By Peter Covino

Lifestyles Editor

Thank you, Neil Young for letting us into your living room.

Young doesn’t actually share his living space in this latest docu-concert by Young and director Jonathan Demme, Neil Young Journeys, but he does share some intimate moments.

Young and Demme go back to where it all began for one of rock’s most enduring music legends: that town in north Ontario that he sang about in “Helpless” many years ago.

He drives around in a vintage Ford (Young has always loved cars) following his brother Bob in a tour of their hometown.

There isn’t much left of the town he remembered as a boy. The house he lived in burned down. His favorite fishing place has been paved over.

But those memories are still very much alive and well in his head.

There isn’t a whole lot of reminiscing in “Journeys.” With Bob leading the way in a 1950s Cadillac,  and Young  following, they end up at Massey Hall, Toronto’s historic music venue, which has hosted everyone from George Gershwin and Enrico Caruso to Young himself in a memorable 1971 concert, which he later (much later) released as a live album.

On stage, it is almost a one-man show, with Young singing a few songs that date back to that original concert (“I Believe in You,” “Ohio”  and yes, “Helpless).

But mostly he sings some newer ones from Le Noise, another personal album from Young that looks back on how he got from way back when, to here and now.

There are some glimpses of what it has been like through the years for one of the great rockers and sometimes darkest individuals of his or any generation.

There is a quick glimpse in a video of Ben, one of Neil’s two sons, both born with cerebral palsy.

And then there is that song “Ohio,” made famous during Young’s stint with Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. For years Young would not perform the anti-war song about the four students killed at Kent State during a Vietnam protest.

He breathes new life into the song making it a living testament to the four young students who were shot down that spring day in 1970. Snapshots photos for the two young men and women, barely out of their teens when they died, are incorporated into the song.

Journeys, the third musical/film collaboration between Jonathan Demme and Neil Young, is a must for Neil Young fans. But even the casual observer should find cause to pause and reflect on this man and his music when he is playing one of the guitars that have been a part of his work for decades, at the piano or pushing down the pedals of a big ol’ pipe organ.

Thank you again, Neil, for taking us along for the ride.

Neil Young Journeys is being shown exclusively this week at the Regal Cinemas in Winter Park.

Critic's rating: B+

Rated PG

The Godfather II

The Saturday Matinee Classic at the Enzian Theatre today is The Godfather Part II.

Considered one of the best sequels ever made, the Francis Ford Coppola film continues the story from the original The Godfather, centering on the Corleone family both before and after the time period of the first film. Vito Corleone (Robert DeNiro) struggles in New York City in the 1910s  and is succeeded by his son Michael (Al Pacino) in the 1950s as he attempts to legitimize the family business in Las Vegas and Cuba. The film will be shown at 11 a.m. Tickets are $8, $5 for Enzian members.

The Birds

One of Alfred Hitchcock’s best films, and certainly strangest for its time, The Birds, returns to the big screen in a newly restored version, as well as restored versions of the original Frankenstein, The Bride of Frankenstein and To Kill a Mockingbird.

NCM Fathom Events and Turner Classic Movies will host the movie event on three separate showings this fall.

It kicks off with The Birds, Wednesday, Sept. 19, continues with the Frankenstein double feature, Wednesday, Oct. 24 and concludes with To Kill a Mockingbird, Wednesday, Nov. 7.

It is all part of Universal Studios ongoing 100th anniversary celebration.  

Each event will begin at 7 p.m. (some theaters will also have a 2 p.m. matinee performance) and each screening will feature an introduction by TCM host Robert Osborne.

The “TCM Event Series”will be presented using new digital cinema projection systems in select movie theaters around the country. Tickets to the series are available at presenting theater box offices and online at www.FathomEvents.com. For a complete list of presenting theater locations and prices, visit the web site. Area theaters showing the films include Cinemark Orlando Festival Bay and Pointe Orlando.

As part of Universal’s 100th Anniversary this year, a commemorative 50th Anniversary release of To Kill a Mockingbird is currently available on Blu-ray/DVD.  Coming to Blu-ray for the first time, The Birds will be released as part of the “Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection” on Sept. 25.  Also premiering on Blu-ray, Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein will be included in the “Universal Classic Monsters: The Essential Collection” available Oct. 2.