DVD : Puccini - La Boheme / Pavarotti, Scotto, Niska, Wixell, Plishka, Levine, Metropolitan Opera |
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Rating:  - * A masterpiece! ... I remember seeing this live original broadcast, and it was thrilling then. Pavarotti and Scotto are at their best, and Levine supports them and the rest of the cast perfectly. I am glad I went looking for it, and recommend it to any Puccini or Pavarotti lover. Rating:  - * Beautiful Performance by All ... This DVD performance has a way of drawing you into the story so that you feel that you're on the stage with the performers. The singing and acting are superb but the quality of the recording is deficient. Camera angles and framing detract from the total enjoyment. Lighting is poor and obscure. If you want the feeling of sitting in the balcony watching the opera, this is for you. I, for one, don't want to be distracted by seeing more than what's happening on stage. Granted, the video/audio technology of the time is nothing compared to what we have today, but the amateurish camera work is independent of that. The performance deserved better treatment. Rating: - * Scotto- The Queen of the Night ... This production was filmed live at the met in 1977 and it's an affecting one. I had seen Renata Scotto perform as Musetta in another production with Carreras and that performance was quite memorable so i really looked forward to seeing her as Mimi. Scotto performs from the soul and from the heart and it's a very moving experience to hear and see her perform. Her singing is so poetic with such sensitive artful display of dynamics to convey the words she is singing. This is a performance not about ego but about art. There's a moment in the final scene when she's in bed and everybody has left and she slowly rises with such fragile strain out of the bed to stand and it's simply heartbreaking. Bravo Ms. Scotto. You bring tears to my eyes. Pavarotti starts the opera concentrating mainly on vocal technical delivery then starts to assert himself emotionally in the part. The golden tone and technique is there in full display and he does an admirable job at acting as well. I don't think that he's the most artful of tenors and what i mean by that is that he could add more meaning to the text by phrasing more and using a wider array of dynanics more often. If you listen and watch Scotto's portrayel then you can clearly see the difference in levals of artistry. This takes nothing away from the great tone and technique that he had but merely states that the performance though very fine could be improved upon musically and dramatic wise. See Carlo Bergonzi who may not have the golden tone of Pavarotti or the power to hit high c's like pavarotti but made up for that with a more complete artistic delivery of their character. The rest of the cast is fine even though Marcello (Wixell) is somewhat bland in his portrayel and could use a little more expressiveness acting and vocal wise and Musetta (Niska) could have been more bombastic especially in the scene at the restaurant. The stage production is pleasing to the eye though not as extravagant as something produced by say Franco Zeffirelli. These are just a few criticisms on a performance that is very satisfying on the whole with a restored picture that is slightly grainy but totally acceptable. The crowd is a most loving crowd as they go nuts at the end of musetta's waltz as well as most of the highlights. So if you're looking for a dvd Boheme then this quality production will do the trick but be prepared to cry as you experience the grand artistry of Renata Scotto. Truly the queen of the night. Oscar Fernandez Rating:  - * La Boheme ... A marvelous version of this great opera. The 'young' Pavoratti's voice simply soars. I saw the new Met version recently which was excellent, but no comparison in tenors. What a loss too soon when he died. Rating: - * Quintessential Pavarotti ... I purchased this DVD for my parents, avid opera fans. If you love a classic love story with the most melodic music and are new to opera this is the DVD to buy. As you probably are aware the movie "Rent" was loosely based on this opera. Although that can't hold a candle to the origianl. Pavarotti and Scotto are perfect together and production and set were top notch. If you've never seen or heard an opera before I highly recommend this as your first. It's timeless and worth seeing. |
But don't worry, there's plenty of wizardry and action in Goblet of Fire. When the deadly Triwizard Tournament is hosted by Hogwarts, Harry finds his name mysteriously submitted (and chosen) to compete against wizards from two neighboring academies, as well as another Hogwarts student. The competition scenes are magnificently shot, with much-improved CGI effects (particularly the underwater challenge). And the climactic confrontation with Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes, in a brilliant bit of casting) is the most thrilling yet. Goblet, the first installment to get a PG-13 rating, contains some violence as well as disturbing images for kids and some barely shrouded references at sexual awakening (Harry's bath scene in particular). The 2 1/2-hour film, lean considering it came from a 734-page book, trims out subplots about house-elves (they're not missed) and gives little screen time to the standard crew of the other Potter films, but adds in more of Britain's finest actors to the cast, such as Brendan Gleeson as Mad-Eye Moody and Miranda Richardson as Rita Skeeter. Michael Gambon, in his second round as Professor Dumbledore, still hasn't brought audiences around to his interpretation of the role he took over after Richard Harris died, but it's a small smudge in an otherwise spotless adaptation. --Ellen A. Kim
On the DVD
The highlight of the two-disc set is a half-hour conversation with actors Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint. They discuss their reactions to the film and other topics with British writer Richard Curtis . Then they answer questions from contest-winning fans, such as what are their favorite kids' books (Watson bypasses the obvious answer in favor of Roald Dahl and Philip Pullman) and what scenes are they looking forward to in upcoming films. More routine extras include the "Reflections on the Fourth Film" featurette (14 min.), though it has comments from some of the other young cast members, and "Preparing for the Yule Ball" (9 min.). The 10 minutes of additional scenes are mostly skulking and skullduggery, plus a long musical number from the ball. The remaining material is grouped along the lines of the Triwizard Tournament, with behind-the-scenes looks at each of the competitions (about 22 min. total), two longer featurettes on He Who Must Not Be Named (11 min.) and the workday of the other contestants (Robert Pattinson, Stanislav Ianevski, and Clémence Poésy, 13 min.), and four games, playable with the directional arrows on the remote control, that can be frustrating to figure out. --David Horiuchi
