Quote:
[…]
Unashamedly nostalgic, and almost autobiographical, ‘My Favorite Year’ has a standout performance by Peter O’Toole, who was Oscar nominated. The clips we see of Alan Swann’s great roles come from O’Toole’s earlier films, Lord Jim and Great Catherine.

Produced by Mel Brooks, who wrote for Sid Caesar (Kaiser, geddit?) in the early years of television, the plot is a fictionalisation of Errol Flynn’s appearance on Caesar’s “Your Show of Shows”. In reality Brooks and Flynn never even met, and the show passed off without incident, but the film is a great alternative reality.

While O’Toole is the heart and soul of the film, the supporting cast play very well indeed, particularly Bologna’s “King” Kaiser. He is an insecure, bullying loudmouth, but he is also rather courageous, standing up to Rojeck physically and refusing to be scared off, and essentially decent and kind-hearted. He’s a rather touching character, and Bologna plays him very well.

Equally memorable are Benjy’s Brooklyn family. They are loud and uncouth (Uncle Morty (Lou Jacobi) wants to know about Swann’s recent ‘paternity rap’ – “Did you schtup her?”) but fundamentally decent people who, for all their faults, love and support each other. They call Swann ‘Al’ (“Mom,” pleads Benjy, “it’s Alan. If I bring Jolson or Capone, it’s Al.”) before settling down to Benjy’s Filipino stepfather’s speciality, ‘Meatloaf Mindanao’, seasoned with parrot meat. As Benjy, Mark Linn-Baker brings a lot of frenetic energy as he tries to come to terms with Swann’s attitude to life, while keeping him safe in order to keep his job, but does fall into the classic trap of American comedy – assuming that shouting your lines somehow makes them funnier.

‘My Favorite Year’ is a real feelgood comedy, which sends you on your way with a golden glow inside. Life isn’t like this, but wouldn’t it be great if it was?

Watch out for Gloria Stuart – ‘old Rose’ from James Cameron’s Titanic – in a cameo as Swann’s dancing partner in the Stork Club.

Enoch Sneed @ The Spinning Image

my.favorite.year.1982.720p.hdtv.x264-regret.mkv

General
Container:  	Matroska
Runtime: 	1 h 32 min
Size: 	2.88 GiB
Video
Codec: 	x264
Resolution: 	1272x720 
Aspect ratio:  	16:9
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https://nitro.download/view/EE939F48F85E1E5/my.favorite.year.1982.720p.hdtv.x264-regret.mkv

Language(s):English
Subtitles:English

The post Richard Benjamin – My Favorite Year (1982) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Quote:
Following on from “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”, this musical is set several years later in Brad and Janet Majors’ hometown – which has become a giant TV station; residents are either participants or viewers. They are married now, but their romance has fallen on the rocks. Ostensibly to fix their marriage, Brad is imprisoned on the program “Dentonvale” (the local mental hospital) while Janet is conscripted to become a new star. As Janet is entranced by the high life, she forgets Brad. Who is trying to woo her away?

Jim Sharman - (1981) Shock Treatment.mkv

General
Container:  	Matroska
Runtime: 	1 h 35 min
Size: 	2.22 GiB
Video
Codec: 	x264
Resolution: 	1024x556 
Aspect ratio:  	1.85:1
Frame rate: 	23.976 fps
Bit rate: 	3 136 kb/s
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#1:  	English 2.0ch AC-3 @ 192 kb/s

https://nitro.download/view/9FD5203B1B1D13A/Jim_Sharman_-_(1981)_Shock_Treatment.mkv

Language(s):English
Subtitles:English

The post Jim Sharman – Shock Treatment (1981) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Synopsis:
During the Great Depression, a sheet music salesman seeks to escape his dreary life through popular music and a love affair with an innocent school teacher.

Pennies.from.Heaven.1981.720p.WEB-DL.AAC 2.0.H.264.mkv

General
Container:  	Matroska
Runtime: 	1h 47mn
Size: 	3.03 GiB
Video
Codec: 	h264
Resolution: 	1280x718 
Aspect ratio:  	16:9
Frame rate: 	23.976 fps
Bit rate: 	
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https://nitro.download/view/594EDD70845514E/Pennies.from.Heaven.1981.720p.WEB-DL.AAC_2.0.H.264.mkv

Language(s):English
Subtitles:English

The post Herbert Ross – Pennies from Heaven (1981) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

PLOT SUMMARY:
A young American dancer travels to Europe to join a famous ballet school. As she arrives, the camera turns to another young woman, who appears to be fleeing from the school. She returns to her apartment where she is gruesomely murdered by a hideous creature. Meanwhile, the young American is trying to settle in at the ballet school, but hears strange noises and is troubled by bizarre occurrences. She eventually discovers that the school is merely a front for a much more sinister organization.
source = IMDB

SUSPIRIA 25TH ANNIVERSARY:
Last year when Deep Red came out, I loved the featuette that was included on the disc, but was disappointed as were many others, as 15 minutes was way too short to give a detailed history on such a important work. Well, the folks have at Anchor Bay have listened and have given us a is a brand new documentary that runs a full 52 minutes and is shown in anamorphic widescreen (1.78.1)! It features interviews with Dario Argento, Daria Nicolodi, Cinematographer Luciano Tovoli, Goblin, Jessica Harper, Stefania Casini and Udo Kier. There is wealth of information here and its very well assembled. It’s quite an informative look back on making on a classic. You find out how Jessica Harper got the main role; the creative consumption of the story, and most fascinating, how was the film was shot and processed in the old Technicolor progress. I also really enjoyed hearing Harper’s comments on the film. I must say, the one thing that really stands out is that all the rumors that many have heard about Harper trying to distance herself from the role are untrue. She seems very proud of the film and it is wonderful to hear her say so.
source = DVD Maniacs

https://nitro.download/view/A6DBD83432DFF6E/Suspiria_(disc_1).cd1.avi
https://nitro.download/view/3E2CA12BD8B235C/Suspiria_(disc_1).cd2.avi
https://nitro.download/view/0881695C138067D/Suspiria_25th_Anniversary_(disc_2).avi

Language:English

The post Dario Argento – Suspiria + 25th Anniversary Documentary (1977) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Quote:
Because Annie Hall and Manhattan, the two highly revered comedies that preceded 1980’s Stardust Memories, concerned themselves with characters whose insecurities led to the demise of their relationships, Woody Allen’s somewhat polarizing 30-year-old homage to 8 1/2 surprised me in its reversal of the old break-up stand-by, “it’s not you, it’s me.” Sandy Bates (Allen), the successful comedic filmmaker in Stardust Memories, could safely say to his chronically depressed lover Dorrie (Charlotte Rampling), “It’s not me, it’s you.” While he bears the bulk of the blame for the setbacks in his current relationships (thanks to a mental breakdown of sorts), Sandy’s most cherished romance wasn’t sabotaged by the self-hatred and neurosis we’ve come to expect from Allen’s stories, but rather by a cloud of melancholy constantly hovering over Dorrie.

So now, Sandy’s problem is guilt. The memories of Dorrie and his own inability to save her from her state torment him. While Allen has always joked about depression and doesn’t shy away from doing so here, he also treats it as the very dark, disturbing issue it really is — not heavy-handedly, but with sensitivity, balancing it with his comedy and satire in a way that gives Stardust Memories a very subtle, but amazing and lingering overcast feel.

At a small seaside town attending a film retrospective in his honor, Sandy finds himself (sometimes quite literally) haunted by memories, particularly around the Hotel Stardust, a place where his past joys, failures, and fears mingle with his present dilemmas. He’s seriously dating Isobel (Marie-Christine Barrault) but among the rabid fans at the festival calling for him to go back to making funnier movies, Sandy comes across Daisy (Jessica Harper), a young violinist who mysteriously reminds him of his dear Dorrie.

The film’s many flashbacks, whisked into the story’s timeline, reveal a Dorrie who was a depressed mess for 28 days out of the month, but boy, the two good days? They were really good. Through the bad times, the paranoia and the Electra complex (a partner to Sandy’s Oedipus complex, deliciously teased in a fusion of birthday memories), Sandy, in some ways a take on the typical regret-motivated action hero, still thinks he has the power to save Dorrie. When he ultimately cannot, he finds himself in search of lost time.

After Annie Hall and Manhattan, you could safely say that Woody Allen had a certain command over his directorial craft, and it’s most evident in Stardust Memories when, in a story driven by the recollection of key moments in one’s life, the two most remarkable and engaging memories on screen are the two most important memories to the character: Sandy’s best and worst memories of Dorrie.

In a beautifully tragic sequence of quick cuts and close-ups, Allen sensitively reveals Dorrie’s deteriorated state of mind through a devastating one-sided conversation, portraying the last time Sandy saw her in the way he probably remembers it: the weary face of what is now a stranger, staring at him, issuing a rapid series of sobering signs of mood disorder.

But when Sandy recalls his favorite memory of Dorrie, Allen uses longer close-ups of the two to absorb a simple but special moment between them. No dialogue, just a Louis Armstrong song in the background as Sandy eats pudding and Dorrie, lying on the floor, soft and beautiful in the Sunday light, looks back at her love. The scene tarries, as if Sandy, in remembering this moment, hangs on for just a bit longer, reluctant to let go.

Despite the sublimity of moments as this one, and even with Allen’s hostile-but-no-less-enjoyable shots at critics, audiences, and movie executives, the film’s atmosphere remains under Dorrie’s cloud of dreariness in the director’s earnest attempt to infuse you with the moods of Sandy and Dorrie. It makes Stardust Memories feel much heavier, much more melancholy than some of his other comedies, but no less poignant.

1.84GB | 1h 28m | 1024×560 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/DF408A5C082FC11/Woody_Allen_-_(1980)_Stardust_Memories.mkv

Language:English
Subtitles:English

The post Woody Allen – Stardust Memories (1980) first appeared on Cinema of the World.