ronhardcastle

6-12-2014: The Blu-ray of this film was released this week and I received mine today and watched it. Please allow me to share something that I just posted at FSM (Film Score Monthly), in a discussion about the Blu-ray release of this film (including thoughts on the Blu-ray of "Fame"):

I received my copy of the "Kismet" Blu-ray today, and almost immediately watched it. First, it's gorgeous, and the audio sounded quite good with my elaborate surround system. But I found myself getting impatient with the movie, and did feel that it hasn't aged well (despite looking gorgeous). Once I finished watching it, I felt a need to see a more contemporary musical, so I put on my Blu-ray of Alan Parker's "Fame," which has hardly aged at all in the 24 years since it was released, and what fun it was! I remember seeing the movie at the Picwood Theater on the west side of L.A. and being so thrilled by it that I returned a few days later with some of my best friends, who also loved it. Watching "Fame" today, I was reminded how wonderful it was, and during the big ("I Sing The Body Electric") musical number at the end, I was bawling my eyes out.

"Fame" looks and sounds wonderful, and, as I wrote, it has hardly aged a bit. Having bought too many Blu-rays (and DVDs!) I'll never watch more than once, "Fame" is an exception!

For fans of this version of "Kismet" (it was filmed before with Ronald Coleman), you're going to love the Blu-ray, which is quite crisp and sounds wonderful. But, for me, I just don't feel that it has aged well.

Please forgive my writing less about "Kismet" than the other movie!

We're used to Jason Statham as the bad guy, but he's been taking on more sympathetic roles and while he remains occasionally stoic in his performances, there's usually a solid and believable foundation. And that seems to permeate his performance in this film. I want to make clear that I'm not a big action movie fan, but this film is so character-driven that, for me at least, it makes up for much of the violence. We see genuine growth in several of the characters, with some of it positive and, especially in the case of James Franco, some of it quite negative. Frankly, I felt that Jason Statham comes of age as a sympathetic good guy in this film and I hope to see what he does next. Incidentally, I want to applaud director Gary Fleder, who kept the actors grounded in reality and I never felt that any of the actors were just sleepwalking through their roles. Indeed, though his part is fairly small, James Franco does a very good job as a small time drug supplier who tries to seize an opportunity to expand his business. At first he comes across as sensible as he observes his sister's increasing problems with drugs, but then morphs into a very bad guy himself, and I love the way that director Fleder lingers on Franco's face as he watches his world collapsing right in front of him. And I'd also like to single out Mark Isham's very atmospheric music (mixed with a lot of appropriately noisy rock cues), and what we would call the "love theme," heard best near the end, is gorgeous. This film is unexpectedly satisfying, and, after it was over, I went back to re-watch a few crucial scenes. Did I mention that Sylvester Stallone is the lead writer of the screenplay (along with Chuck Logan, on whose novel it was based)?

I simply loved this and would like to make comment on the following from another otherwise excellent reviewer:

"Herblock - The Black & The White may be a little too long for its own good. At ninety-five minutes, I am saying the exact opposite of what I usually say about documentaries and that this one would've worked better as a fifty-minute exercise. After a while, it feels we're running a track in circles and arriving at the same point even though we began on a different one. However, this is still a strong piece of documentary cinema that again profiles a person many of us may need to do more research on. Start searching."

I totally disagree with that point, although I was probably lucky in that, because of scheduling, I watched about half of it one night and, a few days later, the other half, so I didn't have that problem and felt that it was ALL wonderful. And it has such relevance to what's happening today in New Jersey and elsewhere. I kept thinking how Herb would have been thrilled to have been able to make his incisive comments on what's happening there and the recent chilling revelations. We need more Herb Blocks (and Paul Conrads!) today.

And Alan Mandell is simply wonderful in his depiction of Herbert Block. I just love this and recommend it unreservedly.