filmandcinemapuritans

I hope everybody had a great holiday and ate him or herself silly (let’s have a moment of silence for all the turkeys that lost their lives to be yummy treats). But now comes my least favorite holiday of the year, BLACK FRIDAY. It gets worse and worse every year and these door-busting deals are taking peoples lives. Just in New York along there were five deaths reported including an employee from a WALMART in Valley Stream(http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/30/nyregion/30walmart.html?em). Please, reconsider waiting on line for electronic goodies, just go at a reasonable time or shop online. Please don’t add fuel to this fire that cannot be quenched. The deal this Christmas I believer are the “BLUE RAY” DVD players. When you go into an electronic store (i.e. RADIO SHACK, et al) they will usually have a side-by-side comparison of what normal DVD looks like compared to BLUE RAY. The results are night and day, the BLUE RAY is sharper and the sound is crisper, but to genuinely appreciate the BLUE RAY you MUST have a HD television. If that’s the only thing you get this Christmas, you will not be disappointed. November was a good month for this blog site, I’m going to do the superhero blog next month, the twelve days of Christmas which is all my favorite Christmas movies, an entire review of the FRIDAY THE 13^TH series, and maybe if I get around to it, some web cam video from me. See you next month. Well, I’ll see you Monday.

ANTHONY BOURDAIN

Since this is my Thanksgiving post, and who better to celebrate Thanksgiving with me is famous New York chef Anthony Bourdain. The name might not come easily to some people who don’t watch the BRAVO network or THE FOOD NETWORK or the TRAVEL CHANNEL. Bourdain is probably one of the last Bohemian chef’s of our time. He travels like James Bond to some of the most exotic locations around the globe to sample some of the most indigenous cuisines. Bourdain has traveled to the likes of Paris, Thailand, Vietnam and most recently Iraq.

My primary interest with Bourdain is not only with his lack of fear but also with his written word. That’s right, Bourdain is an author too, and his most popular book is KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL, where he takes us on the inside of a working kitchen.  Other non-fiction book includes a biography of the legendary TYPHOID MARY, but Bourdain has actually dabbled quite well in the area of fiction. His fictions books include GONE BAMBOO, a sort of MR. AND MR. SMITH type couple have an adventure, BONE IN THE THROAT, a Mafioso story of one chef against his mob Uncle and the F.B.I., and BOBBY GOLD, a Jewish thug gets out of prison and tries to live a low profile until he meets the wrong woman. His work is not the most original in the world but Bourdain’s voice is very addictive. You pay attention when you listen to him, he is almost an Oscar Wilde meets Jay McInerney; he’s not only great in the kitchen but an expert at the paper page. This vacation, eat the turkey, turn on the football, drink the wine, and well after the turkey, football and wine, switch over to the FOOD NETWORK where Bourdain will be dishing out his own culinary justice.

http://anthony-bourdain-blog.travelchannel.com/

FIREWALL

Harrison Ford is back in a very horrible film called FIREWALL. Ford’s family is kidnapped by a group of hoodlums who want Ford to steal millions of dollars from the banking firm that he works for. Right, Harrison Ford is still beating up bad guys. This plot is old, the characters are silly and Harrison Ford is too old to be beating up bad guys! Ford disarms the heavily armed baddies with a blender, a pickaxe and driving a car over them, the only problem is that his character isn’t Indiana Jones or Jack Ryan; he’s a pencil pushing and computer hacking geek. Totally silly, this film is totally useless and not fun for one iota of your time. If you want to laugh or be bored check out FIREWALL, I think I almost ripped the tray out of my DVD player at one point.

CHOSEN SURVIORS I have a small film from 1974 that if Hollywood wanted to update, this is a film I would actually suggest that this would be a hot property. I know again I’m a hypocrite; I hate remakes so I would promote a film to be remade. Very simple, the story is solid however the special effects were very poor and could be helped.

The story is about ten people who are selected by the government to be the survivors of a thermonuclear attack, the survivors, include doctors, writers, scientists, athletes and a an entrepreneur (played wonderfully by Jackie Cooper) The survivors are placed underground in a complex housed by a cave; what was unseen by the creators was that when they build the housing the unearthed a nest of vampire bats that infiltrate the complex. It will take all ten of them to survive the horror and find a way out of their tomb. The acting is solid with the likes of Jackie Cooper, Alex Cord, Bradford Dillman and Richard Jaekel, the premise is great, the set is great, there are a lot of good plot twists, the only complaint I have is that the bats were filmed in split screen and the humans were shot on a processing plate. So you have an obvious visual “drawing line” to the bats and the humans. This could be erased with digital composition now, however it seems like a forgotten film. I do feel that this would be good today if they had the right cast and the right special effects. I like the film but I think they could’ve done a lot more but it seems like it was a film with big budget restraints.  I like the film anyway, check out the trailer.

Quantum of Solace

I am a self proclaimed James Bond fanatic and I just saw the new film and my review:

QUANTUM OF SOLACE is a film that will not disappoint. I know I had premiered the new song last month and that was one of my most popular posts, so I went in basically singing the lyrics (I know, I know I’m a geek). Anyway about the film, it takes off minutes after CASINO ROYALE ended, where Bond is obsessed with knowing who set him up in the last film and who is responsible for the death of his girlfriend Vespa. From there he discovers an international plot that’ll cripple the planets national resources and economic stature. That’s in between several action sequences that include by land, sea and of course by air. This film raises the volume with the action sequences from the last film by three; there is enough action to satisfy any action movie buff. There are some homage’s I feel from previous Bond films such as GOLDFINGER and THUNDERBALL; a woman is killed by liquid suffocating her and a woman being almost raped in a stateroom. Other than that it has a tight plot, tight pacing, and explosive action, this is a must see for the holiday season.

A piece of trivia from IMDB about the title of the film: According to the short story, the Quantum of Solace is defined as “a precise figure defining the comfort/humanity/fellow feeling required between any pair of people for love to survive. If the Quantum of Solace is 0, then love is dead.”

JEFF DUNHAM

Tonight, on COMEDY CENTRAL is Jeff Dunham’s Christmas special. Jeff Dunham is probably the most talented ventriloquist I have ever seen. He has an array of characters from the cranky “Walter,” the trashy “Bubba Jay,” the deceased terrorist “Achmed,” to the ever so popular insane puppet “Peanut.” The thing that many people don’t about Jeff Dunham is he actually creates the physical puppets in his woodshop. I feel that makes Mr. Jeff Dunham triple talented: great ventriloquist, insanely funny, and creative artistic puppet maker. Please put this man on Broadway already, guaranteed he will sell every seat.

Watch him tonight at nine o’clock on COMEDY CENTRAL.

Check out Jeff Dunham at www.jeffdunham.com

KARATE KID remake

Again, I have just heard something disturbing. Another film from my childhood is being remade but this time it sounds like it’s a vehicle because somebody wants to put his or her son in a starring role and in a major Hollywood film. I’m talking about a remake of the 1985 classic THE KARATE KID, with the star of Jaden Smith, the son of the biggest star on the planet right now: Will Smith. I’m not saying that the kid doesn’t have any acting talent, he was great opposite his father in THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS (I just found it weird that Smith used his real-life son as his movie son in that film), but the kid isn’t old enough to play the role. Sony used the word “retooling”, so that means the film is going to be totally different except for the title. In that case CALL IT SOMETHING ELSE! That film is a classic in many people’s hearts, people are not going to stand for it. It was almost like “Daddy, daddy, can I star in a Karate film?”

“Sure son, lets find the best Karate movie in the 80’s and update it so you can be the star.”

I’m surprised he didn’t remake ENTER THE DRAGON.

Anyway here is the link:

http://www.darkhorizons.com/news08/081111k.php

BREAKING AWAY

A film I revisited was the 1979 Academy Award nominated film BREAKING AWAY.

Directed by Peter Yates, the film is about a teen who is obsessed with the Italian cyclist team and aspires to compete as a bicyclist in Europe, its up to him and with the support of his friends to achieve his dream.

With a virtual young Hollywood at the time, the film stars Dennis Christopher, Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern and Jackie Earle Haley. The supporting cast is incredible as well; Paul Dooley plays the father of Dennis Christopher I am so shocked he didn’t get nominated for any awards. Dooley’s performance is so inspired that by the end of the film you want him to be your father. Rounding out the cast is a young John Ashton (BEVERLY HLLS COP) and an even younger Hart Bochner playing the adversary against the teens. This film is great for the whole family (rated PG), and it’s appropriate enough for everyone to enjoy it. This is a great film.

I’m going to drool about the WATCHMEN again, Mr. Jackie Earle Haley who plays the character “Mooch” in BREAKING AWAY, will be starring in the WATCHMEN film as the famous character RORSCHACH. To get a glimpse of the talent that is Haley (even though this film is almost thirty years old) this is the film to watch. For recent films of Haley check out ALL THE KINGS MEN.

New WATCHMEN trailer:

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3326279705/

PARIS HILTON, revisited

I hate to keep coming back to this person, but sometimes I just wonder what’s up with society? I know it’s going to sound like I’m in love with her or I’m obsessed with her, but I’m really not either. Nor do I want to cause her bodily harm; I just want her television show off the air. The reason why she set me off was I saw one of her episodes of PARIS HILTON BFF (which is stupid, texting jargon has entered actual American dialect, makes me want to puke), where she had the “contestants” flirt and make out with a wannabe rapper and the way she concluded the show was “I’ll see you next time, I have to get back to my life now.” Like her life is just too important to hinder with a television show. She’s not saving small children in Africa or curing the sick or sheltering the homeless. She’s the definition of human scum, a piece of excrement with a heartbeat. She can’t do anything practical to save her life, Hollywood has put her in movies, she couldn’t act, the music industry gave her a recording contract but she couldn’t sell any records. She was even in a porno movie and she was even bad at doing what she was doing in that.

Please, Ms. Hilton, go to college get an education and do something with your freaking life because when you’re in an old age home without a clue, you’ll want to commit suicide because everybody will be ridiculing you.

CITIZEN KANE

To elaborate on my all important film list, comes this incredible film from a true pioneer, CITIZEN KANE. Orson Welles is the organizer of this incredible ordeal. Not only did Welles star as the title character of the film, he actually directed, produced and wrote the entire production. He was twenty-four when he did this entire thing and many people in Hollywood view his accomplishments as a goal for them as well. If they don’t make it in the business, or write that screenplay, or get discovered by twenty-four, then they are no good and are not Orson Welles. About the film, Welles actually had a “vision” when he made this film and he saw actual shots and dreamed about what he wanted this film to look like. In some behind the scenes footage I have viewed, Welles actually cut holes in the stage floor for certain shots, and he even invented a new type of camera of the time to perfect the right shot for his movie. The film in short is about the rise and fall of a media mogul named Charles Foster Kane. The dying man about the quest of one reporter trying to find the answer to the last word utters the film: “Rosebud.” Everything about the film is beyond its time; the film’s narrative starts in reverse, where the main character dies. Charles Foster Kane dies in his bed where there is an extreme close-up (very rare for those days) of his lips mouthing the word “Rosebud.” The reporter who investigates the life of Mr. Kane is never shown in the light, there is always a shadow cast on his face. There are few early dissolves in the film, there is a great overhead tracking shot of a camera viewing people through a rain soaked skylight and then as the camera moves towards the window we cut to the shot of the people inside the building, this was not done before Welles. CITIZEN KANE is the film that started most modern cinema and all sorts of new camera techniques. Orson Welles was a man with a vision and his vision still lives on.