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Sunday, December 31, 2023

Captain Planet and the Planeteers

A Hero For Earth / Season 1, Episode 1 from CPF on Vimeo.

Captain Planet and the Planeteers is an animated TV series broadcast on TBS and in syndication from September 15, 1990, to December 5, 1992.

Gaia, the spirit of the planet, assembles a diverse team of "planeteers," who are able to combine their powers to summon an elemental warrior that takes on the appearance of superhero Captain Planet. He works with the planeteers to defend Earth from pollution caused by criminals and villains. As the show's theme song says, Captain Planet is "gonna take pollution down to zero" by defeating the villains, who include the likes of Hoggish Greedly, Dr. Blight and Looten Plunder. The animated series was co-created by media mogul Ted Turner, a noted environmentalist.

In 1990, The Los Angeles Times described the show as having "not much originality", although also saying that "there's a passion behind this series, which adapts a conventional super-hero formula to an unconventional theme", also stating that the celebrities voicing the series "also sets the series apart". The newspaper also described the show as being part of "the increased awareness of Earth as endangered". L. Brent Bozell III, a conservative activist, accused the show of "seeking to scare children into political activism", along with accusing the show of having "leftist slants"; Barbara Pyle responded, saying "I don't think 'Captain Planet' is scary ... it shows kids that every action counts ... I consider [environmental issues] bipartisan."

Saturday, December 30, 2023

The Girl On a Motorcycle (1968)


The Girl on a Motorcycle (French title La Motocyclette) is a 1968 British-French erotic romantic drama film directed by Jack Cardiff, starring Alain Delon and Marianne Faithfull. Released as Naked Under Leather it was the first film to receive an X rating in the United States, and edited by Warner Brothers for an "R" rating. It was listed to compete at the 1968 Cannes Film Festival but the festival was cancelled due to the May 1968 events in France. The Girl on a Motorcycle redefined the leather jacket for motorcyclists into a catsuit that Faithfull wore in the film.

Thursday, December 28, 2023

The Comic Strip Presents - War

 


The Comic Strip are a group of British comedians who came to prominence in the 1980s. They are known for their television series The Comic Strip Presents..., which was labelled as a pioneering example of the alternative comedy scene.

1985:- England has been invaded by the Warsaw Pact countries and middle-class couple Hermine and Godfrey retreat to their rural hide-away but after witnessing a bunch of incompetent commandos kill each other, they get separated.

In keeping with the war theme of the episode, Hermine is reading a copy of The Sun from the time of the Falklands War. The headline "GOTCHA" was from 4 May 1982, about the sinking of the Argentine warship ARA General Belgrano.

With - Robbie Coltrane, Adrian Edmondson, Dawn French, Rik Mayall, Daniel Peacock, Nigel Planer, Peter Richardson and Jennifer Saunders.

Tuesday, December 26, 2023

The Nature of Ayahuasca (2019)


Ayahausca is a traditional plant medicine from the Amazon used to treat a variety of physical and psychology illnesses and conditions. This film explores the use of the Ayahausca as a holistic medicine, challenging stigmas around its use and helping people become more conscious and ethical consumers of the plant if that's the path they choose.

HUMAN's Musics


HUMAN's Musics - A film by Yann Arthus-Bertrand / Composed by Armand Amar

"I am deeply taken with traditional music, it moves me, it connects you to emotion.

The idea with HUMAN was to create songs that would reflect the same emotion generated by the interviews. I wanted things to open up, to open up one’s heart, to let the sadness be without any restraint. HUMAN has been one of these rare moments in my life as a film composer during which I could express all these different cultures at the same time : either working on minimalist songs or meeting with these singers and musicians coming from all around the world. Which note did I first produce ? I had more like a global vision in mind, an atmosphere that would merge into the film and that would bring people together, this was my starting point. The part I created for the Mongolian sequence might be the best summary of the atmosphere I wanted the film to have.

Yann has given me a particular role as a film composer that is very diffrent from the one other directors usually give me. There is a strong friendship between us, an intimate relationship. He’s generous. You follow him because of his fantastic instinct, I can advise on the artistic process being in a way the first audience."

Armand Amard, composer of the HUMAN music.

"Les musiques traditionnelles m’ont accaparé, elle me touchent, elles ont un rapport direct avec l’émotion. Pour HUMAN, mon idée était de construire une sorte de résonnance des interviews par un chant qui délivrerait la même émotion. J’avais envie que les choses s’ouvrent, que le cœur s’ouvre, que la tristesse s’ouvre, de ne pas avoir de retenue. HUMAN a été un des rares moments dans ma vie de compositeur de musiques de film, où j’ai pu exprimer toutes ces cultures différentes : être aussi bien dans des musiques minimalistes que dans des rencontres avec tous ces musiciens et chanteurs venus d’ailleurs. Quelle note m’est venue en premier ? C’était plus une vision globale, un univers en osmose avec le film, où il était question de partage et de rencontre, qui ont été mon point de départ. D’ailleurs, pour moi ma composition faite pour les images de la Mongolie résume particulièrement l’univers que j’ai voulu pour ce film.

Avec Yann, j’ai une place particulière en tant que compositeur, différente de celle que me donnent les autres réalisateurs. Entre lui et moi, il y a une amitié profonde, nos échanges sont complices. C’est quelqu’un de généreux. Son instinct assez fantastique fait qu’on arrive à le suivre, je peux me permettre de donner mon avis dans la construction du film, parce que je suis dans le fond, le premier public."
Armand Amar, compositeur de la musique de HUMAN.

Cigarettes & Coffee (1993)


The basis for the feature film "Hard Eight". The short begins with an older man (Hall) giving a younger man (Baltz) advice over cigarettes and coffee. The younger man tells how he won around $8,000 gambling. At a nearby table, a newlywed couple argues over losing money in Vegas playing craps. The husband lights his last cigarette before rethinking his marriage. Then a hitman (Ferrer) enters to buy cigarettes and coffee before hitting the road.

Saturday, December 23, 2023

Tricky, Naked and Famous


“Naked and Famous” is a surprisingly intimate and revealing portrait of Bristol’s self-taught maverick and musical genius. Proud of his ‘mongrel’ family, Adrian Thaws (aka Tricky) tells the story of his creative journey from a world of part-gypsy entertainers and mixed-race gangsters in the working-class suburb of Knowle West to acclaim as one of the most original musicians of his generation. A film about passion, instinct and the courage to be different.

Produced and directed by Mark Kidel

Assistant producer and Production Manager: Sophie Weitzman

Edited by  Andrew Findlay

Rosetta Films for Channel 4

1997

Running time: 52 mins 

Sunday, December 10, 2023

Nothing Can Turn Into A Void – An Art Apart: People Like Us

Nothing Can Turn Into A Void – An Art Apart: People Like Us from Vicki WFMU on Vimeo.


British artist Vicki Bennett takes you on a roller coaster-ride with her art project People Like Us. In performances, videos, collages and music, her amazing editing techniques and sense of humor leave you flabbergasted and enthusiastic at the same time. People Like Us is like free-zone where appropriation meets alchemy, humor meets social critique and the boundless imagination meets reality (so called).

Saturday, December 09, 2023

Blonde Cobra (Ken Jacobs, 1963)

 


Blonde Cobra is a 1963 short film directed by experimental filmmaker Ken Jacobs. Footage for the unique and at the time controversial film was shot by Bob Flieshner. Marc Siegel states that the 33-minute film is "generally considered to be one of the masterpieces of the New York underground film scene", and that it is a "fascinating audio-visual testament to the tragicomic performance of the inimitable Jack Smith", who was a photographer and filmmaker and "queer muse" in New York avant-garde art in the 1960s and 1970s.

The film captures Smith wearing dresses and makeup, playing with dolls, and smoking marijuana. Paul Arthur writes that the film contains "dizzying quasi-autobiographical rants" which spin on sadism, and that like Jacobs' Little Stabs at Happiness, it contains "languid improvisations studded with the bare bones of narrative incident or, more accurately, its collapse". The film contains Smith droning and singing and wildly cooing and cackling in parts of the film. The "lonely little boy" episode about a little boy living in a large house with 10 rooms has been cited as being "potentially repugnant to many viewers" because of its exploration of sadism against children and childhood sexuality. In this episode the narrator confesses to have "blown up the penis" of a 7-year-old boy with a match. The film contains numerous other elements which were shocking at the time of release such as references to necrophilia, the use of the word "cunt", the confession of a nun (impersonated in a posh high-pitched voice by Smith) to lesbianism, the holding of a giant would-be dildo, and a portrayal of transvestites. The film features quotes such as "Why shave when I can't think of a reason for living" and "life is a sad business", quoting Greta Garbo. "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" is then played, described as a "burlesque rendering" of Robert Siodmak's 1944 film Cobra Woman. The last scene captures Smith stabbing a man in the chest. Hilary Radner and Moya Luckett consider the film to be a camp portrayal of Rose Hobart.

Friday, December 08, 2023

They Live


This movie will change your life.

"I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass. And I'm all out of bubblegum." - George Nada

They Live is a 1988 American science fiction action horror film written and directed by John Carpenter, based on the 1963 short story "Eight O'Clock in the Morning" by Ray Nelson. Starring Roddy Piper, Keith David, and Meg Foster, the film follows an unnamed drifter who discovers through special sunglasses that the ruling class are aliens concealing their appearance and manipulating people to consume, breed, and conform to the status quo via subliminal messages in mass media. The 2012 documentary film The Pervert's Guide to Ideology, presented by the Slovene philosopher and psychoanalyst Slavoj Žižek, begins with an analysis of They Live. Žižek uses the film's concept of wearing special sunglasses that reveal truth to explain his definition of ideology. Žižek states:
They Live is definitely one of the forgotten masterpieces of the Hollywood Left. … The sunglasses function like a critique of ideology. They allow you to see the real message beneath all the propaganda, glitz, posters and so on. … When you put the sunglasses on, you see the dictatorship in democracy, the invisible order which sustains your apparent freedom.

Saturday, December 02, 2023

Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior

 

Mad Max 2 (released as The Road Warrior in the United States) is a 1981 Australian post-apocalyptic dystopian action film directed by George Miller. It is the second installment in the Mad Max franchise, with Mel Gibson reprising his role as "Mad" Max Rockatansky. The film's tale of a community of settlers moved to defend themselves against a roving band of marauders follows an archetypical "Western" frontier movie motif, as does Max's role as a hardened man whose decision to assist the settlers helps him rediscover his humanity. Filming took place in locations around Broken Hill, in the Outback of New South Wales.

The film was released on 24 December 1981 to widespread critical acclaim, with particular praise given to Gibson's performance, the musical score, cinematography, action sequences, costume design and sparing use of dialogue. It was also a box office success, and the film's post-apocalyptic and punk aesthetics helped popularise the genre in film and fiction writing. At the 10th Saturn Awards, the film won Best International Film and was nominated for five more awards: Best Director, Best Actor for Gibson, Best Supporting Actor for Bruce Spence, Best Writing, and Best Costumes for Norma Moriceau. Mad Max 2 is widely hailed as both one of the greatest action movies of all time and one of the greatest sequels ever made, and fan clubs for the film and "road warrior"-themed activities continue into the 21st century.

Preceded by Mad Max in 1979, the film was followed by Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome in 1985 and Mad Max: Fury Road in 2015.