by Sandy | May 29, 2019 | Actors, Arts, Entertainment and Music, Directors, Film, Movies
The “Film Noir” genre, a label used primarily for crime dramas of the 1940’s and 1950’s, were mostly in black & white. They’re famous for their evocative, often lurid, pulpy titles, (This Gun For Hire, I Wake Up Screaming, Phantom Lady, The Blue Dahlia, etc) the snappy dialogue, the scrappy, tough guys in trench coats, (Bogart, Robinson, Ladd) and the dangerous, smart, tough women in wedgies (Joan Crawford, Gloria Graham, Barbara Stanwyck).
These broody “who dunnits” are experiencing a resurgence in popularity (along with the coats and the shoes) and are soooo entertaining.The men are menacing, the women are manipulative and both are inclined to make some bad choices.
Small, independent movie theaters around the country, those that are left, often plan double bill weekends for these clever little gems. There are also DVD box sets featuring the films of major directors of the era – Nicholas Ray, Fritz Lang and Samuel Fuller. The most famous of the group, Billy Wilder’s, Double Indemnity (’44) and Otto Preminger’s, Laura (’44) show up on PBS every few years. 
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According to a PBS documentary about “German Hollywood”, the dialogue and subject matter of “Noir” might come from American crime writers, like Dashiel Hammet and Raymond Chandler, but the shadowy mood lighting, the scenes shot at night on rain slicked streets were influenced by the German expressionist movement of the 20’s (Pabst, Murnau) and was also colored by the melancholy of those who just escaped Hitler’s net: Peter Lorre, Marlene Dietrich, Paul Henreid, Peter Lorre, Conrad Veidt, Fritz Lang and Michael Curtiz (he directed “Casablanca”, 1942. Most of the extras were refugees – that impassioned “La Marseillaise” gets me every time.)
Just an example of typical dialogue:
Out of The Past, ‘47 – “Is there a way to win?”, the femme fatale asks and Robert Mitchum replies, “No, but there is a way to lose more slowly”. (Love it! Goes great with popcorn.)
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by Bob Martin | Dec 20, 2018 | Actors, Art, Concerts, Film, Movies
Bohemian Rhapsody, It’s the Music. It’s the Energy and the Memories
See Queen! Listen to the music and the fun. It is not the “Phantom Thread” nor should it be. It is pure entertainment! And It makes no difference when it happened, date time or order, it’s the entertainment. Sing along if you know the words or just dance in your seats. Just go see it, it’s fun.
Note: With all public figure we never get the whole story because no really knows what that is.
Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury
by Bob Martin | Feb 21, 2015 | Actors, Art, Movies, music
Whiplash was not a movie that was on my radar. Never saw an ad, a promo or trailer for it before seeing it. And there is a lot to be said for seeing or experiencing a movie without any preconceived notion. It was a splendid accident.
What Makes Whiplash a Gem!
Here is my spoiler alert, which is a list of what I believe every good movie should look to accomplish.
- Excellent Script – no wasted lines
- Actors who look and feel the role- believable and alive
- Story line – you can relate to it.
- Beautiful Cinematography – supports the narrative in an imaginative and beautiful way. Gorgeous.
- Meaningful Music – it is there for the right reasons, it engages the viewer.
- Direction – clean, precise, efficient and purposeful.
A nod to J.K Simmons, a solid professional, who deservedly has a bright spotlight beaming down on him.
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by Bob Martin | Mar 3, 2014 | Actors, Education, Movies
Photo by Anne Marie Fox – © 2013 – Focus Features
Over the years, actors who’ve transformed their bodies, in a commitment to a role, have been awarded for the changes in physical appearance. In the Dallas Buyers Club, both Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto look to have also sacrificed their personal well being and I wonder could the story have been told without the physical trauma? Leto and McConaughey are both brilliant, and this story was or could have been much bigger.
The story takes place in the late 1980’s.One of my favorite parts of the movie was when the Woodroof character has to use a microfiche reader to find out which drugs were effective in treating HIV around the world. This was all pre Google and WebMD and most everyone prayed that they had a knowledgeable doctor who had time to care and worry about their health, and that getting a second opinion might be seen as a sign of betrayal. Woodroof’s time (he was not the only person) was our awakening to our own responsibility for our health. Doctors know what they know and they know that they don’t know everything.
Ron Woodroof was a big deal and he was a part of a revolution whose impact can be seen today in the sometimes unreasonable debate on healthcare and it’s cost. More than 80% of all prescribed medicines are manufactured outside of the USA (China, India, etc.) and these same drugs can be purchased in other countries at a fraction of the cost we pay in the States.
I wish that the movie had the resources to tell more about the number of people who benefited from his uncompromising commitment to living. The Dallas Buyers Club is a good movie and I am glad that it finally got made. Congratulations to McConaughey and Leto.
by Sandy | Jul 25, 2013 | Actors, Arts, Entertainment and Music, Blogroll, Books, CDs, dvd
Everyone knows who Mr. Belafonte is – just listening to a few chords of “Day-O” or “Ma-tilda” brings his handsome face to the mind’s eye. At 85, he is still attractive of course, but Harry Belafonte: Sing Your Song, a fascinating documentary on DVD, fills in and rounds out the well lived life of the entertainer to be more than a man in a sexy shirt and tight pants. Besides being a singer, actor, husband and father, Mr. Belafonte is an activist, a pioneer and a humanitarian. A full life.
BTW: There is a book My Song: A Memoir and a CD, Harry Belafonte Sing Your Song: The Music that also celebrate this man’s life and music.
by Bob Martin | Jun 12, 2013 | Actors, Movies
Mickey Sumner and Greta Gerwig
After two seasons of “Girls” any movie that is about a maladroit young woman has my brain going “copycat” especially when Adam Driver shows up in one of the earliest scenes and I then spend the next 15 minutes looking for Lena Dunham It is times like these when I need to ask my brain to take a time out. I am afraid I missed a lot of this movie playing “One of these things is not like the others, One of these things just doesn’t belong, (Sesame Street)” in my mind.
Frances Ha was worthy of more of my attention and I’m looking forward to seeing it again so that I can enjoy it completely. Frances Ha is not Girls.
Little movies like Frances Ha offer their audience a banquet of opportunities to learn something new, or to be reintroduced to something we’ve forgotten. They are seldom copycats or sequels. Nothing gets blown up and the end of the world is not around the corner. (See “The Women are Gone”) Little movies are usually about something you recognize in yourself. They come close to being real.
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