Tag: John Williams

Posted in Books, Movies, Music, Televison, Uncategorized

MAY THE 4TH BE WITH YOU

Posted on by D. Parker

Some call this Intergalactic Star Wars Day, but really, isn’t that every day?

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Yet this one has an added feature, we now have a date, December 18, 2015, of the next Star Wars movie, as I’m calling it, Star Wars VII: An Old Hope.

Also, cast announcements. The latter has brought a torrent of indignation from many fans.

I think this is unfair in many ways to the new cast.

Of course any comparison can’t be helped and it’s not likely to be favourable.

Many of us grew up with the original cast and still think of Star Wars IV: A New Hope as the first SW movie.

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In 1977 Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, and Mark Hamill weren’t even known.

Carrie Fisher hadn’t said, Help me Obi Wan Kenobi you’re my only hope or aren’t you a little short for a storm trooper? stars3

Mark Hamill hadn’t inadvertently kissed his sister, stood in the iconic pose against the twin suns, lost his hand, and screamed his famous nooooo!!!

Harrison Ford had never swaggered about the Millennium Falcon, said I know to Leila’s I love you, been encased in carbonite…

Alec Guiness hadn’t uttered the now famous, That’s no moon, that’s a space station, or said Use the Force Luke or become a cool ghost.

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We had never seen or heard the rasping menace of Darth Vader or the twisted malevolence of the Emperor…no Chewie or R2 or C3PO or Jabb14th10a or Lando or Boba-Fett.

So fear not, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, Kenny Baker, and John Williams are returning.

I think we should give the new cast a chance.

Adam Driver (he’s the best part of Girls, also in J. Edgar, The Unusuals, Your Don’t Know Jack, etc.),

Oscar Isaac (Sucker Punch, W.E., Inside Llewyn Davis, etc.),

Andy Serkis (Lord of The Rings, The Hobbit, King Kong, Einstein & Eddington, Longford, The Simpsons, Avengers: Age of Ultron, etc.),

Domhall Gleeson (Harry Potter as Bill Weasley, Black Mirror, About Time, When Harvey Met Bob, etc.),

John Boyega (Attack the Block and 24: Live Another Day),

Daisy Ridley (Mr. Selfridge, Silent Witness, etc.) and

Max von Sydow who’s been in I can’t even begin to list the work he‘s done since 1949, but he was Ming The Merciless.

Keeping an open mind, I am.

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Hope for the best, you should.

Now go get your comics, watch Star Wars movies, get your nerd on, and May The 4th Be With you!

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Posted in Movies, Uncategorized

FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF

Posted on by D. Parker

80s46Anyone?… Anyone? Bueller?… Bueller?

I doubt there are many people who haven’t seen this film at least once, if not many times, even if it’s just for curiosity. Whether young or old, FBDO holds mysteries to the Universe or absolutely nothing but a lot of laughter.

80s4I always felt FBDO was about freedom, not wanting to be put in a box or labelled. It was about feeling you could be who you really were. There are always going to be people who want to quell that independence. Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pursue it, just be aware.

This was the most teen and least teen movie ever made. It roared through heights of maturity and smashed through walls of formative angst in a 1961 Ferrari GT California blaze. Oh yeah…

Sure, Ferris was a self-absorbed man-child, but he got something right, you can’t live for everyone else.80s45I always figured John Hughes didn’t like adults very much. His versions of them in his movies are mostly: puerile, prosaic, obtuse, petty, neglectful, and/or even vindictive…and worst of all, mostly irrelevant. Not very flattering.

It’s a tonic to make you feel happy and alive, to remind you to stop and enjoy life…

It gave us the line:  I weep for the future, which I still use to this day.

80s42And Charlie Sheen‘s performance is brilliant. His best ever; ummm, take that as you will. No problem whatsoever!

Anyone remember the short-lived and ill-conceived NBC prequel TV series around 1990 entitled: Ferris Bueller? Anyone?…Anyone?…It starred Charlie Schlatter, Jennifer Aniston, and Ami Dolenz. Nevermind, it’s best if you don’t.

80s44Bueller?… Bueller?… Bueller?… Bueller?… Bueller?…

Posted in Christmas, Movies, Televison, Uncategorized

HOME ALONE

Posted on by D. Parker

christmas191There are just some movies where you have to suspend reality.
Otherwise this is how Home Alone really happens…
Parents forget child at home while they go on vacation.
Child Protective Services called.
Burglars break into house.
Parents charged with neglect and child abandonment.

christmas193Instead enjoy the John Hughes madness. Silly gags, endless shtick and slapstick, funny lines…the incomparable incredible, sadly missed John Candy…and history-making close ups that roll in money and make never-ending sequels. Obvious the latter is more lucrative and well, Christmassy, sort of.christmas189

Also enjoyed the Family Guy versions including with competent burglars…

Posted in Books, Family, Movies, Uncategorized

THE BOOK THIEF

Posted on by D. Parker

bookt1To be honest, I picked The Book Thief by Markus Zusak because as a book addict I found the title intriguing.

Not the light read I had hoped for that day, with the exception of a few oddly funny moments provided by the Narrator, Death. I can see why it’s been on The New York Times Best Seller list for close to 300 weeks.

I’m guardedly optimistic that the film adaptation, with the talents of Brian Perceival (Downton Abbey, North and South, The Ruby in the Smoke, The Old Curiosity Shop, Shakespeare Retold), Michael Petroni (Till Human Voices Wake Us), Geoffrey Rush (The King’s Speech, Pirates of the Caribbean, Shine, Munich, Shakespeare in Love), Emily Watson (War Horse, Gosford Park), will do this book credit.

Germany, World War II. Liesel, a young Jewish girl whose blonde hair helps her ‘pass’ calls herself, The Book Thief. Splayed among the everyday life with her foster parents are tormenting nightmares of her mother and dead brother, unexpected kindness by some, evil of others, and the looming authority of an excessively engaged Narrator.bookt2

Finishing the book, I sat for several minutes, waiting. I didn’t know for what. Only that I felt I shouldn’t just move on, not to another book or chore or activity. I needed to be in that place.

Then the pure horror and joy assailed me. It has all happened many times before and it will happen again. Humans going after humans, various reasons in various ways. People helping and standing up for others, even when it’s dangerous to do so. We are a drumming paradox stroking and punching through time, an echo of who we should be and are.

I have to agree with Death, “I am haunted by humans”. bookt5