"Copland" on BLU RAY - A Review Of James Mangold's 1997 Film - Now Reissued In 2011 On A 15th Anniversary 'Collector's Series' BLU RAY...

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"…One Of The Good Guys…" – Copland (2011 15^th Anniversary Edition) on BLU RAY

Rewatching "Copland" on BLU RAY - you're struck by a few things. First - what a top movie this is - and the reputation it's gained as such since its 1997 release - is fully justified.

Second - is the astonishing cast. I count more than 15 world-class actors - Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta, Janeane Garofalo, Robert Patrick, Michael Rapaport, Annabella Sciorra, Noah Emmerich, Cathy Moriarty, John Spencer (of The West Wing), Peter Berg (of Chicago Hope), Robert John Burke and Terry Serpico (of Rescue Me), Malik Yoba (of Defying Gravity and Alphas), Bruce Altman (of Damages and Blue Bloods), Paul Calderon (of Hostages and Law & Order), Vincent Laresca (of Weeds and 24), Frank Vincent, Edie Falco, Arthur J. Nascarella, John Ventimiglia and Tony Sirico (all of The Sopranos) - there's even Blondie's Debbie Harry as a bar owner. Yet despite that formidable array of acting chops - it's all over for the lot of them the moment Sylvester Stallone steps onto the screen - in what has to be a career best for him.

Our Sly plays Freddy Heflin - a lumbering New Jersey cop who is coasting through his job as local town Sheriff. Freddy lives in Garrison, New Jersey (population 1280) - off jurisdiction home to many of New York's Transit Cops who moved there in the Seventies when crime threatened to engulf the Big Apple. Freddy stands over a pinball machine on his friendless birthday in the all Blue '4 Aces' Bar - dutifully overlooking an NYPD bag being passed between yet another cop Gary Figgis and a female badge at a nearby table (Ray Liotta and Edie Falco). "That's Freddy!" Gary reassures the nervous Bertha. "He's my guy! He's cool!" Gary smiles - he'll have no problem keeping the sedate Heflin under control.

Freddy is overweight and almost deaf in one ear from an automobile accident involving a sinking car that flew off a bridge he happened to be sitting under as a young man. His only real heartbeat-uptake comes from Liz Randone (Annabella Sciorra) - the beauty queen he pulled from the submerged Buick by smashing the side of his head against the passenger door window to get her free. But Liz went on to marry Joey (Peter Berg) - a drunken womanizer who is sleeping with Rose Donlan (Cathy Moriarty)- wife of the town's real power cop - Ray Donlan (Harvey Keitel). Liz smiles as Freddy returns a turtle teddy bear she left on top of her car bringing her kid home from school (an excuse to call on her door) - but she endures Freddy rather than embracing him in her arms.

One night at 2 a.m. in New York City - the 3-7 Cop Crew is getting wasted in a nightclub called Scores - when decorated Officer Murray "Super Boy" Babitch (Michael Rapaport) leaves and gets into his car with one too many drinks taken. But entering the George Washington Bridge he gets sideswiped by two blacks in a sports car that are clearly high - and worse - laughing at him. An angry chase ensues - and thinking a long black steering wheel lock is a sawn-off shotgun - Babitch gives pursuit and fires shots from his handgun. The two cars collide head on in the middle of the GWB - and when the dust settles - both lowlifes are dead. Soon half of Garrison's finest are on the scene trying to control the mayhem led by Leo Crasky (John Spencer) and Ray Donlan (Keitel). One of their cop posse called Jack Rucker (Robert Patrick of Terminator fame) plants a gun in the floor area of the mashed up sports car  - but a black Ambulance Medic who has already swept the vehicle - sees the white boy's ploy and a fist-fight ensues. Babitch feeling his whole life is about to fall apart - puts his hands to his bloodied head - panics - and it 'seems' like he jumps off the bridge into the cold Hudson below when no one but Uncle Ray is looking. The next morning Freddy Heflin is reading THE DAILY NEWS in Garrison - reporting that after stopping two drug dealers - a young hero cop has taken his own life for fear of a judicial system that will destroy him for trying to do his job. But then after a random speeding stop with his newly appointed assistant Cindy Betts (Garofalo) - Freddy lets the unmarked cop car go but sees the scared Babitch in the back seat being spirited away by 'friends' in the force. But neither Freddy nor his Deputy Bill (Noah Emmerich) say anything to anyone about what they know.

Meanwhile uptown and heading up the Internal Affairs Bureau (the I.A.B.)- Moe Tilden (Robert DeNiro) suspects that Super Boy's body is never going to be found because he didn't jump. So he goes out to Garrison Town and in a local Danish shop meets fellow cops Ray and Frank (Harvey Keitel and Arthur J Nascarella) whom he knew from Academy days. Barely disguised verbal jabs ensue and Ray Donlan utters the word 'rat' under his breath as investigator Moe Tilden leaves with a coffee.

Moe then meets with Freddy the local Sheriff - and in a conversation indicates that the massively attended funeral for hero-cop Babitch is a staged farce. "We buried a suit today! How do you feel about that?" he probes the man he suspects still has a conscience somewhere beneath that massive broken frame. "Ambivalence is a disease..." Tilden says. Moe tries harder to reach the Sheriff by putting another thought directly into Freddy's one good ear - unless the body of Super Boy turns up in the river soon - the case being crushed by The Mayor (with mob connections to the town of Garrison) is not going to hold. It's only a matter of time before the young Babitch goes the same way Gary Figgis' partner Sergeant Tunney went a few years back - dead and buried to cover up more local lies. A series of events then unfold that rattle Freddy - and their presumptions that he'll simply roll over on everything begins to gnaw at him - until it becomes obvious that he must man up and take in Babitch to face the I.A.B. inquest in New York City. But first Freddy has to get the scared white kid out of the town jail without both of them getting killed - and without the back-up of officers too scared and too loyal to kingpin Ray Donlan to help...

Although the dialogue is constantly brutal (and convincing for it) - "Copland" is not all 'f' words either. The scene where Stallone and Sciorra finally come together in his home to the Springsteen songs "Stolen Car" and "Drive All Night" (both from his 1980 double album "The River") is both tender and beautifully judged. The acting too is uniformly brilliant. Keitel is all power corrupted (lets a fellow officer fall from a TV aerial who's been soiling his sheets at home), DeNiro is the driven investigator trying to bring truth back to the force and Liotta is a cocksure wiseass cop - until a fire-bombing he arranged goes drastically wrong. The sweating jerky Michael Rapaport as Babitch is superb too - suspecting that his life is not just screwed but in danger from his 'pals'. All are fabulous. But its Stallone's journey back to being a real man and doing what's right that keeps you glued. He put on pounds for the part, pulled back the macho and allowed himself to be sappy at times - he is magnificent in the role and deserved 2nd Oscar glory.

Defaulted to Full Screen Aspect (no bars top or bottom) - the 2011 15th Anniversary Collector's Series BLU RAY picture quality is a huge improvement over the DVD (and previous much-derided BLU RAY incarnations - use Barcode 5060223761770 to get the right issue). So many scenes are properly clear now - even indoors and at night (the party sequence when Babitch realizes what's being planned for him). There are good extras too in the shape of an 'Urban Western' Making Of, Deleted Scenes, Storyboarding of the Shoot Out and a feature-length Commentary by Writer/Director James Mangold. Audio is HTD-HD Master Audio Surround 5.1 and Subtitles are English and English For The Hard Of Hearing. Special mention should also go to Howard Shore's superb brass refrain that gives certain scenes enormous added power.

"Copland" is a bit a wee gem frankly. Make room for this morality tale in your Darkness On The Edge Of Town...

"Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs" on BLU RAY – A Review Of The 2009 Animation Classic

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"…Recipe For Success…" – Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs on BLU RAY

"Have you ever felt like you were a little bit different?"

It took nearly three years to bring 2009's "Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs" to the big screen - and after watching 86 minutes of its digitally realized anarchic genius - I can safely say it was money well spent. Not only is Columbia/Sony Animation Pictures baby a visually sumptuous watch - it's properly funny for its entire duration, genuinely touching when it needs to be and endlessly inventive in both character and dialogue. It also boasts something rarer than a conscience in the UKIP party - a moral centre that's not stylized schlock - but a story that's loaded with pressing observations about avarice in our increasingly chubby consumerist society. All this and it's effortless cool too. The audience was both smiling and applauding when the credits rolled in our cinema.

Flint Lockwood (voiced to perfection by Bill Hader) is a nerdy school kid - always inflicting his scatological inventions on his parents, his classmates and the good townsfolk of Swallow Falls - a tiny island situated on the map beneath the 'A' on Atlantic. Swallow Falls is the Sardine Capitol of the World - a town that lives on and off the shiny oily silver mites - and Flint's Dad (of Tim's Sardine Bait & Tackle Shop) is proud of it. Flint's father is hard working for sure but since Mom died 10 years back has become safe and unadventurous and prone to mumbling fish metaphors that don't make any sense (a stunning turn by James Caan).

Dad also lives in terror of his son creating yet another 'disaster' like his tin of Spray-On Shoes (to solve the epidemic of untied shoelaces) or his genetically mutated RatBirds (rats with wings that steal kids lunches), his Hair Un-Balder Potion (that produces a woolly mammoth of a man's skull instead of an even rug) or his Monkey Thought Translator Machine. But these are the least of the town's problems - because soon the world discovers that 'Sardines Are Super Gross' - and all life in Swallow Falls goes grey and into terminal decline...

Now grown up - Flint is in his homemade computer hub situated in the Water Tower above a Porta-Dump cubicle in the garden. With his official lab coat on (given to him by his Mom) and with his trusty pet monkey Steve by his side (spouting monosyllabic words through the thought translator) - Flint's working furiously on his ultimate invention - a device that will win back the town and make him beloved of everybody. It's a 'Flint Lockwood Diatonic Super Mutating Dynamic Food Replicator' - a device that will turn water into any food you want. "Calibrating flavour patterns, radiation matrix secure, uploading cool machine voice..." Flint enthuses as he slaps the keyboard again - his huge bug eyes bulging with madcap inventiveness as he gazes at his dietary lunar-lander.

Meanwhile - the fame-hungry Mayor of Swallow Falls (a fabulously sly voiceover by Bruce Campbell of The Evil Dead and Bubba Ho-Tep fame) tries to reignite interest in the town by opening a boring theme park called SARDINE LAND with Baby Brent as it's star attraction (a child who used to be on every Sardine tin but is now a dumb boor with a huge midriff). The scheming Mayor gingerly tells the gathered populace "without consulting anyone, I've spent the entire town's budget on this thing..." But again an over-enthusiastic Flint ruins everything. Needing 17,000 Mega gigajoules to get his machine to work - he plugs into the island's power grid and wrecks the whole stage show. To make matters worse - a cute and super-perky WNN Weather Channel Intern called Sam Sparks (great vocal work from Anna Faris) has come to town with Manny her pint-sized cameraman to report on the island's re-launch. But along with a humiliated Dad Tim - she watches the mayhem of yet another Flint 'disaster' - Swallow Falls loses its 'F' (along with everything else) and Flint's rocket-propelled food maker disappears upwards into the sky. A mortified Flint hides down by the Docks with his pet monkey Steve...

But then something magical happens - up in the atmosphere - the chugging device is sucking in clouds and starts to spit out slices of cheese and cucumber and then a bap - and the next thing you know it's raining fully-formed cheeseburgers on Swallow Falls. Now realizing that BIGGER IS BETTER - the Major wants Flint to run the machine three-times-a-day for 30 days until the cruise ships arrive and Swallow Falls conquers national TV as a culinary pig-out destination.

In the meantime Flint's new machine becomes food-request central for the locals - Eggs, Toast, Orange Juice, Bacon, Ice Cream, Fudge, Jelly Beans. Cue jokes about "...poultry in motion..." and "...you may have seen a meteor shower, but you never seen a story meatier than this!" And the gastronomic overload is kept in check by a 'DangeOMeter' in Flint's lab that will tell him if things are getting out of mutating hand. But of course they do. Greed begins to take over - and soon a spaghetti twister is sucking up the buildings and children and a 'Vegas All You Can Eat' food storm brought on by the hideously bloated Mayor threatens to engulf every major city in the world unless Flint can stop the gluttonous madness...

The voices of Mr. T as Earl the Town policeman and Andy Samberg as Baby Brent add hugely to the great fun set pieces - but it's Hollywood veteran James Caan with his furrowed eyebrows and croaky mumble who actually steals the show. His speech to his son Flint at the end of the film is both funny and emotional - a wonderfully written double whammy for a cartoon.

And the visuals are of course fabulous. Not only does the food look good enough to eat - there's over 50 different kinds portrayed with mouth-watering detail - a Nacho Cheese Hot Spring, A Marshmallow Warehouse, an Anti-Gas Tablet Shop, Mouth Funnels to catch the food as it falls from the sky. The massive pancake, butter knob and syrup that dollops on an entire house - is stunning to look at. A cherry lands on top of a leftovers food mountain and the damn holding it all back finally bursts...

The 'making of' featurettes show you how the scenes are built up and the painstaking details applied - how to make an olive crush a building - what does a banana look like when its rolling down a street - how a burger in a bap falls apart when it hits the ground - how do you capture the texture and colour of Flint and Sam romancing in a giant Jell-O Castle...

Audio is DTS-HD Master Audio: English 5.1 with an English Audio Descriptive Track - while Subtitles are in English For The Hard Of Hearing and Hindi.

Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller and adapted by Rob Greenberg from the Judi and Ron Barrett children's book of the same name - "Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs" was put onto BLU RAY in early 2010 as a 'Combi Pack' with the DVD (and in a snazzy card slipcase). A 'Cloudy 2' sequel appeared in cinemas September 2013 and the BLU RAY for that came out in February of this year.

"The world needs your originality Flint..." his mother tells him. I agree.

In 2014 - you can pick it up the first movie for under a fiver in the UK. And I'd argue that this is one hydro-genetic mutated chow-down you should definitely find room for in your mental restaurant.

Pass the Strawberry Ripple...

"The Birdcage" on BLU RAY – A Review Of The Hilarious 1996 Mike Nichols Film - Now Reissued Onto A MGM/20th Century Fox BLU RAY In February 2014...

The Birdcage on BLU RAY (2014)

This Review Along With Many More Is Available In
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"…I Hate It When You Get Hysterical!"

The thing about "The Birdcage" is that you forget how funny it is – and not just sporadically either – but all of the time. Maybe "Airplane" or "Some Like It Hot" comes close to it – but Mike Nichols' 1996 United Artists remake is one of those great films – a pick-me-up that will have you howling with helpless and delicious laughter for its entire duration.

Principal in its success are two things - the spot-on casting - and Elaine May’s screenplay. The movie boasts a razor-sharp re-working of an already well-honed play called "La Cage Aux Folles" by Jean Poiret - first staged in 1973 - then made into a celebrated French/Italian film farce in 1978. Nichols simply updates the Euro references to American ones - and adds clever jabs at double standards to spice up the very funny set pieces.

Robin Williams and Nathan Lane play middle-aged gay lovers – the wildly camp Armand and Albert Goldman – flamboyant toasts of the Florida sun, sand and sex set. They wear garish shirts, gold jewellery and foundation trowelled onto their cheeks to look younger. Armand owns the Miami South Beach nightclub "The Birdcage" where Albert is "Starina" – their principal drag queen attraction who comes on after a transvestite troupe has done their best Sister Sledge "We Are Family" mime. Men are called Beatrice and Dante and their live-in South American maid is Agador – a man so camp Liberace would blush – boogieing in the kitchen area to Gloria Estefan’s Spanish rhythms with a sweeping brush, a wig, denim hot pants and a padded bra (a fabulous comedic turn by Hank Azaria). Apart from Starina’s odd hysterical outburst about being "fat and hideous" – most nights in the club are a form of bare-bottomed costume mayhem – where no one is afraid to be open - no matter what their preference may be - or what anyone else thinks.

But twenty years back – when Armand was finding his sexuality – he had an affair with a career-obsessed Katherine Archer (Christine Baranski) and their union produced a divorce and sole custody of their son Val. One evening the 20-year old Val (Dan Futterman) arrives at The Birdcage to inform Pop that he’s getting married to the woman of his dreams – a 19-year old Barbara Keeley (Calista Flockhart) – daughter of Senator Kevin Keeley. Dad is none too pleased because he thinks the lad is too young – but that’s the least of his problems.

Barbara’s father is a twat – a boorish right-wing politician who hates anything that isn’t homely and decent ("It's porno…not pronto…" he says into his Dictaphone). When his equally moralizing television sparring partner Senator Eli Jackson of the 'Committee For Moral Order' dies on him during election time – caught in bed with a minor who is both black and a prostitute – Keeley and his wife Louise (Dianne Wiest) spot that the wedding would be a great way to deflect the press army camped outside their home waiting on a comment from Mr. and Mrs. Family Values. "If necessary – we'll get the Pope's blessing – it's not that hard!" his wife offers helpfully as her husband munches down on chocolate – his chosen way of calming his nerves.

Unfortunately young Barbara has also been economical with the truth and told her Senator parents that her Val's Mum and Dad are 'in the arts'. She's even suggested that Armand is The Cultural Attaché To Greece and Albert his wife. So the Conservative Keeleys head down to Florida in a car (pursued by press hounds looking for a juicy story) – not knowing Armand and Albert’s sexual preferences let alone dress-sense. Armand and Albert have only hours to become fully-fledged straight men to ensure the young couple’s happiness. Cue the toning down of their rampantly gay mannerisms, removal of phallus-shaped furniture, Neptune statues (in fact anything with a willy on it) – and in comes a large crucifix and net curtains.

As you can imagine - the one-liners and double-entendres come fast and furious. When Barbara reveals she’s been sleeping with Val – Dad grimaces and says - "Has he been tested?" When Albert suspects that Armand is having an affair because there’s white wine in the fridge when they both only drink red – he hysterically demands - "I Want A Palimony Agreement! And I Want One Now!" Always suffering for his art – Albert sits at his dresser with a Philishave and a Powder Puff bemoaning his artistic fate "…If it wasn’t for the Pirin tablets – I don’t think I could go on!" Little does he know that they’re really Aspirins Agador has scraped the AS off.

You might think that all this hilarity is at the expense of homosexuality – long the target of many a Hollywood cheap shot. But like "Behind The Candelabra" – this is a film that laughs 'with' the camp – and not 'at' it. And while Robin Williams is his usual brave fabulous self – it’s Nathan Lane who steals every scene – comic and brilliant ever second he’s on camera. The scene in an outdoor Miami restaurant where Armand (Williams) tries to teach Albert (Lane) how to be a 'man' is just ball-breakingly funny – including great observations about sticking out his Pinkie Ring as he sips tea, macho talk about American football and even how John Wayne walks. Albert yelps and screams and constantly acts like a balding short fat woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown ("You look hagard Agador! Take these supplements. I bought them for Armand. But that’s all over now!”) And conveniently – his agony is always someone else's fault (dialogue above). Even when he does finally dress as a hetro for the sake of Val’s future happiness – he can’t help slipping in pink socks under the trousers of a butch suit.

Not to be outdone in the funny stakes – both Gene Hackman and Diane Wiest are fair game too. The dinner scene has Albert dressed up as Armand’s opinionated wife – all Jackie Kennedy couture jackets and handbags - waltzing with an admiring Gene Hackman to Frank Sinatra’s "I Could Have Danced All Night". In order to avoid detection - Hackman and Wiest later dress up as a woman and a butch dominatrix in the final nightclub scene (joining the enemy and all that). It’s so funny – you may find yourself reaching for the sedative cabinet.

The BLU RAY is defaulted to 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio so the picture fills the entire screen (no bars top or bottom) – and I’m thrilled to say that the print is a major improvement on the DVD. I always felt the DVD had a slight pallor – a hazy lack of definition. But right from the opening credits as the camera pushes in to the Miami coastline and then to The Birdcage club itself (with the Sister Sledge "We Are Family" song playing as it does) - it’s obvious that there’s real improvement in focus and clarity. And it pretty much stays that way for the duration. The scene where Val reveals to Armand that he’s getting married is staggeringly clear. The only slight softness I noticed was inside the club – but even then - that’s natural grain – and how it was filmed. The big let down however is the complete lack of Extras – only a crappy Theatrical Trailer – when this is a film that screamed out for retrospective features.

Audio is DTS-HD Master Audio: English 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0, French Dolby Digital 5.1 and Italian DTS 5.1 - while Subtitles are in English For The Hard Of Hearing, Spanish and Italian (it doesn’t say much of this on the outer box - but they are on the menu).

"There’s 150 people out there and half of them are Kennedys…" Armand tells Albert as he tries to convince him to go on stage - one more time.

Convince yourself to own this fabulous and life-affirming comedic gem on BLU RAY.
You’ll be in the pink when you do…

"One Good Well / True Love / Currents" by DON WILLIAMS - A Review Of His 1989, 1990 and 1992 Albums On RCA Records - Now Reissued & Remastered By Beat Goes On Of The UK Onto 2CDs In 2014

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"…You Really Don’t Want Me To Go..." 

– One Good Well / True Love / Currents by DON WILLIAMS

After a long and productive career with MCA – country-legend Don Williams signed to RCA Records in 1989 and quickly produced these 3 revered albums. It’s a smart reissue move on the part of Beat Goes On Records of the UK to gather them all together on this classily presented and beautiful-sounding 2CD set (the deleted “One Good Well” CD was over $300 some years back). Here are the curly straw-hat details…

UK released 19 May 2014 – Beat Goes On BGOCD 1152 (Barcode 5017261211521) breaks downs as follows:

Disc 1 (71:24 minutes):

Tracks 1 to 11 are the album “One Good Well” released May 1989

Tracks 12 to 21 are the album “True Love” released September 1990

Disc 2 (31:50 minutes):

Tracks 1 to 10 are the album “Currents” released March 1992

The generic card wraps that Beat Goes On uses on their reissues are really lovely – giving the whole package a quality look and feel. The 16-page booklet inside features liner notes by noted musicologist JOHN O’REGAN with full recording details for each album, photos, internet references (no lyrics) and the inlay beneath the see-through tray has adverts for other Don Williams albums in this series

The albums were digitally recorded in the first place – so they would have sounded clean on original CDs – but that doesn’t stop the 2014 Andrew Thompson remaster being superb. There’s genuine warmth to these recordings – lovely clarity – his voice just present in the mix – never overdone. When you play the gorgeous ballad “Cryin’ Eyes” from the excellent “One Good Well” album – Paul Franklin’s Pedal Steel and Charles Cochran’s lovely string arrangements are all crystal clear (lyrics from it title this review).

Oher highlights include a mournful take on Beth Nielsen Chapman’s story-song “Maybe That’s All It Takes” and the cheery pluck of “Come A Little Closer”. He does sweet versions of Jesse Winchester’s “Just ‘Cause I’m In Love With You” and Dan Fogelberg’s “Diamonds To Dust” with complimentary harmonies from “Drift Away” singer Dobie Gray. “Lord Have Mercy On A Country Boy” was a big country hit - even his cover of Harry Belafonte’s “Jamaica Farewell” just about pulls it off. 

But I particularly love the re-working of his old MCA hit “We’re All The Way” on the One Good Turn album – simple – elegant – to the point. In fact if you want to know how good his songs are – especially in the hands of Rock Alumni – check out “We’re All The Way” by Eric Clapton on his 1977 “Slowhand” album (which is where I first heard it) - or the stunning “Till The Rivers All Run Dry” by Pete Townshend & Ronnie Lane on their wickedly good “Rough Mix” album (also 1977). Eric rocked up the chirper “Tulsa Time” on his 1978 “Backless” set – all Don Williams gems.

This is a quality re-issue – great presentation, top quality sound and tunes to match – nice one.

"The Bridges Of Madison County" on BLU RAY – A Review Of The Beautiful 1995 CLINT EASTWOOD Movie - Now Reissued Onto A Warner Brothers (US) BLU RAY In May 2014...

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"…Making My Way To You…" – The Bridges Of Madison County on BLU RAY (2014)

It's 1985 in Iowa - and Michael and Carolyn Johnson turn off a bumpy road - their modern-day Estate Car heading into the small farm residence of Mr and Mrs Richard Johnson. Inside their childhood home a local lawyer reads out the details of their Italian mother's will - specifically instructions about her burial that leaves both of them utterly flabbergasted. The normally meek and mild-mannered Francesca Johnson wants to be cremated - and have her ashes thrown off the Roseman Bridge in Madison County. "I'm not at all sure it's even Christian!" a profoundly rattled Michael protests.

But there's worse. Opening an envelope - they find a key to a large chest in their mother's bedroom that contains stuff they've never seen - let alone suspected. Dark horse Francesca (Meryl Streep) has had a secret past life - in fact a lifelong torch for someone else other than Richard Johnson - their father who has himself passed in 1982 (played to understated loving perfection by Jim Haynie). It transpires that Francesca had a passionate four-day love affair in the mid Sixties with a photographer from the National Geographic magazine called Robert Kincaid (Clint Eastwood) while her husband and 17 and 16-year old teenagers were away at the Illinois State Fair exhibiting a prize steer. It is Robert Kincaid she wants to give "the rest of me" to.

Now in their mid 40's - both shaken siblings (played with aching delicacy by Victor Slezak and Annie Corley) get out a bottle of Jack Daniels whiskey and brace themselves - as they collectively read three handwritten diaries their mother has poured her innermost thoughts and passions into. "What becomes important is 'to be known'..." - she writes. And they slowly but painfully learn why...

We're back in 1965 and a 45-year old Francesca Johnson is beating a dusty rug on her farmstead porch when a pick-up from Bellingham in Washington DC comes trundling towards the house. Out steps a rugged world-travelled man in his early Sixties who is temporarily lost and needs directions to the Roseman Bridge - an assignment he's been sent to photograph (the camera is his chosen art). The beautiful wooden-canopied gap between two separate roads is only two miles from her home - Francesca nervously advises. Robert then smiles in return as she fumbles spoken directions - clearly excited by a handsome male presence. But it's more than that. There is an undercurrent - a meeting of like minds that seem to have been travelling towards each other for decades - an instant spark  - an understanding between them. And so her secret love story begins...

Streep received a 10th Oscar nomination for her work here and perhaps she should have won (yet again). The character dance between her and Eastwood is simply stupendous - giving her frumpy but sensuous Italian woman nervous twitches, all hands on her face and arms, eyes running over his body, catching glimpses of him through gaps in the wood and net curtains, fanning her naked body at night in the cool breeze to calm her thoughts down. Sometimes the talks they have in the kitchen are so good that you feel your eavesdropping on an actual conversation in motion. And when the harsh reality of what they're doing kicks in - the 'morning after sequence' doesn't shirk it either. She riles at him angrily - feeling used - just another notch on his well-travelled gun. Yet the scene manages to be tender, hurting and utterly believable too.

Adapted from Robert James Waller's beloved novel - the screenplay for 1995's "Bridges" by Richard La Gravenese is a masterpiece of understatement and lightness of touch. Combined with Clint Eastwood's keep-it-simple Direction and an amazing on-screen chemistry between two great actors at the top of their game - this is also a movie of rare depth - one that speaks to the Soul on several levels. On the one hand you have the grown-up son and daughter grappling with parental loss - both in marriages that have seen better days (hers in terminal decline). The other theme is the longing for real love - and to have actually lived rather than just coasted through life. Both ooze out of so many scenes - imbibing the film with a truth that is often uncomfortable and sad - yet somehow hopeful. It's a gushingly romantic tale really - a Brief Encounter with an American twist.

I'm thrilled to say that Warner Brothers have put up a fabulous print. The Region Free American BLU RAY is GORGEOUS TO LOOK AT and at times shockingly so. It's defaulted to Full Screen Aspect (so you miss nothing). Principal in all this cinematic glory is Jack Green's sumptuous cinematography and the lighting he catches in Iowa - warm evenings - the daytime air filled with dust and butterflies and pollen particles on the wind - it's just beautiful to look at. Examples are the scene where Robert surprises Francesca on the bridge with blue flowers he's just picked - when they walk in the evening talking about the poetry of W.B. Yeats - when they discuss life at the kitchen table and how she came from the small town of Bari in Southern Italy to Iowa with her Military husband Richard to a life full of dreams not quite realized. Even when her family sits at the dinner table virtually ignoring her cooking and maternal efforts - the textures of their clothes and rural furniture details are absolutely spot on.

Special mention should also go to Eastwood's piano theme "Doe Eyes" that is so exquisitely elegant and moving. It takes a full half-hour to arrive (the first Bridge scene when they get physically close to each other) - but each time it does - it grows and grows in stature - until it has the power of a hammerblow. It's most effective in the penultimate scene towards the end when it's pouring rain and Francesca gets into her husband's truck only to see Robert in his pickup parked opposite on the street (he's come back for her). He exits - stands there exposed and soaked - hoping she'll leave her good husband and family for him - but knows it's a decision that she alone must make. For a moment - Francesca grabs the door handle of her own truck when she sees her name pendant hanging from his rear-view mirror calling her home. The 'will she/won't she go with him' moment of agony lingers. But she crushes down her feelings of longing and love - settling for what has to be done. She must stay with her husband and family who will be `broken in half' if she actually acts on such a delicious but destructive impulse. It's a heartbreakingly beautiful scene - and I can assure you - there isn't going to be a dry eye in any home anywhere when it's watched (keep the Kleenex handy).

The BLU RAY carries over the DVD Commentary and 'Making Of' called "An Old Fashioned Love Story..." that has interviews with DOP Jack Green, Writer Richard La Gravenese, Producer Kathleen Kennedy, Editor Joel Cox, Actors Eastwood, Streep, Slezak, Corley and Haynie and features location footage of Winterset in Ohio where it was shot.

Audio is DTS-HD Master Audio: English 5.1, Dolby Digital, French 5.1, Spanish 5.1 (Castilian) and Spanish 2.0 (Latin) - while Subtitles are in English SDH, French and Spanish.

Why is this movie so effecting? The lifetime our parents have given us - the debt we can't repay them - the love we can't have - the passion we didn't grab when we had the chance? I don't know if I want the answer.

"This kind of certainty comes along but once in a lifetime..." - Robert tells Francesca in a moment of clarity that will stay with them until their ashes are scattered to the four winds. Well now you can savour its magic over and over again. "The Bridges Of Madison County" is that kind of cinematic masterpiece.

PS: I dedicate this review to my wife Mary Ann and our three kids - Dean, Julia and Sean who saw me through a recent medical nightmare...

"Rolling Stones Gear/All The Stones Instruments From Stage To Studio" by THE ROLLING STONES - A Review Of The BACKBEAT BOOK

THE ROLLING STONES are part of my Series "SOUNDS GOOD: Exceptional CD Remasters 1970s Rock And Pop" Download Book available to buy on Amazon to either your PC or Mac (it will download the Kindle software to read the book for free to your toolbar). Click on the link below to go my Author's Page for this and other related publications:

                       http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00LQKMC6I

"...Can't You Hear Me Knocking..." 

- Rolling Stones Gear/All The Stones Instruments From Stage To Studio - BACKBEAT BOOK

When the courier handed me this sucker in its 'fragile' cardboard wrap - I almost felt my wrist snap. This book is big, beautiful and HEAVY. And at under £25 brand new – it’s a perfect present for the Stones nutter in your home.

Released in March 2014 on Backbeat Books (Barcode 884088554453) – "Rolling Stones Gear – All The Stones Instruments From The Stage To Studio" does exactly what it says on the tin – and in drop-dead gorgeous eye-popping detail.

First up is Amazon’s assessment of 500 pages – it has 672. It’s coffee table large and has a US Dollar price of 60. There are 30 chapters beginning with “Britain Gets The Blues” which shows the 1954-1961 influences on our boys by picturing stuff from Lonnie Donegan’s Skiffle LPs to Chuck Berry, Little Walter and Muddy Waters Chess albums. Chapter 2 moves into the extraordinary catalyst that was CCS’s front man and singer Alexis Korner and his influence on the band. But what hits time and time again are the huge amount of stunning pictures…

Every available square around the copious amount of text is filled with gorgeous repro’s of Sixties adverts, Stones gig posters and concert tickets, Bush Record Players, London Record Stores, Harmony Amplifiers, Reslo Microphones, StratoTone guitars, MXR Phase Pedals and so on. By the time you get to the late Sixties – the in-concert photos of guitar wielding Keith Richards, Brian Jones and Mick Taylor are coming out you in full colour and glorious black and white – beautifully cleaned and massively evocative of the times. Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts get their basses and drum kits, Jagger his Mikes, while the fabulous Seventies stuff and beyond features Tour posters, the saxophones used by Bobby Keys and even the letter Mick Jagger wrote to Andy Warhol commissioning the cover of "Sticky Fingers". It’s properly indepth and thrilling to look at.

There’s adverts galore - Hofner Guitars, Gibson Electric and Les Paul Acoustics, Jesselli Guitars, Synthi Multi Hi-Fi Guitar Processors, Ronnie Wood’s custom made Zemaitis Metal Plate and so on. The advert photos are beautiful throughout all the decades - as are the period shots of Alexis Korner, Ronnie with Bo Diddley and a young Ian ‘Stu’ Stewart on piano.

It took New York authors Andy Babiuk and Greg Prevost 10 years to accumulate and narrate this incredible story and they surely must be up for some sort of Book Oscar. Andy Baiuk did a similar tome for The Beatles in 2001 "Beatles Gear" while Greg Prevost is a staff writer for the acclaimed “Ugly Things” magazine. Both are collectors of guitars and music memorabilia and they clearly know their stuff.

Wonderful memories and surely one of the great Rock Books.

Tattoo You and your flabby bottom with this beauty right now...

"Something/Anything?" by TODD RUNDGREN (2014 Edsel 'Deluxe Edition' Book Pack CD Reissue and Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...I Saw The Light..."

Originally released in the Spring of 1972 as a double-album on Bearsville Records - "Something/Anything?" proved what many had already known – after 3 albums with Sixties songsters NAZZ and two fine solo efforts in 1970 and 1971 – singer songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Todd Rundgren was ready to drop the artistic motherlode. And he did it with style. Even now – 42 years after I first held its wondrous gatefold in my grubby Dublin paws – It still gives me a buzz just to look at it. Much like this lovely packaging upgrade. Here are the faithful details…

UK released 19 May 2014 (27 May in the USA) - "Something/Anything?" by TODD RUNDGREN on Edsel EDSK 7070 (Barcode 740155707033) is a 2CD reissue of their October 2011 Expanded Version - only this time it’s in a case bound Hardback Book:

Disc 1 – Parts 1 and 2 (43:13 minutes):

1. I Saw The Light

2. It Wouldn’t Have Made Any Difference

3. Wolfman Jack

4. Cold Morning Light

5. It Takes Two To Tango (This Is For The Girls)

6. Sweeter Memories

7. Intro [Part 2]

8. Breathless

9. The Night The Carousel Burnt Down

10. Saving Grace Marlene

11. Song Of The Viking

12. I Went To The Mirror

Disc 2 – Parts 3 and 4 (52:03 minutes):

1. Black Maria

2. One More Day (No Word)

3. Couldn’t I Just Tell You

4. Torch Song

5. Little Red Lights

6. Overture – My Roots [Part 4]

7. Dust In The Wind

8. Piss Aaron

9. Hello, It’s Me

10. Some Folks Is even Whiter Than Me

11. You Left Me Sore

12. Slut

”Something/Anything?” by TODD RUNDGREN was released as a 2LP set February 1972 in the USA on Bearsville 2BX 2066 and May 1972 in the UK on Bearsville K 65501

13. It Wouldn’t Have Made Any Difference (Bearsville Sound Studio B)

14. Something/Anything Promos 1-6

Tracks 13 and 14 are BONUSES

The 36-page attached booklet within has liner notes by Paul Myers from his superb tome "A Wizard, A True Star – Todd Rundgren In The Studio" and is an excellent read. The gatefold sleeve to the Bearsville vinyl album is here (inside and out) – as are the insert photos and lyrics. The hard card case bound book has a details sticker on the outer shrink-wrap that easily peels off (if you want to attach it to the book cover).

There is no new remaster that I can hear – this is the Edsel October 2011 version - that in itself was a Peter Rynston UK master using the 1993 American Rhino remasters. The sound is superb throughout with some tracks like "It Takes Two To Tango" and the Side 2 instrumental "Breathless" sounding amazing. The two extras are actually worth having – a studio demo of the lovely ballad "It Wouldn’t Have Made Any Difference" while the Promo clips turn out to be fab Acapella snippets of tracks especially recorded for advert purposes. While the cool-looking book packaging is a rather lovely thing to behold…

The huge hit was of course "I Saw The Light" – but just as good is "Cold Morning Light" (a B-side to "Hello It's Me" in the UK in January 1974) and "Torch Song" with its pianos somehow aching like tears. There are some turkeys – the crappy metal of "Little Red Lights" and the demo mess that is "Overture…" is unlistenable to me now. But my overriding feeling is that the whole shebang is just so musical – proper songs – fast or slow – he hit the nail more often than not. Rundgren would follow this with the equally brill but different single LP "A Wizard, A True Star" in 1973.

If you’ve been on the fence about this man and his music – this is where to start the journey to your inner Runt...

PS: see also my reviews for "Runt", "A Wizard, A True Star", "Todd", "Todd Rundgren's Utopia", "Initiation" and "Hermit of Mink Hollow"