RIGHT HAND/ LEFT HAND

Beware of false prophet which come to you in sheep´s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves...
-Matthew 7:15

Based on a true crime story “The Night of the Hunter” Directed by Charles Laughton is simply Astonishing. To this day i think its THE most underrated and unknown movie masterpiece of all time.

The birth of the movie villain.

Its the story of a man who puts up adds in the local newspaper as a "lonely gentleman seeking for love". Unpredictable actor and later movie icon Robert Mitchum´s epic cryptic portrayal as Harry Powell, is trully powerful. He brings tension and an evil wisdom to every frame. As Anton Chigur in No Country for Old Men, every time this character is in a scene we don´t know what is gonna happen. He plays a Reverend/serial killer who has tattoos in his fists, The words (love/hate).

By using the german expressionism (Das Cavinet of Dr. Caligari) the director was able to push black and white film styles and motifs to an unseen aesthetic spirit. Like Gabriel Figueroa with bizarre shadows, stylized dialogue, distorted perspectives, surrealistic sets, odd camera angles. All to create a sinister but familiar world. That mood is in every frame of the movie. The cinematography of Stanley Cortez is breathtaking. In some scenes, it demanded several underwater shots. Various sets were specially lighted to do specific camera movements for them to have a musical quality.

A true piece of movie art. The suspense of this 1955 thriller is like no other Hollywood film of that time, making it UNIQUE , to me the one movie that glues the 20th Century American cinema.

This is one of the most influential movies in the history of cinema giving ideas to David Lynch, Woody Allen , Alfred Hitchcock, Martin Scorsese, Terrence Malick, Jim Jarmusch, Alex Proyas, Tim Burton, The Coen Brothers, Rob Zombie and Spike Lee to name a few. A must if you haven´t seen it and if you have, watch it over and over again.

Realistic Speculation

…about possible future events

Robert A. Heinlein defiened Science Fiction like that.
As in horror or comedy, Sci Fi has its language.
It’s possible but not impossible because everything can happen.
He along Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke are known as the "Big Three" of science fiction. Ever since I was a kid I remember looking down to the ground and seeing my roots. But also looking up to the sky at night, the unknown, dark and full of stars To dream of my future. To this day I see airplanes with amazement.

Ever since humanity has existed, future is uncertain and we cannot begin to understand it or be able to predict it.  There are facts and opinions. That’s why  filmmakers everywhere embrace this wide open guess of …what comes next? Tomorrow? A Distant future? What part is sustained by science? What creative process is fiction? Both earth and sky exist. One is tangible the other far. Artists, writers and concept designers have been expanding our minds. (Metropolis, Bicentennial Man, Aliens, A Clock Work Orange, War of the Worlds, I am Legend, Dark City, )

My dad told me the first time I saw “2001 A Space Odyssey” that the monolith was intelligence brought to apes. I agree but I also think that  the monolith could be curiosity or doubt. What is it ? what does it do? what will it change ? Its the perfect marriage of harmony and distortion. Of light and darkness. Earth and Space. Past and Future. Red, Blue, Yellow colors everywhere.
While Kubrick’s future was clean, no bad words, polite, white and almost hospital like, Ridley Scott´s vision (Alien or Blade Runner) was dark, filthy as an old truck. Full of betrayal and shadows everywhere.

Both of them gave a different approach to Science Fiction and what could happen once men had no boundaries that to me is the message behind Arthur C. Clarke´s brilliant screenplay.

George Lucas made Luke Skywalker not just a hero but an instant legend he gave him a path of learning thru Yoda and Obi Wan, not just answers. He took from Kurosawa Films and Flash Gordon and gave us: light sabers, Darth Vader, Carbonite freeze and Wookies.

As Spielberg .adds light as a sign of hope (E.T. & Close Encounters of the Third Kind)  Or James Cameron brings the human factor in play ( Terminator 2 Judgment Day). Every science fiction work has a reality base(Robocop)We can imaginea starship full of soldiers going to battle (Starship Troopers) Or an alien planet with human like creatures (Avatar or The Fifth Element) or going inside a computer game (Tron)Aliens desguised as Humans (Attack of the Body Snatchers or They Live) Machines ruling the earth (The Matrix or The Terminator) Thoughts of a scorched planet left to ruin by ourselves The dawn and dusk of men. The idea of a lonely, deserted  ghost planet. Science deals with a basic primordial human fear of change. We are told since we are very young Change is progress. When things change there are those who embrace it and others who will oppose it. There is so much to see and experience with in our own imagination

We imagine an apocalypse (The Planet of the Apes or 28 days ) or the idea that we can alter the path of time by our actions (The Butterfly Effect) We embark on journeys that take us to far far away galaxies to uncertain dangers or to discovered that danger has arrived at our neighborhood. (The Blob or The Thing)

We are …but… doubt and curiosity.(The Black Hole)

To me Sci Fi has to have depth, (as in PREDATOR 2,  it gave the Predator the depth of a true character by self healing  after he has lost an arm prooving the audience it is  intelligent rather than just using it´s animal instinct. Contrary to H.R. Geiger’s Alien) Sci Fi must have deep characters (Reign of Fire, Children of Men, Pitch Black, A Scanner Darkly or Event Horizon.)

Either it answers our questions Or it fades away …

SEE YOU NEXT WEDNESDAY

“Men in Black is… the Ghostbusters
Dressed as the Blues Brothers???
Somebody owes Dan Aykroyd some money!”
-John Landis

I´ve always admired people who are different and don´t follow the same trends or opinions as others. People that make a difference in your life. Influencing us to do great things or to take unexpected decisions. John Landis is like that. Like other film director´s he gives a lot of interviews but as so much talented people, has never been  properly acknowledge. Either his movies are not famous or not comercially succesful. If anyone is an authority on comedy its him. He has worked with the best in the business, so much talented artists      can´t be wrong.  He can brag of being not just a Director but a Brilliant Filmmaker.

Born in Chicago, raised on L.A.
At age 8, he saw The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and
It changed his life
Part of a brilliant first generation of Directors
Along Spielberg, Scorsese or Joe Dante

changed filmmaking forever.
He might not be the most prolific or famous director
But he definitely influenced movie making.
He Directed  Michael Jackson´s “Thriller”
Changing television and music videos forever
Directing some of what I consider, most of 

1980´s iconic movies.

-of Horror:
An American Werewolf in London
& : the Prologue and first segment of the Twilght Zone Movie

-of Comedy:
The Three Amigos (Alfonso Arau, Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, Martin Short)
Trading Places (Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy)
National Lampoon´s Animal House (John Belushi)
Coming to America (Eddie Murphy &Arsenio Hall)

-of Musicals:
The Blues Brothers (Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi)


See You Next Wednesday is a recurring gag in most of the films directed by John Landis, usually referring to a fictional film that is rarely seen and never in its entirety. Each instance of See You Next Wednesday in Landis' films seems to be a completely different film.
Landis got the title See You Next Wednesday from the 1968 movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey. It is the last line spoken by Frank Poole's father during Poole's videophone conversation with his parents

Its now 35 years after his first movie and up until now John Landis films make me laugh make me think, maybe , just maybe the trick is not doing what gives you more recognition and popularity, but listening to what´s inside you.  By "directing" your own path.

Who is that fella?

Every actor’s goal is becoming someone
Else in front of an audience
What does it take
becoming someone real?

Malcolm X, Gandhi,
El CID, etc
These are my favorite
Forget everything else
Watch the acting


Edison, The Man (1940)
Spencer Tracy became
Thomas Alva Edison
Period.
Giving a powerful performance
Of the brilliant man who brought light
To the world.

THE SCENE
As Edison
Enjoys a glass of milk
& a piece of pie.
the way he smiles
That is his happiness.

Lust for Life (1956)
Kirk Douglas as Vincent Van Gogh
The special relationship he had
With his brother Theo
We all know his art but we are not
Familiar with this legend
Being such a talented & tormented soul
At the same time.

THE SCENE
Before cutting his ear
Van Gogh watches himself
In a mirror over and over again
Trying to understand
Why he suffers so much.

The Babe (1992)
John Goodman
took a huge risk
Portraying an American icon
As Baseball legend Babe Ruth

Abandoned as a kid
Left on an orphanage to his own
To find out his unique talent
Had a price:
A life full of excesses.

As many sad characters
He just wants to be loved.

THE SCENE:
When “The Babe” can´t take
it anymore
And confronts the hole
Stadium, as the crowd
throws garbage at him.

Der Untergang (2004)
Better known as Downfall in English
Adolf Hitler Brilliantly portrayed by Bruno Ganz
on his last days
Hidden at the bunker, finding out
The thousand year reich is no more.

THE SCENE
While having a meeting at his bunker
Hitler realizes the war is lost
As he takes his glasses off,
You can see how his mind and heart
Break.

In such absolute darkness

purist: one who desires that
an item remain true to its essence
and free from adulterating
or diluting influences.

I´ve always believed the movie “experience”
is best
In the movie theatre.
The TV experience
Is not the same
TV is a mass media
And its inside your home
And has commercials

TV movies are usually very bad
With poor budgets
Bad acting
Wrong cinematography
But they are a true example
Of effort and bringing
Movies to a different window

I really think
Some TV movies
Are groundbreaking
This are my 3 favorite


IT (1990)
Directed by Tommy Lee Wallace
Contrary to what many believe
Stephen King’s novel adaptation
Was not a theatre release
It´s probably the most famous tv movie ever.
It was a two part movie on ABC
Aired November 18 & 20 1990
Making Pennywise (Tim Curry)
An instant classic monster that hunts
Our nightmares.

Fatherland (1994)
Based on a Robert Harris book
And Directed by Cristopher Menaul
HBO produced this idea
Imagine just for a second
“Germany won
World War II”
An SS Officer (Rutger Hauer) and a
Reporter (Miranda Richardson)
Start uncovering a secret so big
That will change the world forever.


Citizen X (1995)
Based on a Robert Cullen novel
And Directed by Chris Gerolmo.
Forensic Specialist Viktor Vurakov
(Stephen Rae) searches for 7 long years
To find Russia’s worst serial killer
Andrei Chikatilo (Jeffrey DeMunn)
Starring Donald Sutherland and
Max Von Sydow
A hard to watch
HBO masterpiece.

“The greatest masterpiece in literature ,
is only a dictionary out of order”
-Jean Cocteau

There´s a place

A tradition
Of humanity
Synonym of relationship

Not a place
Or just furniture
It’s a main character

It’s a place for statement
Meetings are held
Decisions are made

It resembles the horizon
It may be dusk
It may be dawn


Where families argue
Where we face each other
Where there should be no secrets

This landmark of item
In every house
In every life

Parents teach
Children read
Toys play

Plots are planned
It all begins
It all ends …

The Audience´s Suspension of Disbelief

Neo: Why do my eyes hurt?
Morpheus: You've never used them before.

If you are like me
And watch 50 or 500 times
The same movie
You begin to
See some hidden things
Like:


The Real One The real Erin Brockovich plays a waitress serving Julia Roberts and her kids


The Number 114 CRM 114 was the name of a decoding device in Stanley Kubrick’s “Dr. Strangelove: or how I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb.” In “A Clockwork Orange,” the medication given to Alex is marked “Serum 114.” Also Robert Zemeckis seems to have borrowed those numbers appear on the amplifier that Marty uses at the very beginning of “Back to the Future.”


The A113 Was the classroom number used by
Character animation students at
The California institute of arts
It appears in all pixar films


The club During the opening sequence of
“Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,”
we see that the name of the club
is “Club Obi Wan”


The Rain John Cusack has one request
Before doing any movie
“It must rain”


The quote Tom Hanks in every single one
of his films says “Hey! I know you”


The Cameo In Mike Nichols “Regarding Henry”
The messenger is none other than
A young J.J. Abrahms


The Gorilla In Mike Nichols
“Working Girl” when
Sigourney Weaver gets off the helicopter
She´s carrying a stuffed Gorilla.
Resembling Gorillas in the Mist
Both movies were released the
same year


The Book Neo (Keanu Reeves) keeps his
Contraband work on a book called
“Simulacra and Simulation”
by Jean Baudrillard that interrogates
The relationship between reality,
Symbols and society