#Wesley Strick

[mariocki]

Cape Fear (1991)

"Let's get something straight here. I spent fourteen years in an eight by nine cell, surrounded by people who were less than human. My mission in that time was to become more than human. You see? Granddaddy used to handle snakes in church, Granny drank strychnine. I guess you could say I had a leg up, genetically speaking."

#cape fear #1991 #american cinema #martin scorsese #wesley strick #john d. macdonald #robert de niro #nick nolte #jessica lange #juliette lewis #joe don baker #robert mitchum #gregory peck #martin balsam #illeana douglas #fred thompson #zully montero #james r. webb #elmer bernstein #freddie francis #Scorsese fully channelling de Palma for this queasy Southern gothic remake of a beloved bit of Americana kino. this was actually meant to #be a Spielberg project (yeesh can you imagine?) but Marty traded him Schindler's List which worked out better for everyone. initial #reaction to seeing Marty's right hand arm de Niro as the antagonist was‚ admittedly‚ to snigger but give the man his dues he fully embodies #this grotesque‚ repellent boogeyman. crucially tho he has the seed of a genuine grievance against Nolte's (also fairly unlikeable) lawyer #lead and i think that's what really propels this script. the film is stacked with great performances‚ with a young J Lewis really #standing out in a layered and thoughtful performance. the cameos by prev Cape Fear stars are perhaps a tiny bit gratuitous (and it's kind #of sad that Peck's final role was little more than a brief meta injoke) but i get why and it doesn't detract too much from the film‚ #particularly once it lurches full throttle into a biblical tinged flood and fire apocalypse for the (very well executed) final act #ott stuff and boundary pushing not just in its freakier moments but in its commitment to underscoring tension with moments of near pure #comedy‚ but i had a great time with this. oh and what a score! i mean i think it's just a re arrangement of the og score but still it slaps

[90smovies]

#Wolf 1994 #Jack Nicholson #Michelle Pfeiffer #Mike Nichols #Jim Harrison #Wesley Strick #90s

[thelonelystarbuckslovers]

The Glass House (2001)

"You kids are a handful."

#the glass house #wesley strick #daniel sackheim #diane lane #leelee sobieski #stellan skarsgård #bruce dern

[vintagewarhol]

#the loft #movies #erik van looy #bart de pauw #wesley strick #karl urban #james marsden #wentworth miller #illustration #vintage art #alternative movie posters

[movie-titlecards]

The Saint (1997)

My rating: 5/10

Imagine basing your entire personality around a single gimmick, and then choosing such an utterly dull one.

#The Saint #Phillip Noyce #Leslie Charteris #Jonathan Hensleigh #Wesley Strick #Val Kilmer #Elisabeth Shue #Rade Serbedzija #Youtube

[moviecriticseanpatrick-blog]

#Arachnophobia #John Goodman #Jeff Daniels #Frank Marshall #Wesley Strick #Julian Sands #movies #film #movie review #movie critic #movie #film review #film critic #film criticism #movie criticism #horror #Horror Movie #Horror Movies #Horror Film #90s #90s aesthetic #90s vibes #vintage 90s #1990s #Spiders

[byneddiedingo]

Robert Mitchum and Gregory Peck in Cape Fear (J. Lee Thompson, 1962)

Cast: Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum, Polly Bergen, Lori Martin, Martin Balsam, Jack Kruschen, Telly Savalas, Barrie Chase. Screenplay: James R. Webb, based on a novel by John D. MacDonald. Cinematography: Sam Leavit. Art direction: Robert F. Boyle, Alexander Golitzen. Film editing: George Tomasini. Music: Bernard Herrmann.

When I watched Martin Scorsese's 1991 remake of Cape Fear, I hadn't seen J. Lee Thompson's 1962 version. Now that I've seen it, I don't know why Scorsese wanted to remake it. The earlier version, with a screenplay by James R. Webb from the same John D. MacDonald novel, The Executioners, is a tense, well-cast movie with a Bernard Herrmann score that Scorsese had Elmer Bernstein adapt for his version. What Scorsese's screenwriter, Wesley Strick, did was to add more complications to the characters in the later film. Gregory Peck's Sam Bowden is a straight arrow compared to Nick Nolte's, and both Jessica Lange and Juliette Lange bring greater depth to Bowden's wife and daughter than Polly Bergen and Lori Martin do in the earlier version. But given that the movie in both cases is essentially a suspense thriller, I'm not sure that this is necessarily an improvement: The earlier film's emphasis on the innocence of the Bowdens makes the threat posed by Robert Mitchum's Max Cady more intense than that posed by Robert De Niro to the more morally compromised Bowdens of the Scorsese film. So in short, I have to say I prefer the earlier version. No one is saying that Lee Thompson was a better director, or that the screenwriter and actors in his version are superior to Scorsese and company. But if the intent of the film is to shock and to have the audience on the edge of their seats, then the earlier version does the job better. I have never been a fan of Gregory Peck, who is an actor who never surprises me with a line delivery or facial expression, as Nolte has been known to do, and Bergen and Martin are decidedly inferior to Lange and Lewis as actors, but they make better victims, which is all that the movie asks of them. The one performance that seems to me superior is Mitchum's, perhaps because there is a brutishness in his very persona that is lacking in De Niro, who has many film personae. I think De Niro overacts feverishly to make his Cady menacing, at the expense of becoming ludicrous. Mitchum, on the other hand, has only to narrow his sleepy eyes to suggest the deep psychosis of his character, and his menacing of Bergen, in which Mitchum apparently improvised the device of breaking an egg and smearing her with it, is truly chilling. Although Lee Thompson's final sequence, in which Cady sneaks up on the Bowdens' houseboat, is somewhat botched -- we're never quite sure where Cady, Bowden, and the detective assigned to guard them are at any given moment -- I still think it's preferable to the special-effects-laden storm that destroys the houseboat in Scorsese's film. Lee Thompson, whose only other really memorable film was The Guns of Navarone (1961), was never the filmmaker that Scorsese is, but here I think he does a better job of keeping the audience on edge.

#Cape Fear #J. Lee Thompson #Robert Mitchum #Gregory Peck

[brokehorrorfan]

Doom will be released on 4K Ultra HD (with Blu-ray and Digital) on August 9 via Universal. The 2005 sci-fi action horror film is based on the id Software's vide game series of the same name.

Andrzej Bartkowiak (Romeo Must Die) directs from a script by Dave Callaham (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) and Wesley Strick (Cape Fear). Karl Urban, Rosamund Pike, Razaaq Adoti, and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson star.

Doom is presented in its unrated extended edition with HDR along with DTS:X audio. Special features are listed below.

Special features:

Basic Training featurette

Rock Formation featurette

Master Monster Makers featurette

First-person Shooter Sequence featurette

Doom Nation featurette

Game On featurette

A frantic call for help from a remote research station on Mars sends a team of mercenary Marines into action. They descend into the Olduvai Research Station, where they find a legion of nightmarish creatures, lurking in the darkness, killing at will. Once there, the Marines must use an arsenal of firepower to carry out their mission: nothing gets out alive.

Pre-order Doom.

#doom #the rock #dwayne johnson #karl urban #rosamund pike #id software #razaaq adoti #4k ultra hd #andrzej bartkowiak #dvd #gift #video game movies #dwayne the rock johnson #video game adaptation

[howardhawkshollywoodannex]

Anne Heche and Vince Vaughn had an off screen relationship in their trailers while filming Return to Paradise (1998), a remake of Force Majeure (France, 1990). It was adapted by Wesley Strick and Bruce Robinson. Bruce won an Oscar for his adaptation of The Killing Fields, his first credit. His entry among my best 1001 is How to Get Ahead in Advertising. His other honorable mention is Withnail and I.

#anne heche #vince vaughn #return to paradise

[myfortuneandterrorandrapture]

Quentin died in one of the drafts of the ANOES script??!?

#anybody got the og Eric heisserer script? #Eric heisserer #Wesley strick #Quentin smith #a nightmare on elm street #anoes 2010

[tv-moments]

The Man in the High Castle

Season 4, “No Masters But Ourselves“

Director: Richard Heus

DoP: James Hawkinson

#The Man in the High Castle #No Masters But Ourselves #The Man in the High Castle S04E07 #Season 4 #Richard Heus #James Hawkinson #Rufus Sewell #John Smith #Wesley Strick #Prime Video #Amazon Studios #Scott Free Productions #Electric Shepherd Productions #Headline Pictures #Big Light Productions #Picrow #Reunion Pictures #TV Moments #TV Series #TV Show #television #TV #TV Frames #cinematography #November 15 #2019

[90smovies]

#Arachnophobia #Frank Marshall #Don Jakoby #Al Williams #Wesley Strick #90s

[adamwatchesmovies]

Wolf (1994)

Vampire and zombie movies are a dime a dozen but werewolf stories are scarce. That’s just one of the reasons to be excited for Wolf, a fresh take on the movie monster.

When Will Randall (Jack Nicholson) is bitten by a wolf,  he gets his rabies shot and moves on. Soon afterward, however, he begins to change. His eyesight, hearing, and sense of smell sharpen. He notices extra hair growth and an increased appetite for meat and sex. Will is turning into a literal and figurative wolf at the office. The transformation is perfectly timed, as things are not going well with his position as editor-in-chief.

It’s clearly a werewolf film, with references to the full moon, the old curse being transferred through a wolf bite, physical transformations at night, and more. What it doesn’t do is take the traditional werewolf elements and play them in the same way you’ve seen before. Will likes the changes happening to him. It makes you wonder if he's ultimately going to embrace the monster he's becoming or not. What happens when his situation escalates into traditional werewolf maimings and killings? Will the benefits still outweigh the disadvantages?

This is an unmistakably '90s film. It’s about a guy being pushed around at the office because of his age because someone younger is getting ready to take his position. All of a sudden, he’s given the aggressive power that he needs to fight back. We never thought of it before but the office area lends itself surprisingly well to the werewolf transformation aspect. Its direction is nothing like the one chosen by Ginger Snaps but in a way, it is as innovative and refreshing a lycanthrope story.

Something else you don't often see in horror is a prominent romantic/erotic element. Yes, this is a horror romance. I don’t want to give anything away so I won’t elaborate any further but this tale reveals just enough to get you wondering where Will's journey will end. This is actually where we come to the biggest criticism; the conclusion. Whereas the rest of the picture is original and inventive, this felt like an afterthought. It turns into standard monster-movie stuff with a final shot that's kind of interesting but raised a lot more questions than I would've liked. It’s too bad. In every other scene, Wolf is truly fresh. The minimalist werewolf visuals work because they serve to "ground" the story and put more emphasis on the real-world applications of the transformation and the romance. You sacrifice the "money shot" of any werewolf movie but in exchange, get real characterization. You won't mind.

I thought Jack Nicholson really did a terrific job playing a compelling character in this. There are some really solid moments between him and his rivals and friends here. It really surprised me to see all of the subtlety and intelligence... well until that last bit anyway.

If you’re like me and you’re always looking for something new to check out, and you’re worried that you’ve seen every single good werewolf movie out there, I really think you should check out Wolf. I really liked the escalation and transformations in this film. I was thoroughly impressed. (On DVD, December 14, 2014)

#wolf #wolf movie #WolfMovie #movies #films #reviews #movie reviews #film reviews #film criticism #werewolves #mike nichols #jim harrison #wesley strick #elaine may #jack nicholson #michelle pfeiffer #james spader #kate nelligan #christopher plummer #1994 movies #1994 films

[genevieveetguy]

- The demon wolf is not evil, unless the man he has bitten is evil. And it feels good to be a wolf, doesn't it? - Indeed it does.

Wolf, Mike Nichols (1994)

#Mike Nichols #Jim Harrison #Wesley Strick #Jack Nicholson #Michelle Pfeiffer #James Spader #Kate Nelligan #Richard Jenkins #Christopher Plummer #Eileen Atkins #David Hyde Pierce #Om Puri #Ron Rifkin #Giuseppe Rotunno #Ennio Morricone #Sam O'Steen #1994

[guillotineman]

#Cape Fear #remake #Martin Scorsese #Scorsese #director #filmmaker #master #Steven Spielberg #Spielberg #filmmakers #masters #John D. MacDonald #Wesley Strick #Thelma Schoonmaker #Freddie Francis #Kathleen Kennedy #Frank Marshall #Robert De Niro #Max Cady #Nick Nolte #Jessica Lange #Juliette Lewis #crime #thriller #90s #film #movie #cinema

[lonelyasawhisper]

A Day at the Races Is A Self-Made Masterpiece

Wesley Strick, Circus, 31 January 1977

IT WAS SOME WEEKS BACK, and Europe's biggest rock band had four months' studio time behind them, and two weeks ahead. "It feels like we've been working forever," Freddie sighs, "and I'll be glad to see the end of it. I think we all will, although everything's been going fine. We've even got release dates set up," he adds, optimistically.

Later, sitting comfortably on the finished product, Queen's animated lead singer takes time out to talk about the carefully delayed album. A Day At The Races (Asylum), Queen's fifth, is the band's first self-produced record. "We finally got that organized," Freddie nods, to explain the absence of veteran Queen producer Roy Thomas Baker: "We just felt that, for this one, we needed a bit of a change. We were quite confident in doing it ourselves. The other albums we really co-produced, actually we always took a very keen interest."

"It was all very amicable," drummer Roger Taylor is quick to explain. "Roy's been in and out of the country. He's heard some rough mixes. Who knows? Maybe he'll be back producing the next one! It's been tremendous pressure recording this album." Mercury, meanwhile, is quite happy with Queen's first attempt at studio self-sufficiency. "I think it turned out for the better," he insists. "Taking more responsibility has been good for us. Roy's been great, but it's a progression, really – another step in our career. We simply felt that it was now or never."

Queen fiends needn't despair, however. "There are definitely different sounds and a few surprises on the album" Freddie promises, "but we've still maintained the basic Queen sound." A Day At The Races features four songs from Mercury, four from guitar-phenomenon Brian May, and one each from Taylor and bassist John Deacon. "I feel this time that we've got quite a few strong singles," says Freddie. "It was a very hard choice, to be honest. Picking the first single is a matter of taste. We settled on 'Somebody To Love' to start things rolling. It's one of my tracks," Mercury adds, modestly.

"'Somebody To Love' is Aretha Franklin-influenced," Taylor says. "Freddie's very much into that. We tried to keep the track in a loose, gospel-type feel. I think it's the loosest track we've ever done."

"It's new, it's slightly different," Freddie agrees "but it still sounds like the Queen that used to be. A Day At The Races is definitely a follow-up to A Night At The Opera. Hence the title. We learned a lot from A Night At The Opera about studio technique." "This time out we missed Roy's cheerfulness," Taylor says. "He contributed a lot technically, and we've capitalized on it."

Each time we go into the studios, it gets that much more difficult," Freddie explains, "because we're trying to progress, to write songs that sound different from the past. The first album is easy, because you've always got a lot in your head that you're anxious to put down. As the albums go by, you think, 'They'll say I'm repeating a formula.' I'm very conscious of that."

Taylor confirms their constant testing: "We took a break in the midst of it to play three gigs. It was great to get away from the studio for a bit, and it was great playing live, again-that's a much more immediate satisfaction."

"It was difficult trying to maintain the Queen idiom," Mercury elaborates, "and, at the same time, come up with songs that were different and more interesting." Freddie Mercury offers his own track-by-track rundown on Races:

"We start off with a track from Brian called 'Tie Your Mother Down' which we've recently put in the live act. In fact, we played it at Hyde Park before we recorded it. I was able to come to grips with the song in front of an audience before I had to cut the vocal. Being a very raucous track, it worked well for me.

" 'You Take My Breath Away' is a slow ballad with a new twist. That's another track I did at Hyde Park, with just me on the piano. It was very nerve-wracking playing all by myself in front of 200,000 people. I didn't think my voice would come through," Freddie jokes, half-serious, "It's a very emotional, laid-back number.

" 'Long Away' is a twelve-string thing written by Brian...very interesting harmonies.

" 'The Millionaire Waltz' is quite outlandish, really. It's the kind of track I like to put on every album," Freddie teases. "Something way outside Queen's format."

"It's comparable to 'Bohemian Rhapsody'," Roger Taylor explains, "in the sense that it's an arranged, intricate number. There are several time-signature changes," the drummer adds, "'though not quite so many vocal overdubs."

"Brian has orchestrated it fully with guitars," Freddie says, "like he's never done before. He goes from tubas to piccolos to cellos. It's taken weeks. Brian's very finicky. Anyway, this track is something that Queen has never done before-a Strauss waltz!

" 'You And I' is John Deacon's track. It's very John Deacon, with more raucous guitars. After I'd done the vocals, John put all these guitars in, and the mood has changed. I think it's his strongest song to date."

Unlike the concept-ized Queen II with its Side White and Side Black, A Day At The Races plays, in Freddie's words, "as a unit. Side Two opens with 'Somebody To Love,' the single. We're not going to settle for less than Number One in America. We were a bit disappointed in 'Rhapsody'." Disappointed? "I suppose we're spoiled," Freddie concedes, light-hearted. " 'Rhapsody' was a strong song, and a mammoth hit on Continent. This time, we won't be second best.

"'White Man' is the B side. It's Brian's song, a very bluesy track. Gave me the opportunity to do raucous vocals. I think it'll be a great stage number.

"'Good Old-Fashioned Loverboy' is one of my vaudeville numbers. I always do a vaudeville track, 'though 'Loverboy' is more straightforward than 'Seaside Rendezvous', for instance. It's quite simple piano-vocals with a catchy beat; the album needs it to sort of ease off.

"'Drowse' is a very interesting song of Roger's. Roger is very rock and roll. It's got great slide guitar from Brian and Roger's done octave vocals. It's a very hummable tune, actually, I sing it all the time.

"The album ends with a Japanese thing, a track from Brian called 'Teo Torriatte,' which means 'let us cling together.' It's a very emotional track, one of his best. Brian plays harmonium and some lovely guitar. It's a nice song to close the side."

To graphically emphasize Races' connection with its predecessor, the new LP features inverse-Opera artwork, a black motif with a subtly revised insignia. Freddie envisions a repackaged re-release of the two albums "at some future date. But we'll have to get out of this Marx Brothers thing sooner or later."

Pre-package or not, Roger Taylor considers the new album a distinct improvement over A Night At The Opera. "The new songs are stronger," he asserts, "and the playing is quite possibly better. The writing's better, too."

For Taylor, A Day At The Races represents "a step ahead of our previous work. We tried to avoid over complication, sterility-we tried to get a more basic feel in."

Is Queen living down its reputation for studio fussiness? "Not at all," Taylor answers, "I think it's good to be fussy. You might as well make it as good as you can if you've got all the studio devices at your command. As long as the end result isn't clinical; as long as you maintain the feel of the music."

If Mercury and May have loosened up in the studio, they've failed to tighten up their legendary recording budget. Endless vocal and guitar overdubs account for the five-month sessions and staggering expense. "I'm afraid this one cost as much as the last one," Taylor admits, chagrined.

According to the British press, A Night At The Opera came in at forty thousand pounds.

Freddie Mercury, drained and despairing after months of painstaking overdubs, has a bright idea. "I really feel that, on the next album, we're going to get it orchestrated by an orchestra," he says. "I think we've really done as much as we can with guitars."

Does Brian concur? "I think he does," Freddie chuckles. "We always did it ourselves, and it was rewarding. But now, we've done it, and it's time to move on." Is Queen still staunchly opposed to synthesizers? "We've built up a terrible aversion to them," Freddie concedes, "but you never know. To me, Brian always sounds better than a synthesizer."

Finally, does Queen reign supreme in the U.K.?

"That's an awkward question," Roger laughs. "I'm thinking about it." Roger's synapses silently arrange the electrical impulses of two words: Led and Zeppelin. "Yes, I suppose we are," he concludes. "It feels good in terms of radio response and fan letters, that sort of thing. In the studio, nothing feels quite real. You lose contact with things on the street. We don't see much daylight at all."

Beginning mid-January, the band should be seeing plenty of daylight. "I've just been handed a list of tour dates," Freddie says, "and, oh my god, it's going to be two-and-a-half months in the States. I'm just hoping my voice will hold out."

Will the ultra-theatrical Queen mount its American onslaught with a whole new show? "A whole new show?" Freddie chuckles. "Bloody hell yes!"

Retrieved from rocksbackpages.com

#article #interview #1977 #circus #queen band #queen #roger taylor #freddie #rog