AIRPORT 1975

<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bFgFFecXa_Q/S8oHrWBDOII/AAAAAAAAAPo/Yl828QDNWS0/s1600/Airport_75-black.gif"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5461185939365902466" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bFgFFecXa_Q/S8oHrWBDOII/AAAAAAAAAPo/Yl828QDNWS0/s200/Airport_75-black.gif" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" /></a><div><b>title:</b> AIRPORT 1975</div><div><b>year: </b>see title</div><div><b>cast: </b>Karen Black, Charlton Heston, George Kennedy, Linda Blair, Erik Estrada, Gloria Swanson, Conrad Janis</div><div><b>rating: </b>*1/2</div><div><br /></div>BLAZING SADDLES has not killed my love for Westerns, TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN for heist films, SPACEBALLS for the original STAR WARS, but AIRPLANE has all but destroyed any chance of me taking this, or any plane disaster film, seriously again. A nun serenading a sick girl with an acoustic guitar, a stewardess at the controls after the pilots are taken out... sound familiar? The weak ensemble cast of passengers including three drunk idiots afraid to fly, a know-it-all kid bugging his putupon nanny, and Gloria Swanson as herself, are all uninteresting and eventually forgotten as, during the last half Karen Black flies the 747 as boyfriend Charlton Heston, whilst in a smaller plane with George Kennedy, talks her down. A boring, pointless wreck, and not even that fun to bag on.

charlton heston, disaster, drama, ensemble, karen black, linda blair, seventies, suspense

AIRPORT 1975

title: AIRPORT 1975 year: see title cast: Karen Black, Charlton Heston, George Kennedy, Linda Blair, Erik Estrada, Gloria Swanson, Conrad J...

ORSON WELLES CINEMA: UNDERRATED TURN AS CITIZEN KANE

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--VbC9cAu1yY/U6NIYNSR_gI/AAAAAAAAgRc/4JeUthtuo50/s1600/citizen-kane.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--VbC9cAu1yY/U6NIYNSR_gI/AAAAAAAAgRc/4JeUthtuo50/s1600/citizen-kane.jpg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1941 rating: *****</td></tr> </tbody></table> If you hear something, anything, is the best ever made enough times you're gonna fight it. Even the most initially uncelebrated, despised, forgotten, and almost-literally-destroyed film can seem, after so many years and so much hype, mainstream and run-of-the-mill...<br /> <br /> But this controversial early-forties gem has not only stood the test of time but has yet to be equaled, at least not in acting, directing, and storytelling. But let's focus on one aspect, Orson Welles the actor, as the title character Charles Foster Kane, born into wealth and who makes more mistakes than money. That is, he already has the money so the mistakes come easy... and often.<br /> <br /> In portraying a twenty-five year old (amazingly, his age at the time) and then other stages: from forty to sixty to a dying codger, Welles continuously pulls of the miraculous, and with somewhat realistic looking makeup. In one particular scene, a fifty-something Kane is watching his trophy girlfriend (Dorothy Comingore) playing the piano: his eyes both leering, like a dirty old man in <i>lust</i>... And at the same time, adoring... like a dirty old man in<i> love</i>!<br /> <br /> Not much more needs to be said Kane reviews are as abundant as feathers on a duck, and so many are tired of that duck, but if you haven't seen KANE, or if you're avoiding the experience because everyone else has, just remember: some things are considered classic and timeless for a reason!

classic, drama, forties, joseph cotten, orson welles

ORSON WELLES CINEMA: UNDERRATED TURN AS CITIZEN KANE

1941 rating: ***** If you hear something, anything, is the best ever made enough times you're gonna fight it. Even the most initiall...

A CLOCKWORK ORANGE

<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bFgFFecXa_Q/S7zvgH09JsI/AAAAAAAAAFA/4IZdJsvpAMQ/s1600/a+clockwork+orange.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457500183602210498" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bFgFFecXa_Q/S7zvgH09JsI/AAAAAAAAAFA/4IZdJsvpAMQ/s200/a+clockwork+orange.jpg" style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; width: 172px; float: right; height: 200px;" /></a><strong>title:</strong> A CLOCKWORK ORANGE<br /><div><strong>year:</strong> 1971</div><div><strong>cast:</strong> Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee<br /></div><div><strong>director:</strong> Stanley Kubrick</div><div><strong>rating:</strong> *****</div><br /><div>TAKE ONE (<span style="font-style: italic;">FOR</span> THE HATERS) • This movie caters to the cold-hearted. Shows rape and murder as a fun and frolicking game and, adding insult to injury, the gloriously rapturous music of Beethoven, and the dapper old ditty "Singin' in the Rain," are used to drive nefarious young Alex DeLarge, played by Malcolm McDowell, leader of a blood-thirsty futuristic gang of clown-like thugs, to commit horrendous acts of "ultra-violence" against society. TAKE TWO (<span style="font-style: italic;">TO</span> THE HATERS, FROM THE LOVERS) • This movie shows cold-blooded killers having a great time killing and raping to classical music because that's what they do. It's merely a joke... <em>for them</em>, not director Stanley Kubrick who, in creating a futuristic society of recklessly-determined, guiltless youth, shows it without a buffer or remorse i.e. shit happens 'cause it happens. McDowell brilliantly displays viciousness, childishness, stubbornness, insanity, sympathy, and even humor. Yes, humor: an important aspect haters seem to miss. The parody is the pandemonium and vice versa. "Viddy Well, little brother, Viddy Well!" But remember: that to believe <em>pure evil</em> exists on screen you must visually experience it, and for this to happen it must be genuinely, and shamelessly, represented. And that's just the first half. The rest, concerning the government's experimental "cure" for violence and mayhem, and the ramifications thereafter, is where the true story lies. </div>

action, classic, dark comedy, drama, exploitation, malcolm mcdowell, prison, science-fiction, seventies, stanley kubrick

A CLOCKWORK ORANGE

title: A CLOCKWORK ORANGE year: 1971 cast: Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee director: Stanley Kubrick rating: ***** TAKE ONE ( FOR THE...

YAPHET KOTTO IN THE MONKEY HU$TLE

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bFgFFecXa_Q/S7jnnh0q-nI/AAAAAAAAAEg/svmvOVX9GDk/s1600/monkey+hustle.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5456365614839560818" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bFgFFecXa_Q/S7jnnh0q-nI/AAAAAAAAAEg/svmvOVX9GDk/s200/monkey+hustle.jpg" style="float: right; height: 150px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; width: 200px;" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1976 rating: ***</td></tr> </tbody></table> Yaphet Kotto is the first billed star, a credit rarely bestowed upon the black icon given he's usually an important supporting role, a title deserving the icon.<br /> <br /> Yet he's not really the main character, allowing other young actors like Randy Brooks, who years later played Tim Roth's partner in "Reservoir Dogs", Donn C. Harper and Thomas Carter, "Hayward" in "The White Shadow", to strut their stuff as young men trying to keep ahead of the constant hustle in downtown Chicago.<br /> <br /> This allows Kotto to do what he does best: provide an essential base whenever need-be, like in "Blue Collar", "Alien", and just about any film in which he appears. Although here he's the bottom line, and his presence alone makes everyone else shine.

blaxploitation, caper, ensemble, import, randy brooks, seventies, yaphet kotto

YAPHET KOTTO IN THE MONKEY HU$TLE

year: 1976 rating: *** Yaphet Kotto is the first billed star, a credit rarely bestowed upon the black icon given he's usually an imp...