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Page 11 of 25 : Newer : Older : : Most Helpful »
hersey interviewed many people who had - at least for a while - survived the immediate ''nuclear bombing'', or ''nuking'' of hiroshima - which, together with the similar destruction of nagasaki - was initially celebrated, and not only the cause of celebrations, but even made the topic of jokes in america and elsewhere (and probably in the uk and the british empire, too; though i do not know this). he also did follow-up interviews with many people.
following the experiences of six real people from just before the atomic bomb was detonated above hiroshima, this was thought to be so important a piece of journalism when it was received by the editor, that instead of its being broken into several episodes and published in consecutive issues, the whole article - all 31,000 words of it - was published in a single issue of the new yorker, on 31/8/1946.
it sold out at newsstands within a few hours.
it was published in hardcover by alfred a. knopf later on in 1946; the book of the month club sent its edition free of charge to all of its members, and it was read aloud on the american broadcasting company's network in four half-hour installments; it was also read out on the bbc on the home service, iiuc.
it is probably the single most important factor in the awakening of non-japanese people to the 'til then unimaginable magnitude of the horrors of the use of nuclear weapons, and the moral questions their existence raises.
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Generally speaking, one hit wonders do not usually release albums with any particular merit. “Don’t Be Concerned” is a complete exception to that rule. Mr. Lind not only has the soul of a poet, but also a strong melodic sense that serves each of the selections well. Aside from the throwaway “The World Is Just a B-Movie”, there’s not a weak cut among the other eleven.
Excellent production and arrangement by Jack Nitzsche.
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10 September 2023
[YouTube Video]
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Having mentioned just the other day, how The Matrix sequels really annoyed my by being split on a cliff hanger... this does exactly the same!
Except, with respect, it was marketed this way from the outset, so I knew it was coming.
(Glad I didn't watch it in the cinema for this reason, therefore - I really do resent it, cinema not being the place for TV soap style cliff-hangers in my opinion: "Tune in next year to find out what happens next...." Grrrrrrrr)
But also, I see what they did with this, in order to up the ante: as if the first film was akin to a comic book, excellently paced, well tied up, and perfectly self-contained, this has ambitions to be the equivalent of a graphic novel, in terms of scope, and scale, and so requires the two parts.
That said, the action is frantic, and a blizzard of new characters, action and... stuff, happens all at once, a lot more hectic than the original, so that it's difficult to keep up with, and then you have these other, dramatic moments that, in direct contrast to this, grind proceedings almost to a halt - the personal dramatic moments go on too long - dramatic pauses etc,
Some scenes, and indeed, the art-work / production design are a clear step up even from the original (did not think that was possible!), but this is altogether a more "involved" affair, whereas the casual viewer can enjoy the first, this goes a little bit more into comic fan "lore" land, which may lose a lot of this audience.
If you are into it to this degree, you'll probably like this even more, but if, like me, you are only a casual comic book movie fan, but more of a general movie fan, this won't be as good as the original... just by a shade or two.
The first, beyond the comic book nature of the film, was just good movie making, and story telling in general, this lacks somewhat in this regard, and so is more of a Comic-Con fanbase movie.
But, I will dutifully await the next one, I suppose, and resign myself to the fact that, along with this, and Everything Everywhere, All At Once, this is how movie are going to be from now on, rather than a fresh, exciting, and original experiment, everyone is going to jump on this band wagon, of nutty, frenetic story splat, story telling, which will inevitably become the contrary: Same-y, bland, and unoriginal.
But this was enjoyable, and worth watching for all that.
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There are two basic associations to be made in connection with this movie, in order to convey what it is about:
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, and A Clockwork Orange.
(Not bad company to keep, I'd say!)
But this is basically a three man stage play (with a couple of other peripheral characters), about a troubled soldier, who gets arrested for acting on his mental disturbances, one night, and finds himself farmed off to a country mansion to be experimented on by a Doctor, in order to "fix" him, under the auspices of the military, as part of an experimental project.
He is interred with an equally troubled room mate: also ex-soldier: Ronny Cox...
(Who's wild, brash, charismatic character basically steals the show)
And it's essentially a "talky" movie, which feels like it exists somewhere between the flower power sixties and the seventies, in terms of tone, and subject.
The obvious theme is a direct allusion to the Nazi experimental programmes, and the ideas of free will, and person-hood.
There's a disturbing rape scene, the consequence of the situation acting on Cox's already disturbed mind, but thankfully, this calls things for what they are, which contrary to modern popular belief, doesn't fall into that idea that people back then didn't realize what things were, or think of them other than the crimes they are - "It was a different time..." etc.
...No. this is proof to the contrary.
A weird, sixties "Groovy" soundtrack tune at the beginning, and a little later, quite an intriguing Tangerine Dream style tune... But other than this, it is a fairly flat out, stage play style drama, rather than a "movie", so to speak.
The three central actors here all give very strong performances, that essentially carry the show:
Joss Ackland's doctor, and the two inmates: Walken and Cox.
The only other point of note is the many names this seems to go by for some reason:
As mentioned in notes, as well as: The Happiness Cage, and as the title screen shows: The Mind Snatchers, it also seems to go by just: Mind Snatchers, and indeed, on the packaging of the DVD I watched this from: Mind Snatcher.
Bizarre.
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Gwyn Jenkins, 20 August 2023
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Practically a comedy, but with darker overtones and action throughout, the best line in the film is when African-American Bobby turns to caucasian Stig and says…..
….Don’t get all “We Are the World” on me…!! Priceless
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[YouTube Video]
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[YouTube Video]
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This is highly recommended. Pete Frame's 'Family Trees' are not only absolutely vital pieces of research material, covering all aspects of the developing rock cultures of the 1950s-1980s, but are mighty artistic achievements in their own right - masterpieces of design. Frame began these 'family trees' in the excellent Zig Zag magazine - which is of little-no interest to Beatles fans - unless they also adore the likes of the Buffalo Springfield, the Byrds, and Love. Wonderful stuff.
Michael Brocken
Source: The Beatles Bibliography: A New Guide To The Literature - Michael Brocken and Melissa Davis (The Beatle Works Ltd., 2012), with acknowledgement, and used here with permission from the authors for educational and historical purposes only.
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This collection by Paul McCartney's eldest daughter (born August 28, 1969 in London - the baby peeking out of his sheepskin jacket on the cover of 'McCartney') includes photographs of her famous parents, Bono, Elvis Costello, Madonna and others, such as members of the Royal Ballet. McCartney seems to have an eye for what makes an image interesting and communicative, and it would appear that she inherited something of her late mother Linda's ability to make her subjects relax and relate to the camera in a revealing and honest way. The 192 pages cover Mary's career from the mid-90s to the present, and feature, in addition to some domestic settings, photographs at rock concerts and fashion shows - events with which family connections have provided her access and familiarity. However, although she may have gained access to some of the faces and places by virtue of her surname, she demonstrates an ability and vision that give her work independent credibility.
Melissa Davis
Source: The Beatles Bibliography: A New Guide To The Literature - Michael Brocken and Melissa Davis (The Beatle Works Ltd., 2012), with acknowledgement, and used here with permission from the authors for educational and historical purposes only.
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There was always something bleak and forbidding about this movie, that put me off watching it from the moment of it's release; Aware of course, of all the buzz and hype surrounding it since that time, I still couldn't get myself into wanting to watch it, as it seemed like a drab, pretentious, arty Merchant / Ivory piece, except set in some miserable wasteland.
...Still, thirty years later, the right mood finally stuck, and I thought: "Why the hell not?"
(I was at a loose end, and it was either this, or the prospect of watching some of those awful housewife "humans" on tv, so I rolled the dice)
Very glad I did, as it seems, to some extent, the promotion and ads mis-sell it somewhat, giving the kind of impressions I stated above....
...Instead, I found this to be quite a magical movie - not sure if I'd go so far as to call it one of those "Magical Realism" stories, but it does have very quirky elements, and a slight tone that could come from a Grimm fairy tale, and plays out like a parable of yore.
What it's a parable of (And I think I still need some getting of my head around, and into it yet), is a woman's voice; That is, more accurately rendered, the voice of woman, and the personal empowerment that proceeds from that, as seen through the eyes of a particular woman.
Opening with Holly Hunter's: Ada, having been married to a man the other side of the world, In New Zealand, and essentially "mailed off" to him on on a long sea voyage, with her daughter from a previous partnership, she carries with this most precious, and personal object - her piano - to express herself, or better yet, communicate with herself...
(In the sense, that her playing of the piano is a sort of personal communion between her and her own soul)
...In a world where she, being woman in this time, is not master of her own destiny.
For she is also mute, as the voice of a child, which is her own internal voice, states in a brief voice over at beginning (and end) informs us is for no real biological or physical reason yet at the same time, not really a matter of choice... she just is.
Her daughter interprets for her, when not at the Piano, which, being left on the harsh weathered beach at their arrival, seems to be, of course, a symbol of her current state - the men refuse to help her take it to her new home.
Of course, her new "master" / husband, in the shape of Sam Neil's: Stewart is a very uptight guy with a very conventionally colonial sense of Victorian propriety, and won't have it in the house, it seems, but agrees to swap it with Harvey Keitel's: Baines, a subordinate "Scottish" (his accent is pretty ropey, alas :) servant of his, who brings it in to his own home, with the intention of drawing Ada over, and perhaps getting to know her a little better than he oughta - crumbs.
A very sensitive, and soft seduction then ensues by degrees, and of course you feel this moving inexorably towards a tragic conclusion, the unempowered / unheard woman caught between her duties to her Husband, and the man she comes to love.
There will be tears before bed-time.
All of which, as I said, could be a very melodramatic, grim story in the telling, especially, as the underlying theme is fundamentally, of course, feminist story, which could get very... er,,, over earnest, and so forth, but, I must repeat: In giving just the right amount of fairy-tale and a sense of the magical, in being framed as a parable, it all actually adds up to a very engaging, engrossing, watch - compulsive viewing, with a wonderful slightly magical air.
Really enjoyed it actually... and would probably watch it again, as it certainly makes you think about the underlying meanings to the symbolic aspects of the movie, and what they say about the world.
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The author was an attorney in the legal department of Capitol Records, involved with Beatles-related work during much of his tenure (though he is careful to note that this was not as plum a position as it might sound and does not give in to the temptation of exaggerating, or even stressing his role) and therein lies both the book's usefulness and limitations. Tillinghast is able to shed some light on key decisions made by Capitol during the era, suggesting, for instance, that the A&R department's reluctance (or inability) to recognize the potential popularity of the Beatles in America could be chalked up not only to the poor track-record of imported pop artists, but perhaps a bit of chauvinism, as well. He is also able to provide background on the decision to reconfigure British Beatle LPs for American release and negotiations with Allen Klein and Apple, an important part of the story of the Beatles in America, but the book is, once again, frustratingly shy on detail.
It is in his attempts to flesh out his narrative where Tillinghast falls far short of the mark. Firstly, the book doesn't lend itself to discussion of the Beatles' individual personae or interpersonal relationships - that has been done better and in more depth elsewhere. Secondly, Tillinghast gets basic details simply wrong: putting George Harrison's birth date in 1946 (rather than 1943), stating that Cynthia Lennon and at least one, unnamed girlfriend of Paul McCartney's travelled with the group on tour and speculating, unbelievably, as to why Cynthia did not undergo an abortion in 1962 rather than drop out of art college to marry Lennon. These unfortunate (and inappropriate) forays, possibly added to make what should have been a magazine or journal article into a book, add nothing, bring into question the accuracy of the facts he does relate, and put the reader quite off the whole exercise.
Melissa Davis
Source: The Beatles Bibliography: A New Guide To The Literature - Michael Brocken and Melissa Davis (The Beatle Works Ltd., 2012), with acknowledgement, and used here with permission from the authors for educational and historical purposes only.
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This one is fully deserving of it's reputation.
...Some of the finest writing I've ever read, even in the Translated English - Very fluid style, and very poetic.
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Classical Item:
Nuccia Focile, Lucio Gallo, Erik Battaglia - Nicola Vaccaj: Metodo Pratico Di Canto (2003)
Review by Gill Sans SUBS
Nuccia Focile, Lucio Gallo, Erik Battaglia - Nicola Vaccaj: Metodo Pratico Di Canto (2003)
Review by Gill Sans SUBS
The mezzo Nuccia Focile uses a pronounced vibrato which detracts from my enjoyment when listening to the CD as a non-participant, whereas baritone Lucio Gallo and pianist Erik Battaglia work very nicely in these short pieces; even the piano on its own is enjoyable.
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At the time, it felt way off the map in terms of future predictions, as, having no existing tech that could make anything like this remotely possible (V.R. being a blisteringly new concept), and so, firmly in the fantastical, and therefore, nonsensical end of sci-fi - odd.
And the visuals were at the still early stages of CGI (proper - not counting visual "effects" and simple block rendered graphics such as Tron), so the CGI animation has really badly dated now.
However, the underlying story, written by Stephen King, holds up, probably even more as time goes by:
Modern Techy equivalent of "mad scientist" type Pierce Brosnan, fumbles around the mind of local simpleton (And Lawnmower Man) Jeff Fahey' Jobe, as he navigates his brain in a virtual reality space, and jiggers, pokes, and prods with it through this method, in order to see if he can make Jobe smarter, by reconfiguring his noodle.
He does.
...He regrets it.
Though not a fan of such suggestions, this could probably do with a remake, bringing to bear all that has been learned since, technology wise, as well as in terms of brain science :)
(Sorry for using such big wordy speakage from thew world of frowny thinkery!)
Still has it's own charms, and points of interest, in spite of everything.
Another movie that would serve very well as a double header with this movie, of about the same time was one I recall with a young Russell Crowe, and Denzel Washington, called: Virtuosity.
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Like John Carpenter, minus the Carpenter-isms.
Clunky, paint by numbers cash in on Escape from New York's cult status.
Bleh! :(
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Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 7 August 2023
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A photographer with probably one of the largest archives of early and mid-1960s photographs, Dezo Hoffman's book John Lennon was published in 1985 as a luxurious coffee-table book. The work contains several interesting portraits of the former Beatle, most of which had already appeared elsewhere but, in some cases, had been chopped for other publication purposes. Following the photo collection there is a section entitled 'Captions', which provides further information on the individual photos. The overall quality of the book is excellent and the photographs are both revealing and mysterious. Revealing in that Hoffman certainly seems to capture the Beatles, and especially Lennon via his expert portraiture techniques, but also mysterious in that the gestures and proxemics caught by the camera remain elusive.
Michael Brocken
Source: The Beatles Bibliography: A New Guide To The Literature - Michael Brocken and Melissa Davis (The Beatle Works Ltd., 2012), with acknowledgement, and used here with permission from the authors for educational and historical purposes only.
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..The absolute apex of over the top Eighties-max action / comedy star vehicle era.
Corny, cheesy, Crash, Bang, Wallop, lots of ridiculous action sequences, with improbable technology (The car :)...
Cheesy eighties action one liners (looking back, quite psychotic given you've just killed somebody, that you deliver a punch-line! :)...
Jack Pallance doing his ultimate bad-guy thing, (James Hong is in it too, as a minor baddie), Brion James giving a truly terrible performance as a "cockney" villain (but it is magnificent in it's awfulness!), Terry Hatcher, because... well, why not?!!!, and all redeemed by the presence of the man... the dude... that is: Kurt Russell.
I skipped school with some chums to see this at the cinema.
Pleased to report that all said teenagers went home happy :)
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looks like I gotta improvise and make DES mixes out of these tracks.
wait a minute ..... thats exactly what I've been doing
I've already done reviews for at least four of the songs on the track list, and I'll be doing reviews of the other tracks in detail on 45cat in the near future.
As an LP, as much as I enjoy the music in this, it's lacking compared to Ross Sr.'s first two LPs "The Music Of David Seville" from 1957, and 1958's "The Witch Doctor". No LP exclusive tracks unfortunately and combine that with the fake stereo, this LP kinda sucks the more I look at it with critical lenses.
"Navel Maneuver" and "Come On-A My House" are the top 2 best tracks on this LP however.
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...A blockbuster rental on release for me on a slow week, and pretty much forgotten now, but it is, as I recall, another based on a Philip K. Dick short story, and of course, starring Peter Weller, so both of those things to recommend it.
I'd like to see it again now, to see if it is as good as I remember.
As I recall it, two warring factions of humans on another planet, have fought each other to stand still, and have abandoned some place or other, but left automated killing machines like mines all over the place, and Weller and co. are sent to investigate a mystery without getting minced in the process.
It's like a Phantasm crossed with a low budget pre-cursor to Starship Troopers, minus the Verhoven "humour".
Slow burner, lo-fi, sci-fi horror. A good watch.
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This is a most worthy addition to the Beatles library. Barry Tashian was a member of the support band, the Remains, who opened for the Beatles during the tour. Tashian also interviews very well and his comments concerning this last tour are of great historical interest. His suggestion that, to paraphrase, the modem day touring industry began as soon as the last note of that Beatles tour ebbed away is a perceptive and emblematic remark - recommended.
Michael Brocken
Source: The Beatles Bibliography: A New Guide To The Literature - Michael Brocken and Melissa Davis (The Beatle Works Ltd., 2012), with acknowledgement, and used here with permission from the authors for educational and historical purposes only.
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First up I’ll say that Bruce and the band were fantastic as ever but…this is the first time I’ve ever left a Springsteen show early due to the chaos of getting to and out of the venue.
Half a dozen shuttle buses to ferry thousands of people to and from a venue from the train station was not nearly enough…one point of access for tens of thousands of people to the arena was an accident waiting to happen…people were still pouring into the arena an hour after the show started…it felt kinda scary at times
We stayed for 90 minutes and left to head back to Milan as we could see getting out of there was going to take hours, as was proved by some friends of ours taking 3 hours (longer than Bruce’s set!) to complete a journey that took us just about an hour.
There was a lot more that was wrong with the whole event but let’s leave it by saying Bruce Springsteen & the E Street band are still one of the greatest live experiences you’ll ever have.
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In fact, there's plenty of other movies and other stuff that could be mentioned in attempting to convey a sense of, and characterise this absolutely batshit crazy movie... so here goes:
It's like a live action, first person shooter sci-fi video game (the gimmick), which moves frenetically with the adrenalin charge of Crank, with a dash of Robocop (has a very strong whiff of Verhoven style humour), emitting a Saw like grim / gross graphic disturbing horror aesthetic, along with a Grand Theft Auto style irreverent humour, and all mixed up in a live action manga blender, to produce a nutty, almost relentless John Wick style smoothie.
Phew!
...And believe me... "Phew!" is is how you feel after watching this absolute banger of a movie.
It's taken me almost two years to get around to watching this, on account of I didn't have a blu-ray player, buy found the blu-ray disc at a bootfair last year (I am both cheap... and poor, and if I wasn't poor, I'd still be cheap! :) - finally found a player in the charity shop few weeks back for £2, and set it up, and watched last night - yay!
...During this time, I'd read many a disparaging review that seemed merely to dismiss this as a novelty item, based on the one gimmick, it ostensibly has: The first person shooter, video game idea, which many surely had thought to try sooner or later, but maybe abandoned it themselves due to it being a pretty thin idea on it's own (A fact that critics seemed to hone in on), which you would soon get tired of.
And they are right.
Except, this has a whole lot more going for it, which seems to have been overlooked, or ignored...
...Principally, it's the humour that sells the idea, and keeps the show on the road, as it has a razor-wire sharp sense of humour, manifest in the gags, both spoken and visual, which even some of the camera movements are funny, in the context of what's being shown on screen, which is mostly horrific, but even that somehow is hilarious - perhaps because it is so over the top, as to be the blackest slap-stick violence you've ever seen.
(Basically, every one of the most awful things a person could do to another is done in this movie, and rather than baulk at it - you find yourself erupting with laughter - it ain't right, and I ain't proud of m'self for it, but damn it's funny!)
The Sharlto Copley show
Then there's the real feature of the movie, given that you never see Henry, from the outside, or hear him speak, even...
(Bit like that old Judge Dredd thing of never showing him without the helmet)
...It's up to the other actors, and their characters to convey a sense of Henry by virtue of their relationship to him, which they do with aplomb... none more so than Sharlto Copley, who plays many variations of a character named Jimmy (It becomes clear later why), and is clearly having the time of his life. The guy is known for his somewhat outrageous portrayals in things like District 9, and even the A-Team movie, but here you get Copley-max, hamming it up in his many cartoonish cockney character versions which, if you struggle to key into at first, you will find hilarious pretty soon in. He basically steals the show here, and is performance, coupled with those other comic aspects, makes this a brilliant watch.
I can, on reflection, see why initial critic reactions may have been negative for another reason too:
As I have found myself, that the old "Cam-corder", "Found-footage" style of movie, as if from first person point of view, when presented on the big screen of the cinema, can be more effective at immersing you in the world than any amount of CGI, chilling, in the case of Blair Witch Project, I felt, but Nauseating, and even mildly Traumatising in the case of Cloverfield, but this uses an almost fish eye style camera (only slightly curved at the edges, so not over done), which when coupled with the frenetic pace of the action, and the wild camera movements, even so well considered, and used as here, may be somewhat vomit inducing at the cinema.
But on a home cinema, or the TV in your living room, it's just about right, I'd say, and you can better appreciate the action.
The story (yup, there's actually a story here, which is slightly overwhelmed by the action) is actually a good one too, with a few nice twisty turns in there, and even sci-fi concepts of it's own that are interesting ideas in themselves.
This, overall, is a great, switch the mind off, Saturday night rollercoaster that you go in one end of, get mercilessly chewed up in, and spat out the other end of with a big fat smile on your face, and no sense of the time having passed at all since you started watching.
Brilliant :)
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This text is almost recommended for its utter dreadfulness. It is probably even worse than Geoffrey Ellis's I Should Have Known Better, which is saying something. Robert Rosen was a 28 year-old New York cabbie and graduate of journalism school when John Lennon's personal assistant, Fred Seaman (later fired by Yoko and prosecuted, convicted, and sentenced to five years’ probation for theft), approached him to collaborate on a book about Lennon. Seaman and Rosen briefly had in their possession the personal diaries of Lennon, but Rosen's notes were stolen (and the diaries returned).
Hence, Rosen does not base his account on anything more than his memory of the journals he claims to have read, hearsay, and imagination. Nowhere Man is certainly a work of the imagination (much more so than Rosen is willing to admit in the opening pages) although he does concede that 'I have used no material from the diaries'. What he writes therefore should not be taken as factual in any sense.
Rosen tells us of his attempt to get inside Lennon's mind and lifestyle, which turns out to be unintentionally funny: 'I ate the foods that he ate. I fasted. [ ... ] I lived as he would have lived, but without Yoko, without Sean, without a staff of maids, cooks, governesses, chauffeurs, and their assorted servant seers and personal assistants. I lived as he would have lived, but without his Beatle past, without his superstar present, without his $150,000,000'. The deluded Rosen was not living remotely like Lennon.
Rosen also presents Sean Lennon as a junk-food scoffing cry-baby and Lennon himself is portrayed as spontaneously aggressive, 'forever complaining about the disobedience of [housemaid] Uda-San and their servants'. For Rosen, Lennon's existence in the Dakota was a 'living death'; he wanted to get away from Yoko, but 'there really was no choice'. The book ends with a distasteful invitation to get inside the mind of the man who murdered Lennon: 'Imagine Mark David Chapman in Honolulu, Hawaii'. This text is utterly puerile from start to finish.
It should be stressed that the author had apparently colluded with Lennon aide, Frederick Seaman, resulting in his prosecution and conviction for receiving stolen property by Seaman as part of an elaborate scheme to defraud Ono; in other words, 'Reader beware.'
See also Seaman, Frederick.
Melissa Davis
Source: The Beatles Bibliography: A New Guide To The Literature - Michael Brocken and Melissa Davis (The Beatle Works Ltd., 2012), with acknowledgement, and used here with permission from the authors for educational and historical purposes only.
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When this reader first came across Seaman's text some years ago he was indeed encouraged. The author, it seems, spent a considerable amount of personal time with John Lennon shortly before Lennon's death in December 1980 and from his position of a relative outsider offers a very interesting perspective on both John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Only photographer Bob Gruen can perhaps offer such a personal attestation to these years at the Dakota. It also appears that, according to Double Fantasy producer, Jack Douglas, Lennon loved having Seaman around. Seaman was arrested in September 1982; the charge was theft of items, including John Lennon's diaries, from the Dakota Buildings. After the hearing, Seamen commented that he did not take the properties for revenue, stating 'there are aspects of this case which have not been revealed'. As it turns out this is a witty, emotional work which, upon further re-reading, holds-up well, albeit in a rather obsequious way to the memory of John Lennon (as for Yoko, Seaman does not appear to have a great deal of time for the woman who sacked him in 1982). The Last Days of John Lennon continues to be a 'must read' for all who want to glean not only a little authentic information, but also an interesting perspective concerning Lennon's last years.
Michael Brocken
While providing a supplement to Albert Goldman's portrait of Lennon's last years, it must be noted that the author admitted abusing the trust reposed in him by John and Yoko in not only violating the confidentiality clause of his employment contract, but also in absconding with 374 photographs and private papers, including letters and a diary, belonging to Lennon, which he then sold after Lennon's death. Seaman apologized in open court as part of a settlement agreement in which he returned the photographs and the profits from the sale of the papers, as well as paying an amount in unspecified damages to Yoko Ono. His memories may add something to an understanding of Lennon during his self-styled 'house-husband' years - a note from Lennon to Seaman asking if the latter had 'sold or perhaps rented' boots indicates that Lennon may, himself, have had doubts about Seaman's trustworthiness - a caveat, perhaps, from beyond the grave.
Melissa Davis
Source: The Beatles Bibliography: A New Guide To The Literature - Michael Brocken and Melissa Davis (The Beatle Works Ltd., 2012), with acknowledgement, and used here with permission from the authors for educational and historical purposes only.
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From the infamous, and brilliant film-making duo: Jeunet And Caro, who brought us the strange and brutally wonderful: Delicatessen, and later the almost perfect fantastical French rom-com: Amelie, and indeed the wildly under-rated, and nutty: Micmacs...
(Although I'm not sure if both of them were involved in this last one)
...Comes this wildly imaginative, beautifully shot (as usual) brothers Grimm style fairy-tale of man who cannot dream, and so recruits his less ciriminally mastermind-ish cloned brothers to venture forth, from their adapted oil-rig-ish home, to the mainland, in order to steal lost and abandoned children (orphans, and street urchins and such), to be taken back to their lair, in order to be hooked up to him while he sleeps, so that their dreams may be his for the experiencing.
One such kidnap-ee, is young girl Miette's even younger brother: "Little brother", whom she sets out to find, and recover, with the help of simple ex-circus strong-man: "One", from the clutches of this evil enterprise.
This has quite astonishing set pieces, especially the one on the pier, with the boat, where a cain of extraordinary events escalates to an incredible climax, having been initiated by the intervention of a trained assassin flea!
There's a mysterious man in a submarine, biding his time apart from, and beneath the city, in it's river ways, a pair of evil conjoined twins, and indeed, a large talking brain in a tank.
...Everything your average movie-lover craves! :)
The look and style will obviously be familiar those who appreciated these aspects of Amelie, but there's also an incredible blend of evocative yesteryear circus stylings and characteristics, science fiction, and antique, turn of last century Paris... and all wrapped up, of course, in this very strong Fairy-tale story and vibe.
The opening dream sequence alone is one of the most visually incredible renditions of a dream (that rapidly sours into a nightmare) you will ever have seen on screen... so much so, you begin to feel a little woozy and uncertain yourself, just watching it!
It was quite a big deal on release, as I recall, although I didn't see it until, I think 97, at Glastonbury festival on the cinema there, and it seems to have been largely forgotten, which is an incredible shame, as this is an absolute masterpiece of imaginative story-telling, as well as being one of the most sumptuous, brilliantly shot movies of the nineties, and a truly unique experience.
Cannot recommend enough.
[YouTube Video]
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Having not seen this, more or less, since the year of it's release, my memory was more than a little hazy of it, I just remember being engrossed in it...
(And if I'm honest, more than a little taken with the elfin pixie girl Elodie Bouchez, which may have caused my still young brain to block out most of the other substance of the movie :)
((Got tired of waiting for this to turn up in a charity shop or boot fair, so bought a used DVD copy from amazon for a couple of quid - the extravagance! :))
...It's a fairly straight up character study of two girls, on perhaps the lowest rungs of the social / economic ladder who meet, become friends, and then move in together, in an apartment owned by A mother and daughter who are both in a coma, after a car crash... So they are basically house-sitting / squatting, here, while aimlessly drifting through life, from job to job... and so forth.
However, although it seems, from the outset, that Marie is the more "put-together" of the two, with Isa being a little bit more flaky, and "loose leaf", as the story goes, it becomes apparent that Isa is more able to accept the circumstances in which they find themselves, and is the more adaptable, as Marie, it seems, has more aspirational ideas of what her life should be, when she hooks up with a young, rich asshole of a guy, in whom she sees the opportunity, for that "dream-life" of hers to become a reality (more so, than any particular fancy for him, as a person).
...Needless to say, she becomes a tad obsessive about him, as all her hopes are invested in him, to the extent that she is willing to overlook almost every horrible thing about him, and how he treats her, and this, in turn, causes great friction in the once fun relationship she has with Isa... This, you feel, may end in tears.
Meanwhile, Isa seems to be getting along fairly nicely, circumstances notwithstanding, and having paid a visit to the hospital, to see the young girl in the coma, to sit with her, she discovers her diary, and it can almost be said she begins to develop some kind of bond or relationship with the girl she has never met in the waking world.
So it seems, on re-watching, and reflection to be about the expectations we have of life, what it should be, and what you are prepared to accept in it's stead - how adaptable you are in your mindset.
But my residual impressions still hold true...
(Now unblinkered by the absence of youthful hormones smashing through my tiny younger head!)
...A thoroughly engrossing, sad but intimate tale of two young girls, who each dream of other things in life, just not necessarily the same things, or in the same way.
1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
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Vinyl Albums : Live Music : 78 RPM : CD Albums : CD Singles : 12" Singles : 7" Singles : Tape Media : Classical Music : Music Memorabilia : Cinema : TV Series : DVD & Blu-ray : Magazines : Books : Video Games : Create Your Own World
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45cat for 7" singles : 45worlds for music, movies, books etc : 45spaces for hundreds more worlds