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FRIDAY APRIL 5 Butterscott, Club Linehan A Go Go, Papa Joe, Tryst
Meet Lady Carolyn from
Club Linehan A Go Go
https://www.facebook.com/events/248173566124796/
https://www.facebook.com/events/285446515658400/
- 21+
- Tickets are $10 at the door
Don’t miss The Papa Joe Show at Club Bohemia!! You’ll hear everything from swing to hair metal, and originals with a show everyone will enjoy!! This MULTI BAND show ( Butterscott , and Club Linehan A Go Go, are the other bands playing!) is going to be EPIC! See you there!
FOREIGNER
LIVE AT THE RAINBOW
REVIEW BY JOE VIGLIONE
FOREIGNER: Live at the Rainbow '78
Review by Joe Viglione
Double Vision
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azF9zHyXLoE
FOREIGNER: Live at the Rainbow '78
Review by Joe Viglione
Foreigner Live at the Rainbow '78 is fun for a number of reasons - great audio, no-nonsense video and the band is on. Writing a review 41 years after the event does a number on one's psyche ...I caught the band live around '85 for the Agent Provocateur tour or something with Joe Walsh solo opening. This video, two years in on their fame, is grittier and solid, the guitars crunching, Lou Gramm bolting out of the background to center stage for "Hot Blooded," very energetic and capturing a time when they were rock stars heading towards superstardom. As the late great Allen Arrow, Esquire told me he and their manager, the late Bud Prager, brought Atlantic Records to a soundstage performance and the rest is history. Now that's providing my memories are intact as Mr. Arrow represented this writer and his company back in 1986 or so.
Sure enough, Shukat Arrow Hafer Weber & Herbsman, L.L.P. is still the firm representing the group in the end credits for this film directed by Derek Burbidge, he of 1981's Urgh! A Music War fame as well as videos for The Police, AC/DC, The Go-Go's, Eurythmics, Queen along with the video Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band: Hammersmith Odeon, London '75 and other delights, I'm quite sure. The direction is impactful with lots of cameras and the band in your face, a technique not employed in these days of quick cuts and bombast. Everything is very to the point, but still creative, a nice balance with a camera focusing on a shadow on the stage, a very nice effect. There are some hits here, "Hot Blooded," "Feels Like the First Time," "Cold as Ice," "Long, Long Way from Home" and "Double Vision," though it is good to see the band performing other material from that era and they do it with finesse.
Perhaps it's me, but the videos on YouTube that Eagle Vision put out as teasers seem a bit D.A. Pennebaker darker than the DVD, but it is 2:31 am in the morning as I continue to write this essay (less distractions at this hour, though this review's been percolating all day...)...it always astounded me that a director like Pennebaker (now 93 years of age...as of this writing, 4-4-19/4-5-19) could have something as bright and breathtaking as the Monterey Pop Festival and then go dark with Ziggy Stardust and Dylan's Dont Look Back (no apostrophe please...) but what do I know? Pennebaker is legend, as are those films. Burbidge has fun with all the elements of this original core Foreigner playing to a packed house. You can catch the excitement off the audience (and there are shots from the perspective of those in attendance as well,) and the energy of the band enjoying themselves as they work hard churning out their hard rock sound. For a legendary hall like the Rainbow it's still intimate enough and the exquisite camera work - exquisite not in a flamboyant way but that it captures the moment, is well utilized by the impressive editing. My only quibble, and I've always got a quibble, is that some interview footage from any point in time would have been appreciated along with this classic classic rock performance. 2:51 am. Now let me go finish my review of Shazam! that's been a work in progress since April Fool's day... 4/5/19 2:51 am
______________________________________________
Shazam!, the original Captain Marvel
By Joe Viglione
In 2011 this film critic wrote of the JJ Abrams/Steven Spielberg movie Super 8: "Alas, in attempting to reach serious Sci-Fi fans and children, by wanting to be all things to all people, the movie tends to dissipate by serving two masters." Eight years later as DC Comics and Warner Brothers work to dig themselves out of the Ben Affleck/Batman disasters, succeeding with Wonder Woman and Aquaman, perhaps the next logical move is to indoctrinate the 2019 youth to DC Comics while hoping to hold onto the teenage and adult movie crowd.
They may have succeeded.
Yet it is Zachary Levi, the 39 year old actor starring as Shazam!, who irks me almost as much as the dreadful brat from the 1993 Arnold Schwarzenegger bomb Last Action Hero. Levi is "Jim Carrey obnoxious" acting like a 15 year old in a 39 year old man's body. The Tom Hanks film Big from 1988 featured a 14 year old actor, David Moscow, playing the young Hanks in one of many body-switching movies...many...that proliferated in that time period and continue into today. This ain't no Clark Kent run to the phone booth body switching, this is actual two different actors to play one part. And it is the younger actor who gets it right.
Levi played Fandral in 2013's Thor, the Dark World and 2017's Thor: Ragnarok and in this motion picture which smartly uses mostly unknowns, the actor flubs an opportunity to flex his thespian muscles. Thankfully, as referenced above, it's the children who show better acting abilities - unlike the previously noted Austin O'Brien from Last Action Hero, giving Shazam! its solid focus towards a younger audience.
I get it. I do. Wonder Woman and Aquaman gave DC/Warner the box office jolts very much needed, so this "original Captain Marvel" / Superman character does not have to be as serious as Thor or Iron Man, yet notice how DC has made a point of drifting towards the Marvel universe formula, including the use of actors, behind the scenes people and themes who/which helped establish Marvel/Disney as the power house that it is.
The problem, for me, is Zachary Levi's intentionally befuddling persona as Shazam! Uggh! It is distracting, almost clownish and while it will make for family fare, it's outside of what has become a reality of superhero motion pictures: playing it straight.
What I do love about the film is its venture into the amusement park in an adventurous way that Beverly Hills Cop III attempted to do but missed the mark...by a wide margin. From the wizard's lair to the Ferris Wheel (I was hoping more for the fun house but...) the main action in a land of wonderment for the young and the young at heart was a good call. It's just that the stone gargoyles are also a bit cartoonish but Hollywood is working on that...
There will certainly be a sequel and maybe by that time this Shazam! and its actor, Levi Zachary, Zachary Levi, Levi What's his face, whatever, can both grow up. All in all, it's quite entertaining and despite all my criticism the good far outweighs the bad, so go see it and have fun while doing so.
See trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uilJZZ_iVwY
SHAZAM!
In theaters April 5
Warner Bros.
Director: David F. Sandberg
Writers: Screenplay by Henry Gayden, Story by Henry Gayden and Darren Lemke, based on characters from DC. Shazam created byBill Parker and C.C. Beck.
Producer: Peter Safran
Cast: Zachary Levi, Mark Strong, Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer, and Djimon Hounsou, Faithe Herman, Grace Fulton, IanChen, Jovan Armand, Marta Milans, Cooper Andrews
TMR Movie Review: SUPER 8
http://www.tmrzoo.com/2011/25977/tmr-movie-review-super-8
With
perhaps the most spectacular train wreck in film history, director
J.J.Abrams and producer Steven Spielberg have all the elements for an
all-time Science Fiction classic. Alas, in attempting to reach serious
Sci-Fi fans and children, by wanting to be all things to all people, the
movie tends to dissipate by serving two masters.According to BoxOfficeMojo.com “Distributor Paramount Pictures’ exit polling indicated that 71 percent of Super 8‘s audience was over 25 years old and 56 percent was male”, which, I believe, proves my point. The June 4th critics screening – on a weekend when the June 3rd passing of actor James Arness was announced – was eerie as SUPER 8 has more elements from the Gunsmoke actor’s iconic Sci-Fi role as “The Thing” (From Another World) than Spielberg’s E.T. or Close Encounters Of The Third Kind. It’s too bad that Arness didn’t make a guest appearance in this…Kyle Chandler (TV’s Early Edition; films The Day The Earth Stood Still and King Kong) plays Jackson Lamb (shades of John Cusack as Jackson Curtis in 2012) with veteran actor Bruce Greenwood also in for some of the fun…the vets holding up an array of new faces, which seems to be the formula these days…and a good one for establishing new actors via Sci-Fi vehicles…think Christopher Reeve.
But it is the age of the young filmmakers that is annoying. These teenagers come off as too smart for the age they are supposed to play, the producers wanting the wild-eyed enthusiasm of youth and the cleverness of college students. The film’s biggest drawback is that it should have had a group transplanted from the Blair Witch Project making a movie and inadvertently filming classified information. This is such a simple formula, a no-brainer, really, and the film suffers because it truly appears as if the film studio wanted to capture both the older crowd and the Saturday matinee kids…two worlds that just don’t fit together. Seeing that males 25 and older are attending this film with some terrific moments in it, well…the magical, monumental scenes would be better served with a crew that Jodie Foster assembled in CONTACT for her starsearch…and Kyle Chandler’s acting skills can’t save him from being an annoyed parent…it just doesn’t wash. Still, the sets straight from the original Invaders from Mars (not the cloying remake) and the hats off to some of the classic films of the genre make this a good film that could have been great.
On a budget of $50 million it doesn’t have as much of a mountain to climb as X-Men First Class (budgeted at over triple Super 8 with approx $160 million)…and perhaps a serious sequel is in order…let the kids grow up and come back in 7 or 8 years to go looking for E.T. again. SUPER 8 almost makes the grade…but it will entertain and works in spite of itself.
Joe
Viglione is the Chief Film Critic at TMRZoo.com. He was a film critic
for Al Aronowitz’s The Blacklisted Journal, has written thousands of
reviews and biographies for AllMovie.com, Allmusic.com and produces and
hosts Visual Radio. Visual Radio is a fifteen year old variety show on
cable TV which has interviewed John Lennon’s Uncle Charlie, Margaret
Cho, Ray Manzarek, John Densmore, Felix Cavaliere, Marty Balin, Bill
Press and hundreds of other personalities.
_________________________________________________________________________
https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-reluctant-dog-mw0000593666
AllMusic Review by Joe Viglione [-]
Journeyman drummer Steve Holley has provided some of the most solid and creative beats for Paul McCartney, Kiki Dee, Joe Cocker, Julian Lennon, and Ian Hunter
over the years, and though he recorded a couple of tracks in the U.K.
in January of 1980 (included here), those beats never got the
opportunity to be heard backing him up until the release of The Reluctant Dog, a 13-track collection of melodies and feelings that are well worth the wait. For those put off by the manufactured pop that Phil Collins runs off the assembly line, The Reluctant Dog will provide much satisfaction. Produced by Holley and bassist/guitarist Keith Lentin,
the album is chock-full of surprises -- the short and sweet
instrumental "Punta del Este (with daughter Amanda Holley on flute) and a
bubbling Genesis-like "Entertain You" to mention just two. Holley (also listed in many credits over the years as Holly without the "e") delivers splashes of Beatles on one of the early tracks, "For Better or for Worse," which resembles the Fab Four's "Free as a Bird" phase, though recorded 15 years before that classic hit the Top Ten. This early recording features Holley on vocals, glockenspiel, piano, and drums, with Nick Pearson's electric guitar and Phil Curtis
on bass. The drummer was concerned about adding the two decade-old
tracks into this mix, but they bring much to the set.
"Living for Today," the other number from the British sessions, features Wings bandmate Denny Laine on harmony vocals and, with all due respect to Laine (who has numerous classics on his solo recordings), this particular tune would have fit on a Wings album much better than the items Laine chose to contribute to Paul McCartney's band. The keyboards sound accordion-like, an instrument that Sean Fleming brings to the very next track, "Da Da Da, Dee Dee Dee." If it had the chance, "Just Say Goodbye" might have been the perfect sequel to Julian Lennon's biggest hit, "Too Late for Goodbyes," with a slower tempo and darker tones. It's one of the best of many superior tracks. As Joey Molland's This Way Up and Ian McLagan's Best of British were powerful statements by sidemen who were involved in greatness, Steve Holley's work here also demands attention. Titles like "She Gives to Me" and "What Are You Looking For?" would have certainly made noise in another time. Let's hope this material finds the audience it deserves and doesn't go the way of many a Kiki Dee album -- brilliant work lost in the shuffle that is this business of music. The Angel Air label is intent on releasing all things related to Mott the Hoople and Ian Hunter, and The Reluctant Dog is a nice addition to the collection, resplendent in its colorful eight-page booklet containing lyrics, credits, and photos. It's more than an impressive first album and one that should have seen the light of day long before 2003. "Everything Ends Sometime" and "Living for Today" also deserve mention.
"Living for Today," the other number from the British sessions, features Wings bandmate Denny Laine on harmony vocals and, with all due respect to Laine (who has numerous classics on his solo recordings), this particular tune would have fit on a Wings album much better than the items Laine chose to contribute to Paul McCartney's band. The keyboards sound accordion-like, an instrument that Sean Fleming brings to the very next track, "Da Da Da, Dee Dee Dee." If it had the chance, "Just Say Goodbye" might have been the perfect sequel to Julian Lennon's biggest hit, "Too Late for Goodbyes," with a slower tempo and darker tones. It's one of the best of many superior tracks. As Joey Molland's This Way Up and Ian McLagan's Best of British were powerful statements by sidemen who were involved in greatness, Steve Holley's work here also demands attention. Titles like "She Gives to Me" and "What Are You Looking For?" would have certainly made noise in another time. Let's hope this material finds the audience it deserves and doesn't go the way of many a Kiki Dee album -- brilliant work lost in the shuffle that is this business of music. The Angel Air label is intent on releasing all things related to Mott the Hoople and Ian Hunter, and The Reluctant Dog is a nice addition to the collection, resplendent in its colorful eight-page booklet containing lyrics, credits, and photos. It's more than an impressive first album and one that should have seen the light of day long before 2003. "Everything Ends Sometime" and "Living for Today" also deserve mention.
May 5, 2019
in Dedham 155 Eastern Avenue off Route 1
Sivana (Mark Strong).
TERMINATOR: RISE OF THE MACHINES
A FILM REVIEW BY JOE VIGLIONE
James Cameron and the owner of Skydance (the studio behind Terminator (2019) – state that the upcoming Terminator film is aiming to be a true sequel to Terminator 2: Judgment Day) and have insisted to Arnold Schwarzenegger that they don’t even want the movie to be referred to as Terminator 6 as even that can lead to potential confusion, so a full on T3: Rise of the Machines debut could cause even more confusion.
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Terminator Salvation and Terminator Genisys now lay as separate entities/offshoots of non-canon stories in the Terminator franchise; you can accept them or you can ignore them, that choice is now totally up to you as a fan.
https://www.theterminatorfans.com/terminator-3-rise-of-the-machines-is-back-on-netflix/
TERMINATOR: RISE OF THE MACHINES
A FILM REVIEW BY JOE VIGLIONE
t3
Review by Joe Viglione
When Arnold Schwarzenegger lost half of his arm fighting Robert Patrick towards the end of "Terminator 2:Judgment Day"
one might have thought that Skynet and Cyberdine would come back to life via that route. Out the window went such an opportunity along with series creator James Cameron, original actress Linda Hamilton and even the second John Connor, Edward Furlong (his older self never given more than a few secondsonscreen anyway). What has resulted is a film with great texture that can stand on its own or as a component of this saga
which takes decades to unfold. 1984 seems so George Orwell and without actors from the original flick, Michael Biehn, Rick Rossovich and Bill Paxton (who were about as unknown as this cast way back when), it's an entirely
new change of scenery - well, except for Schwarzenegger, of course. Not only was actor Nick Stahl only about five years of age when the first Terminator film crushed the little toy in the street before shooting one of his Sarah Connor victims, so was Claire Danes. Arnold doesn't look like he has aged at all, and what is totally
surprising about Terminator 3 is that the plot, the mechanics, the cinematography, the pacing, the clever script, prove that the franchise has aged, and aged very well. While the series it spawned, The Matrix, a film program
which owes more to The Terminator than anything else, gets heady and complex, Terminator 3 just crashes through the screen doing what
Charlies Angels: Full Throttle tried so hard to do, and failed so
miserably at. It delivers the knockout punch. Even more impressive is that Ang Lee's The Hulk had so much potential and despite Eric Bana's opportunity, parallel to Nick Stahl here, The Hulk is diminished by Terminator's staying power. That shouldn't be the case. The Hulk is an American icon, a marvelous Marvel comic
which had Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Lou Ferrigno going for it. But just as the Batman series failed to put Adam West, Caesar Romero and Frank Gorshin into pivotal roles in more serious updated versions, Hulk didn't recognize its legacy. The revisionist history leap Ang Lee took is a huge step backward while Jonathan Mostow is in a position predecessor James Cameron found himself in when given 18 million in 1986 to create Aliens. Shaking things up and making the most of opportunities is the key to the success of both Aliens and Terminator 3.
There is some heavy handed humor, Schwarzenegger too often quoting past Terminator trademarks, but subtle comedy as well, the feline being taken to the vet is "a cat named Hercules", a line out of an Elton John song from his Honky Chateau album. The remote control mayhem of T-X Kristanna Lokenis very cool - police cars, not with minds of their own, but the mind of the new Terminator directing them to cause extreme mayhem that Matt LeBlanc could only promise, not deliver, in Charlies Angel's FULL THROTTLE. The emasculation of LeBlanc - such a virile sci-fi star in Lost in Space - is a statement on Drew Barrymore's lack of vision. It shouldn't be so hard to give the people what they want and Schwarzenegger and company do it with relish. The robots out of control are on a mission, and they succeed. Where
Matrix Reloaded boasts a car chase scene that may never be duplicated, the barbaric truck ride T-X takes T-800 on while chasing Stahl and Danes is far more effective. Reloaded gets the award for
deep, thought provoking science fiction while Terminator 3 wins hands down for action, unexpected twists, and a brilliant surprise ending leaving the door open for lots more electronic thrashing.
It's an intense demolition derby with terrific carnage - it is a Marvel Comic come to life, and despite the same old plot line from 1984 and 1991, the magic is in the new perspective - Terminator 3
truly takes us further down the rabbit hole of this Catch 22 of Artificial Intelligence initiating full scale war. Note the differences between Terminator and Matrix. Terminators are real robots, Lost In Space metallic entities with evil on their mind, while Matrix a.i. are computer programs. The mechanics behind the robots is key and that both film franchises are on the playing field
at the same moment in time is truly an amazing conversation piece for future film historians. This is revolutionary science fiction - the Ozzie & Harriet sleepover Kate and her fiance have, in bed and fully clothed - the 4:30 a.m. phone call allowing us to peer into their private life, is in stark contrast to Kristanna Loken's point blank effortless murders. The original Arnold Schwarzenegger Terminator was a hulky bulky machine, the Wizard of Oz tin man
with an axe to grind, while Kristanna Loken takes even Robert Patrick's icy knifings to a more brutal extension - she points the gun and fires - bang, bang, bang.
Terminator 3 doesn't celebrate violence as much as use it to show how unfeeling mankind is. The nuclear weapons were made for protection but create an imbalance. Only the Terminators make
sense, equal power against equal power when Arnold turns the future weapon on another futuristic weapon at Robert Brewster's command central. The moral of the story is found in Matrix Reloaded
when The Oracle and a human both surmise that working together is the only possibility. Mankind can't get along and the violent solutions mankind creates fulfill David Andrews prediction that he
has opened pandora's box.
Terminator 3 is as successful as Aliens in terms of taking a logical
step forward. It is more successful than Aliens because there is a
deeper meaning coated with enormous dazzle and anticipation. There was a buzz on the street and in the press the moment this film hit the big screen - it is one of the few movies to be far more exciting than its trailer. Would love to see this one on an Imax screen - it makes The Hulk come off like Finding Nemo - Bruce Banner can say "you don't want to see me when I'm angry" - Schwarzenegger
is much more menacing when he notes "anger is more useful than despair", the paternal robot finding emotions in John Connor which piss him off and give him a reason to live. Fascinating stuff on many levels. There's a weird father/son thing between the Hulk and Nick Nolte, reiterated by his girlfriend Betty Ross and
her dad, the Captain Ahab of the Hulk. Claire Danes and David Andrews have the other side of that - he's too busy to see his daughter, she falls apart at the thought of losing him. But the T-800 is still there for John Connor. Which means Mr. Anderson/Neo in Matrix is truly an orphan, the anomaly hatched by machines, and called in Matrix 1 by his teacher "a machine." Which means,
Hollywood has gone beyond stealing ideas from each other, these films have serious overlap that may be the start of some future movie fusion. Spiderman meets Superman? It's already been done
in the comics, and to pull it off, Terminator 3 is going to have to be the prototype.
CAST:
Arnold Schwarzenegger- T-800
Nick Stahl- John Connor
Kristanna Loken- T-X
Claire Danes- Kate
David Andrews- Robert Brewster
Brian Sites- Bill Anderson
Alana Curry- Bill's girlfriend
Timothy Dowling- Stevens
Jerry Katell
Mark Famiglietti
Mark Hicks- Detective Martinez
Jonathan Mostow- Director
John Brancato- Screenwriter
Michael Ferris- Screenwriter
Tedi Sarafian- Screenwriter
Don Burgess- Cinematographer
Industrial Light & Magic- Special Effects
Stan Winston- Makeup Special Effects
James Cameron and the owner of Skydance (the studio behind Terminator (2019) – state that the upcoming Terminator film is aiming to be a true sequel to Terminator 2: Judgment Day) and have insisted to Arnold Schwarzenegger that they don’t even want the movie to be referred to as Terminator 6 as even that can lead to potential confusion, so a full on T3: Rise of the Machines debut could cause even more confusion.
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Terminator Salvation and Terminator Genisys now lay as separate entities/offshoots of non-canon stories in the Terminator franchise; you can accept them or you can ignore them, that choice is now totally up to you as a fan.
https://www.theterminatorfans.com/terminator-3-rise-of-the-machines-is-back-on-netflix/
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The Beach Boys: Good Vibrations Tour Given New Life By Brilliant DVD
The Beach Boys are one of the coolest bands of all time and a new DVD of the original line up in their heyday illustrates just why.
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