Last Ten Films We've Seen: A Little Icelandic Film (plus nine others....)

Greetings to our blog readers around the world, especially those of you in France.

Today, we once again list the last ten films we've seen (actually, that should be 'I've' seen, but 'we' though grammatically incorrect sounds less pompous).....

A little Icelandic film with American funding which was distributed by Sony Pictures (yes, the ones who were the victims of an alleged North Korea cyber attack) was the very last film we watched this week (see middle image, an Icelandic geyser), but we also squeezed in time for "A Man Called Adam," which stars the late Sammy Davis Jr. (pict. top) and "Pretty Maids All in a Row," a favorite film of Quentin Tarantino which stars the late Rock Hudson and Angie Dickinson (pict. bottom):

Here is the list:

1) Land Ho! Iceland (in English). 2014. Directors: Aaron Katz and Martha Stevens.

2) The Innkeepers. 2011. Director: Ti West.

3)  A Man Called Adam. 1966. Dir: Leo Penn

4) The Double. 2013. Dir: Richard Ayode.

5) Pretty Maids All in a Row. 1977. Dir: Roger Vadim

6) In a World..... 2013. Dir: Lake Bell

7) How I Ended This Summer. Russia. 2012. Dir: Aleksey Popogrebskiy

8) Albert Nobbs. 2011. Dir: Rodrigo Garcia.

9) The Housemaid. South Korea. 1960 Dir: Ki-young Kim (film was remade in 2010)

10) The Unholy Three. 1925. Dir: Tod Browning (w/ Lon Chaney)

The Last Ten Films We've Seen: City Films

Among the last ten films listed here, there are two with career stand-up comedians/actors: the late Rodney Dangerfield plays a dictatorial cinema manager in "The Last Projection" and the late Richard Pryor has a cameo in "Car Wash."

Other films include the western "Winchester '73" with the late Jimmy Stewart and early film appearances from the late Rock Hudson and the late Tony Curtis (billed as Anthony Curtis), Gene Hackman reprising Popeye Doyle in "French Connection II" and Jean-Luc Godard's "Made in USA," which has only been allowed for public viewing in the USA since 2008 due to a copyright issue.

Here is the list, we got the idea from "Film Comment:"

1. "The Projectionist" 1971. dir-Harry Hurwitz

2. "French Connection II" (pictured top) 1975. dir-John Frankenheimer

3. "Winchester '73" 1950 dir-Anthony Mann #

4. "Made in USA" (France) 1966. dir-Jean-Luc Godard

5. "Car Wash" (pictured center) 1976. dir-Michael Shultz

6. "The Graduate" (pictured bottom) 1967 dir-Mike Nichols #

7. "Happymorethankyouplease" 2010. dir-Josh Radnor

8. "The Avengers" 2012. dir- Joss Whedon

9. "Bridesmaids" 2011. dir. Paul Feig

10. "The Cabin in the Woods" 2011. dir-Drew Goddard

#-Films we had previously watched before

http://www.filmcomment.com

http://www.filmlinc.com

http://www.richardpryor.com

Quote the Day/Week-Charles Barkley

Ahh, yes, we could be watching the film "Man's Favorite Sport (1964, dir. Howard Hawks) with Rock Hudson and Paula Prentiss right now on TCM, but instead, we are dedicating an entry with a quote from Charles Barkley, who was not the inspiration for the 1980s sitcom "Charles in Charge" with Scott Baio of "Happy Days" fame.

Today, we are starting a month-long series of quotes from American athletes who won gold or silver at the Olympics. And, even though Barkley's Phoenix Suns lost to his friend Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls in the 1993 NBA Finals, the Auburn alum did win two gold medals in basketball at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics as part of the "Dream Team."

Barkley lead the Dream Team in scoring during the 1992 games when he scored 30 points in a 127-83 win over Brazil. Barkley was also involved in an ugly incident when he elbowed Herlander Coimbra from Angola, in a game that the Dream Team won by an overwhelming 116-48 margin. Some players from the other teams were reportedly so delighted to be on the same court with the likes of Barkley, Jordan and Magic Johnson, that that some of them actually, allegedly sought autographs from the Dream Team members after the game!

Barkley also played for the Philadelphia 76ers and the Houston Rockets during his NBA career; he is now a commentator for TNT.

Here is his quote:

"I don't think of myself as giving interviews. I just have conversations. That gets me in trouble."http://www.charlesbarkley.com

Happy Birthday, Cuneyt Arkin

Today, we celebrate the 74th birthday of '70s Turkish action movie icon Cuneyt Arkin who turned 74 on September 7th. Arkin was born on this date in 1934 in Eskisehir, Turkey.

While he has over 300 films to his credit, we only have time to mention four here.

The first one is "Hayatim Sana Feda/My Life is For You, Feda" (1970),a romantic comedy, melodrama which was likely influenced by 1950s Hollywood melodramas, which were often directed by Douglas Sirk and starred Rock Hudson.

In this film, a Romeo who has burned his bridges has a chance to reclaim his Juliet, a female Turkish lounge singer played by Turkan Soray, the queen of Turkish cinema who often starred with Arkin, after she goes blind.

In 1973, Arkin starred in the first of what would be several films based on the popular "Kara Murat" comics, including "Kara Murat Versus the Black Knight" (pictured here). The basic plot is that Kara Murat, an ancient warrior in the days of the huns, goes after the bad guys and kicks some major ass in the process.

Turkey and Greece went to far over Cyprus in July of 1974, which lead to the production of many action films with nationalist themes. This would include "Once Vatan/My Country First" (1974) in which Arkin plays a Turkish agent who goes to Cyprus and goes kung fu on the Greek villians. Such films were, to my knowledge, also made in Greece around this era, with the roles reversed. And, yes to answer your question, "Once Vatan" is basically a Turkish Chuck Norris movie.

Lastly, Arkin will always be best known for "Dunayi Kurtaran Adami/The Man Who Saved the World" (1982), which is also known as "The Turkish Star Wars." The film borrows music and actual sequences from the George Lucas classic, but the similarities end there. The plot is a very strange one to summarize, but the film has aliens in muppet-fleece who decide that central Turkey is for unexplained reasons the best place to invade. But, they are no match for Arkin's gymnastics tumbling and kickboxing abilies.