Movies in Memory of Michael Jackson
Going Down the Yellow Brick Road with Michael Jackson
by Jaden
Born in Gary, Indiana, USA on August 29, 1958, Michael Joseph Jackson departed this world June 25, 2009. Most known for his dance moves, musical accomplishments, plastic surgery, and child-love scandals, what has been neglected are his magical movie moments on screen.
Bringing zombie horror cinema to music and television, the epic music video Thriller (1983), written and directed by The Blues Brothers director John Landis, was something of a scale that no other artist had touched before or ever since.
At the time of its release, MTV played Thriller night and day ad nauseam.
I remember they did a television special about the casting of the girlfriend in the video, Ola Ray, and talked at length about her historic scream. Of course they left out the most interesting detail that she was Playboy Playmate of the Month June 1980.
Below is dialog from the Thriller script:
Michael’s Girl: Can we get out of here?
Michael: No, I’m enjoying this!
Michael’s Girl: Well, I can’t watch!
Michael: It’s only a movie!
Michael’s Girl: It’s not funny.
Michael: You were scared, weren’t you?
Michael’s Girl: I wasn’t that scared.
Michael: Yeah, you were scared.
Michael’s smile in the opening sequence of this video, as he courts the girl, exemplifies the unique charm of Michael that will most be missed.
My favorite image of Michael Jackson is his sweet soft humble role as Scarecrow in The Wiz (1978), which is a Black musical adaptation of The Wizard of Oz. No one ever talks much about this movie, but it is a vibrant genius piece of film history. With its innocence and purity, it is an excellent movie for the whole family.
Wiz Costar singers are Diana Ross as Dorothy, Nipsey Russel as Tinman, and Ted Ross as Lion. Legend Lena Horne plays Glinda the Good Witch and Richard Pryor plays The Wiz. Directed by Sidney Lumet, the play was written by William F. Brown and the screenplay adaptation was written by Joel Schumacher.
SCARECROW
Do? Why, if I had a brain, I could –
(sings)
I could while away the hours,
Conferrin’ with the flowers,
Consultin’ with the rain.
And my head I’d be scratchin’
While my thoughts were busy hatchin’
If I only had a brain.
I’d unravel every riddle
For any individ’le
In trouble or in pain.
The genuine camaraderie of the performers, of Michael and of Diana, dives out of the screen at you. The Wiz is a great movie for a family fun night. It will probably be hard to rent in the wake of Michael’s death, so you might as well just buy it. Anyway, the kids will enjoy having it to watch over and over again so they can sing along.
Most Famous PG Underwear Scenes in Cinema: Readers’ Choice
by Jaden
As a follow up to: Most Famous PG Underwear Scenes in Cinema, the following PG panties scenes have been selected by the Screenwriting for Hollywood readers.
The first two favorite PG underwear movie scene selections, Charlie’s Angels and Weird Science, are from Melissa of Writing Forward.
Charlie’s Angels (2000)
Writing credits: Ivan Goff, Ryan Rowe, Ed Solomon, John August, Ben Roberts
At the time the modern Charlie’s Angels movies came out, people in Hollywood expressed all sorts of discontent over nothing really in particular, just saying blanket statements like, “It was alright, not that great.” I don’t understand this. The stunts, cinematography, music, and playful characters thoroughly entertained me. I figure it must be a Hollywood thing.
This panties scene of Cameron Diaz, playing as character Natalie Cook, is one of her signature moments in cinema that make us adore her.
Cameron’s character has a dream that she is like Marilyn Monroe or Madonna, doing the Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend / Material Girl formal and fabulous dance with many handsome suited men.
She wakes up in a good mood.
Wearing Fruit of the Loom’s superhero boys’ underwear Underoos, Cameron Diaz makes her bed and dances goofily around her room in front of the mirror. A delivery man comes to the door.
Weird Science (1985)
Weird Science was written and directed by 1980s movie superstar John Hughes.
1980s bombshell Kelly LeBrock plays Lisa, the creation of two high school nerdy boys.
If I remember correctly, and someone correct me if I am wrong, the image enclosed here of Kelly LeBrock in her panties is the moment she first comes on scene and comes into real life, which further illustrates a young man’s lust for girls in panties and how nudity and hardcore sex scenes are not necessarily as sexy as underwear scenes.
The next best movie underwear scene selection, There Will Be Blood, is from Shane of Understanding in a Car Crash.
There Will Be Blood (2007)
Shane wrote:
Although it’s not the type of underwear we are used to… Daniel Day Lewis as Daniel Plainview swims in the ocean and then sits out in the sun, on the beach, with his ‘brother’. Both men are wearing “britches” I guess you could call them? Like those old pajamas that you unbutton the back in order to restroom. He made long johns look GOOOOOODD.
As often is the case with memorable underwear scenes, the details about it are not written into the script.
In There Will Be Blood, the script does not mention their undergarments in this scene, but writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson brought forth the fine details of this impressionable image regardless.
The script reads:
“They rise up, naked, out of the water and move to their clothes and their HORSES. HOLD THIS MOMENT.”
The next three sexy PG panties movie scene selections, Crossroads, Hollow Man, and Deep Blue Sea, are from Tom.
Hollow Man (2000)
Hollow Man is an interesting concept for a script, written by Andrew W. Marlowe and Gary Scott Thompson, directed by Paul Verhoeven.
“Elisabeth Shue is Linda Foster, a scientist who is working on a serum to make people invisible. When another scientist tries the serum and becomes invisible his colleagues figure another way to bring him back to the normal world.” – M Sanchero
In this particular scene shown, Elisabeth Shue is sleeping when the invisible colleague, whose personality is also affected by the serum, starts having his way with her.
Tom writes about this scene, “very hot.”
Deep Blue Sea (1999)
Directed by Renny Harlin, Deep Blue Sea was written by Duncan Kennedy, Donna Powers, and Wayne Powers.
Saffron Burrows plays Dr. Susan McCallister who gets into her panties to electrocute a shark.
People refer to this scene as a classic Hollywood gratuitous panties moment in film, but Tom and many other men love it; no need for explanation, just get the girls into their panties.
Crossroads (2002/I)
In searching for this image of Britney Spears in panties from the Crossroads movie, I saw way too many paparazzi fully-shaved-beaver shots of her. Apparently the girl does not ever wear underwear, so doing a lingerie movie scene for Britney was certainly of no moral issue as it is for some other actresses.
Crossroads was directed by Tamra Davis and written by Shonda Rhimes. Women love lingerie too.
Australia the Movie Reviewed by Euro Geezer
by Euro Geezer
*MOVIE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW*
The bombastic film Australia, written by director Baz Luhrmann, writers Stuart Beattie, Ronald Harwood, and Richard Flanagan, and starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, is a big budget epic with one cliché after another.
If you don’t have a large film knowledge or you like to spot old movie plots and characters, you may very well enjoy this colossal mashing of classic Hollywood cinema.
Most characters are stolen from old classic films.
From Charlie Chaplin’s The Kid we get the far too lovable boy, Creamy, who is running from the authorities.
Nicole Kidman’s character directly takes from the celebrated role of Liz Taylor in Giant. Australia replaces Giant‘s Texas scenery, as Nicole plays the beautiful spoiled rich lady trying to survive on the dirty desolate ranch. She even sings “Somewhere over the Rainbow,” like Liz Taylor did, but it is so bad, you can’t believe they left it in the movie.
The Evil Cattle Baron who killed Nicole’s unfaithful husband takes over the town by betraying his friends and murdering his enemies. The villain shows vicious cruelty to the local natives and to everyone else. Will this bad guy get what is coming to him? You know he will because everything is soooo predictable.
Hugh and Nicole (like Humphrey Bogart & Kathrine Hepburn) go on an impossible mission to cross the Australian desert with a zillion cows while being set upon at every turn by the Cattle Baron’s hostile assassins full of exciting stampedes and narrow escapes. Are we watching The African Queen?
Finally, just as our heroes reach their destination safely, Japanese planes bombard them and set everything ablaze in a spectacular fire. The locals engage in heroics. The Yanks arrive. Sound familiar?
Biggest fault? The long nude love scene. In this kind of romantic epic, all that soft core porn was in my old geezer opinion, extraneous, though girls will enjoy Hugh Jackman’s undulating butt probably nearly as much as I liked Kidman’s bobbling boobs and rippling thighs — better than looking at a dish of chopped liver, sure. All that hot stuff just didn’t fit in the movie though because both characters up to this point are asexual like Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia.
The annoyingly adorable kid gets shot. Dies. Kidman gets blown to bits in a bomb blast. Dies.
A rescue boat piloted by Jackman comes in the nick of time to save the lovable kids at the orphanage. Are they all dead? Of course not. The kids stumble out of the dust . It’s Schindler’s List. But it’s not over yet. The big non-surprise is yet to come.
Here we think the kid and Nicole are dead — but alas, no! With a happy Hollywood ending, Nicole re-appears: a survivor, covered in dust and blood, but looking gorgeous as ever. The lovers run towards each other. They embrace and go off into the sunset. Presumably they will live happily ever after with the lovable kid.
Oh, but wait, we are not done. There are a few more exciting and improbable last minute events. The murderous Cattle Baron shoots his own son — yes, poor Creamy the kid. It takes more than mere bullets through the heart to finish off little Creamy. He comes back from the dead again. And again.
Clips from The Wizard of Oz with cameos by a young Judy Garland keep cropping up. The song “Somewhere over the Rainbow” is woven into the story as a recurring theme. What can you make of all this mish mash? A Comedy that turns into a Western, then a Romance, then a Civil Rights Struggle, and finally a World War II movie? Yes. It is all of that and more.
As Sir Winston Churchill once said: “Never have so many, with so much, done so little.”
Was Australia bad?
After all that. I’ll bet you expected this old geezer to give Australia a bad rating. Au contraire. In spite of zero originality and total predictability, the reinterpretation and mixed up narrative becomes movie magic.
Australia is a real colorful omelet full of wonderful costumes, spectacular nature cinematography, and grand special effects that enhance the story. In one moment, Creamy stares down a stampeding herd of cows from the edge of a cliff. The camera zooms down from outer space (Google Earth?) as the animals come to a sudden stop. Suspend disbelief and you have an impressive moment.
I think cynics and film buffs (like me) can laugh, cry, and enjoy several moments of high Hitchcockian suspense. Rating: Not as bad as you’d expect. B+
20 Best Film Festivals to Enter Your Film or Script
by Jaden
Got big dreams?
Submitting to film festivals is one of the best ways for an unknown person with no connections to break into the film industry. It’s a relatively painless procedure that could change your life forever. What if you get accepted? What if you win an award? What if you receive an offer? You’ll never know unless you try.
The objective of entering a film festival is to be recognized for your talents — preferably by someone from Hollywood who has the power to jump-start your career, right?
With so many film festivals vying for your attention, which ones do you choose to spend the time and money entering?
The following 11 film festivals are legitimate big time film festivals where lots of Hollywood powerhouses, professionals, and celebrities will be in attendance.
8. São Paulo International Film Festival
For more intimate and supportive niche film festivals, check out these:
3. San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival
7. American Black Film Festival
8. San Diego Asian Film Festival
9. Screamfest Horror Film Festival
What are your experiences with film festivals and which are your favorite?
Good luck with your entries!
Black History Month: African American Auteurs in Cinema (Part 2)
by t.sterling
Denzel Washington and Spike Lee
To conclude Black History Month, please enjoy t.sterling’s homage to Black filmmakers.
You may read Part One by clicking here.
Spike Lee
Breaking down many barriers and largely affecting Hollywood and beyond, my favorite Spike Lee movie is Do The Right Thing. It’s not an easy watch if you don’t like tension. That’s why I like it, because I could feel it. And it felt real.
A button pusher, Spike has a unique way of tapping into the sorts of things people of all races might feel or think but never want to say. Do The Right Thing was a sign of the times that racism wasn’t as extinguished as we’d like to have believed.
Similar, but in a college setting, School Daze sparked many discussions.
The movie that seriously caught my attention was Malcolm X. Influencing cinema as a whole, this movies is awesome.
Having directed 47 film and TV episodes, producing 41, and acting and writing for 14, Spike Lee deserves a Lifetime Achievement Award. While we wait for Hollywood to catch up with him, let’s give Spike Lee the award for being a superb and hyper conscious African American Auteur in Cinema.
Malcolm D. Lee
More recently on scene is Spike Lee’s cousin, film director Malcolm D. Lee.
Directing a small handful of films, Malcolm is not quite an auteur yet.
Malcolm’s Undercover Brother is one of my favorite films and it is for this movie that I include Malcolm in my list of auteurs. A lot of people I’ve talked to haven’t heard of this movie or don’t think too highly of it, but I think it is simply hilarious.
In its own comical way, Undercover Brother pays homage to blaxploitation films and early Black cinema. The main character is a throwback to a combination of those early leading man characters of the 70s blaxploitation films, men with afros, wearing bellbottoms, platform shoes and all that jazz.
Malcolm D. Lee’s next film Roll Bounce has a great story and music that take us back to the 70s as well.
Winning auteur points, Malcolm scores with his 2008 comedy starring Martin Lawrence, Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins. As writer, director and producer, Malcolm D. Lee has auteurism in the blood like his cousin Spike.
Keeping an eye on the development of Malcolm D. Lee, I’m excited to watch his next film Soul Men featuring the late greats Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes, along with Samuel L. Jackson and Mike Epps.
Side note: Sadly, Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes coincidentally both deceased in August 2008 one day apart. Bernie passed in Chicago from complications of pneumonia. Isaac died in Memphis, Tennessee from a stroke. Isaac won an Academy award for the theme song of Shaft in 1971.
Tyler Perry
Mr. Tyler Perry is on a mission to take over the world of entertainment.
Starting his career as a homeless gospel playwright, Perry now appears on millions of TV screens and movie theaters across the planet and hasn’t stopped working since his recent debut in 2002. I’ve read that he plans on having his own channel someday, and at the rate he’s going, I believe this may happen soon.
The secret to Perry’s success is no secret: hard work! My number one top idol, Perry’s talent and work ethic astound me. From writing, directing, producing and many times starring in just about all his productions, you wonder how he manages to sleep. What I admire is that he plays by his own rules and does things his way. These days, it seems like Hollywood is knocking on his door trying to get into his world instead of him trying to get into theirs.
If you are still having trouble figuring out who Tyler Perry is, perhaps you’ll remember him as his alter ego and one of America’s favorite gun-toting, wise-cracking big mamas—Madea. In the movies, Madea is first seen in Diary of a Mad Black Woman which was based on the play of the same name. Madea is the character people came to see at both his plays and his movies.
As much as Perry likes to throw the weight of Madeo around, he always makes sure to weigh in on the drama.
Unlike other filmmakers, Perry does not use mass amounts of gang violence, sex, drugs, and adult language to attract and African American people, but rather love, family, and the power of prayer.
~ ~ ~
As a student of film and writing in the School of Observation, I learn a lot from these writer/directors. A huge fan of diversity, I also feel it is important to know where you come from before you know where you’re going. By researching and learning from the greats before me, I hope that I can one day follow in their footsteps and work with them. Maybe 30 or 40 years from now, some young writer/director will be writing about the likes of Kevin Smith, Spike Lee, Judd Apatow, Tyler Perry, and t. sterling watson. I was told to dream big. Can I have my own channel too?
t.sterling
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