RIP Brigitte Bardot

 Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot, aka B.B. , once the most famous French incons, died at age 91. She was one of the most beautiful women on screen, bringin g a certain modern quality to feminity in the 60's. 

She was married four times, most famously to Roger Vadim and Gunther Sachs. Also a singer, involved with Serge Gainsbourg (Bonnie & Clyde).

Films: Vadim's  Et Dieu... créa la femme, Louis Malle's Viva Maria, Henri Clousot's La Vérité, Godard's Le Mépris. Last film in 1973. She became a Grand Animal Activist, and that was her main activity and her legacy. 

Obit in The Guradian here.

And here's the great  Tom Zé, with his song BB (1973). 

RIP Chris Rea

Sad news before Xmas...

Chris Rea is no longer Driving Home for Christmas...

The English blues player and singer was 74. 

Rea recorded 25 studio albums, two of which topped the UK Albums Chart, The Road to Hell in 1989 and its follow-up, Auberge, in 1991.

He did the music for La Passione in 1996, film he wrote and produced about racing cars and Ferrari, Rea being a racing driver himself.

He also had the lead in the pythonesque black comedy Parting Shots (1998, directed by Michael Winner), next to Ben Kingsley, Oliver Reed and John Cleese. The film can been on youtube, here.

He had an Italian father and Irish mother - his family were in the ice cream business. 

Chris Rea had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at age 33, a lot of other health issues folllowing it, but he lived and played, album after album, gig after gig, until a stroke in 2016...

He played Bucharest's Sala Palatului, on February 6th 2010 -my memories and review here.

His last album was a compilation, The Christmas Album, released on October 17, 2025....

Obit on BBC here 

Nuremberg (2025)

 Nuremberg, to be seen in theaters. 

My favorite actor for the next Oscars would be Russell Crowe in an all-time high career role as Hermann Göring in this WW2 courtroom drama based on the real events pd the Trial at Nuremberg. His opponent in the film is Rami Malek as the shrink Hermann Göring in a weird casting choice. Screenwriter James Vanderbilt's 2nd feature has great production values (shot in Hungary for 7.5 mill. $ !!!), sets, costumes, supporting cast (John Slattery, Michael Shannon, Richard E. Grant, Colin Hanks,   Andreas Pietschmann as Rudolf Hess), dramatic music by Brian Tyler and great widescreen cinematography by Dariusz Wolski. Bsed on  Jack El-Hai's book,  "The Nazi and the Psychiatrist".

For many too academic, long (2h30 -I'd say Epic), ut a worthwhile dramatic story with a new take, worthy to be told TODAY.

3 1/2 out of 5 / 7 out of 10 !!!

RIP Marty DiBergi

 took a while to process, and but it's not processed yet..:(

Mr. Marty DiBergi who just a had a comeback with Spinal Tap 2: The End Continues had left the showbiz...Dec. 14th 2025. He was 78. More about Rob Reiner in another later post...

The End Continues