versiunea 1.3. redux (incl. ROCKLAND & alinland)
Cliff Booth aka Brad Pitt, the stuntman from Once Upon a Time in...Hollywood is back in the new Netflix film The Adventures of Cliff Booth, written by Quentin Tarantino and directed by David Fincher !!!
Timothy Olyphant is also back as western TV actor James Stacy (Lancer).
Here's the teaser trailer. Coming soon this year !!!
New entry in the Body horror genre, after the recent The Substance, this is the debut feature of writer/director Michael Shanks. Liked it more than the overrated Bring Her Back. For me the other interesting horror fodder this year include 28 Years Later and Weapons.
Together is an ambitious little horror flick, with themes of love and obsession, about a couple that moves in a little village house, far from town, and a mysterious pit in the woods.
Dave Franco and Alison Brie are married in real life so the intimate scenes have more power, intensity and authenticity than with other actors.
Supporting is Aussie Damon Herriman (The Nightingale, OUATIH, The Bikeriders), and when he's on screen you know something ain't right ;)
Shot in Australia in only 21 days. Debut at Sundance Film Fest in Jan. 2025. Was presented even in Locarno film fest !
Powerful score by Cornel Wilczek. End song, Another One by Golden Suits (2016).
The effects are good for their budget, some morph coming from The Thing and more recently Color out of Space.
7 out 10 ! 3 1/2 out of 5 !
Sad news just when I was to see Iron Maiden in Belfort, France. All the world was busted by the death of Diogo Jota , the footballer, at 28. And then I saw Michael Madsen died, at 67 (on July 3d 2025) !
Then next day I find out Julian McMahon died, he was56 and battling cancer...
I met Michel Madsen when he was shooting in Romania the infamous Uwe Boll bomb, BloodRayne in August 2004. He also shot here The Last Drop. I was at a day of shooting in Bragadiru palace, Madsen was bored to death and I should've taken him to Blues Cafe for a Jack but I got asked by my friend working on the picture Not to. Regretted still...
Of course I knew him from Reservoir Dogs and all the Tarantino fodder, he was the one who gave him most of his comebacks. He could've been a star leading man but his odd and wild habits pushed him to the B side of movies, he was in over 300 flicks. So much crappy stuff...With 5 children, it's hard to pay the bills, as he says. He was even in a James Bond movie, the crappiest Bond ever :(, Die Another Day, supporting CIA Falco !
(On the films he's proud of) Kill Bill, Species (1995), Free Willy (1993), Thelma & Louise (1991), Reservoir Dogs (1992) and Donnie Brasco (1997). Six, that's it. That's not a low number. I'm just hard to please. I've made some crap but you've got to pay the bills.
I guess that was before the Kill Bill's & The Hateful Eight. And he got a small cameo as the sherriff in TV's Bounty Law in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
The biggest mistake of his carrer was that he made Wyatt Earp. This made him lose the part of Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction !!! Wyatt Earp was a flop and it's a bad film, Travolta played Vega and it's still his best around.
He was a poet and an outlaw (by Hollywood standards), a maverick. Rest in peace, Michael...
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“We’re not mourning a public figure. We’re not mourning a myth — but flesh and blood and ferocious heart,” Madsen’s sister, Virginia Madsen, said. “Who stormed through life loud, brilliant, and half on fire. Who leaves us echoes—gruff, brilliant, unrepeatable—half legend, half lullaby.”
Such are the moments of Cannes !
Honorary Palme d'Or to Robert De Niro !!!
At the peak of the evening, a standing ovation greeted Leonardo DiCaprio’s entrance. The American actor, who owes his breakout and his encounter with Martin Scorsese to Robert De Niro, expressed his admiration before presenting him with an Honorary Palme d’or:
“Tonight, I have the immense honor of standing before you to pay tribute to someone who is our model. Robert De Niro’s legacy lies in how he inspired actors to treat their craft not just as solo performance but as transformation. Robert De Niro is not just a great actor—he is The Actor. With Martin Scorsese, they told some of cinema’s most legendary stories, uncompromising stories. They didn’t just make movies—they redefined what cinema could be. They elevated the actor-director relationship into a crucible of risk-sharing.”
In response, the cinema legend addressed the Grand Théâtre Lumière with a call to action—for freedom and democracy, without delay:
“My sincere thanks to the Festival de Cannes for creating this community, this universe, this ‘home’ for those who love telling stories on the big screen. The Festival is a platform for ideas, a celebration of our work. Cannes is fertile ground for new projects. (...)
In my country, we are fighting tooth and nail to defend democracy—something we once took for granted. This concerns everyone. Because the arts are, by nature, democratic. Art is inclusive; it brings people together. Art is a quest for freedom. It embraces diversity. That’s why art is a threat today. That’s why we are a threat to the autocrats and fascists of this world.
We must act—now. Without violence, but with passion and determination. The time has come. Everyone who believes in freedom must organize, protest, and vote in elections. Tonight, we reaffirm our commitment by honoring the arts—and liberty, equality, and fraternity.”
To conclude this opening ceremony and launch twelve days of screenings for the 78th edition, American director Quentin Tarantino took the stage and, with full voice, declared: “IT’S MY HONOUR TO DECLARE THE 78TH FESTIVAL OPEN!!!”
"Dance with the Devil"
Sinners is an unexpected mix of black Americana, Southern Gothic horror, vampire fare, legends and racial tale told on Blues rhythms and chords. With a twist of folk-lore, religion and superstition. And Blues. Did I say Blues ?
It's also an epic western (epic on scope and duration, 2hr. 17 min.), the deal with the devil, Robert Johnson's style, KKK and moonshine in 1932's Louisiana.
Shades of Walter Hill (stylistically lots of his films, his style -think Last Man Standing, and major plot point: Crossroads), Tarantino & Rodriguez (From Dusk' Til Dawn and Coogler says The Faculty was an inspiration), John Carpenter (The Thing, Vampires), Kathryn Bigelow (Near Dark),
Beautfully shot in Super 70 Panavision by Autumn Durald Arkapaw (Wakanda Forever) and presented in IMAX (shot on a ratio of 2.76 : 1), Sinners is acted with intensity and seriousness (Michael B. Jordan in a dual role, Delroy Lindo as Delta Slim, Hailee Steinfeld as the white hottie, brit Jack O'Connell as Remmick) and scored magnificently by Ludwig Göransson in his 4th collaboration with Ryan Coogler (after Black Panther, BP: Wakanda Forever and Creed).
Miles Caton mesmerizes as Sammie Moore, the made-up kid musician played in his old age by none other than Mr. Legend, Buddy Guy. Reason enuff for any blues aficionado to see the film !!! On the BIG Screen, brother, and if you live close to an IMAX environment, pls. go there !
Add to this a grand soundtrack companion.
And a pulsating original score by Ludwig Göransson-who admires the blues since a kid in Sweden, did his homework seriously and this represents a tribute to his father. His credits are on banjo / music / musician: banjo / musician: resonator guitar / resonator guitar / score producer.
The Sinners Band:
Cedric Burnside -drums
Lester Snell-piano
Lars Ulrich-drums
Eric Gales-guitar
Alvin Youngblood Hart-guitar
Christophe "Kingfish" Ingram -guitar
Bobby Rush-harmonica
Buddy Guy-resonator guitar
Miles Caton-resonator guitar
Rave reviews, powerful BO, makes this a rare bird. Act one is slow, so give it time to warm up, it'll stay with ya afterwards.
4 out of 5, 8 out of 10 !!!
Finally ! On April 4, the most expected album (in any sense, and for me in special) by Mike Scott's The Waterboys is out. I announced here on Jan. 8 2025.
Vignetes about Golf (Hooper's latter passion), The Last Movie (his doomed film), Andy (Warhol), Michelle (Phillips), Frank Booth (from Blue Velvet), Terry Southern (who wrote Easy Rider), etc. Including a fake trailer for a biker movie, "Freaks on Wheels", a la Tarantino's latest films.
Post-modern, cool, eclectic, funky, groovy, mad -as Sir Dennis was ;) A wonderful heartfelt tribute, about the times and of Wild Pop Americana and one of True Legends of the Movieland (und more).
Reviews here:
Uncut -4 stars
**** 1/2 out of FIVE.
Life, Death and Dennis Hopper Track List
(where there are links you find the videos).
Hollywood’55
Live In The Moment, Baby
Brooke / 1712 North Crescent Heights
The Tourist (featuring Barny Fletcher)
Freaks On Wheels
Blues For Terry Southern
Memories Of Monterey
Riding Down To Mardi Gras
Transcendental Peruvian Blues
Michelle (Always Stay)
Freakout At The Mud Palace
Daria
Ten Years Gone (featuring Bruce Springsteen)
Rock Bottom
Frank (Let’s Fu*k)
Katherine (featuring Anana Kaye)
Everybody Loves Dennis Hopper
Venice, California (Victoria)/The Passing Of Hopper
Aftermath
the Show -my notes:
23 awards to go til 6.10 am ;)
It starts with Somewhere over the Rainbow, it goes into the Wicked songs with the freakish Cynthia and Grande.
Conan O'Brian (hosting for the 1st time), is actually very good, natural with a good sense of pacing. With a little help of Adam Sandler and John Lithgow. Then surprise, he sings s a song, “I won't waste time”, featuring dancers, the sandworm from "Dune" on piano doing “chopsticks” and Deadpool.
Robert Downey jr. presents supporting actor and the least deserving guy gets it, Kieran, who is the same in life as in A Real Pain, as in Succession, kinda same part. Nice speech tho, talking to his wife.
He also looks like a young Kirk Douglas. Glowing eyes.
(commercial break #1)
The short animated category I didn't follow. “In the Shadow of the Cypress” won. The two Iranian directors are great ! They just landed in L.A. Three hours ago, they said.
(commercial break #2)
Costume design, no surprises there, Wicked, the first black person to win for costume design.
Another commercial break, # 3
Original script. Sean Baker wins his 1st Oscar for writing Anora. Adapted, Conclave. No surprises here.
Surely The Brutalist and The Substance and September 5 were better choices but I'm happy for Baker.
Commercial break, # 4, man, there's more breaks than show...
June Squibb and Scarlett Johansson present the makeup and hairstyling award to The obvious The Substance.
Then we get Halle Berry to let us know the Governer Ball's Awards (November 2024), from Quincy Jones (posthumous) to the Bond producers of EON, Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson (who gave a way bond to the sharks from Amazon :() -Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award.
and then we get a 007 tribute clip followed by a dance extravaganza with a superb Margaret Qualley (as I said before, on her way in becoming a A-lister, after OUATiH, Poor Things, Kinds of Kindness, The Substance, Drive-Away Dolls), in a red dress, then we get renditions of Live and Let Die with Lisa , Diamonds are Forever with Doja Cat, Skyfall with Raye, all in good taste, channeling the originals.
Commercial break, # 5
Nice joke of Cinemastreams, Conan featuring Marty Scorsese.
And a anniversary of Kill Bill puts Daryl Hannah on stage. She looks great, presents the award for best Editing. Again, Sean Baker rocks (2nd award !), Anora for editing ! Deservingly.
Divine takes the stage for the supporting actress award presentation. Zoe Saldana wins. Emilia Perez was here, will she win for International film too ?
Commercial break, # 6
Ben Stiller on stage with a joke stolen from SNL Vincent Price skit (& Peter Sellers & more), present the Production Design Award. Wicked". May the Biggest budget film win. And a film about architecture, nem...
Then on the sound of Sympathy for the...who ?, Sir Mick Jagger shows up. Best Song award. Making Bob jokes. El Mal from Emilia Perez win. Sorry, I couldn't care less. The nominations this year for song were awful.
Commercial break, # 7
Conan does the second Dune Sandworm joke, playing harp ! Sam Jackson (L.) and Selena Gomez (M.) present short documentary film. The Only Girl in the Orchestra wins. Feature: No Other Land. Political moment speech.
Commercial break, # 8
Conan & the L.A. Firemen Dpt. Firemen jokes.
Miles Teller & Miley Cyrus (in Europe Kilometer & Kilometry). Sound. Dune 2.
Gal Gadot, herself a special FX, in a red dress present the Visual Effects Award. Dune part 2 it is.
VO/announcer (in my heydays it was Peter Coyote ;) -Nick Offerman, who's voice is kinda off (booze?).
Commercial break, # 9
Ana de Armas and Sterling K. Brown present the last short award.
Morgan Freeman presents an homage to Gene Hackman. He played together in Unforgiven and Under Suspicion. That introduces the In Memoriam montage I had no clue Fred Roos and Adam Somner. died ..).
Commercial break, # 10
An actor presenter from each film nominated for Cinematography: Joe Alwyn for the Brutalist. Alba Rohrwacher salutes a Ed Lachman in a wheelchair for Maria. Willem Dafoe for Nosferatu, Zoe Saldana for Emilia Perez, Dave Bautista for Dune part 2. Lol Crawley wins for The Brutalist. Fair enuff.
Penelope Cruz presents for Best International Film. I'm Still Here/ Ainda Estou Aqui wins (Walter Salles, Brazil). Another big loss for EP, due to bad PR mostly.
Commercial break, # 10
Conan makes another Russian Joke via Anora. Mark Hamill (!!!) presents the award for best Original SCORE. Daniel Blumberg for The Brutalist. Well deserved for a Grand, epic score !
Whoopy and Oprah introduce a Quincy Jones musical tribute. Queen Latifah sings a song from The Wiz.
Commercial break, # 11
Conan: "If you still enjoying this show you have what it's called Stockholm Syndrome".
Cillian Murphy takes the stage for best actor award. He won last year for Oppenheimer. And...Adrian Brody wins his 2nd Oscar (22 years after 2003's The Pianist) for the part of architect László Tóth in The Brutalist !!! The most touching moment of the evening. Brody is entering a cool restricted club. Egészségedre !
Enter QT, Quentin iz in ze house ! Best director -ta-dam, Sean Baker for Anora ! His 3d Oscar, suddenly a small struggling indie director becomes a Monster Superstar in the biz. Phones will be ringing, snakes will be crawling, emails will be flowing, agents will be waltzing around & mirages will be presented to him but I have the feeling he won't sell out. Kudos !
Commercial break, # 12
Emma Stone (who won last year for Poor Things) presents Best Actress award. Aaaand surprise, Mikey Madison (Sadie in OUaTiH) wins !!! Anora's fourth Oscar ! Mikey is 25 !
Meg Ryan & Billy Crystal present Best Film. And Anora wins !!! Five Oscars out of Six ! Sean Baker is also co-producer so he gets his fifth award. Bravo !
And they even finished earlier this year ! Sorry for Demi, that was this edition surprise for me. 62 vs. 25. Baby Jane or All About Eve ? Again the SAG proof that no one guesses is perfect. The acting awards were again different from those of the guild. All in all it was a calm and cool edition with the most indie films in an Oscar race, two foreign directors, and wins for Anora 5, Brutalist 3.
That's it, folks !
L'amour Ouf / Beating Hearts in English, Iubire fara limite in Romanian. In competition (!) at last years' Cannes film festival, French star Gilles Lellouche adaptation of a Neville Thompson novel is in Romanian Cinemas now.
Great on the big screen (widescreen!), operatic, with a superb score and soundtrack, great cinematography, this is the most American French film in a long time, and that's a good thing imo. In Cannes they kinda hated the film -of course, oh la la), way too commercial for them to enjoy it if it's not made by Tarantino or James Grey...
Epic running time: 2h46. 1st cut was 4 hours though.
It's based (loosely) on the 1997 best-selling Irish novel "Jackie Loves Johnser OK?" by Neville Thompson, whose French title is "L'Amour Ouf" ( a pun on the expression "L'Amour Fou", also a film by Jacques Rivette from 1968).
Uneven, pastiche, but highly energetic and frenetic this is not a prefect film, far from it, but I loved the energy, the musical rhythm (greta songs, from The Cure to Billy Idol, to Sirius by Alan Parsons project, cuts from John Carpenter's from Escape rom New York score, closing on Foreigner-Urgent!!!), from the opening lettering and the pulsing dramatic score by Jon Brion (with whom Lellouche worked on his second film as director, Le grand bain/Sink or swim).
Shades of Tarantino and Wild at Heart. And of course West Side Story. And Scorsese's touch. And maybe Lelouch too ;)
Anora is in Romanian Cinemas starting Today. So, run to the theaters, 'til it's there...
Absolutely Fabulous ! One of the year's best if not The One (haven't seen yet all the Cannes fares). Fresh, raw, relentless (act one just sets up the film, so bare for the first thirty minutes).
The stripper Ani aka Anora (Mikey Madison) meets Ivan, the half-baked young son of a Russsian Oligargh and thinks she struck gold. Cos' he wants to marry her. Und they did ! But then the family finds out about this....trouble ensures.
Palme d'Or -the first American film to win this since 2011's The Tree of Life !
And certainly one of the top favorites for the Awards Season. Mikey Madison deserves an Oscar !
Note on Jan 23d 2025: Anora is nominated for 6 Oscars, including Best Picture, best director, best (original screenplay), Actress and supporting actor: Yura Borisov !
I was thinking all the time where did I see her before, and yes, Mikey was Sadie in Once Upon A Time in Hollywood.
Yura Borisov as Igor is a blast ! Also Karren Karagulian (who's been in every Sean Baker film, and that's his eight !) is extraordinary as Toros. I am following Baker since The Florida Project which was OK, wasn't impressed by his previous, Tangerine (2015), but Red Rocket was one of my top films of 2021 (I think it streams on Netflix these days/& nights;). Anyway, this is Baker in Major League now, bigger, better, more ambitious in scope and story. Up to now Baker's characters are misfits, low-lifes, prostitutes, strippers, pimps, white-trash and junkies, destitute people who in his view get a warm personality and a glow. A peripheral Americana micro-cosm of its own.
For me it was like Cassavetes and some early Jarmusch (but in vivid colors and widescreen), directed and shot a la Safdie bros. (Good Time, Uncut Gems). And a bit of After Hours (Scorsese, 1984).
And the Billy Wider Touch. I felt so much starting act two, from all the losers getting 2nd hand shots (The Apartment, Kiss Me Stupid, Irma la Douce-she 's a prostitute, see -oups, a sex worker, etc.)
Though Sean Baker dedicates his film to Jess Franco & Soledad Miranda (his actress that died in an accident at 27) !!? He also mentions Fellini's Notte di Cabiria as an inspiration for Ani/Anora.
Only Incidental music in the soundtrack (songs that is...)
*Great interview with Sean Baker on his favourite films on Video Konbini. You'll be surprised what kinds of films the guy likes ;) like, it's the first time I heard about Miami Connection (1987) !!! A alot in common with Tarantino too.
Folie à Deux is the curio of the year
flop of the year, more so than Furiosa
cost 200 mil . $, three times more than Joker (2019)
least sequel ever
most divissive film of 2024
musical of this year
dysfunctional love story
opening animation says it all there (done by Sylvain Chomet no less)
and how about that ending ?
*not to be confused with David Fincher's thriller with the same name of 2023.
This is John Woo's THE KILLER, his own remake to his famous cult film The Killer from 1989, that premiered (streaming :( on Peacock on Aug. 23 2024.
it's woke but is more than that.
It is John Woo's French film, it's an homage to Le Samourai (1967) even more than the original Killer was. In the circumstance of recent Alain Delon's demise, this works more nostalgic than intended. Shot in Paris of no limits A budget and in touristic spots, plus the church from the original and the pigeons TM. And a goldfish. A samurai (!) sword. A black hat. And a crossword pun. And bikers on relanti. In flames. Woo-ish.
Woo will be 78 this September (22), so he's not getting any younger. His influences on the action cinema were in the '90's. That's why they called him overseas, after hardboiled (1992). He started with Hard Target (soft spot as I was a publicist on it, back in 1994's Media Pro Pictures distribution), moved on to Broken Arrow and hit the mark with Face/Off. His last great film was Mission: Impossible in 2000. After the failure of Paycheck he went back to China but I didn't resonate with any of his films there (actually I only saw the 1st Red Cliff).
The man is surely a woman now -Zee-Nathalie Emmanuel-from the Fast & Furious series ( a la Nikita, there's even a quote of that, and that's Tcheky Karyo's cameo) and the cop -Sey-Omar Sy-international star since Inotochables- is black. The singer is given more to do and done, and the plot is mambojumbo-ish to the maxxx. The remake has been in the works from the 90's and I think it's great that finally Woo gets to re-do it and in Paris of all places. The script is credited to Brian Helgeland, Josh Sanders and Matt Stueken (surely not all together, , but Woo sure added up his own marks. The whole thing is marred by the need to switch to English all the time, and keep some French just for the picturesque.
But Omar Sy could've been Belmondo. Le Flic.And Nathalie Emmanuel, Delon, Le Samourai.
Woo's daughter, Angeles Woo is acting in it as a killer. Name of her character, Chi Mai ;)
She's also a co-producer.
Lots of juicy parts, Eric Cantona is a Top gangster, Said Taghmaoui is an Arab prince, Diana Silvers is Jenn, the singer, victim and target, Sam Worthington is Finn, the contracter of Zee, he does a Strong Irish accent complete with the annoying "beat of my heart' bit in Irish. A stand-out, stunt woman Aurelia Ager as the baddie blonde evil henchie with ponytails Juliet, her 1st real acting part (hope she goes Zoe Bell's way).
The music is key, Marco Beltrami at the helm, with Buck Sanders helping him, doing an Ennio Morricone tribute, with whisting, a woman operatic voice, complete with a song (that integrates the film-"Introuvable", sang by Jorane), Eric Serra style. There's even a cue from Le Samourai, "Costello dans la ville", from the score by Francois de Roubaix.
Very well lit cinematography by Mauro Fiore, Antoine Fuqua and Oscar winner for Avatar cinematographer. Edited by Zach Staenberg, the guy who cut all the Matrix trilogy.
So, it's flawed, it's naive but I could feel it's goodhearted as opposed to cringe, and someone else would've done it worse.
It looks like a Europacorps prod. from the 90's, it's been in development for so long, Universal studios bound, and though it ended on streaming.
Pity it wasn't in theaters, even if it's not John Wick (a series that took from Woo big time), it's his Grandfather and granddaughters. Inc.
3 out of 5, 6 out of 10 !
Anouk Aimée is no more. She was 92. From Anne Gauthier in Claude Lelouch historical Nouvelle Vague film Un Homme et une Femme (where she was nominated for an Oscar, though it was a Foreign film and it was the year 1966 !), through Lola (1961, which was a subsubject in the latest Nani Moretti film), Model Shop (1969, another Jacques Demy film, in which she was Lola and that is an inspiration for Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) and one of the women of Marcello in Fellini's masterpiece metafilm 8 1/2 (1963) , also a bit part in La Dolce Vita (1960). Another great part was in Bertolucci's 1981's La Tragedia di un uomo ridiculo, next to Ugo Toganzzi. Best actress at Cannes in 1980 for Marco Bellochio's Salto nel Vuoto (A Leap in the Dark)..
She was the wife of Albert Finney from 1970 to 1978.
1st film directed by Ethan without his brother Joel, Coen that is.
Ethan was credited as a producer but the brothers directed together, that's what they say.
This is co-written and co-produced with his wife, Tricia Cooke. Also editor.
Drive-Away Dolls it's an UFO of sorts, noir spoof, lesbian comedy, pop stuff, mostly an acquired taste, very much a hit and miss. Nevertheless fascinating, cos' the gimmick of the suitcase in the trunk (started with Kiss Me Deadly, through Repo Men into Pulp Fiction) is here copious to say the least.
Margaret Qualley is irresistible as the boyish Jamie, loved her in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and in Poor Things, and I think she's in for a great career-coming up Kinds of Kindness and The Substance, both Cannes 2024 fares.
Cameos galore, from Pedro Pascal to Bill Camp, Matt Damon and even Miley Cyrus ;)
communique du Festival de Cannes:
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Michel Ciment was the Chief Editor of Positif magazine, the producer and host of the program Projection privée on France Culture until 2016, a critic for over fifty years on Le Masque et la Plume on France Inter and a lecturer at the University of Paris-VII. Additionally, he authored many reference books on cinema, notably on Stanley Kubrick, Elia Kazan, Joseph Losey, Francesco Rosi and Jane Campion. Michel Ciment had dedicated his life to passing on his knowledge and passion for the seventh art. A free spirit with an insatiable curiosity, he was the embodiment of cinephilia, embracing all types cinemas and never leaving any film aside.
ANGRY, the 1st video from the first Rolling Stones album in 18 years, Hackney Diamonds, dropped at the Launch of the album 1 hour ago in London!
It features American actress Sydney Sweeney (Euphoria, 'Snake" in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), looking hot and lose, being driven around L.A. and the Stones, a younger version, play from all the famous Billboards in the city. It's a riff on the 1995 "Love is Strong" video, directed by David Fincher. Also check it out- every billboard is either an album cover, a video or another significant icon of the band.
The Angry video is directed by Francois Rousselet, who directed 2016's Stones video of Ride 'em all Down (from the "Blue and Lonsesome" Blues covers album).
USA, 1977.
with: William Devane, Tommy Lee Jones, Linda Haynes, Dabney Coleman, Luke Askew, James Best.
written by Paul Schrader. Re-written by Heywood Gould.
produced by Laurence Gordon.
Directed by John Flynn.
Not to be confused with Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue. And the doc by Marty Scorsese.
Tarantino had put it on his top ten films list, said is his favorite Revenge flick, he named his distribution company after it. He dedicated a whole chapter in his book, Cinema Speculation to this film (and another one to another John Flynn's classic, The Outfit -1973).
RT was supposed to be a 20th Century Fox release but they were so appalled so they sold it to AIP (American International Pictures).
It's one of the earliest entries into the "Angry/dissilusioned Vietnam Vet coming home" genre, a gritty revenge film which strikes close to Sam Peckinpah and Walter Hill. Schrader disowned the script, which was at the time, a companion piece to Taxi Driver! Travis Bickle even makes a cameo appearance in the original Scharder script, linked to Linda Lovelace...
I saw the film more than 10 years ago, out of the Grindhouse folder of fame, and Tarantino was the biggest advocate and champion of Rolling Thunder, making it more and more known, and made it intriguing to people to search for it and see it. Which brings it to the latest showing, in the Tarantino's surprise film in his guest spot in the Quinzaine des Realisateurs at the Cannes Film Festival (his first time there!) just a week ago. https://www.rogerebert.com/festivals/cannes-2023-close-your-eyes-quentin-tarantino-at-directors-fortnight
So, it made me yearn to see it again. Und I did ;)
Devane is brilliant, I know him from my childhood when I saw him in Yanks (1981). Loved the guy, deserved a bigger career. Tommy Lee Jones is cool too, but mostly I liked Luke Askew's Automatic Slim (I Know Askew as a baddie I guess from Cool Hand Luke and in my childhood, Walking Tall II). The film is slow, gritty and seems less exploitation than it was described back in his premiere days, it grew older in a good way. Of course it's not 'the shit" as QT sees it, but it stands Tall on its own. Great title too.
And I just love the opening and closing song, the country elegy "San Antone", sung by Dusty Brooks. I know it from one of my favorite films, obscure and underrated, The Ninth Configuration (1980), directed by George Peter Blatty, based on his novel Twinkle, Twinkle, Killer, Kane. And that's because of Barry De Vorzon, who composed the song and the score for both of these movies.
Rolling Thunder: 7 out of 10, 3 1/2 out of 5!
Finnish director (& writer) Jalmari Helander did Rare Exports (2010, on my top of 2011 & here), based on his 2003 short film and the high-concept action Big Game (2014). Took him a while to do his third feature, Sisu (2022), his best to date. Sisu means in Finnish a form of crazy courage & determination against all odds.
The main character is inspired by a real sniper from the "Winter War" in WW2, Simo Häyhä, aka The White Death. It's set in Lapland in 1944, and what better villains than the Nazis? It starts with a lonely man discovering the mother lode into the wilderness (the Ecstasy of Gold), like in the vignette of Coen's bros. 2018's The Ballad of Buster Scruggs with the Gold prospector played by a scrubby Tom Waits. Then he starts a journey western style until he meets the Nazis, here a convoy of bad, bad Nazis retreating (Sven Hassel's style). Nazis in Nordic cultish films were seen in Dead Snow and its sequel by Tommy Wirkola, but those were (Norwegian) Nazi zombies, and in Anders Banke's Frostbitten (Sweedish vampires nazis).
Sisu premiered in Toronto Film Festival last Fall on Midnight Madness and picked by Lionsgate -US/ Sony (intl.) for distribution (Intercomfilm in Romania). Even though the film can now be found on the torrent sites I strongly advice those in for the ride to go and watch it on the BIG screen, it's absolutely worthy, due to the great cinematic compositions in widescreen by Kjell Lagerroos (2.39.1), glorious colors, the sound design, music (could've gone with a song on the End Credits-a bit of Morricone/Leone homage done a la Hans Zimmer in Broken Arrow) and spellbinding landscapes.
Finn Jorma Tomilla is Aatami Korpi, surnamed by the Russians Koschei-"the immortal" . Tomilla was in Rare Exports the father hunter alongside his son, Onni Tomilla, who was in Big Game and here is the tank driver, Schutze. Norwegian actor Aksel Hennie (Headhunters, Max Manus, The Trip) is the very bad baddie, SS officer Bruno Helldorf, he reminded me of a cool younger Mads Mikkelsen, but he probably fares better than MM in the upcoming Indiana Jones V-th chapter.
Korpi is like Rambo in the 1st film, First Blood, and like Mad Max ( a subplot is similar to Mad Max: Fury Road) and The Man with No Name. Surely a lot of spaghetti westerns went into the mix. Helander brings also John Woo into the inspiration for the film.
The action sequences could be from Raiders and Indy 3 (the tank and under the car stunts) up to James Bond-esqe exploits (mostly the plane sequence).
People compare this with John Wick but there is no resemblances, the dog thing was part of Mad Max 2 and so many films way before the Keanu franchise. First Blood is the main ingredient here. Also Inglorious Basterds comes to mind, especially for the structure and lettering of the Seven Chapters (which are in fact classic 60's-70's film lettering).
But most of all the coolness comes from the fact it's Finnish (though I would've loved the nazis to speak German and not English...:( and to cut to the last scene before any lines...much better than any recent fare of this type. I hope Helander will keep on making his films and not become some gun-for-hire in the Hollywood up-and-down hills...So far it looks like it might be another Sisu film or maybe announced and postponed Jerry and Ms. Universe.
The Red band trailer!Check it out and see first if it's your kind of film ride, cos it's hyperviolent and kinda doomy/gloomy in its whole pulpy construction. With a lot of Finnish black humor. Perkele!
Tarantino posted on his Video Archives twitter account that Rick Dalton, his fictional actor, (anti) hero from Once Upon A Time in Hollywood had died. He would've been 90.
He wrote a biography of the actor, entitled The Films of Rick Dalton. One of them, featuring Cliff Booth in the 80's is The Fireman (a trilogy, no less!!, produced of course by Cannon!), which sounds like a rip-off (homage?) of The Exterminator (1980) and its sequel, Exterminator 2 (1984), both with Robert Ginty, ;). Is that where the flamethrower of McClusky came by, or was it from Le Vieux Fusil;) ?
Rest in peace, Rick...;)
more here
https://deadline.com/2023/05/once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood-star-rick-dalton-dead-quentin-tarantino-declares-1235373860/
Tom Sizemore was 61...he has a stroke in February so he was in a coma and his brother decide to switch off the life support :(, a tough way to end a very tumultuous life...
my favorite part of his must be in Heat (1995)
he was in both Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down playing tough soldiers
and Natural Born Killers and True Romance...
but he did over 250 films, mostly B and Z fare after 2004, after his conviction and scandal with Heidi Fleiss, a downward spiral with drugs and more drugs. His small comeback was in the new Twin Peaks series...
Hollywood, Cal. The year is 1926, the world was cool and the movies were silent...well, they also shot Horses, didn't they? ;)
Welcome to Babylon, a film abut excess, ambition, dreams and nightmares together, the fourth feature of Damian Chazelle (now 38) after the succeses of Whiplash, La La Land and (so/so) First Man.
A self-indulgent epic especially in the end montage of 'joie du cinema', which I could've done without (and most of us think about the same!!!), 3 hours long (and 9 minutes) but for me could've been longer ;).
It's also rough and vulgar and decadent and loud, just like those times were supposed to be. Or so thinks Chazelle. Here's an interview with him explaining the sources and history of Babylon.
Brad Pitt is silent movie star, Jack Conrad, modelled especially after John Gilbert...He's mostly Brad Pitt and that suffices plenty.
Margot Robbie is the 'It' girl, Nellie LaRoy, made upon Clara Bow. She also has a scene that's sooo reminiscent of her playing Sharon Tate in Once Upon a Time in...Hollywood.. She's gorgeous and uber sexy, but she's kinda too modern and too sexy...
The Mexican dude, Manny Torres (Diego Calva), I guess it's a composite.
The afro-american trumpet player Sidney Palmer (Jovan Adepo) too. These may seem like 'Woke' characters, but actually they were there then.
Lady Fay Zhu (Li Jun Li) is inspired by Anna Mae Wong, the first Asian star of Hollywood (she later went to Europe).
The film makes the transition from the silent age to the talkies, borrowing plenty from 1952's Gene Kelly/Stanley Donen masterwork, Singin' in the Rain.
Other inspirations: the infamous classic book Hollywood Babylon by Kenneth Anger, Peter Bogdanovich's Nickelodeon, John Schlesinger's Day of the Locust (two Paramount productions as this one is, even starting with the old black and white logo, but using Kinescope as a substitute of the studio).
There's a comparison of Hollywood with a jungle, an Animal Kingdom, from the elephant at the beginning to a lizard, a rattlesnake, an alligator. Where's the Monkey? Well, plenty on the screen, from the extras to the actors themselves.
There's cameos of the era VIP's, from Irving Thalberg (Max Minghella) To Marion Davies and WR Hearst, to even Patty Arbuckle. I guess the German director should be Erich Von Stroheim. Also nice to see Eric Roberts in an A picture again, he plays Margot's father, Robert Roy.
*****
If I would've seen the film in 2022 (it opened for Xmas in the US but only beg. Jan. WW) it would've made made my Top Movies of the year list, even flawed as it is...It got mixed reviews, loved the SF Gate calling it 'the worst movie of the year' and quote:
`It is like “Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood,” if Quentin Tarantino directed it as a teenager.'
Got 5 noms and a Golden Globe for best music (Justin Horwitz, Chazelle's collaborator on all his fares) and only 3 Oscar nominations tho (music, which might win, set design and costumes). More generous with the Brits at BAFTA -8 noms (including cinematography and editing, which I think were shunned :(). Horwitz's score has some cues from La La Land, mixed with Fellini's Nino Rota circus music and Mussorgsky's Night on a Bald Mountain. And a song about a certain pussy...
3 1/2 out of 5 - 7 out of 10
