HRH Elizabeth Regina, of England Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland....

Now reduced to co-starring with Daniel Craig like she was Keira Knightley or some damn thing.

Proposed Caption; "The Things That I Do For England, God Almighty but I Miss the Luftwaffe!!"

Pick of the Week!

The HFA is screening Marlon Brando's only directorial effort "The One Eyed Jacks" (1961) tonight at 7pm.

Go figure, it's a western from a famously pro-American Indian activist...

Well whatever, it has to worth seeing, if only because it hales from an era when Brando still took his craft seriously and had artist goals (however vague and unobtainable they may have been).
I could write about the man all day long, his excesses and mistakes were only matched every step of the way by his supreme ability.

Pick of the Week!

This Friday, July 20th, celebrate the sixty eighth anniversary of "Operation Valkyrie Day" with a rare screening of Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis in "Artists and Models" at the Harvard Film Archive.
9pm, sharp...and yes Shirley MacLaine does get all tarted up as Dean & Jerry's own comic book creation "Bat Lady".
I mean, take THAT Caped Crusader!

Pick of the Week

Run don't walk to the Harvard Film Archive for tonight's 7pm screening of "Wedding March" (1928) directed by and starring da king of da Teutons, Erich von Stroheim and featuring Fay Wray with the ever suffering much put upon,Zasu Pitts.
This film does not normally circulate either in repertory screenings or on DVD owing to the extreme rarity of the film, the HFA had to secure a print from the Library of Congress no less, making tonight's screening an authentic rarity.
Its a silent movie, but that doesn't mean you can talk or check your phone messages or anything...

Robert Blake may be

guilty of murder, but the fact that he called the repellent and corrupt Piers Morgan "Charlie Potatoes" to the CNN's host's hateful little face, is just too precious and lovely for words.

Happy Belated Birthday

Richard Starkey, late of The Dingle in Liverpool and better know to the universe as Ringo Starr.

Y'know I've finally decided that Ringo wasn't the most talented or creative member of The Beatles, but he did have was charisma, loads of it.
Consider that he replaced Pete Best after what amounted to coup within the band itself thus making the drummer's sinecure inherently perilous as far as The Beatles were concerned.
And EMI was pushing back on the band with respect to Ringo's musicality...and the fan reaction in England to his inclusion was awful to say the least.
But Ghod love him, Starr turned it all around, wove a spell over the audience, got his band mates behind him and somehow convinced EMI that he was a valued member of the team.
And it was charisma that carried him through it all, when Peter Best clearly demonstrated his hold on The Beatle's fanbase, John, Paul and George did naught but ceaselessly plot his downfall.
When Ringo demonstrated and even greater appeal, John Paul & George shrugged and repaired to the green room to write songs for Ringo to sing.

Like I said, charisma....

Question for the Day....

How badly does Bill Murray want to win an Academy Award?

Consider the record..."The Razor's Edge" (1984), Murray 2003 Best Actor nomination for "Lost in Translation" and his ongoing association with Wes Anderson (a director who could well end up winning Best Picture by accident one of these days).
Now comes word of a historic impersonation, FDR no less in the yet to be released "Hyde Park on the Hudson".
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences just luvs historic impersonations...just sayin'.
The question is, why does Bill Murray want to win an Oscar?
He might be the least ego driven actor in Hollywood (which ain't sayin' much I know)...Lots of actors want the Oscar for reasons of unquiet neuroses (Jim Carrey) or else sheer vanity (Robin Williams) but Bill Murray's motivation (if I'm guessing right here) remains utterly inscrutable.
Or else maybe Bill just thinks its a hoot for an actor with no management and no staff and no production company who makes all his commitments in person or over the phone...to win an Oscar.
A subtle way to flip off tinseltown if'n ya think about it.

Well whatever, the acceptance speech will be one for the ages...if I'm guessing right.

Feel free to discuss....

Moonrise KIngdom (2012) Directed by Wes Anderson

THIS is a film for everyone out there who has longed to see Harvey "The Bad Lieutenant" Keitel play a uniformed Boy Scout Leader beneath a flowing walrus moustache.
Otherwise this is the best movie I've seen this summer and illustrates perfectly the notion that everything I know about the opposite sex I learned in the Boy Scouts of America.
I know, the thought chills the blood....

Games I like to play:

"Fakes", generating spurious and entirely non-existent film titles and casts with the stipulation that the cast itself must be reasonably accurate to the era. So the "year" tends to be the important variable along with the captione genre:
Examples:
"The Loves of Rasputin" (1940) starring Bela Lugosi, Maria Montez, Grady Sutton, Jon Hall, Sabu & Shemp Howard

"Fascist Beach Partei" (1964) starring Deborah Whalley, Tommy Kirk, Yvonne Craig, Bobby Watson, Joe Devlin, Harvey Lembeck, with music from Peter & Gordon, The Supremes and Gary Lewis and the Playboys.

"Zorro and Calamity Jane Against the World" (1964) starring Gordon Scott and Joi Lansing

"I Orbited The Moon with an All Girl Crew" (1968) starring Dean Martin, Mary Ann Mobley, Yvonne Craig, Stella Stevens and Wally Cox"

"Django Against Sputnik" (1966) starring Franco Nero, Lee Van Clief and Chelo Alonso

But whether my intent is parody or simply close mimicry, I could never come up with a title as patently ridiculous or a film as inane as "Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter".
As Harrison Ford once told George Lucas on a sound stage far far away "George you can write this shit, but you sure as hell can't say it!"