my first peeks at “Tenebre”, one of Argento’s last masterpieces and “Phenomena” a weird film with a young, nubile Jennifer Connelly. New transfers, audio commentaries, and a featurette make this a worthy upgrade. With Argento’s newest film “Mother of Tears” just peeking into a few U.S. theaters, it’s prime to revisit some of Argento.

Extras:
-audio commentaries
-featurettes
-trailers

Darfur Now

Maybe it isn’t as great as “Devil Came on Horseback” but no less important, it’s a shame to even compare Darfur documentaries as they all focus on various aspects of the genocide nobody is stopping. This one focuses more on what some people have done and what can be done. It’s worth a look and a buy too, since it’s only $4.99! Please at least see this or any Darfur documentary, as we have said never again to genocide but it’s happening all over again.

Extras:
-audio commentary
-featurettes

Thief of Bagdad: Criterion Collection

This is a film I have heard of a few times, but never seen. Criterion re-masters this gem of wonder and imagination. I’m defiantly going to check this out as it sounds like an early special effects film worth seeing.

Extras:
-audio commentary with Scorsese
-essays
-features

Rambo

I was hoping this would be like “Rocky Balboa”, a thoughtful character study of old age and our current society. It tries unsuccessfully, as blood and guts fly. It’s a gore film like we haven’t seen, seriously; people are ripped apart, shredded, kids thrown into fire, blood splattering like no horror film has produced (at least in R-rated mainstream world), and for that it rocks. But the story is limp. Also on Blu Ray.

Visions of Hell: The Films of Jim VanBebber

**DVD PICK OF THE WEEK**Packed with the crazy and epic “Manson Family”, is a re-mastered “Deadbeat at Dawn”. I’m very eager to see it but I’m going to buy it separately as I already have “Manson Family”. These are some great horror films you need to see. What is also cool about this set are the five rarely seen short films that put VanBebber on the horror map. Highly Recommended!
Extras:
-Two feature length documentaries
-Five short films

Rambo Box Set

Features “First Blood”, “First Blood Part II”, and “Rambo III”. All extras are the same as the DVDs. “Rambo” is sold separately.

Other Titles

Come Drink with Me: Dragon Dynasty

The iconic martial arts masterpiece is finally on DVD in the states.

Grace is Gone

The Iraq film that cleverly crafts loss and responsibility as this was a highly regarded film.

That’s it for this week. It’s a pretty good cult week that’s for sure. Next week is stacked with Blu ray releases but also out is the “Eye” remake with Jessica Alba, one of my favorite films from last year “Control”, “Semi-Pro”, and some other titles. See you then here at Killer Film!

Jon Peters Reviews: “Young at Heart”

The theater is packed. The choir members are all dressed in white button-up shirts. The director sets and readies the choir. A 92 year old Eileen, with her cane, slowly comes up to the microphone and with her raspy, conversational toned voice states, ‘Darling, you got to let me know/should I stay?/or should I go?’ you’ll burst out laughing. Whether it’s the wackiness of hearing a very old lady start a concert out with one of the Clash’s best songs or if its just the fact that it is the funniest moment you’ve seen all year, something within ourselves makes us just laugh.

Director Stephan Walker’s documentary will make you do just that.

He explores this group of elderly members who volunteer to join the Young@Heart group, their love for music, their personalities, and their drive to be the best. It is one of those documentaries that on paper seems boring or a subject mater that is uninteresting, but in truth, it is one of 2008’s best films, full of live and inspiration.

Essentially we follow this group as they have about 8 weeks to learn a handful of new songs for a huge concert they are putting on and an impending European tour. Again these are about a dozen elderly men and women, whose average age is 80. Stuff like The Ramones, Coldplay, and Sonic Youth are alien to them as much as Cd players. But their game. It’s not really the songs that scare them as much as it’s remembering the lyrics, but when it comes down to it, they’ll learn.

The film is filled with many powerful moments, perhaps none more powerful than a performance at a prison for the inmates, weeks prior to their huge concert, and moments after they learned one of their own has passed. They come out of the bus, sad and reflective and yet when they start the concert they bring these criminals and thugs to laughter, tears, and inspiration. It’s a powerful moment.

Walker does have some with them and the documentary as periodically he stages these really clever and fun music videos for Bee Gee’s ‘Staying Alive’ (which adds a deep, more penetrating meaning) and a more fun, almost spoofing their selves in The Ramones’ ‘I Wanna Be Sedated’. They’re clever and lively and a good momentary break from some of the film’s heavier and dustier moments.

Perhaps the most revealing aspect of the film is the audience’s knowledge as well as the elderly that they are so close to the end so to speak. As middle aged people claim to be tied, lazy, and sore, here our people double their age, knowing any day they could die and yet, living life to the fullest. Everyone will pick up something from this film; it’s very emotional at times but a lot of fun. It’s so inspirational and yet, never preachy. For these people and us, life is longer than we think-enjoy every minute.

Sydney Pollack Has Died

Two nights ago my wife and I watched the film Michael Clayton. I hadn’t realized Sydney Pollack was in the film at all, but I soon realized after watching it that the man was very well versed in all aspects of filmmaking, be it acting, producing and especially directing. I left the film hoping to see him again in an acting role. Unfortunately the cold bitch that is cancer has taken another legend from us. He was 73

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