WEEKEND MOVIE TIP: DONNIE DARKO (2001).

It's excellent.





And the soundtrack comprising material from Echo & The Bunnymen, Joy Division, Tears for Fears, INXS et al was just the icing on the cake!


Go watch it, you won't be disappointed. Nite.



MFBB.

WEEKEND MOVIE TIP: MULHOLLAND DRIVE (2001).

You know, 3/4ths into this movie I was seriously starting to think David Lynch is overrated. I was seriously starting to think of quitting.


And then I didn't.


And lucky me.





Mulholland Drive tells the story of Betty Elms, an aspiring young actress who arrives in LA only to find an amnesiac woman calling herself Rita in her apartment. I am not going to say more but remember, get past that 3/4 treshold. Besides, Rita has great tits.


Let's say I give it an 8.5/10 score. See it. Nite.



MFBB.

WEEKEND MOVIE TIP: EUROPA REPORT (2013).

Here's another sci-fi flick you probably never heard of, Europa Report, about a space mission in search of extraterrestrial life to Europa, one of Jupiter's four Galilean Moons.





Shot on a low budget (10 million US$), yet entirely at ease visually with far bigger productions; a cast consisting of unknown actors, yet all of them filling the screen; an unknown Ecuadorian director (Sebastian Cordero Espinosa), yet he holds the reins throughout and the tempo never slacks.


Once in a while jewels are made and yet slip under the radar totally undeservedly. Europa Report is just such a movie. See it.


Good night.



MFBB.

WEEKEND MOVIE TIP: DEVOTION (2022).

Devotion tells the story of the first US Navy black pilot, Jesse Leroy Brown, and his wingman and pal Thomas Hudner. I first learned about their extraordinary comradeship in David Sears' excellent Such Men As These - The story of the Navy pilots who flew the deadly skies over Korea. Recommended reading, btw.


In 1950, Brown and Hudner flew missions in obsolete F4U Corsairs over Korea from USS Leyte, which was part of Task Force 77. On the 4th of December, during or after a mission to support USMC troops near the infamous Chosin Reservoir, Browns Corsair suffered either a ruptured fuel or oil line, possibly as a result of Chinese small arms fire, and not long after he was forced to crash-land...





The crash deformed Browns crate in such a way that he got stuck in his cockpit, and possibly wounded too, so that he was unable to get out of the wreckage without aid. Hudner, observing the crash site and noticing a fire starting in the engine, feared that his friend would die in the flames and did the unthinkable: he deliberately crashed his F4U also, knowing full well that he wouldn't be able to take off again. He rushed over to where Browns mount had come to a standstill, and tried to get his friend out of the wreck. Alas, it was not to be. Even after a rescue helicopter had landed and its crew assisted, it proved impossible to free Brown, whose condition worsened by the minute. In the gathering dark and with the trapped Corsair pilot now unconscious, the helicopter was forced to leave, with Hudner on board. Some days later and with Brown now for certain dead, his squadron mates returned to give him a Viking funeral - bombing the stricken plane with its deceased pilot inside with napalm, so as to prevent North Korean or Chinese troops from defaming the body.






A welcome addition to an altogether meagre score of movies about an almost forgotten war. Directed by J.D. Dillard and starring Jonathan Majors as Jesse Brown and Glen Powell as Tom Hudner.



MFBB.

WEEKEND MOVIE TIP: THE CONVERSATION (1974).

It's low key, it's modest, but it's good. How could it not be good when it was written, produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, and stars Gene Hackman, Frederic Forrest, Harrison Ford, Robert Duvall and John Cazale?


See it.



MFBB.

WEEKEND MOVIE TIP: THE HIDDEN (1987).

A forgotten sci-fi/horror movie from the late 80s. A shame, because it's damn good.





Directed by Jack Sholder, it stars Kyle McLachlan and Michael Nouri. If you haven't seen it yet, please do. You won't regret it.



Nite.



MFBB.

WEEKEND MOVIE TIP: IMPOSTOR (2001).

Here's another sci-fi flick that got trashed on Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic and it's all bull. Like Screamers, Impostor, also based on a short story by Philip K. Dick and starring a.o. Gary Sinise and Madeleine Stowe, is no grand cinema, but it's a decent mid-level player.





Here's the thing. Impostor, directed by Gary Fleder, didn't win any cinematographic prizes and tanked - seriously. It was a gross box office failure. Michael Cimino's The Deer Hunter won 5 Academy Awards, 1 Golden Globe Award and 2 BAFTAs, amongst others. It cost 15 million US$ to make and earned more than thrice that amount. But Impostor kept me, if not on the edge of my seat, at least captivated until the final dénouement, while halfway through The Deer Hunter I started asking myself when it would ever end (alas, I would be tested for yet another hour and a half). The only reason I kept watching is that afterwards I'd be able to boast that I had seen it!


It's all relative. But trust me, Impostor is *not* the train wreck Rotten Tomatoes would want you to believe. Have a nice weekend.



MFBB.

WEEKEND MOVIE TIP: SHADOWLANDS.

Starring Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger, Shadowlands is an intimate portrait of an unlikely couple, lifelong batchelor C.S. Lewis, best known for his Narnia series of children's books but also the author of many more fiction and non-fiction tomes, and Joy Davidman, herself a literary prodigy who won several poetry awards.





Shadowlands is one of those movies for which the term Britishness seems to have been invented, as it offers many glimpses into a bygone era of stiff upper lip and frequently saying sorry England. The story is set in the 50s, when Lewis was an Oxford, and later, Cambridge don. One of the most memorable scenes is when Davidman, of US stock, enters the bar of the hotel where she has a rendez-vous with Lewis for the first time and, upon finding no one willing to point her to the famous writer, calls out loud 'Anybody called Lewis here??!' Priceless, the clash between hypothermic British mores and American flamboyance!


Shadowlands is delicate, it is elegant, and it will make you ponder the fragility of human happiness, because the time together allotted to Jack and Joy was limited, she dying of cancer in 1960 already, barely eight years after they had met, and four years after they married. Notice, also, a young Joseph Mazzello as Davidman's son Douglas - years later he played Eugene Sledge in the HBO miniseries The Pacific.



MFBB.

WEEKEND MOVIE TIP: SCREAMERS.

If you are looking for a decent sci-fi flick that sites like 101 Science Fiction Movies You Must See Before You Die won't ever list, watch Screamers, from 1995. Directed by Christian Duguay, it's based on the 1953 short story Second Variety by acclaimed author Philip K. Dick, whose prodigious output also inspired movies like Total Recall, Minority Report, Blade Runner etc, so that's saying something.





The protagonist is played by the underrated Peter Weller (Robocop, Robocop 2, Naked Lunch). Jennifer Rubin also stars. I'm aware Rotten Tomatoes gives it 29% approval, but that's bullcrap. Screamers is OK. Grand cinema it is not, but it is worth your time.


Only recently did I learn that in 2009 a sequel was made, Screamers: The Hunting, but I haven't seen it yet, can't comment. If one of you gents or ladies have, you can always leave a review in the comments. Nite.



MFBB.

FIVE SCI-FI MOVIES TO WATCH.

No spoiler alert. Try 'em. They are worth your time.


1.) Primer (2004).



About time travel.



2.) Looper (2012).



Same.



3.) The Signal (2014).



Alienation.



4.) Predestination (2014).



Again, time travel. A heck of a story.



5.) Moon (2009).



OK, if you're only gonna watch one, take this one.



Nite.



MFBB.

THANK ALLAH IT'S FRIDAY!

Welcome to this week's Thank Allah it's Friday, with Garyx Wormuloid telling us a thing or two about Memento.





As for me, Memento blew me away just like Reservoir Dogs or The Usual Suspects or Track 29 did. Trivia fact: neither of the main protagonists, Pearce, Moss and Pantoliano, were the director's first choice. For the role of Leonard, Christopher Nolan had actually wanted Brad Pitt. Pitt did read the script, and was interested, but for one reason or another it didn't go thru. However, Guy Pearce knew that Pitt had read the script, and because of that cred gave it a try himself, and was on board. Besides Carrie Ann Moss, Angelina Jolie, Ashley Judd and Famke Janssen were also contenders for the role of Natalie, and Moss wasn't even in the lead. Somehow however, she got it. And because of that, she was able to push Joe Pantoliano, her Matrix co-star, for the role of Teddy - while previously, Alec Baldwin had been considered.

Speaking of Pearce, Moss and Pantoliano, where the heck are all of them now?


Nite, and have a nice weekend.


MFBB.

MOUNTAIN VIDEO DUMP.

I deeply, passionately love the mountains. Dunno why that is - apparently my neurons are wired just that way. But Nature played a trick on me. I'm not completely free of vertigo. So while I cannot resist the call of the mountains, chains and via ferrata do scare me - every time again I have to conquer my inner self before I can conquer the iron ladder with the steps driven in bare rock. And I'm definitely never gonna end up halfway a perpendicular stone wall the way some of the guys in the following video do:





Until six years ago, I dreamed of one day making it to the top of the Matterhorn. I came as far as the Hoernlihuette, at 3,320m, looked up at that great conical mass that's the real thing, and knew I would NEVER make it to THAT top. I know my limits and am content with that; my mind is at ease. And there's still so many lesser summits to scale which are within my reach. For next year I have set my sights on Switzerland's Weissmies (4,017m). I climbed Allalinhorn (4,025m) in the same canton - Wallis - with no problems whatsoever (using the services of a guide to be sure). And I'm told that if you can do Allalinhorn Weissmies won't be a problem either. Both mountains are perfect for beginners and would be alpinists like your servant. Another vid with somewhat less glamour gives you an idea of a Weissmies ascent:





We will see! John Muir I know how you felt but for the moment I gotta concentrate on filling both the summer gaps in my finances AND the coffers of the Belgian State!


Nite,


MFBB.

UPCOMING: DAMIEN CHAZELLE'S FIRST MAN.

First Man, the movie based on James Hansen's biography of Neil Armstrong, is set to be released in October.




The director is Damien Chazelle, a Rhode Island native whose father is Bernard Chazelle, a French-American computer scientist, currently the Eugene Higgins Professor of Computer Science at Princeton University. Three years ago Damien Chazelle directed La La Land, which I did not see (or rather refused to), so his choice to film First Man is a bit incongruous to say the least. Anyway, the cooperation with leading actor Ryan Gosling in that movie must have been good since Gosling portrays Armstrong in this new project. Looking forward to it. May it bring back a sense of wonder and lust for endeavour in our youths.


MFBB.

YOUR DAILY DOSE OF TOXIC MASCULINITY.

So Ronald Lee Ermey is dead. Pity. Like so many others this side of the Pond, I only got to know him by watching Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket. Here's the memorable opening scene...





... Hey, psssst!!! if you are a milennial, you can now crawl out of your safe space!!!!

* “You little piece of shit you look like a fucking worm.”


* “Looks to me the best part of you ran down the crack of your mama’s ass and ended up as a brown stain on the mattress!”


* “You are pukes—the lowest life form on earth. You are not even human fucking beings. You are only unorganized, grab-asstic pieces of amphibian shit!”


* “Did your parents have children that lived?”
“Sir, yes, sir.”
“I’ll bet they regret that. You’re so ugly you could be a modern art masterpiece.”


* “You had best unfuck yourself or I will unscrew your head and shit down your neck!”


* “Who said that? Who the fuck said that? Who’s the slimy little communist shit twinkle-toed cocksucker down here who just signed his own death warrant?”


* “I do not look down n*****s, k***s, wops or greasers. Here you are all equally worthless.”


* “I bet you’re the kind of guy would fuck a person in the ass and not have the goddamn common courtesy to give him a reach-around!”


* “Do you suck dicks?”
“Sir, no, sir.”
“Bullshit, I’ll bet you could suck a golf ball through a garden hose.”


* “Where in the hell are you from anyway, private?”
“Sir, Texas, sir!”
“Holy dog shit, Texas! Only steers and queers come from Texas, private Cowboy! And you don’t look much like a steer to me so that kinda narrows it down.”


* “How tall are you, Private?”
“Sir, five foot nine, sir.”
“I didn’t know they stacked shit that high!”

AHAHAHAH!!!! FOOLED YOU!!!


OK, anyway... RIP Gunnery Sergeant Hartman. God bless.


MFBB.

RECOMMENDED VIDEO: "A TRIP DOWN MARKET STREET" (1906) BY THE MILES BROTHERS.

The Miles brothers: Harry, Herbert, Joseph, and Earle, were film and cinema pioneers in San Francisco. They are best known for "A trip down Market Street", a 12-minute film shot from a cable car conductor's POV. I stumbled upon it following a LiveScience link that's got info on footage from the SF Earthquake of 1906. Fate and good fortune intervened for this gem so that today, we can get a glimpse of what traffic and life was like then in the bustling metropolis. Because it is now assumed that the filmreel was sent by train to New York the night before the earthquake struck, and among the 28,000 buildings it destroyed was the one housing the Miles Brothers' studio!





For me, this Trip clip is also a trip down memory lane, cause in 1995, almost 90 years after the devastating earthquake, I walked myself down Market Street. That summer, I was going to travel the length of the US's West Coast up northwards starting from Frisco with a small international group, and, having arrived two days before them, I found myself with nothing to do but reconnoitre the area. I was staying in the Ramada Hotel on Market Street; walked to its northern end. I also remember strolling over Union Square. Anyway, on Google Earth I checked out how the Ramada was doing these days, and I found out it's now Hotel Whitcomb.


Ah... memories!!!


MFBB.

UPCOMING: HURRICANE.

Milo Gibson, son of, stars in the upcoming feature film "Hurricane", directed by David Blair. Here's the trailer:





Milo made his film debut as the character Lucky Ford in last year's "Hacksaw Ridge", directed by his father Mel Gibson. In "Hurricane", based on a true story, he plays the Canadian fighter pilot Lt. Johnny Kent, who commanded RAF Squadron 303, composed of Polish pilots, during the Battle of Britain.

We'll see if Gibson jr. can outperform the other star of the movie, the venerable Hawker Hurricane, designed by Sydney Camm.


MFFB.

UPCOMING: DARKEST HOUR.

Upcoming in the UK at least. Do not miss this marvelous movie review of Darkest Hour by Mark Steyn.

And here's the trailer, featuring an unrecognizable but all the more credible Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill:





After a month of Blitzkrieg Europe was stunned, and Britain ready to do business with Hitler. One man's steadfast refusal to give in prevailed. There's an excellent book out there by John Lukacs, "5 Days in London".




After reading it, you will know how close Europe had come to being a Nazi continent. The entire course of history would have been radically different than it is today - and much more horrifying.

One man stood in the way. Winston Spencer Churchill, Greatest Statesman Of All Times. This is what Elizabeth Nel, née Layton, his personal secretary during the war years, had to say about him:

"[T]hat great man – who could at any time be impatient, kind, irritable, crushing, generous, inspiring, difficult, alarming, amusing, unpredictable, considerate, seemingly impossible to please, charming, demanding, inconsiderate, quick to anger and quick to forgive – was unforgettable. One loved him with a deep devotion. Difficult to work for – yes, mostly; loveable – always; amusing – without fail."

MFBB.

OUTLAW MIKE'S PHAVORITE PHILM PHRAGMENTS.

Towards the end of WWII the USAAF was developing a dedicated ground attack plane. This was the Douglas A-1 Skyraider, a piston-engined behemoth which came too late to participate in WWII, but which performed admirably in the Korean War and also in the Vietnam War. But before that war had even started, the Skyraider's successor had already been developed. This was the Grumman A-6 Intruder, a twin-engined, mid-wing design with a relatively small airframe but which nevertheless could carry an amazing load of ordnance (some 8,200 kilograms on its 5 hardpoints).


The following video is from the 1991 film Flight of the Intruder, a decent warflick directed by John Milius and starring Willem Dafoe, Danny Glover, Brad Johnson and Patricia Arquette. It was based on Stephen Coonts' 1986 novel of the same name.





Below a pic of a cutout of one the Intruder's two Pratt & Whitney J52-P8B turbojets (with a 9,300 lbf (41 kN) thrust each).





You can actually only see the compressor section and the combustion chambers (although one turbine ring is visible to the extreme right of the photo).

Duh. I don't believe a word of it. When I checked out the Pratt and Whitney J-52 the wiki page told me that it was an axial turbojet (of course) but dual spool, see the difference below:





And here is a more relevant pic. You can clearly see from left to right the low pressure compressor, the high pressure compressor, the combustion chambers, the high pressure turbine and the low pressure turbine.




Yet the photo of the first cutaway shows a single spool engine. And this while the Flickr account where I found it labels it as an A-6 Intruder engine, put on display at Patuxent River Naval Air Museum, Lexington Park, Maryland.

Oh well. Maybe someone among our readers has an explanation?

Another video, though not from the movie, but a documentary:







Nite.



MFBB.

OUTLAW MIKE'S PHAVORITE PHILM PHRAGMENTS.

In the film Highlander (1986, directed by Russell Mulcahy). When The Kurgan, played by Clancy Brown, enters a church where Connor McLeod, played by Christophe Lambert, is praying for the soul of his long lost love Heather.





This short clip shows Brown in such good form that I never understood why such a good actor never really broke through. Sure, he was great as a prison warden in The Shawshank Redemption, but I don't recall any other memorable roles. Weird.

The first Highlander was good, really, really good. The rest... not so much.


MFBB.

OUTLAW MIKE'S PHAVORITE PHILM PHRAGMENTS.

The car chase in The French Connection, a movie from 1971:




Unforgettable scene in which detective Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle, played by Gene Hackman, gives chase to a killer fleeing on board an elevated train along Stilwell Avenue, Brooklyn.

Directed by William Friedkin. Two years later he did The Exorcist.


MFBB.