Archive for TV/Film/Music

Catching Up with Pop Culture: Inglourious Basterds

February 9, 2010 Reviews & Recaps No comments

For various reasons, some valid (getting married) and some not (sheer unadulterated laziness) I’ve been lagging behind the cultural zeitgeist on a few things over the past couple years. So, with the injection of the perfect storm of Netflix/HDTV/BluRay into my former 20th Century entertainment center comes some better late than never reflections on some films or yore. Being that this film came out last year, I see there no reason to warn of spoilers.

Un Poster d'Italiano

First up, is the comical romp through German occupied France during the gay old Forties known as INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS. After snoring through JACKIE BROWN, just not feeling KILL BILL(s) and being bored to tears with his half of GRINDHOUSE, DEATH PROOF, even though I was at a midnight screening at Mann’s Chinese Theatre passing a gallon size cup of Jack & Coke back and forth with a dozen of my closest friends, you could say that Quentin was close to being relegated to just “that interesting character I’ll watch interviews for” and not for the visionary director he once was.

Well, that all changed last night when my eyeballs were done being Tarantinoized once again. And while I still think PULP FICTION is his best work by far, with RESERVOIR DOGS a close second, BASTERDS definitely comes with guns blazing up the rear to third.

As I was watching/reading the movie, (which by the way will require a second viewing for that very reason), it occurred to me that when QT is firing on all cylinders, with his chapters and splintered timelines, he’s basically been making foreign films his whole life. This time, he just went it did it. And did it well, no less. Read more

LOST: LA X Recaps

February 5, 2010 Reviews & Recaps No comments

Doc Jensen: ‘Lost’ recap: What’s Your Worldview?

A.V. Club’s Noel Murray LA X

CHUD: LOST: BACK TO THE ISLAND: SEASON 6 PREMIERE

Doc Artz: More Lost than Ever – 6.01 and 6.02 “LA X”

Famous Drunks: Richard Harris

August 27, 2007 Hall of Fame, TV/Film/Music No comments

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Richard Harris – Irish actor. When asked for his favorite food replied “I adore the hamburgers at P. J. Clarke’s. In my drinking days, it was my first stop from the airport. A fellow named Vinny used to be the bartender there, and when I told him I wanted the usual, he lined up six double vodkas. I told an interviewer that once, and he said, ‘That’s a lot of bull, that’s one of your exaggerated stories!’ I said, ‘Call a taxi.’ We walked into P.J. Clarke’s, I said, ‘Vinny, my usual.’ And he lined up six double vodkas.”
Richard St. John Harris (1 October 1930 – 25 October 2002) was an Irish actor, singer and songwriter. He was featured on stage and in many films, and was perhaps best known for the film role of King Arthur in Camelot (1967) , as Oliver Cromwell in Cromwell and for the portrayal of Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001) and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), his last film. He also played a British aristocrat and prisoner in A Man Called Horse (1970).
Harris was a notorious playboy and drinker, part of a rowdy generation of British and Irish actors including Albert Finney, Laurence Harvey, Peter Finch, Richard Burton and Peter O’Toole.

Famous Drunks: John Barrymore

July 25, 2007 Hall of Fame, TV/Film/Music One comment

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John Barrymore – American actor. A biographer of Barrymore estimated “. . . in 40 years he consumed 640 barrels of hard liquor.”
He was known for calling people by nicknames of his own creation. Dolores Costello was known in his writing alternately as “Small Cat,” “Catkiwee,” “Winkie”, and “Egg.”
He was fond of sailing, and owned his own yacht, “The Mariner”, on which he could escape unhappy wives, mistresses, lawyers, and creditors.
He owned a pet monkey named Clementine, which he adored, and which appeared with her master in the films The Sea Beast (1926), Don Juan (1926), and When A Man Loves (1927). Clementine was a gift from English actress Gladys Cooper.
He named his favourite accommodation in a boarding house “The Alchemist’s Corner.”
The Barrymore Estate is believed to be haunted by his spirit, referenced in Paul Rudnick play I Hate Hamlet.
Quotations
“Why is there so much month left at the end of the money?”
“A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams.”
On the subject of theatre reviews: “Actors should never read them. If you don’t believe the bad ones, why should you pay attention to the good ones?” said to John Carradine, who was performing in If I Were King at the Philharmonic Theatre in Los Angeles.

Best. Movie. Ever.

July 3, 2007 PreView Reviews One comment

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Nothing more to say really. Just go see it. Love it. Touch it. Bathe in the glorious light that is GIANT FUCKING ROBOTS. I’ll be seeing it a few more times this week without a doubt.
Go.. Now.

Jim Carrey To Be A Sorry Drunk

June 29, 2007 Hollywood Updates, Pictures No comments

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Universal Pictures has set Jim Carrey to star in “Sober Buddies,” a comedy Carrey will produce with Stuber/Parent’s Scott Stuber and Mary Parent and Michael Peyser.
Andrew Kurtzman is writing the script, about a hard-partying software exec assigned a court-appointed Sober Buddy to keep him under control during a critical business trip to Las Vegas. A perfect plan falls apart when the Sober Buddy (Carrey) falls off the wagon.
Kurtzman, who’s writing the DreamWorks pic “Mr. Peabody and Sherman” based on the Jay Ward-created cartoon characters, hatched the project as a pitch with Principal Entertainment’s Danny Sherman, who will be exec producer. They brought it to Carrey, who then took it to Stuber. Stuber set it at Universal under the duo’s overall deal at the studio.
Carrey hasn’t chosen his next film but is zeroing in on the two or three roles he’ll take on before a possible strike next June. The candidates: the title character in the Tim Burton-directed “Ripley’s Believe It or Not!” at Paramount; a gay prison escapee in the dark indie comedy “I Love You Phillip Morris,” written and directed by the “Bad Santa” team of Glenn Ficarra and John Requa; and a reluctant nursemaid to his ailing wife and her family in the Fox comedy “Me Time,” scripted by Ian Roberts and Jay Martel.
[variety]

R.I.P. Don Herbert aka Mr. Wizard

June 13, 2007 Hall of Fame, TV/Film/Music No comments

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Not sure if this guy was a drunk or even a drinker at all, but I do know he taught me all kinds of cool things to do with kitchen chemicals when I was a kid. Without him I don’t think I could ever have built my meth empire.
You’ll be missed, Mr. Wizard.

F*ck Spiderman: Rock The Bells Instead

May 4, 2007 Hollywood Updates No comments

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In a former life, I used to live in the world of hip hop, working with such legendary icons as the infamous Redman & Method Man. Even Lazlo, who then went by the ominous title of “Guerilla Pimpin’” when he was providing the much-needed muscle backstage when the ladies were done with the boys and trying to find me, was a part of the crew.
Well, one of the greatest nights in my illustrious Hollywood career was the final reunion of The Wu-Tang Clan back in 2004. (One of 3 final shows I’ve ever been to. Grateful Dead & Phish being the other two. Slightly different vibe.) All the behind the scenes hurrah was captured masterfully on film in the movie ROCK THE BELLS and is being released limitedly today in a few theaters. If you’re a fan of Wu or Red or Hip Hop in general, it is a must-see. It’s worth your 10 bucks.. I wouldn’t stear you wrong.
Find It.. See It.. Love It.. And for those of you in the know and with a sharp eye, you may find Laz and I lurking around in the background of a scene or two.
Have a great weekend kids.. Mahalo,
Lou

Transformers International Poster

April 25, 2007 Hollywood Updates No comments

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Yeah, I know.. Nothing to do with drinking, right? Well, if you think I won’t have a bottle of something clear in my pocket during this flick doing a little transforming of my own, well you must not read this site very often and for that you should go sit in the corner for five minutes. Or click around the site, click the ads and shit and I don’t know, maybe contribute a little something to the world. Sorry.. Long day at work. May need a drink soon.
[AICN]

R.I.P. Not Nappy Headed (Don) Ho

April 16, 2007 Hall of Fame, TV/Film/Music No comments

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Anyone who can write a song about my first true loves, wine & champagne, is alright in my book.


Tiny bubbles (tiny bubbles)
In the wine (in the wine)
Make me happy (make me happy)
Make me feel fine (make me feel fine)
Tiny bubbles (tiny bubbles)
Make me warm all over
With a feeling that I’m gonna
Love you till the end of time
So here’s to the golden moon
And here’s to the silver sea
And mostly here’s a toast
To you and me
So here’s to the ginger lei
I give to you today
And here’s a kiss
That will not fade away

Mahalo, Don..

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