Showing posts with label boys. Show all posts
Showing posts with label boys. Show all posts

1/28/2012

STOMP Live (2008) Review

STOMP Live (2008)
Average Reviews:

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It is rare for stage shows to get a video release. You can count the DVD releases of still-active Broadway shows on one hand and have a few fingers left over. STOMP, thank goodness, is tossing that rule into one of their oft-used and abused trash bins.
This DVD features a full performance of the wonderfully entertaining stage show, filmed in the UK on the same stage where many of the show's segments were created.
Even after a decade and a half, STOMP still defies easy description. Part concert, part theatre.... Impossible to pigeonhole. But it is 100% entertaining and fun. In STOMP, the world is your drum kit.
I've attended ten performances of this show since 1995 and I never grow tired of it. This DVD is a perfect souvenir of the performance.
There are quite a few bonus features on the disc, including a peek at some new bits being developed for future versions of the show. You also get performer bios, interviews with STOMP creators and directors, an alternate take of one show segment, and a few other bells and whistles.
A few years back saw the release of "STOMP Out Loud" on home video. It featured bits from the stage show and new material created especially for the pay-cable program, but it wasn't the complete show. Not even close. I liked "STOMP Out Loud", but I was a little disappointed that I wasn't getting the full stage show.
But now it's here!!
I cannot recommend this DVD enough. Fun, fun show. Even my fuddy-duddy friends who don't like theatre love this show.
Great disc, good crisp picture and sound.
I've only had it 24 hours and I've already watched it twice.
My personal favorite segment is "Hands and Feet", perhaps the most rhythmically complex and interesting part of the show. It is carefully structured and choreographed but also allows room for quite a bit of improvisation, like a jazz routine.In a perfect world, someone would figure out how to mesh the magic of STOMP with the zany and creative juggling of The Flying Karamazov Brothers......


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Eight performers take the audience on a journey through sound and music, where rhythm is the only language...STOMP has grown from its beginnings on the streets of Europe into an international sensation, with touring productions all over the world, and long running shows in London, Las Vegas and Broadway. This special performance brings together performers from the West End, New York and Vegas for the very first time, to Stomp's home town and the theatre where many of the routines were originated: Brighton Dome.Instantly recognizable household objects take on new life as percussive instruments in the hands of each of the Stompers: brooms, cigarette lighters, water bottles, basketballs and more are each explored for their sonic potential. Dance meets rhythm in "Hands and Feet" and Stomp takes to the air in "Suspension", where the entire set becomes a musical instrument. The show climaxes with the "Bins" routine: a ten minute rhythm extravaganza in itself, using trash-cans, oil drums and plastic drums with trash-can lid combat sequences...Combining physical comedy and athleticism, it's a highly charged performance from an idiosyncratic group who could only come from the world of STOMP.

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10/23/2011

Oliver Twist (Masterpiece Theatre, 1999) (2000) Review

Oliver Twist (Masterpiece Theatre, 1999) (2000)
Average Reviews:

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The poor reviews this movie has received (in both the DVD and VHS formats) I feel are totally unwarranted. This is my favorite put-to-film Dickens novel (except for the various "A Christmas Carol's" out there), and I am ecstatic that this version is finally available on DVD.
Now, in this adaption, I believe the prequel works very well. I think it makes this a much more comprehensive movie and gives the characters involved (especially Monks) much more depth. And, because of the length of this version that I am reviewing, it allows the viewer to get to know each character much deeper than the other filmed versions available. We get to know Oliver's parents and Aunt Rose up close, although it is done through liberties taken by the producer and not necessarily Dickens himself. I do feel, however, the great novelist would not particularly mind in this case.
The acting is as good, if not better, than pretty much most period epics I have seen. The actors play off of each other well - they match their roles perfectly. The costumes and sets are excellent. They have captured the early Victorian period so well - both the good and the bad - it's almost as if the viewer is peering through a looking glass into the past.
As for the story following Dickens' original novel...well, I have yet to see any movie follow a novel to a "T." It just doesn't happen, unfortunately, with virtually any put-to-film novel. But this follows the original, as a whole, much much closer than the other versions I have seen - definitely more than "Oliver," and infinitely more than the Disney version with Richard Dreyfuss, which was made into a totally different story than what Dickens had intended.
Don't let the nearly 6 hour length scare you off - there is no time during this whole version where one is bored (unless they are a child - definitely not a children's movie!). Being a fan of epic period movies, I found this to be as enticing as any other epic novels put to the screen.
Bravo to all involved!

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In this extraordinary production, storyteller Alan Bleasdale broadens the scope of Charles Dickens' classic tale of an orphan in 19th century England-and the characters who influence his destiny.Oliver's mother, Agnes, struggles against the tragic circumstances that ultimately leave Oliver a penniless orphan. At the Parish Workhouse, he is forced by other boys to ask for more food, and as a result, is sold as an apprentice to a miserly undertaker. He runs away and is taken in by master thief Fagin, who is in league with a murderous pair determined to see that Oliver never inherits the fortune he deserves. Life twists and turns again and again for Oliver, landing him in alternately dangerous and hopeful circumstances.Oliver Twist is a drama of dark comedy, astonishing vivacity and soaring imagination, but ultimately, it is a story that celebrates the resilience and triumph of a little boy's spirit. Special DVD features include: materials and activities for educators; a link to the Masterpiece Theatre Web site; closed captions; and described video for the visually impaired.On three DVD5 discs.Region coding: All regions.Audio: Dolby stereo.Screen format: Letterboxed.

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