taste-testing blog

Sunday, February 28, 2021

Most Memorable Cinerama...?

 


Definition in the Luminous Universe: 
CINERAMA - Noun, latin roots... like everything cool 
"Universal body of all things that have ever mattered 
in the realm of the so-called 7th Art" 
...as in "Americana" and other "anas" 
only, here, you have the verb "ama" which means 
LOVE in PORTUGUESE! 





--- MUCH, MMMMMMUCH BETTER THAN MARVEL!





... AND IT ALWAYS GOES BACK TO 

THE HAYS CODE YEARS! 


#ButThat'sAnotherStory! 


Did I omit some of the most "iconic" images ever 
in the History of Cinema...? 

YOU DON'T SAY...!!! 











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Wednesday, April 01, 2020

Battle of the Mandys

YEAH...
it is really hard to tell, right now, 
which one of these broads 
is really/truly 
MORE ANNOYING...












...sure she is... 




 






Is it the WWE Mandy? 
Mandy Rose ~ whose heart 
(heart-of-a-floozie) 
appears to be torn three ways
not just two!!  
(Threeways appeared to be fit for her, too 
when the WWE writers sat down to  
ponder the question and all... I am sure! 
They thought of Three's Company...
sssssssssssure!)  




Is it... MANDY - THE MOVIE! 
Caught as the poor gal is 
-somewhere halfway between 
Left Behind and Ghost Rider 
with just a little hint of 
Drive Angry thrown in there, 
for extreme good measure...!
in the dire wastelands of 
Nicholas Cage's 
cinematic career... 
What else can be expected, 
really...?





























OR COULD IT REALLY BE...
MANDY MOORE


Here she is... THE ORIGINAL MANDY 
OF THE MODERN AGE... with her Candy...!!!  
Sooooooooooo annoying!!! 







And we'll just throw in 
an additional MANDIE 
into this mix/mess... 



... just for the heck of it! 

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Sunday, December 30, 2018

Year-End Box-Office Drawn-Out

... FIGHT TO THE FINISH ... 
(of 2018) 
!!! 

THE TWO MARIES... 
cancel each other out, 
really! 
_______________________________________


There's always 
''Three Marys'' 
though... 
________________________________________

But then there is 
that buzz floating around - 
BUMBLEBEE 





--- silly Tinseltown, though; 
haven't they heard that 
CARS POLLUTE, 
ROBOTS ARE EVIL and 
BEES ARE DEAD.

And we will die with them.  


But that's another story. 

Onwards with the MOVIES: 
what about those 
MORTAL ENGINES... eh 




... well ... 
That one was dead in the water 
right out of the gate as well! 

But speaking of water...











How is THAT for a perceived to be 
perennial "fifth wheel" --- EH! 
none of the above competitors 
(Mary Queen of Scots, 
Mary Poppins Returns, 
Mortal Engines, 
Bumblebee) 
and none of the other 2018 rivals 
for both cash and great honors 
(Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, 
Welcome To Marwen, 
that atrocious Venom 
or anybody else you would care 
to make a mention of here...!) 
can touch this film: 
AQUAMAN 
is, without a doubt, 
head and shoulders above 
ALL of those productions 
AND ALL SUPER-HEROES EVER 
PUT TO FILM --- 
for the sheer splendor of its 
ATLANTIS! 
And the directorial prowess of 
James Wan! 
And its incomparable cast 
which includes so many notables 
surrounding Amber Heard's Mera 
and Jason Momoa's Aquaman: 
Nicole Kidman, Willem Dafoe, 
Dolph Lundgren, Patrick Wilson, 
Temuera Morrison, Otis Dhanji, 
Djimon Hounsou, Graham McTavish, 
Sophia Forrest, Natalia Safran, 
Randall Park, Michael Beach, Ludi Lin, 
John Rhys-Davies, 
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II 
and Julie Andrews...!!!



AND WAIT UNTIL 
DVD AND DIGITAL SALES 
START COMING IN, TOO...!!! 

You may snub it for Oscar contention, 
Academy STIFFS - 
but you better not be giving it 
to a Marvel instead 
solely based upon sheer 
box-office tally 
or alleged 
"social significance" 
either! 



 AQUAMAN 
has changed 
super-hero movies 
and the industry 
FOREVERMORE - 
not anybody else! 



Isn't it too bad 
STAN LEE 
isn't alive to see it 
happening either... 
hmm? 


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Wednesday, July 13, 2011

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! 








++++

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Tuesday, July 12, 2011

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!)

;-)

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Saturday, January 15, 2011

Frankenstein Vs The Golem - Once And For All!

With A special Mid-Card Bout featuring... well, that would be telling you way too early, thus minimizing the impact of the sweet surprise, now wouldn't it be the case, hmm...

The Monster of Frankenstein and the Golem have shared a hell of a lot from the very beginning. They are man's artificial creation - an abomination for man does not create life, God Does. And yet - these two are, purportedly, humanoid lifeforms created by man. Moreso in the case of the Golem than Franky, truth be told, for the former is truly made from non-organic matter while Frank, well, he's just, basically, REANIMATED BITS OF CORPSES, ALL SEWN TOGETHER! A patchwork zombie; that is what he is! The Golem is made of clay or anything else, really - and given life through mystical means, not God Knows how many volts of electricity! Thus, in fact, Golly is a thousand times more abominable than Franky is - because the ghostly essences of a legion could be animating the latter, but Golly there could most likely only be stirring and coming forth spurred on by the power of a demon, nothing less!

But do not let me influence your impression of these two, now; see them for yourselves...








And from the mad scientist's lunacy we go straight into religious fervor to the umpteenth degree...!

(Oopsy-do there; the Golem of 1920 couldn't make it -or take it- anymore... Sorry!)



Jews who want to "compel the powers of darkness" to reveal their potency... It sure doesn't sound like the rabbi there is on the good side of things at all!

Maybe he'd better turn towards new technology: like robotics, for instance! A golem is a silly putty kind of solution from the archaic artisanal past; the future lies elsewhere...




Some people never learn though...



In some isolated cases, however, going retro is the right way to go:



Once cool, always cool - rrrrright?
And there is nothing quite as cool as winter is, so...

I think we have a winner - not the Golem, not Frankenstein, but EWG!
The Edgar Winter Group Frankenstein!




But wait just a minute now... 










...THERE you go... you bastards!!! 


Are you really gonna tell me that 
the 1920 GOLEM is NOT in the 
Public Domain now...
when we are approaching 
2020... for crying out loud?!? 

How about the 1915 Golem...
HUH: 
















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