Spider-Noir (2026)

"With No Power Comes No Resposibility"

The Nicolas Cage is back with something cool in black and white (and color) but I'd rather see it Noir as in the title. Premieres May 24th on Amazon Prime as in in collaboration with Sony, who's only Marvel character they got rights too...

From the looks it's more of a Sin City / Frank Miller, The Spirit / Will Eisner. 

Breendan Gleeson is the villain.

Hopefully this will rock, as gamebased Fallout TV series did, or DC / HBO recently two interesting spinoffs, The Penguin and The Peacemaker and Marvel/ Disney did mega meta Wonder Man.

RIP Terence Stamp

Mouring one of the greatest British Icons, made big by Italian cinema and American popcorn (und more).  Terence Stamp was 87. He was Toby Dammitt in Fellini's sketch of Poe's omnibus Histoires Extrraordinaires/ Spirits of the Dead. He was in Pasolini's Teorema, as he was general Zod ;). 

He won best actor in Cannes in 1965 for The Collector.

From his film debut in Billy Budd (1962, where he received his onbly Oscar nomination) to his last bit in Last Night in Soho (2021) he was a cool, silent, sometimes very menacing presence. 

For me it was at most fun as the perverted host of the short-lived series The Hunger (1997-98).

Other highlights: Modesty Blaise, The Hit, The Limey (featuring Poor Cow).

1st ime I saw him as a kid as the badguy Wazir in the Clive Donner's Thief of Baghdad (1978,  actually a made for TV film).

Stand-out, Australian The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994), which can be seen streaming now on HBO Max.

Far from the Madding Crowd indeed...

RIP Val Kilmer

First time I saw him in Top Secret back in the early 80's video days (& nights).

My favorite Val Kilmer part is in Mann's masterpeice of American Noir- Heat

with a soft spot for Mamet's Spartan.

He was blamed for the catastrophe that was Island of Dr. Moreau, with a mad Marlon Brando and a Mini me. Richard Stanley is over that one, John Frankenheimer is gone, like Marlon and Val now.

Val was cool in Ron Howard's Willow (sword & sorcery way before LOTR & epigons la GOT).

He was Iceman, "the wingman" in Tony Scott's seminal Top Gun. Also his last part on screen was in Top Gun 2, a cameo where he became Admiral Tom 'Iceman' Kazansky.

He was a beautiful crazed Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone's The Doors

Val did a Batman (Forever)

A Simon Templar-The Saint (in Moscow)

Doc Holiday (in Tombstone).

-also Kill Me Again & Thunderheart (thx, Andrei ;)

A great comeback film, with Robert Downey jr. was Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, that me and Andrei saw in the world premiere in Cannes in 2005. And we loved it !!!

and a great parodic part in McGruber (2010) as the evil baddie ;) Cunth. 

Long suffering from throat cancer he made a comeback in the headlights with the intense documentary VAL (2021) , in the official Selection in Cannes Film Festival. He died, age 65, on April 1st 2025.

RIP Richard Chamberlain

Richard Chamberlain for me was Edmond Dantes, Aramis, Jason Bourne, the Shogun and my faved, Allan Quatermain. Twose two cheesy movies from the late '80's, featuring young Sharon Stone and James Earl Jones, Herbert Lom and Henry Silva. B movie Heaven & Royalty. Unfortunately the second Quatermain flick was such a flop they never completed a Trilogy :). 

The character, an Indiana Jones adventurer, but more Camp, was based on the  H. Rider Haggard character from his Pulp novels. Ironically, Indy was inspired originally also by Alan Quatermain. The character was resurrected for Sean Connery in the malignant The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen/LXG (2003), which convinced Sir Sean to retire from acting...

Richard Chamberlain was more one of my mother's favorites, than mine. She watched the Thorn Birds on the video dayz (& Nites;) 

He died March 29th 2025 at 90 years of age. RIP...

RIP Gene Hackman

Gene Hackman, one of the greatest Actors there ever was, (it's said he could play Anyone and Antything), died on Tuesday Feb. 26th. He was 95. He died suddenly along his wife and their dog ! His wife (the 2nd, married in 1991), the pianist Betsy Arakawa, was 64 ! The Police of Santa Fe discovered all three of them....

During the last 3-4 years I re-saw /saw again some of his films with the fear he'll die any moment. So, there was him at his most funniest in Get Shorty, the neo-noir Heist, action mentoring channeling The Conversation part -Tony Scott's Enemy of the State (2 bad it had Will Smith as a lead, if could've been Denzel or Jamie Foxx it'll rock more today), more good action thriller-The Package and the comedy I caught up Heartbreakers. Forgot he had a cameo in The Mexican when I gave that film another shot (totally hated it when it came out), tried to see again The Royal Tenenbaums but remembered how he quarreled with Wes Anderson (which I find completely overrated) and paused it. It's a great part but not a lengthy on.  Also discovered some gems like The Hunting Party (1971), The Split (bit cop part) when Jim Brown died and recently, when Kris Kristofferson passed I saw Cisco Pike (1971). Brilliant wicked part for Gene Hackman, probably last seen by me. 

He was retired since 2004 after the lesser comedy Welcome to Moosesport. He was painting and writing thriller noir/ history fiction novels. 

Hackman received two Academy Awards (for William Friedkin's The French Connection & Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven), two British Academy Films Awards (BAFTA), and four Golden Globes.

My faves after the obvious characters of Popeye Doyle, Harry Caul, Little Bill Daggett and Lex Luthor are Crimson Tide, Prime Cut, The Scarecrow, French Connection II (he's better in Frankenheimer's sequel than in Friedkin's hit, it's harder bit too imo) , Bite the Bullet, Night Moves, Eureka, Under Fire, so on...

Most amusingly he played the blindman in Mel Brooks' parody Young Frankenstein, in 1974, uncredited. It's kind of a cameo but now every obit mentions it as an important part. Come on, you AI generation morons...

As a kid I saw him first in cinemas in Superman, The Poseidon Adventure, The Domino Principle, Marooned, Zandy's Bride, The Gypsy Moths (that on TV). Then later his breakthrough part in Bonnie & Clyde. 

He was a superb villain always, suave and smiling. Also he could play men in uniform, military authority at best. And grand in westerns. But his secret gift was comedy. He Is, was and will be one of my favorite Actors. And as far as I checked everyone says he  was the Best Actor that ever IS !

 "If you look at yourself as a star, you've already lost something in the portrayal of any human being."

                                                             Gene Hackman (1930-2025)

Top series 2024

fargo season 5 (waz in between years, wrote last year)

******

Ripley (though is not a series per se, more alike a 7 hours film!) 

the day of the jackal

Sugar

The Sympathizer

The Penguin

KAOS

&

The Landman -in between years, saw just five episodes, for Billy Bob whose career best it is (Ex aqueo with Goliath ;)

Joker: Folie à Deux (2024)

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 ? 

Tarantino loved it

"The Joker directed the movie. The entire concept, even him (Phillips) spending the studio’s money — he’s spending it like the Joker would spend it, all right?” Tarantino said. “And then his big surprise gift — haha! — the jack-in-the-box, when he offers you his hand for a handshake and you get a buzzer with 10,000 volts shooting you — is the comic book geeks. He’s saying fuck you to all of them. He’s saying fuck you to the movie audience. He’s saying fuck you to Hollywood. He’s saying fuck you to anybody who owns any stock at DC and Warner Brothers […] And Todd Phillips is the Joker. Un film de Joker, all right, is what it is. He is the Joker.”

and Hideo Kojuma says in 20 years it will be considered a masterpiece. 

The Penguin (2024)

As people didn't recognize Colin Farrell as Oz Cobb (short for Oswald Cobblepot) in 2022's The Batman, now they only talk about the prostethics of the new HBO / Max series, The Penguin.  I was waiting for this and sure hope they won't f**k it up.

Under the hunchback there is a huge actor I always loved and still he does not get the reputation it deserves, Irishman Colin Farrell (just in before and after doing Banshees of Inisherin and Sugar). You can hardly notice his voice and manierisms, he looks more like Robert De Niro as Al Capone in The Untouchables than the previous Penguin incarnations, Burgess Meredith in the '60's and Danny De Vito in 1992's Batman Returns. Plus a soft spot for Robin Lord Taylor in the Gotham series. Farrell was the best thing in the 2022 Se7ven ripp-off with emo batmen & riddlers. Also John Turturo was cool but he's off.  Here Mark Strong replaces Turturro as Carmine Falcone and Clancy Brown is Sal Maroni.

Cristin Milioti (Fargo, season 2) is Sofia Falcone, the daughter of the dead Mafia Kingpin.

Oz has a tight relationship with his mother (Deirdre O'Connell), that bringing him closer to James Cagney in White Heat and Scarface, from Paul Muni to Pacino's Tony Montana. 

1st episode was good but not fantastic, and it clearly goes into the gangster noir-ish tale, no supernatural involved. Surely this being HBO, they'll talk Sopranos in connection with this. 

Music score by Nick Giacchino (Michael's son). Here's The Penguin Theme, "Scherzo for a Flightless Bird").

Ep. 1 "After Hours"- From 9 to 5 / Dolly Parton. Rita Hayworth when Oz dances with his mom. End credits song, When In Rome with "The Promise".  

Ep. 2 "Inside Man" -so/so, gangsters by the numbers. Flashback of the kid. End credits song, a cover of "Happy Together", The Turtles' 1967 song, by Floor Cry. 

Ep. 3 "Bliss", the new drug, some betrayals. "Broken Belief" by Bob Moss.  Gil Scott-Heron's bladting "Me and The Devil" on the end credits.

Ep. 4. "Cent'anni", finally Carmine Falcone flashbacks. And Sofia's Arkham story, The Hangman, & a great finale (on Sarah Vaughan's So Long, My Love-1964). The Stranglers 1981 song  "Strange Little Girl" on the end credits. 

Ep. 5. "Homecoming". By the numbers mafia biz & betrayals but an interesting finale if it follows up. The Cure -"A Forest" and St. Vincent-"Reckless". 

Ep. 6. "Gold Summit". Most boring episode, all set up and a good end shot. Credits roll on a Chris Isaak cool song, "Black Flowers" from 1998.

Ep. 7 "Top Hat". The groove is back as we flashback to Oswald's childhood and his two brothers. Cue to Top Hat, the 1935 Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers musical which winks also in Joker: Folie a deux (Fred Astaire again, in 1953's Band Wagon  Cut to: "Islands on a Stream" (Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton) and Yazoo's Only You. It ends badly for The Penguin. "How did you called  me?". End credits on Swans-"Lunacy". Great song. 

Ep. 8: La Grand finale. Glimpses of Selina Kyle on an envelope and Oz puts on a tux to dance. One unexpected scene (not spoiling it here but it's about Victor Aguilar). Promises of season # 2 ensure. See if Colin Farrell wants to put athe makeup again. Golden Globe/Emmy should be guaranteed.

Complete songs list here. 

Already The Peng is  #92 on IMDb TV top shows (NA: Now, 6 weeks later, it's # 70 !) . Penguin beats the Joker, mostly now with Folie a Deux being the "hate it movie of 2024"...

So, in the end The Peng is for me a 3 out of 5, 6 out of 10. 

While he mentioned that he did watch DeVito as The Penguin and “was a fan of Burgess Meredith” in the Adam West-starring 1960s “Batman” TV show, Farrell said the inspiration for his take on the character ultimately drew from darker and less comic book-infused sources, including Dustin Hoffman’s Ratso Rizzo in “Midnight Cowboy,” Robert De Niro as Al Capone in “The Untouchables” and “The Sopranos’” James Gandolfini. “All of them are in there,” Farrell said. “Like, I’ve seen ‘Untouchables’ twice, I’ve seen ‘Midnight Cowboy’ four times. Anything, as an actor, anything you ever see, any piece of music you ever hear, it all kind of meets you inside in a place that gets used, gets filtered through every single character you do in lesser or greater ways.”

(from CNN piece here)

Joker: Folie à Deux (2024)

Joker: Folie à Deux

Trailer out on April 9th. 

great song on it (and it's featured in the film): What the World Needs Now Is Love, the Burt Bacharach & Hal David's 1965 song, here performed by Tom Jones 

Expected Release date: Oct. 4th 2024

My review of the JOKER (2019) here. (in Romanian;)

My thoughts about Joker 2, here. 

The world is a stage.                                                         #JokerMovie

     

Bruce Dickinson-Rain on the Graves (SOTD)

"Morte capti, non carcere". 

The second single and video from Bruce Dickinson's upcoming 7th album (Seventh Son..?), his uber-project and magnum opus The Mandrake Project is Blood on the Graves, a William Blake quoted (same as the 1st single, Afterglow of Ragnarok starts),a  B & W & color short film that is one the best video of his until now (I love the Tears of the Dragon flick).  

A cool Hammer / AIP homage with Dickinson himself as The Preacher (Vincent Price-like), complete with the Devil as in Hellboy, with cut horns, and the band live Tiger Lillies style.  It has a very Maidenesque sound, much more than Afterglow of Ragnarok, or earlier Dickinson works (Accident of Birth, The Chemical Wedding, Skunkworks, Tyranny of Souls). Balls to Picasso & Tattooed Millionaire excluded.

Directed by Ryan Mackfall (same as Ragnarok) and Produced by Myskatonic.co.

Here's some of Bruce's thoughts about the song and video. 

After Afterglow of Ragnarok (the first excerpt from the Upcoming album, The Mandrake Project, complete with its comic book high concept, 12 parts no less!!!), this is another incursion into the universe of this Myskatonic universe (H.P Lovecraft ;) . The album is out March 1st 2024.

Bruce Dickinson will present the album The Mandrake Project LIVE in Bucharest, Romania, at Arenele Romane, June 3d 2024.

tickets here.

https://www.themandrakeproject.com

#brucedickinson #rainonthegraves #themandrakeproject

To Be Continued...

Top Soundtracks 2023

-might be a first year without a Hans Z. score...oh no, he wasn't here last year too, last time for 007  No Time to Die... Last year I didn't even do a soundtracks top.

*****

Killers of the Flower Moon-Robbie Robertson & VA -oh, this would be great to win an Oscar, it's Robbie Robertson's first nomination and it's so posthumous :(

and the greatest and most touching song of the year on a soundtrack, "Still Standing" (this should've been nominated for Best Song but heck...barbisms :()

Indiana Jones 5  aka Indiana Jones and the Dial of the Destiny -ol' ol' John Williams with all of 'em referential Indy Themes 

Oppenheimer- Ludwig Goransson -Oscar's favorite.

The Holdovers-Mark Orton & VO 

The Boy and the Heron -Joe Hisaishi-Japan's John Williams returns with a beautiful elegiac score for Hiyao Miyazaki's comeback.

Next Goal Wins -Michael Giacchino

Wonka-the guys from Crowded House -Neil Hanon & Joby Talbot

Napoleon- Martin Phipps

Ferrari -Daniel Pemberton

VA (compliation) feel-good score of the year: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 

Mention:

The Killer - Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross-  minus The Smiths songs, unfortunately the score can't be listened outside of the film

Bruce Dickinson-Afterglow of Raganarok (SOTD)

"Morte capti, non carcere". 

***

The Mandrake Project is the new ambitious concept-project of Bruce Dickinson, his 7th solo album (7th Son...?). The album will come out March 1st 2024. Complete with a comic book that helps tell his H.P. Lovecraft-esque story. 

Here is the 1st video, Afterglow of Raganarok, directed by Ryan Mackfall and Produced by Myskatonic.co.

The video begins with a William Blake quote: "I must create a system, or be enslaved by another man's. I will not reason and compare, my business is to create."

IMO it's a very ambitious epic story told without the means of enough budget and the right sf/x. As The Chemical Wedding film was, we'll see if it ups up.

The story is described as: "dark, adult story of power, abuse and a struggle for identity, set against the backdrop of scientific and occult genius."

Bruce Dickinson will present the album The Mandrake Project LIVE in Bucharest, Romania, at Arenele Romane, June 3d 2024.

tickets here.

https://www.themandrakeproject.com

#brucedickinson #themandrakeproject

2nd song & video, Blood on the Graves, came out Jan. 24th 2024.

To Be Continued...

The Killer (2023)

"Execution is Everything".

It can stand for the director's demo & credo and his team on this one. 

The Killer, David Fincher's new endeavor for Netflix  (after Mank and the Mindhunter series) is a longtime project of his, since 2007. Based on the French Graphic Novel (and now there's 13 of 'em), Le Tueur/The Killer, written by Alexis Nolent (Matz), drawed by Luc Jacamon, published by Casterman, starting with 1998. The whole series are available to view here.

But there's not much left from the original source as I could study a bit. The series are very cool, the film by Fincher doesn't honor them, it just takes its cue from it. The script is a deconstruction of the genre, much less elliptic and less experimental than Jarmusch's failure with The Limits of Control.

A bit of existentialism like in the old The Mechanic (1972), by Lewis John Carlino. But here you get instead of Bosch, music by The Smiths. Of course every step of Alain Delon from Le Samourai to Scorpio. The hat is odd, the product placement is odder, the rhythm is the oddest, very much off, of course on purpose. 

And more off: Half of the film is the killer himself, aka Michael Fassbender. With aliases like Felix Under, or George Jefferson, and other comedic alter-egos;), Fassbender is not to be dealt with. Or double-crossed. It's all in his stream-of-consciousness narration. Or is it? 

Brilliant sound design by Ren Klyce (& music which is also sound design, by the Usual Suspects, Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross), as The Killer is more a film to listen to than to see. Or to see and don't believe what you see.....

One scene, the fight is very much like in Haywire (2011, Steven Soderbergh), which Fincher admits as an influence, and Fassbender was in it. Dirty and loud and I couldn't wait to end. Obscene, by all means. Then there's Tilda Swinton, like it or not but the scene with her drinking a sea of whiskeys is the very off , like a classic of another genre, the gentlemanish thriller with suave hitmen and femme fatales. The end of the scene ain't pretty though. 

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)

Saw the fifth INDY on premiere day -June 30, on a huuuge screen and liked it (it's already controversial and I don't understand the badmouth, never compare with the original trilogy! That was four decades ago...I was fearful to be dissapointed. After all I am a fan for life of the character and his adventures. Less crystal skulls. The film, after a wait of 15 years since the fourth one, was touching and heartfelt old-fashioned and James Mangold did a great job! There are four screenwriters credited including David Koepp and Mangold himself. Probably more hands and brains there. It's a dignifying end chapter, with old wisdom and even bitterness of a lost era. Also a lost era of filmmaking.

John Williams' score is magnificent and elegant (the Maestro is 91 now and came again out of retirement, as he did it again for The Fablemans, I guess this will be his final score...just when you hear the musical theme you get goosebumps, well, I did), Harrison Ford (81 in 13 days!!!, and he was 78 while filming) is THE INDY (the de-aging at the beginning it's Ok as they said it will be, not grand but works here as opposed to The Irishman and other films) and the girl, Helena (his goddaughter) - brit Phoebe Waller_Bridge (Fleabag series) is a very nice female companion, like a version of Katherine Hepburn on the African Queen days, Mads Mikkelsen is brilliant (as always and he made history as the villain in both Bond (Le Chiffre in Casino Royale) and Indiana Jones franchises!, same as Julian Glover...), Boyd Hollbrook great baddie, plus some nice cameos (no spoliers here!). I liked the new kid, Teddy (Ethann Isidore), Thomas Kretchmann ("Spoils of war go to victors"), Toby Jones (Basil Shaw, Helena's father), Olivier Richters-the tall henchman (2m18”!!!), the nice and touching Antonio Banderas part (Renaldo), Shaunette Rene Wilson (an agent like Cleopatra Jones).

It's the first digital Indy and it was shot beautifully by Mangold's attired cinematographer, Phedon Papamichel (from Identity to Le Mans/Ford vs. Ferrari, sans Logan...). Points go to Adam Stockausențs production design (he worked for Wes Anderson and Spielberg-in Bridge of Spies, Ready Player One and West Side Story). You sense the Spielberg touch and homages all the way (making it up as it goes along;).  I have no clue if Lucas was involved. 

In the end credits Mangold's thanks go to Milos Forman and Alexander Mackendrick. Nice.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny it's also the longest film of the series (2h34'min) and the first one without opening credits, plus the Paramount joke on the logo, cos it's the first Disney distributed and so forth...also it's the first to have an underwater sequence (and eels!). If you buy the MacGuffin and gimmick in the final act it's cool, if not bummer, and I have a feeling most of the audience won't :(

The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival one month ago and I heard from then mixed reactions, more pointing to a thumbs down than up...I saw Indy IV in Cannes in 2008 and I really really wanted to like it, but alas...I saw it last time last week and still the final act is horrendous, and it's all Lucas fault. Plus Shia doesn't really shine as Mutt...earlier this year I saw again Indian Jones and the Last Crusade which is my second favourite Indy flick after Raiders of the Lost Ark which I saw 1st time on video when I was 12, one year after its release, on a black and white TV in my house, with another 50 mesmerized people, brought impromptu by a guy I didn't know, and it changed my life (and his;), but that's another story...

Unfortunately BO predix not so good :(, though so...the film cost 295 mill. $ to be made (plus probably another 100 mill $ for marketing and advertising), more than 1000 people worked on it, at Pinewood studios, in Morocco and Sicily,  with New York exteriors, tons of special effects, extras  plus the Covid problems, a lot of post production but also a lot of set dressing and practical effects.

Also in the film can be heard The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour and David Bowie's Space Oddity, cos' it's all happening in 1969...there's a small nod to The Godfather and Nino Rota (1st Sicilian shot, done on a crane I think)...

Anyway, I will go and see it again on that huuuge screen! see if it gets better or not, or holds on to my fearful first but now enthusiastic encounter with a dear dear old friend. Well, we've been friends for 40 years...

T B Concluded...

• "I don't believe in magic. But a few times in my life, I've seen things. Things I can't explain. And I've come to believe it's not so much about what you believe,it's how hard you believe it."
•                                                               dr. Henry Jones Jr. 

RIP Ray Stevenson

The (literally) big (and tall) (Northern) Irishman Ray Stevenson (1m 91) died on May 21st, in Ischia Italy, causes undisclosed (yet). He was supposed to shoot there the Italian flick Cassino in Ischia as Nic Cassino, a film that seemed interesting. 

Stevenson would've been 59 in just four days...:(

He was Frank Castle in The Punisher: War Zone, version of 2008, Porthos in The Three Musketeers, version of 2011, Danny Green in Kill the Irishman, Volstagg in three Thor movies, Redridge in The Book of Eli, DC in The Outpost, Gruner in Cold Skin. All tough guys, some of them too tough to not be played with some dry Irish humor. He was also the super-evil Scott Buxton in last year's Indian mega-hit RRR (that can be seen on Netflix).

He did a lot of TV, from Rome (Titus Pullo) to Black Sails (Blackbeard), Vikings, the new Das Boot and his last part will be the Disney+ Star Wars spin off, Ahsoka, that comes out in August- in which he is the baddie Baylan Skoll.

tributes here

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (& the Awesome Mix too;)

Finally Volume 3 is here! 

Saw it in 3D and it was a pretty good conversion and a pretty bright one.

For a running time of 2h30 I was afraid it will bore the hell out of me but i was uber pleasantly surprised. It is much more emotional than the first two volumes and more ambitious narratively (no spoilers here but follow the teaser poster;), and it makes me put James Gunn as the best director/creator of universes in the MCU (and DC?), and glad he was back at the helm as Disney fired him back in 2019 for some bullshit remarks and the whole cast of the GotG supported him, especially Dave Bautista. Also as Gunn went into being the boss of DC now and not only because of that a fourth GotG volume will not happen, at least with this original members (& cast). So, I can only say that for me it is the best series (trilogy) in the Marvel Universe, the warmest, funniest and surely oddest! And it Rocks;)

I am Groot! 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now the soundtrack, which was the one of the best things about the series, and the innovative way to get it on the incidental side with Quill's walkman and then its improvements. Wrote about them at the time. The first one was the cheesiest, but made it on my top soundtracks of 2014!

https://aldmovieland.blogspot.com/2014/08/guardians-of-galaxy-soundtrack-awesome.html

the second one rocked more for me, and was way more inventive to fill in the film and the narrative -the titles on Mr. Blue Sky (ELO), the analysis of Brandi (Looking Glass), the use of Fleetwood Mac's The Chain and especially Cat Stevens' Father and Son, so yep it went into the top soundtracks of 2017!

https://aldmovieland.blogspot.com/2017/05/guardians-of-galaxy-awesome-mix-vol-2.html

Vol. 3 Awesome Mix is:  way more darker than Vol. 1 & Vol. 2, actually for me with the best selections of songs yet. Very ecclectic but more interesting bands and less cheasier songs.

Creep (acoustic version) - Radiohead

Crazy on You - Heart

Since You Been Gone - Rainbow (grand Rainbow song from 1979's Down to Earth, on a par with Led Zep and Deep Purple's greatest, and a cover ! of an 1976 song by Russ Ballard, as far as I know this is the first appearance of the song in a film!)

In the Meantime - Spacehog (from 1994, I knwe the song but didn't know the band!, the vocal sounds a bit like GnR)

Reasons - Earth, Wind & Fire

Do You Realize?? - The Flaming Lips

We Care A Lot - Faith No More (yes!!!)

Koinu No Carnival - EHAMIC

I'm Always Chasing Rainbows - Alice Cooper  ( I looove the inclusion of the Coop in the soundtrack, with a song from Alice Cooper Goes to Hell-1976, and as coincidences happen, just before going to see the movie I was listening to the Coop From the Inside 1978 album, which I haven't heard since 2019 to be precise !!!) And I'm Always Chasing Rainbows is one of my faved AC songs!

San Francisco - The Mowgli's

Poor Girl - X

This Is the Day - The The

No Sleep Till Brooklyn - Beastie Boys

Dog Days Are Over - Florence + The Machine

Badlands - Bruce Springsteen  (1978, this one I don't get, it plays over the closing credits, nice but a bit pointless, and also it's sort of a dark song, would've loved the Boss doing a new tune for this, yes the idea of the soundtracks of GotG was to be old ones, but on the credits of Vol.2 we got a Hasselhoff and cast remix, so new one)

I Will Dare - The Replacements  (from 1984's Let it Be)

Come and Get Your Love - Redbone (reprise from the 1st GotG movie)

James Gunn says: 

“I snuck my friends The Replacements (‘I Will Dare’) in there. I snuck Alice Cooper (‘I’m Always Chasing Rainbows’), my hero in there, (and it) actually has a pretty big sequence in the movie.”

The music comes with the words with the script, I write it in, but sometimes I change it − some things on this, it was very difficult choosing the music for this movie because in the first two movies, they were all AM, ’70s pop hits.”

Technology introduced at the end of “Vol. 2,” courtesy of Yondu’s gift of a Microsoft Zune digital music player to Quill, expanded that character’s music knowledge and, thus, the song possibilities.

“It's music from the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, 2000s, and I could choose from anything,” he said. “It's at the end of ‘Hurt Locker’ with him looking at all the stuff on the shelves and not knowing how to make this choice, so it was very difficult because of that.

Gunn keeps a list of hundreds of songs that could potentially go in one of his films (see the Peacemaker series which made me discover the excellent and irresistible cheesy  Wig Wam-Do You Wanna Taste it?, which put the Norwegian band back on the map) .

 Needless to say, with something that extensive, not every tune will make the cut because it’s a matter of how the song fits into a scene.

“‘Cruel To Be Kind’ by Nick Lowe has been on every list that I've had for the movies, and I've just never found a place to work it in,” he said.

https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a43782322/guardians-galaxy-3-songs-soundtrack/

OSCARS 2023-who will win (and who won)

OSCARS 2023 -95^th Academy Awards Edition

Here's not who should win, anything from TheBanshees of Inisherin (my faved, see here my top films of 2022) to Elvis (both with 9 nods), not the puzzling Everything Everywhere All At Once (EEAAO), a very OK film but not so overhyped- 11 nominations??? !!! 

And it will win at least 6 awards for sure...(in th end it won Seven!!!)

No Fabelmans, no Triangle of Sadness, no Tar, no Top Gun; Maverick...

of course there can be surprises, as this is the Oscars, and there always are, I hope to be wrong ;)

Now this year I opened a VOYO account to watch live as they announced they will show them in original and dubbed separately. We'll see how this works...AND how did it work was it didn't. The show started at 2 am Ro time and half an hour later their broadcast didn't start. So I closed the account, shameful...luckily I got a link from a friend who faithfully watches them live, Thanks BM :)

BEST FILM: Everything Everywhere All At Once

DIRECTING: The Daniels (Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheiner) -Everything Everywhere All At Once

BEST ACTOR: Brendan Fraser -The Whale

BEST ACTRESS: Michelle Yeoh -EEAAO

SUPPORTING ACTOR: Ke Huy Huan-Everything Everywhere All At Once

SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Jamie Lee Curtis -EEAAO

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Martin McDonagh-The Banshees of Inisherin should've won but Everything Everywhere All At Once won WGA so it's EEAAO

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Women Talking -Sarah Polley (also won WGA)

CINEMATOGRAPHY: Mandy Walker -Elvis (will be the 1st woman DOP winning for a feature film!!!), also won ASC award. (N.A. they gave it to newcomer James Friend for All Quiet...like there was something new that escaped (sir) Roger Deakins when he did 1917 and won his 2nd Oscar there)

EDITING: Elvis, and well Elvis has left the building...EEAAO won this one too...

PRODUCTION DESIGN: Elvis (N.A. All Quiet on the Western Front won)

COSTUME DESIGN: Elvis (Babylon should've won) and it went to Wakanda Forever...

So Black Panther was worthy for the second time???? Same costumes, same designer, another blank they pulled...

SOUND: Elvis vs. Top Gun: Maverick, and Top Gun it is!!!

VISUAL EFFECTS: Top Gun: Maverick (c'mon, wasn't an Avatar enough? can't believe they went with it...)

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING: The Whale

ORIGINAL SCORE: Carter Burwell -Banshees-could win, Justin Hurwitz -Babylon should win'

and ze Germans won...Volker Bertelman for All Quiet on the Western Front (really? :(, and you had John Williams there at 90 years of age and 53 nominations...

ORIGINAL SONG: they all spoke of “Naatu Naatu”  from RRR (which is on Netflix btw), seconded by Rihanna  with “Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

RRR makes history as the first Bollywood song to win!!! Namaste!!!

DOCUMENTARY: Navalny

ANIMATION: Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio  

FOREIGN (INTERNATIONAL) FILM: All Quiet on the Western Front

--------------------------------------------------------Im Westen nichts Neues----------------------------------------

HOST: Jimmy Kimmel (third time's a charm!)

nice entry on a par with Daniel Craig's London Olympics ;)

here's his entrance and opening monologue (see how long it stays on you tube...that Robert Blake joke was mean...:()

Honorary Oscars:

Euzhan Palcy (producer, director)

Diane Warren (muzician)

Peter Weir (director)

Michael J. Fox -humanitary award „Jean Hersholt”.