Epics-HD: Lord of the Flies **+ (1990, Action / Ad)
Summary: Harry Hook's adaptation is not as faithful to the William Golding novel as you'd wish (they excised the Lord of the Flies dialogue with Simon!) and because of it, the movie is less allegorical and less resonant. A group of young men from a military academy are stranded on an island. The group quickly becomes fractious with a passive section led by Ralph, trying to get rescued, and a hunter faction, led by Jack, trying to procure meat and "have fun." Peter Brook's 1963 filming seemed to get closer to the Darwinist sense of this cultural disintegration. Here, the hunter faction seems more like Peter Pan's Lost Boys than the bloodthirsty murderers they are. The performances, particularly young Getty, don't quite carry the weight of the situation. It's still, however, sobering to slowly watch the school uniforms traded for war paint, and the little boys turn into little savages. --Keith Simanton --This text refers to the VHS Tape edition.
World Cinema-HD: Piaf: Her Story, Her Songs (2003, Doc)
Summary: French jazz singer Raquel Bitton is internationally praised as the greatest interpreter of music from the Edith Piaf repertoire. Bitton's critically acclaimed hit show, Piaf: Her Story...Her Songs, celebrates Piaf's extraordinary life through stories and songs that reflect the major episodes in her life from singing in the streets of Paris as a child to becoming the highest paid singer in the world at that time. Bitton's heartfelt renditions (sung in French) and her powerful delivery takes her audience on an intensely moving and emotional journey. Woven into the live concert is a luncheon where noted composers, authors, friends and family of Edith Piaf came together at a small bistro at the foot of Pere la Chaise, the cemetery where she is buried, to share intimate personal stories offering a rare look into the true life and persona of Edith Piaf. As the wine poured, the stories flowed. The film includes a new original song by two of Piaf's favorite composers, Francis Lai and Michel Rivgauche, writing together for the very first time.
HD Cinema (104): In the Mood **+ (1987, Comedy)
Summary: This teenage comedy for adults tells the true story of the unlikely hero the tabloids dubbed "The Woo Woo Kid." Husbands and the law couldn't quite approve of Wisecarver's antics with older women. But the older women couldn't resist.
