Once again, I could not find a youtube video link of Moviedrome presenter Alex Cox introducing Ealing’s 1945 British anthology horror classic Dead of Night, so readers will have to rely on the transcript (read here). The episode’s original airdate was June 10, 1990 (read here). I agree with everything Cox has said about this masterpiece of horror especially the ventriloquist segment.
Click here to watch the film’s original theatrical trailer
Since I could not find a youtube video link of Moviedrome presenter Alex Cox introducing director/star Jack Nicholson’s 1978 curio western comedy Goin’ South, readers will have to rely on a transcript of his introduction instead (read here). The episode’s original airdate was May 27, 1990 (read here). Goin’ South was Nicholson’s second film as a director – seven years after his previous film Drive, He Said and 12 years before The Two Jakes (a sequel to Chinatown). The third title was very good, but as with Drive, He Said, Goin’ South are little more than good. Make no mistake, this is not a bad film, but as a comedy, it is only half as funny as it should be and as a 70’s western, it lacks everything that made both The Hired Hand and The Missouri Breaks so poetic (like the former) or deeply fascinating (like the latter). I agree with everything Cox says about it, especially how it pales in comparison to the latter from two years earlier in 1976 (read here).
I can’t really seem to find a theatrical trailer to it so I am afraid you dear readers will have to read it’s wikipedia or watch youtube clips of it.
Since I could not find a youtube video link of Moviedrome presenter Alex Cox introducing director Mike Hodges 1971 British gangster classic Get Carter, readers will have to rely on his transcript (read here). The episode’s original airdate was May 20, 1990 (read here). Nothing more I can say here about this great film except that I agree with everything Cox said about it.
Here is a youtube video link to the film’s original theatrical trailer
I have posted a youtube video link below to Moviedrome presenter Alex Cox’s introduction to director Terry Gilliam’s 1985 darkly satiric masterpiece Brazil. My readers can also read his transcript here. The episode’s original airdate was May 13, 1990 (read here). What else is there to say except that I agree with everything Cox says about this film. While Michael Radford’s 1984 (released a year earlier) was very good, I too think that Brazil is the better film. For me, this is the film one gets If you take Franz Kafka’s The Trial, George Orwell’s 1984 and the surrealist humor of the Monty Python troupe and blend it into one. I do not know If I am the first person to come to that conclusion, but I would not be surprised If others have beaten me to it.
Here is a youtube video link to Alex Cox’s Moviedrome intro to Brazil
Here is another youtube video link to Alex Cox’s Moviedrome intro to Brazil that my good friend Steve (click here to see his youtube channel) reminded me to post 🙂 While both of us (and hopefully all of you readers) love the above video, I decided to post it on here to see what all of you readers prefer 🙂 But I am concluding that all of us here love both of them no matter what 🙂
Here is a youtube video link to one of the US trailers to Brazil (Universal handling domestic distribution) with praise by critics
Here is a youtube video link to that same one – only without the critical praise
Finally, here is a youtube video link to either the UK trailer (20th Century Fox handling either UK or international distribution)
* * * * (Out of * * * *)
1. Godzilla (1954)
2. The War of the Gargantuas (1966)
3. Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964)
4. Matango (1963)
* * * * (Out of * * * *)
1. Wise Blood (1979)
2. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
3. Fat City (1972)
* * * 1/2 (Out of * * * *)
1. The Man Who Would Be King (1975)
2. The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
3. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Happy 2020 everybody 🙂 Well I am back, how was the Christmas and New Years of my dear readers 🙂 A new year also calls for the beginning of not only a new Moviedrome Monday entry from me, but also the first episode in the new season of Moviedrome, which in this case would be season 3. I also have a youtube video link of Moviedrome presenter Alex Cox introducing the 1976 cult classic Assault on Precinct 13 by now legendary director John Carpenter. If any of you readers are interested in reading Cox’s introductory transcript, read here. The episode’s original airdate was May 6, 1990 (read here). Though Cox has nice things to say about the film, he seems to give off the vibe that it is “overrated”, which I totally disagree with him on. I love Assault on Precinct 13, but then again, Cox has always been something of a contrarian. If any of you readers are interested in reading my list of my favorite John Carpenter films, read here.
Here is a youtube video link to Alex Cox’s Moviedrome intro of Assault on Precinct 13
Here is a youtube video link to the film’s original theatrical trailer
I just want to wish all of my readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy 2020 🙂 Look forward to more blog entries from me in the New Year 🙂
Now, I would love to conclude this year with a youtube video link to a 2013 Kelly Clarkson song entitled Underneath the Tree, which has now become one of my many favorite Christmas tunes 🙂
The last episode of Season 2 in Moviedrome is undoubtedly a memorable American classic. I have posted a youtube video link below to Moviedrome presenter Alex Cox introducing director/co-writer Billy Wilder’s 1950 Hollywood satire Sunset Boulevard. Readers can also read Cox’s intro transcript here. The episode’s original airdate was September 10, 1989 (read here). Every great thing that has ever been said about this film, I nod in agreement to. If any of you are interested in reading a list of my favorite Billy Wilder films, read here.
While this will not be my last blog entry for 2019, it will be my last one concerning the Moviedrome Mondays entries. I will resume my Moviedrome Mondays blog series in the new year (Sunday, January 12, 2020) beginning with season 3 of Moviedrome.
Here is a youtube video link to Moviedrome presenter Alex Cox’s introduction to Sunset Boulevard
Here is a youtube video link to the film’s original theatrical trailer
Since I could not find a youtube video link of Moviedrome presenter Alex Cox presenting director Alexander Mackendrick’s 1957 classic Sweet Smell of Success, readers will once again have to rely on Cox’s transcript (read here). The episode’s original airdate was September 3, 1989 (read here). What more can be said about this great film. We get two powerhouse performances by Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis, memorable dialogue from screenwriters Ernest Lehman and Clifford Odets (who was also a playwright) (you’re a cookie full of arsenic), spectacular black-and-white cinematography by the late legendary James Wong Howe and last, but not least, late great composer Elmer Bernstein’s jazzy score. I have seen all of Mackendrick’s Ealing comedies, but it has been a while since I saw his last two films, which were A High Wind in Jamaica and Don’t Make Waves, so I will have to re-watch them sometime in the future. Nevertheless, If any of you readers are interested in reading my list of my favorite Alexander Mackendrick films, read here.
Here is a youtube video link to the film’s original theatrical trailer
cinematiccoffee 