Twenty Year Anniversary of Kill Bill: Volume 1

 

                                 You may find this hard to believe but Kill Bill: Volume 1 was my first film of Quentin Tarantino. Though at the time I never really heard of him as well as I was never truly introduced to his work even though I see the preview of Pulp Fiction and yet I didn't know that was his film. Really it was around the time Once Upon a Time in Mexico was release directed by Robert Rodriguez and he mentioned him being a friend though again I had no clue that he's a famous writer and director. And the fact that Kill Bill 1 is twenty years old, I figured well now's the time to go back and watch this great revenge movie. Since this is a Quentin Tarantino movie, I'm going to keep my David Carradine jokes to a minimum because any movie Quentin Tarantino's done has always been amazing well except for Death Proof. Oh, did you know David Carradine died from auto-erotic asphyxiation?

                                 A former assassin, known simply as The Bride (Uma Thurman), wakes from a coma four years after her jealous ex-lover Bill (David Carradine) attempts to murder her on her wedding day. Fueled by an inhabitable desire for revenge, she vows to get even with every person who contributed to the loss of her unborn child, her entire wedding party, and four years of her life. After devising a hit list, The Bride sets off on her quest, enduring unspeakable injury and unscrupulous enemies. 

                                To really understand Quentin Tarantino is to understand a man whose watched a lot of movies growing up upon which he did, even worked at a movie rental place which housed a tone of movies and to make a long story short he watched pretty much all of them and yet the man is pretty much one of the greatest filmmakers of all time and he's only made nine movies so, important lesson if your wanting to make movies yes pick up a camera and do it but most importantly when it comes to writing and finding your genre or choice of movie, basically watch any movie you can muster from every classic movie to every b-movie and any recent movies that come out. The development of the Kill Bill goes back during the production of Pulp Fiction for which was the first movie with Uma Thurman was in, during the course of shooting Uma's scenes both Quentin and Uma we're talking about wanting to make a revenge movie with the style of a Kung-Fu movie and the collaboration went on and on though through the course of life Tarantino went on to Jackie Brown then wanted to make a WWII movie. Then through the course of 2000-2001 Tarantino reunite with Thurman who at the time became a mother for which inspired him to write that into Thurman's character. At the time when I was a young naive kid, I never quite understood the movie in terms the style of the movie or a kung-fu sense of a movie in which the movie is based on and if you haven't seen a ton of seventies style of martial arts films this was pretty much a love letter to that genre. The interesting fact is that this movie is indeed one whole story once you watch volume 1 and 2, though at the time the movie was a whole four hours so you really couldn't release this movie whole, so you'd have separate the films and luckily both films were released six months prior to the first films release. The thing that makes Quentin Tarantino such a great director is that he's able to take actors don't have in a sense much of a film career and will get to David Carradine in the second movie because he's in a good portion of the second movie but Vivica A. Fox and Lucy Liu whose been in a few movies I like but when it comes to Fox this movie is the only one I can watch, okay getting back on track, what Tarantino does such a great job in is that he's able to cast actress like Fox and Liu with the ability that they can act in the way where they can be iconic I mean sure Liu at the time was infamous for Charlies Angles but when it comes to this movie she really shines in playing a villainous Yakuza boss who will kill without mercy and Tarantino has that unique ability to get these actors to act out these complex characters and will dive into that when we get to Kill Bill Volume 2 later. The fact that the movie is only one hour and fifty-two minutes not once did I touch my phone while the movie was going granted I had to stop the film to go take a piss or research something on my phone but through the course of the whole movie I was focused on Thurman's character arc through the final frame of the movie and looking forward to re-watching the second part of the film. If I had to pick a film or two that you would most certainly watch from Quentin Tarantino's filmography it would most certainly be Kill Bill films and Pulp Fiction but then again all of his films are great (except for Death Proof) so it's like picking his favorite kid you can't really answer that question, I can't find it anywhere in terms of streaming the movie for free but if you have the money I would highly recommend ordering the Kill Bill films on Blu-Ray or DVD which ever player you have and I promise you when saying this that it will be worth your time especially if you like streams of blood going everywhere in a ridiculous fashion.

  

                                   

                  

Movies I haven't seen in a while: Apollo 13

 

                                        Typical weekend nothing better to do with my time because let’s face it I'm a boring f**k. And so, I think it was my mom that decided to stream Apollo 13 for which I was like absolutely for obvious reasons it' another film I haven't seen in a long, long time hence Movies I haven't seen in a while. Apollo 13 was another one of those films from my childhood that I would watch constantly either watching it at my late grandpa's house or renting the film at the library moreover it was one of those films where I was fascinated with the space stuff more than the story itself though more importantly this movie introduced me to a ton of great and exceptional actors from the ever talented Tom Hanks, the late Bill Paxton and Ed Harris to Kevin Bacon and Gary Sinise whose acting career's where I would say okay at times but at least decent.

                                        This Hollywood drama is based on the events of the Apollo 13 lunar mission, astronauts Jim Lowell (Tom Hanks), Fred Haise (Bill Paxton) and Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon) find everything going according to plan after leaving Earth's orbit. However, when an oxygen tank explodes, the scheduled moon landing is called off. Subsequent tensions within the crew and numerous technical problems threaten both the astronauts' survival and their safe return to Earth. 

                                         The movie itself based on the book by real life Jim Lowell titled Lost Moon for which the movie rights were shopped around to potential buyers long before the book was written. Jim Lowell himself stated his first reaction was that Kevin Costner would be a good choice to play him, you heard that right when I say this long before any of these great actors that you see on the movie poster the casting was shopped around with actors like John Travolta, John Cusack and even Brad Pitt which take no disrespect because they're great actors but I would never in a million years see Travolta, Cusack and Pitt be the three main astronaut characters. Director Ron Howard through the course of production went to great lengths to create a technically accurate movie, employing NASA's assistance in astronaut and flight-controller training for his cast and obtaining permission to film scenes aboard a reduced-gravity aircraft for realistic depiction of the weightlessness experienced by the astronauts in space. Comparing this movie from childhood years to now I'll still say that this is the most exciting and suspenseful movie of all time, though granted I wasn't paying all much attention to the story it was more of going to space and what they we're doing up in space, either way when you’re a kid you're biggest concern was the space stuff since the film is all about NASA going to the moon. Now watching the film from start to finish you'd become more intrigued with the fact that this is the late sixties to early seventies of NASA, meaning this was the golden age of going to the moon where everything can go wrong and there's a good chance that if something does happen you can die in space and no one will be able to rescue you or find your body and really that's the more fascinating thing about the movie. And really the two actors who make the film great and believable is both Tom Hanks who plays Jim Lowell and Kathleen Quinlan, though yes Tom Hanks is an exceptional actor anyone on the planet knows that though I got to say that one of my favorite scenes with him in the movie is when he's talking to his son about the space mission and is son asks him about the fire in the first Apollo mission and his character knows those people and instead of not responding to his question he just give him a simple calm and simple answer as to all the things that went wrong and assures him they've fixed the problem and it's that great acting from Hanks knowing his kid is a smart one giving him a good answer it’s just those types of little details you see and say that's great acting. Kathleen Quinlan deserves a ton of recognition because she plays the wife of an astronaut well in a sense that she's a stay-at-home mom and must care for three kids and then fearing that once his husband goes to the moon, she's never sure if he will ever come back and her to show those emotions on screen is most certainly great to see. Surprisingly while looking up the film, Ron Howard even cast his own parents in the movie Jean Speegle Howard plays Tom Hanks is mom while Ron's father Rance Howard plays the Minister in the movie for which is cool and personally if I begin my film-making career I'm most certainly going to repay my parents in casting them in small roles. Even Ron's mom has the best scene of the movie to where she's calming her grandchild and assuring her that his son will make it back to Earth. I would hate myself if I didn't give an special salute of approval or recognition to music composer James Horner who compose the music for Apollo 13 as well as compose a lot of Ron Howard's films as well as James Cameron's films too, and really he's the best part of Apollo 13 for many reasons his music of the launch sequence and going to back to Earth is so memorable and iconic that you just can't help but want to listen to that theme over and over again, especially when you have the launch and the two astronauts wife watching it furthermore seeing on the look on their faces it's like seeing the impossible and what Horner does great is creating a movie set in the seventies with the hope and possibilities of exploration that you couldn't capture in a space movie. Looking back on the NASA program to now yes, they've developed and accomplished a lot of things but I actually do wish that they will one day return to the moon because there's always that possibility of exploring accomplishing new things that I wish even the Earths governments can back up on the idea though I strongly doubt I'll be alive to witness NASA returning to moon. I'd say both Apollo 13 and the Martian ranks as one of the greatest NASA movies of all time, moreover I would rank this as Ron Howard's greatest movie of all time, in fact I believe Apollo 13 story is hands down the best story you’re ever going to tell when it comes to the Apollo missions granted sure you can tell the story of Apollo 11 but the only spoiler that everyone knows about it is that they land on the moon while Apollo 13 is a movie about against all odds bringing three astronauts back to Earth with a little bit of not being able to reach your dreams for which I believe anyone can relate too. So, if you’re ever wanting to watch a classic Tom Hanks film or Ron Howard's greatest film, Apollo 13 is on Hulu so I would highly recommend watching this great space movie.

           

September Recommendation: The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings

 

                                     With the passing of the most iconic actor of our era, James Earl Jones. I've been going through a mourning stage, meaning James Earl Jones really has without a doubt been a huge part of my childhood like this was Darth Vader, Terrance Mann, the Blind man from the Sandlot. And to hear that this voice of God, this legendary actor has passed the gates of Saint Peter, is so sad to hear and to be honest I knew I need to pay tribute to this masterful actor though the question is how and what way you should pay tribute to this iconic actor? Well thankfully after talking to my brother about this, he recommended a movie that I had no clue was a movie more importantly we also talked about that if you are going to pay tribute to James Earl Jones you have to start at before he was cast as the voice of Darth Vader, and the Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings upon which is a mouth full of words if you plan to say that title ten times, hell almost long as the Assassination of Jessie James by the Coward Robert Ford.

                                     Top baseball pitcher Bingo Long (Billy Dee Williams) is fed up with how his Negro League team owner treats him, so he forms his own lineup, recruiting big-hitting Leon Carter (James Earl Jones) and Charlie Snow (Richard Pryor), who dreams of playing in the majors. Boycotted by black teams, Long's outfit plays minor league white teams, earning more attention as entertainers than as players. However, their success wins them a chance to play again in the Negro League, this time as equals.

                                      The movie itself is a fictional story furthermore was based on the book of the same name by William Brashler, and he incorporates a lot of the characters with real life ballplayers like legendary ballplayers like Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson and if you're not a big baseball fan like me in terms of playing baseball video games you'd probably played a lot of the Negro League levels on the latest MLB the Show games, they've been telling stories of these great players like Paige and Gibson and some of the stuff of Paige's career I was reminded by in this movie. The film itself I imaged was filmed in where the Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama because that's where we had the latest Negro League tribute as well as the passing of Willie Mays but really was filmed in Macon, Georgia as well as the historic field Luther Williams Field for which was also used for films like 42 and Trouble with the Curve as well as the television show from Hank Azaria, Brockmire. And interesting fact, some ballplayers were played by actual former athletes, including former members of the Indianapolis Clowns, who performed various stunts shown in the film. Now we reach to the focus of the film, and that's James Earl Jones and Billy Dee Williams. This was 1976 when this film came out furthermore was a year before Star Wars dominated the box office and when you’re in actor you have to take any gig  in order to pay the bills and take care of your family and really James Earl Jones was an Academy Award nominee actor so deep down he had the respect so flood gates are open for a guy like Jones, even Williams who came out of the success of Brian Song portraying the real life Bears legend Gale Sayers and really when you are co-starring with a great presence as well as veteran actor in James Earl Jones, man you talk about a great balance of acting talent. It is strange and ironic that both actors appear in this movie and then four years later both appear, though not on opposite sides of the screen but in Empire Strikes Back so, real fate usually reaches out to extend its hand. What I like most about the movie honestly is that it hold a ton of themes especially when it comes to players and owners in baseball and that discussion of more money and having this incorporated to the Negro Leagues I especially like mainly because it adds more layers of the debate discussion, the other thing I liked and found fascinating is that watching Williams and Jones new team almost reminds me of the Harlem Globetrotters where they would set up a game and develop their team as an entertainment group circa the Globetrotters and interestingly enough the Globetrotters were founded in the mid-twenties so there is kind of that great inspiration between a film like this and the book. In a world that's thrown into chaos and only the good people are taken from us, I'd say it's always a good and refreshing way to express mourning and tribute to legendary actors like James Earl Jones, and to be truth full I don't know how I'll feel when Morgan Freeman is gone or Denzel Washington or even Samuel L. Jackson. So, if you’re like me who’s still reeling on the fact that an iconic actor like James Earl Jones being gone from this world, then I would highly recommend watching this surprising great film upon which is worthy of a monthly recommendation in my eyes. Furthermore, I would highly recommend everyone a fan of movies to just sit down and watch any film that includes your favorite James Earl Jones role from Star Wars trilogy to Field of Dreams and even the Lion King because deep down there will never be a voice so memorable and iconic voice, as James Earl Jones.

        

                                     

Football Recommendation: The League

                              

                            Sure, you can say Football recommendations, or any sports recommendation should be about movies in general. Though when it comes to a show about the love of Fantasy Football in general especially all the football fans who do it constantly in every football season well the TV show, the League is one of those underappreciated shows you just must recommend. 

                            Some friends who are all avid fantasy football fans try to balance their time between the league and their real lives. The sitcom features a plethora of cameos by real-life NFL players, who play themselves in the series. 

                            Now I'm a fan of Fantasy Football even though my Cowboys are awful when it comes to the playoffs. The fantasy aspect of it is a kind of sense of joy watching all different kinds of football on the weekends. And for sure a lot of people don't understand what the whole concept of Fantasy Football or trash talking your friends day in and day out, for which I truly understand and can't blame them, though to me it's about gaining pride for yourself that sense of pride that you can hold onto the rest of your day as well as carrying it with you through the course of your day as well as the rest of your week. A great example I started to play in a league with the people I work with and majority of them are in a sense pre-madonna's and once I logged into the draft I found out that I got the first pick in the draft and I didn't say it to all of them but I wanted to lead out every vulgar language I could at them, but I couldn't because it's that other self that telling you to keep your mouth shut so all I could really say was my miserable f**king a** life I finally got the first pick in the draft, sadly I picked Christian McCaffery and he's hurt right now but that sense of pride is something you have to hold onto especially whenever your day or week is bad. The show itself does a great job in incorporating that aspect of fantasy football although I doubt all the misadventures in the show happens in real life but it's still funny from start to finish, though despite that the show overstayed it's run but the first four seasons of the show are the best. So, if you’re a fan of NFL football or fantasy football or any other kind of football I would highly recommend watching the League on Hulu, though seasons five through seven are a bit fifty, fifty I would still check the show out and even if you watch five through seven, I'm sure you'll have a blast or feel free to shut the show off if you feel it’s losing its edge, I mean you know the famous saying right? Quit while you’re ahead.  

50 Year Anniversary of The Longest Yard

 

                                  Everybody! The time has come to celebrate the return of the Football season. Oh, wait it's already here, as well for me with Nebraska sticking it to Colorado, sorry not sorry to all Buff fans out there and Deion Sanders if you ever read my reviews moreover Dallas Cowboys beating the Browns on the first week. I'd say life couldn't be better, though I'd like every fan to think it doesn't last long. Though with every football season you need to find the right Football movie to celebrate the occasion and surprisingly enough the Longest Yard has officially turned 50 years old, and no I'm not talking about the 2005 version though will have a lot to talk about that I'm talking about the 1974 film that made Burt Reynolds a household name. Now having watched the film through I'm beginning to see that producers for Smoky and the Bandit were looking at this movie and saying to themselves holy crap we should make a movie where Burt is just driving cars.

                                  An Ex-Football star (Burt Reynolds) making time forced by the warden (Eddie Albert) to organize a team of inmates to play against his own line-up of guards. The warden tries to blackmail him into throwing the game, but the convicts have their own ideas and see the game as an opportunity to repay some of the brutality they have endured.

                                  Albert S. Ruddy who wrote and came up with the idea/concept to the Longest Yard after a conversation with his friend who at the time was the richest women in America who was married to an All-American football player who was a first-round draft choice by the NFL then later suffered a bad injury that sealed his fate. Getting back to Albert S. Rudy who was also the producer behind great films like the Godfather and Million Dollar Baby, him and the rich lady were having a normal conversation while her hubby was trying on three different jackets and asking which one to pick, and in her own words said "take all three because when I kick you out you'll need them", love right? So, after that conversation at the clothing store Ruddy was inspired to write the idea for which would later become the Longest Yard. Even Ruddy knew Burt Reynolds would be the perfect actor for the starring role, though Ruddy was asked by Reynolds to direct the movie, he knew he had to get Robert Aldrich famous for classics like The Flight of the Pheonix with Jimmy Stewart and the Dirty Dozen with Lee Marvin. Surprisingly Aldrich wanted Reynolds to tone down his stunt work mainly because I believe he wanted the film to be real as it gets, and Reynolds asked if there's going to be hitting involved the Aldrich reply's if he knows Packer’s legend Ray Nitschke? Reynolds said yes and Aldrich said, "well he'll be playing a game called kill the actor", for which when you make a football movie that should be a great one liner to say to your movie star. Burt Reynolds as in actor is amazing in the movie I mean this is really the one true movie that he's great in, moreover well all know Reynolds is great in the movie even without is infamous mustache, but Eddie Albert who a lot of people even the younger generation would know that he's infamous for Green Acres and with this movie he does a great job separating himself from is iconic role in Green Acres to a charming and horrible warden who is everything wrong about the prison system and Albert's does a great job at that. Getting back to Ray Nitschke as a football player he does a great job at that, and though he only has a few lines through the movie but even when he's up against Reynolds he's funny moreover does a good job as a first-time actor in a movie about football and four years later he was inducted into the pro football hall of fame. Not just Nitschke who helped with the football scenes, but Vikings legend Joe Kapp helped with a lot of the Football scenes especially to make them real as possible. Now I can probably tell you that the original is a billion times better, for which it is no doubt about that. And I have a full memory of each of the two movies growing up and I can honestly tell you that each of the movies are the same in terms of dialogue and scene structure and now having re-watched the original movie I kind of have to look at the Adam Sandler movie as a disgust but not so bad because, really because Reynolds himself plays the coach part though granted the football scenes are most certainly different but deep down the original movie is a hundred times better for many reasons its own movie but most importantly the 2005 version of the film just have that typical Sandler jokes that only Sandler would consider funny and to me that's just why I would pass the Sandler Longest Yard. What makes the Longest Yard a great Football movie is that the film is about dignity no matter how bad people treat you or how much self-respect you lose in life you must build yourself up and stand up for yourself. The other thing what makes the film great is that a bunch of murders, criminals and terrible men are giving this lost Quarterback the chance to gain the dignity and wanting to win the game against the Guards even if it means spending thirty years of his life in prison. So, if you’re looking great football movie, I would highly recommend watching The Longest Yard for anyone who hasn't seen it, and you can most certainly check the film out on Paramount + if you have the streaming service then your weekend will be great if you choose to sit down and watch the fifty year old film.

    

80 Year Anniversary of To Have and Have Not

 

                                     

                              The last time I watched a Humphrey Bogart movie was seven months ago, and to be truthfully honest I never thought about in fact there been a lot of other movies I wanted to watch so really it's always been a habit of just when you can't find the right movie to recommend or celebrate a movies long anniversary of when it came out well, you always go to your default and recommend a classic movie from pre-World War. For which leads to a classic Bogart movie, that I suddenly realized is 80 years old, To Have and Have Not is not just a regular Bogart movie but also a movie which starts his love interest and later future wife Lauren Bacall and really if you had to pick one of the all-time greatest on screen couples in movie history, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall would most certainly be on that number one spot.

                              In Vichy France, fishing boat captain Harry (Humphrey Bogart) avoids getting involved in politics, refusing to smuggle French Resistance fighters into Martinique. But when a Resistance client is shot before, he can pay, Harry agrees to help hotel owner Gerald (Marcel Dailo) smuggle two fighters to the island. 

                              The film itself is loosely based on Ernest Hemingway's book title of the same name, and ironically enough Hemingway and legendary director Howard Hawks were close friends and on a fishing trip, Hawks told Hemingway, who was reluctant to go into screenwriting, that he could make a great movie from his worst book, which Hawks admitted was To Have and Have Not. Hemingway and Hawks worked on the screenplay during the remainder of their fishing trip because let’s face it you can't do two things at the same time one of them which leads to boredom, the two men decided the film would not resemble the novel, but rather would tell the story of how Harry Morgan met Marie, Lauren Bacall's character moreover was extensively altered for the film. Strangely when watching the film, you do get some resemblance with the film Casablanca and Hawks himself intended to have the screenplay be loosely modeled on Casablanca, which also stared Bogie hoping for the same success Casablanca had met at the box office. And in all honesty that doesn't bother me much mainly because Bogart does a perfect job playing an anti-hero always keeping a low profile never wanting to get involved with politics mainly a survivor like every regular man going through in life even during the war. Furthermore when authorities take Bogart's cash from him he knew that he has to take the job and through the course of the movie you see the character of Morgan changing and becomes a unlikely hero by the end of the movie and even Hawks created that difference from the book to the movie because he did not like stories about "losers" for which really I would most certainly agree with him on that. So, again Bogart is defiantly the perfect choice to play that part and lets it bloom through the course of the movie and really when it comes to those kinds of movies from a crime mystery or a war drama and even a survivalist story, I would watch Bogart in all those roles because he's just a perfect actor for that role. To Have and Have Not was even a first to where Bogart would me his future wife Lauren Bacall whom this would be her first movie as an actress in fact Hawks wife urged him to invite Bacall to take a screen test after seeing her model cover on the Bazaar fashion magazine, and Bacall was only 20 years old at the time for which her and Bogie would later marry in February of 1945 just a couple of months after the film’s release. Now both of these two makes this film worth seeing for many reasons there chemistry together is just pure joy like you've met you soulmate and that's what both Bogart and Bacall represent as these two survivalists who are not afraid of anything and begins to fall for one another, moreover you watch this film and you'd believe love is still real to which Bacall and Bogie were still married until Bogie's death in 1957. To Have and Have Not is most certainly on my list of a hundred greatest films of all time, it has everything from great character development great love story as well as a great story of one man being a hero in the end and for a movie that's 80 years old this film still to this day still ages like fine wine and even to this day I'll never get tired of watch the film from beginning to end. Though the funny and sad thing about this film is that it marks ten years now since Lauren Bacall died in 2014 which really, I believe that those two are now reunited and can live together in harmony in heaven. If this great gem ever lands on Turner Classic Movies or Hulu or even Max, I will highly recommend watching the film that brought the greatest on-screen couple in movie history.