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Billed as "The untold true story behind the meeting between the King of Rock 'n Roll and President Nixon", directed by Liza Johnson, this is a wild comedic fantasy built around a brief encounter between Elvis Pressley and President Richard Nixon at the White House in 1974. The introductory credit sequence in dazzling colors and cartoon flavors serves notice that we are in for a wild ride with no holds barred. Unfortunately what the picture offers is a Frankenstein like edition of Elvis (Michael Shannon) in a long tedious buildup to the final confrontation in the Oval Office with an uncannily accurate Nixon, played with zest and four letter zeal by Kevin Spacey in a remarkable comedic turn. The final sequence in the president's office is hilarious enough to make the boring buildup worth sitting through but one wishes the first two thirds of the picture would have been highly compressed -- to maybe twenty minutes. As is, what we get is a view of a super patriotic Pressley which presents him as a very right wing anti-counter culture icon (altho in real life he was a symbol of the counter culture) who despises the Beatles and wants to save the youth of America from drugs, wanton sex and subversive politics by becoming an undercover agent for the government and infiltrating "anti-American organizations". To this end he needs a badge naming him as an official Undercover Government agent, which only the president can issue. His obsession with obtaining such a badge is the central conceit of the film and is a poor excuse for a premise around which to build an entire movie. However, as said before, the tedious introduction (which takes up most of the film) during which Elvis is desperately trying to set up a meeting with the president, and during which we see that Nixon is not interested in meeting a Rock musician and keeps turning such a proposal down, is just barely worth sitting through to get to the riotously funny conclusion in the Oval office when his assistants finally convince the president to agree to a five minute meeting with Elvis -- but just five minutes, no more -- because it will enhance his fading public image -- and on condition that Elvis takes a picture with Nixon autographed for his daughter who is a big Elvis fan. When Nixon finally meets Elvis he finds to his surprise that they have much in common and the five minutes is extended indefinitely, during which time Elvis massages the president's ego and takes off his shirt to perform a karate exhibition as many other bizarre revelations take place. Actor Michael Shannon captured much of the mannerisms and speech patterns of Pressley in a very subtle manner but his look is simply too old and too hard -- Frankenstein in long hair and black bell bottoms! Most of the dialogue of the film as written is just dull and pedestrian until we get into the Oval Office when it suddenly sparkles. Spacey's Nixon is a total riot and more convincing than the Tricky Dick rendition by Anthony Hopkins in the Oliver Stone presidential biopic. Overall I would have to say that this picture is one long bore with a final scene that is comedic genius, especially on the part of Kevin Spacey. Viewed at the Westwood Landmark in L.A. On April 23, 2016 at a special advance screening in the presence of Producer Jerry Schilling who was a lifelong friend of Elvis who avowed that much of the Elvis antics portrayed in the film were "in character" even if they didn't actually happen. Asked if Elvis would approve of this film he expressed honest reservations.

Manneken Pis, Flemish, 1995. Director Frank van Passel, starring Frank Vercruyssen. Viewed at Rouen Nordic Film Festival, 2007. During the 1990s the Flemish language cinema in Belgium experienced what might be called a minor Golden Age when one gem after another was produced featuring a bevy of excellent local actors. Largely overlooked outside of Belgium itself. One outstanding Flemish drama of the nineties is "Mannekin Pis", directed by Frank van Passel in 1995. This one was not completely overlooked, winning the Prix de la Semaine de la Critique at Cannes in '95 and also selected as the best Belgian film of the year in 1996. "Manneken Pis", (little boy urinating), is a famous landmark in Brussels but the film does not take place there. The reference is to the key incident in the film when the hero, as a young boy, asked his parents to stop at a railroad crossing so that he could relieve himself by the side of the road. An onrushing train killed the entire family and the boy, Harry, woke up in an orphanage the next morning, having lost all his hair. This traumatic experience has left Harry, now a young man with a shiny bald pate, unable to express his feelings. He falls in love with a warm hearted pixie-like tramway conductress, Jeanne (Antje de Boeck), who happens to live in the same tenement building as he does. Their difficult relationship is overseen by the salty old widow, Denise (Ann Petersen), who is the concierge of the abode and watches over Jeanne like a mother hen. After many false starts, just when it looks like Harry will finally break out of his trance and will be able to reciprocate the love offered him, Jeanne who has a weak heart, dies in his arms. An extremely touching love story, again superbly carried off by all performers, also featuring Frank Vercruyssen as Harry in a truly memorable character creation by an actor one wants to see more of. Ps: This review dedicated to the victims of Islam in Brussels.

BERLIN REVIEWS BY DELEON: BERLIN 66, Feb. 2016

PHOTO: Hail Caesar Photo call, L-R: Swinton. Clooney, Alden Eirenreich, Josh Brolin, and Tatum Channing

Berlin 66 opened rousingly on Thursday, February 11 with multiple screenings of the new Coen Bros. Hollywood send-up "Hail Caesar" and a turn away overflow press conference crowd for the Jury led by Meryl Streep which was an event in itself. Day one, one might say, was all about Streep, the Coen Brothers and actor George Clooney in his best jesting form and looking great in a slick black leather jacket at the Hail Caesar press conference table.

First off, a few words about the film. Manohla Dargis, in her sparkling NY Times review hit the nail squarely on the head when she called the film an "off center comedy" ~ as off center (flip-floppily structured) as it gets with chuckles and belly laughs all the way. To put it mildly, this in not the Co' Brothers most profound film, but it is arguably their funniest ever with a string of brilliant off-beat pearls by actors all of whom shine in their contrary off- the-wall castings. Basically this is a affectionate spoof of fifties Hollywood but much more than that, loaded with absurd humor of the kind that harks back to the Marx Brothers era.

A list if the actors and their roles basically tells the story, what there is of it: Jeff Brolin, tremendous as the blustering bigger than life studio fixer draped in a double breasted suit and topped with a bulky fedora, who regularly unloads his guilt in the catholic confessional box;

Clooney as a clueless movie star who gets kidnapped by the Communists and walks around through the whole picture clad in his clanky starring role Julius Caesar paraphernalia, down to leather sandals with protruding toes artfully dumbelling it as he rarely does,

Scarlet Johansson in a grotesque sinful take on Fifties Simon-pure MGM superstar bathing beauty, Ester Williams! -- uglified (sic) under the Coen brothers baton... The one part that didn't grab me because I loved The real Ester Williams. Scarlet is actually grotesque in this section.

Channing Tatum leading a bunch of sailors in white in a sly slightly homo-erotic take on a Gene Kelly MGM dance number -- to me, the highlight of the picture with surprisingly adept tap dancing, jumping from table to table -- this section had me stomping along to the beat in my seat --

New face Alden Ehrenreich as a hilarilious acrobatic Roy Rogers ripoff whistling to his white horse then doing handstands in the saddle pursued by the bad guys -- and performing incredible rope magic, even with a strand of spaghetti in a restaurant for his girlriend --but this is only Half of cowboy star "Hobie Doyle's comedic turn -- He is next engaged to fill in for an ailing actor in a drawing room drama exchanging ten gallon cowboy headgear for a tux and Bow tie, and called upon to mouth a clip of sophisticated dialogue which is like a foreign tongue to him -- the extended scene where his English director (Ralph Fiennes) patiently re-shoots his flubbed entry scene over and over painfully correcting the perplexed actor's stumbling delivery of his single line -- (t'were as though...) -- is a real rib tickler.

Another highlight in this linkup of comical skits strung together by the ridiculous premise of Caesar discovering God on his knees at the foot of Jesus on the cross --the whole "Hail Caesar" business being a kind of takeoff on early fifties religious extravaganzas such as "The Robe" -- A satire of all-powerful Hollywood Gossip columnists who could make or break careers -- such as Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper, both played sniffingly by Tilda Swinton as twin sisters ~~ All in all a hilarious piece of extra savvy entertainment and a glorious procession of contemporary stars revealing unexpected comedic chops --

Well, okay, it did get to be a bit much by the end, but a very good time was had by me -- if not by All -- of the serious minded film critics and international press people around me.

As far as I could tell from my front and center first row seat, I was the only one in the entire audience to burst out laughing or constantly snickering throughout the proceedings. I'll just hafta see it again with a native American audience to appreciate the collective cackle noticeably absent at this ultra-sober festival

The crammed over flow press conference after the screening was almost equally comical. One Polish gal addressed a long long long question to Gorgeous George, who finally replied: "Are you flirting with me? ~ it won't work because I'm a married man now!" ~ which brought a roar of glee from the house. Most questions were, in fact, addressed to Clooney, who between sly quips that brought smiles from his colleagues at the table, finally summed it all up by saying that it was a privilege to work with such talented directors as the Coens, and above all -- FUN all the way.