On Demand Weekly

Demand Weekly provides new movie reviews of hot movies and shows on demand from the POV of watching from the comfort of your home. Today’s review: SMASH (NBC).

SMASH - On Demand
Clichés on Broadway

By Jean Tait

Media is changing. Broadway shows used to become films. Now comic books become films which become Broadway musicals. Now we get TV shows that become Broadway musicals and TV shows about musicals. And we watch them on our computers or iPads (legally by streaming on Hulu or illegally—watching on YouTube as Patti LuPone melts down on stage as Gypsy).

NBC has decided to drive word-of-mouth by streaming “Smash” online via Hulu before it even premieres. Smart or crazy? We shall see….

Broadway Musicals. They’re hackneyed and cliché. There hasn’t been a good one in years. Oh, once in a while one will break the mold (The Book of Mormon, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Next to Normal, Spring Awakening). But they just don’t make ‘em like they used to. Film musicals are the same. There is still greatness to be found if they are done right (thank you, CHICAGO), but are painful when they fail (sorry, NINE).

I’m a total sucker for a good musical. Oh, to hear glorious voices and get swept up in the rhythm of talented hoofers, and if they are telling a good story, well-acted, there is nothing more satisfying. When “Glee” came on the air, I was delighted, even if it has proven to be mostly uneven. I knew it would open the door to new ideas in musicals. Knowing “Smash” was on the way had me cautiously optimistic.

I don’t want to be too hard on it, because I really, really want a musical TV show to succeed. But after seeing the first episode, I’m slightly less hopeful. In the pilot episode, the clichés come hard and fast with few surprises. Mostly the music is less than effervescent pop. Katherine McPhee’s version of Christina Aguilera’s Beautiful is fine, but not thrilling, and seriously, starting with her singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow? Never set up a comparison to an icon. It’s bad enough that the musical is based on Marilyn Monroe, but to do a Judy Garland song? Don’t even try.

But “Smash” is working really really hard to prove it’s got A STAR IS BORN chops. Working harder, not smarter.

On Demand Weekly provides new movie reviews of hot movies on demand and from the POV of watching from the comfort of your home. Today’s review: THE OTHER F WORD (Oscilloscope Labs).

THE OTHER F WORD

By Chris Claro

Punk rock has always been about rebellion: sticking it to the man, telling society to go to hell, making sure that people just don’t understand, man! At its core, punk is anti-authoritarian, anti-government, anti-establishment, not the environs for such bourgeois pursuits as parenthood – “Father knows best? Father knows nothing!”

But even punks grow up, despite their attempts to the contrary. And no matter how hard they may have moshed or how badly they courted attention with choices in hair, ink, and accessories, punks age just as the rest of us do, and with age often comes the desire for something more fulfilling, something more than where to go eat after a gig. That something, as many of us squares know, is fatherhood.

THE OTHER F WORD, produced by Morgan Spurlock and directed by Andrea Blaugrund Nevins, is a rollicking doc about what happens when punks become parents. Though it sounds like the idea for a bad pilot starring Michael Rappaport and Jason Lee, THE OTHER F WORD is funny, insightful, and even touching, as it plays up the ironic dichotomy of post-40 punkers who need to maintain their bad-ass stage cred even though most of them are toast-making homebodies who find it increasingly difficult to go on tour.

Blaugrund traces the rise of punk in southern California, through the recollections of everyone from Flea to Art Alexakis to Mark Hoppus.

On Demand Weekly provides new movie reviews of movies on demand from the POV of watching from the comfort of your home. Today’s review: FOUR LOVERS (Oscilloscope Labs).

FOUR LOVERS
By Amy Slotnick

Ever wish there was a way to inject a solid, long-term relationship with the sexual hunger of a new lover? Or fantasize about having a passionate affair without sneaking around and potentially betraying the trust of your spouse? That is exactly what two couples explore in FOUR LOVERS, a couple-swap French film now available On Demand before a theatrical run.

It initially seems to happen so easily. Work colleagues, Rachel and Vincent, go out along with their spouses, Franck and Teri. The two couples become fast friends and a sexual energy soon emerges. There is little attempt to hide it, except from their kids, and soon each couple has swapped partners, regularly meeting for dinner parties, weekends away and private rendezvous’ for lovemaking.

While having a new lover intoxicates each character, they also each maintain an equal commitment to their marriages. Surprisingly, the partner swap also seems to renew the passion of the married relationships.

Media savant T Tara Turk goes deep inside cable TV to reveal Video On Demand's Hidden Gems so even the busiest of our readers can get the most out of On Demand TV. Tell Tara what VOD shows you think deserves her attention.

Black History Month - On Demand

By T. Tara Turk

I generally celebrate being black 365 days a year since, well, I’m black and that’s who I am. But having a designated (albeit short) month to celebrate usually calls for the customary cards, parades, and customized television program on some channels. The TV part is my favorite because then we get to peruse some classics that usually go unnoticed in mainstream “Best Of” lists since some tend not to think outside of the regular classics box.

If you’re in the mood to add some culture to your February or you just want to take a dance down memory lane, I found a few titles available on Black Cinema on Xfinity On Demand this month that may help.

For the Beginner:

ROOTS: THE MINI SERIES - One of the most popular mini series of all time. Pre-dvr/vhs/on demand days, folks would actually plan their TV week with TV Guide and this was one series that scored high ratings across the board in the 1970s. And, since we’re spanning the first few hundred years of slavery, every black actor in Hollywood was able to get a job. -

RAY - Jamie Foxx appears to have an out of body experience playing famed musician Ray Charles. This performance was so good, Jamie continued to channel Ray in a Kanye West song. But seriously, not many people know the story of Ray Charles but most seem to benefit from it.

THE COLOR PURPLE - I don’t have a group of friends in my life that doesn’t, in some way, quote from this movie. While Alice Walker’s book about a black girl in the south who grows up beyond expectations touched so many lives, the movie, directed by Steven Spielberg, mad a lasting impression with its stellar cast which includes Danny Glover, Oprah Winfrey, Whoopi Goldberg, Margaret Avery and the late great Adolph Caeser.

MALCOLM X - For a long time, Malcolm was and has been misunderstood as a minister of hate but thanks to Spike Lee’s epic production and the genius of Denzel Washington, this should shed some light on the life of Malcolm while being hugely entertaining to watch.

DREAMGIRLS - Who doesn’t love a little retro glamour, a little heartbreak and some amazing singing from the likes of Beyonce, Jennifer Hudson, Jamie Foxx,Anoki Rose and - GASP - Eddie Murphy! The long running Broadway story rumored to based on Diana Ross and the Supremes, finally made a huge dent at the box office and came away with a few Grammy nods.

For the Experienced:

On Demand Weekly provides new movie reviews of hot movies on demand and from the POV of watching from the comfort of your home. Today’s review: AFTER FALL, WINTER (FilmBuff).

AFTER FALL, WINTER

By Chris Claro

Early in Eric Schaeffer’s overlong and icky AFTER FALL, WINTER, a French woman reminds Schaeffer’s character that “there’s a big difference between you thinking your life is interesting and anyone else thinking it is.” It’s interesting that the guy who wrote that line is as unaware of its stinging truth as Schaeffer is.

A filmmaker who has made a cottage industry of making films that explore his self-perceived interestingness, Schaeffer has spent almost twenty years offering variations on his neurotic, self-obsessed, insufferably narcissistic persona, beginning with the twee MY LIFE’S IN TURNAROUND, to the precious IF LUCY FELL, through the indulgent THEY’RE OUT OF THE BUSINESS. Now it seems that he has topped himself with the truly offensive AFTER FALL, WINTER.

Set in Paris, AFTER FALL, WINTER features the return of Schaffer’s TURNAROUND protagonist, Michael, a one-and-done novelist half a million dollars in debt. Convinced by a friend to shake his depression in Paris, Michael heads to the city of lights where he meets Sophie, a woman who lives a bifurcated life as both a dominatrix and a glorified candy striper. As their relationship progresses, secrets are revealed, lives are changed, and much BDSM is displayed.

Schaeffer’s Michael is a deplorable character, equal parts self-pity and narcissism, and his 130-minute odyssey, which leads to a grossly contrived ending straight out of ROMEO AND JULIET, is crass and unpleasant. Schaeffer wants his audience to think that he’s being “daring” by depicting aberrant sexual practices and full frontal male nudity as signifiers, but what he’s really doing is working out his own neuroses under cover of fiction. The creepy, voyeuristic vibe of AFTER FALL, WINTER is one of its least savory characteristics and keeps the audience from truly connecting with its characters.

A series of prolonged conversations punctuated by “shocking” scenes of sex and bondage, AFTER FALL, WINTER is less a movie than an indulgence, something that is true of almost all of Schaeffer’s work. As writer, director, producer, and star, Schaeffer clearly does not play well with others, eschewing collaboration in favor of shining the light on himself and his character, such as it is. As a result, enduring a Schaeffer film is akin to one of the great guilty pleasures for New Yorkers of the 1970s: watching unctuous, oily talk show host Stanley Siegel engage in therapy sessions on the air. (If you’re outside the tri-state area and haven’t experienced it, do a youtube search for Siegel. You won’t be sorry.)