Kazhes pierakstu burtnīca

This wasn`t one of the books I had on my A list for reading. No, Sir! I had a lot of better things to do than reading Arthur Hailey. Not that I knew anything about the author. But I was asked to read it. My girlfriend had to read it for some psychiatry course but she asked be - you do it! So I did. I was told this was supposed to be a horror book. Since I never had read a horror novel... well not never but rarely. Yet it wasn`t a horror novel really. If you ask me the genre of this book I`d say it`s a script for a suspence film, for a thriller. There`s a whole lot of different characters, including Mel Bakersfield who runs an airport, his brother - a guy who`s guiding airplanes at landing and taking off. Then there`s Mel`s wife, some foxy lawyer, a guy named Joe Patroni who can solve almost every problem, a crazy fellow named D.O. Guerrero who wants to blow up an airplane so his family would get his insurance money. Mostly it`s Guerrero who made me read this book - for he`s the only really psychic character. Many people don`t consider Hailey a real writer - I`d rather say he`s a workingman than an artist. Without a doubt this book is perfectly suited for becoming a film for it doesn`t have too much literary value but it has a lot of things going on in it. The ending was crappy as you`d expect from a book that has "bestseller" written all over it (not on my copy, of course, for it was issued in the USSR).

"Goijas spokus" es gaidīju ar nepacietību (cik nu es vispār kaut ko spēju ar nepacietību gaidīt) - kā nekā iepriekšējā Formana filma iznāca nu jau diezgan tālajā 1999. gadā, un visas četras viņa emigrācijas perioda filmas, kuras esmu redzējis ("One flew over the Cuckoo`s Nest", "Amadeus", "The People vs Larry Flynt", "Man on the Moon") es novērtētu ne zemāk (bet drīzāk - augstāk) par astotnieku, nemaz nerunājot par to, ka cēlies Formans ir no Čehijas, kuras kultūra man vispār ir īpaši simpātiska.

Otrais Manfrēda Manna zemes bandas ieraksts, kas parādās šajā faktoīdā, ir mazāk pazīstams nekā tas, kas vēsta par lakstīgalām un bumbvedējiem, taču šeit atrodama grupas viena no pazīstamākajām dziesmām - "Angels at my Gate". Iespējams gan, ka tā dziesma nemaz nav tik pazīstama, bet tā bija iekļauta izlasē "Classic rock ballads", ko pirms ļoti daudziem gadiem iegādājos centrāltirgū un kur līdzās Manfrēdam Mannam mitinājās arī Deep Purple, Nazareth, Rolling Stones, Styx, Kansas, Guns`n`Roses un vēl vairākas grupas, kuras šobrīd atcerēties nevaru.

Can you make an action film deep and insightful? Never mind the answer, the creators of this film certainly try to achieve that. Tom Cruise who calls himself Vincent is a hitman who must kill five people within a single night. To do that he hires Max (a black taxi driver) to drive him around. As you can guess, Max doesn`t know from the start the mess he`s in. The whole movie leads to Vincent killing a young woman that Max met before Vincent got into his cab, and about Max saving her from the vicious killer. The action part isn`t actually particulary interesting, but the most time Max and Vincent just are driving to a location where someone must be killed and with them talking about moral, the meaning of life etc. Vincent is absolutely cold blooded but he isn`t that simple as you could have probably guessed. Still he uses words to destroy Max`s life thus provoking his own death. As you probably know, I`m not particulary into action films, some moments of this film were certainly predictable, it wasn`t very realistic, but on the other hand - I`ve seen much worse films that this one.

Tim Burton asked Johnny Depp to star in his latest film. They had already worked together in "Edward Scissorhands" so Johnny probably thought this could be a perfect opportunity to gain good reviews from the critics and also it was his best chance to impersonate Michael Jackson. He doesn`t succeed 100% for he has a nose way too big in order to be mistaken for Michael Jackson.

Šajā filmā apvienojušās divas mockmūzikas skolas: Džeks Bleks un Kails Gess (kā Tenacious D) no vienas puses un Lījams Linčs (leģendārās "United States of Whatever" autors un izpildītājs) - no otras puses.

Atceros, kad es pirmo reizi izdzirdēju šo ierakstu, tas man kā atvēra acis. Ievadošais monologs ar tekstu: "Close your eyes" sākumā uz mani atstāja lielu iespaidu un nemaz nelikās tik ļoti no B filmām nācis, kāds tas man šķiet šodien.

FF bring forth their second album so we`d remember that they exist. Some signs say that it`s better than their first, while most say it`s worse. On some songs they do sound like the Beatles rip-offs, "Eleanor Put your boots one" is one of those tracks. Sure they don`t have the harmonies the Beatles had, probably it`d be better to associate them with John Lennon`s solo work. My favourite song on the album surely is the opening "The Fallen" with its catchy riff and it`s "i don`t give a damn attitude". "This boy" is also cool, a bit like early Brian Eno (circa 1973). If this record has one problem is the lack of diversity - a FF song always sounds like a FF song. "Walk away" sounds as if it was lifted off a Paul McCartney album in the verse and as a typical FF song in the chorus. "Evil and Heathen" is a good nice rocking song sounding a bit like "This fire". Oh, I`ve got to correct myself "Do you want to" is This Fire Part II. It`s got the same disco beat, yet it`s good. Basically I don`t have anything in particular against this record but it isn`t daring enough to become a classic.

Kad "Eurythmics" atgriezās pirms nu jau 8 gadiem, man personīgi šķita, ka tas ir ļoti liels notikums - viena no visu laiku lielākajām grupām pēc ilgākas prombūtnes ieraksta jaunu albūmu, turklāt gan Ennija Lenoksa, gan Deivs Stjuarts izskatījās tādi stilīgi, nevis kā veci ļempaki.

"300" ir filma par Termopīlu kauju, kas tapusi pastarpinātā veidā no Frenka Millera ("Sin City") komiksa. Filmai tiek pārmests, ka tajā persieši (kuru pēcteči ir mūsdienu irānieši) tiek parādīti kā necilvēki, kamēr grieķi - kā viscaur pozitīvi demokrātijas un brīvības cīnītāji, kā rezultātā filmu var uzskatīt par amerikāņu demokrātijas uzspiešanas propogandu.