joi, 29 iunie 2017

Baby Driver -the soundtrack & Hocus Pocus

Step aside Quentin ! beware Guardians of the Galax-yyy ! Here comes BABY DRIVER, the mother-F of all soundtracks, 71 songs no less ! and th gretest excuse to play all of them in the film, as the biggest plotpoint ! Baby Driver it's actually an action musical, with incidental music instead of  moviescoring from the outside (though the film has his own composer, Steven Price)
*
The list of the released soundtrack as follows:

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – ‘Bellbottoms’
Bob & Earl – ‘Harlem Shuffle’
Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers – ‘Egyptian Reggae’
Googie Rene – ‘Smokey Joe’s La La’
The Beach Boys – ‘Let’s Go Away For Awhile’
Carla Thomas – ‘B-A-B-Y’
Kashmere Stage Band – ‘Kashmere’
Dave Brubeck – ‘Unsquare Dance’
The Damned – ‘Neat Neat Neat’
The Commodores – ‘Easy (Single Version)’
T. Rex – ‘Debora’
Beck – ‘Debra’
Incredible Bongo Band – ‘Bongolia’
The Detroit Emeralds – ‘Baby Let Me Take You (in My Arms)’
Alexis Korner – ‘Early In The Morning’
David McCallum – ‘The Edge’
Martha and the Vandellas – ‘Nowhere To Run’
The Button Down Brass – ‘Tequila’
Sam & Dave – ‘When Something Is Wrong With My Baby’
Brenda Holloway – ‘Every Little Bit Hurts’
Blur – ‘Intermission’
Focus – ‘Hocus Pocus (Original Single Version)’
Golden Earring – ‘Radar Love (1973 Single Edit)’
Barry White – ‘Never, Never Gone Give Ya Up’
Young MC – ‘Know How’
Queen – ‘Brighton Rock’
Sky Ferreira – ‘Easy’
Simon & Garfunkel – ‘Baby Driver’
Kid Koala – ‘Was He Slow (Credit Roll Version)’
Danger Mouse (featuring Run The Jewels and Big Boi) – ‘Chase Me'   
                                                 
My biggest surprise and fun was to knock myself off with Hocus Pocus by Dutch band Focus (from 1971's Moving Waves aka Focus II), one of my favourite songs (and one of the best of alltime) since back in 1982/3 when i heard it for the 1st time (also one of the Free Europe Metronom show anthem)-so a song that purely expresses Freedom for me, now for the second time in a film, after the Robocop remake in 2014.
-The story of the song is told here by Focus' Tjih Van Leer on the verge of the Nike World Cup commercial which put the song on a new map in 2010. And you can see the band in its greatness. Saw it live with Jan Akkerman four times, eversince back in 1995. Yep. When i got to interview him in Brasov in 2013, I told him that I always thought this song will make a great film sequence, and yes, I saw it now. A shoot-out Heat (M.Mann) style, edited on the music and a bullet ballet, emphatic and overdramatic. Kudos, Edgar Wright !
 *I still have my own shot with Iron Maiden's cover of the song :)
Here a mega-interview with Edgar Wright about his  influences & the songs in the film !!!
and here some more and specifically he talks about this one:
"I found out about Focus from this music show that ran in England for ages called The Old Grey Whistle Test – they did a performance of that song on there that blew my mind. I'm not a big prog rock fan, but I do love fast prog – the sheer musicianship you need to play that kind of stuff that fast is impressive. I think this was a Top 10 hit in the U.S. … which is pretty unusual for an instrumental track that features yodeling. The studio wanted to cut it. I had to use my own money to pay for two extra days of shooting so we could get it – and it's my favorite bit in the film. I always thought it'd be great if you made a car chase movie, and then have one of the most explosive scenes in the movie be a foot chase. People have asked how I picked the tracks for Baby Driver, and this is a good example. If you had a dance track or a rock track that had a similar tempo all the way through, it's actually not that helpful. Whereas the reason that something like "Hocus Pocus" ends up becoming a key track in the film is because you can hear that, Ok, this is part of a running scene – it's like your best cardio track ever. But it also has these stop-start intervals in it, so you can let a scene dictate itself according to the track: Ok, here are the fast guitars, he's running. Wait, there's yodeling breakdown here, so this is where he's hiding behind a tree, catching his breath. Wait a second, we're gearing up for another guitar part – so here's where he starts running again, and in the next breakdown, he's hiding in a mall. Hold on, there's an accordion breakdown – so now he's breaking into a car. You're able to take a 1970 song like that and write a complete action sequence in 2017." (Edgar Wright)
                                                                           *
Go see Baby Driver on the big screen with the sound cranked at max !  It's a clasic !!!

duminică, 25 iunie 2017

Bad Batch, The (2016)

"All of us here, We weren't good enough, smart enough, young enough, gulpy enough, wealthy enough, SANE ENOUGH. Freaks. Parasites. This here is The Bad Batch. We ain't good. We're BAD."
The Dream


The Bad Batch is a UFO as i haven't seen in a long time. Mad Max by Jodorowski (El Topo, Santa Sangere) meets Burning Man fest in this futureal story of love and redemption by writer/director Ana Lily Amirpour (A Girl Walks Home at Night). A dream of survival in the desertic post-apocalyptic America.
Even shades of Lynch (The Dream character-an unbelievable Keanu Reeves, closer to the new Kyle MacLachan persona of Dale Cooper-Dougie : plus the Escobar's moustache), mixed with a weird sense of Southland Tales (Jason Momoa standing in for The Rock), cannibalism (more Hills have Eyes than Texas Chainsaw). Weird cameos -Jim Carrey !!!, Jim Carrey ? if you recognise him you'll get a prize, glorified cameos on LSD -Giovanni Ribisi, plus a very hot mangled young heroine -25 year old Londoner Suki Waterhouse -up and coming surely, here standing effortless as a BAD batch girl (those stamped as garbage/futile/punks/derelict, ex cons), WITHOUT AN ARM AND A LEG (again Mad Max: Fury Road's Furiosa). Also the pregnant brides and the little girl from Max II. Gorgeous widescreen cinematography by Lyle Vincent, who shot also Amirpour's A Girl Who Walks Home at Night.
The film took the Special Jury Prize at last year's Venice Film Festival and it's found a hard way to the theatrical distribution, as it's easy to see why. But its reputation will grow in the future, as a cult movie. Annapurna, Neon and Vice (the magazine) are co-producers.


Ultramusic (again Federale-the superb All the Colors of the Dark -a tribute to Tutti li colori del buio?), as in her previous film, Die Andwoort, Darkside -(Nicholas Jaar and guitarist, Dave Harrigton), Nicholas Jaar with his hit-Mi Mujer, White Lies), a rendition of karma Chameleon as an ironic juxtaposition on a gruesome scene...
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A somehow feeling of Dust Devil and other cult curios stands into it. Would've loved to see it on the big screen....
an interview with Ana Liliy here. She says: "The Bad Batch is how I see America."

**** / 8 out of 10.

marți, 20 iunie 2017

John G. Avildsen RIP

zice Relu, ieri la tel:-"mi-a zis fii-miu de dimineata, s-a dus tata lui Rocky." da, si al lui The Karate Kid. si, nah la finale un Yojimbo cu JCVD !-Inferno...
John G. Avildsen-Oscar de regie pentru Rocky !
The Formula. great thriller -1980 cu George C. Scott, Marthe Keller si Brando.
Oscar pentru Jack Lemmon in Save the Tiger (1973).
breakthrough film: Joe (1970) cu Peter Boyle.
Avildsen avea 81 de ani. Fiul sau Anthony a facut un documentar despre el, John Avildsen: King of the Underdogs, care va avea premiera in august.
necrolog in Time aici
il omagiem la Cinemateca Patria luna viitoare.


"I owe just about everything to John Avildsen. His directing, his passion, his toughness and his heart — a great heart — is what made 'Rocky' the film it became. He changed my life and I will be forever indebted to him. Nobody could have done it better than my friend John Avildsen. I will miss him."
Sly Stallone 



vineri, 16 iunie 2017

Fargo season 3

" The problem is not that there is Evil in the world , the problem is that there is Good....because otherwise who would care ...?..." 
most villanous Varga in last night's Fargo


miercuri, 14 iunie 2017

Anita Pallenberg RIP

Anita Pallenberg, nascuta in Roma ocupata de nemti (25 ian.1944), model, actrita (Candy, Barbarella, Performance,Dillinger is Dead), muza Rolling Stones, mama (3 copii cu Keith Richards, din care unul a amurit la 10 saptamini).
A fost initial iubita lui Brian Jones, care a cunoscut-o la Munchen in 1965 pe cind facea modelling.

Apoi Keith i-a suflat-o in Maroc in 1967 si au ramas impreuna.

In timpul filmarilor la Performance (1970) se pare ca a avut o aventura cu Mick.

Marlon in bratele lui KeithMick J.

A stat cu Keith pina in 1979.
Keef with Jack -rightBowie -right

Anita Pallenberg a murit pe 13 iunie 2017. Avea 73 de ani.
                                                     Tough day for Keith, Marlon & Angela :(

luni, 12 iunie 2017

Alice Cooper-Paranoiac Personality- SOTD

The Coop's  new album PARANORMAL out on July 24th. produced by Bob Erzin (as he uses too, see new Deep Purple records as well).
6 years after Welcome 2 My Nightmare (2011) ! Alice is 69 and still highly Paranormal :)
1st official clip:
The album is featuring guests like ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons, U2 drummer Larry Mullen, Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover and also sees the highly anticipated mini-reunion of the original Alice Cooper band members on a very special bonus CD. Consisting of two brand new studio songs written and recorded together with Dennis Dunaway, Neal Smith and Michael Bruce, the bonus disc also includes 6 killer live versions of some of The Coop’s greatest hits, such as “No More Mr. Nice Guy,” “Billion Dollar Babies” and “School’s Out”, recorded in Columbus, Ohio in 2016 and performed together with Cooper’s current band.

“PARANORMAL” TRACK LIST
1. Paranormal
2. Dead Flies
3. Fireball
4. Paranoiac Personality

5. Fallen In Love
6. Dynamite Road
7. Private Public Breakdown
8. Holy Water
9. Rats
10. The Sound Of A

Bonus CD
Studio recordings with the Original Alice Cooper Band

1. Genuine American Girl
2. You And All Of Your Friends

Live in Columbus with the current Alice Cooper band
3. No More Mr. Nice Guy
4. Under My Wheels
5. Billion Dollar Babies
6. Feed My Frankenstein
7. Only Woman Bleed
8. School’s Out

duminică, 11 iunie 2017

Adam West RIP

Mr. Adam West,  Batman in the series and the 1960 camp film is gone too :(
He was 68.

Found out via Alice Cooper on twitter;
So sad to hear of the passing of the one TRUE ! He was a true American icon and a lovely man.

sâmbătă, 3 iunie 2017

Top filme Cannes 70 pour ALD

Top trei filme ALD pe 2017 la Cannes, din selecţia oficială. 
                                        

                                                    2. Good Time
                                              
 şi...3. Okja –hai să exclud și eu deși mă bucur că l-am văzut pe ecran mare (pe 28 iunie intră pe canalul lor), 
so, 3b.     Killing of a Sacred Deer,
                                                         

plus: 
Wind River în UCR -premiul de regie pentru Taylor Sheridan
                                              


și documentarul din Quinzaine, Nothingwood.
                                         


un interviu cu Alexander Nanau, DOP-ul filmului, si grupajul meu de Cannes, 70 de ani in 70 de momente, in revista CINEMAP vara 2017. 


vineri, 2 iunie 2017

Is This the Life We Really Want?

OUT TO-DAY:

Is This the Life We Really Want?

Roger Waters' 1st opus in 25 years. 73 and angry ? more like disappointed...
Picture That :)
                                                      Immerse in Waters' darkness and satire:
'"If I had been God
I would have rearranged the veins in the face to make them more resistant to alcohol and less prone to aging"


                                                A Short by Roger Waters and Sean Evans