To wit:

Bach and Rostropovich.

Horowitz plays Liszt:

Well, you know the rest:

The good, the bad and the ugly at the Met. When does the next swan leave?

I can go for a little dramatization in a biographical film. But this much? Come on.

There can be no doubt; Charlton Heston was certainly one of the most driven and devoted actors ever. And he was certainly one of the greatest. He got into acting for all of the right reasons and never allowed fame to get to his head. Quite the contrary; he used fame for the best purposes by thrusting himself into the public sphere and involving himself in civic causes in which he deeply believed. He was an actor-activist in the best sense, always ensuring that he was exceedingly well-informed about the subject matter he worked on and passionate about spreading his message to others--even when his stances threatened to curtail his acting opportunities. Hollywood is not an easy town in which to be a conservative. But Charlton Heston showed that it could be done and showed that it could be done well.

Ben Domenech, my RedState colleague, has a fine tribute. It is typical of Heston that while receiving praise from a fan, he would deflect it back and praise the fan instead. Would that others had so much class. My family and I would regularly watch The Ten Commandments every year that it came on around Passover. With Passover so near, Heston has now chosen to leave us. Interesting timing for the old actor. But I guess that in show business, you need to know how to make an exit.

Goodbye, Moses. We shall miss you.

Suzanne Vega is not blogging here.  She is blogging here.

No, this is not an April Fool's joke.

I haven't  heard her latest album, but if you don't own Songs in Red and Gray, you really ought to.  "Harbor Song" and "Song in Red and Gray" are just gorgeous.

So a generous friend of mine has sent me a copy of Mar's Villa (the apostrophe is optional), the joy of which we discovered together a while back courtesy of the guys who run the New York Asian Film Festival.  To sum things up quickly, the film itself is Taiwanese, the soudntrack is pretty much lifted wholly from Hang 'em High, and the villainy and action choreography is from Stephen Tung Wai, one of the great specialists of action in the 1980s and 1990s.   One of the pleasures of the film (besides the sonic punishments, wild fighting, and latent feminism) is realizing that the prissy guy who looks like a potential recruit for the East Asian version of Menudo would go on to do the action directing for As Tears Go By, Days of Being Wild, The Blade, and Hero.

My friend could not have anticipated, however, that I would feel a little sad when I opened the DVD.  That's because the liner notes were written by Linn Haynes, a self-made Asian film scholar and, from everything I've heard, a stand-up guy.  He died on February 28th in a car crash, at the age of 33. Kung Fu Cinema has a tribute. 

If it hadn't been for people like Mr. Haynes working to spread the word about films like Mar's Villa, I would never have had the chance to see it myself, much less encourage you all to go see it.

Several people have linked to this Joe Queenan essay (written in honor of the UK debut of The Hottie and the Nottie) and offered up their own suggestions, using Queenan's criteria, of the worst movie ever made.  Queenan himself chose Heaven's Gate.  Alex Massie chose The Sicilian, and Daniel Drezner and Megan McArdle weigh in, respectively, with Caligula and either Far and Away or The Road to Wellville.  (For an alternate take on Heaven's Gate, see Nathan Rabin's "My Year of Flops" entry.)

They all make decent cases.  However, to review Queenan's criteria:

1. It has to have been made with some expectation of being a good movie (thus The Hottie and the Nottie, or Snakes on a Plane, don't count).
2. It has to be famous, or at least not obscure.
   
3. See #1: it cannot be a deliberate attempt to make the worst movie ever.
4. It must feature real movie stars.
5. It must generate negative buzz long before it actually reaches cinemas.
6. It must "induce a sense of dread in those who have seen it, a fear that they may one day be forced to watch the film again - and again - and again."
7. "...it must keep getting worse. By this, I mean that it not only must keep getting worse while you are watching it, but it must, upon subsequent viewings, seem even worse than the last time you saw it."

Given those rules, I can think of no better candidate than this film.  I have seen it three times, including opening night, and it got exponentially worse each time.

An examination and appreciation of the most famous--and yet, the most mysterious--of composers. It's very long, but definitely worth reading.

Who says that denizens of the Dark Side of the Force can't bring the funny?

The greatest University of Chicago hero of all time is back:

The Lives of Others is simply a great film. If you have not yet seen it, you really owe it to yourself to watch it.

A fascinating movie. Superbly well-acted, containing an engrossing plot and brilliantly written, it had my attention from the beginning of the movie until the end. And I do believe that Javier Bardem plays one of the most chilling villains I have ever seen on the silver screen. This guy almost makes Hannibal Lecter look like a piker.

Of course, there is loads of violence in the movie, so don't go if you don't want to expose yourself to that sort of thing. But given how taut the action is, how powerful the dramatic performances are and the nature of the script, my personal opinion is that if you let the violence deter you from going to see the movie, you will miss out on one of the more amazing cinematic achievements of the year.

DON'T CLICK THE "FULL STORY" LINK IF YOU WANT TO AVOID SPOILERS . . .

We will have a Hobbit movie. Though Heaven only knows what the sequel is supposed to be.

There are utterly wonderful treasures in this world that are just waiting to be discovered:

A long-missing Michelangelo sketch for the dome of St. Peter's Basilica, possibly his last design before his death, has been discovered in the basilica's offices, the Vatican newspaper said Thursday.

The sketch, drawn in blood-red chalk for stonecutters who were working on the construction of the basilica, was done by the Renaissance master in the spring of 1563, less than a year before his death, L'Osservatore Romano reported.

"The sureness in his stroke, the expert hand used to making decisions in front of unfinished stone, leave little doubt, the sketch is Michelangelo's," the newspaper wrote about the discovery, which it said will be presented at a news conference at the Vatican on Monday.

The sketch shows that Michelangelo "on the threshold of 90 years of age, even though he wasn't coming regularly to the (basilica) construction site, continued to take binding decisions" on how the work was being carried out, the Holy See's official newspaper commented.

The sketch "now becomes the last known design of the artist," the newspaper said.

Michelangelo, who began working on the basilica's construction in was in his late 80s when he did the sketch. The sketch is especially rare, the Vatican newspaper noted, because the artist ordered many of his designs destroyed when he was an old man.

The sketch was discovered in the Fabbrica of St. Peter's, which contains the basilica's offices.

One of the better movies of the fall season and while I know that more than one cynic has decried what is believed to be a weak fall movie season, American Gangster still deserves your time and attention. Russell Crowe puts together a very good and convincing performance as a determined cop whose ethics and morals are inversely proportional to the quality of his life and Denzel Washington has the bad guy performance down pat. The writing is very good, the supporting cast puts together an excellent performance all around and the story moves at a measured, yet enthralling pace. There is nothing particularly special about American Gangster, but it executes well and hits on all cylinders. And since I approve of competence, I also approve of the movie.

A strange movie, but an interesting one as well and one that was very well-acted on all sides. The plot was compelling, the opening display of The Hotel Chevalier helped set the stage for the movie in an impressive and stark fashion and the scenery was just beautiful. Combining Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman and Adrien Brody as brothers just seemed to work somehow, and the film profited as well from cameo appearances by the likes of Natalie Portman, Bill Murray and Angelica Huston. I saw this movie some weeks ago and I still don't have a good handle on how I feel about it, but I have to think that "intrigued" would be the best word to use. I also have to think that the movie will either be loved or hated by most and that there will be very little middle ground, so I suppose that warning ought to be issued for potential viewers of the movie. Wes Anderson is, as I understand it, very much a hit-or-miss kind of director so I guess that this should come as no surprise. Definitely see the movie if you have a taste for the offbeat, but if that kind of thing is just not your cup of tea, it is perhaps best to stay away.

I really wanted to like this movie. Alas, I cannot. Most of the movie is focused on scenery and costumes and when we actually do see acting, it is eyeroll-inducing. There simply is nothing about the movie that compels its audience; in the place of acting, we generally get histrionics. As for the plot . . . well, matters are kind of predictable. England faces danger from the Spanish Armada, a Queen feels cut off from the pleasure and happiness that the common folk take for granted, she cannot allow herself to love the man she would in another world spend the rest of her life with and Protestants and Catholics are mad at one another. All of this would be good and fine if it were presented in a dramatic way. Unfortunately, the only drama that we get from Elizabeth: The Golden Age is overdrama and we don't even get a lot of that.

Boring. I couldn't wait for the movie to be over and when it was, I couldn't get out of the theater fast enough. I am all for historical thrillers and love the genre when it is properly executed. But in this case, the execution is poor. Elizabethan England is a fascinating subject to learn about. My advice is for all and sundry to learn about it by reading a book.