I found Shoot the Moon rather ho-hum back in 1982 despite across the board solid performances. I purchased the DVD over 10 years ago and when I finally got around rewatching it discovered the disc was dead (I posted about this and other Warners titles on the DVD thread).Reza wrote:Shoot the Moon was riveting with possibly Diane Keaton's best screen performance.
R.I.P.
Its never been re-released on their DVD-R archive disc though there are rumours that a Blu Ray release will be forthcoming soon and I'll definitely buy a copy.
Can't say I'm a fan of Alan Parker. A journeyman director whose high-points for me were Birdy & The Wall. A quite liked Mississippi Burning and hope to revisit it again. Despite two viewings I've never warmed to Bugsy Malone or Midnight Express whilst on the other hand Angel Heart improved for me on a second viewing.
The Commitments was very entertaining and I can certainly appreciate why it is much loved by so many. Everything is rather ho-hum, though Parker never directed an outright BAD film. Probably the worst 'piece' of filmmaking he ever did was Don't Cry For Me Argentina from Evita. I'd never seen it live but like most people was familiar with that song. It should have been the centrepiece of the film but Parker kept cutting away from Madonna to a montage of other scenes that had played out in earlier parts of the film. If ever a song being performed in a film needed the camera focused on the leading lady delivering a song that should in full it was DCFMA but Parker fluffed it and may have helped to cost Madonna an Oscar nomination in the process. She gave a respectable performance in the film but Parker undermined her. I still shack my head in disbelief.
Journeyman director worthy of an Oscar nomination or two but got them for the wrong films.
