Cher – The Film Collection (Good Times
(1967)/Chastity (1968)/Silkwood (1983)/Moonstruck (1987)/Mermaids
(1990)/Tea With Mussolini (1998)/MGM
DVD Set)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: D (Moonstruck: C) Films:
Good Times
C+
There is
no doubt that Cher always had a certain
appeal, something Sonny Bono knew when they go together and were ahead of the
counterculture curve. After some hit
records, they tried to expand and extend their popularity in this film directed
by a then-unknown William Friedkin (Exorcist,
French Connection) that wanted to
combine comedy skits with the editing and stream of thought of French films and
growing counterculture films. The film
did not do well, but has its entertaining moments, shows off Sonny & Cher well
and became the template for their huge hit TV variety show. George Sanders also stars.
Chastity
C+
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/1268/Chastity
This is
the same exact disc we already reviewed.
Silkwood
B-
Cher plays the lesbian friend of the title character in this
Mike Nicols’ directed drama about how nuclear plant worker Karen Silkwood
(Meryl Streep) was out to expose a scandal where she worked, only to be killed
by those who did not want her to reveal anything. The film did not go far enough politically
for my tastes, but the points and performances hold up very well and it is as
relevant as ever.
Moonstruck
C+
An
overrated film that won Cher a Best Actress Oscar (her work in Suspect the year before did not hurt
the cause) is a comedy/drama about a lonely woman in New York’s Little Italy trying to find where
to take her life next. Nicolas Cage,
Danny Aiello, Vincent Gardenia and Olympia Dukakis co-star in Norman Jewison’s
hit.
Mermaids
C-
Actor
Richard Benjamin tries to make this comedy/drama set around the time of the JFK
assassination work as Cher raises two children (a young Christina Ricci, Winona
Ryder)…sort of. You see, this mother is
more like a teen who never grew up and still likes to sleep around, so conflict
ensues. Despite the period having a
realistic feel, I never believed one moments of this and it is a curio at best.
Tea With Mussolini C-
Franco
Zefferelli helmed this autobiographical look at how he escaped possibly being
exterminated by the Nazis and Italian Fascists by hanging around with a group
of rich older women. Cher
is the society woman who does not much like snobbish fascist appeaser Maggie
Smith, who is dumb enough to think because she once had tea with the Italian
dictator that she will not be harmed to the point of being absolutely
delusional. Judi Dench, Lily Tomlin and
Joan Plowright are among the big names also here, but I never bought much of
this either, some of which becomes too campy for its own good. Also, it dangerously sends the message
opposite of Vittorio De Sica’s Garden Of The Finzi-Continis
(1971) which is typical of the big problems of Zefferelli’s lifelong output.
Like Chastity, Mussolini is a flipper DVD with a 1.33 X 1 side and 1.85 X 1 side,
the latter of which is the aspect ratio of the remaining releases. Some (like Silkwood and Moonstruck)
are letterboxed (!) and these are all old transfers. Color is best on the 1960s films, detail is
an issue on all of them and all have Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono, save 2.0 Stereo on
Mermaids (originally a Dolby SR
release; you could not tell from this track) and Dolby Digital 5.1 on Moonstruck and Mussolini that are weak and have limited soundfields. Extras are trailers on some of the films and Moonstruck adds a few featurettes and
audio commentary track.
This was
a set worth releasing for fans and the curious, but know these are older copies
and should soon find themselves on Blu-ray anyhow, with the 1960s films being
of particular interest.
- Nicholas Sheffo
