Reviews

When AIDS first hit, LGBTQ+ patients were roundly treated like lepers by much of American society, but Hollywood United Methodist Church decided to take a bold stand. This inspiring short doc, by America's favorite goth sweetheart, Pauley Perrette, presents HUMC clergy and congregants who were there thirty years ago. Most supported mounting two giant AIDS ribbons on the church bell tower to serve as a beacon of hope, even as some feared it was a bridge too far. If you suspect the folks you pray with every Sunday would also be opposed to such a gesture, I highly advise you to go find a more compassionate house of worship. This doc is what true Christianity looks like.

Yes, when your mind-numbing two hour vanity piece is an hour too long even for die-hard Who fans and people are walking out in droves, have some studio p.r. flack post multiple glowing IMDb reviews under various just-created identities.

I love the sixties and the whole British Invasion, but this movie is like being cornered in a bar by a bunch of misty-eyed old timers who initially seem cool, but the more they talk (and talk and talk), the more you wish they'd just shut up and go away. My wife may never forgive me for dragging her to this. Properly edited, it would have been a 25 minute bonus feature on a concert DVD.

I've been a fan of Uli Edel for many years, and his best work- CHRISTIANE F., LAST EXIT TO BROOKLYN, PURGATORY, THE BAADER-MEINHOF COMPLEX- usually concerns the dregs of society. How surprising then to find him venturing into Merchant-Ivory territory with this extended historical portrait of German wealth and privilege. As an American, I went in assuming the family struggles over a famous Berlin hotel would be of little-to-no interest, yet I was immediately taken by the stories and characters who never come off as rich stereotypes. Like Luchino Visconti, Edel has great affection for the manners and trappings of bygone eras, and he ably depicts the changing decades with smart, compact scenes. Unlike Visconti, he's also enough of an old-fashioned entertainer to hang all the period detail on compelling story lines. You get all the expected German saga moments: mysterious births, tragic deaths, love affairs, betrayals, class differences, business success and failure, decadence, and Nazis, but the sharp direction, evocative misc-en-scene, and solid pacing keeps it above and beyond the TV soap level. If you enjoy Visconti's lush portraits of the aristocracy like THE LEOPARD, DEATH IN VENICE, or THE DAMNED, you'll find DAS ADLON a comparable treat.