Early last month Nick Dawson kindly asked me to take part in an interview for the terrific FilmInFocus.com site. The interview is now available online as their current Behind the Blog feature. In the rather lengthy interview I talk about why I enjoy writing about movies and how I got interested in blogging. I was extremely surprised that Nick asked me to take part in an interview and I’m grateful that he finds my blog worth reading.
Some observant readers may notice that the interview took place before there was so much navel-gazing going on among my fellow film bloggers. I mention some blogs that have since gone on hiatus in the interview and I don’t address the fact that due to staff cuts I’m no longer writing for Cinedelica.com, which published the only film writing work I was ever paid for.
My blog has been suffering a bit lately due to the fact that I’ve got a lot of personal things I’m dealing with at the moment, including hunting for freelance writing and graphic/web design work, which is extremely hard to come by. The economy is in deep trouble and like many fine folks working in all kinds of professions, I’m having a hard time trying to pay my bills. Hopefully I’ll have more free time for film writing soon but I wanted to mention that last month Cinebeats celebrated its second anniversary. I’m extremely grateful that 1000+ visitors take the time to stop by Cinebeats every day. This is not a vanity project and I don’t expect to get rich writing about movies. I write about movies I like simply because I love talking about the films I enjoy.
Some people play golf to relax and others like to garden or collect stamps. When I’m not taking photos and making art, I like to watch movies and write about them. It brings me a lot of joy when I get an email from someone telling me they’ve watched a film I’ve written about and they appreciate my recommendations. 20 years ago it would have been impossible for me to freely self-publish my thoughts about films and share them with other film enthusiasts all over the world so easily and I’m thankful for the opportunities that blogging has given me. I’ve been writing on and off for 25 years and blogging has been the most rewarding writing experience I’ve had.
I’m also thankful that my fellow film bloggers have been so gracious and encouraging. I’m especially thankful to Dennis Cozzalio who runs the terrific and always entertaining Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule, Brian Darr and his resourceful and informative Hell on Frisco Bay blog and Girish Shambu whose blog has probably given me more delicious food for thought in the past couple of years than any other film blog that I can think of. Dennis, Brian and Girish were some of the first people who took the time to comment on my blog and exchange links back in 2006. Their generosity of spirit and good nature have really helped motivate me to keep blogging and I can’t thank them enough for their support. Here’s to you boys and to another fun and fascinating year of film blogging!
John Phillip Law as the sexy silent super thief, Diabolik.
One of my favorite actors and one of the most beautiful men to ever appear in movies has passed away at the age of 70. It’s mind-boggling to consider how many terrific and entertaining films that John Philip Law appeared in. He may not be a household name and if imdb.com is to be believed, I don’t think he ever won any acting awards but he was always fun to watch and I never get tired of looking at him. He’s really one of cinema’s great male beauties and an important counterculture figure. I will miss him but I’m thankful that I got to enjoy the man in so many wonderful movies.
My Top 10 favorite John Phillip Law films
(numerical order subject to change at anytime!):
1. Diabolik (1968) (Diabolik made my list of 10 Favorite Eurotrash films that I compiled last year.)
2. Barbarella (1968)
John Phillip Law as the blind angel Pygar in Roger Vadim’s surreal and sexy sci-fi fantasy Barbarella (1968)
3. Death Rides a Horse (1967) (This film made my list of Top 10 Spaghetti Westerns)
4. The Love Machine (1971)
5. The Sergeant (1968)
6. Whisper in the Dark (1976)
Dyan Cannon and John Phillip Law having some fun
in the sex-charged Jack Haley Jr. film The Love Machine (1971)
7. The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming (1966) (I wrote about this film in-depth last year after revisiting it)
8. Skidoo (1968)
9. The Last Movie (1971)
10. The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1974)
John Phillip Law must deal with Rod Steiger’s unwanted advances in The Sergeant (1968). A fascinating film about a gay military man struggling with his emotions.
Honorable Mention:
The unforgettable ’80s horror fantasy Night Train to Terror (1985)
It’s really a shame that The Love Machine, The Sergeant and Skidoo are not available on DVD yet. Some studios will probably try to cash in on the actor’s death so we may see these films finally find there way onto DVD soon. Skidoo seems to be getting a lot of attention lately so I suspect that it will be released in the near future.
Finally… a must see video clip for The Swinging Lust World of John Phillip Law. This wonderful psychedelic video tribute to John Phillip Law contains brief action clips from many of his best films accompanied by the title song from Ennio Morricone’s brilliant soundtrack for Diabolik. It appears to be a trailer for a longer upcoming film:
UPDATE: The very nice Chris Casey was kind enough to leave a comment on my Myspace Blog letting me know that John Phillip Law had been suffering the effects of terminal cancer, which led to his sudden death. You can find Chris’ comments here.
The very nice Christine Makepeace recently contacted me to let me know about a quarterly magazine she writes for called Paracinema so I decided to give it a look. When the winter issue of Paracinema arrived in my mailbox last week I didn’t know what to expect but I was pleasantly surprised by the wide array of subjects the magazine covers. Within the pages of Paracinema you’ll find articles on directors Dario Argento and Pier Paolo Pasolini, as well as an insightful piece on David Cronenberg’s Scanners (1981) and a look at H.P. Lovecraft film adaptations. Comic book author Robert Kirkman also provides the magazine with a list of his “Top 5 Cult Films” and The Food Network’s Duff Goldman offers up a list of ten of his “Favorite Films” as well.
One of my favorite articles in the winter issue of Paracinema was Christine’s “10 Totally Biased Reasons The Never Ending Story Is The Best Fantasy Film Ever.” I don’t personally think that The Never Ending Story (1984) is the best fantasy film ever made, but it is a good movie that’s often overlooked and I really enjoyed Christine’s enthusiastic take on Wolfgang Petersen’s underappreciated film.
With outlets like Tower Records gone and the prices of printing increasing every day, more and more small press magazines are disappearing. It’s not easy to keep a print magazine running so I applaud Paracinema’s efforts.
If you’d like to purchase issues of Paracinema please visit the Paracinema Magazine Website. You can also visit the Paracinema Blog that Christine Makepeace regularly contributes to.
I’ve been enjoying August Ragone’s writing on Japanese cinema for many many years. I first discovered his work thanks to a terrific zine he first produced in the 80s’ called Markalite: The Magazine of Japanese Fantasy and since then I’ve read numerous articles he’s written for magazines such as G-Fan and Asian Cult Cinema over the years. Most recently he wrote the wonderful book Eiji Tsuburaya: Master of Monsters, which was published in association with Chronicle Books.
August Ragone has also just started his own blog called The Good, the Bad, and Godzilla and if you’re a fan of Japanese fantasy and science fiction films I highly recommend giving his new blog a look. You’ll finds news and information about his upcoming book signings and various events there as well as interesting bits and pieces about Japanese cinema.
I was sad to learn of Richard Widmark’s death this morning after returning from my vacation. He lived a long and productive life, but Widmark has long been one of my favorite actors and since I share my birthday with the man I’ve always felt a sort of camaraderie with him. Widmark was a truly talented actor who could play incredibly nasty bad guy such as the iconic Tommy Udo in Kiss of Death (1947) or a heroic doctor in Panic in the Streets (1950) with an equal measure of skill. He might not be “typically” attractive by Hollywood standards, but in his younger years he was a great looking man with a wicked grin and he was just lot of fun to watch. In recent years actors and directors such as Jane Fonda, Robert De Niro and Peter Bogdonavich had been trying to get him awarded with an Honorary Oscar since he had never received one, but sadly that won’t happen now and it’s a shame.
Besides Kiss of Death and Panic in the Streets, some of my favorite Widmark performances can be found in a lot of the early noir films he made and stylish crime thrillers such as The Street with No Name (1948), Night and the City (1950), No Way Out (1950), Don’t Bother to Knock (1952) and Pickup on South Street (1953), which all come with my highest recommendation, but he was also terrific in the influential sixties era police drama Madigan (1968) and he appeared in some entertaining horror films and thrillers in the seventies such as Murder on the Orient Express (1974), To the Devil a Daughter (1976), Rollercoaster (1977), The Swarm (1978) and Coma (1978). He often made sub par films more watchable just with his presence. These days’ actors with Widmark’s kind of charisma and versatility are few and far between in my opinion and he’ll be missed.
Elke Sommer and her bunny want to wish everyone
a happy holiday weekend!
Real world responsibilities, job hunting and a bad cold have been interfering with my writing and blog updates lately. I’m also going on a brief vacation tomorrow and I won’t return until Tuesday next week, but by then I should be feeling a lot better and you can expect me to start regularly updating Cinebeats again.
During my downtime I have been catching up on some reading. I got some interesting books for Christmas last year including Geoffrey Nowell-Smith’s Making Waves: New Cinemas of the 1960s and Amos Vogel’s Film as a Subversive Art, which have been keeping me busy. Both books make for some fast, fun and fascinating reading.
I’ve also been thinking a lot about how I write about film and the way I approach viewing and analyzing the movies I watch after the film critic Adrian Martin was kind enough to consider my blog in a brief piece he wrote for de Filmkrant which you can read here:
I’ve admired Adrian Martin for awhile and I find his writing and interviews very inspiring so I was extremely surprised and deeply flattered when Girish kindly pointed out Adrian’s piece in his own blog, which led to an interesting conversation there. I tend to get a little intimidated by all the wonderful and extremely thoughtful conversations that take place at Girish’s blog and I get nervous about jumping into the fray, but Girish has always made me feel very welcome there even when the other commentators occasionally seem to be twisting themselves up in small knots trying to talk around me and over me
I must also say that I’m really happy to be considered an ‘enthusiast’ by Adrian since it was really my love, appreciation and interest in unusual films that have often been maligned in the past or overlooked such as Boom! and Blood and Roses, which really motivated me to start writing about cinema and I find the original Cahiers du cinéma writers extremely inspirational.
Before I disappear for a few days, I thought I’d share a few links to various things of possible interest…
My buddy Kate has started her own film blog called Love Train for the Tenebrous Empire. If you enjoy horror films and unusual subgenres like nunsploitation, please stop by Kate’s blog and tell her I sent ya!
- Love Train for the Tenebrous Empire
Ferdy on Films is putting together a blogathon May 4th - 10th called Invitation to the Dance that will focus on various forms of dance found in films. I have a serious weakness for musicals that makes me drop everything I’m doing and watch them if I ever come across one playing on TV so naturally I plan on excepting Marilyn’s invitation and I hope other film bloggers will as well!
- Invitation to the Dance Movie Blogathon
And last but not least, Tim Lucas recently offered up a sneak peek at the upcoming Criterion - Eclipse 3 Disc DVD Box Set of The Delirious Fictions of William Klein, which has me super excited since it promises to be one of this years most interesting DVD releases. I’ve only seen Klein’s wonderfully surreal and fantastic film Who Are You, Polly Maggoo? (Qui êtes-vous, Polly Maggoo?, 1966) myself, but the print I saw many years ago was from a horrible multi-generation VHS tape that was barely watchable so I’m really looking forward to this release. Now I’ll finally be able to enjoy Who Are You, Polly Maggoo? in all its glorious widescreen splendor, along with many of Klein’s other films that I haven’t had the opportunity to see yet.
- The Delirious Fictions of William Klein
You can experience a little bit of William’s Klein’s magic in the following clip from his film Who Are You, Polly Maggoo? (1966)
She’s been married eight times to seven different men. She was condemned by the Vatican for her “erotic vagrancy.” She’s received two Academy Awards, four Golden Globes and one Razzie. She saved Montgomery Clift’s life in 1956. She’s given countless millions to charity. Andy Warhol turned her likeness into art and Mattel turned her likeness into a doll. Elizabeth Taylor is a true “Movie Star” and today the legendary actress is celebrating her 76th birthday.
Throughout the following week I’m going to be writing about a few of my favorite Elizabeth Taylor films made during the late sixties and early seventies. Taylor is undoubtedly one of cinema’s great beauties and her early work is often praised by critics who claim that Elizabeth Taylor’s acting talents peaked in 1966 when she made the award winning film Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? with her husband Richard Burton and director Mike Nichols. Contrary to popular critical opinion, I think some of Taylor’s most interesting roles can be found in the films she made between 1967-1975. During this period Elizabeth Taylor really matured as an actress and with Burton by her side, she was willing to take on risky roles in unusual films that were often financial failures and typically misunderstood and attacked by critics.
In the next week I hope to shine a little light on some of the lesser-known movies that Elizabeth Taylor made during this later period in her career when she seemed to use her age, experience, faults, quirks, addictions, inner turmoil and the passionate relationship she shared with fellow actor Richard Burton to inject her roles with an edgy over-the-top candor that I personally find fascinating to watch on screen.
I’ve only had the opportunity to see a few of the films nominated for Academy Awards this year and besides David Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises, I haven’t been all that impressed with what I’ve seen. Since I don’t write about modern film that often I wasn’t going to mention the Oscars this year, but I will be watching the award show tonight and I hope to catch a glimpse of two of my favorite modern actors; Viggo Mortensen and Tadanobu Asano.
I’ve been following Viggo Mortensen’s acting career closely since I first saw him the entertaining horror film Prison back in 1988. Viggo really stood out and it was clear to me back then that he had the good looks and acting abilities to become a major star. Besides acting Viggo Mortensen is an accomplished poet and artist, and he’s also recorded multiple albums. He’s a truly talented individual and an American original who’s not afraid to speak his mind and stand up for what he believes in.
After enjoying Mortensen in somewhat lackluster films like Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990) and Young Guns II (1990), he went on make some of his best films in the early 1990s such as The Reflecting Skin (1990), The Indian Runner (1991) and The Passion of Darkly Noon (1995). By the late 1990s, I had sort of lost track of him and stopped paying attention to his films until his name was suddenly everywhere following the success of the Lord of the Rings movies. I naively assumed he would continue making blockbuster action films in Hollywood after that so I was completely caught off guard by his incredible performance in David Cronenberg’s A History of Violence (2005) and I’m really happy that the director and actor seem to have forged an interesting creative bond that I hope will only evolve over time. I’d like to see Viggo Mortensen take home the Oscar for Best Actor tonight, but the odds are not in his favor.
Top: Viggo Mortensen in Eastern Promises
Bottom: Tadanobu Asano in Mongol
Much like Viggo Mortensen, Tadanobu Asano is a true “Renaissance Man” and besides being one of Japan’s most accomplished modern actors, he’s also a talented artist and musician.
I first discovered Asano’s talent back in 1998 (exactly 10 years after I came across Viggo Mortensen in Prison) when he starred in the excellent Japanese crime thriller and satire Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl (Samehada otoko to momojiri onna) followed by his impressive role in the samurai drama Taboo (Gohatto, 1999). I lost track of Asano for a few years until I caught him starring in Takashi Miike’s Ichi the Killer (Koroshiya 1, 2001), but he was hard to recognize at first. His hair was bleached bright blond and it took me awhile to figure out that he was the same handsome actor that I had been impressed with in earlier films. From that moment on I was determined to know more about Asano and I’ve made an effort to see many of his early films as well as his newest efforts whenever I can. Some of his best films in recent years include Bright Future (Akarui mirai, 2003), Last Life in the Universe (Ruang rak noi nid mahasan, 2003), Zatoichi (2003), Vital (2004), Survive Style 5+ (2004) and Rampo Noir (2005).
Unfortunately I haven’t had the opportunity to see Tadanobu Asano’s new Oscar nominated film Mongol (Sergei Bodrov; 2007) yet but it’s up for Best Picture in the much-contested Foreign Film category. I hope Asano will be able to attend the award show tonight on the off chance that the film he starred in might win.
Countless Oscars have been handed out as consolatory prizes for overlooked work and Viggo Mortensen and Tadanobu Asano’s ongoing and impressive acting careers have been overlooked by Hollywood and American film audiences for much too long. The odds might be stacked against them both tonight, but I’ll be rooting for them!
Update (2.25.08)
- Unfortunately my guys didn’t win anything and I thought the Award show was dull as dishwater this year (my favorite moment was when the Coen brothers won best director and Joel’s wife Frances McDormand couldn’t contain her happiness!). Oh well, there’s always next year. In the meantime, here are some pics of the most interesting actors who attended last nights red carpet affair. For my money, Asano was the best looking and best dressed man there. Even Viggo looked terrific with his bushy beard.
Viggo Mortensen and Tadanobu Asano at the 80th Academy Awards
There is sad news today of the death of Alain Robbe-Grillet who has left this world at the ripe old age of 85. GreenCine Daily has collected some links to news stories and various articles about this talented writer and director. I also recommend Robert Monell’s brief piece The Films of Alain Robbe-Grillet and the Alain Robbe-Grillet Bibliography.
Apologies to anyone awaiting my DVD Pick of the Week, but I’m afraid I’ve been too busy compiling my list of Favorite DVDs of 2007 to keep up with current releases. Next week I’ll try to get back on track, but in the meantime I wanted to share some of my thoughts on last year’s DVD releases, which I’m still enjoying.
Even with some of my favorite DVD companies such as NoShame Films missing in action in 2007 and Blue Underground seemingly stuck in redistributing Anchor Bay’s old catalog, the year still turned out to be a terrific one for fans of ’60s and ’70s cinema. Lots of great movies from my favorite film eras found their way onto DVD for the first time. Many other previously released films also got deluxe DVD treatments such as Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver (1976), Richard Lester’s Help! (1965) and Roman Polanski’s Chinatown (1974). As usual, Criterion offered buyers a wide array of remarkable movies from many different countries and many other smaller companies and boutique labels such as Fantoma, Media Blasters, Kino, Severin, Synapse Films and Dark Sky Films left an impressive mark on the DVD market.
The Stanley Kubrick - Warner Home Video Directors Series DVD Collection
was one of the years many highlights.
I was especially happy to see British and Japanese cinema so well represented on DVD last year. You’ll find a lot of rare and previously hard to see films from both of those countries on my list of Favorite DVDs from 2007. Many of the Japanese films on my list were never theatrically released in the U.S. and have never been easily accessible in any form. I was frankly rather surprised and disappointed after looking over countless lists of “Best DVDs of 2007″ at the end of the year published in newspapers, magazines and online to find that so many critics continued to overlook and underestimate the quality of the great Japanese cinema being released on DVD lately. Even though western audiences now have access to lots of noteworthy films, Japanese cinema from the sixties and seventies continues to suffer from very little critical response. This is really a shame since some companies who release Japanese films on DVD have already announced that they will be cutting back on the number of films they release in 2008. Considering that my brief look at the pinky violence genre last year generated the most blog hits I received all year and was linked to, copied and quoted from numerous times, I suspect that things will change in the future. As I pointed out in that piece, many critics and potential viewers are just discovering that there is life in Japanese cinema outside of the work of Kurosawa, Ozu and Mizoguchi.
I was also thrilled to see lots of great spy films from the sixties find their way onto DVD thanks to a renewed interest in James Bond after the success of Martin Campbell’s Casino Royale (2006). Even though I only included Caprice (1967) on my list, I seriously considered adding Dark Sky’s wonderful Drive-in Movie Double Feature of Assassination in Rome (1965) and Espionage in Tangiers (1965) as well. I also really wanted to like Image Entertainment’s Kommissar X (1966) DVD Collection more, but the poor quality of the film transfers made some of the movies almost unwatchable and they weren’t helped by the horrible packaging and lack of extras. I really wish Image had made an effort to restore the Kommissar X films since they are terrific entertainment and worthy of a much better presentation. Because of the problems with this set it was probably my biggest DVD disappointment of last year, but I’m happy that I finally got to see these great movies. Besides the release of so many terrific spy films and satires, fans of the genre were also gifted with some great television shows made available on DVD for the first time including Jason King (1971-72), The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964-68) and more episodes of The Wild Wild West (1965-69). I expect this trend to continue well into 2008 and beyond since anticipation for the upcoming James Bond film Quantum of Solace (2008) is high.
There were a surprising number of DVD re-releases last year, which I often found rather frustrating since I personally don’t have the extra funds to buy multiple copies of the movies I enjoy, but I’m also glad that so many previous releases were improved upon. Unfortunately many of these noteworthy re-releases were left off my list because I haven’t seen them yet. Few American films managed to make my list and I was really disappointed by the lack of giallo films that were made available on DVD in 2007. My Favorite 2006 DVD list was dominated by great Italian thrillers and many American classics, but both are relatively absent from my 2007 list. Naturally I wasn’t able to see every film I was interested in seeing and I’ve found that my local DVD rental options are becoming narrower every month. After Borders, Blockbuster and Best Buy moved into town and the much missed Tower Records sadly went out of business, small local shops and rental options started disappearing as well. Even the large local retail outlets like Borders have stopped carrying many DVDs released by small boutique labels and new Criterion releases are not available for rent anywhere. This is a sad state of affairs considering that I live in the Bay Area right outside of a major metropolitan area like San Francisco. It’s frustrating to have so many great films now available and so few options to rent or purchase DVDs. I’m an occasional impulse buyer and sometimes I enjoy being able to jump in my Mini Coop, visit a local shop and pick up a DVD I suddenly have an urge to see, but that hasn’t happened in months.
Complaints aside, I do want to stress that 2007 was a truly great year for DVD releases. Many of my favorite films were released for the first time and I was introduced to some amazing movies that I had never seen before. Although we’re only six weeks into 2008, it’s already shaping up to be another fabulous year for DVD releases and I expect it will only get better!
The 3 Rules I followed when compiling my list of Top 30 Favorite DVD Releases of 2007: 1. All DVD were released in the U.S. in 2007 (NTSC Region 1) 2. All the DVDs feature films that were originally released in the ’60s or ’70s. 3. Selections are listed Alphabetically and without numerical preference.
Part II. of my Favorite DVD Releases of 2007 will be posted soon so stay tuned!
For most of my life I’ve disliked Doris Day. Doris was one of my mother’s favorite actresses and when I was a kid I had to sit through all the romantic comedies she made with Rock Hudson and James Garner numerous times, but they never really appealed to me when I was growing up. Doris was always just too blond, perky and cheerful for my liking and I found her carefree attitude just plain off-putting. I was a rather sullen, angry and rebellious kid, so I suppose that was one reason Doris and her colorful films didn’t do a thing for me when I was younger. In some ways I think I was a bit jealous of the way Doris managed to effortlessly smile through movie after movie, no matter how lackluster the material was.
About six or seven years ago something strange happened. It all started when I caught Doris Day playing an American heiress named Kit Preston in the entertaining thriller Midnight Lace (David Miller; 1960) opposite the great Rex Harrison when it was playing on television one afternoon. Midnight Lace might not be a brilliant film, but with its faux-London setting, fabulous Irene Lentz costume designs, creative photography by cinematographer Russell Metty and a suspenseful score by composer Frank Skinner, it’s an effective movie and easily one of Doris Day’s best efforts in my opinion. She doesn’t sing one song in Midnight Lace, but Doris really gets to show off her acting chops as she descends into madness while being pursued by a potential murderer.
Midnight Lace is not in the same league as the great films it borrows from such as Hitchcock’s Dial M for Murder (1954) and George Cukor’s Gaslight (1944), but if you happen to like stylish sixties thrillers, you might enjoy the movie as much as I do. Besides Doris Day and Rex Harrison, the cast of Midnight Lace also includes the wonderful Myrna Loy, a menacing Roddy McDowall, the handsome John Gavin and the always dependable John Williams as Inspector Byrnes, who’s trying to find out who’s terrorizing Doris Day throughout the course of the film. Midnight Lace managed to make me reevaluate my opinion about Doris Day and I started to really appreciate her excellent fashion sense, carefree smile and independent spirit.
Doris Day modeling the Irene Lentz fashions designed for Midnight Lace (1960)
In recent years I began watching many of her films in a new light and now I have no problem enjoying silly romantic Doris Day comedies like Move Over, Darling (1963) and Do Not Disturb (1965) or the fun spy capers she made like The Glass Bottom Boat (1966) and the underrated Caprice (1967), which I hope to review in the future. The older I get the more I’m able to completely loose myself in the charm of these often critically maligned films and I now find Doris Day’s wide smile infectious. I’ve also started listening to lots of Doris Day records recently thanks to the Swinging and Singing blog which has been sharing some rare and apparently out-of-print Doris Day recordings such as the terrific jazz soundtrack she recorded with Harry James & His Orchestra for her film A Young Man and His Horn (Michael Curtiz; 1950).
This is why I was happy to learn that the Doris Day will be receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award this weekend during the 50th Annual Grammy Awards‘ celebration. The Lifetime Achievement Awards will be handed out on Saturday in a non-televised ceremony and will probably only garner a brief mention during the actual award show that’s airing on Sunday night. This will be her first Grammy, but Doris isn’t expected to attend since the 83 year old singer and actress may be suffering from some health problems and she’s become a bit of recluse over the years, while devoting herself to numerous animal rights’ causes. I wish her well and I’m glad The Recording Academy is finally acknowledging Doris Day’s contribution to popular music.
The great actor Amitabh Bachchan (the “Big B”) starred in many of the best Bollywood films produced in India during the ’70s and he has millions of devoted fans all over the world. There is probably no actor more loved and respected in India and since I love Amitabh too, I couldn’t resist sharing this bit of news from MSN Entertainment.
Recently one of Amitabh Bachchan’s fans by the name of Jitendra Shivhare penned a Sanskrit poem on a 101-metre-long scroll of paper as an “invocation to the Bollywood actor whom he treats as a god.”
“Amitabh is my God
and I am his priest.
Whenever I land in any trouble,
I always remember him to get out of it.”
- excerpt from the poem by Jitendra Shivhare
Jitendra Shivhare titled his creation Bachchan Mahakavya and he is currently pursuing a BA in Sanskrit from Devi Ahilyabai Vishwa Vidyalaya University in India.
All hail the great Big B! Sign me up for the church of Amitabh. That’s a religion I could get behind.
A trailer for my favorite Amitabh Bachchan film Don (1978)
The very nice Christine Makepeace recently contacted me to let me know about a quarterly magazine she writes for called Paracinema so I decided to give it a look. When the winter issue of Paracinema arrived in my mailbox last week I didn’t know what to expect but I was pleasantly surprised by the wide array of subjects the magazine covers. Within the pages of Paracinema you’ll find articles on directors Dario Argento and Pier Paolo Pasolini, as well as an insightful piece on David Cronenberg’s Scanners (1981) and a look at H.P. Lovecraft film adaptations. Comic book author Robert Kirkman also provides the magazine with a list of his “Top 5 Cult Films” and The Food Network’s Duff Goldman offers up a list of ten of his “Favorite Films” as well. 
I was also thrilled to see lots of great spy films from the sixties find their way onto DVD thanks to a renewed interest in James Bond after the success of Martin Campbell’s Casino Royale (2006). Even though I only included Caprice (1967) on my list, I seriously considered adding Dark Sky’s wonderful Drive-in Movie Double Feature of 
(David Miller; 1960) opposite the great Rex Harrison when it was playing on television one afternoon. Midnight Lace might not be a brilliant film, but with its faux-London setting, fabulous Irene Lentz costume designs, creative photography by cinematographer Russell Metty and a suspenseful score by composer Frank Skinner, it’s an effective movie and easily one of Doris Day’s best efforts in my opinion. She doesn’t sing one song in Midnight Lace, but Doris really gets to show off her acting chops as she descends into madness while being pursued by a potential murderer.
Recently one of Amitabh Bachchan’s fans by the name of Jitendra Shivhare penned a Sanskrit poem on a 101-metre-long scroll of paper as an “invocation to the Bollywood actor whom he treats as a god.”