Coatsie's Cartoons, Illustrations and Charicatures

Curious..? George..?

2011-08-31T03:28:00.000-07:00

"At some point in our lifetime, gay marriage won't be an issue, and everyone who stood against this civil right will look as outdated as George Wallace standing on the school steps keeping James Hood from entering the University of Alabama because he was black..."

— George Clooney

Miley Cyrus

2011-02-23T00:10:00.000-08:00

These two posts are due to a challenge made by a couple of blokes I work with...

To paint first Justin Beiber's Hair and Myley Cyrus' teeth...

I loved the idea of first working on these tiny canvases in acrylic, and also doing caricatures of people I either feel totally indifferently to or bored shitless by…

Quite a challenge… To do works of people you admire or even despise is driven by strong emotion whereas these two pop tweeny idols are so very… ‘meh’

Oh, and Salvia Myley..?

Yeah – riiight..!

Justin Beiber

2011-02-22T23:29:00.000-08:00

Ohh wooaah (3x)
You know you love me,I know you care
Just shout whenever, And I'll be there
You want my love, You want my heart
And we will never ever ever be apart

Are we an item? Girl quit playing
Were just friends, What are you saying
Said theres another, Look right in my eyes

My first love broke my heart for the first time,
And I was like
Baby, baby, baby ohhh
Like baby, baby, baby noo
Like baby, baby, baby ohh
I thought youd always be mine mine

Baby, baby, baby ohh
Like baby, baby, baby nooOh, fuck it... It's absolute tosh - you get the point...

James Newell Osterberg, Jr. (AKA Iggy Pop)

2008-12-27T21:09:00.000-08:00

LUST FOR LIFE

Here comes Johnny yen again

With the liquor and drugs

And the flesh machine

He’s gonna do another strip tease.

Hey man, where’d ya get that lotion?

I’ve been hurting since I’ve bought the gimmick

About something called love

Yeah, something called love

Well, that’s like hypnotizing chickens

Well, I’m just a modern guy

Of course, I’ve had it in the ear before

I have a lust for life

'Cause of a lust for life

I’m worth a million in prizes

With my torture film

Drive a GTO

Wear a uniform

All on a government loan

I’m worth a million in prizes

Yeah, I’m through with sleeping on the sidewalk

No more beating my brains

With liquor and drugs

Well, I’m just a modern guy

Of course, I’ve had it in my ear before

Well, I’ve a lust for life (lust for life)

'Cause of a lust for life (lust for life, oooo)

I got a lust for life (oooo)

Got a lust for life (oooo)

Oh, a lust for life (oooo)

A lust for life (oooo)

I got a lust for life (oooo)

Got a lust for life

Well, I’m just a modern guy

Of course, I’ve had it in my ear before

Well, I’ve a lust for life

'Cause I’ve a lust for life

Here comes Johnny yen again

With the liquor and drugs
And the flesh machine

He’s gonna do another strip tease

Hey man, where’d ya get that lotion?

Your skin starts itching once you buy the gimmick

About something called love

Love, love, love

Well, that’s like hypnotizing chickens

Well, I’m just a modern guy

Of course, I’ve had it in the ear before

And I’ve a lust for life (lust for life)

'cause I’ve a lust for life (lust for life)

Got a lust for life

Yeah, a lust for lifeI got a lust for life

A lust for life

Got a lust for life

Yeah a lust for life

I got a lust for life

Lust for life

(Pop/Bowie, 1977)

Rusty

2008-03-09T04:10:00.000-07:00

My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife.

And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.

Bringgggg.... Bringgggg...

The Dude Abides

2007-11-23T21:59:00.000-08:00

Jeff Bridges as Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski, In the Cohen Brothers’ The Big Lebowski.

Forget Citizen Kane, this has been my favorite film of all time ever since it was released in 1998, and consequently I have wanted to do some drawings or caricatures of the central characters for some time. As a friend once said of the movie, Joel and Ethan Cohen seemed to somehow capture “lightning in a bottle” with this film.

Whilst not necessarily their cleverest or most philosophical movie, it’s definitely their funniest, and beloved by their fans, and specific fans of the movie alone. A huge cult following has developed: "Lebowski Fests" across the US and UK, social website clubs and merchandising usually associated with Sci-Fi flicks and mainstream actioneers. Like often with such a phenomenon it’s somehow affirming when think to yourself: “Wow; I’ve loved this all along, perhaps it’s not just me who’s weird about this thing…”

A great cast, brilliant writing, and fantastic performances across the board make this one of the nerd’s most quotable films of all time; along with such movies as This is Spinal Tap, The Blues Brothers and Withnail & I.

On an analytical level the film was a real attempt by the brothers to produce a Raymond Chandler–style crime-thriller, at a burned-out-stoner/hippy pace. Their work is typically layered in so much meaning and reference to other films and filmic tradition.

All of the Cohen Brothers films have a bumbling central male character who is thrown into circumstances beyond his control, a strong central female character (usually a love interest) who is in control and often acts as a catalyst for him to overcome his adversity, and a male patriarchal antagonist, who is more often than not the embodiment or barer of the problem he faces.

The Big Lebowski is also a twisted plotline full of red herrings, bizarre characters who are introduced and fall by the wayside, and double crosses, just like the hard boiled crime fiction of Chandler and Dashiell Hammett who inspired the Cohen’s to write it, only with idleness, White Russian cocktails, pot, bowling and incompetent friends thrown in to muddy the waters.

Oh, and a Toe. And Nihilists. And a marmott. And a Pomeranian. And Persian rugs. And a bag full of underpants...

(Best seen rather than told about…)

I’d sat down to draw The Dude once a couple of years ago, and was distracted. What was left were a couple of eyes, nose, and a mouth in quick pen line sketches staring back at me from my notebook. I discarded it, and knocked this up in a little over an hour, and it makes me proud to say I didn’t sharpen my HB pencil or apply an eraser to it even once!

The Dude Redux

I did a quick version of the drawing with the darks inked, and ran it through autotrace to soften the pencil lines, and narrowed the picture-plain to stretch his face but it seems to lose something.

Hmmn... See what you think.

Joey Ramone

2007-11-15T00:59:00.001-08:00

Joey Ramone born May 19, 1951 as Jeffrey Ross Hyman, was a vocalist and songwriter for the punk rock group the Ramones. A chronic sufferer of OCD, he was one of the first artists to join the Artists United Against Apartheid ban of Sun City in 1985.

Joey Ramone died of lymphoma at New York-Presbyterian Hospital on April 15, 2001.

Judy is a punk

Jackie is a punk Judy is a runt
They both went down to Berlin, joined the Ice-capades
And oh, I don’t know why oh, I don’t know why
Perhaps they’ll die, oh yeah perhaps they’ll die, oh yeah
Perhaps they’ll die, oh yeah perhaps they’ll die, oh yeah

Second verse, same as the first Jackie is a punk Judy is a runt
They both went down to Berlin, joined the ice capades
And oh, I don’t know why oh, I don’t know why
Perhaps they’ll die, oh yeah perhaps they’ll die, oh yeah
Perhaps they’ll die, oh yeah perhaps they’ll die, oh yeah

Third verse, different from the first Jackie is a punk Judy is a runt
They both went down to Frisco, joined the Sla
And oh, I don’t know why oh, I don’t know why
Perhaps they’ll die, oh yeah perhaps they’ll die, oh yeah
Perhaps they’ll die, oh yeah perhaps they’ll die, oh yeah

Jim Carrey... Seriously!

2007-11-12T20:46:00.000-08:00

I think the first time I saw Jim Carrey perform was on the Wayans Brothers’ sketch comedy show In Living Colour. Whilst it was a breakthrough program in many respects, (a largely African-American cast, good performances, and edgy humour) it’s since proven that the talent and longevity belonged to Carrey and not to the other ‘Star” which came out of the show, Damon Wayans. Whilst he was doing “Homey the Clown”, Carrey was doing uncanny impersonations of well known but truly tough-to-do-stars like Jack Nicholson and William Shatner (as Captain Kirk) which were more than just funny; they were spot-on.

I guess the proof’s in the pudding; which one is floundering in a crappy, formularaic sit-com and which one is an A-List Hollywood power player..?

And don’t start me on the rest of the Wayans; Keenan-Ivory played Steven Segal’s side-kick in a piss-poor action flick, and as for the other brothers; two words: White Chicks. Absolute crap.

It occurred to me that whilst Jim Carrey seems a pretty together guy, and far from the “Sad Clown” which we often see; the depressive person who puts on a face to entertain, he’s someone who has a wealth of theatrical talent and serious acting chops which he really dreams of being recognized for.

A far cry from the white sidekick in the all-black cast or even Ace Ventura.

Sir Sean Connery as James Bond 007

2007-10-31T03:37:00.000-07:00

The original and best Bond, famed as being considered by legions of female fans the “sexiest man alive”, even though years older than the other candidates (old enough to be the grandfather of many). The former Edinburgh milkman, male model and bodybuilder has been accused in recent years for being too ‘hands-on’ in solving marital disputes, a symptom of a dinosaur era perhaps, but there’s no denying Connery is walking proof that charisma will win you over in the end.

His friend and fellow Scott Billy Connolly claims that he has witnessed other, successful, handsome, self-assured heterosexual men become nervous and "school-girlish" in Sir Sean's presence.

"Their voices go all sort of high-pitched at the end of sentences..." Connolly claims.

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James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano

2007-10-31T03:02:00.000-07:00

Exactly ten years and one day older than yours truly (or you could argue that if I were born in Australia; and he in the USA, given the time difference he is exactly ten years older than me to the day) I first noticed James Gandolfini in the Tony “Top-Gun” Scott Submarine thriller Crimson Tide (1995), as Lt Bobby Dougherty. It was only later I realized it was the same guy who played the sadistic hitman Virgil in Scott’s True Romance (1993). Both were delivered with just the right amount of menace and psychopathic violence to be able to later portray Televisions arguably greatest protagonist, Tony Soprano.

The last episode aired only last night here in Australia as I type this tribute, and as hyperbolic and protracted and pretentious as it sounds, words cannot even describe the impact this show and this man’s performance have made on myself and millions of viewers worldwide. I hesitate to use the term “fans”; as we can admire the quiet and humble Mr. Gandolfini, with his swag of Emmy’s and Golden Globes, but it’s hard to admire the monster-mobster that was Tony Soprano.

Never patronizing it’s audience, and elevating Television Drama to a new high-water-mark, every time we watched The Sopranos and chuckled at something funny Tony said, politically incorrect or otherwise, or when he endeared us to him through his warmth, kindness and loyalty, in-turn his next outrageous act of violence reminded us just what an absolute remorseless animal he could be.

Emotion never rode a roller-coaster quite like this, at least not for 86 episodes.

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Tim Burton

2007-10-31T02:48:00.000-07:00

Born in Burbank, California in 1958, smack-bang in the middle of studio town, lover of 50’s kitsch Tim Burton was destined to become a filmmaker…

Filmography:

Doctor of Doom (1979)
Vincent (1982)
Luau (1982)
Frankenweenie (1984)
Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985)
Beetlejuice (1988)
Batman (1989)
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Batman Returns (1992)
Ed Wood (1994)
Mars Attacks! (1996)
Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Planet of the Apes (2001)
Big Fish (2003)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
Corpse Bride (2005)
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
The Spook's Apprentice (2009)

Totally out there-genius. Every one of them a cracker. Ok, perhaps the Planet of the Apes remake sucked, and the lovely Mrs. Burton (Helena Bonham Carter) looked a tad too much like Michael Jackson for comfort, but we can forgive him, can’t we..?

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Wolverine/Hugh Jackman

2007-10-31T02:34:00.000-07:00

Delighting panicky fan-boys and critics alike, Aussie song and dance-man Hugh Jackman stamped his mark on Hollywood with the role of Logan AKA Wolverine in Bryan Singer’s X-Men (2000) X-2 (2003) and Brett Ratner’s sequel X-Men: The Last Stand (2006).

The long running Marvel comic book character was done justice in these performances, despite the third film receiving mixed reviews. Many suggest the final film installment has left the door open for a series of Wolverine films.

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Kerry Packer

2007-10-31T02:26:00.000-07:00

Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer AC (17 December 1937 – 26 December 2005), son of Sir Frank Packer, was an Australian publishing, media and gaming tycoon who owned the Nine Network. He was famous for his outspoken nature, wealth, expansive business empire and clashes with the Australian Taxation Office and the Costigan Commission.

At the time of his death, Packer was the wealthiest and one of the most influential men in Australia. In 2004, Business Review Weekly magazine estimated Packer's net worth at AUD 6.5 billion ($6.5 billion; about USD 5.4 billion).

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Mark Latham

2007-10-31T02:10:00.000-07:00

Mark Latham

For those websurfers outside of Australia, Mark Latham was a former Australian politician and leader of the Federal Parliamentary Australian Labor Party, and was Leader of the Opposition from December 2003 to January 2005.

Latham captured national attention and high levels of public approval with his policies and unconventional approach. He soon attracted controversy surrounding his past.

He was accused of mismanaging funds when Mayor of the Liverpool Municipality, in Sydney’s West. He claimed he had reduced Liverpool's debt-servicing ratio from 17 percent to 10 percent, which he said was less than half of western Sydney's average. He also said Liverpool had adopted a debt-retirement strategy that he claimed would have made it debt-free by 2005, but which was not implemented by his successors. Councillor Colin Harrington, whom Latham defeated during the mayoral elections of 1991, later said these figures were not accurate. He said the average debt-servicing ratio for western Sydney was 12.1 percent and he said the council's financial staff could find no significant reference to the debt-retirement strategy.

Latham was also charged with assault after he broke a taxi drivers arm in western Sydney.

In the October 2004 federal election, Latham was defeated by the incumbent Prime Minister, John Howard. Deteriorating relations with his party and ill health saw him resign as Leader on 18 January 2005.

In September 2005, Latham released The Latham Diaries in which he attacked many of his former colleagues and members of the media, as well as condemning the general state of political life in Australia.

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Tatooine Idol

2007-10-31T01:58:00.000-07:00

Tatooine Idol (Hosted by Jibber the Butt)

In Star Wars, Obi-One-Kenobi called Moss Eisley “A Wretched Hive of Scum and Villainy”.

If Tatooine Idol were a real show, that’s where the auditions would be held.

I was amused by the notion of people performing in front of a self-important, morally bankrupt offensive, inflated, talentless windbag, and I came up with this. A space talent quest hosted by Jabba the Hut, where if you lose, you fall through the floor and get eaten by a monster. I don’t even watch the show (because I’m older than thirteen, and I, um, have a life), yet I still know what this guy is like…

Q-How do you save Kyle Sandilands from drowning in his enormous jumbo ice cream sundae..?

A-Take your foot of his head.

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Robert Smith of The Cure

2007-10-31T01:52:00.000-07:00

Robert Smith of The Cure

My oldest surviving characterture, from 1991.

(Many people would consider Smith as more of a disease than a Cure...)

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Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard and Kym Beazley

2007-10-31T01:44:00.000-07:00

Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard and Kym Beazley

The rare pontificating Grey-Topped Queensland Koala, the Vicious Victorian Talon Emu (watch your back!), and the old Western Red Kangaroo, put out to pasture.

Can they hold up the national crest, or will it fall flat on the ground..?

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Nitwit in Iraq

2007-10-31T01:33:00.000-07:00

Meet the new adventure character, Nitwit.

Intrepid Man-boy-western-world-leader Nitwit trots the globe in search of adventure with his trusty sidekick Whitey, the Australasian bald crawling terrier.

Attempting to push "pull" doors, miss-pronunciation of elementary words and a general sense of the absurd notwithstanding, Nitwit is often joined on his adventures by gung-ho retired seaman Captain Rumsfeld and the brilliant but utterly worthless Professor Condeyrice, the selectively deaf foreign policy inventor.

Look forward to Nitwit's next adventures, Nitwit in New Orleans and Flight 93.

Coatsie~ the reclusive Belgian Illustrator is also taking requests for more Nitwit adventure ideas, so don't be shy boys and girls.

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Nick Cave

2007-10-31T01:11:00.000-07:00

Nick Cave

Australian musician, writer, composer, screenwriter and actor.

Cave studied painting (Fine Art) at the Caulfield Institute of Technology (now Monash University, Caulfield Campus) in 1976, but dropped out in 1977 to pursue music, so he’s OK by me. Around this time he started using heroin, which is, ahem, not OK by me…

The Man who coined the phrase “Kicking against The Pricks”.

Loved by those in the know, the rock musician’s musician, he has no respect for pretension and even less for those with an inflated sense of purpose for themselves and their own mediocre work.

A prodigious talent.

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Naomi in Hot Water

2007-10-31T00:57:00.000-07:00

Former Australian current affair magazine style tabloid television hostess Naomi Robson

From Wikipedia: the online encyclopedia

In 2005, Robson was aired on Triple J Radio, yelling obscenities at her production crew, before the night's show went to air. She is reported to have sworn seven times in 34 seconds." Robson later apologised for the outburst.

On 29 March 2006, a relationship between Robson and a wanted drug dealer was revealed by the Australian media. The man, whose identity was suppressed by the Australian courts, was supposed to testify against drug baron Tony Mokbel when he fled the country. Robson had dated the man in 2000, unaware he was dealing drugs with Mokbel and corrupt police. During Today Tonight's broadcast on 9 March 2006, Robson falsely claimed that Mokbel's associate was nothing more than a "casual acquaintance" and she didn't know of his true identity.

In May 2006, The Daily Telegraph alleged Naomi Robson had been labelled a "princess" by reporters covering the Beaconsfield mine collapse in Tasmania. The article claimed Robson had become the butt of jokes when a photo appeared in the Launceston Examiner, showing a media scrum as reporters scrambled to hear an update while Robson was visible in the background having her hair tended to. Claims were made in the story that a "makeup van" — a luxury campervan — pulled up outside at her hotel every morning. Robson denied the claim on Today Tonight the same day, commenting:

“ The story was simply made up. It turns out the Daily Telegraph reporter took the word of a nameless and faceless producer from a rival television network. And they call that journalism.”

Robson was the subject of a stinging profile by Amanda Meade, media writer for The Australian. The 1300-word article quoted an unnamed "former Seven publicist" as saying she lacked the skills for live interviews and that "her sincerity factor was very low". Meade quoted Graeme Turner, the director of the Centre for Critical and Cultural Studies at the University of Queensland and author of Ending the Affair: The Decline of Television Current Affairs in Australia, as saying:

“ There's this cold, waspish, punishment-oriented, dominatrix in Robson that fits with the tabloid audience. They want to see these people [on the program] caned. And yet because she is relatively stylish and good-looking she doesn't come across as a harridan. There is a bit of matron in there. ”

The story was attacked by Today Tonight producer Neil Mooney in a letter in The Australian on 10 August 2006. Mooney described the story as "attempted character assassination ... based on fiction".

Robson’s personal style was again raised following the death of Steve Irwin. Robson hosted Today Tonight from outside Australia Zoo, wearing khaki with, at one point, a lizard on her arm. The choice of outfit caused viewers to complain, describing the move as "tacky" and "insensitive". Robson later said that the incident was perhaps her biggest mistake while presenting Today Tonight, and explained it had not been her idea to wear the shirt or the reptile, and she was not comfortable with it at the time.

On 14 September 2006 Robson and her crew were detained in Indonesia, after arriving in the country with tourist visas to film a story on a boy they believed was in danger of being killed by cannibals. They were later deported. A war of words erupted between the Nine Network and the Seven Network about the issue. Today Tonight ran a story on the day of the arrests accusing Nine's 60 Minutes programme of refusing to rescue the six-year-old. A series of allegations were made, including one that 60 Minutes refused to save the boy because it would cost too much. Seven's head of news and current affairs Peter Meakin played down his network's role in fanning the flames on 15 September following his Nine counterpart Gary Linnell's angry reply that Nine would be taking legal action on Seven's accusations.

Never has a fall from grace been so hilariously well deserved.

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The Morning Walk...

2007-10-31T00:39:00.000-07:00

Australian Prime Minister John Howard

I thought it would be appropriate that this image was located on the right.

Is this the PM’s inevitable outcome..?

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Ground Control to Major Tom...

2007-10-30T23:48:00.000-07:00

Tom Cruise

This is an illustration I did to coincide with the release of Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds, where Cruise was facing enormous public pressure after making disparaging remarks regarding Brooke Shields’ medication and professional treatment for Post-partum depression. As well publicized, Cruises’ faith, The Church of Scientology, dismisses Psychiatry as a pseudo-science. However there are no shortage of people who believe that Scientology is a bogus cult whose distaste for psychiatry is due to the medical belief in hypnotic techniques, and the further assertion that the Church of Scientology exploits people through this very method.

Cruise was also criticized for his bizarre behaviour on the Oprah Winfrey Show around this time, and this influenced this illustration. Like the popular term for when a TV show has gone down hill – “Jumping the Shark” – after the famous episode of Happy Days where Fonzie water-skied over a shark net, the term “Jumped the Couch” is being employed for who have unwittingly destroyed their own career.

Hopefully Tom will come back from this perceived slump; personal matters aside and despite a reputation for cheesy roles (“I feel the need; the NEED for SPEED!”) all you have to do is watch his performance in Paul Thomas Anderson’s 1999 film Magnolia as Frank T.J. Mackey (author of Seduce and Destroy, a self-help book for men to get women to sleep with them) to see he is a considerable talent in his own right.

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Henry Rollins

2007-10-30T23:17:00.000-07:00

Henry Rollins

Writer, Rocker, Reflector.

A guy who had a tough life with an unsettled home and an abusive father, Rollins has never felt sorry for himself, and through his music, writing, television and radio efforts and spoken word has empowered himself and untold thousands of fans.

Someone who has backed himself, and that takes a fair degree of courage, and without a bunch of letters after his name has pursued art and literature, proving that a person can be well read and rounded without a falling into the sausage machine of conformity. Rollins is active in the campaign to free the "West Memphis Three"; three young men that many believe were wrongly convicted of murder, he tours for the USO in Iraq for the troops even though vehemently opposed to the Bush administration, and even crusades for gay right’s even though he is straight, as at the end of the day the guy is a humanitarian.

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George Lucas

2007-10-30T23:00:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, a man named George dreamt up an amazing tale about a battle which begins in the desert, full of bizarre people who spoke in amazing peculiar tongues, featuring a desirable, wild energy source everyone wanted to control, and evil, mysterious dictatorships, soldiers occupying simple societies with empirical forces wearing faceless helmets and body armor, all of which resulted in the loss of many harmless lives and finishing in an enormous explosion...

Before President Bush there was George Lucas, creator of Star Wars...

30 years young this year.

May the Force be with you...

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Catwoman

2007-10-30T22:28:00.000-07:00

Halle Berry as Catwoman, from the titular film.

Directed by Pitof (-yes; you read right, it’s the moniker of French film and visual effects director Jean-Christophe Comar), who managed to Pit-Off every die-hard fan-boy and comic geek who ever believed in the character with this ultra-crap film, and in the process strangled the career of then Hollywood “it” boy Benjamin Bratt. This can’t be put down to the 2-Dimensional nature of Catwoman, as she was formerly fleshed out with aplomb and camp glee in Tim Burton’s Batman Returns (1992) by the evergreen beauty Michelle Pfeiffer.

Pit-off, also a cleaning product endorsed by Jennifer Anniston, succeeded in winning the Razzie award for Worst Director of the year. Although Berry and Catwoman screenwriter John Rogers attended the ceremony in good humor to accept their respective awards for Worst Actress and Worst Screenplay, Pitof did not make an appearance.

MSN Movies ranks Catwoman as the third worst superhero movie to date, behind Batman & Robin and Daredevil.

Rotten Tomatoes give it a 9% freshness rate. It is also on the worst 100 reviews ever, ranking as #100.

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Jack Nicholson... Crazy?

2007-10-30T20:22:00.000-07:00

Jack Nicholson as Randle P. McMurphy

From the acclaimed One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) directed by Miloš Forman, about a recidivist petty criminal who feigns mental illness in order to have his sentence commuted to a state psychiatric hospital, but finds the system beats him down in manners which are in many ways much more harsh and cruel than the prison system.

Cuckoo’s Nest won the five major Academy Awards (Best Picture, Actor in Lead Role, Actress in Lead Role, Director, Screenplay), the first time since It Happened One Night in 1934, a feat not repeated until 1991, by The Silence of the Lambs.

The best selling novel by Ken Kesey was adapted for the stage in 1963 by a production driven by Kirk Douglas, playing the McMurphy role. Hollywood legend has it that by the time the film was produced under Douglas’ son Michael in the seventies, Douglas Jr decided against casting his father in the role as he was too old to play the character. Kirk got over his anger and disappointment, and we missed out on his shameless hamming, as that of James Caan, Brando, and Hackman; all considered, who would have each bought a different dynamic to the role, (and in terms of Brando perhaps a touch of genuine nuttiness).

Jack announced himself with this role as the true contender for actor of his generation, after strong performances in Five Easy Pieces, The Last Detail and Chinatown over the preceding five years. The film also presented us with a number of brilliant performances from the supporting cast including William Redfield (who was dying from cancer), Brad Dourif, Danny DeVito, Scatman Crothers, Christopher Lloyd, Vincent Schiavelli, and novice actor Will Sampson as The Chief. Filmed in the Oregon State Hospital in Salem, Oregon, the cast playing the patients eventually slept in the ward beds their characters used as props. Danny DeVito became concerned they were in fact, all going mad. The role of Chief Psychiatrist Dean R. Brooks was played Dr. John Spivey, the actual head of the hospital.

Having the ability to elevate a mediocre film to a good film through his performances alone, in the brilliance of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Nicholson still shines brightest, especially next to the quiet malevolence of Louise Fletcher’s Nurse Ratched, who won the academy award for best Actress in the role.

Described as “A film of almost elemental force”, as clichéd as it sounds it will make you laugh out loud, and if you’re not seriously stunned or on the verge of tears by the final scene you’d have to be dead from the neck-up.

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Well, do ya PUNK...

2007-10-30T18:24:00.000-07:00

Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry (1971).

This film which rang-in Eastwood’s arrival as a leading man in Hollywood was made in 1971, the year which also saw him make his directorial debut with Play Misty For Me. Interestingly, Clint asked Dirty Harry Director Don Siegel to cameo as a bartender in the psycho-thriller about a radio jock and an obsessive female fan with a personality disorder, played by Jessica Walter.

But in the context of Dirty Harry, the referencing continued. If you look closely early in the movie when Harry walks down the street after shooting the bank robbers, a cinema in the background has across it’s advertising boarding “Play Misty For Me”, a little in-joke between the two Directors. Post-modernity at work, before the phrase was even coined.

The entire street was a film-set in Burbank California. It was such a good build that people watching the movie couldn’t understand why some streets were closed off as dead-ends in the film when they are actual real, open-ended streets in San Francisco.

The hold-up guy Harry holds his gun on outside of the bank and recites his famously cheesy soliloquy to is Albert Popwell, who plays a different character in the next three Harry Callahan Films. Perhaps he was wise to say no to The Dead Pool…

The real life Zodiac killings were the inspiration for Dirty Harry; even the killer (Andy Robinson) was called Scorpio in reference to the real life cases.

The excellent and historically accurate 2007 David Fincher Film Zodiac recognizes this in a couple of scenes, notably when the central characters investigating the case attend Dirty Harry’s premiere. The cinema used in Zodiac was the same actual cinema used in 1971, which hasn’t changed in terms of renovations since then.

I guess you can tell I really know a lot about Dirty Harry…

Enough geek-trivia; do you feel lucky..?

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