Foursomes In Film - 4 x 4

BROKEN WINDOWS

Aye - ''broken windows'' are a recurring theme in cinema!

This film is the anti-SITC indeed - as it is totally at the opposite spectrum of all that smut which is so well represented by Sex In The City on the small and no-longer-silver screens... Four women, four torments, four paths are presented, each trying to cope with the turmoil that everyday life has brought their way; each doing so in their own personal way. Truly interesting and with considerably more substance than the SITC fluff, evidently. This is far more worthy of your time - it goes without further noting (but we'll notify you anyway!)



NOUS IRONS TOUS AU PARADIS (1977)

A sequel to the previous year's sleeper hit Un Éléphant Ça Trompe Énormément (1976) about four friends and their respective family troubles... A classic - or two, rather. And you know that it is true when you see American remakes failing to recapture that same je ne sais quoi that only director Yves Robert and his unique cast could create, somehow... (The only blurring fact is that Robert participated in the remake process with American funny guy Gene Wilder - so there was no explanation other than "certain cultural traits do not translate well" to explain the failure of the remake. But that is another story, I guess... Speaking of digressions: watch for the final minute on the above clip from the 1977 sequel; it features the debut of French comedienne of certain renown Josiane Balasko.)



FOUR LIONS (2010)


An original and daring way to broach the subject of terrorism: with comedy. Indeed, this has been rightly hailed as a comic tour de force as it deals with fanaticism in such a way that even the masters (Monty Python, Rowan Atkinson, Chaplin) have not dared - and the end result is brilliant. Infinitely better than The Losers for instance, which was released in the same year and featured as many explosions - if not more. (The Losers' problem was that it was a DC derivative: like Jonah Hex and V For Vendetta, it waited way too long for the *comic-book to movie* adaptive process to take place. When that finally occurred, any semblance of novelty was utterly gone, since a ton of innovative indie films had already seized their opportunity beforehand, perhaps inspired by the sequential art fare, ironically enough! The Losers was hailed as a cross between similar fare such as The A-Team and The Expendables; at worst it was dubbed as *The B-Team*... Four Lions, in comparison, drew nothing but rave reviews for everything it attempted - except the ending. Evidence that no one can be perfect; especially not those who think that they are... But that is another story, too!)




THE FOUR MUSKETEERS (1974)


Instead of detestable versions of this classic adventure tale, the Richard Lester-directed film (or films, rather - for again, in the 70s, there were two!) imposes itself for so many obvious reasons; plus it reinforces the truth of the matter that was denied for too long, in that the musketeers were not three but four! Alexandre Dumas could count: let us not deny that! Another of the many reasons to like this version is the cast: Oliver Reed was the finest Athos ever, I've said it many times before and I'll continue saying it! Michael York, Richard Chamberlain and most of all Frank Finlay were the most suitable companions to that Athos. And then you had Charlton Heston himself as the Cardinal de Richelieu - what a casting coup! Faye Dunaway had the role of her career as Milady de Winter (what, you thought it was Laura Mars?) and even Raquel Welch, in a very farcical way, was terrific as fair, sweet Constance. Geraldine Chaplin (the man's daughter) along with Jean-Pierre Cassel, Simon Ward, Roy Kinnear, Christopher Lee, Philippe Noiret and many more rounded up the all-star cast for the two movies in the seventies - and a sequel made in the mid-80s, fifteen (not twenty) years later...! This is the best adaptation of that classic (series of) novel(s) - bar none! (And it is the version that is the object of a remake these days, as well - with that insufferable Orlando Bloom, among others, but let us not ruin our good memories here...)

Honorable mentions (out of sheer nostalgia, really) go to the Fantastic Four, war movie The Four Horsemen of the Apocaypse, The Four Feathers, Four Christmases, The Four Seasons, Four Weddings And A Funeral, Four Rooms, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (there were, essentially, only four good opponents for Freddy in it - if even that, but I say yes; there were 4...) as well as The A-Team itself (well, perhaps) Four Flies On Grey Velvet (if a Freddy flick can be included, so can a Dario Argento waste of celluloid) The Seniors and, mostly, Breaking Away and Judgment Night - but, clearly, you see that we selected here the best quatuor of films there could be to choose from! And now it is up to you to choose which one is the best Quatre-Quarts... Quattro Filmo... Foursome Film... четворка филм!

Well then... 

I've made my choice -

what is yours?

;-)

Some music, as a reward...

APHRODITE'S CHILD - THE FOUR HORSEMEN

well... so much for that! 

++++

John Williams VS James Horner

And let there be no talk of punks such as Michael Mann, Aaron Zigman, Alan Silvestri, Hans Zimmer or Rachel Portman - all Vangelis, Ennio Morricone or Nino Rota wannabees - during this no-holds-barred confrontation here!

All we will allow is an honorable mention to John Debney for having put music to the most impressive film of the past century - better than anything Zimmer ever scored, that is for damn sure! But that is another story...

Onwards with the hostilities!

Who is the BEST film composer, of a number of films now: Williams or Horner?

JOHN WILLIAMS


Or

JAMES HORNER



It is, basically, a free-for-all pitting Superman, Star Wars and E.T. against Aliens, Braveheart and Avatar!

Who wins?

Hmm...

JOHN WILLIAMS - because he's backed up by the Boston Pops, not by a Canadian adulterous filmmaker who rooted for Vancouver (and, as we all know, Boston defeated Vancouver handily in the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals!)

;-)