To clarify right away, James Bond, Jr. (Corey Burton), the title character from a barely-remembered 007-adjacent 1991 animated series, is not the son of James Bond. More confusingly, James Bond, Jr. is actually the nephew of James Bond. "He learned the game from his uncle James," the theme song makes very clear. This means that James Bond did indeed have a brother, but also that his brother was named James as well ...?
As of this writing, "James Bond Jr." is the only TV adaptation to date of Ian Fleming's ultra-popular James Bond book series. It came at a fascinating time in the history of the James Bond franchise, as Timothy Dalton's two-film run had come to an end, and a messy rights dispute behind the scenes kept Bond off the big screen for years. It also likely didn't help that the Berlin Wall fell in November of 1989, calling...
As of this writing, "James Bond Jr." is the only TV adaptation to date of Ian Fleming's ultra-popular James Bond book series. It came at a fascinating time in the history of the James Bond franchise, as Timothy Dalton's two-film run had come to an end, and a messy rights dispute behind the scenes kept Bond off the big screen for years. It also likely didn't help that the Berlin Wall fell in November of 1989, calling...
- 9/18/2023
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
Ringo Starr is known, first and foremost, as a drummer, but he appeared in multiple movies over the course of his career. All of The Beatles picked up some acting experience, but Starr took steps to build a career as an actor. Not all of his movies performed well – even the drummer’s biggest fans should avoid a few of them — but some are worth a watch. Here are four of Starr’s movies worth putting on your to-watch list.
Ringo Starr | Michael Putland/Getty Images ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ is 1 of the movies Starr filmed with The Beatles
Starr’s first movie is also one of his best. In 1964, The Beatles released A Hard Day’s Night, a musical comedy film in which the band played themselves. The film gave Starr a good deal of screen time — he chaperones Paul McCartney’s grandfather and gets arrested.
While director Richard Lester...
Ringo Starr | Michael Putland/Getty Images ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ is 1 of the movies Starr filmed with The Beatles
Starr’s first movie is also one of his best. In 1964, The Beatles released A Hard Day’s Night, a musical comedy film in which the band played themselves. The film gave Starr a good deal of screen time — he chaperones Paul McCartney’s grandfather and gets arrested.
While director Richard Lester...
- 5/14/2023
- by Emma McKee
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
With Peter Jackson’s re-cut of The Beatles: Get Back coming at the end of November, we are reminded the Beatles were cinematic stars as well as musical artists. Beyond the group’s films, John Lennon played Private Gripweed in Richard Lester’s How I Won the War, and Ringo Starr acted in quite a few films. His choices were far more in keeping with the underground and independent air of the time. Starr starred with Peter Sellars in the anti-capitalist satire The Magic Christian, as the villain in the Spaghetti Western Blindman, and the voyeuristic Mexican gardener Emmanuel in the sex farce Candy. But his most counterculture and independent nod was as Frank Zappa in the film 200 Motels (1971). A special edition of its soundtrack, Frank Zappa 200 Motels 50th Anniversary Edition, is coming out on Dec. 17.
Written by Zappa, who co-directed with Tony Palmer, 200 Motels is a musical...
Written by Zappa, who co-directed with Tony Palmer, 200 Motels is a musical...
- 11/17/2021
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
Frank Zappa’s 200 Motels is an education in musical composition, soundtrack recordings, and rock history. In celebration of its 50th anniversary, Zappa Records, UMe, and MGM assembled a definitive Super Deluxe six-disc box set of the soundtrack, which drops on Nov. 19. The 200 Motels 50th Anniversary Edition was remastered by Bernie Grundman at Bernie Grundman Mastering, and includes unreleased and rare material from the Zappa music vault.
The sound quality is excellent, the separation gives the multitude of instruments and voicings enough space to hear what is going on very clearly, though the music is still very dense. The players included Ian Underwood on keyboards and woodwinds, George Duke on keyboards and trombone, drummers Aynsley Dunbar and Jimmy Carl Black, with Ruth Underwood on an orchestra drum set. Zappa plays guitar and bass, because there was a change in personnel, between bassists Jeff Simmons and Martin Lickert, partway through recording and filming.
The sound quality is excellent, the separation gives the multitude of instruments and voicings enough space to hear what is going on very clearly, though the music is still very dense. The players included Ian Underwood on keyboards and woodwinds, George Duke on keyboards and trombone, drummers Aynsley Dunbar and Jimmy Carl Black, with Ruth Underwood on an orchestra drum set. Zappa plays guitar and bass, because there was a change in personnel, between bassists Jeff Simmons and Martin Lickert, partway through recording and filming.
- 11/15/2021
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
A few years before Roy Thomas Baker gained fame as the producer for some of the greatest albums by Queen and the Cars, he was one of several engineers to work with the ever-prolific Frank Zappa.
A new four-disc box set, The Mothers 1970, spotlights some of the work Baker did with Zappa, including a rare early mix of “Sharleena,” the track that closed out Zappa’s Chunga’s Revenge LP.
Interestingly, it’s cleaner sounding and doesn’t have as much of the mushy background guitar that creeps up in the Chunga version,...
A new four-disc box set, The Mothers 1970, spotlights some of the work Baker did with Zappa, including a rare early mix of “Sharleena,” the track that closed out Zappa’s Chunga’s Revenge LP.
Interestingly, it’s cleaner sounding and doesn’t have as much of the mushy background guitar that creeps up in the Chunga version,...
- 5/28/2020
- by Kory Grow
- Rollingstone.com
Filmmaker Tony Palmer has said that "the real Adele" would be a fascinating subject for a music documentary.
The Leonard Cohen: Bird on a Wire and The World of Liberace director also told Digital Spy that he turned down the chance to work with U2 before they made Rattle and Hum.
"I missed my chance with Adele," Palmer said.
"My wife had spotted Adele long before she had become really famous and said, 'You've got to listen to this voice, it's really amazing'.
"I agreed it was amazing, but I said, 'I don't make that kind of film anymore'. Then I saw a brief interview with her and I thought, my god this is a fascinating woman - to hell with the voice, it's a fascinating woman."
He added: "I immediately applied. I wrote to them, saying 'Would you ever consider...' I had a very good response from whoever looked after her then.
The Leonard Cohen: Bird on a Wire and The World of Liberace director also told Digital Spy that he turned down the chance to work with U2 before they made Rattle and Hum.
"I missed my chance with Adele," Palmer said.
"My wife had spotted Adele long before she had become really famous and said, 'You've got to listen to this voice, it's really amazing'.
"I agreed it was amazing, but I said, 'I don't make that kind of film anymore'. Then I saw a brief interview with her and I thought, my god this is a fascinating woman - to hell with the voice, it's a fascinating woman."
He added: "I immediately applied. I wrote to them, saying 'Would you ever consider...' I had a very good response from whoever looked after her then.
- 7/29/2013
- Digital Spy
They were music megastars, and they all opened up to him. As Tony Palmer's best films resurface, the documentarian talks to Phelim O'Neill about Leonard Cohen's tears, John Lennon's fake beard – and the day Liberace invited him into his hot tub
Reading this on mobile? Click here to view video
Tony Palmer was studying moral sciences at Cambridge University in the 1960s when a moderately famous band arrived in town. "I got a call to attend this press conference the Beatles were holding, to cover it for the college paper," he recalls. "They'd had a No 1 single or two by then, so they were very well known – but not yet intergalactic. Afterwards, John Lennon came up and asked me why I hadn't asked them any questions. I told him I found the whole thing pretty silly. He laughed, and when I told him I was studying moral sciences,...
Reading this on mobile? Click here to view video
Tony Palmer was studying moral sciences at Cambridge University in the 1960s when a moderately famous band arrived in town. "I got a call to attend this press conference the Beatles were holding, to cover it for the college paper," he recalls. "They'd had a No 1 single or two by then, so they were very well known – but not yet intergalactic. Afterwards, John Lennon came up and asked me why I hadn't asked them any questions. I told him I found the whole thing pretty silly. He laughed, and when I told him I was studying moral sciences,...
- 7/28/2013
- by Phelim O'Neill
- The Guardian - Film News
They were music megastars, and they all opened up to him. As Tony Palmer's best films resurface, the documentarian talks to Phelim O'Neill about Leonard Cohen's tears, John Lennon's fake beard – and the day Liberace invited him into his hot tub
Reading this on mobile? Click here to view video
Tony Palmer was studying moral sciences at Cambridge University in the 1960s when a moderately famous band arrived in town. "I got a call to attend this press conference the Beatles were holding, to cover it for the college paper," he recalls. "They'd had a No 1 single or two by then, so they were very well known – but not yet intergalactic. Afterwards, John Lennon came up and asked me why I hadn't asked them any questions. I told him I found the whole thing pretty silly. He laughed, and when I told him I was studying moral sciences,...
Reading this on mobile? Click here to view video
Tony Palmer was studying moral sciences at Cambridge University in the 1960s when a moderately famous band arrived in town. "I got a call to attend this press conference the Beatles were holding, to cover it for the college paper," he recalls. "They'd had a No 1 single or two by then, so they were very well known – but not yet intergalactic. Afterwards, John Lennon came up and asked me why I hadn't asked them any questions. I told him I found the whole thing pretty silly. He laughed, and when I told him I was studying moral sciences,...
- 7/28/2013
- by Phelim O'Neill
- The Guardian - Film News
Filmmaker Tony Palmer has said that recent Liberace biopic Behind The Candelabra did the musician a "monumental disservice".
The director of 1976 documentary The World of Liberace, based on the musician's own coffee table book The Things I Love, told Digital Spy that he had mixed feelings about the biopic.
"It's nowhere near as good a film as some people have said, and it's nowhere near as bad a film as many people who love Liberace have said," Palmer said.
"Steven Soderbergh is a very good director and its a very skilfully made film. I think Matt Damon has never given as good a performance as Scott Thorson. On one level, I was greatly relieved that it was nowhere near as bad as I feared it was going to be."
He continued: "Of course Michael Douglas does not look like Liberace, that's not his fault... I don't give a toss about that.
The director of 1976 documentary The World of Liberace, based on the musician's own coffee table book The Things I Love, told Digital Spy that he had mixed feelings about the biopic.
"It's nowhere near as good a film as some people have said, and it's nowhere near as bad a film as many people who love Liberace have said," Palmer said.
"Steven Soderbergh is a very good director and its a very skilfully made film. I think Matt Damon has never given as good a performance as Scott Thorson. On one level, I was greatly relieved that it was nowhere near as bad as I feared it was going to be."
He continued: "Of course Michael Douglas does not look like Liberace, that's not his fault... I don't give a toss about that.
- 7/26/2013
- Digital Spy
Filmmaker Tony Palmer has said that Leonard Cohen is as important a figure as Bob Dylan.
Palmer directed 1972 documentary film Bird on a Wire, which was shelved on completion before being discovered and reconstructed from its original rushes for its 2010 re-release.
"It's not every day you make a film some 38 years ago and then you suddenly manage to rescue it and piece it back together," Palmer told Digital Spy.
"People's reactions were amazing. I was absolutely gobsmacked. I really was... It actually took longer to piece the jigsaw back together again than it had done to make the original film."
He continued: "When we made it in 1972, Leonard was absolutely at the peak of his form. The great early songs. I thought he had a wonderful voice - he was always very dismissive about his voice.
"Although he's remained a fantastic performer, his voice is not what he was... this...
Palmer directed 1972 documentary film Bird on a Wire, which was shelved on completion before being discovered and reconstructed from its original rushes for its 2010 re-release.
"It's not every day you make a film some 38 years ago and then you suddenly manage to rescue it and piece it back together," Palmer told Digital Spy.
"People's reactions were amazing. I was absolutely gobsmacked. I really was... It actually took longer to piece the jigsaw back together again than it had done to make the original film."
He continued: "When we made it in 1972, Leonard was absolutely at the peak of his form. The great early songs. I thought he had a wonderful voice - he was always very dismissive about his voice.
"Although he's remained a fantastic performer, his voice is not what he was... this...
- 7/24/2013
- Digital Spy
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