Scarface

On this day in 1983, the movie Scarface debuted in theaters. Starring Al Pacino as Tony Montana, a Cuban immigrant who arrived in Florida with the Mariel boatlift in 1980, Montana quickly returns to his criminal roots and becomes enormously wealthy from the booming cocaine trade, leaving a trail of bodies in his wake. He becomes addicted to the drug and his world collapses in violence.

From near the end of the movie, one of the iconic scenes and most quoted line:

"Say hello to my little friend!"

A good movie but even so, it's not one I watch every time it comes on TV. I have a DVD of it, but don't think I've taken it out of the wrapper.

While getting the link for the movie, I checked on IMdb and saw that I had given it an "8", but I don't recall exactly when I gave it such a high grade. Either my standards have gone or I overrated it to begin with, but I lowered it one notch to a "7"...which is still a good rating by my strict standards. I highly recommend watching it if you haven't.

The official ToTG grade:

New Definition of "A-List" Celebrities

I was looking through a TV/movie website earlier and saw the series Running Wild with Bear Grylls hosted by the survival "expert" Bear Grylls (I previously wrote about him, hence the "expert" in quotation marks). I watched an episode of his earlier show, Man vs. Wild, where Grylls was accompanied by Will Ferrell and while I found it mildly amusing, I wasn't impressed. I had hoped the celebrity accompanying Grylls would at least take it a bit more seriously, if for nothing other to keep up the farce that they were ever in any real danger.

This new show's description reads: Bear Grylls, British adventurer, takes A-list celebrities on wild outdoor adventures, pushing them beyond their comfort zone.  There are a couple of people on this list I am not familiar with, but knew the rest.  I intend to watch the episodes with Kate Hudson (so cute!) and Kate Winslet (be still my beating heart) but I am not particularly enthused about watching any of the rest...I might or I might not. 

That said, it's the description I have some problems with;  while some of the celebs are definitely on the "A-List", I am pretty sure some others aren't, one in particular.  I've given a hint on the screenshot below. 

(Click for larger view)

I don't have anything against Tom Arnold;  he was really good in True Lies, but he's not someone I care to see much of in anything. He's "B-List" at best.

Friday the 13th Trivia

Months that begin on a Sunday will always have a Friday the 13th.

This blog will probably always post something scary when Halloween is near.

Nothing On TV

Well, nothing on one of the TV sites I sometimes like to use to find programs that aren't available to me. I was looking for A Season of Notre Dame Football, but the search results at CouchTuner gave me this:

When I read that, this scene from Star Wars popped into my head:

But Where is Fay Wray?

The King Kong of all 404 pages, found on abc7amarillo.com.

(click for larger resolution)

The End Is Nigh

Ultimate Apocalyptic Mashup

I recognize quite a few of the movies in this mashup but not all.  Surprising, since post-apocalyptic sci-fi is my favorite theme in both movies and books.

Owen Wilson Says "Wow"

A lot.  A whole lot.

Happy Gilmore Revisited

Happy Gilmore stars Adam Sandler and Bob Barker come together for a good cause. But their relationship is complicated.

From the upcoming Night of Too Many Stars which airs Sunday March 8 at 8/7c on Comedy Central.

The Trouble With Cam Movies

I saw a link to the latest Night at the Museum video and thought I would check it out but the problem was it was done with a cam by someone pirating the movie at the theater.  I've never seen a very good quality file of that type and other problems are obvious - the illegality, the background noise, a shaky video and of course, this:

I wonder how much that barrel of popcorn and the tanker-sized soda cost that woman who is blocking the view?

That reminds me of this Seinfeld episode:

(fast forward to 1:20)

 

How Harry Potter Should Have Ended

The movie series ended several years ago, the last book came out before then and while this isn't topical, it's still HP...and darn funny.   There are some videos on YouTube by CinemaSins ("No movie is without sin!"), who point out all the mistakes and impossibilities in various hit movies and nearly all the Harry Potter flicks get lampooned. 

Corner Gas: The Movie

Really looking forward to seeing this.

poltergeist

poltergeist \ POHL-ter-gahyst \ noun

1. a ghost or spirit supposed to manifest its presence by noises, knockings, etc.

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I'm pretty sure most everyone is familiar with this word, especially after the movie.

foremost

foremost [fawr-mohst, -muh st, fohr-]

adjective, adverb
1. first in place, order, rank, etc.

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Not a new word to me but I always thought it odd that the phrase "first and foremost" is often used.  It just seems redundant...and I'm not the only one who thinks so: Common Redundancies (F-O). No, I'm not the only one. (see what I did there? did ya?)

I do know this blog isn't foremost in any category, not even for Cast Away Crossroads.

(but, like Avis, we're #2!.  Some people think this blog is #2 -ahem-)

A Lot of Rain, No Singin'

I think most classic movie lovers have seen the iconic scene from Singin' in the Rain but until now, only the people involved with the making of the film had seen it before the music was added. 

If I had seen this in real life, I'd be calling for the white-coated men to bring a straitjacket.

Viva Las Vegas

One of the webcams I have bookmarked is the one of the iconic Welcome to Las Vegas sign.  During daylight hours, there's almost always a fair-sized crowd waiting to have their pictures taken with the sign in the background.  (and I've actually seen people taking photos of the sign at midnight or later, not as silly as it sounds considering how well-lit the sign and surroundings are.)

Here's a screen shot from just a few minutes ago and I caught the subject in mid-jump. (it's a little fuzzy b/c of the motion, much like I expect the actual photo will be)

I've never been to Vegas, but every time I view the webcam, I always think of the Elvis Presley musical Viva Las Vegas. I remember seeing it at the theater shortly after it came out - I must have been about ten years old and I must have also been on the cusp of puberty because Elvis didn't impress me, nor did the race scenes and cars, but because I was quite impressed by Ann-Margret. (Actually, she STILL impresses me.)  She's not in the video below, but here's the title song from the movie:


I like that, but ZZ Top also did a great cover of the tune.

Here's a video of Ann-Margret in the movie. I believe it was the beginning of my life-long admiration of women's legs, especially when they're in tights or leotards.

Welcome to Las Vegas Webcam

Starship Troopers Parody

Fake toy advert about one of my most eagerly anticipated and nearly most disappointing movies I've ever seen.  It was "good" but it could have been great.

You Used To Be Cute

Check out the guy's notepad near the end of the clip. Good grief.

flibbertigibbet

flibbertigibbet \ FLIB-er-tee-jib-it \ noun

1. Archaic . a gossip.
2. a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.

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Believe it or not, this word sounded familar, then I remembered hearing it in one of the Harry Potter movies - or maybe I read it in one of the books - but I didn't remember in which book or movie or in what context. Thanks to the World Wide Interwebs, I was reminded it was used as a password to get into the Gryfindor dormitory. I also discovered it was used in the song "Maria" in the 1959 musical The Sound of Music as well as in the Tom Hanks movie Joe Versus the Volcano.

I'm betting that I'll never read the word ever again in my life and I'm absolutely certain I'll never use it in conversation, even though I know a few flibbertigibbets.

Every Alfred Hitchcock Cameo

A couple of years ago, I posted a video of some Hitchcock cameos, but it wasn't a complete list.  While I haven't cross-referenced and checked these, this is supposed to be all of them. 

Honest Trailers - Forrest Gump

I love this movie, celebrating its 20th anniversary since being released, but this is literally laugh-out-loud funny.

Well, it was for me, anyway.  Your mileage may vary.

Forrest Gump on IMDB.