I really enjoyed this movie, which worked for me on several levels, or at least across several generations. I was there in the seventies listening to bands like Strange Fruit, and the film got the feel of those times right. Now I'm an old geezer like the band members, and the film got the feel of that right too. Connolly as roadie was a good choice, providing a salty anchor for the sometimes thin narrative.
One thing that seems 'off' about the way the film was promoted is the praise heaped on Mick Jones (Spooky Tooth, Foreigner) and Chris Difford (Squeeze) for the great music. Their names don't even appear in the IMDB listing for the film and I got the impression that the real force behind the music was Steve Donnelly, who is credited ... Read More:
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A brilliant collection of lovely videos. Its a real shame the opening screen is backed by the rockstar song. It's true what they say, when it comes to Nickleback, that the worse the song the more popular it is. Why could it not be one of the others? A great DVD, with a video I hadn't even seen.
Really lovely present for me. Go on... treat yourself. :-)
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A brilliant collection of lovely videos. Its a real shame the opening screen is backed by the rockstar song. It's true what they say, when it comes to Nickleback, that the worse the song the more popular it is. Why could it not be one of the others? A great DVD, with a video I hadn't even seen.
Really lovely present for me. Go on... treat yourself. :-)
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Nice collection but there's a huge space where Don Felder should be. The session guy gets the notes (most of them anyway) but not the feel, and they made him stand way over to the left just so there was no mistaking the fact that he wasn't really part of the 'family' . When Felder plays on HFO the pure enjoyment and mastery comes bursting out of the screen and overall HFO it is the best production but I bought them both anyway.
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Nice collection but there's a huge space where Don Felder should be. The session guy gets the notes (most of them anyway) but not the feel, and they made him stand way over to the left just so there was no mistaking the fact that he wasn't really part of the 'family' . When Felder plays on HFO the pure enjoyment and mastery comes bursting out of the screen and overall HFO it is the best production but I bought them both anyway.
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"Topsy Turvy" is more than just a "play within a play" although it works very well at that level. We see the genesis of Gilbert and Sullivan's best-known work "The Mikado" after the partnership has gone through a low spell, and get enough scenes from its staging (and that of other G & S "Savoy operas") to satisfy all but the keenest of Savoayards. We enjoy immensely the way in which the premiere is rehearsed and pulled together under Gilbert's dictatorial directorship. It is all very funny but there is a darker side in the world outside. The relationship between Gilbert and Sullivan and the efforts that the impresario D'Oyley Carte and his team have to make to keep them working together are very well set out and the niceties of class distinctions in Victorian ... Read More:
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Having watched the whole documentary, I feel there are a couple of points that are worthing noting for potential buyers - neither of which should put you off, though.
First, the disc is in 4:3 format - fine if you have a square telly, but on a widescreen telly with the top and bottom chopped a bit (to avoid black bars left and right) the captions for interviewees are chopped a bit.
Second, some of the videos for the songs are of poor quality. I know this is old film from the 70s but surely there are better prints available?
OK, so whinges out of the way, on to the good stuff. This is an excellent documentary. The first hour or so sets the scene, with the historical setting and also the way German musicians (and youth) handled the post-war ... Read More:
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Sometimes... just sometimes... you find yourself watching a film for purely superficial reasons. Such is the case with this one, Honey, which I am ashamed to say I saw because I heard it featured Jessica Alba in a variety of small, tight, and small and tight outfits. Also, she gyrates quite a bit. Phew... what was I talking about? Oh yes, Honey, which is a film about a sassy young thing (Alba) who dances and tries to help some underprivileged kids... with dancing. That's it, really.
Speaking as a guy who's a bit too old and unhip for this kind of thing, I didn't enjoy Honey very much. It's all very ham-fisted and cliched, the dialogue had me cringing in quite a few places, and Alba (bless her) continues to be a terrible actress. She isn't helped by playing a character ... Read More:
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