Sunday, December 30, 2007

Saturday, December 29, 2007

Let Them Eat Pie!

"If Only Life Were As Easy As Pie" then Mrs. Lovell and Sweeney Todd may have survived happily ever after. Two of 2007's most delicious adventures in filmmaking used pie baking as a basic recipe for storytelling.

Adrienne Shelley's "Waitress" premiered at Sundance in January. Refreshing, quirky, sweet, and genuine, the late filmmaker penned her script while pregnant with daughter Sophie. A toddler by the time the film wrapped production, Sophie appears as LuLu with actress Keri Russell dressed in look-a-like bright yellow waitress uniforms at the film's end. Given Adrienne Shelley's murder, this joyful final scene becomes all the more poignant.

Take 1 part great script, 6-7 parts great characters combined with equal parts great casting, mix together with 1 part passionate and talented filmmaker and bake. "Waitress" is as easy to digest as all those pies. What a treat!

On the other end of filmdom's pie bake-off is Tim Burton's "Sweeney Todd." A difficult theatrical stage production to pull-off well, Burton succeeds in bringing his adaptation to screen.

If you love Burton and Depp together, you'll appreciate Sweeney Todd. It's beautifully filmed with brilliant acting. Unfortunately, Stephen Sondheim's best compositions are lost-in-translation as Depp and Helena Bonham Carter deliver them. That said, they were great as Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovell.

Watch trailers for both Waitress and Sweeney Todd below:


Monday, December 24, 2007

The Christmas Song

A most beloved holiday song transcending the 20th Century into the 21st is Mel Torme's The Christmas Song. Torme also was one of the most gifted entertainers in the industry. I remember discovering how wonderfully talented he was in about 1964 or '65 on a trip to New Orleans with my parents. We caught his dinner show high atop The Roosevelt Hotel's Blue Room--my first "nightclub" experience. Here's a real holiday treat, Mel Torme with the incomparable Judy Garland:


Sunday, December 02, 2007

Queen Latifah Lights Up Symphony Hall

Queen Latifah gave fans a taste of the blues, jazz, funk, and soul Sunday night with her Trav'l'in Light tour swing through San Francisco's Davies Symphony Hall. Davies proved to be a great intimate venue that worked well for Latifah's easy style, humor, nine piece band and three talented back-up singers. The only thing I wanted more of was the Queen singing more songs. And it seemed awkward to sit down rather than stand up during her more robust numbers---you know complete audience engagement?

A generous entertainer, Latifah devoted a little too much time featuring her band members and over produced a finale number with her back-ups. A good singer, not a great one, Latifah holds her own doing funk,the ballad "I Know Where I've Been" from this summer's box office hit, Hairspray, and gives an enjoyable cover of "Poetry Man" and "Georgia Rose."

Queen Latifah's career in show business reads somewhat like a fairy tale, along with hard work, talent, a keen business sense, image shaping, and marketing. There were few young people in the San Francisco audience, which reveals how her career has evolved in demographic positioning over the years. From rapper to film actress, talk show host, film producer, author, product spokesperson, and trying new muscial genres, Latifah more than once thanked us for supporting her throughout her career as she has tried a little of this and that.

She introduced an audience guest, who happened to be the daughter of the songwriter/musician who wrote Trav'lin Light for Billie Holiday. Latifah introduced her father later, he stood onstage behind huge speakers throughout the show. After a standing ovation and leaving the stage, her father reappeared coaxing us to continue applauding--- a little weird since no one needed cajoling to want an encore.

If Queen Latifah comes to your town, go see her. If it's other than a huge stadium, even better.

Photo Credit: Michael Thompson