KennethSmith
Vaughan Public Libraries
KennethSmith's Completed Shelf
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TedTed, DVD
DVD - 2012DVD, 2012
KennethSmith's rating:
Added Mar 27, 2024
BridesmaidsBridesmaids, DVD
DVD - 2011DVD, 2011
KennethSmith's rating:
Added Mar 27, 2024
KennethSmith's rating:
Added Mar 26, 2024
Mayfair WitchesMayfair Witches, DVDSeason 1
DVD - 2023DVD, 2023
Added Mar 26, 2024
Comment:
The series starts off well, with one of my favourite actresses: Annabeth Gish! From “Mystic Pizza” (1988).
But she doesn’t speak.
Then we have the brilliant female surgeon. She appears to be 18.
Or maybe less.
Let the Anne Rice fans have this one.
Anatomy of a FallAnatomy of a Fall, DVD
DVD - 2024 | FrenchDVD, 2024. Language: French
KennethSmith's rating:
Added Mar 26, 2024
Comment:
It was inevitable that clumsy Russian oligarchs who are forever tripping and falling out of windows would sooner or later have to inspire a movie. (But all of those Russian “accidents” were clearly secret police assassinations.)
So here we have a French defenestration, the defenestration of Grenoble, which is presented plausibly. Was it suicide or murder?
I saw this with friends, and to my delight, we did not agree on the outcome.
So the story is presented in such a balanced way that both suppositions are reasonable.
Our collective complaint was that the movie is too long.
Sandra Hüller deserved her Oscar nomination since she is rarely off the screen and performs in more than one language, like the newest Christoph Waltz.
As for her husband, he is just so whiny. Are these two believable as a couple? Well, that is another point for discussion.
Older Canadians, comme moi, will recognize Grenoble as the city where Nancy Greene, OC, became an Olympic gold medallist, thus allowing her to tell us about the goodness of Mars bars on TV for years and years afterwards.
We all did have a chuckle at the statement that snowy Grenoble with its spectacular mountain vistas was a “shithole” just when you were expecting Julie Andrews to suddenly appear singing.
On a political side note, Hüller’s co-stars, Swann Arlaud and Milo Machado-Graner, at this year’s Oscars, were both wearing Palestinian flag badges in the midst of the Gazan genocide.
Given their show of contempt for the obscene policies of Israel’s Fascist government, I have awarded the film an extra star.It was inevitable that clumsy Russian oligarchs who are forever tripping and falling out of windows would sooner or later have to inspire a movie. (But all of those Russian “accidents” were clearly secret police assassinations.)
So here we have a…
KennethSmith's rating:
Added Mar 26, 2024
Comment:
It has never occurred to me before, but “Razamanaz” is the model for every AC/DC song ever recorded. (That is not a compliment.)
And the Young brothers are Scots too, so that ties together. “Hair of the Dog” clearly inspired some of AC/DC’s sublime lyrics.
Fifty years ago, the tracks here that got all the radio play were “Love Hurts” and Joni Mitchell’s “This Flight Tonight”. So, neither Nazareth hit was composed by the Scotchmen themselves. Considering that “This Flight Tonight” is a Canadian song, it’s odd that that little detail was never ever mentioned on Canadian rock radio. I didn’t know she wrote that famous Nazareth song until a couple of decades later.
Let’s go get a traditional opinion. The 1979 first edition of “The Rolling Stone Record Guide” gave all 3 AC/DC LPs 0 stars out of 5. Nazareth may be “mediocre” and “dreadful”, but 8 of their LPs managed to get 1 star. And “Hair of the Dog” gets a 2 out of 5. (I have hated this book for 45 years. Pompous, self-absorbed American dimwit critics.) What gets 5 out of 5 in this book? 17 Elvis LPs. (Guys my age despise Elvis. We remember him very well, and hate him with a passion.)It has never occurred to me before, but “Razamanaz” is the model for every AC/DC song ever recorded. (That is not a compliment.)
And the Young brothers are Scots too, so that ties together. “Hair of the Dog” clearly inspired some of AC/DC’s sublime…
The Inn of the Sixth HappinessThe Inn of the Sixth Happiness, DVD
DVD - 1986DVD, 1986
KennethSmith's rating:
Added Mar 26, 2024
Comment:
A Sino-Japanese War movie that plays shamelessly with the facts, but manages to be worthy of watching nonetheless.
Costarring alongside Ingrid Bergman, as an English maid (!), is North Wales playing the role of China, at least according to Leslie Halliwell’s "Film Guide". I had guessed that the spectacular scenery was Scottish. I don’t mind being wrong.
Burt Kwouk appears as a rioting convict. He went on to greater renown in the “Pink Panther” movies of the 1960s and ’70s as Peter Sellers’ man-servant.
These days, as I write, it is difficult to look at these scenes of the Japanese and their indiscriminate bombing of Chinese civilians without immediately thinking of Israeli Fascists doing the exact same thing to Palestinian women and children.
After the aerial bombardment, the Japanese troops arrive. They begin shooting at civilians, just like the Israelis do.
Militarist Japan and apartheid Israel stand proudly united by their common homicidal racism.A Sino-Japanese War movie that plays shamelessly with the facts, but manages to be worthy of watching nonetheless.
Costarring alongside Ingrid Bergman, as an English maid (!), is North Wales playing the role of China, at least according to Leslie…
The Last Voyage of the DemeterThe Last Voyage of the Demeter, DVD
DVD - 2023DVD, 2023
Added Mar 24, 2024
Comment:
Dumb alternates with stupid, plus an occasional burst of laughable, in this ridiculous addition to the Dracula saga of 1897.
We have a black doctor. Who is a graduate of Cambridge! And whose father was a deckhand!! Yes, the actual 19th century will not be intruding on our story.
We have blood transfusions, but no blood types. So he’s an incompetent black doctor! Who should have stayed a deckhand?
We have Gypsies who clearly are not played by Gypsies. Isn’t everyone hypersensitive about ethnic casting these days?
The Demeter is a Russian ship, we are told. So why does she have an Irish captain? And why is the ship’s name written exclusively in English? There is no Cyrillic anywhere.
Dracula has brought his bloodbag aboard ship. She is a resident of Dracula’s town. So why does she speak Romany and English? She should speak either Romanian or Hungarian. And she’s been trained in the use of firearms! So typical of the Balkans, the most advanced and equitable society on Earth. Definitely not tribal, or anything like that.
Dracula wants to get to England. So how does eating the ship’s crew help him get there?
Real-world geography plays no part. They are in the Bay of Biscay. And the closest port is in England! What about all those French and Spanish ports that line the Bay of Biscay?
Then when we reach England, do we dock at Plymouth? No. The only port in England is London! On the exact opposite side of England.
They are making for London, so first comes the Thames estuary. But where does the derelict ship end up? Whitby, which is most of the way to Scotland. The ship just flew across East Anglia and kept on going.
Spoiler alert!
In this version, Dracula has wings and can fly. So why does he not just fly to England?
This Dracula is a beast, not a well-dressed, tailored Béla Lugosi. So who exactly booked passage on the ship? Does a giraffe buy its own ticket from Africa to the zoo?Dumb alternates with stupid, plus an occasional burst of laughable, in this ridiculous addition to the Dracula saga of 1897.
We have a black doctor. Who is a graduate of Cambridge! And whose father was a deckhand!! Yes, the actual 19th century will…
Elgar & TchaikovskyElgar & Tchaikovsky, Music CD
Music CD - 2017Music CD, 2017
KennethSmith's rating:
Added Mar 23, 2024
The Philadelphia StoryThe Philadelphia Story, DVD
DVD - 2009DVD, 2009
KennethSmith's rating:
Added Mar 23, 2024
The Phantom of the OpenThe Phantom of the Open, DVD
DVD - 2022DVD, 2022
KennethSmith's rating:
Added Mar 23, 2024
JustifiedJustified, DVDSeason Five
DVD - 2013DVD, 2013
KennethSmith's rating:
Added Mar 23, 2024
The Tax CollectorThe Tax Collector, DVDDette De Sang
DVD - 2020DVD, 2020
KennethSmith's rating:
Added Mar 23, 2024
Comment:
The movie is a little bit better than its bad press.
It’s the story of Latino gangsters in L.A. So the Latinas are rather cute.
But it is a movie that is chiefly notable for its tattoos.
Shia LeBœuf (as a Canadian, I prefer to use corrected French spelling) is a Method actor, so those tattoos on the DVD cover are real. So he could better feel the part. Totally insane? Absolutely.
What about his next role when his stomach still reads “C R E E P E R”, the name of his character in this movie?
And then, naturally, the only place you ever see his tats is on the cover and on the poster. They’re not in the movie. LeBœuf wears a stylish suit throughout.
The role of Conejo (Rabbit) is played by a rapper whose name is Conejo. He is also credited as a technical advisor. He makes a believable hoodlum.
A Conejo track in the movie is called “El Ache Uno”. Is that a reference to the impractical H1 Hummer?
The director is known for having made “Fury”, a not half bad World War II tank movie with Brad Pitt.The movie is a little bit better than its bad press.
It’s the story of Latino gangsters in L.A. So the Latinas are rather cute.
But it is a movie that is chiefly notable for its tattoos.
Shia LeBœuf (as a Canadian, I prefer to use corrected French…
KennethSmith's rating:
Added Mar 23, 2024
Comment:
This book is published by a Canadian publisher, Kids Can Press, which is owned by another Canadian company, Corus Entertainment.
So why does this book use American English spelling?
I will not honour these misspellings by repeating them.
Let it just be said that the correct spellings this "Canadian" book should have used, but chose not to, are “travelling”, “axeman”, “defence” and “honour”.
The author named one of his principal characters Greyfalcon. Here he opted for the correct spelling: “grey”. So, is the author an innocent party? Was it his editor at Kids Can who imposed the reprehensible foreign standard on his book?
Overall, I was reminded a little of the "Bone" series. In fact, I would rather revisit Jeff Smith's series than continue with this Americanized alternative.
The “Tower of Treasure” happens to be the first in the series.
Is it coincidence that the first Hardy Boys adventure was “The Tower Treasure”? Another book with a Canadian author, by the way.This book is published by a Canadian publisher, Kids Can Press, which is owned by another Canadian company, Corus Entertainment.
So why does this book use American English spelling?
I will not honour these misspellings by repeating them.
Let it…
KennethSmith's rating:
Added Mar 23, 2024
CommunityCommunity, DVDSeason One
DVD - 2010DVD, 2010
KennethSmith's rating:
Added Mar 23, 2024
Comment:
I saw an offhand reference to this programme somewhere.
“Community”?? What’s that about?
I never would have expected a TV show about community college to be as funny and clever as this one is.
My initial reaction is it probably belongs in the TV sitcom pantheon with “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” or even Eugene Levy’s unknown show “Greg the Bunny”. A very high standard indeed. Maybe that initial impression will last.
There are Canadian references! To “Degrassi High” and “Meatballs”. (One of my ex’s actually attended the summer camp you see in “Meatballs” when she was a kid.) And Canadian content usually implies there’s a Canadian on the writing staff.
An Aimee Mann song. Plus music by freshly anointed Oscar winner Ludwig Göransson.
They even watch “Gerald McBoing Boing” on TV! Huzzah! That is not a mainstream reference.
Ken Jeong is Señor Chang, the Spanish teacher. He mispronounces “Adiós”. Can he possibly be legit?
Jim Rash plays the very gay dean. I have seen him before as Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s sidekick in the Disney classic “Sky High” with Kurt Russell.
John Oliver raps?! (But not about Brexit, or Mike Pence’s bunny Marlon Bundo, or his typical topics.)
(Be sure to check out the kids’ book “A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo”. It makes a great companion piece to the only book Donald Trump has ever written, “Whose Boat Is This Boat?”)I saw an offhand reference to this programme somewhere.
“Community”?? What’s that about?
I never would have expected a TV show about community college to be as funny and clever as this one is.
My initial reaction is it probably belongs in the TV…
ChuckChuck, DVDThe Complete First Season
DVDDVD
KennethSmith's rating:
Added Mar 21, 2024
KennethSmith's rating:
Added Mar 21, 2024
Comment:
I was a few feet away from Michael Palin at a modest little event or press conference at the University of Toronto some 40 years ago. He was there to promote something. Possibly his new movie “The Missionary”. It’s hard to recall now.
The event was hosted by VJ J.D. Roberts of MuchMusic. (J.D. is now known as John Roberts of Fox News. Yeah, we didn’t like him 40 years ago either.)
Just like Sir Michael at the beginning of his book, I have visited Istanbul. But nowhere else in Turkey. He begins his journey to Iraq there.
While Istanbul itself is definitely great, Turkey beyond that metropolis does enjoy a good reputation for the more adventuresome traveller. And Palin’s visit to the headwaters of the Tigris River confirms that.
He and his crew then pass from Turkey into Iraq: the Kurdish north, then Baghdad and the Sunni centre, before reaching the Shiite south and Basra.
Palin visits the reconstruction of Babylon’s Ishtar Gate (p. 114). I have seen the real one. In East Berlin, the capital of scary Communist East Germany. That was back in 1983. (East Germany was the creepiest of the Eastern Bloc countries I visited in the ’70s and ’80s.)
Palin makes a rather bizarre statement in the book. He believes that the life of Gertrude Bell should be a movie. An interesting position, as it already is. Bell was played by Nicole Kidman in Werner Herzog’s pretty bad “Queen of the Desert” back in 2015.
But I do not agree with Palin’s evaluation of Saddam Hussein (pp. 105, 107, 171). Palin never mentions the US. Saddam was able to wage war on Iran with the help of his dear friends Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld. Why are we pretending that that is not the case? Yes, Saddam invaded Kuwait. After getting his green light from the US ambassadress. Saddam was executed in 2006. Sure. After a kangaroo court trial that was carefully orchestrated to avoid implicating the US in Saddam’s crimes. And after the assassination of both of Saddam’s crazy sons by the US. Is Palin really this naïve? Or does he simply want to see his TV show broadcast in the US?
All in all, I found Michael Palin’s book about North Korea to be stronger and more insightful.
A great strength of this book is its very attractive presentation. Fewer words than I would like, it’s true, but it really does look good.
Arabic text leads off each chapter, so Day 1 (p. 9) also appears as The Day The First (اليوم الأول). (Yes, that hamza really is shown on the second alif.) Four different styles of Arabic writing are used, but in every case, the heading leads off by saying The Day (اليوم, al-yaum). This approach works nicely, and maybe it will prove to be an inspiring introduction to Arabic for some young scholar.I was a few feet away from Michael Palin at a modest little event or press conference at the University of Toronto some 40 years ago. He was there to promote something. Possibly his new movie “The Missionary”. It’s hard to recall now.
The event was…
À travers les fenêtresÀ travers les fenêtres, Book
by Arbona, MarionBook - 2022 | FrenchBook, 2022. Language: French
KennethSmith's rating:
Added Mar 21, 2024
Murder by DeathMurder by Death, DVD
DVD - 1976DVD, 1976
KennethSmith's rating:
Added Mar 21, 2024
Comment:
When this movie was brand new, it was well regarded by the other kids at school. But I’m seeing it for the first time now.
All the detectives are very familiar from their original incarnations. Or at least they are to me.
The resemblances are not precise. William Powell and Myrna Loy were never English as David Niven and Maggie Smith are here. (It was a couple of years prior to this that Niven was hosting the Oscar broadcast when the naked streaker ran behind him. That event was clearly staged. I was watching the show live. The camera was positioned and framed so you saw nothing at all. And Niven wasn’t startled, or dumbfounded. He already had a scripted quip ready to go. So another Oscar stunt, just like this year’s.)
Charlie Chan, in his movies, was often joined by #1 or #2 Son as comic relief. So #3 Son here is part of the humour. Do the sons appear in Biggers’ original novels? That I don’t know.
Peter Falk plays Sam Spade at a time when us kids loved him as TV’s rumpled “Columbo”. Spade’s favourite restaurant, John’s Grill, still exists in San Francisco. It is very good, by the way.
The name Skeffington is apparently borrowed – I don’t know why – from “Mr. Skeffington” (1944). It’s a Bette Davis movie. Which explains why I’ve never seen it.
Regretfully, as I watch, I’m just not finding “Murder by Death” very funny. As a very specific spoof of old movies, Gene Wilder’s “Young Frankenstein”, from 2 years earlier, worked much, much better.
Neil Simon was wildly popular back in the ’70s. I liked him then too. The TV version of his “Odd Couple”, Oscar and Felix, was on at the time.
But it is not clear to me that Simon has aged well. This movie may be evidence that he has not.
However, the whole thing does pick up considerably after the murder.
Why “12 cents” precisely? Maybe because 12¢ was the price of a comic book when I was a kid? (Before it went to 15¢.)
The Sam Spade whistle gag is a reference to Bogie and Bacall in “To Have and Have Not” (also 1944).
A better impression of Bogart from this era costars in Woody Allen’s “Play It Again, Sam” (1972). Lovelorn Woody receives romantic advice from Bogie and his trench coat.
(On a side note, wasn’t there an episode of “The Avengers” in the 1960s – Patrick Macnee with Diana Rigg – where the mystery involved identical rooms that moved?)When this movie was brand new, it was well regarded by the other kids at school. But I’m seeing it for the first time now.
All the detectives are very familiar from their original incarnations. Or at least they are to me.
The resemblances are not…
Mystery MenMystery Men, Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc - 2012Blu-ray Disc, 2012
KennethSmith's rating:
Added Mar 21, 2024
BarbieBarbie, DVD
DVD - 2023DVD, 2023
KennethSmith's rating:
Added Mar 07, 2024
Comment:
A major question for our times is, “Should the guys see ‘Barbie’?” The short answer is, “No.”
The movie opens with music by György Ligeti and Richard Strauss before turning into the best spoof of “2001” since “Zoolander”.
We then wait 42 minutes to get a Ken joke. The insurrection of the Kens occurs 59 minutes in.
The Ken dance battle reminds me of the one in “Flight of the Conchords”. But not nearly as funny.
As for the rest of the movie, apparently the girls really do enjoy it.
I think it’s fair to assume that in a movie about Barbie dolls, there would be at least one cute one. But no. My favourite girl here is Rhea Perlman. She is always a delight. The prettiest girl on this production is the director, Greta Gerwig. But she’s not in the movie.
So this is basically a bust for the guys. (If that looks like some sort of pun in poor taste, it probably is.)
The song over the end credits is performed by superskank Nicki Minaj. She is truly gross. Cardi B-level gross. Did Mattel ever manufacture a Queens Skank Barbie?
A note to North Vancouver:
In this country, we write lacklustre, just like the rest of the Commonwealth.
Trump voters write "lackluster". Assuming that any of them know how to spell. Or read. Or what a library card is.A major question for our times is, “Should the guys see ‘Barbie’?” The short answer is, “No.”
The movie opens with music by György Ligeti and Richard Strauss before turning into the best spoof of “2001” since “Zoolander”.
We then wait 42 minutes…
OnibabaOnibaba, DVD
DVD - 2004 | JapaneseDVD, 2004. Language: Japanese
KennethSmith's rating:
Added Mar 04, 2024
KennethSmith's rating:
Added Mar 03, 2024
Comment:
Bloated and essentially ridiculous. Unfortunately.
The neverending green-screen chase sequences here were reminding me of billionaire Steven Spielberg’s lame attempt to film the entire Tintin and Snowy series (by Belgium’s Hergé). (Where Spielberg promised to do just that, then bailed, because they weren’t immediately making him fistfuls of dollars.) But his Tintin film (2011) was a long time ago, so perhaps this is only my false, and highly annoyed, association.
During our Indy Jones deep diving sequence, all the divers would have had the bends from that ascent. As the bubbles of nitrogen formed instantaneously in their bloodstreams. And killed them dead. It’s irresponsible to indicate to impressionable children that that scene was somehow realistic.
Oh, and methane gas is actually odourless. A guy with a bullwhip might not know that, but anybody with a Ph.D. should. Eh, Dr. Jones? (So-called “natural” gas is intentionally made to include a sulphur-based additive so you can smell it if it leaks.)
And why is the Muse Euterpe called Euteroe? Was that a misprint in the script? Seriously? Gimme a break.
Still, that early train sequence starring Thomas Kretschmann is worth a look.
I basically sat through this waiting to see Karen Allen. We all had a big crush on her cuteness 45 years ago in “Animal House”. She arrives at 2:20. And she still looks great. Albeit a bit grey. Kinda like my beard.
In the end credits, James Mangold thanks his fellow directors Alexander Mackendrick and Miloš Forman. (Be sure to check out their careers. And the Czech New Wave in general.)
But why exactly is the American Humane Society monitoring a production shot in Glasgow, London, Sicily and Morocco? Why isn’t it the RSPCA on those British shoots?
The post-production credits are for Ontario, B.C., New South Wales, and South Australia (where the people are exceptionally friendly, in my own experience). All places that know that Donald Trump is a Nazi – just like the ones in this movie – and don’t give a hoot about the American Humane Society either.Bloated and essentially ridiculous. Unfortunately.
The neverending green-screen chase sequences here were reminding me of billionaire Steven Spielberg’s lame attempt to film the entire Tintin and Snowy series (by Belgium’s Hergé). (Where Spielberg…
The captainThe captain, DVD
DVD - 2018 | GermanDVD, 2018. Language: German
KennethSmith's rating:
Added Feb 20, 2024
Comment:
At my age, I am surprised that World War Two still has surprises in store for me. But here we are.
In English, the DVD is entitled “The Captain: Follow the Leader”.
But, in the interviews, we see the German poster:
“Der Hauptmann: Nach einer wahren Geschichte”
That reads, “Based on a true story”. (Nicht wahr?)
I was shocked by the flak gun scene. A Wehrmacht flak gun, as I recall, is 20mm.
Using a weapon of that calibre on infantry is a war crime. Now. Then, I’m not sure.
At that calibre, people have a tendency to disintegrate.
That, in fact, is one of the numerous crimes of which the US was accused, and probably stands guilty, in the Iraq War. (The Bush regime cheerfully legalized torture methods that had been used by the Japanese on American prisoners of war in the Pacific campaign. And those Japanese were justifiably executed, as war criminals, by the Americans.)
Back to our movie. By the conclusion, we have ended up somewhere that feels like a scene out of Fellini or Visconti. (Though not as extreme as Pasolini’s “Salò”.)
I think we have a movie that belongs comfortably in the same category as Elem Klimov’s “Come and See”. That is not a comparison I make lightly.
The director, in discussing his film, brings up the propagation of genocide, how to begins, how it proceeds. He uses Rwanda as his for instance. But, of course, we are all eyewitnesses to the Gazan genocide right now. Some people are objecting. But many others are enablers, facilitators, apologists.
Watching brutality this acute makes me want to seek relief in a fun World War Two yarn, like “Hannibal Brooks”. That one stars an adorable elephant.At my age, I am surprised that World War Two still has surprises in store for me. But here we are.
In English, the DVD is entitled “The Captain: Follow the Leader”.
But, in the interviews, we see the German poster:
“Der Hauptmann: Nach einer wahren…
Comment: