Jersey Boys (2014) review

(8/10)

Eastwood's take on the famed musical breathes new life into The Four Seasons history, but it seems like the film doesn't know what it truly wants to be, as well as proposing a failed narrative style.

PLOT:Frankie Castelluccio (John Lloyd Young) is a training hairdresser in the streets of New Jersey. Everyone claims his voice is a God-given gift, including his best friend and bad influence, Tommy DeVito (Vincent Piazza), and his protective mob boss, Gyp DeCarlo (Christopher Walken). One day, after days of jail time for many of his associates, Tommy decides to start a group with Frankie and try to get famous, hiring Bob Gaudio as the songwriter (Erich Bergen) and collaborating with Bob Crewe (Mike Doyle) as the recording agent. After recording "Sherry", "Big Girls Don't Cry", and "Walk Like a Man", the fame of The Four Seasons shoots to the top. However, many obstacles still stand in the group's way for true fame, such as large, unpaid debts, family conflicts, and personality conflicts between the members of the group. It's a great plot idea executed decently well. Some things could have been better.



ACTING:The performances in this film were very well done. John Lloyd Young, Vincent Piazza, and Michael Lomenda as Frankie, Tommy, and Nick were the top performances of the film. The emotion and chemistry between the characters in the film caught and held your attention to the fullest extent. Every dramatic scene is pulled together in the fullest extent by these three performances, as well as Erich Bergen and Mike Doyle as Gaudio and Crewe. Veteran actor, Christopher Walken, also played an excellent part as mob boss Gyp DeCarlo, adding a complex yet gentle stoicism to the character's outlook. Almost every performance in the film is nicely done, with extra regards to Frey Tingley as Francine Valli, Barry Livingston as the accountant, and Katherine Narducci as Mary Rinaldi. These performances weren't the best I've ever seen, but they definitely did their jobs with pride.

SCORE:The score and soundtrack to this film is excellently done. John Lloyd Young and the rest of the crew did a brilliant job of covering the hits of The Four Seasons, with a sound almost just like the unique sound of classic Valli and his Four Seasons. All of the major hits are included in here, from the three mentioned earlier to "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You", "My Eyes Adored You", "December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)", and many others. The covers sound almost as good as the official tracks.



OTHER CONTENT:This film was a very great portrayal of the life and times of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, but the execution had a few minor problems that kept the film from being a true gem. The film tries to please as many audiences as it can with sensational musical numbers, mature drama, and a light-hearted style of narrative. Not only does the narrative style fail and come off as unnecessary and cheesy, but the constantly-switching tones of the film deter it from being what it was truly meant to be, which was either a light-hearted play or a serious docudrama. The film had its high points, which were greatly high in regards to the professional direction of Clint Eastwood, but it won't go down in history as a masterpiece of a film, as a great handful of Eastwood's works have in the past.

OVERALL,a great docudrama with a great plot idea, captivating performances, excellent soundtrack breathing new life into Valli's music, and some great high points. However, the narrative style fails to flow along with the film itself, also adding to the problem that it's inconsistent with what type of film it truly wants to be.

Tool: Toology - Unauthorized Biography (2001) review

(4/10)

This independent documentary on Tool is very cheaply made and almost a sad attempt to make a documentary, had it not included real interviews with close friends and more side information I didn't know.

SUBJECT:This documentary covers the subject of the unique hard rock band, Tool, with brief information on their early start and rise to fame, with lawsuits and all, leading up to the release of Lateralus. The documentary includes interviews from a member of the band, some fans, and a few close friends of the band. I believe they covered the subject almost decently. Had it not been made so brief and soon, they could have covered more ground. It also would have helped if they had gotten interviews from more than just one member of the band and more reliable people.

PEOPLE:As I just said, the people they interviewed didn't seem to be the most reliable and knowledgeable sources they could have found. A couple of them seemed to really know what they were talking about, but the rest seemed to be as general as anybody else. Another problem I had is only one member of the band was interviewed. It would have been nice to have seen an interview with Maynard himself or another member of the band.

SCORE:The score is actually lacking Tool's music, due to copyright issues. This is an extremely indie documentary, so they couldn't put any of Tool's music in it, so they used some cheap filler rock and guitar with annoying sound. I know they couldn't use Tool, but I think they could have done at least a little better than that.

EFFECTS:Since they didn't have the license to use Tool's music, the creators also didn't have the license to use their videos. Instead, the director decided to make his own, cheap claymation videos that didn't even look close to Tool but disturbingly unintelligent and nonsensical. It looked more like an old Nine Inch Nails video than a Tool video. It also made me mad that the creators tried to make the viewer infer that was an actual Tool video.

OTHER CONTENT:This documentary was way too cheaply made and behind its time. If the creators had made this documentary later in the future, gotten the right licensing to make it, and made it longer, this documentary wouldn't have been just wasted potential. There were some good points covered in this documentary, but for the most part, it seemed too independent and student-led.

OVERALL,a mediocre documentary with an almost decent topic discussion, unreliable sources, lacking and annoying score, cheap and inaccurate claymation, a too-early start, lack of correct licensing, and a lacking duration, but it covered a few good points, included some interviews by close friends, and added some information I actually didn't know.

*APOLOGY FOR LACK OF PICTURES, AS THERE WERE NONE TO BE FOUND*

Tool: The Ultimate Review (2008) review

(8/10)

This documentary on the popular hard rock band and its rise to fame covers everything from the band's vague origins to their place in rock history after 10,000 Days. I believe this covers and glorifies their history fairly well, but it misses some key points I wished they would have touched further upon.

SUBJECT:This documentary covers the early origins of Tool, from beginnings in the band Green Jello to the details and criticisms of their sounds on all of their projects leading up to 10,000 Days and right in between, including lawsuits and past inspirations of the band. I believe the subject was discussed rather well overall, but it seemed a bit too biased. I heard almost only good things on the band and their style.



PEOPLE:The people in this documentary that were interviewed included members of starting band Green Jello, record executives, artists for the band's album covers, the band itself, and many other individuals the band has collaborated with. I believe they chose some pretty fair acquaintances and relations with the band, but I think they could have dug deeper and found some more personal relationships. However, I believe they did a fairly good job at choosing the people.

SCORE:The score and soundtrack is mainly laden with the songs of Tool and side project, A Perfect Circle, with some quick flashes of early influences like King Crimson and Green Jello, alongside Nirvana and Guns N Roses. I believe the people who arranged and edited this documentary did a good job at picking the music and incorporating it into the documentary.



OTHER CONTENT:As a biography, I think the basics of the band were covered very well. They covered the history, the collaborators, and their distinct style. However, I believe they barely scraped the surface of Tool. I expected them to go more into the art of the videos and the bands possible involvement in drugs. However, most of that was ignored or barely touched. Also, the documentary itself felt too biased. I love Tool and everything about them, but I felt like I was listening to a collection of only positive reviews. There were no possible negative views on the band, but a world of glory for them. I feel a successful biography needs a view from both sides of the story, so to speak. This biography covered the basics of Tool and their stories and glories, but I felt a better job could have been done.

OVERALL,a great documentary with well discussed subject, some pretty close relations to the band and their music, great music editing, and lots of glory to the band, but the documentary seemed a bit too biased, and it left too many questions of mine unanswered.