Epinions Recent Reviews for fdknight

Murder by Death (1976)

Sun, 27 Aug 2000 22:54:27 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author fdknight - When I was eleven years old, I did not imagine that there could ever be another movie half as good as Murder by Death. I loved it so much that I sneaked my cassette recorder into the theater and taped the dialogue so that I could listen to it...

LaChiusa's Wild Party (2000 Broadway Cast)

Fri, 25 Aug 2000 18:07:10 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author fdknight - There are those of us who consider it a tragedy whenever a new musical closes without having its score recorded. Even the most flawed pieces usually contain some gems, and, like families, virtually every dysfunctional musical is unique. Some flops are...

Bless the Child (2000)

Fri, 11 Aug 2000 21:19:06 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author fdknight - The worst mistake you can make if you're making a dopey devil movie is to take the whole thing too seriously. Devil movies are silly entertainments at best, with The Exorcist being a rare exception. Movies like Roman Polanski's The Ninth...

Ambivalent Zen (1995)

Wed, 26 Jul 2000 21:18:36 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author fdknight - The problem with books about religion is that they are either written by believers or they aren't. Maybe it's an indication of my own ambivalence that I find either point of view incomplete. A true believer often gives an idealized picture of religious...

Anything Goes (1962 Off Broadway Cast)

Tue, 25 Jul 2000 16:43:47 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author fdknight - It shouldn't be, but this is my favorite recording of Anything Goes. Neither the orchestrations nor the line up of songs are authentic. The show includes one big TV name but no major musical theater stars. It has no snob appeal at all. What it...

The Fly (1986) WRITE-OFF

Mon, 24 Jul 2000 03:55:38 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author fdknight - Although I don't love this movie as much as I did when it first came out, David Cronenberg's 1986 The Fly is still one of the best monster movies I've ever seen. I mean, really- what more do you want? The acting is great. Brundlefly is a...

Tommy (The Who, 1969)

Sat, 22 Jul 2000 21:12:55 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author fdknight - Think about a jigsaw puzzle. If you have all the pieces, you can put it together once. Then it's done- it goes into the closet and you're not likely to think about it again. But what if you have some extra pieces that let you put the puzzle together...

What Lies Beneath (2000)

Fri, 21 Jul 2000 21:01:35 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author fdknight - About a third of the way through What Lies Beneath, two women are sitting on a bathroom floor, seriously attempting to contact the dead with a Ouija board. After a few moments, one remarks to the other that nothing much is happening.

...

A Very Special Christmas (1987)

Thu, 20 Jul 2000 21:14:43 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author fdknight - After Phil Spector's legendary A Christmas Gift for You, this is the best rock Christmas album, a fantastic compilation of songs that should be able to get anyone into the holiday spirit. It was produced by Jimmy Iovine as a tribute to his...

Perils of Pauline (1947)

Wed, 19 Jul 2000 21:05:27 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author fdknight - Sometimes when I see a movie that I remember from my childhood, it seems like they must have done something to it. This one was fun and well-acted. Now it's tacky and dumb, and star Betty Hutton is simply obnoxious. What happened?

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Guys and Dolls (1951 Broadway Cast)

Tue, 18 Jul 2000 23:26:56 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author fdknight - The 1950s were the most successfully confectionery of decades for the American musical theater. Never again would so many first-rate talents create so many shows that sought only to entertain and did so with such consummate skill, class, and style...

X-Men (2000)

Fri, 14 Jul 2000 20:26:01 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author fdknight - I am not one of the faithful but I have lived among them.

I experienced the full force of X-mania in college, when my roommate Karen became obsessed with the most angst-ridden superheroes in the history of comic books and started buying what...

Jaws (1975) WRITE-OFF

Fri, 14 Jul 2000 16:38:27 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author fdknight - I was ten when Jaws came out, too young in my parent's view to see what was being called the most frightening movie ever made. Among my friends, Jaws was the subject of conversation for months. Shark model kits, shark posters, shark...

Annie (1977 Broadway Cast)

Thu, 13 Jul 2000 18:48:17 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author fdknight - One of the first in the Columbia Broadway Masterworks series of reissues, Annie set a standard that later reissues have not entirely lived up to. The CD is essential, not just because it records a skillful and popular score, but because it gives...

Hot Seat: Frank Rich (1998)

Wed, 12 Jul 2000 20:27:40 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author fdknight - I bought this book thinking that I would read parts of it and use it as a reference. I ended up reading the whole thing, all 989 pages. Although I was often irritated by Frank Rich's opinions, both when reading the book now and when they were...

It's a Sunshine Day: The Best of the Brady Bunch (1993)

Sat, 8 Jul 2000 21:27:28 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author fdknight - The Brady Bunch are perhaps the least appreciated vocal group in the history of American popular music. Their raw talent was mixed with genius musical production to create a sound that epitomized an era. Fortunately, this collection documents the...

Scary Movie (2000)

Fri, 7 Jul 2000 20:45:58 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author fdknight - While we were watching the closing credits of Scary Movie, we saw a boy of thirteen leaving the theater with his mother. I can't imagine sitting through this with my mom when I was that age- I'm sure she would have dragged me out if I'd convinced...

Godspell (1973)

Thu, 6 Jul 2000 21:08:59 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author fdknight - When I was in a community college production of Godspell several years ago, we had a joke about the title: God had to put a spell on us to make us all act so dumb. The title is actually an archaic word for "gospel." Put the two...

Saturday Morning Cartoons' Greatest Hits (1995)

Wed, 5 Jul 2000 21:17:25 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author fdknight - Ralph Sall's Saturday Morning was one of the best musical surprises I had in the 1990s. I'd heard nothing about the album when I saw it at CD World- I didn't even know most of the artists. But the concept was amusing, so I picked it up. I've...

The Music Man (1962)

Wed, 5 Jul 2000 04:42:28 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author fdknight - Meredith Willson's first show and biggest hit is one of the best movies adapted from a Broadway musical. If all this movie had to offer was Robert Preston recreating his stage role as Harold Hill, it would be essential viewing...

A Chorus Line (1975 Broadway Cast)

Sun, 2 Jul 2000 15:16:28 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author fdknight - A Chorus Line wasn't just a show. It was a phenomenon. Until Cats, it was the longest running show on Broadway. It took a group of people that few people had thought about much before (Broadway dancers) and turned them into cultural...

Grease 2 (1982)

Sat, 1 Jul 2000 04:35:12 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author fdknight - I saw this movie on July 4, 1982, and hated it. It's cheesy and stupid. It's poorly written. It has a ludicrous score. Most of the actors can't act and even fewer of them can sing. It's an embarrassing blot on the career of its talented...

West Side Story (1957 Broadway Cast)

Thu, 29 Jun 2000 21:16:48 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author fdknight - Originally, it was supposed to be East Side Story, Romeo and Juliet updated to focus on conflicts between Catholics and Jews. This would have made it precisely daring as Abie's Irish Rose, the hoariest Broadway warhorse of the first...

Ed Wood (1994)

Thu, 29 Jun 2000 05:01:56 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author fdknight - I love Tim Burton. And I've been a fan of Ed Wood's surrealistic, awful movies since I was in high school. But when I read that Burton was making a movie based on Wood's life, my reaction was "What a dumb idea." The pathetic, alcoholic Wood...

Angels in America, Part Two: Perestroika

Tue, 27 Jun 2000 06:04:53 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author fdknight - Tony Kushner's two part Angels in America was one of the defining theatrical events of the 1990s. This review focuses on Perestroika, the second part, and may be most enjoyable if you read my review of Part One, Millennium...