For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, "Fear not, I am the one who helps you."
Isaiah 42:13
Isaiah 42:13
"We have too many intellectuals who are afraid to use the pistol of common sense." Samuel Fuller.
Take A Look At All The Good Stuff On This Site
Remembering DJ Vista: Thanks for the video and the music. R.I.P.
|
|
For the past several years my go to site for 80s New Wave and Punk music has been DJ Vista. It became a part of my morning routine when after I got my coffee I'd proclaim "Time to check out some DJ Vista." DJ, to my perception, didn't look the part of a sterotypic youtube dee-jay spin meister. But what stood out was his mixes and matching videos were production gems. He would insert himself in the right hand corner and he'd be swaying and moving to the music. Whenever he was really getting into it he'd lip synch to the song. DJ Vista brought synergy to his videos and I found that unique. His enjoyment of what he was doing added to my own enjoyment. His videos were the epitome of a labor of love. And thousands of viewers loved him for it.
A few weeks ago I was shocked and saddend to learn DJ had taken his own life a week before Christmas. He left behind a loving family and a beautiful young daughter. Such a tragedy. A true tragedy. This man brought so much joy and happiness to thousands of others and yet, for whatever reason, that same joy and happiness was missing from his own life. Suicide, it is said, is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. Easy to say I know. But had he just managed to stay on just a little longer, been able to carry on through whatever depression he had who knows but the Lord what might have happened. There were scores of followers who expressed their joy and love not only for what he did but for DJ himself.
I still listen to his music. I still say, "Time for a litte DJ Vista." It's such a shame to take God's most precious gift. But at least his family and his daughter and when she marries her children will know that he was loved by thousands, and his legacy will continue.
I thank DJ for the great work he did. I cannot help but think of him.
R.I.P. DJ. and thank you for making this old man's life a bit more enjoyable. Check out one of the clips and check out his youtube page. Listen to New Wave the DJ Vista way; the best way.
A few weeks ago I was shocked and saddend to learn DJ had taken his own life a week before Christmas. He left behind a loving family and a beautiful young daughter. Such a tragedy. A true tragedy. This man brought so much joy and happiness to thousands of others and yet, for whatever reason, that same joy and happiness was missing from his own life. Suicide, it is said, is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. Easy to say I know. But had he just managed to stay on just a little longer, been able to carry on through whatever depression he had who knows but the Lord what might have happened. There were scores of followers who expressed their joy and love not only for what he did but for DJ himself.
I still listen to his music. I still say, "Time for a litte DJ Vista." It's such a shame to take God's most precious gift. But at least his family and his daughter and when she marries her children will know that he was loved by thousands, and his legacy will continue.
I thank DJ for the great work he did. I cannot help but think of him.
R.I.P. DJ. and thank you for making this old man's life a bit more enjoyable. Check out one of the clips and check out his youtube page. Listen to New Wave the DJ Vista way; the best way.
GONE IN UNDER SEVENTY MINUTES
They say time is money, time is of the essence, tide and time waits for no man, there's no time like the right time and baby the right time is now. The point being is just because we might be short of time or, per the Guess Who, got got got no time, doesn't mean we can't watch i a good movie. Below are a few of them that run under seventy minutes.
Detour: 68 minutes-Many think it's one of the greatest noirs of all time. I wouldn't go that far but it is very, very good. For the most part it's a two character film but one happens to be Ann Savage and thank goodness for that. Her performance is one of the best of any femme fatale.
Among The Living: 67 minutes--It borders Southern Gothic as much as noir. Alfred Dekker plays twins and since one is schizophrenic you could say he plays three roles. Susan Hayward is a knock-out. Follow Me Quietly: Here come da Judge? Say what? He's a serial killer who strangles his victims from behind only when it rains. He says he has been anointed to rid the earth of the vermin, the evil, or any reasonable facsimile thereof. All this in only sixty minutes! Double Deal: 64 minutes-Marie Windsor admits that she's public domain and that should be enough reason to watc. There's also a monkey who with a better agent, might have had a sterling career in films. There are oil wells. And there's Richard Denning. The Threat: 61 minutes-Charles McGraw is the threat in this fast paced movie. Felix Feist directed a few other noir/crime films, and once again we see the professionalism of a man who knows his craft and the bottom line.($$$ for studio heads). |
Hell Bound: 69 minutes-This is an excellent B movie. There are a number of characters and a complex plot which usually spells trouble for a short film, yet this one this works like clockwork. Margo Woode stars with John Russell, June Blair and Stanley Adams. There's a lot of creativity in this film and it shows especially the ending where the bad guy get's his just dessert.
Behind Locked Doors: 62 minutes-This is low budget film making 101. The talented hBudd Boetticher directed this about a private eye who for love and money gets admitted to a funny farm to find a missing judge (what's with these judges?) Excellent cinematography as well. The Devil Thumbs A Ride: 62 minutes-This movie is pedal to the metal from start to finish. It stars Lawrence Tierney who cracks this classic line when looking at the photo of the gas station attendant's daughter "By the look of those ears she's gonna fly before she walks." And he gets meaner as the film continues! The Hoodlum: 61 minutes-This is bona fide text-book on how to make a low budget B movie. It's Mr. Tierney again. He plays Vince Lubeck who may be the biggest crumb-bum of a louse in filmdom. And how he makes his poor mother suffer! He should be shot. Killer's Kiss: 67 minutes-A Stanley Kubrick film shot on a frayed shoe-string of a budget. This film stands out on its own and not merely as a look into the genesis of a giant in the industry. The excellent cinematography was by Mr. Kubrick. Some great scenes. |
MOVIE REVIEWS
QUICK MOVIE REVIEWS
Short visceral reactions to some of the movies I've recently watched.
click link for all of the quick/flash reviews
Predestination-2014 WOW! Great movie! Ethan Hawke is a time traveler who needs to whack someone in the past to save the present. That person is played by Sarah Snook. Some say it's similar to Inception and Looper but I disagree. The film based on Robert Heinlein's short story is a bona fide mindjammer and addresses sexual identity that makes this as pertinent and relevant as any thing today. It's not based on the any particular ideology but the fertile and imaginative mind of Heinlein. I later came up with a conclusion to the ending that makes sense, to me at least. The less said the better as it needs to be seen and not explained. Sarah Snook was fantastic and if awards were based on acting alone she certainly deserved a few.
Victim-1961 In London a group of socially elite gay men are being blackmailed where homosexuality is punishable by jail. A young working class lad, Boy Barrett, is also being blackmailed and robs to pay the blackmailers. He is caught but rather give up a man his lover hangs himself in his jail cell. His lover Melvin Farr (Dirk Bogarde) feels at fault for ignoring Barrett and not even wanting to talk to him. Understanding he will lose all he has even his marriage he searches for the blackmailers to bring them to justice. This film gives us a great look at the treatment of gays and does not fail to infuse the movie with social commentary. It presents what appears to be a relatively gay enclave where straights are relatively tolerant and the 'queers' (as they were called ) are part of the working community. It is also a very good mystery. We are unsure of the blackmailers until the very end and it is a study of a man willing to sacrifice everything to give justice for a boy he ignored and for whom, he would admit to his wife (Sylvia Sims in a great scene), he had feelings. Bogarde again is excellent, in fact the whole cast is very good. Not a clunker among them.
Picnic At Hanging Rock (1975 ) loosely draws on an incident in the late 1880s when two Australian school girls went missing, one girl did return, and their chaperone, while hiking up the Rock. The last we see of them is entering a tunnel like crevice. After days of searching only one girl is found alive. This being an all girls school set in the Victorian era there are themes of sexual repression, rebellion and awareness.
There are no reasons given for their disappearance, no suspects and no motives. The girls were there and then they were not. We were never meant to find out and in the words of one character, "There are some questions for which there are no answers." And so it seems here. As I do with movies I looked at some of the reviews on IMDB. I came across this which, in my opinion, for the most party, coincides with mine. This is from a MissRosa: "The central vision of the film is enigma, the void, mystery. "The hand that erases writes the true thing" If there must be a meaning, it is that nothingness is the biggest threat of all. .. We fear our disappearance." And in accordance to my thoughts: "In Picnic, there was no villain, no enemy, no fall guy, no perpetrator, process or predicament that we could blame for the girls' disappearance. They simply disappeared. And that is the scariest nightmare of all." This was Director Peter Weir's first film and he paints a thoughful and sobering portrait of hopelessness and the fruitlessness of eternal struggle. Queen of Spades (1949) is a lavish, opulent, costume drama set in Imperial Russia of 1802 where the rage is a card game called faro which looks to be a variation of the children's card game of war. Some countess who needed money sold her soul so she could win at cards and she's lived a nice life through her success at faro. There's a poor Captain who wants to get ruble rich so he plans on getting her secrets. In the end he does. This is a very highly rated movie and many reviewers gave it 10/10. It did not resonate for me but with such a discrepancy and with me being an outlier this film might get another look from me in the future.
Apt Pupil-1998 Brad Refro (Bully )plays a high school student who discovers that a Nazi War criminal (Ian McKellen) living in his neighborhood. In lieu of turning him he wants the Nazi to tell him the truth about the camps, not just what the books tell him. It's a great premise but falls flat, flat flat. The ill-fated Renfro is a match for the great Sir Ian in this movie. Despite these two great actors, with a great story line, the movie disappoints. It's one of those 'could have been a contenders. That's my opinion yours may differ.t
|
Distant Journey-1949-A Czechoslovak film about the Holocaust. The film focuses on the marriage between a Jew and Gentile and the pressures they endure. The Gentile husband is temporarily safe while the relatives of his Jewish wife suffer as her relatives are sent to Thereisenstadt. Thereisenstadt is used as a front to mask the horrors of the extermination camps. It is where Jews are put into their own self-governing, semi-independent work camp. When the film begins we see the family closet is filled with suits and jackets and coats with the Star of David sewn on them. Near the film's end there is only one left. There is a scene of an old German Jew tears flowing down his face as he holds his Iron Cross won for bravery in the First World War. With the memory of the horrors of the war still fresh there are no scenes of violence, which makes it atypical. Director Alfred Radok intersperses clips from documentaries including Triumph of The Will. There are a lot of great innovative techniques that catch our attention. It's a very good movie and definitely worth a look.
Not of This Earth.Classic low-budget sci-film by Roger Corman and my personal favorite of Corman's films. A visitor from a dying planet scopes out Earth for suitable blood donors to replenish their pastures of pleasure. These are stockyards where conquered peoples from other planets are put so the bad guys can feast. Look for Corman regulars Dick Miller and Jonathan Haze, then there's Beverly Garland and Paul Birch who walked out in disgust before filming was done. There's a lot of comic touches and some scary ones as well.
L.A. Confidential-1991-What a movie! It's a bit long but the acting was great. Could this be Crowe's best film? I've no problem with Spacey's acting and he came through big time, same with DeVito, Straithan, Pearce and Basinger. Was there ever a bigger crumb than James Cromwell's character? There is so much going on here what with the heroin, the prostitutes made to look like movie stars, police corruption which seemed to be as much a requisite to being a cop as carrying a badge. Based on a novel by James Ellroy it takes a cynical look at the sausage making that goes into Hollywood. There are several shots of a movie marquee where The Bad and The Beautiful are playing. This had to be an inside joke as that movie about scandalous Hollywood was a full blown Hollywood production and whatever transpired as controversial about Tinsel Town was made palpable for the audience. Ms. Lana Turner happened to be in both movies, one as an actress the other as herself. This is movie that should be seen by everyone....at least once.
Once Were Warriors-1994 The film is not an easy watch but is worth it. Jake (Temura Morrison) is violent, brutish and abusive. His wife Beth (Rena Owen) puts up with his beatings, for as it's stated several times, its part of a woman's lot. While Jake and Beth are both Maori descendent, Jake has been urbanized. He knows little of his own culture, while Beth is proud of her background. While there is a clash between the Anglo and Maori cultures the emphasis is between those who hold fast to their culture and those who have lost it. Jake's presence forebodes imminent violence. The scenes at the public tavern (public=sans women) are realistic. Having been in the public houses in Australia it conjured up memories and smell of spilled beer, vomit and urine. Saw this years ago and it's lost none of its effectiveness. There are also, some nice scenes of young Maoris being taught different versions of the Haka.
Move over Plan 9 From Out Spaceand make room for A Ghost Story. -2017. I hate to be so blunt but this movie stinks. Ed Wood and his movies brings to mind "To thine own self be true," and that's what Mr. Wood and "Plan 9...." represent. They are what they are. A Ghost Story is sheer pretentiousness. The movie's purpose, I guess, was to address some cosmic absolute or the absurdity of such. But, does it have to be slow moving, tedious and boring? There's a monologue mid-way in the film, meant to be philosophical, I suppose,that doesn't pass muster as psycho-babble and instead is drivel. There is a scene that made me laugh until I cried. The ghost of another house, also covered with a white bed sheet converses with the lead ghost of the movie. F-Troop would be jealous. I've spent enough time on this movie.
Personal Affair-1953 A young girl (Glynnis Johns) is infatuated with her English prof (Leo Genn) and then goes missing. The town is agahst, accusations fly against the prof, his wife (Gene Tierney who looks stunning) isn't happy. This could have been an excellent movie esp. with that cast, and could have with a better director and a better supporting cast. Ms. Johns Daddy looks as concerned over his missing daughter as he might over a misplaced Meershaum pipe. BTW, IMO Mr. Genn bears a resemblance to Rbt. Newton and Ms. Tierney looks as good as she did in the 40s. Sweden is the Swedish Bikini Team.
|
Johnny Mack Brown-1904-1974. All-American HB at Alabama, Cowboy Actor. When my Dad was a kid growing up on E. 113th in NYC, he wanted to be a cowboy and Mr. Brown was his favorite. This is for you, Dad. Miss you.
Robert Praino. Born in Manhattan, grew up in Hackensack, living in Gulfport.