Charles Nelson Reilly Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Review: The Life of Reilly
Filed under: Comedy », Documentary », Independent », Theatrical Reviews »
I love this movie.
I don't say those four words often, so I had to put them first. And isolate them. While watching The Life of Reilly I laughed my hardest since Superbad. I also got seriously choked up for the second time at the movies this year (the first was during Control). In all honesty, I doubt I will see another movie as funny and touching as this one for quite awhile.
But to be fair, what I really love isn't the movie -- it's the one-man stage show that existed before the movie. The Life of Reilly isn't even an adaptation; it's simply a taping (or digital capture) of the final performance of the show, which was titled Save it for the Stage: The Life of Reilly and starred the late Charles Nelson Reilly.
To be fair again, the movie isn't merely a stationary shot of a stage performance. There's intimate close ups at all the right moments, so that we don't just feel like we're watching a show; it's more like we're personally getting to know Reilly, as he narrates the significant moments of his life.
RIP: Reel Important People -- May 28, 2007
Filed under: Obits »
Edward Behr (c.1926-2007) - British writer of Half Moon Street, starring Sigourney Weaver. He also appears as himself in Otto Preminger's doc Rosebud. (International Herald Tribune) - Jo Durden-Smith (1941-2007) - Documentary filmmaker who wrote and directed A Horse Called Nijinski, which was narrated by Orson Welles, and produced the rock docs The Stones in the Park, The Doors Are Open and Johnny Cash in San Quentin. He died following a stroke May 10, in the UK. (Guardian)
- Kei Kumai (1930-2007) - Japanese filmmaker who directed The Sea Is Watching (pictured), which was written by Akira Kurosawa. He also directed Tunnel to the Sun, Lady Ogin and Death of a Sea Monster, all starring Toshiro Mifune, and The Sea and Poison, which won the Silver Bear at the 1987 Berlin Film Festival. He died of a brain hemorrhage May 18, in Tokyo. (Variety)
- Bruno Mattei (1931-2007) - Italian cult filmmaker who directed Hell of the Living Dead (aka Zombie Creeping Flesh), Womens Prison Massacre, Violence in a Woman's Prison, Rats: Night of Terror and Zombie 3. He was also the co-editor of Jesus Franco's 99 Women, for which he also directed the hardcore sequences, and Count Dracula. He died of cancer May 21, in Rome. (Contact Music)
- Bud Molin (1925-2007) - Editor on all of Carl Reiner's films between 1970 (Where's Poppa?) and 1993 (Fatal Instinct). He also edited They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!, Police Academy 3: Back in Training, The Man With One Red Shoe and Up the Academy, for which he was also the second unit director. He died May 21 in Rancho Mirage, California. (Variety)
- Charles Nelson Reilly (1931-2007) - Actor and television personality who played "Don Don Canneloni" in Cannonball Run II and appears in an uncredited role in Elia Kazan's A Face in the Crowd. He also voiced characters in Don Bluth's All Dogs Go to Heaven, Rock-A-Doodle and A Troll in Central Park. He died of complications from pneumonia May 25, in Los Angeles. (NY Times)
- G. Srinivasan (c.1958-2007) - Indian producer of Mani Ratnam's last four films, including the director's latest, Guru, which stars Aishwarya Rai. He died May 27 when he fell into a 50-foot gorge near Halan, India. (Earthtimes.org)
- Robert Sully (1918-2007) - Actor who appears in Meet Me in St. Louis, A Guy Named Joe and When Worlds Collide. He died May 15 in Santa Barbara, California. (Santa Barbara News-Press)
- Alberto Verso (1941-2007) - Italian costume designer for Ripley's Game and The Truce and assistant costume designer for The Night Porter, Waterloo and Visconti's L'Innocente. He died May 16 in Rome. (IMDb)
- Ben Weisman (1921-2007) - Composer of the scores to Andy Warhol's L'Amour and Ed Wood's short Crossroads of Laredo. He also wrote tunes for many of Elvis' movies, including Jailhouse Rock, King Creole, Clambake, Blue Hawaii and Roustabout. He died May 20 in Los Angeles. (Variety)
- Gretchen Wyler (1932-2007) - Actress who played one of the few female characters in The Devil's Brigade and "Aunt Kissy" in Private Benjamin. She died of complications from breast cancer May 27, in Fresno, California. (FresnoBee.com)
More SXSW premieres announced
Filed under: SXSW »
While many people are still recuperating from
Sundance, I'm getting excited about the SXSW film festival even if it is six weeks away. When you have a big film
festival practically in your backyard, you can't help but look forward to it. The festival has just announced more of
its scheduled features, many of which are world premieres. The premieres include Al Franken: God Spoke, the
title of which should be self-explanatory; The Life of Reilly, about Charles Nelson Reilly's one-man show; Fired!, a documentary about employment based on an
upcoming book by actress Annabelle Gurwitch; Heavens Fall, based on a real-life 1930s trial, with a cast that
includes David Strathairn and Timothy Hutton; and The Oh in
Ohio, which reminds me of the days when all good indie-rich festivals included at least one Parker Posey
movie.The best-known and most likely to be popular title on this list isn't a world premiere, though, and it already played in Austin to a select crowd at the Butt-Numb-A-Thon last year: V for Vendetta. The full line-up of SXSW feature films will be available next week on the film festival page.
[via Matt Dentler]
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