Les Voyeurs #88 – Des Voyeurs dans l’avion

Diffusion le : jeudi 19 novembre 2009 à 18h sur Radio Grille Ouverte
vendredi 20 novembre 2009 à 18h sur Radio 16.
Rediffusion le samedi 21 novembre 2009 à 10h sur RGO.
En téléchargement pendant une semaine ici.
Et en écoute permanente là.

Actualité

Capitlism – A Love Story : Sortie au cinéma le 25 novembre 2009 du nouveau film de Michael Moore.
Spiderman 4 : Confirmation de la présence au casting de l’acteur Dylan Baker, interprétant le personnage du Dr Connors, devenant dans la BD le super-vilain Le Lézard.
Buffy, la tueuse de vampires : une web-série animée adaptant la 8ème saison des aventures en comics de la tueuse de vampires, va bientôt voir le jour, faisant donc suite à la 7ème saison de la série TV.
Delta Blues : la série créée en 2008 par Joshua Harto et produite par Georges Clooney à enfin trouvé son acteur principal en la personne de Jason Lee (le héros de “Earl”).
Prince of Persia – Les Sables du Temps :  Le prince de Perse doit combattre un Vizir rebelle désireux de s’emparer des Sables du Temps, un artefact conférant à son possesseur le contrôle du Temps. Adaptation cinéma de la célèbre licence de jeux vidéos. Réalisé par Mike Newell. Avec Jake Gyllenhaal. Sortie France 26 mai 2010. BA visible en VF pourrie ou VO HD.
L’actualité des Arcades : A l’origine ; L’Imaginarium du Dr Parnassus, Le Ruban Blanc (en VO), Away We Go, Micmacs à tire larigot, 2012, Twilight chapitre 2 : Tentation, Saw VI.
Les Beaux Gosses : Le beau coffret collector du film est disponible depuis le 12 novembre. Contient le film en édition collector 2DVD mais également le CD de la BO du film et surtout le “manuel pratique du puceau” !! Dépêchez-vous c’est pas cher !
L’actu du Sémaphore de Nîmes : L’Imaginarium du Dr Parnassus (en VO), mais aussi le film qui n’est plus à Alès et c’est dommage Panique au village !. Le Sémaphore organise également jusqu’au 26 janvier 2010 des projections des grands classiques du cinéma italien dont Affreux, sales et méchants, Les Monstres, Le Fanfaron, Hier aujourd’hui demain, L’Étranger. Plus de détails sur la programmation sur le site du cinéma ici => Sémaphore.

Dossier de la semaine : Des Voyeurs dans l’avion

La saga des “Airport”

Airport (1970) de Georges Seaton
Airport 75 (747 en péril – 1975) de Jack Smight
Airport 77 (Les Naufragés du 747 – 1977) de Jerry Jameson
Concorde : Airport 79 (Airport 80 Concorde – 1980) de David Lowell Rich

Les vols de l’extrême

L’Étoffe des Héros (The Right Stuff – 1983) de Phillip Kaufman
Des serpents dans l’avion (Snakes on a plane – 2006) de David R. Ellis
Des Zombies dans l’avion (Flight of the Living Dead : Outbreak on a plane – 2007) de Scott Thomas
Les Ailes de L’Enfer (Con-Air – 1997) de Simon West
Flight Plan (2004) de Robert Schwentke
Air Force One (1997) de Wolfgang Pertersen
Independence Day (1996) de Roland Emmerich
Die Hard 4 – retour en enfer (Die Hard 4.0 – 2007) de Len Wiseman

Les avions “cartoons” : les Z.A.Z. aux commandes

Les avions du futur

Furtif (Stealth – 2005) de Rob Cohen
D.A.R.Y.L. (1985) de Simon Wincer
Firefox, l’arme absolue (1982) de et avec Clint Eastwood

Coups de Cœur

Les Chevaliers du Ciel (2005) de Gérard Pirès
Aviator (2004) de Martin Scorsese

La bande originale de la semaine :

Papa Loves Manbo par Perry Como
Extrait de la bande originale du film Ocean’s Eleven (2001) de Steven Soderbergh

Chronique : La Carte Postale Sétoise

L’Enfer d’Henry-Georges Clouzot de Serge Bromberg et Ruxendra Medrea

Musique :
Who’s Driving Your Plane ? par The Rolling Stones

Extraits :
Airport 75 (747 en péril)
Des Serpents dans l’Avion
Firefox, l’arme absolue

Présentation : Cédric Cance, Erik Antolin, Jérôme Bauzon
Chronique : l’irremplaçable Jan Jouvert !
Technique : Jérémie Adrian

National’s Treasure director Jon Turteltaub and Naked Gun’s producer Jerry Zucker will team up behind a new film detailing the birth of the environmental organization Greenpeace.

According to the Guardian, the story will be told through the eyes of Greenpeace’s charismatic founders, Bob Hunter and Rex Weyler.

“We want to look at these unlikely heroes who became activists in spite of themselves,” Janet Zucker (one of the producers) told Variety

“Jon likes to make a big adventure movies. And we’ve found that the best way to reach people’s hearts and minds is through entertainment.”

The title of the movie is yet to be determined.

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La escena con más mala leche de los noventa. Ríete tú de Paul Verhoeven.

Da tempo sofferente per un cancro al pancreas è morto a Los Angeles Patrick Swayze.
Era nato ad Houston, nel Texas, il 18 Agosto 1952, sua madre era coreografa e proprietaria di una scuola di ballo ; proprio in virtù di questo, dimostrandosi sin da piccolo propenso alle attività artistiche, iniziò a prendere lezioni di danza classica.
L’ attività di ballerino sembrava promettere bene, tanto che Swayze nel 1972 si trasferì a New York per completare la sua formazione presso le scuole di balletto Joffrey Ballett e Harkness Ballett ; nel 1973 esordì nel corpo di ballo per Disney on parade, interpretando il Principe Azzurro di Biancaneve; cominciò poi a lavorare a Broadway, ottenendo il ruolo di Danny Zuko in Grease.
Purtroppo cominciarono a farsi sentire le conseguenze di una infortunio avvenuto durante una partita di football negli anni del liceo, con conseguente lesione del ginocchio;dopo una serie di operazioni andate a buon fine, decide allora di intraprendere la carriera d’attore e nel 1979 si trasferisce a Los Angeles:vari lavori saltuari per mantenersi, qualche spot pubblicitario ed infine il debutto cinematografico con Skatetown, U.S.A., di W.A.Levey , un’ apparizione in un episodio della serie televisiva M*A*S*H e il grande salto con I ragazzi della 56a strada di Francis Ford Coppola, 1983, vera e propria fucina di giovani attori che da lì a poco avrebbero sfondato, come Matt Dillon o Rob Lowe.
Nello stesso anno recita con Gene Hackman in Fratelli nella notte, di Ted Kotcheff e in quello seguente in Alba rossa di John Milius, ma sarà la parte di Orry Main nella serie televisiva North and South del 1985, ambientata durante la Guerra di Secessione, a conferirgli popolarità presso il grande pubblico, in attesa della vera e propria consacrazione che avverrà nel 1987 con Dirty Dancing di Emile Ardolino, nel ruolo a lui certo congeniale di un istruttore di ballo, ottenendo una candidatura al Golden Globe .
Dopo ruoli da “duro” in film come Alba d’acciaio, 1987, di Lance Hool o Vendetta trasversale, 1989, di John Irvin, arriva l’indimenticabile ruolo di Sam in Ghost, 1990, di Jerry Zucker, che anche ormai fantasma cerca di aiutare la sua compagna Molly( Demi Moore); nel 1991 un altro ruolo di successo con Point break , di Kathryn Bigelow, per poi prendere nuove strade interpretative che lo porteranno a recitare in ruoli per lui davvero insoliti, forse desideroso di voler dimostrare sfumature recitative al di fuori dei soliti clichè, da La città della gioia, 1992, di Roland Joffè, a A Wong Foo, grazie di tutto!Julie Newmar, 1995, di Beeban Kidron, dove è la drag queen Vida Boheme.
Altri ruoli significativi nella sua carriera non vi saranno: appare nel cult Donnie Darko, 2001, di Richard Kelly e in Dirty Dancing 2, 2004, di Guy Ferland, sorta di seguito del celebre originale; il suo ultimo film è Powder Blue, di Timothy Linh Bui, dove recita accanto al fratello Don.
Per tutti sarà sempre l’istruttore di ballo Johnny che danza soavemente e sensualmente con Jennifer Grey e il Sam di Ghost che alla dichiarazione d’amore di Molly risponde semplicemente “idem”, eroe romantico di poche parole, moderna incarnazione del classico “duro dal cuore tenero” di hollywoodiana memoria.

OMG!

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Patrick Swayze, the hunky actor who danced his way into viewers’ hearts with “Dirty Dancing” and then broke them with “Ghost,” died Monday after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 57.

“Patrick Swayze passed away peacefully today with family at his side after facing the challenges of his illness for the last 20 months,” said a statement released Monday evening by his publicist, Annett Wolf. No other details were given.

Fans of the actor were saddened to learn in March 2008 that Swayze was suffering from a particularly deadly form of cancer.

He had kept working despite the diagnosis, putting together a memoir with his wife and shooting “The Beast,” an A&E drama series for which he had already made the pilot. It drew a respectable 1.3 million viewers when the 13 episodes ran in 2009, but A&E said it had reluctantly decided not to renew it for a second season.

Swayze said he opted not to use painkilling drugs while making “The Beast” because they would have taken the edge off his performance. He acknowledged that time might be running out given the grim nature of the disease.

When he first went public with the illness, some reports gave him only weeks to live, but his doctor said his situation was “considerably more optimistic” than that.

“I’d say five years is pretty wishful thinking,” Swayze told ABC’s Barbara Walters in early 2009. “Two years seems likely if you’re going to believe statistics. I want to last until they find a cure, which means I’d better get a fire under it.”

A three-time Golden Globe nominee, Swayze became a star with his performance as the misunderstood bad-boy Johnny Castle in “Dirty Dancing.” As the son of a choreographer who began his career in musical theater, he seemed a natural to play the role.

A coming-of-age romance starring Jennifer Grey as an idealistic young woman on vacation with her family and Swayze as the Catskills resort’s sexy (and much older) dance instructor, the film made great use of both his grace on his feet and his muscular physique.

It became an international phenomenon in the summer of 1987, spawning albums, an Oscar-winning hit song in “(I’ve Had) the Time of My Life,” stage productions and a sequel, 2004’s “Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights,” in which he made a cameo.

Swayze performed and co-wrote a song on the soundtrack, the ballad “She’s Like the Wind,” inspired by his wife, Lisa Niemi. The film also gave him the chance to utter the now-classic line, “Nobody puts Baby in a corner.”

And it allowed him to poke fun at himself on a “Saturday Night Live” episode, in which he played a wannabe Chippendales dancer alongside the corpulent — and frighteningly shirtless — Chris Farley.

A major crowdpleaser, the film drew only mixed reviews from critics, though Vincent Canby wrote in The New York Times, “Given the limitations of his role, that of a poor but handsome sex-object abused by the rich women at Kellerman’s Mountain House, Mr. Swayze is also good. … He’s at his best — as is the movie — when he’s dancing.”

Swayze followed that up with the 1989 action flick “Road House,” in which he played a bouncer at a rowdy bar. But it was his performance in 1990’s “Ghost” that showed his vulnerable, sensitive side. He starred as a murdered man trying to communicate with his fiancee (Demi Moore) — with great frustration and longing — through a psychic played by Whoopi Goldberg.

Swayze said at the time that he fought for the role of Sam Wheat (director Jerry Zucker wanted Kevin Kline) but once he went in for an audition and read six scenes, he got it.

Why did he want the part so badly? “It made me cry four or five times,” he said of Bruce Joel Rubin’s Oscar-winning script in an AP interview.

“Ghost” provided yet another indelible musical moment: Swayze and Moore sensually molding pottery together to the strains of the Righteous Brothers’ “Unchained Melody.” It also earned a best-picture nomination and a supporting-actress Oscar for Goldberg, who said she wouldn’t have won if it weren’t for Swayze.

“When I won my Academy Award, the only person I really thanked was Patrick,” Goldberg said in March 2008 on the ABC daytime talk show “The View.”

Swayze himself earned three Golden Globe nominations, for “Dirty Dancing,” ”Ghost” and 1995’s “To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar,” which further allowed him to toy with his masculine image. The role called for him to play a drag queen on a cross-country road trip alongside Wesley Snipes and John Leguizamo.

His heartthrob status almost kept him from being considered for the role of Vida Boheme.

More here

My heart goes out to Mr. Swayze’s family.

It seems that this year so many people from my generation and/or well known to my generation are passing on.  I gotta stop thinking.  Just the other day I was thinking about “Orrie Main” (Patrick Swayze’s character from North and South).  That was when my crush on Patrick Swayze started.  Just like I had had a passing thought about Michael Jackson just before his passing.  Walter Cronkrite.  Was reminiscing about Pretty in Pink just before John Hughes passed on.

La science au secours d’Hollywood

(Agence Science-Presse) – Outrés des erreurs qu’ils trouvent régulièrement dans les films, des scientifiques ont lancé en novembre The Science and Entertainment Exchange (SEE), un organisme voué à «rendre service à Hollywood». Le but est donc de faciliter les liens entre les réalisateurs et des scientifiques dont les connaissances leur seraient utiles pour donner de la crédibilité à une séquence ou un dialogue. SEE est co-dirigé par un réalisateur, Jerry Zucker (Airplane, Ghost), et bénéficie d’une subvention de 490 000$ de l’Académie nationale des sciences pour sa première année. Toutefois, pour ce qui est de la façon dont ces liens seront établis, le plan demeure encore vague…

PUBLICITÉ

Conte illustré ralliant l’imagination débordante de Patrick Viger, un jeune de 15 ans, l’expérience littéraire de Raymond Viger et les illustrations professionnelles de Victor Panin. Patrick Viger a commencé à écrire en duo avec son père dès l’âge de 8 ans. Cette écriture a commencé par un jeu; une façon d’établir une relation entre un père et son fils. Ce conte illustré a été écrit pour le plaisir et l’amusement. 4,95$

Disponible Par téléphone: (514) 256-9000, en région: 1-877-256-9009
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Par la poste: Reflet de Société 4233 Ste-Catherine Est Montréal, Qc. H1V 1X4

Top Secret! – Added to Collection Archive
American rock star Nick Rivers (Kilmer) teams up with the lovely Hillary Flammond (Gutteridge) to escape capture by the East German High Command. They don’t have long, as Rivers and Flammond must try to find her father, in order to stop him from creating the ultimate super weapon, known as ‘the Polaris Mine’. A host of characters join them, including Déjà Vu (Carter) and Chocolate Mousse (Tagoe)

Soundtrack Listing:
“SKEET SURFING“
Performed by Val Kilmer

“EAST GERMAN NATIONAL ANTHEM”
By Sandy S. Smith

“TUTTI FRUTI“
Performed by Val Kilmer

“NUTCRACKER”
By Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

“HOW SILLY CAN YOU GET“
Performed by Val Kilmer

“SPEND THIS NIGHT WITH ME“
Performed by Val Kilmer

“ARE YOU LONESOME TONIGHT?”
Performed by Val Kilmer

“A HARD DAYS NIGHT”
By John Lennon and Paul McCartney

“STRAIGHTEN OUT THE RUG“
Performed by Val Kilmer

“THEME FROM JAWS”
By John Williams

“BONANZA”
By Jay Livingston and Ray Evans

1980’s Airplane! is the blueprint for every single piece of spoof comedy to follow it. In order to fully understand and appreciate, if possible, television shows like Family Guy and movies like Scary Movie, one has to see Airplane! at least once. Directed and written by David Zucker, Jerry Zucker, and Jim Abrahams, this film takes its basis from the 1957 flick Zero Hour!, with the Zuckers and Abrahams getting the rights to the picture in order to make Airplane!. Before we go any further, I’m also painfully aware as to how excited I’m likely to sound writing this review. I assure you that any additional points of exclamation will be offered in full recognition of their importance! Okay, that was the last one. Maybe.

Ask any lover of comedy for their favourite comic movies and Airplane! will make the cut on any respectable list. On the AFI’s “100 Years…100 Laughs” compilation, Airplane! ranks as the 10^th funniest American comedy. It’s also listed at number six on Bravo’s 100 Funniest Movies. Airplane! arguably defined the parody genre and set up seemingly thousands of films attempting to ape its success in subsequent years with no other movie ever coming close in pure comic worth.

Airplane! tells the story of Ted Striker (Robert Hays), a distressed former fighter pilot. He’s now a cab driver and he’s still in love with his ex-girlfriend Elaine (Julie Hagerty). He decides to confront her and tell her how he feels, but there’s a catch: she’s a stewardess and is getting ready to board a flight. Ted must face his fear of flying in order to profess his love for Elaine. Naturally the worst case scenario occurs and Striker ends up needing to fly the plane after the pilots go down with food poisoning. Ted must confront his fears to save the day.

This is classic disaster movie stuff, with the everyman hero needed to save the day and rescue the innocent people thrust into despair. Countless films and themes are parodied here, with a ridiculous pace set from the opening credit sequence. It is interesting to note that the parody and satire becomes more frenetic as the movie progresses, with early scenes framing things more traditionally. By the time disaster strikes via food poisoning and the crew starts to go down, the movie really picks up the comedic pace and pushes the limits of ridiculousness.

It’s interesting to note that a lot of the motion picture’s best lines come from Zero Hour!. In many ways, the ’57 disaster film works well enough as source material so as to require very little spoofing. The “I picked the wrong week to quit smoking” gag, performed tremendously by the masterful Lloyd Bridges, is taken from a serious line in Zero Hour!, for instance. Other movies are also sent up, including the Airport series, Saturday Night Fever, From Here to Eternity, and Knute Rockne, All-American with its “Win one for the Gipper” speech.

I could honestly run down the gags in this movie for hours. So densely packed are the jokes, gags, and lines that Airplane! becomes a bit of a comedic maze with new discoveries found on each pass. Take the verbal gags of the names of the pilots, for instance, and the confusion that presents when Captain Oveur (Peter Graves) needs to address Roger Murdock (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar). Or the use of Barbara Billingsley to translate the “jive talking.” Then there’s the classic “Don’t call me Shirley” line from Dr. Alan Rumack (Leslie Nielsen). And so on.

Airplane! is one of those great classic comedies that provides hours of entertainment via quoting and reminiscing long after the credits have rolled. The gags, lines, jokes, puns, and slapstick comedy are tremendous fun.

There’s little purpose to dissecting the plot, the performances, or other elements of the film except to say that Airplane! is a movie to be seen and enjoyed several times. If your idea of humour is a little girl telling a flirtatious little boy that she likes her coffee black and that she prefers her men the same, you’re going to love Airplane!

9.4/10

Trailer (thanks, Movie-List.com):

Höhlengleichnis.

Was Orson Welles wohl für ein Projekt wie dieses gegeben hätte? Aus eigener Kraft finanziert, über Jahre geplant, ganz nach eigenen Vorstellungen auf Zelluloid gebannt – und dann die alles entscheidende Komponente, die dem großen Kinogenie bis auf die eine legendäre Ausnahme immer verweigert blieb: Fertigstellung und Leinwandpremiere ohne Einmischung von Studios, Investoren und sonstigen Parasiten. Welles hätte sein letztes Hemd dafür geopfert (was er ja ohnehin oft genug getan hat). Heute ist das alles nicht mehr gar so dramatisch, und wenn man nicht gerade Terry Gilliam ist, hat man mittlerweile ganz gute Chancen, seine skurrilen Traumprojekte tatsächlich auch irgendwann realisiert zu bekommen. Der richtige Status in der Branche, die Bereitschaft, sein eigenes, hart verdientes Geld ins Spiel zu bringen und das notwendige Durchhaltevermögen können da schon einiges bewirken. Und wenn am Schluss auch niemand zuschaut, der Film existiert, und zukünftige Generationen können immer noch über ihn entscheiden (denkt sich bekanntlich Francis Coppola bei so ziemlich allem, was er ohne finanzielle Not und Studioauftrag ins Leben setzt). Insofern ist Tarsem Singh eigentlich nur einer, der sich getraut hat, etwas zu tun, wovor die meisten seiner mindestens genauso gut betuchten, aber weniger ambitionierten Kollegen, eher zurückschrecken. Und diese Haltung macht „The Fall“ zu einer echten Kostbarkeit, die man im allgemeinen Kinobetrieb ansonsten meist vergeblich sucht.

Nachdem „The Cell“ 2000 einen ziemlichen Eindruck hinterlassen und den Begriff „Stilwille“ für den kommerziellen Hollywood-Film geradezu neu definiert hatte, wäre eigentlich zu erwarten gewesen, dass der bis dato vor allem durch hochgelobte Musikvideos und visuell anspruchsvolle Werbeclips bekannt gewordene Inder möglichst bald nachlegt und einem Blockbuster nach dem anderen seinen ungemein einprägsamen Stil aufdrückt. Das Gegenteil war der Fall. Tarsem (wie er sich mittlerweile nennt) lehnte eine ganze Reihe lukrativer Angebote ab und produzierte stattdessen lieber fleißig für die Industrie. Wer allerdings glaubte, der visionäre Filmemacher in ihm wäre dabei ins Koma gefallen, staunte nicht schlecht, als „The Fall“ beim Filmfestival Toronto 2006 das Gegenteil bewies. Tarsem hatte vier Jahre an seinem zweiten Langfilm gearbeitet und weltweit intensives Locationscouting betrieben. Die Reaktionen waren jedoch eher verhalten. So unverkennbar und entwaffnend die Bildsprache, so märchenhaft simpel und sperrig zugleich die Dramaturgie. Tarsem hatte im Grunde einen Kinderfilm gemacht, der für ein junges Publikum jedoch viel zu blutig ausgefallen war. „The Fall“ passte in keine Schublade, und so dauerte es trotz Aufführung auf der 2007er Berlinale auch ganze zwei weitere Jahre, bis der Film deutsche Leinwände erreichte – und das zudem derart limitiert, dass von Anfang an keine Chance für eine breitere Wahrnehmung bestehen konnte.

Um beurteilen zu können, wie bedauerlich das eigentlich ist, genügt bereits ein Blick auf nur wenige Minuten von Tarsems fantastischen Bilderwelten. Behutsam komponiert und detailreich ausgestattet belegt nahezu jeder Frame die große Hingabe, mit der Filmemacher und Crew an dieses Projekt herangegangen sind. Die Geschichte dagegen ist über weite Strecken einem bulgarischen Film von 1981 („Yo ho ho“) entnommen und weicht so geringfügig ab, dass man getrost von einem Remake sprechen kann. Bei Tarsem und seinen Co-Autoren Dan Gilroy und Nico Soultanakis wird aus dem Lehrstück über den Wert des Lebens allerdings ein derart farbenprächtiges Fantasiegebilde, dass ein Doppelfeature beider Filme wiederum (ein reizvoller Gedanke) doch eher zwei gänzlich eigenständige Werken zeigen würde.

In den frühen Jahren des Kinos bezahlt der Stuntman Roy (Lee Pace, noch bevor er mit „Pushing Daisies“ einem breiteren Publikum bekannt wurde) den effektvollen Sprung von einer Brücke beinahe mit dem Leben. Von der Hüfte abwärts gelähmt und seine Geliebte an den Hauptdarsteller verloren, verbringt er seine Zeit im Krankenhaus depressiv und mit suizidären Gedanken. Als die kleine Alexandria (unwiderstehlich und die meiste Zeit improvisiert: Catinca Untaru), ein Immigrantenmädchen mit gebrochenem Arm, zufällig in seinem Zimmer landet, gelingt es ihm, sie mit einer fantastischen Geschichte für sich zu gewinnen. Doch nicht die Zuneigung des Kindes ist sein Ziel. Nach und nach bewegt er sie dazu, ihm Morphium zu besorgen, um schließlich Selbstmord begehen zu können. Doch in der Vorstellungswelt des Mädchens ist Roys Erzählung längst real geworden, und so wird sie bald schon Teil seiner Fiktion.

Wie bereits im Vorgänger „The Cell“ bewegt sich Tarsem virtuos zwischen den Welten von Realität und Bewusstsein. Scheinen die primäre und sekundäre Erzählebene von „The Fall“ zunächst unabhängig voneinander zu existieren, greifen sie bald schon ineinander über. Die Optik von Roys Erzählung ist dabei ganz vom Vorstellungsvermögen des kleinen Mädchens bestimmt, und wenn sie etwas geändert haben will, nun, dann wird aus einem Spanier eben schon mal ein Franzose. So funktionieren Geschichten eben, wenn Erwachsene sie Kindern erzählen. Bei Tarsem wird daraus aber noch mehr. Roys Märchen von den fünf Helden, die gemeinsam gegen den bösen Gouverneur Odious in den Kampf ziehen, ist ebenso ein Traktat über die Evolution des fiktionalen Erzählens wie die Geburtsstunde des bewegten Bildes. Ganz zu Beginn beobachtet Alexandria in einer Quasi-Projektion die Schatten von Menschen an einer Wand, ohne die Urheber selber sehen zu können, und darin steckt ebenso viel platonisches Höhlengleichnis wie lupenreines Kino – nur dass die Kleine von Filmen noch nie etwas gehört hat. Wie es sich jedoch mit der Wahrheit hinter den Schatten verhält, davon wird sie im Laufe von Roys Erzählung eine Menge erfahren.

Tarsems Film ist in seinen fantastischen Sequenzen so fellinesk wie man es sich nur wünschen kann – und das liegt nicht nur an den detailreichen Fantasiekostümen aller Figuren (oder der atemberaubenden Musik von Krishna Levy). Kaum zu glauben ist dabei die Tatsache, dass alle Schauplätze, die der Film zeigt, tatsächlich real sind und keineswegs dem Computer entstammen (für Jerry Zuckers „First Knight“ musste Camelot als blaue Stadt noch eigens entworfen werden – hier hält Colin Watkinson einfach die Kamera drauf). Turmhohe Stoffbanner, an denen sich rotes Blut empor rankt, labyrinthische Treppenbauten, die allen Gesetzen der Logik zu widersprechen scheinen – wer hier nicht ins Staunen verfällt, hat wirklich schon alles gesehen. Vermutlich aber nur in Cinecittà. Und ganz wie Mastroiannis Snàporaz in “La Città delle Donne” sich nach und nach in einer surrealen Welt verliert, geht Roys und Alexandrias Realität zunehmend in der farbenprächtigen Heldengeschichte auf. Das Mädchen begreift schnell, dass der böse Odious in Wahrheit den verhassten Hauptdarsteller repräsentiert, an den der Stuntman seine Frau verloren hat, und so wird er einfach in die Darstellungswelt der Geschichte eingebaut. Von hier an versteht die Kleine mehr und mehr, wie sehr Roys narratives Fantasiegebilde ein Spiegel seiner selbst ist – und das wird im Verlauf der Ereignisse für ihr unschuldiges kindliches Weltbild fast zuviel.

Vielfach ist Tarsems Film mit „Pans Labyrinth“, diesem vielgerühmten Wunderwerk Guillermo del Toros (einem anderen großen Stilisten des Gegenwartskinos), verglichen worden. Da ist einiges dran und doch weniger, als man auf den ersten Blick glauben mag. Der Filmemacher selber sieht sich vermutlich viel näher an den Wurzeln von „The Wizard of Oz“, denn wenn am Schluss die realen Figuren hinter Alexandrias Fantasiegestalten auftauchen, lässt sich das durchaus als Zitat lesen – und das kurz bevor Tarsem mit einer ebenso schönen wie irrealen Traumfabrikmontage an den anderen großen Fellini-Verehrer erinnert (Giuseppe Tornatore nämlich). So ist „The Fall“ vor allem auch ein Film über das Kino selber und darüber, wie die Bilder auf der Leinwand die Unzulänglichkeit der Wirklichkeit einfach am Schneidetisch zurücklassen können. Dass dazu keine digitalen Tricks notwendig sind, ist mittlerweile fast schon in Vergessenheit geraten.

Artikel © 2009 Thomas Lenz. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.
Filmplakat: Capelight Pictures

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Whereabouts: Philadelphia, PA

Word: obviate [ob-vee-ayt] – transitive verb to prevent by interception; to anticipate and dispose of or make unnecessary

Birthday: Lawrence Welk (1903), Rupert Murdoch (1931), Sam Donaldson (1934), Antonin Scalia (1936), Bobby McFerrin (1950), Jerry Zucker (1950), Joey Buttafuoco (1956), Peter Berg (1964), Jesse Jackson Jr. (1965), Wallace Langham (1965), Lisa Loeb (1968), Terrence Howard (1969), Johnny Knoxville (1971)

Occurrence: 1989 – The television show Cops makes its debut. All over the United States, guys in wife-beater tank tops tremble in fear.

Irksome: In its infinite wisdom, Nickelodeon is keeping Chris Brown as a nominee for the 2009 Kids’ Choice Awards. Brown, arrested for beating up his girlfriend and fellow pop star Rihanna, is up for Favorite Male Singer and Favorite Song. Despite Oprah’s protests, Rihanna and Brown are back together so I guess Nickelodeon figures it’ll be all right. In my humble opinion, the people over at Nickelodeon are certified morons. What a great message to send to the youth of America – Hey, kids, it’s OK to beat up your girlfriend as long as you’ve got an exceptional singing voice. Way to drop the ball, Nickelodeon. Hopefully Dwayne Johnson, the host of this year’s Kids’ Choice Awards, will have the good sense to throw Mr. Brown off the stage should the singer win.

Quotation: After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music – Aldous Huxley

Soupçon: Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are witren, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. I took this directly from HERE.

Tune: Some people say that the 1980s produced some of the worst music ever. Debatable. I think when Train debuted “Drops of Jupiter”, it showed everyone that bands in the 1990s were capable of making some pretty awful music as well.

Link: Eats – nice website for finding a place to dine out in your area.

Gallimaufry: For you readers who live in Philadelphia, here is some information about the imminent SEPTA strike. Hope things get resolved before that. What a hassle…Marc Shuster is a talented Philadelphia writer. His novel, The Singular Exploits of Wonder Mom and Party Girl, is launching May 9^th 2009. Check out Marc’s blog, Abominations…At the risk of revealing myself as a complete nerd, I will admit right here and now that I’m excited to see the new Star Trek movie.

Apertem os Cintos – O Piloto Sumiu

Recentemente vi umas novas comédias besteirol, e achei tão sem graça… Vi “Deu A Louca Em Hollywood” (“Epic Movie”), e não consegui rir nenhuma vez; vi “Os Espartalhões” (“Meet the Spartans”) e só achei graça em um ou outro lance (o bebê de barba cerrada e barriga de tanquinho foi uma boa sacada, assim como a Carmen Electra com a fatia de pizza); e por fim “Super Heróis – A Liga da Injustiça” (“Disaster Movie”) – que, como o nome original sugere, é um desastre.

Aí pensei: “será que heu mudei e fiquei mais sério, ou será que os filmes estão mais sem graça hoje em dia?”

Pra responder esta questão que me atormentava, fiz um “sacrifício” e revi o clássico “Apertem os Cintos – O Piloto Sumiu”.

Ufa! Os filmes é que mudaram! “Apertem os Cintos – O Piloto Sumiu” continua muito, muito engraçado!

Alguém aí não conhece este filme? A tripulação de um avião come um peixe estragado e passa mal. Um passageiro, ex-piloto de guerra, com traumas, tem que assumir e pousar o avião.

O que falar sobre esse filme? Só uma coisa: reveja sempre que possível. São tantas cenas antológicas, tantas situações de rolar de rir, que nem vale a pena ficar listando aqui.

E, se por um acaso, você não viu, corra para a sua locadora! Este é um clássico obrigatório!

(Consegui comprar recentemente o dvd importado de “Top Secret”. Acho que vou ver semana que vem…)

Bertram Pincus (Ricky Gervais) and Frank Herlihy (Greg Kinnear)

What do Haley Joel Osment, Whoopi Goldberg, Robert Downey Jr. and now Ricky Gervais all have in common? They have all played characters who can see dead people. As in The Sixth Sense, Ghost and Heart and Souls, Ghost Town is again using the idea that if you die without resolving certain issues then you hang around Earth as a ghost until you can find somebody who is able to see you and help you out. This time that someone is a New York dentist named Bertram Pincus (Gervais), who acquires the ability to see dead people after he himself dies for seven minutes during a routine colonoscopy. The problem is that Bertram doesn’t like the living so is less than happy about the multitude of dead people now bugging him for favours. Bertram reluctantly makes a deal with ghost Frank Herlihy (Greg Kinnear), agreeing to stop his widowed wife Gwen (Téa Leoni) from remarrying and in return Frank will keep the other ghosts away from him. When Bertram finds himself falling for Gwen Ghost Town very quickly establishes itself as a likable but conventional romantic comedy.

Once more Gervais plays a man who is frequently insulting, socially awkward and yet somehow sympathetic and endearing. Ghost Town sees Gervais doing his usual shtick of speaking in half sentences, making stupid remarks that only get worse as he tries to talk his way out, and being a bit of a bastard. He’s doing nothing new but that’s fine. The frequent scenario in Ghost Town of him talking to a ghost that nobody else can see and then trying to rationalise why he is seemingly making random comments to thin air, allows Gervais to work the type of comedy that he knows best. Leoni is also great as Gwen and it is a credit to the film that she is a fully rounded character and not just a passive object-of-desire. A special mention must also go to Saturday Night Live regular Kristen Wiig who is absolutely hilarious as Bertram’s surgeon.

Bertram and Gwen (Téa Leoni)

Gervais and Leoni are not a convincing romantic couple but they do have the chemistry of a pair of close friends. There is one brilliant scene where Ghost Town captures the dynamic between friends where they can make each other laugh with deliberately inappropriate jokes. Neither character needs to qualify the fact that they are being deliberately stereotypical and offensive; it is just a private moment of mutual wickedness. Otherwise Ghost Town is more of a frequent chuckle film rather than a big laughs film. Some of the scenes drag a little but overall it is a good and competent comedy.  

© Thomas Caldwell, 2009

Read more reviews at MRQE

Filme-lição para os atuais satiristas de Hollywood: concentrem-se nas PIADAS. É o que fazem o trio de diretores/roteiristas/produtores faz aqui (traduzido como “Apertem os Cintos! O Piloto Sumiu”), uma sequência inclemente de todo tipo de humor possível: gags visuais e verbais, bobagens e sacadas inteligentes, comédia da situação e nonsense de primeira grandeza. É um filme que desafia o senso de observação, chegando ao cúmulo de sobrepor piadas diferentes numa mesma cena, sempre com precisão. E diferente dos exemplares de hoje, invariavelmente focados em lucrar em cima de referências de filmes recentes, aqui os poucos momentos de sátira direta têm propósito e graça – como na abertura, com a cauda do avião cortando o céu nublado sob a trilha de “Tubarão”. Pura diversão.

Airplane!

de David Zucker, Jerry Zucker y Jim Abrahams.

La primera vez que vi esta película fue hace unos 2 años y doblada al español (¿Y dónde está el piloto?), por lo que no sentí mucha confianza. Ver una película doblada es casi como no verla, es como leer el resumen del libro; en el fondo te sirve para entender y armar una historia, pero te pierdes los diálogos que, al final, son lo más importante (no siempre, y no para todos, blabla).

Decidí verla en inglés y no me reí tanto como la primera vez, sólo porque ya me sabía algunas tallas (como aquel glorioso piloto automático). También noté que habían censurado una escena en la que una pasajera jalaba dos líneas de coca. Obviamente fue distinto, porque algunos chistes dependían de los diálogos (como el de Hamm y la clínica Mayo, y el del hospital “what is it”), pero tampoco eran tan buenos como algunas escenas (como cuando Rex Kramer se saca los lentes, o la revista Nun’s Life). Al final, lo que quiero decir es que la película es buena si quieres reírte, pero que no sirve de mucho verla dos veces, porque la base de su humor es la sorpresa.

A dead man tries to
use a psychic to help him
protect his girlfriend.

10 years after playing a cruel prank on a fellow student at an end of senior year party, a band of classmates return to their old high school for a class reunion. Of course, the now crazy dude, who has a paper bag over his head and wears a schoolgirl’s uniform, is waiting for them, ready to kill them one by one. Also, rock legend Chuck Berry pops in for a few songs. Think of it as an eighties Scary Movie, with less gross out scenes.

This pretty much forms the basis for Class Reunion, a 1982 horror spoof released under the National Lampoon brand. Now I know what you’re thinking, but while National Lampoon now rhymes with “absolute crap”, back when it started it actually usually meant fun, with talent such as talent such as John Landis & John Belushi (Animal House), Harold Ramis & John Hughes (Vacation), etc, often involved.

Class Reunion is actually John Hughes’ first produced script. The movie is directed by Michael Miller (Silent Rage) and stars a bunch of people you wouldn’t know, the most recognizable face probably being Michael Lerner (Godzilla), in a supporting role. Trailer and review after the jump.

Class Reunion isn’t very good, to put it bluntly. It’s extremely zany, incredibly stupid and completely random, all of which is fine really. The movie mostly parodies slasher films such as Prom Night and Halloween, but it also tries its funny bones on The Exorcist, Dracula, and others. Its problem is that it isn’t that funny…in fact most of it is quite unfunny. The cast & crew attempt to recreate the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker style of humor (Airplane!), but unfortunately, it never really hits home.

Still, Class Reunion isn’t a complete throwaway. While I didn’t laugh that much, I got plenty of smiles, and I kept shaking my head in amazement at how crazy the movie was. And at least, the humor here is sincere, which is a lot more than you can say for the dudes who’ve now taken over the spoof genre in the US (*cough*Jason Friedberg*cough*Aaron Seltzer*cough*).

But actually the most hilarious thing about this movie is that it understands suspense a whole lot better than the recent Prom Night remake, which has a somewhat similar plot progression and purports to be a genuine horror movie. Also, there’s that Chuck Berry cameo. If you must see a zany eighties comedy with a killer, I’d strongly recommend you check out Jonathan Lynn’s masterful Clue instead (known in other parts of the world as Cluedo), based on the popular board game. It doesn’t spoof slashers, but it’s hilarious.

Verdict: Rather bad, but sincere. Class Reunion currently holds a 4.3/10 on IMDB and a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes.

More “Movies Of The Day”

Is it Deja Vu all over again or just a continuation of the saga of the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC)?

No one’s really sure. Although it certainly makes me think of the movie “Groundhog Day”: Wealthy American purchases Canadian iconic retailer and names a senior American retail executive to run the show. Repeat. Again.

It hasn’t worked before so why does anyone think it will work again?

They really should change the script.

I happen to understand that things were at least more profitable these days under the late American Jerry Zucker’s reign. But no one really knows for sure as it is a private entity. One thing is for certain, the dilemma of what to do with an out-of-date department store concept and a second fiddle of a discount chain (whose stores come in so many different shapes and sizes) is still not resolved. Everyone wants to talk about real estate values, but they only actually own one location in downtown Toronto. There may be some favourable terms negotiated on some of their leases but the landlords won’t just let them sub-lease at the drop of a hat.

The Bay department stores haven’t really changed that much. Their exclusive apparel licensing arrangement with U.S. department store giant Federated (or Macy’s I forget which) may be terminated seeing as Lord and Taylor is now stepping into HBC’s deerskin slippers. The aisles are still crowded, the merchandising is a bit boring and every other retailer, specialty and big box alike, has taken market share from them. There is no compelling reason to shop at The Bay.

Zellers is another story. Wal Mart has absolutely decimated all retailers that deemed to play even remotely in their arena. Now they are coming after another Canadian icon, in groceries this time. G-d help Loblaws.

Zellers, with about 380 doors, caters to that same audience and has been unable to gain any traction like Target has been able to glean south of the border. Their stores are still uninspiring, their mix is eclectic at best and a lot of their stores are way too large for their markets.

If anyone has a shot, I guess a real estate expert and his already burgeoning retail empire might be all that’s left to try and salvage this beast. They were quoted as saying that this is not a real estate play (although everyone who has looked at this seems to claim that’s where all the value is) and that they can probably open 12-15 Lord and Taylor stores in Canada. Where, pray tell, other than maybe 2 in Toronto, 1 in Vancouver, 1 in Calgary and 1 in Montreal (if it’s even worth it to translate everything for one store).

I certainly wish them luck but I have thought for a long time that Zellers needs extra cool factor and wow merchandising and The Bay should look at the Japanese department store model which actually rents out space in their stories high stores to the best, hippest and most productive specialty retailers and makes a very tidy profit doing so. If you aren’t productive (and we are talking close to $2000/sq.ft. minimum) they terminate your lease and replace you with someone who is more so.

Maybe that is what we should do with the new owners…they should have 12-24 months to become productive or their time in Canada should be terminated…

TheRetailTherapist

Airplane! คือหนังล้อเลียน หรือหนัง Spoof รุ่นแรกๆ ที่ทำออกมาได้สนุกและตลก

ก่อนอื่น คุณต้องถามตัวเองว่า ชอบหนังที่ไม่คิดอะไรมากไหม และเคยดูหนังเรื่องที่เขาเอามาล้อรึเปล่า ถ้าคำตอบคือใช่ ผมก็แนะนำสำหรับเรื่องนี้ แต่โดยส่วนตัวผมชอบในระดับหนึ่ง ไม่ได้ชอบในระดับที่ถึงกับว่ามากนัก ก็เพราะว่าผมไม่เข้าใจมุกที่เล่นเกี่ยวกับดารา และท่าทางของดาราต่างๆ (คนรุ่นเก่าๆ ที่เคยดูหนังเยอะๆมากๆน่าจะรู้) แต่ก็ไม่ใช่ว่าจะไม่ฮาซะทีเดียวนะครับ เพราะว่า มันมีมุกเกี่ยวกับท่าทางที่ชวนตลกได้อยู่เหมือนกัน

โครงเรื่องของเรื่องนี้ทำออกมาเชิงๆจะล้อเลียนหนังหายนะทั้งหลายที่สร้างมาในยุคสมัยนั้นครับ เริ่มที่ในสนามบินแห่งหนึ่ง เท็ด สไตร์เกอร์ (Robert Hays) ออกตามหาแฟนสาวของเขาที่เป็นแอร์โฮสเตส จนถึงขนาดนั่งเครื่องบินตามไปด้วย ระหว่างทางก็เจอเหตุการณ์ต่างๆมากมาย ทั้ง การที่ผู้โดยสรรวมถึงผู้ควบคุม มีอาการแปลกๆ หลังจากกินอาหารเข้าไป จนทำให้ต้องหาคนมาคุมเรื่องบินโดยด่วน

สำหรับเรื่องนี้ผมคงไม่ว่าอะไรมากนะครับ ถ้าคุณเป็นนักดูหนังในช่วง 60-70 และรู้จักบุคลิกท่าทางของดารานักแสดงอยู่บ้างก็น่า่จะเข้าใจและตลกไปกับมันได้ครับ ส่วนคนที่เกิดไม่ทันและไม่รู้จักอะไรใครเลย ก็น่าจะดูเพลินๆไม่คิดมากอะไรไปกับหนังไม่เหมือนกัน

3.5/5

HBC’s CEO has sadly passed away after suffering from cancer of the brain. Jerry Zucker commanded a hostile takeover of Canada’s second incorporation in 2006 and has steered it in the right direction, closing off The Bay stores that were not performing and restructuring Zellers. The Israeli-born philanthropist and son of Holocaust survivors was the first American citizen to  have the position of CEO of the Hudson Bay Company. Jerry Zucker is in Forbes Billionaire List 2006 and is well known for his considerable contributions to various charities. HBC has lost a great leader and will probably up for grabs soon even though his wife, Anita, has become HBC’s first female governor, and has successfully overseen many of Jerry’s ventures. We will wait and see the effects on Montreal’s fashion market. Since the takeover we’ve seen in Montreal the closing of Place Vertu’s The Bay store. Hopefully another sale will not affect the economic situation for retailers negatively.