Jackie Brown (Edição de Coleccionador)

Info About The Movie:

Jackie Brown is a 1997 American crime drama film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It is an adaptation of the novel Rum Punch by American novelist Elmore Leonard and pays homage to 1970s blaxploitation films, particularly 1974's Foxy Brown.
The film stars Pam Grier (who also played Foxy Brown in the film of the same name), Robert Forster, Robert De Niro, Samuel L. Jackson, Bridget Fonda and Michael Keaton. It was Tarantino's third film following his successes with Reservoir Dogs (1992) and Pulp Fiction (1994).
Grier and Forster were both veteran actors but neither had performed a leading role in many years. Jackie Brown revitalized both actors' careers. The film garnered Forster an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, and Jackson and Grier were nominated for Golden Globe Awards.

Plot

Jackie Brown (Pam Grier) is a flight attendant for a small Mexican airline, the latest step down for her career. To make ends meet, she smuggles money from Mexico into the United States for Ordell Robbie (Samuel L. Jackson), a gun runner under the close watch of the ATF.
Ordell learns that another of his workers, Beaumont Livingston (Chris Tucker), has been arrested. Fearing that Livingston will become an informant in order to avoid jail time, Ordell arranges for his bail with bondsman Max Cherry (Robert Forster). Following his release, Ordell promptly lures Livingston out to be killed.
Acting on information Livingston had indeed shared, ATF agent Ray Nicolette (Michael Keaton) and LAPD detective Mark Dargas (Michael Bowen) intercept Jackie as she arrives in the United States with Ordell's cash and some cocaine that Brown was unaware was stashed in her bag. Initially refusing to deal with Nicolette and Dargas, she is sent to jail on possession of drugs with intent to sell. Sensing that Jackie may now be just as likely to inform as Livingston had been, Ordell goes back to Max to arrange her bail. Max arrives to pick her up and, only partly masking his attraction to her, offers to buy her a drink and help determine her legal options.
Ordell later arrives at Jackie's house intending to murder her. She surprises him by pulling a gun she surreptitiously borrowed from Max's glove compartment, however, and barters a deal with Ordell whereby she will pretend to help the authorities while still managing to smuggle $500,000 of Ordell's money, enough to allow him to retire. To carry out this plan, Ordell employs Melanie Ralston (Bridget Fonda), a woman he lives with, and Louis Gara (Robert De Niro), a friend and former cellmate. He also uses a naïve Southern girl, Sheronda (Lisa Gay Hamilton).
With Jackie's help, Nicolette and Dargas arrange a sting to catch Ordell, unaware that Jackie and Ordell plan to double-cross them by diverting the actual money before the authorities make an arrest. Unbeknownst to the others, Jackie plans to deceive all of them with the help of Max in order to keep the $500,000 for herself.
After a trial run, during which Nicolette could observe the operation, the stage is set for the actual event. In a large shopping mall near Los Angeles, Jackie buys a new suit and enters a dressing room. Her role is to swap bags there with Melanie and Louis, supposedly passing off the $500,000 under Nicolette's nose. Instead, she gives Melanie only $50,000 and leaves the rest behind in the dressing room for Max to pick up. Jackie then feigns despair as she calls Nicolette and Dargas out from hiding and claims Melanie took all the money and ran.
In the parking lot, Melanie annoys and mocks Louis until he loses his temper and shoots her. Ordell discovers that Louis has only $40,000 in the bag (Melanie having kept $10,000 for herself after being tricked into doing so by Jackie). Ordell realizes Jackie has taken his money and, angered, kills Louis. Ordell's next concern is the involvement of Max Cherry, having been told by Louis that he spotted Max in the store before the pickup. Lured back to Max's office, where Jackie is said to be frightened and waiting to hand over his money, Ordell arrives armed. Jackie yells out that Ordell has a gun and he is shot dead by Nicolette, who had been hiding in another room.
In the clear with the law and in possession of the money, minus a 10% cut that Max has taken for himself, Jackie decides to leave the country and travel to Spain. Jackie invites Max to leave with her, but he declines before Jackie kisses him goodbye and leaves.

Extract Taken From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Brown_(film)

Trailer From YouTube:



Pulp Fiction

Info About The Movie:

Pulp Fiction is a 1994 American crime film directed by Quentin Tarantino, who co-wrote its screenplay with Roger Avary. The film is known for its rich, eclectic dialogue, ironic mix of humor and violence, nonlinear storyline, and host of cinematic allusions and pop culture references. The film was nominated for seven Oscars, including Best Picture; Tarantino and Avary won for Best Original Screenplay. It was also awarded the Palme d'Or at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival. A major critical and commercial success, it revitalized the career of its leading man, John Travolta, who received an Academy Award nomination, as did costars Samuel L. Jackson and Uma Thurman.
Directed in a highly stylized manner, Pulp Fiction joins the intersecting storylines of Los Angeles mobsters, fringe players, small-time criminals, and a mysterious briefcase. Considerable screen time is devoted to conversations and monologues that reveal the characters' senses of humor and perspectives on life. The film's title refers to the pulp magazines and hardboiled crime novels popular during the mid-20th century, known for their graphic violence and punchy dialogue. Pulp Fiction is self-referential from its opening moments, beginning with a title card that gives two dictionary definitions of "pulp". The plot, as in many of Tarantino's other works, is presented out of chronological sequence.
The picture's self-reflexivity, unconventional structure, and extensive use of homage and pastiche have led critics to describe it as a prime example of postmodern film. Considered by some critics a black comedy,^[2] the film is also frequently labeled a "neo-noir".^[3] Critic Geoffrey O'Brien argues otherwise: "The old-time noir passions, the brooding melancholy and operatic death scenes, would be altogether out of place in the crisp and brightly lit wonderland that Tarantino conjures up. [It is] neither neo-noir nor a parody of noir".^[4] Similarly, Nicholas Christopher calls it "more gangland camp than neo-noir",^[5] and Foster Hirsch suggests that its "trippy fantasy landscape" characterizes it more definitively than any genre label.^[6] Pulp Fiction is viewed as the inspiration for many later movies that adopted various elements of its style. The nature of its development, marketing, and distribution and its consequent profitability had a sweeping effect on the field of independent cinema (although it is not an independent film itself). Considered a cultural watershed, Pulp Fiction's influence has been felt in several other media.

Narrative structure

In keeping with writer-director Quentin Tarantino's trademark of nonlinear storytelling, the narrative is presented out of sequence. Pulp Fiction is structured around three distinct but interrelated storylines—in Tarantino's conception, mob hitman Vincent Vega is the lead of the first story, prizefighter Butch Coolidge is the lead of the second, and Vincent's fellow contract killer, Jules Winnfield, is the lead of the third.^[7] Although each storyline focuses on a different series of incidents, they connect and intersect in various ways. The film starts out with a diner hold-up staged by "Pumpkin" and "Honey Bunny", then picks up the stories of Vincent, Jules, Butch, and several other important characters, including mob kingpin Marsellus Wallace, his wife, Mia, and underworld problem-solver Winston Wolf. It finally returns to where it began, in the diner: Vincent and Jules, who have stopped in for a bite, find themselves embroiled in the hold-up. There are a total of seven narrative sequences—the three primary storylines are preceded by identifying intertitles on a black screen:

1. Prologue—The Diner (i)
2. Prelude to "Vincent Vega and Marsellus Wallace's Wife"
3. "Vincent Vega and Marsellus Wallace's Wife"
4. Prelude to "The Gold Watch" (a—flashback, b—present)
5. "The Gold Watch"
6. "The Bonnie Situation"
7. Epilogue—The Diner (ii)

If the seven sequences were ordered chronologically, they would run: 4a, 2, 6, 1, 7, 3, 4b, 5. Sequences 1 and 7 partially overlap and are presented from different points of view; the same is true of sequences 2 and 6. In Philip Parker's description, the structural form is "an episodic narrative with circular events adding a beginning and end and allowing references to elements of each separate episode to be made throughout the narrative."^[8] Other analysts describe the structure simply as a "circular narrative".^[9]

Plot

Prologue

"Pumpkin" (Tim Roth) and "Honey Bunny" (Amanda Plummer) are having breakfast in a diner. They decide to rob it after realizing they could make money off the customers as well as the business, as they did during their previous heist. Moments after they initiate the hold-up, the scene breaks off and the title credits roll.

Prelude to "Vincent Vega and Marsellus Wallace's Wife"

As Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) drives, Vincent Vega (John Travolta) talks about his experiences in Europe, from where he has just returned: the hash bars in Amsterdam, the French McDonald's and its "Royale with Cheese". The pair—both wearing dress suits—are on their way to retrieve a briefcase from Brett (Frank Whaley), who has transgressed against their boss, gangster Marsellus Wallace. Jules tells Vincent that Marsellus had someone thrown off a fourth-floor balcony for giving his wife a foot massage. Vincent says that Marsellus has asked him to escort his wife while Marsellus is out of town. They conclude their banter and "get into character", which soon involves executing Brett in dramatic fashion after Jules recites a baleful "biblical" pronouncement.

Vincent Vega and Marsellus Wallace's Wife

In a virtually empty cocktail lounge, aging prizefighter Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis) accepts a large sum of money from Marsellus (Ving Rhames), agreeing to take a dive in his upcoming match. Vincent and Jules—now dressed in T-shirts and shorts—arrive to deliver the briefcase, and Butch and Vincent briefly cross paths. The next day, Vincent drops by the house of Lance (Eric Stoltz) and Jody (Rosanna Arquette) to purchase high-grade heroin. He shoots up before driving over to meet Mrs. Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman) and take her out. They head to Jack Rabbit Slim's, a 1950s-themed restaurant staffed by lookalikes of the decade's pop icons. Mia recounts her experience acting in a failed television pilot, "Fox Force Five".
After participating in a twist contest, they return to the Wallace house with the trophy. While Vincent is in the bathroom, Mia finds his stash of heroin in his coat pocket. Mistaking it for cocaine, she snorts it and overdoses. Vincent rushes her to Lance's house for help. Together, they administer an adrenaline shot to Mia's heart, reviving her. Before parting ways, Mia and Vincent agree not to tell Marsellus of the incident.

Prelude to "The Gold Watch"

Television time for young Butch (Chandler Lindauer) is interrupted by the arrival of Vietnam veteran Captain Koons (Christopher Walken). Koons explains that he has brought a gold watch, passed down through generations of Coolidge men since World War I. Butch's father died of dysentery while in a POW camp, and at his dying request Koons hid the watch in his rectum for two years in order to deliver it to Butch. A bell rings, startling the adult Butch out of this reverie. He is in his boxing colors—it is time for the fight he has been paid to throw.

The Gold Watch

Butch flees the arena, having won the bout. Making his getaway by taxi, he learns from the death-obsessed driver, Esmarelda Villalobos (Angela Jones), that he killed the opposing fighter. Butch has double-crossed Marsellus, betting his payoff on himself at very favorable odds. The next morning, at the motel where he and his girlfriend, Fabienne (Maria de Medeiros), are lying low, Butch discovers that she has forgotten to pack the irreplaceable watch. He returns to his apartment to retrieve it, although Marsellus's men are almost certainly looking for him. Butch finds the watch quickly, but thinking he is alone, pauses for a snack. Only then does he notice a submachine gun on the kitchen counter. Hearing the toilet flush, Butch readies the gun in time to kill a startled Vincent Vega exiting the bathroom.
Butch drives away but while waiting at a traffic light, Marsellus walks by and recognizes him. Butch rams Marsellus with the car, then another automobile collides with his. After a foot chase the two men land in a pawnshop. The shopowner, Maynard (Duane Whitaker), captures them at gunpoint and ties them up in a half-basement area. Maynard is joined by Zed (Peter Greene); they take Marsellus to another room to rape him, leaving a silent masked figure referred to as "the gimp" to watch a tied-up Butch. Butch breaks loose and knocks out the gimp. He is about to flee when he decides to save Marsellus. As Zed is sodomizing Marsellus on a pommel horse, Butch kills Maynard with a katana. Marsellus retrieves Maynard's shotgun and shoots Zed in the groin. Marsellus informs Butch that they are even with respect to the botched fight fix, so long as he never tells anyone about the rape and departs Los Angeles forever. Butch agrees and returns to pick up Fabienne on Zed's chopper.

The Bonnie Situation

The story returns to Vincent and Jules at Brett's. After they execute him, another man (Alexis Arquette) bursts out of the bathroom and shoots wildly at them, missing every time before an astonished Jules and Vincent return fire. Jules decides this is a miracle and a sign from God for him to retire as a hitman. They drive off with one of Brett's associates, Marvin (Phil LaMarr), their informant. Vincent asks Marvin for his opinion about the "miracle", and accidentally shoots him in the face.
Forced to remove their bloodied car from the road, Jules calls upon the house of his friend Jimmie (Quentin Tarantino). Jimmie's wife, Bonnie, is due back from work soon and he is very anxious that she not encounter the scene. At Jules's request, Marsellus arranges for the help of Winston Wolf (Harvey Keitel). "The Wolf" takes charge of the situation, ordering Jules and Vincent to clean the car, hide the body in the trunk, dispose of their own bloody clothes, and change into T-shirts and shorts provided by Jimmie. They drive the car to a junkyard, from where Wolf and the owner's daughter, Raquel (Julia Sweeney), head off to breakfast and Jules and Vincent decide to do the same.

Epilogue

As Jules and Vincent eat breakfast in a coffee shop the discussion returns to Jules's decision to retire. In a brief cutaway, we see "Pumpkin" and "Honey Bunny" shortly before they initiate the hold-up from the movie's first scene. While Vincent is in the bathroom, the hold-up commences. "Pumpkin" demands all of the patrons' valuables, including Jules's mysterious case. Jules surprises "Pumpkin" (whom he calls "Ringo"), holding him at gunpoint. "Honey Bunny", hysterical, trains her gun on Jules. Vincent emerges from the restroom with his gun trained on her, creating a Mexican standoff. Reprising his pseudo-biblical passage, Jules expresses his ambivalence about his life of crime. As his first act of redemption, he allows the two robbers to take the cash they have stolen and leave, pondering how they were spared and leaving the briefcase to be returned to Marsellus, finishing the hitman's final job for his boss.

Extract Taken From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulp_Fiction

Trailer From YouTube:

Dick Tracy

Info  About The Movie:

Dick Tracy is a 1990 American pulp action film based on the 1930s comic strip character of the same name created by Chester Gould. Warren Beatty produced, directed, and starred in the film, which features supporting roles from Al Pacino, Charles Durning, Madonna, William Forsythe, Glenne Headly, Paul Sorvino, Dick Van Dyke, and Charlie Korsmo. Dick Tracy depicts the detective's love relationships with Breathless Mahoney and Tess Truehart, as well as his conflicts with crime boss Alphonse "Big Boy" Caprice. Tracy also begins his upbringing of "The Kid".
Development of the film started in the early 1980s with Tom Mankiewicz assigned to write the script. The project also went through directors Steven Spielberg, John Landis, Walter Hill, and Richard Benjamin before the arrival of Beatty. Filming was mostly at Universal Studios. Danny Elfman was hired to compose the film score, and the music was featured on three separate soundtrack albums.
Dick Tracy was released in 1990 to mixed to positive reviews, but was generally a success at the box office and at awards time. It picked up seven Academy Award nominations and won in three of the categories: Best Original Song, Best Makeup and Best Art Direction. A sequel was planned, but a controversy over the film rights ensued between Beatty and Tribune Media Services, and the lawsuit continues, so a second film has not been produced.

Plot

At an illegal card game, a young street urchin (Charlie Korsmo) witnesses the massacre of a group of mobsters named Shoulders, Stooge, the Rodent, the Brow and Little Face at the hands of Flattop (William Forsythe) and Itchy (Ed O'Ross), two of the hoods on the payroll of Alphonse "Big Boy" Caprice (Al Pacino). Big Boy's crime syndicate is aggressively taking over small businesses in the city. Detective Dick Tracy (Warren Beatty) catches the urchin (who calls himself "Kid") in an act of petty theft. After rescuing him from a ruthless host, Tracy temporarily adopts him with the help of his girlfriend, Tess Truehart (Glenne Headly).
Meanwhile, Big Boy coerces club owner Lips Manlis (Paul Sorvino) into signing over the deed to Club Ritz. He then kills Lips with a cement overcoat and steals his girlfriend, the seductive and sultry singer, Breathless Mahoney (Madonna). After Lips is reported missing, Tracy interrogates his three hired guns, Flattop, Itchy, and Mumbles (Dustin Hoffman), then goes to the club to arrest Big Boy for Lips' murder. Breathless is the only witness. Instead of providing testimony, she unsuccessfully attempts to seduce Tracy. Big Boy cannot be indicted and he is released from jail. Big Boy's next move is to try to bring other criminals, including Spud Spaldoni (James Caan), Pruneface (R. G. Armstrong), Influence (Henry Silva), Ribs Mocca, Mumbles and Numbers (James Tolkan), together under his leadership. Spaldoni refuses and meets an untimely demise upon exiting(via a carbomb), leaving Dick Tracy, who discovered the meeting and was attempting to spy on it, wondering what is going on. Next day, Big Boy and his henchmen kidnap Tracy and attempt to bribe him; Tracy refuses, prompting the criminals to attempt to kill him by tying him next to a boiler rigged to explode. However Tracy is saved by Kid.
Tracy tries again to get the testimony from Breathless he needs to put Big Boy away. She agrees to testify only if Tracy agrees to give in to her advances. He resists, despite his growing attraction. Tracy leads a seemingly unsuccessful raid on Club Ritz, but it's actually a diversion so officer "Bug" Bailey (Michael J. Pollard) can enter the building to operate a secretly installed listening device so the police can hear in on Big Boy's criminal activities. The resultant raids all but wipe out Big Boy's criminal empire. Unfortunately, Big Boy discovers Bug and captures him for a trap planned by Influence and Pruneface to kill Tracy in the warehouse. In the resulting gun battle, a figure with no face (known as "The Blank") steps out of the shadows to save Tracy after he is cornered and kills Pruneface. Influence escapes as Tracy rescues Bug from the same fate given to Lips Manlis, and Big Boy is enraged upon hearing that The Blank foiled the hit. Meanwhile, Breathless shows up at Tracy's apartment, once again in an attempt to seduce him. Tracy shows he is only human by allowing her to kiss him. Tess witnesses this and leaves town. She eventually has a change of heart, but before she can tell Tracy, she is kidnapped by The Blank, with the help of Big Boy's club piano player, 88 Keys (Mandy Patinkin). Tracy falls victim to another trap. He is drugged by The Blank and framed for the murder of corrupt District Attorney John Fletcher (Dick Van Dyke).
Big Boy is back in business, but he too is framed, in this case for Tess' kidnapping. Sprung from jail by his colleagues on New Year's Eve, Tracy sets out to save his true love with the help of Kid, who now renamed himself as Dick Tracy, Junior. He arrives at a shootout outside Big Boy's club where most of Big Boy's men are gunned down by the police and Tracy himself (only Mumbles and 88 Keys survive to be arrested). Escaping through tunnels to a drawbridge into the city, Big Boy ends up trapped with the bridge up, and attempts to hide in the bridge's mechanical building. He ties Tess to a moving gear that will, in time, crush her, but he is confronted by both the Blank and Tracy. Blank orders Tracy to kill the crime boss, but Tracy hesitates, approaching Blank as if he knows who it is. Blank raises a gun to Tracy and The Kid tackles the gunman. In the confusion and desperate to escape, Big Boy grabs up his gun and shoots the Blank and then turns the gun on Tracy. Tracy charges Big Boy and sends him falling to his death towards the drawbridge's gears. Junior attempts to free Tess, who is dangerously close to the gears, but Tracy takes over and the couple embrace. They proceeds to learn the "Blank"s identity: beneath the faceless figure's mask, Tracy is shocked to find Breathless Mahoney, who tells him of her attempt to control the city, and kisses him with her last breath. With the truth brought out, his name is cleared from the murder of Fletcher. Later, in the middle of a marriage proposal to Tess, Tracy is interrupted by a robbery in progress, and starts to take off with Dick Tracy Jr. Tracy gives Tess a red box containing an engagement ring and she puts it on before they leave.

Development

Warren Beatty had a concept for a Dick Tracy film in 1975. At the time, the film rights were owned by Michael Laughlin, who gave up his option from Tribune Media Services after he was unsuccessful in pitching Dick Tracy to Hollywood studios. Floyd Mutrux and Art Linson purchased the film rights from the Tribune in 1977,^[2] and, in 1980, United Artists became interested in financing/distributing Dick Tracy. Tom Mankiewicz was under negotiations to write the script, based on his previous success with Superman (1978) and Superman II (1980). The deal fell through when Chester Gould insisted on strict financial and artistic control.^[3] In May 1985, the film was further stalled by the death of Chester Gould, the original creator of Dick Tracy. He was 84.
That same year, Mutrux and Linson eventually took the property to Paramount Pictures, who began developing screenplays, offered Steven Spielberg the director's position, and brought in Universal Pictures to co-finance. Universal put John Landis forward as a candidate for director, courted Clint Eastwood for the title role, and commissioned Jim Cash and Jack Epps, Jr. to write the screenplay. "Before we were brought on, there were several failed scripts at Universal," reflected Epps, "then it went dormant, but John Landis was interested in Dick Tracy, and he brought us in to write it."^[4] Cash and Epps' simple orders from Landis were to write the script in a 1930s pulp magazine atmosphere and center it with Alphonse "Big Boy" Caprice as the primary villain. For research, Epps read every Dick Tracy comic strip from 1930 to 1957. The writers wrote two drafts for Landis; Max Allan Collins, then writer of the Dick Tracy comic strip, remembers reading one of them. "It was terrible. The only positive thing about it was a thirties setting and lots of great villains, but the story was paper-thin and it was uncomfortably campy."^[4]
In addition to Beatty and Eastwood, other actors who were considered for the lead role included Harrison Ford, Richard Gere, Tom Selleck, and Mel Gibson.^[5] Landis left Dick Tracy following the controversial on-set accident on Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983),^[4] in which actor Vic Morrow was killed. In an interview with fimmaker Pasquale Murena, John Landis stated that he brought Beatty in to play Tracy and that the script used by Beatty is the one he developed.^[6] Walter Hill then came on board to direct with Joel Silver as producer. Cash and Epps wrote another draft, and Hill approached Warren Beatty for the title role. Pre-production had progressed as far as set building, but the film was stalled when artistic control issues arose with Beatty, a fan of the Dick Tracy comic strip.^[7] Hill wanted to make the film violent and realistic, while Beatty envisioned a stylized homage to the 1930s comic strip.^[2] The actor also reportedly wanted $5 million plus fifteen percent of the box office gross, a deal which Universal refused to accept.^[7]
Hill and Beatty left the film, which Paramount began developing as a lower-budget project with Richard Benjamin directing. Cash and Epps continued to rewrite the script, but Universal was unsatisfied. The film rights eventually reverted to Tribune Media Services in 1985. However, Beatty decided to option the Dick Tracy rights himself, along with the Cash/Epps script. When Jeffrey Katzenberg moved from Paramount to the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, Dick Tracy resurfaced with Beatty as director, producer and leading man.^[7] He considered hiring Martin Scorsese to direct the film,^[8] but changed his mind. "It never occurred to me to direct the movie," Beatty admitted, "but finally, like most of the movies that I direct, when the time comes to do it, I just do it because it's easier than going through what I'd have to go through to get somebody else to do it."^[7]
Beatty's reputation for directorial profligacy—notably with the critically acclaimed Reds (1981), a $40 million box office failure—did not set well with Disney.^[7] As a result, Beatty and Disney reached a contracted agreement whereby any budget overruns on Dick Tracy would be deducted from Beatty's fee as producer, director, and star.^[9] Beatty and regular collaborator Bo Goldman significantly rewrote the dialogue but lost a Writers Guild arbitration and did not receive screen credit.^[2]
Disney greenlighted Dick Tracy in 1988 under the condition that Warren Beatty keep the production budget within $25 million,^[2] which began to rise once filming started. It quickly jumped to $30 million^[10] and then $47 million as its final production budget. Disney spent an additional $54 million on the marketing campaign, resulting in a total of $101 million spent overall. The financing for Dick Tracy came from Disney's Touchstone Pictures and Silver Screen Partners, as well as Beatty's own production company, Mulholland Productions.^[1]

Extract Taken From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Tracy_(1990_film)

Trailer From YouTube:

Flash Gordon

Info About The Movie:

Flash Gordon is a 1980 British-American science fiction film, based on the comic strip of the same name created by Alex Raymond. The film was directed by Mike Hodges and produced and presented by Dino De Laurentiis. It stars Sam J. Jones, Melody Anderson, Topol, Max von Sydow, Timothy Dalton, Brian Blessed and Ornella Muti. The screenplay was written by Lorenzo Semple, Jr., and adapted by Michael Allin. It intentionally uses a camp style similar to the 1960s TV series Batman (for which Semple had written many episodes) in an attempt to appeal to fans of the original comics and serial films. However, it performed poorly outside the United Kingdom. The film is notable for its soundtrack composed, performed and produced by the rock band Queen (although orchestral sections were by Howard Blake).

Plot

The story opens with Emperor Ming the Merciless (Max von Sydow) declaring that he will first play with, and then destroy, the Earth, using seemingly natural disasters. Sometime later on Earth, New York Jets football star "Flash" Gordon (Sam J. Jones) boards a small plane. Onboard, he meets travel journalist Dale Arden (Melody Anderson). Mid-flight, the cockpit is hit by a meteorite sent by Ming and the pilots are sucked out. Flash takes control, and manages to crash land the craft in a greenhouse owned by Dr. Hans Zarkov (Topol). Zarkov, who believes the disasters are being caused by an unknown source in space which is sending the moon toward the Earth, has secretly constructed a rocket ship with which he intends to investigate. Zarkov's assistant refuses to help him, so he lures Flash and Dale inside the rocket. After a struggle, the rocket launches into orbit, taking the trio to the planet Mongo. There, they are taken prisoner.
Flash, Dale and Zarkov are brought before Ming. Ming orders Dale to be prepared for his pleasure. Flash attempts to resist but is overpowered by Ming's men. Ming orders Zarkov to be reconditioned and Flash executed by gas. Ming's daughter, Princess Aura (Ornella Muti), manipulates Ming’s Chief Surgeon into helping her save Flash, to whom she is attracted. Zarkov is seemingly brainwashed by Klytus, the head of the Emperor's secret police. Meanwhile, Aura and Flash flee to Arboria, kingdom of Prince Barin (Timothy Dalton), Aura's lover. En route to Arboria, Aura reluctantly teaches Flash to use a telepathic communicator to contact Dale. He uses it let her know he is still alive. Dale informs Flash that she is locked in Ming's bedchamber. Encouraged by Flash, Dale escapes. Klytus dispatches Zarkov to intercept Dale, who informs Zarkov and a listening Klytus that Flash is alive. The two then escape, as Zarkov reveals he was able to resist the brainwashing process. They are captured by Prince Vultan's (Brian Blessed) Hawkmen and taken to his kingdom, Sky City.
Aura and Flash arrive at the forest moon Arboria. Aura asks Prince Barin to keep Flash safe. A distrustful Barin, who is in love with Aura, agrees not to kill Flash, but then contrives to force him to take part in a deadly ritual. Barin and Flash take turns sticking their hands into a hollow stump with a poisonous creature inside. When Barin compels Flash to take an extra turn, he pretends to be stung by the creature and begs for a quick death, using this as an opportunity to escape. Barin follows, but they are both captured by Prince Vultan’s Hawkmen.
Klytus (Peter Wyngarde) informs Ming that Flash is alive and gains Ming's authority to discover the person responsible. Aura returns alone to Mingo City only to be taken prisoner and tortured by Klytus and General Kala (Mariangela Melato). They force Aura to confess, and Ming orders her to be banished to the ice moon Frigia after his wedding. Meanwhile, Flash and Barin are captured by the Hawkmen and taken to Sky City, where Flash and Dale are briefly reunited. Flash is forced to fight Barin to the death, but Barin joins forces with Flash when he saves his life. Klytus arrives, and Flash and Barin double-team Klytus and kill him. Knowing that this will bring retribution on the Hawkmen, Vultan orders them to evacuate, leaving Barin, Flash, Dale and Zarkov behind. Ming’s ship arrives shortly afterwards and he orders Barin, Zarkov and Dale to be taken aboard. Ming finds himself impressed with Flash, and offers him lordship over a subjugated Earth in exchange for fealty, as an alternative to death, which Flash refuses. Ming returns to his ship and gives the order to destroy Vultan’s kingdom with Flash still on it. Flash cheats death by finding a rocket cycle in the city and escaping before Sky City is destroyed.
Flash contacts Vultan, whose people have found refuge on Arboria, and they plot an attack on Mingo City. Flash pretends to attack Mingo City alone on his rocket cycle. General Kala dispatches the war rocket Ajax to bring back Flash's body, but the Hawkmen army intercepts and Flash and the Hawkmen seize control of the rocket. In Mingo City, Princess Aura overpowers her guard and frees Barin and Zarkov from the execution chamber. Flash and the Hawkmen attack Mingo City in Ajax and Kala activates the city's defenses, as Ming and Dale’s wedding starts. Mingo City's lightning field can only be penetrated in time to save Earth by flying Ajax in to it in a suicide run. Flash volunteers to stay at the helm to ensure it is successful and allow the Hawkmen to invade the city. Just before the rocket hits, Barin manages to sabotage the lightning field generators and Ajax plummets into the city's great hall where the wedding is taking place; the ship's bow impales Ming. Ming falls off the rocket nose, seriously wounded, and Flash offers to spare his life if he will stop the attack on Earth, but Ming refuses to submit. Ming attempts to use his power ring on Flash but his power falters and nothing happens. He then aims the ring at himself and is seemingly vaporized by its remaining power seconds before the counter to the destruction of the Earth reaches zero. A huge victory celebration ensues.
The last scene focuses on Ming’s empty power ring, as an unidentified individual picks it up. The words “The End?” fade onto the screen, followed by an echo of Ming’s evil laughter.

Extract Taken From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_Gordon_(film)

Trailer From YouTube:

O Raio «U»

Info On This Retro-Futuristic Comic Book:

Le Rayon U (The U Ray) is a comic book written and drawn by the Belgian comics creator Edgar P. Jacobs in 1943.

Publication history

In 1941, the outbreak of war between Germany and the USA meant that American comic strips could no longer be imported into Nazi-occupied Europe.^[1]
Alex Raymond's strip, Flash Gordon, was then being published in the Belgian comics magazine Bravo. Artist and former opera singer, Edgar Pierre Jacobs was therefore asked to bring the current story to a satisfactory conclusion, which he did. He was then commissioned to produce a science fiction comic strip of his own. Le Rayon U ("The U-Ray") began serial publication in Bravo in 1943.^[1] This version had text boxes which described the action and the dialogues in the style of many Belgian comics of the time, similar in a way to Hal Foster's version of Tarzan and Prince Valiant.
In 1974 Jacobs reformatted Le Rayon U in order to include speech bubbles. This version was published in the comics magazine Tintin, and in book form by Dargaud-Le Lombard.

Synopsis

Le Rayon U is set on an Earth-like planet which combines elements of the distant past, present and far future. Two of its nations, Norlandia and Austradia, are in conflict. A Norlandian scientist, Marduk, has devised a weapon called the "U Ray", but requires a mineral called uradium in order to put it to actual use.
Marduk therefore organises an expedition into an unknown part of the planet in order to find the uradium. Those accompanying him include: his assistant Sylvia Hollis; the explorer Lord Calder; Adji, Calder's Indian manservant; and Major Walton and Sergeant Mac Duff of the Norlandian secret service.
The explorers encounter all manners of threats, including prehistoric monsters, giant snakes and tigers, a tribe of hostile ape-men, and the meddling of Austradian spy Captain Dagon. More welcoming, but no less intriguing, is a civilisation of Aztec-like people.

Characters

In itself Le Rayon U is a classic of Belgian science fiction, but the influence of Flash Gordon cannot be denied:

• The Austradian Emperor Babylos III resembles Ming the Merciless;
• In appearance, Marduk, Lord Calder and Major Walton are similar to Hans Zarkov, Prince Barin and Flash Gordon respectively;
• Like the dark-haired Dale Arden, the dark-haired Sylvia Hollis is coveted by almost every male character she meets, be it man or beast!

Dagon, the main villain, was modelled on Jacobs himself.
Marduk, Calder and Dagon were to be the models for Mortimer, Blake and Olrik, in Jacobs's classic series Blake and Mortimer.

Extracts Taken From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Rayon_U

More Info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_P._Jacobs

Sky Captain e o Mundo de Amanhã (Edição de Coleccionador)

Info About This Great Retro-Futuristic Movie:

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is a 2004 American pulp adventure dieselpunk film written and directed by Kerry Conran in his directorial debut. The film is set in an alternative 1939 and follows the adventures of Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow), a newspaper reporter, and Harry Joseph "Joe" Sullivan (Jude Law), alias "Sky Captain," as they track down the mysterious Dr. Totenkopf (Laurence Olivier), who is seeking to build the "World of Tomorrow".
Conran spent four years making a black and white teaser trailer with a bluescreen set up in his living room and using a Macintosh IIci personal computer. He was able to show it to producer Jon Avnet, who was so impressed that he spent two years working with the aspiring filmmaker on his screenplay. No major studio was interested in financing such an unusual film with a first-time director. Avnet convinced Aurelio De Laurentiis to finance Sky Captain without a distribution deal.
Almost 100 digital artists, modelers, animators and compositors created the multi-layered 2D and 3D backgrounds for the live-action footage while the entire movie was sketched out via hand-drawn storyboards and then re-created as computer-generated 3D animatics. Ten months before Conran made the movie with his cast, he shot it entirely with stand-ins in Los Angeles and then created it in animatics so the actors had an idea of what the film would look like. Sky Captain is notable as one of the first major films (along with Sin City (2005), Casshern (2004), and Immortal (2004) to be shot entirely on a "digital backlot", blending live actors with computer generated surroundings.
Sky Captain grossed $37.7 million in North America and $20.1 million in the rest of the world, totalling $57.9 million, below its estimated $70 million budget. Since the overhead of theater, marketing, and other costs raises the break-even point of a film to roughly double its production cost, it likely lost about $80,000,000 prior to TV and DVD revenues.^{[citation needed]}


This Extract Is Taken From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_Captain_and_the_World_of_Tomorrow

More Info: http://www.skycaptain.com/

Major Alvega

Info About The TV Series (Only In Portuguese...):

A PERSONAGEM

Major Alvega é uma personagem fictícia, ás da aviação anglo-português da RAF (Royal Air Force, a Força Aérea britânica), e herói da série de banda desenhada que fez grande furor nas décadas de 1960 e 1970 em Portugal, aparecendo recorrentemente nas páginas de pequeno formato da revista juvenil "O Falcão".^[1]
No título original em inglês tratava-se de "Battler Britton - England's fighting ace of land, sea and air".^[1] Battler Britton, criado em 1956 por Mike Butterworth e Geoff Campion, foi protagonista das mais variadas aventuras, todas caracterizadas por muita acção, suspense e um toque de humor, nas quais defrontou (e venceu) alguns dos mais importantes intervenientes da Segunda Guerra Mundial: Rommel, Goering, Hitler e Mussolini.
No entanto, numa época em que a censura (ao serviço de um Estado Novo fervorosamente nacionalista) obrigava todos os heróis do género a figurarem nomes portugueses (e por consequência alguma forma de ascendência lusa), o protagonista seria rebaptizado de Major Jaime Eduardo de Cook e Alvega, um ribatejano por via paterna e inglês por via materna, que teria frequentado os passos da academia Coimbrã enquanto estudante.^[1]

A SÉRIE TELEVISIVA

O Major Alvega veria a sua última aventura impressa em 1987, mas acabaria por retornar num novo formato, a televisão. No fim da década de 1990 do século XX, a RTP daria nova vida ao personagem numa série que combinava actores verdadeiros, como Ricardo Carriço (Major Alvega), Rosa Bella (Fräulein Schmidt), António Cordeiro (Von Block) e Henrique Canto e Castro (Sir Hugh) com cenários de animação e a narração de Fernando Pessa. Produzida pela Miragem e realizada por Henrique Oliveira, a série constituiu um avanço importante em termos de originalidade e técnica de produção em Portugal, apesar da curta duração da mesma.

FICHA TÉCNICA
Ano: 1998 / 1999
Canal: RTP
Estúdios: Miragem
Elenco:
Ricardo Carriço - Major Alvega
Rosa Bella - Fräulein Schmidt
António Cordeiro - Coronel Helmut Von Block
Fernando Pessa - Narrador
Outras personagens:
Canto e Castro - Sir Hugh
Júlio Cardoso - Churchill
José Wallenstein - Professor Strudell
Alexandre Falcão - Hitler
Cristina Homem de Mello - Makelove
Adriano Martins - Goering
Nelson Machado - Kraftwerck
Luís Esparteiro - Coronel Jervies
Paulo Sousa - Pierre
Jorge Loureiro - General Britânico
António Capelo - Director do MI5
Vítor Mouteiro - Mensageiro
Jorge Mota - Comodoro Britânico
António Paulos - Jacques Remy
Jorge Pinto - Schroder
Henrique Oliveira - Giancarlo Macarrone
Episódios:
1ª Série
01: Objectivo Berlim
02: Intriga em Lisboa
03: Operação Águia
04: Duelo de Gigantes
05: Rumo a Tarento
06: Missão: Branca de Neve
07: O Ceptro de Akhnaton
08: O Segredo de Peenemunde
09: O Agente X
10: Notas Falsas
11: O Sósia
12: Nome de Código: Komet
13: Uma Noite em Casablanca
2ª Série
01: Traição Fatal
02: Milagre de Dunquerque
03: O Ninho da Águia
04: Missão no Tibete
05: Outubro Vermelho
06: S.O.S. Titanic
07: Destino Nova Iorque
08: Sob o Sol de Creta
09: Operação Vampiro
10: A Grande Fuga
11: O Enigma da Antárctida
12: Allo, Mona Lisa
13: O Dia da Libertação
Ficha técnica:
Realização – Henrique Oliveira
Assistente de realização – Maria Pires Pereira
Produção – Margarida Santos
Produção executiva – José Luís Vieira
Assistente de produção - Alexandre Vale, Miguel Guía
Secretária de produção – Sandra Coelho, Margarida Ramos
Guião – Henrique Oliveira, António Cordeiro, José de Pina, Filipe Homem Fonseca
Música – José Pedro Moura
Casting - Patrícia Vasconcelos
Guarda roupa – Maria Manuel Cruz
Cabelos – Augusto Morais, Miguel Viana
Director de animação – Rui Taborda
Animação – António José Gonçalves e José Luís Leitão
Director de som – José António Oliveira
Cinematografia – Paulo Souza
Edição - Fernando Neves
Operadores de câmara – Miguel Macedo, Jorge Nogueira
Electricista chefe – Manuel Carlos da Silva
Electricistas – Zé Faísca, João Gravata, Victor Justo
Marketing - Maria Luís Vieira

Extract Taken From: http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_Alvega


Episode #1 From Youtube: