Complex World (1992), 5

R | 1h 21min | Comedy , Musical , Action | 28 February 1992
Terrorists, political conspiracy, drugs and bad music. Just another night at the Heartbreak hotel.
Director: Jim Wolpaw
Stars: Stanley Matis, Margo Dionne, Allen Oliver.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099295/
Watched on AmazonPrime.

5 songs in the Soundtracks; seems like more were performed, but maybe some were repeated.

None of the 1st 3 credited people have any other IMDb credits. So it's not just that I don't recognize them, or anyone onscreen, but this looks like a one-off for them.

This is very low budget, starting with the script. A presidential candidate wants to kill his own son who runs the rock club Heartbreak Hotel. So he hires some terrorists to plant a bomb in a modified beer keg with 100 lbs of plastique due to explode at 1am. They call in the bomb scare and demand a random to disarm it. The manager/son shrugs it off, hanging up on multiple call attempts. Apparently he's had a lot of cherry bombs in the toilet lately. At one point he says the terrorist will have to come to the club to talk with him, and he does. What? Yeah, well the plan is really to blow the place up, so it doesn't matter if the terrorist is seen by future dead people. The politician just wanted some publicity out of it to help his campaign.

Meanwhile, the mayor wants to shut down the club because he wants the property sold to developers for a shopping mall. So he had hired a biker gang to go break things up, and numbed the police to any calls about trouble at the club tonight. So the terrorist can't get the cops to take this seriously, nor the FBI (the operator wants the terrorist's phone number; "we don't usually deal directly with the criminals; first we hear from the victims.") But a tv reporter outside the club is interviewing the bikers and hears rumors about the bomb.

No hero comes to the rescue; the bomb goes off while onscreen we see pliers snipping a wire. Lots of dead people and news headlines. The good news: the politician gets locked up in a mental hospital for his ravings after the event.

There's more nonsense to fill the time, but nothing worth seeing or writing about.

Avoid.

Y'know, when Amazon (or any streaming service) says they have X thousands of titles to view, they should not be able to include this in the tally.

Rated 5.6 by 109 IMDb users.

indie, dir. Wolpaw; 5

Falling from Grace (1992), 5

PG-13 | 1h 40min | Drama , Music | 21 February 1992
Rock singer John Mellencamp as a country music star whose meanderings and philandering has thrown his life into turmoil. Returning to his native Indiana to try to reestablish a normal life. Instead he takes up with an old lover (Lenz), ignoring his loving wife (Hemingway), and duplicating the lifestyle of his womanizing father (Akins).
Director: John Mellencamp
Writer: Larry McMurtry
Stars: John Mellencamp, Mariel Hemingway, Claude Akins, Kay Lenz.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104225/

Watched on AmazonPrime.

1 song in the Soundtracks, but I saw seemingly dozens scroll by in the end credits.

So JM had an unhappy childhood, but got out of town with his talent and made a big success. Clearly his father dislikes the sons he had with this wife, but maybe likes the illegitimate one.

I didn't catch that JM had been womanizing before returning to town, but he didn't hesitate to bed his brother's wife (his own ex-girlfriend from hs). He does seem generally unhappy. His excuse for returning home is the birthday of his grandfather. The visit was supposed to last 3 days, but he doesn't want to leave. When his wife accuses him of having an affair (but not guessing with whom), she leaves with their daughter.

The father is still philandering, including making a pass at JM's wife. They have a confrontation, and CA gets the upper hand in the fight.

JM decides to engage in an old self-destructive thrill-seek that I'd never heard of, and wish I still hadn't. I don't want to write about it, but it's probably wishful thinking to believe I'll forget it. His injuries bring his wife back, and we get The End onscreen.

The acting and story were pretty engaging until this extra component was fulfilled (it was set up in the opening, but since it was unfamiliar, I didn't know where it was going.) I do not understand why this was something LM wanted to write and JM wanted to star & direct. It's really repulsive to me.

BTW, 463 IMDb raters give this 5.7.

distr. Columbia, dir. Mellencamp; 5

Wayne's World (1992), 5+

PG-13 | 1h 34min | Comedy , Music | 14 February 1992
Two slacker friends try to promote their public-access cable show.
Director: Penelope Spheeris
Stars: Mike Myers, Dana Carvey, Rob Lowe, Tia Carrere.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105793/
Watched online, good print.

30 songs in the Soundtracks; this earns its + for using Bohemian Rhapsody. Note: per IMDb, this film wrapped production in Sept'91; Freddie died in Nov'91.

TC is the frontwoman for a rock band, hence the Music tag, and MM does seem to play guitar, DC drums, but neither are in a band.

This is less bad than a Bill & Ted Adventure/Journey, but only marginally.

RL is an agent/adman who signs MM & DC to a contract taking the name & concept of their cable access show to become the shill for a video arcade millionaire. RL's connection to MM leads him to meet TC, so he signs her to a video production deal. Note that TC's band does mostly covers, maybe all covers and I just don't recognize some of the songs.

RL pays the boys $5k each, so it's not a total rip-off, and there was no high pressure to get them to sign a bad contract. The issue seems just to be the commercialization of Wayne's World into a slick production that caters to its sponsor. Quel dommage. But they're keeping things light to be a comedy.

So big shrug, and prior low rating from me (5 from Netflix days musta been a 2/5?) To be honest, I don't remember liking the Wayne's World skits from SNL either.

On the other hand, 128k+ IMDb users rate this 7.0. Oh well.

Paramount, dir. Spheeris; 5+

Here's Looking at You, Warner Bros. (1991), 7- {nm}

1h 48min | Documentary | TV Movie

This documentary takes an indepth look at the history of Warner Brothers studios, from it's beginning to the present day. 

Writer/Director: Robert Guenette

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102027/

Although I missed watching them in this quest, the That's Entertainment/That's Dancing tetralogy were made '74-85, focusing on musicals made almost exclusively by MGM. Don't know what motivated the production of this doc'y, but it tries to cover everything in less than 2h, and that's just silly. However, it was pleasurable.

I was curious to see what they did with musicals, and the answer is precious little. But they covered precious little of everything. There's at least 1 lengthier Warner doc'y coming up, but that may not do much with musicals either.

They did mention and show a clip of Busby Berkeley, interview Ruby Keeler, and mention Dick Powell. They also showed a clip(s) of Doris Day, acknowledging her $$-making. And then Jack Warner's last hurrahs: Music Man, My Fair Lady, Inside Daisy Clover and Camelot. Post-JW: Finian's Rainbow.

You could probably get as much out of looking through the Connections page for the doc'y as watching it, assuming you stop to remember a few scenes from each film.

This, of course, just as much a commercial for then-current Warner stars who host the segments or are interviewed: Clint Eastwood, Goldie Hawn, George Lucas, Robert Redford, Steven Spielberg, Barbra Streisand.

It's ok, better than shrug-worthy.

Warner & more, dir. Guenette; 7-

Beauty and the Beast (1987), 7+

G | 1h 34min | Family , Fantasy , Musical | April 1987
To save her father, a girl who always puts others before herself promises to live her life in a lavish castle with a strange beast.
Director: Eugene Marner
Writers: ..., Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve (fairy tale)
Stars: John Savage, Rebecca De Mornay, Yossi Graber.

Christine Oren ... choreographer

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092626/

Watched out of sequence because the disc for Puss in Boots ('88) just arrived with this and another non-musical ft from '62.

4 songs in the Soundtracks.

I might not have rated this so highly if I hadn't researched the original story and watched the Disney version. This follows the original story much more closely than Disney, although the story mentions she is well-read, and she never touches or refers to a book in this film.

This is simpler, without all the dancing dishes, concentrating the magic on fulfilling Beauty's wishes. Also, she dreams of the prince nightly while in the palace, who does resemble the Beast slightly (after all, they built the beast mask on his face). Also we get Cinderella-like circumstances at home, where her siblings treat her like a servant, but she seems to revel in her maternal role. Until, that is, she's spent all that time with Beast, who serves her with his magic. When she visits home again, she finally sees them for the selfish twits they really are.

I was disappointed that she didn't shed a tear on the Beast when she discovers him near-dead, but she declares her love, and that rouses him. She looks absolutely disappointed when, after finally agreeing to marry the Beast (he'd been proposing nightly), he changes into the prince of her dreams. I liked her trepidation a lot, and it's not just momentary.

Since I gave the Disney version a 7-, I'll call this a 7+. Maybe I like it an entire point more, but I'm not willing to commit to an 8 today.

distr. Cannon, dir. Marner; 7+

Donizetti: L'elisir d'amore (1991), 7

2h 9min | Comedy , Music | TV Movie 11 November 1991

Peasant boy buys love potion to woo rich girl. When that fails, he enlists in the army for a cash bonus, and buys more potion.

Director: Brian Large

Conductor: James Levine

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0260875/

First performance at Milan, May 12, 1832

Time: 19th century 

Place: Italy 

LP is very rotund here.

1 of only 7 IMDb opera performances listed on IMDb for KB (b. '48); only 4 are on Amazon (plus a concert).

None of the music really grabbed me. 

Nice to run a comedy for a change.

Cast:

ADINA, a wealthy girl Soprano : Kathleen Battle

NEMORINO, a young peasant Tenor :  Luciano Pavarotti

BELCORE, a sergeant Baritone : Juan Pons

DULCAMARA, a quack doctor Bass : Enzo Dara

GIANETTA, a peasant girl Soprano : Korliss Uecker

Met Opera, cond. Levine; 7

Elvis (1968 TV Special), 8+

50min | Documentary, Music, Musical | TV Special 3 Dec 1968
Elvis Presley has now been out for making movies for many years, now he makes a comeback in 1968.
Director: Steve Binder
Stars: Elvis Presley, dancers, singers, band.
Yanco Inone ... assistant to choreographer (as Yonko Inone)
Eddie James ... assistant to choreographer
Jaime Rogers ... choreographer
Claude Thompson ... choreographer

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0285063/

just got this disc from Korea, but it's a release with menus in Portuguese. The American releases are OOP and very $$.

The IMDb page says there are many versions released of this show, edited together from various sessions.

There's no intro/opening as I would expect on a US TV program. It does have closing credits.

After watching this I can understand why he quit movies (the last was '69) and turned back to live performing. He was enjoying himself, especially in the sit-down concert segments.

Here are the chapters on this disc (total time 1h 12min):

1. Trouble 
2. Guitar Man 
3. Lawdy, Miss Clawdy 
4. Baby, What You Want Me to Do 
5. Heartbreak Hotel 
6. Hound Dog 
7. All Shook Up 
8. Can't Help Falling In Love 
9. Jailhouse Rock 
10. Don't Be Cruel 
11. Love Me Tender 
12. Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child / Where Could I Go But to the Lord / I Found the Light / Up Above My Head / Saved 
13. That's All Right 
14. Tiger Man 
15. Trying To Get To You 
16. Baby, What You Want Me to Do reprise
17. One Night 
18. Memories 
19. Nothingville 
20. Guitar Man reprise
21. Let Yourself Go 
22. Guitar Man reprise
23. Big Boss Man 
24. It Hurts Me 
25. Guitar Man reprise
26. Little Egypt 
27. Trouble reprise
28. Guitar Man reprise
29. If I Can Dream 

These are listed in the IMDb Soundtracks, but missing from this Portuguese disc:

• A Little Less Conversation 
• Are You Lonesome Tonight? 
• Blue Suede Shoes 
• MacArthur Park 
• Santa Claus Is Back In Town 
• Saved in the medley
• Baby, What You Want Me To Do?  listed twice on imdb.

distr. NBC, dir. Binder; 8+

Wagner: Der fliegende Holländer (1989), 8+

2h 19min | Drama , Music | TV Movie

A Dutch captain is cursed to sail until he finds a woman faithful unto death.

Director: Aarno Cronvall

Conductor: Leif Segerstam

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0276138/

Watched out of sequence b/c dvd just arrived.

First performance at Dresden, January 2, 1843

This is the 4th of Wagner's 13 completed operas, but the 3rd to be performed. Here's a nice table of those dates.

Time: 18th century 

Place: a Norwegian fishing village 

This production was filmed at castle Olavinlinna, Savonlinna, Finland.

I bought this because I was disappointed by the music of the Ring Cycle; it didn't have as much of the famous Wagner music as I expected. 

This has a lot more of that famous music proportionally, and because the opera is so short (for Wagner), it is very satisfying. Plus, some of the less famous music is also pleasing. This is the sort of thing that I can just let play in the background for musical pleasure.

Amazing that Wagner lived to age 70 given how he linked love and death so closely and so often. Here Senta pledges herself to the Dutchman, and when he doesn't believe she's faithful, she flings herself off a cliff declaring she is faithful unto death. Then she & the Dutchman presumably enjoy the afterlife in their watery grave. Ugh.

This is a stage production with some filmed footage of the castle, the sea and a supposedly sunken ship. (Could be a model with the sea superimposed.) The big stone wall onstage is actually the castle where the opera was staged, with the audience sitting outdoors. That makes this production more impressive to me, because the lighting and camerawork are very good.

Clearly from all the bolding below, I liked the cast. Also good were some of the faces the director picked from the chorus, and the acrobatic dancer entertaining the crew briefly.

Cast:

THE FLYING DUTCHMAN Baritone : Franz Grundheber

DALAND, a Norwegian sea captain Bass : Matti Salminen

SENTA, his daughter Soprano : Hildegard Behrens

MARY, her nurse Contralto : Anita Välkki

ERIC, a huntsman Tenor : Raimo Sirkiä

DALAND’S STEERSMAN Tenor : Jorma Silvasti 

NVC Arts, cond. Segerstam; 8+

The Princess and the Goblin (1991), 5

G | 1h 22min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy | 20 Dec 1991
The story is about the adventurous Princess Irene. The princess is off playing in the woods when she is attacked by goblins pets. She is saved by a mining young warrior boy named Curty. They quickly become friends and get into a lot of trouble. The goblins attack and Irene must rely on her own magic to save Curty, and in turn the entire kingdom.
Director: József Gémes
Stars: Claire Bloom, Joss Ackland, Roy Kinnear.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107875/
Watched online, mediocre copy.

1 song in the Soundtracks; hard to say if more were sung or if this was sung multiple times.

Not released in US until '94; 1st released in Hungary, one of the countries of origin.

Rated 6.9 by 2.1k IMDb voters who see something I don't.

The kingdom's industry is mining, but an underground nation of goblins wants them gone and is damming a river to flood the mines. The princess encounters them in the forest, and with the help of her great grandmother's ghost learns to find her own magic to help defeat the goblins when they attack the castle and when she and the villager boy go underground to learn more of the destructive plans.

It's just a sequence of getting into and out of trouble over and over, and gave me no reason to care about anyone or anything onscreen.

int'l indie; dir. Gemes; 5

For the Boys (1991), 7-

R | 2h 18min | Comedy , Drama , Music | 27 November 1991
With the help of the singer and dancer Dixie Leonhard, U.S. entertainer Eddie Sparks wants to bring some fun to the soldiers during World War II. 
Director: Mark Rydell
Stars: Bette Midler, James Caan, George Segal.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101902/
Watched online, good print.

26 songs in the Soundtracks.

Rated 6.3 by 4.6k+ IMDb voters, and 6 by me on 2015-05-06, I'm upgrading this today.

It's not as a music/al that this scores (hehe), but as a drama. BM sacrifices her husband to WW2 and her son to the Vietnam conflict, and even sees him get killed (with many others) during her visit to an area that was really off limits due to excessive activity. She also has a traumatic experience in the Korean battlefield, but with a stranger.

All this is conveyed when she tells a visitor about her (mostly unpleasant) memories of JC. They are about to get a Presidential award for their long history of entertaining troops during our wars. JC is a Bob Hope-type song/dance/comedian whose theme song is I Remember You, but offstage he's a nasty, ruthless man. The history of BM & JC extends beyond the wars to having their own sitcom/variety TV show, but her uncle GS, who's been JC's writer for over a decade before he brought them together, gets fired for having some intersection with communism.

So the film covers major historical events in the mid-20th century through personal stories. This is its strength. And it was also nice to hear 40s-style music again.

distr. Fox, dir. Rydell; 7-

An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991), 6-

G | 1h 15min | Animation, Adventure, Family | 22 Nov 1991
A family of Emigre mice decide to move out to the west, unaware that they are falling into a trap perpetrated by a smooth talking cat.
Directors: Phil Nibbelink, Simon Wells
Stars: James Stewart, John Cleese, Amy Irving, Dom DeLuise.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101329/
Watched online, good print.

9 songs in the Soundtracks.

I rated the 1st film a 6. 

DD is very recognizable, and although the character is drawn to sort of physically resemble him, I find it distracting. Also, the humor he's given (or ad libs) is sometimes too modern for the setting. 

I slept between finishing the film and watching this, and don't really remember much except a lot of sweeping movement. I suppose it's easier to move animated characters than live actors, but that doesn't mean you should do it all (or a lot of) the time. To me it signals that you don't have enough plot/character, and are substituting "stunts".

The reason I'm sure I finished the film: I remember the last moments when Fievel shakes his white cowboy hat to become the blue cap given by his father in the prior film. I'd been wondering where that was.

Universal & more, dir. Nibbeling & Wells; 6-

Shout (1991), 6-

PG-13 | 1h 29min | Drama , Music , Romance | 4 October 1991
A new music teacher in a 1955 West Texas home for wayward boys brings new vision and hope for many of the interned boys.
Director: Jeffrey Hornaday
Stars: John Travolta, Jamie Walters, Heather Graham, Richard Jordan.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102913/
Watched online, ok print.

10 songs in the Soundtracks, none list cast as performers, but cast "perform" some songs onscreen.

Rated 5.1 by 1675 IMDb voters. I don't think it's that bad, but it's not great.

Notice the poster has JW & HG inside the silhouette of JT. That's pretty accurate. JT is not the focus of the script, but when he's onscreen he certainly draws your eye. (JT dances for only a few moments onscreen.)

The film is really about the wayward boys, especially JW, who are bullied by the home/farm owner RJ, but nurtured by music teacher JT. HG is daughter of RJ, home from college, but interested in minor JW due to his interest in her. He's troubled and even more rebellious than the other boys, but he also has a lot of musical talent before JT starts developing it in the group.

But JT has a past, is wanted by the law, and eventually allows himself to be arrested. We get no other resolution to that storyline, but he's supposedly innocent (self defense).

The boys get good enough that they can play their stodgy number at the fair pretty well, but then really rock the house when they perform that new underground music they've been hearing by shortwave radio (and rehearsed by JT). That music (early rock; this takes place in the 50s) is probably the best thing about the film.

Universal & more, dir. Hornaday; 6-

Beauty and the Beast (1991), 7-

G | 1h 24min | Animation , Family , Fantasy | 22 November 1991
A selfish prince is cursed to become a monster for the rest of his life, unless he learns to fall in love with a beautiful young woman he keeps prisoner.
Directors: Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise
Stars: Paige O'Hara, Robby Benson, Angela Lansbury, Jerry Orbach.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101414/
Borrowed Special Edition.

8 songs in the Soundtracks, plus 3 reprises.

I liked the bookish beauty who tames the beast, makes him lovable and expresses her love just in time to undo the spell. And it's nice that she rescues him from the spell, where so many other tales have the prince waking the damsel.

I only recognized AL's voice. Sounds like the Beast's voice (RB) has some effect to make it reverb and/or make it deeper. Really don't recognize JO as the candlestick. I liked his Maurice Chevalier impersonation and the corresponding animated caricature, complete with hat and cane, adapted to the candlestick milieu.

IMDb trivia: "Robby Benson's voice was altered by the growls of real panthers and lions so that it is virtually unrecognizable. His voice is not changed on the original motion picture soundtrack, which is why as the prince (whose voice-over thoughts are heard in "Something There") his voice is different. In contrast, when the film was remade in 2017, the Beast sings "Something There" out loud to himself, as well as an original song, "Evermore." Because these were done out loud, actor Dan Stevens' voice was altered."

Watched the original theatrical version and the work in progress version, then listened to the c.track on the special edition.

Well done, but not something I fell in love with.

Disney, dir. Trousdale & Wise; 7-

Queen: Days of Our Lives (2011), 9

2h | Documentary | TV Movie 27 June 2011

The life and times of the rock band Queen - told in two parts covering in part one the 1970's and in part two the 1980's and beyond.

Director: Matt O'Casey

Stars: Brian May, Roger Taylor, Freddie Mercury, John Deacon.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1977894/

IMDb has 2 doc'ys with essentially the same title: 1991's has the word The, 2011 does not. I tagged both as in my collection, but I only have the 2011. I can't find hide nor hair of the '91 film, which is supposed to be 1.5h. So I watched this much too soon, yet appropriately the same week as the new film Bohemian Rhapsody ('18) is releasing wide. (Since the film covers events leading up to the Live Aid appearance ('85), nothing about FM's Barcelona ('86) album, nor his physical deterioration, will covered in depth.)

This is very good, but not complete. Glaring omissions: the Hollywood connections. Queen wrote 2 soundtracks for the films Flash Gordon ('80) and Highlander ('86), plus FM had a song in Giorgio Moroder's version of Metropolis ('27, '85); none of this is mentioned, not even when showing the Radio Ga-Ga music video, which uses Metropolis footage.

Lots of interviews of BM & RT from 2011-ish. BM shares getting his dad's approval after the Madison Square Garden concert; dad had always chided him for wasting his physics/astronomy education. (No mention that he completed his PhD in '07.)

The really gripping stuff was FM (b. '46) still recording video near the end of his life, and the raw footage showed how really ill he was, despite the makeup. And then describing how he recorded vocals for incomplete songs, so that the survivors could assemble another album (Made in Heaven) post mortem.

BBC & more, dir. O'Casey; 9

Jungle Fever (1991), 7- {nm}

R | 2h 12min | Drama , Romance | 7 June 1991
Friends and family of a married black architect react in different ways to his affair with an Italian secretary.
Writer/Director: Spike Lee
Stars: Wesley Snipes, Annabella Sciorra, Spike Lee, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Samuel L. Jackson, Lonette McKee.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102175/

Started out feeling like a fairly trivial story about an extramarital sexual encounter. When WS tells best friend SL about it, I was shaking my head, wondering why. Sure enough, SL tells his wife who tells WS's wife (LM), and then she's dumping his possessions out of the window. That's overly dramatic considering there's been no confrontation, and they have a young daughter (1st/2nd grade) who understands that the noises they make are making love.

LM's over-reaction is fueled by racism; her father was white, mother black, and she'd been called all the derogatory names for light-skinned blacks. Then we get reactions from various peripheral characters, including racism unrelated to this affair. And not only b/w racism, but also Italian vs. blonde. 

AS (WS's encounter partner) has an ugly ambush at home: her father's reaction to her having had sex with a black man. Fortunately her 2 brothers pull him off. We don't learn how he knew, but she told her gf's.

We get WS & AS (the relationship continued after LM threw him out) play-fighting on the street, and someone calling the cops to protect the girl. Another example of really dumb behavior by this architect.

We meet WS's parents (OD & RD) and his junkie brother SLJ, who confronts family members often for $$ for his habit. OD has no tolerance for him, and the most striking plot point of the film is the final confrontation in that home.

I had to watch it again to determine my rating. It has depth.

Universal & more, dir. Lee; 7-

Rock-A-Doodle (1991), 5+

G | 1h 17min | Animation , Adventure , Comedy | 2 August 1991
In order to defeat the Grand Duke of Owls, a young boy transformed into a cat teams up with a group of barnyard animals to find a rooster who can raise the sun.
Directors: Don Bluth, Gary Goldman (co-director), Dan Kuenster.
Stars: Glen Campbell, Christopher Plummer, Phil Harris, Sandy Duncan.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102802/
Watched online, ok print.

12 songs in the Soundtracks, one about tying shoes (over, around, under and through; when you're trying something new, you're bound to make mistakes).

The film is ok, but I started to rate it 5 because I didn't like the insecurity of the young boy turned to kitten, and the story/music didn't do anything for me.

This starts with live action, mom reading to boy the story of Chanticleer, a rooster who crows the sun up each morning. The barn owl dislikes him because owls like it dark, so he gets C into a fight pre-dawn, and the sun rises without his crow, so he's humiliated and jeered by his "friends". He leaves the farm, and a big storm comes, so the boy thinks they need the rooster to bring the sun out. Boy turns to kitten and joins with other barnyard animals to search for C, leading them to the big city, where C has become an Elvis-like star named King (GC). But King is lonely in has new life, and is persuaded to return to the farm where he brings the sun out with his crowing.

The shoe-tying song is by a dog with bunions (PH), but is not catchy enough to stick in my head. Listening to those lyrics almost saved this from a 5. But the whole thing is just to dull to suggest to myself it's ok to watch again.

If Don Bluth (b. '37) films feel like Disney, that's because that's where he started: his 1st IMDb credit is Sleeping Beauty ('59) as assistant animator, going independent with The Secret of NIMH (1982, his 11th credit). Of his 15 credits through '91 (21 credits total through '00; 13 are tagged music/al), I've watched 8 films (including Xanadu ('80)), and rated them all 5 or 6. But 7^ is rare from me for a feature-length animation. DB uses celebrity voices more than Disney did.

Shrug.

distr. Goldwyn, dir. Bluth+; 5+

Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991), 5

PG | 1h 33min | Adventure , Comedy , Fantasy | 19 July 1991
A tyrant from the future creates evil android doubles of Bill and Ted and sends them back to eliminate the originals.
Director: Peter Hewitt
Stars: Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, William Sadler.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101452/

Watched on AmazonPrime.

15 songs in the Soundtracks, only 1 perf'd by the boys (or any cast member), but we saw them playing at the beginning, probably not that song.

I didn't expect this to be better than the first, which I also gave 5. But I thought I'd try. I almost turned it off, but was too close to the end to revoke my license to rate it.

The Grim Reaper was the best character, played well by WS. Really silly that GR lost 5 different games to the boys. I've never played Battleship, but I'm curious how cheating is prevented/discouraged.

I was surprised that George Carlin was again used only at the beginning and end, especially since they showed him going on the journey.

No reason ever to watch this again. Really.

distr. Orion, dir. Hewitt; 5

The Cabinet of Dr. Ramirez (1991), 6-

1h 51min | Drama , Music , Mystery | 4 December 1991
Featuring music instead of any dialogue and set in a near Kafkaesque future, this loose remake of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari follows a bureaucrat whom mysterious Dr. Ramirez and his hideous sidekick want as their latest victim.
Director: Peter Sellars
Writers: the director & 4 stars listed here.
Stars: Mikhail Baryshnikov, Joan Cusack, Peter Gallagher, Ron Vawter.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101530/

Watched online; very blurry. The print was in 5 pieces: 17, 19, 19, 19, 20, totalling only 94 min, nowhere near the 111 IMDb has for the runtime.

This might be a 5, but it was so blurry I didn't recognize MB until well into his screen time, and the few words onscreen were too blurry to read until the last card, and that was very generic. So this is a silent film with no intertitles, and difficult to follow. But I suspect that's intentional.

I have not seen Dr. Caligari ('20), but I suspect the synopsis writer was summarizing that film, not this one. I have no idea, for instance, who is the bureaucrat referenced: Cusack? Gallagher? "Next" implies prior, so who was the prior victim: the murdered coworker? The woman strangled in her home? Who was the hideous sidekick: MB? I didn't connect those 2 homeless men at all. And this didn't seem like the future or the near future; it seemed like the 80s, especially given director PS's introductory remarks.

We don't discover which character is the Doctor until very near the end, when all the characters come together in what appears to be a mental institution.

IMDb rating 5.1 with 125 votes. I could not find any copy for purchase.

distr. PBS (US, '93), dir. Sellars; 6-

Rock 'n' Roll High School Forever (1991), 5

PG-13 | 1h 35min | Comedy , Music | 23 May 1991
Those rambunctious kids are back in school and back in trouble in a smash sequel to the 1978 worldwide hit. 
Writer/Director: Deborah Brock
Stars: Corey Feldman, Larry Linville, Mary Woronov.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100504/
Watched online, mediocre print.

29 songs in the Soundtracks; at least 8 are classical pieces used in the score. The Carmen Miranda song was performed by someone else trying to sound a lot like her. Some oldies (e.g., Fats Domino) performed by CF & band, but a faster/louder update.

Clearly since the original film was released in '79, these are not the same kids. If this was such a smash hit, why'd it take so long for a sequel? And IMDb doesn't list a theatrical distribution company, only a home video firm for 1991.

IMDb rated 4.8 with 960 votes. Apparently people were disappointed this wasn't more like the original (rated 6.8), which featured the double-ponytailed girl as the lead troublemaker.

The 2 films share 1 cast member, here the (assistant?) principal Dr. Vadar was Miss something in the first film. I don't think they were supposed to be the same person. Both also had Dee Dee Ramone in the Soundtrack.

Lots of gross-out humor and destructive behavior (yes, they blow up the hs at the end, but it's supposedly Vadar's fault.

Avoid.

indie (home video?), dir. Brock; 5

Into the Woods (1991), 8+

2h 31min | Comedy , Drama , Romance | 15 March 1991

In this Tony Award-winning musical by Stephen Sondheim, several fairy tale characters learn the hard way that the 'Happily Ever After' they sought isn't necessarily so happy after all.

Writer/Director: James Lapine

Stars: Bernadette Peters, Joanna Gleason, Chip Zien, Kim Crosby.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099851/

23 songs in the Soundtracks.

Great mashup and twisting of the basic fairy tales from childhood. Starts with whimsy, but act 2 gets more serious, in a good way ("children will listen").

Great cast, script & songs.

distr. American Playhouse, dir. Lapine; 8+

Bix (1991), 6-

1h 40min | Biography , Drama , Music | 9 May 1991
Biopic of troubled jazz musician/composer Bix Beiderbecke (1903-1931), who played with the Paul Whiteman band, among others.
Director: Pupi Avati
Stars: Bryant Weeks, Emile Levisetti, Julia Ewing, Romano Orzari.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101460/
Watched online, blurry.

17 songs in the Soundtracks, 1 written by Beiderbecke.

Even reviewers on IMDb are calling this unintelligible in places. I don't recognize any of the actors, and this is the only film for the lead; he has less than a handful of other credits. Most of the cast have no character name on IMDb, and the vast majority have no photo poster for their bio page.

Some of this was filmed in Davenport IA, where the director bought and refurbished the family home for filming.

Since the print I viewed was very blurry, I can't even appreciate what reviewers praise about the film: the period look (20s). Nor does his music grab me. But this is early jazz, just a step away from ragtime. So it's not my favorite.

Apparently Hoagy Carmichael was a friend, and each influenced the other. But the film shows HC as a cornetist, and his Wikipedia bio says he didn't have the lips for it. I guess that's dramatic license so they sat next to each other on the bandstand? HC is well known for playing piano.

Probably should give this a 5 for its incoherence, but I'll be generous.

Italian/US indie, dir. Avati; 6-

The Doors (1991), 6-

R | 2h 20min | Biography , Drama , Music | 1 March 1991
The story of the famous and influential 1960s rock band The Doors and its lead singer and composer, Jim Morrison, from his days as a UCLA film student in Los Angeles, to his untimely death in Paris, France at age 27 in 1971.
Director: Oliver Stone
Stars: Val Kilmer, Meg Ryan, Kyle MacLachlan, Kathleen Quinlan.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101761/
Watched on AmazonPrime.

~40 songs in the Soundtracks, including most of The Doors' hits.

Previously rated 3/5 on Netflix, today it could be 5.

I understand why the film was made: dir. OS had clout by then, and fans would be curious. Plus the freaky likeness both physically/facially and vocally between VK & Jim Morrison. But this is a sad ugly tale from which little can be learned to better people's lives, and it's too bleak to be entertaining. Just listen to The Doors' Greatest Hits instead. Apparently JM's lyrics have a lot of references to death, with which he was obsessed. Apparently a lot of drugs and alcohol were consumed, really to excess. This is all stuff I don't need/want to see.

Super-ironic that, per IMDb trivia, JM hated the extra notoriety he got above the band, and this film is titled with the band's name but is really only about JM, with band members included as minor supporting characters.

Very skippable.

distr. TriStar, dir. Stone; 6-

L.A. Story (1991), 7+ {nm}

PG-13 | 1h 35min | Comedy , Drama , Fantasy | 8 February 1991
With the help of a talking freeway billboard, a wacky weatherman tries to win the heart of an English newspaper reporter, who is struggling to make sense of the strange world of early 1990s Los Angeles.
Director: Mick Jackson
Writer: Steve Martin
Stars: Steve Martin, Victoria Tennant, Richard E. Grant, Marilu Henner, Sarah Jessica Parker.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102250/

14 songs in the Soundtracks, although La Mer is listed twice.

Sweet comedy fantasy romance between SM & VT (m. '86-94). They did 2 movies together, the first being All of Me ('84). I have no idea what part of this film motivated someone to add Drama to its genres... the sweetness?

This is the film where SJP plays SanDeE*, and MH refuses to open her own car door. I wonder how she leaves home alone.

distr. TriStar, dir. Jackson; 7+

Verdi: Un ballo in maschera (1991), 7

2h 16min | Drama , Music | TV Movie 26 January 1991

Add a Plot »

Director: Brian Large

Conductor: James Levine

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0259875/

First performance at Rome, February 17, 1859

Time: 18th century 

Place: Boston; Note—Sometimes the scene of the opera is shifted to Naples, sometimes to Stockholm; sometimes the names of the characters are changed accordingly, sometimes not. The music remains the same.

So the Met _can_ light the stage up when they want to. Some scenes are dark, like the poster, but the actual masked ball is quite bright, with pastel gowns showing their colors nicely.

You would think a Masked Ball would be a venue for comedy, but no, it's the "opportunity" for murder. Seems like a great place to land the wrong victim, but ok. (Apparently Verdi wrote only 2 comedies, 40 years apart; only Falstaff is performed regularly.)

The characters are not deeply developed here. LN's Renato changes from loyal friend to murderer in the blink of one suspicion. And when his victim swears on his death bed that the suspicion is false, LN gets remorseful. But we know nothing about his nature, not even any exposition about prior rash decisions or cause for jealousy to be an extraordinary trigger for him. And LN has a very dignified presence, so the wild swing to action is bizarre. His 2 co-conspirators had old reasons to target the victim; LN did not.

Interesting too that he held a sword to his wife's neck, but she talked him out of her own death by pleading to see their/her son "first". And then he involves her in the plot to kill her lover, taking her to the ball with him, and doing basically nothing to prevent her from warning the victim of this danger.

Ah, but the victim is vain, not wishing to avoid the ball for fear of appearing cowardly. How about stepping up security, wearing some hidden armor under that flowing cape?

An interesting role here is the page, a trouser part (woman playing man). But the interesting aspect is the page's relationship to the king. He's almost a court jester, but with official non-humorous duties. I was struck by the scene where the king was sitting for his portrait, and had the page sit beside him. The page sang multiple times, and was in the closeup for the king's final scene. And no, the king didn't seem interested in the page romantically. More of a close companion?

The music is ok; I didn't recognize anything as particularly famous.

AM got lots of cheers during curtain calls, as did LP. Well deserved.

Cast:

RICCARDO, Count of Warwick and Governor of Boston Tenor : Luciano Pavarotti (Gustav III)

RENATO, his friend and secretary Baritone : Leo Nucci (Captain Anckarström)

AMELIA, Renato’s wife Soprano : Aprile Millo 

ULRICA, a fortuneteller Contralto : Florence Quivar (Ulrica Arfvidsson)

OSCAR, a page Soprano : Harolyn Blackwell

conspirators      

. SAMUELE Bass  : Terry Cook (Count de Horn)

. TOMMASO Bass : Jeffrey Wells (Count Ribbing)

SILVANO, a sailor Baritone : ?

Met Opera, cond. Levine; 7

Wagner: Götterdämmerung (1990), 6

4h 41min | Drama , Fantasy , Music | TV Movie

Add a Plot »

Director: Brian Large

Conductor: James Levine

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0285164/

First performance at Bayreuth, April 17, 1876

Time: mythological 

Place: Germany 

This just too long. The Prologue is skippable; as Simon (100 Great Operas) says, it's often scrapped from performances.

In this, the final chapter of the Cycle, Siegfried goes astray, and gets killed essentially by Brunnhilde: she instructs an enemy how he's vulnerable. 

This picks up shortly after the prior opera ended, with B & S in their rocky lovenest, having exchanged private marriage-like vows. He takes a trip on her horse, leaving the Ring with her; he kept the helmet. While he's gone, B is visited by a sister Valkyrie, who tries to convince her to return the Ring to the Rhine. She says she'd rather see Valhalla fall to ruin than to give up this pledge of love from S.

S meets Alberich's offspring: Hagen, Gunther and Gutrune, and with a potion they provide he forgets his past and falls in love with Gutrune (casting is poor: she looks older than Fricka). Hagen encourages Gunther & Siegfried to become blood brothers, and a plan is hatched for Gunther to wed Brunnhilde with Siegfried's help. With his magic helmet S disguises himself as G, and conquers B (she resists plenty), performing wedding vows and seizing the Ring. When they get back to Gunther's home, S reveals himself and she sees that he has the Ring (it should be with Gunther, her new spouse). The jig is up, and both S & B swear on the tip of Hagen's spear that their conflicting stories of the wedding night are true.

Hagen is encouraged by Alberich in a dream to kill S and take the Ring. So a-hunting they go, and S dies. They bring him home, and B gets the Ring, tosses it in the River and sets fire to Valhalla. At the last we see the Rhine maidens playing keepaway from Alberich with the Ring, so the story comes full Cycle, er, circle.

The best music is still S's hunting horn theme, and now his funeral march. That means over 4h of meh music.

It takes a lot of concentration to watch this nonsense. Partially because not a lot happens, partially because the production is dark and dreary (all 4 operas were), partially because Siegfried and Brunnhilde are petulant and capricious, so I don't like them even though I like the singer/actors playing them.

I wonder why Hitler liked the Ring Cycle so much. Perhaps because saw the Jews as the gods of Valhalla, and he was trying to destroy them to start the world fresh? Or did he identify with Siegfried or Wotan, knowing he'd get killed eventually?

I sat through all 4 operas in 1 week in Aug'86, sleeping through some of it, likely not well-versed on the synopses beforehand. It's sort of a badge of something (masochism?), and I've always felt like I never gave the Cycle a fair chance. I don't know if I ever listed to the complete vinyl set I have; at 20 min per side that would be a royal pain without an autochanger. Although I fell asleep often during these 4 operas this week, I always went back to a familiar place and started again. My sin this time is not watching everything and not reading all the lyrics, but I think I've had enough, certainly for now. It'll be interesting to see whether I watch this again, ever.

I find it fascinating that the cartoon What's Opera, Doc? ('57) utilizes all Wagner music, and Bugs disguises himself as Brunnhilde for a chunk of the time, but less than half the music is from the Ring Cycle. Siegfried's hunting horn theme is used a bit. On the Soundtracks page lists Ride of the Valkyries, but also music from Tannhauser, Rienzi, and The Flying Dutchman.

Yes, a couple of retreads in the cast: Hagen is played by the former Fafner, and Waltraute by the former Fricka.

Cast:

daughters of Erda      

. FIRST NORN Contralto : Gweniet Bean

. SECOND NORN Mezzo-soprano : Joyce Castle

. THIRD NORN Soprano : Andrea Gruber

SIEGFRIED, grandson of Wotan Tenor : Siegfried Jerusalem

BRÜNNHILDE, daughter of Wotan Soprano : Hildegard Behrens

Gibichungs      

. GUNTHER  Bass : Anthony Raffell

. GUTRUNE  Soprano : Hanna Liskowska

HAGEN, their half brother Bass : Matti Salminen

WALTRAUTE, a Valkyrie Mezzo-soprano : Christa Ludwig

ALBERICH, a Nibelung Baritone : Ekkehard Wlaschiha

Met Opera, cond. Levine; 6

Carreras Domingo Pavarotti in Concert (1990), 7

1h 26min | Documentary , Music | TV Movie

Add a Plot »

Director: Brian Large

Conductor: Zubin Mehta

Stars: José Carreras, Plácido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0169104/

15 songs in the Soundtracks.

The Original concert. Enormous venue. Fun concert. 2nd disc with Making Of doc'y, which is good.

They did another in '94, then again in '98, and there's an Xmas dvd too (not sure if that's a concert).

(none), cond. Mehta; 7

Wagner: Siegfried (1990), 7

4h 13min | Drama , Fantasy , Music | TV Movie

Add a Plot »

Director: Brian Large

Conductor: James Levine

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0286102

First performance at Bayreuth, August 16, 1876

Time: mythological 

Place: Germany 

The story has a good synopsis, and no icky features (if you ignore the fact that Siegfried is the love child of siblings, oh, and that he and Brunnhilde are half-siblings). But sitting through 4:13 hours of this is a bit much. The music doesn't jump out at me, except the little hunting horn theme. I'd actually prefer to read the libretto than try to read the subtitles, because I could read the libretto faster.

Synopsis of the synopsis: Between this opera and the last one, Sieglinde found the dwarves, died in childbirth and Mime has raised her son Siegfried. He's an ungrateful super-man who prefers communing with the animals in the forest to dealing with Mime. However, he seems to have learned the family forging craft, because he's able to take daddy Siegmund's broken sword, turn it into shards that he melts, and creates a sword so strong it breaks the anvil in half with a single stroke.

Having learned his history, and the fact that the local dragon (really the giant Fafner transformed) is guarding a heap of gold, Siegfried sets off on a great adventure. Of course, he slays the dragon, and happens to ingest a drop of its blood. That enables him to understand a forest bird, who tells him to get the Ring and the magic helmet, forgoing the rest of the gold. Once he does, Mime tries to get him to drink some poison, but the dragon's blood lets him understand Mime's true intent, and Siegfried slays him.

The little birdy guides Siegfried to his true love, Brunnhilde. He goes through the flames and wakes her with a kiss. But he's never seen a human woman, so for the first time in his life he's afraid. They get acquainted, and we leave them thinking their future is rosy together. But Siegfried is wearing the cursed Ring, and Alberich (the originator of the curse) is lurking around. 

I've left out Wotan's piece of this story, but he's just an observer/talker here, mostly speculating (at length) of the doom to come.

I got curious about the schedule for presenting the 4 operas of the Cycle.

APRIL 2, 1990 NY Times Review

The cycle that began on Saturday (3/31) continues with ''Die Walkure'' next Saturday (4/7), ''Siegfried'' on April 13 and ''Gotterdammerung'' on April 21. Two final cycles are to be presented between April 23 and May 5.

The Cycle's dvd booklet says the 4 operas were broadcast on consecutive nights in June. In one of the booklets it explains that the director combined performances and edited in some special effects (smoke/fog for example).

Any role that was in either prior opera of the Cycle has the same performer here, with the addition of Siegfried Jerusalem having played Loge in Das Rheingold. I highlighted my faves in the cast.

Cast:

WOTAN, disguised as the “Wanderer” Bass-baritone : James Morris

SIEGFRIED, son of Siegmund and Sieglinde Tenor : Siegfried Jerusalem

BRüNNHILDE, formerly a Valkyrie, now a mortal Soprano : Hildegard Behrens

ERDA, the earth goddess Contralto : Birgitta Svendén

brother Nibelungs:      

. ALBERICH Baritone : Ekkehard Wlaschiha

. MIME Tenor : Heinz Zednik

FAFNER, a giant transformed into a dragon Bass : Matti Salminen (voice)

FOREST BIRD Soprano : Dawn Upshaw (Waldvogel voice)

Met Opera, cond. Levine; 7

The Orchestra (1990), 5

52min | Musical , Animation , Fantasy
Add a Plot »
Writer/Director: Zbigniew Rybczynski
Star: Ady Cohen

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0373210/
Watched online, poor print.

Nothing listed in the Soundtracks; several classical pieces in the score.

There was no orchestra. Occasionally we saw a musical instrument (a long sequence of keyboards, a violin).

This was an experiment/demonstration of what could be done with editing.

The 2 most interesting segments were the endless staircase at the end, where I tried to see how the same staircase got spliced together, but really could not, and the floating couple.

No words, no plot, just special effects (chroma key) beginning to end.

Great Performances & more, dir. Rybczynski; 5

New York City Opera: A Little Night Music (1990), 6-

2h 58min | Music , Musical | Episode aired 7 November 1990
Add a Plot »
Director: Kirk Browning
Paul Gemignani ... conductor
Stars: Susanne Marsee, Ron Baker, Lisa Saffer, Sally Ann Howes.
Susan Stroman ... choreographer

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0359610/

Watched online, blurry.

About 5.5 weeks ago I watched the film A Little Night Music (1977), 6, and found this production to watch.

Back then I said I liked the songs better than the story and the casting. Oddly, with better singers, I like the songs less. Not that I like the story or the casting here. I just don't like the whole thing. I got impatient for it to be done. '77 was only 2h; this is 3, although the intermission was filled with interviews (this as Live from Lincoln Center).

Lincoln Center, cond. Gemignani; 6-

Wagner: Die Walküre (1990), 8

4h 4min | Drama , Fantasy , Music | TV Movie
Add a Plot »
Director: Brian Large

Conductor: James Levine

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0286286/

First performance at Munich, June 26, 1870

Time: mythological 

Place: Germany 

Per Simon (100 Great Operas), this takes place a generation later, with Wotan having sired 9 Valkyries with a goddess (not his wife) and a pair of twins (Siegmund & Sieglinde) by a mortal. The twins are separated in youth, and meet now in her home; she's married, he's a wandering wounded warrior. Brace yourself: bro & sis fall in love, and despite determining their kinship, also call each other bride & groom. She gets pregnant.

Fricka, Wotan's wife, is highly displeased by this, so she convinces Wotan to withdraw his protection from Siegmund (a magic sword pulled from a tree), and Wotan has to pass along this promise to Brunnhilde, his favorite daughter. But when she meets the twins, and learns Sieglinde is pregnant, she chooses to revert to her normal duties of aiding her kin. So Siegmund is successful in killing Sieglinde's husband in battle. But when Wotan discovers this, he kills Siegmund himself. Brunnhilde hightails it outta there with Sieglinde in tow, off to the hangout of the Valkyrie sisters. From there she sends Sieglinde off to the forest guarded by the giant Fafner (holder of the Ring) in his guise as dragon.

Wotan chases after Brunnhilde, and devised her punishment as sleep until a man wakes her. She pleads to make it perilous to wake her, so her husband will at least be a brave man, so Wotan surrounds her by a ring of fire.

Somewhere the hint was dropped (maybe by Simon) that Sieglinde's son will be Siegfried, the title of the next opera.

I do not understand why such stories are attractive to anyone, especially the adulterous incest. Wotan was actually happy to hear they'd gotten together, and hoped their "race" would continue as a result. Yuck.

The music is familiar and good, since this is the home of the big Hoyotoho song and the Magic Flame theme.

HB is splendid as Brunnhilde, playing youthful and brave. She has the Hoyotoho solo in act 2, and it seemed like you could go off key pretty easily projecting that so loudly, but she didn't. Later, in act 3, all the Valkyries are singing it, which makes it safer.

JN is also excellent as Sieglinde. She has an extra quality in her voice that sets her apart.

Only JM & CL (Wotan & Fricka) were characters in both operas, and I grew to appreciate JM since he performed a lot here. JM, JN, HB & the conductor had the final bow in the curtain calls.

Cast:

WOTAN, ruler of the gods Bass-baritone : James Morris

his children      

. SIEGMUND Tenor : Gary Lakes

. SIEGLINDE Soprano : Jessye Norman

FRICKA, his wife Mezzo-soprano :  Christa Ludwig

HÜNDING, Sieglinde’s husband Bass : Kurt Moll

BRÜNNHILDE, a Valkyrie Soprano : Hildegard Behrens

other Valkyries      Sopranos and Mezzo-sopranos

. GERHILDE : Pyramid Sellers

. ORTLINDE : Martha Thigpen

. WALTRAUTE : Joyce Castle

. SCHWERTLEITE : Sondra Kelly

. HELMWIGE : Katarina Ikonomu

. SIEGRUNE : Diane Kesling

. GRIMGERDE : Wendy Hillhouse

. ROSSWEISSE : Jacalyn Bower

Met Opera, cond. Levine; 8

Pump Up the Volume (1990), 8

R | 1h 42min | Comedy , Drama , Music | 22 August 1990
Mark runs a pirate radio station and causes an uproar when he speaks his mind and enthralls fellow teens.
Writer/Director: Allan Moyle
Stars: Christian Slater, Samantha Mathis, Anthony Lucero. (CS is actually 11th billed and they're not alphabetical. Weird.)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100436/

Watched online, good print.

21 songs in the Soundtracks. None are performed by the cast, they're all recordings either in the score or played on the air by CS.

Nice summary by another IMDb'r: "Mark is an intelligent but shy teenager who has just moved to Arizona from the East Coast. His parents give him a short-wave radio so he can talk to his pals, but instead he sets up shop as pirate deejay Hard Harry, who becomes a hero to his peers while inspiring the wrath of the local high school principal. When one of Harry's listeners commits suicide and Harry- inspired chaos breaks out at the school, the authorities are called in to put a stop to Harry's broadcasts."

CS (b. '69) is a little old for a HS student, but we're used to that. CS talks more than he DJ's, and the script puts him in some tough situations. But he gets support from a local girl who discovers who he is.

Even though I should be rooting for the establishment, I liked this kid and what he was trying to accomplish much better. The fact that the school principal was exposed as corrupt was really extraneous. CS wasn't feeling angst because of the corruption, nor were most of the students who reacted to him. It was just teen frustration, pain and simple. (That was supposed to be "plain", but the typo is better.)

Highly recommended. Glad it has the Music tag, even though it's completely undeserved.

New Line Cinema & more, dir. Moyle; 8

Wagner: Das Rheingold (1990), 6

2h 43min | Drama , Fantasy , Music | TV Movie

'Das Rheingold' tells the story about Alberich's theft of the gold from the Rhine, the forging of the Ring of power and sets off a cascade of events that further develop in the subsequent operas of the Ring Cycle.

Director: Brian Large

Conductor: James Levine

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0285990/

First performance at Munich, September 22, 1869

Time: mythological 

Place: in and about the Rhine

Per Simon's 100 Great Operas, Wagner wrote the librettos of the 4 operas of the Ring Cycle first, and in reverse order, but when he began composing the music, he started here, with the first one. Writing and producing all 4 operas spanned 28 years, during which he also wrote 2 others of his famous works: Tristan and Meistersinger. He also built Festspielhaus at Bayreuth to produce the Ring.

This opera is only 1 act with 4 scenes, but an intermission is often provided between 2nd & 3rd. This is the shortest of the 4 operas.

I wasn't attracted to any musical passages in this one.

The staging and costumes are very dark. During the underwater sequences that's understandable, and I suppose the worker dwarves shouldn't be expected to wear colorful costumes, but not even the gods? Loge, the demigod of fire, has a bit of a red cast to his "flames" skin, but that's about it.

Fricka looks much too old for Wotan, although I think CL was a big star in Wagnerian opera.

Frankly, this wasn't worth the time it takes to watch it. Perhaps if I'd been more diligent about reading the subtitles and following the nuances of the characters it would have been more rewarding, but I doubt it. 

These gods are petulant babies (absolute power corrupts absolutely?). First they bargain away their favorite daughter, Freia, who brings them the foods that keep them young, just to get a new home (Valhalla) built. When it's complete, they renege on the deal, and the giants (contractors) accept the cursed Rheingold in exchange, and then one of the giants kills the other (because there's only 1 Ring). If this is how well the top god (Wotan) behaves, what hope is there for mankind? What is the point of writing such a myth?

BTW, the German for Ow (as in Ouch) is Ow.

Cast: 

WOTAN, ruler of the gods Bass-baritone : James Morris

brothers and sisters      

. FRICKA, his wife, goddess of marriage Mezzo-soprano : Christa Ludwig

. DONNER, god of thunder Bass or Baritone : Alan Held

. FROH, god of sun, rain, and fruits Tenor : Mark Baker

. FREIA, goddess of youth and beauty Soprano : MariAnne Häggander

. LOGE, demigod of fire Tenor : Siegfried Jerusalem

brother Nibelungs  

. ALBERICH Tenor : Ekkehard Wlaschiha

. MIME Baritone : Heinz Zednik

brother giants      

. FASOLT Bass : Jan-Hendrik Rootering

. FAFNER Bass : Matti Salminen

sister Rhinemaidens      

. WOGLINDE Soprano : Kaaren Erickson

. WELLGUNDE Soprano : Diane Kesling

. FLOSSHILDE Mezzo-soprano : Meredith Parsons

ERDA, the earth goddess Contralto : Birgitta Svendén

Conductor Levine got a big burst of applause when he finally came through the curtains.

Met Opera, cond. Levine; 6

Graffiti Bridge (1990), 6

PG-13 | 1h 30min | Drama , Music , Musical | 2 November 1990
The unofficial sequel to 'Purple Rain' (1984). The Kid is now club owner and rival to Morris (Morris Day) who get into a fight for the Glam Slam Nightclub.
Writer/Director: Prince
Stars: Prince, Morris Day, Ingrid Chavez, Jerome Benton.
Kirk Johnson ... additional choreographer

Otis Sallid ... choreographer

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099691/

24 songs in the Soundtracks, at least 15 written by Prince. None attract my attention like his 80s music did.

I feel like I didn't understand this one. IC played an "angel" who got involved with both P and MD, to help gulf the rift between them, and encourage P not to give up on his idea of semi-religious lyrics presented in his pop-rock music, and having his own club which doesn't make much money because his new music is not very popular. But he's still a biker pursuing sex, and here's when he wears the jeans with the cutout hip sections.

By Source, Fair use,
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=23986803

Other performers include Tevin Campbell (b. '76, still active in music but not film), George Clinton and Mavis Staples. All perform Prince compositions.

P is wearing an early rendition of his forthcoming name symbol, somewhat visible in the poster. It's just a merger of the male/female symbol, without the extra flourish.

Rated 4.3 by 1.5k+ IMDb voters. That's just reactionary.

Warner & more, dir. Prince; 6

Mo' Better Blues (1990), 7

R | 2h 10min | Drama , Music , Romance | 3 August 1990
Jazz trumpeter Bleek Gilliam makes questionable decisions in his professional and romantic lives.
Director: Spike Lee
Stars: Denzel Washington, Spike Lee, Wesley Snipes.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100168/

8 songs in the Soundtracks; 7 are Written and performed by Branford Marsalis Quartet and Terence Blanchard. The music is very nice.

Lots of familiar faces from prior SL films, although this is the first for DW, WS & one of the female leads.

Unlike the 2 prior films, this is not about racism. We have a couple of white characters (brothers Turturro, and a white gf for one of the black men) and a Latino (Ruben Blades), but the cast is otherwise black. The subjects of the film are jazz musicians, gambling, lack of commitment in relationships (DW juggles 2 women who know there is another.)

Bleek is aptly named. This story is bleek, although his worst troubles are caused by another. He was warned by more than 1 friend to jettison that other, although they may not have known how bad it could get.

Good film.

Universal & more, dir. Lee; 7

Happily Ever After (1990), 5-

G | 1h 15min | Family , Animation , Musical | 20 June 1990
The Evil Queen is dead and Snow White is on her way to see the 7 dwarves when Lord Maliss, the Queen's brother, sees her in the looking glass. 
Director: John Howley
Stars: Edward Asner, Irene Cara, Carol Channing, Dom DeLuise, Phyllis Diller, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Jonathan Harris, Sally Kellerman, Malcolm McDowell, Tracey Ullman.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099733/
Watched online, mediocre print.

4 songs in the Soundtracks. Seemed like more were sung.

With all those famous actors providing voices, you'd think this would be better. (I only noticed CC, DD, PD, ZG during the show.) But writing is everything, and this was a "new" Snow White story, where SW & her Prince go on horseback to invite the 7 Dwarves to their wedding, only to find they've moved to a new mining site, and left behind their magical Dwarfella cousins who are Mother Nature's assistants.

Lord Malice (not Maliss) is brother to the dead evil queen, and now wants revenge on Snow. So his evil magic goes up against Mother Nature's good powers. 

I can't imagine why this was made. Snow White is not a compelling character; it's the dwarves that make her tale memorable. But they're replaced by 7 female minis with major magic.

I wasn't entertained, and likely did not absorb much of the plot twists. Too much magic puts me off.

IMDb raters mostly agree: 5.1 with almost 2k votes.

Filmation & more, dir. Howley; 5-

Dick Tracy (1990), 7

PG | 1h 45min | Action , Comedy , Crime | 15 June 1990
The comic strip detective finds his life vastly complicated when Breathless Mahoney makes advances towards him while he is trying to battle Big Boy Caprice's united mob.
Director: Warren Beatty
Stars: Warren Beatty, Madonna, Al Pacino, Glenne Headly, and cameos galore.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099422/
Watched online, good print.

15 songs in the Soundtracks, 5 by Sondheim. His song, Sooner or Later, won the Best Song Oscar.

My memory is that I saw the film in cinema. Back then, I bought the Madonna album (I'm Breathless) tied to this - on cassette. I thought perhaps this was closer to a musical than it is, but her album had many songs not in the film, and when she does perform onscreen, it's strictly on the nightclub stage/rehearsal. Yet, this is tagged Music.

I remembered that the colors were vivid and primary, like an enhanced Sunday comics, and they really are. The film won the Best Art Direction-Set Decoration Oscar.

The makeup/prosthetics to create all those crazy comic strip faces was amazing. The film won the Best Makeup Oscar as well.

The story is cute, and the romance between WB and GH, assisted by the street-tough orphan, was sweet.

This was WB's 1st acting credit after Ishtar (1987), and Dustin Hoffman also appeared as Mumbles, a small but important role.

You don't have to be a fan of the comic strip to appreciate this film.

Touchstone & more, dir. Beatty; 7

Cry-Baby (1990), 6-

PG-13 | 1h 25min | Comedy , Musical | 6 April 1990
In 1950s Baltimore, a bad boy with a heart of gold wins the love of a good girl, whose boyfriend sets out for revenge.
Director: John Waters
Stars: Johnny Depp, Ricki Lake, Amy Locane, Polly Bergen, Traci Lords.
Lori Eastside ... choreographer
James Intveld  ...     singing voice foe JD

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099329/

Watched online, good print.

24 songs in the Soundtracks. Hard to tell which are vintage and which were written for the film.

John Waters' answer to Grease ('78), and other bad boy/good girl films. Very high energy, with lots of characters and lots of closeups. And lots of songs. Fortunately, it's less than 1.5 hours.

Shrug from me.

Universal & more, dir. Waters; 6-