Ten MoviesPlusMovies: We Hope These (Somewhat) Work

Greetings once again! We are coming to you today live from the main public library in Denver, Colo. (ok, not really where we are at!). Last week, on Twitter, we saw that hashtag MoviePlusMovie was trending and after a brief bout of confusion, we came up with tons and tons of idea. So, we said, to heck with Twitter, let's post them on our two blogs!

The poster above are for: 1) "The Darn Cat!" (the original Disney movie with the late Dean Jones who is still alive, our apologies to Mr. Jones if he stumbles onto this blog); 2) Blacula, a '70s Dracula ripoff, which is every bit as amusing as the Turkish film "Drakula in Istanbul" that was made in the '50s; and "The Gods Must Be Crazy," a great South African cult comedy that came out in the mid-1980s.

Here is our list:

1) That Darn Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

2) Blacula: Dead and Loving It

3) The Gods Must Be Stir Crazy

4) An American Psycho in Paris

5) All is Lost in Space

6) High Anxiety Society

7) The History of the War of the Roses, Part One (yes, that makes three Mel Brooks films we have referenced)

8) There Will Be Buckets of Blood

9) No Country for Grumpy Old Men

10) Alice in Wonderland Doesn't Live Here Any More (our apologies to Martin Scorsese)

http://denverlibrary.org/

Last Ten Films I Saw Before the Last Ten Films I've Seen: Reexaming Freddy Krueger

Greetings to our blog readers from New Zealand, Poland and Egypt.

The images above are of: 1) Freddy Krueger from 'The Nightmare on Elm Street' film series, he is now a Republican congressman from Alabama, 2) Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, who will soon be starring in a reality tv show about narcissists. The film "The Fifth Estate" is about him and 3) well, it's just a human skeleton (we are using it for the movie "The Skeleton Twins," which stars Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig).

1) "Mean Streets." 1973. dir: Martin Scorsese

2) "Nightmare on Elm Street." 1984. dir: Wes Craven

3) "Yeelen." Mali. 1987. dir: Souelymane Cisse

4) "Rush." 2013. dir: Ron Howard.

5) "The Fifth Estate." 2013. dir: Bill Condon.

6) "Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One" (documentary/experimental film). 1968. dir: William Greaves (alas the director died this year)

7) "Don's Party." Australia (in English). 1976. dir: Bruce Beresford.

8) "Labor Day" 2013. dir: Jason Reitman (with Kate Winslet)

9) "The Skeleton Twins."2014  dir: Craig Johnson.

10) "Frank." Ireland (in English) 2014. dir: Lenny Abrahamson

Quote of the Day/Week- Martin Scorsese

It appears to be a low traffic day here today on the blog, though 'simit,' a Turkish sesame pastry which one can easily find from a vendor along the Bosporus shores of Istanbul is a trending topic!

Today, we continue with quotes from Oscar-winning film directors with a quip from Martin Scorsese who finally won a well-deserved Academy Award for "The Departed" (2006). Scorsese is again nominated this year for yet another superb film "Hugo." The other Best Directors nominees includes the likes of Woody Allen, Terence Malick and Alexander Payne.

Here is Scorsese's quip:

"I know there were many good policemen who died doing their duty. Some of the cops were even friends of ours. But, a cop can both ways."

The poster above is for the early Scorsese cinematic gem "Mean Streets" (1973).

SIDEBAR: Kudos to my alma mater Radford University in Radford, Va., for breaking a 29-game road losing streak in men's basketball with a 58-54 victory over Big South rival Gardner-Webb in Boiling Springs, NC (near Hickory).

Freshman Javonte Green from Alberta, Va., lead the Highlanders in scoring 12 points.

Quote of the Week- Martin Scorsese

Wow! I just saw the stats for this blog, and assuredly if we were a cable reality tv show, we would have been cancelled three years ago. But, we do live in a world where more people watch "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" on Bravo than "Frontline" on PBS!

Today's quote of the day comes from Martin Scorsese. I guess one could argue about what is his best film: "Taxi Driver," "Raging Bull," "Goodfellas" or "Kundun," but we only get into politics when it involves Greeks, Armenians or Republicans (forgive the ethnic humor; I happen to be the only person of Turkish heritage here in Welch, West Virginia*).

Here is our quote from Scorsese:

"Cinema is a matter of what's in frame and what's out."

SIDEBAR: Well, we learned from their web site that The Great American Beer Festival in Denver, Colo., which is going to be held from Sept. 29th to Oct. 1st is alas sold out!

But, should one be able to attend, there will be vendors from all parts of les etats unis**, including Boulder Beer from (of course!) Boulder, Colo., Fat Head's Brewery from Cleveland, and Cigar City Brewing from Tampa.

Closer to home, there is the third annual Brew Do, which is a beer festival in Blacksburg, Va., on Sept. 24. Hopefully, there will not be a home football game for Virginia Tech for those attending!

*- Not actually where I live, but it is a place that seems fairly similar to that.

**- The French word for The United States

Quote of the Week- Martin Scorsese

We thought it might actually be cooled to link this week's Quote of the Week to last week's Quote of the Week, especially since this blog is moving very slower (we should blame Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, but he seems to have other concerns at the moment) than normal.

So, here is our quote from Martin Scorsese, whose brilliant cinematic letter to the late iconic film director Elia Kazan was broadcast on PBS last week:

"The term 'giant' is used too often to describe artists. But, in the case of Akira Kurosawa, we have one of the rare instances where the term fits."

SIDEBAR: For those of you following us in Armenia, Bulgaria and Paraguay, who may have been wondering, it appears we did misspell actress/Revlon spokeswoman Halle Berry's name in our previous entry. We will blame that on Mark Zuckerberg* too, regardless if we spelled his name right or not!

*- Hey, it appears we got it right. Maybe, we can go ahead and fire our interns now....

Quote of the Day- Greek Author Nikos Kazantzakis

Today, we continue quoting people associated with one of the 32 countries competing at the upcoming World Cup in South Africa, which gets underway this week (Perhaps, we should tell Sarah Palin that it's a soccer competition!), with a quote from the late Greek author Nikos Kazantzakis (1883-1957).

Perhaps, his best-known novel is the 1953 epic "The Last Temptation of Christ," which became a 1988 Martin Scorsese movie that Jerry Falwell and his evangelical whacko friends in Lynchburg, Va., didn't care too much for (to put it mildly!).

Kazantzakis, who was born on the island of Crete, missed winning the Nobel Prize in literature to French writer Albert Camus ("The Stranger") in 1957 by just one vote. That also happened to be the year that the Greek author died.

Alas, Greece's main ethnic rival, my beloved Turkey (where my late father hailed from) did not qualify for South Africa so no quotes from the late great Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet this go-around, but we will have quotes from other international figures on both of our blogs. Today, we will also be quoting German novelist Gunter Grass ("The Tin Drum") on our sister blog.

Undoubtedly, many folks in Tarpon Springs, Fla. (near Tampa), which has a very large Greek community will be rooting for the Greek soccer team though one of their first-round opponents is traditional futbol power Argentina.

Here is the quote from Kazantzakis (wow, I thought Turkish names were hard to spell!):

"I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free."

My 10 Favorite Films of 1980

Many people know 1980 as the year that Ronald Reagan and the Ayatollah Khomeini both came to power- forgive the political humor (well, actually the former was inagurated in 1981 and the later overthrew the Shah in 1979).

But, it was also a year when many outstanding films came out. We are categorizing films according to their dates listed on the IMDB. "Atlantic City" actually came out in America in 1981 and "The Gods Must Be Crazy" didn't hit movie theatres in New York in 1984 (I think it actually came to my hometown of Roanoke, Va., in 1985!).

My favorite film of 1980 is Martin Scorsese's "Raging Bull." Some film connosieurs prefer his earlier film "Taxi Driver," but I think this is the stronger film overall. Both films starred Robert DeNiro.

As a Sam Fuller fan, I also love "The Big Red One" which also features one of Lee Marvin's best screen performances (he was actually Reagan's co-star in "The Killers" which came out in 1964). "Atlantic City" is also an extraordinary film, and I think it is Louis Malle's most complete film (apologies to "My Dinner with Andre" fans).

"Kagemusha" which was an Akira Kurosawa epic is my favorite foreign-language film from 1980 though for some reason it is not usually mentioned as one of the Japanese master's best films. While I would certainly that films like "Rashomon" and "Ikiru" are better, this is still a great film.

Here is the list:

1. "Raging Bull" (pictured. d-Martin Scorsese)
2. "The Big Red One" (d-Sam Fuller)
3. "Atlantic City" (Canada/France. d-Louis Malle)
4. "Kagemusha" (Japan. d-Akira Kurosawa)
5. "The Elephant Man" (d-David Lynch)
6. "Tess" (d-Roman Polanski)
7. "The Shinning" (d-Stanley Kubrick)
8. "The Gods Must be Crazy" (South Africa. d-Jamie Uys)
9. "The Long Riders" (d-Walter Hill)
10. "Gloria" (d-John Cassavettes)

NOTE: Yeah, I would agree "Gloria" has its flaws, but Gena Rowlands is just amazing in it!

Honorable Mention: "Ordinary People," "Airplane!," "Breaker Morant," "The Long Good Friday," "Dressed to Kill," "Hopscotch," "Flash Gordon" and "Mad Max."

Interesting Programming Choice for Valentine's Day

The Independent Film Channel (IFC) is actually going to broadcast the ground-breaking, controversial 1970 film "The Honeymoon Killers" about a real-life couple who went on a spree-killing rampage in the 1950s (didn't have time to Wiki that, so I could be off on the decade!) at 10:05 a.m. on Valentine's Day.

The documentary-style black and white film is also available on dvd through the Criterion Collection.

"The Honeymoon Killers" was initially supposed to be directed by a young Martin Scorsese but creative differences with the producer lead to Leonard Kastle directing the film which is his best known film.

The story involves Martha Beck and Ray Fernandez, both of whom were executed by an electric chair at Sing Sing Prison in New York (I have publicly disclosed that I am opposed to capital punishment, but this is not a political entry, but there might very well be one on this subject here soon!).

It has actually been re-filmed twice since 1970, including an odd Mexican remake entitled "Deep Crimson" (1996) which is the most graphic of the three films as it features an on-screen murder of a child- something that is considered to be a virtual taboo in American cinema.

There is also the more widely-known, fairly recent American film "Lonely Hearts" (2006) with Jared Leto and Salma Hayek playing the killers. The lead actor though is John Travolta who plays a detective in the case, which makes the film considerably different in pov than "The Honeymoon Killers."

In the original film, Beck is played Shirley Stoler who resembles the actual killer who weighed over 200 pounds at the time of her execution. Due to her excessive weight, Beck could not fit into the electric chair so she was secured on the arm rests when the fatal shock was delivered.

The story unfolds as Beck takes care of her invalid mother in Mobile, Ala. As she craves affection, Beck decides to place an ad in a lonely hearts column which is responded to by Fernandez (Tony LoBianco).

They become a couple and run off to New York, leaving Beck's mom to be tended to in a nursing home. Gradually, they begin to fleece vulnerable women. This causes Beck to become jealous, so she starts killing each of the women and in one instance she murders a victim's child by drowning him in a washing machine.

"The Honeymoon Killers" was actually released almost exactly 40 years as it premiered on American screens on Feb. 4, 1970- a full month before I was born!

The film will re-air on IFC (their web site is ifc.com) on Friday, Feb. 26 at 9:05 a.m. and 2:15 p.m.

I consider the film to be a vintage classic and it would probably be on my Top Ten list for the best films of 1970- a year which also saw the release of the film version of "MASH," "Five Easy Pieces" and "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid."

Quote of the Week- Martin Scorsese

I love the way this one sounds.........in a different tone, it could have applied to the late Charlton Heston:

"I can't envision a time when I'm not shooting something."