#Ewan Goddard

[ulkaralakbarova]

Emma Woodhouse is a congenial young lady who delights in meddling in other people’s affairs. She is perpetually trying to unite men and women who are utterly wrong for each other. Despite her interest in romance, Emma is clueless about her own feelings, and her relationship with gentle Mr. Knightly. Credits: TheMovieDb. Film Cast: Emma Woodhouse: Gwyneth Paltrow Harriet Smith: Toni Collette Mr. Elton: Alan Cumming Frank Churchill: Ewan McGregor Mr. Knightley: Jeremy Northam Mrs. Weston: Greta Scacchi Mrs. Elton: Juliet Stevenson Jane Fairfax: Polly Walker Miss Bates: Sophie Thompson Mr. Woodhouse: Denys Hawthorne Mr. Weston: James Cosmo Mrs. Bates: Phyllida Law Mrs. Goddard: Kathleen Byron Robert Martin: Edward Woodall John Knightley: Brian Capron Isabella: Karen Westwood Miss Martin: Rebecca Craig Mrs. Cole: Angela Down Mr. Cole: John Franklyn-Robbins Bates’ Maid: Ruth Jones Dancer (uncredited): Lee Boardman Film Crew: Set Decoration: Totty Whately Producer: Patrick Cassavetti Production Design: Michael Howells Director of Photography: Ian Wilson Casting: Mary Selway Novel: Jane Austen Screenplay: Douglas McGrath Casting: Sarah Trevis Art Direction: Joshua Meath-Baker Costume Design: Ruth Myers Editor: Lesley Walker Executive Producer: Bob Weinstein Executive Producer: Harvey Weinstein Producer: Steven Haft Executive Producer: Donna Gigliotti Art Direction: Sam Riley Thanks: Giorgio Armani Script Supervisor: Jean Bourne Makeup Department Head: Tina Earnshaw Assistant Costume Designer: Morgan Elliott Original Music Composer: Rachel Portman Hair Department Head: Simon Thompson Makeup Department Head: Susie Adams Property Master: Danny Euston Unit Publicist: Sara Keene Associate Producer: Donna Grey Sound Mixer: Chris Munro Still Photographer: David Appleby Production Coordinator: Fran Triefus Assistant Costume Designer: Sharon Long Dialogue Editor: Derek Holding Gaffer: Norman Smith Supervising Sound Editor: Colin Miller Location Manager: Bill Darby Assistant Editor: Jeremy Hume Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Paul Carr Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Robert Farr Choreographer: Sue Lefton Grip: Richard Broome Assistant Hairstylist: Kay Georgiou Assistant Makeup Artist: Sian Grigg Second Assistant Director: Alison Begg Third Assistant Director: Russell Channon Third Assistant Director: Caleb Menges First Assistant Director: Davina Nicholson Construction Manager: Andrew Golding Scenic Artist: Jason Line Scenic Artist: Stephen Scott Assistant Sound Editor: Geoff R. Brown Foley Artist: Lionel Selwyn Foley Artist: Jason Swanscott Clapper Loader: James Bloom Electrician: David Bruce Electrician: Mark ‘Rocky’ Evans Electrician: Wayne Leach Focus Puller: Roz Naylor Electrician: Ricky Pattenden Wardrobe Supervisor: Michael O’Connor Negative Cutter: Sylvia Wheeler Production Accountant: Kevin Trehy Movie Reviews: Peter McGinn: This is a fine production of the Jane Austen novel, though it is not among my top two favorite adaptations. Not for any serious problems, but rather due to minor decisions that were made in the script. I expected to see more of Emma’s visit to Miss Bates, for example, after she is shamed into repenting her treatment of the silly woman. Other than that I enjoyed the movie well enough. The acting and the script were consistently good except for those moments I mentioned, and I would probably be willing to watch it again someday. Filipe Manuel Neto: **A futile and silly Emma to be taken seriously, but entertaining and has some good moments.** Jane Austen is one of the great writers in the English language and her work has been fertile ground for adaptations and reinterpretations in theatre, television and cinema. From trash to luxury, there’s no shortage of options, and each one stands out for one reason or another. This film was inspired by one of the author’s novels about a charismatic and dreamy young woman who takes pleasure in gathering acquaintances and friends, and playing matchmaker. The problem is that, deep down, she herself feels lonely and doesn’t really see a man capable of making h...

[spacenutspod]

About 40,000 light-years away, a rapidly spinning object has a companion that’s confounding astronomers. It’s heavier than the heaviest neutron stars, yet at the same time, it’s lighter than the lightest black holes. Measurements place it in the so-called black hole mass gap, an observed gap in the stellar population between two to five solar masses. There appear to be no neutron stars larger than two solar masses and no black holes smaller than five solar masses. Astronomers working in the Transients and Pulsars with MeerKAT (TRAPUM) collaboration found the object named PSR J0514-4002E in a globular cluster named NGC 1851. It’s an “eccentric binary millisecond pulsar,” according to the authors of a new research article in Science. The total mass of the pulsar’s companion object is 3.887 ± 0.004 solar masses, placing it right in the black hole mass gap. What is it? The new research article is titled “A Pulsar in a Binary with a Compact Object in the Mass Gap Between Neutron Stars and Black Holes.” The lead author is Ewan Barr from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy. It’s published in the journal Science. Barr and his colleagues found the object orbiting a rapidly spinning millisecond pulsar. A pulsar is a rotating neutron star resulting from a supernova explosion. Pulsars emit beams of electromagnetic energy from their poles as they spin. If the orientation between Earth and the pulsar is right, we see the pulsar’s flashes. That’s why they’re referred to as cosmic lighthouses. A millisecond pulsar has a rotational period between 1 and 10 milliseconds. That means it revolves from 60,000 to 6,000 times per minute. Pulsars are fast-spinning neutron stars that emit narrow, sweeping beams of radio waves. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Pulsars are powerful tools because of their rapid and predictable spinning. The pulsar timing technique measures the pulses with precision, and any changes are noted. Those changes indicate the presence of another body, its mass, and its distance from the pulsar. “Think of it like being able to drop an almost perfect stopwatch into orbit around a star almost 40,000 light years away and then being able to time those orbits with microsecond precision,” said lead author Barr. In this research, the astronomers used the pulsar’s timing to detect the object in binary relationship with it. But it couldn’t tell them what it is. Could it be a binary system containing a pulsar and a black hole? Or could it be a pulsar and a neutron star? Could it be something else? Astronomers have never found a system containing a pulsar and a black hole, but they’d really like to. These pairings present a new way to study black holes and could also serve as a new test for Einstein’s general relativity. It the companion isn’t a small black hole but instead is a heavy neutron star, that’s scientifically valuable for a different reason. “Either possibility for the nature of the companion is exciting,” said Ben Stappers, Professor of Astrophysics at Manchester University and one of the co-authors. “A pulsar–black hole system will be an important target for testing theories of gravity, and a heavy neutron star will provide new insights in nuclear physics at very high densities.” Neutron stars are extremely dense compact objects that remain after a massive star collapses and explodes as a supernova. Neutron stars can collapse even further if they gain mass by interacting with another stellar object. But astrophysicists don’t know what these neutron stars become after they collapse. They could become black holes. This artist’s impression shows a neutron star and a companion. Neutron stars can acquire mass from companions that get too close. If they gather enough mass, they collapse even further. Image Credit: ESO/L. Calçada This is where the black hole mass gap comes into play. Scientists think that for a neutron star to collapse, it needs to have about 2.2 times the mass of the Sun. That’s the threshold needed for a collapse to occur. But theory and observation both show that these collapsed neutron stars could create black holes that are five times more massive than the Sun. This gives rise to the black hole mass gap. Astrophysicists are uncertain about the nature of objects that lie in the mass gap. There’s something there, as these observations show, but the nature of the object is difficult to discern. Whatever the companion is, the authors think it resulted from a merger of two neutron stars. “We propose that the companion formed in a merger between two earlier NSs,” they write. If the companion is a massive neutron star, then it could be a pulsar. But the authors couldn’t detect any pulsations. “We searched for radio pulsations from the companion, assuming the full allowed range of mass ratios, but did not detect any,” they explain. The binary object’s origins could explain what the object is, and astrophysicists have detailed models of binary evolution. Those models indicate that mass transfer was involved somehow. “The combination of the location in a dense globular cluster (where stellar exchange encounters often occur), the highly eccentric orbit, the fast spin of the pulsar and the large companion massindicates that the PSR J0514?4002E system is the product of a secondary exchange encounter,” the researchers explain in their article. The binary object is in NGC 1851, a densely-packed globular cluster about 40,000 light-years away. By NASA Hubble Space Telescope – Caldwell 73, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=97660597 The authors think that an earlier companion object of lower mass transferred mass to the pulsar. Those types of interactions are more likely in a globular cluster like the one the binary object is located in, where stars are tightly packed. The pulsar also rotates very rapidly, another indication that it gained mass from a companion. If this was the case, then, somehow, the current companion object replaced the previous companion. “However, a more complicated evolution with multiple exchange encounters is also possible,” the researchers explain. “We, therefore, cannot infer the nature of the companion from binary evolution models.” For now, the nature of the object is up in the air. “We, therefore, cannot determine whether the companion is a massive NS or a low-mass BH,” the authors write. But they might one day. “We’re not done with this system yet,” said co-author Arunima Dutta from MPIA. “Uncovering the true nature of the companion will be a turning point in our understanding of neutron stars, black holes, and whatever else might be lurking in the black hole mass gap.” The post Is this the Lightest Black Hole or Heaviest Neutron Star? appeared first on Universe Today.

[onenerdroaming]

RON: I was thinking, maybe later we could... go somewhere? If you don’t mind a drink with a soldier. TONY: Lance Corporal Winters, are you asking me out? RON: I reckon I am. What do you say? TONY: It’s the strangest thing. Feels like I’ve been waiting ages for you to say something. RON: Funny, I thought I was waiting for you. TONY: What do you know. Maybe this job isn’t so bad after all. RON: Tony.... (Ron and Tony can now be heard kissing) BRIG: Lance Corporal Winters! RON: Oh! Uhm ... Sir! TONY: Oh good heavens! RON: I was just... just uh... liaising with Mr. Clare about... uhm ... uh wh-wh-what what were we liaising about? TONY: That piece of equipment! We uh... seem to have mislaid it. BRIG: I see. Well, I shall be in my office. If you see the Doctor and Ms. Grant send them along, will you? And as for the other matter... the one you were both... discussing... RON: Sorry, Sir. Won’t happen again, Sir. Not on duty. BRIG: Not on duty is right. However... RON: Sir? BRIG: What my soldiers do after hours is entirely their own affair, and good luck to them. UNIT has dealt with stranger things in its time. RON: Really, Sir? Thank you, Sir. BRIG: Yes, well... carry on Lance Corporal! Liberty Hall.

- from UNIT Dating by Roy Gill, in The Eighth Doctor Adventures: Stranded 2 (Big Finish, 2021)

[willstafford]

Return of the Slack

Return of the Slack

GOLDILOCKS AND THE THREE BEARS Birmingham Hippodrome, Tuesday 21st December, 2021 After two years, pantomime is back in Birmingham, with the Hippodrome pulling out all the stops as usual to provide the glitteriest, spangliest, sparkliest show imaginable.  The story of Goldilocks is well-known but too slight to fill a full-length show—the events of the tale are covered here in the time it takes…

[daily-coloring]

Best of 2019 - Remixes

2019 wasn’t bad at all, a good amount of remixes reached to the point when I just can’t stop listening to them on repeat. Give them a chance here.

01. Robyn - Ever Again - Planningtorock Remix

02. St. Vincent - Slow Disco - EOD Remix

03. Marina and the Diamonds - Handmade Heaven - Krystal Klear Remix

04. Dua Saleh - Warm Pants - Com Truise Remix

05. Amani - Fucked Up - Timothy Clerkin Remix

06. Madonna - Medellin - GintK’s Cha Cha Cha Remix

07. PNAU - Solid Gold - Friction Remix

08. Roisin Murphy - Incapable - Crooked Man Part 3 Remix

09. Jack Savoretti - What More I Can Do? - Dim Zach Remix

10. Sam Smith - How Do You Sleep? - Sleep Remix

11. Scratch Massive - Dancer In The Dark - Ortrotasche Remix

12. The Chemical Brothers - Got To Keep On - Riton Remix

13. Archive - Erase - Ewan Pearson’s Vocal Remix

14. Bob Moses - Enough To Believe - Jamie Jones Remix

15. Niall Horan - Nice To Meet Ya - Diplo Remix

16. Chameleon - The Way It Is - Prospa Remix

17. Robyn - Between The Lines - Louie Vega Remix

18. Madonna - Medellin - Offer Nissim Set Me Free Remix

19. Low - Fly - King Britt’s Fhloston Paradigm Remix

20. Jessie Ware - Adore You - HAAi Remix

21. Hot Since 82 - Titled - Raxon Remix

22. Haelos - Empty Skies - Joe Goddard Remix

23. Georgia - About Work The Dancefloor - The Black Madonna Remix

24. Friendly Fires - Heaven Let Me In - Jack’s Lysergic Edition

25. Dua Saleh - Albany - Kim Tee Remix

26. Deichkind - Richtig Gutes Zeug - DJ Hell Remix

27. Hot Chip - Melody of Love - Adelphi Music Factory ‘Time to Bring Peace’ Remix

28. Unnayanaa - Taht Min Aini - Toto Chiavetta Remix

29. Colin Self - Survival - Planningtorock Remix

30. Apparat - Heroist - Substance Remix

[thedoctorwhocompanion]

Reviewed: Maker of Demons

Reviewed: Maker of Demons

Sheltering from the winds of Storm Doris – named, of course, after the Brigadier’s wife – it seems an ideal time to dig into Maker of Demons. Although it’s the last of a trilogy, this is actually my first chance to hear Mel (Bonnie Langford) on the TARDIS again, joined by Ace (Sophie Aldred), so it’s a tantalising prospect. It’s a shame, then, that this release separates Ace from Mel and the…

[lemons-and-olives]

This is a great story by one of my favorite recent writers. I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve read by Alexis Hall previously, so I felt it was a safe choice.

What really set this title apart for me was the narrator. It was my first experience of Ewan Goddard, and it was a wonderful experience. I often have trouble following narration and keeping track of the characters. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case here. Excellent character distinction!

A very good story about the reality of living with anxiety disorder, even if not the Happily Ever After I enjoy. I have no hesitation in suggesting this title to others looking for an outstanding listen.

13 hours

Hachette Audio, 1 November, 2022

[rebelsofshield]

12, 13, 19, 20, 26 and 30

12. Is it time for the Jedi to end?

You know what, maybe? I think the Sequel Trilogy has proposed an interesting continuation of the overall Jedi myth in that it may just be a philosophy that cannot properly sustain itself. Whether it’s through the inevitability of corruption, too easily becoming entangled in galactic politics, or just that the Jedi Code itself is too hard to adequately live up to, it may just be that regardless of the teacher’s best intentions that the Jedi as an organization have outlived themselves. I really get the impression that Rian Johnson and company are steering the franchise to embracing a more contemporary or fluid understanding of the Force, which I think may be fine.

13. thoughts on the prequels? I’m beginning to appreciate the prequels more and more as their own little cult movies that have their quirks and kinks to them. I mean Star Wars is always going to be sort of a spoiled franchise in that we started it off with not only two stellar movies but two of arguably the most influential films ever. Even otherwise good but not perfect movies like The Force Awakens or Return of the Jedi are going to seem dwarfed when compared against the 1977 original or The Empire Strikes Back. So yes, while the prequels certainly have a lot of problems in execution, I have accepted their place in the franchise. I can laugh and joke about them while also enjoying the aspects of the universe that they flesh out and a lot of the genuinely good aspects to them (John Williams’s score, Ewan McGregor, Ian McDiarmid, some of the action scenes, etc.). So yeah, not the best movies in the world, but I like them all the same.19. thoughts on TFA?Honestly, I love it. It’s my third favorite of the series behind ANH and Empire. It may not be perfect and it sometimes does play it a little too safe with some of its design and story choices, but what it does right it does phenomenally well. It is no small feat to have a blockbuster that simultaneously acts as a small reboot and as a sequel to six other films. I also think it’s a small wonder that Lawrence Kasdan and JJ Abrams were able to create a cast of characters that connect immediately with the audience. I walked out of The Force Awakens in love with the new cast of actors and I am walking into The Last Jedi with more excitement to see them than any of the returning cast. 20. what spin-off film would you like to see next?I’m not really sure what I want out of a spin-off film. I’m one of the folks that wasn’t entirely enamored with Rogue One and a lot of the non-film Star Wars media we have been getting in books, tv, and comics have been so solid that I’m not sure if I really have a want for films that are outside of the main saga. I would honestly love it if they continued on with IX and then retired the movies for another decade or two unless an idea they really likes strikes their fancy. Rogue One conceptually was a neat idea in that I would much rather see areas of the Star Wars universe fleshed out in the anthology films rather than centering on characters we already know. Like, what about a political thriller about a journalist that accidentally discovers Palpatine is a Sith Lord? What about a horror film about a bunch of rebels trapped on a starship alone with Darth Vader? What about a psycho drama starring clones following the Clone Wars as they come to terms with their new place in the galaxy? I mean, I highly doubt that Disney is going to greenlight any projects like that, but I’d much rather see movies like those than ones starring Han Solo, Boba Fett, or Obi-Wan.26. best star wars movieThe Empire Strikes Back. No question. So much of our understanding of the franchise and where it evolved to today came from that film. Irvin Kershner has a really solid grasp of crafting the dreamlike and exciting visuals that the movie thrives on and he takes the universe created by Lucas and adds much needed texture to it. It also creates what is easily the best of John Williams’s scores.Also, it easily passes what I think is my go-to test for judging franchise media, especially Star Wars. How much of the narrative is shaped by character wants and desires vs. outside plot devices? Empire is the only of the bunch in which the characters entirely drive the story. From Vader, to Luke, to Leia and Han, all of the three separate narratives are shaped by what the characters want and what they are afraid of. It makes for a really personal and emotional viewing experience. 30. if you were president of lucasfilm your first act would be to _________?I think you said something similar in your answer, but fire Colin Treverrow. I was always a bit skeptical of Treverrow’s ability to take on the franchise after seeing how serviceable but unremarkable Jurassic World was, but after Book of Henry I’ve quickly transitioned into full on panic. When JJ Abrams and Rian Johnson were both announced for The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, I was beyond excited. These were directors that had proven their work and I was excited to see the sort of visual and emotional language they would bring to the series. I cannot attach a distinct voice or style to Treverrow and I am nervous about what that means for the franchise going forward. There are also so many directors out there that I’m sure would love to take on a Star Wars film that would be a much better fit. I mean, I’m sure George Miller, Patty Jenkins, Ava DuVernay, Alfonso Cuaron, Matthew Reeves, Drew Goddard, Jordan Peele, Paul Greengrass, Denis Villeneuve, Peter Jackson, or Duncan Jones would jump at the chance to direct a Star Wars film. I mean I know half of those people are busy doing other projects, but I mean, come on, Star Wars.

[rideinr0mania-blog]

Bike Journey Guide - Romania - Highways to Die For

Hurricane force winds are shrieking between the lampposts and lashing me with outside rain-bullets as I battle to manage my heavily-laden Toyota Varadero motorcycle over damaged cobbles. I am on my way in to Bucharest city middle and hoping I was anywhere else.

Surrounded by suicidally-impatient individuals who're nudging my bicycle using their bumpers, and dodging un-fenced path operates trenches high in swirling brown floodwater, I do believe points can not get any worse. Then I see they most definitely can...

The vehicle ahead of me shows to the air, failures down and slithers sideways since it hits some obstacle in the road. Today I can see what it's: glistening material tram-tracks mix the street at 45 degrees. These rails stand the full six-inches over the road surface Motorcycle Tour Romania.

"My God!" I whimper, "They can't expect people to experience around those?"

Realising there is number alternative, I stand on the footrests in the same way a bell bands beside me. An instant glance to my remaining confirms my worst fears. It's a tram. It's planning to cross the road at exactly the same immediate I attack its tracks. There's number time and energy to stop. I'm planning to die.

You will find moments in life when you have to create a snap decision. I crack open the Varadero's accelerator and the big V-twin rises forward. Turning my bicycle at the last time to hit the moist metal at near proper sides, we lurch, bump and accident around first one, then two slippery rails.

Incredibly I am still on the bike, however upright and the tram has overlooked me. Phew! Then I remember my wife Viv, operating her Ford Transalp directly behind me. Omygod!

I angle to look around my shoulder just in time to see her jumping her bicycle on the rails only legs before the evolving tram. By some wonder we equally made it.

Numerous others were not so lucky. Next day, even as we observed the TV information from a flood-bound hotel in neighbouring Bulgaria, we discovered the headache storm had washed away properties, highways and bridges. Cars, lorries, buses and pedestrians have been swept out in the biblical deluge. In most 62 individuals were killed by the floods, falling trees or lightning. Hundreds more were left homeless.

What on the planet were we - a pair of dithery grand-parents - performing operating through all this on our bicycles? Were we upset?

The clear answer was obviously YES. But we were upset with a motive. We had set down from home in Norfolk to see the offshore projects of UK children's charity EveryChild and, hopefully, increase some publicity for his or her great performs in the process.

Encouraged by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman's Extended Way Circular journey when they visited Unicef procedures in Western Europe, we figured we're able to do something related, but minus the TV staff, fixers, medics and help vehicles. We knew we would take in 12 places as you go along and time up something such as 5000 miles, but we had no idea what we were making ourselves in for.

For more information with this silly journey - furry, frightening and frequently amusing - you will want to see the book of our travels. It's titled'Beyond Bucharest: Bike Adventure Travel'by Frank Goddard and contains numerous routes plus shade and black & bright photos.

[barulhobom-blog]

✪ DON DAYGLOW ✪ GUEST MIX

🇧🇷

Nascido no Reino Unido mas há aproximadamente um ano vivendo em Abu Dhabi 🇦🇪 , Ewan Hoozami, melhor conhecido como DON DAYGLOW é nosso convidado da semana para o GUEST MIX das Sextas-feiras deste Sábado. 

Quando se fala em disco e suas variáveis, ele entende, e em seu portfólio com mais de 15 músicas, entre autorais e remixes, destaque para seu mais recente lançamento, um EP com 4 canções, 'Silky Disco', lançado pela Thunder Jam Records, que vai poder ouvir logo abaixo.

No set (disco, nu-disco, deep disco, disco house) você vai poder ouvir versões deliciosas de clássicos, além de uma música em especial, a única original, 'Zoom' da banda Fat Larry's Band. Esse clássico tem parte importante na vida do Don, quando no casamento dele no início do ano foi cantada em acapela por um amigo.

Você vai poder encontrar lançamentos por aí também com outros nomes que ele utiliza como Bartholomew, Aeon Musk, May May & The Woods and Aeon Musk. Partiu discoteca que o final de semana aqui é todo dia. 

🌐

Born in the UK but living in Abu Dhabi 🇦🇪 , Ewan Hoozami a.k.a. DON DAYGLOW is our guest of the week for our GUEST MIX series.

When we talk about disco and its variables, he owns the business, as we ca see i his portfolio of more than 15 tracks, between originals and remixes. Highlight for his latest release, a 4 track EP, 'Silky Disco' (Thunder Jam Records) that you will be able to listen below. 

For this DJ set, a very disco mix with delicious versions of classics, including the original from the classic of Fat Larry's Band, Zoom, which has a special and sentimental meaning for his life. 

You will also be able to find his music releases under the names of Bartholomew, Aeon Musk, May May & The Woods and Aeon Musk. Off we go to the discotheque because weekends here are every day.

Conecte | Connect with Don Dayglow:

Soundcloud - Facebook - Particle Zoo Recordings

Tracklist: 1. Imagination – Music & Lights (The Reflex Re-vision) 2. On Broadway – Twinzz {Hot Digits} 3. Vero Dance (Rabo & Snob {Hot Digits} 4. Saskin S – One Two {Walking Disco} 5. Fat Larry’s Band – Zoom {WMOT} 6. Stevie Wonder – Superstition (Dave Gerrard Remix) 7. Kraak & Smaak – You Don’t Love Me (Flevans Remix) {Jalapeno} 8. Sweetooth – Lose Control (Don Dayglow Remix) {ISM} 9. Joseph Terruel – Turca {Hot Digits} 10. McNeal & Niles – Summertime (Scrimshire Edit) 11. Prince – I wanna Be Your Lover (Rayko Rare Wiri Edit) 12. Loz Goddard – Lovin’ {Razor N’Tape} 13. Tom H – Strandhjornet {Walking Disco} 14. Caribou – Sun (Suonho Edit) 15. Natasha Watts – Streetlife {Midnight Riot} 16. NYC Peach Boys – Don’t Make Me Wait (Larry Levan Mix – Alkalino Edit) 17. Shalamar – I Can Make You Feel Good {Solar} 18. Piero Umiliani – Discomania {Schema} 19. Sweetooth – Confessions {Paul Whitney Music} 20. Don Dayglow – Silky {Thunder Jam}

Silky Disco EP

[kyukurator-blog]

BULLETS GRATIA BULLETS

  With the release of Reservoir Dogs 25 years ago, Quentin Taremtino launched a thousand genre-bending would-be artistes.

Rabble-rousing British director Ben Wheatley, in league with his wife and collaborator Amy Jump, have been among the more successful. 

Free Fire is their latest project,  and they’ve decided to supercharge Chekov’s  edict about the gun in the first act (got to be used by the third): if a crate full of assault weapons appears in the first act, why not screw the plot and just let ‘er rip?   

Say what you will about the Wheatleys, they aren’t dull, so in their honor, this week we’ve picked a selection of “Super B’s” — films with auteur aspirations and genre roots, 

    FREE FIRE (2017)

British director Ben Wheatle seems perennially poised on the brink of that transformational Tarentino-style breakthrough.   His career started with a wild grab-bag of projects — animation, viral videos and adverts; TV shows (check out seasons 5&6 of our cult favorite Ideal and the whacked sketch series Modern Life).  With grade school sweetheart/wife/screenwriter/ collaborator Amy Jump he launched his online laboratory mrandmrswheatley.

In 2009 they dived into features with the 8 day/$30,000 Sopranos-meets-Mike-Leigh crime drama Down Terrace.

In their latest, they’ve virtually eliminated plot: if this is violence porn, who cares if the pizza delivery guy gets home?

It makes sense on at least one level – their last film, a style-driven adaptation of J.G. Ballard’s dystopian novel High-Rise was regarded as a noble failure at best.  So why not shoot for the mainstream with a Tarentino-meets-Richey bullet fest?  Starring, among others, Oscar winner Brie Larson.

    A FIELD IN ENGLAND (2013)

One of the reasons everybody holds out so much hope for the Wheatleys is that despite being steeped in pop/mainstream culture the Mr. and the Mrs. have a relentlessly arty  streak – as exhibited by their fourth film, the B&W historical drama A Field in England.

If they were satisfied with simply churning out cult classics, the Wheatleys might be happier puppies.  But you always get the feeling that they’re torn between a desire for a mainstream hit and critical acceptance; in interviews Wheatley roll calls all the right names: Roeg, Goddard, Cronenberg, Kubrick.

Shot on $300k in 13 days, A Field is set in the 17th century during the British civil wars – the period which inspired Hobbes famous “nasty, poor, brutish, and short.”  A Field in England hits every miserable base and adds in buried treasure, alchemy, and, just for good measure, some psychedelic mushrooms.

      RESERVOIR DOGS (1992)

We’re old enough to remember the tremor that Reservoir Dogs produced, foreshock to the earthquake of Pulp Fiction.  Despite the scores of imitators, nobody has been able to duplicate its louche brilliance.   Not even, for us, Guy Ritchie who was fun but slight.

  Of course you’ve seen it, probably more than once.  But it’s been a few years.  Don’t you want to watch it again?

    SHIVERS (1975)

The Wheatleys have done horror flicks too.  Canadian master  David Cronenberg used that genre to mine his own deep obsessions, resulting in widespread acclaim.

Shivers was Cronenberg’s first commercial feature and he used it to start his own subgenre (body horror; parasites erupting from victim’s stomachs, two years before Alien).  He married it to a cultural critique provocative enough to trigger arguments in the Canadian Parliament.

The whole film takes place in a antiseptic upscale apartment building.  An aging scientist – Hobbes, Dr. Emile Hobbes — kills a teenaged girl, cuts open her stomach and pours in acid; and then commits suicide.

Only gradually do we learn that Hobbes wasn’t psycho killer but an idealist desperately trying to save the world the world.  Believing that in the antiseptic modern world humans had lost touch with their deeper natures, he created a sluglike parasite to bring them back into balance.  And he believed so strongly that he implanted the sluglike parasite in his teenage mistress.  Oops – it infected her with irresistible sexual desire.  He kills her in a futile attempt to stop the parasite from spreading.

Too late patient zero has already screwed half the men in the building, and we watch the parasite spread like wildfire.  By the end of the movie the whole city is doomed.

Wheatley was following in Cronenberg’s footsteps when he adapted an unfilmable J.G. Ballard novel.  But Crash was something astounding you’d never seen before, whereas High-Rise was flashy but static. Not even Tom Hiddleston and Jeremy Irons could save it.

    THE RAID: REDEMPTION (2012)

 This kinetic tour de force of action and bullets is the bar that  Wheatley has to clear with Free Fire.  Even though it was made by a British film-school grad artistic pretensions are put aside for dead-on world-class genre.

Welsh director Gareth Ewans is 6’7” and for many years lived in Jakarta with his Indonesian wife and daughter.

After graduating from film school in Wales, he signed on to direct a documentary about pencak silat, an Indonesiam martial art form.  Through that he discovered pencak silat expert Iko Uwais working as a deliveryman and cast him in their first feature, the low-budget Merantau, which became a cult hit and led to two Raid films.

In The Raid, Iko Uwais plays Rama, member of a SWAT team who are trapped in a high rise when a gang raid goes wrong.  Rama and his fellow officers must then battle their way out of the complex fighting both drug lords and corrupt cops but enlisting unexpected help along the way.

Uwais also choreographed all the action sequences.

    A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1972)

Even though The Killing inspired them all, for violent choreography nothing trumps the Singin’ In The Rain sequence from A Clockwork Orange.   In a Guardian article, Wheatley recalls traveling to Paris to see it.

This was because Kubrick himself asked Warners to pull it in the UK after it was linked to several cases of juvenile violence and his family got threats.  It didn’t reappear in England until after Kubrick’s death.

As dystopian violence goes, it is still without parallel.  At the time, Kubrick toned it down in various ways for release in various countries; but even after all these years it’s still at the edge of the envelope, equally mesmerizing and disgusting.

      BULLETS GRATIA BULLETS was originally published on FollowTheThread