oscar attendees with their younger selves

Ever wondered what it would be like if the people attending the Oscar ceremony could go with their younger selves?
Well wonder no more, and there are a few more here.

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clubbed to death / furious angels

This is one of my favourite moments from a film, as the 'Furious Angels' music (by Rob Dougan) is so atmospheric, and fits the (slightly dragged out) scene perfectly.
From 'Clubbed To Death', a French film from a few years back about a couple of heroin addicts, and the music has since been used (not clubbed) to death in other films, on TV, and in commercials.  Dougan must have made a fortune from it, but if so, he deserves all he got, as the song is a masterpiece.

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the daily mail get the obvious wrong (again) with the class of 92

Never trust everything you read and see in the newspapers or on TV, that's one of the many rules l have lived my life by, along with 'What would Keith Richards do?'.  Above is a fine example of why, even if it is sometimes waaaaaaay too easy to pick on The Daily Mail..
Their website had a big feature on the new DVD 'The Class of 92', which is a documentary about Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt, David Beckham, Gary and Phil Neville, and Paul Scholes, the six Manchester United players that came through the youth ranks to be a success in the first team .  They were coached by Eric Harrison, and he is quoted and acknowledged, but in the middle photograph above, despite the fact that he is wearing a tracksuit top with his initials on, he is named as Alex Ferguson.  Alex is the one in the bottom photograph when the scene is recreated, but let's face it, is a completely different person.
The error has now been amended, no doubt after numerous complaints, but If the paper can't get simple things like this right, why should you trust or believe anything else they say?  Especially with their one eyed, right winged, spittle mouthed racist agenda.  I may get things wrong and have my own, sometimes crackpot views, but l am a blithering drunken idiot, not a national newspaper, so not a lot is expected from my long suffering keyboard, whereas a lot of people believe what they read in the paper, and vote accordingly, without questioning anything too much.  Then the bleeding Tories get in, so the working class and disadvantaged get shafted yet again (but not in a good way).
Time for that long awaited revolution brothers and sisters.

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gravity - alfonso cuaron (2013)

 

 

Well, we got to go and see Alfonso Cuaron's 'Gravity' film this afternoon at Richmond Station, and it was well worth the time, effort and money.  The 3D made it seem as though you were in space with the astronauts, and the cinematography (by Emmanuel Lubezki) was outstanding, especially when the viewpoint changes from outside of a helmet to the inside.  I wasn't too keen on some aspects, as a lot of the film seemed to be an excuse to show Sandra Bullock in her grundies, but George Clooney was pretty cool, and provided an unexpected twist which certainly caught me out. I also appreciate the fact that the film clocked in at an hour and a half, which to me, is long enough for any movie, and left plenty of time to hit the pub afterwards.

Marvellous stuff.  I may even consider going to see it again, while it is still showing at the large cinema screens, and trust me, that is a rare occurrence.  

At the end, l had a flashback and commentated that it was like 'Planet of the Apes' when they first land back on Earth. It turns out l was correct, as the lake is the same one (Lake Powell).  Maybe my brain hasn't completely given up on me yet (although it's only a matter of time). 

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the hole in the wall gang and alias smith and jones

Here's some people that are well known from TV and the movies.  The Hole in the Wall gang, in a colourised photograph from Mads Madsen, originally taken in Fort Worth, Texas in 1900.
The outlaws are (from left to right) Harry Alonzo Longabaugh (The Sundance Kid),William Carver (News),  Ben Kilpatrick (The Tall Texan), Harvey Logan (Kid Curry) and Robert Leroy Parker (Butch Cassidy).
They look like men you would not want to get an argument with, but look nothing like how they where generally portrayed in popular movies and on TV, and, unlike what it says at the beginning of 'Alias Smith and Jones', Kid Curry was a hard hearted killer.

Here's Butch and Sundance from the movie (Robert Redford and Paul Newman)

Plus Ben Murphy playing Kid Curry, on the right (with Pete Duel) in Alias Smith and Jones (a TV classic).

Ben Murphy was cast because he resembled Paul Newman, and the studio was trying to cash in on the success of the 'Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid'  film.  I loved the show (and film), but sadly, Pete Duel suffered from depression and killed himself on New Years Eve 1971. The studio (ABC) were a bunch of unsentimental money grabbing bastards and made everyone continue or be sued, and filming re-commenced the same day of his death, with the man who originally did the voiceover, (Roger Davis) taking Pete Duel's role, but it was never as good.

They (the studio) must have got confused and thought it was still the days of The Wild West, and were just concerned about making money, with no thoughts of correct moral behaviour. 

The original Kid Curry would have been proud of them.

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the magnificent seven and some of it's foreign film posters

 

 

The Magnificent Seven is an overrated film as far as l am concerned, but seeing as it was just repeated on TV, l got suckered into watching it again.  Although l do like it generally, the main selling point is seeing such huge stars together in the same movie, even allowing for some overacting aplenty (Robert Vaughan and Horst Buchholz, l'm looking at you two).  There's also some cool and measured performances by Yul Bryyner, Steve McQueen and James Coburn, and Eli Wallach is always a splendidly swarthy and sweaty bad guy, but it's pretty slow paced in parts, and the ending seems to drag on, and then finish too suddenly.
The soundtrack is by Elmer Bernstein, which is one of the most stirring of all time, so a couple of hours can still fly by before you can manage to drag yourself up to put the kettle on (or maybe that's just my sloth like laziness).
I've only had the DVD of The Seven Samurai (the film it's based on) for about two or three years.  Maybe l should get around to watching that, as l have never seen it before, and it's meant to be much better.
So little time...

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clockwork orange lobby cards

More crap that l would like to have framed.  Lobby cards from the film of  'A Clockwork Orange', one of my favourite films of all time (which would explain a lot). Viddy well brothers and sisters.

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the real tarzan of the apes and gerald the gorilla

Tarzan of the apes, looking a bit camper and longer haired than the best known Johnny Weissmuller portrayals.
Brothers and sisters, I present to you the largely forgotten Elmo Lincoln (Otto Elmo Linkenhelt), the first movie Tarzan from the 1918 -1921 versions (unless you count Gordon Griffith, who played the young Tarzan).
This was a time when even wild men of the jungle weren't afraid of their feminine side, and who also looked as though they had a more than 'special' relationship with the apes.
Lincoln also made fleeting appearances in a couple of the 1940's Tarzan films, then starring Weissmuller (Tarzan'e New York Adventure) and Lex Barker (Tarzan's Magic Fountain), but was uncredited.
Fame can be so fleeting.

And thinking of special relationships....Gerald The Gorilla, from Not The Nine O'Clock News, featuring the recently departed Mel Smith, with Pamela Stephenson and Rowan Atkinson as Gerald.
Wild...l was absolutely livid!



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the gravity film release schedule

The Gravity film is coming out soon, but l have noticed on its webpage that it is to be released in Thailand and Hong Kong on the 3rd of October, and not in the UK until the 8th of November.  What a splendid idea, releasing it over a month early in the market that provides a lot of the pirated DVDs, that will no doubt also be uploading it onto the net before its UK release. Prats.

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the darlington monthly magazine

Hold yourselves back ladies! I assume he's married, but this is the sight that awaited me when l was trying to find an article in the Darlington monthly magazine about a film an acquaintance of mine is producing. I couldn't get the magazine to open up online, and with that cover, it may have been for the best, as l dread to think what delights were lurking within. I'd have Operation Yewtree banging on my door in no time (or should that be breaking in my back door?).

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over used movie poster ideas

Movies.  Don't you just love them?  It's bad enough that so many movies follow the same kind of formulas, but it's even worse when the posters for them also follow suit.  Here's some fine examples, but more can be found at this excellent imgur page, plus the meanings behind the artwork.

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the gravity trailers

I am looking forward to Alfonso Cuaron's  'Gravity' movie soooooooooooo much.  Even though l suspect it will be a lovey dovey weepie with a nice ending (starring George Clooney and Sandra Bullock), the CGI images of the Earth and space look amazing, and a total trip (in more ways than one).  It should also rabbit on about The Kessler Effect / Syndrome, which, unless we find a way to get rid of the debris orbiting the planet in Low Earth Orbit, will prevent us going into space in the future (at least for a long time).
Splendid and interesting stuff, and it had better not let me down.

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the old catterick camp cinema

The old Catterick Camp cinema that used to be in Shute road was closed when l arrived here, and the nearest one was in Richmond (which later closed and became a church).
I have however, just seen this. A 1966 programme for the Catterick cinema, which l never knew it was an Essoldo one (they used to be a huge franchise).  Not exactly riveting viewing on offer, although l enjoyed 'Voyage to the bottom of the sea' when l was a kid (on TV).
Nowadays, Richmond has a new cinema at The Station, and very pleasant it is as well (featuring 3D films!!), but l think the old cinemas had more character.
Mind you, nowadays, the smoke, sticky carpets and noise from children would get on my nerves too much.

toodle pip.

richie havens is dead

I have just got up and discovered that Richie Havens has died.  Always best known for his Freedom / Motherless Child appearance at Woodstock in 1969 (thanxs to the film), the last time l heard him was during Django Unchained in the above clip (which sounded magnificent with cinema sound).
The Woodstock appearance is below.
By all accounts a lovely man with time for everybody, he had a great raspy voice, and man, he could sure thumb a guitar.
The flower power generation is dying off brothers and sisters - make the most of it while you can.



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the green lantern gets power ringed to death

Not a fate l would wish upon my worst enemy.  The Green Lantern is about to get power ringed to death.
No wonder he is looking so pissed off.
By the way, the Green Lantern film starring Ryan Reynolds was one of the worst of it's kind l have ever had the misfortune to see.  I'm talking crap really (no change there), as l didn't really sit through it all.  I switched it off after about half an hour, and trust me, l really wanted to like it, as l used to read and love Green Lantern comics when l was a kid.  However, if it looks like crap, sounds like crap, and probably smelt like crap on the set, it's crap of the highest kind.

Avoid this film - it's crap

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