Kevin Dayhoff - Soundtrack Division of Old Silent Movies - www.kevindayhoff.net - Runner, writer, artist, fire and police chaplain. The mindless ramblings of a runner, journalist, and artist: National and International politics. For community see www.kevindayhoff.org. For art, writing and travel see www.kevindayhoff.com
Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist
Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Md Troopers Assoc #20 & Westminster Md Fire Dept Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist
Trailer for McCabe & Mrs. Miller directed by Robert Altman.The screenplay is by Robert Altman and Brian McKay from the novel McCabe by Edmund Naughton. The cinematography is by Vilmos Zsigmond and the soundtrack includes three songs by Leonard Cohen which had been issued on his 1967 album Songs of Leonard Cohen.
Cast:
Warren Beatty - John McCabe Julie Christie - Constance Miller Rene Auberjonois - Sheehan William Devane - the Lawyer John Schuck - Smalley Corey Fischer - Mr. Elliot Bert Remsen- Bart Coyle Shelley Duvall - Ida Coyle Keith Carradine - Cowboy Michael Murphy - Sears
***** McCabe & Mrs. Miller - McCabe (Warren Beatty) & Mrs. Miller (Julie Christie) meet for the first time
McCabe & Mrs. Miller, the unconventional 1971 western directed by veteran Robert Altman, could maybe best be described as "what reality TV would have looked like, if TV had existed back then". It's a very natural, bare bones, approach to film making, as if the audience gets a peek at the normal, every day doings of settlers in a new town. Warren Beatty is excellent in one of his best roles as John McCabe, small time entrepreneur and card player, who is riding on the reputation of some McCabe who - as the movie informs us - according to myth, is a legendary gunman. The McCabe who seeks residence in the newly developing town, however, is a far cry from the cowboys that we know from more conventional westerns.
But his mistaken identity helps him become the big man around town and soon he sets up several businesses, a whorehouse with possibly the most unattractive "chippies" ever put on celluloid being one of them.
This is mostly an atmospheric movie, that is filmed in chronological order, unlike most films. So, the actual sets were being built as the movie progresses, meaning they double as the expanding town. Beatty and Christie are excellent in their unassuming roles and all the bit players and extras deserve special compliments, as many of them were not real actors, but set builders and locals.
The wonderful and oddly fitting songs by Leonard Cohen complete this uniquemasterpiece. Also starring John Shuck, Rene Auberjonois and William Devane.
Kevin Dayhoff Soundtrack: www.kevindayhoff.net http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/ Kevin Dayhoff Art: www.kevindayhoff.com Kevin Dayhoff Westminster: www.westgov.net
Vastutuulesaal (2007) [Headwind Hall] Estonia Directed by Priit Valkna. Cinematography by Rein Kotov (Somnambuul), Margus Malm, and Tauno Sirel.
Friends of Estonia,
Because Estonia is now in its final stages of being an official Sister State of Maryland, Estonia has been added to the list of being part of the State's International Art and Film events. In 2009, the first part of this is the showing of some international films around the state. An Estonian film, a documentary, will be shown at the following locations on the following dates at no charge: .
Monday, February 16 – Headwind Hall (Vastutuulesaal (Salisbury University, Caruthers Hall Auditorium);
Friday, February 27 – Headwind Hall (Vastutuulesaal ) (Towson University, Van Bokkelen Hall Auditorium);
Wednesday, March 4 – Headwind Hall (Vastutuulesaal ) (Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts, Annapolis); and
Tuesday, March 10 – Headwind Hall (Vastutuulesaal ) (Room 201) (Frostburg University, Lane University Center).
All shows are at 7:00 PM.
Producer and co-writer of Headwind Hall, Artur Talvik, offers a light-hearted summary of the film.
Headwind Hall is a documentary film about the conductor Tõnu Kaljuste and his crazy idea of building an opera house on the estate of the past inventor Schmidt in Naissaar; an island which even today has no regular ferry line, no electricity and only one permanent resident.
In order to carry his idea through, Kaljuste must face situations bordering on the absurd, involving potential investors, snobby bureaucrats, construction workers, and the general public.
He transports construction materials and other necessities to the island with his own small boat.
The press and the representatives of different institutions cannot refrain from gloating - what is he trying to prove? The idea is almost as crazy as inventor Schmidt's erstwhile headwind ship that used the energy of headwind in order to move ahead with double power. However, in the summer of 2006, the Nargen Opera is completed and the first performances are carried through.
This amusing and dynamic film follows the activities of Tõnu Kaljuste during a period of five years.
The building of an opera house may not strike most people as a subject for a very dramatic film. Notwithstanding, sometimes the most extreme circumstances can be the setting for the most compelling stories.
The charismatic conductor Tõnu Kaljuste resigned his position as music director and chief conductor of the world renowned Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir in late 1999 and set out on a quixotic quest to build an opera/concert hall on the island of Naissaar, located about 12 miles north of Tallinn (the Estonian capital).
Naissaar, also known as the Island of Nargen, was once the family home of world renowned telescope and optical lens inventor Bernhard Schmidt (1879-1935) among whose other theoretical inventions was a wind-powered sail/propeller boat which used the force of the wind to sail directly into the wind itself.
The idea of this "against the headwind ship" becomes the metaphor for Kaljuste's dream to realize the construction of his opera/concert hall despite all the forces of bureaucracy, financing, and common sense working against him. Naissaar Island had no electrical supply, a barely functioning harbor, and only one or two permanent residents at the time this story begins.
How Kaljuste overcame nearly endless adversity and ultimately achieved his goal is shown in this exhilarating film.
Headwind Hall ends with the pop hit Minu inimesed [My People] by the Estonian rap/dance-club performer Chalice (the stagename of singer Jarek Kasar) and provides a musical benediction to Kaljuste's efforts.
At the same time, composer Arvo Pärt declares on-screen that "the Estonian people can't begin to appreciate the trouble that Tõnu has gone through"
Thanks to director Priit Valkna's triumphant film, audiences get the chance to see it and appreciate it for themselves.
Headwind Hall was given standing ovations at the 2007 Nordic Film Days in Lübeck. The film runs 60 minutes.
“Vastutuulesaal” on dokumentaalfilm dirigent Tõnu Kaljustest ja tema hullust ideest rajada kunagise leiutaja Schmidti talumaadele ooperisaal. Idee pöörasus seisneb aga selles, et leiutaja Schmidti maad asuvad Naissaarel. Saarel, mis hiljuti oli Nõukogude Armee kinniseks sõjaväebaasiks ja millel tänaseni puudub regulaarne laevaühendus, kus pole elektrit ja kus elab aastaringselt ainult üks elanik. Kes seal ooperis käima hakkab? Mis mõte see selline on? Karismaatiline Tõnu Kaljuste aga tahab kõigi kiuste ja hoolimata üldsuse ning rahamaailma vastuseisust rajada sinna omanäolist kultuurikeskust, kus traditsioonid ja kaasaeg kohtuvad. Kus ooperi kõrgstiil kohtub looduslähedusega. Idee elluviimiseks peab Kaljuste läbima absurdseid situatsioone potentsiaalsete rahastajatega, üleolevate ametnikega, ehitajate ja laiema üldsusega. Ta veab oma isikliku väikepaadiga saarele ehitusmaterjale ja muud hädavajalikku. Laiem üldsus ja eri instantside ametnikud aga ei suuda oma muiet varjata – mida ta tahab sellega tõestada? Võiks öelda, et idee on sama hull, nagu omal ajal leiutaja Schmidti loodud vastutuulelaev, mis kasutas vastu puhuva tuule energiat topeltjõuga edasi liikumiseks.
Aga 2006. aasta suvel saab Nargen Opera valmis.
Lõbus ja hoogne film jälgib Kaljuste tegemisi viie aasta jooksul.
Režissöör: Priit Valkna Idee autor: Artur Talvik, Monteerija: Tambet Tasuja Muusikaline kujundus: Priit Valkna Operaatorid: Margus Malm, Rein Kotov, Tauno Sirel Stsenaristid: Artur Talvik, Andri Luup, Priit Valkna Produtsent: Artur Talvik Tootja: RUUT allikas: EFSA Tags: dokumentaal, RUUT
20090216 SDOSM Headwind Hall Vastutuulesaal
Kevin Dayhoff Art http://kevindayhoffart.blogspot.com/
Kevin Dayhoff www.kevindayhoff.net http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/
The French Trailer for Lili Marleen by Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Non-associative meanderings and musings from the sofa by Kevin Dayhoff
February 9, 2009
I had the music and art of “Cold Play” in my head all day. With that in mind, I was was roaming around YouTube this evening. While I was surfing, watching and listening, I came across “Coldplay_Trouble.” It can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwGHQ6WyQFU.
The clip immediately reminded me of Hans-Jürgen Syberberg’s “Requiem für einen jungfräulichen König,” (“Ludwig - Requiem for a Virgin King” – June 23, 1972) - - and other practitioners of the “New German Cinema,” such as Wim Wenders, Volker Schlöndorff, and Werner Herzog.
I settled upon looking for clips by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, May 31, 1945 – June 10, 1982. He remains one of my all-time favorite directors, in a list that on any given day, can be cluttered, complicated, and crowded.
Of course, when one thinks of Mr. Fassbinder, the words cluttered, complicated and crowded, come immediately to mind...
This is perhaps a better way of saying that he led a life of constant strife and controversy in which he managed to offend anything, everything and everybody on any given day.
Even saying that one likes the work of the Mr. Fassbinder is controversial. Oh well, sometimes art is art… Whatever.
Wallace Watson wrote in 1992, in “The Bitter Tears of RWF,” that Mr. Fassbinder “did little to discourage the personalized nature of the attacks on himself and his work. He seemed to provoke them by his aggressively anti-bourgeois lifestyle, symbolized in his black leather jacket, battered hat, dark glasses and perennial scowl.”
The prolific filmmaker died at the all-too-young-age of 36; after maintaining an impossibly frenetic pace in which he created over forty films in 15 years.
Among my many favorite Fassbinder movies, certainly “Love is Colder than Death” (1969); “The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant” (1972); “Berlin Alexanderplatz: (1980); “The Marriage of Maria Braun” (1978); “Ali: Fear Eats the Soul” (1974) and “Lili Marleen” compete for my most favorite.
The YouTube video pasted below is the French trailer from Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s 1981 classic “Lili Marleen.” (The movie is based upon the autobiography of Lale Andersen: “Der Himmel hat viele Farben.”
This movie showcases a stellar performance by Hanna Schygulla, which along with her performance in “The Marriage of Maria Braun,” is one of her best.
“Lili Marleen” also includes great performances by Giancarlo Giannini, Mel Ferrer,Udo Kier and Barbara Valentin.
As it is with nearly every Maryland county, Carroll has its own list of historical "firsts."
In Carroll County, for instance, the first rural free delivery postal route in the nation was established (in 1899).
The very first reaping machine was invented and patented here (1839). And in 1764, the first Methodist congregation in North America met near present-day New Windsor.
Yet unlike Maryland counties such as Anne Arundel or Washington counties, Carroll did not host key events in the founding of the nation or endure the trauma of a major Civil War battle.
That's why veteran filmmaker and Westminster resident Marilyn Maguire assumed a more grassroots perspective in 2007 when she began mapping out "Carroll County's Legacy," her recently completed 58-minute-long video history of her adopted home county.
"Joe Getty (one of numerous local historians interviewed in 'Carroll County's Legacy') has the perfect line that you hear very early in the film," Maguire explains.
Getty, in recounting the various waves of English, Irish and Pennsylvania-Germans who comprised the county's earliest white inhabitants, notes:
"The history of Carroll County is the history of everyday life, of ordinary people doing ordinary things, and so when you talk about our history you're talking about the thread of everyday living in the patchwork of Carroll County's history."
[…]
Living 'Legacy'
The Carroll County Community Media Center will hold the premiere of the television documentary "Carroll County's Legacy" on Wednesday, Jan. 7, at 6 p.m., at the Community Media Center, 1301 Washington Road in Westminster. The screening will be followed by a question and answer period with the producer, Marilyn Maguire of Maryland Public Television. The premiere is free and open to the public, although reservations are requested. To RSVP, call 410-386-4415.
In addition, excerpts from "Carroll County's Legacy" can be viewed on the Carroll County History Project's Web site, http://www.carrollhistory.org/.
DVD copies of "Carroll County's Legacy" can be purchased for $30 by calling the Community Media Center, at 410-386-4415.
“Traitor,” a somber, absorbing and only moderately preposterous new thriller written and directed by Jeffrey Nachmanoff, manages an impressive feat of economy, condensing a vast and sometimes contradictory compendium of post-9/11 fears and anxieties into 110 swift minutes. The terrorists are all around us! The government is not doing enough to catch them! It’s doing too much!
The movie, despite its unassuming style and tightly focused story, tries to cover every side and cater to just about every possible ideological objection, an effort at comprehensiveness that seems noble and a little nutty. There are, for instance, two F.B.I. agents, Clayton and Archer. Archer (Neal McDonough) is prone to making insensitive remarks about Islam and the Bill of Rights, and to smacking around suspected terrorists; Clayton (Guy Pearce), a minister’s son with a soothing Southern accent, delivers calm homilies on religious tolerance and holds a Ph.D. in Arabic studies.
[…]
His point is not to suggest an easy symmetry — or, goodness knows, moral equivalence — between terrorists and American law-enforcement officials. Rather, the film’s sometimes clumsy efforts at topicality illuminate the conflicted psychology of its main character, Samir Horn (Don Cheadle). Samir, the son of an American mother and a Sudanese father, is an observant Muslim and a veteran of the Army Special Forces, a highly trained warrior whose allegiances are, at first and for a gratifyingly long time afterward, decidedly ambiguous.
… has less in common with Robert Ludlum’s Jason Bourne than he does with some of the cold-war specters dreamed up by John le Carré in his prime. Samir’s doubleness is built into his biography, and whatever choice he makes is likely to constitute some form of betrayal.
[…]
… Mr. Nachmanoff succeeds more often than he fails. A screenwriter (“The Day After Tomorrow”) making his debut as a director, he does not attempt the breathless pace and kaleidoscopic cutting that have become the dominant manner in globe-trotting action-suspense filmmaking. (See “The Kingdom” and especially the last two Bourne pictures.) …
The story moves around a lot — from Yemen to Canada, from Chicago to Marseille — and involves a lot of interesting minor characters, from Samir’s former girlfriend (Archie Panjabi) to the intelligence bureaucrat (Jeff Daniels) who knows his deepest secrets.
Great old-fashioned spy thriller action with a solid backdrop of religious tension amidst the dilemmas of war. A solid plot and good performances make this entertainment that makes the viewer think
[…]
In the end we are all faced with the ultimate dilemma of any war: is there any end that justifies the means?
Release: August 27, 2008 MPAA: Rated PG-13 for intense violent sequences, thematic material and brief language Running Time: 110 minutes Country: USA Language: English Color: Color
This is DEFINITELY the last Pretty in Pink video for the time being! I wanted to experiment with using some dialogue from the film in a video, to see if it actually was possible to represent a slash subtext using the actual script. I had to be creative here, but I think it works! The song, whilst not contemporary to the film, works well as a backing track; the footage itself was built around one long, slow clip of James Spader that I'd forgotten to include in the previous videos and I desperately wanted to give a home to! Oh, one thing - there is some *strong* language in this video, because it has dialogue - consider yourself warned!
The Carroll County Arts Council continues its annual tradition of honoring the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King with a day of family activities. On Monday, January 21, the ArtsCenter will host two free screenings of the made-for-tv movie “The Rosa Parks Story,” at 10:30 am and 2 pm. The 2002 film stars Academy Award nominee Angela Basset as Rosa McCauley Parks.
Parks, who was raised in the Deep South in the days of Jim Crow, when “separate but equal” was the law, but not a reality. Even at an early age, she refused to believe that she was inferior to anyone. Rosa is forced to cope with many degrading and humiliating situations, particularly a failed attempt at registering to vote.
She later goes on to work as a secretary at the NAACP and on their behalf, raises many questions on the position of Black people in society.
In 1955 she created the spark that ignited the modern Civil Rights Movement when, after a long day’s work, she took the only available seat in the first row of the bus. When the driver demanded that the Black passengers clear the row for a White woman, Rosa refused to comply. The resulting uproar in the South throws Rosa and her family into the Ku Klux Klan’s ring of hatred, but also into the NAACP’s limelight.
This compelling true story demonstrates the power a single act of defiance can have over an ancient tradition of injustice.
The film is Not Rated and runs 94 minutes.
From noon to 2 pm that day, youngsters and the parents are invited to attend a drop-in art workshop where together they can create a masterpiece inspired by the legendary words of Dr. King, “I have a dream……” Workshop leaders are Mahlia Joyce and Jose Flores.
For more information about the free events, call 410/848-7272 or visit www.carr.org/arts. The CarrollArtsCenter is located at 91 W. Main Street in downtown Westminster.
I have not seen the movie, “Charlie Wilson’s War,” although it is on my short list of movies of which I speculate may be worth the time – in a year in which most of the Hollywood movies were not worth the time.
I stumbled across this review and piqued my curiosity.
Has anyone seen the movie – and if so, what did you think?
By Jeremy Kuzmarov, George Mason University’s History News Network
Mr. Kuzmarov is Visiting Assistant Professor of History at BucknellUniversity. His first book, The Myth of the Addicted Army: Vietnam and the Modern War on Drugs, will be published by the University of Massachusetts Press, Amherst.
In his provocative 1993 book, Culture and Imperialism, Edward W. Said examines how cultural representations in the West have historically helped to stereotype Third World peoples as being passively reliant on foreign aid for their social and political uplift, thus engendering support for imperial interventions ostensibly undertaken for humanitarian purposes. This was true, he argued, even in works critical of Western interventions, like Joseph Conrad’s The Heart of Darkness and Graham Greene’s The Quiet American, where the indigenous characters appear to be either incidental to the story or dependent on Westerners (as is exemplified in the Vietnamese character Phuong who latches onto the “quiet American” Alden Pyle as a means of escaping a life of poverty and prostitution).
Said’s final chapters focus on Hollywood’s promotion of demeaning stereotypes of Arabs as religious fanatics and terrorists and universally oppressive towards women. He highlights, further, how the Vietnamese people in most American films on the war have been deprived of human agency, with the U.S. defeat frequently blamed on ineffectual liberal bureaucrats and incompetent senior officers rather than the strength of Vietnamese nationalism and mobilizing abilities of the revolutionary leadership. Said would likely argue that Charlie Wilson’s War is the latest Hollywood blockbuster to promote underlying cultural stereotypes of Third World peoples and Muslims, while sanitizing the American record and its promotion of imperial violence.
Based loosely on true events, the film focuses on the efforts of a Congressional representative from Texas, Charlie Wilson, to raise funds for mujahadin “freedom fighters” seeking to “liberate” Afghanistan from the Soviets. A playboy renowned for his womanizing and high-lifestyle, Wilson becomes a lonely voice in support of the CIA’s covert war.
Message movies condemning America’s war on terror currently fill your neighborhood multiplex, but the theatres playing such films hardly fill with people.
Read the entire post here: “Still Out of Touch.”Mr. Medved gives us a quick review of some of the drivel that is Hollywood these days…
The Carroll Theatre, now the magnificently renovated CarrollArtsCenter, opened to the public on Thanksgiving weekend in 1937.
To celebrate that momentous anniversary, the Arts Council will have a free screening of one of the films originally shown at the Carroll Theatre’s Grand Opening, “Texas Trail.”
The classic film features Hop-a-long Cassidy, known as the King of Cowboys.
The U.S. Army calls upon “Hoppy” to collect badly needed cavalry horses, although a crooked ranch owner and his gang have thwarted previous attempts to accomplish the task. In a diabolical setup, Hoppy is arrested for stealing the rancher’s herd, yet manages to devise a plan to stampede the horses and capture the gang.
“Texas Trail” will be screened at 2:30 pm on Saturday, November 24th.
The film is not rated and runs 60 minutes. The timing coincides with the annual Westminster Holiday Parade that will begin at 4 pm that day and travel past the ArtsCenter.
“It’s a classic rootin’ tootin’ western, and best of all its free! It’s our way of acknowledging this special anniversary and helping to bring back memories of this theatre’s rich history,” says Executive Director Sandy Oxx.
The CarrollArtsCenter is located at 91 W. Main Street in downtown Westminster.
For more information call 410/848-7272 or visit www.carr.org/arts.
Apparently as the YouTube featuring an hilarious give-and-take commentary on Democrats in which Bob Hope participates and delivers the “zinger,” made its rounds on the internet and found a spot on Mr. Sullivan’s blog and that, in turn sparked an initiative to find the “Best Movie Line Ever.”
This is the iconic scene from Elia Kazan's "On the Waterfront" in which Terry (Marlon Brando) delivers his brother Charlie a heartfelt scolding. "I coulda had class... I coulda been a contender, instead of a bum, which is what I am - let's face it."
This is often listed as perhaps the greatest scene of acting in a motion picture, and gained more popularity after Martin Scorsese's "Raging Bull," which featured Jake LaMotta (Robert De Niro) reciting the scene word-for-word in his dressing room.
Additionally, the blog notes:
Second place: Casablanca. Third: Cool Hand Luke. In the end, you agreed with Pauline Kael. Her celebration of Brando's genius can be found in an essay she wrote for the Atlantic in 1966.
I guess by now, CNN is wondering what it got itself into…I have learned the hard way that secular-progressives feel self-entitled to question and cast aspersions upon others.But don’t ever question – gasp - their agenda.They quickly become indignant and incredulous that anyone would ever investigate their claims.Folks such as Mr. Moore feel some sort of moral superiority that allows them to behave in any unpleasant manner that promotes their cause…
July 15th, 2007
In response to a letter Michael Moore wrote about CNN's reporting on his documentary "SiCKO," a CNN spokesperson released the following statement:
"It's ironic that someone who has made a career out of holding powerful interests accountable is so sensitive to having his own work held up to the light by impartial journalists, as we did in our examination of 'SiCKO,' " the spokesperson said.
"In our original report, we made one mistake, which we apologized for and corrected on air and online six days ago, despite Mr. Moore's claim yesterday in his letter to us. Further, the e-mail Mr. Moore released in an effort to cast doubt on our reporting does no such thing.
"We appreciate Mr. Moore's attention to the important subject of health care and have featured him on CNN four times to discuss his movie and our reporting on it. While Mr. Moore may want to continue the discussion in order to drive publicity to his movie, we have presented the facts and are comfortable letting the viewers judge for themselves.
"We have zero vested interest in shading the numbers to tell a certain story. Suggesting otherwise, of Dr. Gupta or of CNN, just doesn't hold water," the spokesperson concluded.
CNN has always prided itself on balanced reporting of claims made by special-interest groups. Moore's documentary "SiCKO," which makes an impassioned case for a complete overhaul of the U.S. health care system, was not exempt from that reporting.
Moore has been sharply critical of CNN's reporting on his movie. CNN gave him multiple opportunities to respond, including lengthy segments on "The Situation Room" and "Larry King Live." Portions of those segments were aired in other CNN programs.
Moore recently posted and open letter and two so-called "Truth Squad" statements on his Web site. This document responds to the specific points Moore lays out:
Michael Moore and Wolf Blitzer exchange pleasantries
July 11, 2007
Well maybe it wasn’t that pleasant after all…Seems Michael Moore and Wolf Blitzer will not be exchanging Christmas Cards anytime soon.
It appears that at the beginning of the segment Mr. Blitzer wanted to talk with Mr. Moore about the state of health care in the United States as a compare and contrast with other countries and in relationship with his recently released movie “SICKO.”
As it developed it has been three years since CNN had Mr. Moore on the network and feelings have festered over the years – especially since Mr. Moore has issues with how he felt that he was treated in his last appearance…
Mr. Moore was not having any of Mr. Blitzer’s structured approach to the interview and Mr. Moore quickly segued from health care to problems with the mainstream - corporate media, and the war in Iraq.
The video is long and often with such video’s, my attention span is short.I watched every second of it and I’ll bet you will too.There are little gems, too numerous to mention, throughout the piece but one of the many priceless moments came at the very-very end with Lou Dobbs’ comment as the program was transitioning from Mr. Blitzer over to Mr. Dobbs.Priceless editorialization by Mr. Dobbs.
Mike demands an apology from CNN for Dr. Sanjay Gupta's biased reporting on 'SiCKO' and for helping the Bush administration lie us into a pointless war. More about this story on http://www.michaelmoore.com .
More… on Moore…
I’m betting you’ll watch all of this video also…Whatever your feelings about Mr. Moore, his interactions with the HMO, “Humana” are just a hoot…
“…I’ve actually got a better idea.It would be a lot cheaper to just kill the sick than to heal them.I mean how much does a bullet cost?30 cents?”Michael Moore in “The Awful Truth.”
The video is introduced:
Before there was 'SiCKO' there was 'the awful TRUTH' and on the awful truth there was Christopher Donahue, a Florida man with a life-threatening pancreas illness. He needed a transplant but Humana wouldn't pay so Mike threw a funeral. More Mike at http://www.michaelmoore.com/
In recent conversations with fellow journalists and other folks who like movies, I found myself in the “club” that understands that the movie tells a profound and compelling story that otherwise many of us would flock to see.
More often than not I can easily allow the value of a piece of art to overcome issues such as politics and personalities.
But whether it speaks well of me or not, I have just not been able to go to this movie because of Angelina Jolie.I simply do not want to support someone who promotes her politics in such a manner that she really annoys me.
I will often make buying decisions based on supporting this or that person in the community for whom I like the value they bring to the community or I like how they support the community.
I bought a Prius 18 months ago because I simply do not like buying gas and having my money go to folks who want to kill me, my fellow countrymen and women and my friends and colleagues serving in Iraq.
Locally, I prefer to patronize restaurants and businesses in CarrollCounty that are locally owned and give back to the community.
In the case of the recent uber-politicalization of Hollywood, I have found that I just do not want to contribute to Ms. Jolie’s causes and politics.And I will not to her movies…Fortunately some folks in Hollywood understand that – too many others do not…
Anyway, Mr. Friedman writes that apparently there are lots of folks out there who do not want to support Ms. Jolie – and that is a crying shame…But whatever.
Mr. Friedman writes, in part:
Angelina Jolie can't be happy today about the fate of her latest film.
"A Mighty Heart," released last Friday, has turned into a cold fish at the box office. After opening with a less-than-stellar $3.9 million weekend, the Michael Winterbottom film has taken a subsequent nose dive.
On Monday, the film had the biggest drop of any in the top ten, taking in only $398,000. Things improved slightly on Tuesday, with $418,000. (These are rounded off numbers derived from boxofficemojo.com.)
But as far as the future is concerned, for now at least, "A Mighty Heart" is a mighty failure.
This is too bad. The film is very, very good, and the subject matter is important. For filmgoers who complain that there's nothing out there for adults, "A Mighty Heart" should be a must-see experience.
But it's Jolie herself who has turned off audiences. Her publicity blitz as mother of the year from tattooed, blood accessorizing whack job has simply not gone over well. And her anti-press campaign in the week of the film's premiere couldn't have helped. (My emphasis)
One wonders now if Jolie can still convince audiences she's an actress. It's possible her public persona has become so indelible that moviegoers can't accept her as a fictional person other than Lara Croft, tomb raider and cartoon character.
The loss, of course, goes to Mariane Pearl, whose own story and that of her beloved husband Daniel is more important than Angelina Jolie.
The movie's most famous scene takes place in a roadside restaurant (a Denny's, just south of Eugene, Oregon), where Bobby tries to get a waitress (Lorna Thayer) to bring him toast with his breakfast, which is not on the menu.
Despite appeals to logic and common sense, the waitress adamantly sticks to the rules of the restaurant, so Bobby comes up with a plan of his own:
Bobby: I'd like a plain omelet. No potatoes, tomatoes instead. A cup of coffee and wheat toast.
Waitress: No substitutions.
Bobby: What do you mean? You don't have any tomatoes?
Waitress: Only what's on the menu. You can have a number two — a plain omelet. It comes with cottage fries, and rolls.
Bobby: Yea, I know what it comes with, but it's not what I want.
Waitress: Well I'll come back when you make up your mind.
Bobby: Wait a minute, I have made up my mind. I'd like a plain omelet, no potatoes on the plate. A cup of coffee and a side order of wheat toast.
Waitress: I'm sorry, we don't have any side orders of toast. I'll give you a English muffin or a coffee roll.
Bobby: What do you mean "you don't make side orders of toast"? You make sandwiches, don't you?
Waitress: Would you like to talk to the manager?
Bobby: You've got bread. And a toaster of some kind?
Waitress: I don't make the rules.
Bobby: OK, I'll make it as easy for you as I can. I'd like an omelet, plain, and a chicken salad sandwich on wheat toast, no mayonnaise, no butter, no lettuce. And a cup of coffee.
Waitress: A number two, chicken sal san. Hold the butter, the lettuce, the mayonnaise, and a cup of coffee. Anything else?
Bobby: Yeah, now all you have to do is hold the chicken, bring me the toast, give me a check for the chicken salad sandwich, and you haven't broken any rules.
Waitress: You want me to hold the chicken, huh?
Bobby: I want you to hold it between your knees.
The waitress then indignantly orders them to leave, to which Nicholson knocks the drinks off the table with a sweep of his arm.
Back in the car:
Hitchhiker in the back seat: Fantastic that you could figure that all out and lie that down on her so you could come up with a way to get your toast. Fantastic.
Bobby: Yea, well I didn't get it, did I?
Hitchhiker in the back seat: No, but it was very clever. I would've just punched her out.
"The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words." (Philip K. Dick)
In the last several days I have run across several references to a evocative movie, “37°2 le matin,” or as it is known in the United States: “Betty Blue.”
The movie, released November 7th, 1986, was based on a novel, also by the title of “37°2 le matin,” by Philippe Djian. The movie version of the novel is directed Jean-Jacques Beineix, who also directed another one of my “all time favorite movies, “Diva.”
The music for the movie is by Gabriel Yared. The recurring musical theme is as haunting as the movie; a piano progression, which will remain in your head for the longest time…
In many of my old movie notes from many years ago – this movie is consistently listed in my all time top-ten movies…
According to several published accounts, “The film received both a BAFTA and Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film in 1986, as well as winning a César Award for Best Poster. In 1992 it was awarded the Golden space Needle of the Seattle International Film Festival.”
For those not aware of the movie, it is not a movie for the weak of heart. It is about a writer who gets involved with a woman who is psychologically disheveled but nevertheless somewhat socially acceptable at the beginning of the movie. The movie documents her precipitous quixotic psychological deterioration... The excellent use of a narrator was effective and affective...
“Zorg is a handyman working at in France, maintaining and looking after the bungalows. He lives a quiet and peaceful life, working diligently and writing in his spare time.
One day Betty walks into his life, a young woman who is as beautiful as she is wild and unpredictable. After a dispute with Zorg's boss they leave and Betty manages to get a job at a restaurant.
She persuades Zorg to try and get one of his books published but it is rejected which makes Betty fly into a rage. Suddenly Betty's wild manners starts to get out of control. Zorg sees the woman he loves slowly going insane.”
Wikipedia says:
“Betty (Dalle) and Zorg (Anglade) are passionate lovers who live in a shack on the beach. He works as a handyman who does odd jobs to pay the bills. As the film begins, they have only been going out for a week and are in a very passionate stage of their relationship. Zorg narrates the story of their relationship via voiceover. He describes Betty, “like a flower with translucent antennae and a mauve plastic heart.” She yearns for a better life and quit her last job as a waitress because she was being sexually harassed by her boss.
Zorg’s boss asks him to paint the 500 shacks that populate the beach — a fact that he keeps from Betty who thinks they only have to do one. She attacks the project with enthusiasm that quickly turns to anger once she learns the actual number. In response, Betty covers the boss’ car with pink paint.
During a nasty fight, Betty accidentally discovers a series of notebooks that contain a novel Zorg wrote years ago. She reads it and falls in love with him even more. She then makes it her mission in life to type every hand-written page and get it published. Betty's freespiritedness and devotion to Zorg develop into alarming obsession, aggression and destructiveness, and the film alternates between comic and tragic modes.
Roger Ebert lists it on his top-ten “most hated films.”
Oh well. Mr. Ebert likes Michael Moore…
A reason Mr. Ebert may not like the movie is that he is frequently hyper-critical of movies that have “hypocritical agendas” such as “a confrontational film that is passed off as art, but is merely lurid and sensational; Ebert has levelled this charge against such films as The Night Porter and Blue Velvet.” [Cited by Wikipedia (although I have seen this in other published accounts.)]
“Now comes ‘Betty Blue,’ which opens with a shot of two people sideways on a bed, making love beneath a portrait of the Mona Lisa, while the narrator says: ‘I had known Betty for a week. We made love every night. The forecast was the storms.’…
[…]
She finds a manuscript he has written, determines that he is a genius, and types it up, tens of thousands of words. (Typists will enjoy the typing scenes, in which she makes typing errors, causing her to throw away countless copies of Page 1, and then has the whole manuscript typed in no time. This is the way typing is thought about by people who always use yellow legal pads themselves.)
What is Bieneix trying to say in "Betty Blue"? I am not sure. The behavior of the characters is senseless and boring. We lose interest in Zorg because anyone who could tolerate Betty Blue would scarcely have the discrimination to write a good book. One scene follows another senselessly, like in a soap opera, until Betty goes mad and we can go home.
And yet the movie has made millions in France, where it will not have escaped anyone's attention that Betty is played by an attractive young woman named Beatrice Dalle, who is naked as often as not.
[…]
Reviews have been written debating the movie's view of madness, of feminism, of the travail of the artist. They all miss the point. "Betty Blue" is a movie about Beatrice Dalle's boobs and behind, and everything else is just what happens in between the scenes where she displays them.
I saw the movie twenty years ago… Who knows, with my current sensibilities, perhaps I would see the movie again and not like it either… I do not remember the gratuitous nudity for which Mr. Ebert objects, although I have no doubt that there is a great deal of that in the movie…
The trailer is rated “R.” Although, curiously enough, the “R” rating for the trailer is because of the nudity of the male protagonist.
I remember being fascinated by the portrayal of the artist–writer and his interaction with the madness of his companion. Sorta like a “Five Easy Pieces” on acid. (“Five Easy Pieces” is another all time favorite of mine. I will always remember that it opened on my birthday, September 11th, - in 1970.
"The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words."
McCabe & Mrs. Miller
