June 15 - 21, 2024

 

 

To answer these trivia questions, please email me at scinema@earthlink.net.

Brain Teasers:

In which Italian Western did Tomas Milian scoff at having vertigo, while in an interview he revealed that he did suffer from vertigo?

In VAMOS A MATAR COMPANEROS Milian's character is about to untie Franco Nero when he says that he can't because he has vertigo. Then he scoffs and says that he doesn't. In an interview, Milian confessed that he actually has a little vertigo.

Which movie, usually considered an Italian Western, does the director insist is not a Western?

No one answered this question yet.

By what name is Giovanni Goffredo Scarciofolo better known?

Tom Betts, Angel Rivera and Bertrand van Wonterghem knew that it was Jeff Cameron.

By what name is Glen Fortel better known?

Tom Betts, Angel Rivera and Bertrand van Wonterghem knew that it was Jeff Cameron.

Which former Italian boxer, who went on to appear as an actor in both Epics and Westerns starred in and directed a movie in 1946?

Tom Betts and Bertrand van Wonterghem knew that it was Enzo Fiermonte.

And now for some new brain teasers:

Which Italian actor was born on July 25, 1928 in Sardinia and died on June 10, 2016 in Rome?

Which American actor played Walter Barnes' brother on a TV series, made three movies in Italy before becoming a producer in Hollywood and  hiring Barnes for three American productions?

In which Italian Western did Franco Nero wear a long leather coat and carried his gun belt outside of the coat?

Name the movies from which these images came.

Tom Betts, Bertrand van Wonterghem and George Grimes was able to identify last week's photo of Giuliano Gemma and Lee Van Cleef in I GIORNI DELL'IRA, aka DAYS OF WRATH, aka DAY OF ANGER.

Above is a new photo.

Can you name from what movie it came?

 

Bertrand van Wonterghem and Angel Rivera identified last week's frame grab of Mark Forest and Maria Grazia Spina in MACISTE CONTRO I MONGOLI, aka HERCULES AGAINST THE MONGOLS.

Above is a new photo.

Can you name from what movie it came?

No one identified the above photo.

Can you name from what movie it came?

Above is a new photo.

Can you name from what movie it came?

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I am interested in knowing what movies you have watched and what you enjoyed or not. So please send me an email at scinema@earthlink.net if you'd like to share. Here's what I watched last week:

Enjoyed:

Eureka season five (2012) - Thankfully the makers of this show were able to end without too many cliffhangers.

Icons Unearthed: Fast & Furious episodes 1-4 (2023) - I don't like the F&F movies, but I enjoy behind-the-scenes documentaries, and The Nacelle Company makes some of the best around. Now if Vice would just show the remaining episodes again.

Midsomer Murders "Secrets and Spies" season 12 episode 3 (2009) - While I appreciate the Ovation Channel helping me to fill in the gaps on my effort to see every episode of this British TV show, I think stuffing a 93 minute program with enough commercials to fill in a 150 minute time slot is excessive. This is one of the more amusing episodes starring John Nettles with an interesting perspective on "the game" during the Cold War with the U.S.S.R. Plus there are good roles for Anna Massey, Alice Krige and Kirsty Dillon.

Midsomer Murders "The Creeper" season 12 episode 6 (2010) - Kirsty Dillon only shows up for a bit, but Jenny Agutter, Amanda Ryan, Nathalie Cox, Nickolas Grace, Barbara Jeffort and Rik Mayall all get good roles. Does this episode condone burglary as long as it is only the homes of the rich being burglared?

SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED (2012) - Aubrey Plaza brings her unusual charisma to this odd ball romantic comedy. She plays an unhappy young woman who fails a job interview when she is unable to think of a single time she ever made an effort to help anyone. Stuck working as an intern at Seattle Magazine, she jumps at a chance to accompany Jake Johnson as he investigates whomever placed an ad looking for someone to "go back in time with me". Requesting two interns, Johnson not only takes Plaza, but also Karan Soni. They travel to Oceanview, Washington, and it soon becomes obvious that Johnson is hoping to look up an old high school girlfriend. Meanwhile, Plaza finds the author of the want ad, Mark Duplass, and begins to think she's found a kindred spirit. Also in the cast is Mary Lynn Rajskub and Kristen Bell. There is nothing in this movie to suggest that writer Derek Connolly would soon be a major part of the Legendary Entertainment Jurassic World franchise along with director Colin Trevorrow.

Mildly enjoyed:

BIG EASY EXPESS (2012) - In the spring of 2011, Mumford & Sons, Old Crow Medicine Show and Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes toured together by train from Oakland to New Orleans. Emmett Malloy made a documentary about the trip and tour in which the members of the three musical ensembles had a grand ole time playing together and separately. None of the musicians really steps out to become an individual character, so the enjoyment to be had is in the music that is made. 

Midsomer Murders "Small Mercies" season 12 episode 5 (2009) - Olivia Colman is quite charming in this episode, which gave Kirsty Dillon, Jane Wymark, Margaret Tyzack and Caroline Blakiston more to do than usual. And a good role for David Ryall.

Midsomer Murders "For Death Prepare" season 22 episode 5 (2023) - Fiona Dolman, Nick Hendrix and Clive Rowe get to show off their singing talents in a story involving an amateur concert production of Gilbert & Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance. It is also interesting to see Kevin Whately not playing Inspector Lewis.

Did not enjoy:

AND YOU THOUGHT YOUR PARENTS WERE WEIRD (1991) - The son of actors Beatrice Straight and Peter Cookson, Tony Cookson wrote and directed a short film in 1982 called Ringers. Nine years later, Just Betzer of Panorama Film International decided to back Cookson's feature film debut which combined elements of E.T., GHOST and SHORT CIRCUIT into an unappealing mess that even Marcia Strassman couldn't help. Boys Joshua Miller and Edan Gross were following in their late father's path by becoming Junior Inventors. They built an "R2D2" like robot out of junk parts, which the spirit of their father (voiced by Alan Thicke) came down from heaven to inhabit. After assurring them that he did not deliberatly drive his car off a cliff, the father in a robot eventually made peace with his widow, Marcia Strassman, and encouraged her to move on with a new man. Meanwhile, the family thwarted an effort to steal their robot by John Quade and others. As his feature debut did not do well during its theatrical run, Cookson had to wait eight years before he could make his second, and so far last, feature LOVE HAPPENS. 

Fallout (2024) - This 8 episode series on Prime Video once again evidences my complaint about streaming programs being more interested in stretching their story to fill in a long format than in "getting on with it". And, of course, there is no resolution at the end of the season. I do enjoy watching Ella Purnell, who should have played the lead in the live action version of ALITA. It is remarkable that after spending so much time in the surface wasteland that her hair still looks so good.

PASSIONADA (2002) - Was it the success of MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING that inspired the producers of PASSIONADA to set their romantic comedy in the Portuguese American community in New Bedford, Massachusetts? Aside from a street festival in the middle of the movie, there is very little ethnic flavor in this film. Casual viewers would probably guess that the characters are Latino, with star Sofia Milos being born in Switzerland and Lupe Ontiveros usually playing Mexican Americans. The film starts with a memorial service for the men killed in a fishing boat accident. Milos is a widow who promises to love the deceased forever. Emmy Rossum is her daughter who dreams of making money playing cards. At a casino, she meets Jason Isaacs and sees that he is cheating by "counting cards". Isaacs beats an hasty return to the home of his friends Seymour Cassel and Theresa Russell. Later on, Isaacs, Cassel and Russell go to a club where Milos is a singer. Immediately smitten, Isaacs unsuccessfully pursues Milos, even  finding her address in the phone book and showing up at her door. Answering the door is Rossum, who agrees to help Isaacs woo her mother if he teaches her how to "count cards". Isaacs concocts a false identity and succeeds in Milos falling in love with him. Naturally, his lies get uncovered, and she rejects him. In the end, he succeeds in convincing her that he's reformed. Director Dan Ireland brought nothing of note to the material which was fairly standard romantic comedy material. However, there seems to have been some stuff that was set up but missing. Why go through all of the scenes of Rossum learning to cheat at cards without a payoff of her getting caught? Why have an extended scene of Russell wanting to talk to Milos and then not showing the conversation?

 

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David Deal Enjoyed:

THE ITALIAN CONNECTION (72)

SUPERSEVEN CALLING CAIRO (66)

THE STRANGLERS OF BOMBAY (59)

WINNETOU II (64)

OUTLAW: HEARTLESS (68) - The continuing saga of yakuza assassin Goro Fujikawa (Tetsuya Watari). This time an act of kindness on Goro's part puts him on the road with a man's sick wife, a road that leads to her family home and her untimely death. On the way, the woman's health fails and they must wait in Yokohama for her recovery. While there Goro's complicated yakuza life catches up to him. Another classic Japanese gangster flick with fabulously choreographed knife fights in locales that stress the characters' isolation from normal society.

LADY MORGAN'S VENGEANCE (65)

THE BLACK TIGHT KILLERS (66) - The new Blu-ray looks great.

FORBIDDEN PHOTOS OF A LADY ABOVE SUSPICION (70)

CASABLANCA (42)

Mildly Enjoyed 

PUZZLE (74)

DESTINATION ISTANBUL 68 (67)

MOVING VIOLATION (76)

THE RINGER (64)

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Angel Rivera  Enjoyed:

"BAND OF BROTHERS" (2001) Season 1; Episode #9--"Why We Fight"
I hadn't watched the series when it originally aired, but I caught this particular episode and was astounded. The soldiers of Easy Company (a name maybe better known for the soldiers of WWII who fought under Sgt. Rock of DC Comics fame.) enter Germany sometime after D-Day and come across a concentration camp with almost dying Jewish prisoners. As the German interpreter with Easy Co. gets out of one of the prisoners, that the Nazis guarding the camp tried to kill all the prisoners, but they ran out of bullets.  Then fearing the Americans, the Nazis abandoned the camp leaving their prisoners to die. This dramatization was surprising to me as I had always heard the camps were liberated. The men of Easy Company had never even heard of such inhuman manners of the Nazis. An officer of Easy Company conversing with another officer learns that the Russians have come across even more inhuman manners as finding the death camps with their ovens. Easy Company then begin to find food for the prisoners, but get outrage from the village shop keepers and other German citizens who say they knew nothing about the camp. This comes with disbelief from the Easy Company officer as he does not believe they could not have smelled the odor from the camp. Martial law is imposed and the citizens are then told they will be helping to bury the dead, (which were maybe in the hundreds in this particular camp). All in all a very moving episode.

"GLORY" (1989)
Caught the award winning film about the first "colored" regiments to see combat during the US Civil War. There are moving performances by all the cast which includes: Matthew Broderick; Denzel Washington; Morgan Freeman; Cary Elwes; and Andre Brauugher. Another very moving and informative film.

"HOTEL MUMBAI" (2018)
A most terrifying reenactment of the attack by Islamic jihadists on the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai, India in 2008. The jihadists shot and killed members of the staff of the hotel, as well as guests of the hotel. Based on a documentary which featured true accounts of the survivors.

"A PLACE IN THE SUN" (1951)
I wasn't much of a fan of Elizabeth Taylor, but after seeing this film I saw what a beautiful and talented actress she was. The film also has excellent performances from Montgomery Clift (before his accident); and Shelly Winter; as well as Raymond Burr. Based loosely on Theodore Dreiser's 1925  novel, "An American Tragedy" which in turn was based on a real life murder case.  

"NIAGRA" (1953)
A big Marilyn Monroe fan, this one is one of my favorites of hers. A color "noir" film Marilyn plays a real femme fatale who cheats on her older and mentally frayed husband played by Joseph Cotten who ends up taking out his frustrations on Marilyn after her plan to have Cotten killed backfires on her. Great direction, photography and scenery of Niagra Falls. This movie was the one that made Marilyn Monroe a star. Her appearance and performance are perfect for this movie.

"GREEN BOOK" (2018)
Another film based on a true story, A famed Black pianist hires a one time bouncer for a mob run club to drive him through and bring him to his concert venue in the Deep US South in 1962. Great performances by Viggo Mortensen as the white ex-bouncer and Mahershala Ali in an Oscar winning performance as the famed Black pianist. A very heart warming film.

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Bertrand van Wonterghem Enjoyed:

Le diner de cons (1998, Francis Veber)

Young Sheldon – season 7 – episodes 2 to 14

Bimireun Eopseo / Frankly speaking – season 1 (2023) – episodes 10 to 12

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