Arts Movie Reviews

Tamerlano is Handel's most dramatically convincing and musically appealing opera, in my opinion. It is a shame it is not as well known as some of his other works. This DVD is a well filmed and documented performance from the 2001 Handel Festival in Halle. The singing is for the most part excellent and the acting is appropriate to the subject, the music, and the visual concept. The costumes, borrowed from a spectacular Glimmerglass Opera production, add much visual interest (important since the stage setting is oddly sparce). One might quibble with some of the static nature of the staging (difficult to avoid in Baroque opera), and with the somewhat unmasculine singing and acting of Monica Bacelli in the role of the warrier Tamerlane, but overall this is a very satisfying performance. Thomas Randle gives a vocally and dramatically intense reading of the crucial role of Bajazet, and Elisabeth Norberg-Schulz and Anna Bonitatibus are tremendous. The "Score Plus" feature is nice, but it does NOT actually appear as a "subtitle" - it is superimposed over the screen. Useful if you want to watch portions of the score, but otherwise distracting. I highly recommend this DVD.

En esta representación de "Julio César", de 1984, cantada en inglés, el papel titular lo asume una JANET BAKER que, aunque mayor, se muestra muy notable, con una interpretación a tener en cuenta. VALERIE MASTERSON (Cleopatra), aunque con una Cleopatra de alto nivel, peca de agudos algo metálicos y alguna aspereza de emisión. SARAH WALKER (Cornelia) canta bien, pero sobreactúa cuanto quiere su papel, mientras que DELLA JONES se alza con un fuerte triunfo personal, con un Sesto magníficamente cantado e interpretado. Cumple JAMES BOWMAN (Ptolomeo) y muy bien JONH TOMILSON (Achila). Batante bien los secundarios. La orquesta de la ENO suena todo lo bien que CHARLES MACKERRAS puede lograr con su brillante dirección. La producción está bien pensada, aunque por momentos peca de exceso de figurantes en escena.
En resumen, un dvd que se deja ver muy bien para los amantes de la ópera barroca, con sus carencias (las menos) y sus virtudes (las más).

This is an amazing performance of Handel's "Julius Caesar." I have three video/DVD versions, now and on the other two men sing the title role. However, Dame Janet Baker is absolutely the best Caesar of the lot. Her singing and acting just blew me away. I don't know how this happened, but this DVD is the first opportunity I've had to hear and see her perform. Her soliloquy on great Pompey's soul is worthy of a Shakespearean Hamlet.

Distinguished Handel expert Charles Mackerras leads the English National Opera in this English translation of "Julius Caesar." Ptolemy is sung in a splendidly sinister fashion by countertenor James Bowman, who has made over 180 recordings in his career (and not just Baroque music). He's got one of the best sneers in the business and really makes one wish he didn't have to be killed off-stage.

Valerie Masterson as Cleopatra has the requisite trills and oodles of presence and gorgeous costumes. She reminds me a little of Beverly Sills, except for a tendency to flat Cleopatra's upper reaches, and a few notes of tin rather than silver.

Mezzo Sarah Walker sings a deeply moving Cornelia, wife of the late, great Pompey. Her "Grief and woe all hope deny me" is Handel at his most heartrending, and she sings it simply and poignantly. I can only wish she had been allowed to sing this aria and others in their entirety.

Versatile Welsh mezzo Della Jones sings the trousers role of Cornelia's son, Sextus. Her duet, "I was born to weep" with Sarah Walker is a highlight of this DVD--except for the technical grumble that the music is slightly out of synch with the video in this scene.

Bass John Tomlinson (who sang the Dutchman at this year's Bayreuth Festival) is a masterful Achilla. I vote for him as the Achilla I least wish to die. He is one of those rarest of basses who can also sing coloratura.

This website also sells a Chandos CD version of this production. Call it eccentric and not true to Handel's choice of language (Italian). I don't care. This is one of the first productions to match the original vocal scoring of the two castrato roles, sung here by countertenor James Bowman and Dame Janet Baker. Even though the DVD has been shortened to 180 minutes (the René Jacobs "Giulo Cesare" CD set runs to over 225 minutes), this is a performance of Handel's eleventh Haymarket opera that you will cherish.

This is marvelous music sung by magnificent voices. If you haven't heard Sarah Walker before, she should dazzle you. Janet Baker and Valerie Masterson, at the top of their careers, are excellent in every way, as are James Bowman and Della Jones. If this opera isn't quite as well done as Handel's Xerxes, also on DVD, one can take heart in the fact that few things in life are on that level of excellence.

There are several flaws. The sets, done on a tiny studio stage, are at times overdone and rob the scene of any sense of reality. The costumes, while lavish and interesting, are a jumble of styles. Walker appears first in an Elizabethan gown, an odd choice given the chronological framework of the opera. The big problem in the production is faulty lighting. At times, a singer will get into position, sing for ten or fifteen seconds, and then the lights will go on. It's irritating throughout.

More maddening is the DVD glitch that ruins the stunning duet that closes act one. Three-quarters of the way through, there is a slight jump in the picture, and then the sound is out of sync with the picture. Why on earth wasn't that corrected?

Still, by all means buy this. The flaws are overcome with the glorious music, an excellent orchestra, and a perfect cast.

I bought this vidoe out of curiosity, and needless to say it wasn't what I expected. I purchased the video based on the reviews that I read. I guess what is considered good to some people might not be considered good to the next.
If you are a college student or a former college student and you like stomp copetitions or greek shows, then this video might be the video for you. That's basically what it is, stomp dancing.
The singing and dancing to me was really boring, but that is just my opinion.
The best part about the tape is the commontary at the end, when dancers are interviewed, and they tell thier life story and how they got involved in stomp dancing....It's really interesting how they explain how stomping was developed in the gold mines in Africa as a way of communicating. Miners wasn't allowed to talk, so stomping patterns was developed as a way of talking. Rubber boots stomping in water. And some of the old footage of stomping in the video is pretty good too.
Well, I voiced my opinion of what I think about the tape, now it's up to the buyer to decide if he or she wants to purchase the tape or DVD.

I bought this DVD sometime ago, but forgot about it until I discovered it just sitting there among my DVD collection. I watched it and bwoy! was I taken away or what? Being originally from Southern Africa brought back many memories as we used to grow up listening and mimicking Gumboot dancing. This is a must-see DVD and the dancing, choreography and music has been excently put together to bring this explosion of energy and power! Makes you feel like you are actually there....

DVDs range in quality (not of the material on the DVD, but the quality of the DVD itself) from a low of Kurosawa's wonderful movie Ran, with its' unwatchable color smears and ghosting, to this DVD which has the sharpest images and best production values I've ever seen. The extra material on the DVD is wonderful and the Gumboots show itself are awesome. Think a South African Stomp. If you love dance and harmonizing music, you really owe it to yourself to check this out.

William Shakespeare's HAMLET is as powerful a story as ever been told and the title role is often considered the toughest to tackle. And so, it exists in many variations. Kevin Kline directed and starred in this version that was taped for television. It is an excellent interpretation, although he does play Hamlet a little old (Quite often the case...). The cast is very good with the exception of an unfortunate Ophelia (who would later portray an unfortunate Getrude opposite Ethan Hawke's 2000 Hamlet). The costume design is of a non-descript wartime wear that alone suggests a twist in interpretation. But, the setting, lighting and dialogue conflict with that view leaving the viewer slightly off-center. With almost 45 minutes of the story excised, this is still one of the most faithful adaptions (Branagh's HAMLET used every word). This is a great document of Kline's vision but when its all said and done, I'd rather watch a filmed version then a taped version adapted from the stage. Still, it is a nice experience.

Though I'm one who often perceives other reviews at this site to be injudiciously overated, I give 5 stars to this version of Shakespeare's most famous play without hesitation or reserve. Kevin Kline's direction is inpired by the emotion and wit of the words, and his acting performance is nothing short of the finest I've ever witnessed, and I've seen many. Please yourself, be a witness to excellence, buy it!

What makes a Hamlet great is the performance of the person playing the title role. In this version Kevin Kline is brilliant. I taped this performance when it was on PBS years ago and I have watched it many times. It is long overdue on DVD/Video Tape. This should be shown to all students of Shakespeare as the definitive way to perform the part of Hamlet (Sorry Mr. Branagh!)

"Ariodante" can easily be regarded as Handel's most romantic opera - "Flavio" is a close second. It does not deal with the fate of nations/kingdoms but rather focusses on the individual and his/her romantic desires. Many scenes are set in the outdoors: the countryside, the royal gardens, or a forest; and a lot of the drama takes place at night. These different locations afford Handel the opportunity to 'indulge' his fertile imagination to compose the most sensual and programmatic music of his or any other time - like the rising of the moon at the beginning of Act 2. To go into the musical and dramatic 'architecture' of "Ariodante" and Handel's breaking with the Baroque tradition would take too much time here. (Please see Winton Dean's "Handel and the Opera Seria" for more information on this and Handel's other operas.)

The director clearly had a (weird) personal agenda. And to expect the performers to be at their best in a production like this is not realistic: Ginevra and Ariodante (respectively the future Queen and King of Scotland) look like they receive EST treatment very regularly; the King of Scotland looks like a dirty old man who has not bathed for months. And Dalinda (the Lady-in-waiting to Ginevra, the future Queen of Scotland) looks off like an Italian widow. The scheming Polinesso, Duke of Albany, who is an elegant courtier (who can insinuate himself into the crown princess's private chambers!) ... just does not look like he could/should be allowed into polite society.

One should always try to be objective when reviewing a product and this is one of the few DVD's I would not recommend you to buy. It is a dark, ugly, unintelligent and sexually explicit production. The characters are not believably portrayed as indicated in the libretto as Handel set it.

Finally, if I can be abstract, Ariodante should remind one of a Renaissance garden (at night) saturated with the scent of jasmine and other summer flowers. Instead here we get stuck in a stinking bog. A great pity as the ENO's 'Serse' was a beautiful, imaginative yet truthful reading as this one is unattractive and uninspired.

This film features marvelous music and gorgeous voices. Everything else about it is awful. The costumes, representing all sorts of periods, are a joke. The lighting is dark and terrible. The staging is designed to make you forget the music and the voices and wonder only if Leslie Garrett will have a climax and if she will avoid Christopher Robson's eager tongue and anxious hands. The dancing, if that's what you want to call it, is simply pointless and pretentious. So, to enjoy this opera, simply listen to it. Turn off the television. By the way, Ann Murray alone is worth the price. What a glory.

Potential buyers reading the reviews below may feel understandably confused - after all, how good is this release?

The problem may be at least partially addressed by carefully reading the reviews below, all of which contain some element of truth.

Reviewers such as the one from Switzerland seem to have concentrated on the opera itself as well as the singing. And they were correct in their ratings: the singing is generally good and the opera ranks high among other Baroque operas. In fact I think Handel was a very gifted opera composer and his operas are far superior to any operas of later composers, except Mozart, of course, who stands head and shoulders above everybody else.

The reviewer from California, on the other hand, seems to have paid more attention to the production and in that respect he is right on target! This is indeed a terrible production which in many ways reminds me of another dreadful post-modern ENO production: Henry Purcell's 'The Fairy Queen', also recently released on DVD.

The problem is a complex one: England (and to a large extent Western culture in general) has been thoroughly penetrated by liberal-socialist values and world-view and the ENO is no exception. Producers are often more interested in pushing their agenda, which often includes the promotion of feminism, homosexuality, free sex and the like, therefore eroding traditional values than in producing something beautiful, inspiring and faithful to the spirit of the piece.

This production of Ariodante is often ridiculous and generally unpleasant to watch . There is also a brief scene of nudity, which is something parents should be aware of. These are sad times indeed when even operas of Handel have to be X-rated.

If you want to understand what lies behind productions such as these, read Marxist guru Antonio Gramsci and understand his concept of 'hegemony'. Sadly, Gramsci's ideas came true beyond his wildest expectations.

This two pack may seem like two similar films, but nothing could be farther from the truth.

You see, there is a big difference between these two dvds. While "Spiritual Kung Fu" is very very good, "Half a Loaf.." is godawful.

"Spiritual.." is by far the best Kung Fu movie I have ever seen, and I'd like to think I've seen a good amount. Jackie Chan is funny, innocent, serious, clever, and ultimately arse-kickin' all at once. The final fight scene and the scene where Jackie fights 20 temple guards with sticks at the same time are amazing fight scenes. You can have your flashy special effects in the Jet Li and Ang Lee and Brandon Lee flicks, but you still can't match Jackie's real ultimate power in this film.

"Half a Loaf" is cat s**t. There is little fighting, no storyline to speak of, and the dvd itself makes a horrible coaster. Just don't even bother with it and keep it on your shelf just to make your dvd collection look more vast.

"Spiritual" gets 4 stars, but "Half a Loaf" gets somewhere around 1 1/2.

A nice collection of movies. A few of the old-world pony tailed martial arts movies. You can see a yound Jackie Chan maturing throught these movies.

About the DVD's I should say that the Pan & Scan is shabbily done with too much zoom, so that it makes us miss the action most of the time. You feel as if the person on screen is fighting with himself. The audio is also a bit weak. However I think it is due to the quality of the originals itself rather than the DVD mastering.

As is common knowledge, Fearless Hyena is a classic. Great action, nice storyline and good tempo. The movie video is better too as it is a recent movie than the others, which have some faded screens, especially Spiritual kung fu.

I couldnt comment on FH II however as I bought a used colleciton and this movies was not there. Reading from the other reveiws I gather that Iam not missing much.

Spiritual kungfu is a funny movie if you can accept ghosts acted out by guys dressed in white with red/blue/purple wigs !!!

Half a loaf of Kung fu is a poor effort to be funny but some of the action is good.

To kill with intrigue has some great action and amazing talent from most of the actors/actresses in the movie. But Jackie looks like someone else with an ugly ponytail wig and different facial make-up.

New fist of fury is to be considered a extra or bonus thrown if you buy the five pack. The movie doesnt merit anything else other than being a Jackie chan movie, and is nice to own one of his early days movies.

I have the VHS videos of all the films on this DVD. Please don't make the mistake that Jackie actually LIKED doing Lo Wei films! Except for Fearless Hyena 1, which Jackie directed, he loathed them. He was under contract to Lo Wei and only broke away when he signed with Golden Harvest and made the breakthrough martial arts film, Young Master. The Lo Wei films in this collection are very badly done (except for Fearless Hyena and perhaps Half a Loaf of Kung Fu, which was an attempt by Jackie to "break away" from the martial arts mould). But they are all worth seeing, just to view Jackie "in embryo". His martial arts skills and stunts are as amazing as ever. So grit your teeth at some of the comedy and storylines - and just enjoy Jackie!