|
|
Post by petrolino on Oct 13, 2021 23:07:38 GMT
đ Scientific Fantasy, Psychedelics & The Counterculture đ
There's been hushed murmurs about bringing more of author Frank Herbert's work to the big screen in the wake of Denis Villeneuve's latest cinematic translation of 'Dune' (1965) which I believe is in the process of gradually clawing back its enormous budget at the box-office. Would Villeneuve care to take on 'The Primitives' (1966), 'The Heaven Makers' (1967) or 'The Santaroga Barrier' (1968), and could they be made commercially viable in the current fantasy-friendly cinematic universe?
In these literary works' corner might be their influence upon much of what's become popular in genre fiction since, and this doesn't just stop at the work of Herbert. The "new age of science-fiction, fantasy and horror" in comic books and literature traced a pathway adjacent to the development of sister genres fantasy, science-fiction & horror in art, music, film and literature in general, leading them to be embraced by counterculture artists who were reshaping the frame in America.
âA sophisticated human can become primitive. What this really means is that the human's way of life changes. Old values change, become linked to the landscape with it's plants and animals. This new existence requires a working knowledge of those multiplex and cross-linked events usually referred to as Nature. It requires a measure of respect for the inertial power within such natural systems. When a human gains this knowledge and respect, that is called "being primitive". The converse, of course, is equally true: the primitive human can become sophisticated, but not without incurring dreadful psychological damage.â
- Frank Herbert
Frank Herbert's 'The Santaroga Barrier' (1968) by Paul Lehr
'Starman' - David Bowie
In 2017, some stories emerged online suggesting that Dan Harmon was set to bring Kurt Vonnegut's 'The Sirens Of Titan' (1959) to the screen as a television series. An adaptation of Robert Heinlein's 'Stranger In A Strange Land' (1961) has been stuck in pre-production limbo for a long time now so it might have been scrapped; if only Paul Verhoeven had been available to direct. Perhaps the studios considering such productions are wary of bringing these books to the screen, despite all the advantages being offered by rapid advancements in technology today. David Cronenberg's adaptation of William Burroughs' 'Naked Lunch' (1959) has a cult following of its own and is now part of the Criterion Collection, but it was a major box-office bomb in its day, grossing just $2,600,000 against a production budget of around $18,000,000.
'In a 1996 episode of The Simpsons, "Bart on the Road", Bart, Nelson, and Milhouse use Bart's fake driver's license to get into the theatre to see an adult film. The film they choose, based on its title and R rating, is Naked Lunch. When they silently exit the theatre, Nelson looks up to the marquee and says, "I can think of at least two things wrong with that title."'
- Wikipedia
'Dune' art by John Schoenherr
Elton John - 'Solar Prestige A Gammon'
In 2014, it was widely reported that Michel Gondry had abandoned plans to film an adaptation of Philip K. Dick's 'Ubik' (1969). There's been talk in the past of adaptations coming of Harlan Ellison's 'I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream' (1967) and Poul Anderson's 'Operation Chaos' (1971), yet these fuzzy mutterings appear to have amounted to absolutely nothing. I'm not holding my breath on an adaptation of Philip Roth's 'The Breast' (1972) coming any time soon either.
"On first reading a Philip K Dick novel, many people wonder what kind of twisted mind could come up with such ideas. The answer is a very twisted mind indeed - even when writing science fiction, Dick wrote from experience. This is certainly true of A Scanner Darkly, perhaps the ultimate sci-fi drug novel, on which Richard Linklater's new film is based. Starring Keanu Reeves - albeit in a more animated form than usual, courtesy of a surreal rotoscoping process - it tells of an undercover narcotics cop named Robert Arctor who loses his mind while trying to bust an illegal drugs trade.
Many of Dick's writings contain such pharmaceutical themes, with their protagonists (usually cops) suffering catastrophic changes in perception, often brought about by exotic substances. These "reality shifts" generally lead to an understanding of the true nature of the universe - an effect that Dick, whose drug intake was as prolific as his fiction output, believed he had experienced personally.
Dick's unique brand of science fiction earned him critical respect and a cult following, his fans (many of whom cheerfully refer to themselves as "Dickheads") being particularly numerous in France and Eastern Europe. Since his death in 1982 he has also become a popular resource for film-makers: Blade Runner, Total Recall, Screamers, Minority Report and Paycheck are all based on Dick novels or short stories.
In 1960s California it was inevitable that a writer like Dick would become a counterculture guru, expected - practically obliged, in fact - to flaunt a drug-rich lifestyle of his own, and he rose enthusiastically to that challenge. His writing had always been fuelled by vast quantities of amphetamines, but he soon branched out into marijuana, mescaline, LSD, sodium pentothal and even PCP. After the breakup of his fourth marriage in 1970, Dick's home became open house to the eclectic collection of speed-freaks, dope-heads, junkies and dealers on whom the characters in A Scanner Darkly are based.
Seven years later, when he wrote the novel, Dick was suffering from permanent pancreatic damage and had begun to regret his earlier indulgence. He had experienced not only the drug culture which surrounds the book's protagonist but also some of the hallucinations and delusions which Arctor and friends encounter there."
- Philip Purser-Hallard, The Guardian
'Dune' sketch by John Schoenherr
'I've Seen The Saucers' - Elton John
A few years back, Ursula Le Guin was suggested as being the next fantasy writer to experience a spate of screen adaptations, yet nothing came to fruition. Her legacy has been tapped from time to time by television writers and there's also been some animation. Perhaps Stephen King could be approached to help bring Le Guin's 'Earthsea' saga to the big screen as he has the necessary clout to get a project of this type of scale and ambition greenlit.
"Her father was one of the pioneers of âcultural relativismâ, a theory that was to have huge influence on the progressive politics of the late 20th century. The notion that desires and moral values may be culturally specific was enormously challenging to a Victorian intellectual framework that dealt in universal hierarchies. For a nation that was just mopping up after a 300-year genocide, the thought that the people they had eradicated werenât inferior but different was (and remains) unwelcome. Ursula Le Guinâs fiction is littered with moments of cultural contact, and heroes who approach the unfamiliar with an open mind and a desire to learn. How much of this perspective was learned in the family home? âItâs got to be partly nurture,â Le Guin allows, âbut I really wonder if itâs partly nature, too, if I simply inherited something like my fatherâs temperament.â I put it to her that humility before otherness is always a signal virtue in her fiction. âItâs great curiosity also,â she says. âYou want to know. You want to go and be there.â
The Word for World Is Forest, published in 1972, is clearly a product of this view. The book is a response to the Vietnam war, to which Le Guin was vehemently opposed. In a 2008 interview with the novelist Alexander Chee, she remembered writing it in London, where she and her husband were spending a sabbatical year. âI was unable to protest my countryâs increasing involvement by non-violent action. My frustrated anger and shame went pretty directly into the book.â The planet Athshe, an Edenic forest world, is the site of New Tahiti, a human logging colony. The humans have casually enslaved the inhabitants, who are peaceful, physically slight, with a subsistence-level material culture. The narrative pits Captain Davidson â a violent exploiter whose rape and murder of a native woman sparks a revolt in the hominids he derisively calls âcreechiesââ against anthropologist Raj Lyubov, who becomes a kind of species traitor as he discovers more about the nature of the native relationship to the forest. The anthropologist is despised by the military commander because he appears content to be in the world, to try to understand without altering it or bending it to his will. Lyubov, precisely because he is mindful and aware, realises that Athsheâs inhabitants, stigmatizsed as lazy and work-shy, actually spend part of their âwakingâ time in a state of lucid dreaming.
If this reminds you of James Cameronâs 2009 blockbuster Avatar, youâre not alone (though the aliens in the film are large and blue rather than small and green). In Le Guinâs opinion, Cameron âhad quite a few people to thankâ for inspiring his story, but âhe dodged all thatâ. Likewise she thinks JK Rowling âcould have been more generousâ in acknowledging A Wizard of Earthsea (1968), a novel in which a young boy attends a school for wizards and attracts the attention of metaphysical dark forces. Though Le Guin is certainly a famous writer, she is probably not as famous as she ought to be, and these days her influence is mainly felt indirectly. Her novels, like Ray Bradburyâs short story about cultural assimilation, âDark They Were and Golden Eyedâ, and Robert Heinleinâs novel Stranger in a Strange Land were among the dog-eared paperbacks that passed hand to hand in squats and communes across the US, as SF became one of the unacknowledged intellectual drivers of the counterculture. As she writes in her 1997 translation of the Tao Te Ching âtrue leaders/ are hardly known to their followers ⊠when the workâs done right/ with no fuss or boasting/ ordinary people say/ Oh, we did it.â Le Guinâs engagement with Taoism underpins The Lathe of Heaven (1971)."
- Hari Kunzru, The Guardian
Dean Koontz's 'Nightmare Journey' (1975) by Paul Lehr
-- -- -- --
đž The Museum Of Pop Culture (MoPop) đž
-
'The Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame was founded by Paul Allen and his sister Jody Patton, and opened to the public on June 18, 2004. It incorporated the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame which had been established in 1996. The museum was divided into several galleries with themes such as "Homeworld", "Fantastic Voyages", "Brave New Worlds", and "Them!", each displaying related memorabilia (movie props, first editions, costumes, and models) in large display cases, posters, and interactive displays. It was said about the museum that "From robots to jet packs to space suits and ray guns, it's all here."
Members of the museum's advisory board included Steven Spielberg, Ray Bradbury, James Cameron, and George Lucas. Among its collection of artifacts were Captain Kirk's command chair from Star Trek, the B9 robot from Lost in Space, the Death Star model from Star Wars, the T-800 Terminator and the dome from the film Silent Running. Although the Science Fiction Museum as a permanent collection was de-installed in March 2011, a new exhibit named Icons of Science Fiction opened as a replacement in June 2012. At this time the new Hall of Fame display was unveiled and the class of 2012 inducted.'
- Wikipedia
'Life On Mars' - David Bowie
-
đ· Science Fiction And Fantasy Hall Of Fame Inductions đ·
1996: Jack Williamson; A. E. van Vogt; John W. Campbell, Jr.; Hugo Gernsback
1997: Andre Norton; Arthur C. Clarke; H. G. Wells; Isaac Asimov
1998: Hal Clement; Frederik Pohl; C. L. Moore; Robert A. Heinlein
1999: Ray Bradbury; Robert Silverberg; Jules Verne; Abraham Merritt
2000: Poul Anderson; Gordon R. Dickson; Theodore Sturgeon; Eric Frank Russell
2001: Jack Vance; Ursula K. Le Guin; Alfred Bester; Fritz Leiber
2002: Samuel R. Delany; Michael Moorcock; James Blish; Donald A. Wollheim
2003: Wilson Tucker; Kate Wilhelm; Damon Knight; Edgar Rice Burroughs
2004: Brian Aldiss; Harry Harrison; Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley; E. E. "Doc" Smith
2005: Steven Spielberg; Philip K. Dick; Chesley Bonestell; Ray Harryhausen
2006: George Lucas; Frank Herbert; Frank Kelly Freas; Anne McCaffrey
2007: Ed Emshwiller; Gene Roddenberry; Ridley Scott; Gene Wolfe
2008: Ian Ballantine and Betty Ballantine; William Gibson; Richard M. Powers; Rod Serling
2009: Edward L. Ferman; Michael Whelan; Frank R. Paul; Connie Willis
2010: Octavia E. Butler; Richard Matheson; Douglas Trumbull; Roger Zelazny
2011: Vincent Di Fate; Gardner Dozois; Harlan Ellison; Jean Giraud
2012: Joe Haldeman; James Tiptree, Jr.; James Cameron; Virgil Finlay
2013: H. R. Giger; Judith Merril; Joanna Russ; David Bowie; J. R. R. Tolkien
2014: Frank Frazetta; Hayao Miyazaki; Leigh Brackett; Olaf Stapledon; Stanley Kubrick
2015: James E. Gunn; Georges MĂ©liĂšs; John Schoenherr; Kurt Vonnegut; Jack Gaughan
2016: Terry Pratchett; Douglas Adams; Star Trek; Blade Runner
2017: J. K. Rowling; Stan Lee; The Legend of Zelda; Buffy the Vampire Slayer
2018: Neil Gaiman; Vonda N. McIntyre; Doctor Who; Magic: The Gathering
2019: Ted Chiang; D. C. Fontana; Star Wars; Watchmen
đž 20 Creators & Artistic Works Were Inducted Into The Hall Of Fame To Celebrate Its 20th Anniversary đč
Creators : Margaret Atwood; Keith David; Guillermo del Toro; Terry Gilliam; Jim Henson; Jack Kirby; Madeleine L'Engle; C. S. Lewis; H. P. Lovecraft; Leonard Nimoy; George Orwell; Rumiko Takahashi; John Williams
Works : 2001: A Space Odyssey; Dungeons & Dragons; The Matrix; Myst; The Princess Bride; Wonder Woman; The X-Files
Museum Of Pop Culture in Seattle, Washington ("the blob building" designed by architect Frank Gehry)
-- -- -- --
đż William Shatner : Space Voyager đż
Earlier today, actor William Shatner was blasted into space by Amazon.com co-founder Jeff Bezos, on a flight mission that lasted approximately ten minutes. Shatner become the oldest person to go to space and he did this aboard a sub-orbital capsule. He experienced weightlessness at ninety years of age and witnessed Earth's curvature through the vessel's reinforced superwindows. The craft landed safely back on Earth just after 10:00 local time (16:00 BST) according to the latest reports.
Blue Origins vice president of mission and flight operations Audrey Powers, science-fiction icon William Shatner, Planet Labs co-founder Chris Boshuizen and Medidata Solutions co-founder Glen de Vries wave from the landing pad of Blue Originâs New Shepard near Van Horn, Texas, having flown into space on October 13, 2021 ...
David Bowie - 'Ziggy Stardust'
There are many Canadian icons alive today who could be labelled titanic - Celine Dion, Wayne Gretzky, Neil Young, Donald Sutherland, David Cronenberg, Avril Lavigne ... the list goes on and on. Yet, it's space traveller and apex predator William Shatner who now stands proudly at this formidable list's peak. This is the man who beat the pants off William Shakespeare on north American soundstages, risked his life standing for civil rights in Missouri alongside filmmaker Roger Corman, manned the helm for science-fictions' televised invitation to the psychedelic party, acted in just the second recorded film shot in the international auxiliary language Esperanto ... all before the close of the 1960s, and he was just getting started.
âScratch a conservative and you find someone who prefers the past over any future. Scratch a liberal and find a closet aristocrat. Itâs true! Liberal governments always develop into aristocracies. The bureaucracies betray the true intent of people who form such governments. Right from the first, the little people who formed the governments which promised to equalize the social burdens found themselves suddenly in the hands of bureaucratic aristocracies. Of course, all bureaucracies follow this pattern, but what a hypocrisy to find this even under a communized banner. Ahhh, well, if patterns teach me anything itâs that patterns are repeated. My oppressions, by and large, are no worse than any of the others and, at least, I teach a new lesson. ââ
- Frank Herbert
"Colour, diversity and fearless futurism ..." : The Original 'Star Trek'
'Rocket Man' - Elton John
Today, William Shatner has returned from his own personal mission into space, and he's returned a changed man. Judging by his own summation, he's been irrevocably altered, and he intends to see things out in this altered state.
|
|
|
|
Post by petrolino on Oct 20, 2021 23:44:54 GMT
Quebecers In Space : 'Circus Of The Suns' đŠ
'In 1824 these was little possibility of an anglophone Quebecker obtaining an education that included any higher mathematics or science. The Rev. Daniel Wilkie, who was conversant in science and mathematics, provided some tutoring in his school; several of his students afterwards became noted science amateurs. The only school offering a modicum of science for francophones was the Seminaire de Quebec, the successor to the classical College de Quebec which had been closed after the British expelled the Jesuits. According to the "Plan d' Education du Seminaire de Quebec" of 1790, the final year (senior year of philosophy) was devoted to mathematics, physics, and geography. By 1816 the curriculum was expanded so that some mathematics was taught in the penultimate year, followed in the senior year by higher mathematics, physics, some chemistry and astronomy. This arrangement was in force during the 1830s; the physics and mathematics examinations were public events. Students' and professors' notebooks from this period attest to the Seminaire' s elementary but up-to-date scientific education. Though it was the centre for higher education in Quebec, its enrolment was never large. Only about 100 students were in attendance in 1800, and while the total enrolment had risen to 303 by 1836 only 13 students were to be found in the senior year of philosophy. Seminaire students were fortunate to have a succession of capable science teachers. The abbe Jerome Demers, who more than anyone was the founder of science teaching at the institution, established the Cabinet de Physique and constructed instruments. His student Louis-Jacques Casault was the first Professor of Physics at the Seminaire (1834), and afterwards first Rector of Universite Laval. The best-known figure at this time was the American-born convert John Holmes, of whom Lord Gosford remarked that he raised the mathematics course to a high level by sup-porting ideas with examples drawn from physics. In 1836 Holmes tra-velled to Europe to purchase scientific books and instruments for several classical colleges and to secure a master for the proposed Quebec Normal School. This school designed to ameliorate the low academic level of many Lower Canada teachers, on the advice of abbe Demers would have introduced science and mathematics into its curriculum. Owing to the political turbulence of that period the Normal School never opened. When the master hired by Holmes arrived in Quebec, he found himself without a position. Surprisingly, women could attain a limited scientific and mathematical education at the Ursuline Convent school. Holmes (whose sister, also a convert, taught there) purchased a few scientific instruments and teaching aids for the school in 1836. The beautiful globes and orrey may still be seen in the convent museum.'
- Except from 'The Rise And Decline Of Science At Quebec, 1824-1844', by R. A. Jarrell
Citadelle atop Cap Diamant
- - - - -
Denis Villeneuve (born October 3, 1967, Libra in Bécancour, Québec, Canada)
Interview with Amy Adams & Denis Villeneuve
"Denis Villeneuve agreed to make an adaptation of Frank Herbertâs famously unadaptable â if attempts by David Lynch and Alejandro Jodorowsky are any indication â âDuneâ on the condition he could split the book into two parts. While part two has yet to be greenlit by Warner Bros., Villeneuve has expressed confidence in the movie getting made.
In fact, heâs even mapped out a plan for a âDuneâ trilogy that will include an adaptation of Herbertâs 1969 sequel novel âDune Messiah.â As he explained to CBC Radio Canada â via Collider â he and screenwriter Jon Spaihts are already at work on the sequel, and Villeneuve still has plenty more âDuneâ stories to tell.
He said, âThere is âDuneâs second book, âThe Messiah of Dune,â which could make an extraordinary film. I always saw that there could be a trilogy; after that, weâll see. Itâs years of work; I canât think of going further than that.â
- Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire
Jake Gyllenhaal & Melanie Laurent in 'Enemy' (2013)
'Cosmic Dancer' - T. Rex
"Given that Denis Villeneuve is one of the most prominent names in 21st century science-fiction filmmaking, it should come as no surprise to find Stanley Kubrickâs â2001: A Space Odysseyâ ranked among his favorite films.
âI first watched it from the staircase when I was very young,â Villeneuve said about â2001â while on the Cannes Film Festival jury in 2018, noting the film gave him one of his first âcinematic shocks.â âThen I saw the entire film on television and was struck by the sense of vertigo that he managed to create. It became my favorite film. Rediscovering it at the festival, in 70mm, was a special moment for meâŠScience fiction appeals to me because it allows you to tackle difficult subjects such as religion, or other aspects of society that are off-limits, with a great deal of freedom and distance.â Villeneuve told IndieWire that Steven Spielberg is âa genius as a film directorâ whose films provided some of the âbig artistic shocksâ of his life, from âJawsâ to âE.T.â and âClose Encounters of the Third Kind.â It was the latter title that proved instrumental for Villeneuve, as Spielbergâs casting of Francois Truffaut in âThird Kindâ opened the door for Villeneuve to discover the French New Wave.
âI was raised in a small village in Quebec, so mostly in this part of the world the cinema I was in contact with was American cinema,â Villeneuve told the Toronto Film Critics Association in 2017. âSo I remember where I discovered the job of director when I was suddenly attracted to the movies of someone specific, and why him? Why was he such a strong storyteller? There was a mark of an artist there. And it was Spielberg. So as a kid I was inspired by Spielberg very early. That was my first cinema crush!â
- Zack Sharf, IndieWire
Jeremy Renner & Amy Adams in 'Arrival' (2016)
'Ballrooms Of Mars' - T. Rex
"No surprise Ridley Scottâs âBlade Runnerâ is a Denis Villeneuve favorite, considering the filmmakerâs decision to mount the sequel, âBlade Runner 2049.â Speaking to Time magazine in 2017 about his love for the original, Villeneuve said, âMost of the time in sci-fi movies, the world is purely a vision of the future, but in the original Blade Runner, you felt the dirt that was coming out of ages. That was something I wanted to bring back. I wanted to make sure that we were as specifically true to film noir as the first movie was. I wanted the atmosphere to carry the beautiful melancholy that was so powerful in the first movie. I wanted the world to be one of bleakness and gloom but to have sparks of beauty â coming out of technology or humanity.â In naming Jonathan Glazerâs âUnder the Skinâ as one of his favorite movies of the 21st century, Villeneuve wrote the image of âScarlett Johansson in a pool of darknessâ stood out as one of contemporary filmâs most memorable. âUnder the Skinâ casts Johansson as a humanoid alien who wanders around Glasgow luring unsuspecting men back to her lair, where their bodies are decomposed and harvested for her home planet. The film ranked in the top 10 on IndieWireâs list of the best films of the 2010s."
- Zack Sharf, IndieWire
Ryan Gosling in 'Bladerunner 2049' (2017)
- - - - -
William Shatner (born March 22, 1931, Aries in Notre-Dame-de-Grùce, Montréal, Québec, Canada)
'Thereâs an emoji for just about everything these days, and now the leader of the Parti QuĂ©bĂ©cois is asking for a new one that represents la belle province.
Paul St-Pierre Plamondon announced on Twitter Wednesday that his party planned to table a motion in the National Assembly to request the Unicode Consortium, which governs computer language, to add a Quebec flag emoji.
"I will also send a letter to Facebook Headquarters asking them to add this emoticon," the leader wrote on Twitter. "A small gesture, a great symbolism: that it's our right to express our pride."'
- CTV News
'125 people were recently appointed to the Order of Canada and a handful of familiar Hollywood faces made the list. âStar Trekâ icon William Shatner and âBlade Runner 2049â director Dennis Villeneuve were among those appointed by Canadaâs new Governor General Julie Payette.'
- Global News Canada
'Space Boss' - T. Rex
|
|
|
|
Post by petrolino on Jan 21, 2022 23:49:40 GMT
đŁ Vigilante Uprising : 'Inside Videodrome & The War On Drugs' đ§š
{: Ronald Reagan Vs The Aliens :}
This week, I read a booklet that's been made available as part of a limited edition blu-ray release from 101 Films of Sean Cunningham's brutal crime drama 'The New Kids' (1985). There are two essays published in this booklet, '80s Gang Violence Movies And The New Kids' by Jon Towlson and 'Pushing The Envelope : Sean Cunningham' by Barry Forshaw. Towlson's article looks at some key themes explored within vigilante crime cinema of the 1980s. This got me thinking about something I sometimes think about, which is that, the superheroes that are so prevalent within today's mainstream cinema share a common bond with the reluctant vigilantes who bestrode (and in some cases rode) the capitalist boomwave of the 1980s.
"The new cycle of JD ("juvenile delinquency") Psycho films in the '80s coincided with audiences becoming more conservative in the Reagan era. This was partly a reaction to the counterculture youth movies of the '60s and '70s in which the young anti-heroes of such films as 'The Wild Angels' (1966), 'Psych-Out' (1968) and 'Easy Rider' (1969) were busily taking LSD and sticking it to the Man. It was also a result of the 'Just Say No' anti-drug campaign launched in schools and college campuses across the United States in the '80s. Tough new laws on drugs, which treated addicts like criminals, swayed teenagers into following a zero-tolerance policy mindset. Drug-taking was politicians and the media alike. Cue the return of the 'JD Psycho', his random violence this time fuelled by an addiction to coke, speed, crystal meth, ket, blueys or anything else he could get his hands on."
- Jon Towlson, '80s Gang Violence Movies And The New Kids'
Woody Guthrie's seminal recording 'Vigilante Man'
Audio Of Woody Guthrie Singing About Fred Trump
The thing that's always drawn me to vigilante pictures of the 1980s is that they more readily tapped in to science-fiction, fantasy and horror. My favourites are almost all directed by filmmakers who worked successfully in those genres at one point or another. Films of the 1970s in which men were pushed to their absolute limits tended to play out as raw, visceral portraits of existential rage. Michael Winner's contemplative vigilante thriller 'Death Wish' (1974) set a mould for filmmakers to follow and it's still being utilised today. Don Siegel's modernist crime thriller 'Dirty Harry' (1971) was shot through with strong, traditional, societal values and it created a widely-used template for movies centred around a new breed of urban vigilante lawman who'd have been right at home in the Old West. With tensions running high over America's involvement in the Vietnam War, returning soldiers also became a focal point for filmmakers, as exemplified by crime pictures like George Armitage's 'Vigilante Force' (1976) and John Flynn's 'Rolling Thunder' (1977) which added an extra moral dimension to the role of vigilantism within American society.
"I've been at this 34 years, and I really, honestly, believe that the more creative you are, the more likely you are to be a liberal ... In order for a mind to soar at the possibilities and come up with someone no one ever thought of and making a film about it and showing it at a film festival - it means you're out of the box. And if you're out of the box, you're out of conservative thinking, aren't you?"
- Charles E. Sellier Jr. speaking in 2006 after producing 'George W. Bush : Faith In The White House' (2004), 'An Uprising On The Right In A World That Leans Left'
'The Vigilante' - Judee Sill
Some of the most controversial motion pictures of the 1970s were those that dealt directly with horrific crimes of rape and sexual abuse. John Boorman's eloquent survivalist drama 'Deliverance' (1972) offered a poetic distillation of the most despicable aspects of human behaviour which made it doubly disturbing. Wes Craven's jagged crime horror 'The Last House On The Left' (1972) went straight for the jugular yet was no less poetic, its harsh extremes of ambience, mood and tension prompting shocking acts of violence to be carried out by enraged audience members during public screenings. Canadian horror filmmaker William Fruet upped the ante with 'Death Weekend' (1976) and Lamont Johnson's 'Lipstick' (1976) was met by a sense of widespread revulsion. Then came Meir Zarchi's notorious "rape-revenge" drama 'I Spit On Your Grave' (1978) which is unlikely to ever be passed uncut here in England where I live.
'âCliff Booth in 1979 or â80, wrote a vigilante exploitation movie for Rick Dalton. Rick read it and goes, âwe can do this better,â so Rick rewrites it and the two of them are going to produce it, they get the money, and itâs a vigilante movie called, âThe Fireman.â The lead character was in the Vietnam war â itâs very similar to âThe Exterminatorâ â he became a cop, and then he started seeing this whole group of bad apple cops that are killing guys and are completely corrupt. And they end up killing his partner, played by a very young Samuel L. Jackson. The film becomes a real big hit, and that makes Rick, he gets a third career, going into the â80s, as a straight to video action star.â'
- Quentin Tarantino, Q & A Podcast
'Band Of The Hand' - Bob Dylan & The Heartbreakers ft. Stevie Nicks & The Vigilante Chorus Line
In 1980, everything seemed to change almost overnight. The election of President Ronald Reagan set the scene for a decade of overt patriotism, polite intolerance and dizzying excess, with both winners and losers depicted vividly within the confines of vigilante crime cinema.
"To some degree, it might seem like Richard Nixon began a movement that led to the harsh war on drugs we know today. But there's another way to look at it: Nixon simply rode the longstanding sentiment in America to get tough on crime and drugs. After all, Nixon actually followed Rockefeller's lead in proposing tougher prison sentences for drugs. And the administrations that followed Nixon seemed politically compelled to continue the drug war, leading to its big escalation in the 1980s and 1990s through the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton administrations.
"The drug war had been building for decades prior to Nixon," Kathleen Frydl, a drug policy historian and author of The Drug Wars in America, 1940-1973, told me. "The shift from regulation to punishment was something that was underway for two decades prior to Nixon taking office. And it's something that endured long beyond just the campaign against counterculture."
Still, it's possible that Nixon also saw the kind of political benefit John Ehrlichman claimed: A focus on law enforcement could disproportionately hurt black Americans, a voting bloc that had generally opposed Nixon. And it's certainly true that the war on drugs has hit black Americans the hardest."
- German Lopez, Vox
'Dark Was The Night (Cold Was The Ground)' - Blind Willie Johnson
"Thirty-five years ago today, President Ronald Reagan signed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act (ADAA) of 1986 into law. It mandated long prison sentences for convictions for small amounts of crack, a form of cocaine then widely associated with Black sellers and users, and it permitted leniency for people caught with the pricier powder version of the same drug.
The legislation has since become one the most notorious artifacts of the bipartisan War on Drugs â a prime example of how lawmakers targeted Black communities for policing and incarceration. Last month, the House approved a bill to undo the sentencing disparities. If the Senate follows suit, it could bring relief to people locked up for years under the old law.
But a lesser-known section of the ADAA helped furnish a legacy that few in Congress want to roll back, even though it also enables the forced removal of people from their communities. This clause ordered the creation of a pilot project to use computers to link police with federal immigration agents in four cities. The goal was to make it easier to deport noncitizens accused of violating drug laws.
Over time, the initiative evolved and combined with others to form the basis for nationwide programs used to deport people charged with all sorts of offenses. Like the sentencing disparities between crack and powder cocaine, these programs are grounded in racial prejudice and driven by impulses to punish and exclude.
The growing emphasis on drugs, crime and immigrants in the 1980s reflected trends in specific places, including some that had been peripheral to earlier immigration policy debates. Six years before the Anti-Drug Abuse Act passed, South Florida saw the sudden arrival of nearly 125,000 Cubans in a mass migration known as the Mariel boatlift. An initially warm welcome quickly grew hostile.
First, reports circulated that some of the newcomers had been incarcerated before they left Cuba. Then the press highlighted claims about the violent and illicit activities of certain âMariel Cubans,â particularly those working in the cocaine trade, which had carved out a hub in Miami as U.S. demand for the drug soared. Long-standing associations of Blackness with criminality affected how Miamians saw the new arrivals, many of whom were people of African descent. Some Mariel Cubans broke laws, though they committed trespassing and robbery far more often than homicide. The public and politicians tended to exaggerate the threat they posed while ignoring how racial bias informed the targeted policing that brought many of them into the criminal legal system in the first place.
Some in South Florida responded by demanding a crackdown. In 1982, a Dade County grand jury filed a report claiming that the area suffered from âtwin problemsâ â migrants and drugs. The authors railed against âthe federal failure to stem the flow of illegal aliens.â The arrival of tens of thousands of Black asylum seekers from Haiti alongside the boatlift Cubans had contributed to the reactionary climate that produced the grand jury report. The authors singled out âMariel criminalsâ in their complaints and their proposed solution: a system connecting local police with immigration agents to make it easier to deport noncitizens who had been arrested on criminal charges. State officials and the Florida congressional delegation took those demands to Washington, joining forces with politicians from other regions with large immigrant populations, including Southern California and the New York City area. While the politics of immigration enforcement had long centered on international borders and ports of entry, anti-immigrant organizations and a rising number of lawmakers wanted authorities to surveil all U.S. communities more intensely. To achieve that, they advocated precisely the sort of local-federal collaboration that had been envisioned by the Dade County grand jury and which later came to fruition in the ADAA. The computer-based pilot project established through the ADAA began in Miami and three other cities. It was part of an emerging program focused on deporting âcriminal aliens,â a vague term popularized by law enforcement to inflate the perceived threat of Mexican immigrants without lawful status. Initially, members of Congress frequently applied it to groups of Mariel Cubans, Haitians and Jamaicans in hearings on immigration and drug trafficking. But, over the next decade, new laws and policies helped immigration agencies galvanize support for aggressive enforcement because they could cast an ever-broader swath of people as âcriminal aliens,â including many with only a misdemeanor conviction and others whose sole transgression was reentering the country without authorization.
In the meantime, anti-immigrant activists pushed a basically false story about connections between immigration and crime. Their drive to expel people who had been in the United States for years and dramatically cut future immigration escalated during a time when many of those arriving came from Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. Like contemporary nativists, they periodically invoked the specter of âhardcore criminalsâ who came in the Mariel boatlift to support their case for extremely restrictive policies. In 2006, the recently established Department of Homeland Security consolidated several ongoing efforts to form the âCriminal Alien Program.â An initiative known as âSecure Communitiesâ debuted two years later. Through an agreement with the FBI, Secure Communities provides immigration agents with access to the fingerprints of people arrested by local police all over the country and runs them through a federal immigration database. The system then flags individuals who might be deportable. Immigrant rights groups called for an end to the program almost as soon as it launched because it was enabling racial profiling and sweeping up people with deep community ties â and some with lawful status â who had no criminal records or whose only offenses were traffic violations. Studies also found that this sort of program disproportionately affects Black immigrants because racially targeted policing makes it more likely that they will be caught up in the local criminal legal systems that now serve as entry points into the deportation pipeline.
In response to pressure from activists, the Obama White House rebranded Secure Communities and tried to tailor it to focus on supposedly âserious criminals.â The Trump administration promptly reversed that decision, and now President Biden is attempting to impose constraints once again. But all along, agents from the Criminal Alien Program have used essentially the same system to mark people for deportation. From 2009 to 2019, various versions of Secure Communities facilitated the removal of over 686,000 people from their communities."
- Alexander M. Stephens, The Washington Post
'Johnny B Goode' - Chuck Berry
- - - - -
đș 'Inside The Parallax' : 15 Vigilante Movies From The 1980s (+ Current UK Status) đŹ
01) 'Defiance' (1980 - John Flynn) / Passed uncut in the U K for first release in 1980
02) 'The Exterminator' (1980 - James Glickenhaus) / Passed uncut in the U K in 2004
03) 'Ms. 45' (1981 - Abel Ferrara) / * Yet to be passed uncut in the U K
04) 'Class Of 1984' (1982 - Mark L. Lester) / Passed uncut in the U K in 2005
05) 'Vigilante' (1982 - William Lustig) / Approved for U K release since 1982 with pre-existing MPAA cuts for violence
'Blue Girls' - Debris'
06) 'The Star Chamber' (1983 - Peter Hyams) / Passed uncut in the U K for first release in 1983
07) 'Young Warriors' (1983 - Lawrence D. Foldes) / * Yet to be passed uncut in the U K
08) 'Alley Cat' (1984 - Victor M. Ordonez, Ed Palmos & Al Valletta) / ** Status unknown [cuts alleged to original U K release]
09) 'Savage Streets' (1984 - Danny Steinmann) / Passed uncut in the U K in 2011
10) 'The Annihilators' (1985 - Charles E. Sellier Jr.) / Passed uncut in the U K in 2019
'Hooser Hysteria' ~ Dow Jones And The Industrials / The Gizmos
11) 'The New Kids' (1985 - Sean S. Cunningham) / Passed uncut in the U K in 2020
12) 'The Principal' (1987 - Christopher Cain) / Passed uncut in the U K for first release in 1987
13) 'RoboCop' (1987 - Paul Verhoeven) / Theatrical cut passed uncut in the U K for first release in 1987 [director's cut passed uncut in the U K in 2001]
14) 'American Rampage' (1989 - David DeCoteau) / ** Status unknown [cuts alleged to original U K release]
15) 'Deadly Reactor' (1989 - David Heavener) / Passed uncut in the U K in 2004
'Armageddon Man' - Black Flag
A special edition blu-ray of Larry Gross' crime drama '3:15 : The Moment Of Truth' (1986) is due to be released on 22 February, 2022. I've not seen this movie but I'm excited by the thought of seeing it.
|
|
|
|
Post by petrolino on Jan 30, 2022 2:43:31 GMT
đ© Elementals, Heavy Metals & The Experiments Of Dr. Timothy Leary đ§
This week, the comic book world has been mourning the passing of Jean-Claude Mezieres, co-creator of 'Valerian And Laureline' (with Pierre Christin). Psychedelic science-fiction, horror and fantasy cinema was greatly influenced by the work of comic book writers and illustrators. In France, comics had been considered a serious art form since the early 20th century. Roger Vadim's genrebuster 'Barbarella' (1968) was based on a comic series created by Jean-Claude Forest. Horror filmmaker Jean Rollin, a friend and associate of Vadim, wrote the comic book 'Saga Of Xam' which was illustrated by Nicholas Devil. Rollin's films often arrived accompanied by posters drawn by Philippe Druillet who was a founding member of the creative comics group 'Les Humanoides Associes' ('United Humanoids') alongside his friend Moebius.
"As reported by The Beat, Jean-Claude Mezieres has passed away at the age of 83. Mezieres was born September 23, 1938 and had his first art published when he was only 13. At 15, he enrolled in the prestigious Institute for Applied Arts, where among his classmates was legendary artist Moebius. Mezieres was fascinated by America and its culture and spent time hitchhiking across the country. When he returned to France, he reunited with childhood friend Pierre Christin, creating the first Valerian story, titled âBad Dreams.â Mezieres exclusively worked on Valerian-related projects, dedicating his career to the enthralling saga."
- Shaun Corley, Screen Rant
Jane Fonda as Barbarella
'Tenebres (Walpurgis) - Igor Wakhevitch [artwork by Philippe Druillet]
Publications like 'V' in the 1960s and 'Metal Hurlant' ('Howling Metal') in the 1970s became cultural milestones. 'Metal Hurlant' provided a platform for French artists like Philippe Caza, Nicole Claveloux, Serge Clerc, Philippe Druillet, Jean Giraud (Moebius), Frank Margerin, Masse, Chantal Montellier, Alain Voss and many others, as well as Italian artists Guido Crepax and Milo Manara. It also inspired an American creation, 'Heavy Metal', which showcased artists from around the world, as well as the work of distinguished homegrown artists like Frank Frazetta, Richard Corben and Bernie Wrightson.
"One of the most interesting developments in European cultural life of the 1970s was the rise of baroque, intricate, sophisticated comic art tradition, and a veritable Golden Age of science fiction comic art in particular, led by such French magazines as "Metal Hurlant", "Pilote" and "Pif" ("Metal Hurlant" was later replicated in America as "Heavy Metal" magazine). This explosion of highly-detailed, almost Art Nouveau-ish, comic masterpieces has been gracing European news stands for most of the 1970s and 1980s - including ground-breaking work by legendary Moebius, Spanish artist Esteban Maroto (specializing in sensual heroic fantasy) and later by Argentine artist Juan Gimenez, of the "Metabarons" fame - who routinely came up with some of the most beautiful space adventure images ever put on paper by anyone. Today, however, we will concentrate on French science fiction comics series Valérian and Laureline (info), created by writer Pierre Christin and artist Jean-Claude MéziÚres - whose work influenced not only famous French movie directors (Luc Besson and his "Fifth Element"), but also - oh boy... George Lucas himself and production design for his "Star Wars" original trilogy. Check out the shape of Valerian and Laureline spaceship - this was an admitted prototype for the "Millennium Falcon", first drawn out back in the 1960s.
There are more parallels with "Star Wars" that we care to mention here (even famous American scifi artist Frank Kelly Freas admitted that the French series was full of "so many stealable ideas..."), but the original tradition of Space Opera in the grand old manner of Edmond Hamilton and Leigh Brackett (and don't forget Jack Vance!) gave birth to many 1970s-styled space adventures, "Star Wars" being only a part of a much bigger genre. French space comics of this period belong to a more elegant, sexy, sophisticated kind of grand space epics - somewhat exemplified by the "Barbarella" movie, Italian Druuna graphic novels, and by the Japanese "Space Adventure Cobra" manga series. There was plenty of good story-telling and style/fashion galore, wrapped into a galaxy-spanning romp with a slightly decadent twist."
- Avi Abrams, Dark Roasted Blend
'Valerian And Laureline'
'The Man From Utopia Meets Mary Lou' - Frank Zappa [artwork by Philippe Druillet]
Some of the French and Italian comic book stories published in the 1960s and 1970s were decidedly erotic in nature. They presented visions of femininity that influenced genre cinema greatly, particularly the "single-sex space alien colony" subgenre kickstarted by the release of Arthur Hilton's seminal science-fiction fantasy 'Cat-Women Of The Moon' (1953). This subgenre bled in to the sorority horror subgenre kickstarted by Amy Holden Jones' 'The Slumber Party Massacre' (1982) which reduced a colony to a grouping and made things easier to shoot and finance.
"I had all this big eyeliner on, I had this little short thing with these black tights and these little short boots and a ray gun. So, I had been doing fine, having gigs and all that kind of stuff. But I sang in costume that night. It was a whole other experience. And I remember standing there thinking to myself, 'Hhmm. What's happening here?'"
- Pat Benatar on dressing in spandex and being influenced by 'Cat-Women Of The Moon'
Pat Benatar lounging around in her signature catsuit
'Hey Joe' - The Jimi Hendrix Experience [: video artwork by Lulu created using artwork by Moebius]
- - -
đ©đŒâđŹ Single-Sex Space Alien Colony, Freaky Fraternity & Spooky Sorority Genre Movies đ©đżââïž
1940s - 1950s
'Cat-Women Of The Moon' (1953 - Arthur Hilton) 'Fire Maidens From Outer Space' (1956 - Cy Roth) 'Missile To The Moon' (1958 - Richard E. Cunha)
'Queen Of Outer Space' (1958 - Edward Bernds)
'Psychedelic Percussion' ~ Hal Blaine
1960s - 1970s
'The Playgirls And The Vampire' (1960 - Piero Regnoli)
'Nude On The Moon' (1961 - Doris Wishman)
'Werewolf In A Girls' Dormitory' (1961 - Paolo Heusch)
'Voyage To The Planet Of Prehistoric Women' (1968 - Peter Bogdanovich & Pavel Klushantzev) 'The House That Screamed' (1969 - Narciso Ibanez Serrador)
'Invasion Of The Bee Girls' (1973 - Denis Sanders) 'Black Christmas' (1974 - Bob Clark)
'House' (1977 - Nobuhiko Obayashi)
'Satan's Cheerleaders' (1977 - Greydon Clark) 'Suspiria' (1977 - Dario Argento) / 'Inferno' (1980 - Dario Argento) / 'Mother Of Tears' (2007 - Dario Argento)
'You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth' - Meat Loaf [artwork by Richard Corben]
1980s - 1990s
'The House On Sorority Row' (1982 - Mark Rosman)
'The Slumber Party Massacre' (1982 - Amy Holden Jones) / 'Slumber Party Massacre II' (1987 - Deborah Brock) / 'Slumber Party Massacre III' (1990 - Sally Mattison) / 'Cheerleader Massacre' (2003 - Jim Wynorski)
'The Initiation' (1984 - Larry Stewart)
'The Lost Empire' (1984 - Jim Wynorski) 'Killer Party' (1986 - William Fruet)
'Sorority House Massacre' (1986 - Carol Frank) / 'Sorority House Massacre II' (1990 - Jim Wynorski) / 'Sorority House Massacre III : Hard To Die' (1990 - Jim Wynorski)
'Aenigma' (1987 - Lucio Fulci)
'Slave Girls From Beyond Infinity' (1987 - Ken Dixon)
'Cheerleader Camp' (1988 - John Quinn) 'Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers' (1988 - Fred Olen Ray)
'Nightmare Sisters' (1988 - David DeCoteau)
'Sorority Babes In The Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama' (1988 - David DeCoteau)
'Dr. Alien' (1989 - David DeCoteau) 'Bad Girls From Mars' (1991 - Fred Olen Ray)
'Evil Toons' (1992 - Fred Olen Ray) 'Beach Babes From Beyond' (1993 - David DeCoteau) / 'Beach Babes From Beyond 2 : Cave Girl Island' (1995 - David DeCoteau)
'Witch Academy' (1993 - Fred Olen Ray)
'Dinosaur Island' (1994 - Fred Olen Ray & Jim Wynorski)
'Test Tube Teens From The Year 2000' (1994 - David DeCoteau)
'Vampire Vixens From Venus' (1995 - Ted A. Bohus) 'The Craft' (1996 - Andrew Fleming) 'Little Witches' (1996 - Jane Simpson) 'Petticoat Planet' (1996 - David DeCoteau)
'Lurid Tales : The Castle Queen' (1997 - David DeCoteau)
'Nova Feedback' - Chrome [photographic artwork by Amy James]
2000s - 2010s
'The Erotic Witch Project' (2000 - John Bacchus) / 'Erotic Witch Project 2 : Book Of Seduction' (2000 - John Bacchus) / 'Witchbabe : The Erotic Witch Project 3' (2001 - Terry M. West) 'Satan's School For Lust' (2002 - Terry M. West) 'The Hazing' (2003 - Joe Castro) 'Vampire Vixens' (2003 - John Bacchus)
'The Witches Of Sappho Salon' (2003 - Tony Marsiglia) 'The Hazing' (2004 - Rolfe Kanefsky) 'The Sisterhood' (2004 - David DeCoteau) 'Wilderness Survival For Girls' (2004 - Kim Roberts) 'Bikini Girls On Dinosaur Planet' (2005 - William Hellfire) 'Bikini Bloodbath' (2006 - Jonathan Gorman & Thomas Edward Seymour) / 'Bikini Bloodbath Car Wash' (2008 - Jonathan Gorman & Thomas Edward Seymour) / 'Bikini Bloodbath Christmas' (2009 - Jonathan Gorman & Thomas Edward Seymour) / 'Bikini Bloodbath Shakespeare' (2013 - John B. Reed)
'The Covenant' (2006 - Renny Harlin)
'Zombie Cheerleading Camp' (2007 - Jon Fabris) 'Demon Divas And The Lanes Of Damnation' (2008 - Mike Watt) 'Frat House Massacre' (2008 - Alex Pucci) 'Slumber Party Slaughterhouse : The Game' (2008 - VARIOUS) 'Bikini Girls On Ice' (2009 - Geoff Klein) 'Sorority Row' (2009 - Stewart Hendler)
'Spirit Camp' (2009 - Kerry Beyer) 'Climb It, Tarzan!' (2011 - Jared Masters) 'Babysitter Massacre' (2013 - Henrique Couto) 'Die Die Delta Pi' (2013 - Sean Donohue & Christopher Leto) 'After School Massacre' (2014 - Jared Masters) 'Cheerleader Camp : To The Death' (2014 - Dustin Ferguson)
'Club Lingerie' (2014 - Jared Masters) 'Deadly Punkettes' (2014 - Jared Masters) 'Haunted House On Sorority Row' (2014 - Henrique Couto) '666 : Kreepy Kerry' (2014 - David DeCoteau) 'Teenage Slumber Party Nightmare' (2014 - Richard Mogg) 'Ballet Of Blood' (2015 - Jared Masters)
'Death-Scort Service' (2015 - Sean Donohue) / 'Death-Scort Service Part 2 : The Naked Dead' (2017 - Sean Donohue) / 'Taste Me : Death-Scort Service Part 3' (2018 - Chris Woods) 'All Girls Weekend' (2016 - Lou Simon) 'Sorority Slaughterhouse' (2016 - David DeCoteau) 'Space Babes From Outer Space' (2017 - Brian Williams) 'Ghoul Scout Zombie Massacre' (2018 - Eric Eichelberger) 'Slaughterhouse Slumber Party' (2019 - Dustin Mills)
'Tango' - Throwing Muses [artwork by Gilberto Hernandez]
Another important artist associated with the European movement was Swiss master H.R. Giger. He became a close friend of Dr. Timothy Leary whom President Richard Nixon had once described as "the most dangerous man in America". Leary's writings influenced the development of psychedelic film and were referenced in Wes Craven's hippie nightmare, 'The Last House On The Left' (1972); Leary appeared in Craven's movies 'Shocker' (1989) and 'Night Visions' (1990). Everybody was getting high on Leary's extraordinary work in science, from George Romero, Tobe Hooper, John Carpenter and Stuart Gordon, to Roger Corman, Dennis Hopper, Zalman King and Tommy Chong.
âGigerâs N.Y. City reminds us that city life, civilizations, is an insectoid stage our species is passing through. The age of cities is over. Sure, no free intelligent person wants to spend his life as a furtive, shadowed rodent running around in a caverned metropolis. Like it or not, we are all insectoid aliens burrowing within our urbanoid bodies. Gigerâs fleshscapes, his microscopic slides are signals to mutate. City dwellers alert! It is time to evolve! We shall no longer have to cling like barnacles and crawl like caterpillars in the darkness of our own metropolitan tissues. Gigerâs art flashes the illumination of biological intelligence down into the dark caves of our cities. The genetic signals are clear. Crawl out of the city tunnels! Expose your plane membraned body to the sun and the sky! Unfold your glorious, silken wings! Soar above the planet surface and fly high into space! Here is the evolutionary genius of Giger âŠ
Giger, you slice my tissues into thin microscopic slides for the world to see. Giger, you razor-shave sections of my brain and plaster them, still pulsing, across your canvas. Giger, you are an Alien lurking inside my body, laying your futique eggs of wonder. You have wound silken threads of larval cocoon around you and tunnelled down deep into my wisdom gland. Giger, you see more than we domesticated primates.â
â Timothy Leary
"Astro-biologists, philosopher priests, healers, observers of the fleshly heavens and cosmic dancers dig this recording, consequently DJs /producers sample up innumerable quotes especially "Turn On." Pressed to wax in the Age of Aquarius, Dr. Leary's psychedelic monologue "What Do You Turn On When You Turn On?" identifies our brains as "the galactic headquarters of the nervous system" and the locus of all social transformation. Other tracks feature prominent rock artists notably Jimi Hendrix (... Buddy Miles, John Sebastian, Stephen Stills ...) but it is the monologue that offers the most for dance music activists."
- Garth R., Discogs
Dr. Timothy Leary holding session in 1967
'What Do You Turn On When You Turn On' - Dr. Timothy Leary ft.
- - -
'Over the weekend influential French artist Jean-Claude MéziÚres passed away, aged 83. While his work is relatively obscure to American audiences, the DNA of his imaginative work on the long-running Valerian and Laureline series made their way into American cinema, and the comic remains a classic in the European bande dessinée canon.'
- Comics Beat
"Keep repeating: It's only a hippie, It's only a hippie, It's only a hippie ..."
~ Todd Kentucky, Twitter
'Wait For The Rain' - David Hess
In Memory of Jean-Claude MĂ©ziĂšres ~ R.I.P.
|
|
|
|
Post by petrolino on May 29, 2022 0:17:23 GMT
đȘ 'Prescience' : 40th Anniversary Of 'Class Of 1984' (1982) { : Lisa Langlois' Creative Legacy Of Hallucinogenic Terror : } đŠŽ
"With Class of 1984, Mark L. Lester attempted to make a Blackboard Jungle for the â80s. The result was a violent look into a future where teachers feared students and schools were war zones. Lester intended Class Of 1984 to be a warning of the shape of things to come for American schools, and his vision of gang-infested schools armed with metal detectors certainly came to pass. 1984 also appears to predict the millennial mindsetâor at least millennial stereotypesâin its main villain, Stegman, played by Timothy Van Patten. Stegman is not a misunderstood, abused youth, but a smug young man doted on by his mother. Instead of applying his skills to his studies, Stegman favors sociopathic behavior and the drug trade, and he and his punk-rock gang are less like the harmless pranksters in Rock âNâ Roll High School and more like the violent thugs in Death Wish. While certainly violent and exploitive, 1984 showcases screenwriter Tom Hollandâs sardonic sense of humor in a sharp sequence where Roddy McDowallâs Corrigan wields a pistol in biology class, and actually gets the kids to learn. Apparently the only way to get through to teenagers is to threaten them with certain death."
- Mike Vanderbilt, The A.V. Club
"Movies like this either grab you, or they don't. "Class of 1984" grabbed me. I saw it for the first time at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival, where I wandered into the theater expecting to find the dog of the week and wandered out two hours later, a little dazed and sort of overwhelmed. "Class of 1984" is not a great movie but it works with quiet, strong efficiency to achieve more or less what we expect from a movie with such a title. It is violent, funny, scary, contains boldly outlined characters, and gets us involved. It also has a lot of style. One of the reasons for the film's style may be that it was made by people who knew what they were doing. The whole Dead Teenager genre has been seriously weakened in the last several years by wave upon wave of cheap, idiotic tax-shelter films from Canada and elsewhere: films in which a Mad Slasher and a lot of screaming adolescents have been substituted for talent, skill, and craft -- movies such as "Prom Night" and "Terror Train" and "The Burning." Mark Lester's "Class of 1984" stands head and shoulders above movies like that. It tells a strong, simple story. It is acted well. It is not afraid to be comic at times and, even better, it's not afraid at the end to pull out all the stops and give us the sort of Grand Guignol conclusion that the slasher movies always botch. You may or may not think it's any good, but you'll have to admit that it works."
- Roger Ebert, The Chicago-Sun Times
- "Are you supposed to be here? What's your name?" - "Elizabeth Taaaylor!!"
- - -
đ Lisa Langlois : 8 Directors She Wishes She Could Have Worked With đ
01) Charlie Chaplin 02) Elia Kazan
03) Federico Fellini 04) Alan J. Pakula 05) Mike Nichols
06) Francis Coppola 07) Martin Scorsese 08) Jonathan Demme
Lisa Langlois & Leonard Cohen
Lisa Langlois discusses her love of Jodie Foster and Sissy Spacek, and working with Claude Chabrol [Monster Party]
- - -
"Everyone thinks Iâm from Montreal because I have a French name and I speak French. My father lived in Montreal for many years and so we always visited him in the summertime. But Iâm actually from southern Ontario. I grew up in a small town 60 miles west of Toronto called Dundas and I went to school in Hamilton. For the Americans, we call Hamilton âBuffalo North.â Itâs a very industrial city, with that type of demographic as well.
Thereâs a huge French-Canadian population in Hamilton so there was a French school there. My mother and father agreed to raise us as French-Canadians so we went to French schools, the French church, etc.
When I was a teenager. I had a single mom. She bought a house with a brother of mine, and the only way they could afford the mortgage was by renting out all the bedrooms. So my four brothers and I lived in the basement, while my mother stayed upstairs and turned the dining room into her bedroom. We rented out the three bedrooms to some university foreign exchange students from Hong Kong, and we befriended them.
I remember telling one of the students I had wanted to be an actor, and he said to me that out of all the professions, theyâre the ones that end up being paupers. I havenât shared this story in such a long timeâŠanyway, it was actually a misinterpretation. Lost in translation. He was trying to tell me actors were looked down upon in society, which they were, at another time.
I guess I abandoned the idea of being an actor because of that statement. But when I needed a way to pay my way through university, I had a dance teacher who said to me, âYou should do commercials.â I asked her how one would go about that and she replied, âWell, you get some photographs taken and bring them to agencies in Toronto.â
- Lisa Langlois, Terror Trap
Lisa Langlois in 1982
"Mark L. Lester, the director of beloved Arnold Schwarzenegger cheese-fest action classic Commando, loves Class of 1984. He thinks itâs a prophetic work of genius that warned about a violent future for the school system in America that has become reality in the intervening decades. Mark L. Lester also directed Class of 1984 so heâs understandably invested in promoting the filmâs legacy. Cut by censors when first released in the UK, it is indeed an example of how far weâve come but not in the way Lester suggests. No, instead itâs difficult to believe this earnest, silly, occasionally unpleasant film was considered so dangerous."
- James Evans, Starburst
"I auditioned for "The Terminator" and was second choice against Linda Hamilton. I had subsequently gotten cast in Neil Simon's "The Sluggers's Wife" when my agent Jimmy Coda got the call from the casting director on "Terminator" that Linda had sprained her ankle very badly and that the production didn't want to wait for her to recover. Since "Terminator" was shooting in Florida and "Slugger's Wife" was shooting in Georgia, it seemed possible that I could shoot both roles. As fate would have it however, the casting director's husband was the driver captain on "The Slugger's Wife" and when she called him to verify my shooting schedule, his opinion was that there was no way that I could shoot both roles. My agent said, "That's okay, Lisa, you got the better film. I said, "No, I didn't". He said, "Yes you did; you're doing a Neil Simon film directed by Hal Ashby and produced by Ray Stark and the other film is an unknown director starring a body builder. I said, "Terminator is the better script."
- Lisa Langlois, Retro Junk
Lisa Langlois in 2011
- - -
đ Lisa Langlois (born March 15, 1959 in North Bay, Ontario, Canada) đ§
"I think Jamie Lee Curtis is a Scream Queen. Iâm just a ⊠Scream Princess. I do embrace it all now because Iâve really come to like the people I meet who are into these movies. I think the only time it might be difficult to embrace is if you're bad in a bad horror movie. If you're good in a good horror film, or even good in a bad one, it's much easier to accept."
- Lisa Langlois, 'The Beauty And The Beasts : An Interview With Lisa Langlois'
Lisa Langlois speaks with Kurt Kelly ('Actors Reporter') in 2013
|
|
|
|
Post by petrolino on Jun 5, 2022 0:25:51 GMT
đ 'Prophecy' : 40th Anniversary Of 'Class Of 1984' (1982)
{ : Surviving The Underground : } đȘ€
Director Mark L. Lester completed filming of 'Class Of 1984' (1982) and looked to cut a suitable distribution deal for the movie. Part of the deal he eventually struck carried the caveat that it had to be released to American movie theaters in the summer of 1982, the reason being that Lester wanted people to experience the film before the start of a new school year. This is why it was arranged to go on general release in August of that year. The journey to the screen wasn't an easy one. Lester made his name working for American International Pictures and he became friendly with filmmaker Roger Corman during this time, which is significant. A dedicated movie fan, Lester characterised himself as "the Andy Warhol of the drive-in", as Warhol was one of his greatest influences (he's one of the foremost experts on the film catalogue of Andy Warhol). His break in to movies came with his gritty 'Americana Trilogy', consisting of the docudrama 'Steel Arena' (1973), the truckstop thriller 'Truck Stop Women' (1974) and the road thriller 'Bobbie Jo And The Outlaw' (1976).
"Despite dramatic shifts in production, distribution and audience over the last four decades, Mark L. Lester is proud to count himself among the few filmmakers to emerge from the drive-in who are still working today. The one thing that hasn't changed in his career is his love of excess. I wasn't just being poetic in my article on Bobbie Joe and the Outlaw when I said he never lost that drive-in spirit: the impulse to make things bigger, louder and more wonderfully absurd than anything else on the marquee. Even when he strays from the action movies that have defined his career, he brings the same "more is more" mentality, to the skating movie (Roller Boogie), political satire (White House Madness), adventure film (TV's Gold of the Amazon Women) and even madcap comedy (Armed and Dangerous). In the past he's shown interest in making a Mother Jones biopic: I'm sure it would be great, but I'd honestly be disappointed unless he cast a gorgeous young supermodel as a scantily-clad labor organizer who arms up and lets her grenades do the talking during "negotiations" with the greedy mill owners, the leader of course being played by a ruthlessly sadistic Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa.
Lester was kind enough to take time in the middle of the holiday week, when American World Pictures was busy moving offices no less, to discuss some highlights from his long and successful career ..."
- John Cribbs, The Pink Smoke
Casting calls during this period found focused young filmmakers dipping in to a well of exciting new acting class talent. Several actresses who made there way into Lester's stock company were students of jazz singer Lieux Dressler who'd starred in 'Truck Stop Women'. Dressler ran the Patio Playhouse offshoot company where Belinda Belaski (later to join Joe Dante's stock company), Lynda Carter and Merrie Lynn Ross were enrolled, all of whom would work on Lester's films. If Carter hadn't taken the lead role in 'Bobbie Jo And The Outlaw', Debra Winger was in the running; before long, Carter was playing Wonder Woman to Winger's Wonder Girl on television in the groundbreaking comic book show 'Wonder Woman'. During the mid-1970s, actresses like Melanie Griffith and Michelle Pfeiffer would come in to read for parts as they looked for their breaks in to the film industry. Lester was friends with Sylvester Stallone who'd had his own tussles on the casting carousel with upcoming actors like Richard Gere, Perry King and Henry Winkler. When Stallone was cast in Steve Carver's gangster drama 'Capone' (1975) and Paul Bartel's science-fiction satire 'Death Race 2000' (1975), he was fresh from just missing out on taking evangelist Marjoe Gortner's leading role in 'Bobbie Jo And The Outlaw', so Bartel named a character Lester Marks for sister project 'Cannonball!' (1976). But I digress.
"Exploitation movies had a good name. They were filling the drive-ins with Roger Corman films and these kind of pictures were everywhere. You could release those movies and gross more on those than a higher budget art film. A movie like Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw did 5 million dollars at the box office, which at $1, $1.50 admission would translate into a 20 million gross. I was just making films I wanted to make. That movie was very successful. I did a lot of research on Billy the Kid, and I told the writer to follow the Billy the Kid story. I read about how he had lassoed a safe and tied it to his horse, so in our movie the guy lassoes the safe and ties it to his pick-up truck and crashes through the bank. They travel the same route (as Billy the Kid) in the movie. And the character, I thought, should just think he's Billy the Kid.""
- Mark L. Lester, The Pink Smoke
'Quentin Tarantino got the inspiration for the title of the movie from a friend who told him that you can give a stunt team any car and for $15,000 they can "make it death proof." Tarantino, who apparently "didn't want to die in a car crash like the one in Pulp Fiction," thought the phrase was so funny that he kept it stored in his head, and eventually found use for it as the title for his grindhouse flick. Death Proof is Tarantino's dual homage to car chase movies and slasher flicks. When the opening credits begin, the film's true title "Quentin Tarantino's Thunder Bolt" flashes up for less than a second before being replaced with a black title card that displays the title Death Proof. This is a nod to the fact that many grindhouse theaters were given different titles depending on where they were released. Often projectionists would use a similar black title card like the one that appears in Death Proof, though the results would often allow for a glimpse of the other title. The "Thunder Bolt" typeface is based on that of 50s hot rod flick Thunder Alley. Stuntman Mike makes several verbal references to famous car chase movies: Vanishing Point (1971), Dirty Mary Crazy Larry (1974) and White Line Fever (1975). Stuntman Mike's cars both feature a "Rubber Duck" hood ornament as a reference to Kris Kristofferson character Rubber Duck's truck in Sam Peckinpah's Convoy (1978) . The license plate numbers (JJZ-109 and 938-DAN) are also references to the license plate numbers of the cars in the films Bullitt (1968) and Dirty Mary Crazy Larry (1974). Additionally, Kim's yellow and black car is based on the Bride's outfit in Kill Bill.'
- What Culture
10 Of The Best : 'The Golden Age Of Trucker Cinema' (1971 - 1986)
01) 'Duel' (1971 - Steven Spielberg) 02) 'Deadhead Miles' (1972 - Vernon Zimmerman)
03) 'Truck Stop Women' (1974 - Mark L. Lester)
04) 'White Lightning' (1975 - Jonathan Kaplan) 05) 'Smokey And The Bandit' (1977 - Hal Needham) 06) 'Every Which Way But Loose' (1978 - James Fargo)
07) 'Flatbed Annie And Sweetiepie : Lady Truckers' (1979 - Robert Greenwald)
08) 'Roadgames' (1981 - Richard Franklin)
09) 'Big Trouble In Little China' (1986 - John Carpenter) 10) 'Maximum Overdrive' (1986 - Stephen King)
It was when Mark Lester scored a smash hit wlth 'Roller Boogie' (1977) that he embarked upon his passion project, 'Class Of 1984'. The story was inspired by several things, but primarily Lester's return to a high school he attended in the San Fernando Valley in California, where he witnessed anarchy on an industrial scale. His high school had changed beyond all recognition which shook him to his core.
Lester's home city of Cleveland, Ohio defaulted on payments of major loans in 1978 and had a reputation for crime and corruption that was well earned. Cleveland was the second city of punk after New York City, New York, and this would be crucial to the genesis of 'Class Of 1984'. Lester began rigorously researching incident statistics and crime levels in high schools in cities like Chicago (Illinois), Detroit (Michigan), Duluth (Minnesota), Gary (Indiana) and Madison (Wisconsin). More importantly, he spoke with a lot of teaching staff, some of whom said they wished they were heavily armed at all times when teaching in schools in America. A real life incident in which a teacher brandished a handgun in front of pupils inspired a key set-piece in 'Class Of 1984'. Lester worked on the screenplay with filmmaker Tom Holland and 'Roller Boogie' screenwriter Barry Schneider who was so horrified by the resultant film he demanded his name be removed from the credits.
"I actually was visiting my old high school back in 1981, which was Monroe High School in the valley to see an old teacher, and I was walking around, and it had changed completely from when I was attending the school. There were gangs roaming around the hallways, and there was no dress code, and it looked like a very dangerous place, and I remembered back to this movie Blackboard Jungle, which was one of my favorites growing up, and I thought âWow, what if I should do something like a teacher that comes back to the high school and confronts a gang thatâs ruling the place.â That was the idea, and then I began doing enormous amounts of research, and I found that there were all these incidents of violence in the schools, and this was way before Columbine and these types of things. So all of these things: gang fights, prostitutes, drugs, and there was even a teacher who had come to class with a gun, and I thought âMaybe he teaches with it?â So I put all the incidents together, with a Blackboard Jungle type-story where all of this comes to an urban high school, and thatâs how it all started."
- Mark L. Lester, Dread Central
Lisa Langlois discusses 'Class Of 1984' [Monster Party]
'Class Of 1984' is set within the punk scene of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The punk club is real and populated by actual punks; Mark Lester had long been inspired to cast non-professional actors in his low budget movies, drawing inspiration from Italian filmmakers he admired for whom this was common practise. Not only did these young punks slam hard in to cast members during takes, Lester had to shoot around exhibitionist girls threatening to flash or moon the camera. The band featured in the movie is legendary Canadian punk outfit Teenage Head. So, when someone tells you the punk aspects of the movie aren't authentic, remind them that Lester literally shot scenes from Toronto's punk underground. In to this mix came Lisa Langlois as predatory, voyeuristic, pink-haired punkette Patsy, an amoral student hellbent on living a hedonistic lifestyle fuelled by forbidden fetishism, illicit drugs and rock 'n' roll abandon. I don't know if Lester gets the credit he deserves as an independent filmmaker, but I could say the same for many of his contemporaries in genre filmmaking. Genre filmmakers who worked on screenplays, or in technical roles, on Lester's early movies include Tom Holland, Chuck Russell, Peter S. Traynor and Vernon Zimmerman, so he was able to do his bit to pass the baton on. One nice thing to end on; one of the inspirations behind key stylistic elements of 'Class Of 1984' was the visual design of Stanley Kubrick's science-fiction fantasy 'A Clockwork Orange' (1971), so it made Lester happy when that film's leading man, Malcolm McDowell, accepted a role in the sequel 'Class Of 1999' (1990).
"In the cutthroat and utterly realistic world of the film marketplace here at the Cannes Film Festival, "Class of '84" is a big hit. It will never play the Palais des Festivals, the gigantic deco stoneheap on the Boulevard Croisette where the new works of Antonioni, Godard and Herzog were unreeled. But on the little Cannes backstreets along the Rue d'Antibes, where the local cinemas run day and night with the new film product that is for sale here, "Class of '84" is just what they're looking for: classy, stylish, very violent, highly promotable. By the end of the movie's first screening, its owners had offers from every major film marketing territory in the world.
Meanwhile, I remained inside the cinema, totally absorbed by a film I gradually realized was really very good. "Class of '84" is not likely to make many critics' "Best 10" lists next January, but after a week of anemic, disappointing and boring "serious" films in a so-far disappointing Cannes Festival, it was a reminder of what movies are, and what they can do: It was a strong story, well-acted, confidently directed, exciting, moving and controversial."
- Roger Ebert, The Chicago-Sun Times (article published 31 May, 1982)
"It's not altogether a fantasy. You know where I got the idea for this film? On a visit to my old high school, out in the San Fernando Valley. I graduated in 1964. When I was there, I was on the debate team, I took the class in international relations. You think they have those things now? Ha. We used to have a dress code. I saw kids in the hallways who weren't even wearing any shirts. I did some research, and found out there were 287,000 assaults in American high schools last year. In Boston, they put the kids through metal weapons detectors. In Florida, they have closed-circuit television scanners. 'Blackboard Jungle' was sweet compared to this."
- Mark Lester speaking with Roger Ebert, The Chicago-Sun Times (article published 31 May, 1982)
Interview with Mark L. Lester : 'La Vie En Rose' [Film School Archive]
đż We are the future! đ
|
|
|
|
Post by petrolino on Jun 17, 2022 23:38:30 GMT
đ§ 'Self-Portrait' : 25th Anniversary Of Cindy Sherman's 'Office Killer' (1997) đł
{ : Ms. Lisa LeBlanc's Epic Fantasy Life : }
Artist, photographer and filmmaker Cindy Sherman directed the controversial short subject film 'Doll Clothes' (1975) which was a key influence on the experimental 'baby doll' musical movement. This artistic movement was rooted in the work of controversial playwright Tennessee Williams, and in particular, Elia Kazan's lurid monochrome melodrama 'Baby Doll' (1956) which was based upon one of his stories. So, it's no wonder Sherman found bedfellows in Carol Kane and filmmaker Todd Haynes when she came to make her debut feature film - and to date only available feature film - 'Office Killer' (1997).
Cindy Sherman : 'Untitled Film Stills' (1977 - 1982)
The Art Of Impersonation : Cheryl Smith portrayed Veronica Lake in Carl Reiner's experimental crime comedy 'Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid' (1982) which intercut footage taken from the film archives ... here's private investigator Rigby Reardon (Steve Martin) visiting big lug Swede Anderson (Burt Lancaster) after he's been dragged down the proverbial rabbit-hole by the Exterminator (Alan Ladd) ...
Cindy Sherman was once married to French filmmaker Michael Auder, an associate of Andy Warhol who was once married to Viva. There are Warholian elements present in 'Office Killer'. The music for the movie was composed by Evan Lurie of the Lounge Lizards.
Carol Kane in 'Office Killer'
Shock jockey Eric Bogosian worked on 'Office Killer' and he knew Ohioan Carol Kane from the New York art scene. Kane has made 3 films to date with her close friend Bud Cort. She made 5 films with her dear friend and avowed protector, Charles Durning. What sometimes gets forgotten is she's also made 5 films with actor and filmmaker Steve Buscemi, another veteran of the underground New York art scene.
Steve Buscemi, Moby, Arianna Huffington & Lou Reed
Fans of science-fiction, fantasy and horror can see Carol Kane in William Fruet's 'Wedding In White' (1972), Karen Arthur's 'The Mafu Cage' (1978), James Frawley's 'The Muppet Movie' (1979), Fred Walton's 'When A Stranger Calls' (1979), Alfred Sole's 'Pandemonium' (1982), Rudy De Luca's 'Transylvania 6-5000' (1985), Rob Reiner's 'The Princess Bride' (1987), and Richard Donner's 'Scrooged' (1988), to name just a few. These are films that run the gamut of the fantastical spectrum, from intense realism to extreme hyperrealism, and everything in between. She was almost lost to Europe when her career stalled in the late 1970s, leading her to make avant-garde films in France, Spain and Canada, and work with Swedish arthouse players on stage and screen. These international ventures suffered from poor and limited distribution, but she returned to America with greater experience in film and theatre.
At Cinepunx, there's a series of articles dedicated to the work of Carol Kane, entitled 'Praising Kane'. The artwork of Cindy Sherman can be appreciated online by a visit to Hauser & Wirth.
John Glover & Carol Kane
Carl Reiner's science-fiction comedy 'The Man With Two Brains' (1983) explores the fantasies of a disembodied brain played by Sissy Spacek
Happy 70th Birthday Carol Kane !!
|
|
|
|
Post by petrolino on Jun 18, 2022 23:09:35 GMT
𧿠Cosmic Musicals : SONGS OF THE PSYCHONAUT đ
'Movin' Right Along' - Kermit & Fozzie ft. Big Bird
6 Space Age Musicals
01) 'Phantom Of The Paradise' (1974 - Brian De Palma) 02) 'The First Nudie Musical' (1976 - Mark Haggard & Bruce Kimmel)
03) 'The Muppet Movie' (1979 - James Frawley) 04) 'Voyage Of The Rock Aliens' (1984 - James Fargo)
05) 'Little Shop Of Horrors' (1986 - Frank Oz)
06) 'Vicious Lips' (1986 - Albert Pyun)
'You Bring Out The Lover In Me' - Pia Zadora
5 Auto-Destructive Double Bills
01) 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show' (1975 - Jim Sharman) / 'Shock Treatment' (1981 - Jim Sharman) 02) 'Cinderella' (1977 - Michael Pataki) / 'Fairy Tales' (1978 - Harry Hurwitz)
03) 'Rock 'N' Roll High School' (1979 - Allan Arkush) / 'Get Crazy' (1983 - Allan Arkush) 04) 'The Blues Brothers' (1980 - John Landis) / 'Amazon Women On The Moon' (1987 - Joe Dante, Carl Gottlieb, Peter Horton, John Landis & Robert K. Weiss)
05) 'Reefer Madness : The Musical' (2005 - Andy Fickman) / 'Poultrygeist : Night Of The Chicken Dead' (2006 - Lloyd Kaufman)
'Romeo And Juliet' - Kristen Bell & Christian Campbell
- -
|
|
|
|
Post by petrolino on Jun 25, 2022 23:49:44 GMT
đȘ 'Dune' Dual Featurette ~ 'The Coming Of Paul' đȘ¶
- -
'Dune : Part One' (2021 - Denis Villeneuve)
"Spice is a psychoactive chemical. You seem to be sensitive. You'll be fine."
- Dr. Wellington Yueh
- -
âïž The Death Of Heavy Industry & The Rise Of Psychic Phenomena đȘ
Strangely, rapid industrialisation in 'Dune' is being compromised by the rapid advancement of technology and manufacture of elite weaponry. The threat of extinction faced by different species is mirrored by crippling levels of technological obsolescence, though conversely, the development of this technology also holds the key to hanging on.
God Emperor
Sina Doering performs 'Child's Anthem' by Toto
In contrast, nurturing the all-seeing eye lies at the heart of 'Dune'. I'm not sure if it was King Dionysius, or Damocles hmself, who said "with great power comes great responsibility". Reverend Mother Mohiam and Lady Jessica understand this but Paul Atreides questions their conscious volition.
Fungus
How Denis Villeneuve Shoots A Film At 3 Budget Levels [In Depth Cine]
- -
âïž Harvesting : Cocktail Melange đ
The harvesting of a substance that is potent and hallucinogenic is hampered by giant sandworms that detect tremors. Spice shares some qualities with Jasper's Fungus ('The Santaroga Barrier') and is connected to lucid dreaming as well as mind control.
"The spice is a poison â so subtle, so insidious, so irreversible ... it won't even kill you unless you stop taking it."
- Paul Atreides, 'Dune'
Mushrooms
- - - -
'Dune' (1984 - David Lynch)
Englishman David Lean may have been the first director floated to take the helm of an epic based on Frank Herbert's groundbreaking science-fiction fantasy novel 'Dune' (1965). Precise and exacting, Lean had the skill set to create an audio-visual work built upon the tenets of cinematic classicism and was in consideration to direct 'Dune' in 1971. Chilean surrealist filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky was next in line and he envisioned creating 'Dune' in the mid-1970s with Swiss artist H.R. Giger, French cartoonist Jean Giraud and American comic book artist Dan O'Bannon by his side. Jodorowsky planned to use music composed by Magma and Pink Floyd but his project was never realised. Before the close of the decade, another Englishman, Ridley Scott, was approached to direct 'Dune'. European filmmakers who also expressed interest in bringing Frank Herbert's 'Dune' series to the big screen included maverick Polish directors Wojciech Has and Andrzej Zulawski.
The project was finally realised in the 1980s by experimental filmmaker David Lynch. It was a difficult production that suffered from studio interference. Lynch commissioned music for the film from history buffs Toto and ambient composer Brian Eno.
Carlo Rambaldi's sandworms
Sina Doering performs 'Hold The Line' by Toto
With songs like 'Angela', 'Carmen', 'Lorraine', 'Rosanna', 'Pamela', 'Lea', 'Melanie'. 'Anna' and 'Holyanna', Toto addressed issues of femininity from deep within the recurring passage of time. From the timeless educational tale at the heart of 'Manuela's Run' to the apocryphal ramblings of 'Mama', it was Toto of Los Angeles, California who continually called the patriarchal system in to question.
Sina Doering performs 'Rosanna' by Toto
'Dune : Part Two' was originally pencilled in for general release on 20 October, 2023. The date now appears to have been pushed back to 17 November, 2023, so more changes in scheduling might still be to come.
|
|
|
|
Post by petrolino on Jul 2, 2022 23:35:24 GMT
đ Lisa Langlois : 'Mind Contortions' đ©°
 Canada has been one of the leading nations for producing science-fiction, fantasy and horror cinema for decades. Genevieve Bujold was one of the first Canadian actresses to make waves within the horror genre since the heyday of Canadian screen legend Fay Wray. One of her key early roles was as Sophie Martin in Rene Bonniere's groundbreaking Quebecois feature 'Amanita Pestilens' (1963) which became a milestone in mindbending fantasy horror cinema. She went deeper in to psychological horror territory with her work on Paul Almond's existentialist 'Obscure Trilogy' which consisted of the haunting portraiture 'Isabel' (1968), the religious melodrama 'The Act Of The Heart' (1970), and the allegorical tone poem 'Journey' (1972). Bujold went on to make genre pictures like Brian De Palma's 'Obsession' (1976), Michael Crichton's 'Coma' (1978), Bob Clark's 'Murder By Decree' (1979), Richard Tuggle's 'Tightrope' (1984) and David Cronenberg's 'Dead Ringers' (1988).
Genevieve Bujold in 'Coma'
'Up All Night' - Beck
Another leading figure in Canadian genre cinema was Margot Kidder who became a horror icon of the 1970s. Kidder's performances in Brian De Palma's 'Sisters' (1973) and Bob Clark's 'Black Christmas' (1974) saw her working with two directors whom Genevieve Bujold would later work with. Kidder also made J. Lee Thompson's 'The Reincarnation Of Peter Proud' (1975) and Stuart Rosenberg's 'The Amityville Horror' (1979) before the decade's end, and became one of comic book cinema's enduring figures with her portrayal of Lois Lane in Richard Donner's big budget fantasy 'Superman' (1978). She specialised in comedy in the 1980s but would return to horror in a big way in the 21st century. Beset by mental health issues and living with bipolar disorder, sadly, Margot Kidder committed suicide in 2018.
Margot Kidder in 'Sisters'
'Dreams' - Beck
The 1980s opened the door for a new Canadian genre icon and it was Lisa Langlois who was invited in to the spotlight. With a background in dance and gymnastics, Langlois spent the entire decade seemingly under duress (or causing duress). The stage was set when she made a pair of dark dramas with French crime specialist Claude Chabrol in the late 1970s, notably the macabre mystery 'Blood Relatives' (1978). Directors took note and she became a wanted lady within science-fiction, fantasy and horror circles.
- -
đ Deceptive Notes : 6 Sinister Mind Traps đȘł
Lisa Langlois on the magisterial camerawork of English provocateur J. Lee Thompson [Monster Party]
01) 'Phobia' (1980 - John Huston) / Laura Adams
PLOT : Patients undergoing experimental therapy sessions devised by Doctor Peter Ross (Paul Michael Glaser) become unwitting pawns in a deadly endgame of extermination.
The story for 'Phobia' was written by filmmaker Gary Sherman with screenwriter Gary Shusett in 1971 but it knocked around for years and underwent extensive rewrites. Filmmaker Dan O'Bannon was brought in to rejig the script in the mid-1970s but didn't take to it and moved on quickly. The key rewrite is believed to have been done by Hammer Studios staff writer Jimmy Sangster in the late 1970s. 'Phobia' was directed by John Huston who also came on board by securing an option to perform rewrites. Huston's father was actor Walter Huston who was from Toronto, Ontario. The film was co-produced by filmmaker Jonathan Kaplan.
RECOMMENDED FOR A QUADRUPLE BILL : 'Disturbed' (1990 - Charles Winkler) / 'Jacob's Ladder' (1990 - Adrian Lyne) / 'Color Of Night' (1994 - Richard Rush)
02) 'Happy Birthday To Me' (1981 - J. Lee Thompson) / Amelia
PLOT : Popular high school student Virginia Wainwright (Melissa Sue Anderson) prepares to celebrate her 18th birthday with her elite clique of friends.
J. Lee Thompson was one of England's finest horror filmmakers, noted for his exciting visual sense and camera mobility. His work on 'Happy Birthday To Me' showcases his creative flair and technical ability behind the camera. Lisa Langlois' friend Lesleh Donaldson appeared in a quartet of horror features early in the decade, this being one of them; the others were William Fruet's 'Funeral Home' (1980), Robert Clouse's 'Deadly Eyes' (1982) and Richard Ciupka's 'Curtains' (1983).
RECOMMENDED FOR A QUADRUPLE BILL : 'Hell Night' (1981 - Tom DeSimone) / 'The Dorm That Dripped Blood' (1982 - Stephen Carpenter & Jeffrey Obrow) / 'Girls Nite Out' (1982 - Robert Deubel)
03) 'Deadly Eyes' (1982 - Robert Clouse) / Trudy White
PLOT : Health inspector Kelly Leonard (Sara Botsford) is tipped off about a potential giant rat infestation. Basketball coach Paul Harris (Sam Groom) joins the investigation leaving head cheerleader Trudy White (Lisa Langlois) starving for attention.
'Deadly Eyes' is based on James Herbert's horror novel 'The Rats' (1974) which was followed by 'Lair' (1979), 'Domain' (1984) and 'The City' (1993). Sadly, the other books in the 'Rats' series have yet to be filmed and the critical drubbing handed down to 'Deadly Eyes' probably didn't help.
Action maestro Robert Clouse sends high school students to the cinema here to see Bruce Lee in 'Game Of Death' (1972), having once directed Lee in the kung fu classic 'Enter The Dragon' (1973). The rats are portrayed by small dogs in disguise which means they're frighteningly quick and hunt decisively in packs.
RECOMMENDED FOR A QUADRUPLE BILL : 'Jaws' (1975 - Steven Spielberg) / 'Piranha' (1978 - Joe Dante) / 'Alligator' (1980 - Lewis Teague)
04) 'The Nest' (1988 - Terence H. Winkless) / Elizabeth Johnson
PLOT : Elizabeth Johnson (Lisa Langlois) returns home to find her family's gotten involved in the engineering of supercockroaches.
When it came to casting for 'The Nest', director Terence Winkless' thoughts went straight towards Lisa Langlois as he'd admired her performance as Cindy Worth in Bruce Malmuth's science-fiction fantasy 'The Man Who Wasn't There' (1983), a role she'd screen tested for with Jennifer Jason Leigh.
RECOMMENDED FOR A QUADRUPLE BILL : 'Them!' (1954 - Gordon Douglas) / 'Bug' (1975 - Jeannot Szwarc) / 'Ticks' (1993 - Tony Randel)
05) 'Transformations' (1988 - Jay Kamen) / Miranda
PLOT : A planet housing a penal colony comes under threat from a deadly and mysterious plague that may manifest itself in monster form. Miranda (Lisa Langlois) was born to an incarcerated woman so she trained to become a prison doctor. Destined never to leave the confines of the prison, and completely institutionalised, Miranda sets out to investigate.
Producer Charles Band enlisted the services of his technical unit based in Italy to make 'Transformations'. The result is a visual extravaganza that was mostly shot at Band's Empire Studios facility in Rome.
RECOMMENDED FOR A QUADRUPLE BILL : 'Creepozoids' (1987 - David DeCoteau) / 'Prison Ship' (1988 - Fred Olen Ray) / 'Alien 3' (1992 - David Fincher)
06) 'Mindfield' (1989 - Jean-Claude Lord) / Sarah Paradis
PLOT : Detective Kellen O'Reilly (Michael Ironside) experiences disturbing hallucinations he believes are connected to some unconventional training sessions he undertook with the Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A.). Defence lawyer Sarah Paradis (Lisa Langlois) undercuts O'Reilly at a meeting so he slams her over her liberalism and work in civil rights. A hard-nosed conservative from a long family line of policemen, O'Reilly knows if he's to retrieve his mind piece by piece, he might need legal support to do it.
'Mindfield' is based on a novel by William Deverell, co-creator of 'Street Legal', so it's no surprise it tackles hard-hitting issues concerning the use of mind-altering drugs. Filmmaker George Mihalka is credited with having a hand in the writing.
RECOMMENDED FOR A QUADRUPLE BILL : 'Blue Velvet' (1986 - David Lynch) / 'Total Recall' (1990 - Paul Verhoeven) / 'Liebestraum' (1991 - Mike Figgis)
'Sexx Laws' - Beck
- -
By working on Roger Corman's production 'The Nest' (1988) and Charles Band's production 'Transformations' (1988) in the same year, Lisa Langlois followed in the footsteps of Cheryl Smith, Linnea Quigley, Brinke Stevens, Michelle Bauer and Barbara Crampton by working with both of these extraordinarily prolific director-producers. Around this time, Sherilyn Fenn did the same, with Kelly Preston, Claudia Christian and Charlie Spradling following suit in the 1990s. Kelli Maroney and Maria Ford were key members of Roger Corman's acting company when he turned his full attention to doing production work with his wife and production partner Julie Corman, but I don't think either of them has worked with Band. Likewise, Helen Hunt and Megan Ford made several pictures each with Band, but I don't recall either of them working with Corman.
Louis Gossett Jr., Lisa Langlois, Tony Curtis & Sally Kellerman
'Mixed Bizness' - Beck
Joyeux 80e anniversaire, GeneviĂšve Bujold !!
|
|
|
|
Post by petrolino on Jul 9, 2022 22:12:58 GMT
đ« '50 Shades Of Black' : Bringing Kerry James Marshall's 'Rythm Mastr' To The Screen đȘ
{ : ... And Spike Lee Into The Comic Book Universe ... }
Filmmaker Spike Lee was reported to be in talks to direct a comic book movie based around the Marvel character Nightwatch in 2018. This was before a global pandemic began taking shape in 2019. Over the years, he's been linked to projects inspired by characters created at Marvel Comics, D.C. Comics and Image Comics, but things have never gone beyond the rumour mill. Samuel L. Jackson is a key member of Lee's stock company and in many ways he's become the face of the Marvel Universe, which would bring additional interest were Lee to direct a Marvel movie.
'We all know artists shape history just as decisively as world leaders, or business magnates, yet its nice to be reminded why we should rank the best of them alongside the Pope and the er, President. Timeâs 100 Most Influential People of 2017 has just been published and, alongside Donald Trump, Jeff Bezos and Theresa May are two Phaidon artists who have changed plenty of outlooks in our time. The painter Kerry James Marshall makes the list, thanks to the way he has represented black poeple in fine art.
âFor too long, the contributions of black people in American society have been ignored, marginalized and denied,â writes Grant Hill, a seven-time NBA All-Star, and a leading collector of African-American art. âKerry James Marshall confirms and confronts those depictions and omissions with artistic flair, portraying everyday events in black lives. As the rest of the world learned through the stunning retroÂspective exhibition âMastry,â Kerryâs narrative paintings are direct, bold and in-your-face views of moments in our lives, and they cannot be ignored.â Cindy Sherman also made the 2017 cut, though she is represented in the âiconâ section of the list rather than the 'artist' section. Nevertheless, like Marshall, itâs Sherman's ability to influence social tropes that truly sets her apart. âThe victim, the psycho bitch, the good wife,â writes fellow artist and Phaidon contributor Miranda July. âLady readers will know what I mean when I say we are supposed to embody these roles, but unknowingly, so as not to ruin the mood. It's this mood that Cindy Sherman's role-playing self-portraits have disrupted and repurposed over the past 40 years. Her photographs always beguile at first - she's so pretty! So sad! So crazy! - but in the next moment we remember, 'She' took this picture. She knows.â'
- Phaidon
'When Frustration Threatens Desire' by Kerry James Marshall
Interview with Kerry James Marshall [Louisiana Museum Of Modern Art]
Anyway, I had a different thought. One of my favourite American artists is Kerry James Marshall who reflects upon art, literature, music and cinema within his paintings. Marshall is the creator of the ongoing comic book saga 'Rythm Mastr' and he's been saying recently that he'd like to make it in to a movie. The one film I know he's worked on in the past is Julie Dash's 'Daughters Of The Dust' (1991) on which he served as production designer. The film was re-released to cinemas in 2017 following its restoration in 2016. In 2004, 'Daughters Of The Dust' was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
"The irony was that there were lots of kids who were more talented than I was, in terms of copying things, like Marvel Comicsâ images ... yeah, Marvel Comics was the godsend. My images tended to get overworked really fast, and had a lot of lines, erasures and scratches. I didnât get a drawing into the case that often."
- Kerry James Marshall, BOMB
'Above The Line' by Kerry James Marshall
Beck performs at the Union Chapel in London, England [ ~ 28.04.2003. ~ ] { 00:48 - The Golden Age / 05:01 - It's All In Your Mind / 08:30 - Guess I'm Doing Fine / 14:22 - Lonesome Tears / 19:00 - Nicotine & Gravy / 24:34 - Lost Cause
28:18 - Ship In A Bottle / 32:54 - Fourteen Rivers, Fourteen Floods / 36:48 - Loser / 44:03 - Nobody's Fault But My Own / 48:53 - Lord Only Knows }
I wonder if Spike Lee would be interested in helming an adaptation of 'Rythm Mastr' in collaboration with Kerry James Marshall. He could probably commission a music score from Terence Blanchard or David Byrne. When Lady Gaga received the Young Artist Award at the National Arts Awards in 2015, the ceremony was held at Cipriani 42nd Street in Manhattan, New York, where she was seated at a dinner table next to Marshall who was also receiving an award. It'd be amazing if Gaga could compose a song for the film with futurist android Janelle Monae.
"Part of the reason I started was because I saw that black kids are interested in comics and superheroes just like everybody else. But the market has somehow never been able to sustain a set of black super heroes in a way that could capture the imagination, not just of the black populations but also of the general population as a whole. Now, when I was growing up, reading Marvel comics â The X-Men, The Fantastic Four, The Avengers, Thor, The Mighty Hulk, Spiderman â all of those characters were amazing characters to me.
But there werenât any black characters in the pantheon of superheroes until the Black Panther entered the scene in The Fantastic Four, Issue 52, in 1965. Since then, there have been black superheroes as parts of teams of superheroes in Marvel comics, and in some other comics, but there hadnât been many independent black superheroes who had a comic of their own that could sustain itself for a long time. And not until the last five, six, seven years have there been a lot of attempts at trying to develop a series of black superhero characters that could capture the imaginations of young people. But almost all of them have failed to a degree.
And so, part of the reason I started this project was to address that as an issue. I thought what I would do with this project would be to take a form that is, in some ways, already undervalued in America, take a subject thatâs underrepresented, and try to develop a comic strip with a set of characters that had cultural significance but also allowed for a kind of imaginative play and inspiration. What I hit on, as a subject, was this idea that for black people, the set of superheroes we come to know anything about have a lot to do with West African religious gods, in a sense.
Thereâs a pantheon of gods in the Yoruba tradition that is known as the Seven African Powers, and those African powers are represented in African sculpture symbolically. And so, what I saw was that, when you go to the museum, especially when you go through the African art wing of a museum, youâll see representations of these things, and they exist historically for a lot of people. But the tradition from which they come doesnât have the same kind of currency that the tradition of Greek mythological heroes has, although there are parallels between those two traditions. So, when we go to the museum to see African art, those heroes or those symbolic representations of the heroes seem pretty inert. We talk about them as statues that are from cultural practices that are either dead or obsolete.
And so, I thought what I would do would be to take those African sculptures, those African heroes, and reanimate them, in a sense, and make them into the superheroes, but not conventional superheroes that are overdeveloped with musculature. I selected a very specific set of African sculptures that had certain attributes that could easily be translated into superhero powers. Iâm trying to find a way to make our knowledge of African history, our knowledge of mythology, and our love of fantasy and superheroes and things like that all come together in a vital and exciting way â by connecting it to a story that is meaningful, historically and culturally, and that says something about the way in which we can carry these traditions into the future, so that they donât have to dissipate and die."
- Kerry James Marshall, ART21
'Spike Lee may be getting into the superhero game. The filmmaker is circling to direct a movie for Sony based on the Marvel character Nightwatch, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. Sources say Leeâs involvement is early at this point, but that he could potentially direct a film written by Luke Cage showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker centering on African-American scientist Dr. Kevin Trench, first introduced in the comics in 1993.
The studio declined to comment.'
- The Hollywood Reporter (article published online at 10:11am on 14th March, 2018)
"I have nothing against Marvel. I grew up reading Spider-Man comic books. To me, DC Comics was always corny. [Laughs] I'm just saying. I was all about Marvel. If the right opportunity comes across, I'm not campaigning for it, but I will give it consideration."
- Spike Lee addresses rumours he might direct a film set within the Marvel Universe, Entertainment Weekly (article published online at 11:00am on 12th February, 2021)
'Rythm Mastr'
How Spike Lee Shoots A Film At 3 Budget Levels [In Depth Cine]
I hope they can make it happen somehow, but if not, I'm still excited to see what Kerry James Marshall does produce if the project gets funded.
"I wouldnât say that I never think about beauty as an aesthetic issue. But I certainly think itâs a much more complicated issue than itâs imagined to be. I think, sometimes, when people think of beauty, they think of prettiness as a sign of beauty, but itâs a lot more complicated and a lot deeper than that. The way I see beauty is: as a state of being for a thing that has a kind of fascination about it, or as a thing that presents a certain kind of fascination to you as a viewer. Itâs certainly something thatâs captivating; itâs somethingâs thatâs compelling. Beauty is a phenomenological experience, and a basic component of it is intrigue. I donât think that simply because I am an artist, or because anybody is an artist, that people ought to give their attention to the things that weâve made. In some ways, we have to earn our audienceâs attention, and one of the ways we earn our audienceâs attention is to make things that are phenomenologically fascinating.
When I say phenomenological, I mean a thing has a certain existential authority. What I think is that a thing is what it is. And it is interesting simply because it is, first, meaning that it has a certain presence; we accept its existence as a fact, and it is interesting just because it is. Not because it has a particular meaning, that itâs significant to us in any particular way, but simply that it is.
Itâs like a rock, in a sense. Rocks just are. Some rocks are more interesting to look at than other rocks. They all can tell a story, but we donât examine the stories that all rocks tell. Only certain rocks hold a kind of fascination that compels us to want to investigate further what it is about their nature thatâs so interesting. And itâs that compelling component, that fascinating component, this other thing that we are engaged by, that I acquaint with something being beautiful. Itâs not that a smooth rock is more beautiful than a jagged rock. The jagged rock might be much more complicated, maybe more complex. That complexity, I think, is what makes that rock somehow more attractive to us to investigate. And thatâs what I mean by phenomenological, in a sense.
I mean, when the moon comes up in the evening and itâs full, itâs an amazing thing. And thatâs a phenomena that we donât have to explain; we just recognize it for what it is. It has a certain authority and a certain presence, just because it is. When thereâs a tornado, we may be terrified by it, but itâs fascinating nonetheless because it is what it is, not because we know anything about it per se, but because we respond to what it is. Thatâs what I mean by a phenomenological existence.
So, when artists make things, I think we attempt to make things that have the same kind of authority, or the same kind of presence, as things like the moon, like the sun, like a tornado, like a rock â where you see it, and you know it. There are interesting things about it. And the more you penetrate it and probe into it, the more things it reveals to you or allows you to understand or allows you to make connections to other things. So, thatâs what I think we try to do, as artists. These are the means, the kinds of devices or ways the artist has of gaining an audienceâs attention."
- Kerry James Marshall, ART21
From The Archive : 'Sessions At West 54th : David Byrne Presents Liz Phair' {recorded at Sony Music Studios on West 54th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York} { : Interview + 'Mesmerize' / 'Johnny Feelgood' / 'Polyester Bride' / '6'1"' / 'What Makes You Happy' : }
|
|
|
|
Post by petrolino on Aug 6, 2022 22:42:59 GMT
đ 'The Dark Side Of The Wargame' : Astral Illness & Idiopathic Injury âł
I think American comic book fans first started reading 'Archie Comics' in 1942. The character Archie made his debut in 'Pep Comics' in December 1941, the same month that the United States of America officially declared war on Japan and entered in to direct conflict in World War 2. 'True Sport Picture Stories' (1942) was a popular title of the era that showed how sports comics could be successful. Despite this, sports comics would come and go in America following the 2nd World War. This included 'All-Time Sports' (1949) and 'Sports Thrills' (1950) which struggled to gain a foothold within a crowded market space increasingly dominated by fantasy comics.
"If not for WWII and the very specific climate that it birthed, many of todayâs most beloved superheroes wouldnât even exist. Early versions of Black Widow, The Human Torch), Namor, and The Vision appeared between 1939 and 1940, while many of DC Comicsâ key heroes and teamsâ specifically The Justice Society of Americaâ emerged in the same time frame.
One of the Golden Ageâs most famous heroes was Batman, who debuted in 1939. Interestingly, Batman wasnât created as a superhero, but a pulp vigilante like The Shadow. Not all of these heroes were made explicitly for propaganda purposes, but they were all used to promote everything from enlistment to war bonds, thus cementing their historical relevance. Superheroes as theyâre known today are a primarily American invention, with many of them made explicitly for propaganda. Miss America, Miss Patriot, The Shield, Uncle Sam, and more proudly wore the American colors to battle. Meanwhile, costumed crime fighters like Batman, Black Terror, the Justice Society, and others joined in their own ways.
However, when nationalistic hype died down near the warâs end, patriotic heroes faded from the spotlight. The only one to survive was Captain America, who was and still is the Golden Ageâs most famous patriot. Captain America was such a hit with readers that he was rebooted into Marvel Comics in the 1960s, while his compatriots were forgotten by time. While it may not be as prevalent as it once was, the idea of a sidekick is one of the oldest superhero tropes. To get kids to buy comics, creators added teenaged sidekicks for the intended audience to project themselves into. The first major sidekick was Robin the Boy Wonder, who first fought alongside Batman in 1940 and gave rise to an entire trend. After Robinâs debut, almost every superhero adopted a teenaged sidekick. Hindsight, however, was not kind to sidekicks, thanks to uncomfortable subtexts (i.e. an adult man hanging out with a minor) that were hard to ignore. Spider-Man, a solo teenaged crime fighter, effectively killed the need sidekick in the 1960s. Meanwhile Robin and other remaining sidekicks followed Spidey's lead to become successful teenaged heroes on their own. Bucky Barnes, on the other hand, became the villainous Winter Soldier.
In 1938, Superman made his first appearance in Action Comics #1 and changed popular culture forever. Without exaggeration, Superman defined the modern superhero, setting the standards and tropes for all to follow. Rival publishers then made their own Superman, thus defining the Golden Age with characters who were a combination of tough pulp heroes and imaginative sci-fi adventures.
One of the most well-known clones was Fawcett Comicsâ Captain Marvel (aka Shazam), who even outsold his predecessor. Of the possibly hundreds of Superman clones, only he and Captain Marvel made it out of the post-war years. Superheroes were deemed corny in the â50s, before they saw a resurgence in the '60s thanks to the publicâs interest in fantastical sci-fi, especially those set in space."
- Angelo Delos Trinos, Comic Book Resources (CBR)
1940s Comic Sample
'Supernova EP' ~ Liz Phair { : 'Supernova (Album Version)' / 'Supernova (Superclean Mix)' / 'Combo Platter (Warp-Waved Girly-Sound Mix)' / 'X-Ray Man (Alternate Percussive Edition)' : }
Roger Corman operated a short-lived comic book imprint that lasted from 1995 to 1996, 'Roger Corman's Cosmic Comics'. I mention this as it was horror filmmakers who educated me about the existence of many science-fiction, fantasy and horror comics as I wasn't a comic book fan growing up. George Romero, Wes Craven, Tobe Hooper, Stuart Gordon and John Carpenter were instrumental in helping me understand the impact and influence of comics like 'Weird Tales' (1923), 'Amazing Stories' (1928), 'Wonder Stories' (1929), 'Astounding Stories Of Super-Science' (1930), 'Strange Stories' (1939) and 'Unknown' (1939). Also, Dan O'Bannon, who was a comic book artist himself.
"There was only one great comic book in the â40s and â50s, the days when comic books were in their first muscular prime. It was set in a place called Central City, which was obviously New York, and it was filled with darkness. Great dark Gregg Toland shadows, men standing in Fritz Lang pools of light, women with dark hair and inviting bodies. âMy name is Pâgell,â she said, staring with brutal directness from the splash panel, âand this is not a story for little boysâŠâ The comic book was called The Spirit, and in the last year, as always, The Spirit has risen from the grave.
The old Will Eisner classic is back in a series of handsome buck-a-copy reprints published by Warren Publishing Co. The covers are new, beautifully drawn and colored, and, thankfully, the stories are old. The hard coloring of the â40s comic supplements and comic books has given way to handsome gray Bendays, which emphasize the lush blacks of the drawings and give the stories a feeling of some old Warner Brothers film, caught forever in the ambiguous light of late afternoon. The stories are brilliant â Jules Feiffer was one of Eisnerâs writers â and the artwork is the most expressive ever practiced in comic books â among Eisnerâs assistants were Wally Wood, who found his own style in the early Mad, and Alex Kotsky, who now draws the newspaper strip, Apartment 3-G. But more than anything else, The Spirit contained great characters, starting with the lead character himself."
- Pete Hamill, 'The Village Voice' (article published 21st April, 1975)
"The Invisible Bridge : The Fall of Nixon and the Rise of Reagan" derives its title from a word of counsel Nikita Khrushchev once offered to Richard Nixon : "If the people believe there's an imaginary river out there, you don't tell them there's no river there. You build an imaginary bridge over the imaginary river."
- Kevin Canfield, SF Gate
'Captain America' Film Serial (1944)
'Miner At The Dial-A-View' - Grandaddy
- - -
đ Macabre Combat Sports, Sinister Trainings & Deadly Game Shows ('Crash Course') đ
'Enter The Dragon' (1973 - Robert Clouse)
'Death Race 2000' (1975 - Paul Bartel)
'Rollerball' (1975 - Norman Jewison)
'Satan's Cheerleaders' (1977 - Greydon Clark)
'Deathsport' (1978 - Allan Arkush)
'Graduation Day' (1981 - Herb Freed)
'Fatal Games' (1984 - Michael Elliot)
'Deadly Prey' (1987 - David A. Prior)
'Deathrow Gameshow' (1987 - Mark Pirro)
'The Running Man' (1987 - Paul Michael Glaser)
'Slave Girls From Beyond Infinity' (1987 - Ken Dixon)
'Death Spa' (1989 - Michael Fischa)
'Hard Target' (1993 - John Woo)
'Surviving The Game' (1994 - Ernest Dickerson)
'Cube' (1997 - Vincenzo Natali)
Honey Blake ('The Blonde Bomber') made her debut for 'Green Hornet Comics' in 1942
'Waitin' For Superman (Mokran Remix)' - Flaming Lips
- - -
Today, the comic book industry is massive and graphic novels are immensely popular. Comic book movies are dominant at the box-office and the character-based universe they create ensures audiences keep flocking back to catch the latest installment. Fans want to find out what's happening with their favourite superheroes and pantovillains.
|
|
|
|
Post by petrolino on Sept 9, 2022 22:46:56 GMT
đ· "Double Dutch" : Paul Verhoeven ~ Lost In America đ„
Prologue : Casting Ridley Scott's 'Bladerunner' (1982)
Rutger Hauer was cast in 'Bladerunner' as Roy Batty, leader of the replicants. Director Ridley Scott cast Hauer based on his performances in Paul Verhoeven's movies; Hauer had worked with Verhoeven on the literary adaptation 'Turkish Delight' (1973), the period drama 'Katie Tippel' (1975), the wartime drama 'Soldier Of Orange' (1977) and the sports drama 'Splashes' (1980). Author Philip K. Dick described Hauer as "the perfect Batty - cold, Aryan, flawless".
'Bladerunner' - Kim Wilde
'Flesh And Blood' (1985)
Paul Verhoeven's first American outing as director was a labour of love, an allegorical adventure set in Italy at the start of the 16th century, when a new dawn arose across Europe to light an escape route from the unjust and abject cruelty of the middle ages. 'Flesh And Blood' became one of the great superflops of the 1980s, taking in $100,000 at the box-office to off-set its budget of $6,500,000. Its failure threatened to derail the Dutchman's career in Hollywood before it had barely even started. Commercial misfires like this would contribute to Orion Pictures going bankrupt around the turn of the decade.
Rutger Hauer & Jennifer Jason Leigh
'Tuning In Tuning On' - Kim Wilde
'RoboCop' (1987)
It was 'RoboCop' that set the scene for numerous genre specialists associated with director and producer Roger Corman to indirectly affect the course of Paul Verhoeven's filmmaking career. This began with Jonathan Kaplan who was attached to direct 'RoboCop' due to his association with producer Jon Davison who'd worked diligently alongside Corman throughout the 1970s. When Kaplan left the project to take the reigns on 'Project X' (1987), Monte Hellman and Michael Miner contested for the role of director (Hellman stayed on to work as second unit director, assisted by Mark Goldblatt). Alex Cox and David Cronenberg were also considered to fill the director's chair but the position was eventually taken up by Verhoeven. Howard Stern was offered a role in the movie but turned the opportunity down.
'Action City' - Kim Wilde
'Total Recall' (1990)
Italian film producer Dino De Laurentiis strongly considered hiring Australian music video pioneer Russell Mulcahy when looking for someone to direct 'Total Recall', an adaptation of a story by Philip K. Dick. Richard Rush and Lewis Teague were also considered, but De Laurentiis settled on Canadian director David Cronenberg. This was around 1984. Cronenberg eventually quit the project due to creative differences. Some years later, the project was reignited by Carolco Pictures. Studio asset Arnold Schwarzenegger approached Paul Verhoeven to direct having been impressed by his work on 'RoboCop'. Verhoeven accepted.
'Chaos At The Airport' - Kim Wilde
'Basic Instinct' (1992)
The turbo-charged, psychosexual thriller 'Basic Instinct' allowed Paul Verhoeven to experiment with a story format he'd explored in Netherlands with the arthouse smash 'The Fourth Man' (1983), a film Paul Bartel described as "the first gay, Catholic horror film". The screenplay was written by Joe Eszterhas whose middle name was blockbuster.
'Dream Sequence' - Kim Wilde
'Showgirls' (1995)
Following the runaway success of 'Basic Instinct', Paul Verhoeven reteamed with Joe 'Blockbuster' Eszterhas to create 'Showgirls', an all-original throwback to the torrid backstage melodramas produced during cinema's classic era.
'The Touch' - Kim Wilde
'Starship Troopers' (1997)
Paul Verhoeven's technical company was reconvened for the ambitious monster movie 'Starship Troopers', an adaptation of a story by Robert A. Heinlein. For almost every creative department, Verhoeven could now call upon trusted collaborators working in America. Producer Jon Davison developed this project with writer Ed Neumeier and stop motion animator Phil Tippett, all of whom had worked together previously on 'RoboCop'.
'Kids In America' - Kim Wilde
'Hollow Man' (2000)
For 'Hollow Man', read the final straw. What should have been the latest success story instead became the final throes of a suffocating nightmare, as hungry critics once again eagerly sharpened their claws in anticipation of shredding a Paul Verhoeven genre picture. This tale of invisibility married cutting edge special effects work with the pen of H.G. Wells, but it was put to the sword by critics frothing at the mouthpiece.
Enough was now enough. Verhoeven returned home to Netherlands and picked up his career where he'd left off.
"You have 20 seconds to comply."
|
|
|
|
Post by petrolino on Sept 30, 2022 22:25:42 GMT
đȘ 'Tradition' : 50th Anniversary Of 'Wedding In White' (1972)
{ : William Fruet's Emphasis On The Roots Of Canadian Gothic : } đŸ
'Wedding In White' is Canadian filmmaker William Fruet's adaptation of his own play, 'Wedding In White'. Fruet had worked as a screenwriter on Donald Shebib's early films, 'Goin' Down The Road' (1970) and 'Rip-Off' (1971).
"Jeannie is the kind of girl you can never remember from high school: sort of pretty in a faded way, not very bright and weighted down with a vast lack of confidence. Sheâs 16 years old and very much in awe of her friend, Dollie, who uses lipstick and has lots of nice clothes and an extensive collection of cheap costume jewelry. The admiration she feels for Dollie, in fact, is about the only sharp emotion in her life; for the rest, sheâs listless and indifferent. She lives with her family in Canada, in about 1943. Her father is a beer-guzzling good old boy in the Home Guard, and her brother is in the Army. One weekend he comes home with a friend, and what with one thing leading to another the friend sort of rapes her, and she confesses to her mom: âI think Iâm in trouble.â Her father, enraged, beats her and plans to send her away, but one drunken night he conceives a plan to marry her off to his best buddy, Sandy. Now Sandy is a drunken and worthless character of about 60, but so what? âNo other man would touch her,â her father says. Out of this commonplace story about ordinary people, the Canadian writer and director William Fruet has fashioned âWedding in White,â a poignant, bitter, sometimes surprisingly funny slice-of-life. It really does recreate its wartime society; everything about it is right: the clothes, the dialog and particularly the prejudices and ignorance. We donât feel weâre being told a story; itâs more like weâre glimpsing the small joys and tragedies of unfortunate relatives. The movie, which won the Canadian film festival, works so well, I think, because the performances are good; this material could never stand being fancied up by overacting. Donald Pleasence, that superb actor who is unsurpassed in his ability to project banal evil, provides the force behind the plot as the father. Carol Kane, as Jeannie, seems almost transparently vulnerable. Doris Petrie, who plays the mother, has a wonderful scene toward the end - she pleads with her husband to understand their child - that seems just right in revealing that she has been defeated by life in everything except a stubborn, lingering hope. The movie examines its small Canadian town with something of the same attention Peter Bogdanovich revealed in âThe Last Picture Show.â The girls go to a dance, for example, and the band is made up of three elderly women on accordion, drums and piano: Their two-step dance rhythms sound memorized to death. The dime stores, the soda fountains, the slang, and all work toward the final effect.
And the effect is simply that of a small domestic tragedy. The girlâs life has been ruined, not by her pregnancy but by her fatherâs ignorance. Yet sheâs too dim to even quite understand that. Itâs impossible for her to rebel, unthinkable to question her father. The movie ends without a message, without a statement, without any indication that the characters understand their own motivations. In most movies, that would be a weakness, but here itâs a strength, because Fruet wants only to show us these people as they are. The result is one of the most merciless, strangely touching portraits of character Iâve ever seen in a movie: only Mike Leighâs âBleak Moments,â from last yearâs Chicago Film Festival, comes to mind in comparison."
- Roger Ebert, The Chicago Sun-Times (article published in 1973)
Carol Kane & Bonnie Carol Case
For 'Wedding In White', Fruet's assistant director was John Board who'd worked alongside filmmaker Paul Almond on 'Act Of The Heart' (1970), the second installment in Almond's 'Obscure Trilogy'. Board also worked with Shebib and he became a longtime assistant director to David Cronenberg.
"Wedding In White seriously breaks the bounds of what gets to be called horror films, and I was zeroly surprised to learn William Fruet's subsequent career was virtually all horrors and slashers. The wedding party is as sociopathic as The Texas Chain Saw Massacre's dinner party. The drunk groom waking up occupies the same plane of dread as Michael's climactic sit-up in Halloween. The final shot telegraphs the same inevitable destruction under the complacent watch of adult authority as Black Christmas. Donald Pleasence's character is also even more disturbing an indictment of the patriarchal crab bucket than his character in Wake In Fright."
- Grovets Groves, Letterboxd
Carol Kane & Bonnie Carol Case
The cinematographer on 'Wedding In White' was Richard Leiterman who regularly lensed films for Shebib. Camera wizard Mark Irwin would later serve as director of photography on three films directed by Fruet and six films directed by Cronenberg, before relocating to America where he shot three films apiece for Ohioans Wes Craven and Mark L. Lester in the 1990s.
"But if I could ever have half the imagination that (Federico) Fellini has. He's my idol, there's nobody quite like him. What a film-maker! He never leaves you a second in the film where he doesn't entertain you, or keep you busy. If he must get to the other side of the room, he gives you lots of things to watch while the camera goes over there."
- William Fruet, Cinema Canada
Donald Pleasence, Leo Phillips & Carol Kane
TRIVIA : Ivan Reitman produced David Cronenberg's 'Shivers' (1975) and William Fruet's 'Death Weekend' (1976).
- -
đ Canada In The 1970s : Recession, Rebellion & Revolt đ„
William Fruet and David Cronenberg's genre films of the 1970s had a tremendous impact on the emerging Canadian horror industry. By the turn of the decade, Canada was attracting leading international film directors to helm horror productions, and with significantly higher budgets on offer than either Fruet or Cronenberg had been accustomed to. Peter Medak's supernatural horror 'The Changeling' (1980) and John Huston's psychological horror 'Phobia' (1980) were prestige projects allocated production budgets of upwards of $4,000,000 and counting, as the Canadian film industry looked to capitalise on an emerging horror market that had been given extra juice by a pair of homegrown film pioneers. Even Canadian-made slashers like Roger Spottiswoode's 'Terror Train' (1980), J. Lee Thompson's 'Happy Birthday To Me' (1981) and George Mihalka's 'My Bloody Valentine' (1981) were able to secure shooting budgets in the ballpark of $2,500,000 - $3,500,000, making them the envy of many an American slasher director. Claude Chabrol, Claude Lelouch, Roger Vadim, Just Jaeckin and Jean-Jacques Annaud were among the French filmmakers drawn to work in Canada during this period.
Mini Canadian Drive In Festival (1973 - 1980)
'Cannibal Girls' (1973 - Ivan Reitman)
'Wedding In White' (1973 - William Fruet) 'Black Christmas' (1974 - Bob Clark) 'Shivers' (1975 - David Cronenberg) 'Death Weekend' (1976 - William Fruet) 'The Little Girl Who Lives Down The Lane' (1976 - Nicolas Gessner) 'Cathy's Curse' (1977 - Eddy Matalon) 'Rabid' (1977 - David Cronenberg) 'The Uncanny' (1977 - Denis Heroux) 'The Brood' (1979 - David Cronenberg)
'Fast Company' (1979 - David Cronenberg) 'Meatballs' (1979 - Ivan Reitman) 'Plague' (1979 - Ed Hunt)
'Search And Destroy' (1979 - William Fruet) 'Stone Cold Dead' (1979 - George Mendeluk) 'Death Ship' (1980 - Alvin Rakoff) 'Funeral Home' (1980 - William Fruet) 'Out Of The Blue' (1980 - Dennis Hopper)
'Prom Night' (1980 - Paul Lynch)
|
|
|
|
Post by petrolino on Oct 8, 2022 22:40:54 GMT
đ "Talking Greek" : Nico Mastorakis ~ Lost In America đŹ
In the early 1970s, filmmaker Nico Mastorakis was busy learning his craft while working within the Greek television industry. He'd previously worked in journalism, like Italian genre filmmaker Umberto Lenzi. He was also a lyricist and record producer, noted in Greece for his work with musical pioneers, the Forminx.
Mastorakis branched out in to making features when he directed the mind-bending science-fiction thriller 'Death Has Blue Eyes' (1976) and the controversial crime horror 'Island Of Death' (1976), a pair of Greek gamechangers to rival Kostas Karagiannis' crime horrors 'Tango Of Perversion' (1973) and 'The Wife Killer' (1974). Having contributed to the story behind J. Lee Thompson's thinly disguised, speculative Jacqueline Bouvier biopic 'The Greek Tycoon' (1978), Mastorakis left for America after co-writing the screenplay behind animator Richard Jeffries' international co-production 'Blood Tide' (1982); this atmospheric creature feature shot in Greece in 1980 was co-produced by Mastorakis and Brian Trenchard-Smith.
"Mykonos - itâs the kind of location that, even if you drop the camera, you get a great shot. It also played well with the look of the protagonists, killers with angelic faces. The island too had an angelic face but, even off-season, did hide some demons and devils underneath its all-white, all-innocent facade.
The locals have been trained in weirdness for decades. Every summer, they deal with the most colorful crowds, they understand the philosophy of âanything goes,â and they have miraculously remained intact from a cataclysm of idiosyncratic behaviors. Theyâre still the same good, old Myconians.
Would love to have horror stories to tell you but, no, there was no drama. The island was all ours, a vast movie set, and we could shoot anywhere, even in an empty monastery, with no permits and no fuss. Piece oâcake."
- Nico Mastorakis recalls shooting on the Greek island Mykonos, Haddonfield Horror
Martin Kove & Lydia Cornell in 'Blood Tide' (1982)
At some point, Mastorakis founded the film production company Omega Pictures and its distribution wing Omega Entertainment. He'd successfully produced concert films, radio shows and television programmes so he had a solid understanding of the entertainment business. In America, he earned himself the nickname, "the Greek Roger Corman".
"Each change, every transition was a result of coincidences conspiring with both restlessness and ambition. I also started each of these âcraftsâ very early in life, so I either succeeded early or got bored early.
I was a stills photographer at the age of 13; I published and printed my own school newspaper at the age of 16 and at the age of 18 I was a front page reporter for a daily and a weekly paper. I scored local and international scoops (such as posing as a bouzouki player to infiltrate Onassisâ private island and his hosting of Jackie and Ted Kennedy.) I had music pages in five Greek weekly magazines and was hosting radio shows. So press and radio were parallel in my life.
I also wrote lyrics for Vangelis [the electronic music legend probably most famous for his movie soundtracks such as Blade Runner and Chariots of Fire] while producing records for Greek pop groups. This led me to bringing the Rolling Stones to Athens, for what was a disastrous concert on April 17th, 1967, in the turmoil of riots and protests, which ended with the military coup on April 21st that year.
Six months earlier, I had started my TV career as a host, producer and director of a half-hour pop music programme which we shot on 35mm film, unknowingly creating the very first music videos. During my TV years I did everything there was to be done. I wrote, produced, directed and hosted, working on sitcoms, soap, talk shows, specials even built the first independent TV studio in Greece.
Finally, the time came to say goodbye and move on to the forefather of all media : film. My first attempt at features was Death Has Blue Eyes which is probably the first paranormal thriller that came out of Greece. You see the common thread?"
- Nico Mastorakis, Sci-Fi Bulletin
Kirstie Alley & Joseph Bottoms in 'Blind Date' (1984)
Mastorakis received a story credit on the fantasy adventure 'Bloodstone' (1988), a bridge-building co-production between America and India that was shot in Tamil Nadu. It was directed by in-demand Hollywood hotshot Dwight H. Little, who like Wes Craven and Mark L. Lester, was born in Cleveland, Ohio. In the same year, Mastorakis co-produced Peter 'The Laser' Rader's fairy tale, terror tract 'Grandmother's House' (1988). Rader had written an original screenplay in 1986 that would become Kevin Reynolds' 'Waterworld' (1995) which is estimated to have had a production budget of $172,000,000 having gone over budget. After filming was completed on 'Grandmother's House', Rader dusted off the script and took it to Roger Corman who rejected it as he felt it would need a shooting budget upwards of $1,000,000. It was later subjected to rewrites by David Twohy before reaching the screen.
"I still believe that the Brits, a truly progressive audience, do not deserve such a typically medieval institution, to tell adults what they can watch and what they shouldnât. It defies logic and when that happens, I consider censorship a much more dangerous kind of violence than the one portrayed on film. I suspect that, through the history of censors in the UK, someone who may had cut out a bestiality scene, maybe went to his country home and fucked his goat."
- Nico Mastorakis reacts to the British Board Of Film Classification's [BBFC] decision to finally pass 'Island Of Death' uncut in 2010
Shelley Michelle, Ursula Beaton, Tammy Hansen & Robin Carlson in 'In The Cold Of The Night' (1990)
It was Mastorakis who helped launch the career of television mainstay Terrence O'Hara when he co-produced O'Hara's debut feature, the rural slasher 'Darkroom' (1989). Mastorakis is said to have directed the film's stylish opening sequence.
NICO MASTORAKIS ~ "FINDING AMERICA ..." đŠ
01) 'Blind Date' (1984) 02) 'The Next One' (1984)
03) 'Sky High' (1985)
04) 'The Zero Boys' (1986)
05) 'The Wind' (1986) 06) 'Terminal Exposure' (1987)
'Girls On Film' - Duran Duran
07) 'Glitch' (1988)
08) 'Nightmare At Noon' (1988)
09) 'Ninja Academy' (1989)
10) 'Hired To Kill' (1990)
11) 'In The Cold Of The Night' (1990) 12) 'The Naked Truth' (1992)
Duran Duran - 'Planet Earth'
The all-star comedy spectacle 'The Naked Truth' (1992) applied a new spin to the plotline of Billy Wilder's romantic comedy 'Some Like It Hot' (1959). It was a haphazard production that was threatened with being shelved but it was picked up by Cinemax and screened in 1993. It's languished in obscurity for decades and I don't know of any official dvd release. An attempt to repackage it as 'Glitch II : The Naked Truth' failed to bear fruit. Since then, I believe Mastorakis has only directed one feature film, a science-fiction fantasy horror reimagining of Alfred Hitchcock's influential suspense thriller 'Rear Window' (1954) entitled '.com For Murder' (2001) which is said to deal with virtual internet intrusion. However, he's kept himself busy by producing and directing television shows, documentaries and travelogues for the Greek tourist board. |
|
|
|
Post by petrolino on Oct 29, 2022 0:33:05 GMT
đŹ John Landis (born August 3, 1950 in Chicago, Illinois, USA) đČ
John Landis has spoken (and written) extensively on classic film from around the globe. Heâs been sharing his insights into early horror cinema for decades, from the films of Universal Studios and RKO Pictures to the works of William Castle and George Pal. Heâs equally well known for his pieces on comedy from the silent era onwards, and also for his vivid writings on animation throughout the ages. I always enjoy hearing him speak on the subject of film, in part because I'm a fan of his own movies, but also for the unbridled enthusiasm he brings to all things cinematic. "As Bill Krohn wrote years ago in a fine piece on Innocent Blood, Landis is, among all of the New Hollywood filmmakers, the most obstinately committed to Andre Bazin's notion of the inherent realism of the medium, especially among the ones that have worked in the realm of fantasy - which for Landis is less a genre, than a faith, the leap into the void that made it all possible. Bewitched as a young boy by Ray Harryhausen's adventure films, Landis earned his spurs in the mailroom at 20th Century Fox as a "go-fer" and stuntman on the European movie sets of Kelly's Heroes and spaghetti westerns shot in Almeria. His beginnings coincided with the twilight of the studios - luckily he still had time to absorb their experience. Perhaps more than anyone I ever met, he has watched, experienced, and metabolized cinema all his life."
- Giulia D'Agnolo Vallan, 'John Landis'
"One of the fascinating things about George Stevens is he's the one who filmed the concentration camps toward the end of the war. Before the war, he was very famous for comedies, he made some of the great screwball comedies. And after the war, he only made terribly serious movies, The Greatest Story Ever Told, The Diary of Anne Frank, Giant. I don't have any proof, but I'm convinced it was because of what he saw during World War II. Well, I was a huge Laurel and Hardy fan and the fact that Stevens had started as a cameraman shooting Laurel and Hardy pictures was a big thing for me. I went up to Stevens and said, 'Excuse me, Mr. Stevens, I work here and I just want to say I'm a tremendous admirer of your work.' And he looked at me - you have to realize that in the sixties, American filmmakers were basically taken seriously only by the French and no one else - George Stevens looks at me and says, 'Name five of my movies.' Just like that. So, I'm like; 'Alice Adams, Shane, Giant, Gunga Din, A Place in the Sun {Alice Adams is one of my favorite movies, the best Katharine Hepburn ever was, and Fred MacMurray, Hattie McDaniel, brilliant! - based on the book by Booth Tarkington, it's real Americana.} But in any case, I rattled off five titles. He was dumbfounded that I knew these pictures. So, he said, 'I'll buy you lunch.' I had lunch with George Stevens! He was very busy with his A.D., but I was just delighted to be there."
- John Landis, 'John Landis'
"Anyone who has ever had the immense pleasure of John's company can attest to this :- I still recall our first meeting, a thirty-minute appointment after lunch that stretched for hours and hours until John's secretary had to pry me away from my acknowledged hero in order to have him resume his workday. This was as much his fault as it was mine. John enjoys telling stories. He is, in fact, almost compulsive about it, gaining as much energy as he gives. He brings to mind the nonstop rhythm of the old vaudeville comedians, or the under-cranked, flickering antics of all Keystone-era comedies."
- Guillermo Del Toro, 'John Landis'
"The magic of Laurel and Hardy is their love for each other. Bud Abbott ditches Lou Costello in a second when the chips are down. Groucho Marx gleefully cheats Chico and Harpo - and vice versa. And there is no doubt that Dean Martin clearly thinks Jerry Lewis is a moron. But between Laurel and Hardy there is a loyalty that transcends all their trials. While it often seems that other comedy teams are together purely out of convenience, Stan and Ollie are an organic whole from the first frame of every picture. You never question their oneness. There is an intangible strength, something "thicker than water," in their relationship.
Charlie Chaplin's films are always moralistic; good is rewarded and evil punished. In the Laurel and Hardy films, even when their endings are triumphant, there always seems to be one more brick to fall on Ollie's head, or one more wall for Stanley to walk into."
- John Landis, 'John Landis'
'Shake A Tail Feather' - Ray Charles
Arts journalist Giulia D'Agnolo Vallan has garnered praise for her book âAltmanâ in which she examines the work of American filmmaker Robert Altman (the foreword is written by Martin Scorsese). Her book âJohn Landisâ is an exceptional study. Vallanâs written in the past about John Landis' contemporaries Walter Hill and John Carpenter who both share a burning passion for the action cinema of Howard Hawks. Landis has also been heavily influenced by Hawks' films and heâs worked extensively as a stuntman during his career, to which anyone whoâs witnessed the climactic shootout to 'Into The Night' (1985) can hopefully attest.
In Vallan's book on Landis, there's a lengthy interview with him which sheds light on different aspects of his career in entertainment. There are also numerous contributions from people in the film industry which makes for a great read, as well as recollections and thoughts about his films.
My Favourite John Landis Movies
01. Schlock (1973)
02. The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977)
03. Animal House (1978)
04. The Blues Brothers (1980)
05. An American Werewolf In London (1981)
06. Trading Places (1983)
07. Into The Night (1985)
08. ÂĄThree Amigos! (1986)
09. Amazon Women On The Moon (1987)
10. Coming To America (1988)
11. Oscar (1991)
12. Innocent Blood (1992)
# As stated at Wikipedia ... 'On July 23, 1982, a Bell UH-1 Iroquois helicopter crashed at Indian Dunes in Valencia, California, United States, during the making of 'Twilight Zone : The Movie' (1983). The crash killed actor Vic Morrow and child actors Myca Dinh Le and Renee Shin-Yi Chen, who were on the ground, and injured the six helicopter passengers. The incident led to years of civil and criminal action against the personnel overseeing the shoot, including director John Landis, and the introduction of new procedures and safety standards in the filmmaking industry.'
~ Regarding this awful incident, I honestly don't know much about the criminal case that ensued. I believe John Landis when he says he's thought about this terrible tragedy every day of his life since it happened - and he must live with it, as must others involved in the making of the movie. I have no reason to believe he set out to hurt anybody based upon what I've heard and read over the years, though I believe he was found guilty in court of gross negligence. I could of course name other filmmakers, performers, technicians and stunt people who've been involved in similar tragedies, as well as a number of people who've caused death by dangerous driving. I am never oblivious to such tragedies; I simply come to IMDB2 to talk movies (I'm sure someone can, and will, start topics on any of these incidents should they wish to). I will add one thing, though, as a film fan - I'm convinced that the crippling insomnia that drives the narrative of 'Into The Night' (1985) is somewhat telling of John Landis' state of mind following what happened.
'Think' - Aretha Franklin
John Carpenter's friend and colleague, Dan O'Bannon, was also a big fan of Hawks' cinema. With 'The Return Of The Living Dead' (1985), O'Bannon drew ideas from the screwball pictures of Hawks and Preston Sturges, creating an influential zombie work that built upon the advancements of Landis whoâd combined screwball elements with extreme horror material for 'An American Werewolf In London' (1981). For his vampire picture 'Innocent Blood' (1992), Landis called in trash zombie Linnea Quigley to appear alongside stand-up comedian Don Rickles, and he was able to secure her services quite easily as her (soon to be ex-)husband Steve Johnson was creating make-up effects for the movie (for this particular film, the F/X wizard designed special contact lenses that could glow and change colour on command without digital after-effects - scleral lenses coated with silicone glass and Scotch-Brite, so that when lights, such as those from a colour wheel were projected on them, the colours would bounce back toward the camera.) Landis had also been impressed by Quigley's horror workout video âHorror Workoutâ (1990) which was partially inspired by his own groundbreaking music video created for Michael Jackson's pop hit 'Thriller'. "The link between sexuality and movie zombies stretches back to the very beginning of the genre. In White Zombie, Bela Lugosi's zombie master keeps the film's eponymous female ghoul locked up in his mansion. We see her playing the piano, beautiful and blank-eyed like a living doll - but one can't help wondering what else goes on between them off-screen. The film coyly teased 1930s audiences with her status as a sex slave. What desires might an unscrupulous villain satisfy with a woman who is unable to say no?"
- Jamie Russell, 'Zombie Apocalypse'
"In American Werewolf in London, John Landis managed to combine gore, screwball comedy, and gothic horror in one powerfully entertaining film for the very first time in cinematic history. By turns it made you laugh, jump in terror, and gape in amazement, and always feel you were in the hands of a master of the medium. As he did in Animal House, John took a hackneyed format and stood it on its head, filling it with outrageous and unforgettable moments that contained as well as everything mentioned above a surprising warmth of humanity and comic frailty in its characters."
- Wes Craven, 'John Landis'
"At the heart of The Return of the Living Dead is a savage kind of comedy, a nihilistic punk mentality that considers nothing to be sacred. Featuring a band of grubby punks led by Trash and Suicide, the film is hardly coy about its attempt to appeal to the alienated teen audiences of mid-1980s shopping mall culture. It even has a soundtrack that features The Damned, The Cramps and The Flesheaters. In keeping with its attempt to be both humorous and horrific, the end of the world is greeted with open arms by the filmmakers, who positively revel in the destruction of Louisville, Kentucky. Every attempt to deal with the crisis, from firing up the local morgue's incinerator to the military's decision to drop a nuke on the city simply makes the whole sorry mess much, much worse. The end result is the horror equivalent of MAD Magazine - a brash rejection of anything serious that invites us to giggle while the whole world goes up in smoke."
- Jamie Russell, 'Book Of The Dead : The Complete History Of Zombie Cinema'
"John (Landis) created a new concept for the classic werewolf transformation scene. What was so startling about the original film The Wolf Man was seeing Lon Chaney Jr in those masterfully done dissolves where he became the werewolf. John decided he was going to create a brand-new transformation for the audience, something they'd never seen before, and it was mind-boggling to watch it in the theaters at the time the film opened. The incredible make-up effects by Rick Baker were startling to the audience, startling to me. As was the fact that he wasn't sleeping, like Lon Chaney, during the metamorphosis."
- Sam Raimi, 'John Landis'
'Blue Shadows' - The Three Amigos
Music is massively important in John Landis' films. Indeed, some of Landis' friends and filmmaking colleagues, like Frank Oz, Harold Ramis and Amy Heckerling, observed him gaining as much joy from the musicians he was getting to work with as from the movies themselves. And there have been some fine musicians whoâve appeared on screen for Landis. His passion for a good tune is matched by his ability to choreograph and shoot what's needed for each given scene. "I worked on a number of (Roger) Corman movies. Never as a director or a writer, only crew."
- John Landis, 'B-Movie Mayhem'
"When you talk to John Landis, he's like a jolt of caffeine. You just feel like you can skip down the street. He just makes you feel good and energized and cheery. His movies do that."
- Amy Heckerling, 'John Landis'
"I very much like Into the Night because I'm in that as an actor. But I think the movies that put him on the map are still very strong - Animal House, Blues Brothers, American Werewolf. Those were the ones that really established him. And I like the wackiness of Three Amigos. It's very, very funny, and it's visually very rich. It's very textured. There you see a real love of the western and a desire to connect with that through the textures of saddles and horses and horse blankets and all of that ... it expresses a love of the western genre rather than a disdain for it or a cynicism about it."
- David Cronenberg, 'John Landis'
"I have had the privelege of knowing John Landis since he was about fifteen years of age. I mention the word privelege because even at that age he had a most original sense of humour, and any conversation was bound to have at least one good laugh."
- Elmer Bernstein speaking in July, 2004, a month before his death at the age of 82
Stephen Bishop ÂŹ 'Animal House'
It's been written in numerous publications that John Landis has been in the process of raising funds to film his proposed biopic 'Ghoulishly Yours, William M. Gaines' for some years now. It was reported as far back as 2008 that heâd completed work on the script, two years before he embarked upon shooting the period piece 'Burke And Hare' (2010). Whether this project will ever see the light of day remains to be seen, but I do believe he's the right man for the job as he's a huge fan of MAD Magazine and EC Comics. Another possibility is that Landis may re-enter the world of television, having co-produced the genrebending comedy show 'Dream On' in the 1990s. He also guested as himself on 'Caroline In The City' which featured appearances from cast members of 'Friends' and 'Frasier'. "You plant the camera in front of a beautiful landscape with magnificent clouds and marvelous flowers, and when you're ready to shoot, he turns the camera 180 degrees and films a dirty street with dogs and people throwing rocks at each other!"
- John Landis' friend and colleague Gabriel Figueroa on manning the camera for Luis Bunuel
âAs Dream On co-creator David Crane puts it, âCosby itâs not.â Hereâs the showâs nifty retrofantasy premise: Brian Benben (36; married to actress Madeleine Stowe; last seen as the geeky FBI agent in 1990âs alien thriller I Come in Peace), plays Martin Tupper, a shnooky New York book editor whoâs such a repressed, television-sedated child of the 1950s that he expresses his thoughts through snippets of old TV dramas (when he thinks about, say, sex, up pops a clip of Jane Wyman churning butter). Martinâs best friend is his jittery ex-wife, Judith (Wendy Malick), whoâs now married to Mr. Perfect, a doctor with two Nobel prizes, a Grammy, and a nod from People magazine as the Sexiest Man in the World (heâs never shown on screen). Martin also has to cope with his sneering secretary (Denny Dillon), a sleazeball boss (Michael McKean), his stuck-up pal Eddie (Dorien Wilson), a maturer-than-thou teenage son (Chris Demetral), and an endless string of girlfriends-of-the-week, who provide the show with its trademark jiggle. Dream Onâs vintage video bites come from MCA Universalâs vast library of ancient B dramas â more than 400 hours of Schlitz Playhouse, Kraft Theater, and other cheesy â50s anthology series. In 1988, Universal president Sid Sheinberg asked feature film director John Landis (Animal House) to find a way to squeeze money out of these old shows. Landis, Dream Onâs executive producer and occasional director, asked various writers to brainstorm. âI got proposals for game shows, for splicing the old shows together, for redubbing them,â he says. âBut the only idea I liked was using the clips as âthought balloonsââ â a concept dreamed up by Crane and co-executive producer Marta Kauffman, both New York playwrights. HBO was instantly intrigued: The pay channel snapped up Dream Onâs first 13 episodes and put them on the air in the summer of 1990. Critics raved, viewership climbed, and last January the show led the ACE Awards (cableâs Emmys) with five trophies.â
- Benjamin Svetkey, Entertainment Weekly
âI think the biggest survival instinct that Midwesterners possess is self deprecation, itâs almost a Buddha-like sense of humor in anything that is difficult to get through. They would prefer to laugh at difficulties, show their mettle through that, and toughen up and have a beer afterward. Thatâs definitely the characteristic Iâve carried through me, and hope to never lose. In the midst of filming this movie âHalfwayâ (2017), and when I was driving past all the farms we were shooting at, I heard this statistic on the radio â based on treatment experts, half of Wisconsinites are considered alcoholics. Itâs part of the culture of Wisconsin⊠if self-deprecation is their survival instinct, alcohol is their coping mechanism. Itâs the go-to escape for anybody who has had a rough day and has no creative outlet. It seems when youâre trapped in a small town, the only excitement is the booze.â
- Amy Pietz speaking at the 2017 Midwest Independent Film Festival, Hollywood-Chicago
âI am going to be in a 'Howard the Duck' comic book as Lea Thompson. I donât know how they are going to do it, but Iâm like, âwhatever, Iâm in.â Marvel has taken over the world. This movie was the first Marvel movie ever made. It's really funny. It's also funny that it was confusing. Was it a kids movie? Was it an adult movie? Iâm not asked to do giant features anymore, so I would never turn down 'Howard the Duck' if asked. I love the fans of 'Howard the Duck.' They seem to be growing, which is interesting to me. There's so many movies that bomb and disappear, but this one wonât go away. Usually the fans of the movie really had to fight to stay 'Howard the Duck' fans. I did my own singing. I also did my own stunts, and I did my own hair (laughing). No, the hair was crazy. I owned up to whatever I did in my career. Thatâs how I lived my career."
- Lea Thompson (recipient of the 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award at the Twin Cities Film Festival), Michigan Entertainment
|
|
|
|
Post by petrolino on Oct 31, 2022 2:08:13 GMT
âȘïž Tim Burton (born August 25, 1958 in Burbank, California, USA) đ°
Tim Burton served his professional apprenticeship as a member of Walt Disney Productions' animation division after the studio became interested in some short films he'd made. He gained a broad range of experience while working as an animator, storyboard artist, graphic designer and art director on some of the feature films they were making at the time.
"Tim Burton's gothic office in Belsize Park in north London belonged a century ago to Arthur Rackham, the celebrated illustrator of Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland and The Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm. In the upstairs studio room of the house, one restless and teeming imagination has been seamlessly replaced by another. "Rackham apparently used to have all his fairy models hung from these spars," Burton tells me, nodding toward the exposed beams above his head. In the mullioned light of large leaded windows, which look out on a rambling walled garden that seems to come from another age altogether, you could half believe some wisp of them hangs there still. "People definitely believe they hear strange things here at night," Burton suggests, "but it's a good vibe."
The director bought this suitably spirited work space not long after he moved to London a decade ago. It is half a mile up the road from the pair of adjoining mews houses he shares with his partner, Helena Bonham Carter and their two young children. It would be hard to have magicked up a better stage for his own lucrative daydreams; the gory mannequins and wide-eyed prostheses and scattered sketches and artwork and storyboards that inhabit corners of his room, remnants and cast-offs from Corpse Bride and Edward Scissorhands and The Nightmare Before Christmas and Sleepy Hollow all seem perfectly at home here. And so, sitting in the middle of it all, wild-haired in the autumn sunlight, does their creator."
- Tim Adams recalls a meeting with Tim Burton, The Guardian (article published online on Sunday October 7, 2012)
* Pixies performing live at VPRO Studios, Hilversum in Netherlands on October 1, 1988 { SETLIST : 00:00 Bone Machine / 04:43 Gigantic / 08:00 River Euphrates / 11:20 Where Is My Mind / 14:35 I've Been Tired : }
đ Tim Burton's Gothic Phantasmagoria : Unlucky 13 đ
01. 'Pee-Wee's Big Adventure' (1985) - Tim Burton's raucous road movie is a cornucopia of comic treasures featuring members of the Groundlings comedy troupe and a plethora of Hollywood oddballs. Working with a relatively modest studio budget, Burton brings bright colours to the frame through extravagant costumes, painted props, decorative models and fluorescent lighting attachments.
Every conceivable subgenre is represented via a smorgasbord of energetic sketches. These revolve around curious manchild Pee-Wee Herman (Paul Reubens' alter-ego) who's out to entertain his girlfriend Dottie (played by pop singer Elizabeth 'E.G.' Daily). You can detect the influence of Richard Elfman's 'Forbidden Zone' (1980) during a Las Vegas showclown dream sequence and through Danny Elfman's big-top scoring of the Tinseltown duplicate shuffle; Burton was a follower of surrealist street theatre troupe, the Mystic Knights Of The Oingo Boingo, who'd first appeared in Martin Brest's underground drama 'Hot Tomorrows' (1977).
"The internationally bestselling horror author, Stephen King, saw 'Frankenweenie' and recommended it to an executive at Warner Brothers. It was then shown to the man behind the character of Pee-Wee Herman, Paul Reubens, who decided that Tim Burton, who was only twenty-six at the time, was the perfect director for his forthcoming film 'Pee-Wee's Big Adventure'. And that's how Burton moved from animation and shorts into the world of making feature-length movies; with a big stroke of luck.
'Pee-Wee's Big Adventure' had a low budget of only six million dollars, but went on to be a surprise hit at the box-office, grossing forty-five million. Though the character of Pee-Wee Herman had already been well-defined by Reubens in his hit TV shows 'The Pee-Wee Herman Show' and 'Pee-Wee's Playhouse', Burton still made an unmistakable mark on this movie. Paul Reubens was a member of a group of improvisational comedy actors called 'The Groundlings' who were based in Los Angeles. His alter-ego, Pee-Wee, had already appeared on such US shows as 'Letterman' and Johnny Carson's 'The Tonight Show'. Pee-Wee was a man with a squeaky voice, rouged cheeks and the mental age of a child."
- Edwin Page, 'Gothic Fantasy : The Films Of Tim Burton'
"When I was real little, like in-a-playpen little, what I responded to was James Cagney and Speedy Alka-Seltzer. They were these energetic, crazed characters â and I liked the hat too. From the time I was little I thought James Cagney was like a cartoon character, like Bugs Bunny, and then I realized these were stories and he was an actor. And actually, thereâs another way heâs tied into my life, and this is all before I started kindergarten. I was watching Angels with Dirty Faces, and he was about to go to the electric chair, and I was freaking out, I didnât know what was going on, but I knew it was something bad. And so I started running around the house screaming, and my mother tells me, âYes, he died,â and this is before I knew what that was. She said it was like going to sleep, and I was really upset, but then she said, âIn movies, you donât really die.â So I thought, movies, fuck, that sounds good. I thought, heâll magically always be alive.
I love the musicals, I love the gangster films, I love him doing anything; I just love his spirit. Then when youâre older and start to know about movies, you realize that what heâs doing was amazing, and then you learn about all the foreign films, and youâre chasing them down and reading all the subtitles and learning all the directors, but part of you just wants to go back and see The Roaring Twenties again. And whatever stage Iâm at, he still makes sense, and thatâs kind of nice: to have something you liked when you were little that never stops working.
Well, there was a guy ahead of me, a year older, his name was Marty Brest. He made Scent of a Woman, Midnight Run, Beverly Hills Cop . . . I was crazy about him. Before he left to go to AFI we sort of got involved for like a minute, and then he was gone. We were both from the Bronx, so we lived a few blocks from each other. And anything he did, I knew was the right thing to do, like to go to AFI, because I didnât think I would show my NYU films and people would go, âWow, what movie do you want to do next?â That I knew would not happen. Even though I won the NYU festival, it was this goofy little movie. So, I said, I need something slicker to show.
The world now is an entirely different place, because you could have something really raw, and if you get enough hits, Hollywood will want to buy that popularity, and if it doesnât work, f*ck you. But back then, you worked your *ss off to have this thing to present to them. And I knew that I needed something that would show more professionalism. So I applied to AFI, and I got in, and I was really happy because I was going to go to California, but I didnât know what the hell that meant. I used to see on the back of every movie I liked, âMade in Hollywoodâ â but I didnât know Hollywood was in Los Angeles, and there are studios, and theyâre in the valley, and there are palm trees, and itâs always going to be hot. I didnât have a driverâs license; I failed the driverâs test five times. I was not comfortable.
In New York, from the time youâre thirteen, you have a subway pass, youâre going anywhere in the world you want. You can go to the Financial District, to museums, to whatever gallery, anything all over the city. You could do it, and you felt like you were a grown-up, and you had the ability to get around. Then you go to L.A., and itâs like, âCan you drop me . . . ?â âAre you going to AFI today . . . ?â Suddenly you go from being a thirteen-year-old grown-up to a twenty-year-old child. So that sucked."
- Amy Heckerling, Criterion
Elizabeth Daily on being cast in 'Pee-Wee's Big Adventure', Yahoo
02. 'Beetlejuice' (1988) - Working from a story co-authored by Michael McDowell, Burton's effervescent horror fantasy about the afterlife sees paranormal photographer Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) befriending a pair of reluctant ghosts (Alec Baldwin & Geena Davis) under the tutelage of chain-smoking agency operative Juno (Sylvia Sidney). This project passed through the hands of Wes Craven but it was feared he'd miss the required family dynamic, leaving former Disney animator Burton as the obvious choice (Craven was full of praise for Burton's picture upon seeing it nonetheless). Suburban reality repeatedly collides with ooky visions that draw inspiration from "German expressionist" cinema and "le cinema fantastique". There are frequent comic book diversions and gigantic sandworms that add a touch of Frank Herbert to the mix. Michael Keaton is a factory of dynamite as demonic clown Betelgeuse who's trapped inside a miniature replica village. Winona Ryder anchors the action with admirable comic timing as the only soul capable of unleashing the genie from his bottle. The music score is composed by Danny Elfman of Oingo Boingo.
03. 'Batman' (1989) - Burton's bat-crazy blockbuster starring a brooding Michael Keaton as caped crusader Batman has been somewhat eclipsed by the Christopher Nolan bandwagon in recent years yet it remains bluntly effective as a slab of audience-friendly, comic book pulp. It's as indebted to crime serials, hard-boiled detective stories, romantic noir and expressionistic horror as it is to the original television series, amply demonstrating Burton's growing confidence as a technical filmmaker. The showcase action set-pieces are a bit of a let-down but the film becomes strangely discomforting during its quieter moments which focus upon the emotional torment of Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger).
Throwing Muses - 'Juno' [1988]
04. 'Edward Scissorhands' (1990) - A disarming fantasy drawn in chalk, 'Edward Scissorhands' is set within the seemingly cosy confines of a surreal suburban enclave. Every visual aspect of the mise-en-scene is worked to enhance the emotions felt by cheerleader Kim Boggs (Winona Ryder) who exists within a pastel paradise that hides a dark reality. Into this utopia walks sensitive gothic outsider Edward Scissorhands (Johnny Depp) - conjured on film by genre icon Vincent Price as the Inventor - who displays a lightness of touch and preening sensibility that enchants the neighbourhood. Danny Elfman's swooning score provides a neat synthesis between sound and image.
"The most memorable moments to me in Walt Disney movies are the moments that are strong, from Snow White on, and if you took out those moments that might make people uncomfortable, they wouldn't have been Walt Disney movies, and you know, Lion King, Bambi, many others, the topic of death is very present in those films, and I don't know why people forget that."
- Tim Burton, 'Gothic Fantasy : The Films Of Tim Burton'
05. 'Batman Returns' (1992) - The follow-up to 'Batman' reaches a whole other level whenever Michelle Pfeiffer makes an appearance, be it as dowdy secretary Selina Kyle or malevolent feline Catwoman; imposing buildings and dominant sets really spring to life whenever this uncontrollable kitty lends some female persuasion. It's a fun movie, though once again the superhero set-pieces come as a slight disappointment.
'Dragonhead' [1989] - Throwing Muses
06. 'Ed Wood' (1994) - If taken with a generous pinch of salt, this silly black & white biopic of author and filmmaker Edward D Wood Jr acts as a heart-warming fable about following your dreams and never giving up. Johnny Depp delivers a one-note caricature as the endlessly optimistic Wood, but it's a good note. Martin Landau snagged a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his broad impersonation of Bela Lugosi. There's subtle contrast in the performances of Patricia Arquette and Sarah Jessica Parker as Wood's girlfriends that sparkles.
To my mind, the ardent artificiality of Burton's mannered presentation feels a tad hollow so this biopic rarely rises above the level of your average sitcom, yet there's something extremely nice about it when all is said and done. Howard Shore's theremin score supplies an affectionate tribute to the science-fiction films of the era. The film was co-produced by Michael Lehmann.
07. 'Mars Attacks!' (1996) - Burton puts an all-star cast through their paces with this prized commercial property that sends up sci-fi classics galore. It's played beyond the verge of parody, with a nudge and a wink, though Lukas Haas and Natalie Portman provide the picture with some heart as a couple of kids caught up in martian madness. It's manic and messy, a sprawling commodity rendered as a star-studded explosion and perhaps that's the point.
Throwing Muses - 'Graffiti' [1991]
08. 'Sleepy Hollow' (1999) - An ornate adaptation of Washington Irving's ghastly treat 'The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow' that's set in the small town of Sleepy Hollow. The story in this visually stunning gothic horror unfolds in a hidden pocket of the Hudson River Islands that's being terrorised by a bloodthirsty ghoul known as the Headless Horseman (Christopher Walken) in 1799. Science finds itself at odds with the supernatural as progressive lawman Ichabod Crane (Johnny Depp) rides to the rescue of fair maiden Katrina Van Tassel (Christina Ricci) within a series of elaborate colour schemes. Danny Elfman's score sets the tone for a grisly premonition as the Headless Horseman lays waste to the denizens of the Hollow, who occupy a distant world that's vigorously brought to life through decorous sets and spooky locations.
'Sleepy Hollow' was co-produced by Francis Coppola who co-opted the services of playwright Tom Stoppard to undertake extensive rewrites. These rewrites were able to benefit the dialogue greatly, further enhancing the effectiveness of one of Tim Burton's most irresistible genre creations. The casting of Christopher Lee as a Burgomaster is a nice nod to Hammer Studios and their influence on Burton's classical gothic designs.
"The 'Curse of Frankenstein' and 'Dracula' are masterpieces of economical adaptation by Jimmy Sangster, Hammer's key screenwriter, which take only what they need from the original novels and are careful not to imitate the Universal films too closely. They led to the celebrated run of historically set Gothic horrors, which ended with 'To the Devil - A Daughter', an adaptation of Dennis Wheatley's novel in the style of 'The Exorcist'. The Gothic films were essentially collaborative efforts and set design and music were equally important in establishing Hammer's reputation for lushness on a budget. Hammer horror's brash Eastmancolor, sadism, knowingness about its erotic implications and consistent stylishness made for winning combinations of unpretentious thrills and intelligent subtexts."
- I Q Hunter, 'British Trash Cinema'
"Having reacquired the rights, the Samuelsons (Peter & Mark) attached Brian Gilbert, who had directed two biopics for them, and had a lucky break when Christina Ricci, in England to shoot 'Sleepy Hollow', signed up to star as Cassie. Ricci was enough to bring in the required ÂŁ7,000,000 from Granada Films, Ingenious Media and the Isle of Man Film Commission, whose tax-friendly island stretched the budget a little further."
- M J Simpson on 'The Gathering' (2003), 'Urban Terrors : New British Horror Cinema (1997 - 2008)'
09. 'Big Fish' (2003) - Screenwriter John August's ambitious adaptation of Daniel Wallace's novel 'Big Fish : A Novel Of Mythic Proportions' becomes a personal odyssey for Burton about inhabiting secret worlds, experiencing unsettling emotions and unlocking the mysteries of parenthood. Steven Spielberg passed on the project to make 'Catch Me If You Can' (2002), which allowed for Burton to take the reigns, so cast and crew built themselves into an immediate family unit while on location in Alabama.
The casting is exemplary with Jessica Lange and Alison Lohman as reflective components Sandra Bloom, Marion Cotillard as Josephine the face of poetic realism, and Helena Bonham Carter as friendly witch Jenny; this was the first of a remarkable run of eight film collaborations between Burton and Carter to date. Danny Elfman composed the somber soundtrack to this small town fantasy about chance and destiny and his music here carries some strong Celtic influences.
'Summer St.' [1992] - Throwing Muses
10. 'Charlie And The Chocolate Factory' (2005) - In between reimagining 'Planet Of The Apes' (1968) as 'Planet Of The Apes' (2001) and relaunching Lewis Carroll's childrens' adventures with 'Alice In Wonderland' (2010), Tim Burton pooled his considerable British resources for this Cadbury-flavoured, Roald Dahl digital redux. Danny Elfman's score sounds like it's been cobbled together from recycled novelty cuts plucked specially for Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter to restyle as 21st century dream attractions.
11. 'Corpse Bride' (2005) - A charming animated comedy co-directed by Burton and Mike Johnson, 'Corpse Bride' is sometimes called a companion piece to Henry Selick's 'The Nightmare Before Christmas' (1993). It's funtime for the family with voice-overs from Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter.
Throwing Muses - 'Calm Down, Come Down' [1995]
12. 'Sweeney Todd : The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street' (2007) - Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter headline this impeccably mounted musical with songs by Stephen Sondheim. The seaside shanty down on the pier is my favourite number but arguably the best vocal performance comes from elegant songbird Jayne Wisener who floats 'Green Finch And Linnet Bird'. ~ For information on two of Tim Burton's key influences, Samuel Gallu's 'Theatre Of Death' (1967) with Christopher Lee, and Douglas Hickox's 'Theater Of Blood' (1973) with Vincent Price, both of which invoke the spirit of Le Théùtre du Grand-Guignol ("The Theatre of the Great Puppet") which opened in Paris in 1897, I'd recommend reading John Hamilton's book 'X-Cert 2 : The British Independent Horror Film (1971 - 1983)'
"I've always liked the idea of fairy tales or folk tales because they're symbolic of something else. There's a foundation to them, but there's more besides, they're open to interpretation."
- Tim Burton, 'Gothic Fantasy : The Films Of Tim Burton'
"Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheelerâs arty blood opera 'Sweeney Todd : The Demon Barber of Fleet Street' about revenge, squalor, cannibalism, and despair in Victorian London provides a good many challenges to non-professional singers, including unhummable tunes, and one accomplishment of this well-crafted if relatively impersonal adaptation by director Tim Burton and writer John Logan is that Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, and Sacha Baron Cohen do a lot more than simply survive the songs. Like Marlon Brando and Jean Simmons in 'Guys and Dolls' (1955), they dissolve the distinction between singing and acting. Dante Ferrettiâs claustrophobic sets are virtually the reverse of the spacious settings in Burtonâs 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' and are pretty effective too."
- Jonathan Rosenbaum, (JR).Net
13. 'Dark Shadows' (2012) - In 1760, Barnabas Collins (Johnny Depp) leaves behind the Liverpool docks to chase the American Dream, growing a gothic empire funded by his fabulous fishing port. Burton's tribute to Dan Curtis' popular television series 'Dark Shadows' boasts one hell of a soundtrack if you enjoy rock 'n' roll music from the late 1960s / early 1970s. It looks great too and is tinged with a psychedelic flourish. Alice Cooper gets in on the action but it's Burton's stock company who dominate proceedings.
Throwing Muses perform 'Tar Kissers' in Atlanta, Georgia in 1996
- -
'BIG EYES' (2014) đ
The most recent film Iâve seen from Tim Burton is 'Big Eyes' (2014), a biopic of painter Margaret Keane (Amy Adams) that focuses upon her difficult marriage to Walter Keane (Christophe Waltz), the man who falsely applied his name to her work. Amy Adams does a great job as a painter of people with big eyes. Unfortunately, I found it hard to take the boorish Christophe Waltz who comes off as unbelievably obnoxious as self-proclaimed artist Walter. To me, his poor performance winds up being the film's chief liability. I couldn't help but wonder what Daniel Auteuil might have done with a role like this as Waltz is far too repellent. The message of the film seems to be that "art is personal" which certainly rings true for Burton. It's fascinating how much some of Margaret Keane's pictures look like "anime" characters which are massively popular nowadays (you can see alot of "anime" avatars on youtube).
'Dylan' ÂŹ Throwing Muses
There are some subtle visual touches in this movie that I enjoyed, like when live-action paintings come to life during Margaret's trip to the supermarket and we see how scary wide-eyed kids can be. Burton also includes an important feminist reading on the historical use of pseudonyms among female artists who might not have had their works published or marketed otherwise. 'Big Eyes' is a nice change of pace for Tim Burton but it's thematically in keeping with his work in general, a sincere drama about an influential artist who passed away earlier this year. Burton's own animated characters have had some really big eyes.
"If it was Woody Allen's suggestion that, by the year 2173, Keane paintings would be appreciated by the cultural elite, along with Rod McKuen's poetry and Xavier Cugat's music, well, he was only about 174 years off. Margaret Keane's work is now being collected by the likes of Tim Burton, the director, and Matthew Sweet, the rocker. It is being stockpiled by the hip designers at Roxy/Quiksilver surf wear and regularly referenced in the teen magazines otherwise devoted to 'Dawson's Creek.' The iconic eyes have been appropriated by cutting-edge photographers like David LaChapelle, Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin. But if the photographers, in making their computer-generated saucer eyes, are paying homage to a touchstone of their childhoods, Keane has always seen those eyes as expressions of exactly how she was feeling at the time she was painting them. 'A lot of people don't like the sad ones,' she says. 'They walk in and say, 'Oh! I can't stand those eyes,' and run out. That happens lots of times. But other people just love them. There's no in between.' Keane, 71, became one of the most popular artists of the 1960's, along with her second husband, Walter Keane. The painterly pair were featured in Life magazine and did portraits of the luminaries of the day: Zsa Zsa Gabor, Kim Novak, Adlai Stevenson, Natalie Wood, Robert Wagner, Jerry Lewis and, of course, Liberace. Renderings of a young John Jr. and Caroline Kennedy were sent to the White House. (Talk about a collectible!) But there was only one problem: Walter couldn't paint."
- Amy Spindler, The New York Times
"She took a supporting role in 'On The Road' (2012) and was arguably the most fascinating but least explored character in 'The Master' (2012), playing opposite Philip Seymour Hoffman for a third and final time. There, as in all her best work, Amy Adams' complexity clouds an outer disposition that is sunny and bright ...
... transparent in the best sense of the word, Adams' vulnerability is perhaps her greatest strength, nowhere more evident than in her portrayal of Margaret Keane in Tim Burton's 'Big Eyes' (2014), for which she won a second Golden Globe."
- Mick McAloon, 'Movie Star Chronicles : A Visual History Of The World's Greatest Movie Stars'
"With her warm glow, expressive eyes and tidy figure, Amy Adams is the real deal - the total package. Give that girl an Oscar."
- Umberto Petrolino, 'The Ghost With The Most'
* Throwing Muses performing in Germany in 1991 during a mini-tour of Dusseldorf, Frankfurt & Hamburg
{ SETLIST : 00:00 | 01:59 Say Goodbye / 05:30 Counting Backwards / 08:45 Him Dancing / 11:48 Not Too Soon / 15:04 Golden Thing / 17:48 Soap And Water / 20:33 Colder / 23:50 Ellen West / 26:39 Mania / 30:01 Hook In Her Head : } # 'In 1944, the Swiss psychiatrist Ludwig Binswanger published an elaborate case history of a patient he diagnosed as having a form of schizophrenia [Ellen West â a pseudonym â was treated at his private hospital in 1921] ...
... but was it a case of anorexia nervosa? ... âNeuroticâ or âPsychoticâ ... ?
đł TRICK OR TREAT ... HAPPY HALLOWEEN!! đ
|
|
