Bird

In this ambitious (if flawed) multi-award winning 1988 biopic of jazz great Charlie "Yardbird" Parker by jazz doting producer-director Clint Eastwood, Forest Whitaker gives an all-consuming performance as the "candle ablaze at both ends" pioneering jazzman whose lows in life were matched only by his soaring musical genius. While the subject and the effort will have you rooting for it from the get-go, by the time the final credits roll you'll realize you know little more about Parker's life and music than when you started. Still, top-shelf performances all-round (including a characteristically strong one by the too-seldom-seen Diane Venora as Parker's wife Chan) and a stellar soundtrack presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 make this noble effort a recommended purchase. (S. C. Sickles)