Aging Movie Reviews

But all minor niggles aside, not only is this one of the best presented Wing Chun instructional films out there - no displaying of Siu Lim Tao from all angles over and over, or specific techniques displayed without exaplanation as to how they apply to Wing Chun principles for example) - but it is also the only time the late Master Wong Shun Leung was captured on film in this way. So aside from being a great instructional film, it is worth the Wing Chun enthusiasts purchase if only to see all the film footage of Master Wong.

Oh, and the accompanying music's really groovy too! ;-)

Until now,I've just had to use my imagination to actually visualise the service as it takes place in the incomparably beautiful King's College Chapel,Cambridge.Therefore,what an absolute treat to sit back and watch this beautifully presented disc,and finally see the choir and clergy stand ready for the procession in front of the glorious painting,"Adoration of the Magi" by Rubens.It's almost worth while pressing "pause" right there and then and just admiring that gorgeous still image for about half an hour or so ! In fact,you might just wear out that pause button because there is a host of sumptuous images to come and despite the fairly restricted camera angles available due to the unusually long oblong shape of the chapel,we get some stunning shots of the windows and plenty of that near-miraculous "fan-vaulted" roof that apart from defying gravity almost defies belief that it was actually built (in 3 short years from 1512-15) by human hands.

Forgive me if I leave the technical and scholarly analysis of the actual singing (glorious,in my humble opinion)to other reviewers with rather more of a musical education than I've experienced,and just tell you that I found the whole viewing of this year 2000 service a most moving and marvellous experience,despite the fact that I was watching it almost exactly three months out of season.Amongst several highlights for me was the lovely rendition of "In the bleak mid-winter".Naturally it's the Rossetti poem we all know and love,but perhaps the arrangement by Harold Darke (the choir's conductor during the war years) is not the usual one that you,or I are most familiar with.Nevertheless,it's quite gorgeous and I really thought the choir sung as a completely integrated body in this particular carol.Also particularly affecting was the touching rendition of the anonymous (set to music by B.Chilcott) "Shepherd's Carol".There is that lovely line in the second verse "Silence more lovely than music" ,which as a sentiment is completely disproved by the beautifully floated delivery from our talented choristers !

There is a menu option that allows you to cut out all the readings and spoken parts and just listen to the music in sequence,but useful as this is,I think it's a shame to so drastically edit the service as broadcast,and besides the delivery of the various college and city representatives are attractively earnest and sincere.One big surprise was the appearance of the renowned singer Robert Tear (himself a former choral scholar at King's and now Honorary Fellow) who read (most effectively) a poem by William Drummond.

The two superb bonus items on this DVD are the fascinating "time-capsule", first ever TV broadcast of the service from 1954 when Boris Ord was Director of music.The sound is understandably a bit "care-worn" but when the quality of performance is as good as this it doesn't really matter,and your ears soon adjust to the audio soundworld of nearly half a century ago.Amazing to see the iron control that Ord has over the choir and this seems to be a hypnotic rather than physical influence on his part.

The second bonus is a most civilised and charmingly courteous conversation between the three most recent Directors of Music that takes place in the studious and scholarly atmosphere of a room overlooking the college quad.The legendary Sir David Willcocks and the only slightly less legendary Sir Philip Ledger and Stephen Cleobury (Director of the 2000 service) gently reminisce about their respective periods in charge of the choir.I found it fascinating to listen in on their shared anecdotes and it really gave me some good insights on the pleasures,pitfalls and profound pride that is involved in running such a national choral treasure.

I can wholeheartedly recommend and endorse this Christmas "cracker" of a DVD to you,and quite honestly,if it has the effect of putting me in the festive mood on September the 25th;then just imagine what it will do for you on the day itself !

I normally wouldn't even write a review. Someone has done a fine job of that but I noticed two things - the gentleman didn't have surround sound and also was involved in the broadcast of this in some way in the past. So, I thought that some people might be hesitant to purchase based on those issues.

Please, if you want to hear something glorious do yourself a favor and purchase this DVD! Somehow they not only captured the terrific voices, the grand organ but they also were able to intelligently capture the reverberations off of the stone walls. You will believe that you have a ticket to the actual performance.

Caveats: The audio options are DTS 5.1 recording and 2.0 PCM Stereo. The 2.0 stereo is quite good but the DTS option is the only way to fly. So if you don't have DTS decoding you might want to pass - until you get it.

(...) Naxos of America is distributing this in the U.S. (originally a BBC/Opus Arte production). (...) This is a pity as the time to market this title was two months ago. I've also seen this listed as Chorus from King's (1954). This does this DVD a disservice as it would appear to be just some old recording made into a DVD. (...)

The choir is best known for its annual radio broadcast of "A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols" which began in 1929 and has been heard on public radio stations in the USA since 1979.

Quite frequently, BBC Television have recorded a holiday program which is like Nine Lessons and Carols but is not "it." "It" is the live radio broadcast. Full stop. This recording is of the television program.

The 1954 recording will be of interest to King's fanatics and choral directors who will enjoy the leisurely tempi of Boris Ord, the director of music in that day. And the conversation will be of interest mainly to the hardiest fans of King's and its choir and musical leadership.

The glory of this DVD is the carol service with readings from the recorded-for-television program in 2000 which is given a sumptuous visual treatment with audio to match, and a wide ranging array of Christmas music from the very well known to the ought-to-be-very well known.

I have never seen the chapel and choir shown as magnificently as it is here. This DVD is the very closest thing to being in the chapel as the afternoon light fades to blackness, and this choir of sixteen boys and fourteen men, carries your spirit into places you can only imagine.

(I produced the original Christmas Eve radio broadcast in the USA over two decades ago, so I have been to the chapel and heard the choir often over the last twenty-five years. This is a "must have" recording, and if you don't have a DVD player, then this recording alone should be the strongest encouragement to do so.)

Surround sound is included, and based on a couple of hearings, I guess I'm going to have to invest in that new technology to hear the remarkable acoustic of King's Chapel even more wonderfully than it already is in stereo.

[Update as of 2/26/02: A "[...] colleague" encouraged me to upgrade to surround sound, and needing no more excuse than that, I have, and can report that the result produces in me the same emotional effect that being in the chapel for Evensong does. It just takes my breath away.]

A remarkable accomplishment in terms of program, images, and sound. In a word, "awesome," but in the original sense of that word.

The acting in the movie is pretty incredible for a TV movie. James Earl Jones was the perfect casting for Dr. Blakely. Wendy Crewson plays Jaime's mother very well. The only acting I wasn't all that fond of was Brenden Fletcher, who played Hunter. What really stands out though is the acting of Jake LeDoux, who plays Jaime- you have to see it for yourself, but I don't understand why he hasn't landed bigger roles. Similar to Haley Joel Osment- wonderful at displaying a wide range of emotions.

KING OF QUEENS has been compared by some to THE HONEYMOONERS. While this show is a lot better, in my opinion, I can definately see the similarities: the humor is often executed in the same fashion; and Kerry's dad (Jerry Stiller) is kind of like a re-incarnated version of Art Carney :).

The show may not be everyone's cup of tea. But the reason I like it so much is simply because, unlike most other sitcoms, it's well-written, well-acted (Kevin James is a very under-estimated comedic actor), and it doesn't ever try to be more than it is. So many other comedies seem to stretch for laughs (Whoopi, The Mullets, the final season of Spin City, A Minute with Stan Hooper, etc); and that's why they ultimately fail. Shows such as KING OF QUEENS, EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND, MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE, etc flow effortlessle; the jokes just seem natural. Much like THE COSBY SHOW and CHEERS (Both better shows, but that's really beside the point here), they're also realistic: unlike most other sitcoms, THE KING OF QUEENS mirrors our lives; the ups, the downs, the trials, and the tribulations. And all with a hilarious ending.

This is why the show is an under-estimated hit.