The Sting
(Universal, 1973)
George Roy Hill's second teaming with Newman and Redford, and by far the better of the two. With a script rescued from a junk pile by an agent's reader, it was subsequently sold to Universal. With Newman and Redford slated to appear, the role of the mark went begging until Paul Newman personally delivered the script to Robert Shaw, asking him to take the part. Made for about $10M, and released at Christmas, it blew everything else away, raked in receipts, and scooped up Seven Academy Awards. With earnings adjusted for inflation, it's still one of the top twenty movies of all time, and one of the most enjoyable caper comedies ever made, spawning any number of movie and television copycats over the last 40 years. Marvin Hamlisch's adaptation of Scott Joplin's rags in the soundtrack made Joplin a household name again, and ensured the recognition of his musical talents for generations to come.
Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screeplay, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, Best Music
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Monday, February 10, 2014
Flick Pick: The French Connection
The French Connection
( 20th Century Fox, 1971)
On only his fifth film, William Friedkin pulled off this brilliant effort, with a couple of ten-year veteran "overnight success" stars, Roy Scheider and Gene Hackman, and launched it out of the park. Made in a down-and-dirty style more reminiscent of period documentaries than feature films, for a budget of less than $2M, it grossed nearly $52M in box office, and another $75M a decade later in video rentals. Fictionalized from the non-fiction book by Robin Moore, former USAF officer/amateur boxer Scheider and former Marine radio operator and dog catcher Hackman had both the real-life chops, and the acting talent, to come off as the toughest badass cops ever seen on screen to that point (Dirty Harry was still two months from release). It also won five Academy Awards out of eight nominations, and a lasting spot as an American classic movie.
Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Hackman), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing
( 20th Century Fox, 1971)
On only his fifth film, William Friedkin pulled off this brilliant effort, with a couple of ten-year veteran "overnight success" stars, Roy Scheider and Gene Hackman, and launched it out of the park. Made in a down-and-dirty style more reminiscent of period documentaries than feature films, for a budget of less than $2M, it grossed nearly $52M in box office, and another $75M a decade later in video rentals. Fictionalized from the non-fiction book by Robin Moore, former USAF officer/amateur boxer Scheider and former Marine radio operator and dog catcher Hackman had both the real-life chops, and the acting talent, to come off as the toughest badass cops ever seen on screen to that point (Dirty Harry was still two months from release). It also won five Academy Awards out of eight nominations, and a lasting spot as an American classic movie.
Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Hackman), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing
Sunday, February 9, 2014
Flick Pick: A Man For All Seasons
A Man For All Seasons
(Columbia, 1962)
Once upon a time, films like this were shown to students merely to show with precision the naked majesty of logic, the law, and moral integrity. The conjunction of those three in one man, Sir Thomas More, as depicted in this adaptation of Robert Bolt's stage play never disappoints. The movie is still at minimum, an introductory course in political ethics, and for some officials, would be the equivalent of a Ph.D. were they to pay attention. Scofield is as commanding in the role as he must have been on stage, and likely as much as More was in person. Also introduces John Hurt to film audiences.
Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Scofield), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design
(Columbia, 1962)
Once upon a time, films like this were shown to students merely to show with precision the naked majesty of logic, the law, and moral integrity. The conjunction of those three in one man, Sir Thomas More, as depicted in this adaptation of Robert Bolt's stage play never disappoints. The movie is still at minimum, an introductory course in political ethics, and for some officials, would be the equivalent of a Ph.D. were they to pay attention. Scofield is as commanding in the role as he must have been on stage, and likely as much as More was in person. Also introduces John Hurt to film audiences.
Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Scofield), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design
Saturday, February 8, 2014
Flick Pick: Lawrence Of Arabia
Lawrence Of Arabia
(Columbia, 1962)
Premiering five years after his last effort, David Lean once again took every other director to school on how to make an epic masterpiece, producing another gargantuan effort that garnered seven more Academy Awards. The recipe was simple: take a stirring but little-known tale, play a timeless score, and populate it with one of the most star-studded cast lists in movie history, then stand back and watch it. Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, Jack Hawkins, Omar Sharif, Jose Ferrer, Anthony Quayle, and Claude Rains are all magnificent in their roles, along with an up-and-coming actor in his first screen role named Peter O'Toole, demonstrating instantly that he was one of the most phenomenal actors of all time.
Best Picture, Best Director, Best Score, Best Art Direction-Color, Best Cinematography, Best Sound, Best Film Editing
(Columbia, 1962)
Premiering five years after his last effort, David Lean once again took every other director to school on how to make an epic masterpiece, producing another gargantuan effort that garnered seven more Academy Awards. The recipe was simple: take a stirring but little-known tale, play a timeless score, and populate it with one of the most star-studded cast lists in movie history, then stand back and watch it. Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, Jack Hawkins, Omar Sharif, Jose Ferrer, Anthony Quayle, and Claude Rains are all magnificent in their roles, along with an up-and-coming actor in his first screen role named Peter O'Toole, demonstrating instantly that he was one of the most phenomenal actors of all time.
Best Picture, Best Director, Best Score, Best Art Direction-Color, Best Cinematography, Best Sound, Best Film Editing
Friday, February 7, 2014
It Was A Dark And Stormy Night...
Just about every week over on TSLRF , Ryan will pose the question "What Did you Do To Prepare This Week?"
This is this week's composition for me.
My truck, in the so-apt G.I. German pidgin phrase, is currently upgefucht.
Apparently the flaperators are cattywampus, making driving a No Go event. It took the dealer all week to figure that out, and they cleverly waited until it was too late to rent a car for the day to inform me.
I should mention that a rent check is due NLT tomorrow (today now), and I had no inkling they wouldn't have my shiny toy fixed long since. Live and learn.
So being practical, trying not to chew nails and spit shrapnel, and finding the silver lining, I decided I would use the opportunity to evaluate some of my relocation plans. Because if things go sporty and you need to get out of Dodge, what are Mr. Murphy's odds it will be the day your vehicle craps out?
Part of my belt-and-suspender plan is to use a more urban mountain bike as Plan B, putting it in the back of the truck to use just in case, including if I get more flats or have other breakdowns on the day than I can self-correct.
So looking outside around dinner time as I hung up the phone with the car repair magi, it wasn't the gray indifferent overcast of yesterday. Of course not. It was blowing about 15-20 MPH in what an Irishman would describe as a "soft rain" and what I'd describe as a heavy drool, coming down steadily. Oh goody.
Cold, wet, miserable = good training opportunity.
Now, to be fair, I've spent the last 20+ years walking 6-10 miles a night shift - 20 feet at a time - until the morning. I am middle-aged, there's a bit more of me than there was in my prime, but I'm not a total wreck. So I figured I could do this.
Destination was 16 miles, one way. So 32 miles.
The Good
I made it, there and back.
No chest pain, so I think I can skip my next cardio exam.
In fact, I deliberately took it rather easy, to simulate what it'd be like in terms of speed/distance if there were 40+ pounds of gear going along.
The bike, long neglected and dusty, was a trooper. As best as I recall, it's whatever was on special at Le Boutique Targette or Le Mart du Walle fifteen or more years ago. I'd like to say I maintain it like an Indy car, but lying is bad. Nonetheless, it did good service.
Besides work, I've been upping my PT, which paid off, but work has squeezed more of that out than I'm happy with.
It was wet, but all hail Algore, temps stayed in the mid-50s. Nothing like the arctic blizzards numerous of my correspondents and acquaintances are suffering through from Montana to Miami.
The Petzl Tactika Plus on strobe mode with the red cover on the back of one's head makes an excellent bicyclist "don't hit my ass" warning light, besides being awesomely useful as a headlamp.
The Bad
There is no such thing as rain gear that keeps you dry if you're working outdoors. Not Gore-Tex, ECWCS, Helly Hansen, nor rubberized canvas. If it keeps the moisture out, you get wet with sweat. If it breathes, eventually it lets the moisture in, and not enough of the sweat out. You can shelter outside, or go inside, but if you work outside, you're getting wet, and I don't care who you are or what you have on.
The route was 1/3 uphill heading out, and 2/3 uphill heading back, and into the wind for most of both ways, because the front split on the ridge and blew, literally and metaphorically, in my face over most of the trip.
Wet bike brakes work no better than wet car brakes, especially on a big hill with my fat ass on board.
The Ugly
People drive like @$$holes in the rain.
Too fast, no visibility, and generally HUTA.
When you're in traffic on a bicycle, you notice it a lot more acutely.
Like when people in a quiet residential neighborhood figure that with no headlights coming, they can skip that annoying stopping thing at 4-way stops.
I was almost mown down half a dozen times by people exiting freeways oblivious, blown into landscaping by a semi, and the aforementioned red stop sign optional douche.
Plus any number of folks who figure with anything smaller than a bread truck yielding is optional. And this is with nothing bad happening but a well-blown misting - which is just enough to lift all the grease and oil and make the roads slicker than snot.
After Action Assessment
I have a stationary bike, along with the sort-of mountain real bike. I will be riding both more frequently. (Just not 32 miles in one go.)
The gel seat has issues. It's going to go, and I'm going to replace it with something better suited for my delicate derriere, and for serious pedaling.
I'm not ready for a Hover-Round yet (but I see the attraction). I'm going to look into the gel cell battery electric powered cycle motors. Two sets of batteries would have gotten me there and back, effortlessly and faster (they supposedly do 15MPH for about 15 miles.) With a stop for dinner part way, and another for a snack on the return, I made the trip in around 7 hours, so around 5 miles an hour, into the wind and rain, at a less-than-heart-attack speed. I rode 20-25 of that, and walked the rest. Which was good, in that they use different muscle groups, so it kept me from inducing softball-sized cramps in my thighs, which would have been a catastrophe. I rode more on the way out, and walked more on the way back. The last time I took a decent ruck march with a full pack was on Camp Pendleton, some five presidents ago. As I get my PT back to mil spec, that will change too, in increasing but gradual bites.
I'm also interested in a baby/cargo pod trailer, that'd hold 40-70 pounds of pack/BOB, food and water.
2 quarts of water during the trip was adequate for the weather and exertion. 2 quarts of Gatorade along with the water would have been better.
Forgetting to grab a couple of granola bars was stupid. Thank heavens for mini-marts, Dr. Pepper, and peanut M&Ms.
The weather was kind, so I went in trousers and polo shirt underneath the rain gear. If it had been 10-20 degrees colder, or I'd broken a chain or something, it would have been a reminder that "cotton kills".
Polarfleece hats are the shizznit. Scuba diving gloves are even better.
I'm thinking a thin neoprene shortie board suit, or a full-length one (with some strategic cutouts for ventilation and eliminating chafing) would work better than most commercial rain gear. And provide padding for the times you encounter houses where the people don't prune the trees or trim the hedges.
The bike is going to get a much deserved work-over at the local house of bike geeks.
And some repair items and spares. And a dedicated LED headlight.
It has pouches everywhere, so I'm stocking them with a small but adequate first aid kit, some power and granola bars, and a couple quarts of Gatorade, plus electrolyte tablets.
I need something for stray m-----f------- dogs. I didn't encounter any unpenned, but if I had, especially once I was tired and walking a stretch, I'd have been up a tree or screwed. Bear strength pepper spray would work on two-legged mutts as well.
I planned the route well, avoiding known crappy neighborhoods, and riding mostly through night-deserted industrial zones, and upper class neighborhoods. It would pay to do some route reconnaissance now from here to Camp Snoopy, once I have time and wheels, rather than employ the "hoping really hard" strategy to select the best route(s) on the day when it might not be optional.
Heavily laden, I know I can make 20 miles a day unless people are shooting at folks, in which case all bets are off. Some minimal storage unit caches between point A and Point Z could be a godsend, possibly even giving me a small place to hole up if necessary.
And that's about all I feel like pondering for now. I'm going to take some ibuprofen, and spend some quality time this weekend in the Jacuzzi, and I suspect the place will have a faint odor of BenGay or Tiger Balm for a couple of days. But I have all weekend to recuperate, while I wait for the restoration to me of a functional internal combustion-powered conveyace, a blessing I might have previously overlooked, but for which I will hereafter offer humble thanks, for some good time. Like at least until the pain goes away.
{Random Scientific Observation of Everyday Weirdness: I personally blew out some seven streetlights merely by passing by them, in almost every instance with no other person or vehicle closer than a half mile. Just me. There is no rational explanation known to me why this happens, and it creeped me out the first few thousands of times over the years, but now it's either just my particular super power, or the Force is strong with me. Or else my personal Guardian Angel flies about 17 feet over my head everywhere I go, take your pick. I'm not complaining, but if anyone knows where to trade this Super Power in, I'd have much preferred the power of unassisted flight, command invisibility, or the ability to pick the winning Powerball numbers all the time as one of my first choices. Nobody asked me. As it is, more than one significant other having witnessed it has referred to it as my rogue Professor Dumbledore gene.}
This is this week's composition for me.
My truck, in the so-apt G.I. German pidgin phrase, is currently upgefucht.
Apparently the flaperators are cattywampus, making driving a No Go event. It took the dealer all week to figure that out, and they cleverly waited until it was too late to rent a car for the day to inform me.
I should mention that a rent check is due NLT tomorrow (today now), and I had no inkling they wouldn't have my shiny toy fixed long since. Live and learn.
So being practical, trying not to chew nails and spit shrapnel, and finding the silver lining, I decided I would use the opportunity to evaluate some of my relocation plans. Because if things go sporty and you need to get out of Dodge, what are Mr. Murphy's odds it will be the day your vehicle craps out?
Part of my belt-and-suspender plan is to use a more urban mountain bike as Plan B, putting it in the back of the truck to use just in case, including if I get more flats or have other breakdowns on the day than I can self-correct.
So looking outside around dinner time as I hung up the phone with the car repair magi, it wasn't the gray indifferent overcast of yesterday. Of course not. It was blowing about 15-20 MPH in what an Irishman would describe as a "soft rain" and what I'd describe as a heavy drool, coming down steadily. Oh goody.
Cold, wet, miserable = good training opportunity.
Now, to be fair, I've spent the last 20+ years walking 6-10 miles a night shift - 20 feet at a time - until the morning. I am middle-aged, there's a bit more of me than there was in my prime, but I'm not a total wreck. So I figured I could do this.
Destination was 16 miles, one way. So 32 miles.
The Good
I made it, there and back.
No chest pain, so I think I can skip my next cardio exam.
In fact, I deliberately took it rather easy, to simulate what it'd be like in terms of speed/distance if there were 40+ pounds of gear going along.
The bike, long neglected and dusty, was a trooper. As best as I recall, it's whatever was on special at Le Boutique Targette or Le Mart du Walle fifteen or more years ago. I'd like to say I maintain it like an Indy car, but lying is bad. Nonetheless, it did good service.
Besides work, I've been upping my PT, which paid off, but work has squeezed more of that out than I'm happy with.
It was wet, but all hail Algore, temps stayed in the mid-50s. Nothing like the arctic blizzards numerous of my correspondents and acquaintances are suffering through from Montana to Miami.
The Petzl Tactika Plus on strobe mode with the red cover on the back of one's head makes an excellent bicyclist "don't hit my ass" warning light, besides being awesomely useful as a headlamp.
The Bad
There is no such thing as rain gear that keeps you dry if you're working outdoors. Not Gore-Tex, ECWCS, Helly Hansen, nor rubberized canvas. If it keeps the moisture out, you get wet with sweat. If it breathes, eventually it lets the moisture in, and not enough of the sweat out. You can shelter outside, or go inside, but if you work outside, you're getting wet, and I don't care who you are or what you have on.
The route was 1/3 uphill heading out, and 2/3 uphill heading back, and into the wind for most of both ways, because the front split on the ridge and blew, literally and metaphorically, in my face over most of the trip.
Wet bike brakes work no better than wet car brakes, especially on a big hill with my fat ass on board.
The Ugly
People drive like @$$holes in the rain.
Too fast, no visibility, and generally HUTA.
When you're in traffic on a bicycle, you notice it a lot more acutely.
Like when people in a quiet residential neighborhood figure that with no headlights coming, they can skip that annoying stopping thing at 4-way stops.
I was almost mown down half a dozen times by people exiting freeways oblivious, blown into landscaping by a semi, and the aforementioned red stop sign optional douche.
Plus any number of folks who figure with anything smaller than a bread truck yielding is optional. And this is with nothing bad happening but a well-blown misting - which is just enough to lift all the grease and oil and make the roads slicker than snot.
After Action Assessment
I have a stationary bike, along with the sort-of mountain real bike. I will be riding both more frequently. (Just not 32 miles in one go.)
The gel seat has issues. It's going to go, and I'm going to replace it with something better suited for my delicate derriere, and for serious pedaling.
I'm not ready for a Hover-Round yet (but I see the attraction). I'm going to look into the gel cell battery electric powered cycle motors. Two sets of batteries would have gotten me there and back, effortlessly and faster (they supposedly do 15MPH for about 15 miles.) With a stop for dinner part way, and another for a snack on the return, I made the trip in around 7 hours, so around 5 miles an hour, into the wind and rain, at a less-than-heart-attack speed. I rode 20-25 of that, and walked the rest. Which was good, in that they use different muscle groups, so it kept me from inducing softball-sized cramps in my thighs, which would have been a catastrophe. I rode more on the way out, and walked more on the way back. The last time I took a decent ruck march with a full pack was on Camp Pendleton, some five presidents ago. As I get my PT back to mil spec, that will change too, in increasing but gradual bites.
I'm also interested in a baby/cargo pod trailer, that'd hold 40-70 pounds of pack/BOB, food and water.
2 quarts of water during the trip was adequate for the weather and exertion. 2 quarts of Gatorade along with the water would have been better.
Forgetting to grab a couple of granola bars was stupid. Thank heavens for mini-marts, Dr. Pepper, and peanut M&Ms.
The weather was kind, so I went in trousers and polo shirt underneath the rain gear. If it had been 10-20 degrees colder, or I'd broken a chain or something, it would have been a reminder that "cotton kills".
Polarfleece hats are the shizznit. Scuba diving gloves are even better.
I'm thinking a thin neoprene shortie board suit, or a full-length one (with some strategic cutouts for ventilation and eliminating chafing) would work better than most commercial rain gear. And provide padding for the times you encounter houses where the people don't prune the trees or trim the hedges.
The bike is going to get a much deserved work-over at the local house of bike geeks.
And some repair items and spares. And a dedicated LED headlight.
It has pouches everywhere, so I'm stocking them with a small but adequate first aid kit, some power and granola bars, and a couple quarts of Gatorade, plus electrolyte tablets.
I need something for stray m-----f------- dogs. I didn't encounter any unpenned, but if I had, especially once I was tired and walking a stretch, I'd have been up a tree or screwed. Bear strength pepper spray would work on two-legged mutts as well.
I planned the route well, avoiding known crappy neighborhoods, and riding mostly through night-deserted industrial zones, and upper class neighborhoods. It would pay to do some route reconnaissance now from here to Camp Snoopy, once I have time and wheels, rather than employ the "hoping really hard" strategy to select the best route(s) on the day when it might not be optional.
Heavily laden, I know I can make 20 miles a day unless people are shooting at folks, in which case all bets are off. Some minimal storage unit caches between point A and Point Z could be a godsend, possibly even giving me a small place to hole up if necessary.
And that's about all I feel like pondering for now. I'm going to take some ibuprofen, and spend some quality time this weekend in the Jacuzzi, and I suspect the place will have a faint odor of BenGay or Tiger Balm for a couple of days. But I have all weekend to recuperate, while I wait for the restoration to me of a functional internal combustion-powered conveyace, a blessing I might have previously overlooked, but for which I will hereafter offer humble thanks, for some good time. Like at least until the pain goes away.
{Random Scientific Observation of Everyday Weirdness: I personally blew out some seven streetlights merely by passing by them, in almost every instance with no other person or vehicle closer than a half mile. Just me. There is no rational explanation known to me why this happens, and it creeped me out the first few thousands of times over the years, but now it's either just my particular super power, or the Force is strong with me. Or else my personal Guardian Angel flies about 17 feet over my head everywhere I go, take your pick. I'm not complaining, but if anyone knows where to trade this Super Power in, I'd have much preferred the power of unassisted flight, command invisibility, or the ability to pick the winning Powerball numbers all the time as one of my first choices. Nobody asked me. As it is, more than one significant other having witnessed it has referred to it as my rogue Professor Dumbledore gene.}
Flick Pick: The Bridge On The River Kwai
Bridge On The River Kwai
(Columbia, 1957)
David Lean had directed eleven films before launching this magnum opus onto movie screens, and it's frequently and justifiably named as one of the greatest films of all time. While William Holden had the top billing, by and large, this movie is Alec Guinness, then all of 38 years old, and in all his long pre-Obi-wan glory and talent, which is considerable. With Jack Hawkins (who convinced Guinness to take his part), Sessue Hayakawa, and James Donald, and written for the screen by two then-blacklisted screenwriters, Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson, both rightfully given their Best Adapted Screenplay Oscars - posthumously - in 1984.
Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Guinness), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Music, Best Film Editing, Best Cinematography
(Columbia, 1957)
David Lean had directed eleven films before launching this magnum opus onto movie screens, and it's frequently and justifiably named as one of the greatest films of all time. While William Holden had the top billing, by and large, this movie is Alec Guinness, then all of 38 years old, and in all his long pre-Obi-wan glory and talent, which is considerable. With Jack Hawkins (who convinced Guinness to take his part), Sessue Hayakawa, and James Donald, and written for the screen by two then-blacklisted screenwriters, Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson, both rightfully given their Best Adapted Screenplay Oscars - posthumously - in 1984.
Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Guinness), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Music, Best Film Editing, Best Cinematography
Thursday, February 6, 2014
Flick Pick: To Kill A Mockingbird
To Kill A Mockingbird
(Universal, 1962)
Gregory Peck in the role of a lifetime - as essentially himself - in this adaptation of Harper Lee's classic novel of the Jim Crow South. Both grand and endearing, with echoes of a time long gone by, and the most epic courtroom scenes in cinematic history, as proven by vote after vote. Also provided the screen debut of Robert Duvall in a pivotal role without a single spoken line.
Best Actor (Peck), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Art Direction-B&W
(Universal, 1962)
Gregory Peck in the role of a lifetime - as essentially himself - in this adaptation of Harper Lee's classic novel of the Jim Crow South. Both grand and endearing, with echoes of a time long gone by, and the most epic courtroom scenes in cinematic history, as proven by vote after vote. Also provided the screen debut of Robert Duvall in a pivotal role without a single spoken line.
Best Actor (Peck), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Art Direction-B&W
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Flick Pick: Henry V
Henry V
(BBC Films, 1989)
To date, the best Shakespearean drama ever adapted for the screen, bar none.
Kenneth Branagh did more to bring Shakespeare back in modern times than any other man, and this film, one of his first, is the masterpiece of that work, as screenwriter, director, and star.
With Paul Scofield, Emma Thompson, Ian Holm, Judi Dench, Christian Bale, Derek Jacobi, Brian Blessed, between them amassing 15 Oscar nominations and 5 wins among a host of others, the heirs of Shakespeare's players are well-represented on stage and screen, though to date Branagh has been nominated in 5 different categories, and has naught to show for the efforts except fantastic films like this one. His St. Crispin's Day speech trumps Olivier's handily, and is moving to this day as testimony to its greatness, here and for all time. And amazingly, at its widest release, it was only on 134 screens in the U.S. That's normally the distribution for films that are dying, but in this case, apparently, the BBC only wanted to make their investment budget back. But it stayed in theatres for nine months.
Best Costume Design
(BBC Films, 1989)
To date, the best Shakespearean drama ever adapted for the screen, bar none.
Kenneth Branagh did more to bring Shakespeare back in modern times than any other man, and this film, one of his first, is the masterpiece of that work, as screenwriter, director, and star.
With Paul Scofield, Emma Thompson, Ian Holm, Judi Dench, Christian Bale, Derek Jacobi, Brian Blessed, between them amassing 15 Oscar nominations and 5 wins among a host of others, the heirs of Shakespeare's players are well-represented on stage and screen, though to date Branagh has been nominated in 5 different categories, and has naught to show for the efforts except fantastic films like this one. His St. Crispin's Day speech trumps Olivier's handily, and is moving to this day as testimony to its greatness, here and for all time. And amazingly, at its widest release, it was only on 134 screens in the U.S. That's normally the distribution for films that are dying, but in this case, apparently, the BBC only wanted to make their investment budget back. But it stayed in theatres for nine months.
Best Costume Design
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Flick Pick: In The Heat Of the Night
In The Heat Of The Night
(United Artists, 1967)
American masterpiece about racial tension focused amidst a Southern murder mystery.
Career-making performances in their own right for Rod Steiger and Sidney Poitier, ably supported by the talented (and still missed) Warren Oates, and Lee Grant, and music by Quincy Jones.
Best Picture, Best Actor (Steiger), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing, and Best Sound.
(United Artists, 1967)
American masterpiece about racial tension focused amidst a Southern murder mystery.
Career-making performances in their own right for Rod Steiger and Sidney Poitier, ably supported by the talented (and still missed) Warren Oates, and Lee Grant, and music by Quincy Jones.
Best Picture, Best Actor (Steiger), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing, and Best Sound.
Monday, February 3, 2014
Flick Pick: On The Waterfront
On the Waterfront
(Columbia, 1954)
Magnificent cinematic landmark, talent-heavy from top to bottom, showcasing director Elia Kazan, marking Marlon Brando forever as an acting force, ably supported by Lee J. Cobb, Rod Steiger, Karl Malden, and introducing Eva Marie Saint, telling the tale of union corruption on the docks of Hoboken, with a Leonard Bernstein original score.
Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor (Brando), Best Supporting Actress, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, and Best Film Editing.
(Columbia, 1954)
Magnificent cinematic landmark, talent-heavy from top to bottom, showcasing director Elia Kazan, marking Marlon Brando forever as an acting force, ably supported by Lee J. Cobb, Rod Steiger, Karl Malden, and introducing Eva Marie Saint, telling the tale of union corruption on the docks of Hoboken, with a Leonard Bernstein original score.
Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor (Brando), Best Supporting Actress, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, and Best Film Editing.
Sunday, February 2, 2014
Flick Pick: Groundhog Day
Groundhog Day
(Columbia, 1993)
One of the most perfect film comedies of all time, with a career master performance from Bill Murray, the beauty of Andie MacDowell, the presentation skills of Harold Ramis, and just to pile on, great support from Chris Elliot and Stephen Tobolowsky.
This was probably the first movie I started watching not just annually, but on the same day, on purpose, and probably the genesis of this entire list. It didn't win any Oscars, nor was even nominated for any, but it should have been. And there is no other movie more worth watching just because it's February 2nd. Don't drive angry.
UPDATE:
Barely over three weeks after posting this, actor/writer/director/producer Harold Ramis, one of the funniest men in America and a comedy genius, died of complications from a rare vascular disease at the age of 69, on Feb. 24, in Chicago, where he was born and lived his entire life.
A partial list of the classic works he leaves behind:
Animal House - writer
Stripes - writer, actor
Caddyshack - writer, director
National Lampoon's Vacation - writer, director, actor
Ghostbusters - writer, actor
Back To School - writer, producer
Groundhog Day - writer, director, producer, actor
Multiplicity - director, producer
Analyze This - writer, director
Airheads - actor
As Good As It Gets - actor
Bedazzled - writer, director, producer
His comedy prickled the mighty, championed the underdog, entertained without being merciless or mean, and consistently stuck it to The Man.
The world is a less funny place for his passing, but what a legacy he left, and I hope he has them rolling in the aisles in heaven.
(Columbia, 1993)
One of the most perfect film comedies of all time, with a career master performance from Bill Murray, the beauty of Andie MacDowell, the presentation skills of Harold Ramis, and just to pile on, great support from Chris Elliot and Stephen Tobolowsky.
This was probably the first movie I started watching not just annually, but on the same day, on purpose, and probably the genesis of this entire list. It didn't win any Oscars, nor was even nominated for any, but it should have been. And there is no other movie more worth watching just because it's February 2nd. Don't drive angry.
UPDATE:
Barely over three weeks after posting this, actor/writer/director/producer Harold Ramis, one of the funniest men in America and a comedy genius, died of complications from a rare vascular disease at the age of 69, on Feb. 24, in Chicago, where he was born and lived his entire life.
A partial list of the classic works he leaves behind:
Animal House - writer
Stripes - writer, actor
Caddyshack - writer, director
National Lampoon's Vacation - writer, director, actor
Ghostbusters - writer, actor
Back To School - writer, producer
Groundhog Day - writer, director, producer, actor
Multiplicity - director, producer
Analyze This - writer, director
Airheads - actor
As Good As It Gets - actor
Bedazzled - writer, director, producer
His comedy prickled the mighty, championed the underdog, entertained without being merciless or mean, and consistently stuck it to The Man.
The world is a less funny place for his passing, but what a legacy he left, and I hope he has them rolling in the aisles in heaven.
Saturday, February 1, 2014
Flick Pick: It Happened One Night
(Mostly) Oscar Month*:
*(three exceptions)
It Happened One Night
(Columbia, 1934)
Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert in Frank Capra's wonderful and timeless comedy.
How good? Look up the number of comedies to win Best Picture.
Scandalous pre-Hays Code film, with shots of Colbert hitchhiking by {gasp!} showing her leg, a bare-chested shirtless Gable (which tanked t-shirt sales for thirty years), and two unmarried adults sharing a motel room separated by a blanket on a clothesline, all of which became iconic film moments.
Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay.
*(three exceptions)
It Happened One Night
(Columbia, 1934)
Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert in Frank Capra's wonderful and timeless comedy.
How good? Look up the number of comedies to win Best Picture.
Scandalous pre-Hays Code film, with shots of Colbert hitchhiking by {gasp!} showing her leg, a bare-chested shirtless Gable (which tanked t-shirt sales for thirty years), and two unmarried adults sharing a motel room separated by a blanket on a clothesline, all of which became iconic film moments.
Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay.
Friday, January 31, 2014
Flick Pick: The Hanoi Hilton
The Hanoi Hilton
(Cannon, 1987)
Cheery tale about the tender loving care and treatment delivered by the North Vietnamese to those that fell into their hands, including their special bamboo yoga chiropractic program, and their diligent efforts to reeducate poor misguided pilot officers and a few others who managed to survive initial capture. For those who can't get to military SERE school, and always wondered what to expect during the Resistance phase, this should cover that briefing. The characters are all fictional ones, the treatment, if anything, sugar coated compared to the reality. For those still carrying a torch for the brave communist people's forces in the peace-loving democratic republic of (then North) Vietnam, this should be your intro.
Independent film, because Hollywood had neither the courage nor the honesty to confront the truth about the side they supported from '65-forever, and the DVD release in 2008 was held up by Warner Brothers' current crop of Cong apologists until our current turd was safely ensconced in the White House. Life imitates art yet again.
(Cannon, 1987)
Cheery tale about the tender loving care and treatment delivered by the North Vietnamese to those that fell into their hands, including their special bamboo yoga chiropractic program, and their diligent efforts to reeducate poor misguided pilot officers and a few others who managed to survive initial capture. For those who can't get to military SERE school, and always wondered what to expect during the Resistance phase, this should cover that briefing. The characters are all fictional ones, the treatment, if anything, sugar coated compared to the reality. For those still carrying a torch for the brave communist people's forces in the peace-loving democratic republic of (then North) Vietnam, this should be your intro.
Independent film, because Hollywood had neither the courage nor the honesty to confront the truth about the side they supported from '65-forever, and the DVD release in 2008 was held up by Warner Brothers' current crop of Cong apologists until our current turd was safely ensconced in the White House. Life imitates art yet again.
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Flick Pick: The Green Berets
The Green Berets
(Warner Bros., 1968)
Moby Dick, the Great White Whale itself, that Vietnam movie.
The one loosely based on Robin Moore's kickass book.
(Of which, I'd still like to see a movie or three made.)
The one that pissed off hordes of Hollywood artsy-fartsy trendy leftists all to hell - for decades, got dissed by critics up the yazoo, and called cheesey, populist, knee-jerk, brainwashed hyper-American hawkish anti-communism, blah blah blahbitty blah. And probably still sets Jane Fonda's teeth on edge.(Huzzah!)
Wayne also co-directed it, returning over triple the production budget of $7M for a $21.7M gross in an era when $1 tickets were common, and passed up the starring role as Major Reisman in The Dirty Dozen to make this movie. And still had time to win a Best Actor Oscar the next year (wearing an eyepatch) at the tender age of 62.
Bottom line, it still rocks, it turned out to be far more truth in one work of fiction than any five other revisionist versions of the Vietnam War, both at the time and in hindsight, and did we mention that it rocks, not least of which because of Barry Sadler's ballad, Jim Hutton, David Janssen, Aldo Ray, Luke Askew, George Takei, Raymond St. Jacques, Patrick Wayne, America, apple pie, Green Berets, and John by-God Wayne.
Suck it, communist pigs.
(Warner Bros., 1968)
Moby Dick, the Great White Whale itself, that Vietnam movie.
The one loosely based on Robin Moore's kickass book.
(Of which, I'd still like to see a movie or three made.)
The one that pissed off hordes of Hollywood artsy-fartsy trendy leftists all to hell - for decades, got dissed by critics up the yazoo, and called cheesey, populist, knee-jerk, brainwashed hyper-American hawkish anti-communism, blah blah blahbitty blah. And probably still sets Jane Fonda's teeth on edge.(Huzzah!)
Wayne also co-directed it, returning over triple the production budget of $7M for a $21.7M gross in an era when $1 tickets were common, and passed up the starring role as Major Reisman in The Dirty Dozen to make this movie. And still had time to win a Best Actor Oscar the next year (wearing an eyepatch) at the tender age of 62.
Bottom line, it still rocks, it turned out to be far more truth in one work of fiction than any five other revisionist versions of the Vietnam War, both at the time and in hindsight, and did we mention that it rocks, not least of which because of Barry Sadler's ballad, Jim Hutton, David Janssen, Aldo Ray, Luke Askew, George Takei, Raymond St. Jacques, Patrick Wayne, America, apple pie, Green Berets, and John by-God Wayne.
Suck it, communist pigs.
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Flick Pick: Hamburger Hill
Hamburger Hill
(RKO, 1987)
Unlike Platoon, victim of Oliver Stone's hashpipe fantasies, this flick comes far closer to telling everyman's experiences in Vietnam by focusing on a real event, in this case an actual battle from May of 1969. Great actors doing the big things and the small things well, attention to details, and a location setting where you feel like you're there, rather than trying to double for the location, badly.
(RKO, 1987)
Unlike Platoon, victim of Oliver Stone's hashpipe fantasies, this flick comes far closer to telling everyman's experiences in Vietnam by focusing on a real event, in this case an actual battle from May of 1969. Great actors doing the big things and the small things well, attention to details, and a location setting where you feel like you're there, rather than trying to double for the location, badly.
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Flick Pick: The Boys In Company C
The Boys In Company C
(Columbia, 1978)
Filmed only a couple years after the final fall of South Vietnam, while the feelings were still fresh and raw, this is a grittier version of war standards like Catch-22 or M*A*S*H*, with Stan Shaw, Andrew Stevens, and James Whitmore Jr. trying to maintain their sanity in an insane place. Also introduces archtypical Drill Instructor R. Lee Ermey to the big screen, when he was fresh from Vietnam too, discovered more or less accidentally as an ex-pat living in the Phillipines, where the entire movie was filmed.
(Columbia, 1978)
Filmed only a couple years after the final fall of South Vietnam, while the feelings were still fresh and raw, this is a grittier version of war standards like Catch-22 or M*A*S*H*, with Stan Shaw, Andrew Stevens, and James Whitmore Jr. trying to maintain their sanity in an insane place. Also introduces archtypical Drill Instructor R. Lee Ermey to the big screen, when he was fresh from Vietnam too, discovered more or less accidentally as an ex-pat living in the Phillipines, where the entire movie was filmed.
Monday, January 27, 2014
Flick Pick: Escape From New York
Escape From New York
(Avco Embassy, 1981)
Kurt Russell, at the beginning of his second career (far from the Disney image) as the baddest gunslinger in town. John Carpenter made this flick, shot mostly in St. Louis, for a budget that today would be virtually financing using your credit cards, and cast some great talent to populate the federal prison of New York.
(Avco Embassy, 1981)
Kurt Russell, at the beginning of his second career (far from the Disney image) as the baddest gunslinger in town. John Carpenter made this flick, shot mostly in St. Louis, for a budget that today would be virtually financing using your credit cards, and cast some great talent to populate the federal prison of New York.
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Flick Pick: Escape From Alcatraz
Escape From Alcatraz
(Paramount, 1979)
Slick production with Clint Eastwood playing a convict instead of a cop, cinematically recreating what was probably the only successful escape from Alcatraz, shortly before it was closed as a prison.
(Paramount, 1979)
Slick production with Clint Eastwood playing a convict instead of a cop, cinematically recreating what was probably the only successful escape from Alcatraz, shortly before it was closed as a prison.
Saturday, January 25, 2014
Flick Pick: The Shawshank Redemption
The Shawshank Redemption
(Columbia, 1994)
Continuing in the vein of prison break flicks, this absolute American masterpiece, one of the few cinematic versions of Stephen King's works I can stand to watch, done brilliantly from beginning to end by Morgan Freeman, Tim Robbins, Clancy Brown, James Whitmore in his last major film role, and a truly wonderful supporting cast.
(Columbia, 1994)
Continuing in the vein of prison break flicks, this absolute American masterpiece, one of the few cinematic versions of Stephen King's works I can stand to watch, done brilliantly from beginning to end by Morgan Freeman, Tim Robbins, Clancy Brown, James Whitmore in his last major film role, and a truly wonderful supporting cast.
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Flick Picks: 48 Hrs., and Out Of Sight
Tomorrow's pick (1/24/2014)
Out Of Sight
(Universal, 1998)
Long before Danny Ocean came along, Steven Soderbergh teamed with George Clooney to produce a character at the height of cool, coincidentally providing the only cinematic evidence in existence to date that Jennifer Lopez can act, and entwining them, both figuratively and literally, in one of the best cops-and-robbers romances ever made. It also marked the beginning of David Jones doing Soderbergh's soundtracks after a serendipitous pairing by producer Danny DeVito, a collaboration that delights the ear as well as the eye.
Today's Pick (1/23/2014):
48 Hrs.
(Paramount, 1982)
Action comedy that provided the template for every buddy cop movie for the next twenty years, with Nick Nolte's boozy mean brokedown cop providing the action, and introducing to the big screen Eddie Murphy as his convict partner for the comedy, at which he blew the doors off. Paramount then-chief Michael Eisner told Walter Hill that Murphy's character wasn't funny enough, which led to continual script rewrites to the last day of shooting, and studio executives told Hill that the gunfights were so violent he'd killed the comedy, and thus he would never work for Paramount again.
Confirming their (lack of) perspicacity, the film earned over $78M in box office on a $12M budget, just over 6 times its production cost, and Hill only made 2 more films for Paramount, including the sequel Another 48 Hours, which only grossed 5 times its production costs, and he instead spent the bulk of his career putting about a billion dollars into the coffers of Paramount's competitors at 20th Century Fox, Universal, Miramax, and United Artists for movies like Brewster's Millions, Red Heat, and producing Alien and all its sequels. Nice call, geniuses.
Out Of Sight
(Universal, 1998)
Long before Danny Ocean came along, Steven Soderbergh teamed with George Clooney to produce a character at the height of cool, coincidentally providing the only cinematic evidence in existence to date that Jennifer Lopez can act, and entwining them, both figuratively and literally, in one of the best cops-and-robbers romances ever made. It also marked the beginning of David Jones doing Soderbergh's soundtracks after a serendipitous pairing by producer Danny DeVito, a collaboration that delights the ear as well as the eye.
Today's Pick (1/23/2014):
48 Hrs.
(Paramount, 1982)
Action comedy that provided the template for every buddy cop movie for the next twenty years, with Nick Nolte's boozy mean brokedown cop providing the action, and introducing to the big screen Eddie Murphy as his convict partner for the comedy, at which he blew the doors off. Paramount then-chief Michael Eisner told Walter Hill that Murphy's character wasn't funny enough, which led to continual script rewrites to the last day of shooting, and studio executives told Hill that the gunfights were so violent he'd killed the comedy, and thus he would never work for Paramount again.
Confirming their (lack of) perspicacity, the film earned over $78M in box office on a $12M budget, just over 6 times its production cost, and Hill only made 2 more films for Paramount, including the sequel Another 48 Hours, which only grossed 5 times its production costs, and he instead spent the bulk of his career putting about a billion dollars into the coffers of Paramount's competitors at 20th Century Fox, Universal, Miramax, and United Artists for movies like Brewster's Millions, Red Heat, and producing Alien and all its sequels. Nice call, geniuses.
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Flick Pick: Streets Of Fire
Streets Of Fire
(Universal, 1985)
A rock and roll fable that was truly years ahead of its time and audience, featuring Diane Lane in glorious color at all of 18 years of age, providing early glimpses of actors Rick Moranis, Amy Madigan, Willem Dafoe, Bill Paxton, Robert Townsend, Mykelti Williamson, and Ed Begley Jr., as well as launching a Top Ten hit with "I Can Dream About You". As a visually gripping hour and a half action/dramedy/music video it's one of a kind, but it was buried at the box office, not least of which because Universal had no idea how to sell it once they had it in the can. And being a Walter Hill film, there's a bus.
(Universal, 1985)
A rock and roll fable that was truly years ahead of its time and audience, featuring Diane Lane in glorious color at all of 18 years of age, providing early glimpses of actors Rick Moranis, Amy Madigan, Willem Dafoe, Bill Paxton, Robert Townsend, Mykelti Williamson, and Ed Begley Jr., as well as launching a Top Ten hit with "I Can Dream About You". As a visually gripping hour and a half action/dramedy/music video it's one of a kind, but it was buried at the box office, not least of which because Universal had no idea how to sell it once they had it in the can. And being a Walter Hill film, there's a bus.
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Flick Pick: The Warriors
The Warriors
(Paramount, 1979)
Backed by a studio literally too scared to promote it, this film tripled its box office over its budget strictly on word of mouth, and the Walter Hill gang pic became one of the biggest cult films of all time. "Can you dig it?"
(Paramount, 1979)
Backed by a studio literally too scared to promote it, this film tripled its box office over its budget strictly on word of mouth, and the Walter Hill gang pic became one of the biggest cult films of all time. "Can you dig it?"
Monday, January 20, 2014
It Could Never Happen Here
This is just my imagination. No one would ever seriously suggest this. Well, almost no one.
A Proposed Final Solution To The Conservative Problem In America:
The Director of Homeland Security has given a short report of the struggle which has been carried on thus far against these terrorists, the essential points being the following:
a) to make all necessary arrangements for the preparation for an increased emigration of the Conservatives,
The aim of all this is to cleanse American living space of Conservatives in a legal manner.
All government and party offices realize the drawbacks of such enforced accelerated emigration. For the time being they will, however, tolerate it on account of the lack of other possible solutions of the problem.
1) Treatment of Persons of Mixed Loyalties of the First Degree
A Proposed Final Solution To The Conservative Problem In America:
The Director of Homeland Security has given a short report of the struggle which has been carried on thus far against these terrorists, the essential points being the following:
a) the expulsion of Conservatives from every sphere of life of the American people,
b) the expulsion of the Conservatives from the living space of the American people.
In carrying out these efforts, an increased and planned acceleration of the emigration of the Conservatives from Homeland territory was started, as the only possible present solution.
By order of the Attorney General, a Homeland Central Office for Conservative Emigration will be set up in and the Director of Homeland Security will be entrusted with the management. Its most important tasks will be:
a) to make all necessary arrangements for the preparation for an increased emigration of the Conservatives,
b) to direct the flow of emigration,
c) to speed the procedure of emigration in each individual case.
The aim of all this is to cleanse American living space of Conservatives in a legal manner.
All government and party offices realize the drawbacks of such enforced accelerated emigration. For the time being they will, however, tolerate it on account of the lack of other possible solutions of the problem.
The following guidelines will be enforced immediately.
1) Treatment of Persons of Mixed Loyalties of the First Degree
Persons of mixed loyalty of the first degree will, as regards the Final Solution of the Conservative question, be treated as Conservatives.
From this treatment the following exceptions will be made:
a) Persons of mixed loyalties of the first degree married to persons of Progressive loyalty if their marriage has resulted in children (persons of mixed loyaltiy of the second degree). These persons of mixed loyalty of the second degree are to be treated essentially as Progressives.
b) Persons of mixed loyalty of the first degree, for whom the highest offices of the Democrat Party and State have already issued exemption permits in any sphere of life. Each individual case must be examined, and it is not ruled out that the decision may be made to the detriment of the person of mixed loyalty.
The prerequisite for any exemption must always be the personal merit of the person of mixed loyalty. (Not the merit of the parent or spouse of Progressive loyalty.)
Persons of mixed loyalty of the first degree who are exempted from evacuation will be sterilized in order to prevent any offspring and to eliminate the problem of persons of mixed loyalty once and for all. Such sterilization will be voluntary. But it is required to remain in the Homeland. The sterilized "person of mixed loyalty" is thereafter free of all restrictions to which he was previously subjected.
2) Treatment of Persons of Mixed Loyalty of the Second Degree
Persons of mixed loyalty of the second degree will be treated fundamentally as persons of Progressive loyalty, with the exception of the following cases, in which the persons of mixed loyalty of the second degree will be considered as Conservatives:
a) The person of mixed loyalty of the second degree was born of a marriage in which both parents are persons of mixed loyalty.
b) The person of mixed loyalty of the second degree has a socially especially undesirable appearance that marks him outwardly as a Conservative.
c) The person of mixed loyalty of the second degree has a particularly bad police and political record that shows that he feels and behaves like a Conservative.
Also in these cases exemptions should not be made if the person of mixed loyalty of the second degree has married a person of Progressive loyalty.
3) Marriages between Full Conservatives and Persons of Progressive Loyalty.
Here it must be decided from case to case whether the Conservative partner will be evacuated or whether, with regard to the effects of such a step on the Progressive relatives, [this mixed marriage] should be sent to an old age ghetto.
4) Marriages between Persons of Mixed Loyalty of the First Degree and Persons of Progressive Loyalty.
a) Without Children.
If no children have resulted from the marriage, the person of mixed loyalty of the first degree will be evacuated or sent to an old age ghetto (same treatment as in the case of marriages between full Conservatives and persons of Progressive loyalty, point 3.)
b) With Children.
If children have resulted from the marriage (persons of mixed loyalty of the second degree), they will, if they are to be treated as Conservatives, be evacuated or sent to a ghetto along with the parent of mixed loyalty of the first degree. If these children are to be treated as Progressives (regular cases), they are exempted from evacuation as is therefore the parent of mixed loyalty of the first degree.
5) Marriages between Persons of Mixed Loyalty of the First Degree and Persons of Mixed Loyalty of the First Degree or Conservatives.
In these marriages (including the children) all members of the family will be treated as Conservativess and therefore be evacuated or sent to an old age ghetto.
6) Marriages between Persons of Mixed Loyalty of the First Degree and Persons of Mixed Loyalty of the Second Degree.
In these marriages both partners will be evacuated or sent to an old age ghetto without consideration of whether the marriage has produced children, since possible children will as a rule have stronger Conservative loyalties than the Conservative person of mixed loyalty of the second degree.
Let the "evacuations" begin, make up your lists, and fill the trains as soon as possible, combing the Homeland from East to West to rid us of this plague on our people once and for all.
One Leader!
One Homeland!
One People!
Flick Pick: Conspiracy
Conspiracy
(HBO, 2001)
Seventy-two years ago today, Reinhard Heydrich and his deputy, Adolf Eichmann, both of the Nazi SS/RSHA, convened a baker's dozen of mid-level German ministers and bureaucrats. All were hard-corps Nazi true believers, to a man. At a fine house in a quiet Berlin suburb, they all sat down to a pleasant buffet lunch and cheerfully agreed to the outlines and skid-greasing to undertake the extermination of nearly 6 million Jews, 3 million Russian POWs, 2 million Poles, 1 1/2 million gypsies, as well as the crippled, Freemasons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Slavs, homosexuals, German communists, and the few remnants of anti-fascism in Spain. Dramatized in this chilling presentation (the actual dialogue of the meeting minutes were deliberately edited and coded into inoffensive sounding vagueries) by a pantheon of talented actors (Kenneth Branagh won an Emmy for this portrayal as Heydrich, Stanley Tucci as Eichmann received a Golden Globe), shot in the very rooms where it actually took place, the off-handed casualness of plotting the mass genocide of some 11-14 million people inspires jaw-dropping awe at the depths of human depravity. The message isn't only that the Nazis were evil then; it's that any such group could be again.
(HBO, 2001)
Seventy-two years ago today, Reinhard Heydrich and his deputy, Adolf Eichmann, both of the Nazi SS/RSHA, convened a baker's dozen of mid-level German ministers and bureaucrats. All were hard-corps Nazi true believers, to a man. At a fine house in a quiet Berlin suburb, they all sat down to a pleasant buffet lunch and cheerfully agreed to the outlines and skid-greasing to undertake the extermination of nearly 6 million Jews, 3 million Russian POWs, 2 million Poles, 1 1/2 million gypsies, as well as the crippled, Freemasons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Slavs, homosexuals, German communists, and the few remnants of anti-fascism in Spain. Dramatized in this chilling presentation (the actual dialogue of the meeting minutes were deliberately edited and coded into inoffensive sounding vagueries) by a pantheon of talented actors (Kenneth Branagh won an Emmy for this portrayal as Heydrich, Stanley Tucci as Eichmann received a Golden Globe), shot in the very rooms where it actually took place, the off-handed casualness of plotting the mass genocide of some 11-14 million people inspires jaw-dropping awe at the depths of human depravity. The message isn't only that the Nazis were evil then; it's that any such group could be again.
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Flick Pick: The Ox-Bow incident
The Ox-Bow Incident
(20th Cent. Fox, 1943)
Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews, Harry Morgan, and an up-and-coming high school drop-out named Anthony Quinn, in the classic western tale of vigilante justice gone wrong.
(20th Cent. Fox, 1943)
Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews, Harry Morgan, and an up-and-coming high school drop-out named Anthony Quinn, in the classic western tale of vigilante justice gone wrong.
Saturday, January 18, 2014
Flick Pick: True Lies
True Lies
(20th Cent. Fox, 1994)
Great spy action comedy, with the unbeatable team of Schwarzenegger and Cameron, from back when movies weren't afraid to portray Muslim fanatics as bad guys.
(20th Cent. Fox, 1994)
Great spy action comedy, with the unbeatable team of Schwarzenegger and Cameron, from back when movies weren't afraid to portray Muslim fanatics as bad guys.
Friday, January 17, 2014
JUSTICE!!!!!!!
Link (h/t to disorderlycna)
* Still no word on suspension/firing/prosecution of the officers for aggravated sexual battery, or shooting Trixie The Incompetent Drug Dog in the head before he alerts on another dozen innocent victims.
* IANAL, but I don't think, as counsel for plaintiff, the first words about your client after this ordeal should be "He feels relieved...". Just saying.
* And the docs and dickheads (but I repeat myself) are liable to be paying a lot more than $1.6M, especially now that the police and county have rolled over on this thing, and went full chicken long before a jury got anywhere near this case.
* Still no word on revoking medical licenses, and prosecuting every member of the medical staff who assisted for aggravated sexual battery.
But this'll do for a start.
So hey, Deming PD (and we use the term "PD" loosely), how does it feel to have a courthouse rammed up your @$$es??
"David Eckert, who was given three enemas as part of a
humiliating search after a routine traffic stop last year, has received a $1.6
million settlement from a county and city in New Mexico.
Lawyers from the city of Deming and Hidalgo County agreed to the settlement earlier this week.
"It was medically unethical and unconstitutional," his lawyer, Shannon Kennedy, told the Associated Press. "He feels relieved that this part is over and believes this litigation might make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else."
...
Eckert's suit also named Gila Medical Center and the doctors who performed the search there; that portion of the case is still ongoing."
Lawyers from the city of Deming and Hidalgo County agreed to the settlement earlier this week.
"It was medically unethical and unconstitutional," his lawyer, Shannon Kennedy, told the Associated Press. "He feels relieved that this part is over and believes this litigation might make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else."
...
Eckert's suit also named Gila Medical Center and the doctors who performed the search there; that portion of the case is still ongoing."
* Still no word on suspension/firing/prosecution of the officers for aggravated sexual battery, or shooting Trixie The Incompetent Drug Dog in the head before he alerts on another dozen innocent victims.
* IANAL, but I don't think, as counsel for plaintiff, the first words about your client after this ordeal should be "He feels relieved...". Just saying.
* And the docs and dickheads (but I repeat myself) are liable to be paying a lot more than $1.6M, especially now that the police and county have rolled over on this thing, and went full chicken long before a jury got anywhere near this case.
* Still no word on revoking medical licenses, and prosecuting every member of the medical staff who assisted for aggravated sexual battery.
But this'll do for a start.
So hey, Deming PD (and we use the term "PD" loosely), how does it feel to have a courthouse rammed up your @$$es??
Flick Pick: Lord Of The Rings - Return Of The King
Lord Of The Rings - Return Of The King
(New Line, 2003)
The triumphant conclusion to this epic saga, an unmitigated success, this time nominated for and winning all eleven Oscars it was up for, including Best Picture, and Best Director for Peter Jackson - one of the few times even the Oscar is an understatement - and managing to rake in $1.1 billion worldwide along the way.
(Hopefully, somewhere, two dozen development execs who likely turned the project down over the years quietly sobbed in soul-crushed agony before slitting their wrists.)
Oh, and it's also a great flick.
(New Line, 2003)
The triumphant conclusion to this epic saga, an unmitigated success, this time nominated for and winning all eleven Oscars it was up for, including Best Picture, and Best Director for Peter Jackson - one of the few times even the Oscar is an understatement - and managing to rake in $1.1 billion worldwide along the way.
(Hopefully, somewhere, two dozen development execs who likely turned the project down over the years quietly sobbed in soul-crushed agony before slitting their wrists.)
Oh, and it's also a great flick.
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Media Caught With Pants Down, Felon In Possession Arrested
You may possibly remember Tyler Smith. He was first noted on NatGeoTV's "Doomsday Preppers" in November of last year, letting Mr. And Mrs. American prepper know that he and his posse of thundertards were going to survive by coming to your house, killing you, and eating your stuff.
Evidently, Mr. Smith has some wee experience with that line of endeavor:
LINK
"When Tyler Smith of Buckley appeared on National Geographic's reality show "Doomsday Preppers" he did so with rifle in hand. Smith, 26, shoots at targets and tests homemade body armor while narrating his exploits for the camera.
The problem is, Smith is a felon, convicted of communicating with a minor for immoral purposes and theft. He's not supposed to go anywhere near a gun.
"Even if he doesn't own the guns, he can't handle, have those weapons, fire them (or) possess them in any way," said Pierce County Sheriff's Detective Ed Troyer.
He also bragged for the camera about his plans to raid and loot other doomsday preppers' supplies when the end times came. "All your shiny AR's your high powered .308 rifles, your 50,000 rounds of ammo are all going to be ours", Smith warned.
Pierce county investigators say it was those claims, and Smith's brazen use of firearms on camera that landed him back in jail. "What led us to this guy was himself. He put himself on TV and in newspaper articles and he did things that scared the neighbor," said Troyer.
Smith is a level one sex offender following his conviction in King county in 2009, but he has not registered with law enforcement since his move to Pierce county. Troyer said he could face an additional charge of failing to register as a sex offender."
So, evidently, his age is also his IQ.
First off, I rightfully bag on officious jackholes with badges when appropriate, so it warms my heart to give the fine investigators in this case a hearty and well-deserved "Attaboy!"
And BTW, let's also give a well-earned "Douchebags Of The Decade Award" to the crack(-smoking) production staff and executives responsible at NatGeoTV's Doomsday Preppers, for putting a two-time convicted felon thief and sex offender on national TV, and trying to shoehorn him in alongside the sort of folks who put back a case of canned goods and supplies to ride out a hurricane or tornado.
Nice going, ASSHOLES!
If, a la Jim Zumbo and Dick Metcalf, you'd perhaps like to let them know what you think of their notable efforts to put felons and sex offenders on national TV and equate them with average gun owners and/or preppers, you can reach them at:
National Geographic Society
1145 17th Street N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036-4688
National Geographic TV
feedback@natgeotv.com
1(202) 912-6500.
Doomsday Preppers
c/o Sharp Entertainment
Alan Madison }
Kathleen Cromley }Exec producers
Matt Sharp }
info@sharpentertainment.com
1(212)784-7770
1(212)784-7778 (fax)
Contact them early, and often.
Particularly if you have school-age children, and would like to congratulate the National Geographic Society for giving a national forum to a convicted sex offender, and observing that you'll be bringing notice of same up to, well, whatever religious, children's, or media advocacy group(s) you feel might be appropriate to notify. Perhaps including your local congressman, and theirs. A little lava in their breakfast should warm up their winter's day.
Cheers.
Evidently, Mr. Smith has some wee experience with that line of endeavor:
LINK
"When Tyler Smith of Buckley appeared on National Geographic's reality show "Doomsday Preppers" he did so with rifle in hand. Smith, 26, shoots at targets and tests homemade body armor while narrating his exploits for the camera.
The problem is, Smith is a felon, convicted of communicating with a minor for immoral purposes and theft. He's not supposed to go anywhere near a gun.
"Even if he doesn't own the guns, he can't handle, have those weapons, fire them (or) possess them in any way," said Pierce County Sheriff's Detective Ed Troyer.
He also bragged for the camera about his plans to raid and loot other doomsday preppers' supplies when the end times came. "All your shiny AR's your high powered .308 rifles, your 50,000 rounds of ammo are all going to be ours", Smith warned.
Pierce county investigators say it was those claims, and Smith's brazen use of firearms on camera that landed him back in jail. "What led us to this guy was himself. He put himself on TV and in newspaper articles and he did things that scared the neighbor," said Troyer.
Smith is a level one sex offender following his conviction in King county in 2009, but he has not registered with law enforcement since his move to Pierce county. Troyer said he could face an additional charge of failing to register as a sex offender."
So, evidently, his age is also his IQ.
First off, I rightfully bag on officious jackholes with badges when appropriate, so it warms my heart to give the fine investigators in this case a hearty and well-deserved "Attaboy!"
And BTW, let's also give a well-earned "Douchebags Of The Decade Award" to the crack(-smoking) production staff and executives responsible at NatGeoTV's Doomsday Preppers, for putting a two-time convicted felon thief and sex offender on national TV, and trying to shoehorn him in alongside the sort of folks who put back a case of canned goods and supplies to ride out a hurricane or tornado.
Nice going, ASSHOLES!
If, a la Jim Zumbo and Dick Metcalf, you'd perhaps like to let them know what you think of their notable efforts to put felons and sex offenders on national TV and equate them with average gun owners and/or preppers, you can reach them at:
National Geographic Society
1145 17th Street N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036-4688
National Geographic TV
feedback@natgeotv.com
1(202) 912-6500.
Doomsday Preppers
c/o Sharp Entertainment
Alan Madison }
Kathleen Cromley }Exec producers
Matt Sharp }
info@sharpentertainment.com
1(212)784-7770
1(212)784-7778 (fax)
Contact them early, and often.
Particularly if you have school-age children, and would like to congratulate the National Geographic Society for giving a national forum to a convicted sex offender, and observing that you'll be bringing notice of same up to, well, whatever religious, children's, or media advocacy group(s) you feel might be appropriate to notify. Perhaps including your local congressman, and theirs. A little lava in their breakfast should warm up their winter's day.
Cheers.
Flick Pick: Lord Of The Rings - The Two Towers
Lord Of The Rings - The Two Towers
(New Line, 2002)
Continuation of the tale of Middle Earth, the most well-received and successful film of the year, earning another pair of Oscars, and another nine-tenths of a billion dollars worldwide, while moving the story across its middle, and setting up the final climactic events of the final installment.
(New Line, 2002)
Continuation of the tale of Middle Earth, the most well-received and successful film of the year, earning another pair of Oscars, and another nine-tenths of a billion dollars worldwide, while moving the story across its middle, and setting up the final climactic events of the final installment.
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Flick Pick: Lord Of The Rings - The Fellowship Of The Ring
Lord Of The Rings - The Fellowship Of The Ring
(New Line, 2001)
Between Peter Jackson and a brilliant cast's perfect portrayal of this story of good vs. evil, and premiering just 3 months after 9/11, the film that started it all immediately vaulted to the heights of screen epics, earning four Oscars, around 8/10ths of a billion dollars in receipts, and the undying thanks of millions of fans of Tolkien's novel over the last half century.
(New Line, 2001)
Between Peter Jackson and a brilliant cast's perfect portrayal of this story of good vs. evil, and premiering just 3 months after 9/11, the film that started it all immediately vaulted to the heights of screen epics, earning four Oscars, around 8/10ths of a billion dollars in receipts, and the undying thanks of millions of fans of Tolkien's novel over the last half century.
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Flick Pick: The Hobbit- The Battle Of The Five Armies
The Hobbit - The Battle Of The Five Armies
(New Line/MGM, 2014)
At this point it's a unicorn, (albeit reliably sighted and photographed) but I'm listing the final sequel to the series due out this coming Christmas to my list, because as noted yesterday, Peter Jackson is not only the only director in cinematic history to deliver one flawlessly epic trilogy, but based on the evidence thus far, is set to repeat that triumph when this one concludes at the end of the year. Coupled with what will certainly be a most satisfying conclusion to this trip, I have no qualms about posting this one 11 months in advance. As far as J. R. R. Tolkien's works are concerned, Peter Jackson is the son and heir born fifty years out of time that Tolkien didn't have, and has delivered audience satisfaction and commensurate box office gross like most directors don't accomplish in fifty years of ceaseless effort. Talent like this doesn't grow on trees, but thank heavens it grows in New Zealand, and in my lifetime.
(New Line/MGM, 2014)
At this point it's a unicorn, (albeit reliably sighted and photographed) but I'm listing the final sequel to the series due out this coming Christmas to my list, because as noted yesterday, Peter Jackson is not only the only director in cinematic history to deliver one flawlessly epic trilogy, but based on the evidence thus far, is set to repeat that triumph when this one concludes at the end of the year. Coupled with what will certainly be a most satisfying conclusion to this trip, I have no qualms about posting this one 11 months in advance. As far as J. R. R. Tolkien's works are concerned, Peter Jackson is the son and heir born fifty years out of time that Tolkien didn't have, and has delivered audience satisfaction and commensurate box office gross like most directors don't accomplish in fifty years of ceaseless effort. Talent like this doesn't grow on trees, but thank heavens it grows in New Zealand, and in my lifetime.
Monday, January 13, 2014
Flick Pick: The Hobbit - The Desolation Of Smaug
The Hobbit - The Desolation Of Smaug
(New Line/MGM, 2013)
Currently still in wide release, the second film from The Hobbit in what morphed into another trilogy. Once again, rendered with excellence, even if this outing has much in common with The Empire Strikes Back in terms of leaving everyone hanging, but with it, Jackson has emerged all alone, besting even Steven Spielberg and Francis Ford Coppola in bringing not just three, but to this point, five worthy sequential movies to screen. (Even Spielberg couldn't get three good Indiana Jones movies, and Coppola could only manage two good Godfather flicks.)
(New Line/MGM, 2013)
Currently still in wide release, the second film from The Hobbit in what morphed into another trilogy. Once again, rendered with excellence, even if this outing has much in common with The Empire Strikes Back in terms of leaving everyone hanging, but with it, Jackson has emerged all alone, besting even Steven Spielberg and Francis Ford Coppola in bringing not just three, but to this point, five worthy sequential movies to screen. (Even Spielberg couldn't get three good Indiana Jones movies, and Coppola could only manage two good Godfather flicks.)
Sunday, January 12, 2014
Welcome To Your Future
A liberal/progressive "paradise" would be a place where everyone gets free housing, free food, free utilities, free education, free comprehensive healthcare, guaranteed employment, and only law enforcement has guns. Such a place already exists right here in America now. We call it "prison".
Flick Pick: The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey
The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey
(New Line/MGM, 2012)
Chronologically the first in the series of films of J. R. R.Tolkien's epicly crafted Middle Earth, rendered to near cinematic perfection by Peter Jackson.
(New Line/MGM, 2012)
Chronologically the first in the series of films of J. R. R.Tolkien's epicly crafted Middle Earth, rendered to near cinematic perfection by Peter Jackson.
Saturday, January 11, 2014
Flick Pick: Monty Python & The Holy Grail
Monty Python & The Holy Grail
(Python Pictures, 1975)
Sword and sorcery farce made virtually on credit cards at the time, with a box office gross of some $128M to date, and spawner of more fan-repeated movie lines than any other film in English-speaking cinema history, this glorious comedy exists to remind us that Camelot was indeed a silly place.
(Python Pictures, 1975)
Sword and sorcery farce made virtually on credit cards at the time, with a box office gross of some $128M to date, and spawner of more fan-repeated movie lines than any other film in English-speaking cinema history, this glorious comedy exists to remind us that Camelot was indeed a silly place.
Friday, January 10, 2014
Flick Pick: The Lion In Winter
The Lion In Winter
(Avco Embassy, 1968)
Peter O'Toole and Katharine Hepburn in a magnificent display of talent, both at the height of their powers, in this film based on the stage play of the same name. Nominated for seven Oscars, and winning three, including the third (of four lifetime) for Best Actress to Hepburn. Also introducing a new kid named Anthony Hopkins to film. "To be alive, king, and fifty!" Indeed.
(Avco Embassy, 1968)
Peter O'Toole and Katharine Hepburn in a magnificent display of talent, both at the height of their powers, in this film based on the stage play of the same name. Nominated for seven Oscars, and winning three, including the third (of four lifetime) for Best Actress to Hepburn. Also introducing a new kid named Anthony Hopkins to film. "To be alive, king, and fifty!" Indeed.
Thursday, January 9, 2014
Flick Pick: The Scarlet Pimpernel
The Scarlet Pimpernel
(London Films/CBS, 1982)
Anthony Andrews in the title role, with Jane Seymour his wife, and a long pre-Gandalf Ian MacKellen as the evil Chauvelin. A good story well done all the way 'round, if you like that sort of thing, and with Percy Blakeney as the literary archtype for every hero-with-a-secret-identity tale ever since.
(London Films/CBS, 1982)
Anthony Andrews in the title role, with Jane Seymour his wife, and a long pre-Gandalf Ian MacKellen as the evil Chauvelin. A good story well done all the way 'round, if you like that sort of thing, and with Percy Blakeney as the literary archtype for every hero-with-a-secret-identity tale ever since.
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Flick Pick: Les Miserables
Les Miserables
(ITC, 1978)
Long before it was made into a musical, the Victor Hugo masterpiece, in this instance with Richard Jordan as a superb Valjean, and Anthony Perkins playing Jauvert with precision, all thankfully without a shred of singing or choreography.
(ITC, 1978)
Long before it was made into a musical, the Victor Hugo masterpiece, in this instance with Richard Jordan as a superb Valjean, and Anthony Perkins playing Jauvert with precision, all thankfully without a shred of singing or choreography.
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Flick Pick: A Tale Of Two Cities
ATale Of Two Cities
(Hallmark, 1980)
A latter day version of Dickens' classic story set amongst the Reign Of Terror during the French Revolution. The best version made since MGM's 1935 film (which is itself a bit long in the tooth), this time with Chris Sarandon playing the lookalikes of Darney and Carton.
(Hallmark, 1980)
A latter day version of Dickens' classic story set amongst the Reign Of Terror during the French Revolution. The best version made since MGM's 1935 film (which is itself a bit long in the tooth), this time with Chris Sarandon playing the lookalikes of Darney and Carton.
Monday, January 6, 2014
Presidential Decree # 3,416,821
My history instructors, from grammar school through university, including any number of bat-guano crazy liberal idiots, were pretty adamant that we began the overthrow of monarchy hereabouts in 1776. Yet our current philosopher-king manchild seems pretty certain he can rule by fiat, and has done so for 5 years while Congress both metaphorically and probably in actual fact collectively sits with its thumbs inserted in the space normally reserved for their craniums to be stored.
So I'm pretty certain somebody is lying about something.
If memory serves, rule by fiat decree didn't even work out for the psychotic loon in the Harry Potter books. But as always, unlike real life, fiction has to make sense.
So I'm pretty certain somebody is lying about something.
If memory serves, rule by fiat decree didn't even work out for the psychotic loon in the Harry Potter books. But as always, unlike real life, fiction has to make sense.
Flick Pick: The Count Of Monte Cristo
The Count Of Monte Cristo
(ITC, 1975)
Another British TV movie version, again with Richard Chamberlain and Louis Jordan, and adding great supporting performances from Trevor Howard, Donald Pleasance, and Tony Curtis. They can't get their trains to run on time, but they can produce these kinds of A-list productions for TV when we were treated to such cultural high-water marks as Charlie's Angels and The Dukes Of Hazzard, and 40 years later there still isn't a studio in Hollywood that seems able to produce a movie remake of this fit for viewing by man nor beast. Enjoy the best and skip the rest.
(ITC, 1975)
Another British TV movie version, again with Richard Chamberlain and Louis Jordan, and adding great supporting performances from Trevor Howard, Donald Pleasance, and Tony Curtis. They can't get their trains to run on time, but they can produce these kinds of A-list productions for TV when we were treated to such cultural high-water marks as Charlie's Angels and The Dukes Of Hazzard, and 40 years later there still isn't a studio in Hollywood that seems able to produce a movie remake of this fit for viewing by man nor beast. Enjoy the best and skip the rest.
Sunday, January 5, 2014
Flick Pick: The Man In The Iron Mask
The Man In The Iron Mask
(ITC, 1977)
Starring Richard Chamberlain as hero/villain, and Louis Jourdan as a much older Musketeer D'Artagnan. This was originally a British made-for-TV movie, yet easily surpasses in quality both prior and regrettable subsequent efforts to reduce another Dumas classic to film, with a stellar supporting cast, and shot on multiple locations in France from the original story.
(ITC, 1977)
Starring Richard Chamberlain as hero/villain, and Louis Jourdan as a much older Musketeer D'Artagnan. This was originally a British made-for-TV movie, yet easily surpasses in quality both prior and regrettable subsequent efforts to reduce another Dumas classic to film, with a stellar supporting cast, and shot on multiple locations in France from the original story.
Saturday, January 4, 2014
Flick Pick: The Four Musketeers
The Four Musketeers
(20th Cent. Fox, 1974)
One way to save money and avoid a crappy sequel is to shoot two (or more) movies simultaneously. It's also a way to make yourself infamous in film history, and get a special clause in every SAG contract ever since to preclude such shenanigans in future. Welcome to the movie that did all that.
(20th Cent. Fox, 1974)
One way to save money and avoid a crappy sequel is to shoot two (or more) movies simultaneously. It's also a way to make yourself infamous in film history, and get a special clause in every SAG contract ever since to preclude such shenanigans in future. Welcome to the movie that did all that.
Friday, January 3, 2014
Flick Pick: The Three Musketeers
The Three Musketeers
(20th Cent. Fox ,1973)
Michael York, Oliver Reed, Richard Chamberlain, and Frank Finlay having rollicking good fun in the title roles of this comedrama, with Charlton Heston, Faye Dunnaway, Christopher Lee, and Raquel Welch backing them up. This is certainly the most enjoyable and well-crafted (if not most strictly accurate) version of Messr. Dumas' literary classic tale of swordplay and intrigue among the French court in the time of Louis XIII.
(20th Cent. Fox ,1973)
Michael York, Oliver Reed, Richard Chamberlain, and Frank Finlay having rollicking good fun in the title roles of this comedrama, with Charlton Heston, Faye Dunnaway, Christopher Lee, and Raquel Welch backing them up. This is certainly the most enjoyable and well-crafted (if not most strictly accurate) version of Messr. Dumas' literary classic tale of swordplay and intrigue among the French court in the time of Louis XIII.
Thursday, January 2, 2014
Flick Pick: Slap Shot
Slap Shot
(Universal, 1977)
When almost no one was looking in the late '70s, Paul Newman and director George Roy Hill snuck up to PA and made one of the funniest sports comedies of all time.
(Universal, 1977)
When almost no one was looking in the late '70s, Paul Newman and director George Roy Hill snuck up to PA and made one of the funniest sports comedies of all time.
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Flick Pick: Stranger than Fiction
Stranger Than Fiction
(Columbia, 2006)
Talent-laden comedy with Will Ferrell, a hilarious deadpan straight man, as the only one able to hear a reclusive murder novelist (Emma Thompson) narrating his life...and impending death. Funny, touching, absolutely brilliant, and not to be missed.
(Columbia, 2006)
Talent-laden comedy with Will Ferrell, a hilarious deadpan straight man, as the only one able to hear a reclusive murder novelist (Emma Thompson) narrating his life...and impending death. Funny, touching, absolutely brilliant, and not to be missed.
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Flick Pick: Hart's War
Hart's War
(MGM, 2002)
Criminally underrated and cracking good suspense/whodunit, set in a WWII POW camp, and starring Bruce Willis in another in a series of his latter career renaissance roles.
(MGM, 2002)
Criminally underrated and cracking good suspense/whodunit, set in a WWII POW camp, and starring Bruce Willis in another in a series of his latter career renaissance roles.
Monday, December 30, 2013
Flick Pick: The Grey
The Grey
(Universal,2011)
Liam Neeson and 8 stranded castaways vs. two relentless killers: A pack of grey wolves, and the arctic. Evidently, the wolves didn't see Taken. Bad luck for them.
(Universal,2011)
Liam Neeson and 8 stranded castaways vs. two relentless killers: A pack of grey wolves, and the arctic. Evidently, the wolves didn't see Taken. Bad luck for them.
Sunday, December 29, 2013
Flick Pick: Never Cry Wolf
Never Cry Wolf
(Disney, 1983)
Charles Martin Smith and a family of wolves star in this biopic of Farley Mowat's life in the Arctic.
(Disney, 1983)
Charles Martin Smith and a family of wolves star in this biopic of Farley Mowat's life in the Arctic.
Saturday, December 28, 2013
Flick Pick: Captain Blood
Captain Blood
(Warner Bros., 1935)
Originally premiering 78 years ago today, this is the original bucklesquashing million dollar movie epic of all time.
Remember this:
If Errol Flynn is the hero;
If Olivia de Havilland is the leading lady;
If Basil Rathbone is the villain;
If Michael Curtiz directed it;
And if Erich Korngold wrote the score;
you should be sitting in that theatre when the curtain parts, and the lights dim.
In this case, Flynn, at age 26, was making his debut film in America, and Olivia de Havilland was a second-choice pick at all of 19 years when given this role. Lightning was bottled, and the rest is movie history.
(Warner Bros., 1935)
Originally premiering 78 years ago today, this is the original bucklesquashing million dollar movie epic of all time.
Remember this:
If Errol Flynn is the hero;
If Olivia de Havilland is the leading lady;
If Basil Rathbone is the villain;
If Michael Curtiz directed it;
And if Erich Korngold wrote the score;
you should be sitting in that theatre when the curtain parts, and the lights dim.
In this case, Flynn, at age 26, was making his debut film in America, and Olivia de Havilland was a second-choice pick at all of 19 years when given this role. Lightning was bottled, and the rest is movie history.
Friday, December 27, 2013
Flick Pick: Monty Python's Life Of Brian
Monty Python's Life Of Brian
(Handmade Films, 1979)
Among the top comedies of all time, and than which no better biblical epic comedy has ever been made, therefore totally apropos for the season. God help us, every one.
(Handmade Films, 1979)
Among the top comedies of all time, and than which no better biblical epic comedy has ever been made, therefore totally apropos for the season. God help us, every one.
Thursday, December 26, 2013
Flick Pick: Die Hard
Die Hard
(20th Cent. Fox, 1988)
In case the usual Christmas fare has induced cinematic diabetes, a little spice to go with the sugar: Bruce Willis in the movie that made him an action hero superstar, after the role was turned down by Frank Sinatra, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Richard Gere, Clint Eastwood, and Burt Reynolds. Still the measure by which dozens of other action films are measured, and justifiably so because it still delivers. Yippee ki yay.
(20th Cent. Fox, 1988)
In case the usual Christmas fare has induced cinematic diabetes, a little spice to go with the sugar: Bruce Willis in the movie that made him an action hero superstar, after the role was turned down by Frank Sinatra, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Richard Gere, Clint Eastwood, and Burt Reynolds. Still the measure by which dozens of other action films are measured, and justifiably so because it still delivers. Yippee ki yay.
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
Flick Pick: A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol
(CBS, 1984)
The best, most faithful, and truly definitive version of Dickens' most famous ghost story, with George C. Scott in a phenomenal star turn as the villain-cum-hero of the tale. On this day of days, nothing less than the best will suffice.
(CBS, 1984)
The best, most faithful, and truly definitive version of Dickens' most famous ghost story, with George C. Scott in a phenomenal star turn as the villain-cum-hero of the tale. On this day of days, nothing less than the best will suffice.
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Flick Pick: Miracle On 34th Street
Miracle On 34th Street
(20th Cent. Fox, 1947)
Maureen O'Hara, a pint-sized Natalie Wood, and Edmund Gwenn as perhaps the best on-screen Santa ever.
(20th Cent. Fox, 1947)
Maureen O'Hara, a pint-sized Natalie Wood, and Edmund Gwenn as perhaps the best on-screen Santa ever.
Monday, December 23, 2013
Flick Pick: Home Alone
Home Alone
(20th Cent. Fox, 1990)
John Hughes via Chris Columbus created in this movie the highest-grossing comedy of all time, and sadly, the biggest comedy franchise ever. It made its entire production budget back on opening weekend. No word on where Warner Bros. sprinkled the ashes of the accounting genius who shuffled this pic off to Fox when the budget "soared" from $14M to $17M; perhaps they kept him on because they didn't need a spare half a billion dollars that year. The casting, from Macaulay Culkin to Roberts Blossom, and everyone in between, was inspired. A masterful and enjoyable Christmas romp, that still manages to find its way back...home.
(20th Cent. Fox, 1990)
John Hughes via Chris Columbus created in this movie the highest-grossing comedy of all time, and sadly, the biggest comedy franchise ever. It made its entire production budget back on opening weekend. No word on where Warner Bros. sprinkled the ashes of the accounting genius who shuffled this pic off to Fox when the budget "soared" from $14M to $17M; perhaps they kept him on because they didn't need a spare half a billion dollars that year. The casting, from Macaulay Culkin to Roberts Blossom, and everyone in between, was inspired. A masterful and enjoyable Christmas romp, that still manages to find its way back...home.
Sunday, December 22, 2013
I Feel Your Pain
Pop over to American Mercenary's blog for this thought. (Which leads, serendipitously to Tam's blog, and ultimately to the original germinal seed of this beanstalk.)
When dealing with the tsunamis of Internet Stupid, besides the helpful Demotivation poster that reminds us Internet arguments are like competing in the Special Olympics, two quotes by Albert Einstein definitely apply:
"If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself.”
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.”
The biggest difficulty in communicating with people with both fingers in their ears repeating "Lalalalalala I can't hear you" is getting a laser to carve through their publicly-funded armor that blocks them from considering things rationally and factually, rather than an exercise in whose feelings are hurt, because Every Snowflake Is Special.
It's seldom worth the effort, unless you not only sway their opinion, but also somehow spark a small glowing appreciation of thinking which most of their developmental years were dedicated to ruthlessly stomping out.
We are rapidly becoming a nation not only of economic haves and have-nots, but of intellectual ones as well.
Societally, it's going to end in tears, and probably, almost inevitably, bloodshed.
Picture "The Walking Dead" as less documentary than metaphor.
The major differences now being that it's not actually legal to jam a crowbar into their faces, and that occasionally, once in a very great while, you can turn one back into an actual thinking breathing human being.
I'm a sentimental mushball for saying this, but I'm thinking that the ultimate cultural value of getting the occasional Dennis Miller, David Mamet, Bill Whittle, or Ronald Reagan back from the drooling, shambling horde of braindead bozos means it's still worth the effort to try and salvage a few more from the Sarlac Pit of Liberal Stupidity, and therefore not time to start welding concertina and metal spikes to the outside of your 4WD.
Yet.
When dealing with the tsunamis of Internet Stupid, besides the helpful Demotivation poster that reminds us Internet arguments are like competing in the Special Olympics, two quotes by Albert Einstein definitely apply:
"If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself.”
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.”
The biggest difficulty in communicating with people with both fingers in their ears repeating "Lalalalalala I can't hear you" is getting a laser to carve through their publicly-funded armor that blocks them from considering things rationally and factually, rather than an exercise in whose feelings are hurt, because Every Snowflake Is Special.
It's seldom worth the effort, unless you not only sway their opinion, but also somehow spark a small glowing appreciation of thinking which most of their developmental years were dedicated to ruthlessly stomping out.
We are rapidly becoming a nation not only of economic haves and have-nots, but of intellectual ones as well.
Societally, it's going to end in tears, and probably, almost inevitably, bloodshed.
Picture "The Walking Dead" as less documentary than metaphor.
The major differences now being that it's not actually legal to jam a crowbar into their faces, and that occasionally, once in a very great while, you can turn one back into an actual thinking breathing human being.
I'm a sentimental mushball for saying this, but I'm thinking that the ultimate cultural value of getting the occasional Dennis Miller, David Mamet, Bill Whittle, or Ronald Reagan back from the drooling, shambling horde of braindead bozos means it's still worth the effort to try and salvage a few more from the Sarlac Pit of Liberal Stupidity, and therefore not time to start welding concertina and metal spikes to the outside of your 4WD.
Yet.
Flick Pick: Holiday Inn
Holiday Inn
(Paramount, 1942)
Bing Crosby sings, Fred Astaire sings and dances, and Irving Berlin wrote the story and the score, all of them performing brilliantly, including launching "White Christmas", the biggest selling single of all time, and winner of the Academy Award for Best Song of 1942. Production took place from November 1941-January 1942, and the 4th of July segment was re-written after the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred in the middle of filming.
(Paramount, 1942)
Bing Crosby sings, Fred Astaire sings and dances, and Irving Berlin wrote the story and the score, all of them performing brilliantly, including launching "White Christmas", the biggest selling single of all time, and winner of the Academy Award for Best Song of 1942. Production took place from November 1941-January 1942, and the 4th of July segment was re-written after the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred in the middle of filming.
Saturday, December 21, 2013
Flick Pick: It's A Wonderful Life
It's A Wonderful Life
(RKO, 1946)
The finest example of what Hollywood snob-sophisticates dubbed "Capra-corn" ever made, and largely given a lukewarm reception at the time, it was drubbed critically and financially by The Best Years Of Our Lives, which won 9 Oscars. Now, It's A Wonderful Life is an annual staple and hailed as a masterpiece film and likely the most inspirational movie ever made, while few people alive outside of film school have even seen The Best Years Of Our Lives. Things even out.
(RKO, 1946)
The finest example of what Hollywood snob-sophisticates dubbed "Capra-corn" ever made, and largely given a lukewarm reception at the time, it was drubbed critically and financially by The Best Years Of Our Lives, which won 9 Oscars. Now, It's A Wonderful Life is an annual staple and hailed as a masterpiece film and likely the most inspirational movie ever made, while few people alive outside of film school have even seen The Best Years Of Our Lives. Things even out.
Friday, December 20, 2013
Flick Pick: Mary Poppins
Mary Poppins
(Disney, 1964)
Everything in this story has happened before, and will happen again, but it was when Mary Poppins floated in on an east wind in 1964 that will be remembered the longest. Quite possibly the finest movie Walt Disney ever made, garnering universal acclaim and a record 13 Oscar nominations, while winning 5, including Best Actress for Julie Andrews in her first film role, who was practically perfect in every way. Movie magic this wonderful is far too rare, and like Dick Van Dyke's Bert wishes about Mary, we only wish it wouldn't stay away so long between visits.
(Disney, 1964)
Everything in this story has happened before, and will happen again, but it was when Mary Poppins floated in on an east wind in 1964 that will be remembered the longest. Quite possibly the finest movie Walt Disney ever made, garnering universal acclaim and a record 13 Oscar nominations, while winning 5, including Best Actress for Julie Andrews in her first film role, who was practically perfect in every way. Movie magic this wonderful is far too rare, and like Dick Van Dyke's Bert wishes about Mary, we only wish it wouldn't stay away so long between visits.
Thursday, December 19, 2013
Flick Pick: A Christmas Story
A Christmas Story
(MGM, 1983)
I first saw this movie on a double date the weekend it opened in 1983,and I have the scars from shooting soda through my nostrils to prove it. The hands-down most screamingly funny Christmas movie ever made, propelled by a masterpiece of a story narrated by the author himself, and delivered by a truly inspired selection of actors. A sleeper at the time, only repeated TV and cable exposure has gotten it a deserved ranking as one of the biggest Christmas movie favorites of all time.
(MGM, 1983)
I first saw this movie on a double date the weekend it opened in 1983,and I have the scars from shooting soda through my nostrils to prove it. The hands-down most screamingly funny Christmas movie ever made, propelled by a masterpiece of a story narrated by the author himself, and delivered by a truly inspired selection of actors. A sleeper at the time, only repeated TV and cable exposure has gotten it a deserved ranking as one of the biggest Christmas movie favorites of all time.
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
Thought For The Day: Timing Is Everything
If you start shooting the bad guys early enough to make a difference, you'll be labeled a radical crazy person.
If you wait until it's acceptable, you'll be 80 pounds underweight, unarmed, and being loaded into a boxcar.
(H/t to blog.ushanka.us)
Flick Pick: How The Grinch Stole Christmas
How The Grinch Stole Christmas
(MGM/Cat In The Hat, 1966)
Unlike the unfortunately awful live-action version (which we wouldn't touch with a 39-and-a-half foot pole), this is the genuine article, and a certified classic flick. Coming shortly on the heels of WB firing genius cartoon director and godfather of modern animation, Chuck Jones, then dumping (and later closing) its Animation Department, this release and its long-time status helpfully puts that brilliant move in its proper light. Boris Karloff's narration, and Thurl Ravencroft's rendition of "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch" earned this short a Grammy.
(MGM/Cat In The Hat, 1966)
Unlike the unfortunately awful live-action version (which we wouldn't touch with a 39-and-a-half foot pole), this is the genuine article, and a certified classic flick. Coming shortly on the heels of WB firing genius cartoon director and godfather of modern animation, Chuck Jones, then dumping (and later closing) its Animation Department, this release and its long-time status helpfully puts that brilliant move in its proper light. Boris Karloff's narration, and Thurl Ravencroft's rendition of "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch" earned this short a Grammy.
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Flick Pick: Fitzwilly
Fitzwilly
(United Artists, 1967)
Delightful and mostly forgotten Christmas caper flick featuring Dick Van Dyke, with Barbara Feldon in her first film role. Languishing in some vault, but occasionally spotted on movie channels, and currently posted in full on YouTube. Enjoy.
(United Artists, 1967)
Delightful and mostly forgotten Christmas caper flick featuring Dick Van Dyke, with Barbara Feldon in her first film role. Languishing in some vault, but occasionally spotted on movie channels, and currently posted in full on YouTube. Enjoy.
Monday, December 16, 2013
Flick Pick: Battleground
Battleground
(MGM, 1949)
On the anniversary of the Battle of The Bulge, one of the best versions of it this side of Band Of Brothers, with a cast of mostly baby-faced future stars such as James Arness, Richard Jaeckel, Ricardo Montalban, and an ancient-looking 27-year-old little force of nature playing the platoon sergeant, for which he received a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination, a fellow named James Whitmore - in precisely his third film ever. Being all of 3 years out of a hitch in the Marines as both an NCO and officer during WWII, it wasn't much of a stretch.
Sometime when you think you have it rough, some December put on an old set of cammies, go out in the woods, heat up a can of pork and beans, dig a hole, and sleep in the snow under one thin wool blanket, and remember the Battered Bastards of Bastogne.
(MGM, 1949)
On the anniversary of the Battle of The Bulge, one of the best versions of it this side of Band Of Brothers, with a cast of mostly baby-faced future stars such as James Arness, Richard Jaeckel, Ricardo Montalban, and an ancient-looking 27-year-old little force of nature playing the platoon sergeant, for which he received a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination, a fellow named James Whitmore - in precisely his third film ever. Being all of 3 years out of a hitch in the Marines as both an NCO and officer during WWII, it wasn't much of a stretch.
Sometime when you think you have it rough, some December put on an old set of cammies, go out in the woods, heat up a can of pork and beans, dig a hole, and sleep in the snow under one thin wool blanket, and remember the Battered Bastards of Bastogne.
Sunday, December 15, 2013
Peter O'Toole - R.I.P.
Peter O'Toole died yesterday in hospital in London, after a long illness.
O'Toole was a phenomenal talent and an unquestionable acting legend, famous for delivering riveting performances throughout his career.
His honorary Oscar in 2003 was by way of an apology from AMPAS, for the unconscionable sin of nominating him for an acting Oscar 8 times, and never awarding him one. Rectified in 2003 , and somewhat mollified by his prior possession of the Golden Globe, the Emmy, as well as BAFTA, Irish, and NZ acting honors. He initially declined the honor, hoping instead to "win the lovely bugger outright", and had he not already possessed that Honorary Lifetime Oscar, he probably would have done just that in 2006, for Venus.
It's not a loss that he died at 81, looking at all he did and all the performances left behind, so much as an embarrassing acknowledgement that no one can live forever.
What an incredible ride!
Flick Pick: Tangled
Tangled
(Disney, 2010)
Fantastic re-imagining of the Rapunzel fairy-tale, and worthy to enter the pantheon of Disney classic princess tales. Cartoons, even Disney cartoons, can be hit-or-miss, but this is what they're aimed at becoming.
(Disney, 2010)
Fantastic re-imagining of the Rapunzel fairy-tale, and worthy to enter the pantheon of Disney classic princess tales. Cartoons, even Disney cartoons, can be hit-or-miss, but this is what they're aimed at becoming.
Saturday, December 14, 2013
Flick Pick: Sword In The Stone
Sword In The Stone
(Disney, 1963)
The last feature animated film supervised by Walt Disney, with complex animation, deeper themes, classic Sherman brothers' tunes, and absolutely worth watching just for the Wizard's Duel between Merlin and Mim.
(Disney, 1963)
The last feature animated film supervised by Walt Disney, with complex animation, deeper themes, classic Sherman brothers' tunes, and absolutely worth watching just for the Wizard's Duel between Merlin and Mim.
Friday, December 13, 2013
Flick Pick: Cinderella
Cinderella
(Disney, 1955)
The perfect fairy tale, perfectly executed in a timeless cartoon masterpiece. After a series of commercial missteps, the loss of European markets during wartime, and years of wartime production for the government during WWII, this was a last-gasp effort to save the Disney Studio from financial ruin. It was a grand slam critical and financial success, raking in revenue hand over fist and ensuring the survival of Disney.
(Disney, 1955)
The perfect fairy tale, perfectly executed in a timeless cartoon masterpiece. After a series of commercial missteps, the loss of European markets during wartime, and years of wartime production for the government during WWII, this was a last-gasp effort to save the Disney Studio from financial ruin. It was a grand slam critical and financial success, raking in revenue hand over fist and ensuring the survival of Disney.
Thursday, December 12, 2013
Flick Pick: Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer
Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
(Rankin-Bass/NBC, 1964)
Next year marks the 50th anniversary of this long-running Christmas classic TV special, narrated by Burl Ives. Just because.
(Rankin-Bass/NBC, 1964)
Next year marks the 50th anniversary of this long-running Christmas classic TV special, narrated by Burl Ives. Just because.
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Flick Pick: Rio Grande
Rio Grande
(Republic, 1950)
The final of Ford's epic cavalry trilogy, and the one of the three he didn't want to make. He took on the task as Republic Films pre-condition to them funding production of The Quiet Man, which every studio in Hollywood had already turned down. All Republic asked in return was that John Ford bring his promised stars, John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara, and make Republic a cavalry picture, and in her first screen appearance opposite him (of what would become five) she shows why Ford picked her, how she could hold her own toe to toe with Wayne, and that both were the better for each pairing.
(Republic, 1950)
The final of Ford's epic cavalry trilogy, and the one of the three he didn't want to make. He took on the task as Republic Films pre-condition to them funding production of The Quiet Man, which every studio in Hollywood had already turned down. All Republic asked in return was that John Ford bring his promised stars, John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara, and make Republic a cavalry picture, and in her first screen appearance opposite him (of what would become five) she shows why Ford picked her, how she could hold her own toe to toe with Wayne, and that both were the better for each pairing.
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Flick Pick: She Wore A Yellow Ribbon
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon
(Warner Bros., 1949)
Second of Ford's cavalry trilogy, with John Wayne, John Agar, Ben Johnson, and Harry Carey Jr. against the backdrop of Monument Valley, this time around in living color.
(Warner Bros., 1949)
Second of Ford's cavalry trilogy, with John Wayne, John Agar, Ben Johnson, and Harry Carey Jr. against the backdrop of Monument Valley, this time around in living color.
Monday, December 9, 2013
Flick Pick: Fort Apache
Fort Apache
(Fort Apache, 1948)
John Ford's masterpiece of the frontier, and the first of what would become his cavalry trilogy, starring his best find in Hollywood, John Wayne, and Henry Fonda as the ultimate ramrod-backed commander.
(Fort Apache, 1948)
John Ford's masterpiece of the frontier, and the first of what would become his cavalry trilogy, starring his best find in Hollywood, John Wayne, and Henry Fonda as the ultimate ramrod-backed commander.
Sunday, December 8, 2013
Flick Pick: They Were Expendable
They Were Expendable
(MGM, 1945)
And for the day after, what came next, in John Ford's classic Robert Montgomery/John Wayne movie of PT boats and the men who fought from them. Notable for having been shot while the war still raged in both Europe and Asia, and with some pretty serious special effects for back in the day in the battle scenes.
(MGM, 1945)
And for the day after, what came next, in John Ford's classic Robert Montgomery/John Wayne movie of PT boats and the men who fought from them. Notable for having been shot while the war still raged in both Europe and Asia, and with some pretty serious special effects for back in the day in the battle scenes.
Saturday, December 7, 2013
Flick Pick: Tora!Tora!Tora!
Tora!Tora!Tora!
(20th Cent. Fox, 1970)
Apropos of the day, both sides of the infamous attack on Pearl Harbor, done on an epic scale by Fox when there wasn't any CG, just lots of real planes and explosions.
(20th Cent. Fox, 1970)
Apropos of the day, both sides of the infamous attack on Pearl Harbor, done on an epic scale by Fox when there wasn't any CG, just lots of real planes and explosions.
Friday, December 6, 2013
Flick Pick: Beauty And The The Beast
Beauty And The Beast
(Disney, 1991)
First animated film ever nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture, and deservedly so, and winner for Best Score and Best Song (competing against itself with three of the five nominations that year). Great story, told perfectly, using the best writers, musicians, and state-of-the-art animation techniques, to deliver a perfect film.
(Disney, 1991)
First animated film ever nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture, and deservedly so, and winner for Best Score and Best Song (competing against itself with three of the five nominations that year). Great story, told perfectly, using the best writers, musicians, and state-of-the-art animation techniques, to deliver a perfect film.
Thursday, December 5, 2013
Flick Pick: Peter Pan
Peter Pan
(Disney, 1953)
All this has happened before, and it will happen again. But it never happened better than in this animated classic. Second star to the right, and straight on until morning!
(Disney, 1953)
All this has happened before, and it will happen again. But it never happened better than in this animated classic. Second star to the right, and straight on until morning!
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Flick Pick: Jurassic Park III
Jurassic Park III
(Universal, 2001)
Sam Neill and a new batch of adventurers back for another foray into John Hammond's dreamland of why one should be careful what they wish for.
(Universal, 2001)
Sam Neill and a new batch of adventurers back for another foray into John Hammond's dreamland of why one should be careful what they wish for.
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Flick Pick: The Lost World
The Lost World
(Universal, 1997)
A sequel that doesn't suck is the goal. This one from a director who has a handle on making movies, with Jeff Goldblum leading the expedition, scores. The Evil Hunter is the only good guy among the bad guys, and dinosaurs eat Toby Ziegler.
(Universal, 1997)
A sequel that doesn't suck is the goal. This one from a director who has a handle on making movies, with Jeff Goldblum leading the expedition, scores. The Evil Hunter is the only good guy among the bad guys, and dinosaurs eat Toby Ziegler.
Monday, December 2, 2013
Flick Pick: Jurassic Park
Jurassic Park
(Universal, 1993)
Richard Attenborough. Sam Neill. Jeff Goldblum. Laura Dern. Dinosaurs. A blood sucking lawyer. Dinosaurs eating the bloodsucking lawyer. And all based on a cracking good Michael Crichton novel. What's not to like?
(Universal, 1993)
Richard Attenborough. Sam Neill. Jeff Goldblum. Laura Dern. Dinosaurs. A blood sucking lawyer. Dinosaurs eating the bloodsucking lawyer. And all based on a cracking good Michael Crichton novel. What's not to like?
Sunday, December 1, 2013
Flick Pick: Beverly Hills Cop
Beverly Hills Cop
(Paramount, 1984)
The original and genuine article, a classic Eddie Murphy comedy made by the A-list, and loaded with rising talents in every spare scene. (Damon Wayans, Paul Reiser, Bronson Pinchot).
(Paramount, 1984)
The original and genuine article, a classic Eddie Murphy comedy made by the A-list, and loaded with rising talents in every spare scene. (Damon Wayans, Paul Reiser, Bronson Pinchot).
Saturday, November 30, 2013
Flick Pick: The Sound Of Music
The Sound Of Music
(20th Cent. Fox, 1965)
This Oscar-winning Best Picture surpassed Gone With The Wind to become the highest-grossing movie of all time, until Star Wars knocked it off the perch, propelled to the top of the Alps by Julie Andrews, fresh from being Mary Poppins onscreen the year before, and My Fair Lady on Broadway before that, cast here picture-perfect into the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. Truly one of everyone's favorite things.
(20th Cent. Fox, 1965)
This Oscar-winning Best Picture surpassed Gone With The Wind to become the highest-grossing movie of all time, until Star Wars knocked it off the perch, propelled to the top of the Alps by Julie Andrews, fresh from being Mary Poppins onscreen the year before, and My Fair Lady on Broadway before that, cast here picture-perfect into the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. Truly one of everyone's favorite things.
Friday, November 29, 2013
The Elephant In The Room: Partying Like It's 1986
Boys and girls, let's flash back to those thrilling days of yesteryear.
To 1986, to be specific.
Our beloved federal representatives, in the spirit ofSatan Santa Claus, bestowed upon our republic (and to a great degree, most of the medical professions) two acts of public munificence scarcely to be imagined (at least by anyone who can balance a checkbook).
I refer to the Immigration Reform and Control Act, and the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, whose passage the same year was anything but coincidental.
EMTALA was, in almost every way, the prequel to Obamacare. It mandated (without anyone anywhere paying for it) that all hospitals with emergency services had to provide them to anyone and everyone who walked in, regardless of ability to pay, citizenship status, or any other wee considerations.
Imagine, if you will, McDonald's mandated to give away free cheeseburgers to everyone who demanded one under the same (lack of) restrictions, and then come up with your best guess as to how long before they'd go bankrupt and close forever.
Except that, as a rule, hospitals are full of people who don't want to close, because they're genuinely concerned with finding a way to help people rather than shutting down forever. Because unlike a fast food restaurant, when hospitals close, people don't just miss lunch; they die.
Nonetheless, skyrocketing unreimbursed expenses under EMTALA have driven hundreds of hospitals, especially the smaller community hospitals you may remember if you're over 30, right off the financial cliff and out of business forever, along with no small number of larger facilities as well, due to the crushing burden of unreimbursed care to the indigent and illegal. (CA has lost something like 80 hospitals in the last 15 years, when last I looked, and chiefly for exactly this reason.)
Many others (Kaiser, I'm looking at you) simply curtailed or eliminated emergency services, thus ducking the law (legally). Which then made the wait for you or I to be seen at the hospital ERs remaining climb from minutes, to hours, to even days now at some inner city locations.
The huge hospitals and health care chains that remained had to find a way to make ends meet and buffer the enormous financial losses, so they began padding their bills. Your aspirin, for example, now costs $20. Mind you, it's still bought at $0.02@, but the cost to the insured helps subsidize the 999 other ones given out free (or at least unreimbursed by the recepients, or anyone else) to homeless, indigent, poor, uninsured, and illegal aliens, all by the trainload daily at every hospital impacted by the new law. Nothing in the new law gave these folks any incentive to make better life choices, nor any likelihood they'll ever have to pay for all the "free" health care that Tip O'Neill and Congress started handing out to them, as they have for almost 30 years now. After helpfully inviting 3 million folks to partake of American citizenship with IRCA the same year.
Flash forward, and let's see how those two genius moves have worked out:
Hospital emergency care impacted.
Health care cost rocketing to Jupiter.
Wait times to the moon.
Another 10-20 million folks thronging here illegally, and partaking of all the benefits of "free" health care, among other things.
So, in order to wipe out the scourge of uninsured patients and rampant runaway costs, we get EMTALA on steroids: Obamacare! (Because as we all know, if smashing your thumb with a hammer hurts, the best cure is to take a sledgehammer to your entire hand!)
By forcing millions of young healthy people who could formerly choose to do without it to get health insurance under Obamacare (under pain of IRS enforcement and hefty fines), the government, in collusion with the insurance companies, and against the interests of everyone, not least of them those millions of young healthy folks, has found a new way to pay for care for the unemployed, indigent, insane, and illegal patients, and now everyone else gets to pay for it all, forever! It's a Health Care Miracle!! (Well, except for that whole crashing 1/6th of the American economy like it were the LZ Hindenburg thing. FWIW, the hospital I formerly worked out has laid off 40% of staff across the board, in thefear certainty that reimbursement schemes will bankrupt them. Which put 1200 formerly insured and gainfully employed folks, and their families, in the unemployment line to buy...wait for it...health care from Obamacare! Genius, no?)
And more doctors leave the profession forever (25% of our ED doctors group retired last December, most of them years early, and the group has no plans to replace them anytime soon), most of the rest curtail or cease entirely accepting Medicare or any other government insurance, more hospitals close, the wait gets longer at the ones which remain, and the billing price of everything, like that $20 aspirin, is worse than gasoline: rising indefinitely, with no end in sight.
Meanwhile, your employers cancel (or will shortly) your policies, cut your hours to less than 29@week, or just lay you off outright. And the insurance companies sit back, as their willing shark-smiling minions at the IRS shovel you one and all into their maw, by the government's requirements that everyone buy insurance they don't need - like mandatory mammogram and maternity coverage for men - at prices they can't afford.
Cue government single payer in 3, 2,...
Next up: Let's bring that whole Amnesty Thing up for discussion again, so we can "solve" that problem like we "solved" the health care "crisis".
The biggest problem isn't that the Obamacare sign-up website is broken. It's that someday, it's going to work exactly as designed.
Grab your wallets, and run for your lives.
To 1986, to be specific.
Our beloved federal representatives, in the spirit of
I refer to the Immigration Reform and Control Act, and the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, whose passage the same year was anything but coincidental.
EMTALA was, in almost every way, the prequel to Obamacare. It mandated (without anyone anywhere paying for it) that all hospitals with emergency services had to provide them to anyone and everyone who walked in, regardless of ability to pay, citizenship status, or any other wee considerations.
Imagine, if you will, McDonald's mandated to give away free cheeseburgers to everyone who demanded one under the same (lack of) restrictions, and then come up with your best guess as to how long before they'd go bankrupt and close forever.
Except that, as a rule, hospitals are full of people who don't want to close, because they're genuinely concerned with finding a way to help people rather than shutting down forever. Because unlike a fast food restaurant, when hospitals close, people don't just miss lunch; they die.
Nonetheless, skyrocketing unreimbursed expenses under EMTALA have driven hundreds of hospitals, especially the smaller community hospitals you may remember if you're over 30, right off the financial cliff and out of business forever, along with no small number of larger facilities as well, due to the crushing burden of unreimbursed care to the indigent and illegal. (CA has lost something like 80 hospitals in the last 15 years, when last I looked, and chiefly for exactly this reason.)
Many others (Kaiser, I'm looking at you) simply curtailed or eliminated emergency services, thus ducking the law (legally). Which then made the wait for you or I to be seen at the hospital ERs remaining climb from minutes, to hours, to even days now at some inner city locations.
The huge hospitals and health care chains that remained had to find a way to make ends meet and buffer the enormous financial losses, so they began padding their bills. Your aspirin, for example, now costs $20. Mind you, it's still bought at $0.02@, but the cost to the insured helps subsidize the 999 other ones given out free (or at least unreimbursed by the recepients, or anyone else) to homeless, indigent, poor, uninsured, and illegal aliens, all by the trainload daily at every hospital impacted by the new law. Nothing in the new law gave these folks any incentive to make better life choices, nor any likelihood they'll ever have to pay for all the "free" health care that Tip O'Neill and Congress started handing out to them, as they have for almost 30 years now. After helpfully inviting 3 million folks to partake of American citizenship with IRCA the same year.
Flash forward, and let's see how those two genius moves have worked out:
Hospital emergency care impacted.
Health care cost rocketing to Jupiter.
Wait times to the moon.
Another 10-20 million folks thronging here illegally, and partaking of all the benefits of "free" health care, among other things.
So, in order to wipe out the scourge of uninsured patients and rampant runaway costs, we get EMTALA on steroids: Obamacare! (Because as we all know, if smashing your thumb with a hammer hurts, the best cure is to take a sledgehammer to your entire hand!)
By forcing millions of young healthy people who could formerly choose to do without it to get health insurance under Obamacare (under pain of IRS enforcement and hefty fines), the government, in collusion with the insurance companies, and against the interests of everyone, not least of them those millions of young healthy folks, has found a new way to pay for care for the unemployed, indigent, insane, and illegal patients, and now everyone else gets to pay for it all, forever! It's a Health Care Miracle!! (Well, except for that whole crashing 1/6th of the American economy like it were the LZ Hindenburg thing. FWIW, the hospital I formerly worked out has laid off 40% of staff across the board, in the
And more doctors leave the profession forever (25% of our ED doctors group retired last December, most of them years early, and the group has no plans to replace them anytime soon), most of the rest curtail or cease entirely accepting Medicare or any other government insurance, more hospitals close, the wait gets longer at the ones which remain, and the billing price of everything, like that $20 aspirin, is worse than gasoline: rising indefinitely, with no end in sight.
Meanwhile, your employers cancel (or will shortly) your policies, cut your hours to less than 29@week, or just lay you off outright. And the insurance companies sit back, as their willing shark-smiling minions at the IRS shovel you one and all into their maw, by the government's requirements that everyone buy insurance they don't need - like mandatory mammogram and maternity coverage for men - at prices they can't afford.
Cue government single payer in 3, 2,...
Next up: Let's bring that whole Amnesty Thing up for discussion again, so we can "solve" that problem like we "solved" the health care "crisis".
The biggest problem isn't that the Obamacare sign-up website is broken. It's that someday, it's going to work exactly as designed.
Grab your wallets, and run for your lives.
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