Unfinished Song

A fictional version of "Young @ Heart"- These senior can rock out!
I saw this film yesterday at the WXPN Music Film Festival in Philadelphia (coordinated by the Philadelphia Film Society). I truly enjoyed it. I'm not sure why Amazon doesn't list the two actors with major roles and well-known names - Terrence Stamp and Vanessa Redgrave - in the main listing. But no big deal.

The film is basically a fictional version of the documentary "Young @ Heart" which came out a few years ago. (If you liked that film, you'll enjoy this as well.)It's about a group of British senior citizens who enter a choral competition by singing rock and heavy metal songs. It's funny and heartwarming. There is a serious back-story too which adds to the enjoying. And the music is great with Stamp performing a Billy Joel song and Celine Dion crooning a new Diane Warren-penned song over the closing credits.

I'll certainly await the DVD of this film to see what "bonus features" they added.
I hope you found this review both informative and helpful...
Take A Sad Song And Make It Better
What a joy it is to see consummate actors of the calibre of Vanessa Redgrave and Terence Stamp on the big screen. And while they may not be the youthful handsome and beautiful actors we remember from "Far From the Madding Crowd" and "Camelot," they remind us that, yes, there is still a beauty in old age. (Watching this film, I was reminded that the great photographer Imogene Cunningham published near the end of her life-- I believe she was at least 90-- beautiful photographs of old people.)

Stamp as Arthur and Redgrave as his wife Marion play two characters in the twilight of their lives and are in a word, brilliant. But Gemma Arterton as Elizabeth, the music teacher, and Christopher Eccleston as Arthur and Marion's son James give outstanding performances as well. (The tension between Arthur and his son James is palpable. And the friendship that develops between the old Arthur and the young Elizabeth is one of the pluses of the film.) The plot is simple and could have been...
A Beautifully Executed Weeper
UNFINISHED SONG is a beautifully executed, British-made film that will make you cry. Though it deals with death and loss, writer/director Paul Andrew Williams' film ultimately celebrates life.

Arthur (Terence Stamp) and Marion (Vanessa Redgrave) have been married "forever". They are total opposites. He's an old grouch, devoted to her, but who is practically estranged from his grown son (Christopher Eccleston). She, on the other hand, has a warm, outgoing personality. Sadly, her doctor has told her that she only has a few weeks to live.

Marion is a member of a spirited local singing group for senior citizens, led by Elizabeth (Gemma Arterton), a young and charming music teacher. Arthur wants nothing to do with the aging choir, but he aids his wife's participation in order to placate her. Then, she passes away...and all he has is Elizabeth's friendship and the choir.

The actors in this touching drama are uniformly magnificent.

The DVD,...
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Embrace of the Vampire [Blu-ray]

One star for the movie plus four stars for Alyssa . . .
Does this movie have a plot worth watching? No. Is it a masterpiece of staging and set direction? No. Will this movie show up in a retrospective of great American 20th Century cinema? Not a chance in hell.

So what does this movie have? Well, Alyssa Milano, frequently nude, and occasionally in softcore sex scenes. Does that make it worth watching? Yes, definitely if you enjoy Alyssa Milano. Her portrayal of a naive, virginal co-ed rings a little less than true, but her seduction scene with the photographer alone is almost worth the price of the tape. The vampire orgy sequence and her dream foursome certainly round out the cost of the video. I would, however, recommend the DVD version if you're planning on buying it. The DVD's ability to have short sections run repeatedly without degrading the playback quality will prove invaluable.
A must see, just to strange to pass up
I place this film along side "Showgirls" as a truly indispensable guilty pleasure, this film is an absolute riot, you just can't keep a straight face. It begins in "the past," one of those historicaly ambiguous time periods where folks wore armer but also had perfect hair and teeth, some guy is minding his own business, sleeping or whatever outside by a brook, it looks like one of those romance novel covers. Three buxom vampires come up out of nowhere, they look suspiciously like exotic dancers from Deja vu, or perhaps the local Hooters rented these "vampires" for the day, he doesn't put up much of a fight (neither would I) and soon we are transported to "the present day," sometime in the late 90's I assume to a school that looks a lot like Stanford. Alyssa Malano is a new student, she is a virgin and tells us so, repeatedly in conversations with her long suffering boyfriend, she is fond of crucifixes and kneels and prays a lot, the prayers do her little good however for soon the...
Alyssa Milano! Mostly Nude!
If you're looking for a plot, good acting, thrilling action sequences, characters that you can care about, a good script, or a memorable movie experience, then you're looking at the wrong movie. However, if you're looking for a softcore porn movie starring Alyssa Milano's bare breasts, you're looking at the right movie.

Alyssa Milano gets naked. You see her nipples with amazing frequency. She lets guys touch her in dream sequences. She lets a female photographer touch her, remove most of her clothing, and then kiss her. But beware, Lesbian Sex Scene seekers - Alyssa does not go further than kissing. Yes, that's right - she loses her nerve and runs out of the room. Taking the time to get dressed again, unfortunately.

So if you're a fan of Alyssa Milano's breasts, then by all means rent this movie. Or buy it. It's worth it if you enjoy seeing her bare, heaving bosom. However, if you like movies that you can watch all the way through without saying "God,...
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