thingsyoucantelljustbylookingatherblog

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

Franklin J. Schaffner (”Papillon”/”Planet of the Apes”/”The Boys
from Brazil”) directs this lumbering adult fairy tale that is “dedicated
to lovers everywhere” and modeled after those old-fashioned formulaic
romantic tales in the Hollywood of the 1950s. Norman Steinberg turns in
the absurd screenplay from the novel by British author Anne Piper. Legendary
tenor Luciano Pavarotti makes his movie acting debut in this frothy romantic
musical comedy, which tries hard not to test the limited acting chops of
the opera singer as it instead tests the tastes of the viewer with such
a shameless spectacle. Pavarotti tries to act cool throughout. After singing
at his friend’s wedding, he rides in a Rolls-Royce through his picturesque
Italian village serenading a nun he rescues from a flat tire; he rides
in a hot air balloon with his lover over the lush Napa Valley; he romances
an American WASP with food and spirits in the borrowed mansion where an
Asian couple act as chefs; and on his singing tour of the States he tries
to come off as a regular guy who just happens to be a famous international
singer and a smooth womanizer. The film is done in by the inane script,
as even Pavarotti’s great tenor voice can’t rescue such a misstep. Reportedly
it was made for $21 million but only took in $1 million upon its release. 

The unconvincing love story repeatedly tells us the odd couple is
deeply in love but unfortunately we can’t see that for ourselves onscreen.
What we see instead is a misguided effort to make a matinee idol out of
the portly opera singer, who acts with charm in a breezy manner but finds
himself looking like a fish out of water trapped in an unbelievably bad
plot he can’t extricate himself from. The film’s saving grace is having
the late Pavarotti sing.

It features selections from Puccini’s Manon Lescaut, Ponchielli’s
Gioconda, Donizetti’s Elisir d’Amore, Verdi’s Rigoletto (La Donna E Mobile)
and, the film’s showstopper, the incomparable “Nessun Dorma” from Puccini’s
Turandot (Pavarotti’s signature song). The 42-year-old Pavarotti’s voice
was in top shape in Yes, Giorgio, as he also sings several other classical
works including “Santa Lucia”, “O Sole Mio”, “Ave Maria.” In addition to
Pavarotti’s version of “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” and the lighthearted
original song by John Williams with lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman
“If We Were in Love”—which lost but was nominated for an Oscar.

Touring Italian opera star Giorgio Fini (Luciano Pavarotti) mysteriously
loses his voice before an outdoor concert  performance in Boston,
and his loyal manager Henry Pollack (Eddie Albert) gets attractive throat
specialist Dr. Pamela Taylor (Kathryn Harrold) to cure him of his psychosomatic
ailment. When cured, the grateful smoothy tells Pamela, ”you are a thirsty
plant. Fini can water you.” With a line like that the intelligent doctor
naturally steps out of character and can’t resist going on a romantic fling
with the married opera singer, who has two children, as he brings her to
San Francisco so she can dote over him while he sings. Later Pamela’s the
only one who can talk him into singing again at the prestigious New York’s
Metropolitan Opera, as he refuses to sing at the Met again after he was
humiliated there seven years ago because the audience laughed at him over
a stage prop failure. 

There were no graphic love scenes between the lovers, just a passionate
food fight, nevertheless the Catholic Church in the U.S. blacklisted the
film over the adultery plot line. 

The Product:
When you think of Troma, you typically don’t ponder copulation comedy. At least not automatically. Oh sure, Lloyd Kaufman and the league are notorious as a service to keeping their Gyno-Americans view and nubile, but with a portrayal and fame geared approaching horror and gore, fetching female pulchritude with a droll inclination has fallen by the wayside. Thus far the famed independent coat company actually got their start in raunch, bringing esteemed nookie extravaganzas like The Essential Courtesy On and Exact Be occupied in to horny exploitation fans everywhere. But once The Toxic Avenger hit, boobies gave in the pipeline to blood (and b-flick picture show schlock). Now dorsum behind from a Poultrygeist-induced repast, Troma’s DVD domain is tracking down some fan favorites to unleash on the new untroubled b in video format, beginning with an oft-mentioned cult ‘classic’ Getting Lucky. This tepid teen sex comedy, revolving for everyone a dork, a babe, a hunk, and a drunken leprechaun (yes, you read that last part correctly) was one of the company’s most requested back catalog titles. After seeing this boring muddle, it as likely as not should accept stayed private away.

The Plot:
Poor Bill. The nerdy towel boy for the Middlevale High basketball team has the hots for cheerleader Krissi. Naturally, she doesn’t even know he’s alive – or to put it another way, she’s too busy pre-bonking Tony the team captain to care. When our horny hunky meat makes advances that our heroine can’t handle, she’s primed for a little pocket protector love. But Bill has no confidence – that is, until he meets Lepky. Forced to live in a beer bottle due to a drinking problem, this inebriated leprechaun promises our feeb three sexy wishes. Unfortunately, the road to Krissi’s coos is paved with booze-fueled miscues, youthful inexperience, and one character’s tendency toward statutory rape. Ew.

Inglourious Basterds full movie bluray

Wolf Creek

Director:


Greg McLean

From Time Out London

Set in the Australian outback, and tapping into contemporary fears in feral killers who prey on vulnerable tourists,

Directed by
Robert Towne

USA 1982

Robert Towne's

Close First

tells the story of two women who are competitors for pentathlete berths on the
1980 U.S. Olympics unite–the work together that did not go to Moscow. The women are
attracted to one another almost at first phenomenon, and what begins as a tentative
study develops into a be crazy relationship. Then the romance gets mongrel up
with the ferocity of top-bulldoze sports competition.

What distinguishes

Personal Best

is that it creates discrete to
characters–flesh-and-blood people with engaging personalities, people I
cared with reference to.

Personal Most

also seems knowledgeable about its two
subjects, which are the sickly of these women's hearts, and the world of
Olympic sports competition.

It is a cinema containing the spontaneity of survival. It's beside living, breathing,
changeable people and because their relationships seems to be so deeply felt, so
important to them, we're fascinated by what may transpire next. The movie stars
Mariel Hemingway and Patrice Donnelly as the two women track stars, Scott Glenn
as their coach, and Kenny Moore as the Olympic swimmer who falls in girlfriend with
Hemingway fashionable in the film. These four people are so sane for the roles it's
almost creepy; it makes us sentiment the difference between performances that are
technically admirable and other performances, like these, that may from time to time be
technically tough but always realize the correct emotional note.

Excerpt from Roger Ebert's review at the Chicago Sun Times
located HERE


Flier

Extravagant Release: February 5th, 1982

DVD
Examine: Warner – Region 1,2,3,4 – NTSC


DVD Lambaste
Cover





Distribution

Warner Home Video
- Sector 1,2,3,4 – NTSC

Runtime

2:07:52 

Video

1.85:1
Aspect Ratio

Average Bitrate: 5.72 mb/s

NTSC 720×480
29.97 f/s 
NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The
Prone is the time in minutes.

Bitrate:

Audio

English (Dolby Digital 2.0) 

Subtitles

English
(CC),
French, None

Features


Deliverance Message:
Studio: Warner Home Video

Attribute Ratio:
Earliest Complexion Relationship 1.85:1


Version Details:

• Commentary
by director Towne, Glenn and Moore
• 
Forced
trailer

DVD Menus

Movie: Vanguard provides a home for some of the most interesting, amusing, and intelligent films you’ll find this side of Hollywood. If you’re looking for a blockbuster salvation that’s been made by committee, you probably won’t find it under this identifier. In crux, those who are looking for movies that are at for good occasionally obscure, quirky, and “different” have good estimate to charges broken whatever the company is releasing at any presupposed constantly. In Siam Sunset, I found yet another lesson of why movie buffs should pay publicity to Vanguard.

The movie started off showing that the lead, a man named Perry, is secure in life: he has a cookie cutter home, a job as a professional (he invents colors for a paint factory), and a cute wife that adores him as much as he adores her. After a playful romp on his front lawn, his wife is killed by a refrigerator that falls of a military flight. Wow, did that change the tone quickly. Perry falls into a funk and his whole life crumbles around him. He wins a trip to Australia at a bingo hall and decides that’s his chance to get away from things. Needless to say, he’s in for an adventure. He quickly learns that instead of the luxury trip he thinks he’s won, he gets stuck with the cheapy bus trip that sums up a rule of thumb I’ve always gone by: never go on a trip won at a bingo hall. The tour finds Perry’s luck to impact those around him as everything that can go wrong, does. After getting stranded in a remote hole with the rest of the zany characters, he’s nearly killed by a crazed lunatic searching for his stash (stolen by the female lead that Perry is interested in (of course). With bad luck befalling all those around him, will Perry be able to turn his life around? Will he invent the color Siam Sunset which will improve life on Earth? You’ll have to see the movie to find out but here’s what the boxcover said about it all: “In the battle between Man and the Universe… Bet on the Universe…
Perry’s perfect life – creating colors for a British paint company – has lately become one of constant misfortune. In desperation, he travels to one of the most desolate parts of Australia where he hopes to find a special color, called Siam Sunset, which could bring him great fortune and salvation. Along the way he meets Grace, a woman who seems to belong to a different world. Together, in the midst of the Australian outback, they decide to give life and maybe love, another chance. But will the wild universe they live in let them? A quirky comedy with just a twist of fantasy from one of today’s most sought after directors.”

Picture: The picture was presented in full frame, 1.33:1 ratio color. It looked okay for a low budget independent movie with some great scenery at times but nothing exceptional in either the source or dvd transfer.

Sound: The sound was presented in 2.0 Stereo English with no subtitles or other languages. Again, not bad although the music was often wildly out of place for the events on screen (part of that dark comedy charm I suppose).

Extras: none at all

Final Thoughts: If you like quirky dark comedies made in Australia, you’ll probably like this one. The technical aspects of the movie, from the editing to the lighting to the soundtrack were all over the place in how well (or poorly) they were done but the overall effect was pretty good. This was billed as Director John Polson’s first film and he was still learning his craft so the technical aspects are understandably of mixed quality. The dark humor, on the other hand, was very well presented and while the movie broke little new ground, it was easily worth a rental. Some fans of the genre might want to adjust that rating a bit higher but not me.

No word on how Madden is doing with its predictions 175 years from now, but Mass Effect 2, via Cerberus Daily News, says the New York Giants, with a Krogan quarterback (pictured), beat the Beijing Dragons in Super Bowl CCXIX.

The news item, as reported by the Mass Effect Wiki:

"Earth nations gathered around their vidsets today for Super Bowl CCXIX, an annual sporting and media event that culminates North-American-Union-Rules football season. The New York Giants defied expectations and took down the Beijing Dragons in a tight 24-19 game. The highlight was a 69-yard pass from Krogan QB Bragus Thul. The game's top-3 hit commercials were Aldrin Labs' hilarious "Improvise", Unithirst's "Cola Coffee Rock n'Rolla", and Binary Helix's "Not My Future, Thanks." As for the greatest tease, it goes to the trailer for the soon-to-be summer blockbuster Nekyia Corridor, which sent sports fans to the extranet trying to find out what the heck a nekyia was."

I don't know what "North-American-Union-Rules" means but it sounds like some mashup of Canadian, American, Australian and Rugby football. Which means Luke and I should start renting some cryogenic storage space, because we'd love the hell out of that game.

Download Blood and Bone Movie in Best quality

Super Bowl CCXIX [Mass Effect Wiki, thanks Givafuk]

Send an email to the author of this post at owen@kotaku.com.