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merseymasala
Born Liverpool, England.
Worked as a print and TV journalist (inc Rolling Stone Mag, Times, Time Out...) BBC, ITN, LWT, Thames. Came to States in 78 to do music videos (Michael Jackson, Prince, Stones, Mellencamp, Rod Stewart, Phil Collins, Genesis, Journey, Kiss, Kansas, Blondie,Beach Boys, Cheap Trick, Fleetwood Mac, Whitney, Iron Maiden, Billy Joel, Santana, Toto, van Halen, Zappa...everyone from Ozzy to Kenny G.
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Michael Jackson: Liberian Girl (1989)
The story behind the video
Flattery Yukich Inc., one of the premier music video outfits of the 80s and 90s were asked to submit two ideas for this song. The big "gotcha" was that it had to be a concept that Michael had the option of being in or out. This idea was simple: Michael invites his celebrity friends to be in his next video - but he doesn't tell them anything more. People show up and essentially wait to be told what to do. Some assume they should sing to the track, others dance, the rest talk among themselves and wait. Finally he descends from up high on a camera crane and they realize that Michael has been secretly filming them all along. It was shot at the A&M (now Jim Henson) stage on La Brea Avenue in Hollywood over two days. Jackson's appearance was shot separately from the stars.
Sullivan's Travels (1941)
The Perfect Film?
As a TV Producer of "entertainment" shows, I make a point of watching this film at least once a year and giving DVDs of it to all who may disparage what I do.
Preston Sturges achieves the impossible in this movie: he has his cake and eats it too. He makes a perfect film - he manages to make a socially significant statement while wrapping it up in a comedy confection.
His hero, John L. Sullivan (Joel McCrea - a very underestimated actor) is a
succcessful director of frivolous musicals and comedies who, one day, decides he needs to make a Capra-esque "serious"film. His studio chiefs and immediate staff are against it and point out that he is rich and privileged, what does he know about the less fortunate? Sullivan retorts with an ingenious plan:
Sullivan: "You're perfectly right...but I'll tell you what I'm going to do first: I'm going to get some old clothes and some old shoes from wardrobe and start out with ten cents in my pocket...and I'm not coming back till I know what trouble it..I'm going out on the road to find out what it's like to be poor and needy and then I'm going to make a picture about it."
Burrows(his butler): If you'll permit me to say so, sir, the subject is not an interesting one. The poor know all about poverty and only the morbid rich would find the topic glamorous.
Nevertheless, Sullivan does it and unwittingly (and hilariously) discovers the true value comedy has in the lives of those with little else to laugh about...
It's genius. Exquisitely written, directed and acted (Sturges uses his usual ensemble plus the ever watchable Veronica Lake, even here in her most improbable disguises [I met her, professionally, in England in the 70s, she was still a class act and her "rider" demanded her drink of choice - vodka and cranberry juice).
Sullivan's Travels is a true gem of American Cinema. Ten out of ten.
Sullivan's Travels (1941)
The Perfect Film?
As a TV Producer of "entertainment" shows, I make a point of watching this film at least once a year and giving DVDs of it to all who may disparage what I do.
Preston Sturges achieves the impossible in this movie: he has his cake and eats it too. He makes a perfect film - he manages to make a socially significant statement while wrapping it up in a comedy confection.
His hero, John L. Sullivan (Joel McCrea - a very underestimated actor) is a
succcessful director of frivolous musicals and comedies who, one day, decides he needs to make a Capra-esque "serious"film. His studio chiefs and immediate staff are against it and point out that he is rich and privileged, what does he know about the less fortunate? Sullivan retorts with an ingenious plan:
Sullivan: "You're perfectly right...but I'll tell you what I'm going to do first: I'm going to get some old clothes and some old shoes from wardrobe and start out with ten cents in my pocket...and I'm not coming back till I know what trouble it..I'm going out on the road to find out what it's like to be poor and needy and then I'm going to make a picture about it."
Burrows(his butler): If you'll permit me to say so, sir, the subject is not an interesting one. The poor know all about poverty and only the morbid rich would find the topic glamorous.
Nevertheless, Sullivan does it and unwittingly (and hilariously) discovers the true value comedy has in the lives of those with little else to laugh about...
It's genius. Exquisitely written, directed and acted (Sturges uses his usual ensemble plus the ever watchable Veronica Lake, even here in her most improbable disguises [I met her, professionally, in England in the 70s, she was still a class act and her "rider" demanded her drink of choice - vodka and cranberry juice).
Sullivan's Travels is a true gem of American Cinema. Ten out of ten.
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
A humbling experience
If anyone was thinking of making a movie that would simultaneously amaze you with its technical accomplishments and tear at your heart strings, watch this first and then be humbled. This has to be Spielberg's crowning achievement -- yes better than ET, Saving Private Ryan and Schindler's List. This movie combines the sci-fi joy/fear of technological advancement and futuristic doomsday scenarios with the purity of an emotional story of a "boy" seeking the love of a mother.
Its three distinct, but inseparable, acts are woven into a perfect whole where a simple lock of hair becomes the answer to a quest and a dream. Hayley Joel Osment is the actor of his generation now and in the future...