If Massachusetts has an Empire...

then its in the Berkshires. And the jewel in the crown is Tina Packer's Shakespeare and Company who I think have had their best season in years...
Alyn Burrows as King John one of Shakespeare's lesser histories but brought vividly to life by Packer's flawless direction, and skilled performances from Burrows and Peter Macon as the King's Bastard Nephew whose lineage is corrupt as his heart is pure.

Their Taming of the Shrew stars the incomparable Celia Madeoy an actress whose speciality seems to be producing comely silk purses out of sow's ears...her Katerina is a wonder to behold and the stand out performance that anchors the show.
Ah but why shouldn't she dominate the proceedings? Did she not shine in S&C's gender reversed version of "The Shrew" a few years back? We recall that magnificent performance with pleasure. Few American Actresses say they have a serious claim to playing both Petruchio and Katerina!

In Tina Packer we have at last a pretender and a legitimate one to the vacated throne of the late Sifu Orson Welles.

Gin Notes:

Avoid the House Gin at Kappy's Liquor Store at all costs! It is a too cost effective intoxicant whose after effects reliably mimic low yield radiation poisoning. Go with Gordon's if you must cheap up but avoid this store brand...t'is brake fluid.

Pick of the Week:

Undoubtedly, it is the Tri Town Drive's in's line up:

7:45pm : "Sky High"
9:15pm" "Wedding Crashers"

This is so preemo that I'm off to see it tonight, solo...yeah it costs money but when the double feature is this good, one must make sacrifices.

The Tri Town Drive In is located:

3 Youngs Road off Summer Street in Lunenberg Mass.
978-345-5062
Or try the handy link in the link's section.

PS
We hope to have good news on a majot Channel Zero Event in the near future, stand by all hands for details.

Overheard at the Hair Stylist

(she was too cute to call a barber!) a blonde six foot tall amazon with a glow to her skin one normally associates with mild radiation toxicity.
She was merrily cutting my mop and conducting a conversation with a colleague on tanning products...this gem was overheard:
"I used ta use Midnight Three back in da nineties when I wuz a Wee Britney".

Health to all Wee and not so Wee Britney's today.

Greg Harney, RIP

Channel Zero was saddened to learn this weekend of the death of local public televison producer Greg Harney. Friends of the franchise will recall his electrifying appearance at our 2003 screening of "King Lear" starring Orson Welles and directed by Peter Brooks for the olde "Ominibus" live TV show.
Greg, his wife and a family friend walked in, asked if this was the "Welles" version of Lear and then airly announced he'd been the sound director for this very broadcast in 1952!
Our jaws hit the floor with an audible crack!
Greg was kind enough to share his reminiscences of the whole live TV process, mostly though he put paid to lie that Welles was difficult to work with. Greg reminded all and sundry that Welles got his start as an actor-director on Broadway and those skills stood him in good stead when live television came in.
Greg also pointed out a few technical flaws in the boradcast, PA's whose shadows lurch into frame whilst Lear rants and the like.
His memory for that particular show was excellent and his entirely unscripted appearance was a notable highlight of Channel Zero's run at the Coolidge Corner.

Our hearts go out to Mr. Harney's family at this tragic time, he was a friend to the Franchise and we shan't forget him.

Pick of the Week...

Unquestionably it is "The Miracle Woman" playing tonight at 9pm at the Harvard Film Archive 24 Quincy Street in the teeming heart of Harvard Square.
This is an early Frank Capra effort starring Barbara Stanwyck as an "Aimee Semple McPherson" type preacher who is goaded to all sorts of faith-healer tricks by her unscrupulous manager. Along comes saintly blind veteran David Manners and soon our heroine has a choice to make...
It sounds overdone bu really its like a distaff flight test for "Meet John Doe" with a standout performances by Stanwick and David Manners (who is mostly known for his colorless portrayal of Jonathan Harker in the Lugosi version of "Dracula").
Check it out, well worth the nine bucks IMHO.

Many thanks and props to Eddie Shaw and

Brad Chapman at "Movies on a Menu" in East Arlington to hosting such a successful Channel Zero event last week.
We are grateful to them for taking this battered but defiant franchise off the streets for a little while at least.
We had a good crowd for "An Evening with Orson Welles", some of our regulars and some new faces from in and around Arlington.
Welcome all!
With any luck we will be back there sometime after Labor Day for another show hope to see you all there.

Notes to Tomorrow Night's "Evening with Orson Welles"

Its a collection of three short films by or starring the old master himself, Orson Welles.
"Lord Mountdrago"(1955)Welles plays the stuffy British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs who is somehow haunted in his dreams by a living colleague he once humiliated. Welles was living in England at the time and this weird mixture of comedy (a party sequence lurches into goofy delirium) and ghost story was pretty typical of the acting work he was doing at the time. The scipt is based on a short story by W. Somerset Maugham.
"The Return to Glennescaul" (1951) is narrated by Welles and was directed by his two acting mentors Hilton Edwards and Michael MaccLaimoir of Dublin's Gate Theater. It was apparently shot during one of the many breaks in the filming of Welles' "Othello" and may represent a payoff to MaccLaimoir who was playing Iago in said film and dealing with the film's chaotic production history. As such this is a neat little ghost story, we've heard it all before and it even forms the crux of a "Growing Pains" episode. However it was rare for the artistic leadership of the Gate Theater to go in for of any type films so it remains a novel curio in the Welles videography.
"The Fountain of Youth" A chance guest appearance by Welles on "I Love Lucy" led to a hook up with Desi Arnaz who financed this pilot to a never produced Welles anthology series. As such it is a return to the sort of intimate storytelling effects that Welles pioneered on radio with the Mercury Theater of the Air. Although one suspects the emphasis with this program would be more on "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" type shock stories and the like rather than the radio programs classical adaptations.
Welles pretty much reinvents television cinematography here, he make extensive use of close ups, freeze frames and dissolves on minimal sets...and by ghod it works!
A great pity that the program was never produced, it marks Welles as an innovator in film, radio and television.
We will also be screening some theatrical trailers from Welles' film career, running the gamut from his own productions to the amiable hackwork he did for the money.

Channel Zero Returns this Thursday in (Romantic) Arlington!

It Ain't over yet folks, we are not finished yet!

CHANNEL ZERO AND MOVIES ON A MENU PROUDLY PRESENT



An Evening with Orson Welles

We are proud to Present it’s own eccentric collection of authentic Welles short films and related rarities in this one time only screening in Arlington. Celebrating his legacy as both journeyman actor and director this is a film event not to be missed!
“Lord Mountdrago” in which Welles plays a British politician seemingly haunted by a living colleague!
“The Return to Glennescaul” Narrated by Welles, this is an old Irish ghost story adapted by the famous Gate Theatre in Dublin.
“The Fountain of Youth” an unsold television pilot directed & narrated by Welles in which a cuklolded scientist exacts a fitting revenge.
Celebrating his legacy as both journeyman actor and director this is a film event not to be missed!

This Thursday July 28th 8pm
Movies on a Menu 148 Mass Ave Arlington Ma.
Just a few doors down Dagg’s Deli in East Arlington
On the #77 & 79 Bus Route
781-316-8668
www.moviesonamenu.com
Now in Our tenth year of genteel video transcendence...

The Fantastic Four:

Kinda of a misfire if you ask me, great performances from Michael Chiklis and Chris Evans as the Thing and the Human Torch but Jessica Alba and Julian McMahon all but sink the film. The script was weak, the SPFX pedestrian and the ending utterly indistinguishable from say Mystery Men.
But it still made a hundred million so we will still hear Stan Lee's nasty high pitched self congratulatory squeak for yet a while longer.
Saw it at the Tri Town Drive, which is, the proper and indeed only venue for a film like this.

The Tamer Tamed July 16th 20005

Shakespeare & Co Lenox Ma.
This is Elizabethan playwright John Fletcher's nominal sequel to "The Taming of the Shrew". As such, Petruchio (whose Guantanamo style treatment of Katerina has apparently lead to her demise) has now remarried and is in due course comically beaten down and humiliated by his new wife the frankly amazonian Maria.
Fletcher knew were all his laffs were I'll give him that (Supposedly he was one of Shakespeare's collaborators on various plays) but the play is utterly trivial and bereft of any memorable lines or meaningful poetry.
On the other hand as a meditation on male-female relations it is surprisingly broadminded in every way.
I do hope Tina Packer keeps up with this emphasis on the other Elizabethan playwrights, Massachusetts is in desperate need of a "Doctor Faustus" for the ages...and I'd love to see Jonson's "Fall of Sejanus" staged by someone with class and talent.

Meanwhile...
Up on the mainstage Celia Madeoy is playing Katerina in Packers' "all up" version of "The Taming of the Shrew".
Celia is a woman of destiny in every way, back in 1999 or so, she actually played Petruchio in a gender reverved version of "The Shrew". This was a perfectly heavy handed harebrained idea in every way, or it was until Celia strode out onto the stage and took over the play and the audience without firing a shot.
Believe me, this was a once in a decade performance combining the actor's vital trilogy confidence, technique and talent.
It was an amazing show in every way, the fact that she is now playing Katerina is a thing to look forward to.

The War of the Worlds

He is the man who put the Hunk in Homonculus with a mongoloid's grin, spastic and possibly as gay as whistle...yup you know him you love him it's TOM CRUISE and he gets his ass handed to him acting wise by an eight year old girl named Dakota Fanning!
Truly whats not to like about "War of the Worlds"? It is schaedenfreude it's payback it's Tom's Waterloo or Waterworld or some damn thing!

For who else but Steven Spielberg would highlight the massacre of Mankind, the route of Humanity as a chance for a blue collar bloke to bond with his estranged kids? Who else by Steven would cast an allegedly deeply closeted gay man as a New Jersey Paterfamilias??

Okay it is a better film that I had expected although as previously noted I do decry the purge of H.G. Wells' martians and their replacement by generic "Independence Day" type CGI aliens. It is a well realized type thrill ride, and lacks only Tom's disintegration in the end to make it the family film of the summer.

No Martians Need Apply...

I had to find out from the Boston Sunday Globe's travel section that the whole martian angle has been dropped from Steven Spielberg's upcoming War of the Worlds adaptation.
I for one, am outraged...its like trying to do a Cole Porter musical without all those songs cluttering up the show.
Well, I suppose its to be expected, when a middlebrow yap like Steve teams up with a grinning spaz like Tom Cruise diresome things must be expected.
My idea for a War of the Worlds re-make involves using the original 1899 suburban London setting. Get Anthony Hopkins to play the lead (Who better to indulge that "route of humanity" emotion?,a Spice Girl to play his wife and viola' a Merchant Ivory science fiction movie!
Beats the hell out of Tom Cruise and his e-meter mentality.

Vortigern & Rowena Found...

William Henry Ireland's Infamous Shakespeare Forgery is now available on-line.
Ireland of course, claimed he had found a "lost" Shakespeare play and he almost fooled all England with the imposture until the damn thing was actually performed & exposed as utter hack work.
Still and all that, it is one of Channel Zero's lesser projects to revival and perform this play some far off day.

Upcoming Channel Zero Event:

Well its not quite the comeback we've been working on, but it is a start.
Channel Zero is hosting a private screening at Movies on a Menu, 148 Mass Avenue, Thursday, July 28th 2005.
We will be showing our own special "Evening with Orson Welles" compilation which includes an unsold television pilot direct by the great auteur, some trailers from his movies and one or two ghost stories starring the man himself!
Space is limited so contact Eddie Shaw at Movies on a Menu to secure your spot early.

We will follow up with details on this show in the weeks to come, hope to see you all there!

"Batman Begins"

a solid effort all around from Director Chris Nolan and star Christian Bales. Structurally it resembles the 1989 Tim Burton film but loaded up with way more back story (The Caped Crusader appears nigh on a hour into the film) and a more physically appropriate lead. The film feels different from its four predecessors owing to the lack of hardcore Burtonian goth-chic...but don't worry its a real Batman film all around and a cautious improvement on the Keaton films.

Picks of the Week:

Lots of good stuff this weekend, so much so I can't quite figure out how I'm gonna fit it all in.
First off, Batman Begins is at the Tri-Town Drive in on a double bill with The Longest Yard. Alas the Batman is the second feature but the latest Adam Sandler atrocity is pretty much the price of doing business on the local Drive In circuit.
Its too much trouble to try and avoid the miserable little no-talent.

Tri-Town Drive-In, Lunenberg
3 Youngs Road, off West Main Street
978-345-5062

The Mendon Drive In though, has paired up Batman Begins with Star Wars, Revenge of the Sith...and with Bats running first I'm saying this is the prime drive in destination this weekend. Now if only the weather holds.

If the weather doesn't hold, then for ghod's sake get to the Brattle Theatre for their sumptuous and comprehensive Harold Lloyd retrospective. Old Harold was once a prime candiate for revival by Channel Zero, but we are never jealous whenever one of the repertory machers makes a big play for one of our favorites.

Kevlar Kevin Karries the Day!

And beats some sense into Mike Tyson as well!
There has to be no feeling quite like it, winning big when everyone wrote you off as the bum of the month.
Such is the Monday Morning faced by Massachusetts Own Kevin McBride the fabled "Clones Colossus" who endured head butting and other nasty tricks on his way to laying the maximum smackdown on the bumptious pugilist formerly known as Mike Tyson.
Like his hero Sonny Liston, Mike went out on the stool preferring to call it quits rather than endure any more of McBride's technique-less but effective Irish haymakers.
Poor Mike...addled of wits, he needed about ten more of these bottle feeder bouts to recoup his 40 million dollar losses to the IRS and others. Now what is he gonna do? I have a sad suspicion the former champ is on the phone with Vince McMahon trying to land a gig with the WWE. If McMahon is smart he'll pass on the offer, Mike is too crazy for the carefully scripted world of pro-wrestling. One good ear-biting and the locker room will rise up on him as one man.

Ah...but McBride there is sweet vindication...what must it feel like?

Sportsnerd 2005

Kevin McBride the "Clones Colossus" will make a valiant if unlikely attempt to write fini to the checkered career of that aging velociraptor Mike Tyson at the MCI Arena in Washington DC this Saturday.
I like Kevin, he is my landsman after all....but I doubt he can prevail against even an aging and increasing crazy Iron Mike.
McBride has never been able to step up in class for all his slab-footed integrity, alas that is no substitute for technique.
I saw McBride box Craig Tomlinson at Wonderland in 2002, McBride won but it was like watching a very slow moving train wreck...you kept wondering why Tomlinson didn't get out of the way of those oh so deliberate hammer blows delivered with judicial slowness & solemnity.
Well what the hell, I give McBride credit for ambition...just don't say you weren't warned if the Mighty Mike Tyson National Freakshow doesn't carry the day yet again.

Superman Returns...Rumors etc

Ain't It Cool News keeps th' pot boiling in repect of the upcoming Superman Movie Starring Brandon Routh, Kate Bosworth & Keven Spacey.
Mind the usual Ain't It Cool News harsh language and take the whole thing with a healthful grain of salt.