#brandt peters

[repuls1ve]

[farttherapy]

Left: over 10 years ago I almost bought an original sketch by this artist for a measly $250 at Gallery 1988 on Sutter. I circled the room once, to think on it, and by then a small neon green sold sticker🟢 had been placed on it. I was gutted. I'm haunted by the missed opportunity.

The RAPE SURVIVOR BARBIE post of the sketch that I managed to miraculously drum up has since been removed by my stalker(s)?

[skullislandproductions]

My first Bugs Bunny & Tweety. This cel is from a shot that was part of my first assignment on “Carrotblanca,” directed by Doug McCarthy, making it one of the first Bugs Bunny scenes I ever animated.

[lisamarie-vee]

[rainparadefromhell]

maya and brandt 😭

[davidhudson]

Peter Cook, November 17, 1937 – January 9, 1995.

Bill Brandt’s 1961 group portrait of Jonathan Miller, Alan Bennett, Cook, and Dudley Moore.

[thestuartkings]

[rolandrockover]

Kiss - Von Phantomen Gejagt

… translates as Kiss chased by phantoms.

Personally, this title could appear a little peculiar to me, considering that the only phantom-like thing I've detected since I've been writing this blog has always been Kiss themselves, who I tend to chase after occasionally. With the small exception of this little infamous cinematic manifestation of the height of her popularity in the 1970's.

So, I've watched Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park (1978) aka Attack of the Phantom (1979) in its entirety three times in my life, beginning with the German theatrical version in 1983. As a seven-year-old, I was of course extremely impressed to experience Kiss, those rock giants, colorful, quirky and pretty much larger than life on the big screen to the strains of their musical extravaganza. In 1992, when I was 16, I longingly got to see the American TV version for the first time on an official VHS tape. The horribly cheap vintage TV movie look and Scooby Doo score it contained, on the other hand, was much less enjoyable.

And 2024, at, ahem, 48? Well, home alone last week, I felt incredibly drawn to the German theatrical version (1). After more than 30 years the time seemed right to finally see this potentially work of art with the right eyes again, with the support of a good bottle of red wine (2). And I have to emphasize, neither of my following two decisions turned out to be a mistake.

Whereby I would like to make my first admission, because Attack of the Phantoms certainly doesn't come across like a mixture of A Hard Day's Night (1964) and Star Wars (1977), as so often unerringly commented on by Paul and Gene, but rather like a light version of Westworld (1973) and Rollercoaster (1977), with a good pinch of The Monkees (1965) and Batman (1966) thrown in. And, big surprise, compared to the latter two, it doesn't come off too badly, too.

Speaking of bad, Devereaux the designated antagonist of this flick basically spends most of his free time in his supervillain headquarters filled with towering supercomputers and costumed robots, the only true equivalent of the Batcave, from which some artifacts were most certainly taken for this fabulous set. And it is from there that he hatches sinister plans against Peter, Ace, Gene and Paul (3).

However, it's not the robots or the fancy computers that are Devereaux's secret weapon, but the drama with which he fights against the script and the rest of the motley nonsense. After the originally intended director was fired for "organizational" reasons, Anthony Zerbe must have become aware of what he got himself into and is obviously trying to play his way out of this mess with his back to the wall and full of anxious urge. What he's doing is actually quite heroic.

And what about the actual heroes, Kiss? Oh yes, they act like some kind of celestial exalted beings who, when they condescend to ordinary mortals, like to speak in riddles. They are superior to us and they simply know more than we do, but they don't want to tell us. They probably just want us to know exactly that and nothing more. But you never really know with them, because sometimes they just fool around.

Apart from that, they prefer to spend their divine existence hanging out with each other, and don't mind an occasional spontaneous scuffle with a pack of albino space werewolves, which seems to be nothing unusual for them at all, because when it turns out their hairy opponents are "only" robots, that's the real surprise for them. I guess that's what kinda makes them tick.

Since I don't see much point in recounting the complete storyline, I could now tell you about the lead actress's fiancé, who has been turned into a mental robot by Devereaux and who, as Devereaux's personal assistant, is really good at taking Kiss personality shots with the camera (and beyond that even developing the prints), but whose fine motor skills really fail when he is ordered to search a cupboard for their superpower-giving talismans (4).

Or Peter's stunt double, who can actually be seen behind the drums during the Black Diamond solo sequence, could of course also be worth mentioning, but is not really significant, because all stunt doubles are given a generous 30% screen time (5), and Gene's double, for example, doesn't even resemble him from behind. And more than enough words have certainly been said about Ace's.

And so I could go on enthusiastically for half the day, but I think I've already put enough into the balance. Of course, one could still interpret a word or two about the final scene and the mysteriously aged Devereaux, who seems defeated, but despite his failure, he also seems to be fulfilled inside and to have found inner peace, as the subsequent counter-shot suggests. Perhaps Anthony Zerbe had finally resigned himself to the fact that this film would rob him of his last chance to win an Oscar. Wouldn't that be meta?

In any case, it's a Kiss world where things are the way they are, and pretty much everything revolves around Kiss and nobody is afraid to say their band name more often than necessary, and we all have the great fortune and pleasure of living in it.

But, there is still one more thing I have to get rid of urgently. Despite all my renewed fascination for this hell of a production, I would be thrilled to see it just once with AC/DC instead of Kiss.

Side Notes:

(1) The German theatrical version differs from the American TV version in some essential ways, which should of course be deciding factors for the film fan to enjoy it to the fullest. Apart from the '78 solo album score, the optimized picture format and color saturation, the better sound, a few extra scenes that honestly escaped my attention, it's above all the flippant dubbing that stands out.

Amongst the illustrious voice actors are the unforgettable Rolf Zacher, and hardly surprising no less than three veterans from the original German Simpsons cast. Reverend Lovejoy, Lenny and Homer himself (albeit only in a tiny supporting role), all of them lent their unmistakable voices to silly Kung Fu, Horror and other Trash films for some cash in the 70s.

Unfortunately, they fight the same battle with the dialog direction as Devereaux does with the unholy script, so that the result doesn't quite come close to dubbing gold, but is still good enough for an unpolished bronze medal. Especially as Ace has been robbed of his Acks! It would be hard to imagine if Rainer Brandt (R.I.P.) had taken up this cause.

(2) I can only say that for me, movies are like a bottle of wine. I can tell the difference between a good bottle and a not-so-good bottle very well, but I occasionally drink both, albeit to different degrees. You just have to know what you're getting into. And ultimately, both lead to a certain goal.

(3) That's right, the alphabetical principle of listing the band members' names alphabetically is carried through the entire film.

(4) But it's actually the super-low swinging beam of his laser pistol that really cracks me up, because it doesn't even have enough power to keep its own beam straight. How could it ever crack the force field of the Kiss talismans?

(5) Whether for the stunts, or as their evil robot doppelganger, or simply as a substitute if someone just didn't feel like it.

Test, test. Firebreathing works.

The Famous Four.

Evil Paul.

[kripto-parahaber]

Bitcoin için bir sonraki hedef 100.000 dolar! Peter Brandt ve VanEck'in yıl sonu BTC fiyat tahmini

29 Ekim Salı günü Bitcoin 71 bin doları aşarak son dört ayın en yüksek zirvesine çıktı. Altcoinler, BTC fiyatındaki artışla yükselişe geçti ve piyasalarda kısa vadede bir hareketlenme yaşadı. Aynı zaman diliminde ABD hisse senedi piyasalarında da yükseliş görüldü ve piyasalar genel olarak kısa süreli toparlandı. Bu yükselişle birlikte küresel ekonomik veriler açısından yoğun bir hafta kripto…

[ruleof3bobby]

SEMI-TOUGH (1977) Grade: D+

Burt Reynolds has a couple good lines but for the most part its a big pass. Silly idea, w odd sequences that add much to anything. Heard the book was much different. Skip it.

[repuls1ve]

[fidjiefidjie]

Bon jour et bonne semaine à tous ☕️📰

Peter Sellers sur le plateau de "Shot in the Dark" 1963

Photo de © Bill Brandt

[skullislandproductions]

We had an idea to make the DVD cover harken back to the Tom and Jerry illustrations of the 50’s and 60’s, so I tasked Dennis Durrell with making this painting of my layout. Even though the powers that be weren’t interested in pursuing that style for the cover, I thought that Dennis did a fantastic job of getting the look and feel of those earlier illustrations.

[raccoon-coded]

Star-Lord: Grounded (2016)

[morewinepod]

Happy Hump Day!

New episode next week.

In the meantime, check out my chat with Candi about the #Spartacus pilot.

We talk Crixus, Ilithyia’s messiness, and the brilliance of Andy Whitfield.

[cloudy-whales]

Brandt visits Pixie Hollow 🧚‍♀️✨