timoirish34

Perry does forget the words to some of the innumerable songs in this concert, but this is a problem in many concert films. It might have been easily fixed with proper editing and sound mixing. Como was still the best of many singers who went on too long after their prime. I recall Sinatra had to sit during his last concerts and used a teleprompter to remind him of lyrics to songs he'd been singing for nearly fifty years.

It was only when an associate told Perry that he looked a bit ill during this concert that the legendary singer chose to end his concert career and his tradition of Christmas specials. I would have liked it if he chose to still do a low-key special with musical guests (he always worked well with Ann-Margret) from one of his several homes. Perhaps we could have spied a brief glance of his notoriously camera-shy wife. Anyway, taking his Christmas specials as a whole, there was never a better TV tradition than Perry Como's Christmas specials. How I miss them--and how I lament what passes as musical entertainment on TV these days.

This would be in the running for my "Worst Films Ever" list if it only had tried a bit harder. As it is, it's an endless, sleepy affair starring my two favorite bad actors: Christian "The Cop Biter" Slater (woodenly delivering his lines in an undefinable accent) and Jared "Short Bus" Leto, who acts as if he's recently experienced a serious head trauma. Long a favorite of late, late nights on the cable movie channels, this stone of a film sinks, well, like a stone. Unsure of its location and time period (maybe London, perhaps in the 1870's, 80's or 90's), Basil plays like the fan fiction of a thirteen-year-old girl with a limited imagination. Avoid this and read a good book. You'll thank me.