Upstairs Downstairs *****

 
the next in the series of small screen masterworks…
by Allan Fish
(UK 1971-1975 3,172m) DVD1/2
What are we going to do with Uncle Arthur?
p  John Hawkesworth  d  Bill Bain, Derek Bennett, Raymond Menmuir  Simon Langton, Herbert Wise, James Ormerod, Cyril Coke, Lionel Harris, Christopher Hodson, Joan Kemp-Welch, Brian Parker  w  Alfred Shaughnessy, Jeremy Paul, Charlotte Bingham, Julian [...]

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A sense of Synecdoche New York

by Kaleem Hasan
Early on in the film a page is opened and the overture to Proust’s In Search of Lost Time is seen. Kaufmann’s own work is a messy, knotty, bracing reworking of Proustian space. There are no magical madeleines here with coherently conjured up visions. There is only memory that is at once schizoid and [...]

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The Dark Knight ****½

 
by Allan Fish
(USA 2008 152m) DVD1/2
The agent of chaos
p  Christopher Nolan, Charles Roven, Emma Thomas  d  Christopher Nolan  w  Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan  ph  Wally Pfister  ed  Lee Smith  m  James Newton Howard, Hans Zimmer  art  Nathan Crowley  cos  Lindy Hemming
Christian Bale (Bruce Wayne/Batman), Heath Ledger (The Joker), Aaron Eckhart (Harvey Dent/Two-Face), Michael Caine (Alfred [...]

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Civilisation *****

 
by Allan Fish
the next in the series of small screen classics
(UK 1969 670m) DVD1/2
Man – the measure of all things
p  Michael Gill, Peter Montagnon  d  Michael Gill, Peter Montagnon, Ann Turner  w  Kenneth Clark 
presented by  Kenneth Clark (with Ian Richardson, Patrick Stewart, Ronald Lacey, Eric Porter (voice))
There are so many reasons to venerate Kenneth Clark’s [...]

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Wall-E ****½

 
by Allan Fish
(USA 2008 98m) DVD1/2
Buy N Large – your very best friend
p  Jim Morris  d  Andrew Stanton  w  Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon  story  Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter  ed  Steven Schaffer  m  Thomas Newman  art  Ralph Eggleston
Fred Willard (Shelby Forthright, BNL, CEO),
VOICES BY:- Ben Burtt (WALL-E/M.O.), Elissa Knight (EVE), Jeff Garlin (Captain), John Ratzenberger (John), [...]

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Stage Door ****½

 
by Allan Fish
(USA 1937 92m) DVD1
Suitable for any occasion
p  Pandro S.Berman  d  Gregory la Cava  w  Morrie Ryskind, Anthony Veiller, Gregory la Cava (uncredited)  play  Edna Ferber, George S.Kaufman  ph  Robert de Grasse  ed  William Hamilton  m  Roy Webb  art  Van Nest Polglase, Carroll Clark  cos  Muriel King
Katharine Hepburn (Terry Randall), Ginger Rogers (Jean Maitland), [...]

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Another bit of fun…

 
by Allan Fish
 
It’s been a while, with the poll and everything, but same rules apply…first to get the full six points gets to choose what header to put up to replace the blasted Wizard of Oz.
Played Seb Cooley, Sir William Porterhouse and Edward Moulton Barrett, said “Why was I not made of stone like thee?” [...]

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Brian Wilson in Concert at the Newly-Renovated Wellmont in Montclair

 
by Sam Juliano
Beach Boys legend Brian Wilson performed at the newly-renovated Wellmont on Sunday night in front of a packed crowd.  His band, recently called “the best touring rock musicians in the world” by Paul McCartney, helped breathe life into both popular songs from the 60’s and Wilson’s new album, That Lucky Old Sun.  Wilson, who [...]

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Auschwitz *****

 
continuing a series of small screen masterworks…
by Allan Fish
(UK 2005 285m) DVD1/2
Aka. Auschwitz: The Nazis and the Final Solution
Arbeit Macht Frei
p  Laurence Rees  d  Martina Balazova, Dominic Sutherland, Detief Siebert  w  Laurence Rees  ph  various  ed  Alan Lygo  m  “Sarabande” by Georg F.Handel, W.A.Mozart (excerpts from “Requiem”), Arvo Pärt (“Spiegel im Spiegel”), Franz Schubert (“Piano [...]

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Twenty-Thousand Streets Under the Sky ****½

 
by Allan Fish
continuing the masterworks of the small screen series
(UK 2005 150m) DVD1/2
Coucher avec moi ce soir
p  Kate Harwood  d  Simon Curtis  w  Kevin Elyot  novels  “The Midnight Bell”, “The Siege of Pleasure” & “The Plains of Cement” by Patrick Hamilton  ph  John Daly  ed  Adam Recht  m  John Lunn  art  Grenville Horner, Christopher Wyatt  [...]

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