Word: melodrama
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...their never-a-dull-moment playing commands our astonished attention. You almost feel that if you let it wander for an instant, someone would reach out from the screen and slam you with a two-by-four. At the same time, you are aware that they are shoving this melodrama of class and manners uncomfortably close to farce and robbing the story's ending of its quietly stated force...
...concerto is standard concert material simply because it is good, not because consummate performers like Gil Shaham like to play it. Shaham's masterful performance on Saturday night, though, drew out the piece's best qualities. Shaham began the violin solo with a rich, elegaic tone, bringing depth without melodrama to the tragic melody. He continued with a flexible tone that was glittering in his sublime upper register and lusty and rich in the low, and an impressive dynamic range that challenged the orchestra to match...
Unlike today's breed of safe-bet directors, Stone is the guy who tries things. He works fast and hard: U Turn, the dark, barking melodrama that opens this week, is his 11th feature in 11 years. He godfathers other films (The People vs. Larry Flint, The Joy Luck Club), dabbles in TV (Wild Palms), keeps stoking his legend. A Child's Night Dream should do that: it's a big, toxic dose of undiluted Oliver. But don't take his word for him. Check out Jane Hamsher's funny, true-sounding Killer Instinct (Broadway Books; 288 pages; $25), about...
...vast space, cold weather, an angry bear) and from a man's bitter, murky soul. It doesn't have much of the Mamet dialogue tang; that is on dazzling display in his forthcoming thriller, The Spanish Prisoner. Still, The Edge, directed by Lee Tamahori, offers enough of what a melodrama demands: two strong characters in mutual creative distrust...
...producer Martha Williamson was some heavy religious programming. Each week three angels (Della Reese, Roma Downey and John Dye) come to earth to counsel souls in crisis. Basically, they tell them to shut up and trust God, and then the angel of death takes someone away. It is great melodrama--Job replayed weekly--but pretty tough stuff. Nervous CBS execs ordered six episodes--and prepared a replacement. Williamson wasn't surprised by the show's success. "There are a lot more people in this country who believe in God than the guys in Hollywood and New York want to believe...