Aretha Franklin (1942-2018)

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domino harvey
Dot Com Dom
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Re: Aretha Franklin (1942-2018)

#26 Post by domino harvey » Mon Nov 05, 2018 6:50 pm

Rayon Vert wrote:
Thu Aug 16, 2018 3:26 pm
bearcuborg" wrote:Her description of the Blues Brothers in the first movie is always greeted with huge laughs when I’ve seen it live.
Her remake of "Think" in that film also beats the original.
A timely bump, as I recently watched the Blues Brothers all the way through for the first time after having seen bits and pieces on TV growing up. Unfortunately, I thought Franklin's number was easily the worst of the film, and very poorly lip synced to a distracting level. Having just read Landis words linked in this thread, it sounds like they did the best they could, but she def seemed lost in what Landis was after (which wasn't all that great either, to be fair)

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hearthesilence
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Re: Aretha Franklin (1942-2018)

#27 Post by hearthesilence » Mon May 06, 2019 12:02 pm

I highly recommend catching Amazing Grace in theaters. I saw this at an AMC and the sound is incredible, especially if you don't have a 5.1 setup that immerses you in that church. It's quite stunning to hear Aretha as if you were at an actual concert taking place in her prime. What puts this well above the live album is SEEING what happens - see how the audience reacts to her, how the choir reacts to her (like the one guy brought to tears when Aretha sings "I once was lost...but now I'm found...") you really understand how this music and this religion has touched them. Even Mick Jagger dances like he's got the spirit.

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bearcuborg
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Location: Philadelphia via Chicago

Re: Aretha Franklin (1942-2018)

#28 Post by bearcuborg » Mon May 06, 2019 2:20 pm

I concur, I think she’s in late 20’s and at the height of her vocal talent. I have been unable to find out why she played a role in delaying this film, but one definitely catches a bit of the spirit while watching this...

Kudos to Sydney Pollak for shooting this from so many perspectives-and thank god they didn’t add any narration or talking heads.

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senseabove
Joined: Wed Dec 02, 2015 3:07 am

Re: Aretha Franklin (1942-2018)

#29 Post by senseabove » Mon May 06, 2019 3:30 pm

The performance is amazing, and it's interesting to watch her demeanor change over the two nights, especially seeing how timid she is at the start, but I found the editing quite frustrating. So often when Aretha would really go for it, it would cut to the audience reaction rather than showing Aretha in the moment, which is what I want to see. It got a little better in the last third, but there were so many moments that I know by heart from the record, and I've been waiting to see Aretha's composure in those moments ever since I heard about the film, and so often I was given a shot of the crowd reacting, not the performance that provokes it.

I'm really hoping the eventual blu-ray release is stuffed to the gills with the unedited footage, and I don't know if anyone actually uses that multi-angle option anymore, but this would be such a good use for it.

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Roger Ryan
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Re: Aretha Franklin (1942-2018)

#30 Post by Roger Ryan » Mon May 06, 2019 4:07 pm

bearcuborg wrote:
Mon May 06, 2019 2:20 pm
...I have been unable to find out why she played a role in delaying this film...
Reportedly, Franklin was not happy to have so much coverage of the audience and other performers instead of the focus staying on her. Friends have recently quoted her as saying she felt like "wallpaper in her own movie".
senseabove wrote:
Mon May 06, 2019 3:30 pm
...but I found the editing quite frustrating. So often when Aretha would really go for it, it would cut to the audience reaction rather than showing Aretha in the moment, which is what I want to see...
...And this may well be what Franklin had a negative reaction to.

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mfunk9786
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Re: Aretha Franklin (1942-2018)

#31 Post by mfunk9786 » Wed May 22, 2019 11:05 am

Will found in a notebook under some couch cushions - sort of a nice story since it was found by the current representative of Franklin's estate, but Franklin's wishes in the will are for her son to have that role. Instead of throwing it away or pretending not to have found it, bringing it to the attention of authorities is obviously the right thing to do, even if it possibly means less personal gain.

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senseabove
Joined: Wed Dec 02, 2015 3:07 am

Re: Aretha Franklin (1942-2018)

#32 Post by senseabove » Mon Sep 09, 2019 2:45 am

‘Amazing Grace’ Set to Anchor Fall Voter Drive, Get Expanded Spring Reissue
As for the expanded version of “Amazing Grace,” the producer says, “We’re excited to be working with Neon on a longer version of the movie, with intermission, that we will hopefully premiere next year around her birthday, March 25.”

There wasn’t that much material on the original 1972 “Amazing Grace” album that didn’t have a correspondent number in the finally released 2018 concert movie, but, says Elliott: “It’s a much different film. It has different versions of songs from different nights [the film was shot over two nights in 1972], and it also has ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ [Franklin’s gospel interpretation of the Rodgers & Hammerstein classic] and ‘God Will Take Care of You’ as two extra songs.”

The intended spring reissue will also include a filmed preamble from Rev. Barber that Elliott had filmed for the documentary’s showing at the Telluride Film Festival over Labor Day weekend.
Here's hoping the US only saw a barebones DVD release because an expanded version with an eventual deluxe edition was always in the works. If they edited what was released down from 20 hours of footage, there should be plenty to include beyond any version of a cut film, and honestly, I'd buy a deluxe set that was just all 20 hours dumped straight to BD.

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