21st Jan2022

The Tragedy of MacBeth (Film)

by timbaros
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What can be billed as the best film of the year is a striking re-telling of William Shakespeare’s classic play – with an all star Oscar winning cast and director.

‘The Tragedy of Macbeth’ is already being billed as a classic. Telling the story of a once decent Scottish couple doing anything they can to dominate Scottish politics, and this includes murder if anyone stands in their way, it’s also the story or revenge, deceipt, and of course murder.

Denzel Washington is Macbeth while three-time Oscar winner Frances McDormand is Lady Macbeth. But it’s not the high powered performances in this film that stand out – it’s the story-telling and look of it that will take your breath away. Directed and written by Joel Coen (here without his brother Ethan – who together both helmed Oscar winning films ’No Country for Old Men’ and ‘Fargo’, among others), ‘The Tragedy of Macbeth’ is beautifully filmed in black and white, giving it an eerie and chilling look. Shadows, fog, mist, darkness, death, a barren set, questionable characters, and blood, convey the drama and intensity in this film, made all the more spectacular by the performance of Katherine Hunter who plays the three witches – she is superb and deserves an Oscar nomination.

There is no other film like this release in the past year that will leave such an impression on you – it’s mesmerizing and unforgettable.

“The Tragedy of Macbeth” is now playing in select theaters and will premiere globally on Apple TV+ on January 14, 2022


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15th Jan2022

Rex in the City – in Cabaret (Theatre)

by timbaros

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An evening to remember is how some of the attendees described the one man show ‘Rex in the City – in Cabaret.’

Rex Melville’s show was engaging, slightly witty, sung from the heart and soul, and was his own tribute to musical theatre. Melville’s glowing performance included singing, making jokes, trips down memory lane, anecdotes about famous singers (Bob Dylan and Ethel Merman among others) and only one story about the ‘L’ word. Where was Rex when the first lockdown took place? Well, he cleverly segued this anecdote into the song ‘I Love Paris.’
At the fantastic venue ‘Museum of Comedy’ the 80-minute show won over all the attendees, and while the venue was quite chilly, Rex did a good job of warming up the attendees cockles, and hearts. Accompanied by pianist David Harrod and bass player Jonny Gee, highlights of his repertoire included ‘Make you feel my Love (Dylan), which Melville sung in French, ‘Fly me to the Moon’ (Bart Howard), crowd favorite ‘Anything Goes’ (Cole Porter), and after two rapturous encores, he ended the evening with ‘Tonight’ (Leonard Bernstein, words by Stephen Sondheim) from West Side Story.
Several audience members had nothing but praise for Meiville. Said one:  ‘A very enjoyable set of standards and show tunes from Cole Porter, Bernstein to Bob Dylan and others, accompanied by piano and bass, and supported by many friends in the audience,’ while another said ‘A lovely night’ and that ‘it was just the kind of touching, personal and life enhancing performance that we need right now.’
All of us who were there that night can’t wait for Melville to perform again.
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15th Jan2022

Screen Actors Guild Film Nominations (Film)

by timbaros

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House of Gucci: MGM; Succession: HBO; Ted Lasso: Apple TV Plus; Power of the Dog: Netflix

 

Screen Actors Guild Nominations:

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role

Caitríona Balfe (“Belfast”)  

Cate Blanchett (“Nightmare Alley”)  

Ariana DeBose (“West Side Story”)

Kirsten Dunst (“The Power of the Dog”)  

Ruth Negga (“Passing) 

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role

Ben Affleck (“The Tender Bar”)  

Bradley Cooper (“Licorice Pizza”)  

Troy Kotsur (“CODA”)  

Jared Leto (“House of Gucci”)  

Kodi Smit-McPhee (“The Power of the Dog”) 

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

Jessica Chastain (“The Eyes of Tammy Faye”)  

Olivia Colman (“The Lost Daughter”)  

Lady Gaga (“House of Gucci”) 

Jennifer Hudson (“Respect”)  

Nicole Kidman (“Being the Ricardos”)  

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

Javier Bardem (“Being the Ricardos”)  

Benedict Cumberbatch (“The Power of the Dog”) 

Andrew Garfield (“Tick, Tick … Boom!”) 

Will Smith (“King Richard”)  

Denzel Washington (“The Tragedy of Macbeth”) 

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

“Belfast” (Focus Features)  

“CODA” (Apple Original Films) 

“Don’t Look Up” (Netflix)  

“House of Gucci” (MGM/United Artists Releasing)  

“King Richard” (Warner Bros)  

Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture

“Black Widow”

“Dune”

“The Matrix Resurrections”

“No Time to Die”

“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”

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15th Jan2022

The 355 (Film)

by timbaros
(from left) Graciela (Penélope Cruz), Mason “Mace” Brown (Jessica Chastain), Marie (Diane Kruger) and Khadijah (Lupita Nyong'o) in The 355, co-written and directed by Simon Kinberg.

(from left) Graciela (Penélope Cruz), Mason “Mace” Brown (Jessica Chastain), Marie (Diane Kruger) and Khadijah (Lupita Nyong’o) in The 355, co-written and directed by Simon Kinberg.

The film ‘The 355′ has it all; huge stars, drama, action, adventure, an unlimited budget it appears. But all these factors combined can’t guarantee that a film will be great, and ‘The 355’ is not great – it’s disappointing.

 
Starring superstar actress Jessica Chastain, who also co-produced, with Oscar winners Lupita Nyong’o and Penelope Cruz, and acclaimed actress Diane Kruger, directed by the man behind ‘Deadpool’ and The X-Men movies,  ‘The 355’ (a code name given to a female spy in the revolutionary war) is NOT full of intrigue, espionage, and realistic scenes, and even the dream team of women actresses can’t save this film.
 
From dramatic and glamorous locations such as Morocco, Paris, and London where the women get to attend diamond studded parties, meeting rich and powerful men, all for the sake of saving the world from doom and destruction (there’s no need to delve deeper into the plot because there really isn’t one). And it’s 500% unbelievable that these women can take down dozens and dozens of men who work for the bad guys (the male body count in this film easily surpasses 100). But it’s only when Bingbing Fan joins the female gang that the film starts to look promising. She’s the daughter of an extremely wealthy man and tricks the bad guys by stealing ‘the secret weapon’, but somehow she gets cajoled into fighting the bad guys by joining the gang of women who have the fighting skills of superheroes! The women, all from different backgrounds and nationalities, all conveniently come together to fight evil, but what they are really fighting is to make us suspend disbelief. It doesn’t work. 
 
The jet-setting film highlights the talents of the eclectic mix of the female characters. As a collective, they are smart, savvy, and when necessary, lethal. Together, they are unstoppable, but they can’t make up for the fake-looking fight scenes, the ridiculous plot, and an ending that, if you make it that far, will leave you scratching your head. 
‘The 355’ is now in cinemas worldwide.
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09th Jan2022

Ailey (Film)

by timbaros

AILEY-A-film-by-Jamila-WignerAlvin Ailey was a trailblazer in the world of dance. He was one, if not the first, black man to establish a dance troupe – the Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre. They toured all over the world to universal acclaim, and Ailey’s name became synonymous with dance. The new documentary ‘Ailey’ tells his story.

Ailey, by all appearances from the documentary, was an introvert, unassuming and a not very confident man. Perhaps it was because of his upbringing. He was born in Texas and abandoned by his father when he was three and was shepherded and protected by his mother, a figure whom he would be very close to all his life. But he found his calling in the dance world, and after him and his mother moved to Los Angeles when he was ten, this move exposed him to culture that Los Angeles offered. And then at the age of 27, he founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre in New York City (he moved there in 1954), a dance company that broke new ground and offered Ailey’s vision of dance so unlike any others. Ailey was on top of the world, though he had demons, and was diagnosed as a manic depressive, and suffered a mental breakdown in 1980, and while gay, never really had a proper relationship. Then Ailey, like most creative men in large city centers in the 1980’s, caught HIV and died at the age 58 of the AIDS in 1989.

Like Ailey the man, the documentary ‘Ailey’ is restrained and reserved. Sure, we are shown archival footage of his shows, and former members of his dance troupe talk about him and his legacy (one said that ’the history of Ailey is off the scale”), but I was left for wanting more from it’s short 95 minute running time. Voiceover of Ailey of a previous interview he gave is peppered throughout (thankfully with subtitles as it is hard to hear). However, it’s exciting in the documentary to see modern day dancers rehearsing for the 60th anniversary show of the founding of Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre – their enthusiasm, energy, drive and youth brings a much needed bounce to this documentary.

AILEY – released in cinemas and on demand on 7th January, 2022.

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