Daniel Day-Lewis, Nicole Kidman, Marion Cotillard, Penélope Cruz, Kate Hudson, Sophia Loren, and Fergie. With all that star power, how could you make a bad movie? Well, Rob Marshall, the director of Nine, did. Nine sucks. It’s a musical, but the music sucks, too. Not a memorable song in the film. The story is adapted from Fellini’s 8 1/2 where a director with writer’s block is trying to make a movie. He smokes a lot, has sex a lot, imagines what his film might be like which kicks off the big musical numbers (which suck), and generally obsesses over his hypochondria. The actors bravely try to breathe some life into this corpse, but it was dead on arrival. Nine opened and closed here in two weeks. It seems like Hollywood doesn’t know how to make musicals or westerns any more. GRADE: F
NINE
16 Replies
Hubris. Paul Ingrassia uses that word several times in his meticulous historical analysis of “what went wrong” with the U. S. automotive industry. But, Ingrassia doesn’t stop there. He includes all the mistakes the Japanese made in the American auto market, too. There’s plenty of blame to spread around from General Motors betting the price of gas would stay at $1.00 a gallon so SUVs would stay a viable (and profitable) product line–they lost that bet Big Time–to the United Auto Workers negotiating the infamous Job Bank that paid laid-off workers almost all of their salary to do Nothing (at a cost of $400 million). Colossal blunders, greed, excess, abuse of power, and denial of Reality round out Ingrassia’s fascinating story. I highly recommend Crash Course. GRADE: A 
Jack Bauer is back on FOX tonight to protect us from terrorist plots and corrupt Government officials. Season Seven of 24 was a bit of a yawner so I’m hoping Season Eight features plenty of explosions and gun-play. The best part of 24 is following Dave Barry’s real-time commentary on each episode. I log on to Dave Barry’s blog before each airing of an episode of 24 and laugh at Dave Barry’s analysis of 24’s mayhem. If you haven’t watched the previous seven seasons of 24 don’t worry. You’ll get up to speed quickly as soon as the bullets start flying. The plotting isn’t that deep.
It was news to me that Antonin Dvorak had written a piano concerto. I’m familiar with Dvorak’s other music, with the New World Symphony, the Slavonic Dances, the “American” String Quartet, and the Cello Concerto in B minor being my favorites. When I read a very positive review in the American Record Guide of Vassily Primakov’s new CD with his performance of Dvorak’s piano concerto, I immediately ordered it. While not as compelling as his other work, Dvorak wrote a very entertaining piece of music when he penned his piano concerto. Vassily Primakov’s performance is sparkling and full of energy. Along with the piano concerto, Dvorak’s Poetic Tone-Pictures, Op. 85 fills out the disk. This is pleasant music superbly played. GRADE: A-
Rick Robinson and Drongo urged me to review A. Merritt’s classic The Ship of Ishtar so here it goes. I read this book back in the 1960s. Now with Planet Stories’ new edition being published, it was great to reread this mind-bending fantasy. The first fact you need to know is that The Ship of Ishtar was first published in 1924. Literary fashions change over 86 years. In The Ship of Ishtar the reader needs to adjust to florid descriptions like “His eyes dwelt upon her sweetly amorous, scarlet mouth, the tiny chalice for kisses at her throat.” (p. 62) The glamorous redhead on the book’s cover is Sharane, the avatar of Ishtar (Mother of the Gods and Men). Opposing her on the Ship of Ishtar is the evil Klaneth, avatar of Nergal (God of Death). Into this fantastic brew lands John Kenton, an archeologist recovering from injuries sustained during World War I. Kenton’s adventures aboard the Ship and his frequent journeys back to his mansion in 1924 make for a choppy narrative. But stay with the story for the dramatic rescue in the Temple of the Seven Zones. If you enjoy High Adventure in the mode of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Otis Adelbert Kline, Clark Ashton Smith, and Robert E. Howard then you’ll enjoy The Ship of Ishtar. Eric Mona and the staff at Planet Stories have put together a great package: the most complete edition of this novel in 60 years including Virgil Finlay’s legendary erotic artwork. This book should be in your personal library.