Everybody's talkin...

The 1960s came to a close last night when Lauren and I watched 1969’s Midnight Cowboy, starring very young actors Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight.  This was a movie I have been highly anticipating if for no other reason than its interesting title, while Lauren was turned off for that very reason.

Midnight Cowboy is the story of Joe Buck (Voight) as he up and leaves his Texas home for New York City to become a hustler, which I guess is a high-clientele male prostitute.  He thinks he’s gonna get rich satisfying the ladies of New York, but he quickly finds out this isn’t the case. In a very short time Buck is all alone, and turns to his only companion, Enrico “Ratso” Rizzo for a place to stay.

This movie goes to some strange places that we haven’t seen in any Best Picture winners yet.  First of all, it’s the only X-rated film to win Best Picture.  By today’s standards it wouldn’t be rated X, but back then X basically meant adults only.  Oddly enough, this was the year after Oliver! became the only Best Picture winner with a G rating.

There were clearly some “artsy” scenes that involved wild flashbacks and dream sequences, especially during the party where Joe Buck mistakenly smokes marijuana.

This is also one of the first movies to this point in our project to feature actors who are not just currently active, but still at the top of their games.  I figured this was probably Hoffman and Voight’s first big roles, but they are both a little older than I imagined and research showed they had each had prominent roles in movies prior to Midnight Cowboy.  They both received Best Actor nominations for their roles. Supporting actress Sylvia Miles also received high praise for her role in the film.  Despite screen time of less than four total minutes, she was given a Best Actress nomination.

Yet again, I realized while watching the movie how many times it has been spoofed over the years, especially on a particular episode of Seinfeld where Jerry and Kramer end the episode riding on a bus together.  Hoffman’s famous quote “Hey, I’m walkin’ here!” has been parodied dozens of times in other shows.

This was one of those movies that I tend to like that doesn’t necessarily have a strong storyline, but is more of a character development type of movie… I thought, anyway.  Lauren didn’t seem nearly as amused! I also really enjoyed the title song “Everybody’s Talkin’” and the rest of the soundtrack.  Overall, I give it an 8/10 and will rank it in the top third, most likely.

Angelina Jolie’s Uncle, music legend Chip Taylor and her father Jon Voight will get together for a couple of memorable evening concerts.  Jon Voight will join his brother Chip Taylor on December 13 at the Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia, and December 14 at New York City’s Living Room.

Chip Taylor will be “kibitzing: with his brother Jon throughout the show, while the former pro gambler will be performing his latest album “Yonkers NY” which includes his hit single “Bastard Brothers.”

The City Of Yonkers, New York proclaimed October 28 “Chris Taylor Day” Chip is also famous for writing the hits “Wild Thing” and “Angel Of The Morning” and of course being the brother of the famous actor Jon Voight, who is the father of the beautiful Angelina Jolie, who is the partner of the sexiest man alive Brad Pitt.

Listen to his hit song “Bastard Brothers” here.

Chip Taylor is a legend Songwriter~

Links To Another Story “MISSING DOGS”

http://loudnews.wordpress.com/2009/11/26/missing-dogs/

http://loudnews.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/missing/

The Westchester News.Com

http://thewestchesternews.com

It was a long weekend and I was glad to hear that “3catowner” recorded the 2009 Disneyland Candlelight Processional again!  Candlelight is a long process from audition to months of practicing ending with long 9 hr day at Disneyland to present two shows at 5:30 and 8:00 PM the first weekend of December.

This set of videos was recorded on Saturday at the 8:00 PM show.  I believe that this was the better performance of the two if you were lucky to see this one. I was in Section 6, Row P, Seat 17 which was very row top stage left (City Hall side), 5th from the end.

Candlelight Preprocession Video

This is the pre-procession arrangement which Nancy is directing the Candlelight Orchestra.  Just prior to this, the Candlelight Choirs which are participating are announced.  The Choir is singing carols during this time starting from Mickey’s Toontown (at 5:00 PM) or from Tomorrowland (at 7:55 PM) and ending up at the start of Main Street.

Candlelight Processional Video 2

In this video, we’re processing from the top of Main Street out of the exit by the Plaza Inn resturant after about an hour rest between shows.   We carefully wind ourselfs through a maze trying not to trip over something.  You can barely see me at about 1:50 in the video, but you can clearly hear Jim Wilber who is about 6 in front of me.  Jim is the Candlelight Employee Director who also a member of the Holy Trinity Lutheran Choir.

The very second we all get into the risers, Nancy kicks off the show with Sing Praise to Him Our Lord. Jon Voight is narrator.

Candlelight Video: The First Noel

This is a very beautiful arrangement the the First Noel by Don Neufeld of Azusa Pacific University.  (I was glad to see and hear that APU was part of Candlelight Choir this year!)

Candlelight Carol Video

I believe that a Tenor from the Dapper Dans did the male soloist.  I didn’t catch who sang the female solo.

Beautiful, but our section simply could do better…

Candlelight Videos: He is Born (Il Est Ne) / Angels We Have Heard On High.

Nancy crack a big grin after we finished singing Il Est Ne and Angels We Have Heard On High.  This was much better than the grimace she gave us at the 5:30 performance.

Candlelight Videos: What Child is This/We Three Kings

Candlelight Videos: Sing Noel/Joy To The World

Candlelight Silent Night Video

I thought something was weird at the end …the soloist was off a measure and had to cut off his high b-flat a measure early.

Candlelight Let Us Adore Him/Hallelujah Chorus Videos

Thank you Alan “3catowner” for shooting the Candlelight Videos!

Un uomo da marciapiede ci racconta le disavventure di un giovane gigolò texano e di un piccolo truffatore italo-americano, ma è soprattutto la storia di un amicizia tra due poveri disgraziati.
Film del 1969, basato sul romanzo omonimo di James Leo Herlihy, pubblicato qualche anno prima, Un uomo da marciapiede vinse ben tre premi Oscar come miglior film, miglior regia (a John Schlesinger) e migliore sceneggiatura non originale. Protagonisti del film Dustin Hoffman e l’allora esordiente Jon Voight, che ricevettero due candidature per il prestigioso riconoscimento.
Alla prossima locandina!

Reese e Vince Se Odiaram, Dentro e Fora Da Telona!

Gênero: Comédia Romântica

Censura: Livre 

Direção: Seth Gordon
Com: Vince Vaughn, Reese Witherspoon, Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, Jon Voight, Jon Favreau, Mary Steenburgen, Dwight Yoakam, Tim McGraw, Kristin Chenoweth, Katy Mixon, Colleen Camp, Jeanette Miller, Jack Donner, Steve Wiebe.

Local de Filmagem: Los Angeles, California, USA; San Francisco, California, USA; Santa Clarita, California, USA e Twin Peaks, San Francisco, California, USA.

Produção: Gary Barber, Jonathan Glickman, Roger Birnbaum, Vince Vaughn, Reese Witherspoon

Roteiro: Matt Allen, Caleb Wilson, Jon Lucas, Scott Moore

Fotografia: Jeffrey L. Kimball

Trilha Sonora: Alex Wurman

Distribuidora: PlayArte

Estúdio: Birnbaum/Barber/ New Line Cinema/ Ott Medien/ Spyglass Entertainment/ Type A Films/ Wild West Picture Show Productions

SINOPSE

Os pais de Brad, interpretado por Vince Vaughn [Fred Claus (2007), Wedding Crashers (2005) e Be Cool (2005)],  são divorciados e os pais de Kate, interpretada por Reese Witherspoon [Penelope (2006), Vanity Fair (2004) e Sweet Home Alabama (2002)] sua namorada também o são. No entanto, ambos se casaram novamente, sendo assim Kate tem duas famílias e Brad também. A confusão está formada quando este jovem casal tem de conseguir visitar estas quatro famílias diferentes durante o Natal.

O longa ainda conta com os astros e estrelas: Robert Duvall [We Own the Night (2007), Apocalypse Now (1979) e Crazy Heart (2009)] que vive o pai de Brad; Sissy Spacek [North Country (2005), Blast from the Past (1999) e An American Haunting (2005)] que vive a mãe de Brad; Jon Voight [Pride and Glory (2008), National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007) e Transformers (2007)] que vive o pai de Kate e Mary Steenburgen [Step Brothers (2008), Elf (2003) e Clifford (1994)] que vive a mãe de Kate.

CRÍTICA

Muitas vezes vamos ao cinema esperando assistir um mega filme e muitas vezes quebramos a cara. Nos últimos seis meses tem sido assim, uma decepção atrás da outra, poucos filmes de fato valeram a pena assistir. No entanto fique surpreendida ao assistir esse longa com a dupla Witherspoon ou Vaughn, que faz agente se identificar com alguns dos inúmeros aspectos da vida do casal sob uma perspectiva tragicômica e sem dúvida divertidíssima.

Apesar de ser uma comédia romântica, o longa foge do gênero baba ovo e mostra o relacionamento de uma casal de namorados que quando tudo ia muito bem, ficou tudo péssimo e entre tapas e bofetes, famílias descompensadas, sem falar desestruturadas, ambos descobrem o quanto vale a pena amar sem restrições e que o complicado no final das contas faz mais sentido.

Vale a pena sim assistir, no entanto pode esperar para ser visto em DVD ao invés de enfrentar as filas dos cinemas, mesmo assim o longa é imperdível, pois no final das contas é divertidíssimo.

CURIOSIDADES

Witherspoon e Vince Vaughn  viajaram pelos Estados Unidos para promover a comédia, mas pela vontade da atriz essa viagem seria feita sem Vaughn, já que existiram boatos que na vida real os dois não se suportam e não queriam promover o longa juntos.

A falta de entrosamentos do casal acontece desde as filmagens, tanto que Witherspoon chegou a dizer que realmente não estava no mesmo clima que o ator. "Eu disse pra ele outro dia: "as pessoas nem sempre conseguem falar na velocidade que você quer, mas eu sinto que estou em um treinamento, o treinamento de Vince Vaughn".

A atriz teria dito para uma amiga que Vaughn é a pessoa mais criança que ela já conheceu. E ela ainda disse que nos eventos para promover o filme, a atriz se comporta de maneira profissional. "Ela finge um sorriso e posa para as fotos, mas não está nada feliz com isso", revelou a amiga.

bom filme!

roberta vieira

http://www.fourchristmasesmovie.com/

Confira abaixo a trilha sonora do filme "Four Christmases".

1. Baby It’s Cold Outside – Dean Martin & Martina McBride

2. (There’s No Place Like) Home For The Holidays – Perry Como

3. Sleigh Ride – Ferrante & Teicher

4. Christmas All Over Again – Tom Petty

5. Season’s Greetings – Robbers On High Street

6. Jingle Bell Rock – Bobby Helms with The Anita Kerr Singers

7. The Christmas Song – Gavin DeGraw

8. Cool Yule – Louis Armstrong

9. I’ll Be Home For Christmas – Dean Martin

10. White Christmas – Bing Crosby

11. O Little Town Of Bethlehem – Sarah MacLachan

Confira o trailer abaixo.

Apparently Jon Voight knows enough about New Zealand’s healthcare system to claim it causes deaths.

From all accounts he was full of grand claims but short on real specifics. Apparently USA healthcare is so fantastic that it doesn’t cause any deaths at all. One has to wonder then why citizens over there are so concerned about it when it’s so robust it never fails anyone.

Oh, except when you’re gay. The American healthcare system can deny family members access to you and leave you alone while you’re dying, or deny you health coverage period.

Don’t know about you, but I’d rather die because the system is overworked than die because someone’s prejudice decides that I’m not worthy of the same healthcare as someone else.

I suppose being white and rich Jon Voight doesn’t really see that. That’s probably why he doesn’t see how stupid he looks making flawed claims about our healthcare system.

Sarah Palin vs. Pit Bull

At last the American right and left have one issue they unequivocally agree on: You don’t actually have to read Sarah Palin’s book to have an opinion about it. Last Sunday Liz Cheney praised “Going Rogue” as “well-written” on Fox News even though, by her own account, she had sampled only “parts” of it. On Tuesday, Ana Marie Cox, a correspondent for Air America, belittled the book in The Washington Post while confessing that she couldn’t claim to have “completely” read it.

“Going Rogue” will hardly be the first best seller embraced by millions for talismanic rather than literary ends. And I am not recommending that others follow my example and slog through its 400-plus pages, especially since its supposed revelations have been picked through 24/7 for a week. But sometimes I wonder if anyone has read all of what Palin would call the “dang” thing. Some of the book’s most illuminating tics have been mentioned barely — if at all — by either its fans or foes. Palin is far and away the most important brand in American politics after Barack Obama, and attention must be paid. Those who wishfully think her 15 minutes are up are deluding themselves.

The book’s biggest surprise is Palin’s wide-eyed infatuation with show-business celebrities. You get nearly as much face time with Tina Fey and the cast of “Saturday Night Live” in “Going Rogue” as you do with John McCain. We learn how happy Palin was to receive calls from Bono and Warren Beatty “to share ideas and insights.” We wade through star-struck lists of campaign cameos by Robert Duvall, Jon Voight (who “blew us away”), Naomi Judd, Gary Sinise and Kelsey Grammer, among many others. Then there are the acknowledgments at the book’s end, where Palin reveals that her intimacy with media stars is such that she can air-kiss them on a first-name basis, from Greta to Laura to Rush.

Equally revealing is the one boldfaced name conspicuously left unmentioned in the book: Levi Johnston, the father of Palin’s grandchild. Though Palin and McCain milked him for photo ops at the , he is persona non grata now that he’s taking off his campaign wardrobe. Is Johnston’s fledgling porn career the problem, or is it his public threats to strip bare Palin family secrets as well? “She knows what I got on her” is how he put it. In Palin’s interview with Oprah last week, it was questioning about Johnston, not Katie Couric, that made her nervous.

The book’s most frequently dropped names, predictably enough, are the Lord and Ronald Reagan (though not necessarily in that order). Easily the most startling passage in “Going Rogue,” running more than two pages, collates extended excerpts from a prayerful letter Palin wrote to mark the birth of Trig, her child with Down syndrome. This missive’s understandable goal was to reassert Palin’s faith and trust in God. But Palin did not write her letter to God; she wrote the letter from God, assuming His role and voice herself and signing it “Trig’s Creator, Your Heavenly Father.” If I may say so — Oy!

Even by the standard of politicians, this is a woman with an outsized ego. Combine that with her performance skills and an insatiable hunger for the limelight, and you can see why she will not stay in Wasilla now that she’s seen 30 Rock. The question journalists repeatedly asked last week — What are Palin’s plans for 2012? — is a red herring. Palin has no obligation to answer it. She is the pit bull in the china shop of American politics, and she can do what she wants, on her own timeline, all the while raking in the big bucks she couldn’t as a sitting governor. No one, least of all her own political party, can control her.

The fact-checking siege of “Going Rogue” — by the media, Democrats and aggrieved McCain campaign operatives alike — is another fruitless sideshow. Palin’s political appeal has never had anything to do with facts — or coherent policy positions. The more she is attacked for not being in possession of pointy-headed erudition, the more powerful she becomes as an avatar of the anti-elite cause. As Rich Lowry, the editor of National Review, has correctly observed, “She represents less a philosophical strain on the right than an affect and a demographic.”

That demographic is white and non-urban: Just look at the stops and the faces on her carefully calibrated book tour. The affect is emotional — the angry air of grievance that emerged first at her campaign rallies in 2008, with their shrieked threats to Obama, and that has since resurfaced in the Hitler-fixated “tea party” movement (which she endorses in her book). It’s a politics of victimization and sloganeering with no policy solutions required beyond the conservative mantra of No Taxes. Its standard-bearer can make stuff up with impunity: “Thanks, but no thanks on that bridge to nowhere”; Obama’s “palling around with terrorists”; health care “death panels.”

After the Palin-McCain ticket lost, conservative pundits admonished her to start studying the issues. If “Going Rogue” and its promotional interviews are any indication, she has ignored their entreaties during her months at liberty. Last week, Greta Van Susteren chastised Oprah for not asking Palin “one policy question,” but when Barbara Walters did ask some, Palin either recycled Dick Cheney verbatim (Obama is “dithering”) or ran aground. Her argument for why “Jewish settlements” should be expanded on the West Bank was that “more and more Jewish people will be flocking to Israel in the days and weeks and months ahead.” It was unclear what she was talking about — unless it was the “rapture” theology that requires the mass return of Jews to settle the Holy Land as a precondition for the return of Christ.

The discredited neocon hacks who have latched on to Palin as a potential ticket back into power have their work cut out for them. But it’s better for Palin’s purposes to remain as blank a slate as possible anyway. Some of her most ardent supporters realize that she’ll drive still more independent voters away if she fills in too many details. And so Matthew Continetti, the author of the just-published “Persecution of Sarah Palin” and her most persistent cheerleader after William Kristol, wrote in The Wall Street Journal that her role model for 2012 should be Bob McDonnell, the new Republican governor-elect of Virginia, who won on “a bipartisan, center-right approach.”

What Continetti means is that Palin could still somehow fudge her history as McDonnell did; his campaign kept his career-long history as a political acolyte and financial beneficiary of Pat Robertson on the down-low. Even the far right has figured out that homophobia is a turnoff to swing voters, which is why Palin goes out of her way in “Going Rogue” to remind us she has her very own lesbian friend. (What’s left unsaid is that the book’s credited ghost writer, Lynn Vincent, labeled homosexuality as “deviance” in her own writings for World, the evangelical magazine.)

But no matter how much Palin tries to pass for “center-right,” she’s unlikely to fool that vast pool of voters left, right and center who have already written her off as unqualified for the White House. The G.O.P. establishment knows this, and is frightened. The demographic that Palin attracts is in decline; there’s no way the math of her fan base adds up to an Electoral College victory.

Yet among Republicans she still ties Mitt Romney in the latest USA Today/Gallup survey, with 65 percent giving her serious presidential consideration, just behind the 71 for her evangelical rival, Mike Huckabee. The crowds lining up in the cold for her book tour are likely to be the most motivated to line up at the polls in G.O.P. primaries. They don’t speak the same language as Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Michael Steele, Mitch McConnell, John Boehner or, for that matter, McCain. They are more likely to heed Palin salesmen like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh than baffled Bush administration grandees like Peter Wehner, who last week called Palin “a cultural figure much more than a political one” on the Web site of the establishment conservative organ Commentary.

Culture is politics. Palin is at the red-hot center of age-old American resentments that have boiled up both from the ascent of our first black president and from the intractability of the Great Recession for those Americans who haven’t benefited from bailouts. As Palin thrives on the ire of the left, so she does from the disdain of Republican leaders who, with a condescension rivaling the sexism they decry in liberals, belittle her as a lightweight or instruct her to eat think-tank spinach.

The only person who can derail Palin is Palin herself. Should she not self-destruct, she will doom G.O.P. hopes of a 2012 comeback. But the rest of the country cannot rest easy. The rage out there is larger than Palin and defies partisan labeling. Her ever-present booster Continetti, writing in The Weekly Standard, suggested that she recast the century-old populist outrage of William Jennings Bryan by adopting the message “You shall not crucify mankind upon the cross of Goldman Sachs.” If Obama can’t tamp down that rage across the political map, Palin will at the very least pave the way for a demagogue with less baggage to pick up her torch.

Frank Rich
The New York Times

Pride and Glory è un film poliziesco del 2008, diretto da Gavin O’Connor. Gli interpreti sono Edward Norton, Colin Farrell, Jon Voight e Noah Emmerich.

Leggi altre notizie su: | Gavin O’Connor | Edward Norton | Colin Farrell | Jon Voight | Noah Emmerich

L’11 settembre 1857 durante il viaggio verso Ovest, una carovana di pionieri attraversa lo Utah, territorio mormone.

Ma, in California, non arriverà mai. “L’ American Dream” viene brutalmente spezzato dagli “Illuminati”, i mormoni , i quali nel “nome di Dio” massacrano 137 coloni, di cui 17 bambini, 22 donne e 13 vecchi.

Un 11 settembre, dimenticato, nella Storia Americana riportato a galla dal regista Christopher Cain e magistralmente interpretato da un  grande Jon Voight.

L’attore intervistato a proposito ha dichiarato:

“ Quell’11 settembre di 150 anni fa riguarda tutti noi, alle prese con i fanatismi religiosi che inquinano il mondo. Il film non è sui mormoni, ma sulle ideologie dell’intolleranza, sulle intrusioni della religione nella politica e nel destino dei popoli, sugli estremismi fondamentalisti e le violenze che provocano”

☼ 24 gennaio 2008

Well.

Two more days to endure of “24″ week!

DEAL WITH IT.

Today we examine the individual seasons of “24,” ranked from of course worst to best. There have been seven seasons of the show so far, but as I already ranted about my displeasure at Season Six yesterday, I’ve decided to move on and leave it off today’s list.

Rest assured though, that if it was on here…it would be last.

Dead last.

Six: Season Four.

Despite the rampant awesomeness of having the mummy as the main villain, Season Four couldn’t really live up to any of it’s expectations. Ridiculous terrorist plot after ridiculous terrorist plot kept elevating the threat to mammothly outlandish proportions. By the end, I wasn’t really sure what the hell was going on. Marwan (the mummy) while a pretty badass villain had way to many contingency/escape plans. It was just poor writing. Everytime the authorities would close in on him, ready to foil whatever act of terror he was planning to unleash, he would conveniantly escape through a back exit/staircase/trick ladder, ready to start a new, bigger, better plan.

It just got to be a bit too much.

Oh…and, also…I may be wrong on this, but I think this may be the only season of the show where a major character isn’t killed off.

Highlights: Jack’s videogame-like assault on a terrorist headquarters; the surprise re-emergence of Tony; the mummy.

Five: Season Three.

Season Three started off pretty well. In an effort to infiltrate a drug cartel, Jack got himself addicted to heroin. He also got himself a new partner, in the form of hunky Chase Edmunds. It’s usually a bad sign when a series adds a young partner like that, but Chase was surprisingly solid. He was an adequate foil for Jack, and I genuinely would have liked to see more of him.

The villains this season were an interesting affair, beginning with the delightfully charming Salazar brothers and ending with the delightfully British Stephen Saunders – who had amazing potential but was, naturally, pretty much wasted.

The season revolved around some virus with the capacity to kill the whole world or something, and CTU’s efforts to stop it. It also featured the emergence of fan favorite Chloe O’Brien, an interesting (and first of many) twist on the tired mole cliche, and Jack, as always, confronting his personal demons.

At some point Tony also got shot in the neck, but was on his feet glowering and barking orders a few hours later. He’s a trooper, that guy!

Highlights: Michelle gets tough in a hotel; Sherry dies (finally.); Chloe makes her first appearance; Jack plays a game of Russian Roulette; Jack kills Chappelle; Jack kills Nina; Jack doesn’t kill the main villain. (Actually, that was kind of lame.)

Four: Season One.

This is where it all began, seven or so odd years ago. (Which is like nineteen in the “24″ world.) We’re introduced to the greatest hero of all time, his annoying family, and the Counter Terrorist Unit – all tropes that would become, more or less, series staples until the Seventh Season.

It was at times meandering, at times inane (especially whilst covering whatever shenanigans Kim and Teri had gotten themselves into) and at times overstayed it’s welcome.

Still, it had it’s moments – including a scenery-chewing, bizarrely accented Dennis Hopper as the main villain, and the final scene.

Also, Lou Diamond Phillips showed up near the end for some reason – and that alone puts it higher on this list.

Highlights: We meet JACK BAUER; Nina was weirdly attractive; Dennis Hopper’s accent; Lou Diamond Phillips.

Three: Season Seven.

This should have been it. From the outset, Season Seven sounded like it might just be the be-all-end-all of “24″ seasons. And while it didn’t quite make it that far, it came damn close.

This is what we knew initially: for one thing, Season Seven would be the first season of “24″ to leave Los Angeles, the city that had endured terrorists wrath for six years. That was pretty big. Then, we found out that CTU was being done away with as well – in favour of the Effa Bee Eye, in Washington, D.C.

Then we got wind of the sexy new partner for Jack – the beautiful (but deadly!) Agent Renee Walker, played by the talented (but deadly!) Annie Wershing. Add to that a villain played by acadamy award winner Jon Voight, and another bad guy played by the always dependable B-movie star Tony Todd, and brotha, you got a stew going.

Then came the biggest news of all – Tony Almeida would be returning from the dead somehow as Jack’s newest adversary. Saint’s alive!

And, for good measure, it was coming off the heels of the worst season in the shows history. Not a tough act to follow.

While this all sounds epic to the max on paper, it faltered a bit in execution. It was still one of the strongest seasons of the show, with some great thrills, scenes, acting, characters and guest stars. Plus, it pretty much completely did away with the core “24″ cast (or what was left of it) and gave us dozens of new characters – the strongest of which may have been the new president in the “24″ universe, Allison Taylor played by Cherry Jones. (Jones would win an Emmy that year for her portrayal of the strong-willed Taylor.)

Good, maybe even great, but it could have been better…nitpicking, sure, but too many twists and some truly insipid character motivations didn’t help, either – like the amazing flip-flopping Almeida. Even by the end, I don’t really know if he was good, or evil, or what.

Janene Garafalo showed up this season for some reason as well. That didn’t help, either.

Highlights: Jon Voight; Jack’s fight with henchman Quinn; Senator Red Foreman; Bill’s sacrifice; Aaron Pierce and Ethan Kanin’s Hardy Boys Mysteries subplot; Renee Walker.

Two: Season Two.

Jack Bauer was a pretty broken man coming into the show’s second season. After the death of his wife, he kind of went off the rails a bit – which turned out to be entertaining as hell for the viewer.

Season Two revolved around an impending nuclear attack on Los Angeles, organized by a Middle Eastern terrorist cell – manipulated by wealthy American businessmen led by Peter Kingsley (the dude from “Saw.”)

It was one of the more intense seasons of the show, with very few useless subplots (though there may have been something with a cougar…dammit, Kim!) and some great action – including a bombing at CTU.

It also featured a heroic and dramatic sendoff for George Mason, Jack’s boss for the first few seasons. Although kind of a douche, George redeemed himself this season and became a fan favorite because of it.

Highlights: Kate Warner; Jack’s infamous running-wall-neck-snap; Michelle and Tony start getting it on; the  cougar dude from “Saw.”

One: Season Five.

Jack Bauer takes on the President of the United States of America.

Also RoboCop. And the dude from “Warlock.” And C. Thomas Howell.

It’s pretty damn awesome.

This season had it all – one of the best sets of villains I’ve ever seen on the show; some great acting from Gregory Itzin and Jean Smart as the President and his first lady; and super-human secret service agent Aaron Pierce blew up a dude wearing a flame-thrower.

SOLD.

Highlights: The shocking first episode deaths; that fat hobbit’s sacrifice; Aaron Pierce’s expanded role; Edgar’s death; Jack deploying another famous neck snap; Jack’s final shoot-out with Henderson; the Logans.

Well.

Tomorrow we close out “24 Week” with the five best moments in the show’s history.

And then I will return you to your regularly scheduled blog!

Deliverance, 1972 – Direção: John Boorman – Elenco: Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ronny Cox

John Boorman dirige esta obra-prima como um filho da puta que não tem nada a perder: joga a violência na tela do modo mais explosivo, poético, bizarro, psicológico, doentio e delicioso. A esquematização do diretor em compôr cada situação é algo tão soberbo que fica díficil enxergar o filme como uma mera peça de aventura.

Sabendo que as perigosas corredeiras do Cahulawassee River estão prestes a serem inundadas e transformadas em represas, quatro amigos decidem descer o rio, em busca de aventuras e um lado mais próximo/ligado à natureza. Porém, no que começam sua viagem por canoas, eis que surge problemas nos quais os protagonistas lembrarão para sempre em seus pesadelos.

O filme começa com um duelo de banjos magnífico, entre um dos amigos e o “garoto” mais sinistro que já vi na minha vida. É tão genial que nós, espectadores, não sabemos se devemos rir da situação extrovertida, ou termos medo da lugubridade do menino. A seguir, segue-se a tão esperada viagem – inundada de água e dos mais amargos acontecimentos. Boorman estoura a mente quando dois homens rendem dois dos amigos, e um deles estupra o gordinho. É o ápice da violência psicológica – ao lado de Straw Dogs, do Peckinpah, este é o melhor filme sobre isso.

Aquilo que poderia ser apenas mais um filme sobre a amizade, ou somente um “Stand By Me” adulto, torna-se algo muito perturbador e radical nas mãos de Boorman, que emprega um ritmo delicioso à narrativa sobreposta às relações de heroísmo e confrontos entre os amigos – intricados num jogo selvagem de vida ou morte.

Nesse contexto sobre a violência, Boorman – que alguns anos antes havia dirigido o famoso Point Blank – escala um elenco composto principalmente por Jon Voight (eterno Joe Buck!) e Burt Reynolds. Ambos, perfeitos demais, participam de toda a perversidade proposta por Boorman para tornar seu filme mais arrebatador e sombrio. E, sempre humanos, os atores redigem atuações fantásticas; a mescla perfeita do lado psicológico com o lado explosivo de cada personagem.

O final é a coisa mais genial do mundo. É a lembrança de tudo o que passou, a aterradora verdade, que os personagens levarão para sempre. Assim como nós, que levaremos o filme conosco por toda vida; e agradeceremos eternamente a Boorman pelo presente cinematográfico.

5/5

Cameron, James – The New York Times is reporting that Cameron’s new film Avatar supposedly cost $500 million to make and market.  Though this number has been challenged, this is exactly the amount of money McG could have spent on Terminator Salvation and still made it suck.

Link: Cameron’s Cash-tastrophe? (NY Times)

Fergie – The Black Eyed Peas singer told The Advocate that she her husband, Josh Duhamel, is well-endowed, and that she is bisexual: “[j]ust because I enjoy women doesn’t mean I’m allowed to have affairs in my relationship. I learned through talking with my therapist that it is still cheating even if it’s with girls…”  Her therapist may also have taught her that taking things without permission is stealing, and that smoking is bad for you.

Link: Fergie Opens Up (Advocate)

Lachey, Nick – People magazine reveals that the ex-Mr. Jessica Simpson was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, which counts David Spade and Fred Savage as alums.  Interesting, as all those actors now share the same amount of relevance.

Link: Lachey, Frat Boy (People)

Moore, Demi – The G.I. Jane actress tells W magazine that she prefers not to be called a cougar, in reference to being married to her famously much younger husband, Ashton Kutcher.  “I’d prefer to be called a puma,” she says.  Please elaborate, Ms. Moore, as both are predatory felines, and “cougar” and “puma” are sometimes used interchangeably.  In fact, “puma” is a genus that includes the cougar, according to Wikipedia.  As such, you will soon be referred to as an uber-cougar, apparently to your dismay.

Link: Moore No Cougar (W)

Voight, Jon – Angelina Jolie and her estranged father have reconciled, Voight reports.  Though they’re not BFFs, they have met face-to-face and stay in contact after a 7-year split that started when Voight went on Access Hollywood and pleaded for Jolie to seek help for her “serious mental problems.”  Now he has forgiven her for her supposed transgressions, and Jolie has forgiven him for appearing in Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2.

Link: Jolie, Voight Reconcile (Us Magazine)

Wood, Ronnie – The Rolling Stones guitarist and his wife of 24 years, Jo, have divorced.  Though his adultery has been offered as one reason, it all may have been a big misunderstanding: “Look at his pictures,” Jo is thought to have said.  “I thought he was Keith Richards.”

Link: Wood Getting Divorced (China Daily)

Well.

“24″ week continues with a (hopefully) quick look at some of “24’s” Greatest Villains.

Again, spoilers lie ahead…be weary, fair traveller.

Seven: Jonas Hodges, Season 7, Redemption. (Jon Voight.)

Angelina Jolie’s biological father was born to be a “24″ villain. And the man did not disappoint. Chewing the scenery with gleeful abandon every step of the way, Jon Voight proved to be a formidable opponent for Jack Bauer – and whoever else got in his way along the way. Hodges fast became one of my favorite Big Bads in the entire series, and I had high hopes on his returning in the future to antagonize Jack over and over again. Sadly, it turned out that he actually wasn’t the dude in charge, and was just another pawn in an increasingly ridiculous operation, and he exited the series…well, kind of lamely.

Too bad…he coulda ranked a helluva lot higher! Still a fun ride while it lasted, though.

Six: Habib Marwan, Season Four. (Arnold Vosloo.)

In Season Four, Jack Bauer was menaced by the Mummy. That’s right, the Mummy.

I kid you not.

Okay, so it was just the dude who played the mummy in those horrible Brendan Frasor films, but still.

The Mummy.

I have nothing else to add here.

Five: Christopher Henderson, Season Five. (Peter Weller.)

So we had the Mummy terrorizing Los Angeles in Season Four – that’s a tough act to follow. But the producers were more than up to the challenge.

They brought in RoboCop.

Christopher Henderson was once Jack’s mentor, and that’s cool – he’s basically an older, grizzleder, meaner Jack Bauer. The perfect nemesis, in other word. Not only can he predict Jack’s methods, but Jack can predict that he can predict his methods, so he realizes that his normal methods are all but useless – forcing him to find new methods, which I guess means Henderson didn’t really predict anything at all.

Still pretty badass, though.

Four: Tony Almeida, Season Seven. (Carlos Bernard.)

If Christopher Henderson is Jack in twenty years, than Tony Almeida is Jack now – which is far more lethal. Add to that the emotional element of discovering that your best friend, partner, and really the “only man you can trust” is now your adversary, and we have the makings of the ultimate “24″ villain. Or so I thought.

The writers didn’t seem to want to commit to Tony one way or the other – they wanted him to be the bad guy but didn’t seem to want him to be, you know, evil. Key element there.

So instead we got a mostly bad Tony, but a Tony who was bad for the right reasons. It turned him into a more tragic figure than an outright villain, and while I enjoyed the more complex journey he ended up taking, part of me still really wanted to see some hardcore Bauer vs. Almeida action.

Oh well…at least they didn’t kill him off this time.

Three: Mandy, Season One, Two and Four. (Mia Kirshner.)

Here’s a character that needs to return, like yesterday. While appearing in three separate seasons, Mandy has only appeared in seven episodes. Yet she still clocks in at Number Three.

That’s pretty incredible.

Mysterious, deadly, and, let’s face it, hot, Mandy has been a thorn in Jack’s side long before the two even came face-to-face. She always seems to appear at the worst possible moment, shocking the viewer and messing things up for Bauer and Co. even more. Whether she’s leaping out of exploding planes or poisoning presidents with a simple handshake, she’s generally pretty awesome. She’s still alive as well, which is a rarity for “24″ characters, let alone villains, and hasn’t shown up since Season Four.

I’d say her unique brand of havoc is long overdue.

Two: Nina Meyers, Season One, Two and Three. (Sarah Clarke.)

Of all the enemies on this list, I think it’s safe to say that Nina Meyers has had the most impact on Jack. She was kind of his arch-nemesis over the course of the first three seasons, and a seemingly unstoppable one at that. She started off as Jack’s most trusted ally and friend, and ended the day by killing his wife, Teri.

Jack was never a very good judge of character.

Nina would return in Season Two and Season Three to once again tangle with Bauer, and haunt him about his wife’s death. I’ve always said that a really solid, returning antagonist would really up the ante of the shows threat level, and Nina was perfect in the role.

And then, in the third season, Jack shot her like sixty times.

One: President Charles Logan, Season Five. (Gregory Itzin.)

When it was revealed midway through Season Five that it was the President who had been behind the events of that day, no one even questioned it. It was unexpected, it was terrifying, it…didn’t make a whole lot of sense. But we bought it. Without question. Because the writing was quality, but more importantly: because Greg Itzin, who had played Logan since his introduction in Season One, was just that good.

Logan’s characteristic bumbling and poor decision making skills had been an act – and we believed it because of Itzin’s performance. He (and Jean Smart, who played his wife Martha) were unbelievable that season, treading the fine line between duplicity and outright lying to your audience. They had great chemistry; and they both knew their characters inside and out.

But never mind the acting…the mere thought of the president, the most powerful man in the world being a terrorist was just too delicious for the writers of the show to pass up. Even if Logan’s turn to the dark side hadn’t been telegraphed from the very beginning (they say it was, but I think they’re lying) it was an intriguing premise – one that led to one of the best seasons of the show, and undoubtably, the show’s best villain.

]]> http://dergeblog.wordpress.de/2009/11/06/ge-sehen-das-gesetz-der-ehre-usa-2008/ Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:50:01 +0000 twenstillman http://dergeblog.wordpress.de/2009/11/06/ge-sehen-das-gesetz-der-ehre-usa-2008/

Der Film ist eine kleine Überraschung.
Ein klassischer Cop – Thriller, sehr gut gespielt und vor allen sehr spannend.
Bei einem Einsatz werden vier Cops erschossen.
Detektiv Ray Tierney nimmt, auf Druck seines Vater die Ermittlung auf.
Sehr schnell stellt sich heraus, daß auch sein Bruder und Schwager in den Tod der Polizisten verwickelt sind.
Es kommt zu einer Zerreißprobe innerhalb der Familie und seine Spuren scheinen tödlich zu sein.

Edward Norten, Colin Farrell und Jon Voight spielen die Hauptrollen.
Der ganz Film wurde an Originalschauplätzen in und um New York gedreht. Das tut den Film gut, die Bilder wirken nicht so geleckt.Alle drei Darsteller spielen unwarscheinlich intensiv.
Eigentlich wollte ich nur mal schnell spät in den Film schauen, doch dann wurde es sehr spät.
Von Anfang an hat mich dieser Film gefesselt.
Über 2 Stunden sehr gute Unterhaltung.
MAl kein Film mit überbordenden Spezial Effekte sonder ein Thriller der alten Schule.. Eine angenehme Alternative.
Leider ist auf der BluRay nur ein Making Off vorhanden.
Aber der Film lohnt sich.

Note: 1

The Tea Party protest at the Capitol steps today, Thursday, November 5, 2009 and organized by Representative Michele Bachmann was a huge success. We were told that the sounds of the protest could be heard inside of the Capitol Building. That is no wonder. A large crowd showed up and at one time, their constant chants of “No” to government run health care could probably be heard across the Potomac.

Mark Levin was Mark Levin. He told it like it is.

“Thousands descend on Washington DC to protest the Pelosi Health Care Bill. Thousands more attend their Representatives offices around the country to send the message. NO NO NO YOU CAN’T! “

Jon Voight, who gave a magnificent speech and brought two of this friends to speak, will be on the Hannity Show on Fox, tonight at 9:00 PM ET.

At least one of the commenters on this blog was brought to tears by the inspiration of this protest. I must admit, my eyes too were moistened. I also, once again, want to say how much I admire Michele Bachmann. She should be an inspiration to all who have obtained or seek public office.

As many of you know, I am not fond of either political party. However, the Democrat party is being held hostage by the far left socialists. If the Republicans will listen, serve the American people and stop this socialist Health Care Bill, they will get my support. That is with one stipulation. No more business as usual. Defend the US Constitution, behave more as statesmen and less like politicians and save this country.

. . . who is currently addressing Michele Bachmann’s “Teabagger Altamont” in front of the United States Capitol:

If you hate “socialism” so much, why aren’t you calling for the abolition of Medicare — which is socialism — rather than lying about the public option — which is not?

(Attention all devotees of Republican comedy: Turn on C-SPAN 3 right now.  These people are crazy!  And really, really stupid.)