To Sir Caine, With Love

JA from MNPP here, wishing the great Sir Michael Caine a happy 80th birthday. I used pictures of him in Children of Men and as Alfred in Nolan's Batman movies mostly because they express his admirable range succinctly - can you imagine a conversation between Alfred and Jasper? - but they're also two of my favorite performances from him, at least from within the past decade or so. I'm not much of a Batman fan but Caine did some very good work therein. Looking further back his role in Dirty Rotten Soundrels was a favorite of mine when I was young, and then of course there's Hannah and Her Sisters, with that infamous Oscar tale of missing the ceremony so he could shoot Jaws: The Revenge. (Sad but true fact - I have seen Jaws: The Revenge more times than I have seen Hannah and Her Sisters. Stone me now. Jaws: The Revenge is just so entertainingly terrible!) And what about Dressed To Kill? It's tranvestitastic. And then all of his classics that modern stars have remade trying (and failing) to ape his effortless cool - Alfie and Get Carter and The Italian Job. What's your favorite Caine?

Hit Me With Your Best Shot: "Barbarella"

Barbarella comes from the 41^st century so theoretically she knows a thing or to. Perhaps she can tell me from the future how to choose a best shot from her infamous movie? Though I’d seen at least some of Barbarella before – I’ve never forgotten the hilarious space-burlesque title sequence -- now I've seen all of Barbarella. In both senses. 

There's certainly a lot to look at but I’ve rarely been more stumped with this series... more

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Visual Index ~ Barbarella Psychadella

This was such a hit with The Wizard of Oz, that I thought I'd do it for each new episode of Hit Me With Your Best Shot. The images will be arranged in chronological order as they happen in the film (for the most part... I mean, I can't vouch for total accuracy since Barbarella's plotting is... um... lacking and the imagery isn't easy to place in context). 

Barbarella's Best Shot(s)?
Each Photo Will Take You to its Corresponding Article

 

Smash: "The Fringe"

When I first heard the title of the new Smash episode was "The Fringe" I was all 'grrl, whaaa?' since Smash is safe and exceedingly polished (the show has always looked great and well funded whatever you want to say about the writing and acting) whereas most Fringe shows are kind of the ultimate clichés of scrappy underfunded hot messes. Surprised I am but I report that this week's episode turned out to be the best of the season thus far.

2.6  "The Fringe"
What's the buzz ♫ tell me what's-a-happening? Eileen has opted for the more commercial version of "Bombshell" and Julia is horrified that her favorite song "Never Give All The Heart" might now be cut. Derek in a petulant fit quits the show. Jimmy in a petulant fit quits his show (for like ½ a day). Karen in a dead-eyed fit (there are no other kinds for her) sneaks out to perform in "Hit List" which is kind of a back-door way of quitting her show. Julia in a sulky fit vaguely suggests she might quit her show. (Ivy is too much of a professional to quit her show but it's so bad you know she wants to...) Is all this quitting brilliant self parody and meta commentary on the episode by episode erosion of Smash's audience? more

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First & Last: "I was hoping things would work out for her"

first and last puzzles
the first image from a motion picture and the last line

I was hoping things would work out for her. She was a good friend of mine."

Can you guess the movie? 
If you want to see the answer it's after the jump

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