What classics did you see last week ? (19 Jan - 25 Jan 2020)

“Bad Boys for Life”  Distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing and Columbia Pictures, 124 Minutes, Rated R, Released Jan. 17:

Based on characters created by George Gallo, who also provided the screenplays for such hard-edged action-comedies as “Wise Guys,” “Midnight Run” and “The Whole Ten Yards,” “Bad Boys for Life” is the third time around for Miami detectives Mike Lowery and Marcus Burnett. But while the “Bad Boys” characters might’ve been created by Gallo, the formula for the film’s success has been around since Charlie Chaplin first shared the screen with Roscoe Arbuckle over a century ago.

In a series of comic book-like action adventures, Mike Lowery (Will Smith) is an ambitious, vainglorious and womanizing Miami detective partnered with the less adventurous, family-oriented, happily married homebody Marcus Bennett (Martin Lawrence). And beginning with the box office hit “Bad Boys” in 1995 and continuing with “Bad Boys II” in 2003 (the pictures which also put action-adventure filmmaker Michael Bay on the map), the two partners rely on their familiarity with each others’ strengths and character traits to survive spectacular adventures, solve complicated crimes, and subdue often genuinely evil adversaries, trading affectionate insults and one-liners every step of the way.

In “Bad Boys for Life,” their first film adventure in 17 years, detective Marcus Burnett has just become a proud grandfather ... while partner Mike Lowery has just become the target of an assassin. Blaming Lowery for the imprisonment of his mother, and the collapse of his family’s narcotics cartel, young assassin and aspiring drug kingpin Armando Armando manages to nearly kill Lowery. And as the gravely wounded detective hovers near death, the religious Burnett swears an oath before God to forgo future violence and mayhem in exchange for his partner’s life.

Six months later, Lowery has recovered sufficiently from his wounds to return to police work. Anxious to apprehend the assassin and solve the mystery of his own shooting, Lowery is instead surprised to learn that Burnett has retired from the police force, eager to spend time with his growing grandson and enjoy family life. Despite an argument that “violence is what we do,” Lowery is unable to persuade his partner to return to the police force to solve the shooting. Reluctantly, Lowery is assigned to a different crime fighting team ... headed by a former romantic conquest.

With overtones of the later pictures in the equally-successful “Lethal Weapon” series of movies, “Bad Boys for Life” plays to the strengths of the previous films in the series, with spectacular action set pieces, brilliant stunt coordination, and synchronized mayhem aplenty, leavened with the comfortably jocular interplay between Lawrence and Smith. While the picture becomes substantially darker than the other pictures (think “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom”) and the humor edges toward tired age-related jibes (“Put on your glasses!”), the heart of the “Bad Boys” pictures has always been the familiarity and affection between the partners. And thanks to the glorious chemistry between Smith and Lawrence, the formula works better than ever the third time around.

“Bad Boys” and “Bad Boys II” director Michael Bay contributes a cameo appearance as a wedding planner. Following the film’s box office success of “Bad Boys for Life” during its opening weekend, distributor Sony Pictures Releasing immediately announced plans for a fourth installment in the series. Fun Fact: The first “Bad Boys” picture in 1995 was originally slated to star comics Dana Carvey and Jon Lovitz, then riding high on the strength of their appearances on TV’s “Saturday Night Live.”

Directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah from a script credited to Chris Bremmer, Peter Craig, and TV’s “The Blacklist” writer and director Joe Carnahan,“Bad Boys for Life” is rated R for strong bloody violence, language concerns, sexual references, and brief drug use.



“Dolittle”  Distributed by Universal Pictures, 102 Minutes, Rated PG, Released Jan. 17:

No matter what kind of movie you think “Dolittle” is going to be, it might surprise you. And that might be part of the problem with the picture ... but also among its strengths.

“Dolittle” is the third motion picture version of the Newbery Medal-winning children’s series of Doctor Dolittle books written by British author Hugh Lofting during the 1920s. Originally appearing in the letters Lofting wrote to his children during his service as an enlisted man in the trenches of France during World War I, Doctor Dolittle is an eccentric physician who shuns human patients in favor of animals due to a unique ability to communicate with non-human patients.

Set in Victorian times and based mostly on “The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle” (the second of Lofting’s Doctor Dolittle collections), the movie “Dolittle” opens with a fairly innocuous “Once Upon a Time” prologue setting the stage for the film with the story of the character’s origin, illustrated onscreen with a series of drawing reminiscent of Lofting’s original books:

As in Lofting’s stories, Dr. John Dolittle is a British physician specializing in veterinary medicine. When he loses his beloved wife Lily during a perilous ocean voyage she undertakes without his company, Dolittle retires from medicine to become a hermit, living alone with his menagerie of animal friends on a vast, palatial walled-off estate near London.

As the picture’s main narrative begins, young Tommy Stubbins seriously injures a squirrel while reluctantly hunting with his country-bred father, and gathers the wounded squirrel into a box to seek the services of the reclusive Dolittle. Young Stubbins gains entry to Dolittle’s estate simultaneous to the arrival of young Lady Rose, who also seeks Dolittle’s services to save the gravely ill Queen Victoria, at the monarch’s own request. Appointing himself Dolittle’s apprentice, young Stubbins assists the disheveled and unkempt physician in saving the life of the wounded squirrel. And after Dolittle performs some rudimentary grooming on himself, Stubbins and the reclusive physician set off for Buckingham Palace to examine the Queen.

Dolittle shortly discovers the ailing Queen is suffering from a rare disease which requires as a cure an equally-rare elixir, found only in “the fruit of a plant that’s never been seen, growing on an island that’s never been found.” And accompanied by a crew of his most capable animal friends, Dolittle and young Tommy Stubbins set off on a perilous ocean voyage to locate the mysterious island and plant, and transport the elixir back to England in time to save the life of the ailing Queen.

Directed by Stephen Gaghan from a script credited to Dan Gregor, Doug Mand, and Chris McKay, “Dolittle” is filled with adventure, spectacular sight gags, and colorful set pieces and action sequences. In fact, “Dolittle” contains practically everything you can think of ... except cohesion. The film doesn’t flow from segment to segment so much as if morphs from style to style, and from genre to genre. There’s always plenty going on in the picture and even more to look at on the screen, with marvelous scenes including a delightfully exciting chase atop a galloping giraffe as the young Stubbins races to catch Dolittle’s departing ship for the voyage to the unknown island.

In a way, “Dolittle” resembles “Monty Python” without the laughs. If the 102-minute picture added another hour or so to its running time, it might’ve found its own unique style. In its final form, the picture lacks the central ingredient required of any such movie enterprise — Disney Magic. Instead, the picture is strongly reminiscent of those jaunty, ramshackle comedy spectaculars from the 1960s with titles like “Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines” and “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” ... movies panned during their original releases which sometimes became family favorites on television. The adult in you might roll your eyes at much of “Dolittle” ... but the 4- to 7-year-old inside you will cherish the movie forever.

As Dolittle, actor Robert Downey Jr. has a wonderful time channeling his Academy Award-nominated characterization from “Chaplin,” Richard Attenborough’s 1992 motion picture biography of controversial silent film legend Charlie Chaplin. In his first non-Iron Man role since 2014’s “The Judge,” Downey adopts a subdued and distracted accent of elusive Welsh or Scottish origin (one character refers to it as “his lean in, lean in, I’m saying something interesting voice”) and fashions a character who’s variously scatterbrained, brilliant, dramatic, sympathetic, and occasionally infuriating. In other words, Downey’s characterization as Dolittle will need to satisfy his legions of fans until he returns to performing in more serious roles.

In the film’s other live-action roles, Antonio Banderas appears as Rassouli, the Pirate King who also happens to be Dolittle’s vengeful father-in-law (and still blames the doctor for the demise of his beloved daughter), a villainous Michael Sheen as Dr. Mudfly, an old schoolmate of Dolittle and primary physician to Queen Victoria, 16-year-old Harry Collett as Tommy Stubbins, Dolittle’s companion and apprentice, and Jessie Buckley in wraparound segments in a brief role as Queen Victoria.

Rendered in wonderfully lifelike CGI-created incarnations, Dolittle’s menagerie of animal friends includes narrator Emma Thompson as a wisecracking parrot, Rami Malek as a timid gorilla, John Cena as an cheerful polar bear, Kumail Nanjiani as a cynical ostrich, Octavia Spencer as an addled duck (with a prosthetic leg), Downey’s Marvel colleague Tom Holland as a bespectacled dog, Ralph Fiennes as a vengeful tiger, Selena Gomez as an adventurous giraffe, and Marion Cotillard as a friendly fox. Tony-winning Broadway actress Frances de la Tour appears late in the picture as a heartburn-suffering dragon ... and gives new definition to the reason a “Ginko-Who-Soars” producing fire.

Principal photography for “Dolittle” began in February 2018 in Cumbria, with additional location filming in England’s Windsor Great Park and Wales’ Menai Suspension Bridge. Following disappointing test screenings, the picture underwent some three weeks of additional production, with filmmaker Jonathan Liebesman assisting Gaghan behind the camera and “The Lego Movie” veteran Chris McKay contributing additional comedy elements. Late in 2019, the picture’s title was officially changed from “The Voyage of Doctor Dolittle” to simply “Dolittle.”

Produced by Downey himself and his wife Susan for their Team Downey production company, “Dolittle” is rated PG for some action, rude humor, and brief language concerns.



“Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker” Distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, 142 Minutes, Rated PG-13, Released Dec. 20:

In the very first shot of the very first scene in the very first Star Wars picture in 1977, a small space freighter traveling through the cosmos is seen trying to elude an enormous Star Destroyer. The Star Destroyer enters the shot nose-first, its size gradually revealed as it passes before the camera’s lens in pursuit of the smaller craft.

While that shot is usually overlooked today, eclipsed and outdone over the decades by the bigger and better computer generated imagery and special effects created for the movies that followed in the gigantic footsteps of the original “Star Wars,” the impact of that image in 1977 was immediate, immense ... and almost completely unexpected. Viewers of the film literally gaped in astonishment.

Audience members who’d seen the picture were heard to marvel to those people who hadn’t yet heard of “Star Wars” — Imagine that! — about the sheer dimensions of the larger ship in the shot, usually in terms like, “You gotta see this thing — the spaceship just keeps coming and coming and coming until the damn thing fills up the whole movie screen!”

There’s a scene in the new “The Rise of Skywalker” that references that opening shot from the very first picture. And not to give anything away or reveal any spoilers — the Movie Viewer’s Code of Honor prohibits such an abomination — but if you thought that first spaceship was enormous, the sight of a thousand of them flying across the sky in tight formation is gonna really grab your attention. Especially in 3D.

Well, this is it: The ninth and reportedly final Star Wars picture has finally arrived.

We can deny the gravity of the event all we want ... and plenty of people want to do just that. But the plain fact is that all motion pictures produced in the past 42 years, and maybe in all of movie history, have pointed to this moment in time.

Released in May of 1977, “Star Wars” seemingly came out of nowhere, and suddenly was everywhere. Filmmaker George Lucas’ science fiction epic about a naive orphaned farm boy who grows up to topple a tyrannical interstellar empire changed the way we see movies. We now enjoy motion pictures courtesy of technology created because of the success of “Star Wars” and its sequels. And even the weakest of the Star Wars pictures has enjoyed the benefits of being the scion of a movie series which in the decades since the release of the original film has accumulated over $9 billion in cumulative box office revenues.

Yes, that’s billion, with a B ... and that’s just the movies. The entire Star Wars franchise — which embraces toys, video games, novels, comic books, pajamas, television shows, bedsheets, wallpaper, diapers, footwear, and just about anything else you can think of — currently has an estimated value of some $65 billion. “Star Wars” auteur George Lucas had the foresight and shrewdness in 1977 to retain the rights to sequels and peripheral “Star Wars” products. The original film earned a ton of money for distributor 20th Century-Fox ... but the sequels and toys turned George Lucas into one of the wealthiest men in the world.

By the time the Star Wars “prequel trilogy” rolled around — the three films directed by Lucas himself and released in 1999, 2002 and 2005, long after the hysteria surrounding the first three films had died down — the Star Wars pictures were mostly being critically panned, widely excoriated for appearing trite, pandering, and inconsistent in tone. The movies still earned enormous amounts of money at the box office, despite being possibly the most polarizing originator-created films in history since author L. Frank Baum’s own full-length “Oz” pictures during the 1910s.

But since the unprecedented success of the original trilogy of films (and its toys and tie-in products), Lucas’ Star Wars pictures were by then mostly self-financed affairs, released by other companies because Lucas’ empire lacked distribution abilities. In essence, George Lucas was the most successful independent filmmaker in history. And by the time of the prequels, Lucas had become an enormously successful toymaker who occasionally dabbled in filmmaking. The second trilogy of Star Wars pictures were the result of a rich man indulging his penchant for experimental filmmaking, a passion since his undergraduate days at USC.

The most recent episode in the Star Wars saga, 2017’s “The Last Jedi,” seemed to have been made by filmmakers unfamiliar with the saga. With its mordant humor, sight gags, and non-sequiturs, the picture didn’t make a whole lot of sense in the context of the Star Wars mythology, and seemed to fall apart entirely during the final 10 minutes. The picture hit all the notes, so to speak, but couldn’t seem to figure out the melody, sacrificing the series’ heart and soul for cuddly critters and nifty new gadgets. till, the picture set a high mark for its visual composition and action sequences — the picture moved like lightning, and was gorgeous to look at.

“The Rise of Skywalker,” the new Star Wars picture released Dec. 20, seeks to correct some of the deficiencies of 2017’s “The Last Jedi” while retaining its strengths ... and its box office prowess. To that end, the Walt Disney Studios (the owners of the Star Wars franchise since the company’s 2012 acquisition of Lucasfilm restored filmmaker J.J. Abrams to the creative helm as both the film’s director and, with Chris Terrio, its co-writer. Chris Terrio is the Academy Award-winning writer of 2012’s “Argo,” as well as 2016’s “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” and “Justice League” in 2017.

An old hand at reviving dormant film series after having performed similar duties on the “Star Trek” and “Mission; Impossible” movie franchises, J.J. Abrams was the filmmaker behind the 2015 Star Wars chapter “The Force Awakens, which resumed the primary Luke Skywalker plotline of the Star Wars series for the first time since 1983’s “Return of the Jedi.” Abrams’ “The Force Awakens,” like his 2009 reboot of “Star Trek,” violated some of the traditional conventions of the series on which it was based, but was slavishly faithful to the mythology.

In the new picture — the full, official title is “Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker” — the villainous but deeply conflicted Kylo Ren begins his reign of terror as the Supreme Leader of the First Order, while his estranged mother General Leia Organa continues to plot its destruction, and the desert scavenger Rey continues her cosmic education in the ways of The Force. But just when dissent among upper management in the oppressive First Order inspires a new hope among Resistance leaders for a return of the Jedi, the Empire strikes back in the form of an old adversary.

The first 90 minutes or so of the 142-minute “The Rise of Skywalker” are not so much a conclusion of the nine-part Star Wars saga as a microcosm of the previous eight installments. As such, it’s a necessarily mixed bag ... and a decidedly bumpy ride. There are awkward moments and slow spells, and some segments and subplots are more engaging than others, which is likely typical for such an episodic picture.

Only during the final hour does the picture genuinely come into its own and begin to really hum, building to a richly satisfying and genuinely moving conclusion. A charming coda brings it all home — literally — and the final line of dialogue might very well reduce the Star Wars faithful to tears. All in all, “The Rise of Skywalker” is a fitting conclusion to a film series which over the years has become not so much a franchise as a genre of its own, and almost a way of life.

Among the picture’s performances, you might have noticed that since his splashy debut in 2015’s “The Force Awakens” with the most stunning act of patricide since “Hamlet,” actor Adam Driver has quietly matured into one of the premier character actors of his generation. The actor’s standout — and outstanding — performances include appearances in such prominent films as Steven Soderbergh’s “Logan Lucky” in 2017, Spike Lee’s Academy Award-winning “BlacKkKlansman” in 2018, Jim Jarmusch’s “The Dead Don’t Die” earlier this year, and Noah Baumbach’s excellent “Marriage Story,” currently streaming on Netflix.

As the Darth Vader wannabe Kylo Ren in “The Rise of Skywalker,” the talented Driver seems to alternate between two speeds only — blind rage and dewy remorse. His mood swings seem to be somehow connected with the character’s occasional mask, which over the course of the trilogy’s story arc more and more resembles a Maori face painting. If there’s a breakout star from this trilogy of Star Wars pictures, it’s probably Driver. Oscar Isaac as the Han Solo-like whiz-bang flyboy Poe Dameron was a popular actor even before joining the Star Wars fold, and his appearance in the blockbuster trilogy seems like a late-stage bid to also become a matinee idol.

Like Driver, Daisy Ridley as Rey, the Jakku scavenger with something extra, seemingly has only two facial expressions — a scowl of deep concentration while she’s engaged in training or combat and a countenance of beatific peace when she’s caught up in the rapture of The Force. But since Rey and Kylo Ren are described in the picture as “a diad” — the Yin and Yang of The Force — we might consider the real possibility that Ridley and Driver are in effect inhabiting different facets of the same personality.

It’s an intriguing notion. But at the same time we need to acknowledge that we’ll have to wait for the two actors to contribute their best and most emotionally satisfying performances in other pictures — their roles here are by the film’s very definition necessarily limited. John Boyega too, another talented artisan outside the Star Wars universe, is similarly limited by the demands of his character as the converted stormtrooper Finn, but for the first time seems to be relaxing and having some fun with his contribution to the saga.

The surprisingly full performance of the late Carrie Fisher — appropriately top-billed for the first time in the saga’s history as the matronly General/Princess Leia — is reportedly cobbled together from cutting room footage excluded from 2015’s “The Force Awakens” and 2017’s “The Last Jedi,” a real triumph of film editing and sound recording. Save for one brief shot in a flashback sequence, the late actress’ performance has not been augmented by CGI, as in the peripheral 2016 Star Wars feature “Rogue One.“ And Fisher’s physical appearance in “The Rise of Skywalker” is as radiantly lovely as in any picture in the series’ 42-year history.

John Williams’ music score, possibly the most evocative of his long, long career, becomes something of a retrospective. You might be surprised by how many distinctly different and familiar themes and musical cues the 87-year-old Williams has composed for the Star Wars series over the decades, and they’re all reprised throughout the course of the picture’s running time ... although the Wagnerian strains of “The Imperial March” — the Empire’s theme music — are not heard until the closing credits. True fans of the series might actually be able to follow the picture’s action blindfolded, just by listening to the music.

During the movie’s final battle sequence, for the very first time in the saga’s history Williams rousingly incorporates his iconic “Star Wars Main Title Theme” onto the soundtrack to underscore the action. The result is breathtakingly effective. You just don’t realize until that moment how deeply integrated the melody has become to our collective heritage — like a second National Anthem or Souza’s “Stars and Stripes Forever,” you feel almost compelled to rise to your feet and salute in the context of the scene, and that music. Bravo, maestro.

Sharp-eyed viewers will notice actor Denis Lawson during the final battle sequence in a one-line cameo appearance as Wedge Antilles, Luke Skywalker’s buddy in the first three pictures. Screenings of “The Rise of Skywalker” are preceded with an onscreen disclaimer cautioning viewers with medical conditions aggravated by the use of flashing lights.

“Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker” is rated PG-13 for episodes of science fiction violence and action, and for some intense sequences.

That is my first movie memory!

Conflict (1945), directed by Curtis Bernhardt.

Humphrey Bogart has fallen in love with his wife's sister and decides to kill the current Mrs (starting a trend he continues in The Two Mrs. Carrolls (1947), also with Alexis Smith). After he makes her vanish strange things begin to happen: she seems to be lurking just out of sight and leaving clues. Is she not dead? A ghost? Is he cracking up, or is someone playing elaborate tricks on him? (Sounds a lot like the later film, Diabolique (1955), doesn't it?)

This is a minor thriller but has a nice dark tone and intimations of insanity and suppressed desires. Sydney Greenstreet is an affable shrink who keeps dropping suggestive hints to trouble a guilty conscience. The plot mechanics are beyond improbable, but we try not to worry about such things.

My earliest memory of a scene from a movie is from this film. I was 4 or 5 years old, up late in a pitch black room with a boxy black-and-white TV set, fighting to stay awake. I remember the final scene where Bogart comes down the slope on a foggy night, using a flashlight to inspect the wrecked car, looking to see if a dead woman is still inside. She isn't.

Warner Archive title, available for rent from ClassicFlix.

Only managed to watch three movies (but they were three very different movies).

Slither (2006).



Chalet Girl (2011).



Death Defying Acts (2007).

ER (1995) “Long Day’s Journey” 25th ANNIVERSARY. Gloria Reuben’s Jeanie Boulet makes her debut. Warner DVD.

THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO (1998) “Part 4” 175TH ANNIVERSARY The conclusion of this TV Mini-series adaptation of the novel. Youtube.

MOBILE FIGHTER G GUNDAM (1995) “The Ultimate Attack! Duel with Master Asia” 25TH ANNIVERSARY. G GUNDAM was the fifth series of the Gundam Franchise, and the first to establish a different continuity from the Zeon/Char/Newtype/Earth VS Colonies War Storyline of the previous series. This time the plot has space colonies (each representing a nation) sending a mecha fighter to war-torn Earth to combat each other in a fight that will decide who will lead the colonies. Among these fighters is Neo-Japan’s Domon Kasshu, who besides fighting is searching for his hated brother and his destructive creation the Devil Gundam. Adding to his angst is his former sensei Master Asia siding with his foe. For its anniversary, I have decided to watch the final batch of episodes, as Domon wins the preliminaries to fight in the finals. Bandai DVD.

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (1980) “Part 2” 40TH ANNIVERSARY. BBC/Warner DVD

THE ADVENTURES OF ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE AND FRIENDS (1960) “Jet Fuel Formula 19 & 20” 60TH ANNIVERSARY Captain “Wrong-Way” Peachfuzz makes his debut as the two opposing teams end up onboard ship for a voyage to Pottsylvania. Meanwhile FRACTURED FAIRY TALES handles “The Princess and the Pea” and Mr. Peabody and Sherman help Annie Oakley. Sony Wonder DVD.

DADDY LONG LEGS (1990) “Preparing For a Journey By Myself.” 30TH ANNIVERSARY Bootleg DVD.

JEKYLL AND HYDE (1990) 30TH ANNIVERSARY David Wickes and Michael Caine reunite their success from JACK THE RIPPER with this adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella. This one takes its changes: Dr. Landyon becomes Jekyll’s antagonist, this time portrayed as a father who blames Jekyll for failing to save one daughter and being the object of attention for his married daughter (Cheryll Ladd) whom he disowns. The ‘Bad Woman’ of earlier adaptations is given lesser emphasis. And Jekyll here is not so much interested in separating good and evil but chemically changing a person for the better (all he succeeds is in making evil). However, this Jekyll manages to own up for his responsibilities, unlike March, Tracy, and Palance, who played the blame game with their other self. I remember first seeing this on its ABC premiere on January 21, 1990, excited to see it (I also remember the TV Guide ‘Corner’ commenting about the many film versions). Due to my perceptions of the 1931/1941 plotline, I was confused by the changes. To me, the two scenes that discomforted me was Landyon throwing his daughter out, and the twist ending. This film also introduced me (although I wouldn’t recognize them until later) to Joss Ackland, Kevin McNally, and Ronald Pickup. I am watching this via the VHS recording of that broadcast. It might be edited, because I recall seeing a Lifetime broadcast (Cheryl Ladd’s character gets brutally raped. Of course it would be on Lifetime!) where the daughter tells his father her plans to dump her overseas husband for Jekyll. Commercials include promos for WHO’S THE BOSS? ANYTHING BUT LOVE, THIRTYSOMETHING, and THE WONDER YEARS, a commercial celebrating ALL MY CHILDREN’S 20 years on broadcast, with Susan Lucci’s Erica Kane recollecting her many loves and her belief that her present love is here to stay (No it doesn’t).

THE SIX WIVES OF HENRY VIII (1970) “Anne of Cleves” 50TH ANNIVERSARY Keith Michell’s Henry loses his youth by Marriage No. 4, emphasizing the comedy when he- believing he is still young and handsome- surprises her betrothed (Elvi Hale) with deception and revelation- getting a reaction he did expect. However, all ends happily for this Anne; not so for Thomas Cromwell. BBC/Warner DVD.

HOLLYWOOD (1980) “Double Beds and Single Standards” 40TH ANNIVERSARY The Prologue begins with the ending of THE ROUNDERS (1914), with Chaplin and Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle. James Mason compares the two, while Chaplin became the most beloved, Arbuckle became forgotten, and for a while, the most despised. The episode begins with the films and fame of Arbuckle, then to that infamous San Francisco night when Arbuckle was accused of raping and killing Virginia Rappe (Some of the footage would be used later for BUSTER KEATON: A HARD ACT TO FOLLOW (1987), as well as Carl Davis’ theme for Buster). Act Two deals with William Hays cleaning up the studios (which also dealt with Wallace Reid’s drug-addicted death). Among his actions were featurettes to show the actors at home (like Marion Davies cleaning her apartment; her affair with Hearst not yet known), dealing with the hopefuls who tried and failed to make it to stardom (some pressed on by their ambitious mothers to go High-class prostitution or making nudie stag films), and censorship. The film ends with A WOMAN OF AFFAIRS and how that adaptation portrayed its questionable source material without being explicit. I first saw this on The Learning Channel on my 12th Birthday in October 1991. Coming home from dinner at Burger king (at the time we rarely went there, so my Birthday demanded a trip there), I got to the beginning of the second act. Having watched the second part of THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (1956) for the first time on that day (one of my presents), it was fortunate to see scenes of the 1923 version (the Golden Calf orgy sequence, opening up Act Two). Interviews from Adela St. John Rogers, Viola Dana, Karl Brown, Cecil Belfrage, Gloria Swanson, and Collen Moore. I finally saw the first act in early 1992 and always wondered why they gave short thrift to the William Desmond Taylor scandal (especially its connection with Arbuckle costar Mabel Normand). I finally saw the complete version (with stag film footage) on TCM in June 1997.

TREASURE ISLAND (1990) 30TH ANNIVERSARY TNT-produced adaptation of Stevenson’s novel, with Charlton Heston as Long John Silver, Christian Bale as Jim Hawkins, under the direction of Chuck’s son Fraser Heston (with the Bounty built for the Marlon Brando version). I remember the promos & featurettes of this production on the TNT Network: one of them a Treasure Map with the trail line heading to the X (I believe I also confused the young Bale for Jerry O’Connell). I saw a little of the film- part of the ending- around that time. I didn’t see the whole film until June 2011. Turner Entertainment VHS.

DRAGON BALL Z (1990) “Don’t Die Father! This is the Depth of Gohan’s Father!” 30TH ANNIVERSARY. Funimation DVD.

ONCE AND AGAIN (2000) “Meditiation” 20TH ANNIVERSARY. I had skipped the last two episodes (Lily sleeps with her separated husband and Rick feels betrayed; Lily files for divorce). The story so far, Rick and Lily bask in sadness before reconciling. Meanwhile Rick gets a new client in Miles Drentell (spun off from Marshall Herskowitz & Edward Zwick’s previous THIRTYSOMETHING). Buena Vista DVD.

BALLYKISSANGEL (1996) “Trying to Connect You” & “Fallen Angel” British NORTHERN EXPOSURE-esque comedy of an English priest (Stephen Tompkinson) taking over the parish of an Irish Town. Became a devoted fan of this series back when BBC America first came to my family’s cable in 1999. Amazon Prime.

IVANHOE (1970) “Hunted” 50TH ANNIVERSARY & 200TH ANNIVERSARY. SimplyMedia PAL DVD

ANGEL (2000) “Expecting.” 20TH ANNIVERSARY. FoxVideo DVD.

GANKUTUSUOU – THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO (2005) “The End of Happiness and the Beginning of Truth.” 15TH ANNIVERSARY & 175TH ANNIVERSARY. Geneon DVD.

Rio Bravo (1959).

I understand that it is revered film and very influential, which is the only reason I bothered. . .but I just couldn't get into it. There's something about older Westerns that just bores me to tears. I don't think I've ever really liked one made before the late sixties. But I had to cross this one off my list as a fan of film.

Hi all,I hope everyone is having a good week. Last week I got the chance to go to The Electric (the oldest working cinema in the UK) for a great 50 minute Q&A, after a screening of:



Cleanin' Up the Town: Remembering Ghostbusters (2019)-first review on IMDb for the film!

As someone who enjoyed Ghostbusters 1 and the cartoon shows,but is not a megafan, (I've not seen the second) I went in with modest expectations, and was caught by surprise, over how fasinating the production history turned out to be.

9



Taking 12 years to make, (just like Boyhood!) directors Anthony Bueno & Claire Bueno set their Proton packs to a stunningly detailed examination of the first Ghostbusters, with the Bueno treating everyone from the cast,to the puppeteers with equal importance. Along with footage from the film and production photos, the Bueno's use delightfully quirky animation, which along with bringing to life recollections from the cast/crew, also links to the history animation has with Ghostbusters.

Detailing the hours of cut footage in a 50 minute Q&A after the screening, the Bueno's unveil fascinating behind the scenes archive material which has been unseen until now, from original concepts designs, models, and test runs on how the ghosts looked/moved, (Stay Puff sure got crispy!) to interviews going into the changes made to Ernie Hudson/Sigourney Weaver's plot lines. Whilst Rick Moranis (who has retired) and Bill Murray, (who has a rep in Hollywood for being a jerk,he stopped Ghostbusters 3 from being made for decade) don't appear, the Bueno's easily overcome this with fantastic interviews from Dan "Crystal Head Vodka" and visual effects art director John Bruno, to Harold Ramis final interview about the first Ghostbusters.

Other films:




Assassination Nation (2018) 8

His first upload since 2011's Another Happy Day, writer/director Sam Levinson unlocks the fourth wall in a frenzied opening smashing into future events to take place in the film, which slides into Levinson closely working with cinematographer Marcell Rev & editor Ron Patane, Levinson synch up a ultra-stylised atmosphere of bright red pop-ups and fractured txt messages being layered over the girls.

Sitting with the gang watching the Pinky Violence movie Delinquent Girl Boss: Unworthy of Penance (1971), Levinson takes the pulpy sparks of the Pinky Violence and Giallo genres, and twists them into abrasive Pop-Art of a outstanding long take weaving the camera tracking a home break-in, which rolls into startling streaks of red firing up the avenging Femme fatales.

Whilst the coda is a bit too on the nose, the screenplay by Levinson gleefully laughs at the audience with a sarcastic "Trigger Warning" opening, that becomes locked and loaded to a thrilling survive the night onslaught the gang get caught up in.Going online in Salem, Levinson takes a wickedly sly twist in creating the Salem Witch Trials for the internet age, where illegally uploaded/stolen files turns the locals into a absurdest online hate mob, whose keyboards lock onto staging a trial for this gang in the assassination nation.

The Gamma People (1956)- A film that I suspect will interest you hitchcockthelegend

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The Gamma People (1956) 8

Stranding Wilson and Meade in a small country which they can't figure it how they arrived, appears not to be on a map, and is impossible to leave, co-writer/(with Robert Aldrich/Louis Pollock and John W. Gossage) director John Gilling & cinematographer Ted Moore touch on the eerie, isolating Sci-Fi atmosphere of the 60's The Prisoner TV show, thanks to stylish wide-shots scanning the sparsely populated village/country, where shops that serve no purpose (such as a telegraph shop) are open and pretending to do business.

Giving Meade and Wilson a warm welcome in John Box's surreal, exotic art design, Gilling wonderfully runs into the direction he would later take with Plague of the Zombies, in the leader of the country having a brainwashed, zombie gang to do his bidding, with Gilling treading on a Horror atmosphere in frantic tracking shots following the zombies sniffing out suspicious locals in the woods like hounds.

Targeting gamma rays at the inner workings of the country, the writers brilliantly twist allegorical Sci-Fi of everyone fearing to speak out in a Eastern European-style country, with a unsettling, seeping chill from Meade (a debonair Leslie Phillips) and Wilson (a great, agitated Paul Douglas) finding the locals trying to normalise the situation, leading to Wilson and Meade taking on the Gamma People.