Ed's Review Dot Com

HBO Films,

Michael Douglas, Matt Damon, Rob Lowe, Debbie Reynolds, Dan Aykroyd, Scott Bakula, Paul Reiser, Nicky Katt, Tom Papa, Deborah Lacey

Scott Thorson (Matt Damon) is a young bi-sexual man, who once introduced to the “fabulous” Liberace (Michael Douglas) starts hanging out with him to enjoy the lavish lifestyle. But quickly he goes from assistant to romantic interest, and the two find themselves in a tight bond. Scott eventually finds being hid behind the scenes and not being allowed to go out anywhere (Liberace knew he would lose everything if anyone actually found out he was gay, even though it was so obvious), and he struggles to find some space, but when Liberace finds a new boy toy, and kicks Scott out, Scott files a lawsuit to try to get back what he thinks he deserves in this TV (HBO) documentary.

I remember watching Liberace as a small kid, on the little black and white TV in our living room. I grew up with his master piano performances which were outshone by his outlandish overboard flamboyancy. The trouble with this film is that Liberace is not Liberace, but Michael Douglas trying to act like Liberace. Though he really did a good job of impersonating him, this particular character is so far over the top, that I don’t think anybody on earth could make me believe he was Liberace. He is so unique, that the entire way through the film, it really bothered me. But even more, even though I do not know Scott Thorson (although I was familiar with the story as it was all over the news), I do know Matt Damon, and I never lost the fact that I was looking at Matt Damon and Michael Douglas playing gay lovers, and I couldn’t ever suspend belief and follow the story. It would almost have been a better documentary if they used old footage and told the story with a narrator. Ok, I probably don’t mean that, but it’s really hard to play someone so unique and outrageous and make it believable. The story is not that riveting, that it pulls you in, so the film suffers due to this. It’s an interesting character for sure, but Scott is another matter. This is his story, and he’s not very likeable. I just didn’t get into the portrayal of Scott, and I feel like I don’t really know the story,even after watching this. I’m sure the real guy is much different than Matt Damon.

In any event, it was a fair docu-drama, and the extravagance of Lee’s lifestyle is well displayed. Also, Lee’s mother was a huge influence in his life, and she wasn’t given a great part in this movie, probably because she was not near as important to Scott as to Liberace himself. But Debbie Reynolds play his mom, and she was so good at it, that she was dead and buried before I realized it was actually Debbie Reynolds in great makeup with a good fake accent. Her part, though small, shined in the film. This is a “take it or leave it” film. I wouldn’t recommend it to everyone, and I doubt it will be a huge hit in the DVD rental market, but on the other hand, if you’re interested in the story, or if it’s replayed on TV, you could do much worse than this dramatized documentary of the life of one of the boy lovers of one of the greatest showmen and pianists ever.

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Herzog & Company, Scott Free Productions,

Tom Hanks, Regen Wilson, Billy Campbell, Jesse Johnson, Geraldine Hughes, Graham Beckel, Shawn Pyfrom, Greg Cooper, Andrew Collie, Jeremy Ambler, Joe Inscoe

This documentary, based on the book by Bill O’Reilly, tells the story of the conspiracy and the execution of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States. This movie narrated by Tom Hanks, mixes the most accurate information about the events, as well as a stunning recreation of them.

There are basically two ways of doing a documentary. One is by telling the story, showing the information, interviewing people, and presenting photographs and data. The other is to act out the story with actors and deliver the story by acting it out. This docudrama, as Bill calls it, absolutely mixes the best of both worlds. Too much talking and narration, even by someone as fantastic as Tom Hanks, can really bog down and make the most exciting story boring. Likewise, if you try to recreate everything, it’s very easy to mix fiction into the story. The way they did this story is really a fantastic mix of both styles. This made it a very interesting story. But also, there is one more thing that added a lot to this film. The book insisted on verifying every fact. There are so many stories and anecdotes that are very hard to prove (and some that are easy to disprove). There are other events that were claimed to be true, but there was no way to absolutely verify it, as there were no other witnesses. Everything like that was left out of this story. Everything that is here is absolutely accurate. There is a special feature interview that discusses the problems in verifying some of the facts that had to be left out. Tom Hanks narration is fantastic, and limited, and the recreations are especially well done. It was clear the book was crafted very carefully with attention to every detail, and the film followed the same mantra, and this is guaranteed to be the most accurate and factual account of the death of Abraham Lincoln that you will ever see. The timing is great with last years Lincoln blockbuster. Watch that one, then follow it up with this one for “the rest of the story”. I gained a greater respect for both Lincoln, as well as O’Reilly and Hanks. Great job, everyone. Best documentary I’ve seen in a long, long time.

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Diamond Docs, Exposure Production, Exposure,

James Balog, Svavar Jonatansson, Adam LeWinter

This documentary right out of the Al Gore playbook travels up north to Iceland, Greenland, etc. to watch and film the glaciers disappearing through years of time lapse photography. In a very clever way, they mounted cameras at advantageous spots and had them snap shots on a regular basis, then put them together to make stop motion films. What they got was very spectacular, and goes to try to prove their global warming theories. The science is hard sold to us, but they can’t take away from the beautiful scenery of stuff I’m sure we’ll never see in our lifetimes.

The problem with global warming is the whole idea that a few years of humanity outdoes billions of years of the history of the Earth. I’ve said all this before, but I just think it’s absurd to blame the imminent end of the world on us puny humans. We don’t have near that much power in the makeup of things. I remember my Grandfather worrying that the overpopulation was going to make a world where there is no place to sit or lay down, because people would only have room to stand. Then we drove him through Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona, and convinced him that we still had a little room left. I remember how we’re all supposed to be dead by now according to the end of the world clock due to the evaporating ozone layer. We were all supposed to burn to death a few years ago. But ecologists don’t mention the ozone hole anymore cause there’s nothing to say. These kinds of things run in circles. Now I have no doubt that the climate is getting warmer, but I suspect that’s what happens. I remember learning about how the Finger Lakes and the Great Lakes were built by the moving glaciers. Where are the glaciers in New York now? Where did they go? I suspect they melted. I believe the earth will survive whether or not you recycle your water bottles or use plastic bags or not. I think the hypocritical people who drive gas guzzlers, and have huge homes with whole house heating and air conditioning, but are zero carbon footprint because of buying “carbon credits” is just like the rich people buying “indulgences” from the Pope to allow them to “pay” for the sins they were going to commit in advance by donating to the church. This whole thing is just a way to control people.

This film is full of disaster warnings to scare you and make you afraid to sleep because the ocean will be crashing through your bedroom window any day now. It makes for cool fictional disaster films, but in reality mother nature will adjust, or we will somehow mutate. We have plenty to worry about, and floods and tornadoes have always been around, and hurricanes worse than Sandy and Katrina have been here before and will be here hundreds of years in the future. Let’s get back to stunning nature films and cut out the propaganda.

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IMAX, MacGillivray Freeman Films, Warner Bros.,

Meryl Streep

Meryl Streep narrates this IMAX film taking us to the Arctic Circle to follow a mother polar bear and her two seven month old cubs and their struggle to survive in a horrific environment. They suffer dangers at every turn, and it will take all her wit and strength to survive. This was originally shown in IMAX 3D.

This film is short. It’s barely 40 minutes long, but the beauty and charm is very stunning. Looking at the glaciers and ice flows of Norway, this is a very nice nature film. Of course they have to waste a lot of the little time reminding us how horrible humans are, especially Americans as we strive to kill the polar bears as quickly as possible with our gasoline cars and nice homes and furnishings. They basically remind us that anyone who doesn’t believe in global warming is just plain stupid. Well, I believe in global warming, and I also believe in global cooling. It’s cyclic, just like most else of nature, and mother nature has a habit of balancing things herself. My poor son is married now, has a beautiful daughter, but I remember the horror he came home from school with about the imminent disaster of the hole in the ozone layer. By 2010 we will never again be able to go to the beach, and when we go outside, it will only be with umbrellas and heavy protective clothing because a mere 10 or 15 minutes in the sun would kill a person. This is not some far distant future, but merely 5 to 10 years down the road. He shook with fear when he talked about how life as we know it is going to end. Sad to do this to an elementary school child. But there were no apologies at all when they realized that it was a cycle, and the hole was closing. Now no one mentions the hole in the ozone. When Mount Pinatubo blew it’s top it put more pollution into the atmosphere in one week than all the humans on earth since the beginning of time. What really chaps me about the global warming argument is that humans can actually have any effect on the globe in such a huge manner. Do we think we’re so important that we can really make that much impact? How proud of ourselves we are. Will we, or the polar bears die because of global warming? Well, that’s up to nature, I guess, as many species aren’t here anymore without the humans harming them, and if it keeps getting warmer, that could happen. But to think that we can stop it is like thinking we can stop the earth from spinning. (If everyone starting running west to east at the same time, perhaps we could slow the earth down and get it spinning the other direction, eh?) Anyway, I will step down off my soap box and get back to the movie. Regardless of the obvious political leanings, I still enjoyed the beauty of this film, even though it was so short. I felt like it could go on and on, but it ended much too soon. But the film was beautiful and very interesting, and quite exciting at times. Very well done from the technical standpoint and the cinematography is awesome. I respect those who go through such hardships to allow us to see something as beautiful as us. Oh, and the polar bears are not from the arctic. They are black bears that migrated up there and gradually adapted to the environment, including changing their color to white to blend in. Just thought I’d mention that. 🙂

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Thinking Bee Productions,

Barry Cowsill, Bill Cowsill, Bob Cowsill, John Cowsill, Paul Cowsill, Richard Cowsill, Susan Cowsill

In the Spring of 1964, Bill, Bob and Barry Cowsill put together a rock band. From the very beginning it appeared that they had an amazing musical ability to harmonize wonderfully. Their father Bud realized their talent. He was a military man who ran his family with an iron fist, and then some. He insisted that the other brothers John and Paul also join the band, along with little sister Susan and their Mother Barbara. In 1967 they hit the big time with the #1 hit, “The Rain, the Park, and Other Things”. The following year they hit the charts again with “Indian Lake” and then the theme song from “Hair”. During this time, some TV executives approached them with the idea of doing a TV sitcom about the Cowsills, but they wanted to have Shirley Jones play the mother, as Barbara was not considered appropriate to play their mother. The family declined, and so they hired actors to play the roles and named the sitcom “The Partridge Family” but as Shirley Jones states, they brought pictures of the Cowsills and told them “This is who you are going to be playing.” Times have been hard for the Cowsills, and their lives were filled with a lot of pain and suffering. They have gotten back together a few times, but there were also some very tragic times. Life has not been easy. This documentary was made to tell their story, and it’s a very interesting, although a wild story that has to be seen to be believed. Filled with music and memories, this film tells the back story behind the family that really were The Partridge Family.

This documentary was made by the family themselves, and is very intriguing. I really enjoyed watching it. Back in 1969 I was in college and saw The Cowsills at a homecoming concert. They were wonderfully talented and could harmonize in 5 part harmony that is unique among family groups. They were definitely afraid of their terror of a father, and forced to act like trained seals, but at the same time, they were certainly successful for a while. This film features each of The Cowsills, and their own personal memories and stories, as well as some wonderful performances from the old TV programs on which they appeared. This film is running on Showtime this month, but may also be found on-line or at movie download sites. It’s hard to find, but well worth seeking out, especially if you’ve ever wanted to head on down to Indian Lake yourself. This is a fine documentary.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog