1890s around the world

Ah, the memories!

21 Times Mel Brooks' Films Were Pure Genius

LILA -A short film by Carlos Lascano

Diana Krall - Walk On By (Live In Rio)

Video Stores Explained To Modern Kids

Nah! Next you  are going to tell us people had to go out in bad weather to download books for their Kindle too? No way!

Avatar Review

From the maker of the Phantom Menace review.

 

Part I

 

Part II

(Via Cynical-C)

The Making of Jive Talk From Airplane

 

YouTube link

 

(Via Andy’s blog)

Carnival In Rio 1955

Another wonderful Travel Film Archive movie.

 

Carnival In Rio 1955

 

Scary Mary

 

YouTube Link

 

(Via Bits and Pieces)

StarTrek

I finally saw the new Star Trek movie and its a good movie. I always liked Star Trek and went with some trepidation. Sure, it has some technical and science inconsistencies and weak points but they are not too bad.

If you have seen it, you may be interested in reading Phil Plait's (the Bad Astronomer) opinion on the science of it all. If you haven't seen it, wait as there are some spoilers in it.

Harvey Korman: You'll be missed

I loved Harvey Korman, one of the funniest comic actors in the USA. He was great in Mel Brooks films such as Blazing Saddles and High Anxiety. I also fondly remember the "Gone with the Wind" skit in the Carol Burnett show. We'll miss you Harvey!

Movies in 5 seconds (YouTube)

Here are some of the best of the 5-second movies. Enjoy!

• Monty Python and the Holy Grail in5 Seconds
• Godfather in 5 Seconds
• 2001 in 5 Seconds
• Groundhog Day in 5 Seconds
• Kindergarden Cop in 5 Seconds
• All the Rocky Movies in 5 Seconds

The Grand List of Overused Science Fiction Clichés

A friend sent me this list of "The Grand List of Overused Science Fiction Clichés"

It is not new but new to me. It is also rather long so, cut to the best part: "Section IV: Silly Science (clichés)"

Some samples:

* A robot or other AI speaks progressively more slowly as it shuts down from some malfunction.
* Don't know the code for the lock? Just shoot the keypad. The door will open.
* The artificial gravity is the last system of all to fail.
* A large dose of radiation results in super powers instead of super tumors.

Link

Human evolution made easy

A well-done movie (YouTube) that explains it all.

Of Muppets and Me: Behind the scene on the Muppets

This is the find of a lifetime. I am so happy showing you this. I laughed so hard. A set of videos (YouTube) showing the men and women behind the Muppets. Jim Henson, Frank Oz and crew show you how it was done. A must see!

(Via Neatorama)

What's Opera, Doc? - 50 years of 'Kill da wabbit'

'What's Opera, Doc?,' a cartoon that would likely never be made today, celebrates golden anniversary. So starts the article on The Star about the 50th anniversary of what is arguably the best cartoon of all time.

At any other time, the film would not have been made. Imagine the pitch: "Let's steal time and funding from our other projects so we can go way over budget making a cartoon with no jokes, and no real gags. The score will be a German opera. Kids won't get it. Most adults won't get it, but I don't care because I think it's funny."

Fortunately, the time was 1956, the director was Chuck Jones, and the place was the Warners Bros. backlot animation studio dubbed "Termite Terrace." The result – released 50 years ago this week – was "What's Opera, Doc?," voted by animators in the 1994 book The 50 Greatest Cartoons: As Selected by 1,000 Animation Professionals to be the greatest cartoon of all time.

Now I have to go rent it and watch it again, and again...

(Thanks Alan!)

[Update]: Added link to YouTube (probably going to be busy today).

Monterey Pop Festival: 40th Anniversary

This week (June 16-18) is the 40th Anniversary of the Monterey Pop Festival, the outdoor concert in 1967 that started the flower revolution and was part of the Summer of Love.

It was planned by producer Lou Adler and by John and Michelle Phillips of the The Mamas and The Papas.

It featured well known acts as The Byrds, Jefferson Airplane and The Who and introduced unknowns like Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix.

The list of performers was awesome:

• Al Kooper


• Beverly


• Big Brother & The Holding Company


• Booker T and The MG's


• Buffalo Springfield


• Canned Heat


• Country Joe and The Fish


• Grateful Dead


• Hugh Masekela


• Jefferson Airplane


• Johnny Rivers


• Laura Nyro


• Lou Rawls


• Otis Redding


• Quicksilver Messenger Service


• Ravi Shankar


• Scott McKenzie


• Simon and Garfunkel


• Steve Miller Band


• The Animals


• The Association


• The Blues Project


• The Butterfield Blues Band


• The Byrds


• The Electric Flag


• The Group With No Name


• The Jimi Hendrix Experience


• The Mamas & The Papas


• The Paupers


• The Who

I was too young and too far away to have attended but it was an amazing concert. (Available on DVD).

Recent movies I've seen

I rent and watch good movies as often as I can.

The latest I've seen:

The Queen by Stephen Frears A good movie with an excellent performance by Helen Mirren (Oscar winner for her role in this movie).

The Asphalt Jungle by John Huston A classic Film Noir that somehow I had never seen until now. With an excellent cast, featuring James Whitmore and a very young and unknown Marilyn Monroe in a small role. It earned an Oscar nomination for Sam Jaffe, the excellent actor of many movies including his great performance as Gunga Din and also as Professor Barnhardt in The Day The Earth Stood Still, one of my favorite movies. Asphalt Jungle has also a good performance by Jean Hagen, the vacuous obnoxious blond in Singing in the Rain. The B&W photography is first class.

Flags of Our Fathers by Clint Eastwood Somehow I did not like this movie. It is certainly a good story, but I found the narrative tedious and the movie much too long. He could've cut a good ten minutes and kept it within two hours long. Now I have to see his next movie, the story told of Iwo Jima from the other side in Letters from Iwo Jima, which I heard was better than the first one.

Last two movies I've watched

I am somewhat of a movie buff. I unfortunately find most American movies made lately can be classified as crap, to put it nicely.

I rent movies from Netflix so I have something to watch every week. I have been on a quest to watch the classics that I don't remember or that I have missed since I started going to the movies in my youth.

This past week I had the pleasure to watch these two:

• Island in the Sky
  
• Witness for the Prosecution
  

Island in the Sky is a John Wayne movie that he made and produced in 1953 where he plays a C-47 cargo pilot in WWII that has to survive, with his crew, from a forced landing on a frozen lake in the middle of nowhere in Canada in winter. Excellent movie with a great cast, including Andy Devine, one of my favorite funny actors.

Witness for the Prosecution is one of the best movies I've ever seen. I loved it and it quickly climbed to be in my top-ten list. With a good plot, based on a book by Agatha Christie, it keeps you interested to see the conclusion. If you read the link provided and you have not seen it, avoid the "spoiler" section. And as they say in the closing credits, do not tell your friends how it ends. Wonderful acting by Charles Laughton and Marlene Dietrich, with a great and funny interaction between Laughton and his real-life wife Elsa Lanchester (which I found out later was famous for having played the "Bride of Frankestein").