Mark Rylance as Cromwell in masterful WOLF ALL.
by Sam Juliano
Spring is here, but the temperatures have still yet to comply with this fact of nature. As we move closer to April, we can only anticipate comfortable weather, but we shall see what we shall see. Otherwise the baseball season will start later this week, and Easter Sunday is coming up next weekend.
The Childhood Films countdown venture is underway with e mails going out and many already engaged in viewing and re-viewing some of the ideal prospects. It is expected that ballots will begin appearing in early May. Any WitD readers not on the chain, but wanting to be just reach me at The Fountain26@aol.com, and I’ll include you.
Lucille, Broadway Bob and I attended the stage work GREAT KILLS on Saturday night. The drama offers a good deal of laughs, and featured three actors – one of them the renowned Joe Pantoliano of Cliffside Park and Fairview upbringing. The famed actor was the sole reason to see this decent play, and meeting him afterwards was a treat. The huble and friendly Pantoliano graduated Cliffside Park High School, and is well-remembered for his roles in The Sopranos, Empire of the Sun, The Goonies, Midnight Run, Memento and La Bamba among others. GREAT KILLS staged at the Theater For The New City on First Avenue. I will run into the second week in April.
With work still continuing in our home, we opted to stay in to watch some DVDs and blu rays on our new flat screen, and much was accomplished. We saw:
WOLF HALL (2015) ***** (Another albeit take on Henry VIII, Anne Bolyn, Cardinal Woolsey, Cromwell in a riveting six-hour presentation. Mark Rylance as Cromwell is extraordinary, but the entire cast delivers, and the production is wholly exquisite. (reviewed by Allan here a few weeks ago).
SCHALCKEN THE PAINTER (2013) *** A ghost story about paying the price for ambition, I wasn’t as enamored as most.
THE STORY OF THE JEWS (2013)**** 1/2 Once again Schama shows his brilliance in an an all-encompassing way in this heady presentation that includes history, archaeology, art, religious tradition, persecution, resilience, and the survival. I never realized that the Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492 after being there for a thousand years, nor of the fascinating examination of Freud, Spinoza and Moses Mendelssohn. (the latter two were covered in the first part of Part 3, But Schama is charismatic and riveting as usual. I really loved the incorporation of art and the ancient parchments and the various historical (with the use of maps) upheavals in the Jewish experience, like how they were absorbed into Russia after Prussia disbanded and so on. The early history, which included the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans was engrossing as presented here, and Schama on location appearances added quite a bit in many ways. This was a five-hour series.
PICTURES OF THE OLD WORLD (1972) ***** This 64 minute documentary is powerful, wrenching and unforgettable. (Just released for the first time ever on Second Run) About forgotten people living in small villages leading simple and impoverished lives. So many of the scenes are unforgettable, a cemetery with a woman carrying white crosses, moving gadgetry on the back of an open vehicle; religious figures, people working the fields, and fantastic used of Baroque music. No wonder this is called the greatest Slovak film, it is raw yet poetic, straightforward yet meditative, suffused with the zest of life despite all the misery.
With renowned actor Joe Pantoliano after staging of GREAT KILLS in Manhattan on Saturday night.
