It's Friday....It's Movie Night (sort of)

It has been a while since I did one of these It's Friday it's five o'clock things. So before I start here is the prerequisite safety announcements. Even if you have read by blog and the It's Friday series please pay attention, especially around 1:40


Of course the film of the week is Skyfall which sadly because of this horrid flu I have yet to see. Though I am still looking forward to seeing it having followed the videoblogs in the built up. There were so many to choose from but here is one that gives an insight into the underwater world.




Of course the big movie news of the week was that Disney have bought LucasFilm and will be producing Star Wars Episodes VII-IX. Sadly I can't find a good parody YouTube clip yet of that merger. But here is some gratuitous Princess Leia in that dress costume parody that will please some of my readers.

Every day and in every way, I am getting better, and better.

 So said Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus in The Pink Panther Strikes Again while in the asylum as a result of being in charge of Inspector Clouseau.

Well today the man who played Dreyfus Herbert Lom who portrayed Dreyfus with a more pronounced tic under the strain often related to Clouseau has passed away.

His career spanned 60 years and although he appeared in The Ladykillers, Sparticus and El Cid, it will be always be as Peter Sellers character's nemesis that he will be best remembered.

Lom was born into Austrian nobility in 1917 in Prague, the son of a count. His actual name was Herbert Karel Angelo Kuchacevič ze Schluderpacheru. He chose the name Lom (Czech for quarry) for the Czech films he made at the start of his acting career, because it was the shortest in the phone book.

 But he fled what was to become the Czech Republic in 1939 ahead of the feared Nazi invasion. Making his way to England he appeared as the villain in many 1940s films. But he twice played Napoleon in The Young Mr. Pitt (1942) and War and Peace (1956). He secured a seven picture deal in Holywood but was refused a visa for 'political reasons' so Holywood's lose became British cinema's gain, as he went on to appear in a number of Hammer Horrors including The Phantom of the Opera (1962). Playing the phantom behind a full face mask his precise diction and annunciation were a genius stroke of casting.

He also appeared on the stage in the original London cast of The King and I  he played the King of Siam.

His last film was the 1993 Son of the Pink Panther in which he said:

"I knew a man named Jacques. When he died, ten years ago, I thought "Thank God!" I never thought another one like him could exist... and then I met your son."

However of Sellers he said:

"Peter was always a mixed-up guy, a childish fellow. But if you're fond of children, you're also fond of childish men. He was always very helpful to me. After he was famous, and when I was still in trouble with the US embassy, he wrote a letter in support of me which was magnificent. But it is true that he was very cruel to his children. He was so hurt by the way children treat you when you're their father. I have been hurt by my children. But he was not in possession of a proper brain when it came to these things."

Herbert Lom (né Herbert Karel Angelo Kuchacevič ze Schluderpacheru) 
11 Sept 1917- 27 Sept 2012

And the nomations are....#Oscars

Today is the day that all of Hollywood and a lot of studios elsewhere around the world have been waiting for, the Academy is announcing the nominations for this years Oscars.

The nominations are:

Actress in a supporting role


Bérénice Bejo for The Artist, Jessica Chastian for The Tree of Life, Melissa McCarthy for Bridesmaids, Janet McTeer for Albert Nobbsand Octavia Spencer for The Help.

Actor in a supporting role

Kenneth Branangh for My Week with Marilyn, Nick Nolte for Warrior, Jonah Hill for Moneyball, Christopher Plummer for Beginners and Max Von Sydow for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.


Actress

ACTRESS

Glenn Close for Albert Nobbs


Viola Davis for The Help


Rooney Mara for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo


Meryl Streep for The Iron Lady


Michelle Williams for My Week with Marilyn



ACTOR


George Clooney for The Descendents

 Demian Bichir for A Better Life

 Jean Dujardin for The Artist

Gary Oldman for Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Brad Pitt for Moneyball.


Director


Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist, Alexander Payne for Descendents, Martin Scorsese for Hugo, Woody Allen for Midnight in Paris, Terrance Mallick for The Tree of Life


BEST PICTURE

I'm somewhat shocked that Tintin hasn't made the best Animated Feature. Scorsese's Hugo leads the way with 11 overall nominations and The Artist runs it close with 10. Meryl Streep has her 17 nomination but after winning two of her first four for Kramer v Kramer and Sophie's Choice. Christopher Plummer at 82 were he to win, as the father who comes out as gay to his son as gay after his wife dies, would be the oldest winner of a performance Oscar. But  he is up against Ulsterman Kenneth Brannagh is attempting to win an acting Oscar by playing an Oscar winning actor for his role as Laurence Olivier in My Week with Marilyn.

Happy Eleventy-tenth or Twelvetieth Birthday?

On the 3rd January 1892 John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa where his father was managing a branch of the Bank of Africa (a British owned colonial banking concern).

When he was three his mother Mabel decided that the climate in England would be better for John and his younger brother Hilary Arthur Reuel so they returned while his father carried on in South Africa, but he died the following year of a severe haemorrhage as a result of rheumatic fever. His mother was to die in 1904 as a result of complications from diabetes. Therefore before he was 13 J.R.R. Tolkien found himself orphaned. This may well be why Frodo Baggins lost both his parents in a boating accident when he was twelve and like his creator was orphaned at the same young age.

The boys guardian upon their mother's death was Fr. Francis Xavier Morgan of the Birmingham Oratory. She had converted to Roman Catholicism in 1900 to the disgust of many of her Baptist family. Possibly a basis for the separation of Bilbo Baggins from the Sacksville-Bagginses. However, one of the places he visited on holiday growing up as an oprhan was his Aunt Jane at her farm Bag End.

Of course he may well have just be another Oxford Don who was only known to academics of Anglo-Saxon, had he not in the early 1930s started to write a story about imaginary lands and races. Starting with the line "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit." The book that was published on 21st September 1937, with the birthday of its hero being the 22nd it was always getting mentioned near my own birthday. This year of course Peter Jackson, who has already brought the sequel The Lord of the Rings to the screen, will be finalising The  Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey to present to expectant audiences in December. The second part The Hobbit: There and Back Again is due the following year.

I shall probably not be alone this year is revisiting my first Tolkien book, and the others probably, in preparation for the film that I have been waiting for since the campaign to ensure that Jackson was selected to direct it.

But of course the best reason for celebrating J.R.R. Tolkien's Eleventy-tenth of Twelvetieth birthday is that I can of course show Gandalf's fireworks.



Of course as well as looking back we should also look forward, so here is that trailer which some of us can never tire of.

Those we lost over the weekend

Three entertainers were lost over the weekend.

The first is Jeff Conaway who passed away at only 60. He is best known as Kenickie in the film version of Grease the T-Bird who was second only to Danny Zuko. Then he moved on to the TV series Taxi in which he played the struggling actor Bobby Wheeler, and appeared as Sergeant Zack Allen in Babylon 5.  He died from pneumonia with sepsis, which his  dependence on persciption drugs meant it was discovered too late how ill he was.

So here he is with John Travolta in Grease Lightning



Next up a change in pace and style was Chicago born Gil Scott-Heron a proponent of the spoken word, before rap really was the thing. His style is more poetic than rap. But still speaks of the stuff that affects Americans. Here is a the title track of his 2010 album, his first in 16 years I'm New Here.



Finally Felicity 'Flick' Colby one of the original Pan's People, who went on to choreograph the TOTP replacement dance troupe Legs & Co and then Zoo. In the days before music videos if a band couldn't appear on Top of the Pops  often their song may have been danced to by one of the dance troupes, quite often Flick was one of the choreographers. I love the fact that 70s costumes from prime time TV are considered too risque for a YouTube audience, as this clip will ask you to verify you are over 18.

It's Friday...so two centenaries and someone turning fifty

There are a number of centenaries today.

The first is the man who said these words before adding his maniacal laugh

The foulest stench is in the air

The funk of forty thousand years

And grizzly ghouls from every tomb

Are closing in to seal your doom

And though you fight to stay alive

Your body starts to shiver

For no mere mortal can resist

The evil of the thriller

Yes, Vincent Price was an unlikely rapper but that is just what he did on Michael Jackson's Thriller. But he had a film career of over 50 years making his name in the horror genre. Here is a tribute to his career, set to the song he had no small part in making memorable.



The man who lost to Richard Nixon in 1968 was Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey, who was over his father's drug store in Wallace, South Dakota 100 years ago today. He is the only second generation Norwegian (on his mother's side) to have served as either PotUS or VeeP. Here is his acceptance speech for nomination to be Johnson's running mate in the 1964 election.





Finally, no she's not 100 years old, but Peri Gilpin the actress who played Roz Doyle in Frazier is half way there today. Many happy returns, so to celebrate here is a montage of Roz moments.

Farewell Mr Barry, John Barry

John Barry wrote the iconic theme for that secret agent, licensed to kill On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

Although he never received an Oscar for Bond he did have five of the little Golden chaps. Two for Born Free (1966), one apiece for The Lion in Winter (1968), Out of Africa (1985) and Dances with Wolves (1990). He was classically trained as a pianist, but learnt to play trumpet before taking an interest in composing and arranging, it was during his national service that he began performing as a musician.

His band the John Barry Seven had some hits including Hit or Miss which he composed for the BBC's Juke Box Jury. His first movie score was in 1960 for Beat Girl it was also the first film soundtrack to be released as an LP in the UK. After he did the soundtrack for the Adam Faith film Never Let Go he was approached to come up with a theme for the lead character in a new film Dr No the composer Monty Norman had given the producers one they weren't satisfied with. The result Barry's polishing up* of course is legendary as preformed here a capella




Of course there was plenty more in the body of Barry's work, as the five academy awards, one Grammy and one BAFTA show. As well as the 11 Bond Films he scored there were 87 other movies that had the Barry touch as well as 25 TV themes and 5 musicals. In 1998 he was inducting the Songwriters Hall of Fame and in 2005 was awarded a BAFTA Fellowship.

He hadn't been responsible for a Bond score since The Living Daylights (1987) but his successor David Arnold, suggested by Barry himself has remained true to his motive, most notably in Casino Royale (2006), where as each piece of Bond identity is acquired a little more of the theme is utilised until the crescendo of the final titles of the most quoted introduction in movies, "The name's...."

So the names Barry, John Barry 1933-2011.

* Many believe he did more than that and started from scratch, something that Barry himself always denied.

Anne Francis Stars in Forbidden Planet 1930-2011

Anne Francis with Robbie the Robot in a still
to advertise Forbidden Planet

As Jennie and others noted yesterday the acting world lost Pete Postlethwaite, but the day before we lost one of the stars who warranted her own line in Science Fiction Double Feature the opening song over the titles of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Yes Anne Francis may have starred in Forbidden Planet (1956) but her career spanned almost 70 years from 1936-2004. Starting as a child model aged five to help her family through the great depression before taking to the Broadway stage at the age of 11.

He movie debut came in 1947 in This Time for Keeps but while Forbidden Planet  was her most famous film role she also starred as the TV detective Honey West in the show of the same name from 1965-6 for which she won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Emmy.

Along the way she made appearance in The Twilight Zone, The Fugitive, Mission Impossible, Dallas, Murder She Wrote and Golden Girls amongst others. Her final appearance was in a 2004 episode of Without a Trace.

Twice married first in from 1952-55 to Bamlet Lawrence Price, Jr and then to Dr. Robert Abeloff from 1960-1964, with whom she had a daughter Jane Elizabeth in 1962. In 1970 she adopted Margaret "Maggie" West becoming one of the first single parents to adopt under a change in California state law. She had been suffering from lung cancer between 2007 and 2008 but died from complications due to pancreatic cancer.

However, of all the stars named in Science Fiction Double Feature only Thora Hird's daughter Janette Scott remains alive as in order Claude Raines, Michael Rennie, Leo G Carroll, George Pal, Dana Andrews Fay Wray and now Anne Francis have all passed on. Time for some late night, double feature, picture shows.

See also the following obituaries

• BBC
• Guardian
• Daily Mirror
• Washingston Post
• New York Times

Films: When Men Cry

I see that the BBC has compiled a list of 20 films that make men cry. Sadly it misses out a number of the scenes that get me every time.

The first is the final scene of Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun in which a young Jim Graham (Christian Bale) is after being separated from his parents in a different camp through World War II is standing with other children hoping to be reunited with their parents. Jim's mum comes past him and walks right past Jim no recognising him. Enough to make the tears start to well up but then when she does turn back and he finally realises it is his mother the floodgates open.

The next is the film The Power of One. Set in South Africa under apartheid it is the story of young P.K. (Guy Witcher, Simon Fenton and Stephen Dorff) it has several scenes that bring on the tears. One is when the black boxing coach of P.K. called Geel Piet is bludgeoned to death behind a hut while a concert of his fellow prisoners is going on in the background being conducted by P.K.


Later on there is more when his girlfriend the daughter of a National Party leader is killed while teaching English in a township. Plus the final scene when he and his one time black boxing opponent who had saved his life by killing his arch enemy (Daniel Craig) in another township raid set off together to beat the system together.

There is also the film Gattaca. Where Jerome (Jude Law) plays an disabled man whereas Vincent (Ethan Hawke) was conceived naturally without the DNA screening and is therefore an "in-valid" as he does not have the superior DNA. But he does buy Jerome's "valid" DNA to fulfill his dreams of being part of the space exploration programme at the Gattaca Aerospace Corporation. There are two scenes that bring the tears on, first is when Vincent is finally found out by his valid brother Anton (Loren Dean) who is investigating a murder at Gattaca. They replay their childhood game of chicken but Vincent is not prepared to turn back towards shore. Having to be rescued his brother, Vincent reveals that he won by not saving anything for the swim back.

Again as ever there is also the final scene in which Jerome sends Vincent away on his mission and reveals a stockpile of all the samples he could possibly need in a lifetime. As the rocket is preparing to take off to Saturn's moon Titan with Vincent on board, Jerome eases himself into the incinerator at the apartment and fires it up as the rocket takes off.

Of course another film is Dead Poets Society, maybe this is because of the young poet in me when I first saw this at University. But when Neil Perry (Robert Sean Leonard) takes his life after his father objects to him following his dream and appearing as Puck in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream you cannot help but cry. Then also the final scene when John Keating (Robin Williams) is leaving his classroom in disgrace Todd Anderson (Ethan Hawke) is the first to stand up in defence of Mr Keating, but is told to sit down, then when he is at the door stands up on his desk saying 'O Captain! My Captain!' followed my many of the others.

I know there are more films that make me cry but these are four that I feel really need to be on that list.

It Was Ladies' Night

As if to honour International Women's Day today two women made history at last night's 82nd Oscars ceremony.

First there was the obvious news as Katryn Bigelow beat off the competition especially ex-husband James Cameron to be the first female recipient of the Best Director award for The Hurt Locker. In what was also only the fifth nomination of a woman in this category Bigelow said, "It's the moment of a lifetime." Through the award season after Cameron's Avatar started well, the Goliath top grossing film of all time started to lose the momentum and the awards to the David lowest budget film ever to win the Best Picture award.

The other first for women was Sandra Bullock, 24 hours earlier she had picked up the Golden Raspberry Award in person (a rarity) for worst actress in All About Steve. No women had ever previously won both a Razzie and an Oscar in the same year. Picking up the Razzie the Oscar Nominee tongue in cheek said, "Thank you for ruining my career with a very bad decision." However, last night she again walked unto the stage this time to pick up her golden man, she joked, "Did I really earn this, or did I wear you all down?"

Here is a full list of the winners from last nights ceremony.

Eight is the BAFTA Number

Nick Hornby's British film adaptation of journalist Lynn Barber's memoir An Education, alongside director James Cameron's Sci-Fi Avatar and his ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow's direction of Iraq drama The Hurt Locker are going head to head with eight nominations apiece in the BAFTA film nominations. South African sci-fi District 9 gets seven with Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds and recession era drama Up In the Air get six apiece.

Avatar has already won the Golden Globe for best film drama while The Hurt Locker won the Screen Critics award, so a good British film thrown into the mix for the British Academy of Film and Television Awards really heats up this category.

All three go head to head to head in only two categories though:

• Best Film (along with Precious and Up in the Air)
• Best Director Lone Scherfig for An Education plus Neill Blomlamp for District 9 and Quentin Tarantino for Inglourious Basterds

None can do a clean sweep of the 4 major prizes Film, Direction, Acting as none are listed in both acting categories.

Jeremy Renner gets a nod for best leading actor for The Hurt Locker with Jeff Bridges Crazy Heart, George Clooney Up In the Air, Colin Firth A Single Man and Andy Serkis Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll. Carey Milligan is up in the actress category for An Education against Saoirse Ronan The Lovely Bones, Gabourey Sidibe Precious, Meryl Streep Julie & Julia and Audrey Taytou Coco Before Chanel.

An Education's Alfred Molina is up in the best supporting actor category facing Alec Baldwin It's Complicated, Christian McKay Me And Orson Wells, Stanley Tucci The Lovely Bones and Christoph Waltz Inglourious Basterds. Supporting actress is either nowhere or up in the air put will be precious all the same as Anne-Marie Duff and Kirstin Scott Thomas both for Nowhere Boy, Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick both for Up in the Air along with Mo'Nique for Precious make up the short list.

For Cinematography Avatar and The Hurt Locker face competition from District 9, Inglorious Basterds and The Road. For editing they face District 9, Inglorious Basterds and Up In the Air. For sound there two again face off along side District 9, Star Trek and Up and in special visual effects replace Up with Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

An Education is also up for outstanding British film, adapted screenplay, costume design, make-up & hair. Avatar is in the running for music and production design while The Hurt Locker also features in the original screenplay shortlist.

Hit Me With.....My Precisous...ous...s.s.s

Morning Quickie.

I just couldn't resist using this as the title of a post. Andy Serkis who brought Gollum to life in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy is to play Ian Dury back to life in his next role in musical bo-pic Sex, And Drugs and Rock and Roll.

A Now a BAFTA Completely Different

They've finally put the Phyton's into an institution.

Well all right then only one.

Yeah, yeah the one who did all the artwork.

Last night Terry Gilliam was awarded the Fellowhip of the Academy at the BAFTA awards.

He did the customary thanks to his family in a typically different way

"I'm amazed to be humbled by a piece of metal. I'm worried that Bafta will take it away when they realise I'm not who they think I am. Maggie, Holly, Amy and Harry, thank you for letting me make your life a living hell when I'm working. And even worse when I'm not."

Gilliam paid tribute to the the late Heath Ledger who'd won best supporting actor, whom he directed in his last film just before his death, in his acceptance speech

"It would have been nice if Heath had won more awards when he was alive. Heath was a genius, I think there was nothing he could not do.

"We hadn't seen anything from him yet."

And he ended by saying too often the little people are overlooked before extracting a long list of paper from his jacket. But fortunately he only rattled off the name of the Time Bandit's actors from the film of the same name, and thank them for making him feel big.

And now for something completely different.