#or john travolta. or. a hit man

[tentacledwizard]

(looks around room, hearing cricket noises) hey is anyone here surprised that i, tentacled “face/off is my favorite movie” wizard, am enjoying “hit man.” “hit man” starring Glen Powell that is. is ANYONE surprised

[the-90s-music-colosseum]

this whole time i've been like 'haha very funny, (almost) no one here knows who Mike Patton is' and....you could just...look him up...but you know what? here, have a "summary" (lol it's long) of Mike motherfucking Patton and his career:

Mike is an aquarius, fire goat, grew up in Eureka, a small city on the northern california coast

he never intended to be a musician, but loves diverse music/soundscapes, is a curious person, worked in a record store, has perfect pitch and a bonkers vocal range and had close childhood friends (Trevor Dunn and Trey Spruance) who WERE studying music, they formed a band that would be called Mr. Bungle in their teens (fans tend to ship Trevor and Mike, and if you look at footage of them...you'll know why)

a demo tape of Mr. Bungle landed in the hands of Jim Martin, the guitarist for Faith No More...at the time they had fired their original singer and were looking for a replacement. The funny thing is, the demo was pretty hard thrash/death metal and FNM is....not that...but anyway, Mike was recruited to FNM, ostensibly for his singing ability, but he also was the profile of young, fit, long-haired, and hot as all get out. (fans tend to ship Mike and Roddy, and if you hear them banter on stage....you'll know why...and shoutout to Roddy for being an out gay man in metal in the early 90s...take that bja)

somehow, Mike finagled getting Mr. Bungle signed to the Warner Bros label when he signed onto FNM, so Bungle had a budget and exposure...and very little oversight...hence the MV for Quote Unquote/Travolta

The big Faith No More hit is Epic and that song catapulted them into a two year tour, during which Mike became known for being a fucking maniac (mostly shirtless) on/off stage....there's lots of true stories, and LOTS of untrue stories, no one, probably not even Mike knows exactly which is which. Two things are relevant: teen Mike started out straight edge, and during this tour he also gained a reputation for hating on groupie-and-party-focused rock stars. But his looks and his chaotic gremlin energy landed him this "reluctant pinup boy" persona.

Meanwhile Mike was also fully with Mr. Bungle, touring in his 'off time' from FNM, and at their shows everyone was completely unhinged.

HERE'S THE CRUX: after the success of Epic and the album it's from, The Real Thing, Faith No More were expected to have another massive hit with the next album....and they didn't. BUT they produced an album that to this day is beloved by fans even more that their first album, and Mike's stage persona continued to develop in this way that is mysterious, mesmerizing, sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes grotesque, sometimes just raw sexual/homoerotic/electrically-passionate energy. They're big abroad, but not as much in the US.

Through the rest of the 90s you see Mike with FNM and Bungle, but you also see him produce a baffling feat of a solo album, starting to experiment with his own band Fantômas, collaborating with avant garde musicians/artists, most notably John Zorn.

Faith No More disbands in 1998, but Mike continues with Bungle, and for many fans, his work with Mr. Bungle is considered paramount...FNM is fun, but Bungle is FUN, WEIRD, dangerous but not in a scary way, none of their four albums sound anything like each other. Their "pop" album is....not pop.

Mr. Bungle disbands officially in 2004 (both FNM and Bungle reunite later on), Mike continues to collaborate with musicians, form new bands (including my fave Tomahawk), make better and more impactful solo projects and generally work at a pace that seems the definition of workaholic....producing music that is both eclectic and instantly recognizable, but seldom (never?) hit material. (Since it's not the 90s, I won't describe in detail...but it truly is well worth looking up)

as a little extra, and as was referred to by lurkerwithabike, Mike suffered a certainly covid-times-influenced breakdown and dealt with alcoholism around 2021/2022. For someone who has kept his personal life and struggles cloaked in apocryphal stories and sarcasm, when Mike opened up about what he was dealing with at the time, for many of us it just solidified this deep, deep love for our little weirdo. Oh, and also, the entire time he's a fucking hottie and he hates it.

SO, from my perspective at least - that's why you get such fervor over some guy you've never heard of

fin

(ps....I could have written more....that is a threat)

This is actually so fascinating. May "who the heck is Mike Patton" be no more!

[crosswordgf]

of course i want to know about john travolta hitting on a man at 3am at the gym and of course it is funny that the man in question is so clueless about it but wow it must suck being closeted and some guy just tells everyone your business because u failed so hard in ur attempts to flirt with him that he didn’t even notice lol…

[rootytootypie]

Iron Man

😳🤢🦸

😳: Tony’s definitely a 8 out of 10 when it comes to embarrassment. You have to be someone he’s known for ages before he’s comfortable with possibly passing gas around you, and even then he’ll definitely still say excuse me. And even if you have known him for ages, he’s still way more wary about that stuff around the Avengers.

It has less to do with his background and more to do with image; after all, you wouldn’t see any 80s hair metal rockers, 40s Rat Packers or super cool Hollywood stars doing that in public during their prime (especially Tom Cruise, who, Scientology or not, has an image Tony idolizes). Some of his few good memories of Howard Stark were actually, occasionally being able to make his dad laugh with a random fart growing up when he was very young.

You might expect his most embarrassing moment involved the Avengers or Pepper, but no. It was a tale as old as time, or at least Mexican food’s increased popularity in school cafeterias after Taco Bell hit big in the 1960s. It was October 12th, 1982. Taco Tuesday. A day that shall live in infamy at Andover, as far as Tony is concerned.

He was twelve, and hopelessly naïve. Even though he mostly took classes with older juniors, there were a few other genius kids who skipped junior high that shared a class or two with him. And one of those whiz kids was Millie Collins, a cute blonde preteen who would have been the most popular girl in school among her own peers. He’d been flirting with her since September (and considering a month would be unheard of in some of Tony’s adult relationships, we know this means he was head over heels).

He got to their shared class, British Literature, a few minutes early. “Tony,” Millie called out. “I saved you a seat!”

“Thanks, doll,” he said, sitting down next to her and feeling quite a bit like John Travolta. 

Then it all went to hell. The pencil tucked behind his ear slid and hit the floor. In what he can only recall as slow motion, he bent over to pick it up…and then BAM! The loudest fart EVER! His dreams of peak coolness went up in flames. He’d cut the cheese…and his butt was tilted towards his crush.

That would have been bad enough. But the sparsely populated rows of early arrivals in front of them all turned around and started laughing, and shouting things like “Phew!” and “Grody!”. Some kid came in as things were calming down and said, “What’s so funny?” and his friend replied, “Stark floated a giant air biscuit!” which got everyone laughing like chimps again.

That wasn’t the worst part. The worst part was Millie Collins waiting for him after class and saying, “It’s okay. People will forget,” which to Tony, implied people definitely wouldn’t forget, and that his crush pitied him too much to tell him to bag his face.

Parts of it turned out happily ever after, in that he ended up being Millie’s boyfriend for real until the end of high school (which, again, was a relationship record of his well into adulthood). But the shame was still palpable in Tony’s mind to the point where it eventually came up in therapy thirty years later, bunched somewhere in the lowest rungs of childhood trauma with “the time Maria thought because he loved pummeling his Bozo punching bag, he might like a clown at his birthday” and “getting hazed his first semester at MIT.”

🤢: Tony very much wavers between finding farts funny or gross. It depends on how much, if any alcohol he’s consumed, or later, how much sleep he’s had, his proximity to the farter, how close his relationship to the farter is, and whether or not he’s in a position where he can react either way (after all, in business meetings, you can’t exactly burst out laughing OR call someone a nasty fucker OR do all of the above, as it looks unprofessional).

In the film timeline with Morgan, he definitely got used to Pepper farting because pregnancy does that, and any time any kid under 5 does it, he can’t help but be tickled, but a random guy or gal on a packed subway is definitely not going to amuse him. In fact, an encounter like that is the reason why, speed or not, he always uses a private driver in New York City. You thought it was regard for his own safety or disdain for the common man? Nope, it’s because in a car, he has the quick reflexes to roll up a window if Happy farts, but public transport has yet to advance to allowing private partitions for all riders. Stark R&D is definitely working on it.

🦸‍♂️: There isn’t much here except a few amusing suit features, like a filtration device both for his own rear and the gasses of other, and soundproofing for, well, anything that doesn’t come from his vocal chords (his stomach rumbling, sneezing, belching, coughing, etc. definitely don’t fit the Iron Man aesthetic, and very much are not features on the Pinterest board).

😳 is less fetish oriented and more basic answer due to age (I felt like somebody definitely had an embarrassing moment as a child that can’t be topped, and something about how Tony constantly dwelled on the past in some ways really lent to that)

[wellthatwasaletdown]

Below are comments from YouTube on Harry’s Hopeless singing. Warning: Asskissers praise rancid mayo.

*******

Dude those notes were so high and he hit those perfectly, his vocal range has increased drastically

Those notes were effortless.  Tremendous cover!

I want this on Spotify 😢

Olivia newton john created the song…. but we want Harry’s version

Can someone put this on a 10 hour loop 😭 this man is so talented

Harry Styles hitting notes most male vocalists could only dream of hitting! (I'm a singer myself and will admit I dont have his range) His talent has always been underrated!

Yeah I'm so surprised of his vocals! Wow! He should show it more often

His vocals are often overlooked because the people who doesn't listen to him, thinks he's "just a pretty face"

I was watching this on a livestream snd i absolutely started sobbinggg my heart exploded i literally fell over hearing Harry sing this is like a gift 😭 the vocalss! He is so talented and his outfit and like everything about this is AMAZING 😭❤️❤️❤️ I LOVE HARRY SO MUCH

I had chills that entire time. HIS VOICE. THE TALENT. This song was made for Harry to sing

Harry really never ceases to surprise, perfect Danny, amazing!!! 😍👏  John Travolta must be so proud of him, and so must Olivia Newton-John in musical heaven.  😥👻😘 Big thanks for sharing the video. Indescribably beautiful experience.

one of his best performances

*** Me: Where can I report the murder of a song? Who is this old dude? Would I enjoy this performance more if I was blind, deaf and stupid?

The biggest problem is (just like he did with Toxic) that he's winging it. People like to call him a tenor, but he struggles at the upper range. He's most likely a baritone.

If you listen to the very beginning, he's using Olivia Newton John's version as a backing track. So what you're hearing is a baritone trying to find the right key to sing along with ONJ. Kinda like we do when we're singing along at home. Had he actually rehearsed the song, he would have been in the right key from the beginning and would have not been struggling to sing along with ONJ.

Here you can hear ONJ's voice in the very beginning:

[timefadesaway]

4, 11, 26!

4. Least valuable record in your collection?

12 tops todays top hits compilation whcih has like a pinup girl on the front. or sandy by john travolta #swag

11. Is there an “odd man out” record in your collection (it doesn’t fit in with the styles/genres of the rest of your collection)? If so, what is it?

hmmm i have a holst album that's my only classical and i also have the monty python records lol when most of my stuff is more you know. music

26. What’s one record that you regret buying?

younger than yesterday by the byrds like it's fine but it doesn't play great and i don't even really like that album except for one song. so

vinyl asks

[the-immaculate-madonna]

CONFESSIONS TOUR (2006)

The Confessions Tour included 60 tour stops, which at the time was the most for a Madonna tour. While the schedule focused mostly on North America and Europe, it was her first tour since the 1993 Girlie Show to visit Japan again. It also included some new markets, such as Prague and Moscow. Though Madonna had promised to come back to Australia, the land down under was again excluded from the schedule. Madonna later posted an apology to her Australian fans. The setlist of the Confessions Tour depended heavily on her successful Confessions On A Dance Floor album, while giving many of her older hits a disco make-over. Madonna and musical director Stuart Price paid tribute to Donna Summer's 'I Feel Love', The Trammps' 'Disco Inferno', ABBA, and John Travolta's 'Saturday Night Fever'.

CONCERT SET LIST

Act 1: Equestrian

"Future Lovers" / "I Feel Love"

"Get Together"

"Like a Virgin"

"Jump"

"Confessions" (Dancers interlude; contains elements of "Live to Tell")

Act 2: Bedouin

"Live to Tell"

"Forbidden Love"

"Isaac"

"Sorry"

"Like It or Not"

"Sorry" (Remix; interlude)

Act 3: Never Mind the Bollocks

"I Love New York"

"Ray of Light"

"Let It Will Be" (Paper Faces Remix)

"Drowned World/Substitute for Love"

"Paradise (Not for Me)"

Act 4: Disco

"The Duke Mixes The Hits" (Video interlude; contains elements of "Borderline", "Erotica", "Dress You Up", "Holiday", and "Disco Inferno")

"Music" (Contains elements of "Disco Inferno" and "Where's The Party")

"Erotica" / "You Thrill Me"

"La Isla Bonita"

"Lucky Star" (Contains elements of "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)", and "Hung Up")

"Hung Up" (Contains elements of "Lucky Star")

The Confessions Tour (Live)

TRACKLIST

1. Future Lovers / I Feel Love (Live) 2. Get Together (Live) 3. Like A Virgin (Live) 4. Jump (Live) 5. Confessions (Live) 6. Live To Tell (Live) 7. Forbidden Love (Live) 8. Isaac (Live) 9. Sorry (Live) 10. Like It Or Not (Live) 11. Sorry (Remix) (Live) 12. I Love New York (Live) 13. Ray Of Light (Live) 14. Let It Will Be (Live) 15. Drowned World / Substitute For Love (Live) 16. Paradise (Not For Me) (Live) 17. Music Inferno (Live) 18. Erotica (Live) 19. La Isla Bonita (Live) 20. Lucky Star (Live) 21. Hung Up (Live)

[the-firebird69]

Last song that Jim Morrison recorded prior to his death in Paris on July...

He can see it in the movies Robert Duvall and Ben Kingsley and people that you don't know her Max are Max and the skunking around and did they hit you and you see the Scarface he BG was pressuring him and he said people after him afterwards in a movie stupid everybody can see it

Every single movie you can see them doing it's actually stuff and not as the king cheese. There's a few of them that are going around as you John Travolta is not Tommy f and he's going around killing people hanging out with Garth. Acting delusional but it's not it is doing something else this is what Jim Morrison is thinking about he's he's singing if you give this man a ride means in a car you're going to get hurt real bad and they go around hurting people throw you in the trunk in the drive off and it's quick it happens a lot well I don't know but really they're called the riders by me and that's what Tommy and my friend from the Blue room says it's them doing it and I say it's definitely them it's in there telling me what they're doing because on this poor small young guy from my group that they're rooting from the get-go using his code and all this other silly s*** and so they tell me and confide in me what they're doing it like well you don't care about your stupid act you're like these guys and your poor sports and you're spoiled and back Daddy's right and he's old for being here and wise and not for long at this rate the way you people are churning through people for worth stuff to you. Let's just spoiled brats and you're probably going after the Alphas I wonder if they even realize it

Zues Hera

Shit..ok. we're doing the job and it looks really bad just like mac daddy looks bad but yeah we know our situation and we are alpha or where the prime and we're Giants and they don't like it there's just some of you come out as Giants what's the point and I said we're ultra racist in your DNA is different there's a farm to be over a certain heights so they're gone too you said what height is that and it said mainly they can't be 7 ft everything you people are stupid it's going to keep going till the 6 foot then 5 foot and this says no that's the cutoff so we hear this some problems and this is a big one and it's nobody's fault is their fault they say we influence it to happen I said we put a hit on ourselves from you a much bigger group and you have power all the time that makes sense it forces us to do the job so he's right we're alphas and we're Giants and we're not welcome there I'm going to be around here and you guys are nuts you're worse than they are and tell me if you're insane but really Tommy F you're forced by them and they're completely off the wall if they're not knarcked out to nothing. We have a lot of problems it will fall apart and these people in the bunker are young and arrogant and fold themselves and have so much hubris it's so far over the top it makes you guys look normal does your fighting and you're making crude things to fight with he said it too everybody looks like real nasty s*** but these people in there are very very evil and it's probably a byproduct of the fight with foreigners if they asked for and it's not a circle anymore the forgs are not responsible because maxs were in charge. It was actually charged it couldn't handle anymore and they blew it I mean really this is just people who are far too arrogant for the job is blasting through these gifted people it's so damn loud what do you have this different is not that much it could be a lot less now we're tired of hearing it you can be screwed he just said it we don't want to hear anymore you calm yourself down take the helium and take a hints okay we can't stand it he's just writing our lives all the time and you just don't have it and it's pitiful

John Travolta

So we're off the tracks and he's doing it we're saying and he says good I sort of get something this is what these idiots are doing and it kind of directed us to go off the tracks and you guys aren't going and we didn't say that we have to go to sit together and you're right we're horribly horribly wrong about a lot of stuff and it's going bad and these people want it and don't care about themselves a lot of times and we're aware of it now a lot of the very very stupid

Macs

Haha yeah the encourage our friend here to propagate I'm pretty sure he did he propagated everything they're like freaking monkeys running around

Mac daddy

Olympus

[therealriver1]

(P.S This is part two continued from the previous post. Please scroll down to read the first half)

⦁ The Lovely Bones 2009 (This isn't a feel-good type of movie but still worth the watch) ⦁ The Brothers Grimm 2005 (Starring the late Heath Ledger with Matt Damon) ⦁ Pirates of the Caribbean 2003 series 1-5 (Definitely one if my favorite Disney films I'd say.) ⦁ The Chronicles of Narnia : The Lion the Witch & the Wardrobe 2005 (I confess I never read the books, but I really liked the movie) ⦁ My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2002 (I loved it! I still rewatch it every now and then) ⦁ 13 Going on 30 2004 (Young me was obsessed with this film and watched it quite a few times) ⦁ The Holiday 2006 (I don't really like all those cheesy Christmas movies, but this one was the exception) ⦁ Into The Blue 2005 (I admit during this time I wanted to see every movie Paul Walker was in) ⦁ Mamma Mia 2006 (A musical movie that didn't make me cringe. It was so nice to see them singing ABBA songs) ⦁ Gothika 2003 (Not your typical horror but psychological horror. Not everyone thinks it's great, but I liked the plot) ⦁ The Others 2001 (I used to think this was so scary! I grew up on horror thanks to my dad, I watched a lot of them, and this was a good one) ⦁ The Sleeping Dictionary 2003 (Young Jessica Alba looked stunning. It's a slow drama but you might like it) ⦁ The Mummy 1999 (I actually watched The Mummy Returns first without knowing about the original. I like everything Egypt, relic or mummy related) ⦁ The Transporter 2002 (I do believe this movie was a hit at the time and the action is top notch) ⦁ Real Steel 2011 (Giant fighting robots, c'mon! This was so much fun to watch) ⦁ The Thing 1982 (If you can't handle gore, you might not like it, but I thought it was great! I even enjoyed the version that came out in 2011) ⦁ The Ghost in the Darkness 1996 (Based on a true story of killer lions, this one was definitely memorable) ⦁ Down With Love 2003 (I don't watch a lot of rom coms, but this was so good) ⦁ Uptown Girls 2003 (A charming film starring the late Brittany Murphy) ⦁ The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey 2012 (I of course watched all of the LOTR movies beforehand, but I enjoyed the Hobbit series more) ⦁ Wedding Crashers 2005 (If you are looking for a fun time then this one is a good choice) ⦁ Joe Dirt 2001 (Apparently there was a sequel that I never watched but I very much liked the first movie) ⦁ I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry 2007 (Adam Sandler and Kevin James pretend to be a married couple in this comedy) ⦁ X-men 2000 (I love all the X-men movies in the series) ⦁ Kate and Leopold 2001 (Your typical romance starring a young Hugh Jackman) ⦁ Hellboy 2004 (A cool action/fantasy film by director Guillermo Del Toro and it's based on a comic book in case you didn't know) ⦁ Van Helsing 2004 (Werewolves vs vampires in this one starring Hugh Jackman as the legendary monster hunter Van Helsing) ⦁ Meet The Fockers 2004 (I enjoyed this one more than the first film) ⦁ Awake 2007 (Imagine being fully conscious while under anesthesia and hearing and feeling everything that's happening around you. Starring Hayden Christensen, Jessica Alba and Terrence Howard) ⦁ She's The Man 2006 (I know I can't be the only one who loved this movie when it came out) ⦁ Wild Hogs 2007 (This is definitely one of my fave comedies to watch) ⦁ Face/Off 1977 (A great thriller starring Nicolas Cage and John Travolta) ⦁ The 6th Day 2000 (Another one of my favorites starring Arnold Schwarzenegger) ⦁ Beetlejuice 1988 (I just hope Beetlejuice 2 will be as good as the first one) ⦁ The Shining 1980 (Thrilling and psychological, I just had to add this to my list, it's a classic. Wonderful performance from Jack Nicholson)

[lorenzlund]

'An' that's the name by the game, ooh ...!!!'

*die 4 Weekenders schon in den 80ern in oder bei Bremen *Greatest Hits oder Er-folge anderer *bekannte Bands auch aus Schweden

*'S am 'S. Un(e) gay!!!'; die Firma Samsun-g.

*the male *'Things' *das Ding

*besonders eng kleben an jemdem oder etw./ihm gemeinsam mit anderen folgen wollen

*Phone vom oder dem Ei; 'gehört dem Ei!"

*das männliche Ei *der Mann Männer

*I-phone und I-pad

the worldwide handy producers international, the portable phone, to men sold phones and tablets private.

'Planen ABBA olant die Band Abba aus Schweden jetzt etwa heimlich auch ihr eigenes Comeback! so schon!!' "so in etwa könnte dann eine mögliche Pressemitteilung dazu lauten.

'Josey, lass solches blosses erkennbares Herumspielen doch wieder nur beständiges auch von dir mit mir, Scherze wie diese, möcht ich erneut ganz dringlich auch dich bitten, als mir einst mit zugeteilter erster Lieutenant und einer meiner heutigen sogar Wächterinnen vom oder durchs All! Auch wenn wir längst schon so etwas wie Freunde sind - auch du und ich, sogar sehr gute!"

*Max Verstappen ist auch der Name eines niederländischen Formel1-Piloten und zweifachen Weltmeisters in dieser Sportart.

*der Pilotenberuf, Piloten (auch der Formula1)

John Travolta in 'Saturday Night (Fever). Darin kommen u.a. sehr spektakuläre Tanzszenen mit vor. Der Tanz oder das Vortanzen mittels dem eigenen Glied, dem des Mannes, er gehört erkennbar nun selber mit zu den in Betten noch mit am meisten ausgeübten Sexualtechniken oder Praktiken - übrigens sehr vieler auch anderer Männer. Es ist bei weitem so auch nicht nur Travolta, der das tut!

ein gegebener Tanzunterricht für amdere. das sogar Tanzballet oder Ensemble vom Theater. ('Theater machen erfolgreiches').

für erneuten ordentlichen Krach und Ärger sorgen wegen etwas, eines plötzlichen Geschehens oder Vorkommnisses (beim dann erneuten Mann!), oder für einen grossen Wirbel sorgen. Jemandem gewollt und sehr deutlich Ärger für etwas bereiten!

'der Frau - Frauen an sich - ersichtbar auf der Nase direkt wieder nur dadurch erneut auch herumtanzen wollen (als Mann)!

Dieses sehr spezische Verhalten immer - gerade Männer sollen es wiederholt oder ganz oft zeigen - wir erleben es hier dann nur, alllerdings auf oder in dann nur exakt oder genau umgedrehter Form oder Weise, wiederholt nur dadurch noch genauso. Erstmals wird auf sogar dem Mann direkt selber dadurch auch herumgetanzt und getrampelt werden, dem Kopf gleich selber, mithilfe der von einem getragenen Schuhe, und von oben! Der Mann selber liegt dabei, er ruht! (Am Mann wird sich erneut dabei für etw. gerächt, eine Form von nachträglicher Rache findet statt! Erkennbar einer sehr schrecklichen!! Denn in der Regel ist das gleichbedeutend mit auch seinem sehr schnellen Tod!! Ein Mord passiert!)

'Süss-holz raspeln. Zu viel davon!! (Frauen gegenüber)'. Süss-stoff moderner.

Das genau ist zu machen oder erneut zu tun durch uns, falls wenn der (As)-'S unter Männern selber vielleicht immer noch ausreichend can! der erfolgte Telefon-des eigenen Privathandies durch andere oder scan.

'der neben Bildern mit abgespeichterte 'Dirty Dancing'-Film auf dem Münner-Handy. (Man/frau sucht dabei sehr gezielt ganz einfach dann selbst auch nach ihm!

"Männerträume erfüllen, gehören erfüllt!!"

meet, to und das selbst Meat engl. t-e-a-m, the.

die Bratwurstbude. Jemandem eine Extrawurst braten!! (R)inderwürste. Rind. 'Halb Rind - halb Schwein".

'Weniger (auch) alte Säcke!! Mit doppel-seitig veranlagten Assen!'

g-asse. (the gay, Gay people)

one - on A(ss)

[djrobblog]

Harmony and Headlines: Unraveling The Bee Gees' 'Stayin' Alive' and ‘The New York Times’ Effect on Man’

“Stayin’ Alive” was more than your average disco hit; it pulsed the lifeblood of a complex movie character and contemplated the impact of America’s largest newspaper. #NewYorkTimes #StayinAlive #BeeGees

Who knew a single line in the Bee Gees’ iconic disco hit could be so profound in its depiction?! (January 2, 2024). As John Travolta’s walking music from the film Saturday Night Fever, “Stayin’ Alive” has long been a disco classic.  It is arguably the song that catapulted Travolta, The Bee Gees, and disco — all already formidable forces in ‘70s pop culture — to iconic status within months of its…

[greensparty]

Movie Review: Silent Night

John Woo is one of my personal heroes! His filmmaking is legendary. It's more than action, it's ballet-like. But more than that - the violence is a metaphor for the emotional pain striking the relationships therein. His Hong Kong action films were discoveries for me in the 90s, i.e. A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, Bullet in the Head, and Hard Boiled! Around the time I was discovering him is when he came to Hollywood and began making English-language films like Hard Target (Van Damme had final cut not Woo, but supposedly the director's cut bootleg is worth watching) and Broken Arrow (better than people give it credit for). But it was 1997's Face/Off that made audiences sit up and notice him as way more than just an action director. The last 20 minute of Face/Off is like a greatest hits of Woo moments! Then there were mixed results with Mission: Impossible 2 (joining an existing franchise) and Windtalkers (again, better than people give it credit for). His last American movie was 2003's Paycheck, which had its moments but felt like, well a paycheck movie for the cast and crew. Since then he's made some movies in Hong Kong, notably Red Cliff. But now he is back with his first American film in 20 years with Silent Night which opened this weekend.

movie poster

I need to add that I even made a tribute / parody of Woo films with my short film To Be John Woo. It was about video store clerks obsessing about Hong Kong action films, and finding themselves in a Hong Kong action film situation with characters that make references to various Woo films. After we played film festivals from 2002 to 2004, I had the confidence to send a copy to Mr. Woo's production company and to my surprise the man himself sent me a holiday greeting card in December 2005. I always loved that my tribute to Mr. Woo made its way into his world and he made it a point of sending me a card that year! Bottom line: I hold John Woo in very high regard!

Kinnaman and Woo on set

In Silent Night, Brian (played by Joel Kinnaman of AMC's The Killing) is a man who witnesses his young son die when caught in a gang's crossfire on Christmas Eve. While recovering from a wound that cost him his voice, he slowly comes home and makes vengeance his mission. He becomes so withdrawn that he pushes his wife (Catalina Sandino Moreno of Maria Full of Grace) away. But he becomes laser-focused on training and planning to avenge his son's death on the following Christmas Eve. With Brian losing his voice, the entire movie is dialogue-free as well.

First off, it's impossible to watch this and not be reminded of John Travolta's arc in Face/Off, where his son is killed by Nicholas Cage's character and becomes obsessed with killing him. But in that arc, Travolta is an FBI agent and has the resources to go after a terrorist, whereas here Kinnaman is just a regular guy who is driven to vengeance. We've seen that depicted in other movies like Straw Dogs or Death Wish, where an average person is driven to extreme violence beyond their nature based on being pushed to that emotionally. The action scenes are, of course, highly impressive. Even when a John Woo movie is subpar, there's the incredible action scenes to marvel at. The lack of dialogue in this movie is the result of Brian not having a voice, but still having so much that needs to be expressed and that is in some ways a gimmick. I kind of wish more directors would accept this challenge of making a movie without dialogue to focus on the visual elements more. A director like Kevin Smith for example, would probably struggle without dialogue to drive his films, but Woo has always been a visual stylist. The violence is going to be a bit much for some audiences and at times it is over the top. But let's give credit where credit is due, Woo has returned to American cinema accepting a challenge of making an action / revenge epic without chatter. I do hope his next movie will be better in terms of story, but when this movie works it really works!

For info on Silent Night

3 out of 5 stars

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Ramble of the month May 2023: 90’s MCU Phase 2 (1996-1999)

It’s now been a year since I did the last of my monthly rambles outlining how to do a 90’s MCU fan-cast properly, in response to the inaccurate memes on the subject.  To mark the anniversary and in lieu of a better subject, we’re now going to look at the next round of films I would have in such an alternative MCU. Before we look at this, however, let’s recap what the right way to do a 90’s MCU is and what’s come before.

 First of all, Marvel film rights in the 90’s were different to today; it was in the mid-90’s (1995, if memory serves) that Marvel had to sell the film rights on its characters to various mainstream film studios in order to avoid bankruptcy. It’s for this reason that the X-Men and Fantastic Four films to date have all been made by 20th Century Fox, Sony has handled Spider-Man solo films and so on.  The MCU is comprised of films (and now TV shows) made with film rights that lapsed back to Marvel due to sometime passing without those film rights being used.  As such, a proper 90’s MCU will capitalise on all Marvel properties, provided you don’t leave things too late in the decade to start (if you do, a 90’s MCU would be impossible).

 Second, the source material was different back in the 1990’s.  The Ultimates continuity of comics that made Nick Fury a look alike for Samuel L Jackson hadn’t been done yet (that was all turn-of-the century/millennium stuff), no Winter Soldier arc bringing back Bucky, the Peter Quill iteration of Guardians of the Galaxy wouldn’t be done in comics until 2007, Civil War didn’t hit comics until 2006, and so on.  Because of this, the storylines for any films would be different and you’d have a different standard of comics-accurate casting, etc. to the MCU we know at the moment.

 Finally, as goes without saying, it’s a different group of actors to go at, which is part and parcel of asking what a 90’s-centric MCU would be like.  So, let’s do a very quick recap of my 90’s MCU phase 1;

1992: Fantastic Four, Hulk, Iron Man

1993: Thor, Spider-Man, Ant-Man & The Wasp

1994: Captain America: Fantastic Four 2, Iron Man 2

1995: X-Men, Avengers, Daredevil

The 1992 films give us introductions to the title characters via their origin arcs, as do each of the films thereafter which aren’t sequels or about putting the Avengers together.  More of the films are New York-centric in places (most notably Thor’s opening film), and of course there’s some quite different characters, actors, etc. worked in, which you’ll get some reminders of from the role reprisals seen in the phase 2 films, which we’ll now dive into.  First, here’s the quick overview of the 90’s MCU phase 2 line-up;

1996: Spider-Man 2, Thor: Land of Enchantment, Silver Surfer

1997: Hulk vs Wolverine, Fantastic Four: Doomsday, Iron Man 3

1998: Captain America: Society of Serpents, Daredevil 2, X-Men 2

1999: Avenger 2, Spider-Man 3, Doctor Strange

As you can see, this phase is very much weighted towards sequels as much as the MCU phase 2 we know from real life, but like that phase, we also get a couple of original films.  So, without further ado, let’s look at what these various films involve.

Spider-Man 2 (1996) Directed by John Hughes

Peter Parker/Spider-Man = Wil Weaton

May Parker = Marg Helgenberger

Flash Thompson = Ben Affleck

J. Jonah Jameson = J.K. Simmons

Joseph "Robbie" Robertson = Denzel Washington

Betty Brant = Parker Posey

Jacob Conover = Steve Buscemi

Randy Robertson = Taye Diggs

Norman Osborn = John Travolta

Harry Osborn = Ryan Phillipe

Gwen Stacy = Reese Witherspoon

Captain George Stacy = James Cromwell

Mary-Jane Watson = Alison Hannigan

Sergei Kravenoff/Kraven the Hunter = Gerard Butler

Dmitri Smerdyakov/Chameleon = Brent Spiner

Spider-Man gets to headline this phase of my 90’s MCU, and with the first film having occurred during his time at high school, this one goes into his college years.  This enables us to add Harry, MJ and Gwen to his supporting cast, all of whom he only met when he went to college in the original comics.  As such, this is an element of source material accuracy no adaptation of Spider-Man has ever got right.  That being said, some accuracy to the source material has to go when making films of superheroes, and here the trade-off is Gwen’s dad being killed by a different villain to the comics iteration.  However, when you’ve got Gerard Butler and Brent Spiner as your villains, I think we can understand this.

 The film very much plays up the sibling link between Kraven and Chameleon and keeps them relatively away from Peter’s personal life.  This is to help avoid the over-unmasking of Peter prevalent in Spider-Man films as they’ve been made by Sony, and given the on-going presence of the Osborns in these films, even going back to our phase 1 film where Peter and Harry haven’t met, I imagine most of you can guess why I want the Spider-Man dual identity better secured.  For those who can’t guess, fret not, I’ll explain when we get to Spider-Man 3 later in this phase.

Thor: Land of Enchantment (1996) Directed by Kenneth Branagh

Thor = Dolph Lundgren

Loki = Gary Oldman

Odin = Anthony Hopkins

Frega = Glenn Close

Fandrall = Cary Elwes

Hogun = Tony Leung

Volstagg = Thomas Haden Church

Sif = Demi Moore

Heimdall = Keith David

Balder = Sean Bean

Jane Foster = Courtney Cox

Amora the Enchantress = Charlize Theron

Skurge the Executioner = Jean Claude Van Dame

Dr Donald Blake = Matt Damon

Hercules = Arnold Schwarzenegger

Ares = Russell Crowe

Zeus = Brian Blessed

Pluto = Michael Shannon

Hera = Michelle Pfieffer

Aphrodite = Jaime King

Apollo = Heath Ledger

Hephestus = Jonathan Frakes

Hermes = Josh Hartnett

Our return to Asgard in our 90’s MCU is meant to capitalise on yet more notable 90’s actors, while at the same time working in Marvel’s take on Olympian deities and more notable Thor villains than Thor: The Dark World did.  In this film, it’s Amora the Enchantress and her bodyguard Skurge the Executioner who come to the fore, Amora enthralling the Olympian Hercules and setting off an incident that puts Asgard and Olympus on the verge of war with each other. Only by travelling to New Mexico on Earth in search of the “real culprits”, who in turn out to be conspiring with a supposedly banished Loki, can Thor hope to save the day.

 The film also works in Dr Donald Blake, Thor’s human alter ego in the comics, as a separate character and romantic rival to Thor where Jane Foster is concerned. Action stars like Dolph Lundgren, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jean Claude Van Dame provide the action leads while the likes of Anthony Hopkins and Brian Blessed deliver a nice helping of gravitas, and there’s no shortage of acting skill and ability in the various other roles.  As you might guess from the cast list and plot description, the title is a deliberate nod to both Enchantress and the parts of the film that would occur in New Mexico.  The film also results in Hercules being banished to Earth, setting him up for further use elsewhere in this 90’s MCU.

Silver Surfer (1996) Directed by Leonard Nemoy

Silver Surfer = David Wenham

Mephistopheles = Jeffery Combs

Shalla Bal = Liv Tyler

Al B. Harper = Levar Burton

Our Silver Surfer spin-off from phase 1’s Fantastic Four sequel is quite small on main cast because it’s very much a shorter film compared to what I imagine most of our 90’s MCU films would be.  In large part that’s because like the comics, we’re dealing with a Silver Surfer trapped on Earth after defying Galactus, and struggling to see in the wider race the virtues he found in the Thing’s girlfriend Alicia Masters.  His lone friend outside of the F4 and Alicia is a scientist named Al Harper, and into this situation enters the demon Mephistopheles, who spends the film trying to tempt the Surfer into abandoning his nobility.  Part of this involves reminders of Shalla Bal, the woman the Surfer loved before he became the Surfer, and perhaps the one thing he might prize above his wish to defend humanity.

 As a result, the film would be less cosmic adventure and more psychological thriller, which is why you might not get a longer film with a major action spectacular at the climax.  In part, that’s why I’d want Leonard Nemoy taking up the directorial reigns on this film; someone from the alumni of Star Trek would be necessary to direct this kind of character exploration and issue discussion.  Having other Trek alumni in the cast by way of Levar Burton (TNG’s Geordi La Forge) and Jeffrey Combs (multiple DS9 secondary recurring characters by this time) also help with this.

Hulk vs Wolverine (1997) Directed by Tim Burton

Bruce Banner/Hulk = John Cusack

Betty Ross = Jennifer Connelly

General Ross = Sam Elliott

Major Talbot = Steve Guttenberg

Wolverine/Logan = Tom Cruise

Sabretooth/Victor Creed = Tyler Mane

Maverick/David Nord = Tom Jane

Silver Fox = Salma Hayek

Sasquatch/Walter Langkowski = George Clooney

The Professor = Robert Picardo

Dr Cornelius = Colm Meaney

James McDonald Hudson/Vindicator = Val Kilmer

Heather Hudson = Samantha Mathis

I’m sure by now anyone who didn’t know I was a Trek fan could tell by some of the casting going on here.  Aside from Wil Weaton and Brent Spiner in our Spider-Man Franchise, Frakes (Riker) appearing in Thor 2 and the various alumni cited in our Silver Surfer spin-off, our Hulk vs Wolverine film has Voyager’s EMH (Robert Picardo) and Chief O’Brien (Colm Meaney) showing up in certain roles.  Of course, more will be showing up as we go on, and I’ll highlight them where appropriate.  For now, though, let’s look at how I’m looking at pitting Hulk and Wolverine against each other.

 In this film, Hulk strays north of the US-Canadian border, and does so right when US army intelligence picks up chatter about a rogue group trying to restart the Weapon X project that produced Wolverine.  To that end, Ross and Talbot manage to convince Wolverine to go Hulk-hunting before the green goliath can be grabbed.  After the obligatory Hulk/Wolverine clash unearths a resurrected Weapon X program, it’s Wolverine and Hulk trying to free several captured super-beings, backed up by Canadian superhero and future Alpha Flight leader Vindicator.  This film would create a spin-off Alpha Flight TV series to follow-up on Vindicator, Sasquatch and their team-mates.

 Everyone down as far as Wolverine on the cast list is a reprised role, while the remaining roles are all fresh cast.  Tyler Mane is my one carry-over from Fox’s run of X-Men films, though this version would play up his antagonism with Wolverine far better than the original X-Men films did.  Tom Jane being cast as Maverick is down to the German accent he put on for Frank Castle’s undercover identity in the Punisher film of the mid-2000’s.  As for Clooney and Kilmer, I think each as a bit mis-cast as Batman, but I think they could each do better in other roles, such as Sasquatch and Vindicator.

Fantastic Four: Doomsday (1997) Directed by Steven Spielberg

Reed Richards/Mr Fantastic = Tom Hanks

Susan Storm (Richards)/Invisible Woman = Meg Ryan

Johnny Storm/Human Torch = David Spade

Ben Grimm/Thing = Bryan Cranston

Wyatt Wingfoot = Robert Beltran

Alicia Masters = Heather Graham

Victor Von Doom/Doctor Doom = Goran Višnjić

Hauptmann = Ronald Guttman

Matt Murdock/Daredevil = Christian Slater

 After waiting through a few F4 films, we finally get the pay-off of Doctor Doom showing up.  Fox always went to this guy too quickly, and I hope Marvel gets this and holds off on Doom for a while with their films.  However, in this 90’s MCU, we bring Doom in on the third film, which is meant to combine elements of Doom’s comics intro and backstory with a later story where the F4 are depowered, attacked by Doom and have to rely on some assistance from Daredevil to re-enter their headquarters and regain their powers.  As with most third-instalment MCU films as we’ve come to know them, this film has to involve some loss.  As such, the F4 lose their original headquarters, and Ben loses a chance for his perceived happily ever after with Alicia Masters.

 The only new roles here are Doom and his aid Hauptmann, and for these roles, we’re diving into European actors to get the accents right.  Goran Višnjić is my usual front-runner for characters like Doom or Magneto, but since a 90’s MCU would more likely use Ian McKellan on the latter, I think it’s better to use him as Doom and see how he’d do playing against a Tom Hanks version of Reed Richards.

Iron Man 3 (1997) Directed by Sam Raimi

Tony Stark/Iron Man = Tom Selleck

James Rhodes/Iron Man II = Samuel L. Jackson

Pepper Potts = Uma Thurman

Happy Hogan = Sylvester Stallone

Jasper Sitwell = Bill Paxton

Nick Fury = Tommy Lee Jones

Justin Hammer = Christopher Lee

Bethany Cabe = Julia Roberts

Mark Scarlotti/Whiplash = Jason Lee

Donald Gill/Blizzard = Robert Duncan McNeil

Clayton Wilson/Force = Will Patton

Unlike the Iron Man 3 of 2013, this one isn’t playing fake-outs with the Mandarin or dealing with a PTSD-suffering Stark. Instead, the film combines elements from the ‘Demon in a Bottle’ arc and his later relapse into alcoholism under the influence of Obadiah Stane.  As a result, you get a film where industrial sabotage by a true-to-comics Justin Hammer and mounting pressure from SHIELD sends Tony to rock bottom, and as a result, Rhodey has to step in to salvage the Iron Man name, setting up for his eventual progression to War Machine.  In fact, it’s trying to get Rhodey’s pre-War Machine past as a substitute Iron Man into film that is the whole reason for this plot arc in our 90’s MCU.

 Cast-wise, we’re largely dealing with reprised roles from Fury on up.  It’s Justin Hammer on down where the new roles come in, and of course there’s a Trek alumni in the mix by wat of Robert Duncan McNeil.  As for why Hammer is played by Christopher Lee, anyone who has read proper, pre-Ultimates Iron Man lore, would know what Hammer is an older man and a British ex-patriate living in the United States.  As such, it makes far more sense having Christopher Lee play the role than Sam Rockwell or someone like him.  I leave the irreverent humour in this one to Jason Lee as Whiplash, plus some appropriate protagonists in the cast.

Captain America: Society of Serpents (1998) Directed by Peter MacDonald

Steve Rogers/Captain America = Brad Pitt

Nick Fury = Tommy Lee Jones

Sam Wilson/Falcon = Will Smith

Barbara "Bobbi" Morse/Mockingbird = Rebecca Romijn-Stamos

Sharon Carter = Nicole Kidman

Viper/Ophelia Sarkissian = Rose McGowan

Cobra/Klaus Voorhees = René Auberjonois

Diamondback/Rachel Leighton = Neve Campbell

Rattler/Gustav Krueger = Christoph Waltz

Death Adder/Roland Buroughs = Ed Begley Jr

Constrictor/Frank Schlicting = Stephen Dorff

Baron Von Strucker = Udo Kier

Clint Barton/Hawkeye = Kevin Costner

Apparently the second MCU film for Captain America was originally titled Society of Serpents, and sometime before it went into production, Kevin Feige announced it would be Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Since our 90’s MCU lacks the Winter Soldier source material, we’re going down the route not taken by the real MCU. It’s still about Cap struggling to adjust to the modern world, but this time he’s surrounded by a slightly different crop of characters and we’re not tackling Hydra infiltrating SHIELD. Instead, Cap is leading a small group of specialised SHIELD agents in trying to take down a terrorist group called the Serpent Society, not realising that their leader Viper is a total nihilist and fighting for no other cause than to wipe out all life.

 As we’re dealing with a Cap in the late 90’s, the role of Falcon ends up with Will Smith, and for those seeking a Trek link in the casting, the main one is René Auberjonois (DS9’s Odo) in the role of Cobra.  However, Ed Begley Jr also guest-starred in a Voyager episode, and features as the character of Death Adder.  The film also uses Blade alumni Stephen Dorff and Udo Kier in a couple of villain roles, and for the lead villainess, I’ve been tapping into the Charmed casting pool and setting up Rose McGowan as Viper.  Hawkeye also comes in on this film, but later in the sequence of events, hence his being separated out on the casting lists.  Since original comics Hawkeye married Mockingbird, I concluded any film including one character had to include the other and get that set up.

 In terms of romance for Cap, we actually have a kind of Bond girl situation here; both Sharon Carter and Diamondback have been among Cap’s romances in the comics, so the dynamic here would be almost akin to such notable Bond double-acts as Xenia Onatopp and Natalia Symonova, or Miranda Frost and Jinx, or Electra King and Christmas Jones.  The only difference is Cap’s more old-fashioned in a positive way, so he’s not going to be philandering his way through his love interests like Bond does.

Daredevil 2 (1998) Directed by Paul Verhoeven

Matt Murdock/Daredevil = Christian Slater

Foggy Nelson = Jon Favreau

Karen Page = Denise Richards

Wilson Fisk/Kingpin = Bruce Willis

Joseph “Robbie” Robertson = Denzel Washington

Ben Urich = John Spencer

Elektra Natchios = Leonor Varela

Frank Castle/Punisher = Liev Schrieber

Silvermane = Roy Schieder

Lonnie Lincoln/Tombstone = Wesley Snipes

Leland Owlsey/The Owl = Bob Gunton

Mary Walker/Typhoid Mary = Drew Barrymore

Matsu'o Tsurayaba = Hiroyuki Sanada

Kwannon = Kelly Hu

Daredevil 2 puts everyone’s favourite man without fear in the middle of a gang war that’s been sparked by the downfall of the Kingpin in the first Daredevil film.  As a result, the film includes several major Marvel characters that fall into its stories regarding organised crime, and also expands the supporting characters on the side of the heroes, including the additions of Elektra and the Punisher. Again, I’ve tried to be racially and nationally accurate to characters that come from abroad, and I think it’s lead to some good selections.

 Now some less observant readers may wonder why I’ve cast Wesley Snipes as Tombstone considering the character’s extremely white skin.  Well, the simple reason is the character is African-American, but also an albino.  As such, it’s best to get a good actor of the right ethnic background to play the part, then use make-up/prosthetics to create the albino appearance. Tombstone’s inclusion also gives us a chance to bring in Joseph “Robbie” Robertson from the Spider-Man films, especially since Ben Urich works for the same newspaper as Robbie.  That means you’ve got Denzel Washington in the mix as well, and adding in all the other great actors on this list, I think this would be a very cool sequel indeed.

X-Men 2 (1998) Directed by Jonathan Frakes

Professor Charles Xavier = Patrick Stewart

Cyclops/Scott Summers = Patrick Swayze

Jean Grey = Milla Jovovich

Warren Worthington III/Angel = Neil Patrick Harris

Storm/Ororo Monroe = Halle Berry

Beast/Hank McCoy = Alec Baldwin

Banshee/Sean Cassidy = Liam Neeson

Polaris/Lorna Dane = Jeri Ryan

Havok/Alex Summers = Kevin Bacon

Kitty Pryde = Selma Blair

Sam Guthrie = Paul Walker

Roberto Da Costa = Mario Lopez

Tabita Smith = Anna Faris

Wolverine/Logan = Tom Cruise

Sunfire/Shiro Yashida = François Chau

Yukio = Vivian Wu

Mariko Yashida = Shu Qi

Viper/Ophelia Sarkissian = Rose McGowan

Silver Samurai/Kenuichio Harada = Hiro Kanagawa

Ogun = Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa

Senator Robert Kelly = Robert Hays

Henry Peter Gyrich = David Caruso

Calisto = Carrie-Anne Moss

Sunder = Kevin Nash

Ape = Gotz Otto

Annalee = Rosemary Harris

Plague = Gates McFadden

Caliban = Joe Pantoliano

Healer = Brian Cox

Sally Blevins/Skids = Amy Smart

For our second instalment of X-Lore in the 90’s MCU, we get two plots for the price of one film.  As former X-Man Angel is abducted along with several others by the underground mutants known as the Morlocks, heightening human-mutant tensions due to Angel’s public persona as a wealthy heir to a business fortune, an old foe of Wolverine’s kidnaps certain X-students.  The two plots loosely adapt the introduction of the Morlocks and the Wolverine/Wolverine and Kitty Pryde mini-series.  In terms of new characters, Angel and everyone from Calisto down is new and centric to the Morlock story arc, while Sunfire down to Ogun are the new characters for the Wolverine-in-Japan arc (not counting Rose McGowan’s Viper, who is reprised from our phase 2 Captain America sequel).

 In terms of Trek alumni, the film has Frakes in the director’s chair, Patrick Stewart as Xavier, and even Dr Crusher actress Gates McFadden is worked in, giving us three TNG alumni.  The film also allows Wolverine to begin a story arc involving his romance with Mariko Yashida, and it retains Senator Kelly and Henry Peter Gyrich from film 1 to maintain the face of the human fear of mutants.  Some Marvel films fans may also be able to spot a couple of people cast in other Marvel films given new roles in this hypothetical MCU.  More specifically, Rosemary Harris has gone from being Aunt May in the Maguire/Raimi Spider-Man trilogy to being one of the Morlocks, while another Morlock is playing by Brian Cox, the man cast to play William Stryker in Brian Singer’s X2.

Avengers 2 (1999) Directed by Andrew Davis

James Rhodes/Iron Man II = Samuel L Jackson

Steve Rogers/Captain America = Brad Pitt

Thor = Dolph Lundgren

Hank Pym/Ant-Man = Michael Douglas

Janet Van Dyne/Wasp = Catherine Zeta Jones

Clint Barton/Hawkeye = Kevin Costner

Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow = Famke Jansen

Nick Fury = Tommy Lee Jones

Jasper Sitwell = Bill Paxton

Maria Hill = Marina Sirtis

Ultron = Marc Alaimo

Vision = Casper Van Dien

Edwin Jarvis = Mark Rylance

Col. John Jameson = Daniel Gillies

Michael O'Brien = Tony Curran

Bill Foster = Laurence Fishburne

Fabian Stankowicz = Tom Sizemore

David Canon/Whirlwind = Colin Cunningham

Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff = Kate Beckinsale

Quicksilver/Pietro Maximoff = Robert Sean Leonard

 This film has loose ties to Avengers: Age of Ultron, but it’s not an exact match.  First of all, no Infinity Stones in play, as I’d want that story arc much later in this MCU.  Second, I’ve brought the original Ant-Man and the Wasp into this group of Avengers already, enabling Ultron to be Hank Pym’s creation and not Stark’s, better matching the comics.  Third, in these films, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are trying to become heroes and get misunderstood, so there’s less of them fighting the Avengers.  Lastly, Stark’s at the bottom of a bottle in this continuity, meaning this film has Rhodey as Iron Man.  However, plot elements like the creation of Vision are retained, and we also get the Wasp’s recurring stalker/antagonist Whirlwind to hand. In fact, in this film, Ultron is created by Hank in part to protect Janet, who Hank has become noticeably controlling over, and the events of this film see this behaviour escalate to a relationship-ending point.

 Also worked into the film are some of the Avengers support staff, which helps to show the team’s evolution and gives them stakes beyond the immediate membership.  For those trying to spot the Trek alumni, we’ve got Marina Sirtis (Counsellor Troi) back as Maria Hill, plus Marc Alaimo (DS9’s Gul Dukat) playing the role of Ultron. As for other new roles, my use of Laurence Fishburne in this film and Carrie-Anne Moss in X-Men 2 nod to this being the era of the first Matrix film, Casper Van Dien is a bit of a shout-out to the Starship Troopers fans, and those who read my ramble on phase 1 will know that Robert Sean Leonard and Kate Beckinsale are reprised roles from X-Men 1. That said, they’re in part selected as a nod to Ken Branagh’s 1993 adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing, thus maintaining what I know to be strong 1990’s casting links.

Spider-Man 3 (1999) Directed by Frank Darabont

Peter Parker/Spider-Man = Wil Weaton

May Parker = Marg Helgenberger

Flash Thompson = Ben Affleck

J. Jonah Jameson = J.K. Simmons

Joseph "Robbie" Robertson = Denzel Washington

Betty Brant = Parker Posey

Jacob Conover = Steve Buscemi

Randy Robertson = Taye Diggs

Norman Osborn/Green Goblin = John Travolta

Harry Osborn = Ryan Phillipe

Gwen Stacy = Reese Witherspoon

Mary-Jane Watson = Alison Hannigan

Herman Schultz/Shocker = Patrick Muldoon

Ned Leeds = John Barrowman

Aleksei Sytsevich/Rhino = Jake Busey

Now we come to Spider-Man 3, and since my cast list is now crediting Norman Osborn as also being the Green Goblin, I’m sure you can understand why I wanted Peter’s secret identity better secured in these films.  Yes, this film is all about going down the death of Gwen Stacy story arc, but unlike Raimi or Webb, we’ve not rushed to this or anything like it.  We’ve had two films before this to lay groundwork, to get the audience invested, and so when this film gets to the third act where Gwen, and subsequently Norman, go down for the count, there is some actual impact even before you work in performance, scoring, etc.  That impact is also added to by Peter’s dual identity being more closely guarded, and thus it’s a real shock when Norman goes after Gwen instead of it being “oh, Peter let the truth slip again.”

 Casting-wise, it’s only two supporting villains and the introduction of Betty Brant’s love interest Ned Leeds that are new roles, and I’ve not got much to say on them.  This time, my focus is more on who is directing, which this time is Shawshank Redemption director Frank Darabont.  I’m sure anyone who knows that film would agree the bloke could probably work wonders with this tragic moment in the history of Spider-Man.

Doctor Strange (1999) Directed by Tim Burton

Dr Stephen Strange = Johnny Depp

Wong = Will Yun Lee

The Ancient One = George Takai

Clea = Keira Knightley

Baron Karl Mordo = Michael Dorn

Dormammu = Bernard Hill

Dr Nicodemus West = Alan Rickman

Dr Christine Palmer = Helena Bonham Carter

 To close out our 90’s MCU phase 2, we bring in sorcerer supreme Dr Stephen Strange, which loosely bases some elements on the MCU film we know from 2016 while also working in more comic-accurate elements.  The film shows Strange’s origins in backstory, featuring Christine Palmer there but not in the present day, and Wong is more like Strange’s apprentice rather than the man-servant or drill sergeant roles we’ve seen previously. Another retention from the 2016 film is Mordo’s racial shift, which allows me to work in TNG actor Michael Dorn. George Takai (the original Sulu) is also worked in as the Ancient One because I didn’t want to retain too much MCU revisionism from the 2016 Dr Strange film.  The film also includes Clea, Dr Strange’s first major romance of note from the comics.

 Beyond the Trek alumni, this film is notable for reforming that notable cinematic trinity of Tim Burton, Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, while also working in Depp’s Pirates of the Caribbean colleague Keira Knightley. Other notable cast members include Bernard Hill from Lord of the Rings (played Theoden, King of Rohan) and Alan Rickman (do I really need to rattle off his resume?)  In terms of the present-day plot, that’s mainly about Clea being found by Strange, a refugee from Dormammu’s dimension, and her and Strange teaming up together with Wong to beat Mordo and Dormammu.

 And that’s basically it for our 90’s MCU for now.  Future instalments, if I do rambles on them, will of course be dealing with phases set after the 1990’s, but it’ll still be a 90’s MCU.  So, until the next ramble, ta-ta for now.

[hits1000]

Top Songs of 1978 - Hits of 1978

Top Songs of 1978 - Hits of 1978 Top Songs of 1978 including: ABBA - Take A Chance On Me, Alicia Bridges - I Love The Nightlife, Andy Gibb - Shadow Dancing, Bee Gees - Too Much Heaven, Billy Joel – Honesty, Blondie - Heart Of Glass and many more! Subscribe to our channel to see more of our content! 1. ABBA - Take A Chance On Me 2. Albert Hammond - Espinita 3. Alicia Bridges - I Love The Nightlife 4. Andrea Jürgens - Und dabei liebe ich Euch beide 5. Andy Gibb - Shadow Dancing 6. Antonello Venditti - Sotto Il Segno Dei Pesci 7. As Frenéticas - Perigosa 8. Bee Gees - Too Much Heaven 9. Billy Joel - Honesty 10. Billy Joel - My Life 11. Blondie - Heart Of Glass 12. Blondie - One Way Or Another 13. Bob Marley - Is This Love 14. Bob Seger - Old Time Rock And Roll 15. Boney M. - Rasputin 16. Boney M. - Rivers of Babylon 17. Boston - Don't Look Back 18. Camilo Sesto - El Amor De Mi Vida 19. Chaka Khan - I'm Every Woman 20. Cheap Trick - Surrender 21. Cherry Laine - Catch The Cat 22. Chic - Le Freak 23. Chris Norman & Suzi Quatro - Stumblin' In 24. Claude François - Alexandrie Alexandra 25. Clout - Substitute 26. Daniel Magal - Cara de gitana 27. Darts - Come Back My Love 28. Dire Straits - Sultans Of Swing 29. Donna Summer - Last Dance 30. Dr Hook - When You're In Love With A Beautiful Woman 31. Earth, Wind & Fire - September 32. Elsa Baeza - Credo 33. Elvis Costello - Pump It Up 34. Frankie Valli - Grease 35. Gerry Rafferty - Baker Street 36. Gloria Gaynor - I Will Survive 37. Izhar Cohen & Alpha Beta - A-Ba-Ni-Bi 38. John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John - Summer Nights 39. John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John - You're The One That I Want 40. Johnny Hallyday - J'ai oublié de vivre 41. Journey - Wheel In The Sky 42. Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights 43. Kraftwerk - Das Model 44. La Bionda - One For You, One For Me 45. Leif Garrett - I Was Made For Dancing 46. Linda de Suza - Um Português 47. Luv' - You're The Greatest Lover 48. Marco Paulo - Canção proibida 49. Meat Loaf - Paradise By The Dashboard Light 50. Meat Loaf - Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad 51. Michel Sardou - En Chantant 52. Miguel Bosé - Anna 53. Mirelle Mathieu - Santa Maria De La Mer 54. Olivia Newton-John - Hopelessly Devoted To You 55. Patti Smith - Because The Night 56. Patty Pravo - Pensiero Stupendo 57. Paulo Alexandre - Verde Vinho 58. Plastic Bertrand - Ça Plane Pour Moi 59. Queen - Don't Stop Me Now 60. Rino Gaetano - Gianna 61. Roberto Carlos - Força Estranha 62. Rod Stewart - Da Ya Think I'm Sexy? 63. Smokie - Mexican Girl 64. Sniff 'n' The Tears - Driver's Seat 65. Sweet - Love Is Like Oxygen 66. Sylvester - You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) 67. The Jacksons - Blame It On the Boogie 68. The Michael Zager Band - Let's All Chant 69. The Police - Can't Stand Losing You 70. The Police - Roxanne 71. The Police - So Lonely 72. The Ramones - I Wanna Be Sedated 73. The Rolling Stones - Miss You 74. The Who - Who Are You 75. Toto - Hold The Line 76. Umberto Tozzi - Tu 77. Vader Abraham - Das Lied Der Schlümpfe 78. Van Halen - You Really Got Me 79. Village People - Macho Man 80. Village People - YMCA Related Searches: Greatest Hits of 1978, Best Jukebox 1978 Playlist, Late 1978 Non Stop , Top 1978 Non Stop, Mix 1978 Compilation, Best 1978 List, Late 1978 UK, Best 1978 Playlist, Best 1978 Non Stop, Best 1978 Video, Greatest 1978 Non Stop, Mix 1978 Playlist, Best Jukebox 1978 List, List of 1978 Mix, Top 1978 USA, Best Songs of 1978, Top Music 1978, Hits of 1978 Relate Hashtags: #songsof1978 #hits1978 #songs1978 #listof1978mix #hits1978 #bestsongs1978 #classic1978playlist #greatest1978nonstop #best1978list #best1978video #top1978mix #greatest1978video #mix1978playlist #top1978nonstop #mix1978compilation This Youtube channel does not receive any advertising income, we are very grateful for any Paypal donation, no matter how small, to continue making videos about the history of music. Link: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=HEHMNQ4E3T3ML https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nICJ_HTba1Y

[primonahas]

Lp disentri

Unfortunately, Topix Records went bankrupt in mid-1961, and Crewe became an independent producer, a la Phil Spector.īy now the group had renamed themselves The Four Seasons, after a Union, NJ bowling alley where the group tried - and failed - to get a job as the house group for the alley's lounge. Gaudio introduced the group to Crewe, who was knocked out by their sound, and used them as backing vocalists on records by Hal Miller and The Rays and Turner Disentri (who was really Bob Gaudio). Gaudio was working with successful producer Bob Crewe, making records for Crewe's Topix label. Their fortunes changed in 1961 when a friend of the group's, Joe Pesci (yeah, that Joe Pesci), introduced them to Bob Gaudio, who had recently left The Royal Teens (of "Short Shorts" fame). After making one more single for Epic in 1957 (a record so rare that mint copies go for about 1500 bucks), the group dropped their name and played the NJ club circuit under various other names (The Four Passions, Frankie Valli and The Romans) and recording the occasional single ("Come Si Bella" as Frankie Valle and The Romans on Cindy, "Please Take A Chance" as Frankie Valley on Decca). They had a hit almost immediately with "You're The Apple Of My Eye", but the six follow up singles (and an LP, "Joyride") stiffed, and RCA dropped the group a year later. They changed their name to The Four Lovers, and signed with RCA Victor in 1956. Frankie Valli started out as a solo, waxing his first record for the Corona label in 1953 ("My Mother's Eyes") and then hooking up with NJ lounge group The Varietones. I don't know if Tommy DeVito's a gangster or not (I've never met the man personally), but I do know quite a bit about the Seasons' history. Then he pointed to Tommy DeVito and said, "you tink you know dat guy? He's just a singer, right? No, you don' know dat guy, dat guy's a gangster!! He'll rob ya as soon as look at ya!!" He never really mentioned records or music in conversation (so of course we had NOTHING to talk about), but he looked at the LPs and said, "Oh, you like dese guys? You know dat I know dese guys, right?" At first I thought he was bullshitting me, but then he said, "yeah, Nick Massi, dat's my cousin, his real name's Macioce" and told me about the family. My aunt's husband was a good guy, but he was definitely one of those Nicky Newark types - with the leather jacket, perfect Italian hair (exactly like John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever) and the Joe Pesci-style voice, constantly saying things like "I know a guy dat can take carradat faw ya" and "You tink you know dis guy? You don' know dis guy! Dis guy'll KILL ya! He'll hitcha wit' a friggin' BAT!" Anyway, one night, when I was about 17, my aunt came over with her husband, and he saw that I had some Four Seasons records out. Whenever I go to Tony's Barber Shop in Belleville, there's always at least ONE old paisan talking about Frankie - "VALLI? DAT GUY'S SO CHEAP, HE'S STILL GOT HIS FRIGGIN' COMMUNION MONEY!!!"Īnother connection I had to The Four Seasons was more personal - one of my aunts was married for a time to one of the cousins of Nick Massi, original bass player for the Seasons until he left abruptly in 1965. Hell, Frankie Valli himself used to fill up his car at my dad's old gas station on Union Avenue in Belleville (using his credit card that said "Seasons' Four, Inc." - my dad used to save the receipts for my mom). I know the exact spot where the "Lookin' Back" LP cover was shot (down on the old Newark City Subway tracks, just past the Grafton Avenue bridge). I have been to Stephen Crane Village (on the Newark/Belleville border - where Valli was from) on numerous occasions - it's a slum, always has been a slum, and always will be a slum. Unlike most folks, I don't have to look through the glass wall that Broadway provides for the tourists to get into the "real" story of the Seasons. In fact, the Philips Records logo was one of the first ones I can really remember becoming fascinated with. Their records were everywhere - in my dad's closet, at my aunt's house, in local garage sales and flea markets, they're even in old family photos. I constantly heard their songs on the radio. Everyone from that area (everyone I knew) talked about them. A couple of weeks ago, my sister took my parents into New York City to see the Broadway production of "Jersey Boys" - which (if you've been living under a rock for the last four years) is the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons.

[angeleirene]

Watching Hairspray (2007) is a roller coaster.

Like, I love the musical, I love the movie musical. I think the cast is stacked. Zac Efron (you cant not mention him) James Marsden, Michelle Pfeiffer, Amanda Bynes, Christopher Walker, Elijah Kelley (who had the second best voice holy shit this man), Jerry Stiller. It had Queen Motherfucking Latifah (the best voice in the entire cast)! It introduced me to Tayla Parx’s Little Inez (and she’s relevant here, we’ll get back to her), and it had John Fucking Travolta wearing a dress.

This cast was more stacked than Edna Turnblad.

And honestly? I bop hard with the songs. Special mention to “New Girl in Town”, specially the Dynamites. “I can hear the bell”, “I know where I’ve been”, “Run and tell that”, “Big Blonde and Beautiful”, and “You can’t stop the beat”. They slap and some I got more to say but I’m not the person who should say it nor is it the point of this post.

Also some of the direct depictions of the racism is on point. “The white direction”, way to say the quiet part out loud. Also for some more blink and you’ll miss it parts: the sponsor for ‘N-word’ Day is a product for “stubborn hair”, for fixing stubborn hair. And how Maybelle just forced the prompt out of her mouth so done with life. For fucks sake! Also the Dynamites! Velma was so pissed at Maybelle for ‘picking the same song’ and the only response is an incredulous “they wrote it”. This movie did good on this. (Also little pearl, she’s known as Motormouth Maybelle Stubbs. She’s legit perfect).

BUUUTTTT! This is also where it didn’t.

Because as much as I love Tracy and Nikki, she stands out as a sore white thumb in this movie. I do love her, I do, but it feels oddly intrusive to have this self admittedly ignorant white girl (never pays attention in history class, not that 1960s history class in Baltimore would teach much about social issues and racism) be the centre stage and driving conflict in this story about race. Yes there’s a point to be made that Tracy sacrificing her role in the CC show was brave and a very meaningful act of goodwill as someone who’d dreamt of being in the show; sacrificing it for the objective greater good.

[There’s also a point to be made that Tracy’s a more problematic character in the race storyline with her dumbass hitting the police officer, but that’s a whole other rant that I’m on the wrong side of Pantone 723 to be the one to make it]

However this is where what I said about Inez becomes relevant again because she really should’ve had a bigger role. Because like Tracy she had the dream to begin the CC show, except with a much greater barrier to make it. And with the movie making her winner of the pageant when she’s barely allowed to have a role in the movie at large... it’s tragic.

Black character by and large suffer from this. It’s like they’re fighting their own internal battle for equal value in the film. Seaweed (who is a travesty got to sing only twice) was “Penny’s boyfriend”, his relevance to the story came contingent on Penny, with her being a critical component of his relevance to the plot and of both of his songs. (Which also feels more like the movie reducing them to each other’s partners on some extent, and while I do appreciate the interracial relationship point it felt rushed. Too rushed.

Inez was even reduced further by being an extension of other characters. She had to share her solo in a song with Seaweed, then she was frustrated to the side, then she was Link’s dance partner and then she won. Apparently. Maybelle was the only one who got to have more of an individual character. (Serious tho, Inez got like 2 verses and her singing fucking slaps. This is theft).

And so watching the movie I’m like, “I love you sweetie, and I know you’re trying but my god there’s just a few blotches I’m dying to fix”.

Imagine just how much cooler it would be if she had more of a role, if she got to be the (or a) driving force in fighting for her dream. Because she didn’t get to do this, it was just handed to her by white showboat Zac Efron.

You don’t even gotta shaft Tracy either, instead reduce the love plot with Tracy and of Tracy’s parents, and let Inez be the second protagonist of the film. Play the story of both fighting through their adversity for their dreams. Inez gets more of a spotlight early on, maybe watching from the sidelines during “N-Word day”, and practising with her mom as hard as she can till she can finally go on to the CC show. Meanwhile Tracy is doing her thing she already does in the movie.

Then Tracy gets sent to detention and they both meet. Seaweed does the introduction and then Trace and Inez are the ones dancing together and sharing their goal to go on the CC show together when Link walks in and gives Tracy the idea to take over. On the dance floor, when Trace asks them to dance with her, they refuse for the same reasons but it’s both encouraging her. And she does and she’s in.

So then when Edna is cheering to see Trace in the show, and when Tracy says she wishes Negro day were every day she can get a kick ass solo of wishing that too, of wanting that dream too, then scene change to New Girl in Town. Or vice verse, Trace gets her spotlight, then NGIT, then after the Dynamites steal the show, Inez who was watching from home gets her solo. Wishing to have been on that day, looking at Tracy merch and being happy for her but still wishful for herself.

The march happens (which Tracy also went for in support of Inez) and Inez is there with Seaweed to free Penny, the latter informs them Tracy is down below and she saves her. A cute “you made it, I’m not letting you loose it” moment where they all hatch the plan together. The plan being to get Tracy back on the show, with no argument from Inez who at this point is only focused on protecting her friend.

So when everything reaches the climax, Link jumps to dance with Tracy in ‘You can’t stop the beat’, and they do, they kiss but then Tracy insists they ‘switch partners’ and runs to get Inez “I made it, now you will too”. So she gets that reciprocation value, and link gets to showcase he’s not an ass by playing along happily and helping her show off.

The finale performance continues as scheduled, Inez wins, and when Maybelle’s called to sing, it’s a mother daughter duo. Because just like it was Inez’s dream to be on, it was Maybelle’s dream to see her daughter on the show. They get a cute duet moment, and by the end when the crowd takes over they circle round the back for when she gets crowned and Tracy also gets her kiss and close scene and out.

*Little on the spot brainstorm rant but the point stands*.

Inez is such an absolutely fantastic character and every time I watch this movie I can’t stop thinking of just how little love she got when she deserved more. She deserved a bigger spotlight. Like, that’s the conclusion, Inez is critically unappreciated and should’ve had a much bigger spotlight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvQ14w_SfIQ

Just watch this video, watch her be a Queen and know it. Yes this is an Inez Appreciation PSA.