King Kong (Cooper / Schoedsack 1933) is a classic film that many still love today. It has since had two remakes, one in 1976 and one in 2005. King Kong (Guillermin 1976) stars Jeff Bridges (aka The Dude from The Big Lewbowski (Coen / Coen 1998)) and Jessica Lange. Jessica Lange plays Dwan, the blond babe that King Kong inevitably falls in love with. The story is similar to the original, with a few key differences. Instead of being a film crew going to the island to film a movie, it’s a oil company going there. The oil company, Petrox, has reason to believe there is a new untapped oil source on the island. Jack Prescott, played by Jeff Bridges, is a paleontologist that stows away on the boat because he believes a giant creature lives on the island. They run into natives on the island, and they abduct  Dwan. The natives offer Dwan to King Kong, and Jack goes to rescue her. Meanwhile, the Petrox oil leader finds out the oil on the island isn’t ready yet. So, he decides they are going to abduct King Kong and use him as an attraction. On opening night, King Kong breask free and terrorizes New York City looking for Dwan. Eventually he climbs one of the towers at the World Trade Center (not the Empire State building) where he is killed.

Original? Wait isn't this a remake?!

This movie is pretty similar to the blockbuster we learned about in class. It does not have any big name stars to carry the movie. The director, John Guillmermin, had directed The Towering Inferno (Guillmermin 1974) two years before, so he knew how to do a “disaster” film. So in that sense, this movie is a typical blockbuster. Another reason why this movie is a blockbuster that the movie melds genres to make itself more marketable to everyone. When the crew is on the island exploring, it is an action/adventure film. When they are hunting King Kong on the island, it is more like a chase film. When they bring King Kong back to New York City, it turns into a monster movie. Throughout the whole thing, there is a romance between Jack and Dwan. There is a odd romance between King Kong and Dwan as well, but it’s hard to describe. At the same time there are other parts of the story that are against big corporations. And Dwan and Jack want King Kong to live peacefully, throwing a little animal rights into the film. As you can see, this film throws in a lot of different elements and styles into the story to try and appeal to a wide audience.

Also this movie exemplifies high concept perfectly. I imagine the high concept to go something like this: A remake of King Kong that takes place in modern times. How could the executives go wrong with that? I only wonder what took them so long to remake King Kong (Cooper / Schoedsack 1933). Because of the popularity of King Kong (Cooper / Schoedsack 1933), $24 million was thrown into this movie. This adds to the film being a blockbuster. But the film only made $52,614,445. Considering the immense success of Jaws (Spielberg 1975), I’m sure this was a bit of a disappointment for Paramount at the time. But it at least doubled the money it cost to make. It made enough to warrant a sequel 10 years later entitled King Kong Lives (Guillermin 1986) with half the budget of the original. Needless to say, the sequel was a flop, making only half of it’s budget at the box office.

There were lot of special effects in this movie as well. The main one being King Kong himself. I read that there was a $1.7 million, 6 1/2 ton, 40 foot tall King Kong made for the film. It was the largest mechanical creature made at the time. But it was barely used at all in the film. All of the shots it was in totals about 15 seconds. Other special effects in the film were a man in a gorilla suit, several large faces of King Kong, and the King Kong hand. There is also this sweet fight scene between King Kong and a large snake. The best effects are the animatronic King Kong faces. They are surprisingly expressive. This really made me and I’m sure other audiences, feel for the animal. This makes the film a tragedy in it’s own right.

This is a clip showing off the King Kong expressions. Also it shows the weird sexual tension and romance between King Kong and Dwan in the film.

Another thing that makes this film a blockbuster is the ride. At Universal Studios in California, they have a tram ride called the Universal Stuidos Studio Tour. There used to be a King Kong segment of the ride where riders entered 1976 New York City and encountered King Kong. While this part of the ride wasn’t implemented until 1986, it still proves that this movie was popular enough to warrant it’s own section on the famous ride. It later spawned another ride in the Universal Studios Florida called Kongfrontation.

I had only been vaguely aware of this movie because of the Universal Studios ride that has a King Kong section. I loved that part of the ride when I visited Universal Studios. I didn’t know there was a movie actually. I just assumed that it was a modern day interpretation of King Kong. I guess I wasn’t a very smart kid. But I watched movie and was surprised. I was expecting something awful, but honestly it wasn’t that bad of a film. I was highly entertained, and King Kong had some “touching” moments. But other times the effects were really cheesy. There are moments where you can tell that King Kong is actually a man in a gorilla suit. Jeff Bridges acting in this movie is surprsingly good. But I don’t think the part he played would take a whole ton of skill. Jessica Lange in this movie wasn’t that great. She was often over dramatic, but her acting when she’s trying to be kind to King Kong is pretty good. Overall, I’d recommend this film for a single watch, but I wouldn’t buy it for my collection.

This weekend I watched Martin Scorsese’s 1973 film Mean Streets (Scorsese 1973.) It’s a movie mainly about a man named Charlie trying to get ahead in the world. He has various set backs, mostly with incompetent mafia members. The main one who sets Charlie back is Johnny Boy, played by a super young Robert De Niro. At the same time, he is troubled by the work he does for the mafia.We see this throughout the film as Charlie burns himself with various fires. I thought this would be symbolic throughout the whole movie, but Scorsese doesn’t really go anywhere with it other than that is Charlies “confession” or “penance.” This could have been a very interesting aspect of the story, but it doesn’t go very far.

I would say this movie is definitley the beginning of Scorsese becoming an auteur. First of all, this is a gang film. Scorsese is known for his gang films such as Goodfellas (Scorsese 1990), Gangs of New York (Scorsese 2002), and The Departed (Scoresese  2006.) So thematically, he is setting a  theme he visits often, but not by any means what he always directs.

Another thing that Scorsese does in this movie is use long (in length) shots during action scenes. One in particular is when the boys go to collect money at a bar, and the owner decides he doesn’t want to pay up. So, they get into a fight. There is one shot in particular of two guys pushing one of Charlies men around the bar. The shot goes around different parts of the small bar room and is really distinctive. Scorsese has used similar shots in other films, and it has become part of his style. The part I’m talking about starts at 4:37.

One thing I noticed is the sense of realism that Scorsese goes for. He tries to make the viewer feel like they are there hanging out with the guys. My favorite example of hanging out with the guys is whenever the go to the movies. At one point, they con these 2 kids for $20. Upon picking up another member of the gang he says, “20 dollars?! Let’s go to the movies!” It shows them in the movies and usually has a flash of the movie so you can see what they are watching. This includes the viewer in what the guys are doing. It makes you feel more connected to the characters. At the same time, in scenes with a lot of dialogue it gets kind of boring. I fell asleep for about 10 minutes during one of these scenes, woke up, and didn’t miss a thing.

The whole story of the film feels very neo-realist as well. Overall, there’s a basic structure, but it’s weak. It’s really just following the mobsters in their exploits. Nothing profound happens until the end of the film, but even so, life continues on as normal. That’s just how life happens in the mob. It reminded me a lot of Umberto D (De Sica 1952). We learned a lot about the day to day life of characters, but not much about their back story. And at the end of the film, there is an ambigous ending. The world carries on, and the day to day evens of the film are forgotten.

It’s hard for me to say if I enjoyed this movie. I liked some of the dialogue, and any time Johnny Boy was in a scene. He’s just always dancing and won’t let anything get him down! There’s another scene near the end that I really enjoyed with him. Throughout the whole movie, you just think he is crazy. But he let’s someone who he owes a lot of money know that he played him, just like every other person he owes money to. Johnny Boy is not as crazy as you think he is. He is brilliant in his own way. He is, for lack of a better term, a master “bullshitter.” He can talk his way out of many situations, and that makes him a deeper character than initially believed. I liked the character Charlie to an extent. At times I felt his character was supposed to have more symbolism than we were shown. The whole burning himself thing never really went anywhere. I watched the whole movie expecting something to happen because he gave this long speech about his faith. But in the end, the fire really didn’t mean much, although it popped up several times in the film. Some of the story is just too “real” for me. I found parts of the film boring, especially the scenes with extended dialogue. I don’t hate this movie, but I can’t say I love it either. I prefer Scorsese’s other gangster films more. They have more complex story structures with realistic dialogue. But a director is supposed to get better over time, and this is a great for a “beginners” movie. At times though, it feels like just that. An amateur film.

BBC ENTERTAINMENT, A LAS 22:00 HRS, SKY 203, CABLE 206

SURVIVORS, Episodio 3, BBC. 2009

Greg y Tom ven un helicóptero volando y se encuentran con una familia que no fue infectada, la cual,  ha estado aislada desde que inició el ataque del virus. Abby se encuentra con Samantha Willis, la última persona del Gobierno que no ha sido afectada por la enfermedad. Abby y Samantha se vuelven amigas, pero Abby se alarma, al ver los alcances a los que llega Samantha con tal de salvar a su comunidad. En un laboratorio, varios científicos trabajan para tratar de desarrollar una vacuna contra el virus.

1. Power Basex (2 Beaten Power Remix) – Bismark
2. 2 Many Shots Of Jagermeister (Original Mix) – Tocadisco
3. Messy (Chicky Lyttle’s Crickt Remix) – Ignition Technician
4. Loky (Taster Peter’s Rollercoaster Remix) – Tomy DeClerque
5. Typhon (Original Mix) – Spektre
6. Psychopath (Original Mix) – David Giugliano
7. Stress (Original Mix) – Spiros Kaloumenos
8. The Spring (Tech Mix) – Ernesto, Alex Fisher
9. Celsius 39 (Re-Ward Remix) – Mark Sherry, Dr. Willis
10. Evil Live (Original Mix) – Piatto
11. And Then… (Rank 1 Remix) – Rank 1, Jochen Miller
12. Seven Theory #7 (Konstress Eight Remix) – Elad Emek
13. Shao (Deep Mix) – Chris De Seed

Download here! : (mediafire.com – mp3 @ 128 kbps)

The Raps are celebrating 15 years of existence by bringing in guys like Charles Oakley for autograph signings, so I figure I’ll pay tribute in my own fashion by posting random moments from the team’s history at random times throughout the season. Here’s the first installment, featuring the pickup of the 1998 off-season, Kevin Willis. Check out those Raptors on The New VR while you’re at it!

kamala

make this the green flag rules for california

as the next attorney general

jerry

support these green flag rules

in your unofficial run for govenor

++++++++++++++++++++++++

amend the 2010 california attorney general

compassionate care guidelines to read:

make all compassionate care participants take

green flag rules compliance education training annually

like this dmv list of  schools for car dealer pre-licensing

make all caregivers hold a green flag rules license

like this dmv licensed salesperson required in the car sales industry

make all green flag caregivers post a bond

like this bond requirement for licensed car dealers

make all green flag caregivers submit fingerprints

like this fingerprint requirement for dmv licensed salespersons

make all green flag caregivers obtain local zoning approval

like this property use verification form from the dmv

green flag rules will generate green flag compliance

plus a whole network of folks

to monitor and teach green flag compliance

as a matter of fact

why not just add it to the dmv with special green flag funding

from obama and holder

a model green flag rules compliance program

for the nation to follow

you might need a willis to see which way this wind will blow

gina

green flag compliance = certified dealer

Walka Tye Fieldsa z Roderickiem Willisem. Pojedynek odbył się 13 marca 2008 roku.

Promocja dnia w sklepie Pretorian – sprawdź teraz!

Je vais le voir ou pas ?

Il est de retour ! Dany Boon ? Non, non, voyons… Je veux bien entendu parler du magicien Jean-Pierre Jeunet. A 56 ans, le réalisateur de Delicatessen,  La Cité des Enfants Perdus, Alien, la résurrection ou encore Le Fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain refait surface après cinq ans d’absence avec Micmacs à tire-larigot.

Micmacs à tire-larigot, c’est l’histoire de Bazil, orphelin vivant avec une épée de Damoclès au-dessus de la tête à cause d’une balle logée dans son cerveau. Recueilli par une bande de chiffonniers, il décide de se venger en retrouvant les fabricants d’armes qui ont ruiné sa vie.

Alors que Jeunet avait réservé le rôle-titre à Jamel Debbouze, séduit par leur collaboration sur Amélie Poulain et allant jusqu’à adapter le scénario au handicap de l’acteur, ce dernier a malheureusement décliné l’offre deux mois avant le tournage. Coup dur pour Jean-Pierre Jeunet qui a alors insisté pour faire passer des essais à Dany Boon, avec succès. Heureusement, Dominique Pinon est là. Chouchou du réalisateur depuis des décennies, Pinon rempile et apporte sa touche personnelle au rôle du déjanté Fracasse.

” [...] on est déçus de ne pas être plus surpris, frappés par un manque d’originalité [...]” (Première). Coup dur avant sa sortie, la critique n’a visiblement pas été emballée par le film et le fait savoir. “La mécanique semble tellement huilée et la scénario tellement cliché qu’il manque un petit truc [...] Tout ça pour ça?” (Elle), “[...] le moteur tourne souvent à vide, les mécanismes se grippent et toute la machinerie tousse.” (NouvelObs), “[...] il nous agace avec cette fable gavée de bons sentiments [...]” (Télé7jours). Le verdict du box-office reste néanmoins le plus attendu par l’équipe.

Face à cette grosse sortie française, Hollywood ne perd pas au change avec la distribution du très attendu Clones de Jonathan Mostow. Adaptation du comic Surrogates écrit par Robert Venditti et Brett Veldele, le film est mené de front par l’éternel Bruce Willis. Ce thriller du futur met en scène deux agents du F.B.I. qui enquêtent sur le meurtre d’un étudiant. Rien de peu banal excepté le fait que dans ce futur, la population entière vit au travers de clones commandés à distance leur garantissant une sécurité totale. Ce meurtre orientera l’agent Greers (Willis) vers une vérité dont la société qui fabrique les clones se passerait bien de révéler au grand jour…

Pour rendre crédible ce futur potentiel, le réalisateur va jusqu’à présenter dans les premières séquences le scientifique japonais Hiroshi Ishiguro qui utilise un double robotisé pour donner des conférences à plusieurs endroit en même-temps. De belles promesses de Clones qui divisent les avis… “Brillant, poétique, aigu comme un épisode de “la Quatrième Dimension”” (NouvelObs), “La satire sociale est donc l’un des moteurs de Clones, ce qui n’empêche pas Mostow de s’adonner à l’un de ses figures préférées: la séquences d’action échevelée.” (L’Ecran fantastique), “Clones, aussi désincarné que ses protagonistes, ressemble à ça: un vestige des années 90 [...]” (Première).

Enfin, trois autres sorties remarquées avec This is it de Kenny Ortega – ou un montage des répétitions du concert qu’aurait dû donner feu Mickaël Jackson – distribué sur deux semaines uniquement (vous avez dit coup marketing ?), l’adaptation ciné de la série animée Panique au village de Vincent Patar et Stéphane Aubier qui a conquis la critique : “Frappadingue, hystérique mais aussi poétique, Panique au village est un film rare [...] qui nous scotche un grand sourire sur le visage [...] Un petit morceau de bonheur, quoi.” (Mad Movies) – A voir en famille ! – et le délirant teen-movie Dance Movie qui prolonge l’ascension lucrative des frères Wayans, introduisant le petit dernier Damon Wayans Jr. Les avis ? “A peine drôle et d’une abyssale bêtise…” (Télérama). Aouch !

Bonne semaine !

Hélène Barbaza

—> Si vous passez par la case ciné, profitez de la nouvelle catégorie Conseils des internautes pour y laisser vos critiques ou un simple avis.

Micmacs à tire-larigot
Un film de Jean-Pierre Jeunet, avec Dany Boon, Yolande Moreau, Dominique Pinon.

Michael Jackson’s This Is It
Un film de Kenny Ortega.

Clones
Un film de Jonathan Mostow avec Bruce Willis, Radha Mitchell.

Dance Movie
Un film de Keenen Ivory Wayans, avec Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans.

Cinéman
Un film de Yann Moix avec Franck Dubosc, Pierre-François Martin-LAval et Lucy Gordon.

Les Zintrus
Un film de John Schultz, avec Ashley Tisdale, Kevin Nealon.

Panique au village
Un film de Vincent Patar et Stéphane Aubier.

L’Ours et le magicien
Trois courts-métrages réalisés par Dace Riduze, Evalds Lacis et Maris Brinkmanis.

Le Jour où Dieu est parti en voyage
Un film de Philippe Van Leeuw, avec Afazali Dewaele et Ruth Nirere.

Irène
Un film d’Alain Cavalier.

Making of
Un film de Nouri Bouzid avec Lotfi Abdelli, Lotfi Dziri, Dali Boumnijel.

Quem era fã de filmes de ação nos anos 80, imaginava que Arnie e Stallone mal se falavam devido a tamanha rivalidade, os dois se alfinetavam em seus próprios filmes, como tiradas em “O último grande herói”, de Schuaza e “Demolidor” de Stallone, quando este se espanta ao saber que Arnie tinha virado presidente… Como se sabe, os três são donos da franquia Planet Hollywood.

Arnie, Stallone Rambo, uma gostosa e o Diogo Vilela...nos anos 80

No final da década surge ainda mais um astro dos filmes de ação, criando um novo tipo de gênero dentro de tiros e explosões, com Duro de Matar (Die Hard – 1988). Os filmes de ação foram eleitos a um novo patamar, o outrora raquítico Bruce Willis, de A Gata e o Rato, estrelava um filme em que enfrentava terroristas em um prédio e não morria de jeito nenhum, a partir dai surgiu Die Hard no navio (Força em Alerta), Die Hard no ar (Passageiro 57) e Die Hard até em ônibus (Velocidade Máxima)… Fora que essa época era cheia de astros que mesmo com pequenas participações alçaram voos maiores posteriormente, como Dolph Lundgren e Jean Cloude Vandorme…

Jet Li e mais recentemente Jason Statham surgiram como astros desse tipo de filme.
Como essa década anda resgatando muita coisa dos anos 80, e desenterrando franquias desde desenhos até séries e filmes da época como Rocky, Duro de Matar e Rambo, titio Sly teve a ideia brilhante de juntar todos esses refugos em um filme de ação superficial mas cheio do que interessa: Porrada, tiros, corre-corre e algum vilão mequetrefe levando o farelo no final… a sinopse é esta:

“Um time de mercenários vem a América do Sul (provavelmente Brasil com cara de Colômbia e capital Buenos Aires onde todo mundo fala inglês) com a missão de tirar do poder um ditador tirano.”

Eis que um dia esperado por muitos chegou… No último sábado, dia 24, Arnie, Sly e Willis filmarão juntos uma cena de cinco minutos para o filme “Os Mercenários” (The Expendlsajdlbles no original)… A cena se passa em uma igreja e tem tomadas externas e dentro do santuário.

Sly afirma que “Os mercenários” tentará colocar os socos de volta às telas em uma era na qual efeitos especiais estão dominando cada vez mais o gênero de ação.“

O trailler dizem que vazou e agora pode ser visto por quem quiser na grande rede…

CARAIO! Lundgren versus Jet Li!!! O George Michael é o capanga do ditador! …e a presença Gisele (Ah Gisele) Itiê vale o ingresso… É o que eu digo, filmes do Norris e do Vandorme são bons se você sabe o que esperar deles, o cinema atual anda meio sisudo, cheio de tendencias FRESCAS sombrias e precisando de uns filmes inúteis descontraídos como esse…

PS: Jean Cloude Vandorme chegou a ser chamado mas recusou…

Köln: Rund 1.500 Quadratmeter Bürofläche mietete die Willis GmbH & Co. KG aus Frankfurt am Main Im MediaPark über die Berater von BNP Paribas Real Estate (BNPPRE, ehemals Atisreal).

Chantal Schaum für BNP Paribas Real Estate

Der zur internationalen Willis Group gehörende Industrie-Versicherungsmakler ist damit bereits an acht Standorten in Deutschland vertreten und wird die neuen Räumlichkeiten Im MediaPark 5 im Dezember beziehen. Weltweit beschäftigt das Unternehmen ein Netzwerk von rund 18.000 Mitarbeitern. Eigentümer des Objekts ist ein Privatinvestor.

If you had this opportunity, would you do the same?:

‘A former Texas convenience store clerk is on the lam and living large, police say, after making off with an unwitting customer’s million dollar lotto ticket. Willis Willis of Grand Prairie, Texas bought tickets at the Lucky Food Store every week, trusting the clerks to check if he’d won. When he brought the million dollar ticket in, clerk Pankaj Joshi dutifully handed him $2—then handed his boss his two-week notice.

‘Willis would never have known he’d been fleeced if Joshi’s coworkers hadn’t become suspicious when he cashed the winning ticket—in four years, they’d never seen him buy a ticket. They alerted authorities, who pored over the store’s receipts to find the real winner. They’ve managed to recover $365,000 of the money, but the rest, and Joshi himself, appears long gone; they believe the ex-clerk’s in Asia.’ Dallas Morning News

La rumeur courait depuis quelques temps à propos d’une adaptation filmique du jeu vidéo Kane & Lynch. Il y a quelques jours, le producteur américain Adrian Askarieh s’est confié au magazine online Gamedaily.com. Verdict : le tournage aura bien lieu sous la direction du cascadeur Simon Crane et est prévu pour le mois de mars 2010. Mieux que ça, il confirme avoir trouvé son Adam ‘Kane’ Marcus en la personne de Bruce Willis qui a accepté. Banco !

Kane & Lynch est un jeu vidéo très violent réunissant Kane, un mercenaire aguerri, et Lynch, un psychopathe imprévisible. Rescapé d’une mission au Vénézuela, Kane fut le seul survivant du groupe des “7″ auquel il s’était rattaché. Du moins c’est ce qu’il crû… En fuite avec le magot, il  découvre rapidement que tous les membres ne sont pas morts et qu’ils comptent se venger de sa traîtrise. Condamné à mort à la fois par ses ennemis et par les “7″, il s’échappe de prison aux côtés de James Seth Lynch, un psychopathe qui a assassiné sa femme et est commandité par les “7″ pour s’assurer que Kane rende le butin. Alors qu’ils se vouent une haine viscérale, les deux hommes vont finalement s’allier pour sauver la famille de Kane prise en otage et se venger des “7″.

Le tournage du film se déroulera en Amérique du Sud et en Europe, et le casting reste toujours ouvert pour trouver le parfait Lynch.

Retrouvez l’interview en intégralité sur www.gamedaily.com

H.B.