Alan's Corner

My Favorite Sex Symbols:Angelica Bridges

2012-01-29T11:39:00.000-08:00

Angelica Bridges born on November 20,1973 in Harrisonville,Missouri,is better known for her role as sexy lifeguard Lt.Taylor Walsh in the popular syndicated action adventure TV series BAYWATCH in the shows final season of 1997-1998.She has also appeared in other TV shows such as MORTAL KOMBAT: CONQUEST,as Red Sonya in CONAN THE ADVENTURER,the soap operas DAYS OF OUR LIVES, & THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL,VERONICA MARS,and is the lead singer of the female rock group Strawberry Blonde.Ms. Bridges posed nude for the November 2001 issue of PLAYBOY as well as for FHM and the Russian edition of MAXIM

My Favorite Sex Symbols:Alexandra Paul

2012-01-28T23:48:00.000-08:00

Alexandra Paul aka Alexandra Elizabeth Paul born on July 29,1963 in New York City,NY is most better known as sexy lifeguard Lt. Stephanie Holden in the popular independently syndicated TV action series BAYWATCH(1992-1997). She has also appeared in such films as CHRISTINE(1983),8 MILLION WAYS TO DIE(1986),DRAGNET(1987)SPY HARD(1996),BORAT(2006) and has appeared in such TV series such as BAYWATCH NIGHTS(1997), MELROSE PLACE(1999),THE LOVE BOAT(1998), SPACE:ABOVE AND BEYOND(2001) & SHE SPIES (2003). She has also posed naked and seminude for men's magazines such as Maxim, FHM and Stuff

My Favorite Sex Symbols:Nicole Eggert

2012-01-28T01:08:00.000-08:00

Nicole Eggert aka Nicole Elizabeth Eggert born on January13,1972 in Glendale,California is more famously known for her TV roles as Jamie Powell in the television sitcom CHARLES IN CHARGE(1987-1990) and as sexy lifeguard Summer Quinn in the action adventure TV series BAYWATCH(1992-1994).She has also appeared in such TV series such as WHO'S THE BOSS?,MARRIED WITH CHILDREN,and she has also appeared in such movies as RICH AND FAMOUS(1981),THE CLAN OF THE CAVE BEAR(1986), KINJITE:FORBIDDEN SUBJECTS(1989),THE HAUNTING OF MORELLA(1990), ANNIHILATOR (1986),BLOWN AWAY(1992),THE DEMOLITIONIST(1995), and she has also appeared in such TV reality shows as CELEBRITY FIT CLUB,THE REAL GILLIGAN'S ISLAND & SCOTT BAIO IS 45 AND SINGLE.

The Last Gasp of 3-D Movies?

2012-01-27T04:45:00.000-08:00

Last year,Hollywood and the main movie theater multiplex chains here in America, found out that more than 70 percent of the films released in 2011 in 3-D and Imax didn't deliver well in box office returns compared with the previous two years, especially after the tremendously successful 3-D IMAX theatrical release of AVATAR(2010).Only a very small handful of new 3-D films released in 2011 did garner a good box office return which could mean that this current 3-D movie craze could very well be in a downswing at the box office,just like it happened at the previous 3-D movie fads of the 1950's and 1980's.
But now with the successful theatrical re-release in 3-D & IMAX of Disney's animated film classics THE LION KING(1992) in November of 2011 and BEAUTY AND THE BEAST(1990) in this month of January of 2012,Hollywood and movie theater chains are now scrambling to release in this year,other successful film classics converted in the 3-D IMAX format hoping to repeat the same theatrical box office success that these two Disney classics had recently.Those films are James Cameron's TITANIC(1997), George Lucas' STAR WARS prequel STAR WARS I:THE PHANTOM MENACE(1999) and FINDING NEMO(2003) among others.But this manouever on Hollywood's part to re-release their greatest theatrical box office successes converted to 3-D & IMAX just sounds like a rather desperate attempt of Hollywood movie studios to stay off the decline of popularity of this current 3-D movie trend by today's moviegoing audiences. But what today's Hollywood studios refuse to realize is that current moviegoing audiences are stopping to go to these 3-D movies due to the exorbitant ticket prices being charged for these 3-D films which can easily can go up to $20 dollars for each moviegoer without including the extra price for renting the 3-D glasses to see these movies.Also due to past experiences last year,not all films can be easily converted to 3-D and IMAX and many filmfans have protested about the poor quality of these "converted to 3-D" movies.Finally many moviegoers these days are definitely not going to pay more than $13.50 for these 3-D re-releases of films like TITANIC and STAR WARS I:THE PHANTOM MENACE,especially since movie audiences paid less than 10 dollars to see these films in their original year of theatrical release and besides these films are already available on DVD & BluRay which they can see cheaply these days thru Netflix & Blockbuster.
But if when this latest scheme of Hollywood to save this current 3-D trend backfires(and it will) then possibly they will realize that this current 3-D movie trend has reached the end of it's course and hopefully they will start to give us moviegoers the movies that we deserve to see.

A Tale of Two Kellys

2012-01-26T17:07:00.000-08:00

Normally when I post something here on my daily blog,it is always something regarding the cinema,television, home video,moviegoing,movie reviews and all other things regarding films here in the NYC area.Rarely do I comment here on my blog about any current news items regarding politics,sports, religion or any other subject matter that doesn't have to do anything about the cinema. But sometimes there are exceptions to the rule. An example of this very fact is the news revealed today that regards Commissioner Ray Kelly of the New York City Police Force and his son,Greg Kelly who is an anchorman,TV reporter and co-host of the Fox TV early morning news show GOOD DAY NEW YORK with his co-host Rosanna Scotto.
First it was found out on Monday of this week that an anti Muslim documentary film had been shown to NYC police recruits at the Police Academy and Muslim organizations protested against this biased showing,forcing Commissioner Kelly to apologize about this event and ordering the immediate cessation of the documentary at the NYC Police Academy.But these Muslim organizations protest that Kelly himself participated in that documentary by appearing in that film thru an interview and now these same Islamic religious and political organizations are demanding either the firing or the resignation of Kelly as NYC Police Commissioner. But also yesterday a young female attorney presented charges and allegations that she was sexually assaulted and raped in October of last year by Kelly's son,Greg Kelly who is well known as Fox TV reporter and co-host of Fox TV's GOOD DAY NEW YORK.Although no criminal charges have been filed against Greg Kelly yet,his case was submitted directly to the NYC District Attorney's office since the NYC Police Department couldn't investigate this case because of a possible conflict of interest regarding Commissioner Kelly's own son Greg.
As a result of these serious allegations against Greg Kelly, he requested from Fox TV an undetermined and unlimited "leave of absence" from his post as co-host of GOOD DAY NEW YORK until the DA's office gives up it's final report and determinations about the rape allegations against Kelly.This morning,when I saw GOOD DAY NEW YORK on Channel 5 FOX TV with Kelly's co-host Rossanna Scotto accompanied by temporary co-host Steve Lacy in Kelly's seat,I noticed that Scotto and her temporary co-host were both somewhat uncomfortable reporting the news this morning especially about the allegations presented against their fellow reporter Kelly and even Scotto remarked on camera that "we need a distraction" while all other TV networks were reporting the Kelly rape allegations all this morning.
Although I have personally no sympathy against those individuals who sexually assault and rape women, children and older adults,I know that there are always two sides for every story especially in rape cases which in the end turns out to be a case of "he said,she said".Even though I am certainly not a fan of either Police Commissioner Kelly and his son Greg,I do find it rather suspicious the rape allegations about Greg Kelly appeared in the press a day after the damaging news of the biased Muslim documentary that Commissioner Kelly participated in. Equally suspicious is the fact that Greg Kelly's female accuser made her accusations publically against Kelly after four months of the occurrence of the alleged rape in October of 2011.This could very well be a case of "kicking a man when he is down" regarding the current ongoing movement by Muslim organizations and anti-Police groups in forcing Commisssioner Ray Kelly to resign from his post as head of NYC police either because of this anti-Muslim documentary or the rape allegations presented against his son.
I sincerely hope that the truth will finally turn up regarding these rape allegations presented against Greg Kelly and the anti-Muslin film in which Commissioner Kelly seemingly participated in and that the DA's office report can provide an acceptable answer to these damaging allegations to both Kellys

David Cronenberg Retrospctive at NYC's Museum of the Moving Image

2012-01-25T20:09:00.000-08:00

For all of us science fiction/horror film fans,Canadian writer/director David Cronenberg has been one of the most innovative,influentially unique film directors of the genre,although Cronenberg has not directed a genre film since EXISTENTZ(1998).Therefore it is really significant that the Museum of the Moving Image located at 36-01,35th Avenue in Astoria,Queens,NYC will have a two week film retrospective of fifteen of David Cronenberg's films from January 21st to February 12th 2012 and this weekend of January 28 and 29 will have the screening of Cronenberg's earlier films which all dealt with Cronenberg's favorite topic of the human body rebels against itself physically and mentally in such as THEY CAME FROM WITHIN(1976), RABID (1977),THE BROOD(1978),Cronenberg's first non horror/sci-fi film FAST COMPANY(1979), SCANNERS (1981) and VIDEODROME(1982) in newly restored 35mm prints.For more information about the time of the screenings and to order tickets online,go to their website www.movingimage.us

2012's Oscar Nominations and Oscar Snubs

2012-01-24T18:44:00.000-08:00

This morning the 2012 Academy Award nominations were announced and while the majority of the films that are part of this year's Oscar nominations are no such surprise to anyone who is a film fan but what is most surprisable are those actors,filmmakers and films that weren't even nominated this year, although most of us moviegoers thought that these films that were snubbed by Oscar for this year's awards would have made the list.

The films that did get Oscar nominations for the year 2011 were THE ARTIST(my favorite film of 2011), HARDBALL,THE DESCENDENTS,MIDNIGHT IN PARIS, HUGO,HARRY POTTER & THE DEADLY HARROWS PART 2,EXTREMELY LOUD & INCREDIBLY CLOSE,THE HELP,THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO,ALBERT DUBBS,THE IRON LADY,BRIDESMAIDS, But equally surprising were the films, actors and filmmakers who didn't get nominations this year and therefore were snubbed by the Oscars. Those films were David Chronenberg's A DANGEROUS MIND, DRIVE(my second favorite film of last year),Lars Von Trier's MELANCOLIA,YOUNG ADULT,SHAME while the actors being snubbed by Oscar are Micheal Fassbinder for SHAME & A DANGEROUS MIND,Leonardo Di Caprio for J. EDGAR,Shailene Wooley for THE DESCENDANTS, Ryan Gosling for DRIVE,THE IDES OF MARCH & CRAZY STUPID LOVE,Charlize Theron for YOUNG ADULT,Tilda Swinton for WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN,Elizabeth Olsen for MARTHA MARCY MAE MARLENE.Albert Brooks for DRIVE,Kirsten Dunst for MELANCOLIA and Academy Award winning director Steven Speilberg didn't even got nominated for Best Director for the films,THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN & WARHORSE although both films got Oscar nominations. TINTIN didn't even get the obvious Oscar nomination for Best Animated Film,although the film should had qualified for that nomination since it was an animated film. Neither Elton John nor Madonna got nominated for the Best Song category.Nor did CAPTAIN AMERICA, THOR, X-MEN FIRST CLASS got nominated for Best Special Visual Effects or Best Special Makeup Effects,although RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES did get nominated in those categories.
The results of these nominations that were announced today is that the Oscar ceremonies to be held next February are going to be very predictable and maybe even boring,although there will be at least a couple of surprises and upsets in the announcement of the winners.But I suspect that the film winning the most Oscar awards will be either THE ARTIST or THE DESCENDANTS that got the most nominations, although Martin Scorsese's HUGO got the most nominations with eleven. But my experience in watching the Oscar Award ceremonies on TV for decades is that sometimes a nominated picture with the most Oscar award nominations in reality does get any awards at all and there has been a lot of famous examples of films that didn't get an Oscar for any of the nominations they received from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences.But we movie fans will have to wait until the last week of February to see if any of our 2011 movie favorites that did receive Oscar nominations do manage to get that coveted Oscar award!

DVD Review: GODZILLA/GOJIRA(1954 & 1956) out of

2012-01-23T17:55:00.000-08:00

GOJIRA(1954) & GODZILLA KING OF THE MONSTERS(1956)**** out of **** Directed by Inoshiro Honda(original Japanese version) &Terry Morse(American release version) Starring Raymond Burr(American release version),Akira Takarada,Momoko Kochi,Akihiko Hirata,Takashi Shimiura, Unrated 98 minutes(Japanese version)80 minutes(American version) Released on DVD & BluRay by Criterion Home Video

Although King Kong is my all time favorite giant monster(Kaiju Eiga as they say in Japanese) of the cinema,I have a real soft spot for Godzilla, King Of The Monsters or Gojira as he is originally known in his native Japan.For decades since 1956,the only film version of the first GODZILLA film to be seen in US theaters and US TV stations afterwards was the American release version in English of the film released in 1956 starring Raymond Burr as American reporter Steve Martin that was 80 minutes long with 20 minutes of new footage shot with Burr together with 60 minutes from the original Japanese version.The original Japanese 98 minutes version released in 1954 in Japan as GOJIRA was never seen here in America until a limited theatrical release in 1984 and then in 2004 thru an extended and successful theatrical run by Rialto Films in the US celebrating the 50th anniversary of the film.I had managed to see the original complete Japanese version in 1998 thru a VHS tape of the film released by an Australian home video company and although I had always enjoyed the 1956 American version with Burr,I was immensely entertained and enlightened by seeing this complete Japanese version which is a totally different film compared with the American version.

The original Japanese film version is an allegorical Japanese comment on the threat of nuclear warfare by the US & Russia(symbolized thru Gojira) and a comment of the response of the Japanese people toward the use of nuclear A-Bombs on the towns of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, Japan in May of 1945 by American military forces to end swiftly World War II. While the American version of GODZILLA just makes the film another "giant monster gone amok" that was popular in the 1950's thanks to similar films such as THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS(1953),THEM(1954) & TARANTULA(1855) and there is barely no mention of the anti-nuclear message that is central to the Japanese version. But even with these very distinct and strong differences in message and tone in both film versions,both Godzilla movie versions are quite entertaining despite such differences in presentation and plot with the Godzilla special effects scenes effectively used in both versions.I had the great experience of finally seeing this original version theatrically here in the Film Forum in NYC with a very appreciative enthusiastic audience which enjoyed the film in Japanese with English subtitles.

After Rialto Films released the original complete Japanese version of GOJIRA theatrically here in the US in 2004,there were various DVD release versions of the original version,first thru the Australian DVD company MADMAN the contained both movie versions of GODZILLA in 2004,then there was a British Film Institute DVD release of only the 1954 original version of GODZILLA and finally in 2006,there as a DVD release of the two movie versions of GODZILLA thru Sony Classic Media that until now was considered the definitive video release of both films. But now Criterion Home Video has just released the two GODZILLA films in both DVD & BluRay for the first time in fully digitally enhanced and fully restored high definition versions and after looking at both versions in this Criterion home video release,it has turned out to be a real eye opener for myself as a long time Godzilla fan since Criterion did a superb job in restoring both film versions making them looking absolutely awesome and much better than the 2004 Rialto theatrical release.Even the English subtitles in the original Japanese version look better and much more easier to read.Even the special features extra for this DVD/BluRay release are excellent with a new and really entertaining audio commentary by Godzilla expert David Kalat on both the original Japanese version as well as the American version with Raymond Burr.re video interviews of Akira Takarada who played Ogata in both versions and Haruo Nakajima who played Godzilla in both versions.There is also interviews with Godzilla film composer Akira Ifukube and the remaining Japanese special effects team that worked on the film as well as behind the scenes photo gallery;a documentary called "The Unluckiest Dragon"regarding the 1954 incident of the Japanese fish trailer The Lucky Dragon that was affected by radioactive fallout from a US A-Bomb test in the Pacific that served as inspiration for the Godzilla film and both trailers for the Japanese and American version.In my sincere opinion,Criterion has released the definite and best video release of GODZILLA that will satisfy every Godzilla fan.

My Favorite Sex Symbols:Traci Bingham

2012-01-22T14:11:00.000-08:00

Traci Bingham born on January 13,1968 in Cambridge,Massachusetts is more famously known as sexy lifeguard Jordan Tate on the popular syndicated TV series BAYWATCH from 1996 to 1998.Ms.Bingham has posed naked for Playboy Magazine for a number of occasions in the 1990's especially in the Playboy Pictorial,"Babes of Baywatch" in the June 1998 of the magazine,together with other Baywatch actresses Carmen Electra,Erika Eleniak,Gena Lee Nolin,Yasmine Bleeth,Pamela Anderson,Donna D'Errico and Marliece Andrada.Ms.Bingham has also appeared in other TV shows such as the reality shows THE SURREAL LIFE,GIMME MY REALITY SHOW,CELEBRITY BIG BROTHER,MARRIED WITH CHILDREN,THE DREAM TEAM,STRIP MALL,TO TELL THE TRUTH,BATTLEBOTS,CELEBRITY BOOT CAMP and in motion pictures such as TALES FROM THE CRYPT:DEMON KNIGHT(1995), BEACH MOVIE(1998),LONGSHOT(2000),MAILBOOTY(2003) and BLACK WIDOW(2008)

My Favorite Sex Symbols:Jordan Carver

2012-01-22T07:29:00.000-08:00

Jordan Carver born on January 30,1986 in Trier,Germany is an international glamour model who has a modeling career in California,USA She has appeared nude and seminude in international glamour magazines such as Playboy, Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Amica, Slitz, Zoo, Maxim and Triumph.Ms.Carver is especially well known for her naturally endowed breasts whose breast size are 43HH" and her size measurements are 43HH"-24"-35",height is 5 feet, six inches and weight is 122 pounds.

My Favorite Sex Symbols:Donna D'Errico

2012-01-21T05:18:00.000-08:00

Donna D'Errico was born on March 30,1968 in Dothan,Alabama and she was the Playboy Playmate for the month of September,1995. She is more famous for her role of sexy lifeguard Donna Marco in the popular syndicated TV series BAYWATCH for the years 1996 to 1998 and it's spinoff TV series BAYWATCH NIGHTS for the 1996-1997 season.Ms.D'Errico has also appeared in other TV shows such as MARRIED WITH CHILDREN,SABRINA THE TEENAGE WITCH,RENO 911,BATTLEBOTS,UNHAPPILY EVER AFTER and in the films CANDYMAN:DAY OF THE DEAD(1999), AUSTIN POWERS IN GOLDMEMBER(2002) and INCONCEIVABLE(2008)

Sarah Burke RIP

2012-01-20T23:12:00.000-08:00

It's always sad and tragic when one of our favorite celebrities suddenly passes away at an early age due to an accident or illness.This time it has happened to young Canadian freestyle skier Sarah Burke who died this week at age 29, due to severe head injuries she sustained while practicing on the superpipe at Park City,Utah during her snowboarding training for the 2014 Winter Olympics.Ms.Burke was born on September 3,1982 in Barrie,Ontario,Canada.She practiced the sport of skiing since her teenage days and was a pioneer of the sport of superpipe skiing She was a four time Winter X Games gold medalist and had won the world championship in the halfpipe in 2005.Ms.Burke successfully lobbied the International Olympic Committee to have the event of halfpipe skiing added to the Olympic program for the 2014 Winter Olympics. At the time of her untimely death,Ms.Burke was considered a medal favorite in the halfpipe event.She had posed for such magazines such as MAXIM,FHM and STUFF and was voted number 91 on the FHM list of the US most sexiest women. Ms.Burke will be sorely missed by all of her fans of the sport of halfpipe skiing.

My Favorite Guilty Pleasures on DVD: PLAN NINE FROM OUTER SPACE(1958)* out of **

2012-01-20T17:53:00.000-08:00

PLAN NINE FROM OUTER SPACE(1958)*** out of **** Written and Directed by Edward D.Wood Jr. Starring Bela Lugosi,Vampira,Tor Johnson,Criswell.Gregory Walcott.Mona McKinnon,Tom Keene, Dudley Manlove,Joanna Lee,John Beckinridge,Lyle Talbot,Tom Mason,Paul Marco,Conrad Brooks,Unrated 80 minutes Released by Legend Films

What has been called "the worst film ever made"is really not that at all, although everyone that has ever seen this infamous Ed Wood film agrees that PLAN 9 is a wretchedly made,badly acted,pathetically scripted and directed film .But even those who believe this also believe that PLAN 9 is outrageously funny(although unintentionally so) and is a definite example of those films that are so bad that in reality they are quite fun to watch because of the film's obvious campiness. In the decades of the 60's & 70's,Ed Wood's most notorious and well known film was a constant staple of local TV's Chiller Theater and Fright Night shows that showed low budgeted horror films from the 1950's & 60's and PLAN 9 was a favorite film being screened which scared me as a kid(especially after seeing Vampira!) when I watched that film on Chiller Theater . But one main reason PLAN 9 got it's fame was in 1980 when brothers Micheal and Harry Medved wrote their best selling book on bad cult films called THE FIFTY WORST FILMS OF ALL TIME in which the Medveds had chosen PLAN 9 as the worst film of all time and Ed Wood as the worst film director. Because of this, there has been renewed interest in the film which in turn has given the film much more respect and popular acceptance than the film originally had in it's original 1958 theatrical release and now PLAN 9 is constantly screened at midnight matinees and film retrospectives.

The best aspect if one can call it so,of PLAN 9 is in it's wretched but outrageously funny dialogue contained in Edward D. Wood's "script". One example is the scene when the police arrive on the spot where Inspector Clay played by Swedish wrestler Tor Johnson(BRIDE OF THE MONSTER, THE BLACK SLEEP) was murdered by two animated zombies(Vampira & Bela Lugosi's double) in the cementary and one of the police then says these immortal lines of dialogue:"One thing is sure.Inspector Clay's dead, murdered and somebody's responsable!" In another scene the airline pilot says goodbye to his wife and tells her to stay inside for her protection but then she responds"The flying saucers are up there, the cementary is out there but I'll be inside there(pointing to her house)" Of course the most hilarious line in the film is when one of the aliens says to the humans who have invaded their saucer,"You see, you see! Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" Also viewers of PLAN 9 always watch out for the non existant production values where flying saucers which would look like cheap paper plates are being hold by flimsy strings,tombstones in the cementery are obviously made out of cardboard and a plane's cockpit and the interior of a alien flying saucer are obviously made of cheap drapes, curtains and patio chairs. But the most outrageous thing in PLAN 9 is Ed Wood's crazy insane decision to use his wife's chiropractor to substitute Bela Lugosi in the role of the "Ghoul Man"(since Lugosi had died in the film's pre-production period and had only shot a few minutes of film that Wood used very sparcely in his film) But that the actor neither resembled Lugosi and was even taller than him and Wood instructed the actor to always cover his face with Lugosi's cape to create the illusion(although unsuccessfully) that he is Lugosi! Even with these crazy insane ineptitudes that Wood put into his film,PLAN 9 continues to entertain future generation of filmfans and is much more watchable and entertaining than other notorious films who really deserve to be called "the Worst Films of All Time"than PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE.

Movie Review:HAYWIRE(2012)* out of **

2012-01-19T19:13:00.000-08:00

HAYWIRE(2012)*** OUT OF ****Written by Lem Dobbs and Directed by Steven Sodenburgh. Starring Gina Carrano,Ewan McGregor,Micheal Fasbinder,Micheal Douglas,Bill Paxton,Antonio Banderas, Channing Tatum Rated PG-13 93 minutes Released by Relativity Media

HAYWIRE is director Steven Sodenburgh's second attempt to make a movie star out of a popular female cultural icon. In 2008, Sodenburgh had tried to make a film star out of famed porn star Sasha Grey in THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE,but it didn't work out.This time, Sodenburgh puts famous female martial arts championship fighter Gina Carrano, famous for being part of American Gladiators and also being an undefeated champion of the mixed martial arts United Fighting Championship in her first starring role in a movie vehicle made especially for her,although Carrano had previously had a small acting role in the martial arts actioner BLOOD AND BONE(2009) with Micheal Jai White(SPAWN,BLACK DYNAMITE). But contrary to what happened in THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE, Steven Sodenburgh succeeds in making Gina Carrano a top notch action star in the same league as other action stars such as Jason Stratham,Matt Damon,Sylvester Stallone,Bruce Willis, Arnold Swarzennegger,Jackie Chan and Jet Li with the difference that Ms. Carrano really performs her action and fight scenes in the film unlike other so-called female action stars like Milla Jovovitch, Angelina Jolie and Kate Beckinsale who obviously use stunt doubles in their action scenes. And with added extra that Ms. Carrano performs her acting scenes convincingly by holding her own with her famous and very talented male co-stars such as Douglas,Paxton,McGregor, Banderas,Fassbinder and Tatum

The plot for HAYWIRE is very routine and the weakest aspect of this film, although scripted by frequent Sodenburgh collaborator Lem Dobbs who also had scripted THE LIMEY, OCEANS ELEVEN and KAFKA for Sodenburgh and filmed on location in Barcelona, Spain, Dublin,Ireland and the United States. Carano plays freelance covert operative and former Marine Mallory Kane who does special missions for the US government and after extracting a Chinese scientist from his safe house in Barcelona,then accepts a final mission before her retirement which is accompany an MI6 secret agent played by Micheal Fassbinder to a party reception in Dublin. But it suddenly turns out to be a set up to incriminate her for the murder of the Chinese scientist and to have the British operative to kill her in turn. But due to Ms. Kane's tremendous martial arts skills and Marine smarts,she survives the assassination attempt on her life and she decides to go after her former superiors who betrayed her in order to get even and also to protect her family from harm. This particular plotline has been used before for other martial arts action stars like Chuck Norris in GOOD GUYS WEAR BLACK(1977), Steven Seagal in HARD TO KILL(1989), Arnold Swarzennegger in ERASER(1996), Sylvester Stallone & Kurt Russell in TANGO AND CASH(1989) and even the other famous female martial arts film star Cynthia Rothrock in OUTSIDE THE LAW(2001).But Carano acquits herself very well in HAYWIRE with not only her superb martial arts expertise but also she is not bad at all acting against such great actors as Micheal Douglas, Bill Paxton, Antonio Banderas,Ewan McGregor,Micheal Fassbinder and Channing Tatum.Ms.Carano's three fight scenes with Channing Tatum,Micheal Fassbinder and Ewan McGregor are very brutal, realistic and well effectively choreographed(contrary to the usual movie "stylized" fights scenes in films such as THE MATRIX, MORTAL COMBAT, THE TRANSPORTER) and Ms. Carano demonstrates great physical stamina in her other action scenes such as the scene in which Ms. Carano must elude capture by the Dublin police by jumping over rooftops of very high buildings and when she attacks her pursuers in total darkness "ninja style" in her father's home. HAYWIRE is really an "thinking man's" action film than the usual routine all action to the wall film thriller that we moviegoers are accostumed to and Ms. Carano's performance in this film has very well impressed me so much that I can't wait to see her next film. But only if Ms. Carano gets really good scripts , film directors and co-stars that would continue to make her look so good on screen,then she can officially be a number one American female action star, which is something that has eluded that other famous female martial arts movie star, Cynthia Rothrock who did action films in the 1980's and 90's.

Gina Carrano:Hollywood's New Female Action Star

2012-01-18T18:00:00.000-08:00

This upcoming Friday will be the theatrical release of Steven Sodenburgh's new thriller film, HAYWIRE (2012) that marks the first starring lead role for famed female martial arts fighter Gina Carrano who is famous for being a member of American Gladiators and undefeated American female champion of mixed martial arts Ms. Carrano who was born on April 16, 1982 in Dallas,Texas and is trained in the "Muay Thai"martial arts and is an expert kickboxer having an undefeated world record of her fight bouts in the female fighting category in the MMA(Mixed Martial Arts) of the UFC(Ultimate Fighting Championship)nickname of "Conviction".Ms. Carano also starred as herself in the TV reality show FIGHT GIRLS and is well known under the fighting nickname of "Conviction".Ms. Carano appeared as herself in the TV reality show FIGHT GIRLS(2005) and then in the new version of the TV series AMERICAN GLADIATORS(2008) as the female fighter "Crush". Her first screen appearance was in the action film,BLOOD AND BONE(2009) starring Micheal Jai White (SPAWN, BLACK DYNAMITE) Last night I saw a sneak preview screening of Ms. Carano's new action film HAYWIRE and I was tremendously impressed by both Ms.Carano's powerful action skills, her prowess in doing her action stunts in the film and surprisingly her acting skills.Ms. Carano could be the first real female action star to hit the mainstream film business in Hollywood since Cynthia Rothrock in the 1980's & 90's, but it all depends if Ms. Carano get good leading roles in action films with good scripts, cast and directors.

My Favorite Cult Actors:James Coburn

2012-01-17T03:14:00.000-08:00

Here I am going to start a new section on ALAN'S CORNER in which I will write about my favorite all time film and TV actors and actresses and today I am starting out with that great leading man and character actor who is one of my favorites:James Coburn.Mr. Coburn was born on August 31,1928(which also happens to be the same day I was born) in Laurel,Nebraska and died on November 18, 2002 in Beverly Hills,California. Coburn appeared in about 70 films and made more than 100 TV appearances in various types of television shows in his 45 year career as an actor. Coburn was well known as a capable leading man as well as a great character actor with his trademark toothy grin and lanky athletic body especially in Westerns and action films. He studied acting under Stella Adler and Jeff Corey and made his first screen appearance in the Randolph Scott Western RIDE LOMESOME(1959) and then caught the eye of famed action film director John Sturges (GUNFIGHT AT THE OK CORRAL,BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK)who then cast him together with his other actor friends Steve McQueen and Charles Bronson in first THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN(1960) and then in THE GREAT ESCAPE(1963),of which both these popular films created for Coburn a very cool and stylistic screen image that he shared with actors like McQueen, Bronson,Lee Marvin and James Garner. After doing great supporting performances in such variety of films as CHARADE(1963), HELL IS FOR HEROES (1961),THE AMERICANIZATION OF EMILY(1964),MAJOR DUNDEE(1965), Coburn finally had his chance to do his first starring role as superspy Derek Flint in the very popular James Bond spoof OUR MAN FLINT(1966) which also lead to the sequel IN LIKE FLINT(1967). Coburn then appeared as the star of such films such as DEAD HEAT ON A MERRY GO ROUND(1966),THE PRESIDENT'S ANAYLST (1967),DUCK YOU SUCKER(1972),PAT GARRETT & BILLY THE KID(1973),THE CAREY TREATMENT(1971),SKY RIDERS(1976),THE LAST OF SHEILA(1975),MIDWAY(1976),THE LAST HARD MEN(1976),HARD TIMES(1976) & CROSS OF IRON(1977). But a severe bout of rheumetoid arthritis greatly affected Coburn's career in the 1980's in which he made very few screen & TV appearances. Coburn recovered somewhat from his condition to be able to return making such films in the 1990's such as ERASER(1996),THE NUTTY PROFESSOR 1995 remake with Eddie Murphy,SISTER ACT II(1994), and the Westerns YOUNG GUNS II(1990) and MAVERICK(1992). Coburn finally won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for the drama AFFLICTION(1997) in which he co-starred with Nick Nolte and Sissy Spacek. When he passed away in 2002,the film world had lost one of the coolest, stylistic and best character actors ever who liking hasn't been replaced even today!

In my honest opinion as a film fan, here is my list of James Coburn's best films:
1.OUR MAN FLINT(1966)
2. IN LIKE FLINT(1967)
3.AFFLICTION(1997)
4.DUCK YOU SUCKER(1972)
5.THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN(1960)
6. THE GREAT ESCAPE(1963)
7.MAJOR DUNDEE(1965)
8.THE AMERICANIZATION OF EMILY(1964)
9.THE PRESIDENT'S ANAYLST(1967)
10.HARD TIMES(1976)
11.THE LAST HARD MEN(1976)
12.DEAD HEAT ON A MERRY GO ROUND(1966)
13.CHARADE(1963)
14.CROSS OF IRON(1977)

My Favorite Sex Symbols: Gena Lee Nolin

2012-01-16T02:34:00.000-08:00

Gena Lee Nolin was born on November 29,1971 in Duluth,Minnesota and is more famously known in the role of lifeguard Neely Capshaw in the popular 1990's TV series BAYWATCH from 1995 to 1998. She first was known as one of TV game show host Bob Barker's Beauties on THE PRICE IS RIGHT in 1994 and afterwards appeared in the TV soap opera THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS for a year.After quitting BAYWATCH, Ms.Nolin first hosted the TV variety game show THAT'S INCREDIBLE in 1998,she then starred in the syndicated TV adventure series SHEENA QUEEN OF THE JUNGLE from 2000 to 2002. She has posed nude for MAXIM and PLAYBOY Magazine Ms Nolin has been married three times and she had appeared in a video sex tape in 1995made by one of her ex husbands that has then circulated on the Internet.

My Favorite Sex Symbols:Jenna Jameson

2012-01-15T04:27:00.000-08:00

Jenna Jameson born as Jenna Marie Massoli on April 9, 1974 in Las Vegas,Nevada, the daughter of a Las Vegas policeman and a Las Vegas showgirl who died when Ms. Jameson was two years old. Jameson is better known as the most famous and popular adult film star of the last twenty years and has the nickname of the "Queen of Porn". She first started out at age 18, fresh out of high school as a stripper at a Las Vegas strip joint.She tried to follow her mother's career as as Vegas showgirl but was considered too short for the typical height required for the job which was 5 feet, 8 inches tall.Then following the advice of her boyfriend,she became a pornstar first thru Vivid Video for briefly a year, then thru Wicked Pictures which made her a really big star in porn films thruout the 1990's, earning her various awards for her performances in XXX rated films. Her first mainstream film appearance was as herself in PRIVATE PARTS(1997) the film biography of radio shock jock Howard Stern based on his autobiography. She then made appearances in TV shows such as E! Channel's TALK SOUP, WILD ON and THE HOWARD STERN SHOW as well as other shows such as FAMILY GUY, MR. STERLING and JENNA'S AMERICAN SEX STAR on PLAYBOY TV. She has also appeared in the horror films EVIL BREED:THE LEGEND OF SAMHEIN(2005) & ZOMBIE STRIPPERS(2008) as well as the sex comedy PORN N' CHICKEN(2002) Ms. Jameson has also written her autobiography,HOW TO MAKE LOVE LIKE A PORN STAR in 2004 which became a national best seller. Ms.Jameson was married twice:first to porn star director Brad Armstrong(1996-2000) and then to Jay Gradina aka adult film star/director Justin Sterling(2002-2006) and then had twin sons thru her romantic relatiionship with UFC martial arts champion Tito Ortiz. In 2001,Jameson left Wicked Pictures to rejoin Vivid Video but not only as a pornstar but also as producer/director of her own films thru her production company Club Jenna. Finally in 2007, Jenna Jameson officially retired from the adult film industry to raise her two sons and also to pursue her mainstream acting career in TV & films.

My Favorite Sex Symbols:Pamela Anderson

2012-01-14T23:56:00.000-08:00

Pamela Anderson aka Pamela Denise Anderson aka Pamela Anderson Lee was born on July 1,1967 in Ladysmith, British Columbia,Canada.Ms.Anderson is possibly the most popular Playmate that has ever appeared in Playboy Magazine since she has appeared on more Playboy covers than any other Playmate in the magazine's history,even though Ms. Anderson only became Playmate for the month of February of 1990 but was not chosen for Playboy Playmate Of The Year for 1990.Ms. Anderson first started her acting career appearing as the "Tool Time Girl" for the first two seasons of Tim Allen's popular TV sitcom, HOME IMPROVEMENT and then became worldwide famous as sexy lifeguard C. J. Parker in the popular BAYWATCH TV series for five years and then starred in the independent TV action series VIP for four years. She then appeared in the short lived TV sitcom STACKED in 2005. She has also appeared in other TV shows such as THE NANNY,DANCING WITH THE STARS,BIG BROTHER, MARRIED WITH CHILDREN, CHARLES IN CHARGE,the soap opera DAYS OF OUR LIVES,MIKE HAMMER, FUTURAMA,MAD TV,SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE and FAMILY MAN She also starred in the TV animated series STRIPERELLA for one season in 2004 for Comedy Central and had a reality TV show on E! called PAM:GIRL ON THE LOOSE in 2008. She has also appeared in such films as RAW JUSTICE (1994),THE TAKING OF BEVERLY HILLS(1991), SNAPDRAGON(1993),NAKED SOULS(1995), the TV revival film BAYWATCH: FORBIDDEN PARADISE(1995) & BAYWATCH: HAWAIIAN WEDDING(2003). SCOOBY DOO(2002),SCARY MOVIE 3(2003),SUPERHERO MOVIE(2008), BLONDE AND BLONDER(2009),BORAT(2006) and had her only starring role in the comic book movie BARB WIRE(1996) which was a critical and box office failure. Besides appearing various times in Playboy, Ms. Anderson has also posed for GQ, STUFF, FHM and MAXIM. and she contracted hepatitus C virus from her ex-husband Tommy Lee from sharing tattoo needles.She has married three time to Motley Crue rocker Tommy Lee,rapper Kid Rock and entrepreneur Rick Solomon, whose marriage was annulled by Ms. Anderson's request.She has two sons from her marriage to Tommy Lee and is also an avid supporter of the animal rights group PETA.

My Favorite Sex Symbols:Carmen Electra

2012-01-14T02:12:00.000-08:00

Carmen Electra born originally under the name of Tara Lynn Patrick was born on April 20,1972 in Sharonville,Ohio and is an actress,model,singer,dancer and TV personality.Her first performance was in 1992 as a dancer where she met the rock star Prince who changed her nameprofessionally to Carmen Electra and then gave her a recording contract.In 1996,she then posed naked for Playboy magazine and that exposure got her a role in the popular TV series BAYWATCH and the MTV game show SINGLED OUT replacing former female co-host,Playboy Playmate Jenny McCarthy. Ms. Electra has posed naked five times for Playboy Magazine and has been on that magazine's cover three times.She has appeared in such films as GOOD BURGER (1997), AMERICAN VAMPIRE(1996),SCARY MOVIE(2000),SCARY MOVIE 4(2004), DATE MOVIE(2006),EPIC MOVIE(2007),MEET THE SPARTANS(2008),DISASTER MOVIE(2008), STARSKY AND HUTCH(2004).She has also guested on such TV shows as TRIPPING THE RIFF (2005),HOUSE(2008),SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE(2011),BAYWATCH NIGHTS(1996), 1997)PACIFIC BLUE(1997),JUST SHOOT ME(1997),THE SIMPSONS(2002), MONK(2004), AMERICAN DAD(2005),JOEY(2007).Ms. Electra was married two times: first to basketball player Dennis Rodman from 1998 to 1999 and then to rock musician Dave Navarro from 2003 to 2007 with whom she did a reality Tv show on MTV called TILL DEATH DO US PART:CARMEN & DAVE.

DVD Review:SKY RIDERS(1976)1/2 out of & THE LAST HARD MEN(1976)* out of ****

2012-01-13T04:37:00.000-08:00

THE LAST HARD MEN(1976)*** out of **** Directed by Andrew McLaglen Starring Charlton Heston, James Coburn,Barbara Hershey,Micheal Parks,Jorge Rivero Rated R 98 minutes and SKY RIDERS(1976) **1/2 out of **** Directed by Douglas Hickok Starring James Coburn,Sussanah York,Robert Culp,Charles Aznavour Rated PG 96 minutes Released by Shout Factory Home Video

Shout Factory Home Video has just released two of James Coburn's films that he made in 1976 for 20th Century Fox on DVD.The brutal western THE LAST HARD MEN co-starring Charlton Heston(BEN HUR) and SKY RIDERS co-starring Sussanah York(TOM JONES) and Robert Culp(TV's I SPY). The first film is a rather brutal Western in the Sam Peckinpaw mode directed by Andrew McLaglen(MCLINTOCK,THE WILD GEESE) in which Coburn plays the sadistic hardened criminal Zach Provo who escapes from prison with his gang to take revenge against the lawman who sent him to prison and was responsable for the death of his wife,Marshall Sam Brigade played by Charlton Heston.Provo kidnaps Brigade's daughter played by Barbara Hershey(BEACHES) in order to lure Brigade into a deadly trap.So Brigade goes after Provo with the help of a posse made out of Micheal Parks(KILL BILL,PLANET TERROR) and Christopher Mitchum son of famed movie star Robert Mitchum. The film is quite violent and bloody for it's time with scenes of graphic rape but both Coburn and Heston are equally excellent in their roles of violent rivals with Barbara Hershey as a standout as Heston's harried daughter.Shout Factory has released the film in anamorphic widescreen with the film's theatrical trailer as the DVD's only extra.

SKY RIDERS on the other hand is an rather okay routine action adventure film that exploits at the time this film was made the sky riding kite craze that also appeared in such films of the 1970's such as the Bond film LIVE AND LET DIE(1973) and the martial arts film THE MAN FROM HONG KONG aka THE DRAGON FLIES(1975). Coburn plays an adventurer Jim McCabe who is contracted by millionaire Jonas Bracken played by Robert Culp to rescue his wife played by Sussanah York and his children who were kidnapped by terrorists. McCabe agrees to accept the mission, especially since Bracken's wife used to be his former wife and he decides to use a team of hang glider riders to get access to the tall mountaintop castle where his ex wife and children are being held captive. The hang gliders scenes are the best thing in the film but occur only in the climax of this movie. Coburn is quite right in his role as always and so are Ms. York and Robert Culp. This DVD has the film in anamorphic widescreen with the film's theatrical trailer as the only special feature on the DVD.

DVD Review:BOEING BOEING(1965)*1/2 out of **

2012-01-12T04:22:00.000-08:00

BOEING BOEING(1965)*** 1/2 out of **** Directed by John Rich,Starring Tony Curtis,Jerry Lewis, Suzanna Leigh,Dany Saval, Christine Schmidtmer,Thelma Ritter 102 minutes Rated G Released by Paramount Pictures and Olive Films Home Video

BOEING BOEING is the last comedy that Jerry Lewis did for his main film studio Paramount Pictures(from which Lewis started in 1948 with his then partner Dean Martin) and marks the first time he teams up with another Hollywood star Tony Curtis in a film since his Martin & Lewis days.As such,the film is a very frenzied but funny sexual farce with two very good and amusing performances by the two main stars.Based on a popular French farce written by Marc Camoletti that was a 1960 Broadway hit,it deals with a lecherous American reporter played by Tony Curtis stationed in Paris who has a very convenient romantic situation with three beautiful stewardesses or "air hostesses" (as they were called in the 1960's when this film was made) who each are engaged to Curtis as fiances without really knowing each other,because each of them work for a different airline(the British stewardess works for British Airlines,the French one works for Air France and the German one works for Lufthansa) and Curtis fully takes advantage of this situation.But things get very complicated when all three stewardesses have their flying schedules changed by the then newest advantages in faster air travel which threaten to make all three girls appear in Curtis' apartment at the same time.Finally Curtis's equally lecherous reporter friend played by Lewis appears to stay with Curtis at his apartment in Paris and then try to make romantic advances to all three girls much to Curtis' chagrin and dismay.

Both Curtis and Lewis demonstrate having great comedic chemistry acting together in this film and also this film proves to be an anormaly in Jerry Lewis' film career since Lewis is not playing for the first time his usual "big jerk or kid" role that he has made famous since the beginning of his career and here he plays a rather mature adult character or "straight man" type role in this film while Curtis plays the more frenzied comedic role,which ironically he did in another film comedy WHO WAS THAT LADY(1960) when Curtis teamed up with Lewis' former comedic partner,Dean Martin. The great character actress,Thelma Ritter(MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET) is hilarious as Curtis' long suffering maid who fully assists into the charade Curtis has with his three fiancees. The three lovely actresses who play the stewardesses in the film,Suzanna Leigh(DEADLIER THAN THE MALE,LUST FOR A VAMPIRE),Dany Saval (Disney's MOON PILOT) and Christine Schmidtmer(SHIP OF FOOLS) prove to be capable and charming comedic foils for both Curtis and Lewis. The film also benefits from a zesty humorous score by Neal Hefti(TV's BATMAN,HOW TO MURDER YOUR WIFE,THE ODD COUPLE) and fast paced direction by John Rich. This Olive Films Home Video DVD has the film in anamorphic widescreen with the film's humorous trailer as it's only DVD extra.

My Views About My First Movie Screening of 2012

2012-01-11T03:26:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday,I went for my first movie screening of the year 2012 which was a free screening of Showtime Cable TV's premier episodes for their cable series SHAMELESS starring William H.Macy & Emmy Rossen now starting it's second season and the new series HOUSE OF LIES starring Don Cheadle at the Landmark Sunshine Theater located in Lower Manhattan,NYC. What I saw at this screening is a kind of confirmation of what I as a moviegoer here in New York City, currently has noticed been happening these past two years of my moviegoing experience here in Manhattan which in a way serves as a microcosm of what has moviegoers here in America have been experiencing.

First of all, contrary to other free movie screenings I have gone to at the Landmark Sunshine Theater these past few years,there was no line of moviegoers that usually is waiting outside the theater for the screening because the waiting line was waiting inside the theater lobby.This is really not bad because one feels more comfortable waiting inside the theater than outside,especially during the cold winter season.But there was such a disorganization by both the representatives of this Showtime screening and the theater employees in that everyone that was waiting in the lobby for the screening was not organized in a single waiting line that is usually done for these kind of screenings.Therefore at almost 6:30PM which was a half hour before the screening started,there was so many people waiting in the lobby(almost 200) that the theater manager of the Sunshine Theater had to convince the organizers of the Showtime screening to start giving the passes to the waiting audience members so that they can first get their free popcorn and soda at the concession stand and then go downstairs to the screening room to make another waiting line outside that screening room(since there was a screening there already in progress and about to end) before getting in at the 7PM screening time.But there was pandemonium when all the waiting audience there wanted passes at the same time and somewhat overwhelmed the Showtime representatives at their table. Also those same audience members then crowded the concession stand to get their free popcorn and soda while others who had more common sense & went downstairs to the other waiting line next to the screening room and sent other people to get their popcorn and soda. I myself took the precautions in bringing my own candy(hidden in my jacket) as I always do when I go to the movies so I got a real good position at the waiting line.But the Sunshine theater employees had a tough time trying to control this waiting line to be relatively quiet while waiting so the previous screening being held would not be disrupted by the noise of those at the waiting line. Since there was more than 200 people on that waiting line,it was very futile trying to tell those waiting on line to keep it quiet

Finally just before 7PM,we were permitted to enter the screening room and get our seats and I was lucky to get a really good seat in the last row next to the projection booth.Within minutes the whole screening room auditorium was filled up by all the moviegoers that were waiting for that screening.But I noticed some strange anormalies while waiting for that screening to start.First of all a very obese moviegoer going down the theater aisle to his seat carrying his big popcorn bag and large soda.suddenly tripped and fell and it looked for an instance that he had some real trouble getting up because of his weight. Although a young representative of Showtime was right next to that fallen moviegoer and the theater manager present at the entrance of the screening room had just seen that moviegoer fall,neither of them did anything to help that moviegoer get up.It was a couple of moviegoers seated nearby that fallen moviegoer who finally became the good samaritans in helping that person get to his feet. Then when the screening finally started,the theater was so full that there were even some people standing in the back of the screening room which could be a violation of the Fire Marshall Code rules of the limit of how many people can be permitted to seat safely in a movie theater. This free screening(which by the way I enjoyed) proves to me first that due to extravagant current high cost of movie tickets,more moviegoers are seeking out free movie screenings to any kind of movie,even to two preview episodes of Showtime TV shows,especially if free popcorn and soda are being offered that can save moviegoers a lot of money. Second,this screening clearly shows that today's movie ushers and theater managers are ill equipped to handle movie audiences especially if they are waiting for a screening and they don't real care for the moviegoer's well being at the screening since all they care is that the moviegoers have their tickets for the screening and that these moviegoers immediately leave the screening room once the movie is over. Which is very different than what use to happen at the movies more than thirty years ago when ushers really cared to help moviegoers into the screening room and getting into their seats and to police the screening room with flashlights to see that the screening happens without any problems. This kind of prove my point of what is currently wrong with movie theaters today and why less moviegoers are going to the nearest movie theater and therefore prefer to see the latest movies at home with comfort.

Why Kim Novak Has A Beef Against THE ARTIST

2012-01-10T04:17:00.000-08:00

Famed Hollywood movie star and sex symbol of the 1950's & 60's Kim Novak,who was the leading lady in Alfred Hitchcock's classic 1958 thriller,VERTIGO, has just come out of decades of her retirement and seclusion from Hollywood to complain about the use of Oscar winning film composer Bernard Herrmann's famous love theme from VERTIGO in a sequence in the new silent film homage THE ARTIST(2011). According to Ms.Novak, the usage of Herrmann's lovely romantic theme for VERTIGO is completely inappropiate to use in any manner or form in THE ARTIST since in her opinion,Herrmann composed that particular theme only for VERTIGO and neither Herrmann,Hitchcock or her VERTIGO leading man James Stewart are currently not alive today to protest against this usage of the VERTIGO love theme.
Although I have been a lifetime fan of Ms.Novak and the great films that she has done in the 1950's & 60's such as PICNIC(1955),PAL JOEY(1958),THE NOTORIOUS LANDLADY(1961),THE EDDY DUCHIN STORY(1956) and BELL BOOK& CANDLE(1958), I really disagree with her opinion regarding the usage of the VERTIGO love theme in THE ARTIST and her statement that such a usage constitutes a "rape" of that famous musical theme is totally incorrect,although Ms.Novak is fully entitled to voice her opinion no matter how erroneous it may be. First of all,it seems that Ms. Novak is completely out of step with today's cinematic trends especially in the last 40 years.Hollywood has always used movie themes from one movie to use in another movie,especially if it is an homage or used to underscore another movie. Two examples are Henry Mancini's famous theme for THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON (1954) made for Universal Studios that not only used that same theme for the two Creature sequels,but also as an underscore for the Japanese monster film,KING KONG VS.GODZILLA(1963) which the American release version was also released by Universal. The other example is the opening credits of THE PINK PANTHER STRIKES AGAIN(1976) composed by Henry Mancini that not only uses Mancini's Pink Panther theme,but also the BATMAN TV theme,the SOUND OF MUSIC theme,the theme from JAWS and the SINGING IN THE RAIN(1952) theme all for comedic effect. None of the various famous film composers complained then to Mancini for his usage of their themes for that film. Another famous film composer Ennio Morricone has had various of his film themes used in other movies such as Quintin Tarentino's usage of Morricone's themes for KILL BILL & INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS and Matthew Vaughn's use of Morricone's theme for FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE for his film KICKASS (2010) and Morricone did not complain in either case for the usage of his music and he was well compensated by both directors for the use of his music in their films.
I remember very well when I was a kid, seeing the Jerry Lewis comedy THE GEISHA BOY(1959) in which he used the famous movie theme of THE BRIDGE OF THE RIVER KWAI(1957) for comedic effect and later in the 1970's .the two James Bond 007 films THE SPY WHO LOVED ME (1977) and MOONRAKER (1979) used the LAWRENCE OF ARABIA(1962) theme as well as the CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND(1977) and Elmer Bernstein's famous THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (1960) theme and neither Malcolm Arnold,Elmer Bernstein,John Williams nor Maurice Jarre complained about this usage of their movie themes in these other movies. Also the Zucker brothers used the famous JAWS theme for their opening sequence in AIRPLANE(1980) and Gus Van Sant commissioned film composer Danny Elfman to use Bernard Herrmann's famous complete score for the original PSYCHO(1960) for the 1998 remake and once again neither John Williams or the estate of Bernard Herrmann complained against such usage of those scores.
First of all,it is my learned opinion that only the Estate of Bernard Herrmann can legally object to the usage of his famous movie scores in another movie if they consider such usage an insult to Herrmann's musical legacy in cinema and it can't be Kim Novak's right to speak on their behalf since she has no standing to do so.But it is correct to assume that Michel Hazanavicius writer and director of THE ARTIST had asked the Herrmann Estate for permission for the usage of the VERTIGO love scene and such Estate gave their full consent to Hazanavicius to use that theme and that the Estate was paid handsomely by Hazanavicius for the usage of Hermann's music. That's why Hazanavicius gave thanks to the Estate of Bernard Herrmann in the end credits of THE ARTIST and even Ms. Kim Novak has acknowledged this fact in her remarks.
Ms.Novak can't also speak for her VERTIGO leading man James Stewart,nor for her director,Alfred Hitchcock both deceased,especially since Hitchcock was quite fond of the many cinematic homages to his movies such as Mel Brooks HIGH ANXIETY(1978), Francois Truffault's THE BRIDE WORE BLACK (1968) and especially Brian De Palma's SISTERS(1973) and OBSESSION(1976),in which Bernard Herrmann himself did homages to his own scores for Hitchcock's PSYCHO & VERTIGO respectively.It is so unfortunate that Ms.Novak is so out of touch with today's movies and times that she can't realize that Hazanavicius usage of Hermmann's VERTIGO love theme in a pivotal scene in THE ARTIST is very well used for that particular scene which is a suspenseful and romantic one and that the usage of that music serves as a well honored homage to both Hitchcock and especially for Herrmann

My Favorite Guilty Pleasures On DVD:ED WOOD(1993) out of

2012-01-09T02:13:00.000-08:00

ED WOOD(1993)**** out of **** Directed by Tim Burton Starring Johnny Depp,Martin Landau,Bill Murray, Sarah Jessica Parker,Patricia Arquette,Juliet Landau,Lisa Marie Smith, George "the Animal" Steele,Jeffrey Jones Filmed in Black & White Rated R 127 minutes Released by Touchstone Home Video

Ironically this is a great film about the filmmaker who was considered "the worst film director of all time" and who was notoriously known for making 'the worst films of movie history":Ed Wood Jr. Tim Burton who is considered one of Hollywood's most talented "eccentric" movie directors,demonstrates to have a kinship with Wood by doing this marvelously entertaining film biography that covers the most notorious period of Wood's film career between 1953 and 1958 in which Wood wrote & directed his most known "bad" films, GLEN OR GLENDA(1955),BRIDE OF THE MONSTER(1956) and especially Wood's most infamous cult film, PLAN NINE FROM OUTER SPACE(1958),all starring fallen, down and out horror film star Bela Lugosi in his final years of his career until his death in 1956 and who had a strange friendship with Wood. The film also covers very successfully and with tact, Wood's fetish for crossdressing and for being a straight transvestite as well as the state of low budget bargain basement exploitation films in the 1950's. Thankfully Burton paints a most very sympathetic picture of Wood and his group of lovable losers,bad actors and misfits,even though the films Wood made and was most famous for,a were all badly directed,scripted and acted with non existant production values and film quality.

The excellent,witty and entertaining script by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski covers very well in an affectionate manner this period in Wood's life and career, although it also plays somewhat fast and loose with some well known facts in both Wood's and Lugosi's life. Tim Burton demonstrates in this film what could well be considered his best film direction in his whole career including BEETLEJUICE(1988), BATMAN(1989), EDWARD SCISSORHANDS(1991) through his cinematic approach regarding the friendship between Ed Wood Jr. and Bela Lugosi which echoes Burton's real life friendship with famed horror movie star Vincent Price.The acting by the film's cast is absolutely topnotch by the whole cast,especially Johnny Depp in his uncanny portrayal of Wood and most especially Martin Landau in his Oscar winning performance of Bela Lugosi assisted by the Academy Award winning makeup by Rick Baker. Both Lisa Marie and George"The Animal"Steele are definitely spot on in their portrayals of cult horror stars Vampira and Tor Johnson. The black and white cinematography expertly creates the right ambiance and atmosphere in recreating the 1950 period the film depicts and the world of Ed Wood and the quirky theramin score by Howard Shore is a wonderful complement to this film.The DVD of this film has a greatly entertaining and fun audio commentary by director Burton, producer Denise De Novi, writers Alexander & Karaszewski and actor Martin Landau. It also has a music video, featurettes on the making of the film, bloopers,deleted scenes and the film's theatrical trailer plus the film is in anamorphic widescreen.

My Favorite Cult Actresses:Juliet Landau

2012-01-08T05:24:00.000-08:00

Juliet Landau also known as Juliet Rose Landau was born on March 30,1965 in Los Angeles,California and is the daughter of Oscar winner Martin Landau and Emmy Award winning actress Barbara Bain(who both worked together on the cult TV series,MISSION IMPOSSIBLE and SPACE:1999.)She was trained as a classical dancer in ballet from an early age.Her first screen appearance was in Tim Burton's film ED WOOD(1993) as B-movie actress Loretta King,working with her father Martin Landau who portrayed horror film star Bela Lugosi in the film(and won a Best Supporting Oscar for his role) Ms. Landau is most known for her role as the vampire Drusilla in the cult TV series BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER and it's spinoff, ANGEL.She has done many independent films including THE TOOLBOX MURDERS(2003), HACK(2002) and TV series such as MILLENNIUM, STRONG MEDICINE,LA FEMME NIKITA as well as outstanding work in theater and has just started working as a film director in short documentaries.

My Favorite Sex Symbols:Vanessa Ferlito

2012-01-07T07:04:00.000-08:00

Vanessa Ferlito was born in Brooklyn,New York on December 28,1980 and as an actress,she is most known for her roles as Detective Aiden Burn on the first season of the TV crime drama CSI:NY & also as a guest on CSI:MIAMI and as Federal Agent Claudia Hernandez in the third season of the TV suspense thriller 24.She has also appeared in other Tv series such as THE SOPRANOS ,THIRD WATCH and LAW & ORDER and feature films such as GRINDHOUSE(the DEATH PROOF segment directed by Quintin Tarantino)(2007),WALL STREET 2:MONEY NEVER SLEEPS(2010),SPIDERMAN 2(2004), NOTHING LIKE THE HOLIDAYS(2008), MADEA GOES TO JAIL(2009),MAN OF THE HOUSE (2005)

J.Hoberman Laid Off As Chief Film Critic Of The Village Voice

2012-01-06T18:25:00.000-08:00

Well, 2012 has just started and I have just received the first shocking news of this year regarding cinema and moviegoing here in New York City. It has just been announced today that J.Hoberman who has been the chief film critic for the esteemed weekly independent tabloid/newspaper The Village Voice since 1988,has just been laid off from his job as main movie critic of the paper for reasons not fully disclosed yet. In a year in which Armond White loses his job as main film critic of the other NYC weekly tabloid New York Press on September of 2011 and Roger Ebert announced in November 2011 that his new weekly TV film review show, Ebert Presents At The Movies for PBS will not be renewed for a second season not because of ratings but really of lack of budget to continue producing the show,this news of Hoberman being laid off from his job of top film critic of the Village Voice demonstrates what a really bad and tough year it has been for all the professional film critics working in all aspects of the information, entertainment and news media.
Although the Village Voice has not officially disclosed the official reasons for letting go of J. Hoberman from his position as their main film critic,it has been suggested that the newspaper decided to dispose of the services of Hoberman due to the fact that many believed that Hoberman was being too mainstream and complacent in his recent movie reviews. The same reasons were given for what happened to other great film critics such as Janet Maslin when she was let go from her post as main film critic of The New York Times in 2002 as well as famed movie critic Bosley Crowther who was the New York Times number one film critic for more than 30 years until 1968,when he was let go from the newspaper,due to his unfavorable reviews for such film classics as THE GRADUATE(1967) and BONNIE AND CLYDE(1967) that seemed to demonstrate that Bosley Crowther's point of view about films in the 1960's was too old fashioned and not up to the changes in film at that time of the 1960's. That's the current risk of today's movie critics such as Roger Ebert, Richard Schickel,Peter Travers,David Ansen,Richard Corliss,Rex Reed,Kenneth Turan who have labored long and hard as film critics of their respective newspapers and magazines for many years. Also the current strong impact of the Internet and the multitude of movie blogs written by amateur film critics have also caused a dent among moviegoers that used to read professional movie reviews and now depend on the advice of their fellow moviegoers such as myself who write their own movie blogs on the Net.
I find it so ironic that Armond White and J.Hoberman were such fierce rivals when they both respectively worked as film critics on New York Press and The Village Voice over the years and then both of them lose their jobs as movie critics within the very same year,although White is now working as a film critic for a smaller NY weekly tabloid with less circulation than his previous job and Hoberman still has his job as film criticism teacher at NYU and Cooper Union in NYC. But it seems that another chapter on film criticism has just been closed in the face of how contemporary movie audiences get their film reviews more from the Internet and Twitter rather than from conventional film critics writing for newspapers and magazines.

Tim Lucas,Arbogast On Film, Roger Ebert & Myself

2012-01-05T21:08:00.000-08:00

This new year has started with some bad news and some good news . The first bad news of the year 2012 is that there will not be a second season of EBERT AT THE MOVIES at PBS and it has officially announced by Ebert and his wife Chaz at their website last December that the show will be undetermined hiatus starting January 2012.It's not that PBS has cancelled the show because of bad or disappointing ratings since EBERT AT THE MOVIES has turned out to be PBS's most popular new TV shows with great reviews and popular acceptance.The problem really is that PBS only distributed the show and Ebert and his wife Chaz put their own money in producing the show weekly and the costs in producing such a film critic talk show these days has proven to be more immensely costly that it was back in 1975 when film critics Gene Siskel & Roger Ebert first appeared on SNEAK PREVIEWS on PBS and it was also important that back then it was PBS that produced and paid the productions costs for SNEAK PREVIEW on which critics Siskel & Ebert were only hired to appear on the show to give their film reviews. It is such a pity that film critics Christy Lemiere and Ignatiy Vishnevetsky were beginning to show some chemistry on camera together and to feel real comfortable working together as critics.But this event could be the real nail in the coffin to the traditional TV show with dueling film critics that Siskel and Ebert which originated by those two famous film critics and whose format has existed for almost 40 years! But due to the Internet and movie blogs these days,most film critics post their reviews online on their own websites just like Roger Ebert himself has done. But at least Ebert himself did one last attempt to recreate the TV format of film criticism that he and Siskel had initiated 40 years ago.

On the other hand, as the old saying goes,as one door closes,another door will open.Famed creator of Video Watchdog, Tim Lucas(who is also the author of the best book on the life and career of the great Italian horror film director Mario Bava,ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK)has started this month a new blog called PAUSE, REWIND OBSESS in which he gives his leaned and intelligent comments and opinions on new DVD and film releases as well as classic films of various genres. This is Lucas' first online blog since he started VIDEO WATCHBLOG in 2007 but that he discontinued to a certain degree two years later due to the fact that by then Lucas had suffered an intellectual burnout in trying to find new material to write about cinema. But Lucas promises that this new blog about film reviews will only last one year in 2012, but let us hope that Lucas will reconsider to continue this new blog for more than one year since his writings and opinions about cinema both current and classic has always been informative and entertaining.

Another online blog that has also thrown in the towel as we say,this year has been ARBOGAST ON FILM written by the anonymous "Arbogast" a non professional film critic and reviewer from the New York area who has demonstrated in the writings on his blog about cinema to be a really devoted and incisive lover of movies of all genres during the almost five years he has devoted himself in writing on his blog. His online blog has demonstrated to have a really devoted following of readers including myself and fellow blogger Tim Lucas,who have all demonstrated disappointment and sorrow in Arbogast's decision to close his blog last month. But just like Tim Lucas who decided to stop continuing writing new material on his previous blog, VIDEO WATCHBLOG because the writing of the blog affected his many other endenvors at that time as well as his private life, "Arbogast" or whoever he really is has decided for his own sake to devote his time towards hos family and real paying job as well as continuing seeing films on a lesser basis than to continue writing on his blog. I really don't blame him for his decision since in my own experience on writing my own daily blog on cinema in these last three years,I myself have found myself at times having trouble in writing new material about films but I continue finding new inspiration for writing on my blog.I wish only the best for Arbogast and thank him for four great years of great reviews on film.

Finally as part of this year's resolutions,I promise to continue writing incisive, intelligent and hopefully entertaining film reviews on my blog in this new year as well as writing columns about My Favorite Sex Symbols, Favorite Scream Queens and Favorite Cult Actors. But I promise to add new columns about book reviews about film,my views about current cinema trends and genres and since this new year marks the 50th anniversary of the James Bond Film Series, I will start writing commerative film reviews of each of the 25 James Bond films made so far, starting in the middle of May until the end of November when the new 007 film SKYFALL premiers in theaters.I will also write columns about my favorite actors and actresses containing their ten best films in my learned opinion.I really hope to strive in continuing the same kind of excellence my writings have had in my blog for the past three years.

NYC Film Screenings in January of 2012

2012-01-04T04:34:00.000-08:00

Now that we are starting a new year and since we are in the beginning of January of 2012,here are the most interesting movie listing of screenings here in the art cinemas in the New York City area:

This month,the Film Forum in Lower Manhattan will screen this month of January,a retrospective of the classic film noir directed by Otto Preminger,LAURA(1944) till January 5th,then on January 6 until January 26 there will be a complete film retrospective on famous French film director Robert Bresson including his films, THE TRIAL OF JOAN DE ARC(1962),MOUCHETTE(1968),LANCELOT OF THE LAKE(1974) PICKPOCKET(1959),THE DEVIL PROBABLY(1977),DIARY OF A COUNTRY PRIEST(1951),LE ARGENT(1983),A MAN ESCAPED(1956) and other Bresson films.

On January,IFC Center will screen on midnight on Fridays and Saturdays this month the following cult films: THE ROAD WARRIOR(1983),BULLITT(1968),and the Japanese animated films made by Studio Ghibli, POMPOKO(1994) and ONLY YESTERDAY(1991)

The Walter Reade Theater at New York's Lincoln Center at Manhattan,NYC will screen this January a family film retrospective such as Disney's BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS(1971),BODY TROOPERS (1966),EXPLORERS(1985),JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS(1963),MANUELITA (1999),THE SEVENTH VOYAGE OF SIMBAD(1959),THE GREAT BEAR(2011),THE INCREDIBLE JOURNEY(1963),TIME BANDITS(1981),TWIGSON(2009),TWIGSON TIES THE KNOT(2010). On January 8th, actor comedian Albert Brooks will be in person to present DRIVE(2011) in which he co-stars with Ryan Gosling.Then the New York Jewish Film Festival will be screened from January 11 to January 26th and in the last week of January, a film retrospective celebrating 50 Years of the New York Film Festival including various classic films shown at the festival in the last 50 years.

Then at the Landmark Sunshine Theater on January,the following cult films will be shown at midnight on Fridays and Saturdays as part of the theater's "Sunshine At Midnite": NEWSIES(1994),THE ROOM(20020, the James Bond classic GOLDENEYE(1995) and the new sci-fi cult film THE DIVIDE(2012)
Unfortunately on this month of January,there is nothing interesting to be screened at the Anthology Film Archives and BAM Cinematek will be on hiatus during this month. Hopefully there will be better films to be screened next month.

My 2012 New Year Cinematic Resolutions

2012-01-03T04:11:00.000-08:00

Well, another new year is now upon us and hopefully this year of 2012 will be marginally better in both movies theatrically released here in NYC and in better benefits for moviegoers regarding ticket pricing and much better conditions to see movies in theaters. After last year being a disappointing year for both movie theaters and Hollywood movie studios because of obscene rises in movie ticket prices($11.50!) and movie public apathy in seeing the same sequels/remakes/reboots every year,let us hope that Hollywood and movie theater owners finally get the message and starting giving us moviegoers more bang for our bucks! So as always here are my cinematic resolutions for this year 2012.
1. I will continue in not paying full price for a movie ticket in 2012, unless it's a special movie being shown only in a special theater.Therefore I will use free movie passes obtained thanks to friends, family and my job as well getting free movie passes thanks to The Village Voice,Subway Cinema, Cinema Purgatorio and Landmark Sunshine Cinemas. I will also go only to Saturday or Sunday matinee screenings to see new movies at half the movie ticket price,until Hollywood and movie theater owners come to their senses and lower movie ticket prices although temporarily for no better reasons that we are all suffering economically due to the current ongoing international economic recession.
2.After the recent debacle I suffered at the last Chiller Theater Convention held at Parsippany, New Jersey in October of 2011 due to the snowstorm and the excessive prices charged by the celebrities there not only for autographs but even for posing for photographs with fans even if those fans provided their own cameras;now I will think twice before deciding to go to another Chiller Theater Con. I will only go to another Con if they have more than 5 celebrities that I would like to meet in person and who don't charge excessively for any autographs or pictures and if I have no less then $200 to spend for such an occasion and most importantly, if the weather and travel conditions to go to the Con in New Jersey are in optimum conditions! Besides there are much cheaper Cons to go to in order to see famous celebrities in person, such as Big Apple Con, Saturday Nightmares and even the NY Comic Con which are located here in NY..
3. I know that I promised to do this last year in my last year resolutions but because of economic conditions due to the recession, I couldn't buy new organizers in order to stack the rest of my very overgrown DVD collection. But this year I hope to remedy that situation by buying those DVD organizers so that I can put those DVDs and get more room to move and operate in my small NY apartment!
4.I must certainly watch out for number one that is myself and get a medical checkup since I haven't had one for more than two years straight and in my current age which is my late 50's, I should have a checkup at least once a year! I should also lose some weight and eat less junk food and eat more wholesome healthy meals and take my vitamins as well.
5. I should only go to see the films that are definitely worth watching in a movie theater and buy only DVDs of movies that I am a fan of or that I really want to see. I will not be wasting any more of my money on DVD re-releases of movies that I have already in my collection, non withstanding any so called "Special Features" those "Special Edition" DVD s could have.The only films I want to see this year so far are the new Batman film THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, THE AVENGERS, the sequel to THE EXPENDEBLES, the new Quintin Tarentino film DJANGO UNLEASHED, the new Dario Argento film DRACULA 3-D, the new OSS 117 film with Jean Dujardin(THE ARTIST),Tim Burton's film version of DARK SHADOWS with Johnny Depp as vampire Barnabas Collins and finally the new James Bond Film SKYFALL celebrating 007's fiftieth anniversary.
I really hope that all of you readers manage to follow thru with your 2012 resolutions since I have every intention to hopefully each and everyone of my 2012 resolutions.

My Favorite Sex Symbols:Lisa Marie

2012-01-02T04:31:00.000-08:00

Lisa Marie Smith known professionally as Lisa Marie was born on December 5,1968 in Piscataway,New Jersey is an American model and actress mostly known for her roles in Tim Burton movies and had studied theater,dance and music from an early age.She was a model for photographer Robert Mapplethorpe and appeared in Calvin Klein ads as well as in Playboy,Maxim,Vanity Fair and Esquire. She is most known for her portrayal of famed TV horror host Vampira in Tim Burton's film of ED WOOD(1993) and she later appeared in other Tim Burton films such as MARS ATTACKS(1996),SLEEPY HOLLOW(1999) and the PLANET OF THE APES(2001) remake. Lisa Marie was also romantically involved with Tim Burton and was engaged to him for ten years(1992-2002) until Burton fell in love with his APES co-star Helena Bonham Carter and married her.Lisa Marie has also appeared in such films as the Chet Baker biography LET'S GET LOST(1988),Woody Allen's ALICE(1990),BREAST MEN(1997), and the upcoming Rob Zombie film THE LORDS OF SALEM(2012). She is very well known for her professional photography that has appeared in magazines such as Vanity Fair and Esquire.

My Favorite Sex Symbols:Betsy Russell

2012-01-01T07:32:00.000-08:00

Betsy Russell born as Elizabeth Russell on September 6,1963 in San Diego,California, first appeared on screen in the teen comedy LET'S DO IT!(1983) but her breakout role was as the sexy seductive high school temptress Jordan Lee Jensen in the raunchy teen sex comedy PRIVATE SCHOOL FOR GIRLS(1983) with Phoebe Cates & Sylvia Kristel, and later appeared in such films as AVENGING ANGEL(1984), TOMBOY (1985),OUT OF CONTROL(1985),CHEERLEADER CAMP(1987),CAMP FEAR(1989) but she retired from films after marrying fellow co-star of CHEERLEADER CAMP & CAMP FEAR, Vincent Van Patten in 1991.But in 2001.Russell divorced Patten and then made a screen comeback as serial killer Jigsaw's wife Jill Tuck in the SAW films(SAW III,IV,V, VI & SAW 3-D). She has also appeared in such TV series as T.J.HOOKER,FAMILY TIES,THE POWERS OF MATTHEW STAR,THE A- TEAM, MURDER SHE WROTE,FIRST AND TEN,SUPERBOY & ROXANNE.

My Favorite Sex Symbols:Kristine DeBell

2011-12-31T21:20:00.000-08:00

Kristine DeBell was born on December 10,1954 in Chatham,New York and she first started in the early 1970's a fashion model with Ford Models. Then in April 1976, she appeared in Playboy Magazine as well as on that magazine's cover for that particular month and she also posed nude for famous photographer Helmut Newton for his 1976 pictorial "200 Motels Or How I Spent My Summer Vacation",whose pictures also appeared in Playboy Magazine that same year.She made her screen debut in the XXX rated musical porn comedy,ALICE IN WONDERLAND(1976) directed by Bud Townsend and produced by Bill Osco of the 1974 X rated FLESH GORDON film.Ms.De Bell then later appeared in I WANNA HOLD YOUR HAND (1978), MEATBALLS (1979) with Bill Murray,BLOODBROTHERS(1978) with Richard Gere,THE MAIN EVENT(1979) with Barbra Streisand & Ryan O'Neal,CHEERLEADERS WILD WEEKEND (1979), WILLIE &; PHIL(1980) with Margot Kidder,THE BIG BRAWL(1981) with Jackie Chan and TAG THE ASSASINATION GAME with Linda Hamilton & Robert Carridine.She has also appeared in such TV shows such as EIGHT IS ENOUGH,BJ AND THE BEAR,POLICE WOMAN,BARNABY JONES, CHIPS,THE MISADVENTURES OF SHERIFF LOBO,NIGHT COURT and the soap opera THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS.

The Famous Celebrities That I Met in This Year 2011.

2011-12-31T04:30:00.000-08:00

This Year in this year that's just about to end,I have had the unique opportunity of meeting in person many of my favorite television and motion picture celebrities here in the New York City area,thanks to fan conventions such as Chiller Theater Con and special motion picture screenings in such art cinemas as Anthology Film Archives,Walter Reade Theater and IFC Cinema Center in NYC.Here are the photos that I took this year of the various celebrities that I met in person this year of 2011:

1,Me and Coralina Cataldi Tassone(DEMONS 2) at her book signing in Manhattan on January of 2011

2.Me and Lamberto Bava(DEMONS & DEMONS 2)at Chiller Theater Con in April of 2011

3,Me and Joyce Hyser(JUST ONE OF THE GUYS) at Chiller Theater Con in April of 2011

4.Me & Rosemary Geretta-Geretta(DEMONS) at Chiller Theater Con in April of 2011

5.Me and Kelli Maroney(NIGHT OF THE COMET & CHOPPING MALL) at Chiller Theater,April 2011

6.Me & Jewel Shepard(RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD)at Saturday Nightmares Con in June of 2011

7.Me & Linnea Quigley(RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD) at Saturday Nightmares Con in June of 2011

8.Me & Beverly Randolph(RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD) at Saturday Nightmares Con in June, 2011

9.Me & Barbara Steele(BLACK SUNDAY,DARK SHADOWS) at Saturday Nightmares Con, June 2011

10.Me and Lynda Hayden(BLOOD ON SATAN'S CLAW) at Saturday Nightmares on June of 2011

11.Me & Michelle Bauer(HOLLYWOOD CHAINSAW HOOKERS) at Saturday Nightmares,June 2011

12.Me & Frank Henenlotter(FRANKENHOOKER) at Anthology Film Archives on November of 2011

13.Me & Betsy Russell(SAW,PRIVATE SCHOOL)at Chiller Theater Con in October of 2011

14.Elvira(Cassandra Peterson) at Chiller Theater Con in October of 2011

15.Lana Wood(DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER) at Chiller Theater Con in October of 2011

16.Martine Beswicke(FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE ,THUNDERBALL) at Chiller Theater Con,Oct.2011

17.Pam Grier(COFFY,FOXY BROWN,JACKIE BROWN) at Chiller Theater Con in October of 2011

18.Caroline Munro(THE SPY WHO LOVED ME, STARCRASH) at Chiller Theater Con,October 2011

Finally I want to sincerely wish all of my friends and fellow readers who follow and read my daily blog a very HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012 and that the upcoming new year that starts tomorrow will be a really great one for all of us personally, economically and healthwise as well.See you all in 2012!

What Was The Best And Worst For Me In 2011

2011-12-30T04:30:00.000-08:00

Since tomorrow is the last day of 2011,it would be good to take notice on how this year that's ending has been for myself both in positive and negative sense.So here are the five best and worst moments that I had in this year:
The 5 Most Positive Moments:
1. I managed to work all this year in a full time job with a decent enough salary(although not as much as I used to make in my former job as legal assistant for a NYC law firm where I worked from 1997 to 2009) and although the job is being messenger for a adult caring home company in Brooklyn,NYC,the job is easy to do and I make about more than ten dollars an hour. That's really different from last year in which I was unemployed for 5 straight months and I almost got evicted from my apartment.But then I was forced to take a job that was beneath me and my educational preparation(a Masters & a Doctorate) to be able to work as a maintenance worker at a restaurant in Central Park for only $7.25 an hour basic minimum wages pay for almost eight hours a week from Sunday to Saturday every week with no weekends off and only Mon & Wed off and I only lasted 6 months until I got this better job. But now I feel comfortable in my new job and during this tough economy,it's good to have a job that you can live with until things get better in the future and I can get an office job again.
2. I went to my first live musical concert in NYC in years(the last time I went to a concert was in Central Park in the 1970's) in which I finally got to see my favorite Modern Jazz singer Basia at the Bowery Hammersmith in NYC and I had a really great time with great seats in front of the stage where I can easily see and hear Basia and her band that gave a really fantastic concert in which she performed all her best known songs for more than 90 minutes
3, I went to various fan conventions in the New York area this year,such as Chiller Theater Con, Big Apple Con and the New York Comic Con but the one fan convention I had the most fun was the 2011 Saturday Nightmares Con held in New Jersey in June of 2011 where I got to meet in person Barbara Steele,Martin Landau,Bruce Dern,Debbie Ronchon,the original cast of George Romero's DAWN OF THE DEAD(1979), the cast of RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD(1985) including Jewel Shepard, Don Calfa, Linnea Quigley, Beverly Randolph,Thom Matthews,Brian Peck and Allan Trautman(the Tarman) The celebrities I met there were very nice and even charged lower prices for autographs and no prices for posing for photos contrary to my experiences at Chiller Theater Con and other fan conventions. I even attended free screenings of the original DAWN OF THE DEAD & RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD with Q&A's with the film's cast and crew.
4.I went to a great preview screening in February of this year of John Landis' new film BURKE AND HARE(2011) at the Walter Reade Theater in NYC's Lincoln Center with director John Landis himself in person for a Q&A after the screening.Mr.Landis was great at the Q&A and even answered very nicely and with great sense of humor two questions I made to him at the Q&A and he even posed for photos with me and autographed for me two of his films on DVD!
5.I attended a a screening of the fun documentary HERSCHELL GORDON LEWIS: GODFATHER OF GORE(2011) at the Anthology Film Archives last March in which the film's director Frank Henenlotter who's also directed the classic cult films BASKET CASE, FRANKENHOOKER & BRAIN DAMAGE as well as famed TV host Joe Bob Briggs and Bill Lustig of Blue Underground Home Video was present in person at the screening.I had the unique opportunity of meeting and talking to them in person and they were gracious enough to pose for pictures for me and sign autographs.

The 5 Worst Moments For Me in 2011
1.For the first time in more than 25 years,I got so sick that I had to go to the hospital for emergency treatment.Normally I take really good care of myself physically since I don't drink alcohol, smoke or do recreational drugs. But due to the horrible Winter season we all had at the beginning of 2011 here in NYC and also because I forgot to get my yearly Flu shot,then on March of 2011 at 11 PM I suffered a tremendous anxiety attack combined with a severe case of asthma attack that made me absolutely difficult to breathe and I was forced to call 911 for the first time in my life to get paramedics to give me emergency medical treatment for my condition.Luckily the paramedics successfully treated my condition by having me pass the whole night at Bellevue Hospital Center in Manhattan,NYC where doctors gave me medication and treatment that was sufficient enough to cure me of my condition.But sincerely I would very much not be in another strenuous situation of being so sick and helpless that forces me to go to the hospital.So now I am very careful in taking good care of my self both physically and mentally.
2.I was stupid and careless enough to lose my new cellphone device in September of this year while I was in the midst of doing my job as messenger in Brooklyn,NYC. It turns out that my cellphone holder had broken and I had to use an old cellphone holster for my belt that was way too big for my smaller cellphone.So when I was in a rush to get a Brooklyn MTA Bus to get on my messenger route,my cellphone dropped out of my holster and by the time I got on the bus,I then noticed that I dropped my phone but it was too late to retrieve it. I did managed to get a replacement and much better cellphone from my provider AT&T,but whatever person had found my lost phone,used all my remaining minutes on it making international calls and because of that,I couldn't get credit for my minutes from AT&T.But my new cellphone is much bigger and better with more features(Internet,Camera & Videocamera) and I bought a cellphone holster that is the right size for my new phone. At least I learned my lesson regarding cellphones!
3.My yearly visit to the Chiller Theater Con in Parsippany,New Jersey on October 30th 2011 turned out to be a real nightmare! First of all,the celebrities in person at the Con were charging way too much for giving autographs and even for posing for pictures with their fans,even if the fans provided their own cameras for the pictures! Before these celebrities only charged for giving autographs for no more than $20 and posed for fans' photos for free.But now the situation has changed for the worst despite of us being in a bad economy due to the current recession that still plagues us! But the worst was when I tried to leave early from the Con in the afternoon to avoid the impending snowstorm that was affecting the area of NJ & NY.The Hotel where the Con was stationed at, then decided not to have any guests leave by their shuttle buses to the MTA train station because they were all snowed out! But the same hotel didn't not provide us fans with alternative emergency transportation thru taxis or limousines to get out of NJ and get back to NYC.I had to spend an additional seven hours waiting at the Hotel in order to get some sort of transportation and thanks to seven other fans there present,we managed to call a NJ taxi service that was willing to take us back to NYC but charging us no less than $25 each to take all eight of us back to the city which we all got back at 9PM. This bad experience at the Chiller Con makes me really think twice before going to the next Con on 2012!
4.Because of what happened to me on October 30th, 2011 at the Chiller Theater Con,I also didn't managed to get back in time at NYC in order to get at 7:30PM special one time screening of the horror anthology film THE THEATER BIZARRE(2011) at the Walter Reade Theater in NYC's Lincoln Center as part of their yearly SCARY MOVIES retrospective where such celebrities and stars of the film such as Udo Kier, Debbie Ronchon,Tom Savini,Lynn Lowry and Catriona MacColl where in they were person for Q&A after the screening.Although I later went to the theater to get a refund for the tickets but the theater gave me replacement tickets for a different screening but still my Halloween weekend was ruined since for the first time I missed going to a screening of which I had reserve tickets for and I promise that such a situation will not happen again!
5.In February of 2011,the Anthology Film Archives had a special one time screening of the 1964 cult film KITTEN WITH A WHIP starring Ann Margret and John Forsythe to be hosted by the infamous cult director John Waters at 7PM.But when I got to that theater early at 5:30PM with a group of friends, we found out for our greatest surprise that there was more than 100 people waiting online outside the theater.! Even though employees of the Anthology assured the audience waiting outside,that there would be enough seats for those waiting online,by almost 7PM there was more than 200 people online to get in! It was then that the employees of the theater told all those waiting outside to see the feature,that only those who had reserved tickets would first get in and then if there was any seats left over,then the theater would only let a small number f those waiting online to get in.Luckily I was one of the last ones to be able to get in .but my friends weren't so lucky and neither were more than 100 people waiting outside for more than 90 minutes! What Anthology should have done was open their second screening room that was not showing films that day to accomodate the rest of people waiting outside and hold a second screening of Kitten With A Whip there. The late Micheal J.Hein,founder of the NY Horror Film Festival did just that in last year's festival when he had two screening rooms at the Tribeca Film Center to accomodate all those waiting to see a special screening of the original NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET with it's star Robert Englund(Freddie Krueger) in person for a Q&A. It's just too bad the Anthology didn't do such a gesture for it's cinema audience!
I really wish you readers of my blog all a Great New Year 2012 and Happy Hollidays and that all of us have great health and economic happiness with great moviegoing for the upcoming New Year!

My Best and Worst Moviegoing Experiences in 2011

2011-12-29T15:37:00.000-08:00

In this year of 2011,I have gone to movie theaters here in New York City no less than 36 times which is more or less the same amount of movies I have seen in the past two years consecutively which makes it approximately three films a month.As always I have gone more to retrospective,summer outdoor and art movie theaters in NYC than to cinema multiplexes this year due to the programming of the movies featured in those cinemas.So here is my list of my best five cinematic experiences I had during this year 2011:
1.THE WALTER READE THEATER

In 2011,I had my best cinematic experiences going to the Walter Reade Theater in New York's Lincoln Center in which among the many screenings I went to were previews of INSIDIOUS & DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK,first time screenings of John Landis new film BURKE AND HARE with the director present for a Q&A and HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN with also the director present as well this year's New York Asian Film Festival hosted as always by Subway Cinema and by year's end in October near Halloween,the yearly SCARY MOVIES retrospective where new and classic horror films were screened with the film's creators in person to discuss their films with the audience after the screening.

2.ANTHOLOGY FILM ARCHIVES

Once again this year Anthology out did themselves with retrospectives of Abel Ferrara,Dennis Hopper, Herschel Gordon Lewis,Frank Henenlotter, Richard Wurlitzer and others with directors like Henenlotter, Gordon Lewis and Ferrara in person during the screenings of their films.There were film retrospectives of movie musicals made in the 1970's & 80's as well as the annual Bill Lustig Presents Classic Exploitation Films Not Available Yet On Home Video for the fourth straight year. Famed Cult director John Waters also had a special screening of the 1964 Ann Margret cult classic KITTEN WITH A WHIP at the Anthology.

3.LANDMARK SUNSHINE CINEMAS

The Landmark really had a great year screening such previews such as CAMELOT the TV miniseries,JANE EYRE(20110 and SUPER(2011 and also screened such cult classics at midnight this year in their Landmark At Midnight with such films as MANIAC(1980),ZOMBIE(1980),METROPOLIS the 1984 colorized version, and the original film version of FRIGHT NIGHT(1985)

4.THE PARIS THEATER

The Paris Theater located at the east side corner of Central Park,Manhattan is the best art house theater to screen foreign and independent films in their vast single screen theater and it was there where I fully enjoyed viewing the screening of the new silent film comedy THE ARTIST(2011) with Jean Dujardin & Berenice Bejo

5.HBO/BRYANT PARK'S ANNUAL SUMMER MOVIE SERIES

As in the last 19 years,HBO and Bryant Pant always excell themselves in being the best place in the city to see free outdoor movie screenings of classic films and this year has been no exception with screenings of AIRPLANE(1980),DIRTY HARRY(1971),THE FRENCH CONNECTION(1971),THE 39 STEPS and SOUTH PACIFIC(1956)

Unfortunately there has been also cinematic disappointments in movie viewing in this year of 2011 such as Film Forum that really didn't show screenings of real interest and importance with the possible exception of GAINSBOURG(2010) as well as the IFC Theater,BAM Cinematek,Cinema Village with the exception of the Fangoria special free screenings and The Quad.But the worst place to see movies publically continue being the cinema multiplexes such as AMC Empire 25 at Broadway & 42nd street;the 19th Street East theater,the Union Square Multiplex,the Clearview Chelsea Cinemas and the 42nd St REGAL Multiplex

The Worst Films of 2011

2011-12-28T00:46:00.000-08:00

While this ending year of 2011 was a very good year for enjoyable movies,there were also a number of bad cinematic clunkers as always every year but at least there were less bad films than years past in my honest opinion. But there was way too many sequels(28) and remakes (14) as well as too many films about comic book superheroes (7) released in theaters this year! So here is my list of the worst films that I unfortunately saw in theaters in 2011:
1.THE GREEN HORNET

2.SEASON OF THE WITCH

3.DRIVE ANGRY 3-D

4.THE ROOMMATE

5.DYLAN DOG:DEAD OF NIGHT

6.THE WARD

7.YOUR HIGHNESS

8.MARS NEED MOMS

9.GREEN LANTERN

10.JACK AND JILL

11.ZOOKEEPER

12.THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE 2 :FULL SEQUENCE

13.APOLLO 18

14.SPY KIDS 4-D ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD

15.BUCKY LARSON:BORN TO BE A STAR

16.CHANGE UP

Other bad films released in the year 2011 are STRAW DOGS,FRIGHT NIGHT,CONAN THE BARBARIAN,FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS,THE DILEMMA,NO STRINGS ATTACHED,THE RITE,JUST GO WITH IT,JUSTIN BIEBER:NEVER SAY NEVER,BIG MOMMAS:LIKE FATHER LIKE SON,HALL PASS,THE HANGOVER PART II,TRANSFORMERS:DARK OF THE MOON, 30 MINUTES OR LESS,SHARK NIGHT 3-D,ABDUCTION,WHAT'S YOUR NUMBER?,JOHNNY ENGLISH REBORN,THE THREE MUSKETEERS,THE TWILIGHT SAGA:BREAKING DAWN PART I,NEW YEAR'S EVE,THE SITTER,IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY

The Best Films Of 2011

2011-12-27T02:49:00.000-08:00

Surprisingly this year of 2011 that is just about to end,had an amazing amount of really good films released in theaters this year,that I had an opportunity of seeing in movie theaters here in New York City.Thank God there were much more better films released in theaters in 2011 than bad films compared with last year. So here is my yearly list of what I considered were the best films that I saw theatrically in 2011:
1.THE ARTIST

2.DRIVE

3.THE DEAD

4.THE DESCENDANTS

5.THE IDES OF MARCH

6.THE INTERRUPTERS

7.JANE EYRE

8.A DANGEROUS METHOD

9.CRAZY STUPID LOVE

10.HERSCHELL GORDON LEWIS:THE GODFATHER OF GORE

11.CAPTAIN AMERICA THE FIRST AVENGER

12.GAINSBOURG A HEROIC LIFE

13.PAUL

14.METROPOLIS 1984 version(Re-Release)

15.BURKE AND HARE

16.THE HELP

Other great films released in 2011 are RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES,MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL, X-MEN FIRST CLASS,SUPER,YOUNG ADULT,RANGO,HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN,HANNA,SUPER 8,ATTACK THE BLOCK,MONEYBALL,THE SKIN I LIVE IN, MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE,J EDGAR,SHAME,TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY,

DVD Review: LA FEMME PUBLIQUE(1984)*1/2 out of **

2011-12-26T11:12:00.000-08:00

LA FEMME PUBLIQUE aka THE PUBLIC WOMAN(1984)***1/2 out of **** Written and Directed by Andrej Zulawski based on the novel by Dominque Garnier and the book,The Possessed by Fredor Dostoyevsky. Starring Valerie Kaprisky,Lambert Wilson,Francis Huster,Patrick Bachau,Giselle Pascal. Unrated 113 minutes In French with English Subtitles Released by Mondo Vision Home Video

In my sincere opinion as a movie lover and film reviewer,Andrej Zulawski's film LA FEMME PUBLIQUE or THE PUBLIC WOMAN(1984) could be the director's best and most accessible film for moviegoers. Having just directed the very weird and obsessive horror/fantasy allegory POSSESSION(1981) with Isabelle Adjani & San Neill that managed to a certain excessive extent to try to exorcise Zulawski's demons regarding his then very painful divorce, the director then decided to bring to the screen a film adaptation of young French actress Dominque Garnier's popular autobiographical novel but as always happens in Zulawski's case and film career, he also brings to the film an adaptation of Russian author Dosteyevksy's The Possessed as a film within a film, as well as the director's comments and point of view about revolution,anarchic political groups in the 1970's and the misguided filmmakers who promoted these political views.Here Valerie Kaprisky star of BREATHLESS& L'ANNEE DES MEDUSES in her first important leading role as Ethel a young beautiful French actress/model who in the early 1980's makes a living as a nude model for a photographer.But then she manages to get an important role in a film based on Dostoyevsky's novel The Possessed being filmed by a young radical politically motivated Polish emigrant film director played by Francis Huster(and partially based on Zulawski himself).Ethel then finds herself in a romantic triangle between her dominating director and her seductive leading man played by Lambert Wilson(THE MATRIX films) who is really a radical anarchist responsable for the assassination of a liberal priest and who also is on the run from the authorities. But this pressing sexually charged threesome relationship as well as her at first involuntary association with the political beliefs of both her lovers give Ethel the very power and strength to be a successful and popular actress in her career and also be emotionally independent in her life from the very two men who profess to love her.

Ms.Valerie Kaprisky is simply excellent and also very sexy in her performance as Ethel in the film as well as appearing absolutely naked for most of the film and looking great in those nude scenes as well as her naked love scenes with her two male co-stars.Both Wilson and Huster portray very well their roles of the two men in Ethel's life who both fight to involve Ethel in their political beliefs and to help her become a better actress. Zulawski's direction in the film is very effective in recreating the political and social climate in France during the late 1970's in which the film takes place and for handling the interesting aspects of a "film within a film" in which Huster is filming the Dostoyevksy novel in the same cinematic traditions of Billy Wilder's SUNSET BOULEVARD(1950),Felini's 81/2(1963),Vicente Minnelli's TWO WEEKS IN ANOTHER TOWN (1962), Goddard's CONTEMPT(1963) and Truffault's DAY FOR NIGHT(1973).Also Zuilawski's contempt shown in his film for foreign filmmakers who get involved in anarchistic radicalism and terrorism in Europe is equivalent to both Sergio Leone's and Dario Argento's negative opinions about revolutions in their respective films,DUCK YOU SUCKER(1972) and THE FIVE DAYS OF MILAN(1973) The Home Video DVD release of LA FEMME PUBLIQUE is nothing lesser than excellent since the film is released in a Deluxe DVD Box containing two discs which the first contains the film in anamorphic widescreen and Dolby Digital Stereo in French with English subtitles plus extras such as a very informative and educational audio commentary with the film's director, an on camera interview with Zulawski talking about the making of the film,trailers,photo and poster galleries and the second disc has the complete musical soundtrack of the film. Plus the set contains a Pressbook about the film and eight photos prints of the film that makes this DVD release just as good as any released by Criterion Home Video.

My Favorite Sex Symbols:Valerie Kaprisky

2011-12-25T01:25:00.000-08:00

Valerie Kaprisky was originally born under the name of Valerie Cheres in the town of Neuilly-sur-Seine,in the province of Haut-de-Seine in France on August 19, 1962. She first appeared in the softcore sex 1981 film APHRODITE directed by Robert Fuest(THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES) and then played Richard Gere's foreign girlfriend in the 1983 American remake of Jean Luc Goddard's 1960's New Wave film classic BREATHLESS which unfortunately was a box office and critical bomb. Ms.Kaprisky then returned to her native France where Polish emigre film director Andrej Zulawski chose her to be the female lead in LA FEMME PUBLIQUE (1984) with Lambert Wilson(THE MATRIX) where she was nominated for a Best Actress Award in the French Cesar Awards for her performance in that film. She has also had a popular and favorable critical movie success with her sexy and seductive role as a teenaged "Lolita" type temptress in LE ANNEE DES MEDUSES(1984).But after those two film hits,unfortunately Ms.Kaprisky thinking herself a serious actress than a sex symbol,did only serious art films after that and then stopped appearing nude in her subsequent films which therefore lessened her popularity in French movies. But subsequently Ms.Kaprisky has demonstrated to be a very good supporting actress in character roles in both French TV and movies.

My Favorite Sex Symbols:Mathilda May

2011-12-24T09:17:00.000-08:00

Mathilda May born originally under the name of as Karima Mathilda Haim on February 8,1965 in Paris, France, daughter of Franch actor Victor Haim and whose mother was a prima ballerina for the Swedish Marino Ballet company.Ms.May was a former ballerina from age 8 to her late teens and at age 16,she won the prestigious award of "Premier Prix du Conservatoire de Danse de Paris" Her first important screen role was that of the naked Space Girl in Tobe Hooper's LIFEFORCE(1985) in which she was memorable totally naked thruout the movie.Ms.May also appeared in other films like LETTERS FROM AN UNKNOWN LOVER(1986), Charles Chabrol's THE CRY OF THE OWL(1987),NAKED TANGO(1991) with Vincent D'Onofrio, BECOMING COLLETTE (1992),Bigas Luna's TIT AND THE MOON(1994),THE JACKAL(1997) with Richard Gere,Bruce Willis & Sidney Poitier,ONLY LOVE(1998) with Marisa Tomei and RETURN TO ALGIERS(2000) with Peter O'Toole.Ms.May has also won the Prix Romy Schneider in 1989 which is the award for the most promising upcoming actress in the French film industry.

2011 Was Not A Great Box Office Year For Hollywood!

2011-12-23T05:17:00.000-08:00

This year that's about to end started out as a promising one for Hollywood since all the major movie studios thought at the beginning of 2011 with all their new promising film releases that they might have an all time box office record that could surpass that even of the great year of 2008 that had an all time high box office record.But the cruel reality is that at the rate this year is ending, it might turn out to be the lowest box office returns and movie audience attendance since 1995 which was the lowest year in box office history.

Right now the Hollywood industry has all of their last hopes in this Christmas weekend of salvaging some good box office returns with the theatrical releases of Spielberg's WARHORSE & THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN,the remake of THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO,Cameron Crowe's I HAVE A ZOO,the sci-fi invasion film THE DARKEST HOUR, EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE with Tom Hanks & Sandra Bullock and the extended releases of the art films THE ARTIST, MY WEEKEND OF MARILYN,SHAME,THE IRON LADY,A DANGEROUS METHOD.But even if this weekend provides Hollywood with some decent box office returns,it's really a bit late to be able to salvage what has been a bad year for Hollywood and movie theaters. First of all,movie audience attendance has diminished more than 5% this year compared with last year,due to increased movie ticket prices which have reached an all time high of almost $14 a ticket also taking into account the additional cost of going to see a film in 3-D and IMAX which costs an additional six dollars more to the price of a movie ticket. Also today's moviegoers have an outlet of other ways to see movies such as home video,Cable TV and the Internet which provide today's movie fans with a reasonable and less costly alternative to see movies. Second,Hollywood has not provided audiences with enough films of diversity and content and only rely on the usual batch of sequels, remakes,retreads,reboots and films based on comic books or video games. This year alone,movie studios have give us no less than 12 remakes and sequels and about seven films about comic book heroes. Finally movie theater chains have not yet solved the problem of disgrunted unsatisfied moviegoers who hate interruptions while watching films by insensitive moviegoers who are on their cellphones and I-Pads while the film is on, expensive concession stand prices and costly movie tickets.

It surprises me that today's Hollywood hasn't taken proven measures that in the past served the movie industry in regaining healthy box office attendance which they did in the Great Depression of 1929, the 1950's when TV was robbing theaters of moviegoers and the oil embargo of 1975 that greatly affected US economy and the movie industry as well. I would kindly suggest that Hollywood and the movie theater industry use the following measures to regain good box office such as temporary reduced movie tickets that are one or two dollars less than the current price or in it's place,extending movie theaters practices to sell tickets at half price only at weekend matinees to all days of the week for the first two daily theatrical showings. Or they can return to the practices that existed in the 1970's & 80's of "Ladies Night"or Student Night in which all women who went to the movies those particular days pay only half price as well as all college student with valid student ID For example,AMC Theaters only charge $7 for one week this Summer for IMAX films such as THE DARK KNIGHT,INCEPTION, STAR TREK & FAST FIVE and it was a great success! Hollywood can also make more films based on popular novels and plays like they did before than rather depending on reviving old movie franchises,remaking 80's movies or making films on comic books & graphic novels. Then movie theaters can have the practice of confiscating all communication devices from movie patrons before the movie starts and only returning them after the movie is over to avoid unnecessary interruptions during the screening and have their movie ushers return to the old duties of policing the movie auditorium during the movie's progress to see that there is no interruptions whatsoever to the audiences enjoyment of the movie,like the theaters used to do back in the 1980's.If Hollywood and movie theaters implement such practices as I suggest,then moviegoing would be much better and they would be definitely better economic returns at the box office. But it is only up to both Hollywood movie studios and movie theater chains to put these measures into practice,because if the current box office situation continues as it is,then the up coming year of 2012 will be economically much worse for Hollywood and the theaters than this year has been!

Why 2011 Was Not A Great Year For Film Critic Armond White

2011-12-22T05:09:00.000-08:00

I know that I made a promise previously here on my blog not to write any more material or comments about controversial contrarian film critic Armond White since he lost his job as head movie critic of the weekly free tabloid NEW YORK PRESS last August,when the newspaper finally closed down due to bad sales and lost advertising revenue.But since we're reaching the end of 2011 and although it isn't right to kick a man when he's down ,but then I think it's justified to take a one final look about what this year has been for the beleaguered controversial film critic.

First of all as I have stated many times before on this blog,I don't really hate White or his work as a film critic for the past 14 years at the New York Press.But I really feel disappointed and saddened that such a talented person as White who is a lifetime lover of international film and a very knowledgeable person about the vast history of cinema and it's genres and whose style of movie criticism has been heavily influenced by veteran movie critics, Pauline Kael, Bosley Crowther and Andrew Sarris,can also stoop to be so contradictorial against his fellow film critics and even his own readers just for the sake of being a contrarian and purposely getting a reputation as such for his own gain and notoriety and not for the purpose of having his readers educated into seeing the right films and avoiding the bad ones like all good film critics do. But this year of 2011 must have dealt a mighty blow to Armond White's sphere of influence in NYC's movie critics circle,when due to today's unstable economy The New York Press which was White's home base of operations and main source of employment for 14 years,was forced to close it's offices,layoff the majority of it's employees and stop it's weekly publication in August when CITY ARTS INC.decided to merge The New York Press into it's own weekly tabloid The City Arts that has much less circulation than Press had and less readership as well.Even though City Arts offered the post of film critic to White,he had to also accept the post of Arts Editor of The City Arts in order to get almost the same salary he had at the New York Press when he only worked as movie critic there,since City Arts couldn't just pay White for reviewing films only.

Also White used to be the main Chairman of the influential New York Film Critics Circle for the last three consecutive years,although White's influence over that film critic's board was very minimal since his colleagues at the NY Film Critics Circle always voted yearly in favor of the films that White detested in order to diss him.This past January of 2011, in the award ceremony for 2010, White as Chairman of the Film Circle blatantly ridiculized and taunted publically before the audience there, many of the actors, writers and filmmakers who won awards for 2010 because they all won for films that White detested.But now White is no longer the Chairman for the New York Film Critics Circle since in this year's elections, the NY film critics members of the Circle voted in favor of their fellow member John Anderson,critic for Variety & Newsday to obtain the post of Chairman due to being less controversial and more amenable with the board's members than their fellow member White. Finally this year marks the first time White has not been invited by NYC's Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theater to do his annual symposium on music videos that White had done for almost a decade every September of each year in which he reviewed and discussed the best yearly music videos before an audience.Of course I guess the Walter Reade Theater must have informed White that there was no room in the theater's 2011 schedule for his symposium of music videos for 2011 but it still must have been a blow for White due to his dedication in preparing and staging his yearly music video symposiums at the theater. Therefore because of these 2011 professional missteps for White that occurred this year, these same events has somewhat diminished his status and influence as an important film critic in America and that's a positive thing for other film critics who don't share White's kind of movie reviewing as well as for also a great quantity of moviegoers who hated White's contrarian and insulting movie reviewing. White's current situation as a film critic in America kind of reminds me of Richard Nixon's famous remark to the US press, when his lost the presidential election of 1960 to JFK when he said"At least you don't have Nixon to kick around anymore!" and what General Douglas C. McArthur said in his final speech in 1952 when he was relieved of his command as Commanding In Chief of NATO forces in the Korean War,"Old soldiers don't die,They just fade away."

Movie & DVD Review:POSSESSION(1981)1/2 out of **

2011-12-21T02:00:00.000-08:00

POSSESSION(1981)**1/2 out of **** Written and Directed by Andrej Zulawski Starring Isabelle Adjani, Sam Neill,Heinz Bennett,Margit Carstensen. Unrated 123 minutes Released by Anchor Bay Home Video

This month of December of 2011,the Film Forum of NYC is screening a newly restored print of Andrej Zulawski's controversial sci-fi horror allegorical fantasy POSSESSION made thirty years ago in 1981 starring Isabelle Adjani(THE STORY OF ADELE H,ONE DEADLY SUMMER) and Sam Neill(OMEN III:THE FINAL CONFLICT,JURASIC PARK) as a married couple with a young son in Berlin Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall,going thru severe marriage problems. Polish emigre Zulawski has directed his third film in English for the first time,taking into the basis of his film a rather personal experience that the director had with his former loved one. Here Neill suspects that his wife Adjani is cheating on him with another man who possibly could be a egotistical self help religious guru played by Heinz Bennett. But POSSESSION unfortunately in my honest opinion,goes into a very awkward and strange turn which definitely has turned off most moviegoers that has seen this film when Neill discovers that his wife is having a sexual affair with an alien creature that has impregnated her into having a perfect doppelganger of her husband.At the same time Neill is also having a strange emotional relationship with his son's teacher also played by Adjani who is the perfect double of Neill's wife.This situation turns desperate when Adjani commits murder by killing her next door neighbor and a private eye spying on her on behalf of her husband while Neill in order to protect his wife who he still desperately loves by also killing her other lover (Bennett) and anyone else who interferes with his wife's strange sexual relationship with the creature.

Although Zulawski tries to present an allegorical situation rooted on fantasy in his film to present his version of what happened in real life between him and his loved one,but the film goes way off the deep end after the first third of this movie and risks losing audience identification with his characters and the film itself with it's weird incoherent and gory sequences. But the best part of this film are the two great acting performances by Isabelle Adjani in her two roles which won her a Best Actress award in the 1981 Cannes Film Festival and the Best Actress Award in the 1981 Cesar Awards in France as well as Sam Neill's great performance as Adjani's distraught but loving husband. Also great and impressive are the gooey but disgusting special makeup effects by Oscar winning special effects supervisor Carlo Rambaldi(ET THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND).The out of print DVD release of POSSESSION by Anchor Bay Home Video has the film in anamorphic widescreen and digital stereo in the film's uncut uncensored original version of 123 minutes( the US 1981 release of the film was only 82 minutes!),an rather confusing and ambiguous audio commentary by the film's director that doesn't give any answers to the questions posed in his film, a theatrical trailer and a photo gallery with biographies of the director and the film's stars.

If anyone thinks that Zulawski explains in his audio commentary on the DVD why his story turns out the way it did,then audience members will be rather disappointed since Zulawski reserves his responses only to the making of his film back in 1981and his rather egotistical scathing remarks about the film's female lead Adjani (in which Zulawski states that Adjani committed suicide after seeing the film which is untrue since Adjani is still alive and working in films) and he also states that Adjani's film career went into a downward spiral after making POSSESSION which is also incorrect since Adjani won various acting awards for her appearances in films such as ONE DEADL:Y SUMMER(1983),CAMILLE CLAUDEL(1988) and QUEEN MARGOT (1994) which she all did after making POSSESSION..But despite such deficiences,POSSESSION is only good to watch solely because of both Adjani's and Neill's stupendous acting performances in the film, as well as Rambaldi's great and visually disturbing special makeup effects of the creature and the film's first third half which clearly shows the destruction of a once loving married couple.

My Favorite Guilty Pleasures On DVD:A CLOCKWORK ORANGE(1971) out of

2011-12-20T03:04:00.000-08:00

A CLOCKWORK ORANGE(1971) **** out of **** Written and Directed by Stanley Kubrick based on the novel by Anthony Burguess Starring Malcolm McDowell,Adrienne Corri,Patrick MacGee,Miriam Karlin,David Prowse Rated R 137 minutes Released by Warners Home Video

This year of 2011 marks the 40th anniversary of one of the three most controversial but influential films of 1971 such as Ken Russell's THE DEVILS & Sam Peckinpaw's STRAW DOGS which is Stanley Kubrick's cinematic masterpiece of Anthony Burguess novel of A CLOCKWORK ORANGE which is my favorite of Kubrick's films. Burguess had written a futuristic novel about street gangs in modern London that have their own slang language( a mixture of Russian & Cockney slang words) that create anarchy and chaos but as a metaphor for the basic theme of the film as well as in Burguess' novel about free will,the ability to choose right and wrong and if the government have the right to take a violent anarchistic individual and brainwash that person against his own free will to become what is supposed to be a decent member of that society.In this film,Malcolm McDowell(IF,CALIGULA) is Alex De Large a violent young leader of a street gang which he calls his "droogs" or followers who spends their nights raping,looting and getting high on drugs.Alex is betrayed to the police by his own gang when he rapes and murders a female artist and sentenced to life in prison. There he is selected by the political authorities to be the guinea pig in a social and scientific experiment called the "Ludovic Technique" in which Alex is subjected to tortuous physical and mental tortures done to him to make Alex abhor his violent tendencies as well as his sexual aberrations in order to force him to be a "decent law abiding citizen" in the eyes of the existent political authorities. Once Alex is freed from prison supposedly cured from his violent urges,he finds himself not being able to live in the supposed normal society,since he is physically attacked by his former victims and abandoned by his family and friends.When Alex is forced into committing suicide by one of his former victims, the authorities realized their mistake into changing Alex into what they believed was an acceptable member of society and they then decide to reverse the Ludovic technique on Alex and bring him back ironically to his originally state of violent anarchistic tendencies.

Malcolm McDowell is excellent in his signature film role of Alex in being both charismatic, charming but at the same time dangerous and enjoyable in his evil tendencies both is his sexual and violent misadventures just like McDowell later did in his portrayal of the evil and mad Roman Emperor CALIGULA(1979). Kubrick marvelously recreates the violent futuristic world that Burguess created in his novel regarding London and is marvelously stylistic in both the violent sequences and sexual scenes in the movie.Especially the classical musical adaptation of Beethoven in synthetizer music by Wendy(formerly Walter) Carlos that serves as an important element that comments on the acts committed by Alex in his original state of mind as well as in the scenes of Alex converted into his so called normal state.The most innovative use of this music is in the two scenes of Alex having a sexual tryst with two teenage girls to the tune of the William Tell overture filmed in a speeded up technique and the infamous scene of Alex and his gangs raping and beating a married couple while Alex is singing "Singing In The Rain". Kubrick's film was so controversial that it was originally rated X in it's initial release and attacked by the government,the church and critics that Kubrick was forced to prevent A CLOCKWORK ORANGE to be seen theatrically or on TV in England for almost 30 years until Kubrick's death in 1999. Warner Home Video has marvelously restored Kubrick's original complete uncensored version of the film in anamorphic widescreen and digital stereo in a 2 DVD disc release with special extra features about the making of the film,the controversy about the film and a documentary about the film's star Malcolm McDowell with trailers of the film and photo galleries.

The Worst Movie Adaptation of a Popular TV Show(Revised List for 2011)

2011-12-19T02:29:00.000-08:00

A few years ago,I posted a blog about the best and worst film versions of popular cult television series but this year there has been a few new additions to this list,so therefore here is my revised up to date list of the worst films based on TV series,especially taking in consideration the newly theatrically released MISSION IMPOSSIBLE film:
1.THE GREEN HORNET(2011)

2.THE AVENGERS(1998)

3.THE WILD WILD WEST(1999)

4.THE SAINT(1997)

5.THE MODS SQUAD(1998)

6.BEWITCHED(2005)

7.CAR 54 WHERE ARE YOU?(1992)

8.THE HONEYMOONERS(2004)

9.LAND OF THE LOST(2010)

10.THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES(1993)

11.MY FAVORITE MARTIAN(1999)

12.LOST IN SPACE(1997)

13.THE A-TEAM(2010)

14.MIAMI VICE(2006)

15.STARSKY AND HUTCH(2005)

16.JOSIE AND THE PUSSTCATS(2001)

My Favorite Sex Symbols:Susan George

2011-12-18T07:25:00.000-08:00

Susan Melody George was born on July 26,1950 in London,England and was a British leading lady in films , first as a former child actress,then later as an adult specializing in sultry and sexy sexpot roles.Her first screen appearance was a bit role in the third Harry Palmer spy film BILLION DOLLAR BRAIN(1967) directed by Ken Russell and also appeared in other films such as THE SORCERERS(1968) with Boris Karloff,THE STRANGE AFFAIR (1968) with Michael York,DRACULA TV movie (1969),TWINKY(1969) with Charles Bronson,Sam Peckinpaw's STRAW DOGS(1971) with Dustin Hoffmann, FRIGHT(1971),DIE SCREAMING MARIANNE(1972),Sergio Corbucci's SONNY & JED(1972) with Telly Savalas,DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE TV movie(1973) with Jack Palance, DIRTY MARY,CRAZY LARRY(1974) with Peter Fonda,MANDINGO(1975) with Ken Norton & James Mason,Rene Cardona Jr.s TINTORERA (1977) with Hugo Stiglitz & Fiona Lewis,ENTER THE NINJA(1981) with Franco Nero & Sho Kosugi, VENOM(1982) with Klaus Kinski & Oliver Reed,THE HOUSE WHERE EVIL DWELLS(1983) with Doug McClure & Edward Albert,THE JIGSAW MAN(1984) with Michael Caine & Laurence Olivier and JACK THE RIPPER TV mini-series(1988) with Michael Caine & Jane Seymour.She has also appeared in such TV series as THE SAINT,THE PERSUADERS,EASTENDERS,CLUEDO & TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED.

My Favorite Sex Symbols:Fiona Lewis

2011-12-17T01:54:00.000-08:00

Fiona Lewis was born on September 28,1946 in Westcliff On Sea, Essex,England and is a noted actress, painter and author. She first made her screen appearance in Roman Polanski's horror spoof, THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS OR PARDON ME,BUT YOUR TEETH ARE IN MY NECK aka DANCE OF THE VAMPIRES(1967) and later appeared in such films as OTLEY(1969),JOANNA(1969), WHERE'S JACK?(1970),VILLAIN(1971), DR.PHIBES RISES AGAIN (1972),DRACULA(1974), LIZTOMANIA(1975), DRUM(1976), STUNTS(1977), TINTORERA(1978),THE FURY(1978), WANDA NEVADA(1979),STRANGE INVADERS(1983), STRANGE BEHAVIOUR (1984) & INNERSPACE(1987) as well as appeared in such TV series as THE SAINT,THE AVENGERS,THE CHAMPIONS,JASON KING,MC CLOUD,MADIGAN & THE PERSUADERS.Ms. Lewis retired from acting in the late 1980's and has since became a novelist and journalist and as a artist,has had various art exhibits of her work in her native England..

Lindsay Lohan In Playboy

2011-12-15T23:39:00.000-08:00

For those of you out there who who possibly don't know yet,today is the day that Lindsay Lohan's infamous nude photos for the latest issue of Playboy Magazine are finally on sale. Although Playboy had plans to release their January/February 2012 issue with Ms.Lohan on the cover on Friday,December 23rd,Hugh Hefner decided to release this issue a week earlier due that a fact that an Internet hacker from Russia had managed to put online the nude photo spread of Ms Lohan plus the Playboy cover that she posed for, from which he obtained somehow from Playboy's Internet access files. Various news outlets like Time Magazine, Entertainment Weekly,People Magazine and even TMZ published these photos last week until Hefner's lawyers notified a court order to cease and desist to all those websites that leaked these photos before the release of the January issue and ordering them to take off the photos from their websites. But since the Lindsay Lohan Playboy issue officially came out today on newstands,it is reliably safe to post here most of the photos of Lindsay Lohan's naked spread. But I really don't understand all the hoopla regarding this nude pictorial ,since although Ms.Lohan looks okay naked in these pictures, one can only help to notice that she looks kind of blase and bored in her poses contrary to other famous female celebrities who have previously posed for the magazine as well as looking much older than her 25 years due to her alcohol/drug abuse. Also Ms.Lohan is posing as Marilyn Monroe in these Playboy photos just like she did again two years previously for Maxim and honestly she looked more sexy erotic and vivacious in those photos than the ones I just posted here.At least Ms. Lohan got a million dollars for posing naked for Playboy that will serve to pay her high legal and court bills. Since she is following thru with her court ordained community service and personal mental therapy,it seems that Ms. Lohan is finally making a positive turn in her personal and professional life since the Judge in her case has congratulated Ms Lohan in her progress by telling her that her probationary period could be shortened by next March. Lets hope the best for Ms.Lohan since she has missed various career opportunities(the Linda Lovelace film,the John Gotti film) due to her addictions and violations of her court ordained probation. And in her case if she doesn't comply with this court order,then she might not get another chance to restart her failing career not even with Playboy's help!

The Best New DVD Releases of 2011

2011-12-15T17:52:00.000-08:00

In this year that's ending of 2011,there has been a significant amount of very good new releases both on DVD & BluRay that has come out this year. Especially due to the new Movies on Demand program that Warners Home Video,MGM Home Video and Sony Columbia Home Video have released of classic cult films that movie fans have requested as well as video companies such as Bill Lustig's Blue Underground and Criterion Home Video brought great cult films on BluRay.Here is my list of the 16 best new DVD & BluRay releases that came out in 2011.
1.SEAN CONNERY 007 COLLECTION VOLUME I & II

2.THE WALKING DEAD SEASON ONE

3.SPARTACUS:GODS OF THE ARENA SEASON TWO

4.THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. 8 MOVIE COLLECTION

5.MAN IN A SUITCASE SETS I & II

6.CAR 54 WHERE ARE YOU? SEASON ONE

7.IT TAKES A THIEF COLLECTION SERIES

8,GAINSBOURG A HEROIC LIFE

9.SUPER

10.DEEP RED:AMERICAN RELEASE UNCUT VERSION

11.INFERNO SPECIAL EDITION

12.ZOMBIE SPECIAL EDITION

13.HOUSE BY THE CEMENTERY

14.NIGHT OF THE GENERALS

15. ROGER CORMAN'S WOMEN IN CAGES COLLECTION

16.WOMEN IN PRISON TRIPLE FEATURE

Why Is There NoJames Bond 007 Calender For 2012?

2011-12-14T18:54:00.000-08:00

Normally around this time of year near the end of December,I always buy or order online the new calenders of the upcoming years which is a custom I always do at the end of every year for the last ten years.One of the calenders that I buy for the new year is always a James Bond 007 calender since I'm a humongous 007 fan.Normally for more than ten years there has always been a least two different James Bond 007 calenders for every year for sale.One calender would have the various actors who played 007 such as Connery, Lazenby, Moore,Dalton and Brosnan and the other calender would have either the actresses that played Bond Girls in the 007 movie series or the famous movie posters of all the James Bond films ever made

But this year has been very different since I have been searching all over the Internet thru Ebay and Amazon as well as going personally to all of the Barnes and Nobles bookstores located in NYC and so far at this moment,there is apparently no new 2012 calenders of anything related to James Bond 007 for sale. Even various websites on the Internet that dedicate themselves to everything related to James Bond 007,his creator Ian Fleming and the Bond films such as www.commanderbond.com,www.jamesbond007.com and others have remarked also the fact that there is no 2012 calenders for sale regarding James Bond 007 and are all mystified about this lack of James Bond 007 calender for the new year 2012.Especially if one realizes that the upcoming new year of 2012 marks both the 50th anniversary of the theatrical release of the James Bond movie series that started with DR. NO made in 1962 and the 60th anniversary of the initial publication of Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel,CASINO ROYALE(1952)

Also taking into the fact that this new year of 2012 will bring us Bond fans a new 007 film called SKYFALL which is the third Bond film starring Daniel Craig as 007 and the first Bond film in four years since the release of the last 007 film,QUANTUM OF SOLACE(2008),one would think that it would benefit the James Bond producers Micheal G. Wilson & Barbara Broccoli for publicity purposes of both the 50th anniversary of the 007 films and the new Bond film itself that a new James Bond 007 calender for 2012 would be released for sale just in time for the new year. But I will continue online for my search for a new James Bond calender for 2012 just in case until I'm forced to buy a 2012 calender with a different theme like The Avengers TV series