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Thursday

New DVD Releases
  • John Boorman's Excalibur is an interpretation of Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur. This legend is the metaphorical summary of what defines the English culture, and all its New World derivatives. This movie is a beautiful and moving adaptation. It's another one that I can't judge objectively, because if "Blade Runner" is my beloved movie wife, "Excalibur" is my lover. Helen Mirren played Morgana, Arthur's half- sister and incestuous lover, and Merlin's pupil turned rival.
  • Helen Mirren
  • Helen Mirren. This scene is the birth of Mordred. This is how great filmmakers work. This scene must have taken a thousand man-hours to conceive and design and shoot, and it's about 30 seconds of film, or less, that you miss if you blink. The decorative frame above it is the Last Battle on Camlann Plain, when Mordred and Arthur went toe-to-toe. More on Excalibur tomorrow.
  • Nobody has ever tried to do a realistic interpretation of the historical Arthur who, on the scant grounds we have, existed in the period between the Roman withdrawal and the Anglo-Saxon takeover, probably in the late 6th century. The Arthur we know is the one of Malory, a pure fictionalization woven from earlier legends and dubious history. I once wrote a fiction book about the life of Merlin. The book sucked, but had a rather good afterword, I thought, much better than the book itself, about the history and development of the Arthurian legends and the historical claims behind them. This link leads to my afterword, if you are really into the subject.
  • I thought Grace of My Heart was an enjoyable movie, but it never really lets you get close to it. It is a roman a clef treatment of the life of someone a real lot like Carole King, with other characters a lot like The Everly Brothers, Brian Wilson, etc. It is hard to relate to because while all the music sounds like it comes from the period referenced, in fact it was written by current professionals to mimic those periods. Except for a couple, which are the real songs, to confuse you further. So it's a historical romance about the rock and roll era, but the music is eerily unfamiliar. Kinda strange, really. It's really a muscial with a clever twist. You know how weird it always seems in a musical when people are talking and then out of nowhere they start singing? Well, when you write about a songwriter, it doesn't seem unnatural at all, because the feelings of the scene are summarized by cutting to a scene in the recording studio at that time. Where else would Carole King and Brian Wilson be?. Illeana Douglas starred. She didn't get nekkid, but she came close indeed- about 99% there on a topless scene.
  • Here's Illeana again in a slip with some minor action underneath. She is, to say the least, an unusual looking woman. At first I thought she was repulsively ugly, but her looks grew on me as the movie progressed, until finally I was finding her sexy. That was good acting, I guess.
  • Here's Illeana again, from the deleted scenes, another near-miss
  • At one point in the late 60's or something, she joined a commune. An anonymous women worked topless in the fields.
  • The miscellaneous background strippers in "Suicide Kings". Bor-ing! Movie is reasonably interesting, though. Group of geeks captures a Mob Capo, and this really gets them into some trouble, as you might imagine.
  • past treasures
  • These next three are requested scans of the redheaded adult film personality, Fovea.
  • Fovea.
  • Fovea.
  • Tuna
  • Tuna's project today: Sylvia Kristel in the first "Emmanuelle"
  • Sylvia Kristel in the first "Emmanuelle"
  • Sylvia Kristel in the first "Emmanuelle"
  • Sylvia Kristel in the first "Emmanuelle"
  • Sylvia Kristel in the first "Emmanuelle"
  • Crow
  • Jennifer O'Dell in "Lost World". Sexy, still no nudity.
  • Jennifer O'Dell in "Lost World"
  • St. James
  • Genevieve Bujold in "Alex and the Gypsy"
  • Genevieve Bujold in "Alex and the Gypsy"
  • Genevieve Bujold in "Alex and the Gypsy"
  • Dervla Kirwan in "A Time To Dance"
  • Louise Germaine in "A Midnight Movie"
  • ...more ....
  • Bettina Kupfer in "Das Wunschkind" (Celeblover)
  • Konstanze Breitebner in "Das Wunschkind" (Celeblover)
  • Gilda Radner as Candy Slice from SNL
  • Jean Carol in an episode of "Arli$$"
  • somebody did a collage of Samnantha Morton in Cracker
  • Sarah Polley in "Go", from a new guy, The Jester
  • Jennifer Lopez in "U-Turn", from YardDog