Showing posts with label London. Show all posts
Showing posts with label London. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

#BorisBus - A public policy must-read over the holidays: "Boris's Bus (A Political Journey)" by The Guardian's London blogger Dave Hill, @DaveHill, who's been chronicling energetic London Mayor Boris Johnson's controversial effort to place his stamp on London's future transportation scene




Here's the series in reverse-chron order:
Boris's Bus (A Political Journey) Boris Johnson's wish to create a modern successor 
to London's legendary Routemaster buses has been a signature policy of his mayoralty. 
The Guardian's London blogger Dave Hill has been following the unfolding saga of its creation

Dave Hill's main blog on London is here:  
http://www.theguardian.com/uk/davehillblog









It goes without saying that we could really use this willingness to shake things up in government in Florida, especially South Florida, to say nothing of having double-decker buses along certain main streets.

Then again, ever since it started less than 10 years ago, the Broward County Transit express bus that runs on traffic-clogged US-1, back-and-forth from Aventura Mall to downtown Fort Lauderdale, the Buzz #1, after leaving the Aventura Mall, next to its food court near Macy's, does NOT stop at a single bus SHELTER in Aventura, Hallandale Beach or Hollywood. Really.
Waiting bus passengers get to wait and wait in the rain, sun, wind...
Just like bus passengers at Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport waiting for public transportation, whether visitors who have just landed and eager to get to their hotel, or airline, vendor or Homeland Security employees simply looking to get home, who also have to wait for it at a place with NO shelter, NO benches to sit on and with NO posted bus schedules present. 
It could hardly be less well thought-out and half-assed.

And the people manning the information desk inside the airport consistently CAN'T tell you where the one-and-only bus stop at the airport is, as I discovered first-hand there this summer when I did some investigating and snooping around.
The signs for it are seemingly an afterthought. 
The whole enterprise is a #RealityCheck for #BestPractices.

I've got a photo-filled blog post on that embarrassing transportation situation, esp. at the airport, coming sometime in January, and will publicly question how -yet again- Broward County citizens/taxpayers are clearly being mis-served by Broward's bureaucrats on something that is NOT that complicated, and yet is clearly being botched.

Yes, Broward, the same County that has an Advisory Board for every matter and problem under the sun, real and imagined, but which does NOT have an Advisory Board for the Airport, one of the principal economic engines we have here.
That is something that clearly needs to change in the near-future and with meaningful citizen representation, too

To make that change happen, in the new year I plan on speaking directly to the people and interest groups who make the decisions in this County. 
Then we'll see who wants to do what's best for the public and who wants to keep doing what clearly ISN'T working. 
#Resolutions

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Robyn NEVER disappoints! Amazing new music video (and Behind-the-Scenes video) of Robyn's #UShouldKnowBetter feat. Snoop Dogg is a pop culture delight; @robynkonichiwa, @decida, #PernillaPhilip, #2faced1


Robyn YouTube Channel video: Behind The Scenes: Robyn feat. Snoop Dogg - U Should Know Better. The behind-the-scenes for #UShouldKnowBetter gets into great detail about all aspects of the collaboration of Robyn's Konichiwa Records and Decida Wahlberg's 2faced1. Uploaded June 22, 2013. http://youtu.be/DZnClsOnuuo


Robyn's behind-the-scenes videos are always entertaining, the cherry on top -delicious pop culture confections of  subtext, theme and fun.


The swedish film that Robyn and Decida reference towards the end regarding "kickers" is Stockholmsnatt, but it had the opposite effect on her than it did for many other teens living in Sweden then: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholmsnatt


RobynVEVO Channel video: Robyn performing U Should Know Better ft. Snoop Dogg. Uploaded June 21, 2013. http://youtu.be/iVDbl2buP0Q

See also:

SPIN Magazine
Robyn Stylist Decida Talks Platform Timberlands, Jody Watley, and Stockholm
By Julianne Escobedo Shepherd
January 9 2013, 11:11 AM ET


The Guardian
Robyn: unchained melodies
She was a teen pop star who stepped off the conveyor belt. 
Now Robyn Carlsson is singing about fembots, working with Snoop Dogg and dabbling in the avant garde
By Alexis Petridis, 16 June 2010 16.31 EDT
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/jun/16/robyn-interview

Decida Wahlberg's blog: http://2faced1.com/decidastyle
@decida - https://twitter.com/decida

Robyn - @robynkonichiwa, https://twitter.com/robynkonichiw
http://www.robyn.com/

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Despicable! Shocking video of unprovoked daytime attack by complete stranger on 16-year old girl in Plaistow, East London, is caught on Police CCTV and shocks Great Britain; ITV report tonight says assault shocked even veteran police detectives by its sheer brazenness



Metropolitan Police Service YouTube Channel video: Assault in Plaistow, November 13, 2012. Uploaded November 20, 2012. http://youtu.be/uMYatywmGZk
Be sure to read the description below the video on YouTube for more details.


The following ITV video about the above incident was uploaded within the past three hours.

ITV News, London Tonight: Reporter Paul Brand talks to the 16-year-old girl in Plaistow in East London who was the victim of an unprovoked attack by a complete stranger and punched to the ground and left unconscious. Police detectives who have seen the video have described themselves as shocked by its utter brazenness, taking place in broad daylight in a commercial area. http://vimeo.com/53958859

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Joel Kinnaman oozes style and quiet menace in London in H&M's Men's Fall Fashion short film, Alter Ego, directed by Jonas Åkerlund; @hm



hennesandmauritz video: Alter Ego, a film by Jonas Åkerlund, starring Joel Kinnaman of AMC-TV's drama series "The Killing," and of the hit Swedish gangster film series "Snabba Cash I" (Fast Cash I)  and Snabba Cash II (Fast Cash II), adapted from the Jens Lapidus stories, and the star of the forthcoming Hollywood reboot of "Robocop." Uploaded on October 5, 2012. http://youtu.be/7_YorYJQ4WI

Short version of this is at: http://www.hm.com/se/fallfashionmen-2012

The Fall Fashion for Men collection is available in selected stores and online at http://www.hm.com/fallfashionmen-2012 , October 5th.



hennesandmauritz video: H&M Life - My style: Joel Kinnaman - Uploaded October 4, 2012. http://youtu.be/APhJSrhHkaY

More photos of Joel Kinnaman at http://www.hm.com/se/life#



hennesandmauritz video:  H&M Life - My style: Jonas Åkerlund - Uploaded October 4, 2012. http://youtu.be/vvvB2U7Bsm0

I last mentioned director Jonas Åkerlund back on June 23rd in my post about his work for Dior that was titled, Oh-là-là with ten exclamation points! Perfect chemistry: Dior Addict + Dutch supermodel Daphné Groeneveld channeling Bardot + Saint Tropez + Jonas Åkerlund's vision = Magnifique!

an excerpt 



Dior video: DIOR ADDICT Fragrance [Director's cut] AND DIOR CREATED ADDICT

Oh-là-là with ten exclamation points! Perfect chemistry: Dior Addict + Dutch supermodel Daphné Groeneveld channeling Bardot + Saint Tropez + Jonas Åkerlund's vision = Magnifique!
Oui, la chimie parfaite!  

And Jonas Åkerlund devising the idea of her as Brigette Bardot circa 1956, that's f-ing genius!


I'll have more news and nuggets before the end of October on some recent moves by H&M and what's going on with their long-delayed entry into the South Florida market, which was supposed to happen exactly one year ago on South Beach -and yet NADA!

@hm  https://twitter.com/hm
H&M's YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/hennesandmauritz

Stora%20f%C3%B6rv%C3%A4ntningar%20p%C3%A5%20Snabba%20cash%20II

Stora förväntningar på Snabba cash II/Great expectations for "Fast Cash II." 
Snabba Cash II director Babak Najafi and actors Joel Kinnaman and Fares Fares talk about their film that came out in August. 
From TV4.se's Nyhetsmorgon of August 13, 2012.
http://www.tv4.se/nyhetsmorgon/klipp/stora-forvantningar-pa-snabba-cash-ii-2209448

Monday, September 24, 2012

More exciting behind-the-scenes video of new 007/James Bond film, "Skyfall" in London, Turkey and Shanghai with Daniel Craig, Judi Dench and director Sam Mendes; #SKYFALL, #007


Reviewing what we already know -the second U.S trailer for Skyfall
http://www.sonypictures.com/previews/movies/skyfall/clips/5074/

"Some men are coming to kill us. We're going to kill them first."

Skyfall, directed by Sam Mendes, opens in U.K. cinemas October 26th and in U.S. theaters November 9th, and as everyone has known for months because it's the worst-kept 'secret' of the year, Adele will be singing the new title song. 
As I've mentioned in my previous posts about this film, Skyfall is the first 007 film to be only filmed in IMAX.


jamesbond007 video: Naomie Harris and Bérénice Marlohe on their roles in new 007 film, Skyfall.  Uploaded September 20, 2012. http://youtu.be/diFTdVBYISg
M: "Think on your sins."


jamesbond007 video: Skyfall director Sam Mendes and Daniel Craig talk about the role of the London locations to show the essential Britishness of James Bond by showing real but iconic places he would frequent, but from unusal and perhaps even menacing perspectives. Uploaded August 16, 2012. http://youtu.be/dl218z68iC4


Amazing Shangai will clearly be a big co-star of the new James Bond film and a revelation for people who have never traveled there.
http://www.sonypictures.com/previews/movies/skyfall/clips/4858/


jamesbond007 video: On the set in Turkey for the shooting of the opening sequences of the film that sets up the premise. Uploaded September 7, 2012. http://youtu.be/sYEpEseJl9U


See the studio stage here, including a 360 view, at:
http://www.pinewoodgroup.com/our-studios/uk/pinewood-studios/stages/007-stage-pw

Visit the official website at http://www.007.com 

See more 007/Skyfall videos at their official YouTube Channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/jamesbond007

See who else Likes James Bond at http://www.facebook.com/JamesBond007 

Monday, August 13, 2012

#London2012 - Deadspin offers up video clips of what you missed at the 2012 London Olympic Closing Ceremonies because of NBC's editing, and the Tom Brokaw one-hour documentary that allowed him to reclaim his title of "voice" of "The Greatest Generation" -his personal kitsch marketing niche

Deadspin offers up video clips of what you missed Sunday night at the 2012 London Olympic Closing Ceremonies while people because like me continue to question  NBC-TV putting Tom Brokaw front-and-center Saturday night to showboat a bit, and to reclaim his title of "voice" of "The Greatest Generation" -his personal kitsch marketing nicheduring a completely unnecessary one-hour program about 1930's Britain and WWII and the economic and social aftermath, "Their Finest Hour."

Nice original title(!) and contrary to what's been reported, I HAD seen much of the footage before.

And if you insist on doing something like this, why would you schedule it on the last weekend the Olympics instead of the first weekend?
It's completely illogical, even on its own terms -even if you support something like it airing on U.S. television.

There's a very good reason why so many smart people in the U.S. saw the original "The World at War" anthology by ITV about WWII when it first aired in the U.S. came out in the late 1970's, with Laurence Olivier's narration.
Because of its quality and clarity and depth, unlike most high school and college textbooks.

It aired here in South Florida on Channel 10 on Sunday nights before ABC-TV's entertainment  programming began. I never missed it and have seen every episode about a dozen times thanks to the Military Channel, DirecTV Channel 287. http://www.theworldatwar.com/ )


NBC Cut Nearly An Hour From Its Closing Ceremony Telecast. Here’s Everything They Didn’t Show You (Including The Kinks’ Ray Davies)
By Timothy Burke
August 13, 2012 1:44 PM 
We knew NBC would heavily edit its broadcast of last night's London Olympics closing ceremony; they cut out a bunch of stuff from the opening ceremony, too, in the name of "tailoring programming to our American audience."

IF you are one of those rare Americans who had somehow missed the point for the last forty years that Brokaw was from South Dakota, you couldn't have missed it during this self-indulgent one hour.
Since it was all recorded, there was no actual reason for Brokaw to even physically be in London save high self-regard and him throwing-his-weight-around and/or NBC wanting to trot him out to how how serious they were, and in any case, wasn't the latter role actually Bob Costas' role as Everyman, who felt it necessary to state the obvious, sometimes, in grave tones?

Meanwhile, these are the same NBC geniuses that waited until the 15th day of the 17-day Olympics to do a segment on Roger Bannister, when it should've been done the first weekend.

The same geniuses who DIDN'T show the medal ceremony for the Men's Marathon winner, the last contest of the Games, and always a highlight.
Thank goodness an American runner didn't do something silly and win and throw NBC's minute calculations off.

Me, foolishly, I thought that the hour of coverage that NBC promised us after the Local NBC affiliate newscast would be what we missed.
Instead, they re-played what they'd already run, awkwardly picking it up during the narrative of the U.S. Women's gymnastics team battle for the team gold against Aliya Mustafina, Victoria Komova and the rest of the Russian team.  

See clips of the rehearsals of the Closing Ceremonies at
http://www.youtube.com/user/london2012

My grade for NBC for the whole Olympics is C-.
In a nutshell, with plenty of examples I could cite jere, probably just like you: The winner of the Women's 100 Meters speaks English, being from Jamaica, but NBC chose not to interview her - THE fastest women in the world.

-----
http://olympicclosingceremony.tumblr.com/

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

#Olympics - Julie Foudy on the Englishman who wants to reward Fourth-place finishers at the Olympics with a medal, and is paying for them himself; Nightline asks Do you think there should be a fourth place medal at the Olympic games?; #London2012, @JulieFoudy, @JuJuChangABC, #Nightline


ABC News: ABC News Nightline Olympic correspondent Julie Foudy of ESPN on the Englishman who wants to reward Fourth-place finishers at the Olympics with a medal, and is paying for them himself; @Nightline asks "Do you think there should be a fourth place medal at the Olympic games?" August 7, 2012.
http://youtu.be/CRrHDK35AKI

Just more proof of why Julie Foudy is so very likable and reliable, besides knowledgeable and articulate -and unswervingly honest
Me, I'm a big fan of hers.

I think I'd rather listen to her than just about any other TV color commentator covering any other sport, except for Jim Palmer on baseball and Ron Jaworski on the NFL.

She was excellent on ESPN's Euro 2012 coverage from Poland and Ukraine

@Nightline asks "Do you think there should be a fourth place medal at the Olympic games?"
http://twitter.com/Nightline/status/233049579925426176

@JulieFoudy http://twitter.com/JulieFoudy
http://www.juliefoudyleadership.com/

ABC News @ABC http://twitter.com/ABC 

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Swedish heartache! We regret to inform you that talented and moxie-filled Swedish midfielder Josefine Öqvist -always "trending" at this blog- won't be at London 2012 Olympics due to pregnancy. And Sanna Kallur is out because of injuries -again; #London2012


SVT video: Gravid Öqvist missar OS. Pregnant Öqvist will miss Olympic Games. January 13, 2012. She's also missing the Damallsvenskan season in Sweden

Not so happy news for blågult! 

Sweden's Women football team, third at last year's World Cup, faces South Africa today in Coventry minus dependable #14, Josefine Öqvist, whose 29th birthday was Monday.
Öqvist will be rooting for her teammates while watching the match on TV back in Sweden with her boyfriend, hockey player Stefan Lassen, and her two-week old daughter, Stella.

Josefine is a delight to watch in a game because she's such a spark plug for the team and has such a sixth sense for the ball that seems positively uncanny at times.
Her knack for putting herself in the right position for a steal or to get a ricochet pass that leads to a breakaway, well, sometimes makes her almost like a cartoon character that's moving twice as fast as anyone else.

All screenshots of Swedish star midfielder Josefine Öqvist by South Beach Hoosier, July 6, 2011. © 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved.




The team looks very good, but  I really have no sense of how they'll perform offensively without Josefine, though today's match against South Africa shouldn't even be close.
http://svenskfotboll.se/arkiv/landslag/2012/07/antligen-dags-for-avspark/

Håller alla tummar för att de tar medalj

Volume is turned down as this is a video that starts automatically.

Captain Lotta Schelin is ready to go...; 
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/olympics/2012/writers/grant_wahl/07/17/london-olympic-womens-soccer-preview/index.html

Team GB's Women's team hosts New Zealand in the opening match at 10:30 a.m. on MSNBC.

So you're asking yourself, what moxie-filled daughter of Vasa should we root for if Josefine is finito?

Until three weeks ago I would've said Long Island-born, Swedish-raised hurdler Susanna Kallur, aka Sanna, who has had her share of high highs, a world record, and many lows because of injuries, but who was very focused this year to let her enormous talent be seen by the whole world -again.


That is, until she announced at the end of June that she wouldn't be able to compete in the OS because of yet another injury.

Before...
SVT video: Sanna Kallur, "I love to train" Sanna in Chula Vista, California back in May of this year, when things were looking much brighter.

Click the TV in the far right box to go to full screen.

After...
SVT video: Kallur: Blir inget OS. I'll miss Olympic Games. June 29, 2012. 
So very disappointing for Sanna and her many fans.
Volume is turned down as this is a video that starts automatically.

SVT's Olympic webpage full of facts, photos and figures is at http://www.svt.se/os/



Sweden will be host the 2013 UEFA Womens Euro from July 10-28th, with the title match in Solna, just north of Stockholm. http://fogis.se/damem2013/

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Excitement rises as Olympic Torch hits London, as singer Paloma Faith -in high heels-, footballer Fabrice Muamba, boxer Lennox Lewis, tennis' Andy Murray & Venus Williams and actor Patrick Stewart get caught up in the enthusiasm as they carry the flame; #London2012, #bbctorchcam



BBC News video: Sir Patrick Stewart carries the Olympic Torch thru Croydon. July 23, 2012. http://youtu.be/b5iNmoGr_PI
Related article at: http://www.thewrap.com/tv/column-post/patrick-stewart-gets-torched-london-olympics-video-48956



London2012 video: Olympic Torch Relay Day 64 Highlights - London 2012. July 22, 2012. http://youtu.be/lwAL5pBVTnU



London2012 video:Olympic Torch Relay Day 65 Highlights - London 2012. July 22, 2012. http://youtu.be/0-sgYvdUvpM


http://www.london2012.com/torch-relay/video/video=torch-relay-day66.html



JulieJackson1 video: London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay thru Croydon with actor Patrick Stewart. July 23, 2012. http://youtu.be/TRMpNzSYDbA


Olympic Torch relays start in the morning and remember the five-hour time difference between Miami/EDT and London/BST 



Follow the progress of the Torch here, http://www.london2012.com/torch-relay/route/
and watch the Olympic Torch relay Route LIVE at http://www.bbc.co.uk/torchrelay
which I'm doing now at 5:35 Miami time as it's in Richmond Upon Thames on its way to 
Hounslow, Hillingdon, Denham and Ealing.



London2012: Get ready for the Opening Ceremony - London 2012. July 20, 2012.
http://youtu.be/qcHJHZRw2VU


http://www.london2012.com/


http://twitter.com/#!/search?q=%23bbctorchcam


Olympic torch: BBC torchcam draws in a global audience
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/18191691

http://twitter.com/NBCOlympics

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Olympic torch fever sweeps across Great Britain as huge crowds watch the flame and its torchbearers make their way towards London in 13 days, delighting supporters and surprising cynics; #London2012, #London2012TorchRelay, #bbctorchcam


London2012 video: Olympic Torch Relay Week 8 Highlights - London 2012
http://youtu.be/N_Qn7YdWzU0


Beanyman62News video: London 2012 Olympics -Prime Minister David Cameron greets Olympic Torchbearers in his constituency in West Oxfordshire, and discusses the immense popularity and interest in the progress of the relays across Great Britain as they make their way to the Opening Ceremonies in London on the night of July 27th. http://youtu.be/2TP8fiolA30



On Wednesday, Day 53, it was The Queen and Prince Philip and The Olympic Flame and Sebastian Coe at Windsor Castle:http://twitter.com/London2012/status/222737068747526144/photo/1






WiltshireCouncil video: U.S. Gold medalist Michael Johnson's Olympic Torch Run at Stonehenge. July 13, 2012. http://youtu.be/blOP_nGf-Bg

On Friday the 13th, Day 55, the flame went thru Dorset, one of the most magical places in all of England. (If it's not God's Country, it's a nearby suburb!.)
Seriously, who doesn't love Dorset, beautiful any time of the year, rain or shine!

Moment to Shine
In Dorset, 15-year old swimmer and torchbearer Lisa Devine at the lookout at Durdle Door




The Olympic Torch relays start in the morning and remember the five-hour time difference between Miami/EDT and London right now, so unless you are a night owl, you can always  watch videotape of what happened While You Were Sleeping

Follow the progress of the Torch here, http://www.london2012.com/torch-relay/route/
and watch the Olympic Torch relay Route LIVE at http://www.bbc.co.uk/torchrelay and 
http://www.london2012.com/torch-relay/video/live.html


This morning, I watched it make its way from Bournemouth to Southhampton, where 100 years ago this past April, everything started out so swimmingly for the maiden voyage of The Titanic...



BBC torchcam becomes cult viewing worldwide
Roger Mosey | 11:09 UK time, Wednesday, 23 May 2012
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/rogermosey/2012/05/bbc_torchcam_becomes_cult_view.html

At 10 a.m., they're zipping down the road in one of their many vehicles with a police escort, since as you might've already guessed, though the route is 8,000 miles, there isn't someone running or walking for all 8,000 miles over 70 days.   
At 10:01 we just passed the Esso service station...


#London2012TorchRelay


Sunday, July 1, 2012

More mournful wistfulness about a talented entertainer: All Eyes on Sharon Tate


Turner Classic Movies video: All Eyes on Sharon Tate - (Original Promo Featurette) A behind the scenes featurette on the making of 13 which was released as Eye of the Devil (1967). http://youtu.be/Qf1NX9AQOEI


I've been wanting to post this Sharon Tate featurette video ever since I started the blog, even before Turner Classic Movies finally made the video available on their website as an embed, having previously videotaped it off of TCM many years ago and then subsequently dubbed it to a DVD thanks to a friend who had a VHS/DVR when they were still expensive.
But now, well, I don't have to do that, and the difference in quality is obvious.


(And no sooner do I say that than two of the videos I've embedded here keep showing the same thing, the trailer for Eye of the Devil, when I look at this in Draft preview.
Even though the embed code for each is different! I've run into this problem before with the TCM embeds and had to cancel some blog posts here on classic films because I couldn't show what was the meat of the post. Oh, well.)


These sorts of featurettes and film promos are one of the reasons that I've been such a devout TCM viewer ever since it started. My favorite is one that was done about the filming of The Dirty Dozen, like the first video, filmed in London in 1966 for MGM.


Turner Classic Movies video: The Dirty Dozen - (Original Promo Featurette), A look behind the scenes of the making of the World War II thriller, The Dirty Dozen (1967), starring Lee Marvin & Jim Brown.
http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/30500/Dirty-Dozen-The-Original-Promo-Featurette-.html


The specific reasons I'm posting this today is two-fold.
First, it's a general reaction of sorts on my part from watching so much of the truly disturbing courtroom testimony that's been given at the trial of Anders Behring Breivik in Oslo, which I've been following closely and watching online since it started, though I haven't mentioned it here on the blog for reasons not worth getting into now.


Breivik was/is a person with a delusional personality who imagined himself destined for big things, believes in a political manifesto and was more than willing to kill innocent people to gain publicity for those political beliefs and to hasten the change that he imagined would naturally follow from it. 
Just like Charles Manson.


This past week, I finally I saw a recent film directed by Sharon Tate's husband, Roman Polanskithat I'd never seen before, though I've seen pretty much everything else he's done that's been released in the U.S., including the Polish language films from the 1960's, like .
Knife in the Water 
It's 2010's The Ghost Writer starring Pierce Brosnan and Ewan MacGregor.


I've previously discussed the controversy surrounding him here on the blog, but my focus today is on Tate, his wife who was only 26 when she was intentionally murdered by the Charles Manson gang, along with their unborn child, and four others on her property, three years after this video was filmed.


When you watch this video at the top that was done to promote the upcoming David Hemmings, David Niven and Debrorah Kerr suspense film she was co-starring in, she just completely takes your breath away, and you see how her dynamic beauty just jumps right off the screen.

Turner Classic Movies video: Eye of the Devil - (Original Trailer)
A French nobleman deserts his wife because of an ancient family secret in Eye of the Devil (1966) starring David Niven and Deborah Kerr.
http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/29013/Eye-of-the-Devil-Original-Trailer-.html


In my opinion, the only actress we have now with those sort of dynamic qualities is really Charlize Theron, and frankly, I'm not so crazy about her recent film choice selection or even her off-screen choices.


Theron is perplexing in that way, and while I can imagine some of the reasons why her film choices might've seemed appealing to her at the time, to be honest, since she won her Oscar for a film that very few people actually saw at the time -and which is, even now, largely forgotten and which draws blank looks from people when you ask which film she won the Oscar for- while there's no doubting that she's clearly got the talent chops and the beauty, what have we really been offered of late that film fans will recall fondly twenty years from now?


Why is she never in an ensemble film that is really well-done, memorable and popular with critics and audiences alike?
Why is is always one but not the others?


Talented directors we respect and admire ought to practically be banging down her door -or having her agent do that because of a role that she'd be perfect in- but I never hear from my friends and contacts in LA about good roles she turned down in order to be in something great.


It sort of makes me wonder what's going on, and whether there's some reason, mysterious or banal, that might better explain why Theron, as close as we have to a glamorous old-fashioned movie star as anyone, doesn't seem to be getting offered the sorts of scripts we'd all agree she ought to be seeing, for films that we'd like to see her in.


Who knows, maybe the directors I'm thinking of think she should work for less to be in quality ensemble productions, something that DOES happen frequently in Hollywood and esp. in London for period films, and she simply thinks that she'd be making a mistake to do that now.


On the other hand, isn't this sort of what has happened to Oscar-winner Gwyneth Paltrow, too?
They both should really be in the 'sweet spot' of their film careers, where they are in one good film after another, and yet... the best thing I've seen Charlize in has been that fabulous Dior ad for J'adore.



http://youtu.be/mXrWiJcmvBI


As for Gwyneth, is it a case of too much Goop-ing around?


Meanwhile, we wonder about what might've been for Sharon Tate.
The quality light-comedy films that she would've delighted us in, or the melodramas that made us cry, as she got better at her craft and more self-confident...
Take advantage of your opportunities while you have them...



Sharon Tate, Murdered Innocence - Part 4
http://youtu.be/NnrqxXnD-Mo