Reviews

Most of the Shakespeare selections are pretty awful...Hamlet, R& J, A & C, Lear. Macbeth etc. Only McKellan and Dench and Lithgow come off well, and Dench is given the thankless role of Titania in love with Bottom when she would have beeb a great Lady M. The music is equally awful. They're Brits. Why couldn't they do Walton or even Barber's A & C, Why the folk and hip-hop dregs. Even the West Side Story selection is pretty badly performed. On the whole pretty weak.

While the music is well sung, the acting is poor for the most part. Even Jane Alexander can't save this and Fred Willard was never a real actor. Vanessa is about the only one who comes off convincingly. Of course there are no sets and the staging and choreography are dull and routine. Totally unimaginative concert performance.

Bad music, bad lyrics, horrible acting, poor direction, dismal writing. There is not one good thing I can say about this dismal disaster, other than the writer/director should be banned from ever making another film for all time. Not only is the acting horrendous, but the singing is non-existent. And I speak as a gay man who loves a good musical and has appeared on stage professionally in quite a few. It really shows the dismal state of Hollyweed that this would ever even have been nominated for any awards. But then that is what it has come to. Even the good musicals have been destroyed by making them into films (i.e.Sweeney Todd, Chicago, ad nauseum). The art of the musical is now officially dead, and the participants here have killed it forever.

I watched this because of all the hype, and, as usual, I was sorely disappointed. In fact, there is absolutely nothing good I can say about it. Basically, it's a 2 hour soap opera, and I've even seen better soap opera. The writing is dull, witless, and totally pedantic. The direction is formulaic at best and totally unimaginative. I've seen better TV shows. But the prize goes to the actors...some of the worst acting I've seen in years in a feature (but then I don't watch many new films). The best I can say of Clooney is that he has a funny run in sandals, but then I haven't liked anything he's done since ER. The rest of the cast is just plain bad. Bottom line? Don't waste a second on this garbage.

It seems the days of good fantasy are now dead forever. Gone are the worlds of magic and mysticism to be replaced by graphic sex and even more graphic violence. Tolkien and Lewis are doing somersaults in their respective graves. Now we have lots of violent battle scenes interrupted by dull, soap-opera-like pedantry. And while it may be technically impressive in it's many cartoon-like computer graphics, the actual writing and acting are embarrassingly bad. One can only feel pity for otherwise good actors like Charles Dance and the great Diana Rigg. As to the stories, they are exceedingly dull and totally unimaginative...By the way, I have trudged through 4 seemingly interminable seasons hoping it might get better, only to be seriously disappointed...and the seasons are only 10 episodes!!!

This is a very weak performance of a highly overrated musical. Gabriel Byrne hardly sings at all and sounds like he has a bad cold. He also turns Arthur into a sniveling wimp...pathetic, in short. Marin Mazzie couldn't act her way out of the proverbial paper. Christopher Lloyd plays his usual wacko 'Taxi' character. Stacy Keach and Fran Drescher are very short-lived and basically wasted (Drescher is particularly horrid with her usual Queens dialect). Lancelot is a over-blown opera singer and not very good-looking. All in all a total waste of time. I guess I never liked this show much because it trashes Lewis' Once and Future King which was a fabulous book. Giving it a 5 out of 10 was being generous.

I had no interest in this when it was on, and now, after seeing the first season, I'm glad I never did. This has to rank as one of worst shows of its type ever made. Give me Diana Rigg and The Avengers any day over this garbage. First, the two leads have zero in the way of acting ability and Willis is one of the most unattractive men in the history of cinema or TV. I'm speaking in terms of the whole package. He is not only physically repellent but he has all the charm and personality of a trained monkey...and that's an insult to all monkeys. And Cybil should have stuck to modeling, as that is her only (questionable) 'talent'. I don't know if she ever learned how to act, I see she's still working in TV, but here she has zero like her co- star. The attempts at humorous repartee are pathetic. I literally wanted to punch Willis' lights out every time he opened his mouth, and I'm not a violent person. As to the stories, they are limp, pathetic, and totally uninteresting. A TOTAL WASTE OF TIME!!!

Bad direction, poor writing, over-the-top acting, this movies doesn't get anything right on all counts. The main character is supposed to be gay, but this is gay as seen by a homophobic straight male. The so- called eccentric characters are just two dimensional stereotypes. I find it difficult to believe this got such a high rating as there is little of any interest about it. Maybe the raters were all Canadians. But if I were, I'd be ashamed at producing such a product. But then there are no American films I could recommend either in the current cinema. The last great American film was made about 20 years ago. And speaking as a gay man, I was seriously offended by the film's attitudes towards gay people in general. About the only thing I can recommend about this film is a cute lead who looks good in his underwear.

A show made by morons, about morons, for morons only. But then I should have known that going in once I saw Apatow's name on it, the undisputed king of the moron movie. Not there's anything wrong with that. I mean I love the 3 stooges, but they can be funny, whereas there is no one on this show who is even remotely amusing. I mean I doubt they could have found a less talented bunch of actors. Even the 'adults' are pathetically unfunny. All i can say is thank goodness it didn't survive. By the end of the show I wanted to nuke everyone on the set. The odd thing is this is such a bad show, I'm amazed they haven't tried to revive it. I can only hope that is a special place in hell for Apatow.

Yes I did watch this as a youngster, but quickly lost interest after the first year. I mean most science fiction of the period was pretty idiotic, but this one stretched it so far beyond the unintelligible...I mean it had them crossing 'galaxies' while never even achieving anything beyond the speed of light. And all the actors were white, of course (Allen didn't cross the racial lines until 'Giants'). While I like Guy Williams and June Lockhart, and even Billy Mumy. Dr. Smith just became extremely annoying after a time, as well as a stereotypical 'queen' (and I hadn't even realized I was gay at the time). Anyway the characters were all just cardboard cutouts. After a while it wasn't even dumb mindless fun. Just the same recycled plots over and over again. Anyway, re-watching this in my dotage hasn't improved anything. But then network TV hasn't gotten much better over the years. I mean the shows produced on the CW network are just as dumb as this ever was. In fact I wouldn't be surprised it they did an updated version. In the end, all I can is thank goodness for Star Trek.

Flat, dull, shot on video, populated by lots of ugly men and women. This is a wonderful piece of music set to boring visuals. What was the point. If they had hired some real actors or dancers with any skill, it could have been something. But as it is, we have the local amateur theatre of some small town in Bavaria, and a director with very little imagination. Forget the other reviews. I watched this because I wanted to see something more than a concert performance. But this definitely not it. Forget the other reviews. One even calls it an 'a capella' piece! DUH! Does he even know what the term means. It refers to a chorus without orchestra. In Orff's piece it is the orchestra that makes the performance. Well, anyway, at least he used a decent recording of the work (conducted by Eugen Jochim, if I remember right), so it isn't a total waste of time. Next time the director needs to at least find some performers that are good to look at, if nothing else, or better yet hire a ballet troupe.

A group of failed gay porn stars trying to do a Reader's Digest condensed very of Shakespeare. I say failed because, yes, they may have good bodies, but they are all quite ugly. The 'acting' is all strictly bad high school amateur quality. And to add insult to injury, they tack on a happy ending (no one is killed and the lovers both survive and are happy together). What I wish someone would do is the original version, which did have an all-male, with boys playing the female roles. Of course they would have to find young boys who could actual act and I doubt they have many in Canada. I guess the setting was chosen was the cheapest available...as were the actors and director. Oh, and if you thought this might be in some way 'erotic', you would be wrong. There is no sex, except for a couple of kisses, and no nudity, except from the waist up. It would probably get a PG rating if it weren't 'gay'. Probably the worst Shakespeare film ever made.

This is one of those badly made films that pretends to be about something (what, I don't know), but ends up being a tedious, bloated boor. In fact, the last 20 minutes of the 'film' are taken up by a dialog between 2 priests in which neither says anything of any interest to anyone. Yes, the central story is about a gay 'friendship' between 2 boys, but with no explanation as to why there is any attraction between the two. Yes there is a kiss between the two, but that's the only bit of physical contact. And of course, all the priests are pedophiles (not gay) which is the only realistic thing about this film and pseudo-sadists. And there is, mercifully, no mention of god or Christ or religion, even though this is a film about a Catiolic boys' school. And, unfortunately the two adult actors are quite poor. All in all this is a scattered, nihilistic, extremely dull mess of a film with little, if anything to recommend it. Don't waste your time.

Yes, it's great to see Chita Rivera, and Joel Grey is OK, but Marin Maizie is just your typical Broadway belter with little character or appeal, and Jason Daniely is downright embarrassingly BAD. Not only is he totally lacking in personality or appeal (if he's gay I feel sorry for his boyfriend), his voice has a heavy vibrato, and he often goes off pitch. What he is doing here (or anywhere for that matter) is beyond me. He manages to totally destroy one of their best songs, Maybe This Time. As for Rivera and Grey, well, they deliver the goods well enough, but both are well beyond their good years. And Maizie is mostly dull as the proverbial dishwater. In fact, one would the thing the guy narrating and accompanying the singers had it in for Kander (Ebb is long since dead) and this was his revenge. And where was Liza? Yes, she too is over the hill, but I'd rather hear her than Daniely or Maizie any day.

There is one bright light in this 'limited' production and that is Sally Kestelman as Frau Schneider who does credit to the songs originally written for the great Lotte Lenya. Otherwise this is pretty much a bust. Alan Cummings is OK as the MC, which is of course an overblown character, and he 'camps' it up appropriately. There is not much I can say about the rest of the cast. They are all playing way over the top, even for a theatrical performance, and most of them can barely hold a tune. You could make the justification that the original character was a bad performer, but Horrocks, who has done much better in the past, is quite awful here, and sings out of key way too many times. The so-called 'leading man' is an ugly little nebbish with zero presence. The staging is very limited and unimaginative as is the choreography. Granted it was all done in a small space, but so is the movie, and Fosse brought his own unique style to the limited dance routines.

All in all a HUGE disappointment considering the talents involved. Don't bother with the DVD. If you must see it, just go to youtube and watch it for free.

I seriously thing the CW network hires brainless 12-year-olds to write all their scripts. Well, I guess it saves on the budgets. I think they're spending all their money on CGI and plastic surgery. Otherwise why would they hire 'actors' who can't act and look over 40 when they're playing 'teenagers'. I've watched about a dozen episodes of this one and ABSOLUTELY NOTHING has happened except a lot of teen angst. But then that is the network specially and gets them their advertisers. The fact that all their shows appeal to the many brain deficient teenagers in their target audience. Personally I would have turned this one off after the first few episodes, except for the presence of many former gay porn stars. But then they have the 'corporate closet' to keep all the boys. I guess it's run something like the Vatican where they keep all the 'boys' hidden for their priests' consumption. Anyway, the same is true off all their shows, so I shouldn't be surprised this one would be any different. Where is Buffy when you need her?

This is really sad and pathetic. I haven't seen any of their later productions yet, but they appear to have hit rock bottom. Instead of wonderful acrobatics, we have lots of flashing lights and stage pyrotechnics, some lame choreography, even lamer music sung by lots of generic 'singers', none of any distinction, and about 4 or 5 actual circus acts, which all just repeats of earlier acts. And there are no clowns and zero humour! Instead of spending all their money on stage pyrotechnics and poor singers, they should invest in some new actual circus acts.

Lines added to get this review on-line.

An interesting idea, with some decent writing, but ultimately a failure in execution. There is a vague attempt to make some of the characters 3-dimensional, but in the end it fails. Ian McShane, though a decent actor, is just too creepy and repulsive to generate any sympathy. The two romantic leads redefine dull, boring, lifeless, and without personality as characters AND actors. And of course, in deference to network policy, the only gay character is a villain in the end, unlike the original story which implies David and 'Jack' (Jonathan) were lovers and that 'Jack' gave up his life for David. And what is Culkin still doing in the business? I mean the guy is totally unable to act. Still it was an interesting idea, if a failure, and they should have ended it properly.

Unfortunately this musical stills suffers from the fact that the 'book' by George Furth (and little has been changed) is still quite weak. Considering both Sondheim and Furth are gay, the men's parts are incredibly weak, and the situations are clichéd. The performances likewise are the best by the women with the men pretty much taking up space in the background. As to Harris, well, his acting is decent enough, but his voice is rather thin for the material...and he hits a few 'clinkers'. Where is Dean Jones when you need him? Sondheim writes difficult stuff for the average Broadway singer, and 99% of the classical singers can't act, so at best the result is unsatisfactory...like the film version of 'Sweeney Todd'. By the way I did play David myself a long time ago, and I disliked the show then (the book mainly). I've done many musicals, and this is the one I remember with the least affection. I've often thought it might be interesting to do a modern interpretation with all gay couples...and not so incredibly 'white'. The leading character is obviously a model for a '70's gay man.

Frankly, I'm amazed it made it beyond one episode. I couldn't even make it through the first episode before I had to shut it off. Made by 5 year old children for other five year old children, I'm guessing. The acting is horrid beyond belief. What Bruce and Michael are doing here is beyond me. Obviously they couldn't get work elsewhere or they are total idiots for putting their names on this (but then they are 'actors' and actors are notoriously stupid). As to the 3 leading men, obviously they couldn't get work in the gay porn industry because they were all too ugly. And who in their right mind would believe Sheena Easton could even pretend to be a man! Please! If you enjoy BAD TV, then there is you're thing, I guess. They don't come much worse than this.

Possibly the worst 'mini-series' of all time. In fact, I was only able to make it through the first 20 minutes before having to shut it off entirely. Absolutely everything about this is bad, from total lack of direction using cheap hand-held camera work to the most dreadful music ever written. All the 'actors' are dubbed, there is no live sound recorded, and the voices that are there are all terrible actors. The muzak makes elevator trash sound like Mozart by comparison. And it's accompanied by some sort of really cheaply made synthesizer. The costumes were apparently designed for some community theatre production by amateurs. The sets are cheaply made from cardboard cutouts. And worst of all it's exceedingly DULL, even for the short time I watched it. How this ever got the rating it did is totally beyond my compression, unless they were all from Russian voters. If you want to check out for yourself how bad it is, it's available on you tube.

The music consists of any of the tired classics you'll hear at any local 'Pops' concert. This stuff has been done to death!!! The humor is not much either. Just Kaye's usual schtick. Nothing much 'spontaneous' or interesting. Just a few mild chuckles. I would have preferred Tim Conway's old conductor. As we all know, Kaye spent his life hiding in the closet, so one can only chuckle when he kisses the young women. The most insulting thing about the whole thing is that Kaye BRAGS about not being able to read music. Something he could very easily have learned. It's not that hard for anyone with even half a brain. But to promote this fact, as he often did, to his younger viewers, is patently irresponsible. Well, he's dead now, so why beat a dead horse. One can only wonder if he and 'Zube' had something going on behind closet doors.

Forget all the pretensions of the other reviewer, this is simply a bad play, badly acted and badly directed.

The characters are all obnoxious and pretentious and while this may be true of most Hollyweed types (today as much as ever), it does not make for good theatre.

And if the author is gay, he should be castrated for writing such unsympathetic, clichéd characters.

As to the so-called 'movie' he presents, instead of a 'Citizen Kane' it might get the Ed Wood award for the worst film of the year, but it is certainly no classic. And he got it backwards, the director of 'Kane' was not gay (though he was always sympathetic) but the writer was.

As to the 'communist' implications, well he seems to have forgotten that we supported Russia and Stalin during WWII, aside from the simple fact that Russian society was never really 'communist' in it's purest sense. It was totalitarian.

And aside from being anti-gay, it also borders on being anti-semitic.

Anyway, the worst thing about this production really is the incredibly bad acting by all. Even in the theatre they wouldn't have gotten away with such overblown performances.

Well-acted by an usual cast including Eli Wallach, Jack Warden and Boris Karloff.

Actually Karloff comes off the best and well-deserved his Tony nomination for the Broadway production.

The others unfortunately don't come off as well, with Warden and Wallach unlikely choices for there roles. And the usually reliable Harris is way over the top and much too theatrical for a TV film, but one can chalk it up to unfamiliarity with the medium. Rathbone has a nice little part as the Inquisitor.

Generally it's well directed by the reliable Schaeffer.

This is one of those films I have fond memories of from my childhood. I remember I used to tune it in every time it appeared on TV. Yes, now being an old fart and having finally seen it again after it's long absence, I was somewhat disappointed, but not entirely. There are still some wonderful things about it. Primarily the score by Frances Lai, the beautiful photography and scenery (it made me want to go to Paris for a long time), Orson Welles as the villain, but mostly the wonderful Inger Stevens as the female protagonist. What hasn't survived the test of time are the silly plot and George Peppard. I used to like him in his TV show (Banacek, NOT the A-Team), but then I heard an interview with Pat Neal which told about what a bastard he was in real life, and I can't find myself liking any of his performances now, even though I may like the movie. Anyway, I do still enjoy the movie, and am glad I was finally able to find it again.