Blu-ray Review: Kansas City (1996)

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From the stirring ballads of McCabe and Mrs. Miller to the country yearning of Nashville and soulful blues of Cookie's Fortune, music in the movies of Robert Altman comes in many forms. Complementing the high and low notes sung by his characters — in the vein of the overlapping dialogue that has become an Altman trademark — with his clever use of music to set the dramatic stage, the maverick filmmaker wields sound impressionistically, the way a painter swirls color around a canvas with a brush.

Regularly usurping his film scores, whether it's in the drawing room sing-alongs of Gosford Park or the vaudevillian numbers of A Prairie Home Companion and beyond, Altman uses the public performances of songs to not only create a mood but also transplant us into the heart of each work. Much more than just a single filmmaking tool he has at his disposal, frequently in his oeuvre, music becomes the most important one. Transcending the screen to have as much of an impact on him as it does on us, it informs his subtly ever-changing filmmaking M.O. And nowhere is this approach more evident post-Nashville than in his jazz fueled, forgotten '96 effort Kansas City.

Using jazz's signature improvisational riffs to build its narrative structure, the movie takes a look at vice, music, politics, and corruption over a twenty-four hour period when Missouri is set to hold a consequential 1934 election. While initially it plays like the latest in a long line of Altman's meandering ensemble dramedies, we quickly learn that, although they sound great jamming together, each character we meet in Kansas City doubles as an instrument and all will get their chance to solo.

Anchored by '90s Altman regular Jennifer Jason Leigh as a desperate woman who holds a politician's laudanum addicted wife hostage to secure the release of her hoodlum husband from a jazz club gangster, Kansas City is a crime film that — true to the director's work — is far less interested in plot than it is captivated by its characters.

Performing depression era slang in the hard and fast key of screwball (regardless of the scene's tone), Leigh tries her best to sell lines like "don't try to high-hat me," "park the body, sister," "and put some snap into it" which, when taken cumulatively, land far less than they detract from the goings-on. A Jean Harlowesque Girl From Missouri who's just wild about her man, as intriguing as Leigh's spunky Blondie O’Hara seems to be, we never get a true sense of who she is as a person from one outburst to the next. And although Leigh's Blondie dominates the scenes she shares with her hostage Carolyn Stilton (Miranda Richardson) in the film's first half, she disappears into the chorus once Richardson's increasingly curious victim takes over the bass line later on.

While Kansas City’s women propel forward a majority of the film's plot, the rest of the action is found in the booze soaked, testosterone heavy, smoke and sax filled world of the Hey-Hey Club. A jazz joint located on 18th Street where some of the '90s most talented instrumentalists bring to life the legendary sounds of Charlie Parker, Count Basie, Lester Young, and Coleman Hawkins, for a music buff like Altman who grew up listening to blues in Black clubs, City's performances feel like he's stepping back in time to show us the place he calls home.

A dynamic showcase for Harry Belafonte in a daringly against-type role as an underworld gangster who holds court at the Hey-Hey, the actor commands every scene he's in right from the jump. Like a bandleader introducing the musicians keeping the beat behind him, he uses the frame like a microphone and reaches through to tell us exactly what we need to know. From where he sits in the center of the screen, Belafonte reveals, "what's gonna happen at dawn tomorrow going to depend on what happen when the sun go down tonight. You can believe that shit," just as events kick into high gear for Blondie and Carolyn and the music that is Altman's Kansas City starts to play.

Going off on what the director refers to as "jazz riffs" throughout the film where its characters wander away from the plot like a clarinetist backing away from the melody in order to stand up and jam on their own, occasionally the dropped notes and tempo changes distract rather than enhance the musicality of its plot.

Touching on some of his favorite issues like race, class, and gender roles amid the intersection of politics and vice, Kansas City feels like a thematic cousin to his musically minded 1975 masterpiece Nashville. A flawed yet still fascinating opus that rarely comes up in a conversation about the filmmaker's most beloved works that span his fifty year career, Kansas City is additionally dwarfed by the popularity of his other ‘90s output, in the form of the brilliant films Short Cuts and (my personal favorite) The Player.

Seeing it for the first time in twenty-four years however, in this stunningly remastered, special features loaded new Blu-ray from Arrow, Altman's movie proves itself not only worthy of a second look but a second listen as well. Filled with scene-stealing soloists like Leigh, Richardson, Belafonte, and Steve Buscemi ready to grab their trumpets and blow, Kansas City is a vital reminder that nothing — absolutely nothing — sounds quite like an Altman led band playing in 4x4 time.

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DVD Review: Enchanted April (1992)

Arriving on DVD
For the First Time
5/5/09

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As frustrating as it is upon discovering that some of our favorite hidden cinematic gems have gone out of print-- either when studios, subdivisions, and/or manufacturers collapse or the titles simply no longer earn any money to justify the cost-- it's doubly disappointing when ardent fans ascertain that a beloved, thrice Oscar nominated and double Golden Globe winning work work has never found its way onto DVD.

Of course, we all have our wish lists of items we long to add to our home library. For me, topping that chart is Rich Man Poor Man (which others have raved about for years in a way that's given me intense miniseries-envy) along with the television series Ed and every individual season of The Larry Sanders Show. And while those all may just simply fall under the radar as far as studio or DVD manufacturers go-- it's time for Anglophiles to rejoice as enthusiasts of Four Weddings and a Funeral director Mike Newell's languid 1992 British European crossover hit, Enchanted April will be thrilled to learn that Miramax Studios is releasing the title at long last on DVD May 5.

Just in time for a more Masterpiece Theater styled Mother's Day tie-in gift-- this originally made for British television work which instead was turned directly into feature film material was adapted by screenwriter Peter Barnes from Elizabeth von Arnim's novel.

Enchanted April, which had been brought to the screen once before nearly sixty years earlier than Newell's big-screen foray centers on an unlikely quartet of British women who pool their money together in the 1920s to venture to a grand medieval villa in the picturesque riviera setting of San Salvatore, Italy.

Hoping to unwind for a leisurely month away from their hectic lives and-- (in the case of two women)-- their husbands back home, soon the group of diverse female heroines begin to forge unexpected friendships in a foreign land despite their obvious differences in age, class, income, and situation.

The cinematic retreat via a meditative sabbatical among the flowers, crystal blue ocean, and amazing artwork of Italy was first hatched as a hypothetical “what if?” daydream following a well-written advertisement for an escape to an Italian castle in the brain of the daffy and conveniently mostly reality-free Lottie Wilkins (East Enders star Josie Lawrence).

Although she barely knows Miranda Richardson's Rose Arbuthnot-- Lottie's desire to ditch London's endless, gray days filled with the rains of “April Showers”-- not to mention the thrill of being able to earn a much needed break from her business-obsessed husband (Alfred Molina) strike a chord with Rose who's likewise saddled with an inattentive, flirtatious husband who masquerades as a salacious scribe (played by Moulin Rouge's Jim Broadbent).

Thus, deciding she's in as well-- especially after meeting with the property owner, Mr. Briggs (an effectively likable, understated Foyle's War star Michael Kitchen) who feels the pangs of a crush upon meeting Richardson's luminous Italian museum-like beauty-- Rose and Lottie realize they must seek out two additional strangers with whom they can foot the bill.

To this end, they meet the blunt, proud, fussy but worldly and secretly lonely Mrs. Fisher (Joan Plowright) along with the wealthy flapper with a reputation in the form of the film's powerful scene-stealer Polly Walker's Caroline Dester who breaks hearts daily but must hide her own under the armor of money, makeup, and men.

Unbeknown to Rose, Caroline Dester has been trying to divert the attentions of the Rose's aggressive, cad-like husband Frederick (Broadbent) away from herself which becomes far more difficult when Frederick drops by the Italian castle to visit the woman he's hoping to recruit as a mistress, only to discover his wife is in the exact same location.

It's at about this time-- roughly clocking in right around the one hour mark of this overwhelmingly slow-moving and at times unspeakably yawn-inducing picture-- that we're finally presented with anything resembling a plot that contains dramatic conflict and the potential for a great Oscar Wilde meets Midsummer Night's Dream inspired comedy of romantic misadventure in a sensuous locale.

However, the potential is squandered quickly as the film which begins as a spirited, free-thinking, pre-feminist work about a group of women who go against the male-dominated society in the post World War I devastation that made everyone reconsider their lot in life soon becomes a forgettable and ultimately plot-less work wherein the women escape their gray "prisons" of unhappy matrimony only to invite their "wardens" to visit them at the first opportunity.

Of course, while some may say it's fitting for the time period-- Edith Wharton, Henry James, F. Scott Fitzgerald and other writers were doing far more daring things with their female characters and overall, despite the polished performances and high quality art direction and costuming (by Oscar nominated designer Sheena Napier)-- mostly it's a beautiful but vapid time-waster.

Additionally, it's one so devoid of a compelling plot that I was stunned to discover that Peter Barnes earned an Academy Award nomination for his screenplay which wastes precious time in its shockingly brief running time with useless repetition of information as the women discuss something, act on it, and then the action is confirmed again by the predicted and discussed result, padding out the already succinct ninety-three minutes.

Further letting audiences down in 2009 since we realize that we've not only seen the same type of "women discovering themselves in foreign lands" works completed to a much richer result as in the Miramax morsel Chocolat and another Disney owned Buena Vista Home Entertainment work Under the Tuscan Sun, unfortunately while the packaging for Newell's work is first rate in a regal black and gold box as part of Miramax's "Award Winning Collection" and a painterly cover featuring the lovely Polly Walker (State of Play), the film itself doesn't appear to have been touched up in the slightest.

Essentially matching the same VHS quality I'd first encountered with it-- even when I played the DVD in an upconvert Blu-ray player-- while the Italian Riviera still sparkles with warm loveliness, I was surprised by how grainy the color scheme was and tried to adjust the settings the best I could to improve the flesh tones of the actors and augment the low sound transfer (which is usually never a problem with the sterling quality of Miramax releases).

Of course, to fans, it's just a great joy that the work has finally debuted on DVD seventeen years following its first theatrical run but for those who haven't yet seen the picture, you may want to rent it before you make the decision to add it to your home library, since despite my reverence of my favorite studio growing up in Miramax, it seems to be one of the lesser works and a nice preview of the better work to come from Newell in the future. And to Newell's admirers, it's definitely one to pick up if only to listen to the brand new bonus feature as he participates in a feature commentary track along with his producer Ann Scott. However, to the rest of us-- we'll be far better satisfied with a piece of Binoche, Depp and Hallstrom's Chocolat.

DVD Review: Fred Claus (2007)

Flying onto DVD & Blu-ray on November 25




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Talk about the ultimate black sheep-- Jan Brady has nothing on Fred Claus. The older brother of the boy who would become St. Nicolas, Fred discovered at a young age that sainthood is a tough act to follow. Driven to rage by being constantly overshadowed by his brother's accomplishments and given an annual reminder of his success with the incessant caroling, holiday displays and more-- Fred (played by Vince Vaughn) decided that since he didn't want to join the family business making toys at the North Pole, he'd move to Chicago and become the polar opposite of his brother Santa (Paul Giamati).

Instead of selflessly delivering goods, Fred becomes a repo-man, taking away flat screen televisions and elaborate presents he sometimes moves directly into his own apartment and delivering monologues to his young neighbor Slam urging him not to "drink the Kool-Aid" that is Christmas by being "a cheerleader for Santa Claus," whom he likens to a megalomaniac embodiment of a shell game con artist. An inconsiderate and absent-minded boyfriend to the lovely British meter maid Wanda (Rachel Weisz taking on a Dickensian, wrong-side-of-London accent), when Fred ends up in the slammer following a hilarious confrontation with a veritable army of Salvation Army santas (that seem to be as stealthy as soldiers), he's forced to call his brother for help.

With St. Nick's wife Annette (Miranda Richardson) trying to convince her "closet-eater" husband to practice tough love which doesn't quite fit the saintly mandate, Santa strikes a deal with his brother offering him financial assistance for an upcoming business venture if he'll come work for the handout at the North Pole. Grudgingly, Fred agrees and predictably, he wreaks endless havoc from taking out his frustration with carols by inspiring an impromptu Elvis Presley dance party to helping a shy Elf (Christopher Guest and Kath and Kim scene stealer John Michael Higgins) make a love connection with the mathematically gifted yet Victoria's Secret styled hot elf (Elizabeth Banks) to getting in a wicked snowball fight with his brother until ultimately the family stages an intervention.

By this point the film which seems to draw a large majority of its humor from taking a cynical view of the holiday with mean-spirited jokes (think Bad Santa-- the PG rated version) begins to grow long-winded, not sure whether or not it's masquerading as a comedy about sibling rivalry a la Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly's Stepbrothers or as a companion piece to the much lighter, brighter, and surprisingly contemporary yet nostalgic Will Ferrell vehicle Elf.

The beautifully packaged DVD and Blu-ray disc from Warner Brothers which offers feature length commentary by its filmmaker David Dobkin also adds more than twenty-five minutes of additional scenes, some of which further shift the story's theme from "naughty" to "nice" as well as the opportunity to view it in either its theatrical widescreen aspect ratio which is enhanced for widescreen televisions or in a formatted full-screen version to fit the standard square shape. Additionally, offering both language and subtitle options for English, Spanish, and French speakers-- one of the true audio highlights in its sharp Dolby Digital 5.1 surround is the movie's terrific soundtrack which contains not just holiday classics but other less-than-predictable songs which make the film much more effective including The Byrds' cover of Bob Dylan's "My Back Pages," although only certain numbers made it onto its incredible companion album you can explore below.

Filled with Vaughn's trademark whirlwind monologues and seemingly spontaneous references and jokes that make even uneven films like The Break-Up work, he elevates it well and the Jingle All the Way meets National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation inspired chaotic chase through the streets early on is a complete joy as is a ridiculously creative and funny meeting for Siblings Anonymous where recovering siblings like Frank Stallone, Roger Clinton, and Stephen Baldwin air their frustrations with their famous brothers. Yet, while that is hands-down one of the most ingenious portions of the film, especially when Stephen nearly comes to blows with Fred Claus until he begins repeating his mantra, "that's not Alec," the jokes and tenor of a film which finds Santa being threatened by a struggling economy when efficiency expert Kevin Spacey arrives all too ready to fire him with a three strikes system, doesn't quite know which audience for which it's playing.

Far too nasty for young children and with jokes such as the "I'm a recovering sibling" scene that are sure to go over their head-- it seems like it's shooting for the demographic Vaughn usually reaches of young men who latched onto his frat-pack comedy alongside Owen Wilson--Wedding Crashers (from Claus director David Dobkin who also directed Vaughn in the darker indie Clay Pigeons). Yet, in its indecision in awkwardly moving from a storybook like opening (similar to Elf which was made by his Swingers pal Jon Favreau) to an angry, embittered tale of family dysfunction that always comes to the front burner during the holidays, it loses some of its focus in an overly long second half.

Additionally, while we know it's Fred's story after all as our narrator reminds us, it is a Christmas movie and unfortunately, wastes its lovable Sideways and American Splendor curmudgeon star Paul Giamatti as a spineless Santa who eats his feelings to such an extent that he's developed acid reflux, insomnia, and problems in the sack. The same goes for the film's other Oscar winners and nominees like Kathy Bates, Miranda Richardson, Rachel Weisz, and Kevin Spacey (who does have one brilliant in-joke about wanting to be Superman as a nod to his Lex Luthor role in the newest Warner Brothers film) who aren't given enough to work with and especially in one plot that is endearing, too little time is spent on the cute John Michael Higgins and Elizabeth Banks subplot.

Yet despite its many, many flaws, and an overwhelming urge to go back into the cutting room and trim away at least fifteen minutes, there's enough good stuff in the film to make it watchable and even memorable but it's muddled by its angry script from Cars and Bolt screenwriter Dan Fogelman (who despite this, deserves ample kudos along with story creator Jessie Nelson for a wonderful premise), that I'm guessing went through too many rewrites which led to such a thematically confusing finished product.

While for fans of Vaughn, like myself, who've been enjoying his career ever since he went to "Vegas, baby, Vegas," even though admittedly he seems to play the same character repeatedly (aside from a few wonderful against-type roles in movies like A Cool, Dry Place and Into the Wild), it's worth a look, especially if you have a thing for holiday movies and it makes a nice companion piece to the superior Elf.

Still unfortunately for Claus, Vaughn definitely said it best when he told Favreau he was "so money [that he didn't] even know it" in Swingers as ultimately, it's Favreau's Elf that in the future is destined to become a new contemporary Christmas classic.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

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