Wednesday, March 30, 2011

PEE-MINUS

Have you seen this seriously deranged video? A friend forwarded me the link today; I had never heard of these maniacs, but apparently they’re a big deal in Europe, even though they’re American in origin. According to Wikipedia, the founder of the group is a native of my beloved home city of Erie!

RIP to Farley Granger, best known for the shady characters he played for Hitchcock near the beginning of his career, in Rope & Strangers on a Train, passed on at 85.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

LIZ WAS MORE

RIP to Elizabeth Taylor, who spent her career showing that she was a diligent, competent actress as if to sheepishly apologize for being so incomparably beautiful. For my money, she never looked quite so luscious as she did in 1959’s Suddenly, Last Summer:


Turner Classic Movies is devoting all day April 10 to her movies; alas, Suddenly, Last Summer isn't on the bill.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

STRONG RECOMMENDATION

Valley folk: If you missed Zachary Levy’s funny & poignant documentary Strongman when the Midnite Movie Mamacita showed it a few months back, I highly recommend that you catch up with it at Harkins Valley Art, where it plays through Thursday.



You can read my review of it here.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

PEE WEE & HUSKY

Pee-Wee Herman quickly explains the premise of the upcoming movie Source Code here.

RIP to underrated country-music great (& star of Hillybillys in a Haunted House) Ferlin Husky, departed at 85—on, I would guess, the wings of a snow-white dove…

Thursday, March 17, 2011

SWELL PICTURE

Happy St. Paddy’s everybody! My pal Tom sent me this awesome photo (his), in the spirit of “May the Road Rise Up to Meet Your Feet”:


Your Humble Narrator’s been stretched a bit thin lately, though in a good way, & missed out on commenting on the likes of the Oscars & Jane Russell’s passing.

But I did want to note the departure, at 94, of Michael Gough, best known now as Alfred in Tim Burton’s Batman & several of its sequels, though his many, many roles included everything from Bertrand Russell in Derek Jarman’s Wittgenstein to a Murderer in Olivier’s Richard III to starring parts in stuff like The Horrors of the Black Museum. He was working recently enough to provide the voice of The Dodo in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland.

I especially love Gough’s performances as unapolgetically nasty, heartless mad scientists in Konga & the pricelessly funny Horror Hospital.