|
Lorraine Hansberry's landmark play about the dreams and
struggles of a working-class black family in Chicago has been adapted into both
a 1961 feature film (starring Sidney Poitier and Ruby Dee) and a 1989 TV movie
(starring Danny Glover and Esther Rolle). This 2008 TV movie reunites the cast
and the director, Kenny Leon, of the acclaimed 2004 Broadway revival for a
passionate new screen version. Sean Combs (who made his stage debut in the
Broadway production) stars as Walter Lee Younger, a chauffeur with dreams of
starting his own business with the insurance money his mother (Phylicia Rashad)
will receive on her retirement, and Audra McDonald is his tired,
worn-to-her-soul wife. Both McDonald and Rashad won Tony Awards for their stage
performances, and Sanaa Lathan, who plays Walter's younger sister, Beneatha, was
nominated for her spirited turn as a modern young woman embracing her African
heritage. Combs' performance is fine but lacks the expressive range of his
co-stars, something the camera only amplifies, but otherwise this is a strong,
intelligent production with a dynamic ensemble. It was the first film explicitly
produced for network television to be given a premiere at the Sundance Film
Festival.
Leon contributes a commentary track to the DVD, talking about
the cast and discussing his own history with the play (as both actor and
director), and he points out where (and why) it diverges from the stage play,
from shifts in location to new scenes written specifically for this incarnation.
The 23-minute "Dreams Worthwhile: The Journey of A Raisin in the Sun" offers a
wealth of information as it traces the production from Hansberry's original play
and its Broadway debut through the 1961 film to the 2004 Broadway revival and
the TV movie.
|
|
 |
| The Adams Chronicles |
|
More than 30 years before HBO's acclaimed miniseries "John
Adams," the story of the American Revolution founding father and second
president was told in this 1976 miniseries. The expansive 13-hour production for
public television, one of its first major homegrown projects, spans four
generations of the Adams family and 150 years of American history. George
Grizzard dominates the first half of the series as John Adams, with David Birney
and William Daniels playing (at different ages) his son John Quincy Adams (the
sixth American president and longtime congressman), John Beal as Charles Francis
Adams (minister to Great Britain during the Civil War), Peter Brandon as Henry
Adams (the noted historian), and Charles Siebert as Charles Francis Adams II
(the industrialist and railroad magnate). Also stars Kathryn Walker (as Abigail
Smith Adams), Nancy Marchand, and a dynamic cameo by John Houseman in the
series' opening episode. Shot on video, it looks more like the historical
miniseries that American public television had been importing from Britain than
the more lavish American network shows, perhaps because of the mix of British
and American episode directors. The four-disc set is collected in four thinpak
cases in a slip-sleeve with a 12-page booklet featuring historical essays on the
Adams family and other historical figures featured in the series, and an Adams
family tree for handy reference.
|
|
|
 |
| All You Need Is Love |
|
There's no shortage of ambition in this 17-episode series
directed in 1977 for British TV by music journalist and filmmaker Tony Palmer.
Subtitled "The Story of Popular Music," this is the closest we will ever get to
a definitive portrait of such a sprawling topic. It doesn't even arrive at rock
'n' roll until Episode 13, first exploring ragtime, jazz, the blues, Tin Pan
Alley, swing, R&B, country music and more. In addition to the rich
collection of archival performance footage that is the staple of such programs,
Palmer takes his camera crews all over America and beyond to shoot original
footage of some of the biggest popular music stars of all time and interview
musical luminaries from Bing Crosby to David Bowie, Roy Rogers to Paul
McCartney. There is no narrator, only the words of the witnesses interviewed for
the production. The five-disc set is collected in a digipak with book-leaf trays
and comes with an episode guide. For whatever reason, the DVD producers have
reframed the episodes in the wide-screen format, which works fine with the
documentary footage.
|
|
|
 |
| Sinatra |
|
Philip Casnoff is Frank Sinatra in the 1992 miniseries that
traces his career from Hoboken, N.J., in the 1930s through the ups and downs of
his career as a young singing phenomenon and boyish screen star, his reinvention
as a mature singer and actor, and his successful return from retirement in the
'70s. Produced by his daughter, Tina Sinatra, with Frank's approval, it's no
hagiography, portraying him as a philanderer with a tempestuous love life and a
decadent lifestyle, but always serious when it came to his music. Olympia
Dukakis co-stars as his mother, Dolly Sinatra; Gina Gershon is his first wife,
Nancy Barbato Sinatra; Nina Siemaszko is Mia Farrow; and Marcia Gay Harden is
Ava Gardner, the love of his life. The DVD debut of the four-hour production is
labeled a "2-Disc Collector's Edition," but it features no supplements.
|
|
|
 |
| Mission: Impossible – The Fourth TV Season |
|
Leonard Nimoy (fresh from three seasons of "Star Trek") joins
the IMF (Impossible Missions Force) as Paris, a master magician and master of
disguise, filling in the hole left by the departing Martin Landau's Rollin Hand.
Paris joins gadget man Barney Collier (Greg Morris), muscle Willy Armitage
(Peter Lupus), and team leader James Phelps (Peter Graves). This season moves
the team into the '70s, but the opener is squarely in '60s Cold War mode as
Paris poses as a Che Guevara-esque revolutionary hero to stir up trouble in a
volatile Caribbean nation. After all those years of emotional restraint, it's
fun to see Nimoy engage in the flamboyance of undercover character roles. And I
still dig Lalo Schifrin's pounding, flute and bongo-laced signature theme and
the prerecorded messages that self-destruct at the opening of every mission.
Seven discs contain 26 episodes in a box set of four thinpak cases.
|
|
|
|
|
In addition to his regular contributions to MSN Movies, Sean Axmaker is a
film critic for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and a DVD columnist for MSN
Entertainment. He is also a contributing writer for GreenCine.com, Turner
Classic Movies Online and Asian Cult Cinema, among other publications.
|
|
|
|
|
|
On the RocksWith 'Iron Man' and 'Hancock' featuring
heavy-drinking protagonists, we reflect on the most memorable drunks in movie
history UnclassicsThough they may be listed among the
greatest films of all time, these 10 movies deserve to be
downgraded Surveying Coen CountryAs 'No Country for Old
Men' arrives on DVD, we celebrate two of America's most original filmmaking
voices | |
| | |
|
|
Hotmail
Messenger
My MSN
MSN Directory
