miercuri, 18 februarie 2009

recuperari: Posse (1975)

unul din cele 2 filme regizate de Kirk Douglas (celalalt fiind Scalawag, filmat in Yugoslavia, din 1973), si produs of course de Byrna films, un western revizionist si ireverent, demitizare a genului si a arhetipului eroic de marshall, in spiritul timpului (mai tirziu Kirk va continua autoparodierea cu far-out-ul Villain, la noi la cinema sub titlul, Cactus Jack, unul din filmele copilariei mele!). Kirk e un marshall, sef de posse (potera), care acum a intrat in politica si vrea sa ajunga senator ! La polul opus e raufacatorul pradator de trenuri, Bruce Dern, simbol al contraculturii si generatiei hippy ! Dar transferul de identitate se produce si ca in orice lucru in epoca Watergate, badguyul e de fapt goodguy ! Elemente de satira si comedie intr-un western atipic, bine filmat (panavision, Fred Koenekamp), cu muzica de Maurice Jarre! In roluri secundare, Bo Hoskins si Alfonso Arau !



7 din 10, 3 1/2 din 5 !!!

un q & a cu Kirk Douglas si Quentin Tarantino (Q & K), despre Posse, aici

videoclipul la The Wrestler (Bruce S.)

premiera pe myspace, , videoclipul cu The Boss si imagini din film, ar trebui sa se inchida Academia AMPAS pentru ca acest cintec, unul din cel mai bune din competitia pentru best song, nu este nominalizat la Oscar ! In schimb bollywood songs rule (adica manele indiene, mda, ritmul, e normal la virsta mea)...oricum cintecul lui The Boss (unul din cele mai bune de pe tot discul lui nou, la fel ca si "Outlaw Pete"), ajuta la popularizarea filmului further on...



Have you ever seen a one trick pony in the field so happy and free?
If you've ever seen a one trick pony then you've seen me
Have you ever seen a one-legged dog making its way down the street?
If you've ever seen a one-legged dog then you've seen me

Then you've seen me, I come and stand at every door
Then you've seen me, I always leave with less than I had before
Then you've seen me, bet I can make you smile when the blood, it hits the floor
Tell me, friend, can you ask for anything more?
Tell me can you ask for anything more?

Have you ever seen a scarecrow filled with nothing but dust and wheat?
If you've ever seen that scarecrow then you've seen me
Have you ever seen a one-armed man punching at nothing but the breeze?
If you've ever seen a one-armed man then you've seen me

Then you've seen me, I come and stand at every door
Then you've seen me, I always leave with less than I had before
Then you've seen me, bet I can make you smile when the blood, it hits the floor
Tell me, friend, can you ask for anything more?
Tell me can you ask for anything more?

These things that have comforted me, I drive away
This place that is my home I cannot stay
My only faith's in the broken bones and bruises I display

Have you ever seen a one-legged man trying to dance his way free?
If you've ever seen a one-legged man then you've seen me

Schwarzenegger in THE EXPENDABLES !

wow ! great news ! daca eram partcipant la EFM la Berlin asta era filmul pe care-l cumparam ! Si inca nu se stia ca va juca uberguvernorArnie ! E actionmovie pe steroizi pe bune ! Din empire cu sursa in aint it cool news ! Se anunta a fi o distributie mai, mai ca Predator si un Dirty Dozen pe bune ! Chair daca Arnie va avea mai mult un cameo (cica doar o zi de filmare! good he helps Sly!) Si bine ca sir Ben s-a retras (poate avae nevoie Uwe de el), si enter Eric Roberts !!!! ceea ce-i doream de mult (sta Pope of Greenich Village pe raft de re-vazut cu el si Mickey tineri si neabrutizati), si dinainte de Eric "break a leg, no break two legs" din Dark Knight., din batman begins cast, sugestie de casting, RUTGER HAUER, our favorite dupa cum am mai zis-scris, acesta va fi ADEVARATUL IngloriouS BASTERDS ! Iar cind ziceam ca lipseste JCVD din distribuitie, am aflat ca Sly i-ar fi propus, dar JCVD a intrebat despre personaj!(vezi total film), si pitchul lui Satllone era prea vag ! acum, JCVD dupa JCVD nu ami joaca decit daca are motivatie, tz tz tz (de-aia face Bloodsport 2...)! Repede, Jean Claude taticu, suna-l pe Sly cit mai raspunde la telefon si while you're at it, zi-i si lu poneytail & beads Seagal bluegrass sa dea si el un mail, un fax, ceva ! Ki-iai ! Andd..what about... Chuck Norris ???

DVD blu-ray la French Connection !

un nou transfer controversat ! maan, they try ! un alt motiv pentru a lua Blu-Ray dar poate-mi trece...din cronica de pe DVD savant !

"Fox's new Blu-ray of The French Connection is already raising a controversy on the web, for William Friedkin's personally supervised transfer. The original movie had a purposely ugly look; release prints were slimy, grainy and colorless. (I can see the Fox people in 1971 approving any mess that came from Deluxe as ready for the screen: "Looks terrible! Good Work! Ship it!") The previous DVD release worked digital magic to bring out all the color and detail in Owen Roizman's cinematography, reducing the grain and boosting the colors to the point where some of the mid-winter scenes looked downright cheerful.

In a new HD featurette, , Friedkin demonstrates his revisionist rationale. He wanted to mute the colors and retain a lot more grain, yet not lose the sharpness of Roizman's images. To that end he had his colorist create an element that oversaturated and de-focused the color. This smeary color image was very lightly superimposed over a B&W rendering of the film, resulting in a sharp, grainy movie with pastel colors. Because the colors are de-focused, they don't stay strictly "within the lines" of objects. Gene Hackman is as sharp as a tack, but his red Santa Claus suit bleeds softly all around him. Blacks clog up at night with almost a hi-con look. New York appears cold and inhospitable. It's an interesting effect that indeed achieves Friedkin's stated goal of creating a degraded color image. And he makes no bones about stating that it'll stay that way because that's the way he likes it!



The audio is stronger than ever before in the lossless Blu-ray format; Don Ellis's screeching, nervous jazz score sounds great, and is isolated on an extra audio track. Also included is a trivia track with facts on the making of the movie and the true French Connection case as reported in Robin Moore's book. Photos are included on the track but they've been made too small to see much of anything.

The extras, many in HD, fill two discs. The feature disc contains two commentaries, one with Friedkin and one with Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider. The second disc is home to a long list of HD featurettes. Anatomy of a Chase takes Friedkin and producer D'Antoni back to Brooklyn to retrace the famous car chase, step by step, riding part of the way in the correct model Pontiac car. Hackman on Doyle is a new interview with Gene Hackman on his memories of the Oscar-winning role. Friedkin visits the office of (now) movie producer Sonny Grosso in Friedkin and Grosso Remember the Real French Connection. Grosso discusses his later partner Eddie Egan and the case that made them famous. In Scene of the Crime Friedkin meets actor/advisor Randy Jurgensen below the Brooklyn Bridge, to talk about the dicey experience of shooting on the streets and blocking traffic on a New York expressway.

Cop Jazz examines the music of Don Ellis, and Rogue Cop: The Noir Connection relates The French Connection to the older tradition of "bad cop" movies, referencing HD clips from several of Fox's noted films noir.

Color Timing is director Friedkin's demonstration of how he obtained his new look for The French Connection. He uses several HD clips from John Huston's Moby Dick, a 1956 movie that experimented with a similar color treatment using Technicolor printing capabilities.

A selection of Deleted Scenes available on earlier discs has been retransferred, and the older docus The Poughkeepsie Shuffle and The Untold Stories of The French Connection are present as well."