Солярис (1972)



IMDB
Во почетокот на 70-тите години е снимен дефинитивно најдобриот советски НФ-филм, кого одреден број обожаватели го ставаат рамо до рамо со 2001:Вселенска Одисеја. Станува збор за филмот Соларис на режисерскиот гениј Андреј Тарковски, снимен во 1972 година. Прв услов за светски успех беше книжевна подлога. Сценариото на филмот е работено според мотивите на истоимениот роман на големиот НФ писател, полскиот автор Станислав Лем. На тој начин се повтори ситуацијата што беше темел и гаранција за успехот на Одисеја. Заедничките напори на врвен медиумски волшебник и врвен жанровски мајстор дадоа плод. За волја на вистината, мора да се каже дека меѓу Лем и Тарковски не постоеше директна соработка. Напротив, тие двајцата веќе на почетокот на снимањето се скараа, така што Лем одби да соработува, а подоцна тврдеше дека немал никаква врска со проектот Соларис, долго време дури и одбивајќи да го погледне филмот. Сепак, кога конечно заклучил дека доволно се лутел и решил да го гледа филмот, на крајотрече само: -Не е лошо. Веројатно на покомплетен комплимент Тарковски не би можел да се надева. Филмот е моќна парабола за човековата незрелост за воспоставување контакт со поинакви раси низ универзумот. Поинаквоста на тој вселенски разум е навистина огромна во Соларис. "Вонземјанинот" е огромен интелигентен океан што нема ама баш никакви антропоморфни црти, освен претпоставениот разум. Околу планетата-океан кружи мала орбитална станица, во која живеат неколку космонаути и сосема безуспешно се обидуваат да воспостават контакт со океанот, кој тие го нарекуваат Соларис. Сепак некаков индиректен контакт постои - Соларис од умовите на космонаутите ги извлекува темните места, оние нешта што секој ги направил, а се обидува да ги заборави. На тој начин океанот им кажува на луѓето дека тие сеуште не се зрели за контакт ни со членовите на сопствениот вид, а камоли со таков поинаков и огромен разум како што е Соларис. Врвот на парадоксот е постигнат кога на човекот со најмалку црни дамки на совеста му се појавува поранешната девојка, која се самоубила поради неговата рамнодушност. Тоа нечовечко битие го врши потребното жртвување, исусовскиот начин на преземање на гревовите о несилните плечи на космонаутот. Таа се самоубива овозможувајќи му на главниот лик да биде сосема исчистен од човечките гревови и на тој начин да стане соодветен за контакт со Соларис. Допирната точка меѓу Одисеја и Соларис е во основната порака, која е всушност варијација на еден мотив што постојано се повторува низ човечкиот митос. За вистински контакт со другото е зрел само тој што како и легендарниот крал на Итака - Одисеј, не е само скитник, туку патник што постојано тежнее да се врати во својот дом.

Language : Russian
English subtitle included (SUB/IDX format)
Video : AVI XviD, 780 Kb/s, 23.97 frm/s, 672x288 (2.35:1)
Audio 1: AC3, 48000 Hz, 192 Kb/s, 1-ch Audio 2: mp3, 48000 Hz, 192 Kb/s, 1-ch (Commentary in English)
File size: 1.37 GB

Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965)



"Ladies and Gentlemen: welcome TO VIOLENCE!"So begin's Russ Meyers' 1965 cult classic Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, a movie camp cinema icon John Waters says is "beyond a doubt, the best movie ever made. It is possibly better than any film that will be made in the future." While not everyone--okay, maybe not anyone--shares Waters' peculiar cinematic sensibility, there's no denying that Meyers' film possesses a strange, almost alien power, undiminished more than forty years after it was made.It's a movie that's not only critic-proof, but actively antagonistic to criticism. Like its protagonist/antagonist gang of Amazonian thrill-seekers, it laughs in the face of your rules. It refuses to behave. It's mad, bad, and dangerous to know. It's a threat, and it means business.In fact, Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! is almost not a movie--it's a manifesto, a new mythology. Varla, Rosie, and Billie, with their larger-than-life attitudes, their heedless insatiable lust for thrills, and their murderous unconcern for others, would not be out of place among the fickle gods of Olympus, or clashing with the warlike deities of Asgard. These are not women walking across the screen--they are gods and heroes, and this is Meyers' Odyssey.
More...

WW II Aircraft Nose Art


Please visit SAVETHEGIRLS.org for a wonderful collection of classic World War 2 Nose Art and learn how you can visit the Air Power Museum in Midland, Texas and see them in person! It's currently the world's largest collection of WW2 Nose Art and one of the coolest retro exhibitions, you'll ever see!

The Man with the Golden Arm (1955)


Frankie Machine's back in town, baby!


Just as "there's no such thing as an anti-war movie", so too is there no real anti-drug movie. The cinematic medium is just far too glamorous, and inevitably we sit entranced by these stories of vice and decay. Add to that the perversely pop-iconic image of Frank Sinatra rolling up his sleeve for a hit, and the dark beauty skyrockets. You thought Trainspotting was hip, wait til you see its artistic predecessor, The Man with the Golden Arm.
We at the PPCC have always preferred Ol' Blue Eyes the Actor to the Chairman of the Board Singer. Before you go stomping off in a huff, let us explain: sure, Frank's music was nice, but it was also mainstream, conventional, safe. Frank's choice of roles, however, was anything but! From the doomed Maggio in From Here to Eternity to the haunted Bennett Marco in the original (and totally awesome) The Manchurian Candidate, Frank had a confidence and daring that has always knocked us back. Even if he wasn't necessarily the most talented technical actor, he was still brave enough to pick awesome roles and cool enough to make us love the ride.
The Man with the Golden Arm was Hollywood's first "drug movie" - provocative, groundbreaking, sailing off into uncharted territories of realism and gloom. Based on the novel by Nelson Algren, it tells the story of junkie Machine (Frank Sinatra) who, fresh from rehab and pumped for a new life, returns to his grimy urban home to find everything as he left it. With his wheelchair-bound and emotionally dependent wife (Eleanor Parker) nagging his right elbow, the chaos of illegal gambling jostling his left, and the greasy pusher (Darren McGavin) whispering promises of sweet oblivion at his neck, it's not long before Frank sinks back into his addiction. Well, there go his dreams of being a rock star (err, jazz drummer).What's fascinating is how the film mixes together the main themes - arms, dealers, addiction, jazz - in one big soup of sinister aesthetics. Throughout the film, Frankie's "golden arm" is repeatedly referred to - as a talented instrument for card dealing hell and jazz drumming heaven, and as a problematic appendage always shivering for the next shot. Also throughout the film, Frankie gets "Hey, dealer!" bellowed at him by the police and the underground; they mean card dealer, but drug dealer is obviously implied. And Frankie's addiction isn't the only one presented: in a bizarre thematic mirror, Kim Novak's other down-and-out boyfriend is an alcoholic. Jittery to my left and jittery to my right, thank you. Likewise, Frankie's wife seems to be addicted to... well, something. She's definitely crazy.I read somewhere that this movie is also supposed to be existential, and generally that seems accurate. The mean streets of Chicago are presented as Godless and lonely, where the perpetually alienated Frankie drifts from seedy bar to seedy home. All hunched shoulders and shifty eyes, it's only in Elmer Bernstein's blaring jazz riffs that Frankie's frustrations and despair are allowed to explode outwards. We at the PPCC particularly loved the booming crescendo when Frankie finally succumbs to the drug's siren call: BA BAAAAAM BA BAAAAAM!
Ol' Blue himself offers a passable, though admirably audacious, performance. Yes, often you're very conscious that Frank Is Acting Now, but nonetheless he gives it his all, and that's enough to earn our appreciation. The famous cold turkey scene is particularly effective. Go, Frank, go!Eleanor Parker gives an amazing performance as the generally despicable wife-leech, Kosch. Thanks to Parker's performance, it seemed like Kosch had more dark corners in her psyche than Frankie, and although we the Audience Member loathed the sight of her, we the Critic could not help but exclaim, "Brava!"Kim Novak is fine as Frankie's anti-Kosch lover, Molly. She has an easier job playing Frankie's bastion during his rocky climb back to being clean. Meh. Nothing to write home about. We liked her hair, though.