Charlie :(

cui ii pasa ce se-ntimpla in Orientul mijlociu cit timp exista Charlie...Sheen ?
"duh...winning !!!"

Charlie Sheen makes Mel Gibson look MINI and Tom Sizemore look MALIST
=two and a half men (the 1/2 being Charlie ?)
NYMAG a inventat chiar un glosar special pentru el...

Charlie Sheen
proper noun, verb, Sheened, Sheening
1. the actor whose erratic behavior may have cost him his lucrative job as a sitcom lead
2. the perfectly legal, yet dangerous substance that said actor claims to use recreationally, e.g., "I'm on a drug. It's called Charlie Sheen. It's not available. If you try it once, you will die"
3. the act of behaving in a manner akin to this actor, as in Trey Parker and Matt Stone telling David Letterman that they were "Sheening pretty hard" when they cross-dressed at the Oscars

a field day in Hollywood for tabloid press-will Tiger Blood warlock find the Octogon and do what ? Little Laeague 4 ? A foursome ?

“I got a text or something. Here’s another thing — these guys are such yellow cockroaches that they didn’t even have the decency to call me. I put 5 bill[ion] in their cheap suit pockets and another half a bil’ in what’s-his-cheese’s pockets and this is the… respect I get? It’s just deplorable and they should be ashamed of themselves!”

(C. Sheen despre modul cum a fost concediat de WB)
*Mark Cuban in asteapta cu bratele deschise pt un show pe care Sheen il va alege, reality sau else, pe HDNET

scenariul pierdut la Casino Royale

in 1967 producatorul Charles K. Feldman a facut o parodie de prost gust la Bond cu titlul primului roman de Ian Fleming cu Bond, si o gramada de vedete, o catastrofa incredibila,

film ramas infam pina in 2004 cind EON, firma responabila de mostenirea 007 a recuperat drepturile romanului si a relansat franciza cu Daniel Craig.
dar intre 1963 si 1964, anume pina la moartea sa abrupta, legendarul scenarist Ben Hecht a scris mai bine de trei drafturi la scenariul la Casino Royale. Ziarul englez TELEGRAPH a descoperit in ce constau ele. Un articol fascinant care arata cum ar fi putut fi schimbata istoria Bond daca Feldman s-ar fi inteles cu producatorii EON Broccoli si Saltzman si ar fi produs cu ei varianta scrisa de Hecht. Sau i-ar fi dat lui Sean Connery un milion de dolari, cit acesta ar fi cerut sa schimbe barca si sa faca filmul cu el. Connery a facut-o mai tirziu, cind a jucat in remakeul la Thunderball, Never Say Never Again, produs de Kevin McClory, alt productator care a avut drepturi pe un singur roman Bond pe care a a facut gambling pina la sfirsitul vietii. Hecht, supranumit "Shakespeare din Hollywood", a scris thrillere pentru Hitchcock, cel mai notabil Notorious si Spellbound si a marturisit ca "never had more fun writing a movie". Probabil ca ghinionul sortii ne-a privat de cel mai reusit, inteligent si intunecat Bond (ne)facut vreodata :)


The first cover for Casino Royale by Roger Hall
the very first paperback edition of Casino Royale, published in 1955 by Pan.
The series number on the spine is "334".

On Any given Sunday-quotes like these last forever...

"I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's work, banks are going bust, shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Punks are running wild in the street and there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it. We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat, and we sit watching our TVs while some local newscaster tells us that today we had 15 homicides and 63 violent crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to be. We know things are bad - worse than bad. They're crazy. It's like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don't go out anymore. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, 'Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials and I won't say anything. Just leave us alone.' Well, I'm not gonna leave you alone. I want you to get mad! I don't want you to protest. I don't want you to riot - I don't want you to write to your congressman because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. I don't know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street. All I know is that first you've got to get mad. You've got to say, 'I'm a HUMAN BEING, Goddamnit! My life has VALUE!' So I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window. Open it, and stick your head out, and yell, 'I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!' I want you to get up right now, sit up, go to your windows, open them and stick your head out and yell - 'I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!' Things have got to change. But first, you've gotta get mad!... You've got to say, 'I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!' Then we'll figure out what to do about the depression and the inflation and the oil crisis. But first get up out of your chairs, open the window, stick your head out, and yell, and say it: "I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!"

from Network (not The Social...)
where on any of 'em I'm happy I won't go on Monday :)

Unknown (2011)

Hitchcock, Frantic si Bourne, toate impreuna in Berlin iarna fac din Unknown un thriller old-fashioned impachetata ca un puzzle, cu aer european, care putea sa fie mai bun, dar fireste si mult mai prost. Si e un pas mare peste Taken, cu formulaicele action by the numeros ale lui Luc Besson. Am fost fericit cind am vazut siglele Warner Bros/Dark Castle pe film, pentru ca am crezut ca e un alt vehicol Besson dar e un film produs de Joel Silver, in care banii cheltuiti se vad pe ecran si urmaririle de masini nu arata ca cele pariziene, adica turistice !
bazat pe romanul "Out of My Head" de Didier Van Cauwelaert (o alta privire europeana). imi place mai mult titlul romanului, dar probabil prea poetic pt film si prea usor de confundat cu o comedie romantica !!!
exista elementul Polanski (pina la un moment dat flagrant cu Frantic, un element din Ghost Writer-descifrarea codului) si elementul Brian De Palma (secventa din muzeu cu privirile seamana cu cea din muzeul de arta din Dressed to Kill),

-desi mi-a adus aminte si de setpiece-ul din Guggnheim din The International
-iar January Jones arata ca Grace Kelly mai mult ca oricind (si in Mad Men, dar acesta e un film care se vrea contemporan!) ! iar nemtoaica Dian Kruger e Gina, o refugiata bosniaca !
regizorul spaniol Jaume Collet-Serra a facut numai filme americane pina acum si e specializat pe horror (House of Wax, Orphan) si pe fotbal (Goal 2) dar e extrem de eficient. o singura problema, prea mult reclama Mercedes in your face !!!

-cascade impresionante facute 4 real si locatii excelente in centrul Berlinului, plus un aerial de final la fel de old-fashioned (si ca in Frantic !!!)
-minus niste neverosimilitati si mambo jumbo, imbinare moderna de Omul care stia prea mult plus The Wrong Man, cred ca lui Hitchcock i-ar fi placut !!!
hotelul Aldon (azi Aldon-Kempinsky, in buza la Potsdamer Platz si intrarea pe Unten der Linden), excelent folosit (cel de unde si-a balanganit Michael Jackson copilul), reminder hotelul din Foreign Correspondent si aer de Mission: Impossible (primul)!
un interviu excelent cu Liam Neeson aici
3 din 5, poate cu inca un sfert de punct in plus pentru seriozitateea lui Neeson si cu impecabilii Bruno Ganz, Sebastian Koch, Aidan Quinn, si Frank Langella
potential de revizionare: Da!