versiunea 1.3. redux (incl. ROCKLAND & alinland)
Lost masterpiece, horrible misfire, infamous idea, one of the myths I heard all my life was about Jerry Lewis' "lost film" (banned from viewing by Lewis himself), The Day The Clown Cried (1972).
Now it looks the film will be shown this year. So, thee might be hopes to see it in the near future.
Source: Joe Dante
https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts-culture/2024/01/05/jerry-lewis/
Starting this year with a question ;):
Why is the poster of Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia on the wall in True Detective season 2, episode 8, Omega Station, in still photographer Leonard/Lenny's room? Are there supposed to be influences on Nic Pizziolatto's work from the (then) infamous one-of-a-kind Peckinpah master work? At least is noticed on the wikipedia page of the film.
Wonka is the prequel to Roald Dahl's children classic book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964) -back then, when the children fares were bleak and dark and scary, which was cool;). Shamefully, no book by Dahl was ever published in communist Romania. I first hear about him as a screenwiter of Bond (You Only Live Twice) and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
The first film version of the book (which is huge in the world and especilly Anglo-Saxon culture) was called differently, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971, directed by Mel Stuart), with a brilliant Gene Wilder in one of his most beloved parts. Nice songs and dwarves dressed as Oompa Lumpas, but cheesy set design and so so production values and direction. More like a darker Disney childern film of that age.
I guess you have to grow up with the Oompa Loompas, which we didn't. So we just saw that 1971 film because a new version was coming out in 2005, the weirdly creepy Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, directed by Tim Burton, with scary score by Danny Elfman and a Marilyn Manson inspired weird-o performance by Johnny Depp. Freaky and all-in-all a curio misfire.
So the idea of a prequel isn't bad, because it's explained in the book how Wonka was betrayed before by everybody and sacked finally all his workers and from then on he became a recluse and a mystery. Sort of like Howard Hughes ;). I liked specially the idea of the secret Willy's mother kept, 'cos that reflects a secret my father taught me in my childhood.
But the bet standing was to find an actor to be able to stand tall compared to Wilder and Depp and so, Timothee Chalamet was a risky bet but it works. Actually for me it is the 1st time I'm really liking the guy. The director and his vision was also a tricky choice. So, Paul King, the name didn't ring any bell to me. The director of Paddington and Paddington 2, two children films I haven't seen but I heard are very good. Though, something attracted me to Wonka. Might be the chocolate....
Another asset is Hugh Grant, as Lofty, the resourceful Oompa Lumpa, somehow Grant which I couldn't stand in his Rom Com nice boy days I like a lot these days, especially in his collaborations with Guy Ritchie in which he parodies himself silly (The Gentlemen, Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre). he came here via Paddington 2, in which he partook.
Good, inspired music by Jody Talbot and Neil Hannon, the guys from the band The Divine Comedy, Chalamet has a good voice and songs and cues are taken from the 1971 film (the Oompa Loompa song, Pure Imagination, etc.). A lot of the score sounded to me like Alexandre Desplat's music for Grand Budapest Hotel, or in that direction.
Very good choreography and production values a sure plus. The budget sure helps, this is an 125 million $ production, the 1971 film cost then were 3 million $, even compared with inflation it's ten times more, heck of a budget. How many zillions of chocolates it that?
So Many Many how Many Returns, it's a historical day, one for them His Story books...
from now he is Eighty, mr. Keith Richards... the Human Riff, the X-pensive Wino, the Main Offender, the most original Pirate of Rock n Roll...
Do ya think it's a miracle? Neh, he's the man with five strings and nine lives. Maybe Ten. But I'm sure it goes to Eleven ;)
A proof of LIFE, indeed (in deed?), Charlie Watts got to enjoy only two months of his eighties so...think back at Brian Jones who only got 27 years to breathe :( , Lennon got shot at Forty, he would've been 83 now...Bobby Keys, who was born same day as Keith and was his best buddy in the band, died at 70 !, and Robbie Robertson, got to enjoy a month of his Eighties, just after completed his best soundtrack ever, for Killers of the Flower Moon...
so, Happy 4 ya, Keef !!!
see here what I wished him at 70 !
Also the new RS record, Hackney Diamonds is imo the album of the year !
The Stones I've seen Seven times over four decades and six different countries, and yes, now I have the feeling I might see them one more time...
Wicked As it Seems, yeah ;)
