Day: April 10, 2013

Leonardo Decodes an Ancient Mystery: LFM Reviews Da Vinci’s Demons; Series Premieres on Starz, Friday 4/12

By Joe Bendel. Could Leonardo Da Vinci have been a member of a Persian mystery cult? The Sons of Mithras certainly seem to know him, even if he does not recognize them. The Vatican is also keenly aware of the Maestro, but he wants no part of the Church. However, it is not Da Vinci’s artistry that interests the Pope’s men. They believe he will lead them to the Book of Leaves, a mysterious volume of Faustian knowledge that serves as the MacGuffin of Da Vinci’s Demons, a new speculative historical series debuting this Friday on Starz.

Created and co-written by executive producer David S. Goyer (co-writer of the Dark Knight trilogy), Da Vinci’s Demons could be called a Da Vinci Code for Da Vinci. Throughout the series, he will be solving puzzles that are part of a larger ancient mystery. He must also navigate contemporary intrigues (circa 1476). Although hardly obsequious to the Medici family, Da Vinci is a proud Florentine, because the Republic is such an exemplar of Renaissance ideals. Of course, the Pope hates the city-state for exactly the same reason.

Seeing opportunity in crisis, Da Vinci offers his services to the Magnifico as a war engineer. Naturally, he makes all sorts of enemies in the process. He also accepts a commission to paint the portrait of Lorenzo’s mistress, Lucrezia Donati. She was already cheating on her husband with de Medici, whom she also starts to cheat on with Da Vinci. Indeed, there will be a fair amount of sneaking in and out of bedchambers and outright scandal in Demons.

Laura Haddock as Lucrezia Donati in "Da Vinci's Demons."

There are light fantastical elements in Demons, but it is closer in tone to shows like Rome and Spartacus, with a protagonist who could be the spiritual cousin of Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock Holmes. We even see the world from a similar stop-time perspective through his eyes. Tom Riley takes a bit of getting used to as Da Vinci, but he grows on viewers (at least over the course of the first four episodes). He nicely captures that Sherlockian charismatic arrogance, which is quite entertaining when done right.

Demons also benefits from two attractive yet steely women characters to counterbalance its murderous cardinals and randy artists. Laura Haddock’s Donati brings a sultry noir vibe to the series, while Lara Pulver (Irene Adler in BBC’s Sherlock) is an intriguing master of realpolitik as Clarice Orsini, Mrs. de Medici. Despite his resemblance to Adrien Brody, Blake Ritson also makes a first class heavy as the Pope’s enforcer, Count Girolamo Riario.

Frankly, Da Vinci’s Demons seems to have about as low an opinion of the Church as Reelz’s World Without End, but at least the nefarious clerics enjoy their villainy. In contrast, the Ken Follett’s evil Brother Godwyn always looks slightly nauseous. Indeed, a little moustache-twisting and teeth-gnashing is always enjoyable. Combined with a Dan Brown-esque mystical backstory and some almost steampunky set pieces, Da Vinci’s Demons brings a lot to the table. It is an entertaining series that picks up steam, becoming more addictive as it progresses. Recommended for fans of Rome and The Da Vinci Code, Da Vinci’s Demons premieres this Friday (4/12) on Starz.

LFM GRADE: B

Posted on April 10th, 2013 at 12:39pm.

LFM Reviews Erroll Garner: No One Can Hear You Read, Now on DVD

By Joe Bendel. It is easy to do the jazz dichotomy thing for Erroll Garner. He was nicknamed “The Elf,” but he had a giant sound on the piano. During his lifetime, he was one of the most visible jazz artists on television and in concert halls, yet he has been largely overlooked by recent filmmakers attempting to tell the jazz story (do the initials K.B. ring a bell?). For a documentarian, the latter point is a golden opportunity. Atticus Brady capitalizes on the wealth of archival footage and the admiration of friends and colleagues the pianist-composer left as his legacy in the documentary-profile Erroll Garner: No One Can Hear You Read, which releases on DVD today from First Run Features.

In the latter half of the Twentieth Century, if you had only one jazz LP in your collection, it was probably Brubeck’s Time Out, Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue, or Garner’s Concert by the Sea (all released by Columbia, by the way). He was enormously popular, playing venues like Carnegie Hall, paving the way for Wynton Marsalis and the rise of curated jazz programming in the 1980’s.

Read nicely establishes Garner’s remarkable success and his roots in the Pittsburgh jazz scene that also produced Ahmad Jamal, Mary Lou Williams, and Stanley Turrentine. However, with his very title, Brady emphasizes Garner’s status as perhaps the last great ear-trained, non-music reading jazz greats. It is true, but it hardly seems like the fundamental essence of the man. Indeed, Steve Allen argues Garner had a remarkable harmonic sense and was woefully underappreciated as a composer. Of course, just about everyone knows at least one Garner standard: “Misty,” the inspiration for countless romances and Clint Eastwood’s directorial debut, Play Misty for Me (which happens to be screening this Friday and Saturday at the IFC Center).

Jazz great Errol Garner (left).

Brady talks to a number of colleagues and experts with both musical credibility and name recognition, including Jamal, Allen, the other Allen (Woody), former Garner sideman Ernest McCarty, and Dick Hyman. More importantly, Brady has confidence in his subject, letting clips of Garner in action play for considerable lengths of time. That is the good stuff, after all.

Granted, Read never reinvents the jazz documentary, but who really wants that anyway? Brisk and entertaining, the hour-long Erroll Garner: No One Can Hear You Read is recommended for jazz lovers and general audiences as an introduction to the man and his music. It is now available for home viewing from First Run Features.

LFM GRADE: B

Posted on April 10th, 2013 at 12:35pm.

Super Wuxia Cops: LFM Reviews The Four, Now on DVD/Blu-ray

By Joe Bendel. Yes, they have exotic super-powers, but they really just have massive chi. They are members of the Divine Constabulary, tasked with fighting crime during the late Song Dynasty. Unfortunately, their more conventional colleagues in Department Six are less than thrilled to have them as competitors. There is also a super-villain to contend with in Gordon Chan & Janet Chun’s The Four (see clip here), which releases on DVD and Blu-ray today from Well Go USA.

Although based on a series of popular 1970’s novels, The Four will not escape comparison to the X-Men, especially considering the wheelchair-bound Emotionless’s Professor X-like psychic abilities. However, she is not running the show. The Divine Constabulary loyally follows her adoptive father, Zhuge Zhengwo, who reports directly to the Emperor.

Emotionless guides their inquiries and Iron Hands, a flesh-and-blood Colossus, works in the field, tapping into his network of underground contacts. He needs some back-up though, so Zhuge recruits Life Snatcher, a preternaturally spry debt-collector, and the lycanthropic Cold Blood, a former member of Department Six. One of many characters playing a double game, Cold Blood is actually working as an inside informer for Department Six’s head, the Sheriff King. Constable Ji Yaohua is supposed to be his back-up, but she is actually a mole planted by the evil mastermind An Shigeng (a.k.a. the God of Wealth).

Liu Yifei in "The Four."

The Four starts with a counterfeiting investigation, quickly escalating into a geopolitical conspiracy and eventually presents viewers an army of risen zombies. Instead of cheap scares, the latter are employed as shambling grist for the Four’s martial arts mill. This is definitely a kitchen sink movie, not particularly concerned about narrative detail. At one point, An Shiqeng tells Ji: “You can spend the rest of your life trying, but you’ll never guess what I’m up to.” Well, thanks for the warning.

Indeed, part of the charm of The Four is how wildly overstuffed it is with wuxia superhero steampunk elements. Action director Ku Huan delivers some gravity defying smackdown spectacle, relying more on leaping and kicking than chi-fireballs. Already the subject of several Mainland and HK television series, The Four was a couldn’t miss box office hit in China with sequels already announced. The superstar cast did not hurt either.

Anthony Wong does his Obiwan thing as Zhuge—and it is still kind of awesome. [Crystal] Liu Yifei and Jiang Yiyan (who look a bit like sisters, which is a blessing for them both) burn up the screen as Emotionless and Constable Ji, knowing rivals in both the machinations afoot – and for the affections of the brooding Cold Blood. For Jiang (who made such an impression with relatively little screen time in The Bullet Vanishes), it is a real star-making turn as the ruthless yet sensitive femme fatale.

Featuring zombies, uncanny martial arts, and a wonderfully ambiguous villainess, The Four has just about everything one could ask of a big popcorn movie. Wildly confusing fun, The Four is recommended for martial arts and superhero genre fans.  It is now available for home viewing from Well Go USA.

LFM GRADE: B

Posted on April 10th, 2013 at 12:34pm.