10 Films/Movies in 10 Days

I participated in this 10 Films/Movies in 10 Days on facebook. Actually I named it films/movies because of the podcast that I had been doing.

They are in no particular order. I had a list in mind when I decided to do this, but like everything else when it came time to post I had changed my mind and I wanted to watch the films and movies that I would post.

The films and movies that are in my collection are there for many different reasons. It has to do with the actors or the subject matter.

The first movie I decided to watch was Sparkle. The reason I chose this one because Aretha Franklin had just passed and she did some of the vocals for the movie. Curtis Mayfield composed the music that created some hits.

The movie starred Phillip Michael Thomas, Lonette McKee, Dorian Harewood, Irene Cara and Mary Alice. It was one of the first depictions of a black female singing group with a black cast.

The second movie I decided to watch was The Skulls. I hadn't seen this one in a very long time. Hill Harper has a small, but pivital role. The movie is based on a secret society that politicians and men of power belong too.

The third movie was Meatballs, a fun story about a summer camp of underdogs. The movie starred Bill Murray from Saturday Night Live and introduced us to Chris Makepeace as Rudy Gardner.

The fourth movie was Set It Off one of my favorite movies. It's an original story with some very talented actors. The movie stars Queen Latifah, Jada Pinkett, Viveca Fox, Blair Underwood, Ella Joyce and John McGinley.

The fifth movie was Living Out Loud, another movie that featured Queen Latifah. I really like this movie for it's uniqueness. If we could all just live out loud... life would be even more interesting. The movie stars Holly Hunter and Danny Devito.

The sixth was the film Chain of Desire by Temistecoles Lopez. I had just watched Alfred Hitchcock's film Rear Window for the first time and it made me think of a scene from Chain of Desire so I decided to watch the movie. The film stars Linda Fiorentino and Malcolm McDowell. It was a film that connected several characters, but without them meeting each other. It was probably the first time I had seen a film go full circle. Starting with one character and then coming back to that character.

The seventh was the film Full Metal Jacket by Stanley Kubrick. The film gave us an inside view of the training, head games and mental stability that the soldiers went through during the Vietnam war. The film stars Mathew Modine, Vincent D'onofrio, Arliss Howard, Dorian Harewood, Adam Baldwin and     Emrey.

The eight was the German film, Das Boot (The Boat), directed by Wolfgang Peterson, starring Jurgen Prochnow and Erwin Leder. It's based on the true story of German soldiers, who are only boys, on a submarine sent out to destroy the enemy. The experience changes those that do survive.
The visuals and editing for the film are incredible. It's as if you are on the sub with the other men.

The ninth was The Pillow Book, a film by Peter Greenaway. This film is the artistry at its best. The visuals inside of a story about love, obsession, the art of writing, the art of sex, fetishism and so much more.

The tenth movie was Forth Apache The Bronx, starring and directed by Paul Newman. No list would be complete without at least once movie in which Pam Grier is featured. She has a small, but pivotol role as a drugged out hooker/serial killer. Paul Newman didn't want Pam Grier for the role, but she pulled a Dorothy Dandridge and got the part. For those of you not familar with that, Otto Preminger didn't want Dorothy for the role of Carmen. He wanted her to play Cindy Lou. Dorothy dressed up as Carmen and went in and Otto new she was right for the part. Pam did the same thing, going into his office as the hooker. She lost a lot of weight for this role and Paul Newman couldn't resist.

There were other films and movies that I watched, but that was going beyond the number. Those others were the film Fame about the High School for performing arts in New York which starred Irene Cara, Barry Miller, Paul McCrane and the late Gene Anthony Ray. Holland Taylor appears in the film along with Debbie Allen, Ann Meara and fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi when he was a student at the school.

I also watched the movie The Temptations and the psychological film Headless Body in a Topless bar created from a newspaper article. It's a disturbing film in parts. It has some humor, but it's not for everyone.






The podcast is now up on podbean, itunes and stitcher it's call Films Versus Movies. Check it out and follow me(Dlonzo on Twitter) or Tony (TDoug on Twitter) You can also listen to the podcast on Youtube.

here are the links for the podcasts - https://tdoug.podbean.com/

           https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/tony-douglas-presents-take-five

 https://itunes.apple.com/om/podcast/tdoug-podcast-network/id804851372?mt=2


Copy and past the links if you are interested in my other blogs and interests.

www.dlonzo-OpenYourMind.blogspot.com
www.ArtbyDlonzo.blogspot.com
www.filmlover4pg@blogspot.com
http://psychedmaster.org

Thanks for stopping by; keep an open mind. Do return to see where the journey leads.

Island in the Sun

There are several movies in my collection that I don’t mind watching over and over. I usually watch them at least once a year. One such film is Island in the Sun. Originally I added this movie to my collection because of James Mason. I first saw James Mason in Stanley Kubrick’s film Lolita. I love the film and James Mason’s performance is great. So I then looked at some of the other films he had done and Island in the Sun showed up and then I saw that the film also starred Dorothy Dandridge.

Dorothy Dandridge was an actress I didn’t know a lot about until Halle Berry played her in the HBO film, Introducing Dorothy Dandridge. The likeness is uncanny. Halle Berry is an incredible actress like Miss Dandridge. I had seen the film Carmen and I’m sure in reruns on television I had seen Porgy and Bess. It’s hard to find some of these classic films on DVD. When you do find them they cost so much. I have to keep searching for a used version. There are still many old films I’d like to add to my collection, but I just don’t have the funds to do so. But if I take what I would pay for the DVDs and invest in a DVD recorder I could solve that problem. I have some of the films I would like to add to the collection on VHS. I need to transfer them before they get so bad that they won’t make a good copy.

Island in the sun is a film about race and class. For its time it was a very controversial film. The film exudes sex and yet the actors never kiss. It’s quite the erotic fare. Everyone in the film is great. Harry Belafonte leads the cast with Joan Fontaine, Joan Collins, James Mason and Dorothy Dandridge among others. It’s worth a look if you love movies. The costumes nor the film feels dated at all; Harry Belafonte gets to croon a few tunes.

Thanks for stopping by; keep an open mind.

2001: A Space Odyssey

2001: A Space Odyssey - Stanley Kubrick’s film which came about from a four year collaboration writer Arthur C. Clarke. I was just a kid when this film was released and I really wasn’t interesting in films about outer space, but I was always curious as to what was out there. I love looking up at the stars and the moon. Even the sun had a profound affect on me as a kid.

The music and visuals move this film like all of Kubrick’s films. He’s very visual and sexual. The film is clean, and the lines are crisp.

Most people let their imaginations wander from time to time. (See my imagination run wild in the above drawing)

You ask yourself what if… there are many people that were inspired by the film. Just about everything in the film has come to reality. We have talking computers. We’re spending more time in space, we have video phones, tracking devices. Scanning devices from eyes, voice and fingerprints. There’s the Internet that has made it such a relevant way to stay in touch, do business and meet new people. What was once thought of as science fiction is now the reality of science.

We’ve all had ideas of ways to make out lives easier. Flying cars, life preserving pods, etc. If you haven’t seen the film, check it out and see what your reaction will be.

http://www.artbydlonzo.blogspot.com/
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=54325957
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=54365247
http://www.filmloverpg.blogspot.com/
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=38275088
http://www.n4cersworld.com/
http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/civil_rights/

Check out the above links if you haven’t already. Watch for new links.

Time to get back to reality. Rebuilding my life, one step at a time.
Thanks for stopping by; keep an open mind. What is meant to be…

Lolita

When I first saw the Stanley Kubrick film I was instantly drawn to the film. It had a lot to do with the dialogue. As a writer I pay attention to the way people talk. Sometimes my stories almost seem like scripts. It just depends on the mood and the characters involved. When I read Eyes Wide Open, it turned out that Lolita is not one of Kubrick’s favorite films. Artist are their own worst critic. We know what works and we are harder on ourselves and sometimes we put things out just because we feel that we have to. Sometimes its done on purpose to see what others have to say. Sometimes we get fooled because people like what we’ve done even when we feel it isn’t complete or we didn’t give 100%.

Lolita is quite a long film as are most of Kubrick’s films. It’s a great cast and I think the film is better than the remake that was made with Jeremy Irons. The only Kubrick film I don’t have in my collection is Dr. No. I vaguely remember seeing it when I was younger, but for some reason it didn’t stay with me as did A Clock Work Orange which is my favorite Kubrick film.

www.artbydlonzo.blogspot.com
www.dcinemafile.blogspot.com
www.filmloverpg.blogspot.com
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=38275088
www.n4cersworld.com
http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/civil_rights/

I’ll add more links soon.

Time to get back to reality. Rebuilding my life, one step at a time.
Thanks for stopping by; keep an open mind. What is meant to be…