U4EA

A Brilliant Interview Vault

2009-01-07T02:06:00.000-08:00

Interviews with famous directors going as far back as 1994
Charlie Rose Website

Well worth it

Hi-Can ... yes it can!

2008-03-06T09:27:00.000-08:00

This has to be the most orgasmic bed ever! I want one!!!!

Most memorable song - scene couplings #2

2008-03-05T08:20:00.000-08:00

Film : Born Free (1966)
Song: Born Free
Artist: Matt Monro

This is a film based on the true events in the lives of Joy and George Adamson who after moving to Kenya, where George took the position of game warden, found themselves in charge of a few rescued lion cubs. The couple initially struggle with the care of the cubs, especially as they refuse a number of milk formulas and on the point of desperation, Joy manages to find the correct milk formula and the cubs take their first few sips. Naturally, a bond is formed between the couple and the growing cubs, and especially between Joy and a cub named Elsa which struggles initially more than its siblings. Once Elsa has regained her health, it is time for her take her place in the wild, but first Joy has to set her free. In one of the final scenes Joy reluctantly takes Elsa into a field close to the other lions' habitats and as she turns to leave Elsa tries to follow her, but Joy must be firm and send her away. Virginia McKenna is marvelously convincing in her portrayal of Joy Adamson throughout the film but especially in this final parting scene. This separation scene is so heartbreaking it is bound to create an infectious sad but touching atmosphere. In aid of this comes John Barry's wonderfully written song (performed by the equally wonderful Matt Monro) and it can but enhance the atmosphere!

Once more such a meaningful plot accompanied by such a moving song with equally meaningful lyrics is not to be found in any of the modern releases. Here's to hoping we have not seen the last of this class of film!

This was the first time a film made me cry and to this day the song alone brings a tear to the eye ...

Born free, as free as the wind blows
As free as the grass grows
Born free to follow your heart

Live free and beauty surrounds you
The world still astounds you
Each time you look at a star

Stay free, where no walls divide you
You're free as the roaring tide
So there's no need to hide

Born free, and life is worth living
But only worth living
'cause you're born free

Stay free, where no walls divide you
You're free as the roaring tide
So there's no need to hide

Born free, and life is worth living
But only worth living
'cause you're born free

Most memorable song-scene couplings #1

2008-03-02T13:52:00.000-08:00

Film: Highlander (1986)
Song: Who Wants To Live Forever
Artist: Queen

No words necessary ...

Go Crazy ... burst those (cyber) bubbles!

2008-02-28T03:46:00.001-08:00

The best thing ever! Neverending buble wrap to burst with sound and visual! All from the confort of your pc .... Genius!

http://www.therightfoot.net/mystuff/whatever/swf/bubblewrap.swf

I recommed you go for 'Manic Mode'

Once ... upon a time this used to be a recipe for success

2008-02-24T08:10:00.000-08:00

An unconventional love story, a dash of reality, some great music, and the inevitable air of the independent flick ... surely this should spell success (at least in the indie-world)... what could possibly go wrong?

Glen Hansard plays the jilted struggling artist who works at his dad's hoover repair shop and uses his lunch breaks to busk in the streets of Dublin. Markéta Irglová plays the struggling single mother, a Polish emigrant, trying to make ends meet. As female leads go she is refreshingly beautiful in the simplicity of her features - aided by the lack of OTT makeup - and the directness of her character's personality.

Glen's character is desperately looking for affirmation to soothe his bruised ego. A result of the adulterous ex-girlfriend as well as the hardship of daily life, heightened by his father's apparent disregard for his artistic expression (though later his father is to be redeemed). Markéta's character is in desperate need for anything to distract her from her mundane life which consists of work and the dank and impoverished one bedroom house she returns to where her non-English speaking mother tends to the needs of her grandson during her daughter's absence. It is therefore no surprise that these two find each other and become involved in an unconventional friendship which never quite manages to evolve into something more substantial, though all the elements are there for it to do so.

A distant image as possible from the artificial Hollywood diurnal routine, the backdrop of daily life in Dublin for the working class (native and emigrant alike - a point begging for some sort or political commentary which is absent throughout the film)is the first element to offer the audience a point of intense familiarity. The two leads are likeable (the female slightly more than the male, but then again the artist persona always exudes an element of disagreeable self-involvement, hence the script writer/director is forgiven for this portrayal of his lead) and their relationship develops at an agreeable pace aided by their musical escapade.
At the peek of their intimacy we see them share a peaceful day in the country side culminating with them standing apart on a cliff edge where he asks her whether she still loves her ex-husband to which she replies, albeit in Polish, "No,I love you."

By now we possess enough knowledge of the leads' past to ensure that we appreciate their newly discovered intimacy for each other. What happens next? After a 2-day marathon to complete a demo tape for the male lead's imminent trip to London, the pair decide to ignore what they have managed to build up and return to their faulty (in)significant others - the girl to her unloving husband and and the man to his adulterous ex girlfriend.

Perhaps John Carney (writer/director) intended to present their union as nothing more than a short beautiful interlude from reality. After all the film is about music and the brevity of this couple's union reflects the ephemeral journey a song can offer before it is played out. In this instance, however, the ending seems completely out of place. The events leading up to the finale no longer seem to serve any purpose and this is where the film fails. There is no purpose to their union and consequent disbandment nor to the journey the audience is taken on before being thoroughly disappointed if not a little confused.

What looked like a promising film is nothing more than possibly an eighty-five-minute-long promotion for Glen Hansard's musical career. Though the film will not be memorable (and so not to end this on a negative note) it boasts one of the most natural romantic scenes and a powerfully haunting song sounding the beauty and injustice of unrequited love.

I don't know you
But I want you
All the more for that
Words fall through me
And always fool me
And I can't react
And games that never amount
To more than they're meant
Will play themselves out

Take this sinking boat and point it home
We've still got time
Raise your hopeful voice you have a choice
You've made it now

Falling slowly, eyes that know me
And I can't go back
Moods that take me and erase me
And I'm painted black
You have suffered enough
And warred with yourself
It's time that you won

Take this sinking boat and point it home
We've still got time
Raise your hopeful voice you had a choice
You've made it now

Take this sinking boat and point it home
We've still got time
Raise your hopeful voice you had a choice
You've made it now
Falling slowly sing your melody
I'll sing along

Happy New Year (or how to begin and end a paragraph with a date)

2007-12-30T12:46:00.000-08:00

2007 was an indeterminably odd year not unlike a painting so busy with various colors and shapes you can't decide if you like it or hate it but in the end it leaves you feeling queasy! For all the bad and good things the year brought I bid it farewell and eagerly anticipate the promising new year ahead, 2008!

HIM rocked my world

2007-12-13T09:55:00.000-08:00

12/12/07 - London Astoria

An amazing concert in a cosy venue (soon to be shut down only to be replaced by a shopping mall (?) ). Vile was on form in voice and in humour as always ;) Linde provided the most amazing lead guitar solos. A great night!

Wounded Doves of the Silver Screen

2007-11-25T14:26:00.000-08:00

Charlize Theron wins an Oscar for her vivid portrayal of an abused lesbian prostitute turned murderer. Jolie leaves men and women alike, awestruck as the athletically violent heroine. These are the kind of roles which are admired in the film industry today and subsequently the kind which define women. Cast your mind, however, back to a more serene time when the silver screen first acquired its definition.

This is a time where less is more. It is not a time for physical expression, at least not in the way we are now accustomed to seeing. Instead more is achieved by the lack of it. The heroine remains composed until the pivotal moment in the plot where the amassed emotion is achingly looking for its release. All that the limbs do not express is instead achieved by the heroine's face and in particular her eyes.

Few actresses today could hold a candle to the likes of Gene Tierny, Joan Fontaine or Ingrid Bergman . Granted it is a time where the feminine is very much the weak sex, however, these elegant women with their wounded dove looks are bewitching and in their own way empowering.

There is one actress in particular who is the most captivating of them all. Perhaps, because there is a truly ethereal element to her. A sensation emanating from her screen presence, giving the illusion (or perhaps even the reality) that she is never truly there, that if you were able to be in her presence there would be a part you could never know or possess, a part that belonged to another place. Hail Grace Kelly!

Favourite Grumpy Characters

2007-11-25T08:19:00.000-08:00

The grumpier and glib the better:

* Two old guys (the Muppet Show)
* Adam (Northern Exposure)
* Albert (Twin Peaks)

TBU ...

Wedding Vows

2007-11-25T05:21:00.000-08:00

Wedding Vows make me sick! Can we ask film directors around the world to cut that bullshit out!

Death Proof

2007-08-12T16:13:00.000-07:00

Simply put, the man's a genius! No need to say more!

The woods are lovely dark and deep
and I have promises to keep
and miles to go before I sleep
Did you hear me butterfly?
Miles to go before you sleep

Happy Birthday Kevin!!!

2007-08-02T02:06:00.001-07:00

Hail Kevin! One day soon I will make you proud :P

Stereophonics at the ICA London ~ A Perfect Friday Night Out

2007-07-21T05:50:00.000-07:00

5:30 Work's over, my adrenaline's pumping - I am too excited for words. On the tube off the tube on the tube off the tube ...finally make it to the ICA

6:10 At the ICA - damn need to queue :( Meet some 'phonics fans, talk about their music bla bla ... my anticipation has sky-rocketed, I actually agree to talk to the i-tunes dude (very stylish - very gay - very nice)

07:10 Finally inside! Need some food and some beer ...get a nice veggie dish (pitta bread, baba ghanoush, houmous and tzatziki (note to self - must give chef the proper recipe for tzatziki cause this one is pathetic)

07:30 Support band Little Man Tate on stage. They have potential but they need better music, lead singer's got a cheeky glint in his eye ;) Guy on my far right is well into their music, he knows all the lyrics - Who the fuck are Little Man Tate ???

08:30 Support band finish. Stereophonics crew need to do a sound check, tune the guitars (there are 12 guitars ...how many do they need !!!) God this is taking ages, people are cramming in behind me, the air is getting staler, the heat is rising, finished my second beer, my cheeks must be red I'm feeling a little peaky - WHERE ARE THEY ALREADY!!!

09:15 Suddenly silence and then the lights go down. Everyone's screaming! Any second now THEY will appear! Bright red light ! Loud guitar string strung out! THEY COME ON!
Yes the magic starts! Kelly sounds even better live! The music sounds better live. The vibrations coming up through the ground! Jumping up and down, everyone's hot sweaty and happy. The crowd is insatiable! We want more! More! More!

11:15 After a final encore, the band play us out with Dakota - it's a perfect night!

You made me feel like the one
Made me feel like the one
The one

I don't know where we are going now

The Gospel According to Robert Rodriguez

2007-07-17T11:55:00.000-07:00

“If you want to be a filmmaker and you can’t afford film school, know that you don’t really learn anything in film school anyway. They can never teach you how to tell a story. You don’t want to learn that from them anyway, or all you’ll do is tell stories like everyone else.”

Simplicity. Persistence. Rebellion. This is Robert Rodriguez! His film will not be one of a philosophical nature, there will be no ambiguity in the finale and heated discussions will most certainly not ensue. And yet my cinematic experience will not be that of a disappointed viewer but rather it will be invigorating. Why? Because it will appeal to my base, raw, human instincts. Everything created by him is sentient of the animal within. There are no rules, there are no complications from the techniques he employs through to the end product. His journal Rebel Without A Crew is inspirational, the legend that is Hollywood is brought down to its knees, all gaps are bridged, and the ability is offered to one and all - it is there to be taken! It is not unjust of him then to ask: Are you a Mexi-CAN or a Mexi-CAN'T?

Those Crazy English Summers ...

2007-07-01T16:44:00.000-07:00

Fields of fire that passed the train
The sky is victorious but here comes the rain
Friday is taking me home again,
And I've nothing but you on my mind.

Grass is greener without the pain,
I think that I'm changing but I'm just the same
My sun is a ascending again
And I've nothing but you on my mind

Sometimes I feel like I'm glad to be free,
Sometimes I still want your arms around me
Sometimes I'm glad to have left you behind,
The Crazy English Summer has put you back on my mind.
Life's a riot a lover a friend,
Pity the day that it has to end
Friday come speed me home again,
I've nothing but you on my Mind.

Sometimes I feel like i'm fine on my own,
Fifty Thousand miles from home.
Sometimes I'm weak and the past is my guide,
Summer returns and puts you back on my mind