MY HIT LIST : CANDYMAN

http://youtu.be/ZGRClgIQ504

Opening

Candyman takes an urban legend, an eager student looking for the perfect dissertation and introduces obsession into the mix. Candyman is that rare thing; an intelligent and thoughtful horror movie that is genuinely scary. It is a ghost story but not set in an old dark house but in the projects of an American City. It has possibly the only leading horror character that is African American; Tony Todd’s Candyman is an equal to Michael Myers, Freddie and a number of other modern day Scary leads.

The under rated Virginia Madsen plays Kelly Lyle who becomes inter twinned with Candyman and channels him to wreak karmic justice. Is he turning into something more than just a subject matter for her? There are a lot of things unsaid in this movie. From the opening of the film you sense the feeling of isolation in a metropolis that leads Madsen’s character to jump in with both feet into discovering the reality of the legend.

 http://youtu.be/GOcPVmS2-_4

We are left none the wiser by the films end as to what is real and what isn’t. Is Lyle a killer? Is the legend real?

Candyman has an interesting script by director Bernard Rose and Clive Barker and is something of a meditation on race. It also features an experimental Phillip Glass soundtrack. This is a B movie in most regards but an A movie in its genre. I would recommend a viewing; however stay away from the inevitable sequels.  

http://youtu.be/3lFxWo_C2qs

trailer

RIP AMY WHINEHOUSE

Amy Whinehouse

14/09/83-23/07/11

It was always going to end in tears for Amy. The shame of it is that, under all that other stuff, she was talented and could sing. What a waste.

http://youtu.be/FXvXiSUknVo

October song

MY HIT LIST: YOU'RE THE ONE FOR ME-D TRAIN

http://youtu.be/JH7g6u4ASjk

6:58 version

James 'D-Train' Williams & Hubert Eaves III

the flamboyantly named pair that were D-Train. In 1981 they released 'You're the one for me' on Prelude records. It was a huge hit on dance floors of the time and has been re released in various forms over the years, notably remixed by both Larry Levan and Shep Pettibone. It is a record that conjures up a specific time for me; as all good records do. It was characterised by the electronics and production along with William's impressive vocals. They had a number of other successes, notably with the singles 'Music' and 'Keep on'. This, there first single came out and wiped out the competition like a runaway Train, a D-train. 

http://youtu.be/-fSyr1kPLgo

TOTP

MY HIT LIST: GILLIAN BLANCHARD

Suzy Kendall as Gillian Blanchard in To Sir With Love

Yes she was a Bond Girl, a Giallo Scream Queen and Kitchen sinkster but but as Teacher Miss Blanchard in the, now very dated, movie To Sir With Love, I remember thinking at the time " why aren't my teachers like her?" Geek Chic at it's finest. aahh to Miss With Love.

http://youtu.be/wA8GsL-R1qI

CHOICE OF A LIFETIME

http://youtu.be/vUXCXCKbXb8

Tom Selleck- Indiana Jones

Many an actor/actress has tried and failed to get, been considered or turned down for a role of a lifetime. Their loss being someone else's ticket to a synonymous role. Here are some 'what might have beens'.

Frank Sinatra-Dirty Harry

Lance Henrickson-the Terminator.

http://youtu.be/4tdgBlZc8Wc
Robert DeNiro- Sony Corleone

Sylvester Stallone-John McClaine
Robert Redford-Superman

Mickey Rourke-Axel Foley
John Travolta-Forest Gump

Russell Crowe-Wolverine
Mel Gibson-Gladiator
Tom Hanks-Jerry Maguire

Cary Grant-James Bond

http://youtu.be/p4lb-IjDMcg

Warren Beatty-Gordon Gecko
Steve McQueen-the Sundance kid

Rod Steiger-Patton
Lee Marvin-Captain Quint
Michelle Pfeiffer -Clarice Starling

Melanie Griffith & Jodie Foster-Thelma & Louise
Julia Roberts-Mary Corleone

http://youtu.be/J_O0Q-PfD8Q
Ellen Barkin-Catherine Tramell

Gwyneth Paltrow-Rose Dawson

http://youtu.be/VWiiXs2uU1k

Ellie Wood-Walker-Wonder woman

CURIOSITY CORNER: HAPPY COUPLES?

Allen & Helen Jordan

http://youtu.be/FkQ_JxoWUP8

Tod Solondz's great movie Happiness is the ultimate 'couples' movie, in the sense of the oddness that can manifest itself. Here are some other odd/happy couples, all of whom are probably more 'normal' than the cast of the above

Barbie & Snoopy

Superman & Spider-Woman

Charlie Brooker & Aisleyne

Roger & Jessica

Harold & Maude

Frankenstein's Monster & Mermaid

Jesse James & Frankenstein's daughter

Marge & The Monster from outer Space

Lisa & Gary

Fred & Lailari

Rampling & Max

You don't have to be famous either...

Erika LaTour Eiffel  & The Eiffel Tower

http://youtu.be/SUm96h5e1y0

interview

Eija Ritta Berliner Mauer & The Berlin Wall

Edward Smith & Vanilla his Volkswagen Beetle

Davecat & Sidore

http://youtu.be/e2d54NRdJno

guys & dolls

They never thought they would seem so ordinary

ALCOHOL POST

Alcohol in praise of

It’s feels nice initially and helps with inhibition and is an aide to social interaction.

Alcohol-the case against

It is a toxin, causes stupid behaviours and gaps in the memory, thus leading to anxiety about what idiotic behaviour you may have indulged in. Kebabs; that’s another side effect of alcohol, yum, just what the doctor ordered at 1.00am. Alcohol bleeds your wallet dry; you leave the house with a nice wad of notes and come home pockets heavy with shrapnel. It’s a depressant; a bad depressant. Given that one usually feels like death warmed up after a heavy night on the booze, there is also the issue of dealing with the dark cloud that has formed above your head. It makes one fat; fat in all the wrong places. It's bad for relationships; that's a fact.

So, on reflection too much alcohol is a bad thing; one of the worst ‘too much of’s’ as it happens, but it is viewed as acceptable. I am fortunate that I have never been interested in drugs or gambling so I am very much in the school of having the single vice of alcohol. Occasionally too much alcohol, but sometimes a moment of clarity is all you need; have a limit! There isn’t that easy? Enjoy a couple of drinks as you would enjoy a couple of scoops of Ben& Jerry’s New York Super fudge Chunk (or is that just me?)No need to eat the whole tub. I had a moment of clarity some years back that led to me abstaining from drinking for a calendar year, and my god it was easy after the first couple of weeks. I have to say in all honesty, without sounding like a promotions manager for AA, that I felt great. It’s true; when you don’t drink you physically and mentally feel much better. I know. Crazy idea isn’t it?

AA is a route that some take and it has a good success rate; although one could argue it requires a certain degree of faith. What AA gives, I suppose is a commonality to people; shared experience and support.

I would have to say that making a choice about alcohol intake has to by definition come from within and this may be at the heart of the problems that alcohol causes. It’s hard to think of the idea of not drinking, but much easier to actually be in the situation of not drinking. The thought of it; not having that crutch, not having that remover of inhibition is what prevents people moderating or stopping.

This post, dear reader is obviously based on experience and is not the start of wellyousaythat preaching about how to live, but it may help a certain person.

After all, they say the pen is mightier than the sword and have you ever tried writing something sensible, or even worse, fencing when you’re pissed?

MY HIT LIST : SUNSET BOULEVARD

Where to begin? It's simply one of the greatest movies ever made and perhaps the best movie made about Hollywood full stop.

William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Erick Von Stroheim star with cameos from leading Hollywood lights Cecile B DeMille Buster Keaton, Hedda Hopper and HB Warner.

It's as bitter a movie as you could see but that bitterness is tinged with sadness and loss, loss for a different time and place; the silent era when movie stars were gods and directors were all powerful. Swanson's Norma Desmond is superb as the delusional recluse basking in her former glory, Holden is the cynical writer who stumbles across a story that eventually ends with his life taken. Everything about this movie is excellent from the script which is sensational to the idea of a dead man narrating. It's power comes from the fact that the once great can become has beens in the dog eat dog world of Hollywood and that to enter into Norma's web is a stifling experience. Robert Aldrich's Whatever happened to Baby Jane is something of a copy of the themes, although not nearly as well written. 

http://youtu.be/pkWt84F7FY0

The director Billy Wilder, as initially an outsider, was able to cast an eye over tinsletown and draw his own conclusions as to it's morality. This is exemplified in Sunset Boulevard. Wilder made some of the best movies of all time so this was no one hit wonder (Double indemnity, The lost weekend, Some like it hot, Ace in the hole, the Apartment, witness for the prosecution) .

Having re read Keneth Anger's Hollywood Babylon as an entree and watched Paul Merton's excellent BBC documentary on the birth of Hollywood  http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b011k4vx for main course this is the perfect film to watch as a dessert. And of course, as was Wilder's way, it has one of the most memorable closing lines in cinema history. Bitter sweet indeed.

http://youtu.be/SA9lFsiut2Q

The End

MY HIT LIST: HOLLYWOOD BABYLON

Keneth Anger's legendary books on the dark side of Tinsletown contains stories of suicide, Rape, excess, murder, abortion, necrophilia and incest, and those are just some of the subjects covered. it's scurrilous and shocking, but what it does is take the sheen off the Hollywood myth making machine. It casts a light into the dark corners of golden age Hollywood. A time when stars were rich, famous and lived life's of excess. Debauchery was considered okay and drug use and alcohol were part and parcel of the scene. These untouchables came undone when Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle was chosen as the one to take a fall for all of Hollywood in order to send out the message to 'curb your behaviour'. These books are interesting and entertaining trawls through the underbelly of LA's dream machine. BBC's Arena made a documentary on the subject that is extremely interesting, but not as interesting as these books are for anyone having a passing interest in Golden age Hollywood. 

 

Pre-Hayes Code

Crawford

Velez

http://youtu.be/XAIah-5Y6_U

Garland

Farmer

http://youtu.be/yu22nFREilU

part of a documentary on Anger and his books