The Powder and the Glory Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I'm a no-makeup kind of gal, so I was a little skeptical about hearing the story of two women who revolutionized makeup for the modern woman. But the story of two women who built rival business empires and lived their quirky lives just a few blocks from each other (without ever meeting face to face) was irresistable. We all need to know more about women who have "made it" in a man's world. And this video was so masterfully done that by the end I felt I actually knew Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden. I loved the transitional visual, showing a gorgeous face as a blank canvas that changed over the decades as makeup styles changed. The occasional animated sequences were witty and amusing - like little "Betty Boop" interludes. And I learned a lot - a whole lot - about makeup and the whole mystique surrounding it. Hats off to Ann Carol Grossman and Arnie Reisman for putting this fascinating production together.

Click Here to see more reviews about: The Powder and the Glory

The Powder & the Glory tells the story of two of the first highly successful women entrepreneurs in America, Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubinstein. One hundred years ago these women immigrated to the United States and, starting with next to nothing, created what is today the $150 billion global health and beauty industry.

Get 10% OFF

Click here for more information about The Powder and the Glory

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I went into Alex Gibney's "Smartest Guys in the Room" having read Robert Bryce's "Pipe Dreams" and Kurt Eichenwald's "Conspiracy of Fools" thinking to myself: should be good, but no way the movie is going to come close to telling the story like those two authors did.
Well, surprise, surprise: the movie is outstanding on its own terms and all credit goes to Gibney. While the books focus on unraveling all of Andy Fastow's 'Special Purpose Entities' like the Raptors, LJM, Chewco, etc., Gibney brilliantly focuses on showing us things that are simply better on film: audio recordings of Enron traders jacking the California energy system; a devastated Portland Gas line worker after his 401K has gone to seed; an uncomfortable Skilling getting grilled by a Senate panel while Sherron Watkins glowers at him from 10 feet away; some Enron HR flack urging its employees to put all their 401K money into company stock, etc.
And there are two incredible, spine-tingling moments if you know the Enron story:
- An audio recording of the famous quarterly results analyst call where Skilling loses it and calls an analyst an a------. [The analyst only asked why the company couldn't produce a balance sheet.] Reading Eichenwald's book, you know Skilling is clearly unhinged at this point. For many, this call was the turning point of the great unraveling.
- A secret video recording from Merrill Lynch of Andy Fastow's LJM2 pitch to a bunch of bankers. This is *mesmerizing* stuff. Fastow is front and center in the books, but remains a spooky, off-camera presence in the movie. However, this one piece nails him. He's perpetrating a major fraud with that spiel.
Most of all, the movie is a tribute to the work of reporters Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind, both of whom had the guts to ask at the beginning "How does Enron make money"? No one at the company could answer the question and management's response was to attempt to bully McLean and then, in turn, bully her editors. They didn't bend. The story ran. The rest is history. In business writing, this was journalism on the level of Woodward and Bernstein. All glory belongs to Ms. McLean and Mr. Elkind.
Two other great moves by Alex Gibney:
- Getting Amanda Martin on film to talk about the tragedy of Cliff Baxter's life and of Jeff Skilling's career. What a smart filmmaker. The camera *loves* Amanda Martin. Far better for your film to have her tell that story than have Ken Rice, Lou Pai or any other member of the Skilling inner circle.
- Getting Peter Coyote to narrate. His is the perfect voice for this saga.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)

ENRON:SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM - DVD Movie

Get 40% OFF

Click here for more information about Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)

Barbarians at the Gate (1993) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Who knew you could make a comedy about a Leveraged Buyout (LBO)? James Garner, in a brilliant performance, plays F. Ross Johnson, the CEO of RJR Nabisco who wants to buy out the company. He learns about LBOs from the cool slick Henry Kravis, the then-master of the buyout (played by Jonathan Pryce). When Ross takes Kravis' advice and goes out on his own, Henry gets MAD and fires his own salvo. This was a time when people threw figures like "$25 billion" around and thought nothing of it. The technicals of the deal are explained with enough detail that non-financiers can easily follow what's going on. Nice satirical touches like Ross' wife's manicurist explaining the art of the deal to her. A lot of cussing; after all, this was the ultimate boys' game. Fine fun movie. END

Click Here to see more reviews about: Barbarians at the Gate (1993)

BARBARIANS AT THE GATE - DVD Movie

Get 10% OFF

Click here for more information about Barbarians at the Gate (1993)

The Secret of My Success (1987) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I think a good test of how good or bad a movie is, is by how long it feels. Some 90 m. movies feel like three hours and vice versa. Secret of My Success feels like a half an hour. That's pretty good.
Brantley moves from Kansas to NYC in order to make it in the corporate world. Problem: he gets laid off even before he starts. He's a trooper, though, and doesn't want to run home with his tail between his legs so he goes to his Uncle Howard for a job. It's not exactly what Brantley envisioned as he is stuck in the mailroom. Using corporate bureaucracy against itself, he manages to swing a job as a vice-president. It gets pretty funny from there as Brantley tries to maintain two identities without being found out. The elevator scenes are priceless!
This movie is the definitive eighties comedy. Michael J. Fox gets to showcase his screwball comedy antics and the rest of the cast is equally fine. Helen Slater stands out as a female executive that manages to break through the glass ceiling only to be pressed up against it and fondled by the smarmy CEO. "Auntie Vera" is also a hoot as the sex-starved wife of Uncle Howard.
The DVD doesn't offer too much in the way of extras, but that's okay because the movie alone is worth having on disc. Get this one right away.

Click Here to see more reviews about: The Secret of My Success (1987)

SECRET OF MY SUCCESS - DVD Movie

Get 20% OFF

Click here for more information about The Secret of My Success (1987)