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.

Text ©2020, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. https://www.filmintuition.com  Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.  Also, as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases made off my site through ad links. FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I may have received a review copy or screener link of this title in order to voluntarily decide to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique. Cookies Notice: This site incorporates tools (including advertiser partners and widgets) that use cookies and may collect some personal information in order to display ads tailored to you etc. Please be advised that neither Film Intuition nor its site owner has any access to this data beyond general site statistics (geographical region etc.) as your privacy is our main concern.

Blu-ray Review: Lean on Pete (2017)

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No matter how many adults tell him that "it's going to be okay," by age fifteen, Charley (played by Charlie Plummer) has been through enough to know that words alone can't make it so.

Having found himself lost in the cracks of the American dream, over the course of a life-changing summer, Charley ventures out on his own. Trusting his own shoe leather as well as the friends he meets along the way (at least for a little while), Charley finds a surprising kindred spirit in Pete.

While on the surface the only thing the two seem to have in common is that they love to run, after the old racing quarter horse disappoints his owner Del (Steve Buscemi) one too many times and Charley is asked to load Pete up for sale, he knows that nothing about this is going to be okay.

Searching for someone to call family more than just a place to call home, Charley finds that and more in Pete as they hightail it across the Pacific northwest in writer/director Andrew Haigh's soulful adaptation of Willy Vlautin's eponymous young adult novel.

As gritty and heart-wrenching and as it is moving and beautiful (particularly in the lush magic hour and twilight cinematography by A Hijacking DP Magnus Nordenhof Jønck), in the span of its two hour running time, Lean on Pete sneaks up on viewers to become one of the most powerful films of 2018.

An R-rated coming-of-age saga woven into the narrative of an American road movie, Lean on Pete blends the influences of its author and filmmaker together just as seamlessly, paying tribute to everything from Steinbeck's Travels With Charley In Search of America to Wim Wenders' Paris, Texas.

Featuring fine supporting work by Buscemi, Chloë Sevigny, and Travis Fimmel among others (including Steve Zahn in a startlingly against type role), overall it's Charlie Plummer's film from start to finish and his masterful performance gives Pete the wings needed to make Haigh's poetic road movie soar.

Bound to make viewers want to reach into the screen to help our polite, determined, and increasingly (heart-breakingly) street smart lead get where he's going safely, although we know he'd never believe us, we wish there was some way we could not only tell but ensure that everything in his life – and the lives of those just like him – will be okay.

Moving slowly to avoid taking any shortcuts, despite its YA premise, Lean on Pete is a far cry from most coming-of-age films where down-on-their-luck teens befriend a horse over the course of an unforgettable summer. Going out of its way to avoid mainstream friendly characters to instead focus on outsiders, with Charley and Pete as our guides, we cross paths with everyone from Mexican immigrants to soldiers recently returned from war.

A humanistic endeavor that touches but doesn't dwell too long on issues ranging from homelessness to addiction, even when things are the opposite of okay, through something as simple as a shared conversation or meal, Haigh reminds us via Charley and Pete that when we look out for one another, there's always room for hope.

Text ©2018, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.  FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I may have received a review copy or screener link of this title in order to voluntarily decide to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique. Cookies Notice: This site incorporates tools (including advertiser partners and widgets) that use cookies and may collect some personal information in order to display ads tailored to you etc. Please be advised that neither Film Intuition nor its site owner has any access to this data beyond general site statistics (geographical region etc.) as your privacy is our main concern.

Blu-ray Review: Khumba - 3D (2013)

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The second film produced by South Africa’s Triggerfish Animation Studios, this 3D amalgamation of The Lion King, Ice Age, Rio and Madagascar (which was ironically co-written by former Lion King screenwriter Jonathan Roberts), seems on the surface to target young, indiscriminating toddler-aged viewers fond of talking animal pictures.

Unfortunately and despite Triggerfish’s at times absolutely breathtaking, authentic African magic hour-set animation, given the ferocious half-blind lion voiced by Liam Neeson who talks of ripping into the flesh of Disney star Jake T. Austin’s youthful eponymous zebra hero to claim his beating heart, Khumba is far too intense to be appropriate for cinema's youngest audience members.

Yet at the same time, when you factor in the predictable nature of the overly-familiar storyline which in true Disney fashion kills off the mother and sends the young outsider on a multi-layered journey towards self-acceptance, it’s hard to imagine that older, somewhat discerning grade school aged children will find it interesting enough to tune into for its entire running time. Needless to say, it's hard to imagine just who Khumba is not only right for but also, who would like to watch it.

Centering the action on our titular hero who’s been ostracized as a zebra who was born with stripes that cover only half his body, after Khumba’s dying mother tells him a soothing fairytale about a magical waterhole that is said to grant stripes, he sets out on a quest to become more like the rest.

Bidding farewell to his superstitious tribe of zebras who blame their lack of water on Khumba’s “unnatural” appearance -- Khumba may head out on his own but quickly amasses a new tribe of fellow outsiders who tag along on the journey and help liven up the stale proceedings.

While a bit too on the nose in its moral lessons, moreover there’s a lot the audience is asked to forgive in Khumba that goes beyond its stale plotting. Specifically, it’s far too fond of stereotypical characterizations from casting Loretta Devine to voice the obligatory “wise black woman,” signing up Steve Buscemi to play a fast-talking east-coast sounding Italian American, and likewise relying on similar outdated devices in making Neeson’s villain disabled. While one could argue that Neeson's lion is blind because he "can't see" things for the way they are, the treatment of his character and the arc he takes doesn't play into that analysis as anything that's particularly that deep.

Though of course it’s doubtful that children will read anything into these decisions made by the scientist turned writer/director Anthony Silverston and his fellow writers Raffaella Delle Donne as well as Jonathan Roberts as these same elements occur frequently in animated movies, because Khumba is so flawed in its lazy plotting, there aren’t many places for all of Khumba’s problems to hide.

Despite this, it’s evident from the moment Khumba begins that as a studio, Triggerfish is definitely one to watch in the future given some of the superlative animation and striking use of 3D on display throughout the film.

Unfortunately for Khumba and first-time feature filmmaker Silverston, the magic of those multi-dimensional black glasses and the gloriously crisp images that come to life before our eyes on Khumba's Blu-ray aren’t able to salvage it in any way that would make the film worthy of a recommendation.

   

Text ©2014, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.  FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I may have received a review copy of this title in order to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique.

Blu-ray Review: Igor (2008)

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After his master Dr. Glickenstein (John Cleese) is tragically killed in the name of misguided experimentation, his hunchbacked dwarfish assistant Igor (John Cusack) crafts his very own version of Frankenstein in an attempt to win his community of Malaria's "Evil Science Fair."

However, instead of unleashing a dangerous monster, he creates Eva, a charismatic, sensitive, and sweet female giant (Molly Shannon) who-- after an unsuccessful trip to become "brainwashed" via subliminal videos (think A Clockwork Orange)-- finds herself wanting to become an actress after the channel is accidentally changed to host James Lipton's Inside Actors Studio.

Yet, instead of giggling at Lipton's sophisticated cadence, his frequent tendency to go a bit overboard in his praise or relishing in the audience favorite "what is your favorite curse word?" section of his survey that closes every episode, Molly Shannon's Eva decides she needs to create sense memories, work on her instrument, and get new head-shots.

Initially upset that his plan to create diabolical havoc has gone awry since the goal of Malaria as argued by Jay Leno's King Malbert is to take advantage of the failing climate and economic hardship to become Donald Trump like wealthy off of horrific products they can unleash on others-- instead Igor decides to try and control his new she-creature by pretending that the Evil Science Fair is merely one big show for which she needs to prepare.

Along with his two eccentric sidekicks (and inventions gone awry) including Steve Buscemi's endlessly suicidal rabbit character Scamper who keeps trying to fight his curse of "immortality" and Sean Hayes' clueless robot who labels himself a "brain" although the label on his head reads "Brian," Igor tries to blend the musical Annie into Eva's preparations for her frightening debut.

When the competitive scheming Dr. Schadenfreude (Eddie Izzard) and his shape-shifting, seductive girlfriend (Jennifer Coolidge) start to sabotage Igor's work by stealing ideas as they do every year to ensure Schadenfreude's victory, soon the blossoming relationship between Igor and Eva is jeopardized as he begins questioning their strategies as evil-doers to instead become joyful and kind citizens.

MGM and Fox pulled out all the stops in their creative animation for the visually compelling film and all the more so in Blu-ray with a plethora of concept art galleries, storyboards that comprise a veritable delight for animation fans in this high definition transfer with mesmerizing picture and sound.

And while it begins on a high note as the film is given a hilarious set-up which appeals much more to adults than children (due to the thinly disguised references to the most recent president's administration, politics, jokes about actresses, etc.) and writer Chris McKenna receives bonus points for originality in the overall concept, ultimately the influences cinematically and structurally towards the end of Igor seem overwhelmingly inspired by Shrek, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and several other superior films.

Soon evolving into a misfire as the highly complicated plot changes gears uneasily as it begins as a political satire before moving into a Hollywood satire before ultimately becoming a "beauty is on the inside" and "can't we all just get along" Shrek styled fairy-tale at the end. Nonetheless it has its moments and I adored the adorably drawn characters (especially Buscemi's crazy death wish happy rabbit).

Additionally, it's a great toe-tapper due to the abundance of wonderfully engaging Louis Prima tracks on the soundtrack (which-- because they're the least obvious musical accompaniment for this children's science fiction monster movie makes them feel that much fresher). Still, overall, it's a rambling mess that tries to squeeze in too many plot-lines and agendas into an overly crowded eighty-six minute running time.

The sparks of brilliance were evident from the start and had the filmmakers just stuck with that original plot-line by making a kids film into a commentary on "evil doers" and our political climate, it may have been-- if not in the same league-- than at least closer in quality to 2008's other film featuring a character whose name is pronounced the same as Shannon's Eva-- namely, Wall-E'a love for the sleek robot Eve whom he calls "Ev-a."

And although that's another film that took a major likability detour about one hour in-- at least the catalyst was more than just an accidental viewing of Inside the Actor's Studio since James Lipton seems about as capable of brain-washing as comedian Jay Leno is as being a king. I mean, seriously-- everyone knows that's David Letterman's job... just kidding.

Delirious

Director: Tom DiCillo

If you ask Les Galantine (Steve Buscemi), he’ll tell you that the difference between himself and his colleagues who also stake out the whereabouts of pop stars trying to snap a candid and hopefully salacious photo is that he’s “a licensed professional” and not a paparazzi. He may say this repeatedly but that doesn’t prevent apt and suspicious viewers from realizing he appears to have the same views and habits of others in the tabloid paparazzi profession. In other words, if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck it’s definitely a paparazzi in Sundance Award winning writer/director Tom DiCillo’s great new “rags to riches fable” Delirious which earned five awards including the AFI Filmmaker Award for Best Director at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival.

Providing a great counterpart to his reluctant celebrity journalist in his own remake of Theo van Gogh’s Interview, Buscemi’s Les (with a fitting name as Ebert pointed out in his review) in Delirious tells his new young homeless assistant Toby Grace (Michael Pitt) that his real dream is to get signed with an agency to shoot Nike and Calvin Klein ads. However, in the mean time, he lives by his credo of rules such as knowing “where you belong” and assuring Toby that celebrities are “just people, no better than us,” as he trains him in on the ropes of staking out stars with Toby working for free most likely for both companionship and to make his rent as he becomes Les’ roommate sleeping in a closet in his cramped apartment. Schooling the angel faced, sweet Toby in on how to crash benefits and events to take as many goodie bags as they can get their hands on, Les, who feels that friends are people “just sittin’ around waiting for a chance to start talking about himself,” finds himself becoming quite attached to his protégé and feels threatened when Toby catches the eye of the successful Britney like pop star K’Harma Leeds (Alison Lohman) and begins losing him to love.

Surprisingly heartfelt with believable turns by both Buscemi, who once again changes into someone completely different right before our eyes, as well as Pitt whose face the camera loves throughout the film in some breathtaking, sharp and exuberant sequences (such as a Singin’ in the Rain styled ode after he spends an evening with Lohman) that most likely came from the innovative vision of director and former Jarmusch cinematographer DiCillo. In DiCillo’s best film in years which unfortunately was granted a limited release in art cinemas in major cities, Buscemi gives one of his finest performances in the 2000’s that, while definitely playing into DiCillo’s satirical fable intention, manages to walk the fine line between parody and truth and I found myself involved all the way. Given an exclusive initial DVD release for rental at Blockbuster, DiCillo’s Delirious is scheduled for a wider rental and purchase release in the future.