Worth going for John Otway alone. His half hour set was shambolic and mad, as always. Alexei was good too.

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A person wearing a mask goes around killing people by injecting them with drugs, the person wearing a mask will also makeout with his victims before killing.

Average drugsploit / giallo feeling from this one.

1 person found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

a good starter's field book, unsurprisingly, as bill bailey is a dedicated bird-spotter (or birder) as well as a stand-up comedian, and his photos, drawings & paintings of the birds are well done, helpful (some drawings humorous cartoons), the information on the fifty-odd birds detailed, and this ''pocket edition'''s pages are sewn in signatures, glued onto a tough flexible backing strip, and in turn bound with endpapers into a tough, flexible cover.

also includes: do's and don'ts in the countryside (and notes that access rights differ in the different countries in the yuk-of-gb-&-ni), what people'll need for days & longer out bird-watching or spotting, checklist for birds spotted, place & number for those wanting to record this and space for notes - use a soft (2B or B) pencil! - how to report sightings to the rspb and rspb birdwatching/spotting code, list of best sites in the uk for particular species/families of some birds, by english county and by other uk country, seasonal guide including year-round.

third covid-19 lockdown's tapering off, hopefully not to be repeated, i want to find myself a copy of this.

5 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Mixed bag all round. Some incredible tracks like Tilt - Libel from their excellent debut album with Cinder Block's booming vocals sounding amazing against heavy guitars. NOFX's cover of Don McLean's Vincent which should be awful, but it's solid. Fat Mike has never been the best vocalist, but he sounds good on this over dreamy guitars. Germany's Wizo's raum der zeit has Husker Du style vocals albeit in German and jittery guitars and is catchy. Frenzal Rhomb's run is a fun intro to the band with a cheeky riff stolen from The Banana Splits theme song. Underrated band Diesel Boy put out a nice track with funny teen angst vocals that's good fun. Two good slices of Lagwagon who were a great signing for the label. The album finishes with Country Roads while not a patch on the original with Spike's vocals nowhere near as good as Jon Denver's (but whose are?) the hammer off guitar riffs make it a smile inducing bookmark.

For me the two Snuff tracks are on the mediocre side. Don't get me wrong I love Snuff, but for me these aren't their best. An OK track by Hi-Standard covering California Dreamin' - I get it, it starts with a cover and ends with a cover and while not horrible, it's just OK for me. Wait For The Sun by them I also find a bit meh. Mother Superior by Good Riddance also not their best work by a mile. Nation States by Propagandhi I love Chris's quickfire vocals, but it does nothing for me beyond that. They later went onto perfect their sound along with Strung Out (Rotten Apple's not their best) with incredibly difficult to play riffs and more emotional impactful lyrics.

The album is an early one, but it's not recorded that well. Sounds like it's been recorded through cotton wool. I've got similar albums from this era on other labels including Therapy's Infernal Love and they all suffer from quiet recording levels so it's no reflection on Fat Wreck, and to be fair this album does sound a lot better than their first compilation.

8 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

La compagnie Alouette vient de lancer deux nouveaux disques du PERE BERNARD. Les chansons qu’ils portent sont “ Coeur de mie ”, “Souriez bonnes gens”, “Manteau de joie" et “Frère feu”.
(Jac Duval - Radiomonde et Télémonde, samedi 5 juillet 1958, page 20)

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La compagnie Alouette vient de lancer deux nouveaux disques du PERE BERNARD. Les chansons qu’ils portent sont “ Coeur de mie ”, “Souriez bonnes gens”, “Manteau de joie" et “Frère feu”.
(Jac Duval - Radiomonde et Télémonde, samedi 5 juillet 1958, page 20)

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A lot of people don't care for this film and dismiss it on points which are largely misunderstood. It's not a horror film that lacks logic, believability and sufficient tension. It's another of Tobe Hooper's satirical dissections of the family unit cloaked in outrageous horror tropes. Mind you, "Mortuary" has its share of flaws (notably some poor CGI during the film's climax) , but it's also entertaining in a manner not unlike Hooper's "Eaten Alive", "Poltergeist" and even "The Funhouse", just ramped up a bit more on its own absurdist terms.

If you watch "Mortuary" from this perspective, you will appreciate the sometimes laugh-out-loud humor rather than abolish the whimsical direction which is misconstrued as serious horror. Lighten up, horror fans. Even "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" frequently snickered at its own fearful premise.

7 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

n.b. though the printing of the text is clear, the carcass is neither sewn nor glued onto a strong, flexible backing strip of any variety and consequently the full strain of opening the book is borne by the thin paper endpapers, unreinforced by any material hinge. which endpapers tear extremely easily under perfectly ordinarily careful and considerate usage. this is true of all the ''compact discworld'' editions.

1 person found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Interesting character study that seems to promote the misguided notion that if a wife screws around and has sex with another guy, the husband should get over it. The wife's reason? "Because I wanted to." The screenplay repeats the mantra that the man who walks away from such a situation is the asshole.

Solid cast and all the technical aspects are bulletproof, but the crazy free love heart of the film is so hippy dippy and unrealistic that it sabotages what should have been a deep and introspective piece of work. It's worth watching, in spite of the foolish concepts.

7 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

"LES COMPAGNONS DE LA CHANSON A BOBINO" (Columbia Fl 349) — Sur les coupures de journaux à l'endos de la pochette, on ne tarit pas d'éloges à l'endroit du spectacle des Compagnons. Et les critiques ne trompent vraiment pas. Les Compagnons demeurent ceux qui représentent le mieux la belle chanson. Une fois de plus, ils nous le prouvent, que ce soit dans "le Sous-marin vert" ou dans "les Trois Cloches" ... Un seul regret : "les Perruques", qui est probablement un excellent numéro à la scène mais qui devient long et ennuyeux sur disque.
(Pierre Vincent - Photo-Journal, mercredi 1er mars 1967, page 78)

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Nouveaux disques de Gérard Barbeau

Le jeune soprano, Gérard Barbeau, vient d'enregistrer deux nouveaux disques aux studios de RCA Victor. Pour répondre à la demande générale, il chante "Ave Maria" de Gounod, "O vos omnes", extrait des sept paroles du Christ, de T. Dubois ainsi que "Écho Suisse" de Eckert et "Maman" de Yvain. Ces disques, de même que les précédents, distribués par Ed. Archambault, Inc., sont en vente chez tous les marchands de disques de la province.
(Le Devoir, jeudi 11 janvier 1951, page 6)

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Although the film is notionally a biography of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and associates, it is derived from a work of fiction by novelist Pierre La Mure, which means the true facts, dates, and events are mostly dispensed with in order make way for an entertaining but somewhat different story.

8 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Manhandled could so easily have become a servicable slice of film noir, but instead only gives us a few references to that genre, opting instead to bursts of tongue-in-cheek humor and ham-fisted crime investigations. The film opens with a tasty murder sequence, as a writer (Alan Napier) is explaining to his psychiatrist that this is a recurring dream that has been troubling him. Even in 1949, one would know better than to reveal such a dream to anyone, let alone a shrink with his new secretary (Dorothy Lamour) standing by jotting down notes of the session. That is typical of the implausibility that routinely plagues the storyline. Later, a detective and insurance investigator casually pop pills to test a suspect's story, that taking amphetamines before barbituates will counteract the effect. According to the script, it does. Many lame plot devices later, it's still a fairly entertaining b-movie that doesn't even try to rise any higher than pulp fluff.

5 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Had this been an even-handed film about the role of politicians and their power to vote on issues affecting gay Americans, it would have been fascinating. The topic is ripe for exploration and many valid points are worthy of an investigative approach. Sadly, "Outrage" is yet another partisan hit piece disguised as a balanced documentary.

I am anti-partisan and have little use for the two main USA parties destroying each other, never mind their inane movies that posture their talking points into self aggrandizing set pieces. I feared this might be one of them, but only gave it a chance because the DVD cleverly twisted around the description. (Oh, I'm sure they meant well...)

The film itself tries very hard to appear unbiased and untethered to any political party. Even a couple of Democrat representatives are outed. And throughout, there are some intriguing discoveries and compelling stories that keep you interested. In the first half, I believed I was watching what I was promised. But somewhere near the middle, the topics become more focused on Republicans than closeted homosexuals and their perplexing bill sponsorships.

The last reel or so digs its heels in over the controversial Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman. This bill and its supporters are described by all interviewees as "anti-gay". Like everything else in the film, it's a one-sided issue and no defender of that bill is given the floor to explain their rationale -- which is what a serious documentary would do, expose both sides of the coin. Needless to say, every targeted politician shown are Republicans and are regularly defined here as "anti-gay" for their stance. And yet the film never makes note that the bill was signed into law in 1996 by Democratic president, Bill Clinton (who was also responsible for the "don't ask, don't tell" military policy.) No mention that Hillary Clinton also supported that bill, and during her 2000 Senate race said "...I think a marriage is as a marriage has always been, between a man and a woman." No mention that Barack Obama during his first presidential run also stated that he did not support same-sex marriage. Lastly, I have gay friends who did not support same-sex marriages, but rather civil unions which gave them the same federal rights and benefits as marriage. That stance is not "anti-gay", yet this dishonest film could not be bothered to address this because of its partisan agenda. (yawn)

My issue here is not with any of the stances of the above noted politicians, it's the fact that this pseudo documentary conveniently left these important notes out because it might, I don't know, cause damage to some of their heroes? And yet Reagan and particularly George W. Bush are called out boldly for the exact same views.

I didn't need to waste 89 minutes to find out that some filmmaker likes one party and dislikes the other, innovative and clever as that idea might be to him and other fans of discourse. And thus, I don't believe it's possible to find an unbiased American political documentary. Watching grass grow is more riveting (and more honest.)

4 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Lancement collectif par le CELAT de l'u. Laval

Pour la première fois en quelques mois, le Centre d’études sur la langue, les arts et les traditions populaires des francophones en Amérique du Nord (CELA 13 de l’Université Laval vient de lancer un travail collectif comprenant plusieurs ouvrages, touchant différents domaines.

(...)

La musique est le thème de deux autres récentes publications du CELAT "Symphonie de chants paysans" pour choeur, soli et orchestre de Marc Gagné Ouvrage commandé par l'Alliance canadienne. Et 'Musique traditionnelle pour la danse. Région de Québec" Il s'agit d'un disque préparé par Normand Legault et quelques collaborateurs, disque conçu spécialement pour la danse dans sa forme traditionnelle. Québec, Laridaine.
(Monique Duval - Le Soleil, mardi 15 mai 1979, page B 8)

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Was recommended this film, but my advice is don't bother. It's stupid, not very funny, rotten script written by half-wits, and the beavers are not convincing. Naturally I did not explore the special features on the Blu-ray, which include things about the beavers - as if that's something they feel proud of.
Scratch it off your CV guys.

7 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

very dated now; but the soundtrack lp, q.v. of the film (script by hunter davis, additional dialogue by larry kramer) features music by the spencer davis group - and three tracks by traffic, plus one by andy ellison.

the novel is set in carlisle, rather than the home counties new town of the film - but stevenage wasn't exactly swinging in the mid-sixties either - and is about one teenage school-boy's attempts to get laid in an era when ''good girls didn't'' - and you had to be married, to get ''the (still very new) pill''; and buying a packet of condoms could turn a lad's ears a glowing bright pink. . .

the trail of his - more-or-less uniformly - unsuccessful attempts to lose his virginity, without ever confessing to it, as a matter of personal as well as laddish honour amongst his schoolmates, and the sharp distinctions between working-class, middle class and upper middle-class mores, are all well-observed; and the erratically embarrassing, sometimes hurtful and sometimes ludicrous situations his all-consuming sex drive propels him into make for a frequently funny, but pointed read.

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Entertaining, albeit absurd depiction of a newsroom. I've been around newspaper offices off and on most of my life from spelling bee tours as a youth (before achievement was considered politically incorrect), composing advertisements in my teens, and years of slogging through work in layout and camera rooms. Maybe things were different in the 50's, but I never saw a bunch of characters strutting around making endless speeches about the newspaper game with tongues-in-cheek so deep they must have pulled muscles. No, this is closer to the style of drama Jack Webb is best known for on his TV series, Dragnet. Corny but mildly entertaining.

There's a whole bunch of familiar faces in the cast, the lot of them chewing so much scenery that dentists would shudder. William Conrad, in particular, is so animated that his hard-boiled city desk editor is played for comedic relief. Fact is, only the subplot about the missing girl attempts any real drama, but ends up as melodrama. Add gobs of sentiment to the other subplot about Webb's character not wanting to adopt a child.

If nothing else, the production values are clean as a whistle and the polished black and white lens work is lean and efficient. So nuke up some popcorn and queue up the pseudo noir stylings Mark VII Ltd. was best known for.

7 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

A boy becomes a man...

...the hard way.

For as this movie makes clear, this is not a love story, it's a story about love... especially how young guys drag their adolescence into adulthood, before "love" or infatuation kicks it out of them...

(sometimes)

As Tom works in a greeting card company, and is basically a young guy with dreams of a life in architecture which seems destined to remain one of those dream not acted upon, all the while hanging out with his friends pretty much the same as he did at school, and with the corresponding level of maturity...

...Until, of course, the mysterious young woman arrives in the company, in the shape of Summer.

Naturally, he gets all moody, goes overboard, and has his heart broken.

The film jumps about across the titular 500 days, contrasting the good days of hazy romantic idealised memory, and juxtaposes them with the gloomy 20-something-noir days of his crushed existence because of her.

And in so doing, he's trying to gain perspective on the events of the 500 days, and their relationship, and come out the other side... perhaps a little wiser.

This film could easily be mistaken for a typical teen-angst, high school style melodrama for a younger audience, but actually, it's much more than that, as it is very innovative, witty, very sharply written, and very funny.

probably for a slightly older 30 something audience looking back (And trying not to cringe at themselves).

For me, at least, this was the role that hanged my perception of Joseph Gordon-Levitt as an actor - no longer a "child star", and moved him into an area that allowed him to go star in Christopher Nolan films and such.

And a brave role for Zooey Deschanel to take, as she is, at least on first viewing (And seeing as this is told from Tom's prespective), cast as the distant, remote ice queen villain of the piece...

(Tom even muses at one point if she is in fact, a robot :)

But you eventually realise that it's mainly Tom being a deluded douche, misreading, and misinterpreting through the prism of his youth.

(So themes older guys and younger gals will recognise, and perhaps be all too familiar with)

Over all, a very sharp, funny, and fun, romantic comedy that is a deprecation of a young guy who takes himself too seriously.

6 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Relive the enchantment of the Silver Lady

Reviewed in the United States on December 24, 2009

This is a professionally produced, fair-minded, and vividly photographed recollection of what many believe to be America's greatest passenger train, the California Zephyr (CZ), which operated between Chicago, IL and Oakland, CA from 1949 until 1969. A product of postwar collaboration among three railroads (the Burlington, Rio Grande, and Western Pacific), the CZ featured what many aficionados consider to be the most beautiful passenger railroad equipment ever built, gleaming in its stainless steel exterior and incomparably luxurious inside. The CZ's standard equipment included five dome cars, which enabled passengers to see the beautiful scenery (and the train itself, snaking ahead and trailing behind). Railfans will savor the brief, but rewarding shots of CZ consists and locomotives that aren't available in other videos, but this is a video that can be enjoyed by anyone -- it includes touching interviews with former Zephyrettes, a CZ diner steward, and the CEO of the WP, who was quite obviously still dealing with guilt for his role in putting the Silver Lady to death. To its credit, the film doesn't wallow in nostalgia -- it just tells the story, and does so even-handedly, without strident posturing or pointing fingers of blame. If you're in love with trains and would like to give a DVD to family and friends to explain why, this is it.

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Contemporaneous review of the book from Beatlesinfo.dk.

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"Do not be afraid" is the most-repeated command in the Old Testament, and is usually followed by "for I am with you".

Every track here is a delight, with Stopford's composition style confounding expectations. Deeply rooted in the British Cathedral tradition but with his own contemporary voice.

[YouTube Video]

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Storyline
The third television adaptation of the adventures of super sleuth Ellery Queen, this time set during the 1940s. Queen (Jim Hutton) was a mystery writer who assisted his father, Inspector Richard Queen (David Wayne), who was with the New York Police Department, in solving murders. Sergeant Thomas Velie (Tom Reese) was Inspector Queen's assistant and Simon Brimmer (John Hillerman), a rival detective. Queen's methods were arcane and intellectual rather than action oriented, and he always astounded his father by arriving at a correct solution by purely deductive reasoning. In this version, just before he revealed his solution to the crime, Queen always turned to the camera and asked the television audience if they had figured out the identity of the killer yet, they had all the clues, because he was about to reveal the correct killer as we met the entire slew of suspects in one room for the ending.

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Editorial Reviews
Three electric lines in one video: The Sacramento Northern, SP Red Trains and the Peninsular Railway. See SP ferry boats on the San Francisco Bay and the SN's ferryboat that linked the south-end to the north-end - carrying entire trains, both passenger and freight, from Chips to Mallard.

You'll also see Sacramento Northern freight trains and the interchange with the electric Oakland terminal line at 40th & Shafter yard. The scenes in Oakland, Berkeley and the Oakland Hills plus Sacramento Northern lines out to Contra Costa County are the essential Eastbay of a by-gone era.

Follow several freights through the Oaklnad Hills, Montclair, the long tunnel and through Redwood Canyon to Moraga. From there we run out to Walnut Creek, Concord and the "subway" crossing under Santa Fe and SP tracks. This 1910 to 1957 history is a favorite of railfans and rail historians.

The reviews are in and the press loves this DVD. Railfan & Railroad says, "The 16mm film used in this program was shot by almost 20 photographers and ranges from very good to excellent. This is another excellent and highly educational program from this producer." And Model Railroad News had this to say, "He takes old 8 and 16mm film and spins it into gold... If you're not already a traction fan, this video may push you over the edge!"

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Editorial Reviews
Each year, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame honors rock music's greats during a prestigious black-tie ceremony. These induction ceremonies featuring the biggest names in classic rock from the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s have become nearly as epic as the artists they celebrate.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: In Concert brings together the very best performances from 30 years of induction ceremonies. You'll see poignant reunions, one-of-a-kind collaborations, moving and often hilarious induction speeches, and so many unforgettable performances.

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"the daughter of time", first published 1951, is a novel of the application of police investigation method into the story of the murder of "the princes in the tower", allegedly by richard III, the last plantagenet king of england, and then into the whole of his life and the circumstances of the decades of internecine strife known as "the war of the roses", by detective inspector grant, who is laid up in a hospital bed with a broken leg and dying of boredom, aided by a young american "pet lamb" of an actress friend of grant's wished onto him by her as much to get him out from under her and the rest of the company's feet, heart- or moon-struck as he is with one of their number.
as they look further and deeper into the case against richard III, probably the best-known "evil uncle" in history, the more worried they become not only by its weaknesses, but by mounting inconsistencies and even sheer idiocies in the story everyone knows, familiar not least from shakespeare. . .


"brat farrar", first published 1949, is a novel based in part upon the tichborne case, a victorian cause célébre in which a man known as thomas castro, by trade a butcher of wagga wagga in new south wales, australia, came to britain claiming to be one roger tichborne, a decade after his presumed death in an 1854 shipwreck, and was accepted as such, and the heir to the family title, estate and fortune by lady tichborne - but by nobody else. especially not the other members of the family.

1 person found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

La maison Columbia a pensé souligner les 10 ans de Claude Léveillée dans la chanson d'une façon assez spéciale. 3 microsillons contenant de ses toutes premières à ses plus récentes chansons, dans un emballage spécial et d'une qualité exceptionnelle. Très bonne idée.
(DISCO-CHOIX par Monique Ruhlmann, Télé-Radiomonde, samedi 4 mai 1968, page 32)

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Léveillée : 10 ans de chansons

EXCELLENTE IDÉE que cette “ anthologie Claude Léveillée", réunie à l'occasion des dix ans de carrière de cet important auteur-compositeur-interprète de chez nous, et groupant 36 de ses chansons interprétées par lui. Il s'agit, bien sûr, de la réédition d'enregistrements faits par Léveillée au cours des années passées ("Frédéric", "Les vieux pianos", "Le chemin du Roy", L'hiver", etc.), mais il est dommage que cet album ne soit que cela; une réédition, un nouveau jumelage. La Columbia a complètement négligé de donner à cette réalisation la présentation qui s'imposait; il n'y a pas un mot de biographie, pas un mot sur l'évolution du style de Léveillée, rien : même pas l'année de composition des chansons. Décidément, on ne sait pas ce que c'est qu'une anthologie chez Columbia ! J'ajoute que la dernière comédie musicale de Léveillée "Elle tournera la terre", brille par son absence.
(Claude Gingras, La Presse, samedi 15 juin 1968, page 29)

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Just wow! A long-lost classic. This made-for-TV feature from the pairing of ABC-TV & Dick Clark Productions, was from a period when TV was attempting to capture that new 70s rock audience. The team had previous success with the late night Friday audience (no school on Saturday!) and the series, "In Concert" in 1972, the year NBC introduced "Saturday Night Live" to their late night weekend schedule. Both tried to nick viewers who were otherwise going to late screenings at theaters marketed to the rock & roll drug culture. After NBC grabbed late Saturday, they took over Fridays with "Midnight Special", and the syndicated "Don Kirshner's Rock Concert" also grabbed a chunk, leaving ABC out in the cold. Eventually, the network was left with nothing more than "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve" every year, but a last ditch effort was made in 1975 under the name, Wide World Mystery. Using the 'Wide World' prefix from ABC's sports franchise, tacked onto their late night banner, the one and only entry into the series was The Werewolf of Woodstock, a thriller mysteriously shot on videotape rather than film, the second TV-movie shot to tape (the first being "Sandcastles" on CBS, fact fans.) The results in both cases were quite mixed, ultimately failing to achieve any emotional element sans celluloid.

All of that said, this is quite a miraculous anomaly, should you manage to get your hands on this rare feature. It's in light circulation in digital bootleg parlors. My guess is that it will be of little interest to the majority, the mainstream lot that they are, at least until an "official" fan movement for a film begins. So if one of those teenybopper magazines like Spin or Rolling Stone tells the kiddies to seek out this film, it could be the next The Room. And if there's any real punk misfits left, you need this flick in your weed-stenched home theater.

4 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

A poor excuse for pornography that tries to elevate itself by being a regular movie with x-rated conventions. While it barely earns its x-rating, it fails across the board in every aspect of filmmaking. As a biker movie, it's slow and uninvolving, helped along by the grade Z acting and tepid excuse for a storyline (sheriff pulls over bikers, feels up the women, then leaves, bikers want revenge.) Then there's the "porn", staid nudity and poorly simulated sex scenes. I laughed out loud through most of the (thankfully short) hour duration. Even the casual drug use is limited to what looks like the Ozark Mountain Daredevils smoking grass. The ending is an unbelievably inept cop-out. And its nowhere near as sleazy as you might expect, other than the fact that there's nothing here even remotely sexy. Cheezy Rider might have been a more appropriate title.

2 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

J. Bennett
Great book for minature railroaders.
Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2017
Wonderful book, purchased for our adult son for Christmas. He really likes the book, many pages of ideas. Would buy again.

Roy G Haag
Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2018
Written in British style of language but has some great ideas even if not building this particular layout.

Phil Baines
the book covers the subject well
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 9, 2019
This book lives up to it’s expectations, the pictures were clear and so was the text not to technical, enjoyed the book, well worth adding to your library.

Stuart Tingle
worth it
Reviewed in Canada on February 26, 2020
Comprehensive beyond just making a folding layout. It covers nearly the complete build of his layout over the years it took him to build this very densely populated layout. Very worth the price.

Ricky
Good instructions
Reviewed in Canada on February 15, 2020
Small space? Great ideas

Terry Hill
Three Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 21, 2016
Had better.

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Jeez, where to begin! Made at the tail end of Al Adamson's freaky career, Carnival Magic was never released and was only discovered after his death when police searched his residence (another freaky situation on its own.) From the opening credits, you know you're in for sloppy incompetence. It's the only film I've seen where the final credit is not the director, but the producer, which may be a quibble, but it's just not done. After the end credits are superimposed over a local parade, the screen turns black and text appears announcing that next summer will be a sequel, More Carnival Magic (!) as a vocal music number begins, only to drop out and fade away a few seconds later. Huh?

Mind you, I'm not sharing any of the ineptitude from the actual movie itself, mainly because it's boring -- and sometimes wildly inappropriate, especially for what appears to have been aimed at an audience of tykes?!? As it all unfolded (slowly), I kept thinking how hokey it all was, like the many local films produced in the area where I live. Lo and behold, it actually was shot in my backyard, which explains plenty. Coupling that with the already questionable skills of Sir Adamson and the end result is one of Al's more bumbling efforts.

It's been several years since I watched this and my biggest memory is just hating the damn thing. How I awarded it a whopping 4 stars is as much a mystery as the film itself.

8 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

The past is back in Classic Trains, the quarterly magazine celebrating the historic "golden years" of North American railroading. In Classic Trains, you'll take a trip back and rediscover the railroads, trains, and people who worked the rails from the 1920s to the '70s. You'll relive the days of powerful steam locomotives, vintage diesels, flashy streamliners and more.

3 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

« Un p’tit peu de musique cheap » pourrait très bien être le titre du dernier microsillon que vient de lancer la compagnie Jupiter. Yvan Dufresne pousse vraiment un peu loin quand il se permet de mettre sur le marché, un 33-tours comprenant les grands succès de Marc Gélinas joués à l’orgue par Pierre Nolès. Une telle initiative serait très louable si c’était fait honnêtement. Dans le cas présent, on peut entendre les pistes sonores qui ont servi aux disques de Gélinas et à la place de la voix du chanteur, on a substitué de la musique d’orgue. De plus, il faut bien regarder la pochette avant de se rendre compte qu’il s’agit de chansons de Marc Gélinas interprétées à l’orgue, car le nom de ce dernier est très en évidence et on peut même voir quatre de ses photos. Bref, il s’agit de tactiques que nous n’approuvons pas et qui n’ont d’autre but que de faire de l’argent en exploitant la « kétennerie » d’un certain public. Venant d’une compagnie comme Jupiter, cela nous surprend beaucoup et on peut se demander ce qu’en pense Gélinas.
(Échos-Vedettes, dimanche 28 avril 1968)

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MARC GÉLINAS : ses chansons interprétées à l’orgue

Si mon nom était Marc Gélinas, je n’aimerais pas du tout qu’on utilise les pistes d’orchestre de mes plus grands succès, qu’on y ajoute une petite musique d’orgue assez bébête et qu’on lance ensuite le tout sur le marché sous forme de microsillon. L’acheteur averti, je parle de celui qui connaît bien Marc Gélinas, ne sera certes pas content.
(Télé-radiomonde, samedi 27 avril 1968, page 32)

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Un disque essentiel pour les admirateurs et admiratrices de cet artiste de chez nous qui a effectué un brillant retour dans le monde de la chanson. On écoutera avec plaisir : « Rendez-vous à Montréal »; « La Ronde »; (…).
(La Patrie, Dimanche 23 juin 1968, page 54)

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Other then the bestiality goat scene good film and a good plot twist.

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La chance lui sourit de plus en plus ces mois-ci. Son disque « Maria Elena » se vend très bien de même que « Ce sacré vieux soleil ». Le premier microsillon de Bob Robie sera lancé le 27 avril dans la métropole où le nom de Bob Robie est étroitement associé au canal 10.
(Edgard Demers – Le Droit, Mardi 14 avril 1964, page 8)

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Really enjoyable movie...

...As opposed to either, the usual over-wrought DC Zach Snyder style, made for adolescent-teen sludge, or the once in a blue moon Nolan ones or the recent brilliance of Joker.

A nice, lighter tone that doesn't require a degree in comic book lore, and is actually entertaining.

Great opening sequence, once again Zimmer delivers a knockout score, and a very playful, humorous tone mocking (or satirising) some aspects of the eighties, while acknowledging some of the darker cold war aspects.

An eighties style millionaire (?)...

(modelled on nobody in particular I'm sure ...ahem)

... Is up to something, with a too good to be true business empire punted constantly on TV, and an interest in a particular object which has found it's way via the FBI, into the museum where Wonder Woman works, alongside Kristen Wiig's rather downtrodden low self esteemed multi- ologist.

Dreams are offered, but perhaps at cost... or maybe it's all fake news? :)

If there are a few downsides to this, it's that maybe there are too many strong ideas competing in here, each of which, might have been worthy of it's own film... female empowerment in the face of antiquated sexual predation (Metoo), and where that goes, amongst other things...

...And also, the effects, with regards fight / action sequences, which in interior settings, are quite brilliantly done, but look pretty shoddy, unrealistic, and preposterous in exterior locations for some reason.,,, the physics of it all, especially outside doesn't really work at all, especially as it has that contrast of the realistic interior work to underline just how bogus it looks.

But minor quibbles, really, in an otherwise excellent, entertaining film.

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Simon and Garfunkel live
by Chris Heard
BBC News Website - Friday, July 16, 2004

Simon and Garfunkel only played their second UK concert in more than 20 years to 50,000 fans at London's Hyde Park on Thursday.

Few acts can rival Simon and Garfunkel's famous catalog of hits in capturing the elusive spirit of mid-1960s America.

Nearly 40 years after their heyday, there is little in pop and rock music as evocative of a time, a place and the mood of an era.

Framed somewhere between Kennedy's death and the march of Vietnam, Simon's songs and Garfunkel's angelic voice distilled the end-of-innocence transition from folky optimism to poignant reflection.

The duo's harmonies seem forever destined to form the soundtrack for grainy footage of civil rights marches and stripey-scarved students at campus sit-ins.

But these are truly classic songs which have not only survived but aged well, sounding fresh and invigorated when replicated live - 50 years after the pair, now both 63, met and forged their friendship.

Heralding their arrival on stage, a series of video images on a giant screen replays iconic moments in culture - from the moon landings and a disco floor to the Berlin Wall's collapse and the Millennium celebrations.

Interspersed with mischievous shots of the pair's changing hairlines and dodgy fashion choices, the message seems to be: 'Not only have we witnessed and survived all this, we're intact and as vital as ever'. And so it would prove.

The sight of them physically side by side is an instantly recognizable delight, one much loved by the caricaturists: Garfunkel, tall and serene, the lion's mane of hair still framing his studied features. Simon, diminutive and fluid, rocking with his acoustic guitar.

"Here's a song about my country, and a time and place that no longer exists," says Garfunkel introducing America, Simon's mythical journey into the soul of a nation that symbolized a generation's idealism.

While unashamedly nostalgic and bordering on the sentimental, there is also a playful undertone, with both parties - noted for their fall-outs over the years - drawing on the irony of the tour's Old Friends title.

"This is now the 50th anniversary of the friendship that I hold very close to me," says Garfunkel, before Simon counters: "Fourteen years old we started to argue. That makes this the 48th anniversary (of us arguing)."

Introducing musical heroes The Everly Brothers, the four run through a celebratory Bye Bye Love with an energy that belies a combined age pushing 250.

The show - part of a tour which will reputedly make the duo £ 30m - is also an upbeat affair, with electric guitars, piano and occasional strings joining their more pastoral moments.

An enthusiastic crowd cheerily greets gem after gem: The Sound of Silence, I Am A Rock, Homeward Bound, Keep The Customer Satisfied, Kathy's Song, Hazy Shade Of Winter, Scarborough Fair, The Boxer, Mrs Robinson ...

Will Young, Zoe Ball and Little Britain's Matt Lucas are among the revelers at Hyde Park on a still midsummer's night for what will probably be the last UK approximation of the duo's legendary New York Central Park concert.

The set ends with the hymnal Bridge Over Troubled Water, and 50,000 people are rapt.

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Pour satisfaire sa clientèle de langue française, COLUMBIA publie une série de microsillons sous le titre général « Les plus grands succès français ». Signalons la belle présentation du « Carnaval des Animaux » de Saint-Saens et de « Pierre et le Loup » de Prokofiev (1-12 » COLUMBIA FL-201). « Le Carnaval des Animaux » est enrichi d’un texte de liaison de Francis Blanche dit par Claude Dauphin. Le texte rivalise de finesse et d’humour avec la musique. Dans « Pierre et le Loup », c’est Jean-Pierre Aumont qui fait la présentation des instruments et le récit. La musique est exécutée dans les deux cas par André Kostelanetz et son orchestre. Ce disque fournit une excellente initiation musicale aux enfants et aux… adultes.
(Le Devoir, samedi 11 mai 1957, page 2)

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Un autre premier microsillon, celui d’Anne Anderssen (Gamma GS 174) offre une audition agréable. La voix de cette québécoise au nom danois d'origine française est belle, forte et un peu fumée. Il est surtout question d'amour dans ces chansons dont elle a fait les paroles. De refrains comme “ La Balançoire ” et “ La Dernière danse ” sont assez jolis. C’est gentil, frais et un peu banal.
(Yves Taschereau, Le Devoir, Samedi 20 avril 1974, page 19)

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Sci-Fi Romantic tragi-comedy.

Given this was written by the baffling genius that is Charlie Kaufman, and directed by the quite singular Michel Gondry, this was always going to be a double bonkers brain scrambler...

...And so it is...

...In fact, that's the plot too!

Jim Carey's grim and miserable Joel is suffering, for reasons he can't quite put his finger on, until he meets Kate Winslet's super-flake Clementine at a train station... and the two feel drawn together, almost like they've met before.

And that's because they have.

Turns out, they had a doomed, and fractious relationship, that made both so miserable, that Clementine had Joel erased from her memory, causing double despair to Joel, so he decides he can't live with that, and resolves to have her erased from his memory too.

Until, of course, he changes his mind... unfortunately, while the procedure is taking place.

The movie follows Joel being chased through his own mind and memories by this erasing procedure as he tries to preserve the memory of Clementine in the most obscure corners of his brain.

It is, of course (consistent with the subject matter) quite a confusing film from the outset, using an almost Christopher Nolan-esque chopped and re-sorted time structure, but gradually, it pulls together and makes sense.

It's all very clever, and seems a very writer-ly piece of zany philosophical, meditative madness, but what emerges at the end is sense of real warmth, and heart... and there's plenty of laughs along the way.

This was one of my pre-lockdown charity shop DVD purchases, which I've watched a couple of times since, and it is growing on me more and more.

One for the 21st century romantics.

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in the sciencefictional world of the unorthodox engineers, this unit of engineering oddballs and incorrigibles brought together in what was originally intended only as a dumping ground for ''problem'' but talented men demonstrates, from their first deployment on cannis v, where they have to rebuild the railways, the only practicable passenger, goods and freight transport system on a conquered planet comprehensively wrecked by orbital and low-level bombing in a war now won, in order to get the planet's native economy running again - and the people fed, and able to prosper in peacetime - with access only to insufficient supplies of excessively malleable, and therefore far too bendy, iron in inadequate quantities - on a planet plagued by errant overnight volcanoes...
- demonstrates that together they can achieve the impossible - or the next best thing to the impossible - so long as they can be induced to act together, by being presented with apparently insoluble problems upon which to bring their disparate talents to bear.

- the answers they devise to the questions their missions pose are as various as their sideways approach to the service's rules and regulations - but, so long as they're successful, they won't be disbanded - and, in some cases, returned to military imprisonment...

five linked ''problem story'' novelettes and a novella demanding an eccentric approach to the problems faced, if they are to be solved - or turned into advantages - which vary from rebuilding a conquered planet's infrastructure, and hence economy, through identifying what catastrophe wiped out an evidently advanced alien species' civilisation - and apparently the species themselves, through working out how to even approach an apparently invulnerable alien intrusion - invasion? - on, into or of a planet, that can for example meet any projectile fired at it with a counter-projectile of exactly the right mass, created or conjured up on the spot, and instantly...


colin kapp did not, alas, ever write the unorthodox engineers novel, ''project ixion'', which was to've been the climax to their erratic career through the problems of their space by providing the scientific analyses and engineering problem solutions in the first inter-galactic exploration and colonisation attempt undertaken by humanity - and which would have demanded, and hopefully brought in-depth character development of his major players from him: they are mostly fairly ''stock'' character stereotypes sufficient to these stories.
when i enquired why, in the seventies (i was hoping he'd written it, and i could get it published together with a collection of these five already-published stories, and republish at least three of his previously-published novels), colin told me he'd never started upon it, because no-one had ever shown any interest in publishing it.

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From my diary of 7/May/76 : "Budgie turned out to be crap, just a nasty row ..."

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Oh jesus this is bad half the cast does disapear due too 2 directors, bad acting no real story narration? This is by far worst film ever.

Very low budget some special affects was voices making them.

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NOUVEAU MICROSILLON POUR PAOLO NOËL

Paolo Noël, ce populaire chanteur-animateur vient tout juste de présenter au public son dernier microsillon, qui a pour titre « Noël en mer ». Sur ce disque, nous pouvons découvrir Paolo Noël, le poète. Heureusement agencés de belles chansons de Noël, dont Adeste Fideles et Minuit Chrétien, ses poèmes sont d’une grande sensibilité. Solitude de Noël est celui que je préfère. « NOËL EN MER », sera certainement le microsillon de Noël le plus apprécié du public. Il est étonnant !
(Danielle Marcoux, Télé-radiomonde, samedi 19 novembre 1966, page 17)

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Little Rural Riding Hood has Country Wolf go to the city to meet City Red. His cousin City Wolf, who seems to be a Southern Dandy-type (New Orleans) character shows him how to behave in what is basically a Burlesque club. This is the second appearance of Red after the better known 'Red Hot Riding Hood', the character most likely modelled on pint-size screen siren Mae West as well as Betty Boop.

Features typical Tex Avery animation which is playing with perspective and planes, as well as wacky "body animation" similar to Looney Tunes, but taken up a gear. The wolf character was hugely influential and was spoofed in The Mask when Jim Carrey first sees Cameron Diaz in a club. This isn't a masterpiece, but it is good fun.

The Blu Ray, Tex Avery Screwball Classics: Volume 2 features a nice print with some scratches, but superb colour, a huge step up from those VHS tapes that did the rounds in the 90s. Sound is crisp and in 2.0 stereo with no pops or nuisance noise. It's also much more affordable than the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection.

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meet galloway gallegher, genius inventor and drunk - correction, genius inventor when drunk, who
only ever invents when he's run out of enough money to get drunk, has sobered up enough to gain another commission, and has been paid an advance upon the invention(s) commissioned from him -
- whereupon he promptly gets drunk again -
- not least because it's gallegher drunk who's the genius inventor. but who is, unavoidably, and undeniably, also drunk.

...which rather tends to leave gallegher sober the morning after with the problem of working out what gallegher drunk's actually invented this time...

- so meet galloway gallegher, genius inventor and drunk, and meet joe, the proud robot, who must have some purpose other than to admire himself in the mirror - or, indeed, without it, if there isn't one handy - mustn't he ?

- and meet the lybblas, some of the cutest, fluffiest - and most argumentative - frequently with one another - alien would-be conquerors of the world, who've had the luck - or possibly misfortune - to arrive at gallegher's door as the first stop on their predestined path to their conquest of the world. . . - but first, would very much like a drink of milk, please. . .

- intriguing, entertaining and frequently funny problem stories with a lunatic logic and a drunken twist..

- or vice-versa...

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Brilliant series, but seemed to divide people. I saw it first time around and I think it passed a lot of people by or they didn't get it. Ironically, I think its format and sketches have been like a prototype for many series that started as a web series such as Limmy's Show and Consolevania.

For those that haven't seen it has Adam and Joe playing characters and doing silly hidden camera stunts like eating the 10% free portion of a box of cereals, Vinyl Justice where they looked at people's record collections such as Frank Black and said if they were crap or good while dressed as policemen, Adam's Dad reviewing pop music, silly observations of things to try spoofing the format of Why Don't You?, the most famous bit spoofs films and TV using toys such as: Toy-tanic, Furends (Friends), Stuff This Life etc.

IMHO it wouldn't get commissioned today due to Channel 4 focusing on what is middle-class safe reality TV or pseudo-game shows such as The Circle, Four in a Bed or really patronising shows featuring an excuse to show excessive full frontal nudity. Back in the late 90s they out-shined BBC in terms of comedy content (Brass Eye, Father Ted, buying big American comedies like Frasier and treating them with respect by showing them at a time when people are awake - Seinfeld at 2am come on BBC 2!). It would probably have been a successful Youtube channel instead if it was invented a decade later.

The Adam Buxton podcast is well worth checking out for more of the same with high school chums Joe Cornish and Louis Theroux as recurring interviewees, as is their now defunct BBC 6 Music and comedy show.

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